History TearJerker / HorusHeresy

*** Oll Persson is the Guardsman, who teleports into the ''Vengeful Spirit'' alongside John Grammaticus after Horus critically injures the Emperor. As he futilely tries to fend off Horus, Oll is ''pleading'' with the Emperor to stand back up. Oll promises that if He gets back on his feet, he will serve the Emperor once more, reminding Him of the great dream He sought to accomplish. Oll's final act is to defiantly fire at Horus with his lasrifle, even as the Warmaster turns him into a fine red mist with his Talon.

*** A small and quite literal tearjerker occurs when Horus first witnesses Loken. Despite his gene-son swearing that he shall forever be an enemy of the Warmaster and will oppose him no matter what, Horus becomes teary-eyed when he sees Garviel again, after all this time.

*** After the Emperor and Sanguinius' body are taken back to Terra, Loken stays behind, feeling that ''somebody'' should stand vigil over his fallen gene-father. Abbadon and his personal guard happen upon Loken weeping over Horus' body; utterly exhausted by everything they had gone through, the two remaining members of the Mournival talk as brothers one final time. Loken pleads with Abaddon to surrender, promising that he will defend and speak on behalf of Abaddon and their battle-brothers before Dorn, Guilliman and the other loyalist Primarchs. Abaddon considers it, and it seems like there might be a ''chance'', even at this very last moment, to end the war with some semblance of peace...[[BackStab before Erebus comes out of nowhere and kills Loken by stabbing him in the back.]] The last loyal member of Horus' Mournival was there to witness the rise and fall of his gene-father, his Emperor, and the Imperium he'd sworn to protect, and how is he rewarded? By being put down like a dog by the man who orchestrated this apocalyptic war in the first place.

--->[[ForeverWar It is the end of a war, yet the death of peace. From here, the long slide begins, the terminal plunge into a grim darkness where the only constant will be war, and the only truth will be pain, and the only living will be suffering, and the only end of suffering will be death itself.]] \\
[[HopelessWar War is now only ever the sequel to war. War will beget war, and so down through time, generation after generation, and so on thereafter, into a far future where war becomes its own definition, and an end unto itself, where death becomes the reason for war, and war becomes the reason for death, worlds without end.]] \\
[[TheBadGuyWins And in that future, the Old Four will come to delight, for the quick death and sudden end they strove for here, and were denied, will be drawn out forever instead across the infinite architecture of the galaxy in one eternal act of worship to the powers they represent.]] \\

--->It is the end of a war, yet the death of peace. From here, the long slide begins, the terminal plunge into a grim darkness where the only constant will be war, and the only truth will be pain, and the only living will be suffering, and the only end of suffering will be death itself.\\
War is now only ever the sequel to war. War will beget war, and so down through time, generation after generation, and so on thereafter, into a far future where war becomes its own definition, and an end unto itself, where death becomes the reason for war, and war becomes the reason for death, worlds without end.\\
And in that future, the Old Four will come to delight, for the quick death and sudden end they strove for here, and were denied, will be drawn out forever instead across the infinite architecture of the galaxy in one eternal act of worship to the powers they represent.\\

--->'''Oll:''' No further! I won't let you touch him!

** The Emperor launches one last desparate assault on Horus, and He finally overpowers him by shining the reactivated light of the Astronomican directly into Horus' eyes. An agonized Horus tries to draw the breath of the Immaterium once more like he's always done, but he realizes that Khorne, Tzeentch, Nurgle and Slaanesh are deliberately withholding their power from him. It dawns on Horus that he has become fully dependent on the Old Four; and now, they are treating him like a master would treat a disobedient slave. [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone The Warmaster realizes just how far he's fallen, the sheer magnitude of what he's done, why the Emperor despised Chaos the way he did, and that he's condemned the human species to a slow, agonizing extinction. Despite all the power the Chaos Gods have given him, Horus was and always had been a mere pawn in the Great Game.]] This realization, alongside his connection to the Immaterium being substantially reduced and the Astronomican's brilliance clearing his mind, ends up reverting Horus to normal. However, the Warmaster asks his father to kill him before the Ruinous Powers take hold of his mind once more. Despite His initial hesitation, the Emperor obliges, imbuing Oll's anatheme blade with all of His remaining power before using it to kill His most beloved son. [[GoOutWithASmile As his soul is erased from existence and his body is reduced to an ashen skeleton, Horus smiles sadly as he fades away.]]

(Raldoron looks at the dying Emperor and Sanguinius' corpse)\\

** As one of the main POV characters during the first three books of the series, Gavriel Loken was, for many readers, the gateway character to the events of the Literature/HorusHeresy. His final fate is nothing short of an agonizing gut punch.

*** To rub extra salt in the wound, it's heavily implied that Loken's death is destined to create the daemon Samus, turning Heresy into inevitability.

* The second message that Guilliman sends ''moments'' after the doomed Anabasis Gambit is enacted in "The End and The Death Vol. II" only makes the first message even more heartbreaking.

*** To rub extra salt in the wound, it's heavily implied that Loken's soul is destined to reincarnate into the daemon Samus - in the same vein as Meros of the Blood Angels, one of the Imperium's staunchest, most ardent defenders is corrupted by the Ruinous Powers and transformed into an enemy of humanity. Unlike Meros, who allowed Chaos to claim his soul to save his Primarch, Loken's soul is damnned by one last act of betrayal that was no fault of his own.

The Horus Heresy was the greatest tragedy of ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}''. And the writers at Black Library want the readers to feel as much heartache as the characters do.

** One of the saddest scenes in the razing of Prospero is that Leman Russ actually tried to ask Magnus to surrender... but it was through Kasper Hawser, whom the Vlka Fenrika believed to be an unwitting spy of Thousand Sons (but he was of Chaos). Only after Prospero's destruction did they learn the truth... but it was too late for both Legions.
** However, Magnus's MyGodWhatHaveIDone moment is one of the few moments in the story that is somehow even sadder than the one described above. In order to warn the Emperor of Horus's treachery, Magnus uses a powerful spell fuelled by his most potent sorcerers and their thralls to shatter the psychic wards in the Imperial Palace. This was to be Magnus' greatest triumph, his proof to his father that his final verdict at Nikaea was wrong, psychic powers could be used for good - and it all goes awry. Magnus appears in the Imperial laboratories as a horrendous abomination, and when he and the Emperor's minds touch does Magnus realizes that he has ruined His plans beyond repair. His folly had destroyed the delicate wards holding back the Immaterium and sundered any chance for the Emperor to complete His greatest work; his treachery had closed off a future where He was to use the awesome might of the Golden Throne to help humanity rule the stars without relying on the Warp. It dawns on Magnus that him and his legion were to be hunted down and destroyed by the Space Wolves for their defiance of the Emperor's will. Upon returning to his corporeal body, he flees to his chambers and destroys them in a guilt-wracked rage, before [[RedemptionEqualsDeath beginning to lay out the plans to render Prospero defenseless]].
** The deaths of Phosis T'kar, Auramagma, Uthizzar and many of the Thousand Sons during the Burning of Prospero. T'kar's death is one of the hardest. He butchers his way through a horde of Space Wolves and Sisters of Silence, finally reaching the legendary Constantin Valdor who calls him a monster. T'kar sees his reflection in Valdor's armour and realises he has mutated, very extremely. Before he dies he closes his eyes, sheds a tear and responds to Valdor's insult with ''"I know."'' When Ahriman is told of this, he realises that he did indeed consider T'kar a friend, and he is hurt that it took his death to realise that.

** Fulgrim's MyGodWhatHaveIDone right after killing Ferrus Manus, his most beloved brother Primarch. Fulgrim realizes that everything that he took as a slight towards him from Ferrus were actually well-meant jests, and that he had doomed his Legion to heresy the moment he had taken the blade from the Laer temple.
*** While standing over Ferrus' body, Fulgrim realizes what he and the Emperor's Children have become, and begs the Daemon in his sword to end his pain. The Daemon proceeds to possess Fulgrim, forcing his mind into a painting of Fulgrim on the ''Pride of the Emperor''. For the better part of five years the fandom assumes that the Daemon was responsible for Fulgrim's subsequent atrocities. When the novella ''The Reflection Crack'd'' was released, the fandom discovers that Fulgrim was able to forcibly swap places with the Daemon sometime after the Drop Site Massacre. However, during the time his soul spent bound to the painting, he has gone completely insane, fallen into Slaanesh's embrace of his own accord, and relishes having killed Ferrus Manus. Seeing Fulgrim, a once-noble figure who empathized and wished to lift up the poorest dregs of society, become a hideous, revolting monster hammers home the fact that no one who has touched Chaos can ever escape it.
** Solomon Demeter's fate, while nowhere as large in scale and scope as his Primarch's fall, is no less sad. He is defending the Precentor's Palace and finds his fellow Istvaan loyalist Lucius fighting a squad of Emperor's Children marines. Solomon rushes in to kill them, which the two of them do easily. Only once they are dead does he realise that they too, were Istvaan loyalists. Lucius was the real traitor all along, and he fatally wounds Solomon before the latter could react. Lucius twists the knife in Solomon's back one last time by declaring him, Tarvitz and all the other loyalists to be fools, and that he will not die with them. Solomon sheds a single tear as he dies and sees the skies begin to rain.
** Serena D'Angelus's subplot is one long BreakTheCutie TearJerker with sides of NightmareFuel. A kind and gentle painter who is friends with Ostian Delafour, she is one of the Remembrancers sent down to the Laer homeworld after the conquest. Serena only goes after Ostian convinces her to, and she ends up getting infected by the Laer Temple's Slaaneshi taint. The corruption preys on her already existing low self-esteem and convinces her that her work, which is actually extremely good, is sub-par and that she is a fraud. She slowly begins going mad, and when Ostian attempts to help her, she insults him for his pity. This results in him severing ties with her, and when he leaves she begs him not to. After this, she seduces another Remembrancer and brings him to her room, sleeps with him and murders him at the climax, using his blood and other bodily fluids for paint. After a long period of blankness, where it is implied she did this a lot more, the corruption fades and she seeks out the one person she thinks might be able to help her, only to find that Ostian has already been murdered, and that he was only trying to help her. With nothing left, Serena declares that she loved Ostian but was too afraid to tell him. She then kills herself by driving herself onto the same marble blade that Ostian is impaled on, marking the end of a tragedy that shows just how insidious the taint of Slaanesh is.

* The confrontation between Sanguinius and Alotros in the beginning of ''Fear To Tread''. Alotros has succumbed to the Red Thirst, which, unlike the Black Rage, predates the Horus Heresy and has slowly begun to emerge among the Blood Angels Legion. Alotros is drinking the blood of fallen Nephilim, and Sanguinius tries to reason with him, hoping against hope that he can bring his gene-son from the depths of insanity. Alotros stares at his Primarch for moment, then attacks him, forcing Sanguinius to kill him in self-defense just as much as it was giving Alotros [[MercyKill the Emperor's Peace]]. For years fans have speculated that Sanguinius's presence might be able to bring Blood Angels back from the depths of the Flaw. As of ''Fear To Tread'', that theory is {{Jossed}} with extreme prejudice.

* Despite his mercurial nature and insufferable bitterness, Perturabo is shown to be so much more than what anyone ever percieved him to be. He had a genuine capacity for kindness and a desire to improve human society, something that was never displayed to the greater Imperium. Perturabo sums up his misery in a quote to Fulgrim in ''Angel Exterminatus'':

** His actual dreams are equally sad. His ideal world is one where he's designed beautiful, functional cities that are the centre of culture, learning, and every other civilised virtue. He's doesn't even want to rule over these cities. And Perturabo knows that it will never ever come to pass.

** The events of ''Perturabo: The Hammer of Olympia'' is the last straw that ensures that Perturabo shall never realize his dreams of creating beautiful, utopian cities for his people. After brutally crushing a revolt on his homeworld and killing his adoptive sister in a fit of rage, Perturabo has a devastating HeelRealization that lasts for hours until his gene-son Forrix finds him. Perturabo almost breaks down in front of him completely, and knowing that the Emperor would never forgive him for what he'd done, Perturabo finally decides to join Horus' side. Perturabo goes so far as to call himself worse than [[AxCrazy Curze]], stating that the Night Hunter's heinous deeds can at least be explained by his insanity. The Lord of Iron has no such excuse.
* The state Vulkan is in after ''Vulkan Lives''. Captured by Konrad Curze, it was discovered during his torture that Vulkan was a Perpetual, a being who cannot die. Enraged that he couldn't kill him, Curze repeatedly killed Vulkan, destroying his mind. By the time he managed to find his hammer ''Dawnbringer'', which had a built in teleporter, he was devolving into a raving maniac. The teleport function allowed him to escape the ''Nightfall'', but he teleported into Macragge's atmosphere and burned up on reentry, and survived again. Unfortunately, when discovered by the Ultramarines in ''The Unremembered Empire'', the constant deaths had driven Vulkan completely insane (even by 40k's broad definition of the word) trying to attack everyone he saw. The Cabal, the group responsible for the Alpha Legion's defection to Horus, wanted Vulkan killed to prevent him from returning to Terra and helping the Emperor, but Eldrad Ulthran told John Grammaticus that by using a fulgurite spear imbued with the Emperor's psychic lighting could heal Vulkan's mind instead of kill him. Grammaticus stabbed Vulkan, but it failed and Vulkan died. We get a brief HopeSpot where Guilliman and a group of Salamanders maintain that Vulkan merely needs time to heal (one Salamander thinks he heard a heartbeat) until we learn the name of the preservation capsule containing Vulkan's body: The ''Unbound Flame'', the last and most mysterious of the Artefacts of Vulkan that the Salamanders believe their Primarch left for them to find when he departed. However, the tragedy was fortunately averted in ''Deathfire'' and ''Old Earth'', as Vulkan did came back to life, with his sanity restored. It did take him longer than usual, and his body got stolen for a bit, before he was returned to Nocturne, where he revived.

** This entire story is a TearJerker. The Emperor and Horus had such a good relationship with each other, and at the end of the story they set course for the place where it all begins to go wrong. Ullanor. It's heartbreakingly sad seeing these two so close, knowing that soon they'll be enemies and that the Horus we're seeing now is soon going to be gone and replaced by the evil Warmaster Horus.
** It's also a TearJerker because we get to see all the familiar faces of the Luna Wolves, before the NightmareFuel that was Istvaan III. Tarik Torgaddon and Hastur Sejanus joking with each other over strategy, Horus Aximand being the voice of reason, and Abaddon striving to make his Primarch proud. [[NothingIsTheSameAnymore They shall never be like this ever again.]]

** The scene where Cerberus (who fans of the series will already have recognized as Gavriel Loken) returns to the place where he was nearly slain and speak to his brother... who is long dead. He is a broken, tormented thing, trapped in a literal hell, unable to die and unable to remember what happened to him. Every time he tries to remember, he suffers beyond imagination, and yet he tries, again and again, desperate to understand what happened - and to remember the name of his dead brother...
* ''Deathfire'': Numeon's mental breakdown and suicide at the end. His despairing thoughts and having just enough strength left to end his own life - and in the belief that others will be better for it - will be sadly familiar to readers who've been in the same boat.

** When Sanguinius is confronted by Konrad Curze, the Angel sees first-hand how broken the Night Haunter is through his hellish childhood on Nostramo, [[WretchedHive a world filled with the worst of humanity that slid right back into depravity after Curze tried to 'save' it.]] Sanguinius learns of Curze being constantly bombarded by visions of his death and how miserable the galaxy is going to become. Curze always believed his brothers hated him because he was eerie and hard to be around, a fact that Sanguinius knows isn't true and tries to tell him, but Curze is too far gone to listen. The entire scene basically shows that underneath his monstrous qualities, Konrad Curze is somebody who tried so damn hard to be a better person, but could never quite reach that goal.

** Prior to the defense of Sotha, a small band of Loyalist Iron Warriors led by Dantioch are defending the planet of Lesser Damantyne from the traitor forces. After a standard Terran year, the Loyalists are overrun and forced to evacuate their stronghold through a network of subterranean caverns. One of Dantioch's men is the Venerable Dreadnaught Vastopol, who opens up a rock wall so that his brothers can pass through and proceed to the extraction point. However, due to a stairway collapsing and a rocket barrage from the traitors, Vastopol is critically injured and can no longer proceed. Unwilling to leave him behind, Dantioch orders his men to rip out Vastopol's remains from his Dreadnought and cram him into an ancient suit of Mark III Power Armor, knowing full well that Vastopol would die no matter what they did. Vastopol ends up ''wrenching his own casket open with his power claw'' so his fellow Iron Warriors can drag his ruined body to safety.

** Despite their allegiances, the fates of Night Lords Kellendvar and Kellenkir, who are biological brothers, is still a very sad one. Kellenkir becomes tainted through contact with a Daemon Weapon and ends up being mercy killed by the little brother he once protected when they were children. Kellenkir dies wishing he'd killed his younger sibling years ago. The act destroys Kellendvar inside, which leads him to accept that his Primarch was right - there is no such thing as hope. When the Ultramarines corner Kellendvar, the Night Lord simply stands up and lets them kill him.

** When Yesugei is wrenched out of existence, Revuel and Ilya are both wracked by pain and grief, and Jaghatai unravels entirely. The fires of war has consumed the lives of his sons, and the life of his closest companion on Chogoris. The primarch staggers and drops to one knee, before [[SkywardScream crying out to the sky]] [[DeathWail in absolute despair]].

* The ending of the short story ''Blackshield'' certainly counts. The story follows a former member of the Deathshroud, Mortarion's bodyguard, who became jaded from the Death Guard when Mortarion started using sorcery and Daemons. Since it went against all Mortarion had preached before, he left the Death Guard and took back his old name, Khorak. He runs into a Blackshield named Morturg who also used to be a Death Guard, but was supposedly killed on Istvaan III. At first it seems like the two of them might team up, but one of Khorak's men shoots Morturg who doesn't die. Khorak, still hating sorcery, assumes it's because Morturg is a psyker when in reality it's because Morturg is mostly cybernetic. Despite Morturg trying to explain everything, Khorak still tries to kill him, but gets killed by Morturg's squad. The whole tragedy could have been avoided if Khorak had been willing to listen, but instead, his hatred that was drilled into him by Mortarion lead to his death.

*** Not wanting to kill his favourite brother, Horus proceeds to offer Sanguinius one last chance to join his cause. Sanguinius, wracked with sadness for how far Horus has fallen, rejects the offer. Their final clash ensues shortly, and at first, Horus refuses to employ the arcane boons that the Chaos Gods have granted him in hopes that maybe, just maybe, he may yet convince the Angel to join him. However, the duel comes to a head when Sanguinius scores a near-fatal hit on Horus and incapacitates him. Sanguinius prepares to deliver the killing blow, but he hesitates for just a second out of pity for his brother. Horus seizes the moment to deflect the attack, and before Sanguinius could fly away, Horus defies time and space itself to grab his brother by the ankle, and smash him into the deck hard enough to crush one of his wings and break most of the bones on the right half of his body. Sanguinius keeps fighting, but Horus hits him with Worldbreaker so hard that he's launched across the room and crashes into Horus' personal chapel to the Chaos Gods. There, surrounded by hundreds of human skulls, a horrified Sanguinius comes face to face with a large, pristine skull with the numeral X imprinted on its forehead.

** [[MindRape Sanguinius' death causes a massive psychic shockwave]] to emanate from the ''Vengeful Spirit'', and every single Blood Angel is immediately overcome with the [[UnstoppableRage Black Rage]]. Blood Angel battle companies break ranks and viciously maul anyone they can, be they enemy, ally, or even their fellow battle-brothers. Not only have the Ninth Legion - the most esteemed and noblest of the Loyalist Legions - lost their Primarch to Horus, they are now doomed to slowly and painfully devolve into violent, cannibalistic savages that begin to see anyone and everyone in the midst of battle as Horus himself.
** The Emperor and Horus' final confrontation aboard the ''Vengeful Spirit'' is one of the most iconic moments in all of 40k. The many artistic depictions of this particular scene (the page image being one such example) makes it easy to forget that this is a scene of a father losing His most beloved son.

*** When Horus slithers out of the shadows to confront his father one last time, The Emperor glares at the Warmaster's direction and seemingly asks Horus why he killed His son. After Horus gleefully mocks the Emperor and His failings as a father and ruler, the Emperor only repeats one word in response: '''+Why?+'''. After Horus tries to explain that he offered Sanguinius a place by his side and that he refused, once again the Emperor asks: '''+Why?+'''. Horus then realizes that even though the Emperor is facing his way, He is not talking to him. The Emperor is directly talking to Khorne, Tzeentch, Nurgle and Slaanesh, who have come to witness the end of the Imperium and are looming behind the Warmaster. A crestfallen Horus realizes that his father already considers him dead.

** The Emperor launches one last desparate assault on Horus, and He finally overpowers him by shining the reactivated light of the Astronomican directly into Horus' eyes. An agonized Horus tries to draw the breath of the Immaterium once more like he's always done, but he realizes that Khorne, Tzeentch, Nurgle and Slaanesh are deliberately withholding their power from him. It dawns on Horus that he has become fully dependent on the Old Four; and now, they are treating him like a master would treat a disobedient slave. [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone The Warmaster realizes just how far he's fallen, the sheer magnitude of what he's done, why the Emperor despised Chaos the way he did, and that he's condemned the human species to a slow, agonizing extinction. Despite all the power the Chaos Gods have given him, Horus was and always had been a mere pawn in the Great Game.]] This realization, alongside his connection to the Immaterium being substantially reduced and the Astronomican's brilliance clearing his mind, ends up reverting Horus back to normal. However, the Warmaster asks his father to kill him before the Ruinous Powers take hold of his mind once more. Despite His initial hesitation, the Emperor obliges, imbuing Oll's anatheme blade with all of His remaining power before using it to kill His most beloved son. [[GoOutWithASmile As his soul is erased from existence and his body is reduced to an ashen skeleton, Horus smiles sadly as he fades away.]]

** Honestly, the fate of the entire Death Guard legion could qualify as one giant tearjereker. Calas Typhon strands his traitorous brothers in the warp and offers them up to Nurgle, whose blessings made a mockery of their vaunted immune systems. Several of the Death Guard loyalists became founding members of the Inquisition, arguably one of the reasons why life in the Imperium sucks as much as it does.

* The deaths of Phosis T'kar, Auramagma, Uthizzar and many of the Thousand Sons in their titular book.
** T'kar's death is one of the hardest. He butchers his way through a horde of Space Wolves and Sisters of Silence, finally reaching the legendary Constantin Valdor who calls him a monster. T'kar sees his reflection in Valdor's armour and realises he has mutated, very extremely. Before he dies he closes his eyes, sheds a tear and responds to Valdor's insult with ''"I know."''
*** When Ahriman is told of this he realises that he did indeed consider T'kar a friend, and he is hurt that it took his death to realise that.
** A large part of ''A Thousand Sons'' qualifies, as it recounts the fall of one of the most loyal Space Marine legions. Not only were the Thousand Sons some of the best and most open minded scholars in the Imperium, most of them treated baseline humans with kindness and lent their psychich talents into making their homeworld a paradise. [[FateWorseThanDeath Too bad that they became unwitting pawns of Tzentech.]]
** Magnus's MyGodWhatHaveIDone moment is one of the most poignant scenes in the entire Heresy. In the previous scene, he executes his plan to warn the Emperor of Horus's treachery, using a powerful spell fuelled by his most potent sorcerers and their thralls to shatter the anti-psyker wards the Emperor had erected in the base of the palace. This was to be his greatest triumph, his proof to his father that Nikaea was wrong and that psychic powers could be used for good. It all goes wrong - Magnus appears in the Imperial laboratories as a horrendous abomination, and when he and the Emperor's minds touch does Magnus realizes that he has ruined His plans beyond repair. His folly had destroyed the delicate wards holding back the Immaterium and sundered any chance for the Emperor to complete His greatest work; his treachery had closed off a future where He was to use the awesome might of the Golden Throne to help humanity rule the stars without relying on the Warp. It dawns on Magnus that him and his legion were to be hunted down and destroyed by the Space Wolves for their defiance of the Emperor's will. Upon returning to his corporeal body, he flees to his chambers and destroys them in a guilt-wracked rage, before [[RedemptionEqualsDeath beginning to lay out the plans to render Prospero defenseless]].

* Hell, the entire plotline of Prospero Burns and A Thousand Sons. Two brothers, almost polar opposites, but on the same side; one tries desperately to warn their father of an impending disaster, the other begs, even as he is on the way to kill his sibling, for the other to stand down and set aside what he sees as foolish heresy. Both brothers genuinely just want the best for the other. But Daemons, distrust and plain old terrible luck conspire to see the destruction of the two most deadly threats to Horus. Just to emphasise: Leman Russ and Magnus The Red disliked, distrusted and '''loved''' each other.
** One of the saddest scenes in the razing of Prospero is that Leman Russ actually ''tried'' to call to Magnus to surrender... but it was through Kasper Hawser, whom the Vlka Fenrika believed to be an unwitting spy of Thousand Sons (but he was of Chaos). Only after Prospero's destruction did they learn the truth... but it was too late for both Legions.

** Sanguinius, Dorn, Vulkan and the Custodes try to help Malcador walk up the steps of the Golden Throne's dais, knowing full well that he will never walk down from them again. When the Emperor stands up from the Throne, Malcador is momentarily overwhelmed by His sheer psychic might that he nearly cracks his head on the steps. Sanguinius and Rogal get him back on his feet, and Malcador asks them to forgive his old legs. Seeing the second-most powerful psyker in the Imperium as the decrepit old man he usually pretends to be is sobering.

*** As Malcador's body burns away and the Golden Throne's psychic radiance immolates the dais and the surrounding area, the Custodes, Sisters of Silence, and other Imperial personnel in the vicinity immediately back away from it. Not Vulcan. He draws as close as he can safely be to the Golden Throne, beseeching Malcador to keep his body and mind together for as long as he can.

*** Despite the death and madness that has resulted from the ugliest civil war in human history, Sanguinius' myriad injuries, and Horus being fully and directly empowered by the Ruinous Powers, the two brothers admit that they're glad to see each other again.
*** Not wanting to kill his favourite brother, Horus proceeds to offer Sanguinius one last chance to join his cause. Sanguinius, wracked with sadness for how far Horus has fallen, rejects the offer. Their final clash ensues shortly, and at first, Horus refuses to employ the arcane boons that the Chaos Gods have granted him in hopes that maybe, just maybe, he may yet convince the Angel to join him. However, the duel comes to a head when Sanguinius scores a near-fatal hit on Horus and incapacitates him. Sanguinius prepares to deliver the killing blow, but he hesitates for just a second out of pity for his brother. Horus seizes the moment to deflect the attack, and before Sanguinius could fly away, Horus defies time and space itself to grab his brother by the ankle and smash him into the deck hard enough to crush one of his wings, and break most of the bones on the right half of his body. Sanguinius keeps fighting, but Horus hits him with Worldbreaker so hard that he's launched across the room and crashes into Horus' personal chapel to the Chaos Gods. There, surrounded by hundreds of human skulls, a horrified Sanguinius comes face to face with a large, pristine skull with the numeral X imprinted on its forehead.

*** It's often agreed, in-universe and out, that Sanguinius was the only primarch who could have even come close to filling the Emperor's gold-plated shoes after he wound up on the Throne and perhaps even kept the Imperium from deteriorating into the stagnant, brutal, superstitious regime it would become. With his death, one of the Imperium's last, best hopes is forever snuffed out.

** The Emperor launches one last final, desparate assault on Horus, and He finally overpowers him by shining the reactivated light of the Astronomican directly into Horus' eyes. An agonized Horus tries to draw on the Chaos Gods' power once more like he's always done, but he realizes that Khorne, Tzeentch, Nurgle and Slaanesh are deliberately withholding their power from him. It dawns on Horus that he has become fully dependent on the Old Four; and now, they are treating him like a master would treat a disobedient slave. [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone The Warmaster realizes just how far he's fallen, the sheer magnitude of what he's done, why the Emperor despised Chaos the way he did, and that he's condemned the human species to a slow, agonizing extinction. Despite all the power the Chaos Gods have given him, Horus was and always had been a mere pawn in the Great Game.]] This realization, alongside his connection to the Immaterium being substantially reduced and the Astronomican's brilliance clearing his mind, ends up reverting Horus back to normal. However, the Warmaster asks his father to kill him before the Ruinous Powers take hold of his mind once more. Despite His initial hesitation, the Emperor obliges, imbuing Oll's anatheme blade with all of His remaining power before using it to kill His most beloved son. [[GoOutWithASmile As his soul is erased from existence and his body is reduced to an ashen skeleton, Horus smiles sadly as he fades away.]]

*** After the Emperor and Sanguinius' body are taken back to Terra, Loken stays behind, feeling that ''somebody'' should stand vigil over his fallen gene-father. Abbadon and his personal guard happen upon Loken weeping over Horus' body; utterly exhausted by everything they had gone through, the two remaining members of the Mournival talk as brothers one final time. Loken pleads with Abaddon to surrender, promising that he will defend and speak on behalf of Abaddon and their battle-brothers before Dorn, Guilliman and the other loyalist Primarchs. Abaddon considers it, and it seems like there might be a ''chance'', even at this very last moment, to end the war with some semblance of peace...[[BackStab before Erebus appears from nowhere and kills Loken by stabbing him in the back.]] The last loyal member of Horus' Mournival was there to witness the rise and fall of his gene-father, his Emperor, and the Imperium he'd sworn to protect, and how is he rewarded? By being put down like a dog by the man who orchestrated this apocalyptic war in the first place.
*** To rub extra salt in the wound, it's heavily implied that Loken's soul is destined to reincarnate into the daemon Samus - in the same vein as Meros of the Blood Angels, one of the Imperium's staunchest, most ardent defenders is corrupted by the Ruinous Powers and transformed into an enemy of humanity. Unlike Meros, who allowed Chaos to claim his soul to save his Primarch, Loken's soul is doomed by one last act of betrayal that was no fault of his own.

** The Razing of Monarchia and the censure of the Word Bearers Legion is a definitive tearjerker. Lorgar and his Legion believed in His divinity. Lorgar even penned a bible dedicated to his God, and the Word Bearers went from planet to planet proselytizing the worship of the Emperor. The Word Bearers built grand statues and cathedrals dedicated to their deity, and Lorgar converted the populations of entire planets into worshipping his father. How did the Emperor reward their faith? By having the city and population of Monarchia [[note]]also known as the Perfect City, and was one of the Word Bearer's crowning achievements[[/note]] burned to ash by Roboute Guilliman and his Ultramarines. The Emperor psychically forces Lorgar and his entire legion to kneel in the ruins of the city, and then admonishing the Word Bearers for their efforts (which had been allowed to occur for the better part of a century)[[note]]Technically speaking, The Ultramarines ordered the people to evacuate the city, gunning down those who resisted. However by the time the Word Bearers arrived to the planet, only seven survivors were found.[[/note]] with the implication that they better straighten up or they would be purged from existence. Whatever your beliefs or philosophies, it's heartbreaking for witness such a devout and pious son be to be slapped down so hard by the figure he believed in with all of his heart. No wonder Lorgar and his gene-sons turned to Chaos! It all just goes to show that the Horus Heresy could have been avoided if the Emperor treated his Primarchs more like people instead of tools for galactic conquest.

* When Guilliman finally catches up with Lorgar in ''Betrayer,'' the look of total, all consuming hatred on Roboute's face makes Lorgar realize that Guilliman never despised him the way Lorgar had always assumed he had. It's not quite a MyGodWhatHaveIDone moment, but it speaks volumes that Lorgar feels ashamed that so many of his actions have been led by an entirely false opinion of his brother, and feels a need to try and justify his actions.
* Another TearJerker tied into this comes from a short story in the anthology ''The Silent War'' where Malcador tells one of his agents that if he could save just one of the Traitor Primarchs from their fall to Chaos, he would've saved Lorgar despite his intense hatred of the Sigilite (to the point that Lorgar struck Malcador in the face after Monarchia and threatened to kill him if he ever crossed Lorgar again). Malcador also admits that [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone they dealt with Lorgar in far too harsh a manner on Monarchia]], as well as noting that had they dealt with some of the Primarchs of the Traitor Legions and their respective past issues and trauma in a better way, citing the Council of Nikaea as an obvious example, they might have avoided all this tragedy.

** Uriah grew up as a spoiled brat and grew into a sleazy, hedonistic hired gun that saw the Emperor as another one of the many tyrants vying for control of Terra. In Franc, he saw firsthand the Thunder Warriors ''[[CurbStompBattle massacre]]'' the rebel army he fought for, passing out after a piece of bone shrapnel nearly pierced his spinal cord. A man, who lived only for himself and thought of himself as invincible, could do nothing but ''watch'' the precursors to the Adeptus Astartes slaughter his brothers in arms like animals even as they threw down their weapons and ''begged'' for their lives. After regaining consciousness and seeing nothing but a field of people [[SceneryGorn smashed and pulped]] beyond recognition, Uriah wept, [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone realizing]] that all he did in life was hurt people for the sake of his own selfishness. It was then that he saw a vision of a massive, shining figure clad in golden armor, telling him that He was the only truth and the only way. After returning home to find his family tortured and killed by Skandian raiders, his return to alcoholism was stopped by the sight of the Church of the Lightning Stone and the memory of his vision. Uriah devoted the rest of his life to the service of the divine... Only to realize, in the last minutes of his life, that his vision of "God" was in fact the Emperor, that his faith was built on a misunderstanding, that he was the last priest on the planet and the church he called home was to be burned to the ground. All in the name of the Imperial Truth.

* The Fall of Horus: The [[IncorruptiblePurePureness pure]] [[WideEyedIdealist idealistic]] and utterly good Horus [[FallenHero becoming]] the BigBad.
** Worse: he tried to prevent the future when he and some of his brothers would be condemned and forgotten, and his "father" would be worshipped as god... Only to cause exactly this by his rebellion.

** After recieving word from Saul Tarvitz that Exterminatus-class weaponry is about to be deployed on Isstvan III, Ullis temeter immediately orders his men to take shelter in subterranean bunkers. As Temeter flees with his men, he looks up to the sky and asks to himself just who would do something so abominable as to betray their fellow man.

** As the warheads containing the life-eater virus breach Isstvan's atmosphere, Huron-Fal yells at Temeter to get inside the bunker, stating that the virus wouldn't be able to seep into his armor. Temeter refuses, trying to save as many of his battle-brothers as he can. When the bombs detonate and every living being on Isstvan III is reduced to putrefied slurry, Temeter becomes infected with the virus and yells at his fellow Death Guard to close the hatch. As the virus bypasses his armor's filtration systems, lesions begin forming on his skin and his limbs start to dissolve, Temeter can only pray that the bunker was closed in time. Huron-Fal catches Temeter as he falls, and reprimands him for not going in the bunker with the rest of his men. As Temeter discards his now-useless helmet, he discovers that Huron-Fal's chassis had sustained enough damage to render him vulnerable to the life-eater. When Temeter asks Huron-Fal why he lied, the latter simply states that it was his duty as a veteran to put the safety of his unit above his own.

*** Not wanting to kill his favourite brother, Horus proceeds to offer Sanguinius one last chance to join his cause. Sanguinius, wracked with sadness for how far Horus has fallen, rejects the offer. Their final clash ensues shortly, and at first, Horus refuses to employ the arcane boons that the Chaos Gods have granted him, in hopes that maybe, just maybe, he may yet convince the Angel to join him. However, the duel comes to a head when Sanguinius scores a near-fatal hit on Horus and is about to deliver the killing blow, but hesitates for just a second out of pity for his brother. Horus seizes the moment to deflect the blow, and before Sanguinius could fly away, Horus defies time and space itself to grab his brother by the ankle and smashes him into the deck - hard enough to crush one of his wings and break most of the bones on the right half of his body. Sanguinius keeps fighting, but Horus hits him with Worldbreaker so hard that he's launched across the room and crashes into Horus' personal chapel to the Chaos gods. There, surrounded by hundreds of human skulls, a horrified Sanguinius beholds a larger, pristine skull with the numeral X imprinted on its forehead.

** The Emperor and Horus' final confrontation aboard the ''Vengeful Spirit'' is one of the most iconic moments in all of 40k. The many artistic depictions of this particular scene (the page image being one such depiction) makes it easy to forget that this is a scene of a father losing His most beloved son.
*** When the Emperor boards the ''Vengeful Spirit'' and arrives at Lupercal Court, He sees Sanguinius' lifeless, crucified body. The Ruinous Powers have claimed two of His greatest sons - one of which was seduced by powers beyond his understanding, the other killed for defending a species an unholy pantheon considers nothing more than food. Despite the Emperor casting off most (if not all) of His emotion to prevent His ascension into the Dark King, His psychic reaction to seeing Sanguinus' corpse is palpably filled with anger and sorrow.

** The real story behind the myth of Ollanius Pius, the guardsman who gave his life defending the wounded Emperor from Horus, has been theorized by the fanbase for a long time. Most people believe that Ollanius truly existed, and was a Guardsman. Some speculate that it was a Space Marine who sacrificed themselves to the Warmaster. Other people argue that only a Custodian could be aboard the ''Vengeful Spirit'' during the final duel of the Heresy. In truth, [[TheReveal all three of these theories are true - a Guardsman, a Space Marine, and a Custodian stand in Horus' way during his climactic battle with the Emperor,]] and each of their last stands are heartbreaking in their own way.
*** The Custodian is Caecaltus Dusk and the first to sacrifice his life in defense of the Emperor. He arrives to see Horus impaling the Emperor with his Talon and dragging Him towards a crude throne of Chaos, intent on nailing Him on it and having Him serve as the Warmaster's eternal slave. Dusk throws himself between the two, sacrificing himself so that Leetu can tear the Emperor free. After failing to atomize Caecaltus' body with an energy beam from the Serpent's Scales, the Warmaster recites [[IKnowYourTrueName every one of Dusk's six hundred and ten names]] to obliterate the Custodian from existence.

*** Oll Persson is the Guardsman. He teleports into the ''Vengeful Spirit'' alongside John Grammaticus after Horus critically injures the Emperor. As he futilely tries to fend off Horus, Oll is ''pleading'' with the Emperor to stand back up. Oll promises that if He gets back on his feet, he will serve the Emperor once more, reminding Him of the great dream He sought to accomplish. Oll's final act is to defiantly fire at Horus with his lasrifle, even as the Warmaster turns him into a fine red mist with his Talon.

*** Finally, the Space Marine is Garviel Loken, but this sacrifice ends up being subverted. Appealing to his pride, Garviel tells Horus that he has triumphed over the Emperor, and that he no longer needs the Chaos Gods' blessings. The Emperor deliberately chose not to drink from the Immaterium and ascend to godhood; If Horus truly wanted to prove himself the Emperor's better, he should give up his power and kill Him as a primarch, or else he'd be no better than his father. Horus proceeds to do so, rescinding the foul blessings of the Chaos Gods before crushing the Emperor's head with Worldbreaker. However, it turns out that Horus destroyed an apparition of his father; and it was not the only one. 'Loken' ultimately reveals himself to be a psychic illusion created by the Emperor, and the Emperor declares that his son truly is lost.
** The Emperor launches one last final, desparate assault on Horus, and He finally overpowers him by shining the reactivated light of the Astronomican directly into Horus' eyes. An agonized Horus tries to draw on the Chaos Gods' power once more like he's always done, but he realizes that Khorne, Tzeentch, Nurgle and Slaanesh are deliberately withholding their power from him. It dawns on Horus that he has become fully dependent on the Old Four; and now, they are treating him like a master would treat a disobedient slave. [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone The Warmaster realizes just how far he's fallen, the sheer magnitude of what he's done, why the Emperor despised Chaos the way he did, and that he's condemned the human species to a slow, agonizing extinction. Despite all the power the Chaos Gods have given him, Horus was and always had been a mere pawn in the Great Game.]] This realization, alongside the Chaos Gods taking back their power and the Astronomican's brilliance clearing his mind, ends up reverting Horus back to normal. However, the Warmaster asks his father to kill him before the Ruinous Powers take hold of his mind once more. Despite His initial hesitation, the Emperor obliges, imbuing Oll's anatheme blade with all of His power and using it to kill His most beloved son. [[GoOutWithASmile As his soul is erased from existence and his body is reduced to an ashen skeleton, Horus smiles sadly as he fades away.]]

** With Horus dead, the daemons forced back into the Warp, and the traitorous marines retreat, the Blood Angels are freed from the Black Rage remembering nothing of what happened. When the surviving Blood Angels on the ''Vengeful Spirit'' make their way to Lupercal's Court, they find Sanguinius' corpse waiting for them.

*** After the Emperor and Sanguinius' body are taken back to Terra, Loken stays behind, feeling that ''somebody'' should stand vigil over his fallen gene-father. Abbadon and his personal guard happen upon Loken weeping over Horus' body; utterly exhausted by everything they had gone through, the two remaining members of the Mournival talk as brothers one final time. Loken pleads with Abaddon to surrender, promising that he will defend and speak on behalf of Abaddon and their battle-brothers before Dorn, Guilliman and the other loyalist Primarchs. Abaddon considers it, and it seems like there might be a ''chance'', even at this very last moment, to end the war with some semblance of peace...[[BackStab before Erebus appears from nowhere and kills Loken by stabbing him in the back.]] The last loyal member of Horus' Mournival was there to witness the rise and fall of his gene-father and the Imperium he'd sworn to protect, and how is he rewarded? By being put down like a dog by the man who orchestrated this apocalyptic war in the first place.

*** When the Emperor boards the ''Vengeful Spirit'' and arrives at Lupercal Court, He sees Sanguinius' lifeless, crucified body. The Ruinous Powers have claimed two of His greatest sons - one of which was seduced by powers beyond his understanding, the other killed for defending a species an unholy pantheon considers nothing more than food. Despite Emperor casting off most (if not all) of His emotion to prevent His ascension into the Dark King, His psychic reaction to seeing Sanguinus' corpse is palpably filled with anger and sorrow.

** With Horus dead and Chaos receding, the Blood Angels are freed from the Black Rage, remembering nothing of what happened. When the surviving Blood Angels on the ''Vengeful Spirit'' make their way to Lupercal's Court, they find Sanguinius' corpse waiting for them.

** As one of the main POV characters during the first three books of the series, Garviel Loken was, for many readers, the gateway character to the events of the Literature/HorusHeresy. His final fate is nothing short of an agonizing punch to the gut.

*** When the Emperor arrives at the central chamber of the ''Vengeful Spirit,'' He sees Sanguinius' lifeless, crucified body. The Ruinous Powers have claimed two of His greatest sons - one was seduced by powers beyond his understanding, the other killed for defending a species an unholy pantheon considers nothing more than food. While the Emperor had rid Himself of all emotion to prevent His ascension into a fifth Chaos God, but when the Emperor witnessess Sanguinius' body, the anger and sadness in his psychic words are palpable:

*** When Horus steps into the fray, The Emperor glares at the Warmaster's direction and seemingly asks Horus why he killed His son. After Horus gleefully mocks the Emperor and His failings as a father and ruler, the Emperor only repeats one word in response: '''+Why?+'''. After Horus tries to explain that he offered Sanguinius a place by his side and that he refused, once again the Emperor asks: '''+Why?+'''. Horus then realizes that even though the Emperor is facing his way, He is not talking to him. The Emperor is directly talking to Khorne, Tzeentch, Nurgle and Slaanesh, who are looming behind the Warmaster, and have come to witness the end and the death of the Imperium. A crestfallen Horus realizes that his father already considers him dead.
** The real story behind the myth of Ollanius Pius, the guardsman who gave his life defending the wounded Emperor from Horus, has been theorized by the fanbase for a long time. Some people believed that Ollanius truly was a Guardsman, others speculate that it was a Space Marine who stood between Him and the Warmaster, and others argue that only a Custodian could be aboard the ''Vengeful Spirit'' during the final duel of the Heresy. In truth, [[TheReveal all three of these theories are true - a Guardsman, a Space Marine, and a Custodian stand in Horus' way during his climactic battle with the Emperor,]] and each of their sacrifices are heartbreaking in their own way.

** The real story behind the myth of Ollanius Pius, the guardsman who gave his life defending the wounded Emperor from Horus, has been theorized by the fanbase for a long time. Some people believed that Ollanius truly was a Guardsman, others speculate that it was a Space Marine who stood between Him and the Warmaster, and others argue that only a Custodian could be aboard the ''Vengeful Spirit'' during the final duel of the Heresy. In truth, [[TheReveal all three of these theories are true - a Guardsman, a Custodian, and a Space Marine stand in Horus' way during his climactic battle with the Emperor,]] and each of their sacrifices are heartbreaking in their own way.

*** The Custodian is Caecaltus Dusk, who arrives to see Horus impaling the Emperor with his Talon and dragging Him towards a crude throne of Chaos, intent on nailing Him on it and having Him serve as the Warmaster's eternal slave. Dusk throws himself between the two, sacrificing himself so that Leetu can tear the Emperor free. After failing to atomize Caecaltus' body with an energy beam from the Serpent's Scales, the Warmaster recites [[IKnowYourTrueName every one of Dusk's six hundred and ten names]] to obliterate the Custodian from existence.

** The real story behind the myth of Ollanius Pious, the guardsman who gave his life defending the wounded Emperor from Horus, has been theorized by the fanbase for a long time. Some people believed that Ollanius truly was a Guardsman, others speculate that it was a Space Marine who stood between Him and the Warmaster, and others argue that only a Custodian could be aboard the ''Vengeful Spirit'' during the final duel of the Heresy. In truth, [[TheReveal all three of these theories are true - a Guardsman, a Custodian, and a Space Marine stand in Horus' way during his climactic battle with the Emperor,]] and each of their sacrifices are heartbreaking in their own way.
*** Oll Persson is the Guardsman, and the first to sacrifice his life in defense of the Emperor. He teleports into the ''Vengeful Spirit'' alongside John Grammaticus after Horus critically injures the Emperor. As he futilely tries to fend off Horus, Oll is ''pleading'' with the Emperor to stand back up. Oll promises that if He gets back on his feet, he will serve the Emperor once more, reminding Him of the great dream He sought to accomplish. Oll's final act is to defiantly fire at Horus with his lasrifle, even as the Warmaster turns him into a fine red mist with his Talon.
--->'''Oll:''' No further! I won't let you touch him!

-->''[[HiddenDepths You don't know my dreams, brother.]] Nobody does. Nobody ever cared enough to find out.''

*** When Horus' final blow comes, it's surprisingly understated, which somehow makes it even sadder. Horus stabs his brother with his Talon and raises his mangled body into the air, until the both of them are face-to-face. Horus expects the noblest, most beloved of the primarchs to have some last words or heroic declaration to herald the end of his life. However, Sanguinius is drowning in his own blood, and can no longer speak. Horus takes in the gurgling, pathetic ''thing'' that Sanguinius has been reduced to, and he sighs in disappointment as he crushes the Angel's body in his grasp.

*** When the Emperor arrives at the central chamber of the ''Vengeful Spirit,'' He sees Sanguinius' lifeless, crucified body. The Ruinous Powers have claimed two of His greatest sons - one was seduced by powers beyond his understanding, the other killed for defending a species an unholy pantheon considers nothing more than food. While the Emperor had rid Himself of all emotion to prevent His ascension into a fifth Chaos God, it's undeniable His words when he sees Sanguinius' corpse are filled with anger and sadness.

** The Emperor launches one last final, desparate assault on Horus, and He finally overpowers him by shining the reactivated light of the Astronomican directly into Horus' eyes. An agonized Horus tries to draw on the Chaos Gods' power once more like he's always done, but he realizes that Khorne, Tzeentch, Nurgle and Slaanesh are deliberately withholding their power from him. It dawns on Horus that he has become fully dependent on the Old Four; and now, they are treating him like a master would treat a disobedient slave. [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone The Warmaster realizes just how far he's fallen, the sheer magnitude of what he's done, why the Emperor despised Chaos the way he did, and that he's condemned the human species to a slow, agonizing extinction. Despite all the power the Chaos Gods have given him, Horus was and always had been a mere pawn in the Great Game.]] This realization, alongside the Chaos Gods taking back their power and the Astronomican's brilliance clearing his mind, ends up reverting Horus back to normal. However, the Sixteenth Primarch asks his father to kill him before the Ruinous Powers take hold of his mind once more. The Emperor hesitates, yet he ultimately obliges, imbuing Oll's anatheme blade with all of His power and using it to kill His most beloved son. [[GoOutWithASmile As his soul is erased from existence and his body is reduced to an ashen skeleton, Horus smiles sadly as he fades away.]]

** When Horus steps into the fray, The Emperor glares at the Warmaster's direction and seemingly asks Horus why he killed His son. After Horus gleefully mocks the Emperor and His failings as a father and ruler, the Emperor only repeats one word in response: '''+Why?+'''. After Horus tries to explain that he offered Sanguinius a place by his side and that he refused, once again the Emperor asks: '''+Why?+'''. Horus then realizes that even though the Emperor is facing his way, He is not talking to him. The Emperor is directly talking to Khorne, Tzeentch, Nurgle and Slaanesh, who are looming behind the Warmaster, and have come to witness the end and the death of the Imperium. A crestfallen Horus realizes that his father already considers him dead.

** The Emperor launches one last final, desparate assault on Horus, and He finally overpowers him by shining the reactivated light of the Astronomican directly into Horus' eyes. An agonized Horus tries to draw on the Chaos Gods' power once more like he's always done, but he realizes that Khorne, Tzeentch, Nurgle and Slaanesh are deliberately withholding their power from him. It dawns on Horus that he has become fully dependent on the Old Four; and now, they are treating him like a master would treat a disobedient slave. The Warmaster realizes just how far he's fallen, the sheer magnitude of what he's done, why the Emperor despised Chaos the way he did, and that he's condemned the human species to a slow, agonizing extinction. Despite all the power the Chaos Gods have given him, Horus was and always had been a mere pawn in the Great Game. Horus asks his father to kill him before the Ruinous Powers take hold of his mind once more. The Emperor obliges, imbuing Oll's anatheme blade with all of His power and stabbing it into his most beloved son. [[GoOutWithASmileAs his entire being is erased from existence, Horus smiles sadly as he fades away.]]

*** Despite the death and madness that has resulted from the ugliest civil war in human history, Sanguinius' myriad injuries, and Horus' irreparable corruption by Chaos, the two brothers admit that they're glad to see each other again.
*** Not wanting to kill his favourite brother, Horus proceeds to offer Sanguinius one last chance to join his cause. Sanguinius, wracked with sadness for how far Horus has fallen, rejects the offer. Their final clash ensues shortly, with both Primarchs giving it their all. Eventually, the duel comes to a head when Sanguinius scores a near-fatal hit on Horus and is about to deliver the killing blow, but hesitates for just a second out of pity for his brother. Horus seizes the moment to deflect the blow, then manages to grab Sanguinius by the ankle and smashes him into the deck, hard enough to crush one of his wings and break most of the bones on the right half of his body. Sanguinius keeps fighting, but Horus hits him with Worldbreaker so hard that he's launched across the room and crashes into Horus' personal chapel to the Chaos gods. There, surrounded by hundreds of human skulls, a horrified Sanguinius beholds a larger, pristine skull with the numeral X imprinted on its forehead.

*** When Horus' final blow comes, it's surprisingly understated, which somehow makes it even sadder. Horus stabs his brother with his Talon and raises his mangled body into the air, until the both of them are face-to-face. Horus expects the noblest, most beloved of the primarchs to have some last words or heroic declaration to herald the end of his life. However, Sanguinius is drowning in his own blood, and can no longer speak. Horus takes in the gurgling, pathetic ''thing'' that Sanguinius has been reduced to, before crushing the Angel's body in his grasp.

*** Oll Persson is the Guardsman, and the first to sacrifice himself in defense of the Emperor. He teleports into the ''Vengeful Spirit'' alongside John Grammaticus after Horus critically injures the Emperor. As he futilely tries to fend off Horus, Oll is ''pleading'' with the Emperor to stand back up. Oll promises that if He gets back on his feet, he will serve the Emperor once more, reminding Him of the great dream He sought to accomplish. Oll's final act is to defiantly fire at Horus with his lasrifle, even as the Warmaster turns him into a fine red mist with his Talon.

*** The Custodian is Caecaltus Dusk, who arrives to see Horus impaling the Emperor with his Talon and dragging Him towards a crude throne of Chaos. Dusk throws himself between the two, sacrificing himself so that Leetu can tear the Emperor free. After Horus atomizes Caecaltus' body with an energy beam from the Serpent's Scales, the Warmaster recites [[IKnowYourTrueName every one of Dusk's six hundred and ten names]] to obliterate the Custodian from existence.

*** Finally, the Space Marine is Garviel Loken, but this sacrifice ends up being subverted. Garviel tells Horus that it's over, that he has triumphed over the Emperor, and that he no longer needs the Chaos Gods' blessings. If Horus truly wanted to supplant the Emperor's tyranny, he should give up his power, or else he'd be no better than his father. Despite their enmity, Horus becomes teary-eyed when he sees Loken again, but he ultimately refuses to rescind the hold Chaos has on his soul. 'Loken' ultimately reveals himself to be a psychic illusion created by the Emperor, and the Emperor declares that his son truly is lost.
** After a painful moment of clarity, Horus realizes just how far he's fallen, the sheer magnitude of what he's done, why the Emperor avoided and despised Chaos the way he did, and that he's condemned the human species to a slow, agonizing extinction. He realizes that despite all the power the Chaos Gods have given him, he was and always had been a puppet, a mere pawn in their Great Game. Horus asks his father to kill him before the Ruinous Powers take hold of his mind once more. The Emperor obliges, stabbing him with the anatheme blade given to Him by Oll. As his entire being is erased from existence, [[GoOutWithASmile Horus smiles sadly as he fades away.]]

* ''Descent of Angels:'' Zahariel, the hero of the Dark Angels' first battle as a legion is sent back to Caliban with Luther, while his cousin Nemiel stays with the main force due to their Primarch;s distrust of psykers. Anyone who knows their fluff knows what happened at Caliban...
** As of "The Primarchs" novella "The Lion", that nightmare scenario has been averted in the worst possible way: During his time in the Crusade, Nemiel became a Brother-Redemptor, the predecessor of the modern Dark Angels' Interrogator-Chaplains. Nemiel is charged with upholding the Edict of Nikaea banning Librarians. When Lion El'Jonson's flagship gets pulled into a warp-rift and Daemons swarm the ''Invincible Reason'', Jonson decides to revoke the Edict of Nikaea after one former-Librarian breaks the Edict and uses his powers to effortlessly destroy one of the Daemons. Nemiel, who is charged with upholding the edict, raises his weapons when all of a sudden, the Lion beheads Nemiel in a split-second. When the ''Invincible Reason'' escapes the Immaterium and returns to Caliban, there's little doubt that Zahariel will learn that [[Phis cousin was killed by their own gene-father.
*** After killing Nemiel, the Lion then says that they'll mourn him later - almost as as if he didn't mean to kill his son. Lion is one of the most Chaos-resistant individuals in the galaxy, having read heretical texts and come out untainted. Despite his percieved immunity to the Ruinous Powers, the sea of souls got to him for just a split second, and it cost him two of the most loyal Astartes in his service. One of the Lion's key character flaws is that he's very bad with people, dealing with social situations, or understanding the perspective of others. He immediately knows he made a mistake killing Nemiel, but it doesn't matter. The deed was done.

* The deaths of Phosis T'kar, Auramagma, Uthizzar and many of the Thousand Sons in ''A Thousand Sons''.

** Magnus's MyGodWhatHaveIDone moment may be one of the most poignant in the entire series. In the previous scene, he executes his plan to warn the Emperor of Horus's treachery, using a powerful spell fuelled by his most potent sorcerers and their thralls to shatter the anti-psyker wards the Emperor had erected in the base of the palace. This was to be his greatest triumph, his proof to his father that Nikaea was wrong and that psychic powers could be used for good. It all goes wrong - Magnus appears in the Imperial laboratories as a horrendous abomination, and when he and the Emperor's minds touch does Magnus realizes that he has ruined His plans beyond repair. His folly had destroyed the delicate wards holding back the Immaterium and sundered any chance for the Emperor to complete His greatest work; his treachery had closed off a future where He was to use the awesome might of the Golden Throne to help humanity rule the stars without relying on the Warp. It dawns on Magnus that him and his legion were to be hunted down and destroyed by the Space Wolves for their defiance of the Emperor's will. Upon returning to his corporeal body, he flees to his chambers and destroys them in a guilt-wracked rage, before [[RedemptionEqualsDeath beginning to lay out the plans to render Prospero defenseless]].

** In Skoia's final moments, she hears with perfect clarity the last thoughts of those around her - whether it be beseeching whoever would listen for help, begging to be let out, religious exultation, or prayers to the Emperor. All of their dying thoughts coalesce into a psychic scream of pure ''suffering'' as the choir of the Astronomican receives its first member.

*** When the Emperor arrives at the central chamber of the ''Vengeful Spirit,'' He sees Sanguinius' lifeless, crucified body. The Ruinous Powers have claimed two of His greatest sons - one was seduced by powers beyond his understanding, the other killed for defending a species an unholy pantheon considers nothing more than food. While the Emperor had rid Himself of all emotion to prevent His ascension into a fifth Chaos God, the words that come out of His mind when he sees Sanguinius' corpse are filled with anger and sadness.

** When Horus steps into the fray, The Emperor glares at the Warmaster's direction and seemingly asks Horus why he killed His son. After Horus gleefully mocks the Emperor and His failings as a father and ruler, the Emperor only repeats one word in response: '''+Why?+'''. After Horus tries to explain that he offered Sanguinius a place by his side, once again, the Emperor asks: '''+Why?+'''. Horus then realizes that even though the Emperor is facing his way, He is not talking to him. The Emperor is directly talking to Khorne, Tzeentch, Nurgle and Slaanesh, who are looming behind the Warmaster, and have come to witness the end and the death of the Imperium. A crestfallen Horus realizes that his father already considers him dead.

*** The Custodian is Caecaltus Dusk, who arrives to see Horus impaling the Emperor with his Talon and dragging Him towards a crude throne of Chaos. Dusk throws himself between the two, sacrificing himself so that Leetu can tear the Emperor free. After Horus atomizes Caecaltus' body with an energy beam from the Serpent's Scales, the Warmaster recites [[IKnowYourTrueName every one of Dusk's 610 names]] to obliterate the Custodian from existence.

*** Finally, the Space Marine is Gavriel Loken, who tells Horus that it's over, that he has triumphed over the Emperor, and that he no longer needs the Chaos Gods' blessings. If Horus truly wanted to supplant the Emperor's tyranny, he should give up his power, or else he'd be no better than his father. Despite their enmity, Horus becomes teary-eyed when he sees Loken again, but he ultimately refuses to rescind the hold Chaos has on his soul. 'Loken' ultimately reveals himself to be a psychic illusion created by the Emperor, and the Emperor declares that his son is lost.

** As one of the main POV characters during the first three books of the series, Gavriel Loken was, for many readers, the gateway character to the events of the Literature/HorusHeresy. His final fate is nothing short of an agonizing punch to the gut.

* ''The Path of Heaven'' features the heroic sacrifice of Stormseer Targutai Yesgeui. With the White Scars trapped by the Death Guard and the Emperor's Children, Yesgeui inters himself inside the Dark Glass, a scaled-down prototype of the Golden Throne that was part of the Emperor's plan to gain control of the Webway and remove the need for the Warp. Yesgeui activates the device to allow his Legion and his primarch to escape to Terra, knowing full well that will die in the process. His last act before the machine consumes him is to telepathically say goodbye to his three closest companions: Revuel Arvida (a Thousand Sons Loyalist), Ilya Ravallion, and Jaghatai Khan.

* On the Warhammer 40K note, the ending of the Horus Heresy novel ''Descent of Angels'' where Zahariel, the hero of the Dark Angels first battle as a legion (not to mention almost 413 pages of story), is sent back to Caliban with Luther, while his cousin Nemiel stays with the main force because their Primarch distrusts psykers. Anyone who knows their fluff knows what happened at Caliban...
** As of "The Primarchs" novella "The Lion", that nightmare scenario has been averted, but in the absolute worst way possible: During his time in the Crusade, Nemiel became a Brother-Redemptor (predecessor the Dark Angels Interrogator-Chaplains in ''40k'') charged with upholding the Edict of Nikaea banning Librarians. When Lion El'Jonson's flagship gets pulled into a warp-rift allowing Daemons to invade the ''Invincible Reason'', Jonson decides to revoke the Edict of Nikaea after one former-Librarian breaks the Edict and uses his powers to effortlessly destroy one of the Daemons. Nemiel is oath-bound to prevent this, and looks set to fight his own Primarch, when Jonson suddenly lashes out and behead Nemiel with a single swipe. So when Lion El'Jonson finally returns to Caliban, there's little doubt that Zahariel will learn that his cousin was killed by Jonson, and it's doubtful that Zahariel will be feeling much loyalty to his Primarch...
*** What makes it worse is that the Lion then says that they'll mourn Nemiel later as if he didn't mean to kill him. Lion is one of the most Chaos-resistant people in the universe, having read heretic texts and come out untainted. Yet, the power of the warp in his ship got to him for just a split second, and would seal the doom of Nemiel and Zahariel, two of the most loyal Astartes in the chapter. It's been noted many times that the Lion is very bad with people, dealing with social situations, or understanding other people's points of view. He immediately knows he made a mistake killing Nemiel, but it doesn't matter. The deed was done.

** A large part of A Thousand Sons qualify as a tearjerker, considering it deals with the fall of one of the most loyal legions. From what we see, not only did the Thousand Sons comprise of some of the best and most open minded scholars in the whole Imperium, most of them were truly nice and polite and their homeworld a veritable paradise. Too bad, that they became unwitting pawns of Tzentech.
** Magnus's MyGodWhatHaveIDone moment may be one of the most poignant in the entire series. In the previous scene, he executes his plan to warn the Emperor of Horus's treachery, using a powerful spell fuelled by his most potent sorcerers and their thralls to shatter the anti-psyker wards the Emperor had erected in the base of the palace. This was to be his greatest triumph, his proof to his father that Nikaea was wrong and that psychic powers could be used for good. It all goes wrong in the most terrible way possible - as Magnus manifests as a horrible monster beneath Terra, he and the Emperor's minds touch upon one another and Magnus realizes that he has just completely scuppered the Emperor's plans. His intrusion had destroyed the delicate wards holding the Warp back and sundered any chance for the Emperor to complete his greatest work; his treachery had closed off a future where he was to use the awesome might of the Golden Throne to help humanity rule the stars; worst of all, he knew he and his legion were going to be hunted down and destroyed by the Space Wolves for their defiance of the Emperor's will. Upon returning to his corporeal body, he flees to his chambers and destroys them in a guilt-wracked rage, before [[RedemptionEqualsDeath beginning to lay out the plans to render Prospero defenseless]].

** During the Battle of Sotha, Dantioch [[HeroicSacrifice banishes Krukesh the Pale and the Night Lords by overloading the Pharos' beacon]], sacrificing himself to save Polux from the Night Lords' torture. When the dust settles and a heavily injured Polux recollects himself, he finds Dantioch's broken, bleeding body and cradles him in his arms. Blinded by the light of the Pharos and dying from his myriad injuries, Dantioch tells Polux that, despite the animosity between their legions, the galaxy wreathed in the flames of heresy, and only befriending Polux during the darkest and bloodiest of times, the old Warsmith is glad to have known him.

--->'''Polux:''' Barabas! Barabas! ''Brother!''
** When the Ultramarines happen upon Polux, they are momentarily stunned at the sight of an Imperial Fist weeping over the body of an Iron Warrior, and are shocked when they realize that Polux had been mourning for ''three whole hours''. When the funeral bier for Dantioch is carried in by the Ultramarines' Suzerain Guard, Alexis refuses to let anyone carry Dantioch's body but himself.

*** There is a small moment in Guilliman's speech that makes the aforementioned speech much harder to swallow. While praising the actions of the 199th "Aegida" Company, he awards them a new company badge: Twin scythes. The 199th Company are the Ultramarines who will form the Scythes of the Emperor, the Space Marine chapter which lived on Sotha, and is dying out now that the Tyranids have destroyed their homeworld and most of its battle-brothers.

* ''The Path of Heaven'' features the heroic sacrifice of Stormseer Targutai Yesgeui. With the White Scars trapped by the Death Guard and the Emperor's Children, Yesgeui inters himself inside the Dark Glass, a scaled-down prototype of the Golden Throne that was part of the Emperor's plan to gain control of the Webway and remove the need for the Warp. Yesgeui activates the device to allow his Legion and his primarch to escape to Terra, knowing full well that will die in the process. His last act before the machine consumes him is to telepathically say goodbye to his three closest companions: Revuel Arvida, Ilya Ravallion, and Jaghatai Khan.

** What little we see of Skoia's life is is nothing short of ''harrowing.'' When we first see her, she's fleeing from the Sisters of Silence, her parents telling her to run and never look back. She is eventually captured by the Null Maidens, dragged into their Black Ships, and shuttled away from her home planet, towards Holy Terra. Locked inside an unventilated coffin and connected to the Golden Throne, Skoia can only scream and cry and trash, knowing that all of her efforts are futile. Claustrophobic readers beware:

** The Emperor and Horus' final confrontation aboard the ''Vengeful Spirit'' is one of the most iconic moments in all of 40k. The many artistic depictions of this particular scene (the page image being one such depiction) makes it easy to forget that this is is a scene of a father losing His most beloved son.

--->’’'+I wait for you, and I forgive you.+’’’

Word Bearers Legion. Imagine Lorgar and his Legion, who loved the Emperor so much that he believed he was a god, even writing a book that argued that same point, and went from world to world proselytizing his religion, building grand cathedrals and inspiring masses of people. How did the Emperor respond to their efforts? By having the city of Monarchia (people included), one of the Word Bearer's crowning achievements, burned to ash by their rival Roboute Guilliman and his Ultramarines, and then forcing the entire legion to kneel in the ruins of the city, and then condemning the Word Bearers for their efforts (which had been allowed to occur for the better part of a century)[[note]]Technically speaking, The Ultramarines ordered the people to evacuate the city, gunning down those who resisted. However by the time the Word Bearers arrived to the planet, only seven survivors were found.[[/note]], and say that they all pretty much were failures, with the implication that they better straighten up or they would be purged from existence. Whatever your beliefs or philosophies, it's heartbreaking for a sincere devout son to be slapped down so hard (and perhaps unsurprising that Lorgar's reaction to such would be fury and hate). Seems that a lot of the Horus Heresy could have been avoided if the Emperor treated his Primarchs more like people instead of just soldiers.
** To add another layer of HarsherInHindsight to this, it's subsequently revealed that Guilliman wanted no part in the punishment, as he considered it excessive and needlessly humiliating. Even when Lorgar strikes him in fury, Guilliman's only response is to tell his brother to return to his ship. Roboute actually felt sorry for his brother, but his fealty to the Emperor resulted in him being on the receiving end of Lorgar's eternal enmity - which would result in many of Guilliman's own worlds suffering the Word Bearers' depredations later in the Heresy.

*** When the Emperor arrives at the central chamber of the ''Vengeful Spirit,'' He sees Sanguinius' lifeless, crucified body. The Ruinous Powers had claimed two of His greatest sons - one was seduced by powers beyond his understanding, the other killed for defending a species an unholy pantheon considers nothing more than food. While the Emperor had rid Himself of all emotion to prevent His ascension into a fifth Chaos God, the words that come out of His mouth when he sees Sanguinius' corpse are filled with anger and sadness:

** When Horus steps into the fray, The Emperor glares at the Warmaster's direction and seemingly asks Horus why he killed His son. After Horus gleefully mocks the Emperor and His failings as a father and ruler, the Emperor only repeats one word in response: '''+Why?+'''. After Horus tries to explain that he offered Sanguinius a place by his side, once again, the Emperor asks: '''+Why?+'''. Horus then realizes that even though the Emperor is facing his way, He is not talking to him. The Emperor is directly talking to Khorne, Tzeentch, Nurgle and Slaanesh, who have come to witness the end and the death of the Imperium. A crestfallen Horus realizes that his father already considers him dead.
** The real story behind the myth of Ollanius Pious, the guardsman who stood between Horus and the fallen Emperor, has been theorized by the fanbase for a long time. Some people believed that Ollanius truly was a Guardsman, others speculate that it was a Space Marine who stood between Him and the Warmaster, and others argue that only a Custodian could be aboard the ''Vengeful Spirit'' during the final duel of the Heresy. In truth, all three of these theories are true - a Guardsman, a Custodian, and a Space Marine stand in Horus' way during his climactic battle with the Emperor, and each of their sacrifices are heartbreaking in their own way.
*** Oll Persson is the Guardsman, and the first to sacrifice himself in defense of the Emperor. He teleports into the ''Vengeful Spirit'' alongside John Grammaticus with an anatheme blade in hand. As he futilely tries to fend off Horus, Oll is ''pleading'' with the Emperor to stand back up. Oll promises that if He gets back on his feet, he will serve the Emperor once more, reminding Him of the great dream He sought to accomplish. Oll's final act is to defiantly fire at Horus with his lasrifle, even as the Warmaster turns him into a fine red mist with his Talon.

*** Finally, the Space Marine is Gavriel Loken, who tells Horus that it's over, that he has triumphed over the Emperor, and that he no longer needs the Chaos Gods' blessings. If Horus truly wanted to supplant the Emperor's tyranny, he should give up his power, or else he'd be no better than his father. Despite their enmity, Horus becomes teary-eyed when he sees Loken again, but he ultimately refuses to rescind the hold Chaos has on his soul. [[TheReveal 'Loken' ultimately reveals himself to be a psychic illusion created by the Emperor,]] and the Emperor declares that his son is lost.

--->''I wait for you, and I forgive you.''

** The real story behind the myth of Ollanius Pious, the guardsman who stood inbetween Horus and the fallen Emperor, has been theorized by the fanbase for a long time. Some people believed that Ollanius truly was a Guardsman, others speculate that it was a Space Marine who stood between Him and the Warmaster, and others argue that only a Custodian could be aboard the ''Vengeful Spirit'' during the final duel of the Heresy. In truth, all three of these theories are true - a Guardsman, a Custodian, and a Space Marine stand in Horus' way during his climactic battle with the Emperor, and each of their sacrifices are heartbreaking in their own way.

** When Horus steps into the fray, The Emperor glares at the Warmaster's direction and seemingly asks Horus why he killed Hs son. After Horus gleefully mocks the Emperor and His failings as a father and ruler, the Emperor only repeats one word in response: +Why?+. After Horus tries to explain that he offered Sanguinius a place by his side, once again, the Emperor asks: +Why?+. Horus then realizes that even though the Emperor is facing his way, He is not talking to him. The Emperor is directly talking to Khorne, Tzeentch, Nurgle and Slaanesh, who have come to witness the end and the death of the Imperium. A crestfallen Horus realizes that his father already considers him dead.

** Magnus's MyGodWhatHaveIDone moment may be one of the most poignant in the entire series. In the previous scene, he executes his plan to warn the Emperor of Horus's treachery, using a powerful spell fuelled by his most potent sorcerers and their thralls to shatter the anti-psyker wards the Emperor had erected in the base of the palace. This was to be his greatest triumph, his proof to his father that Nikaea was wrong and that psychic powers could be used for good. It all goes wrong in the most terrible way possible - as Magnus manifests as a horrible monster beneath Terra, he and the Emperor's minds touch upon one another and Magnus realizes that he has just completely scuppered the Emperor's plans. His intrusion had destroyed the delicate wards holding the Warp back and sundered any chance for the Emperor to complete his greatest work; his treachery had closed off a future where he was to use the awesome might of the Golden Throne to help humanity rule the stars; worst of all, he knew he and his legion were going to be hunted down and destroyed by the Space Wolves for their defiance of the Emperor's will. Upon returning to his corporeal body, he flees to his chambers and destroys them in a guilt-wracked rage, before [[RedemptionEqualsDeath beginning to lay out the plans to render Prospero defenceless]].

** Even before the bolter shells start flying and Lorgar's treachery is revealed, there's a distinct melancholy to the interactions between the Ultramarines and Word Bearers for anyone who knows how the Shadow Crusade went. Guilliman is trying to be not only a magnanimous host to Lorgar and his legion, but to genuinely try and reconnect with his brother. Guilliman and Lorgar had never gotten along, and after Monarchia, the former probably resigned himself to never being forgiven by the latter. When Lorgar seemingly accepts Guilliman's offer, Guilliman is clearly happy and relieved that they might finally be able to reconcile...never even considering that Lorgar was plotting his doom the entire time.

** One of the saddest scenes in the razing of Prospero is that Leman Russ actually ''tried'' to call to Magnus to surrender... but it was through Kasper Hawser, whom Vlka Fenrika thought was an unwitting spy of Thousand Sons (but he was of Chaos). Only after Prospero's destruction did they learn the truth... but it was too late for both Legions.

** Serena D'Angelus's subplot is one long BreakTheCutie TearJerker with sides of NightmareFuel. A kind and gentle painter who is friends with Ostian Delafour, she is one of the Remembrancers sent down to the Laer homeworld after the conquest. Serena only goes after Ostian convinces her to, and she ends up getting infected by the Laer Temple's Slaaneshi taint. The corruption preys on her already existing low self-esteem and convinces her that her work, which is actually extremely good, is sub-par and that she is a fraud. She slowly begins going mad, and when Ostian attempts to help her, she insults him for his pity. This results in him severing ties with her, and when he leaves she begs him not to. After this, she seduces another Remembrancer and brings him to her room, sleeps with him and murders him at the climax, using his blood and other bodily fluids for paint. After a long period of blankness, where it is implied she did this a lot more, the corruption fades and she seeks out the one person she thinks might be able to help her, only to find that Ostian has already been murdered, and that he was only trying to help her. With nothing left, Serena declares that she loved Ostian but was too afraid to tell him. She then kills herself by driving herself onto the same marble blade that Ostian is impaled on. A truly tragic story that shows just how insidious the taint of Slaanesh really is.

--> ''I have no brothers. Only traitors remain. I am a Legion of one and I will kill you all until death comes to take me!''

--> ''A darkness pulled at him, a deep well of grief from which he could not escape... Despair gnawed at his resolve, but he had enough will left for this.''
** When Sanguinius is confronted by Konrad Curze, the Angel sees first-hand how broken the Night Haunter is through his hellish childhood on [[WretchedHive a world filled with the worst of humanity]], a world that he tried to save and as soon as he was gone slid right back into depravity, through the agonizing visions that constantly bombard him with exactly how he is going to die and how miserable the galaxy is going to become, and through the simple fact that Curze always believed his brothers hated him because he was eerie and hard to be around, a fact that Sanguinius knows isn't true and tries to tell him, but Curze is too far gone to listen. The entire scene basically shows that underneath the torture, apathy and terrifying visage; Konrad Curze is somebody who tried so damn hard to be a better person, but could never quite reach that goal.
* ''Pharos''
** The standout tearjerker of this story is the [[FireForgedFriends short-lived brotherhood between Barabas Dantioch, an Iron Warrior Warsmith, and Alexis Polux, an Imperial Fist Captain.]] Them learning to trust, cooperate, and understand each other despite the legendary rivalry of the IV and VII Legions demonstrates that there had been a chance, no matter how small, of the Iron Warriors and Imperial Fists putting aside their grievances and working together to help build a better future for all of humanity.
*** Prior to the defense of Sotha, a small band of Loyalist Iron Warriors led by Dantioch are defending the planet of Lesser Damantyne from the traitor forces. After a standard Terran year, the Loyalists are overrun and forced to evacuate their stronghold through a network of subterranean caverns. One of Dantioch's men is the Venerable Dreadnaught Vastopol, who opens up a rock wall so that his brothers can pass through and proceed to the extraction point. However, due to a stairway collapsing and a rocket barrage from the traitors, Vastopol is critically injured and can no longer proceed. Unwilling to leave him behind, Dantioch orders his men to rip out Vastopol's remains from his Dreadnought and cram him into an ancient suit of Mark III Power Armor, knowing full well that Vastopol would die no matter what they did. Vastopol ends up ''wrenching his own casket open with his power claw'' so his fellow Iron Warriors can drag his ruined body to safety. Eventually, Vastopol truly passes on, surrounded by Dantioch and his men. Tauro Nicodemus, a Tetrarch of Ultramar who had accompanied the Iron Warriors during the entirety of the siege, tries to console Dantioch to no effect. During the passage below and the ones that come after, Dantioch just sounds so tired and hollow.

*** The Pharos is a Necron device that can instantaneously teleport matter across great distances, and direct spacecraft in the same vein as the Astronomican without using the powers of the Warp. Since the Pharos is directed by the emotions of those using it, Polux inadvertently opens a wormhole leading to his Primarch, Rogal Dorn. Polux begins desperately crying out "My Lord! My Lord! Hear your son!" before the vision vanishes. The last thing he shouts before Dorn disappears from his sight? ''"Father!"'' The text notes that he is near to outright tears.
*** Despite their allegiances, the fates of Night Lords Kellendvar and Kellenkir, who are biological brothers, is still a very sad one. Kellenkir becomes tainted through contact with a Daemon Weapon and ends up being mercy killed by the little brother he once protected when they were children. Kellenkir dies wishing he'd killed his younger sibling years ago. The act destroys Kellendvar inside, which leads him to accept that his Primarch was right - there is no such thing as hope. When the Ultramarines corner Kellendvar, the Night Lord simply stands up and lets them kill him.
*** During the Battle of Sotha, Dantioch [[HeroicSacrifice banishes Krukesh the Pale and the Night Lords by overloading the Pharos' beacon]], sacrificing himself to save Polux from the Night Lords' torture. When the dust settles and a heavily injured Polux recollects himself, he finds Dantioch's broken, bleeding body and cradles him in his arms. Blinded by the light of the Pharos and dying from his myriad injuries, Dantioch tells Polux that, despite the animosity between their legions, the galaxy wreathed in the flames of heresy, and only befriending Polux during the darkest and bloodiest of times, the old Warsmith is glad to have known him.

*** When the Ultramarines happen upon Polux, they are momentarily stunned at the sight of an Imperial Fist weeping over the body of an Iron Warrior, and are shocked when they realize that Polux had been mourning for ''three whole hours''. When the funeral bier for Dantioch is carried in by the Ultramarines' Suzerain Guard, Alexis refuses to let anyone carry Dantioch's body but himself.

* ''The Path of Heaven'' features the heroic sacrifice of Stormseer Targutai Yesgeui. With the White Scars trapped by the Death Guard and the Emperor's Children, Yesgeui inters himself inside the Dark Glass, a scaled-down prototype of the Golden Throne that was part of the Emperor's plan to gain control of the Webway and remove the need for the Warp. Yesgeui activates the device to allow his Legion and his primarch to escape to Terra, knowing full well that will die in the process. His last act before the machine consumes him is to telepathically say goodbye to his three closest companions; Revuel Arvida, Ilya Ravallion and Jaghatai Khan.

*** When the Emperor arrives at the central chamber of the ''Vengeful Spirit,'' He sees Sanguinius' lifeless, crucified body. The Ruinous Powers had claimed two of his greatest sons - one was seduced by powers beyond his understanding, the other killed for defending a species an unholy pantheon considers nothing more than food. While the Emperor had rid Himself of all emotion to prevent His ascension into a fifth Chaos God, the words that come out of his mouth when he sees Sanguinius' corpse are filled with anger and sadness:

** When Horus steps into the fray, The Emperor glares at the Warmaster's direction and seemingly asks Horus why he killed his son. After Horus gleefully mocks the Emperor and His failings as a father and ruler, the Emperor only repeats one word in response: +Why?+. After Horus tries to explain that he offered Sanguinius a place by his side, once again, the Emperor asks: +Why?+. Horus then realizes that even though the Emperor is facing his way, He is not talking to him. The Emperor is directly talking to Khorne, Tzeentch, Nurgle and Slaanesh, who have come to witness the end and the death of the Imperium. A crestfallen Horus realizes that his father already considers him dead.

** After a painful moment of clarity, Horus realizes just how far he's fallen, the sheer magnitude of what he's done, why the Emperor avoided and despised Chaos the way he did, and that he's condemned the human species to a slow, agonizing extinction. He realizes that despite all the power the Chaos Gods have given him, he was and always had been a puppet, a mere pawn in their Great Game. Horus asks his father to kill him before the Ruinous Powers take hold of his mind once more. The Emperor obliges, stabbing him with the anatheme blade given to him by Oll. As his entire being is erased from existence, [[GoOutWithASmile Horus smiles sadly as he fades away.]]

** Despite their cryptic nature, the Emperor's final words to his first-found son is nothing short of heartrending.

*** After the Emperor and Sanguinius' body are taken back to Terra, Loken stays behind, feeling that ''somebody'' should stand vigil over his fallen gene-father. Abbadon and his personal guard happen upon Loken weeping over Horus' body; utterly exhausted by everything they had gone through, the two remaining members of the Mournival talk as brothers one final time. Loken pleads with Abaddon to surrender, promising that he will defend and speak on behalf of Abaddon and their battle-brothers before Dorn, Guilliman and the other loyalist Primarchs. Abaddon considers it, and it seems like there might be a ''chance'', even at this very last moment, to end the war with some semblance of peace...[[BackStab before Erebus appears from nowhere and kills Loken by stabbing him in the back.]] The last loyal member of Horus' Mournival was there to witness the death of his gene-father and the Imperium he'd sworn to protect, and how is he rewarded? By being put down like a dog by the man who orchestrated this apocalyptic war in the first place.

** With the Emperor trapped in a perpetual state of undeath on the Golden Throne and his realm irreversibly destroyed by the biggest, most awful civil war in history, the great dream the Emperor had for humanity has died - alongside nine of his sons and innumerable human lives. [[CrapsackWorld What remains of the Imperium is an oppressive, paranoid, monstrous, abominable hellhole]] [[LastStand doomed to die a slow, painful death at the predatory hands of Chaos daemons and xenos forces.]] The Imperium's ideals have been lost and the human race is damned; while the death of the Imperium will take an eternity, it ''will'' happen, [[TabletopGame/Warhammer40000 for in the grim darkness of the far future, there is only war.]]

*** When the Emperor arrives at the central chamber of the ''Vengeful Spirit,'' He sees Sanguinius' lifeless, crucified body. The Ruinous Powers had claimed two of his greatest sons - one was seduced by powers beyond his understanding, the other killed for defending a species an unholy cabal considers nothing more than food. While the Emperor had rid Himself of all emotion to prevent His ascension into a fifth Chaos God, the words that come out of his mouth when he sees Sanguinius' corpse are filled with anger and sadness:

** When Horus steps into the fray, The Emperor glares at the Warmaster's direction, seemingly asking Horus why he killed Sanguinius. After Horus gleefully mocks the Emperor and His failings as a father and ruler, the Emperor only repeats one word in response: +Why?+. After Horus tries to explain that he offered Sanguinius a place by his side, he realizes that despite the Emperor is facing his way, He is not talking to his son. The Emperor is talking directly talking to Khorne, Tzeentch, Nurgle and Slaanesh, who have come to witness the end and the death of the Imperium. A crestfallen Horus realizes that his father already considers him dead.

*** Finally, the Space Marine is Gavriel Loken, who tells Horus that it's over, that he has triumphed over the Emperor, and that he no longer needs the Chaos Gods' blessings. If Horus truly wanted to supplant the Emperor's tyranny, he should give up his power, or else he'd be no better than his father. Despite their enmity, Horus becomes teary-eyed when he sees Loken again, but he ultimately refuses to rescind the hold Chaos has on his soul. [[TheReveal 'Loken' ultimately reveals himself to be a psychic illusion created by the Emperor.]] This is the moment that the Emperor truly realizes that his son is lost.