Jump to content

Why aren't the Grey Knights grey?


The Sandman

Recommended Posts

The "Grey" in Grey Knights has nothing really to do with the color of their armor, and has more to do with the "Grey" area and methods they opporate in. They are willing to walk the line between Order and Chaos with a foot firmly planted in both, as detailed in their pre-Ward fluff, and ironically enough, overstated in the current Ward fluff. They are the hi-tech Knights of the Realm with the Blood of their God running through their veins, yet they use Sorcery and Rituals to combat and defeat the Powers of Chaos. "Grey" is a metaphor for the Purest of the Pure wielding the powers of Darkness to make war on the Darkest of foes. "Grey" is their place in the setting, as they are Marines but not Marines, they are the Inquisition but not the Inquisition, they will to kill a million to save a billion, and they work from the Shadows to be a Scourge on both the fellow Humanity and the Abominations of the Warp. That is what the "Grey" in Grey Knights stands for!

 

Oh, and they use to be painted gray in RT days, silver was their newer 3rd ed color scheme. There's artwork from White Dwarf showing them in a black paint scheme at some point in their history, but that was more of a retcon than actual historic fluff.

 

SJ

Oh, and they use to be painted gray in RT days, silver was their newer 3rd ed color scheme. There's artwork from White Dwarf showing them in a black paint scheme at some point in their history, but that was more of a retcon than actual historic fluff.

 

They were grey in the original GK Terminator article for RT, but they were said to wear baroque gold armour in the Genestealer expansion for Space Hulk (1990) and silver & brass in the Armies of the Imperium for EPIC (1991)

Way I see it, Grey Knights are unpainted armor...which are supposed to be fancy shiny to befit their "Knight"-like appearance.

 

Pre-Heresy Word Bearers were grey. :P Not sure the Emperor's finest would color themselves after the first heretics. <3

I'm pretty sure all 20 Legions were gray in color at the beginning, and only began adding unit coloring to their armor during the end of the Unification war and during the Crusade. Many of the flash-backs in the HH novels detailing pre-Crusade Marine foundation and unit actions point to a uniform gray color scheme. Space Wolves have never changed their armor color since founding, Lunar Wolves wore all gray even after Horus was found and only took on a different color scheme when their name changed to Sons of Horus, the Word Bearers wore gray all the way through to the end of the Crusades with only their 1st chapter gaining the honor of wearing all red, the Deathguard wore gray during the Unification and were the first legion to game the honor of coloring their armor (one red arm), the Ultramarines changed the armor color to blue in honor of their Primarchs homeworld, etc. Only the Dark Angels were noted as being all black before being united with their Primarch, and the all black color scheme may have been awarded to them during the Unification for some unmentioned act of note they were honored for.

 

As such, the Grey Knights just might have retained the original Legion color scheme, as they were both the last Legion as well as the first Chapter formed. All the bling came with time and ritual (as well as background story fluff).

 

SJ

Way I see it, Grey Knights are unpainted armor...which are supposed to be fancy shiny to befit their "Knight"-like appearance.

 

Pre-Heresy Word Bearers were grey. ^_^ Not sure the Emperor's finest would color themselves after the first heretics. <3

 

Actually, since power armor is made of ceramic plates, they would be quite dull/matte in appearance, such as Boron Carbide

I simply cannot be the only one thinking this but why aren't grey knights grey?

It's not as if the black legion are White

So if anyone has some theories or some amusing comments to make be my guest

 

 

I think it is because these grey knights have to follow the color of their own leader. :)

Isn't there fluff that references Purifiers as having 'alabaster' armour?

 

I think that's the only reference to their armor color in fact. So really they should be painted entirely in white, not with just white helmets as the photographs show.

 

Odd.

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use.