History Characters / HorusHeresyLoyalistLegions

* InformedAbility: Many times in early Horus Heresy books we are told that Ferrus was a great military mind. Horus himself says in ''Vengeful Spirit'' that Ferrus is the one primarch who understands, eats and breathes war like he does. We end up seeing nothing of this and his most well-known battle is, off course, his reckless assault at Istvan V, which partially lead to the Dropsite Massacre. Many of the tactician and strategist aspects he was known for ended up going to Lion El'Jonson in later stories. He apparently was enough of a strategist to be placed in command of one of the three main thrusts of the Great Crusade (Horus and the Emperor commanded the other two) but that may have simply been a result of him being the third or fourth Primarch to be found again.

* InformedAbility: Many times in early Horus Heresy books we are told that Ferrus was a great military mind. Horus himself says in ''Vengeful Spirit'' that Ferrus is the one primarch who understands, eats and breathes war like he does. We end up seeing nothing of this and his most well-known battle is, off course, his reckless assault at Istvan V, which partially lead to the Dropsite Massacre. Many of the tactician and strategist aspects he was known for ended up going to Lion El'Jonson in later stories. He apparently was enough of a strategist to be placed in command of one of the three main thrusts of the Great Crusade (Horus and the Emperor commanded the other two) but that may have simply been a result of him being the third or fourth to be found again.

[[caption-width-right:250: [[UncleSamWantsYou We want YOU for the Adeptus Astartes!]]]] An
Iron Hands captain who organizes the Legion after Ferrus' death.

* BFS: He acquires a Medusan sword as long as a mortal man is tall.

* Cyborg: To the extent that when he bleeds something like mercury when Aximand cuts his leg.

* InformedAbility: Many times in early Horus Heresy books we are told that Ferrus was a great military mind. Horus himself says in ''Vengeful Spirit'' that Ferrus is the one primarch who understands, eats and breathes war like he does. We end up seeing nothing of this and his most well-known battle is, off course, his reckless assault at Istvan V, which partially lead to the Dropsite Massacre. Many of the tactician and strategist aspects he was known for ended up going to Lion El'Jonson in later stories.

* OutOfFocus: By necessity, as they're tied up fortifying Terra, which makes them unavailable for the current plot. It's likely they'll become much more prominent when the storyline moves to the Siege.

* DreamingOfThingsToCome: During ''Scars'', Yesugei suffers nightmares of Jaghatai battling ''"a spectre of the underworld on a world of ruins"''. After the novel's climax, the Khan is convinced Yesugei merely saw him duelling Mortarion, but Yesugei is not convinced, as in his dream, he claims he saw the Khan slain and fears he is dreaming of something still yet to come.

* HitAndRunTactics: Because of their diminished numbers, they turn to this after Istvaan V, working in small guerilla cells to hinder the traitors wherever possible, often with no contact with their fellow loyalists for years on end.

* CultureClash: The White Scars suffered from this notably more than other Legions, since Chogorian culture was quite different compared to the Imperium's. Terran legionaries and staff in general were notably frustrated by how the Chogorians remained committed to their own methods of warfare, and the different way they understood the universe compared to standard Imperial practice. The warrior lodges easily infiltrated the legion through these Terrans.
* BladeOnAStick: Lots of Scars favour glaives over swords.

** Angron calls them out on this, noting that they are the Emperor's leashed hounds, much like the World Eaters, and that the only difference between them is that Angron's Legion calls things as they are, while the Wolves prefer pretty euphemisms. This ignores the cunning and discipline the Space Wolves show that the World Eaters simply don't have.

Based on the frigid death world of Fenris, the Legionaries of the Vlka Fenryka are misunderstood as dangerous brutes who still believe in spirits. In truth, they also have a deep sense of camaraderie and honor, and understand the dangers of the Warp in a roundabout way. Their reputation masks their good discipline and shrewd ability to conduct warfare. Being of savage stock, the Vlka Fenryka still largely prefer close-quarters combat where they can use hand weapons instead of firearms. Their geneseed is unique in that it incorporate canine elements, giving them superior senses compared to other Astartes and an unfortunate tendency to turn into [[NinjaPirateSpaceZombie giant berserker werewolf Marines]]. The Space Wolves wear grey armour with yellow pauldrons, often decorated with runes, totems, and [[NemeanSkinning wolf furs]].

The very first Legion, the Dark Angels are the most ancient and one of the most revered of Space Marine Legions although they also are one of the most aloof. The Dark Angel were the first of the Space Marines to be created and deployed, before the idea of Legion was even relevant. At that time, they were known as the Emperor's "Angels of Death". Present since the earliest days of the Great Crusade, the Dark Angels had to build all the battle doctrines of the Space Marines from scratch, growing to be excellent in all aspects of warfare because of their "wings", each specialized in one style of warfare. For this reason, they struggled for a while to figure out their identity until the Emperor sent them to the far-flung world of Caliban. There they found their Primarch Lion El'Jonson and an Arthurian knight culture which they were quick to adopted.\\\

In Lion El'Jonson the Dark Angels found a great military commander who would lead them to even more glorious victories. However, when El'Jonson sent his second-in-command Luther back to Caliban to build up more strength yet never came back, a schism occured. On Caliban, Luther turned his recruits into secessionists who were loyal only to Caliban. More, Luther and his Space Marines eventually turned to Chaos. Meanwhile, the Horus Heresy was raging in the galaxy, tying up Lion El'Jonson's forces into battles against the Night Lords with his Dark Angels being trapped in Guilliman's Imperium Secundus for a time. Lion El'Jonson is currently setting course for Terra.\\\

As the first force of Astartes, the Dark Angels had to develop the basics of waging war as a Legion. They eventually developed six hosts (or "wings") known as the Hexagrammaton, each specialized in one style of warfare. These allowed the Dark Angels to become JackOfAllTrades who can wage many different kinds of war at an excellent level. Moreover, they were also given a much more important arsenal of archaeotech weaponry. The influence of the Order also gave them a more knightly culture where Lion conversed with ordinary Astartes as "little brothers" instead of sons. On the other hand, the Dark Angels became very aloof toward other Legions, believing that as the first legion, they were the "first" among the space marines. This aloofness was amplified by Lion El-Jonson, who was himself given to standing apart from others. The Dark Angels wear black armour.\\\

* DarkIsNotEvil: Not only they wear black armor, but they have a disquieting tendency for being secretive and wearing sinister hoods. Still, most Dark Angels are honorable knights.
* DeathWorld: Caliban, before Imperium arrived there, used to be full of monsters that forced humans to live in few very well-walled settlements. [[spoiler:And once those are gone, it turns out that they were keeping something even ''worse'' in check...]]
* DentedIron: Of a sort. The Dark Angels were the largest and most prestigious space marine legion at the onset of the Great Crusade. However, after several brutal campaigns and crippling casualties, the Dark Angels eventually lost their status as the largest Space Marine Legion to the Ultramarines. Downplayed, in that they still remain among the largest legions, just not the largest, and they were the only Legion entrusted with proscribed weapons. Even while they lost out a number of marks of prestige to other Legions, they were in a very real sense the Emperor's exterminators.
* DividedWeFall: Lion and Luther have a falling-out at the beginning of the Crusade, leading to the latter falling to Chaos and, in the future, to destruction of Caliban.
* DoomedByCanon: Caliban is blown to smithereens. Half of the Legion turns traitor. In 40K, those are pretty much two basic facts about Dark Angels.
* GodzillaThreshold: In the ''Lion El'Jonson: Lord of the First'' novel, it is revealed that the Dark Angels possesses forbidden weapons and technologies that were publicly disallowed by the Emperor but which the First Legion has kept in secret with only the Emperor. Exemples include psy-arcana weapons from the Dark Age of Technology meant to attack the very soul of the enemy, or true Silica Animus automatas shackled with kill switches. Lion El'Jonson has the prerogative to order these weapons to be deployed if he deems it necessary and these measures prove their worth when they help the First Legion defeat a race of powerful xenos psykers.
* HeroesPreferSwords: While all Legions use swords, Dark Angels are the only ones to put them on their logo.
* HiddenArmyReveal: In ''Wolf King'' Russ discovers [[spoiler:that on Lion's orders, the Legion has been building its strength and massive space forts that make the Legion the biggest fighting force in the Imperium]]... and nobody else knows about it.
* AHouseDivided: The Angels left on Caliban are slowly going traitor, while the ones with Lion remain steadfastly loyal. Even then, the higher-ups on Caliban suffer from an unusually high degree of scheming and backstabbing because of so many contradicting loyalties that they harbor, from the Imperial loyalists, to the secessionists who want an independent Caliban, to the worshippers of the Ouroboros and so on.
* HunterOfMonsters: Back on Caliban, the knightly orders which were later absorbed into Dark Angels were hunting the beasts living there.
* InternalAffairs: While the Space Wolves are the public example of such, the Dark Angels are the Emperor's secret enforcers, having participated in putting down the last rebellion of the Thunder Warriors and being given a staggering array of Dark Age technology for the purpose of bringing the Mechanicum to heel should it rebel.
* JackOfAllTrades: Their missions statement was pretty much "be Space Marines", which resulted in them acquiring proficiency in all aspects of warfare without really excelling in any.
* MeaningfulName: In-universe, it comes from a story in which "dark angels" are a greatly destructive force - see destruction of Caliban. Out-of-universe, it's a title of a poem by Lionel Jonson, inspiration for Lion El'Jonson's name.
* SuperPrototype: They were prototype for all other Astartes, which meant all new operational procedures were first tested on them. The division into six "Wings" remains from that era.

** The slaughter of beasts gives way for Ouroboros to try and wake up to corrupt Caliban.

* WarriorMonk: Their hat, such as it is, as they base themselves off medievalesque knight orders.
* [[WhenYouComingHomeDad When You Coming Home My Primarch?:]] The half of the legion on Caliban gets this treatment. They send repeated missives to Lion saying they are ready and want to fight. Lion just ignores them. This leads to...
* YouAreGrounded: ... Luther and a battle force from Caliban answering a call from (pre-heresy) Horus to put down a rebellion. When he finds out, Lion El'Jonson crashes the victory party to drag Luther and said marines back to Caliban. For added effect, Lion outright says to Luther "I will deal with YOU when we get back to the flagship!"

The Primarch of the Dark Angels Legion. Jonson was stranded on the death world of Caliban, a world of monster-infested forests and knights. Having lived a while inside the forest as a savage child, Jonson was eventually found by knights belonging to a group named the Order and went on to become the leader of the Order itself, cleansing the planet of its monsters just in time for the Emperor to arrive and make him Primarch of the First Legion. While he is loyal to the Emperor, he is naturally mistrustful of the other Primarchs.

* AmbiguousSituation: Does he know about what's going on back on Caliban? Why did he exile Luther? Did he know what effect it'd have on his only friend? Or did he think that Luther understood his motives without need for explanation? What is his connection to the Watchers In The Dark? What is his endgame? What exactly was he doing throughout the events of ''Pharos''?[[labelnote:Note]] Actually, this one gets an answer: The first act of ''Angels of Caliban'' shows that while the battle of Sotha is raging, El'Jonson and his legions are on the other side of Ultramar hunting Konrad Curze. The Lion doesn't take it well when he finds out Curze never left Macragge.[[/labelnote]] Good luck figuring it out, 'cause novels sure aren't giving answers.

* TheDreaded: Among the most feared Primarchs and not just on the loyalist side. It's often said that when he appears people feel the chilling dread of being discovered by a predator. Typhon (and pretty much every Astartes present) drops to one knee the minute El'Jonson enters a room out of sheer terror. '''Mortarion''' mentions in ''Lords of Silence'' that he admired the Lion. Let that sink in. Malcador describes him as such.

* {{Foil}}: To Leman Russ. Russ acts like a barbarian wildman, but in reality he is incredibly wordly and wise. The Lion has a majestic, royal appearance, but he has a better time relating to beasts than to humans.
* HorribleJudgeOfCharacter: Acknowledged to be one in-universe. For all his tactical brilliance, El'Jonson's horrible at reading people and discerning if they could be trusted or not. He relied on Luther to make those judgements for him until Luther was "exiled" back to Caliban.
* IAmAMonster: Before the Emperor found him, he would sometimes wonder whether he's just not another of the great beasts.
* IntelligenceEqualsIsolation: Back on Caliban, his intelligence made him feel incredibly isolated from his fellow knights, to the point that he compares himself to the great beasts that they hunt.
* JustTheFirstCitizen: Afer a fashion; he's the only Primarch to refer to his Astartes as "brothers" rather than "sons" or "men", in spirit of brotherhoods of knights he grew up with. This has changed with time and he calls his astartes "sons" more frequently these days.
* KnightTemplar: Becomes this over time, eventually unleashing his Legion's dreadful, last-resort archeotech weapons against a city on Macragge to catch Konrad Curze.
* LonersAreFreaks: One of the Lion's defining traits is his distance and inability to relate with most of Humanity or even his sons of his Legion, due to his prodigous intelligence and singularly powerful nature as a Primarch. This is lampshaded by Lion himself, who compared himself to a lion which was told to guard an anthill, noting that no matter how well-trained or well-meaning said lion is, it would never be able to truly understand the ants placed under its protection, just as vice versa the ants will never understand it. Lion in general finds the mighty Beasts of Caliban which he had slain more relatable than most Human beings.
* LoopholeAbuse: During his hunt for Curze, Guilliman and Sanguinius forbid the Lion from using orbital bombardment to flush Curze out in the interest of protecting Ultramar's citizens. Lion complies with the letter of this decree but instead stuffs drop pods with phosphex and rad-bombs, killing millions but driving Curze into the open. However Guilliman still considers him to have broken his word after Curze reveals it, breaking Lion's sword to drive the point home.

* NoSenseOfHumour: Played with. On one hand, Luther notes that Lion's intellect is so ahead of others, when he makes a joke no-one else can understand it. On the other, he doesn't understand what's so funny in their KillSteal dispute with Leman when Russ starts laughing[[labelnote:What's so funny?]]After a longer argument, Leman realizes that the two are bickering at children and starts laughing at himself for acting like an offended teenager.[[/labelnote]] and ends up thinking that the Wolf is mocking him.

** The Lion's jokes also tend to be very dry and he doesn't change his tone. After his second-in-command pointed out they were outnumbered 2 to 1 during one battle, the Lion joked that he can make spatial calculations in his head, so he can count 30 ships just fine. His second nearly pissed himself thinking that he had offended the Lion.

* TheRival: To Leman Russ, and the two are often knocking heads. One episode from the backstory has them fighting for three days, accidentally setting up a tradition between their two Legions. It's unsure what Lion thinks about the rivalry, but Leman seems to consider them VitriolicBestBuds.

* TranquilFury: In direct contrast to Leman Russ. It's not easy to get Johnson riled up, but it's even harder to calm him back down.

* VitriolicBestBuds: With Russ, after a fashion. It's probably the closest Lion can come to being friends with any peer of his.
* WellIntentionedExtremist: El'Jonson is committed to benevolent goals, but doesn't hesitate to use dreadful methods for the sake of expediency and to get results no matter the costs. He consorts with the Tuchulcha Engine, a shady warp entity, and deploys weapons of mass destruction against civilian settlements to get rid of Curze.
* WhatYouAreInTheDark: In his Primarch novel. During a trip to Fenris and an almost ''violent'' encounter with his sibling Russ, after a bit of digging Lion discovers the Space Wolves darkest secret, their mutant gene-seed trait, alongside the results of said-mutation, the Wulfen. After a series of extremely smug and cruel comments towards him and his sons (resulting in Leman going into a ''blood-frenzy'' and wanting to attack the Lion), Lion leaves. Leman waits for the worst to come...and nothing happens. It was only after the Horus Heresy itself that Leman discovered that the Lion had went out of his way to ''help'' the Wolves conceal it secretly, wiping the recordings he'd aquired of the Wulfen. All without telling Leman. This massive PetTheDog moment convinced Russ that the Lion "was the best of us" and his only true friend.

The second most accomplished knight of Caliban, Luther has been Lion's best friend throughout years both before and after Emperor's arrival but a sliver of jealousy drove a wedge between them as Luther was frustrated to forever be in Lion's shadow. Tainted by jealousy, Luther is caught almost committing treason by Lion and is "honored" with the task of supervising recruitment back at Caliban while the rest earn glory during the Great Crusade. It is known that Luther will eventually turn traitor but recant at the last moment.

* TheAce: He's pretty much the best fighter on entirety of Caliban apart from Lion, and certainly the best politician.
* BashBrothers: With Lion, they were pretty much non-romantic BattleCouple, and legends were told about the deeds they did together.
* BrokenAce: After Lion out-chases him in honours and deeds, Luther gets increasingly jealous and start to harbour a lot of hidden anger.
* ChangedMyMindKid: In ''Descent of Angels'', he first decides to let the bomb aboard the flagship blow out of his jealousy to Lion, but realizes he can't do this and returns to save the day at the last minute.

* TheFace: Luther is exceptionally charismatic and did a lot of the negotiations and political dealings for Lion in the days before the Imperium. Even after he's exiled to Caliban, the first thing he does is make a grand speech to the waiting recruits and marines about how they've been given an important duty that gets the whole crowd motivated and inspired, before offhandedly admitting to Zahariel that everything he said was a lie.
* FaceHeelTurn: Switches sides due to frustration and jealousy.
* ForceAndFinesse: Finesse to Lion's Force. His fights are more of political ones, while Lion excels in direct combat.
* GreenEyedMonster: His fatal flaw, really - as time goes on, he becomes more and more jealous of the Lion's accomplishements and all the glory El'Jonson gets while Luther is labeled "the other guy". It comes to heed when he's recalled to Caliban.
* HeterosexualLifePartners: Used to be very close with Lion, to the point that when one was mentioned, the other followed soon thereafter.
* ManipulativeBastard: Luther enacts as very successful ploy to convert visiting Dark Angels to his cause, mixing hard logic, flattery, appeal to tradition and mind-control to get the majority of those around him to agree with his plans.
* MuggleBestFriend: Lion's only friend, in fact, and he's never became a "true" Space Marine.

* OlderSidekick: Has some twenty years on Lion.
* ParentalSubstitute: Before Lion grew up faster than anyone thought possible, Luther's been like a father to him.

* ReassignedToAntarctica: Caliban is far from being any "Antarctica" since it's the Dark Angels' home base but any bureaucratic assignment during the greatest military campaign of the Imperium would be this for a warrior like Luther. After the Dark Angels' first campaign, Luther gets sent back to Caliban to "build up Legion's strength" but many suspect it is a form of punishment. It's implied that things has been going south between him and Lion for a while.

* TheSocialExpert: Back before Empire's arrival, he was the politician to Lion's visionary, making deals and negotiating on behalf of the Order.
* StartOfDarkness: For him, Lion being chosen as the new Grand Master of the Order. Luther was a prime candidate for years, and his best friend being chosen above him kindled jealousy that slowly poisoned their relationship.

A Dark Angels Librarian, Zahariel was one of the last knights of Caliban to earn his rank before Empire's arrival. He's sent back to Caliban along with Luther and becomes one of his chief advisors.

* AndThenWhat: While he tries to shove the thought aside, for a time he worries about the future of knight orders after Caliban is scoured of the great beasts, seeing how they formed the keystone of Calibanite way of life.

* FriendlyRivalry: With Nemiel, his best friend. Zahariel believes that if it wasn't for their rivalry, neither would reach as high as they did.
* HeroicSacrifice: Dies to learn the true name of Ouroboros. It doesn't stick, though.
* HunterOfMonsters: Zahariel is one of the few knights of the Order who had the honor of having slain one of Caliban's beast, notably a Calibanite lion which El'Jonson has slain as part of his quest.

* {{Intangibility}}: When his PsychicPowers kick into highest gear, he can reach inside people's bodies and do [[Film/IndianaJonesAndTheTempleOfDoom Mola Ram]] impression.

* MagicKnight: He's a Librarian, being trained both as a warrior and a psyker.

* PolarOppositeTwins: With Namiel, who's actually his cousin, but the two are so close they're called "brothers among brothers". While Namiel is pessimistic and mistrustful of the Imperium, Zahariel is an idealistic optimist.

* MasterSwordsman: The short story Savage Weapons mentions that Alajos, Captain of 9th Company, was one of the twenty best warriors in ''all'' Legions... and that Corswain managed to beat him in duel.

* RecurringDreams: Until Tsagulsua, he experiences these about his first hunt on Caliban.
* SophisticatedAsHell: Normally he speaks roughly as you'd expect a knight in space to speak, but then he gives his opinion on Tsagulsua.

Once a chapter master of the legion but reassigned to Caliban. Merir Astelan harbors a grudge against the Lion and becomes one of the Fallen.

* MasterSwordsman: One of the two Dark Angels that managed to defeat Captain Alajos of the Ninth, one of the twenty best warriors in ''all'' Legions, in duel.
* ManipulativeBastard: He is one of the most devious schemers on Caliban, able to make himself look useful to Luther and getting rid of potential rivals through assassinations.
* NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished: On Byzanthis, Astelan tries to negotiate a peaceful compliance only for the world leaders to be killed mid-parley by Belath and then Belath reporting on Astelan's "cowardly" behavior.
* OlderThanTheyLook: Astelan looks like a middle-aged legionary but in fact was one of the original 5,000 space marines, having served directly under the Emperor.
* OldSoldier: He is one of the oldest space marines alive, being part of the original 5,000 legionaries even before Horus was found.

The White Scars are the Fifth Legion, a horde of warriors on jetbikes who prefer to operate at the fringes of the Imperium. The Fifth Legion was originally known as the "Star Hunters" and were one of the first Legiones Astartes to be deployed, having fought alongside thr Thunder Warriors during the Unification. Both on Terra and during the early days of the Great Crusade, they were used as scouts, exploring and mapping hostile territories as well as harassing the enemy ahead of the Emperor's main forces. The Legion eventually found Chogoris and Jaghatai Khan; the former Star Hunters were quickly assimilated into the Chogorian culture, notably because the Chogorian's raiding style of warfare was similar to their work. The Legion was subsequently renamed the "White Scars".\\\
Jaghatai respected the Emperor but disagreed with him on many topics, leading Jaghatai to bring his White Scars to the fringes of the Imperium and fight alien threats instead of bringing human worlds to heel. As a result, they were ignored by the Imperium at large, which suited them. They did entertain a longstanding friendship with the Luna Wolves. When the Horus Heresy broke out, Jaghatai was so far out of the loop that he initially didn't know who to trust or side with; both sides were actively trying to recruit him. After learning the truth and stopping a pro-Horus coup, Jaghatai stayed loyal to the Imperium. The White Scars began a campaign of raids and rearguard actions to keep the Traitors distracted and off balance. Eventually, they managed to reach Terra, participating in the Sol System's defence.\\\
The White Scars are based on the feral world of Chogoris and have their own unique culture, way of life and also style of warfare. They are a force of free-spirited warriors with relatively primitive ways (for instance their scarification rituals) but an appreciation for art and philosophy. The White Scars are focused on speed, using plenty of jetbikes to perform lightning-fast attacks; this makes them extremely good at raiding and outmaneuvering the enemy but they cannot field as much armor or firepower as other Legions. Their isolation and healthy respect for their psykers have allowed the White Scars to keep fielding their Stormseers in battle despite the Edict of Nikaea. The White Scars wear white armour with red trim.

* AmbiguousSituation: For other Primarchs, their loyalties are a very questionable thing, seeing how the Khan was best friends with Horus and Magnus, two traitor Primarchs, yet is considered honorable and loyal to their father. Of course, people with even cursory knowledge of 40K know already what side they'll take, although it's a pretty close call.
* TheAtoner: Several White Scars tried to perform a coup and turn the Fifth Legion to Horus' side. Jaghatai stopped them and as punishment and atonement, turned them into the Sagyar Mazan before commanding them to become {{Fake Defector}}s performing suicide missions against the Traitor Legions.

* BloodKnight: Most of the legions are proud of their martial culture but the White Scars uniquely encourage their members to find war "fun". They typically go to battle with a smile on their faces and even laugh in the middle of battle, but fighting the Traitor Legions has eroded their enjoyment significantly.

* CultureClash: The White Scars suffered from this notably more than other Legions because Chogorian culture was very exotic. Terran legionaries and staff in general were notably frustrated by how the Chogorians had their unique style of warfare that they committed to, and the different way they understood the universe compared to standard Imperial practice. The warrior lodges easily infiltrated the legion through these Terrans.

* FantasyCounterpartCulture: Of Mongols. The White Scars come from Chogoris, a planet of vast steppes where they developed a taste for cavalry and lightning raids, translating into bikers and hit-and-run tactics. Their Legion is made of "hordes" led by Khans, with Jaghatai Khan at their head.

* HeroWithBadPublicity: After years of fighting alone against the Traitors, it turns out that many Loyalists had assumed the Scars had joined Horus.

* AHouseDivided: They have a brief schism in the ranks, with one side, chiefly concentrated around the warrior lodges, wanting to side with Horus, while the other half prefers to stay loyal to the Emperor.
* IWorkAlone: They rarely ally with the Imperial forces, thanks to some degree of mutual dislike. In fact, for the last few years before the start of the Heresy, they had barely any contact with the rest of the Imperium.
* LineOfSightName: Of a kind. Their original name of Star Hunters didn't last very long; one the rare occasions they were encountered by other Crusade forces, observers fixated on their white armour and the scars they made on their cheeks in keeping with Chogorian tradition, and started referring to them as White Scars. They went along with it.

* LockedOutOfTheLoop: The White Scars were all ordered to cleanse the Chondax system from Orks, which combined with warp storms and the Alpha Legion's secretly prolonging the campaign, isolated the legion from the outside world and left them ignorant of the Horus Heresy for a long time. When contradictory messages came to them, the White Scars were almost swayed to Horus' side because of their ignorance of his actions and naturally trusting him more than the Emperor.

* MildlyMilitary: The White Scars are lax when it comes to discipline, in accordance to Jaghatai Khan's laissez-faire management. Khans are free to go wherever they want as long as they fight the enemies of the Imperium and answer his call, they are quite informal about hierarchy compared to other legions, and they also don't keep track of their numbers and inventory, frustrating their staff to no end.

** The White Scars privilege speed above all other qualities, and their tactical doctrines are focused around lightning fast engagements with jetbikes, bikes and the such. Even the Chogorian sword style is based on fast strikes.

The Primarch of the White Scars Legion. Stranded on the world of Chogoris and adopted by one of its nomadic tribes, Jaghatai managed to unite the tribes of the Empty Quarter, transforming them into a mighty horde which conquered Chogoris. Shortly after, the Emperor arrived and made him Primarch of the Fifth Legion, which Jaghatai swiftly modified to suit his style. Despite a close friendship with Horus and Magnus and a strained relationship with the Emperor, he knows the dangers the Warp represents and instead sides with the Emperor.

* BloodKnight: Jaghatai Khan's [[InTheBlood piece of the Emperor in him]] is his love of battle. Not killing, but warfare as an art form. In particular, he joined the Emperor to unite all of the stars into one empire and unlike other Primarchs, after succeeding in conquering his homeworld, he had no interest in actually ruling it.

* DidntThinkThisThrough: In ''The Path of Heaven'', advisors to the Khan note that his love of battle and desire to keep hitting the Traitor Legions long enough to buy time to bolster Terra's defences has resulted in them becoming trapped. Though, as Ilya observes, it's more likely a case of HonourBeforeReason.
* DrivesLikeCrazy: His personal military philosophy emphasizes speed and maneuverability, and he had all his vehicles modified for increased speed.
* {{Irony}}: Was distrusted by loyalists and allowed the warrior lodges to meet. He turns out to be loyal and few, if any, of his men fell to Chaos as his open door policy and sense of brotherhood meant his men never felt persecuted or looked down upon. While he did see the Emperor as a pseudo-tyrant, he realized Chaos was much, ''much'' worse and that he could only stay as independent as he wanted under the Emperor.

** He believes that warriors should do more than just train their bodies for war. From calligraphy to poetry, he instills the belief in his Astartes to develop their minds. As an example, he explains to Ilya the importance of Go, and how it hones the White Scars in such a way that they will always try to see combat in a bigger picture.

* TheQuietOne: He's one of the more reclusive Primarchs. While he's not rude - quite the opposite, actually - he's very private, and he eschewes bragging. His love of battle over statesmanship leads him to be far more independent from the rest of the Imperium, and far less engaged in the political controversy, intrigue and turmoil that goes on prior to and during the Horus Heresy - the Emperor even regretfully admits to Horus that he was made to be that way. He's also a man who likes to hold his cards close to his chest and rarely reveals his secrets to others. This caused many people to overlook him and the White Scars, which allowed the White Scars a great deal of independence (which is what they preferred anyway). Secretly, the Khan chafes at the lack of recognition, though.
* OnlyMostlyDead: In ''Warhawk'', [[spoiler: Jaghatai lets himself be beaten down and then impaled on Mortarion's scythe to get himself in position for a killing stroke. Despite this and his sons suffering the [[UnstoppableRage standard effects]] of a Legion's Primarch dying, he's not completely dead, as Malcador seems convinced he can save Khan and later lore has him still active during the Scouring post-Heresy.]] [[spoiler:''The End and the Death'' shows him just barely begin to recover, but also shows exactly how bad it was: the Emperor had to actually reach into the Warp and ''knit his soul back into his body''.]]
* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: Jaghatai delivers a stinging one to [[spoiler:Mortarion in ''Scars'']] after the latter tries to talk him into switching sides. He first figures out that [[spoiler:Mortarion has come looking for him on his own initiative and not Horus's orders, then mocks Mortarion for the fact that his life's work (to corrall and contain psykers) is in ruins; though Mortarion succeeded in getting the Librarius disbanded at Nikea, he now finds himself part of an army where sorcerers and witches have been given free reign to make use of their power, and the other Traitor Primarchs either condone and even encourage such practices (such as Magnus, Lorgar and Horus) or don't give enough of a damn about it (i.e., Angron and Curze) to help Mortarion with his personal vendetta. The Khan then concludes that Mortarion has only come looking for him because he's in over his head and is looking for a way to back out, which Jaghatai mocks because he knows that now, like the other Traitor Legions, the Death Guard have tasted the power of Chaos, there is no going back. He finally concludes by mocking Mortarion's plans to become the DragonAscendant with Jaghatai at his side should Horus perish in the campaign to reach Terra, pointing out that neither of their legions were empire-builders, and thus Mortarion would be grossly unsuited to take Horus's place. And, as following events show, Khan was totally right in his beliefs]].

** He actually allows the warrior lodges to meet, which as the series shows, is very disliked by most primarchs since it instills too many thoughts disparate from the interest of the Imperium.

* VictoryIsBoring: Khan finds ruling your planet to be nowhere near as entertaining as conquering it.

* ElementalPowers: these are the mainstay of his art - specifically lightning, the "weather-magic." Early on, he flattens a boarding party with this.
* EloquentInMyNativeTongue: He's very outspoken and eloquent, even poetic, in Chogorian, but not so much in Gothic, which comes to bite him when he's forced to be the one to negotiate the continuing existence of the Librarius project in front of Imperial authorities.

* HeroicWillpower: For pretty much every other character, particularly every other psyker, in the universe, the Chaos Gods offer them power and they either succumb or manage to resist with huge heroic effort. The four Chaos Gods offer a young Yesugei a goblet and command him to drink, with a great urge to do so, while a shining figure that would seem to be the Emperor wants him not to. He takes a sip, then puts it down and steps back. To explain, he accepts just enough of the power of the Warp and is not only strong enough to resist going further but masters it and becomes one of the most powerful and stable psykers in the Imperium. That restraint will become the key difference between him and the Thousand Sons.

* BodyguardingABadass: He guards one of the eighteen mightiest warriors in the Galaxy, but that Galaxy is dangerous enough for him not to be redundant.

* JadeColoredGlasses: Shiban was one of the most joyous and idealistic khans of his legion but takes very badly his cyber-implants which he calls "shackles" and which hinder his combat ability. He heavily blames the traitor legions and the White Scars who betrayed Jaghatai and becomes a sour and cynical legionary who'd rather engage in a suicidal retribution campaign than doing the sensible thing.
* TookaLevelinBadass: Partially, as a result of his actions in ''Scars.'' The Brotherhood of the Storm swells, he becomes a counsellor to his Primarch and leads some of the Legions's deadliest missions during the Heresy. [[spoiler:However, in personal combat his augmetics hinder him, to the point that he dubs them "shackles".]]

* HeroicSacrifice: He [[spoiler:leads the Sagyar Marzan against Mortarion and his elite, dying to allow his Legion to escape.]]
* InternalizedCategorism: For decades, he carries the belief that he doesn't belong in his Legion. It drives him to the warrior lodges' agenda, hoping it can mould the Scars into something more like the Sons of Horus.

The Vlka Fenryka, also known as "the Rout", are the Sixth Legion. Already in their first days, the Space Wolves were comprised of warriors from Terra's most savage tribes. The Legion naturally became shock assault specialists, loving violent close-quarter engagements and also inflicting punitive actions on occasions. While useful, their berserker tendencies made them feared and mistrusted by other Imperial forces, and they even had to have a group of specially designated Astartes known as Consuls to [[InternalAffairs police them when they got too far out of line]]. Their savagery earned them the nickname of "The Rout" and they were seen as the Emperor's executioners. Fortunately for them, their primarch was the second to be rediscovered in the course of the Great Crusade. Leman Russ quickly set about reshaping the VI Legion in the image of his Fenrisian warriors, tempering their savagery and making them into a powerful and close-knit force.\\\

Russ led his Legion to many victories, although he also kickstarted rivalries and enmities against other Legions, from the Dark Angels to the World Eaters and the Thousand Sons. When the Horus Heresy broke out, the Vlka Fenryka was fiercely loyal to the Emperor, but they were initially manipulated by Horus into fighting Prospero's Thousand Sons. Harassed by the Alpha Legion until they escaped to guard Terra, the Sixth Legion was noticeably absent from major engagements, save the Battle of Trisolian where Russ fought Horus. However, squads of Space Wolves were scattered among the remaining loyalist Legions after Prospero, ostensibly to watch over their Primarchs and ensure they didn't turn traitor by any means necessary.\\\

Based on the frigid death world of Fenris, the Legionaries of the Vlka Fenryka are misunderstood as dangerous brutes who still believe in spirits. In truth, they also have a deep sense of camaraderie and honor, and understand the dangers of the Warp in a roundabout way. Their reputation hides good discipline and shrewd ability to conduct warfare. Being of savage stock, the Vlka Fenryka still largely prefers close-quarters combat where they can use hand weapons instead of firearms. Their geneseed is unique in that it incorporate canine elements, giving them superior senses compared to other Astartes. The Space Wolves wear grey armour with yellow pauldrons, often decorated with runes, totems, and [[NemeanSkinning wolf furs]].

* BigEntrance: The Wolves are fond of making an imposing impression, even during diplomatic meetings with fellow Astartes. In ''A Thousand Sons'', their ambassadors bring a war summons to Magnus by hurtling their warships toward a planet unannounced, nearly crashing on the surface, and approaching the Thousand Sons in full battle armour and horrific masks, bristling with weapons and aggression, giant snarling wolves at their side. Magnus assures his men that the Wolves are merely posturing.

* BoisterousBruiser: Loud, heavy-drinking and happy to break into a fight at any given opportunity.

* FantasyCounterpartCulture: The Space Wolves are essentially Vikings InSpace. They come from Fenris, a planet of seas and ice where tribes sail and raid each other constantly. The legionaries of he Vlka Fenryka are bearded, savage warriors who like to fight up close, believe in spirits and look up to the Emperor as the "Allfather", and compose sagas of their deeds. [[spoiler: There are hints that the culture of Fenris was deliberately encouraged by the nascent imperium to ensure strong recruits for the Space Wolves. There are even rumors that tribes of mind-wiped barbarians were sent to the planet to reproduce and increase potential recruits]].

* GrimUpNorth: Fenris is like Viking sagas brought to life, and breeds equally tough warriors. [[spoiler:Recent works suggest that the plnet was ''deliberately'' engineered during the Dark Age of Technology, and again during the early Great Crusade]].

* {{Hypocrite}}: Vlka Fenryka DoesNotLikeMagic and openly condemns the likes of the Thousand Sons and opposed the Librarium at the Council of Nikea - while openly ignores the presence of Rune Priests in their midst, who they adamantly insist are not Psykers and draws their power from the 'World Spirit' of Fenris and is thus 'safe', which seemed superstitious at best and heretical in itself at worst. [[spoiler:As it turns out, as revealed in the ''Wrath of Magnus'', that such a World Spirit ''does'' exist and are not connected to the Ruinous Powers, although as admitted by Rune Priests in a later Horus Heresy novel some psyker talent IS needed to access it]]. If nothing else, at least some among them eventually do acknowledge their hypocrisy.
* IKnowYourTrueName: One Daemon pulls it off against the Vlka Fenryka. Because the Legionaries consciously obfuscate their real Fenrisian names to others, a chaos entity is able to learn the true names of some legionaries and overpower them.

* OnlyMostlyDead: In ''Warhawk'', [[spoiler: Jaghatai lets himself be beaten down and then impaled on Mortarion's scythe to get himself in position for a killing stroke. Despite this and his sons suffering the [[UnstoppableRage standard effects]] of a Legion's Primarch dying, he's not completely dead, as Malcador seems convinced he can save Khan and later lore has him still active during the Scouring post-Heresy.]]

* InHarmsWay: In his opinion, the most exciting experiments to run are the ones with the biggest chance of something going catastrophically wrong.

* DentedIron: Of a sort. The Dark Angels were the largest and most prestigious space marine legion at the onset of the Great Crusade. However, after several brutal campaigns and crippling casualties, the Dark Angels eventually lost their status as the largest Space Marine Legion to the Ultramarines. Downplayed, in that they still remain among the largest legions, just not the largest.

* EasyLogistics: Averted; their success comes from the fact that they're really, ''really'' good at the logistics game.

* {{Foil}}: To the Alpha Legion. [[ByTheBookCop By-The-Book Cops]] to their {{Military Maverick}}s, with completely opposite tactics and strategies, one the poster boy for the Legions and the other the most obscure faction out there. And they can't stand each other.
* JackOfAllTrades: They're solid, effective and well-numbered, but their speciality is logistics, not some form of combat as it is with other Legions.

* AllForNothing: His efforts to reach Terra in time to aid the Loyalists ultimately prove for naught - besides it being a ForegoneConclusion that Sanguinus and the Emperor would board the ''Vengeful Spirit'' and be killed/mortally wounded by Horus, , ''The End and the Death'' reveals that the Traitors managed to breach the inner palace a few eeks before he would've arrived, meaning there's a good chance that even if the Loyalists had dug in, Horus would have won by the time the Ultramarines, Dark Angels, and Space Wolves arrived.

* TheRedBaron: The Lord of Summer Lightning, Master of the Hunt, the Death that Comes with Laughter.

* TheRedBaron: Bringer of Sorrow.

* TheRedBaron: The Iron Thunder of Medusa.

* BrutishCharacterBrutishWeapon: A whole army of [[BarbarianHero battle-loving space vikings]], their signature weapon is an axe. Russ breaks the trend by using a sword instead as well as the Spear of Russ originally gifted by the Emperor (which he hated and only used against Horus during the Heresy), although he also packs an axe (The Axe of Morkai) as a second weapon.

** This is also the reason he is often distant from the Imperium. His own beliefs sometimes clash with those of his father and his followers. The most glaring example is the treatment of psykers amongst the Legiones Astartes. As mentioned above, he also regards the Imperial Truth as a plain lie. Events prove him right in both cases.

* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: Jaghatai delivers a stinging one to [[spoiler:Mortarion in ''Scars'']] after the latter tries to talk him into switching sides. He first figures out that [[spoiler:Mortarion has come looking for him on his own initiative and not Horus's orders, then mocks Mortarion for the fact that his life's work (to corrall and contain psykers) is in ruins; though Mortarion succeeded in getting the Librarius disbanded at Nikea, he now finds himself part of an army where sorcerers and witches have been given free reign to make use of their power, and the other Traitor Primarchs either condone and even encourage such practices (such as Magnus, Lorgar and Horus) or don't give enough of a damn about it (i.e., Angron and Curze) to help Mortarion with his personal vendetta. The Khan then concludes that Mortarion has only come looking for him because he's in over his head and is looking for a way to back out, which Jaghatai mocks because he knows that now, like the other Traitor Legions, the Death Guard have tasted the power of Chaos, there is no going back. He finally concludes by mocking Mortarion's plans to become the DragonAscendant with Jaghatai at his side should Horus perish in the campaign to reach Terra, pointing out that neither of their legions were empire-builders, and thus Mortarion would be grossly unsuited to take Horus's place. And, as following events show, Khan was totally right here]].

* AnAxeToGrind: Their signature weapon is an axe. Russ breaks the trend by using a sword instead as well as the Spear of Russ originally gifted by the Emperor (which he hated and only used against Horus during the Heresy), although he also packs an axe (The Axe of Morkai) as a second weapon.

* AnAxeToGrind: Like many a Space Wolf, Bjorn has a fondness for a power axe.

* AnAxeToGrind: carries two into battle.

[[quoteright:249:https://static.tvtropes.orgf/pmwiki/pub/images/dark_angels_logo.png]]

* BadassBiker: A jetbike is pretty much his WeaponOfChoice.

* WolverineClaws: His other WeaponOfChoice is a Lightning Claw, which is basically this with ShockAndAwe added.

* {{BFS}}: Their WeaponOfChoice, Legion-wide, is a two-handed sword.

* DropTheHammer: His WeaponOfChoice is a power mace made from super-heavy stone.

* BladeOnAStick: Alongside his {{BFS}}, his WeaponOfChoice is the Spear of Telesto, supposedly a gift from his father. The Spear of Telesto is recognizable by its distinctive shape: the tip is tear-shaped and hollow, symbolizing the one drop of blood Sanguinius shed when he swore fealty to the Emperor. Apart from that, it was an exceptional weapon, able to pierce through the most durable foes and able to emit deadly energy beams from its tip.

* DropTheHammer: His WeaponOfChoice is a hammer in many varieties. He used a pair of blacksmith's hammers to fend off a Dark Eldar attack on his world, and throughout the Great Crusade he used a thunder hammer named, quite obviously, Thunderhead. During the Drop Site Massacre, he wields Dawnbringer, which was originally a gift for Horus [[spoiler:and which lets him get around teleportation blocks]]. [[spoiler: After his resurrection on Nocturne, he forges a third hammer called Urdrakule ("The Burning Hand") and wields it on his journey to Terra. Urdrakule is the most formidable of Vulkan's hammers, strong enough to smash one of Ferrus Manus' metal hands and spittings arcs of flame.]]

* KilledOffForReal: [[spoiler: ''Narrowly'' averted. In his second duel with Mortarion at the end of ''Warhawk'', Jaghatai allows the Death Lord to impale him with his power scythe so that he can get in close enough to behead his corrupted brother. The wound is apparently fatal, but Ilya Ravallion recognizes that he is still clinging to life and gets him to Malcador in time for the Khagan to be put into an AutoDoc machine that starts putting him back together.]]
* LesserOfTwoEvils: He actually realises that the Emperor, for all his benevolent intents and purposes, is a tyrant and has screwed up majorly. However, after seeing what the traitors have become and some advice from Magnus, he decided to stay with the Imperium.

* ThePhilosopher: He believes that warriors should do more than just train their bodies for war. From calligraphy to poetry, he instills the belief in his Astartes to develop their minds. As an example, he explains to Ilya the importance of Go, and how it hones the White Scars in such a way that they will always try to see combat in a bigger picture.

* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: He actually allows the warrior lodges to meet, which as the series shows, is very disliked by most primarchs since it instills too many thoughts disparate from the interest of the Imperium.

** Also ties into his reputation as TheQuietOne. Whilst he values his independence, he's more than happy to accept outside advice on things that he knows his Legion isn't good at, such as organisation.

* ScrewTheRulesImDoingWhatsRight: Or at least smart. He recognizes the value of psykers, and campaigned for their acceptance in the Imperium as a whole. When the Emperor basically banned the use of Librarians (Space Marines with psychic powers) at the Council of Nikaea, the Khan quietly ordered his legion to ignore the ban and continue using psykers. This meant they were better prepared to face the daemons during the Horus Heresy.

* DentedIron: Of a sort. The Dark Angels were the largest and most prestigious space marine legion at the onset of the Great Crusade. However, after several brutal campaigns and crippling casualties, he Dark Angels eventually lost their status as the largest Space Marine Legion to the Ultramarines. Downplayed, in that they still remain among the largest legions, just not the largest.

* HeroWithBadPublicity: They're seen as barbaric, {{Knight Templar}}-ish brutes, but are unflinchingly loyal.

* TheAce: Its mentioned he's a MasterSwordsman of such proportions that he has ''never once'' lost a duel. This means that either: He's never dueled any Primarchs; Doesn't consider it a loss if his opponent cheats in the fight, as it did with Sevatar[[note]]By rules of a sparring duel, cheating means the ''cheater'' has lost[[/note]]; Always ended in a draw, while this option is possible, although the context didn't seem to suggest this at all; It doesn't mean anything at all, because a sparring bout (even amongst Astartes who are at real risk of being maimed) does not accurately represent the fighters' true potential; He's just lucky and had a lot of bad opponents to hone his skills on.

* MamasBoy: To Tarasha Euten. When Guilliman is stuck on Sotha and trying to figure out who to use the Pharos as a means of travel, seeing Euten stumble causes Guilliman to subconciously trigger the transport to Macragge so he can catch her.