The Primarchs: Lion El'Jonson

[Kelborn]

Hey there,

 

just had a quick look on the Primarch series' cover artist and found this one, which was uploaded about 2 months ago:

 

 

Maybe it doesn't mean anything at all and I'm purely speculating but somehow, I got the feeling that the Lion might be the next one after Curze.

 

I mean, he's the one doing all the covers for the Primarch series. Him posting a Lion piece, which really looks like said covers is a bit too much of an accident, right?

 

Cheers,

Kel

Edited March 1, 2020 by Kelborn

[MegaVolt87]

Yikes, if he had a puffy shirt he would look like an Empire great swordsman. I was expecting a boxy mk III suit with a tabard, winged hussar style helm His legionaries look to have the better styled armor IMO. 

[Roomsky]

My guess (and my hope) is Guymer on the Lion. I thought he handled the 1st very well in Dreadwing, and would like to see him bring that to the crusade-era legion. Since we've already handled most of his origin, maybe we could get something right after Descent where he's got lots to think about Luther. Plenty of opportunity for foreshadowing what is to come, and maybe some nice flashbacks to better (pre-Zahariel) days. 

[Manchu warlord]

I personally think the Dark Angels falconer (or eagle-whistler in this case) at fore is way cooler than the swording (un)sheating, unhelmed, beared, slender (as in not bulky) guy standing in the center-right.  Come to think of it, all the Dark Angels there are heroically cool, long live the FIRST!!!

[Red_Shift]

It's a cool piece of art but I don't see the helmetless bloke as Johnson, myself. He looks much the same, proportion wise, to the other marines in the artwork.

[Kenzaburo]

Doesn't feel much like Johnson, I agree. Not bulky enough and the armour-style, especially with the human skull-trophies on the backpack, doesn't sit right with me. 

 

The art is nevertheless cool, though.

Edited July 4, 2019 by Kenzaburo

[Marshal Rohr]

That’s the Order hunting down the beasts of caliban.

[Sandlemad]

Goddamn that armour is so good. So German, so Gothic, so 15th c. knightly. Primarch armour, while still recognisably being powered. This is the best representation of the Lion I've seen, none of the others come close.

 

There's also a lot of excellent details on the DA's armour: the spikes (just a little edgy, not quite chaotic but dark, fitting for Caliban/as something that could have evolved from an anti-beast feature), the stylised right pauldrons with the high guards, the tilting shields, the use of nails or stakes, the kickass banners. I love all of this, the heresy-era 1st legion has a surprisingly interesting and well-defined visual identity that has clearly been pushed a little here.

 

The cover definitely looks like it's Caliban anyway, though that's no reason to necessarily think that the novel would be set on Caliban. The 1st are really the last legion without a stock of infamous battles from the FW black books. Any thoughts as to what crusade-era event could be viable? Wouldn't be surprised if it was something to do with the Rangdan xenocides, BL seem to be aware of the fanbase's hunger for elaboration on that.

Edited July 4, 2019 by Sandlemad

[RikuEru]

That’s the Order hunting down the beasts of caliban.

Would agree with you there. Not a single bolter and sight. And the Armours fo not resemble any parts of "standard" patterns.

Add to that the Falconer and all the Banners...

 

Could it be a cover for a Luther Novel!?

Something akin to the Primarch Books, similiarly how Constantin Valdor gets his stand-alone novel?

[mc warhammer]

 

That’s the Order hunting down the beasts of caliban.

Would agree with you there. Not a single bolter and sight. And the Armours fo not resemble any parts of "standard" patterns.

Add to that the Falconer and all the Banners...

 

Could it be a cover for a Luther Novel!?

Something akin to the Primarch Books, similiarly how Constantin Valdor gets his stand-alone novel?

was wondering the same thing. is that luther?

[Sandlemad]

I dunno, those guys are pretty chunky. I know pre-imperial Calibanites had powered armour but that looks a lot like mkII/III with some legion-specific flair.

 

The Luther novel idea is an interesting one but note that the artist, Mikhail Savier, has it on his artstation as 'Angels of Caliban' with the caption 'Lion L'Jonson': https://www.artstation.com/artwork/PmNml4

[mc warhammer]

that seems to solve that

[The_son_of_Dorn]

He looks better with a beard.

[Kelborn]

Besides, Luther got black hair.

 

Here it seems light, blonde-ish

 

But I like the Caliban idea. Some insight into the Calibanite culture, the actual founding of the Order/ discovery of the Lion and his ascendance, etc.

[Indefragable]

Personally, I’d love to see The Lion in his glory: kick in :cuss as a general, pulling off brilliant strategies that rival Horus. Show us why he was a contender and rival to Horus.

[Blindhamster]

The style suggests a pre legion book tbh. Could be really cool. I like that the armour actually has nods to sisters of battle power armour which makes a lot of sense as its inferior to astartes power armour

[Marshal Rohr]

I think the giant tree and dead animals give it away as pre-legion

[rookie40K]

Looks pre-legion to me, in which case awesome art.

[Manchu warlord]

Personally, I’d love to see The Lion in his glory: kick in :cuss as a general, pulling off brilliant strategies that rival Horus. Show us why he was a contender and rival to Horus.

Many of us expected that same idea for the Ferrus Manus book...

Once the book came out...

Many of us were disappointed.

[Marshal Loss]

Don't mean to burst anyone's bubble, but that picture is nearly a year old at least - I have a copy on my PC saved from August 2018. The Lion could well be just over the horizon but if he's uploading the art a year + in advance, it is rather unlikely that this has anything to do with the book.

 

EDIT: He first uploaded it in April 2018

Edited July 5, 2019 by Marshal Loss

[Helias_Tancred]

Love that illustration of him (yeah I feel certain it is the Lion). Also ditto on the goatee. Looks great!

[Kelborn]

@Marshal Loss: Thanks. I just saw it with a note of being 2 months old. Thought it might be a new one.

 

It still could be the cover. Let's wait an see.

 

At least we got a dedicated thread for it now. :P

[DarkChaplain]

Could very well be the cover, especially since it matches stylistically. That it's a year old doesn't say much when you consider how far in advance art has to be commissioned at times, and if he had a pipeline for the Primarchs series, it may well be that he's already finished some others since, or the order was reshuffled. Then there's that issue with the delays due to the Siege and the intentional slowing down of the series as a whole. It may well be the next book to be announced, but we wouldn't know until 2020 due to there being no further Primarch novels this year.

 

Chances are he jumped the gun on uploading his wip sketch (and remember, we had sketches of the earliest books months in advance as well), just before the decision to slow down was made and communicated to him.

[Indefragable]

Random Q but do we know what’s after the Curze book? Or is that furthest along we know of at this point?

[DarkChaplain]

Nothing whatsoever. Not even a far-out Amazon listing at this point.