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Ragnar and Sven


Brother Caleb

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I just cracked open the second omnibus, and I'm pretty bummed that King split Ragnar and Sven. I would almost prefer that he died at the end of Grey Hunter when Maddox cut off his hand and ran him through, and Sven tried choke him with his good hand. It was just the sort of defiant death that would've suited him. But as it is, he survived only for Ragnar, and the audience, to be sent off to Terra. This is not a critique of King's writing, storytelling, or even this story arc. In fact, it's something of a praise that attached to a character. I would almost prefer to follow Sven around instead, lol.

 

End of rant.

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I just cracked open the second omnibus, and I'm pretty bummed that King split Ragnar and Sven. I would almost prefer that he died at the end of Grey Hunter when Maddox cut off his hand and ran him through, and Sven tried choke him with his good hand. It was just the sort of defiant death that would've suited him. But as it is, he survived only for Ragnar, and the audience, to be sent off to Terra. This is not a critique of King's writing, storytelling, or even this story arc. In fact, it's something of a praise that attached to a character. I would almost prefer to follow Sven around instead, lol.

 

End of rant.

 

My complaint with the second half of the series is that it feels scattered. There's a very strong unifying theme (and a set of characters that goes along with it) in the first half. The second half is much more anecdotal, and less cohesive. Part of this is probably the writer switch.

 

-Stormshrug

I think leaving Sven behind is a way to make the reader miss Fenris as much as Ragnar does. We feel very attached to him as a character, so when Ragnar has to leave Berek's Great Company to join the Wolfblade, we actually have a sense of loss instead of just regarding it as another step towards Ragnar's eventual ascension.
I think leaving Sven behind is a way to make the reader miss Fenris as much as Ragnar does. We feel very attached to him as a character, so when Ragnar has to leave Berek's Great Company to join the Wolfblade, we actually have a sense of loss instead of just regarding it as another step towards Ragnar's eventual ascension.

Agreed. I just wanted to vent a bit. Sven's by far my favorite character. I'd put Ranek at a close second. Though, I haven't finished the series, so this may change.

This might be a well known coincedence, but I noticed just now that Ragnar and Berek both came from the same Fenrisian Tribe; the Thunderfists.

Actually they don't, at least according to King. In Grey Hunter, he explains that Berek gets his name from the bionic fist mounted onto his arm that emits electrical pulses across its surface.

 

Edit:

This might be a well known coincedence, but I noticed just now that Ragnar and Berek both came from the same Fenrisian Tribe; the Thunderfists.

They don't it says it in one of the books

 

Berek is known as thunderfist because of his use of a power fist

Sneaky.

 

Was it a powerfist? Perhaps I misunderstood.

Guest dcxiii
Good, I wasn't the only one B)

 

Nah, I thought that was strange too! Thought it was a tiny bit of a plot hole.

 

I was gutted King stopped writing them, though having done a bit of research there is another one I haven't read... will have to get on it!

 

Did anyone else notice that in the books, Ragnar is the thinking man's Space Wolf, whereas in the Fluff he is sposed to be some glory-hungry idiot with "Insane Bravado"?

 

Oh well...

I think the difference between Ragnar’s depiction in codex fluff etc as the impetuous, glory-hungry wolf, and his presentation in the novels is even perhaps a good thing.. The tales of his reckless bravado at the Fang are bound to get slightly exaggerated from account to account, no matter how thoroughly the scalds, and correct me if I'm wrong, the Rune Priests, memorize them. The novels help us to see his human side, his military prowess, and that some of his more questionable choices were often based in the desperation of the moment. Back when I was a kid I used to collect Space Wolves, and I gathered about 2000 pts of Ragnar’s Great Company. Looking back on it, I would put this choice of Wolf Lord squarely down to having read Bill King’s Space Wolf. I’m pretty sure if King had presented a two dimensional, glory-hungry cub, then I wouldn’t have bothered with Ragnar at all.. The presentation in the novels also allows us to engage with a much more interesting character.
This might be a well known coincedence, but I noticed just now that Ragnar and Berek both came from the same Fenrisian Tribe; the Thunderfists.

Actually they don't, at least according to King. In Grey Hunter, he explains that Berek gets his name from the bionic fist mounted onto his arm that emits electrical pulses across its surface.

 

Edit:

This might be a well known coincedence, but I noticed just now that Ragnar and Berek both came from the same Fenrisian Tribe; the Thunderfists.

They don't it says it in one of the books

 

Berek is known as thunderfist because of his use of a power fist

Sneaky.

 

Was it a powerfist? Perhaps I misunderstood.

 

 

His cybernetic replacement is a powerfist, at least that's what I got from Grey Hunter. The fact that he survived a toe-to-toe encounter with Khârn and ONLY lost a hand is pretty significant.

Guest dcxiii
I think the difference between Ragnar’s depiction in codex fluff etc as the impetuous, glory-hungry wolf, and his presentation in the novels is even perhaps a good thing.. The tales of his reckless bravado at the Fang are bound to get slightly exaggerated from account to account, no matter how thoroughly the scalds, and correct me if I'm wrong, the Rune Priests, memorize them. The novels help us to see his human side, his military prowess, and that some of his more questionable choices were often based in the desperation of the moment. Back when I was a kid I used to collect Space Wolves, and I gathered about 2000 pts of Ragnar’s Great Company. Looking back on it, I would put this choice of Wolf Lord squarely down to having read Bill King’s Space Wolf. I’m pretty sure if King had presented a two dimensional, glory-hungry cub, then I wouldn’t have bothered with Ragnar at all.. The presentation in the novels also allows us to engage with a much more interesting character.

 

That is a good point. I collected about 2,000 pts of Space Wolves, even if I never used the Ragnar special character, although I bought the model and painted him up. Now that I'm thinking of getting back into the hobby, it's the front cover of the original Space Wolf book, that I think I might base my miniatures' colour scheme on, whether I use the Codex SW or SM rules, I have yet to decide!

I think the difference between Ragnar’s depiction in codex fluff etc as the impetuous, glory-hungry wolf, and his presentation in the novels is even perhaps a good thing.. The tales of his reckless bravado at the Fang are bound to get slightly exaggerated from account to account, no matter how thoroughly the scalds, and correct me if I'm wrong, the Rune Priests, memorize them. The novels help us to see his human side, his military prowess, and that some of his more questionable choices were often based in the desperation of the moment. Back when I was a kid I used to collect Space Wolves, and I gathered about 2000 pts of Ragnar’s Great Company. Looking back on it, I would put this choice of Wolf Lord squarely down to having read Bill King’s Space Wolf. I’m pretty sure if King had presented a two dimensional, glory-hungry cub, then I wouldn’t have bothered with Ragnar at all.. The presentation in the novels also allows us to engage with a much more interesting character.

 

As you note, this dichotemy usually well handled in the books. As a commander, Ragnar is usually very calm and collected, especially among Wolf Lords, who tend to be hot-blooded types. When he is pulled into the melee of battle, however, he acts much more on instinct, and takes tactical risks that he himself might not approve of on a strategic level. Personally, I thought this depiction really works. He's smart enough to know that charging into enemy fire is stupid, so he doesn't order his men to do it, but he's enough of al Space Wolf to occasionally get carried away and do it himself anyway (and he's sufficiently badass to survive his crazy stunts).

 

-Stormshrug

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