What kind of primarch would Angron have been sans Nails?

[b1soul]

Without the Nails, Angron would have become a refined and sensitive philosopher poet, always with a flower in his lapel, and an abhorrence of crude violence. His eloquence and empathy would have made him the imperium's greatest diplomat, renowned for bringing whole worlds into peaceful compliance.

Seriously, how can we even speculate about his character without the nails? Maybe by looking at the War Hound's pre Angron disposition, if that...

If he had still been forced to be a gladiator (just minus the nails), he would've still been a warrior.

[MordentHex]

He would have been Spartacus and all that entails, probably without the losing bit at the end though.

[Plague Angel]

But "still an enslaved gladiator" minus "Nails" means "didn't land on Nuceria," and at that point, when we're discounting everything we know about Angron, all the speculation in every direction is just as valid as every other speculation, since there isn't anything to base it on outside of wild guesses and personal feelings.

[Greyall]

I still don't understand why being a gladiator on Nuceria automatically means Nails. It might imply that an attempt to implant is made, sure, but:

 

1) Operating on a Primarch is something else entirely (that they actually managed to implant the Nails is incredible)

 

2) The Nails had no effect on a Primarch's brain

 

3) He was already deemed ferocious enough

 

4) They didn't want to risk losing Angron on the table due to him being pretty much invincible

[RapatoR]

I always imagined that without nails he would be Leonidas in space.

 

EDIT: (Actual Leonidas, not that one from movie.)

[Scribe]

If Angron had been adopted by the Lords of one of the city states that controlled his home world.  Angron would have develpoed a strong "Brotherhood" with the army he leads.  Like how the War Hounds had strong ties to brotherhood.  He also would have conqured all of the other city states on the planet and ended all of thier little wars. 

 

The Emperor would have arrived to find a peaceful would living with a warrior code maybe even warrior caste as the rulers.  Duels used to settle disputes and as ways of testing a warriors skills.  I'm thinking a hollywood version of the Tokugawa shogunate period in Japan.  With Shogun Angron, of course. 

 

This for sure makes the most sense to me.

[Captain Juan Juarez]

What if he was actually worse? What if the Nails were simply an excuse for the excess of slaughter and without them he was just a butcher at heart, with all the intellect and mental power of a "whole" Primarch.

[GhostMalone]

But you see from the moments of clarity that he is a leader a general and not an idiot.

 

He wants the peace of release and he shows bonds of brotherhood even with the nails, his gladiator kin were his world just as the warhounds were a brotherhood so were the eaters of cities.

 

A pre disposition to following orders and able to be ruthless and loyal, they were the idea that the space wolves wished for themselves, they were the executioners they were loyal they were to be the emperors hounds.

 

If anything I believe angron was supposed to be one of the closest sons to the emperor. This could be the reason the emperor let him live because deep down he knew the XIIth primarch was to be one of his most loyal sons and to see the pain and degradation bought low upon angron was to much for him.

 

This also can be seen in the fact that the XIIth were never censored and given reign to decimate worlds in the name of the imperium.

 

A parent loves there child even when they know that there child is a monster.

 

Edit:autocorrect errors

[mc warhammer]

the only certain characteristics were those on display immediately after escaping his pod as a child: a deep love of freedom and the need to destroy anything that threatens that freedom.

 

talk about the wrong place at the wrong time.

[Conn Eremon]

While the War Hounds are a potential window into what Angron might have been without the Nails (same descriptive words apply, just remove 'blind'), the incredible difference between the XVIIIth Legion and Vulkan shows us that, really, a Terrain Legion isn't always a perfect mirror of their future lord and father.

 

Meaning Angron literally could be anything, without the Nails. He could have been the third Missing Primarch, because the Emperor had no use for a pacifist. He could have been like Guilliman or Fulgrim, or Russ or Mortarion.

[Hyaenidae]

Best option? Angron being dead, cut down by the Eldar in his youth. Then, there would be no question how badass the War Hounds would be forever, nor how loyal.

 

Extra plus to this? Legion Master Lhorke would still be in command.

 

Damn skippy, I'm a genius.  :P

[depthcharge12]

the only certain characteristics were those on display immediately after escaping his pod as a child: a deep love of freedom and the need to destroy anything that threatens that freedom.

talk about the wrong place at the wrong time.

So a more violent Corax?

 

Angron would've been the Libertarian Primarch lol he probably could've been the one primarch that would leave alone planets if they so chose not to join. Yup the Emps would've had him eradicated quickly.

[Wade Garrett]

Extra plus to this? Legion Master Lhorke would still be in command.

 

Legion Master Gheer, actually. Lhorke was already a Dreadnaught undergoing coldsleep for decades at a time when the Emperor found Angron.

[Olis]

Going by the alternate version of Angron me and Cormac created, he followed a path based on 'martial honour' and so would have epitomised the concept of the soldier's primarch, one that would fight at the front, command at the front and, if necessary, die at the front. Wounds to the fore and all that.

[Hyaenidae]

 

Extra plus to this? Legion Master Lhorke would still be in command.

Legion Master Gheer, actually. Lhorke was already a Dreadnaught undergoing coldsleep for decades at a time when the Emperor found Angron.

True statement. Thanks for the correction.

[Wade Garrett]

Although it's an interesting notion to consider, how the Legions dealt with situations where a senior ranking officer was placed in a Dreadnaught.

 

Lhorke doesn't seem to have gotten involved with the planning or commanding when he's woken up in Betrayer...but he's also fighting for a cause he loathes to a depth unplumbable by any line and by that point the XII had pretty much abandoned that thing called "strategy" anyway.

 

Meanwhile, Berossus of the Iron Warriors seems to have kept his Warsmith rank even after his internment, and Malcharion of the Night Lords snatched command of the war on Crythe from the Exalted/Vandred as soon as he was up and about.

[daveNYC]

Going by the alternate version of Angron me and Cormac created, he followed a path based on 'martial honour' and so would have epitomised the concept of the soldier's primarch, one that would fight at the front, command at the front and, if necessary, die at the front. Wounds to the fore and all that.

 

Tanking incoming shots using his 2+/3++/IWND?  Finally, fluff and tabletop action are aligned!

 

Angron never gets the Nails:

 

 

The fight had been fierce and long but finally the quarry had been collared, chained and caged. 

Orthar looked at his prize, even now the child was stirring, starting to recover from the effects of the tranqs and stun prods.

 

His thoughts shifted to the wealth and glory his new slave would gain him in the arenas.  Why, he thought, once we implant the Nails the increase in power on a being who already showed such strength and raw fighting talent would make him unstop—

 

Orthar blinked surprised as the trail of his thoughts led him to a dark place.  He looked at the wounded.  He looked at the dead, human and slender aliens both twisted and broken.  He looked at the child, a child, by all the Hells that now was glaring at him with eyes full of hate, and the slave master started thinking about the slightly smaller, but far safer wealth and glory he might gain by way of an unaugmented gladiator.