The End and the Death Part I, II, III, ...

[Rob P]

I equally apologise. Their a forum guidance on spoilers and how to address spoilers unintentional or otherwise and I got annoyed rather than compliance too.

 

I think the continued dialogue on q1 keeps  the spoiler issue going.

[wecanhaveallthree]

14 hours ago, System Sound said:

TIL LoL has novels now.

 

THEY STOLE MCNEILL FROM US

 

WHERE IS THE HORUS BOOK, MCNEILL

 

WHERE IS ITTTT

 

Quote

those spoilers

 

You could tell me the Great Horned Rat turns up to tapdance on Horus' corpse and I would believe it at this stage. 'I was-am the real-true Dark King all along, yes-yes!'

 

Then Gotrek asks him if he's ever considered not being a rat, whereupon he poofs into a middle-aged accountant out of Salsbury. Grimdark.

Edited January 21 by wecanhaveallthree

[StrangerOrders]

34 minutes ago, wecanhaveallthree said:

 

THEY STOLE MCNEILL FROM US

 

WHERE IS THE HORUS BOOK, MCNEILL

 

WHERE IS ITTTT

 

 

You could tell me the Great Horned Rat turns up to tapdance on Horus' corpse and I would believe it at this stage. 'I was-am the real-true Dark King all along, yes-yes!'

 

Then Gotrek asks him if he's ever considered not being a rat, whereupon he poofs into a middle-aged accountant out of Salsbury. Grimdark.

I for one am content to give them Mr 'Space Wolf & EC Character Assassination/ The Custodian Spine Ripper'.

 

And he did give us two Siege novellas, both of which I would have much preferred not to exist. (The Magnus is big and strong and ain't afraid of nothing book as well as the beloved 'I guess the Moon is alive and Selenar still somehow lost' masterpiece).

 

The man has cool ideas but I find it odd that people harp on Abnett for inserting ideas and let this man off for inserting a literal Samurai who is like a living mass of Last Samurai memes into the setting.

 

Spoiler

Speaking of ideas... if the spoilers are correct, was there any point to sinking so many pages into the Fo subplot?

 

Edited January 21 by StrangerOrders

[Scribe]

Seems like it was @StrangerOrders.

 

I'm curious just how much actually gets wrapped up.

[EverythingIsGreat]

Side note (regarding the Athame)

 

The provenance is described in the short “Athame” by John French (Mark of Calth Anthology, Book 25 of the Horus Heresy)

Spoiler

Preface (a quotation)
‘

Quote

 

The bullet that killed a king, and murdered a generation; what was it when it was metal in the ground, when it was one amongst many, clinking in a box, shining like so many others? Was it the death of millions then? Did those that touched it feel blood on their hand? Did they know what it would become?’

 

– from a sealed report to the High Lords of Terra, author unknown

 

 

The prologue:

Quote

 

If you were alive then I would forgive you for what is to come. Your end seems certain but it is not. If I believed the future could not be changed then I would think everything already lost to darkness and the laughter of atrocity.

How can I forgive what might not be? So instead of forgiveness I will give you truth, I will tell you of how you came to be, and how you passed through the hands of history. You have no eyes to see, so I will see for you, and tell you of yourself – of those that held you and how they ended.

I will tell you of things that you cannot know…

 

 

The end:

Quote

 

That you will reach here is not certain, just as it was not certain that it would be you that would play this role. There were others – other knives and daggers made of iron, of steel, of cold night. It could have been any of them or none of them. At each step chance could have changed your path, could have left you as another piece of history’s flotsam discarded upon the shore of time.

Fate only exists in retrospect, but the road is now set, and though it may be long it will end, as all things must.

And I wait for you.

 

 

Conjecture

 

Preface

This is a hint that the athame is perhaps destined for a highly important role, one that may have dramatic consequences for its universe, such as the killing of a king. As it is submitted to the High Lords, it is after the Heresy

 

Prologue

The narrator of the athame’s history introduces the story. Who is s/he? To me, an interesting question. This individual obviously knows what the athame is and what it can do, more than that knows what it has done and may do in the future. Obviously a psyker/magician of considerable power. The most important question is, when is this? The narrator tells the athame

 

“I would forgive you for what is to come.”

 

and,

 

“Your end seems certain but it is not.”

 

The athame’s end seemed certain tens of thousands of years before 30K, following its then owner’s (Gog) confrontation with the Emperor in prehistory. But it wasn’t the end. The athame also seemed finished during the siege of Terra when it broke in 3 pieces just before Oll confronted the Dark King thing. Only to be restored etc per TEATD part 3.

 

End

‘That you will reach here is not certain,”

 

Where is here? Terra? the Vengeful Spirit during the final duel? Elsewhere perhaps? but

“the road is now set, and though it may be long it will end, as all things must. And I wait for you.”

 

So where and who is mysterious, but when not so.

From the prologue again:

“If I believed the future could not be changed”

 

Nice. The entire Horus Heresy in a few paragraphs.

In the Shards of Erebus short, the Kinebrach Anathame that poisons Horus is part of a plot “tens of thousands of years in the making”.

But so is the Athame, a blade with a history of tens and tens of thousands of years. So one blade poisons Horus and the other kills him.

 

By the way, Gog (the athame's owner when the Emperor confronts him) is an interesting name. He appears in the Book of Ezekiel, as a prophesy, someone who will appear at the "End of Days" but not the "End of the World" according to Wikipedia. Even darker legends appear later (as would be expected) in Christianity and Islam.

 

Seems that Abnett did a decent job of resolving threads started many years before TEATD was contemplated.

 

Edited January 21 by EverythingIsGreat
context

[lansalt]

56 minutes ago, StrangerOrders said:

Spoiler

was there any point to sinking so many pages into the Fo subplot?

 

Spoiler

He probably exists to give Keeler and the Custodians something to do in addition of setting up whatever Abnett is going to write next in his 40k inquisition novels.

 

[timmeh1]

8 hours ago, lansalt said:

Thanks for the spoilers! It sounds like a mixed bag, though. I'm specifically annoyed by...

  Hide contents

...Sanguinius' body nailed to the wall when the Emperor faces Horus. Abnett carelessly invalidates 4 decades of classic dioramas and illustrations with Sanguinius dramatically laying on the floor for cheap shock value >:(

The classic fluff about Imperial Fist huscarls in Indomitus terminator armour being part of the fight, and that becoming the origin of the stone crux terminatus they all wear in 40k is also a false myth, then. I guess Abnett couldn't find the time for them even with all the filler in this.

 

The Emperor has Loken and Caecaltus bring him down right before Horus shows up, so his body is laying on the floor for the rest of it.  As a 30 year BA veteran, I was more annoyed that the Emperor didn't exploit a chink in Horus' armour to kill him.   The Athame did go through Horus' plate like it was butter though.. so who knows.

[timmeh1]

4 hours ago, EverythingIsGreat said:

Thank you for spoiling us 

 

Two things are a bit unclear?

  Hide contents

1. Is Oll really dead?

 

2. Does the novel go into what happens in the field after Horus' death?

 

Thanks again.

1.  I.... can't say.  Horus obliterates him with the Talon, but unless I was not thorough enough and missed something small, that's the last we see him.  Whether he regenerated and woke up on the VS after Abaddon made his escape or not.. We'll see.  I hope he survived.

 

2. It does, though it's not a huge amount of material. It's an epilogue. The void war between the fleets is still going on, and the Vengeful Spirit is still very much in danger at the end of the book.  I'm sure we'll get some scouring books if it makes financial sense.  

  

[neOh (AV)]

8 minutes ago, timmeh1 said:

 

  Hide contents

1.  I.... can't say.  Horus obliterates him with the Talon, but unless I was not thorough enough and missed something small, that's the last we see him.  Whether he regenerated and woke up on the VS after Abaddon made his escape or not.. We'll see.  I hope he survived.

 

 

2. It does, though it's not a huge amount of material. It's an epilogue. The void war between the fleets is still going on, and the Vengeful Spirit is still very much in danger at the end of the book.  I'm sure we'll get some scouring books if it makes financial sense.  
 

 

  

Hey! What about the illustrations? Are they okay? If you don't want to spoil the surprise and post them, can you please describe what's going on in them? Beautiful interior arts is one of my favourite things about Heresy. Thanks:) 

[timmeh1]

1 hour ago, StrangerOrders said:

 

  Hide contents

Speaking of ideas... if the spoilers are correct, was there any point to sinking so many pages into the Fo subplot?

 

  I think the point was just to set up future story threads.  Fo completes his project, and then tries to make his escape.  He's a better fighter than you'd think, and mortally wounds Xanthus and brutally kills Andromeda.  When Amon finally skewers him, he dies with a look that could be satisfaction on his face.   In the epilogue, there's a scene where the completed bioweapon is taken away for safekeeping, likely to Titan.  Then we see Xanthus incinerating all the DNA/material from Fo's project, including the body of the original Xanthus.  He takes a bunch of dataslates from Malcador's study, and Fo's notes, and that's the end of that.  

[timmeh1]

13 minutes ago, neOh (AV) said:

Hey! What about the illustrations? Are they okay? If you don't want to spoil the surprise and post them, can you please describe what's going on in them? Beautiful interior arts is one of my favourite things about Heresy. Thanks:) 

 

There's four interior illustrations.  1. Valdor punching Sycar the Justaerin in the face.  2. (my favourite) Horus, towering over Oll, ready to murder him, as Oll aims his lasrifle. 3. Keeler's faithful in the hollow mountain helping re-ignite the astronomicon.  4.  Loken and Abaddon, reunited on the vengeful spirit having their final conversation before Erebus interrupts.

[DukeLeto69]

M m m m uuuuuuuu ssssssss t ttt t nnnnn o tttttt rrrr eeeeeeeeee a a a d sssssss p ooooiiiiii lll errrrrrr ssssss

[lansalt]

30 minutes ago, timmeh1 said:

Spoiler

The void war between the fleets is still going on, and the Vengeful Spirit is still very much in danger at the end of the book.

 

Spoiler

Please tell me you're joking. 3 books full of filler and we don't get a proper ending to the Siege with the traitor fleet running away? What a dissapoinment, Abnett has not been up to the job.

 

[neOh (AV)]

44 minutes ago, timmeh1 said:

 

  Hide contents

  I think the point was just to set up future story threads.  Fo completes his project, and then tries to make his escape.  He's a better fighter than you'd think, and mortally wounds Xanthus and brutally kills Andromeda.  When Amon finally skewers him, he dies with a look that could be satisfaction on his face.   In the epilogue, there's a scene where the completed bioweapon is taken away for safekeeping, likely to Titan.  Then we see Xanthus incinerating all the DNA/material from Fo's project, including the body of the original Xanthus.  He takes a bunch of dataslates from Malcador's study, and Fo's notes, and that's the end of that.  

 

 

 

 

What do you mean by "original Xanthus"? There were two of them? Oh, I need to reread the first two parts again.

[SkimaskMohawk]

3 hours ago, StrangerOrders said:

The man has cool ideas but I find it odd that people harp on Abnett for inserting ideas and let this man off for inserting a literal Samurai who is like a living mass of Last Samurai memes into the setting.

 

McNeil is like, known to be bad though lol.

 

Way back in the day, things like the Ultramarines series was regarded as good, but he never really got better. 

 

False gods* was criticised for the horus-flip. Fulgrim was criticised for fulgrim being super-dislikeable and ferrus being dumb. outcast dead was criticised for the Custodes scene, the timing re crusader host imprisonment/Prospero, and the samurai guy. Angel exterminatus got criticised for sharrowkyn. Crimson king got criticised for retelling the Ahriman novels but way worse. His Horus short story got criticised for his primarch evolution thing. Trying to reread his later Ultramarines books is also terrible; compare chapters due with a thousand sons, soul hunter, first heretic, or anything that came out in 2010. 

 

Mcneil having screw ups is kinda....the norm lol.

Edited January 21 by SkimaskMohawk

[Scribe]

People rightly roasted Outcast Dead, but I still think A Thousand Sons was good.

[StrangerOrders]

41 minutes ago, SkimaskMohawk said:

 

McNeil is like, known to be bad though lol.

 

Way back in the day, things like the Ultramarines series was regarded as good, but he never really got better. 

 

Horus rising was criticised for the horus-flip. Fulgrim was criticised for fulgrim being super-dislikeable and ferrus being dumb. outcast dead was criticised for the Custodes scene, the timing re crusader host imprisonment/Prospero, and the samurai guy. Angel exterminatus got criticised for sharrowkyn. Crimson king got criticised for retelling the Ahriman novels but way worse. His Horus short story got criticised for his primarch evolution thing. Trying to reread his later Ultramarines books is also terrible; compare chapters due with a thousand sons, soul hunter, first heretic, or anything that came out in 2010. 

 

Mcneil having screw ups is kinda....the norm lol.

Really? Whenever I see him come up in most forums and even irl people seem to trip over themselves to praise him.

 

Huh, well, I'm pleased to be wrong.

[Rob P]

43 minutes ago, SkimaskMohawk said:

 

McNeil is like, known to be bad though lol.

 

Way back in the day, things like the Ultramarines series was regarded as good, but he never really got better. 

 

Horus rising was criticised for the horus-flip. Fulgrim was criticised for fulgrim being super-dislikeable and ferrus being dumb. outcast dead was criticised for the Custodes scene, the timing re crusader host imprisonment/Prospero, and the samurai guy. Angel exterminatus got criticised for sharrowkyn. Crimson king got criticised for retelling the Ahriman novels but way worse. His Horus short story got criticised for his primarch evolution thing. Trying to reread his later Ultramarines books is also terrible; compare chapters due with a thousand sons, soul hunter, first heretic, or anything that came out in 2010. 

 

Mcneil having screw ups is kinda....the norm lol.

Abnett did Horus Rising.

 

The main criticism I see of McNeil is small world syndrome. Some of his novels make it seem like the Legions have 3 named characters and these are (surprise, surprise) the ones that have an important role in 30k AND 40k. The second big one is that he's a bit Michael Bay in terms of the style of his novels.

 

I'm not aware of any general view that he's thought to be bad. If anything just not Abnett or ADB (or I, guess now, Fehehvari). Certainly higher than mid like French and Sanders.

Edited January 21 by Rob P

[darkhorse0607]

Don't mind McNeill personally, some of his books I like, some I don't. I've been re-reading the Ultramarines series lately and while I go in very intentionally saying these are basically going to be summer blockbuster style (big action, cheesy one liners, etc), I don't think they're outright bad (mostly) compared to some other stuff we have gotten. I still wish he would write a Tau novel given how he portrayed them in Courage and Honour

 

I enjoy his Iron Warriors stuff, at the same time didn't care for his Horus short story at all. He's got his ups and downs but I'd say he's middle of the road. I don't get pumped for his books like I would with ADB but I'm not against him.

 

I think a lot of the discourse around the author/End and the Death though is the expectation. When people go into an Abnett book they expect higher quality because we all know he's capable of it so when it perhaps falls short (in that person's opinion of course to give respect to those that enjoy it), people get a little bit more frustrated than they would if it's written by a less respected author

 

Going to try and avoid spoilers until the book comes out, may the odds be ever in your favor if you're trying to do the same.

[Rob P]

6 minutes ago, darkhorse0607 said:

...

 

I think a lot of the discourse around the author/End and the Death though is the expectation. When people go into an Abnett book they expect higher quality because we all know he's capable of it so when it perhaps falls short (in that person's opinion of course to give respect to those that enjoy it), people get a little bit more frustrated than they would if it's written by a less respected author

 

....

Usually more faction determined than author determined but my low expectation reads have often been the most enjoyable e.g. IG v Orks is low expectation but Imperial Glory was great

[SkimaskMohawk]

10 minutes ago, Rob P said:

Abnett did Horus Rising.

 Woops ya, meant to say false gods. The whole dream sequence in the davinite lodge caught a lot of flack and that's mcneil.

 

27 minutes ago, Rob P said:

I'm not aware of any general view that he's thought to be bad. If anything just not Abnett or ADB (or I, guess now, Fehehvari). Certainly higher than mid like French and Sanders.

 

He's definitely bad. I used to love McNeil's books when I was 12-18; the ultramarines series was my first 40k series I finished, I really liked fulgrim and angel exterminatus, and enjoyed outcast dead. A few years ago I went on a big reread to get in the zone for a 30k iron warriors army and I was appalled. Everything is super stereotyped, the dialogue and characterization is super clunky, and it's just really off putting in general. Every legion he shares with French, French blows him out of the water and it's not even close.

 

1 hour ago, Scribe said:

People rightly roasted Outcast Dead, but I still think A Thousand Sons was good.

 

A thousand sons is pretty much the only book that passed the test of time. 

[tgcleric]

21 hours ago, timmeh1 said:

I always lurked this forum but signed up to say watch out for spoilers as it's out in the open now.  There were four copies at my local Chapters (Indigo now I guess..)  so I grabbed one last night and finished it today.  I thought it was better than volume 1 and 2.

 

Cool.

 

Gonna avoid spoilers. Considering I thought EatD 1 was the best outside of Saturnine, I'm excited. 2 was solid, but left me a bit worried. 

[DarkChaplain]

1 hour ago, neOh (AV) said:

 

  Hide contents

What do you mean by "original Xanthus"? There were two of them? Oh, I need to reread the first two parts again.

 

 

In Vol.II, relating to the spoilers from III, and speculation going forward:

Spoiler

Fo takes organic tissue from Xanthus to clone in vats to test his genephage on; or rather, to see if it'll affect baseline humans while properly wiping out astartes/primarch genetic material. Fo even "jests" at how there is "more Xanthus in here than outside".

 

So it was foreshadowed, but this is effectively the origin story of the Xanthites now. Xanthus the original Inquisitor isn't actually Xanthus but a clone by Fo (though going by what has been said so far, I'd hazard the guess that there might be more of Fo in there than Xanthus himself, seeing how Fo has repeatedly told the reader about his current body being old) of the bloke Malcador originally selected as his Chosen.

 

So to me this sounds like Fo might have essentially evaded death by hitching a Xanthus clone, who would then become one of the founding Inquisitors and spread his radical philosophy and methodology. As per the lore, Xanthus would go on to be executed as a heretic sometime in M32. Wouldn't surprise me in the least if Abnett had a new Inquisition book in mind, honestly.

 

The odd part is that Xanthism is all about using Chaos and all it has to offer to turn it upon itself, whereas Fo seems to have despised it, wanting to eradicate even the warp-reflections of the Astartes/Primarch souls.

 

[Fedor]

8 hours ago, Rob P said:

Intentionally avoiding spoilers now ...

 

Lots of chat hear about pessimism and Warhammer novels.

 

I'm so invested in Warhammer as a setting that I can appreciate what is good for a Warhammer novel and what is bad for a Warhammer novel. Of course, this is largely subjective. I've mentioned before about attending a BLL (which must have been before Scars was released - to position it at some point in time) where Nick Kyme called Warhammer novels 'pulp'. Back then I was a bit offended because I felt it was a flippant description of something I really enjoyed and it felt like it described throwaway low effort fiction. It's not like I thought it was literature but I thought it was solid genre fiction.

 

Now I'm an Abnett fan who thinks TEATD aren't great. He's by a mile the best writer they've had and perhaps that is because of a highly successful background and all the things he's learnt along the way. Everyone has their favourite authors and their least favourite. Usually with the latter being not liked because of either their writing style or their grasp of the setting. I've no doubt that the vast majority of the authors love the setting. I do doubt that the editors seek what makes a good book and that they instead seek things that fit into their framework of what a Warhammer book must have (e.g. must have battles and must be PG - stuff said at many BLL events). It's high speculation but I can see how Abnett has the gravitas and trust to be given loose reigns and this has paid off in many books (e.g. Know No Fear's framing and Legion's plot points).

 

The more I read the more I'm convinced that the novels are pulp. This isn't without evidence, Josh Reynolds spoke about being give a premise then told yo go write. The first handful of HH novels were another level compared to what 40k had. They felt deeper and more nuanced but 50 books later, it's a mixed bag. I suspect in the tie in fiction arena that Black Library are ranked high but in any other area of genre fiction they just aren't top tier. Personally, I think it's editorial constraint.

 

We then have the SoT which conceptually was set up to fail. It was supposed to be an entry point and a sprint to the finish line. It couldn't achieve either and became bloated with new storylines and side characters to try and justify an arc.

 

That being said, I've not not enjoyed it. Other than Saturnine, which was excellent, I've enjoyed bits out of all of the SoT series. Of TEATD, I don't know what's the true answer for the trilogy. Cash grab, no editorial control, or the story they wanted to tell?

 

Anyway, here we are at the end (trying to avoid spoilers). My general thought is I've enjoyed more than I haven't and there have only been a few stinkers. The frustration with the final trilogy arises from anticipation of a climax that keeps edging away. Stop doing 'end and the death' meta stuff and do the final killy bit please. And now, presumably, we have it.

 

Kyme was perhaps just using pulp as an alternative name for genre fiction? Both have been used in a derogatory fashion when compared to "real literature," but they've also long been co-opted as neutral descriptors.

 

I think you're spot on what you say regarding editors seeking to fit everything into a formula ( usually PG/YA friendly sci-fi military fiction) rather than giving authors truly free reign to write the highest quality, most creative adult-focused books they can think of within the setting. It's obviously a direction dictated from higher up and the aim is to find various " stay within the conventions"subgenre areas (with  recent attempts to expand into crime thriller and horror) that can promote the tabletop. I'm sure everyone usually wants to provide a good quality of genre-fiction ( not with a consistent eye to some lower tier of " low effort pulp" ) within that framework, but innovation and broader author freedom within the 40k sandbox is not the priority. It's a safe corporate approach that likely helps with keeping the quality-floor higher, yet also makes it harder to break through a certain ceiling that original genre-fiction is just as free to aim for as "real literature".

 

Considering how little BL seems to make up of GW's revenue anyway, i wish they would take more a more open-pitch, less tightly scheduled (both within reason obviously) author enabling approach.

[Taliesin]

17 hours ago, timmeh1 said:

It was 500 pages.  Volume 1 and 2 felt like one book split up and padded out.  Volume 3 felt like a proper book.  

 

 

  Reveal hidden contents

 

 

The Emperor and Horus meet about 100 pages in, and the deathblow isn't delivered until 400 pages in.  The Emperor takes so much damage....  There's way more to their fight than what I'm describing here, but it'll take a while to write out.

 

Main spoilers:

 

We get a chapter with Perturabo seething in his room about the siege, justifying his retreat, and I think it was hinting at him taking the path to daemonhood.

 

We get a chapter with Lorgar in exile on the other side of the galaxy, living on a low-tech world obsessed with divination.  You might need a dictionary for this one.  Lorgar is mostly

trying to divine what's happening in the siege.  Chapter is pretty wholesome until it ends on a nice subtle dark note that you expect with Word Bearers.

 

RG's fleet is desperately trying to locate Terra or make contact with any loyalists.

 

Oll realizes the broken athame in his pocket was fixed when the Emperor mended Grammaticus and him.  He realizes he has to go back to the Emperor as he'll need the Athame.

 

The Emperor wipes out an entire company of Word Bearers with one psychic blast on the route to Horus.  Really shows his power level. Also Horus' power level, given how he treats the Emperor in their fight.

 

The Emperor has cast off all emotion, and shows none when he sees Sanguinius' body nailed to the wall.  He just says +Take him Down+.  Enter Horus.

 

When Horus and the Emperor face off, the Emperor only says +You have Killed My Son+ and +Why?+.  Horus tries to respond, saying he offered Sanguinius a place at his side, but realizes the Emperor isn't talking to him.  He's talking about Horus to the chaos gods watching the conflict from the shadows behind him.  The Chaos gods are there watching the fight the entire time, but the don't have any lines.  They're just enjoying the show (until they aren't)

 

SIgismund, Keeler, and her refugees make their way to the hollow mountain where the Dark Angels are working on the astronomicon.  She leads her followers in prayer, which helps the DA librarians with their work.  The Emperor must live.  The Emperor is mankind, and mankind is the emperor.  They end up restarting the astronomicon, and Battlefleet Solar, and RGs battlefleet fire up and make for Terra.  The fight off Typhus here too.

 

Oll and John cut open a portal back to the Emperor, who is badly wounded and unconscious on the ground at this point after Horus' onslaught. They show up right in front of Horus.  Terrified, John speaks a word of enuncia that blasts Horus back, and then Oll send John away to complete the red ribbon tying task.  Oll puts the Athame in the Emperor's hand and pleads for him to wake up.  Horus starts making his way over, so Oll puts his lasrifle on full-auto, and fires on Horus until he's obliterated by a talon swipe.  

 

Loken convinces Horus he's won, and that he doens't need the power of chaos anymore, and should show that he can give it up and isn't enslaved to it.  He does so, and this is the Emperor's chance.  The Emperor is empowered by prayers, and Horus is tormented by whispers of "the Emperor must live".  He frantically tries to gather back the chaos power he gave up, and they begin the final phase of their battle.  Still somewhat clear of mind, Horus realizes he's just an instrument of chaos, and silently pleads with his father for mercy, to end him now if possible, before chaos fully powers him up again and he's lost.  The emperor says +I wait for you and I forgive you+.  He stabs Horus in the heart with the athame, killing him.

 

The Emperor drops at this point, all his energy spent, and Valdor and Dorn finally arrive to find Loken kneeling over him.  Blood Angels show up too, and they call for a teleport to bring everyone back to Terra.  Dorn also recovers Ferrus Manus' skull from the VS.  LE-2 finds a tarot card of "The throne" beside the Emperor, so that's where they'll take him.  Just as the teleport is about to start, Loken says he's staying behind to hold vigil over his father's corpse.

 

Later, Abaddon and two other SoHs arrive.  The others want to kill Loken, but Abaddon stops them.  Loken pleads for him to surrender and ask for mercy, and says he'll speak to Dorn on their behalf, but Abaddon is taking the VS and going his own way to be his own boss.  It seems like Loken and Abaddon will part peacefully, when we possibly the worst Erebus moment ever, as he shows up out of nowhere and stabs Loken in the back, killing him.  Abaddon is not pleased, but refrains from killing Erebus, who then goes on to explain that Daemons aren't born, they are created by horrible things like this, and Loken's murder is what creates Samus, completing the cycle.

 

From Malcador's persepective, we see Dorn and the Custodes bring the Emperor to the throne.  Malcador says  it will sustain the Emperor, and he will sustain it, but he'll be stuck between life and death forever, in agony, and it's probably better Dorn and the others don't know that.  

 

We get a scene of Grammaticus far in humanities past, tying a red ribbon, and using one of Sanguinius' feathers in place of an athame to open his portals.



It ends with Keeler holding up her arms in praise of her Emperor.

Fo built his bio-weapon, and it's stored away for future plot points.

Ahriman helped explain Tarot cards in the library

 
 

 

 

 

 

Could you do a bit of a non-spoiler review, or just give your overall opinion on the book, like were there any things you liked specifically?