Do Space Marines Retire?

[Brother Captain Sirus]

When you consider the age of some marines i'd say retirement isnt ever the norm, dante is ancient, Chaplain Cassius is fast approaching 1000 years old and he still in active duty.

 

As most have said retirement is when an astartes is put into a non-comat role within the chapter but it wouldnt technically be retirement due to the fact they are still doing work for their Chapter and if called upon to fight they'd still jump in a suit of power armour, have rites of awakening chanted at them or some other suitablr means used to get them combat ready.

[Iron Lord]

In the new Grey Knights codex, it says that Librarians sometimes live long enough to no longer be suited to front-line combat - and that they shift to guarding the archives of the Grey Knights when this happens.

[Brother Ramael]

In the new Grey Knights codex, it says that Librarians sometimes live long enough to no longer be suited to front-line combat - and that they shift to guarding the archives of the Grey Knights when this happens.

You mean the Grey Knights no one knows about?

[Tonius]

In fact, there are only 3 options for a Space Marine:

 

1- He dies a violent and glorious death in the Emperor's name: 90% of them

 

2- He becomes very very old, experienced and yet still fit for duty: he's a chapter Master (ie Dante)

 

3- He becomes very very old, experienced and well a bit of a physical mess: he's entombed in a Dreadnought 'cause chapters don't wanna loose such battle knowledge as long as living memory of the Chapter (ie Björn Fell-Handed)

 

Oh dear me, I forgot a fourth option, the one for Chapters who think you can serve the Emperor as a "Space Bureaucrat" (and if you ask me they should be EXCOMMUNICATE TRAITORIS), well here you go:

4- He becomes very old, a bit fragile and jumpy when a door is slammed: he becomes Administrator in a planet of Ultramar... 0,001% of them.

[Leonaides]

Well you messed up option 3. He becomes a physical mess with injuries that cannot be adequately compensated for with bionics or vat grown replacements and is no longer fit for frontline duty. He may not be considered for a dreadnought chassis as there may not be one available (rare things and conplicated tech that they are you wouldnt waste it on joe line marine in case captain fantastic eats a krak grenade next week and would be a better candidate). Your chapter do actually do things that arent represented by tabletop wargaming (like eating, administering their homeworld, dealing with various diplomatic duties etc) so find themselves with a square peg, and look for a squareish hole to put it in.

 

Soul drinkers has an assault sergeant with his nervous system partially fried so ends up without hands, Space Marine has an imperial fist chaplain with most of his body ruined and in no state to fight. Should they simply be executed like a broken tool or should they be treated like a brother and a useful job found that they can do?

[Blindhamster]

"even in death I still serve"

 

Says it all IMO

Soul drinkers has an assault sergeant with his nervous system partially fried so ends up without hands, Space Marine has an imperial fist chaplain with most of his body ruined and in no state to fight. Should they simply be executed like a broken tool or should they be treated like a brother and a useful job found that they can do?

 

There is also the blood angel from "master of mankind" who was apparently an absolute bad ass, but had a severe enough injury to basically be made into a glorified mascot.

So imposed retirement does in theory happen, but I dont think a marine ever retires, so much as is forced out of combat duty due to being perceived as a liability

[tdemayo]

I seem to recall the older codices mentioning that the Chapter Command includes all Marines removed from combat duty for age or injury, and who perform non-combat tasks.

[aluriel00]

I have never heard of a space marine retiring. They are functionally immortal, able to live a thousand years or more. Those that are injured can have limbs regrown, bionics installed and, at worst, be put into a dreadnought. Since all they need is a brain for the dreadnought, I should think you'd have to be dead to not qualify for that.

 

The HH novels show Horus assigning people to govern planets usually when they fall out of favor. I should think modern day chapters use mortal serfs who report to the chapter master for that.

 

The Dark Angel HH novels mention an ancient knight going off to fight monsters when he's really old, but I think that was before gene seed implantation. They were not using old marines to teach in that book and I don't think they do now. Much of what they need to know is encoded into the gene seed and they can augment that by eating the flesh of anyone/thing who knows what they want to learn. I have never read about anyone other than initiates in their very earliest stages as needing to be teachers. Preparing a marine is done by surgery, not teaching.

 

I don't really think they age to any appreciable degree. I think they are reborn knowing the basics and learn the rest through practice. I don't think they live anywhere near long enough to even begin to worry about old age. What to do when the fighting is over was a major theme of the Heresy and was solved in the 41st millennium by the fighting never being over.

 

The oldest living space marine is Bjorn and he's in a dreadnought. That's your retirement option.

[Arkangilos]

They aren't functionally immortal. They get old around 3-400, with a few being older. A very specific quirk of the Blood Angels is their ibcr axed lifespan brought about by their geneseed. That has to be referring to age because Blood Angels are more likely to die due to the flaw. The functionally immortal was a in universe rumor.

 

People have already provided proof that those of advanced age are delegated to non combat roles.

And yes, they do age. We've had numerous examples in universe and by codex of aged space marines being slower, and notable exceptions.

[Dariokan]

In one of Uriel Ventris books, a provincial governor is a retired marine, who had his lung burnt by some tyranid acid smog. He is depicted using his senses to see how much acidic the soil is.

That's an example of a retired marine. They are but an exception.

[Slave to Darkness]

The old Deathwing story had a marine that has returned to his homeworld in his later years.

[Leonaides]

For recruitment initially, then stayed to reintroduce the original society/social structure and guard the populations purity for future recruitment. He 'should' have returned to the chapter but yes, he basically pulled rank as first company captain and stayed.

[Freman Bloodglaive]

 

Off the top of my head, there's no record of a marine dying of old age. So I'd say they never retire.

Considering Bjorn is kicking Magnus around after 10k years, I would say this is true.

 

They do get slower Grimnar, Ulrik and Dante have all been stated to have slowed down and feel the pain in their joints. They are better skilled though Ulrik killing 9 (?) CSM in a single battle to the younger Ragnars 3(?) kills.

 

"Beware the old man in a profession where men die young"

 

 

True that.

 

"You want to fight? Okay, but I'm old and tired, and I'm not as strong or fast as I used to be. I may just have to kill you quickly."