Ragnar Blackmane

[Brother Chaplain Ryld]

Brothers,

I'm wanting to know when Ragnar was made a marine, and when he was promoted to Wolf Lord. If some one could let me know which year these thing happened I would be grateful.

 

Thanks.

[Wolf Lord Hallbjorn]

The only thing i've seen as far as an exact year is on pg. 20 of the codex. The entry about avenging Lord Thunderfist states that Ragnar was elected to replace Berek in 983 of M41.

[Brother Chaplain Ryld]

Oh. Even a best guess?

 

Thanks for the reply.

[Wolf Lord Hallbjorn]

As far as the year in which he became a marine, it's been quite a while since i've read the novels. I'm fairly sure an exact year wasn't stated, though.

[Valerian]

Oh. Even a best guess?

 

Thanks for the reply.

 

Discounting the BL books (which I haven't read), from the codices and WD article with information on him (157), we know only a few things for sure. One is that he has been Wolf Lord for about 16 years (983 to 999 of M41) and that he is the youngest of the current 12 Wolf Lords. We also know that he was a Blood Claw (best estimate of 16 to 20 years old; maybe a little older), when he was elevated directly to the Wolf Guard of Berek Thunderfist (an almost unheard of feat, spending no time as a Grey Hunter). We have no indication whatsoever of how much time he spent as a Wolf Guard before his liege was slain, and Ragnar was elected to replace him.

 

From his description and special skills we know that Ragnar still has a lot of the fiery temperament of a Blood Claw still in him, leading readers to guess that he is likely exceptionally young. Without all of the details, I would throw a wild guess out there that he is maybe now between 50 and 60 years old.

 

V

[Growler67]

To find out more about how Ragnar was placed onto the path by the Fates, which led him to being in Berek Thinderfists Wolf Guard.........you have to read the Ragnar Saga. Yes ALL 6 paperbacks as they lead from his selection to become an initiate of the Space Wolves through the events that led him into, out of and back into the service of his Wolf Lord. I would highly recommend doing so as I enjoyed it immensely. As a stand alone adventure in reading but aslo as an informational reference into the process that one must go through to become a Space Wolf. Lots of good stuff in there especially as we do NOT follow the rest of the Astartes in the progressions of ranks like they do.

[Brother Chaplain Ryld]

I have read the first Space Wolf Omnibus by Bill King, is that the Ragnar saga you mean?

 

Thanks for the info guys.

[Ironwulf]

I have read the first Space Wolf Omnibus by Bill King, is that the Ragnar saga you mean?

 

Thanks for the info guys.

 

Yeah. You still need to read the second Omnibus then. Or, the individual novels that make up each of those Omnibus'. There's some really good reading in there. I'm still not quite sure what you need an EXACT timeline of Ragnar's life though...

[Brother Chaplain Ryld]

I didn't realise there was a lack of info on him, so it didn't have to be answered to the year like in my first post, just a best guess. ;)

A local Space Wolf player had linked Ragnar to his armies background, and cited a battle that happened before Ragnar was a marine. I had thought from memory that Ragnar was quite young in comparison with other known characters and I just wanted facts from those who would know so that I could set him on the right path.

 

Thanks again.

[Ironwulf]

I didn't realise there was a lack of info on him, so it didn't have to be answered to the year like in my first post, just a best guess.

 

 

So, somebody is doing something according to their own "best guess." Bravo for them. That's the way things go with GW properties. "Best guess" is the expected way to go about making your own story...

 

YMMV.

[Brother Chaplain Ryld]

Sorry Ironwolf, I don't quite understand what you are saying. :mellow:

[Ironwulf]

Sorry Ironwolf, I don't quite understand what you are saying. :P

 

What I'm saying is that GW is consistently inconsistent with their fluff. ;) If somebody wants to link their backstory to that of Ragnar, that's a perfectly acceptable way of creating their own background. ;)

[Brother Chaplain Ryld]

His mistake was that he had Ragnar send a Space Wolf contingent to the Battle of Macragge. I just let him know Ragnar was a tad young for that. :)

[Beef]

I am sure in this players timeframe Ragnar was not too young and was indeed there for the battle. you are correct fluff wise but he has the advantage of doing whatever he wants with the proven fluff background for his own army

[Brother Chaplain Ryld]

I am sure in this players timeframe Ragnar was not too young and was indeed there for the battle. you are correct fluff wise but he has the advantage of doing whatever he wants with the proven fluff background for his own army

 

Which is pretty much what I said in my answer to him, it's his army he can do with it what he wants. I just asked him why he had added something like that to his armies background, as he had this whole page of well thought out history ( a lot being based on his actual games, so quite a narrative thing happening ) but the opening line was like Ragnar sent a wolf lord to assist the UM during the BoM. I just figured it was a little bit, well, out of left field and inconsistent with what he had done so far, so I thought I'd ask around for some info to help him out.

 

Cheers

[mcbeaty]

i think i may know roughly ragnars age logan been around for 700 years+. when ragnar is on garm in the 3rd space wolves book you learn of anakron silvermane who had preceed logan as chapter master.silvermane had died around 400 years before the events in the book which means logan at the time was leading the chapter for the last 400 years.so in present day codex fluff around 300 years has passed since the events in the book and ragnar states at the bigging of the 3rd book hed been a marine for 10 years so far that puts him at around 310 years.depending if the books and codex are going on the same dates and obviously the ages could go either way by so many years.as for when hes made a wolf lord if we assume logans 700 + years represent any where from 701 to 799 years logan managed to get from recruit to lord then chapter master in at the most 99 years.the codex and books show him as being great so maybe he could but it would mean ragnar would have to have got the wolf lord postition in around 80 or 90 years maybe less. hope this helps im reading through the books in order right know so if i get any more dates ill post them.

[Growler67]

Seems to me that hard dates are something that GW avoids to some extent. It allows for the mystery effect to remain at it's most flexible for any future fluff to be introduced. By leaving specific details out, they have ALL the power to pretty much dictate things as they see fit - which is what they are about anyway, right?

 

Generalization allows for flexibility to introduce new things without directly affecting canon in timelines. As they introduce new things they can fit them between the time brackets of canon events to coincide with events as they want to dictate.

[mcbeaty]

new dates reading back ragnar became wolf lord 16 years from present dates so i put him at 310 years becoming lord at 294 years.which for this dates to work logans leadership of the chapter would have to last for 700 years and for ragnar to be the yougest ever lord logan would have to have sereved for 300 to 400 years more which puts him at 1000 to 1100 years.so from what i got it goes like this logans fights through the ranks for 300 to 400 years.when silvermane dies he leads the chapter for 400 years. when the chapter goes to garm ragnar been marine for 10 years logan has another 300 years leadership to present day leaving ragnar at 310 becoming lord 294 years.this only works if you take the 700 years of logan in the codex as being time served as great wolf.if you dont then the books and the codex wont add up because itll follow this time line logan alive for 700 years to present if he took over as grat wolf 400 years ago which i m not sure with out checking but my be what the previouse codex states then the events on garm would be taking place in the present time line and ragnar would be 10 years of service and couldnt have been wolf lord it dosent add up.so if you want dates book2 ragnar sees logan first time states hes 700 book 3 ragnar 10 logan been great wolf 400 years assume the codex means logan been great wolf for 700 years then 300 years pass to present date leaving ragnar and logan at the ages i said above.

[Valerian]

And the above just goes to show why should just ignore the Black Library books. If you stick with the core fluff in the codices and White Dwarf articles, you actually get a pretty consistent picture. If you start trying to calculate Ragnar's age based on the Omnibus, it leads to the rediculous outcome of Ragnar, the youngest Wolf Lord in Chapter history, being older than most Space Marines/Space Wolves probably ever get.

 

V

[mcbeaty]

justdug out the previouse codex saying logans saga is 700 years and leadership 500 leaving a 200 year gap between becoming a marine and becoming chapter master.so to go on codex fluff ragnar would have to be less than 200 to be youngest lordmeaning following the fact hes been a wolve lord for16 years makes logan and ragnars assencion to lord very tight regarding who was the youngest.so if you want an age for him decide what fluff you want to follow i would peronally follow the fluff in the books there more there to play the dates add up better and sound more realistic given logan an age over 1000 suits him having ragnar a lord at 310 suits the extrodinary youth role considering his sargent died when he was 400 years becoming a lord in less time fits his saga.