Gav's at it again?...

[Azoriel]

Given that

Astelan had some (if not most) of his brains blown out by Cypher

at the end of Master of Sanctity, I don't think we'll be hearing too much from Astelan in The Unforgiven (presuming he has anything to say at all).  Besides which, if he had anything truly shocking to say, I imagine it would've already been said to Boreas 15 years ago (as opposed to now). 

Cypher's commentary on Astelan

makes it quite clear Astelan's not someone to be trusted anyway.

[lost_angel]

Can't say much as I'm on my mobile phone (so no spoiler tags) but if youve read Master of Sanctity you'll have a good idea of how much astelan will reveal in the final book...

 

Edit - ninja'd by Az

[Brother dean]

yep, three more weeks till Master of Sanctity is at the booksellers.  I am annoyed that us traditionalists have to wait while the device folks can get it now....

[FerociousBeast]

Given that

Astelan had some (if not most) of his brains blown out by Cypher

at the end of Master of Sanctity, I don't think we'll be hearing too much from Astelan in The Unforgiven (presuming he has anything to say at all). Besides which, if he had anything truly shocking to say, I imagine it would've already been said to Boreas 15 years ago (as opposed to now).

Cypher's commentary on Astelan

makes it quite clear Astelan's not someone to be trusted anyway.

There's a rather long and dangling loose end re: Astelan in Master of Sanctity that you're forgetting, though, which could conceivably come into play due to Astelan's state at the end of the book. I can't write anything more definite since I'm on my phone and can't do spoiler tags. I'll just say, remember Ezekiel's statement about Astelan halfway thru the book?

[Azoriel]

There's a rather long and dangling loose end re: Astelan in Master of Sanctity that you're forgetting, though, which could conceivably come into play due to Astelan's state at the end of the book. I can't write anything more definite since I'm on my phone and can't do spoiler tags. I'll just say, remember Ezekiel's statement about Astelan halfway thru the book?

 

That thought had occurred to me earlier, though I'd dismissed it as almost farcical.  Consider for a moment:

 

Cypher's shot to the head magically lobotomizes Astelan in just the right way that his psychic defenses are removed yet his brain is somehow still intact enough to recover intelligible information from it?  I mean, I know he's supposed to be good with a gun, but that's a bit much.  Doubly so given that he's using bolt pistol rounds rather than a surgeon's scalpel.  It just seems a bit TOO coincidental.  That being said, I do recall a story from the 4th edition codex where Belial blew off half of a Fallen's head with his storm bolter before bringing him in, and it was still considered a successful capture (rather than a kill).  But there's still a world of difference subduing an Astartes with bolter rounds and doing brain surgery on an Astartes with bolter rounds. 

But you're quite right to point out that it's a loose end - I'll be interested in seeing where Mr. Thorpe takes this.  (If he can spin it believably, I won't complain.)

 

Perhaps another noteworthy analog:

in the Eisenhorn series, the title character falls for a psychic null who he can't touch because he's a psyker, but then she suffers a near fatal embolism that leaves her in a coma, allowing him to touch her safely now, but to little avail since she's just a vegetable at that point.  But, again, the damage you get from an embolism tends to be more localized than taking a bolter round in the brain, so...