Mortarion's views on Chaos and him turning against the Emperor

[diadems]

When Horus approached Mortarion to turn against the Emperor, did Mortarion know that Horus was linked with Chaos, and did he consider Chaos to be "sussy"?

 

I think its quite an interesting dynamic given Mortarion's personal upbringing and convictions from Barbarus.

[Karhedron]

The early HH books are a bit unclear but it looks like Mortarion didn't really know what had changed Horus's outlook and didn't suspect daemonic/warp shennanigens until later (by which point it was too late to turn back). The Buried Dagger shows just how deep Mortarion's resentment of the Emperor ran. He was also deeply suspicious of the Imperium's use of psykers and other mutants. The Horus Heresy appeared secular initially and it was not until after Istvann 5 when the traitors were fully committed that the Word Bearers and their allies in other Legions (like Typhon) began to openly display warpcraft.

 

The short story Daemonology has Mortarion becoming increasingly disgusted with the Chaos infecting other Legions. He captures a daemon in an attempt to learn how to fight fire with fire and thus sows the seeds of his own corruption. He believes his will is strong enough to control the Warp without being corrupted by it. In one of the novels Rogal Dorn admonishes Malcador that he should not have hidden knowledge of Chaos from the Primarchs as it left them with no defense against it. Malcador responds that most of the Primarchs were not built to handle that knowledge and attempting to learn it would have corrupted them. This is exactly what happens to Mortarion.

[diadems]

6 hours ago, USNCenturion said:

The dynamic between Horus and Mortarion was initially “hey man, I know you’re mad at our dad, I’m gonna take him out and I want you to join me, you in?” And Morty basically saying “yeah let’s gib that dork”. 

 

I think if anybody came to Mortarion with the idea of overthrowing the emperor he would have gone along with it. That it was Horus made it that much easier a choice. 
 

It wasn’t until Molech that Mortarion really saw the extent that Chaos had on Horus and Morty himself actually started tapping into the same powers. 

 

I suppose Morty didn't know what caused Horus's change of heart. I think the novel False Gods doesn't explain it very well also lol

On 1/26/2024 at 5:36 PM, Karhedron said:

The Buried Dagger shows just how deep Mortarion's resentment of the Emperor ran.

 

oh i see, what did Mortarion say about the Emperor in the book?

[Karhedron]

2 hours ago, diadems said:

oh i see, what did Mortarion say about the Emperor in the book?

 

His last words to the Emperor before passing out after he saved his life on Barbarus was "I will always hate you!"

[MegaVolt87]

On 1/30/2024 at 2:58 AM, Karhedron said:

 

His last words to the Emperor before passing out after he saved his life on Barbarus was "I will always hate you!"

 

To be fair, Emps was condescending with Morty in that exchange. Didn't Emps essentially leave Morty chocking to death on the mountain side and go off to kill the overseer guy before taking Morty back down? Emps basically is Hietachi from Tekken with all his sons. Some came to terms, others held a grudge. 

[Karhedron]

The Emperor handled his first meetings with all the Primarchs differently. He was friendly to both Sanguinius and Curze, one stayed loyal and the other turned traitor. Perturabo and Fulgrim were welcomed and given command of their respective Legions yet still turned. The Emperor beat Russ unconscious and earned his fealty. He lost his competition with Vulkan but the manner of his losing persuaded Vulkan that the Emperor was a father worth following.

 

Mortarion was handled badly but he had a pride issue. No one was allowed to kill his foster-father but him. Angron was so messed up by the Nails that I don't think he ever had much chance. Magnus and Emperor were always close but Tzeetch played the long con on Magnus. The Emperor was pretty decent to his sons on first meeting them in about 80% of the cases.