History Characters / GauntsGhosts

* TheMole: Originally sent by Lugo to spy on Gaunt. Gaunt deduces it immediately, and Hark doesn't bother to deny it. He remains with the unit after Lugo's discomfiture because Gaunt's come to realize he ''does'' [[WhoWatchesTheWatchmen need a political officer.]]

* AnAxeToGrind: During the attack on his home of Vervunhive, he fights as a guerilla fighter, switching between a rifle and his mining tool, an axe-rake, with ease.
* TheBigGuy: While not as big as Bragg, he's noted to be taller than most other character, and was able to kill Chaos soldiers with a single strike of his [[PowerfulPick re-purposed axe-rake]].

* {{Badass}}: Clears an entire trench almost single handedly on Aexe, shoots two class A psykers on Heredor, ''fights a daemon engine hand to hand with a rifle''. If you want a room full of people dead, you send [=MkVenner=].

* StealthExpert: He's a fething cloaking device on legs, especially after Gereon. If this guy doesn't want you to see or hear him, you ''won't''. In ''Sabbat Martyr'', a Dark Eldar Mandrake thinks he has the drop on Mkoll, and admits that he's impressed by Mkoll's skill... and then realizes that he shot a dummy, and Mkoll kills him.

* StealthExpert: He's a fething cloaking device on legs, especially after Gereon. If this guy doesn't want you to see or hear him, you ''won't''.

* MagneticWeapons: His reynbow. To elaborate, it looks like a crossbow with long bow arms pulled farther back than the back of the weapon's barrel. These arms have little magnetic balls at their ends which change polarity. Until the trigger is pulled, the polarity pulls the projectiles towards the butt of the gun, but when fired, the magnets hurl the projectile out of the business end of the weapon. It's noted that the weapon itself isn't all that powerful, and the darts it fires don't have much penetrating power, but this is compensated for by an extremely deadly poison that will kill a man with only a few drops.

* RevolversAreJustBetter: His backup gun is an ordinary revolver, which proves useful against the laser-resistant scales of loxatl.

* KilledOffForReal

* NeverFoundTheBody: When Gaunt returns to Gereon and contacts the Imperial resistance, he is shown the Mkvenner's grave. However, he also learns that its empty, since Mkvenner's remains were not found after the battle in which he supposedly died. [[spoiler: Later on, when the Ghosts move to Untill, he suddenly appears to Eszrah, and then helps to liberate resistance members from the hands of the Inquisition.]]

* IgnoredEnamoredUnderling: ''Salvation's Reach'' implies that she's been attracted to Gaunt for quite a while. [[spoiler: She doesn't take it well when she inadvertantly discovers he's having an affair with Maddelana]].

* OvershadowedByAwesome: Feels this way after Gaunt returns. Gaunt even acknowledges during 'Blood Pact' that Wilder was a good officer and a good man that he wished he'd known better.

!!Scout trooper Wes Maggs

* AbsurdlySharpBlade: Picks up an ancient Power Sword after the events of Necropolis. Is capable of cutting through the armor of a ''Venerable Chaos Dreadnought''.

* BerserkButton:
** Don't ever threaten or kill his troops. Especially if you're from another guard regiment.

** BadassLongcoat: His Commisarial greatcoat, though he usually wears a Tanith camouflage over it.
** ColonelBadass: A literal example, he retains his rank of Colonel through most of the series.
* TheChainsOfCommanding: Gaunt is a capable commander, but since he cares for his troopers, their inevitable deaths always weighs heavily on him.

* GoodIsNotSoft: Gaunt is an exceptional warrior who has killed Chaos Space Marines and daemons in melee combat. He is also not hesitant to carry out his duty as a Comissar to execute those deemed incompetent, cowardly or traitorous.

* ArtificialLimbs: Loses an arm to a trio of loxatl assassins in Sabbat Martyr, which is later replaced with prosthetics.

* TheMole: Originally sent by Lugo to spy on Gaunt. Not a spoiler since Gaunt figures it out immediately.
* PlasmaCannon: Unlike most of the Ghost officers he carries a plasma pistol rather than a [[HandCannon bolt pistol]].

* RevolversAreJustBetter: His backup gun is an ordinary revolver, which proves useful against the Ioxatl's laser-resistant scales.

Originally a commissar cadet assigned to police Gaunt (notice a pattern) but eventually joins properly as Hark's apprentice.

* DopeSlap: Gets three in a row from Hark when Hark sees him acting too friendly with an injured, doped-up Twenzet in ''Only In Death''. Then he explains that Ludd has to maintain authority & professional distance from the men so they will take him seriously, especially now that he has to act as regimental commissar, since Hark himself is injured.
* EnsignNewbie[=/=]NewMeat: He grows remarkably capable though.

* Commonality Connection: Is assigned Dalin Criid to show him the ropes; partly because they are both (roughly) the same age but they also have similar experience of absent families.
* DysfunctionalFamily: A mild example. His mother had him growth accelerated so he could assume his hereditary title sooner but also shipped him off to a dangerous warzone to meet his completely unaware father and get some life experience. Said father is far from thrilled about finding out he has a son just as they are about to launch an incredibly dangerous cover mission. At the same time, Feylx's only companion for much of this is his lifeward Maddalena, a bodyguard / servant, who had her face engineered to resemble Lady Merity Chass. If that wasn't weird enough, Gaunt slept with her.
* IJustWantToBeNormal: Played with. He knows that as the son of the commanding officer (and famous war hero) he would never be treated normally by the rest of the regiment. Even so, he still asks to be treated like another one of the troops, undergoing the same training regimen as them.
* LukeYouAreMyFather: His relationship with Gaunt is complex, having been raised all his life being told how great his father is without ever having met him. Gaunt, likewise had absolutely no idea. Felyx is aware of how awkward the revelation is for both of them.
* OlderThanTheyLook: Literally. Due to a combination of warp travel time dilation and growth acceleration, he looks like a teenager but is actually much younger.
* OvershadowedByAwesome: Considering his father is a famous war hero (and the commanding officer of the regiment), he knows that he a lot to live up to. Unfortunately, everyone back home in Vervunhive is expecting this too.

* NewMeat: Currently the youngest member of the Ghosts.

* TheEvilGenius: Master of baroque and complex mechanical designs. According to the ''Sabbat Worlds'' guidebook, he required Titan Legions to destroy most of his mechanical army, as regular infantry and tank regiments were little more than fodder.

* TheGreatestStoryNeverTold: The overarching theme of Gaunt's life. Ultimately, Gaunt and his Ghosts are a small recon unit in a billion strong army. Through his leadership, they win key individual battles that ''are'' important, and protect the lives of crucial commanders... but in the history books they are barely a footnote compared with the public heroes of the Crusade like Sabbat, Slaydo and Macaroth. In the prologue recaps, the Ghosts' accomplishments are usually listed alongside a dozen other battles just as brutal, if not more so, and the Ghosts are too few in number to do anything but support the advance of actual armies. Warmaster Slaydo even promised Gaunt the right to have the first planet that he conquered, and Gaunt promised to share that world with the Tanith... but since the Tanith First barely has two thousand men, it's highly unlikely that the Tanith will ever be able conquer a planet on their own.

* TheGreatestStoryNeverTold: The overarching theme of Gaunt's life. Ultimately, Gaunt and his Ghosts are a small recon unit in a billion strong army. Through his leadership, they win key individual battles that ''are'' important, and protect the lives of crucial commanders... but in the history books they are barely a footnote compared with the public heroes of the Crusade like Sabbat, Slaydo and Macaroth. In the prologue recaps, the Ghosts' accomplishments are usually listed alongside a dozen other battles just as brutal, if not more so, and the Ghosts are too few in number to do anything but support the advance of actual armies.

* BlatantLies: When they were kids in schola, he told Gaunt that his father was a Space Marine, which is patently ridiculous -- Space Marines are sterile and usually [[{{Asexuality}} asexual]], and their utter devotion to Emperor and Imperium leaves little time for the procreative act. Besides that they are usually too young to have kids when they start transitioning to their super soldier bodies.

* KeystoneArmy: The Zoican troops were controlled by the transmissions of his massive command vehicle, The Spike. [[spoiler: Gaunt infiltrates the Spike with a small force and disables it, then kills Asphodel.]]

* GoodIsNotSoft: Gaunt is an exceptional warrior who has killed Chaos Space Marines and daemons in melee combat.

* FireForgedFriends: With Rawne, eventually. In Gaunt's backstory, he fought alongside the Chapter Master of the Silver Guard, Veegum, during the war on Balhaut. This is the reason Veegum accepts Gaunt's request for one of the Silver Guard accompany the mission to Salvation's Reach, and he even manages to get two more Astartes from different chapters as well.

* BiggerBad: In overall command, and therefore above all the Chaos warlords and generals the Ghosts have yet encountered.

* SixthSense: Interestingly, Larkin looking through the scope of his sniper rifle ''always'' sees the truth. At one point, he's able to see through the illusion of an Eldar Warlock because of it.