Betrayer - A review with an Ultramarines slant

[A D-B]

I finally got my hands on the book (seriously, what's with the format?), and finished it today. And... it was not for me.

 

I guess I cannot really blame Aaron for that, since it was mostly just what he had to work with. Right from the start the book rubbed me the wrong way, since it was so heavily built on the "five hundred worlds of Ultramar" retcon. As some of you may recall, I did not appreciate this change to the lore at all when it was introduced in 'Know No Fear'. Guilliman as the "empire builder" the detractors had allways accused him of being. And now the Black Library made him into that. Gave the detractors what they wanted to hate, which did not exist before. And 'Betrayer' is heavily based on that.

 

Characterisation was good, I guess. One of Aaron's strengths. Here it was mainly my own unfamiliarity with the characters that lessened the impact for me. Of course I knew of Erebus and Argel Tal, even of Cyrene, but I have not really followed and read their previous exploits in the series. Though I have to admit that seeing the Primarchs constantly talk did not bother me as much as I thought it would. Maybe that was because here it was especially well done. Or maybe it is easier to get used to than I was expecting.

 

At least the book had a few cool scenes.

Things like "The World Eaters, they are cheering" or the Dreadnought being woken for the first time since before the start of the rebellion, being ordered to kill the Ultramarine boarders, replying "the what?".

 

 

But aside from such gems and the general good standard, I did not enjoy it that much in its entirety. The events took place on worlds of Ultramar that did not exist in previous lore, and described engagements that did not happen in previous lore. So to me in a way it did not carry much more weight than fan fiction. But I guess to followers of the Horus Heresy books, it was a welcome new chapter in the series.

 

 

But how did the Ultramarines fare in this book? Well...

 

 

 

I did not mind seeing the Ultramarines in the role of the loosing opposition in the battle for Armatura. It's all good, as long as the Ultramarines at least have some cool moments. And they had some cool moments. Captain Orfeo was interesting. Though unfortunately his death was a bit undignified. And opponents acknowledging the skill of the Ultramarines, such as Khârn respecting their defensive phalanxes or their ordered formation, are allways nice to read.

 

Unfortunately in the battle for Nuceria there were less cool moments. Here it seemed just like the Ultramarines were throwing their men and material into the fire, without really achieving anything at all. Their fleet bested by that superior World Eater Captain. Their Titans bested by the superior Warhound crews. Their Ultramarine companies slaughtered by World Eaters and Word Bearers.

 

But back to Armatura. I had no problem reading about the Ultramarine defenders being defeated by the invading World Eaters. But there was an underlying problem. What Armatura and the Word Bearer's attack here meant for the conflict between the Word Bearers and the Ultramarines at large. 'Know No Fear' had informed us that the Word Bearers had not actually come to Calth with the sole intention to destroy the Ultramarines Legion once and for all. No, they had other objectives, which they achieved. And now we learn that what had been sent to Calth had not been the main force of the Word Bearers. No, what had been sent to Calth had been the "unreliable" elements of the Legion, meant to be weeded out, much as the other traitor Legions had weeded out their own disloyal elements on Istvaan III. It would not have been a great loss if the Word Bearers at Calth had all died, as long as they had inflicted some damage. And not only that, Lorgar attacked Armatura with two super ships. Two ships he could have easily sent to Calth, which would have certainly sealed the Ultramarines' fate. But he had not sent them to Calth. Not only had the Word Bearers achieved their most important objective at Calth, the Legion and Primarch had not even really committed that much to that attack.

 

Instead, they had committed more to their Attack on Armatura. A world, as we learn, which is just as important to Ultramar and just as well defended as Calth or Macragge.

 

In previous lore, we were told that the Word Bearers had attacked Calth with the intention to wipe out the Ultramarines, but that the Ultramarines managed to beat them back.

 

In 'Know no Fear' we were told that actually the Word Bearers did not really just mean to wipe out the Ultramarines, but that they instead had other objectives, which they achieved.

 

And now in 'Betrayer' we are told that actually the Word Bearers did not even commit that much to the attack on Calth, and that they committed more to destroying that other world which is just as important as Calth.

 

 

So, overall, the book is not that good to the Ultramarines. Had they fought and lost on a random (but important) forge world, to Word Bearers without super ships, and without the plot about only the unreliable Word Bearers being sent to Calth, things would have been ok for the Ultramarines. Simply being used as the loosing Imperial oppositing in a story is not that bad. But as it stands, the book continues the trend of retconning events unfavourably for the Ultramarines that was started by 'Know No Fear'. They now are even worse off than after that book. But at least there is still hope that as a tradeoff the Ultramarines will get some very cool new development in return, doing or achieving something great in the coming stages of the Horus Heresy.

 

 

For the record, dude, while I don't disagree with the majority of that, the bolded parts are important.

 

1. I can't help that new lore comes in a format you don't like, though you know I respect you enough to feel bad about it. But the scribbles of game designers 20 years ago isn't sacred in this license, and doesn't stand on a pedestal above anything else. It has the importance the current contributors choose to give it, which varies dependng on the author/designer /IP mandate in question. Change happens, and is valid no matter how it comes. It's not like before the lore got updated, everything was even, equal, and made sense. There was no balance or sense to destroy. 40K's always been... eclectic.

 

2. The opposite (...ish) happened of what you're describing re: the Calth victory/loss. They committed a great deal to Calth. They committed the Word Bearers who were really invested in killing the Ultramarines. The ones who couldn't forgive. And Lorgar is disgusted that Kor Phaeron and Erebus are calling it a victory. In KNF, Erebus greasily slides out of the defeat by saying it was all about the Ruinstorm. But it wasn't. Lorgar and the rest of the Word Bearers plainly see Calth as an embarrassing loss. It was a matter of evening it up, if you get me. KNF was very much a one-sided Word Bearer victory in a lot of ways, so I balanced it out a bit. Erebus pats himself on the back, but the rest of the Legion think he's a tool for losing, when he'd assured them all he'd annihilate the Ultramarines completely. That's what Lorgar wanted. And it failed miserably.

 

Was I the only one who read the bits in Betrayer where LORGAR (that would be the Primarch of the Word Bearers Lorgar) says things like:

 

"One must wonder just how triumphant Erebus and Kor Phereon really were, when their victory parade involved turning tail and running from the Legion they supposedly destroyed."

 

Or when he chews Erebus out for losing thousands of Astartes and mortal servants. Or...or....ye gods and wee fishes.

 

Of course the Ultramarines (Iron Hands, Space Wolves, Raven Guard, Imperial Fists, Salamanders, Blood Angels, White Scars, etc.) are taking a kicking at this point in the Heresy. THE BAD GUY ALWAYS WINS IN ACT 2.

 

I can only imagine if we applied some of the "logic" on display here to other series.

 

"George Lucas totally hates the Rebel Alliance, man. Like, they blew up the Death Star, but then it turns out the Empire has this whole fleet and stuff that would totally have changed the outcome of the battle if they'd sent it to Yavin along with the battle station. And the whole movie is based on the retcon that Darth Vader is Luke Skywalker's father. I hated that."

 

"J.R.R. Tolkien totally hates the Elves and the Men. I mean, they kill the Ringwraiths in the first book, but they just magically come back riding freaking dragon things? Like, if they'd sent those freaking dragon things to the Shire, they would have totally grabbed the Ring and won. And they do all that work to beat Saruman, and it turns out Sauron didn't even care, he had kajillions more orcs and stuff so it didn't matter how things went down at Isengard. Plus the whole series is based on a retcon where it turns out Bilbo's ring is that super evil artifact of doom."

 

Look, Ultramarines fans? Let me reassure you guys.

 

YOU WIN AT TERRA.

It happens, I promise. Horus dies, all the Traitors run away, and Roboute Guilliman re-orders the Imperium exactly the way he thinks it should be run. So...can we stop with the wailing and gnashing of teeth anytime the Ultramarines have battles that don't consist of them destroying three times their number in traitors without taking a single loss? Please? Pretty please with sugar on top?

 

Teehee.

[greatcrusade08]

This thread has been an amazing read, thanks chaps

[Captain Idaho]

Yeah you can't let changes get you down. Especially when the changes are awesome.

 

And I've read less attacks against Guilliman and the Ultramarines since reading these Heresy books than before. Everyone used to question Guilliman's motives and loyalty and call him a hypocrite with regards to Ultramar but now we know his intentions and Ultramar was just the next phase of the Great Crusade and Guilliman was just pioneering it. You'll notice none of the other Primarchs or Legions ever questioned Ultramar as a loyal entity, though some derided it as a pathetic pet project.

 

Basically don't let past accusation and arguments colour your enjoyment of great new things.

[Marshal Rohr]

I don't see why it doesn't make sense for a Primarch to be given control of a huge swath of space to run as he likes. I mean, the Crusade wasn't supposed to last forever.

 

The Ultramarines experiment, if you will, was a huge success for how things would be after the crusade was over. Guilliman had already made the jump from warlord to ruler before he was even found. Which would be another good reason why he wasn't picked as warmaster, even though we know he would've done as good if not better than Horus.

 

As for saying the Ultramarines win at Terra, lets wait for Unremembered Empire and such before we say the Ultramarines get to Terra for the final fight. I fully expect the writers to put all the loyalists there in some capacity now, but each legions contributions have yet to be decided. Lets not start praising the Ultramarines for something they haven't done yet.

[A D-B]

One thing I've honestly never understood are the infrequent criticisms of Guilliman building a kingdom within the kingdom, so to speak.

 

"Oh, he's building the perfect empire as a shining beacon of compliance."

 

Uh, yeah. It's called succeeding. It's called doing your job.

 

You can criticise the Ultramarines for a lot of things, the same as you can criticise any legion - much of it based on personal taste rather than any genuine failing - but that one holds no water to me. I never understand exactly what a detractor is trying to say with it. The Emperor obviously didn't mind, and several other primarchs have commented on it with jealousy or respect. It's something I try to play heavily on: that just because someone in-universe says something, another character will balance it by believing the opposite perspective, and neither one is objectively true, and don't necessarily reflect what the author personally thinks. I'm not 12. I don't need to squeeze my opinions into this stuff to validate anything.

[Hellrender]

I think most complaints are not about the lore specificly. It is more about how authors and game designers have published the Ultramarines in comparison to others. There has been a period, where authors have presented the basis of the Ultramarines (the codex astartes) in a certain way, which was not in agreement with the view of most Ultramarine fans. Or they have been so over the top mary sue that everybody just hates them. By definition, if the Ultramarines are the best, you are not. Thats the danger of intrepretating such things i guess.

 

Saying that Ultramar was succesful is one thing, but arguing that this is because of They Are The Best, is something else entirely. Compare it to a student getting compliments for studying hard, or compliments for being the best. Its a small difference but it will change the reputation of the student (or ultramarines). 

 

But just like any reputation, it takes time to change, and the HH books do a great job at that for the Ultramarines. I have seen a great deal many comments about mary sues and smurfs. 

 

I hope this made any sense >.<

[Legatus]

I guess the main accusation of calling Guilliman an "empire builder" is that he was acting selfish and greedy. While all the other Primarchs conquered worlds for the Imperium, Guilliman conquered worlds for himself. He was staking out his own domain, which no other Primarch had done. This, of course, goes hand in hand with accusations that he forced the Codex Astartes on all the other Legions to boost his ego.

 

To a lesser degree, Guilliman was called an "empire builder" by less educated players, who wanted to express that he would not have made as much progress as the other Primarch. While the others were fighting and winning, he was administrating and organising. This is of course directly refuted in the lore.

[greatcrusade08]

i think at this point referring to past accusations only serves to damage the good reputation the HH series has finally built for the ultramarines.

i say let bygones be bygones and revel in the awesome storylines the BL team is heaping upon us.

my mancrush on A D-B grows stronger every day

[The Emperor's Champion]

 

To a lesser degree, Guilliman was called an "empire builder" by less educated players, who wanted to express that he would not have made as much progress as the other Primarch. While the others were fighting and winning, he was administrating and organising. This is of course directly refuted in the lore.

SUPER refuted, since the opposite is true, with Guilliman and his Ultramarines expanding the Imperium more than any other Legion....

 

And that's just it.

When you KNOW these guys are super good at this, and conquered HUGE swathes of the galaxy, why wouldn't we assume Guilliman's own personal sandbox wouldn't have 600 worlds?

All that time before The Emperor's arrival, when Guilliman's own backyard of Ultramar was all he had to work with, that's time he would've been stringing together those worlds non-stop with nothing to distract him.

 

Had the Great Crusade finished and the Heresy not happened, you can bet that Ultramar would've extended right on out into the the space of the future Tau empire and the Jericho Reach.

Expanding right up til Guilliman reached the edge of the Milky Way and was faced with the empty void of space between galaxies. Then he'd probably turn around and start colonizing all the empty worlds in all the other directions til it was the 6000 worlds of Ultramar.

[Marshall Bretton]

and the other legions would have sent their members to him so they could learn how to actually govern the worlds they had conquered afterwards because once the war was over what are the space marines meant to do? Guilli had a plan on that as is stated in knf

unfortunately erebus kind of messed that up by turning horus to chaos :(

 

i do love how ADB is on here and can point things out to us, and explain what he meant, very cool :p im gonna be on hellsreach soon and based on previous stuff im looking forward to it

[Captain Idaho]

If A D-B is about and can answer (allowed?) I have an important question; is Betrayer set before or after Rules of Engagement?

 

I'm thinking it is before, since it's also before Fear to Tread?

[Ramell]

If A D-B is about and can answer (allowed?) I have an important question; is Betrayer set before or after Rules of Engagement?

 

I'm thinking it is before, since it's also before Fear to Tread?

I think it's before, as Guilliman went to fight Lorgar as quickly as he could, taking just enough time to round up a bunch of men and materiel. In RoE he had had time to set up a large and comprehensive training regimen. 

 

And to digress a bit, I think RoE is set before the end of FtT, and Unremembered Empire, but I'm not sure. There's not enough detail at the end of FtT, and I haven't read the unreleased UE. I don't recall the Blood Angels being mentioned in RoE.

[Legatus]

'Betrayer' was only a few months (or even weeks?) after the attack on Calth. 'Rules of Engagement' was two years after Calth, iirc. Also, in 'Betrayer' the ruinstorm is not yet fully effective. The rituals carried out in 'Betrayer' complete the storm.

[Aegnor]

Train of thought switches rails:

 

Anyone else think there was a subtext of fathers and sons + the cycle of abuse in the novel?

Granted, that's every Horus Heresy novel to a degree, but it seemed pronounced in this one. For example, Angron had "his mind cut apart by carving knifes" by having the Butcher's Nails forcibly implanted by his parent culture. What was the first thing he did to his gene sons (well, when he got through randomly killing them?) Order them to take the Butcher's Nails implants.

 

Lorgar...in The First Heretic, he said of the Emperor "Father is a secretive, mistrustful being. I hate that about him." (I paraphrase, since my copy of TFH is elsewhere at present). And then we get to Betrayer, and oh look. Lorgar is keeping secrets from Erebus and Kor Phereon ("Sure, let's send them on their little crusade and let them take all the morons in the XVIIth with them. I wish you all the best, my foster father and closest friend, and am certainly not expecting you to make a complete dog's breakfast of Calth and die horribly".) not to mention the entire plan for Angron.

 

TFH:

"You could never order horrible things done with a smile like the Emperor, Lorgar."

Now pick up Betrayer, thumb throught it, and note all the times Lorgar is smiling when he describes how the suffering the World Eaters and Word Bearers are causing in Ultramar is resonating within the Warp. From a certain point of view, he's becoming even more like the Emperor than he ever was.

(In that like the Emperor, he has a grand plan for humanity's survival, in his case symbiosis with the Warp, in the Emperor's case...we're not quite sure, and to advance his grand plan he will embrace any tool or method, no matter how vile, and make any sacrifce, no matter how dear to him.)

Late to it, but this was a great post among a string of really good discussion in this thread.

[Captain Idaho]

Yes it's been a while since this topic was active but I wanted to raise something important but not worth raising a new thread over.

 

One thing none of us gave A D-B credit for was his debunking of the myths surrounding Guilliman sitting on his laurels and not getting involved in the Heresy. Guilliman in this book is shown to be one of the first loyalist counter attacks post massacre and he did so against a superior force in difficult circumstances.

 

Oh and I totally get what A D-B meant by having those Glorianna class vessels being so deadly. Having played Sins of a Solar Empire, I considered the differences between Guilliman's fleet and his opponent's to be like Cruisers (Kodiaks, Crusaders etc) vs Capital ships and a Titan.

[Emperors Immortals]

Good point about laurel resting, Guilliman has always been my favourite primarch and its been wonderful seeing him finally getting some real recognition as a warrior and not just a leader.

 

I re-read this thread every so often, it covers some really fascinating aspects I had never considered before, made me re-examine a few long held beliefs about Guilliman and his legacy and ive refered several inquisitive gaming buddies straight here for a primer.

 

Some real nice work guys :)