Emperor's Wounds

[jaxom]

You can safely skip some; Descent of Angels, Fallen Angels, Battle for the Abyss, Nemesis, and Outcast Dead. The last one is actually interesting, but not vital to the overall narrative.

[Panzer]

I mean if you are already reading 40+ novels, might as well read the 5 non-essential ones. :D

[pawl]

You can safely skip some; Descent of Angels, Fallen Angels, Battle for the Abyss, Nemesis, and Outcast Dead. The last one is actually interesting, but not vital to the overall narrative.

I found Battle for the Abyss hard going, but all of the others I quite enjoyed. =]

 

 

I mean if you are already reading 40+ novels, might as well read the 5 non-essential ones. :D

Exactly! I intend to read them all

[DeadFingers]

 

I've been out of the hobby for several years and am just getting back into things in 2020. I've not read any of the series. Siege of Terra, Horus Heresy and so on. I don't even know where to start. lol

Start with Horus Rising. The Horus Heresy series is only 52 (or 53?) novels long

54. Plus the 8 (main) Siege of Terra novels. That's without counting the Primarchs series, and other side novellas, and short stories and audiobooks that haven't been put into anthologies, at least yet.

 

The Horus Heresy really puts the "Library" in "Black Library". You pretty much need one if you intend to own physical copies of every book that has one.

Edited July 5, 2020 by DeadFingers

[INKS]

InKaras - I think his legs are enveloped by the Golden Throne in those images - that may not have been how it was originally, but they had to add additional life support tubes, etc., to "keep him alive."

 Oh? Is there some lore on this? I know that we are at the mercy of artists for a good deal of this but I wonder or wish there was a really detailed description or layout of the throne. I say this because in my Grey Knight reading they have this box that matches a symbol on the Golden Throne and I'd just love to see all that pulled together.

 

I've been out of the hobby for several years and am just getting back into things in 2020. I've not read any of the series. Siege of Terra, Horus Heresy and so on. I don't even know where to start. lol

Start with Horus Rising. The Horus Heresy series is only 52 (or 53?) novels long

 

 

This is helpful. Is this the 1st Novel on the subject? I'll go and grab it. There are so many books it's hard to know what to buy and read and in what order. I dislike reading out order.

[Bryan Blaire]

Oh? Is there some lore on this? I know that we are at the mercy of artists for a good deal of this but I wonder or wish there was a really detailed description or layout of the throne. I say this because in my Grey Knight reading they have this box that matches a symbol on the Golden Throne and I'd just love to see all that pulled together.

Sorry InKaras, but my "had to add" was more speculative. I don't know that there's a really detailed description of the Golden Throne, but there are some partial descriptions in the later HH BL books (IIRC). They are brief from what I recall, and don't leave you with really knowing a lot (the Throne is attached to the device that allow him to drain psykers pre-permanent internment, which I didn't think it was, thought that started after his encounter with Horus).

[Gederas]

I've been out of the hobby for several years and am just getting back into things in 2020. I've not read any of the series. Siege of Terra, Horus Heresy and so on. I don't even know where to start. lol

Start with Horus Rising. The Horus Heresy series is only 52 (or 53?) novels long

This is helpful. Is this the 1st Novel on the subject? I'll go and grab it. There are so many books it's hard to know what to buy and read and in what order. I dislike reading out order.

Yup! Horus Rising is book 1 in the Horus Heresy series. Thankfully Wikipedia has them listed in numerical order. If you want them in reading order (as in, the in-universe chronological order), I'd need to find the White Dwarfs that has that flow chart.

Edited July 7, 2020 by Gederas

[War Angel]

The first account from 1988

"A lightning claw cuts the Emperor's armour as if it were cloth, sheers through flesh and bone. The Emperor ripostes with a psychic stroke intended to disrupt the Warmaster's nervous system. Horus laughs as he deflects it.

His claws take the Emperor across the throat, opening windpipe and jugular. Another blow severs the tendons of his wrist, causing the sword to drop from nerveless fingers.

Insane laughter echoes round the chamber. Horus breaks several ribs with an almost playful punch. A surge of energy seers the Emperor's face, melting the flesh till it runs, bursting an eyeball, sets the hair alight. The Emperor stifles a whimper, wonders how he can be losing. Blackness threatens to engulf him.

Horus grasps his wrist, splintering bones. Blood pumps from the Emperor's throat. Horus lifts his foe above his head and brings him down across his knee, breaking his spine.

For a second the Emperor knows only darkness then a flare of agony brings him back to consciousness as Horus rips his arm from its socket. The Warmaster howls with bestial triumph."

I like the casual violence it inflicts on someone as powerful, as hallowed to the fandom as the Emperor. I hope it is kept intact for the future.

Wow, didn’t read the rest of this thread, but the story told in (I’m pretty sure) the HH board game by FFG was WAY different. Only really mentioned the arm and eye thing, definitely didn’t talk about the emperor questioning how he was loosing.

 

I like this more, but not so much the part about the emperor questioning himself. That seems odd to me but probably just because I’ve always imagined this happening differently.

[INKS]

 

I've been out of the hobby for several years and am just getting back into things in 2020. I've not read any of the series. Siege of Terra, Horus Heresy and so on. I don't even know where to start. lol

Start with Horus Rising. The Horus Heresy series is only 52 (or 53?) novels long

This is helpful. Is this the 1st Novel on the subject? I'll go and grab it. There are so many books it's hard to know what to buy and read and in what order. I dislike reading out order.

Yup! Horus Rising is book 1 in the Horus Heresy series. Thankfully Wikipedia has them listed in numerical order. If you want them in reading order (as in, the in-universe chronological order), I'd need to find the White Dwarfs that has that flow chart.

 

Book marked, thank you.

[pawl]

Book marked, thank you.

If you're buying from Amazon (I've just been getting ebooks from there so I can read on my phone, but have bought the paperbacks from there too) then they also list them as "Horus Rising (Horus Heresy #1)", and they tend to recommend the next in the series too.

[Karhedron]

I like this more, but not so much the part about the emperor questioning himself. That seems odd to me but probably just because I’ve always imagined this happening differently.

To be fair, this is very old fluff and doesn't match particularly well with the current BL depiction of the Emperor. Then again, it is also one of the few pieces of fluff we have (possibly the only one) from the Emperor's PoV. Maybe he is more complex, self-doubting and human internally but simply puts on an aloof and regal facade for the benefit of those around him.

[Karhedron]

Sorry InKaras, but my "had to add" was more speculative. I don't know that there's a really detailed description of the Golden Throne, but there are some partial descriptions in the later HH BL books (IIRC).

Yes, "Master of Mankind" gives us the best description we have had yet of the Golden Throne although it is still pretty vague. One thing it is clear about is its size. Individual machines that make up parts of the throne are the size of skyscrapers. The whole thing must be at least the size of a large city block (if not larger).

[Indefragable]

I like the description of the Emperor getting so casually messed up. 

 

It's such a grounding moment for the whole setting in so many ways:

 

-despite everything, at the end, the Emperor is still a man (sort of)

-this is what it looks when a peer fights the Emperor

-the cruel-yet-efficient attacks that only a bitter son could inflict on a father

 

 

I never really got too much into the details of the exact injuries the Emperor had, but I like the idea that he had limbs amputated as part of the efforts to save him. More effecting and disturbing to me that way...that again, this most powerful of beings was beyond repair. 

[Rik Lightstar]

I wonder how will they deal with this fight when Siege of Terra reaches this point?Ollanius is back; we've known from earlier novels. Surely it'll be him up there instead of the nameless terminator?What will make the Emperor hold back from fighting Horus with his full power, if He has lately been described so callous and coldly calculating? Or was not viewing the primarchs as anything more than tools a facade?Maybe mere exhaustion from keeping the webway portal sealed since Magnus' Folly?

The "views them as tools" thing is a factor of "people see him how they want/expect to". He doesn't speak as such, his "communication" goes psychically directly to the recipient.

 

So a Mechanicus senior fabricator interprets what he "says" as "the Primarchs are creations and tools".

 

The Custodes see him as a Warrior King leading their band of heroes.

 

Guilliman sees him as a Pragmatist who makes the most expedient choice.

 

Lorgar sees him as a Messiah to be followed and latterly to be cast down in light of a new faith.

 

Horus sees him as over ambitious and uncaring for those he leaves behind.

 

Malcador seems to see him as a master manipulator and orchestrator of complex plans.

 

All of these individuals see him how they'd EXPECT the unquestionable leader of humanity to be. The answer really has to be that he's ALL of these things at once, but none of them in isolation. No human can be defined by a single attribute or attitude.

 

Rik