Black Legion thoughts

[Gree]

Actually I myself am wondering why people are talking about Night Lords when the topic is not about them at all.

[caboosebe]

Actually I myself am wondering why people are talking about Night Lords when the topic is not about them at all.

well did you get the info you needed or still have doubts?

[Yogi]

Denial is a wonderful thing. They are called the black legion to get away from horus failure, so there is no way they are deliberately calling themselves the 16th..

 

Then why are they still using his heraldry? They can't be completely cut off from what they used to be if they still use Horus's symbol.

 

The sons of horus icon is different form the black legion one.. Its an eye with arrows.. instead of just an eye.

[Gree]

Denial is a wonderful thing. They are called the black legion to get away from horus failure, so there is no way they are deliberately calling themselves the 16th..

 

Then why are they still using his heraldry? They can't be completely cut off from what they used to be if they still use Horus's symbol.

 

The sons of horus icon is different form the black legion one.. Its an eye with arrows.. instead of just an eye.

 

Wow, that is such a major change.

[Vissah]

The original eye of Horus had a arrow poiting downward so there is not that big of a difference.

[Yogi]

@vissah

 

Actually it is because the black legion one marks them as followers of the chaos gods and the regular eyeball does not.

 

@gree

 

Its yellow/gold not black, it aligns them to chaos and people can still tell who they are.. What more do you want?

[chaplain belisarius]

@gree-hows your black legion army going?

[A D-B]

I think I never done it before , but here I go . In character. Go tell Acerbus on the main ship of the NL main fleet and tell him he aint the leader of all NL.

 

If he's not a great leader, that's exactly what will happen. Besides, he's not the overall leader of the Night Lords. He just leads more of the Legion than any other commander. He believed the crown was the most important relic. Many Night Lords don't, or simply don't care.

[Vissah]

@vissah

 

Actually it is because the black legion one marks them as followers of the chaos gods and the regular eyeball does not.

 

@gree

 

Its yellow/gold not black, it aligns them to chaos and people can still tell who they are.. What more do you want?

 

Yeah I know that the Black Legion eye has the 8 pointed star in it but I was just saying that the point was already in the original eye aswell.

[Gree]

@gree

 

Its yellow/gold not black, it aligns them to chaos and people can still tell who they are.. What more do you want?

 

It's still an eye and easily recognizable as the Eye of Horus.

 

@gree-hows your black legion army going?

 

Quite good actually, I just got a whole bunch of the old metal Chaos termies for free from a guy that no longer plays Chaos, along with the Abbadon model. Is the head seperate on the Abbadon model? I want to remove that and give him a helmet. The topknot looks too cheesy in my opinion.

 

Anyway I want to put down a few thoughts on the Black Legion.

 

The color change for instance. The Black Legion IA tells us this:

 

Abaddon knew that the memory of the Warmaster shackled his Legion to the failures of the past, so his first edicts renounced the name of Horus and the ancient title of the Legion.

 

But their whole Crusade of the Imperium of man is the most driven of the Chaos Legions. Abbadon's hatred stems from somewhere. My belief is the whole loss of Horus. Abbadon may disdain Horus publicly, but to me his whole actions smack of revenge for Horus's death.

 

Indeed, I think the color change may also reflect mourning. The Black Legion Champion in Dark Adeptus muses that the Legion wears black armor in mourning for Horus. The US White Dwarf 332 says that

 

This ancient legion is led by Abbadon the Despoiler and wears jet black armor in the memory of their Primarch, Horus. Their insignia represents the Eye of Horus.

 

I myself like the idea that the Black Legion changed their colors for multiple reasons. One was to distance themselves from their past, but also out of a sense of shame. They were once the greatest of the Legions, they trailblazed the Great Crusade. They were the Warmaster's Legion. And then.......

 

…........Then they failed.

 

Horus died. Their gene-father was dead. They fled from Terra to the Eye, hunted and hounded by the other Legions. In the Eye they were preyed on by the other Legions and bloodied into near-extinction. They no longer held any initiative or identity of their own, instead clinging to Horus's dead carcass. Even their Primarch's body was stolen and defiled, used to create clone-mockeries.

 

Then Abbadon changed all that and reformed the Legion, destroying Horus's twisted clones. The Legion was no longer worthy of being the Warmaster's personal Legion. They had failed at that. They had failed their gene-father miserably. Changing their color serves two purposes. One is to renounce the title as Sons of Horus, the other is to reflect their own shame at having failed Horus. They weren't worthy of being the old Legion. The old Legion's glory days were over.

 

Instead they were the Black Legion. The Legion that mourned Horus, but in a far more subtle way than the quasi-religious nature of the Sons. Black is shame, mourning, bitterness and vengeance, all things that the Black Legion embodies in their war to destroy the Imperium.

 

....or at least that's how I interpret the Black Legion.

[Rain]

Abaddon has a real case of cognitive dissonance. He calls Horus weak and a fool, and yet during Horus's life he practically had an Electra complex for him and even now he wears the Eye of Horus as a symbol. Also I suppose denouncing Horus makes him look more like a legitimate leader as following Horus's death the legion worshiped his memory instead of following any living man, and as Abaddon wanted to become that man, he had to first deal with Horus's memory.

 

I'm actually really looking forward to ADB's books on the BL if they ever happen as the current fluff for them is very bland in my opinion and they could certainly use some fleshing out as long as its done well and doesn't make Abaddon some kind of emotional prima donna like Sahaal.

[chaplain belisarius]

@gree- i like your thoughts on the black legion. personally i view it as like this-they killed abaddons dad...of course hes angry! :)

 

(waits for ADB to write that abaddon novel-no pressure mate!:)

[Walter Payton]

Abaddon has a real case of cognitive dissonance. He calls Horus weak and a fool, and yet during Horus's life he practically had an Electra complex for him and even now he wears the Eye of Horus as a symbol.

 

Actually, an Electra complex can only apply to a female's paternal obsession. And seeing as both Electra and Oedipus complexes are psychosexual (which cannot apply to Abaddon, as he is too old), neither are a decent match. If we psychologically profile Abaddon, I would give him this:

 

Malignant Narcissism

Nihilistic delusions

Monothematic Religious delusions (specifically towards Horus)

An in-universe version of Jerusalem Syndrome

Sadistic personality disorder

[Brother Nihm]

All in all a perfect cocktail to unite the Forces of Chaos under him.

[Rain]

Abaddon has a real case of cognitive dissonance. He calls Horus weak and a fool, and yet during Horus's life he practically had an Electra complex for him and even now he wears the Eye of Horus as a symbol.

 

Actually, an Electra complex can only apply to a female's paternal obsession. And seeing as both Electra and Oedipus complexes are psychosexual (which cannot apply to Abaddon, as he is too old), neither are a decent match. If we psychologically profile Abaddon, I would give him this:

 

Malignant Narcissism

Nihilistic delusions

Monothematic Religious delusions (specifically towards Horus)

An in-universe version of Jerusalem Syndrome

Sadistic personality disorder

 

I guess the internet does not allow you to see that I had my tongue firmly planted in my cheek as I wrote that, the point was actually to point out the whiny "girly" way in which it has become vogue to represent Chaos marines as they pine for their long lost glories and lament their misfortunes, it annoys me (and was why I did not enjoy Lord of the Night). Also, seriously psychoanalyzing fictional characters is a...flawed process to say the least. That said, I honestly don't think Abaddon is a bad guy, he is kind of like a puppy whose owner got killed and now he grew up to be lonely and bites people. Hopefully ADB can change my opinion of him without making him go on soliloquies that read like My Chemical Romance lyrics a la Sahaal.

[Walter Payton]

I guess the internet does not allow you to see that I had my tongue firmly planted in my cheek as I wrote that,

 

Actually, I was taking the mick too...

 

the point was actually to point out the whiny "girly" way in which it has become vogue to represent Chaos marines as they pine for their long lost glories and lament their misfortunes, it annoys me (and was why I did not enjoy Lord of the Night).

 

Agreed. I normally hate it when people refer to fictional characters as 'emo' (would you say that of Hamlet? No.), but the description has some serious justification in this case.

 

Also, seriously psychoanalyzing fictional characters is a...flawed process to say the least. That said, I honestly don't think Abaddon is a bad guy, he is kind of like a puppy whose owner got killed and now he grew up to be lonely and bites people.

 

I quite enjoyed it, actually. But I think that we need to know more about Abaddon's youth before we make sweeping statements. Adolf Hitler (who really did have an Oedipus complex) actually fits that description quite well. Was Hitler a bad guy. Unquestionably yes.

 

Godwin's law strikes again.

[Marshal Rohr]

Ok, how does one have nihilistic delusions?

 

How does he have a Jerusalem Complex?

 

Im at a loss please explain.

[chaplain belisarius]

you guys make abaddon sound like hes crazy or something...:)

[Walter Payton]

Ok, how does one have nihilistic delusions?

 

Cotard Delusion

 

Abaddon's nihilistic delusion is that he believes parts of his own character do not exist (his failure to be Horus, for one).

 

How does he have a Jerusalem Complex?

 

He has an 'in-universe equivalent'. He has a Terra Complex. He is compelled by religious fervour and a personal vendetta to keep attempting to visit Terra. It is an obsession for him.

 

Jerusalem Syndrome