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13[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/uriel_ventris_chronicles_vol1.jpg]]
14
15The ''Ultramarines'' series by Creator/GrahamMcNeill delineates the adventures of one member of the titular Ultramarines, Captain Uriel Ventris.
16
17The Ultramarines are a chapter of {{Space Marine}}s in the TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}} universe. In the game, they are considered the poster boy Space Marines, with about half the chapters deriving from the parent legion and Games Workshop using them for the majority of the artwork and material about Space Marines.
18
19Their Primarch, Roboute Guilliman, wrote the [[BigBookOfWar Codex Astartes]], his treatise on Space Marine tactics. The Ultramarines and most of the Ultramarine spin-off chapters rigidly adhere to it almost religiously, refusing to deviate from its teachings. Others, such as the Space Wolves, ignore it entirely - often a source of friction.
20
21The volumes of the series are, to date:
22* Collected in ''The Ultramarines Omnibus'' (later republished as ''The Uriel Ventris Chronicles, Volume 1):
23** ''Nightbringer''
24** ''Warriors of Ultramar''
25** ''Dead Sky, Black Sun''
26* Collected in ''Ultramarines: The Second Omnibus'' (later republished as ''The Uriel Ventris Chronicles, Volume 2):
27** ''The Killing Ground''
28** ''Courage And Honour''
29** ''The Chapter's Due''
30* A new phase in the series was commenced with [=McNeill=]'s 2021 novel ''The Swords of Calth''.
31
32Should not be confused with the Creator/DCComics superhero team of the same name. Also should not be confused with the pigment, although the Ultramarines ''do'' wear [[ColourCodedArmies ultramarine-coloured armor]]. And Games Workshop has a paint color entitled Ultramarine Blue, which is ([[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin you guessed it]]) ultramarine, and intended to be used to paint Ultramarines.
33
34Please check out the [[Characters/{{Ultramarines}} character sheet]].
35
36Please resist the urge to put examples on this page or link to this page on tropes unless you are citing from 40K novels in which the Ultramarines feature. Examples which are specific to rulebooks or other in-universe fluff should go on either the [[TabletopGame/{{Warhammer40000}} 40k page]] or in the Space Marines section of the [[Characters/Warhammer40000CurrentImperialFactions Imperial factions page]].
37
38----
39!!The chapter, and novels, contain examples of:
40* ActionGirl:
41** Adeptus Arbites Judge Jenna Sharben in ''Nightbringer'' and ''Courage and Honour''.
42** Colonel Verena Kain in ''The Killing Ground''.
43** Inquisitor Namira Suzaku of the Ordo Malleus in ''The Chapter's Due''.
44* AfterlifeExpress: The Omphalos Daemonium, a horrifying daemon engine train that transports ''living'' people, at first through Medrengard, then through the Warp.
45* AlienGeometries: Khalan-Gol, Honsou's fortress in Medrengard in ''Dead Sky, Black Sun''. Uriel and the renegades wander through the fortress and get turned around a few times. [[HearingVoices Then daemons start whispering to them]].
46* AlienSky: Medrengard has a painfully white sky, with a static black sun
47%%* AlmostDeadGuy
48* AndThereWasMuchRejoicing:
49** In ''Courage and Honor'' when the Tau blow up the Administratum Tax Bureau.
50---> ''Perversely, its destruction gave rise to a huge cheer from the ranks of the defenders, proving that even faced with alien invasion, there were few more hated individuals than those who levied taxes.''
51** Also implied in ''The Killing Ground'' after Governor Barbaden and his cronies all end up dead.
52* AMillionIsAStatistic: In ''Warriors of Ultramar'' itself, the huge amount of deaths caused by the Tyranid invasion is oddly understated, while the some 140, 150 Astartes who died remain to be the focus. In-universe it makes some sense, as those Astartes are considered far, far more valuable to the Imperium, while just another instance of millions of humans dying isn't remarkable.
53* ArmedWithCanon: There seems to be an ongoing war between Creator/GrahamMcNeill and Matt Ward. The former has repeatedly tried to lessen the Ultramarines recent depiction as a SpotlightStealingSquad. The latter has made repeated efforts to Retcon [=McNeill=]'s novels out of existence or at least make them closer to what he envisioned.
54* {{Arcadia}}: ''Ultramar'', of all places, where life is relatively simple and built around discipline, self-sacrifice, and giving one's all. Life in Ultramar is of a much higher quality than most places in the Imperium.
55** Macragge particularly comes to mind, with its verdant country and beautiful, yet functional architecture. As it has the chapter monastery where most Ultramarines call home, it's the place most Ultramarines miss the most when abroad in the galaxy.
56* TheAtoner: In ''Dead Sky, Black Sun'' Uriel and Passanius are exiled from the chapter and sent out on a [[SuicideMission death oath]] in penance. Their reasons for being sent are the following. For both of them, their transgressions meant breaking not only with Chapter tradition and Chapter laws, but a possible violation of what separates a Loyalist Marine from the Traitors.
57** Uriel was sent for leaving his Ultramarines on the surface of Tarsis Ultra to aid the Deathwatch mission against the Tyranid Queen. While it turned out to be the right decision to achieve the more strategically important goal, it meant he had effectively abandoned his post.
58** Pasanius was sent for knowingly [[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotHeinous not telling anybody about his prosthetic arm being self-repairing]] out of shame. In context, it meant that he failed to swallow his pride and inform anybody that his arm wasn't of human make, which meant that he courted corruption by an alien artifact or worse, a ''Chaotic'' one.
59%%* BackToBackBadasses
60* BadassCreed: One finally appears for them in the film. [[ColonelBadass Captain Severus]]: ''"You must be steel! You must be doom! We march to face down Chaos, and banish it! WE MARCH FOR MACRAGGE!"'' [[TheSquad Others]]: ''"And we shall know no fear!"''
61** There is also their other motto, "Courage and honor." Fairly basic as creeds go in 40K, but it establishes the Chapter's motivations well enough.
62* TheBadGuyWins: In ''The Killing Ground'', the power of the BigBad is broken before it reaches the point where it can destroy the world of Salinas by ''giving him what he wanted'' - [[spoiler:the deaths of the surviving participants in the Khaturian massacre]].
63%%* BaitAndSwitchGunshot
64* BeautyEqualsGoodness: Subverted in ''Dead Sky Black Sun'' with the Unfleshed. They appear evil and purely animalistic at first, but later are shown to be just as Emperor worshiping as the Space Marines.
65* BecauseDestinySaysSo: The Omphalos Daemonium is a Chaos... creature, but apparently it doesn't always operate on pure self-interest.
66* BigBookOfWar: The ''Codex Astartes'', which Roboute Guilliman wrote after the Literature/HorusHeresy suggesting organization and tactics for virtually any scenario that Guilliman could have thought of at the time.
67* BigDamnHeroes: [[spoiler: It's heavily implied that the force which rescue the Ultramarines and the Raven Guard in the Tomb of Ventanus were the Legion of the Damned.]]
68* BittersweetEnding:
69** ''Nightbringer'': [[spoiler: The Nightbringer is freed and Ario Barzano is killed, but the Ultramarines save the planet and Mykola Shonai is allowed to serve out her term.]]
70** ''Warriors of Ultramar'': [[spoiler: Much of Tarsis Ultra is now covered with Tyranid organisms, 78 Ultramarines were killed in action, and Uriel will have to answer for violating the Codex Astartes, but the planet is saved...until ''Planetfall''.]]
71** ''Dead Sky, Black Sun'': [[spoiler: Most of the renegades on Medrengard and the Unfleshed are dead, Uriel and Pasanius have no idea where they're going, but they've managed to complete their Death Oath and take the surviving Unfleshed away from Medrengard.]]
72** ''The Killing Ground'': [[spoiler: The Unfleshed were possessed and had to be mercy killed, but the dead of Khartuian gain their rest, those responsible are all dead, the planet is saved from Exterminatus, and Uriel and Pasanius get to go back to Macragge, having been declared pure of the taint of Chaos by the Grey Knights.]]
73** ''Courage and Honour'': [[spoiler: Pavonis remains in Imperial hands, Learchus gains new understanding of why Uriel and Pasanius did what they did, and all doubt regarding Uriel's loyalty to the Chapter and the Codex are put to rest, but Pavonis losses all autonomy, and in the years to come, many will wish the Tau had won. Probably more of a DownerEnding than the others.]]
74** ''The Chapter's Due'': [[spoiler: Two worlds of Ultramar are devastated, over one third of the Chapter and millions of Imperial citizens have been killed, and there is strong evidence that Honsou escaped, but the Ultramarines survive with enough resources to rebuild the Chapter, the Bloodborn are utterly beaten, and M'kar is gone for good. This is the closest to a HappyEnding the series has.]]
75%%* BlingBlingBang
76* BloodFromTheMouth: When Uriel is stabbed by a Norn Queen in ''Warriors of Ultramar''.
77* BloodMagic:
78** The Mortificators' shamanic rituals involve drinking each other's blood, giving them visions that have a surprising, but not perfect accuracy.
79** In the first scene they did this, their chaplain drank the Chapter Master's blood to get a vision to decide if the chapter will aid Tarsis Ultra. The [[PowerOfBlood power of that blood]] proves to be too much for him in the trance, and he regurgitates it. The still-fresh blood is offered to Uriel to seal the pact, and he manages to choke it down. While he did find that it ''was'' empowering, he had pretty much the [[{{Squick}} same reaction]] you just did reading that sentence.
80%%* BottledHeroicResolve
81* BreakThemByTalking: Uriel delivers one to the Tau commander at the end of the final battle in ''Courage and Honour'' to drive home what will happen if they don't take his offer of a ceasefire.
82-->'''Uriel Ventris''': Let me tell you what I know. I know this invasion was a gamble for you and you needed to defeat us quickly. I know you have not the resources in place to defend this world against a counter-attack, a counter-attack that I assure you ''will'' happen. I know that even if Olzetyn has already fallen, the rest of this world will be ashes before we let you have it. You will have to kill every single human on this planet to hold it, and even then the Imperium will not let you keep it. Forces from neighbouring systems are already en route to Pavonis, and you won't have a strong enough grip on this world by then to keep them at bay.
83* BuyThemOff: In ''Nightbringer'', most of the government officials are in the pockets of Vendare Taloun and Kasimir de Valtos, in preparation for their bid to seize power.
84* CainAndAbel: Guilliman ''hated'' Alpharius, and took it upon himself to destroy the Alpha Legion during the Heresy.
85* CardsOfPower: In ''Killing Ground'', Grey Knight Leodagarius performs [[{{Whatevermancy}} cartomancy]] using his deck of the Imperial Tarot, a psychically-imbued deck of Tarot cards with a spiritual link to The Imperium's God-Emperor.
86%%* ChildrenAreInnocent
87* ColdBloodedTorture: The Dark Eldar enjoy torturing people, unsurprisingly for who they are, but ''Nightbringer'' shows the depths to which they sink in order to have a good time.
88** Prelate Culla, the Laventerian chaplain, tortures captives within [[{{Prison}} the Glasshouse]]. He starts with encouraging the Arbites to abuse the Tau, leaving that to them while he [[spoiler:"interrogates" Mykola Shonai, eventually killing her]], with his ''bare fists''. He then planned on moving onto the Tau, but circumstances had seen that he missed the opportunity.
89* CombatPragmatist: in ''The Killing Ground'', before an unarmed duel with with Grey Knight Leodegarius, Uriel asks what the rules of engagement are; Leodegarius just grins and says, ''"you are such an Ultramarine"'' [[spoiler:and proceeds to wipe the ground with both Uriel and Pasaunius.]]
90%%* ComesGreatResponsibility
91* CoolGate:
92** Guilliman's Gate on Calth, which is a mile-high gate leading into the underground of Calth, is studded with decorations and defenses. Like much of Macragge's architecture, it's a monolithic work designed around both beauty ''and'' functionality.
93** On the opposite end of the spectrum, M'kar's daemon forces manifest en masse through a gate formed from a static bolt of lightning, which spread out to form an arch between the Warp and realspace. It's as [[NightmareFuel terrifying as it sounds]].
94* CruelAndUnusualDeath: Governor Leto Barbaden [[spoiler:being torn limb from limb by the ghosts of those he had massacred at Khaturian]].
95* DeadGuyOnDisplay: Roboute Guilliman's body lies in state in the Temple of Correction, following his death ten thousand years before.
96* DeadPersonConversation: In ''The Chapter's Due'' on Calth, Uriel has one with [[spoiler: the spirit of Remus Ventanus, an Ultramarines Captain from the Horus Heresy who fought M'Kar in his human form (as Word Bearers Dark Apostle Maloq Kartho) during the Battle of Calth and passes on to Uriel how he can destroy the Daemon Prince]].
97* DeathbyIrony: In ''The Killing Ground'', [[spoiler: Colonel Verena Kain's involvement in the Khaturian Massacre was to lead in the Screaming Eagles veterans, as well as Hellhound tanks to raze the town of Khaturian to the ground, a task she carried out with relish. She dies when the Lord of the Unfleshed hurls her into a bonfire, killing her in the same manner as the victims of her orders at Khaturian. Both Uriel and Pasanius, after seeing a psyker's recollection of her atrocities, think this death was still too good for her]].
98* DecapitatedArmy: In ''The Chapter’s Due'', the Bloodborn army on Espandor quickly falls apart after the death of its leader Kaarja Salombar.
99%%* DemBones
100* DesignatedGirlFight: Between Judge Jenna Sharben, the hard-edged, straitlaced Arbites Judge, and La'tyen, the determined, defiant Fire Warrior. Ultimately ''subverted'', since both are military personnel with serious combat training and experience put to use against both genders, and that it gets bloody, fast.
101%%* {{Determinator}}
102* DeusExMachina: In ''The Chapter’s Due'', Uriel and his allies are pinned down by Honsou’s Iron Warriors in the tomb of Ventanus. The Ultramarines are outnumbered, outgunned, and outflanked, and no one is coming to save them. [[spoiler:Then the Legion of the Damned suddenly appears, blows the Iron Warriors away, and vanishes, all without any explanation.]]
103* DidYouJustFlipOffCthulhu: In ''Nightbringer'', [[spoiler:Uriel gets the attention of the Nightbringer by holding a melta-bomb up to its face and threatening to detonate it, explaining that if he does so, it will ignite the flammable gases filling the cavern they're in and bury them all beneath ten kilometres worth of rock, something which even the Nightbringer (still weak from sixty five million years of hibernation) can't survive. Reading Uriel's mind through an empathic link with the beings around it, the Nightbringer realizes Uriel isn't bluffing and reluctantly retreats]].
104* DirtyBusiness: In ''Dead Sky, Black Sun'', Uriel gets stuck between a rock and a hard place more than once, and has to do increasingly dishonorable things to get out of said place. He doesn't like it.
105%%* DividedWeFall
106%%* DreamingTheTruth
107* DressingAsTheEnemy: In ''The Chapter's Due'', [[spoiler:several members of the Ultramarines 2nd Company disguise themselves as renegades of the Claws of Lorek to infiltrate and gain more information on the enemy command structure]].
108* DrivenToSuicide:
109** When the Nightbringer rises from its tomb during the climax of ''Nightbringer'', many of the PDF soldiers and Dark Eldar in the tomb lose their minds and kill themselves after being exposed to its presence.
110** In ''The Killing Ground'', numerous members of the Achamen Falcatas commit suicide out of [[spoiler: guilt over their roles in the Khaturian massacre and [[ISeeDeadPeople being haunted by the ghosts]] of those who died in the massacre]].
111%%* DrowningMySorrows
112* DueToTheDead: "He that is dead, take from him [[TitleDrop the Chapter's due]]."
113%%* DyingAlone
114* DyingAsYourself: In ''The Chapter's Due'' [[spoiler: Uriel stabs the Newborn after revealing his true name is Samuquan. Before he dies, Samuquan looks Uriel in the eyes and says "Thank you".]]
115* EarnYourHappyEnding: ''The Chapter's Due'', see BittersweetEnding above.
116* {{Egopolis}}: The city of Barbadus on Salinas. Following [[spoiler: Barbaden's death, Uriel suspects the capital will be renamed in hours.]]
117* EldritchLocation: The Iron Warriors' fortress of Medrengard, which would be a pretty good depiction of an industrialized version of Hell. It's steeped in such hatred that it can be felt in the air, physics are rather dodgy (e.g. taking a stairway up to a starship without climbing an equivalent amount of stairs), and everything in the environment, yes ''everything'', is trying to kill you.
118%%* EmpathicWeapon
119* EnemyCivilWar: Honsou versus Toramino and Berossus in ''Dead Sky, Black Sun''. He initially assumes Uriel and company were mercenaries sent by Toramino.
120%%* EvilIsDeathlyCold
121* EvilTowerOfOminousness: Khalan-Gol, Honsou's fortress in ''Dead Sky, Black Sun''. For bonus points, its walls are powered by a bound Bloodthirster of Khorne.
122%%* ExactWords
123%%* FalseFlagOperation
124* FantasyCounterpartCulture: Ultramarines are Greco-Romans. Or at least very Romanesque.
125%%* FatalFamilyPhoto
126* FateWorseThanDeath: In ''Nightbringer'', the characters discover a victim of a Drukhari haemonculus, left suspended from the ceiling by meat hooks, mutilated beyond recognition who was still faintly murmuring "Kill me". Even the Ultramarines found this fate disturbing.
127%%* FauxDeath
128%%* FeedTheMole
129%%* FireForgedFriends
130%%* FirstNameBasis
131* FixFic: A lot of bits people complained about in the fifth edition codex were addressed in ''The Chapter's Due''. Mostly by showing that while exceptionally good at their jobs, the Ultramarines were still fallible and could be outdone in some areas by the rest of the Imperium.
132%%* FriendOrFoe
133* GetItOverWith: Essentially what Uriel tells [[spoiler: Leodegarius after being beaten in a duel and thinking he's about to be executed for being tainted by Chaos]].
134%%* GhostlyChill
135%%* GloryHound
136%%* GoodIsOldFashioned: Barbaden's view.
137%%* GoodOldWays
138* GrandFinale: ''The Chapter's Due'' sees the end of plot points that have been building since ''Dead Sky, Black Sun'' as the forces of Chaos, with Honsou at their head, invade Ultramar.
139%%* GreenEyedMonster
140* GunshipRescue: Reaches its logical extreme in ''The Chapter's Due'' when [[spoiler: the ''Vae Victus'' and the ''Valin's Revenge'' enter Talassar's atmosphere to release Thunderhawks carrying the 4th and 2nd Companies to reinforce Marneus Calgar and the 1st Company against M'kar's Daemon Army]].
141* HappyEndingOverride: The short story ''The Heraclitus Affect'' ends with [[spoiler:the annihilation of Tarsis Ultra]], the same planet whose citizens the Ultramarines spent quite a few of their own lives saving.
142%%* HeroicSacrifice: Plenty of them, including several from non-Space Marines.
143* HoistByHisOwnPetard:
144** ''Warriors of Ultramar'': Being the DirtyCoward he is, Simon van Gelder [[spoiler: shuts down Erebus City's air defences so his starship can take off without being shot down. During take off, his ship narrowly avoids a crash with an Ultramarines Thunderhawk... and the swarm of Tyranid gargoyles that were pursuing the Space Marine aircraft attack the new target that just appeared in their way. Without the air defence guns to bring the aliens down, van Gelder's ship is overwhelmed and he is torn apart when the Tyranids break into the cockpit. [[RichinDollarsPoorinSense It does not help that his ship's maneuverability has been severely compromised after being laden with every material possession he was able to remove from his estates]].
145%%* HonorBeforeReason: Their motto ''is'' "Courage and honor!"
146%%* {{Hulkspeak}}
147%%* ICannotSelfTerminate
148* IGaveMyWord: Uriel is bound by it, staking his very honour on protecting Ario Barzano to Lord Calgar in ''Nightbringer''.
149** Inquisitor Kryptman actually breaks his word [[spoiler:to spare a planet in the path of a Tyranid Hive Fleet from Exterminatus]] in ''Warriors of Ultramar'' since it was the simplest solution to a major problem.
150* IncorruptiblePurePureness: In spite of their experiences battling xenos and Chaos forces, Uriel and Pasanius. They even get tested on this trait and pass with flying colors.
151* InterplayOfSexAndViolence: From ''Nightbringer'', the scene between the wych and the ''kyerzak'', or the Honored, [[spoiler: or de Valtos]], were explicitly engaged in foreplay before the Honored was [[MeatgrinderSurgery surgically disassembled and reassembled]]. Also, they had sex afterwards, if not something... worse.
152* InTheBack: [[spoiler: The dying Tyranid Norn Queen shoots Uriel in the back with a poisoned spine. He only survives due to a Deathwatch Apothecary and Pasanius performing blood transfusions to stabilize Uriel long enough to get him back to Tarsis Ultra for more extensive medical treatment]].
153* ItHasBeenAnHonor: Uriel gets at least one of these per book, usually just before the final battle as he fully expects to die in the Emperor's name facing such odds.
154* ItsAllAboutMe: Everything Kasimir de Valtos does [[spoiler: (from hiring Dark Eldar pirates to recover Necrontyr artefacts and raid Imperial settlements, to buying off high ranking members of the Pavonis cartel system, then murdering them once they were no longer of any use to him, to setting off a planet-wide civil war to ensure those loyal to the Imperium couldn't interfere with his schemes) was all in the name of cheating his inevitable death by freeing the Nightbringer and gaining immortality as a reward. Unfortunately for him, it was all for nothing]].
155* KillItWithFire: Throughout the series, Pasanius's signature weapon is a flamer.
156%%* KingInTheMountain
157%%* KnightInShiningArmor
158* LaResistance: The Sons of Salinas in ''The Killing Ground'', which have been resisting the Achaman Falcatas occupation for over ten years.
159* LargeAndInCharge: The Lord of the Unfleshed, Marneus Calgar, the Tyranid synapse creatures, M'kar... Honsou is one of the few exceptions.
160%%* LawfulStupidChaoticStupid
161* LeastIsFirst: In ''Dead Sky Black Sun'', when Uriel appeals to a group of {{Space Marine}}s and two Imperial Guardsmen to help him, it is the Guardsmen who volunteer first. [[spoiler:And when one dies, and the Marines decide to leave, the surviving Guardsman assures them that he will go with them.]]
162%%* LightIsNotGood: The Ultramarines (like Space Marines in general) are humanity's greatest defenders, but that doesn't meant they won't do terrible things in the name of protecting humanity, as well as the fact they will kill aliens, traitors and anything they see as a threat to the Imperium without a second thought.
163%%* LivingShadow
164%%* ManHug
165* ManlyTears: At the end of ''The Killing Ground'', when after all the hell they have gone through to atone for their sins and prove their loyalty in the story and its predecessor, both Uriel and Pasanius weep at their first sight of the Fortress of Hera as it sinks in that despite all the odds, they've made it home.
166%%* MaybeMagicMaybeMundane
167* MercyKill: [[spoiler:The Lord of the Unfleshed]] receives the Emperor's Peace for being [[spoiler:judged unredeemable after being mind-controlled into a frenzied killing machine]], in ''The Killing Ground''.
168%%* MindScrew Traveling through the Warp in the Omphalos Daemonium's traincars does this to our heroes, and the reader.
169%%* MobileMaze
170%%* TheMole
171* MoneyIsNotPower: just about every cartel head in ''Nightbringer'' gets hit with this trope, and realizes that the vast wealth which makes them legally and politically untouchable in their own sphere means less than nothing when they are confronted by alien pirates, terrorist extremists, their own psychopathic cohorts, and last but not least, an avatar of Death itself;
172* {{Mordor}}: Welcome to Medrengard! Filled with hellish forges, vast deserts, twisting mountains, and lots of daemons who want to feast on anything that walks by. You'll be spending most of ''Dead Sky, Black Sun'' there.
173* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: Koudelkhar Shonai, Governor of Pavonis in ''Courage and Honour''. [[spoiler: Having been captured, imprisoned in a POW camp and subjected to Tau propoganda advocating the benefits of the Greater Good, he is initially willing to defect to the Tau Empire. However, when he sees the Tau's willingness to gun down unarmed prisoners during an attempt at an uprising, and his mother is killed in the resulting firefight, he realises the Tau are every bit as vile and dangerous as Imperial rhetoric says all xenos are]].
174* NeverHurtAnInnocent: The Ultramarines are one of the few chapters which actually have some understanding of what the word "civilians" entails, and are one of the few to try and minimize civilian casualties. Pasanius is so enraged that Inquisitor Kryptman went behind the Ultramarines back to subject a planet to ''Exterminatus'' that he nearly ''strangled'' Kryptman right in front of a Deathwatch kill team.
175* NiceJobBreakingItHero: Uriel seems to do this a lot. Whether he's [[spoiler: sparing the omnicidal star god, releasing the daemonic juggernaut, stirring up a world's ghosts or pissing off the Warsmith,]] his arrival seems to leave places much worse than when he found them.
176* NoHoldsBarredBeatdown: To be honest, when the Ultramarines get into close combat, a lot of their fights become like this. For specific examples:
177** ''Nightbringer'': Against the traitor PDF trying to stop them from getting to the villain's base of operations.
178** ''The Killing Ground'': The duel between Uriel, Pasanius and Leodegarius. [[spoiler: Leodegarius hands their heads to them, then mentions that only by losing could they prove their loyalty. Had they beaten him, they would have been gunned down by the Grey Knights as tainted by Chaos]].
179** ''Courage and Honour'': Any time Space Marines get into combat with Tau soldiers (justified in that the Tau prefer to fight at range and look down on close combat, letting alien auxillaries like the Kroot sully themselves with hand to hand combat and only engaging in such themselves as a last resort).
180%%* NoOneGetsLeftBehind
181* TheNoseKnows: Brother Henghast, a member of Kryptman's assigned Deathwatch Kill-Team originally from the Space Wolves Chapter in ''Warriors of Ultramar'', evokes this trope when he removes his helm [[spoiler: to smell the correct way to go aboard the Tyranid Hive Ship. Justified as a Space Wolf's senses are even sharper than a normal Space Marine's (which are already far removed from a human).]]
182* {{Pirate}}: Kaarja Salombar evokes this in ''The Chapter's Due''.
183* PowderKegCrowd: Several examples of this in ''Nightbringer'', where heavy-handed policing by the Adeptus Arbites results in bloody and violent rioting.
184%%* ThePowerOfFriendship
185%%* PowerOfTrust
186%%* PraetorianGuard
187* PragmaticHero: Governor Leto Barbaden in ''The Killing Ground'' considers himself one, mixed with the DarkShepherd. He [[spoiler: argues that his decision to bomb the city of Khaturian - which the local resistance had been using as a safe haven for their families - to the ground in order to goad the rebels into a foolhardy attack against the Achamen Falcatas was the best choice, as it allowed him to root out the rebel leaders and end the insurrection in a single stroke. He is later lambasted by Uriel and several of his own advisors that this was more a case of StupidEvil, as his actions turned what had been a small scale insurrection into a planet-wide state of hostility towards him and his men, to the point where his guardsmen cannot leave the safety of their barracks without being subjected to ambushes, bombings and guerilla attacks]].
188%%* ThePromise
189* PunnyName overlapping with MeaningfulName: They are Marines, wearing lapis-blue (i.e. ultramarine) armour, who are the ultimate examples of the standard Space Marine doctrine, and are based in the territory of Ultramar. Said name is the Spanish version of ''Outremer'', the collective name for the medieval Crusader states founded by knightly orders (a rather good analogy for their sub-empire), and also (in its more general meaning of "overseas") the root of the pigment's name.
190** "Ultra" is also Latin for "beyond", so the Ultramarines are either the marines who defend the Imperium against the threats from the "beyond" of intergalactic space, or [[BadassArmy "Beyond" normal marines.]]
191%%* TheQuest
192%%* ReasonableAuthorityFigure
193%%* {{Revenge}}: Honsou's motivation.
194* RewardedAsATraitorDeserves:
195** ''Nightbringer'':
196*** [[spoiler:Almerz Chanda]], Kasimir de Valtos's [[TheMole mole]] in Governor Shonai's office. De Valtos thanks the traitor for their services, then paralyzes them with a poisoned dart and hands them over to the Dark Eldar for torture. Listening to their screams of agony, neither Shonai nor Inquisitor Barzano feels an atom of sympathy.
197---->'''de Valtos''': My dear [[spoiler:Almerz]], you betrayed one master, why should I trust you not to betray me as well?
198*** de Valtos himself, and his accomplice Vendare Taloun. [[spoiler: In the former's case, he murders many of the ruling elite on Pavonis, sets off a civil war and allies with Dark Eldar pirates (all horrendous crimes against the Imperium) to release the C'tan known as the Nightbringer in the belief it will make him immortal, while the latter reluctantly allies with him in a bid to seize the position of Planetary Governor that his family used to hold. Kasimir discovers that the Nightbringer has no need to acknowledge his existence, much less reward him, and ends up being decapitated and his soul eaten by the Nightbringer, while Taloun is arrested, forced to confess his crimes in a very public trial, then hanged from a statue of the Emperor]].
199** Mykola Shonai in ''Courage and Honour''. [[spoiler: She invited a Tau delegate to talk with the intention of having the Tau establish trading links with the hopes of bringing Pavonis out of its economic depression, but when the Tau (as Uriel warned) resorted to violence when their overtures were rebuffed, she is arrested, tortured and brutally interrogated to learn what other information she might have given the xenos, the savagery of which ultimately kills her]].
200* RoaringRampageOfRevenge: [[spoiler: Sylvanus Thayer in ''The Killing Ground''. Having seen his family die in the bombing of Khaturian and being left a quadriplegic cripple with 90% third-degree burns to his body after his futile attempt to avenge them went south, the trauma of his injuries causes latent psychic abilities to awaken in Thayer. He uses these newfound powers to enslave the ghosts of Khaturian and the recently arrived Unfleshed to his will to serve as pawns to allow him to exact his revenge on all those responsible. He is also uncaring of the fact that his vengeance-fuelled powers run the risk of opening a warp rift on Salinas that will necessitate the planet's destruction by the Inquisition unless he is stopped]].
201%%* RuleOfThree
202%%* SandInMyEyes
203%%* SarcasticClapping
204* ScrewTheRulesIHaveConnections: [[spoiler: Barbaden invokes this in ''The Killing Ground'' after his imprisonment for Khaturian, dismissive of his detractors' comments that his actions will see him put in front of a firing squad, confident that he can easily petition the Sector Governor to force his release. Unfortunately, the ghosts of those he murdered at Khaturian have other ideas...]]
205* SecretTestOfCharacter: Uriel and Pasanius get one in "The Killing Ground"; [[spoiler:their final test to prove their purity after returning from the Eye of Terror is an unarmed duel with Brother Leodegarius of the Grey Knights. They are [[NoHoldsBarredBeatdown utterly thrashed]], only to discover they weren't supposed to win; only those who were empowered by Chaos could have won in those circumstances (as Grey Knights are even more lethal than most Marines due to their role as daemon hunters), so by losing, Uriel and Pasanius proved they were untainted]].
206%%* SeparateButIdentical
207* ShoutOut:
208** Techmarine Harkus makes a few to ''Series/{{Star Trek|The Original Series}}'' in ''Warriors of Ultramar''
209-->'''Harkus''': [[ImADoctorNotAPlaceholder I'm a Techmarine, not a miracle worker]]!
210** The short story ''Leviathan'' makes a few to ''Film/Aliens''.
211** Dialogue between Ventris and Vaanes in ''Dead Sun, Black Sky'' references Star Wars: A New Hope.
212** In the fourth book, several characters seem to share first names with members of Music/SystemOfADown.
213** The leader of the Sons of Salinas in ''The Killing Ground'' is named after [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sylvanus_Thayer the superintendent of West Point Military Academy]].
214** Consider the dialogue below from ''The Chapter's Due'' spoken just before a duel between Fourth Company Champion Petronius Nero and Xiomagra, a Slaaneshi champion in service to Honsou:
215--> "[[MyNameIsInigoMontoya My name is Petronius Nero]]. You tried to kill my captain. PrepareToDie."
216* TheSiege: The siege of Khalan-Gol in ''Dead Sky, Black Sun'' sees Honsou fending off ''two'' armies, who attack consecutively (rather than at the same time), setting the stage for Uriel's death oath.
217%%** The siege of Castra Tenaga in ''The Chapter's Due''.
218* ShutUpHannibal: In ''Courage and Honour'', Uriel delivers one to the defeated Tau Ethereal leading the invasion.
219-->'''Aun'rai''': You are a doomed culture... You thirst for gain and personal glorification while your Imperium rots from within. Such a society cannot, ultimately, survive.
220-->'''Uriel''': It has survived for ten thousand years since its inception.
221-->'''Aun'rai''': What you have is not survival, it is merely a slow extinction.
222-->'''Uriel''': Not while warriors of [[TitleDrop courage and honour]] stand to defend it.
223* SlidingScaleOfCynicismVersusIdealism: Surprisingly for [[CrapsackWorld this setting]], and even after everything he's had to endure, Uriel himself firmly falls on the idealist side.
224%%* SoMuchForStealth
225%%* SoProudOfYou
226* SourSupporter: Sergeant Learchus to an extent, particularly as Uriel's plans start diverging more and more from the Codex Astartes.
227%%* SpaceRomans: The Ultramarines are Space Greco-Romans.
228%%* SurvivorGuilt
229* TakeMyHand: [[spoiler: Uriel does this to Captain Bannon in ''Warriors of Ultramar'' while trying to pull him aboard a departing Thunderhawk as he dangles from a rapelling cable. Bannon, already locked in combat with what is either a winged Tyrant Warrior or possibly a Hive Tyrant (the in-text description isn't clear), instead cuts his line, falling to his death below to allow the Thunderhawk to escape and preventing the creature from getting aboard]].
230* TakeUpMySword: In the short story "Chains of Command", Captain Idaeus gives his sword and legacy to Uriel.
231%%* TalkingInYourDreams
232%%* TearsOfRemorse
233* "TheReasonYouSuck"Speech: Aun'rai delivers one regarding the Imperium in ''Courage and Honour'', stating in his view why the Imperium of Man is ultimately doomed to be replaced by the Tau Empire, even if it doesn't work out for him:
234-->'''Aun'rai''': You are gue'la barbarians and you delay the inevitable, nothing more. The frontier of our empire moves with the turning of the planets, and it will push you before it until there is nowhere left for you. Then your race will be no more. The frontier is for those unafraid to face the future, not for those who cling to a forgotten past.
235%%* ThereAreNoCoincidences
236%%* TheyCallMeMisterTibbs
237* TheyHaveTheScent
238** The [[spoiler: Clawed Fiends dispatched by de Valtos' Dark Eldar allies to kill Governor Shonai and Barzano in ''Nightbringer'' track their prey by scent]].
239** [[spoiler: The lictor on the loose in Erebus City detects a significant target in the form of Inquisitor Kryptman through its sense of smell]].
240%%* ThinkNothingOfIt
241%%* TitleDrop: Nearly every book.
242%%* TooDumbToFool
243* TooDumbToLive: Simon Van Gelder in ''Warriors of Ultramar''. If you're going to insult the courage and skill of the Ultramarines, it's probably not a good idea to do it to the face of one who has already made their distaste for you plain and is more than willing to kill you for the insult.
244** On a larger scale, Kasimir de Valtos in ''Nightbringer''. [[spoiler: All of his schemes were to try convincing the Necron [[OmnicidalManiac god of death]] (the one that killed so many mortals in ancient times that almost every race in the universe is scared of death itself) to grant him immortality and was surprised when he got killed instead. This is in a universe where plenty of methods to achieve immortality of some sort exist, and he managed to choose one of the few that [[EpicFail absolutely wouldn't work]]. At the time of this book being written, the only recruits that the Necrons were taking were human blanks to be converted into Necron Pariahs]].
245%%* TrainingFromHell: Since they're Space Marines, it's part of the program.
246* {{Tykebomb}}: The Newborn is the twisted result of combining an adolescent boy abducted by the Iron Warriors with Uriel's genetic code, resulting in a fully-grown (and lethal) Chaos Space Marine who acts out of loyalty to his "father", Honsou, and only hates the Imperium and the Ultramarines because that's what he's been taught to do.
247%%* UnwillingSuspension
248* VictoryIsBoring: At the start of ''Courage and Honour'', Uriel Ventris is disappointed at how easy a skirmish against Tau [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Pathfinders]] is with the power of his 4th Company at his back, since he's so used to fighting against overwhelming odds, with lapses in his training, sometimes no PowerArmour and only [[HeterosexualLifePartner Pasanius]] always with him.
249* VillainousBreakdown: Kasimir de Valtos, the main antagonist of ''Nightbringer'' suffers one at the end. [[spoiler: Having caused the deaths of thousands of people (either murdered by his own hand, or killed in pirate attacks carried out by Dark Eldar mercenaries working with him, or in a civil war he had instigated to seize control of Pavonis) all in the name of freeing the Nightbringer in the belief it would make him immortal as a reward. When his plan finally comes to fruition, he is briefly connected to the Nightbringer's mind through an empathic link as it awakens, at which point his mind breaks at the realization that the Nightbringer is as far removed from him as he is from an ant, and the C'Tan has no reason to even acknowledge his existence, let alone reward him. Kasimir is reduced to tearfully begging the Nightbringer to make him immortal, which only results in the creature deigning to notice him for long enough to kill him]].
250* WeHaveReserves: Leto Barbaden, the Imperial Guard Colonel turned planetary governor in ''The Killing Ground''. Having been a quartermaster and logistician before his BattlefieldPromotion to the leadership of the regiment, he has zero regard for the lives of his men, or, for that matter, the lives of the opposition or those of civilians whom he deliberately sacrifices to achieve his goals. Far from being conflicted about his disregard for casualties, he congratulates himself for his acumen in realizing that, in the GrimDark 41st Millennium, manpower is the one resource the Imperium can afford to squander with abandon.
251* WeirdSun: The black, static sun in ''Dead Sky, Black Sun''. In other fluff, it's stated to actually be a black hole at the center of the Eye of Terror. Meaning in a tear in space time leading directly to the Warp. Think about that for a moment.
252%%* WeNeedADistraction
253* WhatTheHellHero: In ''Courage and Honour'', when Uriel tells the Tau trying to occupy Pavonis (the world he went to such effort to save back in ''Nightbringer'') that he will destroy the planet to keep it out of their hands if they don't call off their invasion, they have this criticism for him.
254-->"Just to prevent us from taking this world, you would see it burned to ash?"
255%%* WhatYouAreInTheDark
256* WorthyOpponent: How the Ultramarines see the Tau by the end of ''Courage and Honour''.
257%%* WriterOnBoard: Matt Ward in the codex.
258* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: The Nightbringer does not enjoy the thought of sharing power, especially much less the idea of giving power to a pitiful mortal.
259** Kasimir de Valtos invokes this trope a lot with allies of his. Having bribed and manipulated [[spoiler: Taryn Honan and Solana Vergen into supporting his political bid to undermine Mykola Shonai's Governorship of Pavonis, when he no longer has need of them, he doesn't hesitate to dispose of them; Vergen is tortured to death by de Valtos as a form of cathartic release from his own pain, while Honan is handed over to "enjoy" the attentions of a Dark Eldar Haemonculus]].
260-->'''[[spoiler:Taryn Honan]]''': Come Kasimir, surely there's no need to say such things? We are friends, after all? Aren't we?
261-->'''Kasimir de Valtos''': [[spoiler: Friends? No Taryn, we are not friends. You are just a pathetic piece of filth I stepped on on my route to immortality. And now it's time I discarded you]].
262%%* YouJustHadToSayIt
263

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