History Literature / GreyKnights

** Ironically some new fluff heavily implies their true Primarch is Horus. ''[[Literature/HorusHeresy The Flight Of The Eisenstein]]'' pretty clearly implies that the first Grey Knighs are the surviving loyalist brothers from the Sons Of Horus, or, rather, Luna Wolves legion, as they've reverted to their old name as a sign of breaking with Horus. This would indeed make Horus their Primarch, though not that the loyalist chapters with the heretical Primarch were unheard of.

* HopelessWar: They are 5000 super soldiers versus an infinite number of immortal {{Eldritch Abomination}}s, the most powerful of which are [[PhysicalGod Demi-Gods]] who can shape entire worlds to their will. Add human allies that number in the ''billions'', and you can start to see the problem.

* NoSuchAgency: The Grey Knights are officially an urban legend, with only a couple of other Space Marine chapters (the Literature/{{Space Wol|f}}ves and Literature/BloodRavens) aware of their existence. In addition, they are considered the militant arm of the Ordo Malleus, making them soldiers of the Inquisition. Anyone else who fights alongside them are either killed or mind-wiped after the war is over in order to preserve their secrecy.

* NoSuchAgency: The Grey Knights are officially an urban legend, with only a couple of other Space Marine chapters (the Literature/{{Space Wol|f}}ves and BloodRavens) aware of their existence. In addition, they are considered the militant arm of the Ordo Malleus, making them soldiers of the Inquisition. Anyone else who fights alongside them are either killed or mind-wiped after the war is over in order to preserve their secrecy.

** Well minus SpaceWolves, as censuring the wolves proved to be too costly to pursue.

* NoSuchAgency: The Grey Knights are officially an urban legend, with only a couple of other Space Marine chapters (the {{Space Wol|f}}ves and BloodRavens) aware of their existence. In addition, they are considered the militant arm of the Ordo Malleus, making them soldiers of the Inquisition. Anyone else who fights alongside them are either killed or mind-wiped after the war is over in order to preserve their secrecy.

* UsefulNotes/ColdWar: Between the Inquisition and the Space Wolves after Armageddon. It turns hot after the Inquisition fires on the Space Wolf flagship under the guise of a truce.

* MagnificentBastard: Logan Grimnar. Despite defying the Inquisition and being responsible for killing Imperial forces like the Grey Knights, only the truly deluded and doomed characters fail to admire his cunning and moral standpoint.
* MoralEventHorizon: The Space Wolves believe the Inquisition crossed one of these when they [[spoiler: invited the Space Wolves to a parley to negotiate a ceasefire, then opened fire on the Space Wolf vessels when they arrived, destroying four with all hands and crippling Grimnar's flagship. Before this incident, the Space Wolves had refrained from trading fire with Inquisition ships while protecting Armageddon refugee ships, not wanting to give the Inquisition an excuse to brand them traitors. Afterwards, the Wolves no longer hold fire or show mercy when confronting Inquisition and Grey Knight forces]].
** When the Space Wolves fleet breaks warp above Fenris to find [[spoiler: the Inquisition fleet with its guns trained on the Fang, Hyperion points out to Kysnaros that the Inquisition has done this. Kysnaros tries to negotiate with Grimnar, only to receive a litany of death threats and insults. When Kysnaros starts to panic when he realises the Wolves aren't breaking off their attack on his fleet, insisting that they have to know the Inquisition will go through with bombing the Fang, Hyperion flatly tells him that they ''do'' know, but given how far the Inquisition has pushed them, they no longer care]].

* OldShame: The Grey Knights refer to the months spent hunting down and slaughtering the fleeing guardsmen (and the billions of innocent people who came into contact with them) the Months of Shame.

* MagicKnight: They are the only [[SuperSoldier Space Marines]] chapter to consist ''entirely'' of [[PsychicPowers psykers]]. And in 40K that's basically ''bad'', as it makes you much more prone to TheCorruption. However they are so BadAss, that it doesn't matter much to them, making them even more CursedWithAwesome than any other psyker.

* BadAss: Logan Grimnar butchers a Grey Knight Grandmaster before the latter can even draw his weapons. He can also run in Terminator Armour and is pretty much the only person to ever tell the Inquisition to go fuck itself and actually get away with it.

* BaitAndSwitch: In the 7th Edition Codex, the Knights encounter a force of Adeptas Sororitas that survived on a planet invaded by daemons. You expect that to be a retelling of the much hated Khornate Knights incident; that is, that any moment the Knights will start slaughtering the Sisters and painting their armor with their blood... but no. The Sororitas die a proper heroic death in battle, while saving the Knights. They still die, of course, but... [[TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}} you know how it is]].

* EverythingsBetterWithMonkeys: Their new Codex allows you to field Jokaeros, super-intelligent (though strangely enough non-sapient, thereby circumventing the Imperium's anti-alien policies by being counted as livestock) orangutan-like aliens (bioengineered by the same AbusivePrecursors who made the Orks and Eldar, incidentally) [[LethalJokeCharacter who wear special rings that shoot lasers, masers and]] ''[[IncendiaryExponent fire]]''. In fact it's possible to take ''nothing but'' laser apes if you have Inquisitor Coteaz as your commander.

*** Also, the latest Codex says Marines are sometimes simply sworn to secrecy.

** [[PuritySue This has been retconned in the fifth edition codex to where the Grey Knights are naturally immune to Chaos and they can casually get away with using chaotic texts and harbouring corrupt items without risk or retribution from the Inquisition.]] [[DoubleStandard They will turn a blind eye to Inquisitors that turn up to battle with a dozen daemonhosts and carrying daemon weapons.]] [[MoralDissonance They're also now known for freely making deals with aliens, and slaughtering loyal servants of the Emperor (resilient Sisters of Battle, to be precise) to smear their armour with their blood in order to defeat an artefact of the blood god Khorne.]] Though granted this has been declared discontinuity by the majority of 40K's fan base.
** Retconned once again in the 7th edition codex. While they still collect chaos artefacts, this has been repeatedly stated because they cannot otherwise be safely destroyed, with much of it being in the care of the Purifiers and locked up. As for the part about slaughtering Sisters and bloodsmearing, that has been quietly retconned out along with the majority of Kaldor Draigo's "exploits". However 7th edition allows players to subvert this as Come the Apocalypse level of allies is now available meaning that you can ally Grey Knights with Chaos Daemons, their mortal enemies.

* StoryBreakerPower - The entire chapter as of the fifth edition codex. Both terms of fluff and game rules.

* LightningBruiser: Tactical Dreadnought armour looks as though it should be heavy, lumbering and very restrictive, however most of the characters who wear it are still able to actand fight faster and more effectively than those in 'normal' Power Armour. Most notably Logan Grimnir, who can move so fast in his suit that he was able to draw his axe, swing it and kill another Terminator-clad character before anyone else in the room could even react.

* PeaceConference: [[spoiler: Bjorn is able to negotiate a peace deal between the Inquisition and the Space Wolves, allowing both sides to save face. The terms of the deal are in exchange for the Space Wolves standing down, no Inquisition ship will ''ever'' appear in the skies of Fenris again, on penalty of immediate destruction, and the Space Wolves who had learned of the Grey Knights should not be mind-wiped as was normal in such cases, but instead Hyperion should personally explain the Grey Knights' mission and its importance to all of the Astartes within The Fang, so that such a conflict should never again occur due to misunderstanding and ignorance of the Inquisition's mission]].

* ScrewTheRulesImDoingWhatsRight: Logan Grimnar and, to a lesser extent, Inquisitor Jarlsdottyr. Hyperion reasons that the Space Marines, bred to be warriors first and foremost, would see it as a smear on their honour if they prevented a greater evil by allowing a lesser one to occur.

* DidntThinkThisThrough: Inquisitor Kysnaros believes the best way to finally force a capitulation from the Space Wolves [[spoiler: was to blockade Fenris with an Inquisitorial armada and threaten to perform Exterminatus on the planet if they didn't stand down. The plan doesn't work, and when Logan Grimnar and the entire Space Wolves fleet, having learned what is happening, emerge from the Warp ready for battle and howling for blood, Hyperion actually asks Kysnaros if he thought the Space Wolves would react any other way to such an action other than with extreme violence.?[[labelnote:Spoilery explanation]]In Kysnaro's defence, he admits to having never dealt with the Adeptus Astartes before and the few on his staff to advise him that have weren't dealing with a Chapter as independent as the Space Wolves.[[/labelnote]]

** Inquisitor Kysnaros' view of why he is prolonging the conflict with the Space Wolves: in his view, not bringing them to heel [[spoiiler: runs the risk of the Imperium sinking into a civil war on a par with the Horus Heresy]].

* PeaceConference: [[spoiler: Bjorn is able to negotiate a peace deal between the Inquisition and the Space Wolves, allowing both sides to save face. The terms of the deal are that no Inquisition ship will ''ever'' appear in the skies of Fenris again, on penalty of immediate destruction, and the Space Wolves who had learned of the Grey Knights should not be mind-wiped as was normal in such cases, but instead Hyperion should personally explain the Grey Knights' mission and its importance to all of the Astartes within The Fang, so that such a conflict should never again occur due to misunderstanding and ignorance of the Inquisition's mission]].

* TheProtectorate: One of the first things Logan Grimnar does when he meets the Grey Knights and Inquisitors sent to Armageddon is make it explicitly clear that the guardsmen and civilians there are under his protection, and that he will brook no purges of them after the battle is over. When the Inquisition initiates a purge anyway it sets the stage for the war between the Space Wolves and the Adeptus Terra.

* WeWillMeetAgain: Though the conflict between both sides ends in a (albeit grudging) peace deal, both the Space Wolves and the Inquisition know they will likely end up fighting each other again sooner or later.

* BattleInterruptingShout: [[spoiler: Bjorn delivers one to the Space Wolves and Grey Knights fighting it out

* ScrewTheRulesImDoingWhatsRight: Logan Grimnar and, to a lesser extent, Inquisitor Jarlsdottyr. Hyperion reasons that the Space Marines, bred to be warriors first and foremost, would see it as a smear on their honour if they prevented a greater evil by allowing a lesser one to occur

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* IDidWhatIHadToDo: The Inquisition’s, and also Hyperion’s, excuse for slaughtering the civilians and guardsmen who took part in the campaign to retake Armageddon.

* ThrProtectorate: One of the first things Logan Grimnar does when he meets the Grey Knights and Inquisitors sent to Armageddon is make it explicitly clear that the guardsmen and civilians there are under his protection, and that he will brook no purges of them after the battle is over. When the Inquisition initiates a purge anyway it sets the stage for the war between the Space Wolves and the Adeptus Terra.

* ScrewTheRulesImDoingWhatsRight: Logan Grimnar and, to a lesser extent, Inquisitor Jarlsdottyr.

** To be fair the Grey Knight with the daemon weapon isn't using it power, only keeping guard of it.
** And YMMV on the rest of it. The Grey Knights keep tainted artefacts and Chaos texts so that they can know their enemy, the better to defeat them. Some artefacts, like Castellan Crowe's blade, can't be destroyed so the Knights have to keep them locked up. And they may have to tolerate a Renegade Inquisitor but there are limits, and the tolerance comes from the fact that the GK serve the Inquisition, they do not have the right to judge them. Only another Inquisitor can do that. And yeah they make deals with aliens, like the Eldar, Necrons and Jokaero, because they recognize that Chaos is the ultimate enemy and that the xenos are a far lesser threat and may even be fighting Chaos in their own way. The GK concern themselves with Chaos, nothing else. And as for the Sisters of Battle incident that can be explained in a certain way; the GK kill the Sisters of Battle so that their innocent blood will provide a shield against the Bloodtide that has been unleashed in that battle, without it even their armour would falter before it and they wouldn't have been able to approach the Daemon. Killing those Sisters is a smaller scale example of what the Imperium does all the time, sacrificing something for a greater good. If the Sisters had been told they probably would have volunteered for it.

** Ironically some new fluff heavily implies their true Primarch is Horus.

* MagnificentBastard: Logan Grimnir. Despite defying the Inquisition and being responsible for killing Imperial forces like the Grey Knights, only the truly deluded and doomed characters fail to admire his cunning and moral standpoint.

* OldShame: The Grey Knights refer to the months spent hunting down and slaughtering the fleeing guardsmen (And the billions of innocent people who came into contact with them) the Months of Shame.

* {{Protectorate}}: One of the first things Logan Grimnar does when he meets the Grey Knights and Inquisitors sent to Armageddon is make it explicitly clear that the guardsmen and civilians there are under his protection, and that he will brook no purges of them after the battle is over. When the Inquisition initiates a purge anyway it sets the stage for the war between the Space Wolves and the Adeptus Terra.

* DepletedPhlebotinumShells: As they are specialist chapter geared to fighting [[EldritchAbomination Daemons]], their armory fully reflects this and includes all the manners of anti-Daemonic weaponry, including literal Holy Water-charged bolter shells.

* ColdWar: Between the Inquisition and the Space Wolves after Armageddon. It turns hot after the Inquisition fires on the Space Wolf flagship under the guise of a truce.

* ColdWar: Between the Inquisition and the Space Wolves after Armageddon. [[ItGotWorse It turns hot]] after the Inquisition fires on the Space Wolf flagship under the guise of a truce.

Tropes connected with The Emperor’s Gift are:

* Old Shame: The Grey Knights refer to the months spent hunting down and slaughtering the fleeing guardsmen (And the billions of innocent people who came into contact with them) the Months of Shame.

* [[Protectorate]]: One of the first things Logan Grimnar does when he meets the Grey Knights and Inquisitors sent to Armageddon is make it explicitly clear that the guardsmen and civilians there are under his protection, and that he will brook no purges of them after the battle is over. When the Inquisition initiates a purge anyway it sets the stage for the war between the Space Wolves and the Adeptus Terra.