Who is the best Primarch?

[Orange Knight]

Leadership skills in war and governance are the most important skills for a Primarch, ahead of their martial prowess. 

 

Some had these talents but had personalities or character flaws that impeded them - Perturabo being one such example.

 

I think the most effective Primarchs were/are:

 

Horus Lupercal

Jaghatai Khan

Sanguinius 

Roboute Guilliman 

Rogal Dorn

Lion el Johnson

 

[TrevorLoLz]

My thoughts:

 

Each Primarch had their own thing (there were overlaps here and there) - this is obvious and has been for years.  E.g. Magnus the really psychic one, Mortarion the one who could handle the most poison, Kurze the terror troop, Russ the shock troop barbarian, etc.

 

As such, it's very difficult to say "who's the best at [insert] skill set".  For example, who was the "stealthiest" Primarch - some would say Corax, others would say Alpharius or Kurze.  Who was the "toughest" Primarch - some would say Vulkan and others would say Mortarion.

 

It is a bit easier to argue "who was the greatest Primarch" or "who accomplished the most", because it doesn't rely on very narrow talent sets.

 

For example, I think the "greatest" Primarch is easily Guilliman - if you look at his accomplishment pre, during and post Heresy, there isn't a Primarch that can really come close.  

• During the Great Crusade, conquers a large amount of worlds, second only to Horus (I believe, I could be wrong there) and creates the largest Legion through administrative genius. while maintaining his 500 world mini-empire Ultramar.
• During the Horus Heresy, fends off a Legion wide ambush at Calth, that turns what should have been a complete rout into sending the Word Bearers into retreat (despite taking heavy casualties and Calth turned into a wasteland).  Defends Ultramar from the combined forces of the World Eaters and Word Bearers committing genocide, while acting as a sanctuary for other scattered Legion forces.  Using Ultramar, effectively anchors the Eastern Fringe for the Imperium (although taking heavy casualties).  He is late to the Siege mainly due to the Ruinstorm, but manages to assemble a force that can see off Horus' invasion fleet, including his Legion which, despite everything, is still battle ready and a sizeable threat to the Traitors.
• Post-Heresy, he takes the main role of retaking Imperial territory and driving the Traitors to the Eye of Terror, as Lord Commander he re-organises the entirety of the Imperial armed forces (including voluntarily dividing up his own Legion) and manages to convince the remaining Primarchs to follow suit.

That's not including his post-Great Rift activities, which are their own kettle of fish.

 

Another strong contender is simply Dorn - coordinated the Imperial defences throughout the Heresy, including Terra, the Solar System and Segmentum Solar in a way that ground the Traitors down and allowed the rest of the Imperium to regroup.  Oversaw the biggest, bloodiest and baddest siege in human history, personally directing the defences (including his brother Primarchs' Legions) against an enemy which outnumbered and outgunned Terra's defenders by a series of magnitudes.  Pre-Heresy, was an incredibly successful Primarch in his own right.  Post-Heresy is a mixed bag - almost brought the Imperium to civil war again due to his refusal to accept the Codex Astartes, but at the same time also took an active role in the Scouring.  Without Dorn at the helm of Solar's defence, Horus would have won, no matter what else happened.

 

Horus may be the "best" all around Primarch pre and during the Heresy, and there are many things that can support that - most successful Primarch during the Great Crusade and was made Warmaster - enough said.  Successfully led a galaxy-wide rebellion against his former leader, carving it in two and losing only by the skin of his teeth. Arguably would have won if he delayed his decision to lower the shields by a day or two.  There's a lot there to say that overall he was the "greatest" (not the "nicest") Primarch, but even that I don't think compares to Guilliman.

 

If you compare Guilliman to any of the other Primarchs, they come up short in the scale of sheer accomplishments.  They're all very successful in their own right, I guess, but they simply do not do what Guilliman does.  And they probably couldn't, because they're too single minded and flawed.  Dorn would not have had the imagination to administer the Imperium like Guilliman, and he is probably the closest fit to Lord Commander/Regent.  From there, it's a descending barrel of mediocrity; Khan would not have mentally coped with it, Sanguinius was dead and, even if he wasn't, didn't show any talent for the macro-organisational level thinking that Guilliman did, Vulkan possibly but also didn't have the appreciation for bureaucracy like Guilliman, Corax was a guerilla fighter first, a leader of nations a distant second, etc.

 

Guilliman to me was a Primarch who's strength wasn't his biceps, how hard he could swing a hammer, psychic ability, etc. which are, at the end of the day, narrow, specific talents.  His greatest weapon was his brain, capacity to organise, ambition to see it through, attention to detail and determination to learn, adapt, implement and innovate.  He was, to me, the closest one to being a "normal" human being and not a cardboard cut-out comic book character-esque trope.

 

That for me is the "best" Primarch.  If we revert to "who could fight the best", definitely not Guilliman but he didn't need. His Legion would probably outfight any other Legion on an even playing field if necessary for precisely the reasons above.  Other Legions might win the battle, but they would find it hard to ultimately win the war against the Ultramarines because of Guilliman's legacy.

Was Guilliman perfect? No way - he made mistakes and plenty of them.  But would the Imperium have survived for 10,000 years if Guilliman had not been found or died before his reforms, etc.?  Probably not, or at least not in a form that is recognisable or as "unified" (I use this term loosely, noting the feudal nature of the Imperium) as it was until the Great Rift.