Candleshoes Posted February 26, 2012 Share Posted February 26, 2012 Was flipping through the 25th Anniversary Warhammer 40,000 article in last months White Dwarf, when I spotted something that I really never payed much attention to. In the left hand corner of Geoff Taylor's artwork for 1993's Dark Millenium expansion. It is a different Deathwing banner, this one a little more macabre. It portrays the Lion kneeling first face, face contorted in a bestial, almost demonic scream, looking as though he has gone through absolute failure of everything he stands for, his broken and bloodied sword lain before him. His wings are made purposefully twinned, one a broken mockery of an angel's wing, the other, in shadow, one might even catch a hint of leathery bat or demon, equally crushed. Man, this is a depiction of a broken, beset, and destroyed primarch. It goes far beyond the banner we see in 1996's Angels of Death... I almost like it better. There is a real sense of loss and abject failure in the banner, something that really plays into the motivation and themes we see in the current era DA. Here is the close up and the full picture. My thoughts any how. http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p113/Darkbeastman/geoff_taylor_dark_millennium-Copy.jpg http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p113/Darkbeastman/geoff_taylor_dark_millennium.jpg Link to comment https://bolterandchainsword.com/topic/247831-grimdark-deathwing-banner-spotted/ Share on other sites More sharing options...
he_plays_guitar Posted February 26, 2012 Share Posted February 26, 2012 Wow...that's some amazing portrayal of the Unforgiven's background on a banner. It's certainly macabre. I have seen that Dark Millennium artwork many times but I've never seen that banner. I think it's one of the most beautiful and evocative banner's I've seen come from the Dark Angels, or any chapter for that matter. It certainly tells a story, and it's something that would be an honored chapter relic for sure. I want to paint one now... Thanks for sharing. I think this will be my next project. I must paint that banner. Link to comment https://bolterandchainsword.com/topic/247831-grimdark-deathwing-banner-spotted/#findComment-3001499 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Interrogator Stobz Posted February 26, 2012 Share Posted February 26, 2012 You are a bit of a mean searcher Candleshoes, I'm thinking you also have some project ideas in the wings.... Your log is getting even more interesting. s Link to comment https://bolterandchainsword.com/topic/247831-grimdark-deathwing-banner-spotted/#findComment-3001516 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Candleshoes Posted February 26, 2012 Author Share Posted February 26, 2012 Hehe... how did you know I had an idea or two? ;) Link to comment https://bolterandchainsword.com/topic/247831-grimdark-deathwing-banner-spotted/#findComment-3001525 Share on other sites More sharing options...
puck Posted February 26, 2012 Share Posted February 26, 2012 Are you sure that's supposed to be the Lion? The figure is naked and its legs appear to be reverse jointed. Looks more like a defeated foe to me. Link to comment https://bolterandchainsword.com/topic/247831-grimdark-deathwing-banner-spotted/#findComment-3001528 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bryan Blaire Posted February 26, 2012 Share Posted February 26, 2012 Nah, it's not reverse jointed, it's definitely a humanoid angel bent into a fetal position. That said, I definitely don't see any hints of a demonic/bat type wing or an anguished scream in that banner, simply an agonized figure clutching its head. It's definitely an awesome banner though, nice find, Candleshoes, and I look forward to seeing what you have in the works! Link to comment https://bolterandchainsword.com/topic/247831-grimdark-deathwing-banner-spotted/#findComment-3001535 Share on other sites More sharing options...
shabbadoo Posted February 26, 2012 Share Posted February 26, 2012 This one is the artist's interpretation of the Deathwing Standard, not rally a different standard. For some reason I think there is another variant Deathwing Standard "out there" too. The image my idiot-savant mind is conjuring up is one of a big scene featuring multiple Deathwing Squads going into battle, with each unit having a large banner on the back of its Sergeant. Does that sound familiar to anyone? I'll have a look around and see what I can dredge up, if anything. Link to comment https://bolterandchainsword.com/topic/247831-grimdark-deathwing-banner-spotted/#findComment-3001713 Share on other sites More sharing options...
he_plays_guitar Posted February 26, 2012 Share Posted February 26, 2012 There's a pretty big black and white painted image in the dark angels codex showing a large battle with lots of banners...can't remember what page it's on. Is that the one you are referring to? Link to comment https://bolterandchainsword.com/topic/247831-grimdark-deathwing-banner-spotted/#findComment-3001722 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grimdarkness Posted February 26, 2012 Share Posted February 26, 2012 Also note that the deathwing are ash white not bone which fits there backstory better. Link to comment https://bolterandchainsword.com/topic/247831-grimdark-deathwing-banner-spotted/#findComment-3001755 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phoebus Posted February 26, 2012 Share Posted February 26, 2012 I had always just assumed that was a defeated foe/Fallen Angel on the banner. Link to comment https://bolterandchainsword.com/topic/247831-grimdark-deathwing-banner-spotted/#findComment-3001823 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Candleshoes Posted February 26, 2012 Author Share Posted February 26, 2012 This one is the artist's interpretation of the Deathwing Standard, not rally a different standard. For some reason I think there is another variant Deathwing Standard "out there" too. The image my idiot-savant mind is conjuring up is one of a big scene featuring multiple Deathwing Squads going into battle, with each unit having a large banner on the back of its Sergeant. Does that sound familiar to anyone? I'll have a look around and see what I can dredge up, if anything. I blew up the image you're thinking about, the old black and white. There were 2 standards featured amongst the terminators, the below image, and a simple wing and claw Ravenwing symbol. The main banner is the same as the one with the Lion on his back, the Lion sword broken and Caliban being shattered by lightning. http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p113/Darkbeastman/da23-1.png Link to comment https://bolterandchainsword.com/topic/247831-grimdark-deathwing-banner-spotted/#findComment-3001869 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phoebus Posted February 26, 2012 Share Posted February 26, 2012 I promise I'm not trying to be contrary simply for the sake of contrariness, but I always assumed that the angel on his back was a Fallen Angel. Partly because of the association - Caliban being destroyed, a "fallen" Angel on his back with his sword broken, the Deathwing being directly associated with the Fallen - and partly because of consistency in imagery... Our standards traditionally depict Loyalist depictions in robes, right?... ;) Link to comment https://bolterandchainsword.com/topic/247831-grimdark-deathwing-banner-spotted/#findComment-3001881 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Candleshoes Posted February 26, 2012 Author Share Posted February 26, 2012 Contrary for the sake of contrariness, I like that, it would make a good book title. Of course one of the best parts of imagery is that it means and evokes different things in the beholder. On your train of thought with why the Deathwing themselves carry the dying angel, broken sword, crumbling mountain banner - your right in that it is very unlike all the other hooded robed "loyalist" banners. It is the only banner seen that depicts even a hint of what the Inner Circle knows and protects from prying eyes. The knowledge that surrounds the death of the primarch and the breaking of a world. It makes a lot of sense that the Deathwing alone are the ones to bear that banner, whether it is a Fallen or Johnson himself. It also kind of plays into the background of all "truth and knowledge" of the chapter's history is passed to its members in the form of tales and stories, from which the brothers and initiates analyze, piece together and eventually ask the correct questions. Link to comment https://bolterandchainsword.com/topic/247831-grimdark-deathwing-banner-spotted/#findComment-3001920 Share on other sites More sharing options...
march10k Posted February 26, 2012 Share Posted February 26, 2012 I like some things about the other banner, too...particularly the sword-block frame and the black/red checking across the top. I might make a banner with the image from the alternate DW banner, but the edging from the central banner. To close the frame at the bottom, probably the scroll from the canon DW banner... Link to comment https://bolterandchainsword.com/topic/247831-grimdark-deathwing-banner-spotted/#findComment-3001951 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Isiah Posted February 26, 2012 Share Posted February 26, 2012 Man, this is a depiction of a broken, beset, and destroyed primarch. It goes far beyond the banner we see in 1996's Angels of Death... I almost like it better. There is a real sense of loss and abject failure in the banner, something that really plays into the motivation and themes we see in the current era DA. Don't panic! It isn't the Lion :P Although the Deathwing company banner might be different in that design, it's symbology is the same as that in Angels of Death (and later codexes) From the Deathwing Space Hulk expansion: "[...] The fallen angel with the broken sword represents Two Heads Talking who is calling the wrath of the Deathwing, the Emperor's steed, down upon the Genestealer city. This is depicted by the bolt of lightning destroying the tower in the distance. The motto above the Terminator crux reads, "Upon the wings of death". [...]" Cheers I Link to comment https://bolterandchainsword.com/topic/247831-grimdark-deathwing-banner-spotted/#findComment-3001972 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Candleshoes Posted February 26, 2012 Author Share Posted February 26, 2012 http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p113/Darkbeastman/Deathwing04-2.jpg You're completely right, I forgot! Link to comment https://bolterandchainsword.com/topic/247831-grimdark-deathwing-banner-spotted/#findComment-3001983 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Isiah Posted February 26, 2012 Share Posted February 26, 2012 :lol: Link to comment https://bolterandchainsword.com/topic/247831-grimdark-deathwing-banner-spotted/#findComment-3002032 Share on other sites More sharing options...
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