There is only Total War...
Unlike the average Total War game, which features conventional, distinctive-but-similar human armies, the playable armies of the Total War: Warhammer trilogy are vastly different from each-other in appearance, mechanics and even species from the Warhammer setting, necessitating individual pages to describe them in detail.
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Human Nations
Humans are a relatively young race. They do not remember the departure of the Old Ones or the first coming of Chaos, nor do they have the depth of knowledge and wisdom of the Elder Races. However, they have grown to be the dominant species in the world, dwarfing the Elder Races by numbers, if not sophistication. Unlike other races, Humans are a diverse species with no unifying nation, having as many corrupt and cowardly individuals as they have brave and wise heroes. For better or worse, they have taken a central role in balancing the fate of the world.- The Empire of Man
- The Kingdom of Bretonnia
- The Tzardom of Kislev
- The Empire of Grand Cathay
- Minor Human Nations
Elder Races
Old, declining, yet proud beyond measure, the Elder Races were present in the dawn times, when the first of their kind were sculpted by the hand of the Old Ones themselves. Thus, they tend to be far more resistant to Chaos than humans. In times past all of them built magnificent civilizations, grander than anything mankind has achieved so far, but millenia of strife and tragedy have inevitably led to their decline and they are now a shadow of their former selves. Despite all this, they still are formidable powers, and have an important part to play in the fate of the world.Undead
The Wind of Death blows strong over the Known World, and the dead do not rest easy. The curse of Undeath is the natural result of the short lived humans' desire to achieve immortality. It was Nagash, the first and greatest of all Necromancers, who in his great fear of what laid beyond the realm of flesh first walked this damned path, developing the malign art of raising the dead to serve a master. Ever since, the Restless Dead have plagued the world, embittered by their cursed existence, beyond death but less than life, and ambitioning to rule over it for all eternity.Forces of Chaos
Beyond the veil of reality lies the Realm of Chaos, home to four gods so powerful one of them alone could snuff out the world and its gods along with it, and would do so gladly. Having first invaded the world millenia ago only to be barely repelled by the combined might of the Elder Races, the Chaos Gods and their Daemon armies cannot easily walk through the world and are barely contained to the poles. Now the Forces of Chaos, mortal minions of the four gods corrupted by their influence or lured to their side by promises of power, lie in wait for the right time to destroy the world and watch it burn. And that time is approaching...Greenskins
The Greenskins are considered by many to be the scourge of all civilization. Big and mean or small and mean, these green-skinned monstrosities can be broadly categorized into two species: The large and brutish Orcs and the small and cunning Goblins. Supremely violent, they exist in a permanent state of war against anything and anyone they can see. Time and again, Greenskin hordes arise without warning and lay a great swath of destruction that has no direction or purpose other than simple violence, an ever-increasing mass of warfare that has the potential to dominate and cover the entire world in a seething green tide.Skaven
A malevolent and diabolical race of ratmen whose warrens span a global inter-continental underground empire known in their tongue as the Under-Empire. The Skaven are a cruel and vicious species whose military power and incomprehensible numbers have the potential to smother all the kingdoms of the Old World, a destiny the ratmen believe is inevitable. Scheming and treacherous, the Skaven consider themselves the supreme master race, undeniably superior to all other civilizations in the Warhammer World. They are constant enemies of the Dwarfs, the Night Goblins, and all non-Skaven races. And of each other, if we're honest.Ogre Kingdoms
Hulking, brutal humanoids driven by an insatiable hunger, the Ogre Kingdoms fight for both loot and food to stuff their bellies with.Multi-Faction Legendary Heroes
Gotrek & Felix
"My axe thirsts!"
Gotrek is voiced by: BRIAN BLESSED
Felix is voiced by:
Gotrek Gurnisson, a Dwarf Slayer, and Felix Jaeger, his Human chronicler, are a duo of warriors travelling throughout the length and breath of the Old World, battling Dark Forces and stopping plots in Gotrek's quest for a heroic death against a terrible foe. The adventures of these warriors have been written down in the series of books: "My Travels with Gotrek" by Master Felix Jaeger, which outlines Felix's many adventures with his maniacal comrade throughout many of their endeavours, recording everything till the day Gotrek has finally met his doom, and will finally be allowed to enter the halls of his ancestors.
The skills of these two heroes is near unequal in the known world, their deeds becoming near legendary in the eyes of many of their own people. Their exploits have led these two warriors to places only heard of in whispers and legend. Such extraordinary lands includes them taking an expedition to the far north, towards the ancient Lost Hold of Karag Dum, being teleported to the mysterious foggy swamp-lands of Albion, travelling to the scorching sand-encrusted palaces of Araby, and even going as far east as the great cities and spires of legendary Cathay itself. In these distant lands, Gotrek has cleaved a mighty toll of beast, monsters, and warriors alike, as he tries his greatest to find the glorious deaths that seems to elude him on every battlefield. Alongside this fearsome warrior travels a young poet and swordsmen by the name of Felix Jaeger. A black sheep of a rich mercantile family, this poet and writer had been with Gotrek for nearly 20 years, fighting alongside his maniacal companion as he writes down all of his mighty deeds within one of his many published and popular books.
Though sometimes considered vigilantes of the law, and sometimes having themselves locked up by the very people they tried to protect, such is the deeds these two have achieved in their twenty long years of battles after battle that the Old World gives them a silent prayer of deliverance and thanks, for these two have done things no mortal has ever been able to accomplish in many generations, having defended many mighty cities like Nuln and Praag from utter destruction, saved entire Kingdoms from the claws of ruination, and felling mighty warlords of the northern wastes, who seek to bring the end of the world as we know it. The forces of evil they encounter during their journeys will always be stopped, for these two are almost unrivalled in combat, and are considered among the world's most powerful heroes of this age, and many ages since.
The duo are the main characters of the long running series Gotrek & Felix.
Gotrek & Felix appear in the second game as a Legendary Lord and Hero (both Heroes in multiplayer) respectively, recruitable only to Empire, Bretonnian and Dwarf factions. Rather than being recruited conventionally, they can be hired for 30 turns before they depart to parts unknown once again, though they may always return later. Both the player and the AI can gain control of them. They are also present in the third game's Immortal Empires combined map, where they can also be recruited by Cathay and Kislev, and as of Patch 5.0, both Gotrek and Felix are permanent Legendary Heroes who can be earned by completing a special quest battle.
They are available to download as of October 17th 2019 as FLC characters (For the Mortal Empires Campaign and Custom/Multiplayer Battles), but they could be received early to those who purchased the White Dwarf issue of September 2019.
- Action Dad: Gotrek was a father once upon a time, but bringing up his now dead son is a major Berserk Button and has reduced him to Manly Tears. Felix eventually became a father too, though probably not at the stage in his story that is being depicted here.
- The Alcoholic: Both have problems with holding their liquor. Gotrek loves his alcohol, but being a Dwarf he's more resistant to it than a human would be. He also follows the Dwarf stereotype of having a cultural, almost physiological, need for alcoholic drinks. Felix, for his part, was roped into being Gotrek's chronicler in the first place because he was piss drunk when he agreed to it. In-game, they will appear if the player has built a Tavern (or equivalent to their faction) building.
- The Atoner: Gotrek is one, as are all Slayers. In his case the details are very sketchy, but it's implied in the books he killed his lord, his bodyguards and a good chunk of his court while grief-stricken over the death of his wife.
- Anti-Hero: Gotrek drinks, curses, bloodily dispatches his enemies, he's rude, condescending towards humans and elves, and causes wide-scale property damage, but many times his heart is in the right place and he's trying to help. He even goes out of his way to help a friend. Felix can also be a womanizing sleazeball, but he too generally wants to do the right thing, goes out of his way to rescue people in need (especially if they are a pretty girl), and is a very loyal friend to Gotrek.
- Amazon Chaser: Felix is primarily attracted to strong women, mainly Action Girl who can kick his ass..
- The Atoner: All Slayers are this, with Gotrek's past and sin being especially grievous and dark.
- Awesome, but Impractical: Both of them have their problems.
- Gotrek hits hard, and having him join you and fight for you is awesome from a lore perspective, but hiring him counts as hiring an army (which meant extra upkeep for the Empire and Dwarfs until a patch changed it), he does not gain levels and skillpoints as he fights, he's available only for a limited number of turns before disappearing and he has no items and no army-boosting skills, which mean that even a halfway-specced generic lord would be a better leader. He's also a Slayer, which means while he hits hard he's deceptively fragile without Felix around.
- Felix has a different problem. Since he never levels up he's always stuck at the lowest possible level, and because he's a hero he can be targeted by enemy hero actions. Hero actions gain success chance based on the level between the hero and his target. This means even a mid-level hero gains a massive bonus to wound Felix, and the AI is perfectly aware of that. It's not unusual for him to spend half the 20 turns you get him for wounded because of enemy hero actions.
- Badass Abnormal: It's implied Gotrek's mystical axe has enhanced his already considerable strength and speed, turning him into the absolute killing machine he is today.
- It's also implied that Gotrek's axe as well as Felix's sword "leaked" some of its power into Felix as well, which is why he's been able to keep up with Gotrek and is Older Than He Looks.
- Badass Normal: In contrast to his companion, Felix is just really lucky, and knows his way around in a scrap, being just a regular human who can keep pace with a venerable One-Man Army, and fight Dragons and Greater Demons.
- The Berserker: Gotrek is a mad whirl on the battlefield, slaughtering anything that comes before him an a blaze of bloodlust and mayhem, even screaming "berserker!" in combat, with little, if any, regard for his safety. Even before he became a Slayer Gotrek had a hard time controlling his raging temper. Felix is more composed and orderly when fighting, however.
- Blood Knight. Both to varying degrees. Felix, after getting other his innate cowardice and disdain for violence, has learned to enjoy a good fight, but he isn't anywhere gun-ho about it. Gotrek on the other hand, revels in violence and mayhem, like any Dwarf, but especially so, considering he's a slayer. The only time he's in a remotely good mood is on the battlefield, or drinking a tankard of alie.
- Brutal Honesty: Gotrek tells absolutely everyone what he thinks of them, friends are fair game, same with other slayer and even kings, much to the chagrin of Felix, and also Ungrim Ironfist.
- Character Level: Notably averted with Gotrek, who is a Lord unable to level up; in fact, you can't even see his talent tree. Instead, any Experience Points earned by his army will be shared across all other active Lords in the campaign map.
- The Chew Toy: A Trauma Conga Line led him to become a Slayer, but when he wants death it keeps eluding him.
- Chronic Hero Syndrome: Shades of this. To seek his death, Gotrek looks for dangerous situations, though he sometimes helps for benevolent reasons. Felix is usually the one who brings out his conscious to help people.
- Combat Pragmatist: Neither have qualms about fighting dirty or using Improvised Weapons to get what they want. The game even encourages the player to send both to fight two on one in duels.
- Cool Sword: Felix's weapon is Karaghul, a sword enchanted to kill dragons, which never breaks and never needs sharpening. Unfortunately, it's also semi-sentient and has a mental link with Felix, and when a dragon showed up in the novels, Karaghul turns him into a Leeroy Jenkins. Despite this, however, Felix is actually an anti-infantry unit in-game, and so is not actually that great at dragonslaying, especially when compared to Gotrek (who is anti-large like all other Slayers).
- The Cynic: From his loading screen quotes in the first game, it is clear Gotrek thinks the dwarfs glory days are over and not coming back."We know how far we have fallen, manling. Now we hurdle in our Karaks, waiting for the end of the world."
- Death Seeker: Gotrek, like all Slayers, seeks to cleanse himself of his shame by dying a mighty death against a great foe, and routinely throws himself at greater daemons, dragons and armies to achieve this. Unfortunately for him, he's such a deadly combatant that he has failed to get himself killed despite all of these attempts at a glorious death. It took The End Times for him to finally kick the bucket like everyone else, but even that failed to stick. It's often joked in the fandom Gotrek's mastery of arms makes him one of the worst Slayers of all time.
- Determinator: A key part of his character. Gotrek will never give up, no matter the odds. Ever. In-game, he's unbreakable, and becomes even stronger on the verge of death.
- Dirty Old Man: While he's always been a Casanova Wannabe, Felix just became more perverted when he grew older, but was usually a Chivalrous Pervert.
- Early-Bird Cameo: In the first game, Gotrek was the source of several loading screen quotes and Felix was tengentially referenced in one of the Dwarfs random grudges (the grudge was about vampires reanimating dwarf corpses to play in a play written by a Jaeger).
- Eye Scream: Lost his left eye courtesy of a band of goblins raiders. Probably the only time a goblin managed to cause him serious injury in the entire book series.
- Eyepatch of Power: Gotrek has a black eyepatch embroided with gold.
- Fantastic Racism: Gotrek generally looks down on non-dwarfs, with a few exceptions, though he outright and unreservedly despises elves, even compared to the average Dwarf. The first elf he encounters in the novels, the archmage Teclis, he threatens to kill after he's finished with a daemon and regularly mocks and ridicules him despite the fact that Teclis saved him and Felix from their world's equivalent of Hell and ravenous daemons. He even says the one positive of Teclis failing to prevent a magic ritual that would enable the followers of Chaos to rampage across the world is that there'd be one less elf alive. In-game, the duo refuses to sell their services to Elven factions despite them being forces of order.
- Gameplay and Story Segregation: Felix's sword, Karaghul, is meant to be the ultimate dragonslayer's weapon and in the novels excels at bringing down mighty beasts. The game retools Felix as an anti-infantry combatant and thus better suited to fighting regular troops rather than dragons and other large monsters, largely because he and Gotrek would fill too-similar gameplay niches otherwise.
- Guest-Star Party Member: Gotrek and Felix will only stick around for 30 turns after being recruited, justified in-universe as Gotrek getting itchy feet and his deathwish commanding him to seek adventure elsewhere. There's a chance that they may be available for recruiting later on, stronger than before due to having gained experience offscreen.
- Good Is Not Nice: Felix just barely counts, being a womanizing Cowardly Lion, but Gotrek is especially nasty, being a Jerkass to everyone, a Noble Bigot who spews casual racism constantly, someone with a massive temper, and will not hesitate to kill the forces of disorder viciously and without mercy. They are also some of the staunchest champions of Order in the setting.
- Heroic Second Wind: Not only does he hit harder when close to death like most slayers, but Gotrek also has a chance of regenerating a vast amount of health when taking fatal damage.
- Honor Before Reason: He's a Dwarf. Oaths and grudges are Serious Business beyond serious business to him, which puts him and Felix in jeopardy on several occasions.
- Hired Guns: Gotrek and Felix act as mercenaries on the campaign, loaning their services to a select number of factions for gold, to finance their further adventures. This is actually a Mythology Gag, and a decade-long Call-Back to the fact the duo were part of the Dogs of War armylist a long time ago.
- Hunter of Monsters: The one reason most of the legendary monsters are still alive in the Warhammer world is simply because Gotrek has yet to reach them all. In game, however, that can be changed.
- Knight in Sour Armor: He's been fighting the meanest, nastiest monsters he can find for decades and not one of them has been able to kill him. Since his life goal is to get killed awesomely, it's only natural that he's started to get bitter about it. Through this all though, Gotrek at least has kept his moral core, and he wants to help people, as much of an asshole he can be. Felix, who has been gradually hardened by his travels and witnessed the worst of every race in the Warhammer world has also become progressively more bitter in his quest, but also remains a force of good.
- Lightning Bruiser: Gotrek is not only faster and hardier than most Dwarfs, but he also hits far harder than most units in the game.
- Long-Haired Pretty Boy: Felix is a stunning blonde Warrior, with unmatched golden locks, if a little rugged. He's depiction has been compared to a "good guy" Sigvald.
- Manly Facial Hair: In case you didn't notice, Gotrek is a Dwarf, as well as a Slayer, having a badass beard of crimson is practically a given.
- Never My Fault: They both tend to shift blame towards others for their misfortunes, Felix especially.
- Odd Couple: One is a depressive, suicidal dwarfen warrior with a mysterious past. The other is a young human nobleman who fancies himself a poet and never came anywhere close to combat until they met. Together, they hunt the biggest monsters in the world.
- Older Than He Looks: Felix has been adventuring with and chronicling Gotrek's exploits for at least two decades, but barely looks older than when he joined him.
- Overshadowed by Awesome: Felix is badass by the standards of the setting, but Gotrek is an unstoppable killing machine, and their stats very much reflect this.
- Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: Gotrex's the Manly Man to Felix's Sensitive Guy. Though only relative to the setting.
- Walking Shirtless Scene: As Gotrek is a Slayer, he's always shirtless and ready and willing to receive a deathblow to end his penance.
- Warrior Poet: Felix wanted to be a poet rather than take over the family business, which led to disastrous consequences (including his partnership with his Slayer companion). Even now, he's a frequent writer, even when not chronicling him and his friend's adventures. And of course, he has one hell of a sword arm.
Ulrika Magdova
"Blood will sate me!"
Voiced by: Aliona Baranova
Originally the daughter of a Kislevite noble, Ulrika joined Gotrek and Felix in one of their adventures to defend her motherland. She and Felix shared a short-lived romance, but any hopes of reconciliation between them were forever dashed when she fell prey to a vampire, and then turned into one against her will. From then on, Ulrika served under a mistress from the nefarious Lahmian Sisterhood, caught in their labyrinth of schemes and politics, but traces of her noble spirit still remained in her undead heart. Only time would tell if her humanity could resurface and bring the proud, loyal daughter of Kislev back to metaphorical life, or if she would fall into darkness completely, fit only to be hunted down as an enemy of the living.
Released as a free addition to the Total War: Warhammer III' 3.0 update if one had a Creative Assembly account, Ulrika is a Legendary Hero that can be recruited by the player if they are playing as either the Empire or Kislev.
- Action Girl: She wouldn't be a legendary hero unit if she wasn't a major butt-kicking lady.
- Bow and Sword in Accord: Ulrika possesses both a bow and a sword, opting to switch between them as necessary.
- Breaking Old Trends: Ulrika is the first Legendary Hero who can be recruited by multiple factions, in this case the Empire and Kislevnote
- Glass Cannon: As a Legendary Hero, Ulrika is offensively a powerhouse between being able to attack from afar, in melee, and use the lore of shadows. Defensively though, she doesn't have a lot of armor, so she can't take a lot of damage. Due to her vampire classification, she does have HP regen as long as her leadership is high, but without some attention, she can die quickly.
- Hunter of His Own Kind: She really, REALLY hates vampires for her current state and the tragedies she had to experience after being given the blood kiss. Even one of her promotional pics has her saddled on a horse while raising her blade to strike a Vampire Lord.
- Magic Knight: She is a fighter skilled with the rapier and she is also a wizard of the lore of shadows.
- Sensual Slavs: An attractive kislevite Action Girl.
- Token Heroic Orc: One of the few vampires in the Warhammer setting who is genuinely heroic rather than simply Affably Evil (like Genevieve, a fellow vampire), evidenced by serving in the rosters of both the Empire and Kislev.
- Took a Level in Badass: In the books Ulrika was a competent fighter. Unlike her book incarnation, she has access to the Lore of Shadows which gives her a substantial edge along with her gear.
Aekold Helbrass
Voiced by: Richard Summers-Calvert
"All life ends!"
Once the finest swordsman of the Order of the Jade Griffon, Aekold fell to Tzeentch's clutches when he joined a seemingly innocent secret society of scholars to learn more about Sigmar's teachings. This organization turned out to be a Chaos cult dedicated to the Great Conspirator, and before long Aekold was disowned by everyone he loved and hunted down by Imperial witch hunters. He fled the Empire to save himself but it quickly dawned on him that he had nothing else left to live for, save for the desire to learn the truth behind his ill fate. And so he wandered aimlessly towards Kislev and beyond, eventually journeying to the Chaos Wastes to sate his obssession with knowledge, unknowingly leading himself to eternal damnation. The climax of his journey led to his rebirth as Aekold Helbrass: a Chaos Champion of Tzeentch. Imbued by Tzeentch's unholy magics, Aekold now wants nothing more than to wreak vengeance on the Empire that unjustly condemned him and to deliver his new-found God's truth to the rest of the world... at swordpoint.Released as a free addition to the Total War: Warhammer III 4.0 update if one had a Creative Assembly account, Aekold is a Legendary Hero recruitable by the Daemons of Chaos, Daemons of Tzeentch, and Warriors of Chaos.
- BFS: Aekold wields the Windblade, which can launch Razor Wind attacks and is also an Empathic Weapon that always returns to its wielder's hand when thrown. Additionally, in-game the Windblade has a vortex spell that Aekold can use to cleave through enemy infantry.
- Fallen Hero: Like Archaon before him, Aekold used to be a renowned Templar of the Empire; now he's one of their greatest enemies.
- Good Powers, Bad People: One of Tzeentch's boons to Aekold is the "Breath of Life": a strange form of life magic that grants him healing powers and also gives him Fertile Feet wherever he goes. And as a servant of Chaos, Aekold happily uses these gifts for evil.
- Stereotype Flip: Champions of Tzeentch are typically schemers, scholars, and Squishy Wizards before receiving boons from their God, but Aekold himself is a warrior through and through, extremely skilled with a blade, and a former knight of the Empire. He is more or less what you expecte a champion of Khorne to be, especially since he has a skill that grants him Frenzy when fighting against Empire factions.
- The Team Normal: For Tzeentch factions, anyways. Aekold is one of the very few champions of Tzeentch who is explicitly not a spellcaster and, if playing as the Daemons of Tzeentch, will be your only Legendary character unable to use magic.
The Blue Scribes
P'tarix and Xirat'p, the Blue Scribes and Tzeentch's Quaestors
"Who's steering?!" "Not me!"
It is said that in ages past, Tzeentch was once the most powerful of the Chaos Gods - so much so that his ever-bickering brother Gods united against him and cast him down after a massive war. Tzeentch himself was shattered into thousands of shards that were flung across time and space, eventually landing on the material realms. These shards, as many legends claim, are known to mortals as "magic".
Tzeentch has since recovered from this humiliating defeat, but now his sorcerous might is a fraction of what it used to be. Pieces of his essence remain unaccounted for, to which he created two daemons, P'tarix and Xirat'p, whom he tasked with recovering them. To ensure they do not use the fragments for themselves, Tzeentch created the daemons with limits to their intellect: P'tarix can write down a lost fragment but he cannot read it, while Xirat'p can read his brother's writing but cannot comprehend its meaning.
Thus, the Blue Scribes travel across myriads of realms atop a Disc of Tzeentch, where they believe the shards of their god could be found. Every shard or magic spell that they do encounter, the Scribes catalogue in parchment and ink, and now their Disc is almost filled to the brim with scrolls of sorcery. Unfortunately for them, their task is an impossible one, as mortals are constantly reinventing magic to suit their purposes. The Scribes are also often drawn towards battlefields, as it is here where the most potent and most powerful spells are unleashed. To defend themselves, Xirat'p rummages through the scrolls he and his brother have accumulated, causing them to fling random spells left and right, and showering their foes with bizarre magics that even they themselves cannot predict. Once the battle is over, the Scribes scour the field of any new magic to scribble down before they move on to continue with their (unbeknownst to them, eternal) mission.
The Blue Scribes are a Legendary Hero for the Daemons of Tzeentch, Daemons of Chaos, Warriors of Chaos Undivided or of Tzeentch, introduced in the Shadows of Change DLC.
- The Dividual: Like the Sisters of Twilight, the Blue Scribes are counted as a single flying entity and cannot be commanded individually.
- Gotta Catch 'Em All: Tzeentch created the Blue Scribes to collect every known magic spell in existence, as these are lost fragments of his being. This is actually an Impossible Task because magic, especially in the material realm, is constantly evolving and new spells are being made much faster than the Scribes can hope to find and catalogue them.
- Hover Board: They ride atop a Disc of Tzeentch laiden down with books and writing supplies.
- I Meant to Do That: Xirat'p has a tendency to play off most of his random spellcasting as well thought out plans whenever it works in his favor. And if it doesn't, he'll just blame P'tarix for giving him a useless spell.
- Sdrawkcab Name: P'tarix and Xirat'p.
- Security Cling: Their death animation has them holding each other in fear just as they are sucked into a Chaos Portal, likely because they know that they will be punished by Tzeentch for failure.
- Random Effect Spell: Since they've been cataloging every form of magic in existance, but don't actually understand any of it, the Blue Scribes just fire off spells at random and hope for the best. In gameplay terms, their available spell list is a random batch drawn from every spell lore in the series. When they pick a spell to cast, the list immediately reshuffles to provide new choices.
Other
The Advisor
"As gods battle for the world's fate, I make my own humble contribution."
Voiced by: Sean Barrett
A mysterious, elderly human who serves as an advisor to the player's selected faction. Is the narrator of most faction intros, tutorials and certain trailers.
- Art Evolution: In the third game, he gains a new model that makes him slightly younger with normal eyes. After all, he's in a Stealth Prequel. It only makes sense for him to be younger.
- Ascended Extra: After being a secondary character in the first game, and The Artifact in the second, the Advisor becomes the de-facto protagonist in Total War: Warhammer III, in which the main campaign specifically follows his quest to be free from his pact with Tzeentch.
- Butt-Monkey: In the third game's intros, he almost always gets mistreated and/or threatened by the Lord you're playing as before they eventually agree to accept his help. In fact, the only Lords who don't attack, threaten, or otherwise insult him are the Cathay Lords, Kislev's Secret Character Boris Ursus, Ku'gath and Kairos, and even in Kairos' case his past-seeing head advocates they just kill him and take the Tome of Fates for themself before the future-seeing head vetoes the idea.
- Can't Kill You, Still Need You: When he approaches most of the given Legendary Lords in the third game, their first response is to kill him for various reasons, and even most of those who don't try not so subtly imply they'd like to. However, when the Advisor explains what he can help them accomplish, they (with varying degrees of reluctance) agree to spare him, if for no other reason than only he can plot a way through the maelstrom. The only one who may not need him, Kairos (being potentially able to unpick whatever spell binds the Adivsor to the book), decides not to when the head that sees the future realizes that Advisor's offer will bear fruit.
- Continuity Snarl: Subverted. He seems to have mysteriously come back to life in game three after having been killed in game one, which is only explained during the campaign endings. Game three is actually a Stealth Prequel, with the campaigns ending with the Advisor losing his sight to the Tome of Fates and being bound to Sarthorael's will.
- The Creon: Invoked. The Tome of Fates provides limitless knowledge, but is cursed to ensure that the bearer cannot use it to fulfil any of their own ambitions, which stops the Advisor from simply doing everything himself. To circumvent this, the Advisor uses the book to give valuable counsel to the rulers of powerful nations, so they will act in ways that ultimately benefit him.
- Deal with the Devil: Has one with Tzeentch, which manifests itself as a Tome of Eldritch Lore. In the third game he is actively trying to end this pact.
- Demoted to Extra: In the second game, he's merely a narrator and isn't implied to exist in-story at all.
- Evil Chancellor: When playing as an evil faction, but especially when playing as the Warriors of Chaos in the first game, as he is a cultist of Tzeentch manipulating you at the behest of his patron, Sarthorael, who intends to overthrow Archaon the Everchosen.
- Faustian Rebellion: The third game reveals that the Advisor regrets serving Tzeentch and resents the curse of the Tome of Fates, and wishes to be freed. Fortunately, the Tome of Eldritch Lore provides all the information he needs to hatch a plan. Sadly, while he manages to escape from the Tome's curse, Tzeentch still keeps him from using the book by taking away his sight.
- Gilligan Cut: In the intro of a Katarin campaign, he realizes that the Kislevites believe Ursun to already be dead, and notes that he must be delicate when presenting his proposal to them. Cut to him getting encased in ice by Katarin, with the Ice Court outraged by what they believe to be a cruel, heretical joke.
- The Good Chancellor: He advises you on managing your empire, teaches you to command your forces and encourages you to grow your empire and become a force to be reckoned with. In the third game, however, he's plainly shown to not be altruistic — Part of the Tome of Fate's ironic curse is that he can only use it to further the ambitions of others, not himself. His biggest motivation for getting out of the his bond to the Tome is the hope that he'll be "free to profit from its secrets".
- Harmless Freezing: Downplayed in one of the Kislev opening movies, where he comes out of a whole-body encasing in ice by the Tzarina none the worse for wear. It was only for a less than a minute though and she did make it clear that she was going to kill him with that before he convinced her not to.
- Heroic Willpower: In the "A Covenant with Chaos" trailer, he manages to reject the temptation of N'Kari -— one of the most powerful, corruptive, and conniving Daemons in existence.
- Inexplicably Awesome: No matter which leader you take, or how savage their race might be, he somehow talked his way into becoming their chief adviser and setting their objectives, often with barely a Hand Wave given. Being a sorcerer of Tzeentch with a Lord of Change perched on his shoulder might have something to do with it. The third game demystifies things a bit by giving him more focus, and showing his often-fraught first meetings with the various leaders, but much of the Advisor's personal history and motivations remain shrouded in mystery.
- Laser-Guided Karma: Once he's freed of the Tome of Fate's curse, he could have just put it down and walked away. But no, he had to try and use its power for his own desires, didn't he? And so Tzeentch, the god of ambition and knowledge, enslaves him once again.
- Late-Arrival Spoiler: Promotional materials for the third game makes no secret of the fact that he was involved with Tzeentch in the first game.
- Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: He's aligned with Chaos, but pick one of the more benevolent factions and play well enough and his advice could end up contributing to the biggest defeats for Chaos in history. Then again, he is associated with Tzeentch, whose schemes are both far-reaching and self-sabotaging.
- Nominal Hero: In Game 3. Yes, he can help Kislev rescue Ursun and stop the Endless Winter, or help the dragons of Cathay find their lost sister, but he's still a sorcerer of Chaos and probably wouldn't be helping people if he wasn't cursed by Tzeentch to do so. In his own private monologue, he wants to break the curse so that he'll be "free to profit from (the Tome of Fates') secrets", whatever that means.
- No Name Given: His name is never revealed, and the game merely refers to him by his role.
- Oh, Crap!:
- In the first game's Warriors of Chaos campaign, he realizes pretty quickly that Sarthorael intends to kill him, and spends his final moments pleading to be spared.
- Has another instance of this in the "A Covenant with Chaos
" trailer for game three, where he realizes that his pact with Tzeentch has made him attract the attention of other Chaos Gods. This cements his resolve to free himself from Tzeentch's grasp. - In the Ogre Kingdoms introduction, the Advisor is on the verge of panic when Greasus Goldtooth brushes off his promises of power and orders him cooked, with the hungry tribe of ogres slowly closing in around him.
- Playing Both Sides: Since the Advisor is obviously just a source of tutorials and exposition there's no reason to be suspicious that every faction is advised by the same person.
- Prophet Eyes: He has milk-white eyes in the first two games, but it appears he isn't visually challenged. In game three, he gets a new model with normal eyes. The third game is a prequel, however — in the epilogue, he loses his sight upon being enslaved by Sarthorael, who inflicts it just as the Advisor attempts to read the Tome of Fate.
- Ravens and Crows: He is accompanied by an albino raven. In the Warriors of Chaos campaign, it's actually Sarthorael in disguise. He goes without it in the third game, however, alluding to his desire to escape from Tzeentch's grasp. Until the campaign reveals how the raven became his familiar in the first place, as it's set before the first game.
- Schrödinger's Gun:
- He'll only be revealed to work for a greater daemon in the Beastmen/Chaos campaigns. If you play as any of the other factions, he's simply the advisor he looks like. You may even get more of his advice after you banish Sarthorael and return the world to an age of peace.
- Whichever faction the player chooses in Warhammer III is the faction that he chooses to ally with for the sake of his quest to acquire Ursun's blood. How the other factions are still capable of entering the Chaos Realms without the Advisor's assistance is unstated, but surprising to the man himself.
- Shoot the Messenger: His negotiations with the various factions in the Realm of Chaos story are fraught with peril, with most of the playable characters threatening to kill him on the spot for one reason or another. Only Boris Ursus, the Cathayan dragons and Ku'gath Plaguefather accept the Advisor's bargain without antagonizing him first.
- Tome of Eldritch Lore: He carries one called the Tome of Fate, symbolizing his pact with Tzeentch. It's a Great Big Book of Everything that contains knowledge unknown even to daemons, but like all things of Tzeentch it is cursed — Specifically, the owner of the book is incapable of using it for personal gain, only being able to use it to help others. For the Advisor, who made the pact out of personal ambition, it's a predicament he's keen to escape from.
- The Unfought: The moment he reveals his true nature in the first game, Sarthorael kills him.
- Wham Line: In the first game's Warriors of Chaos campaign:The Adviser: Your empire dominates all. Could you rival the gods themselves? I think not, fool! (Evil Laugh)
- Wham Shot: He moves a piece of paper away to reveal a map of Cathay during the Warhammer III reveal trailer.
- Yank the Dog's Chain: At the conclusion of the Realm of Chaos campaign, the Advisor is freed from the curse of the Tome of Fate, enabling him to use it for his own gain... only for his eyes to suddenly cloud over and turn blind, leaving him unable to actually read the pages. To make matters worse, the white raven familiar he adopted speaks to him, revealing itself to be Sarthorael the Ever-watcher.
- You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: In the same cutscene where the Adviser reveals his treachery during the Warriors of Chaos campaign, Sarthorael kills him, dismissing the old man as nothing more than a pawn of Tzeentch.
The Narrator
- And Now for Someone Completely Different: The factions of III's DLC campaigns have little to do with the race for Ursun that concerns the Advisor (and, if Champions of Chaos is any indication, all of them chronologically take place afterword), so their stories are narrated by this mysterious newcomer instead.
- Distaff Counterpart: To the Advisor.
- In the Hood: Her portrait introduced in Forge of the Chaos Dwarfs wears a black hood that conceals her features, with only her only distinguishing feature being a Single Tear-like facial marking.
- Narrator: Her role in Total War: Warhammer III's DLC campaigns. Unlike the Advisor before her, this lady exclusively narrates cutscenes and major story events, and has no presence in tutorial screens.
Rogue Armies
A type of faction introduced in the second game, Rogue Armies are independent horde forces that plague the New World, consisting of mercenaries from different races underneath one banner and unified by a similar theme and flavor — as such, their armies can consist of units from different races' rosters. They primarily loot temples and wander the campaign map sacking and pillaging cities, but if they become strong enough they can settle down and become full-on factions in their own right. They can be either powerful enemies or strong allies depending on how the player interacts with them.
- Adaptation Species Change:
- Amadri Ironbark, the leader of the Wrath of Nature, is based on a minor Wood Elf character mentioned in some background lore. In canon, he was an Asrai who was tortured to death by Daemonettes and returned as a Tree Kin. Here, he's an Ancient Treeman instead.
- Vashnaar, leader of Vashnaar's Conquest, is based on a canonical Chaos Lord that nearly conquered Lustria that happened to have Dark Elf mercenaries and a black dragon. Here, he's a Dark Elf Dreadlord who happens to have Chaos Warriors fighting for him.
- Asset Actor: Some Rogue Armies use specific units to represent more generalized groups that, due to only featuring in one two Rogue Armies, don't merit dedicated models themselves. For instance, Morrslieb's Howlers use Empire flagellants, extreme devotees of the cult of Sigmar, to depict generic frenzied lunatics; a number of others use a mixture of Empire militia and Bretonnian peasant mobs to represent hordes of poorly armed pirates and brigands; and Amadri Ironbark, a wood elf-turned-tree kin in background lore, is depicted as a treeman due to there not being tree kin character options.
- The Beastmaster:
- The Beastcatchas are led by a Night Goblin Beastmaster whose skill in taming monsters has gathered a nightmarish horde of Squigs, Warhounds, War Hydras and feral dinosaurs. To a lesser degree, the Black Spider tribe fields Bastiladons alongside Arachnarok Spiders.
- A dwarf warband, the Deathseekers, field captured squigs, which are usually only used by Greenskins, as warbeasts.
- The Brute: You have to deal with a whole army of them when the Boneclubba Tribe shows up. Black Orcs are, by a wide margin, their most intelligent representatives.
- Crippling Overspecialization: Their eclectic themed rosters often leave Rogue Armies very vulnerable to specific army builds or strategies. For instance, the Troll-Skullz, a horde of Giants, Greenskin Trolls, Chaos Trolls and Cygors, are very vulnerable to anything anti-large and will get shredded by a Slayer-heavy army.
- Cult: Morrslieb's Howlers, consisting of a mix of Skaven plague monks, Empire flagellants, fanatical night goblins, Chaos forsaken and a few related units, are themed around a fanatic cult dedicated to the Chaos moon.
- The Engineer: The College of Pyrotechnics is a whole army of them fielding a variety of artillery and war machines.
- Equal-Opportunity Evil: It's rather ironic that most interspecies armies in the history of the Warhammer world are either rogue or affiliated with the Dogs of War.
- Gaia's Vengeance: The Worldroot Rangers and Wrath of Nature are led by Elder Treemen who travel the world with an army of elven warriors in the former's case and forest spirits in the latter's.
- Hell Is War: In the third game, the rogue armies return as a fixture of the Realm of Khorne, where they wage endless war for the amusement of the Blood God. In order to enter the Brass Citadel, the player needs to fight them and amass battle kills.
- The Horde: What Rogue Armies often come across from the point of view of settled factions, being motley collections of barbarians, pirates, monsters and roving warmongers wandering their way through the world and waging war on whoever they encounter. Special mention goes to the Abominations, a mixed horde of monstrous Beastman units with Chaos Forsaken, Skaven monsters and ghouls thrown in for good measure, and Vashnaar's Conquest, a mixed warband of Chaos Warriors and Dark Elves waging war in the name of Chaos.
- Knight in Shining Armor:
- Subverted with the Scourge of Aquitaine, a rather sinister knightly order. The warband is composed of several units of Bretonnian Grail Knights, Royal Pegasi, and Knights of the Realm fighting alongside vampiric Blood Knights and Black Knights and led by a Vampire Lord, implying they're from Mousillon.
- Played straight by Jerrod's Errantry Army, a group of Empire and Bretonnian Knights purging the land of evildoers.
- Our Ghouls Are Different: The Heirs of Mourkain consist mainly of Crypt Ghouls and Crypt Horrors, led by Strigoi Ghoul Kings.
- Private Military Contractors: Several Rogue Armies, such as Gerhardt's Mercenaries and Mengil's Manflayers, are themed as mercenary companies.
- Red and Black and Evil All Over: The color scheme of rogue armies is black, red and white. While they're decidedly neutral in the second game, they're implicitly evil in the third, where they reside in the Realm of Khorne and fight for the attention of the Blood God.
- The Remnant: As their name implies, Tor Elithis Refugees are all that remains of the aforementioned Asur colony and their forces consist of High Elf units. They are ostensibly on the High Elves' side, but in practice they behave like any other Rogue Army.
- Ruthless Modern Pirates: The various rogue pirate factions are poorly armed raiders that deploy mortars, free company militias, and peasant mobs.
- Stuff Blowing Up: The College of Pyrotechnics consists almost entirely of Steam Tanks and Helstorm Rocket Batteries.
- Token Heroic Orc: The Celestial Storm is a group of lightning worshipers whose ranks are taken from Lizardmen Warriors and Dragon Ogres, who are normally Chaos-aligned.
- The Wild Hunt: The Hunters of Kurnous are Wood Elves in service of the god of the hunt.
- Zombie Apocalypse: What happens if the Wandering Dead gain a foothold, since they can only recruit low tier undead infantry and a few black knights.
Ogre Mercenaries
The lads are hungry...
Hailing from a now-destroyed land far to the east of the World's Edge Mountains, Ogres are big, fat, stupid and hungry. Driven by a constant need to feed, Ogres roam the land in nomadic tribes feasting on anything they can get their meaty hands on, most of them concentrated in the snowy wastelands and mountains of the Darklands.
But some opt to venture beyond the confines of home to seek out a more robust life the world over. Travelling as individuals or in close-knit groups, these Ogres often take jobs as adventurers, mercenaries, bodyguards and monster hunters. The more they accomplish the more prestigious their careers, and the better the gifts and the stories they bring home with them.
A small subfaction added to the game as part of The Silence and the Fury DLC's patch. Ogre Mercenaries are available to all players through Total War Access.
- Above Good and Evil: Inverted. Ogres are genuinely too unintelligent to understand morality beyond Might Makes Right.
- Acrofatic: They may be big and chunky, but Ogres are deceptively fast for their size. Footslogging Ogres move at a speed of 54, outpacing many other monstrous infantry units. Mournfang Cavalry move at a speed of 75, allowing them to keep pace with demigyphs.
- Beware the Silly Ones:
- Ogres off the battlefield are usually thought of as nothing more than obese cretins with funny faces and no brains, heaving their giant bellies around town. Try thinking about that when a horde of Ogre smashes clean through your lines with extreme prejudice, cause a mass-route as they tear limbs clean off, and afterwards begin to messily, and literally devour your soldiers on the field. There's a reason they're in such high demand as mercenaries.
- This is especially true for the Maneaters. Sure, it is outright silly to see a massive slab of fat and muscle crudley dressed up as everything from a pirate, Tomb King, Vampire, Lizardman, Empire Guardsman and even a tavern wench◊, but these guys have traveled all around the world and seen far more battles than most of their kind could ever hope for while also showing quite the ability to adapt to nearly every kind of battle tactic despite their simple nature.
- Big Eater: Pretty much their whole shtick. They eat everything they can find, seeking special delicacies. Their religion is founded upon such principles. It borders on Horror Hunger when one considers that the Ogres weren't that hungry originally, but the coming of the Great Maw influenced their psyche to feel a seemingly unending appetite.
- Blue-and-Orange Morality: Ogres are only really concerned with the practicalities of food and fighting, and don't care to split hairs about anything beyond how to get them. They'll work for any faction and fight for any cause, as long as the pay's good and the food's plenty.
- Carry a Big Stick: Regular Ogres go to battle with Clubs, either one or two.
- Early-Bird Cameo: The Ogre Mercenaries made their debut as a final free DLC for Total War: Warhammer II, serving as a teaser for the Ogre Kingdoms' proper debut as Total War: Warhammer III's pre-order DLC.
- Fantasy Counterpart Culture: Warhammer's ogres are heavily modeled on the Mongols with a bit of Ice Age flavored Prehistoria.
- Foe-Tossing Charge: All their units boast impressive Charge Bonuses. They also have the passive ability Ogre Charge, which makes it so when they charge a bracing unit of with Charge Defense vs. Large or All, they only lose half their Charge Bonus instead of all of it.
- Giant's Knife; Human's Greatsword: The pistols one Maneaters variant carries are big enough they could easily be used as rifles or small cannons by most other races.
- Going Native: In lore, any Ogres that spend some time working with an army or within a region will start adopting their clothing and mannerism. In-game this is only represented by the maneaters wearing clothing and facial hair styled after the lands of the Empire.
- The Gunslinger: Ranged Ogre Maneaters are a large version of this, going to battle with a weapon in one hand and a massive Ogre Pistol in the other.
- Hired Guns: Ogre Mercenaries are uniquely a neutral faction, whose units can be recruited by anyone from their camps for a steep cost. However, if you can't sustain their high upkeep, Ogre Merc units will quickly disband. Maneaters in particular are veteran mercenaries that have seen conflict across the entirety of the world.
- Horse of a Different Color: Mournfang Cavalry, Ogre riders mounted on a creature best described as a bear crossed with a big cat that has the tusks of a wooly mammoth sticking out of its mouth.
- Manly Facial Hair: Some Ogre models sport thick chin beards reflecting their eastern roots. Others sport a Fu-Manchu style mustache. Maneaters, meanwhile, go for thicker beards and shorter, bushier mustaches in the style of the human lands they travel in.
- Our Ogres Are Hungrier: Mercenary ogres that migrate to zones of conflict, offering their services as shock-troops to anyone who can pay them. They're also frightfully gluttonous, and will often demand the right to feast on their slain enemies as part of their battle pay.
- Smash Mook: Without exception, ogre units are small groups of large, fear-inducing creatures, compensating for their relatively low melee attack/defence with high damage and formation-disrupting mass.
- Stout Strength: While they appear quite tubby, ogres are massive and exceptionally strong. Most of that fat gut is given over to tremendous intestinal muscles, which is how they're able to get away with eating damn near anything they please.
