Chaplain erebus: kills argal tol and starts flexing on the world eaters by dueling them. First captain kharn: i would like to speak to you about your health insurance my guy.
"Get up." The whole fanbase cheered for that scene. The best part is how calm and deliberate Kharn was. No snarling, no spuring from the nails. Just the fastest, scariest 3-hit combos ever. The man never even raised his voice. It felt like the last properly human thing he did.
He literally gave Erebus the Jonny Gat funeral treatment. Like, there was no boiling Rage no furious anger, just pure cold calculated righteous Hate. And nobody stepped in or interrupted them, they all knew that this was deserved and Kharn had all the right to do this to Erebus cause they all hated him too. In Summary: FUCK EREBUS
The dark crusade version of Eliphas when he was still a word bearer really felt perfect like everything both a chaos lord and a elite of the word bearers should be like.
What makes Loghar so interesting and one of my favorite primarchs is ironically what people mock him for. He's weak, prideful and cowardly, he's philosopher forced to be a conquer. Also you know whats cooler then a super solider in a power armor? a deamon in power armor and word bearers love that shit.
with you on that, These severely flawed primarchs like Lorgar, Konrad Curze and (my fave) Pertorabo are a lot of fun as they sorta feel more human than some of their brothers.
@@alsonallu8642 Which in turn makes Corvus all the more terrfying that Lorgar, despite ALL of that power and newfound greatness, is hiding away from him as much as he can. It really makes you wounder just what Corvus has become and how powerful he now is...
@@naciabell7903 Tbf we dunnot know where Corax or Lorgar are, it was reported Lorgar is actually leading his Legion in the field again at the head of a Massive WB army (source CSM 8th edition pg.40) Whereas Corax who vowed to pursue ALL traitor primarchs...never went for anyone else it seems and Lorgar no longer seems all too bothered about him.
@@sindrimyr5351yeah both lorgar and fulgrim seem to be around fighting. Fulgrim has been hinted at from reports of a giant serpentine figure fighting alongside emperor's children as well as a mention of a certain name which I forget, that seems like a title for him.
@@naciabell7903That story is dumb as hell. Corvus tapping into primarch warp potential or whatever is cool but he shouldn't be as powerful as a daemon prince primarch psyker who specialises in daemons, whilst they're in the warp, just because Corvus is angy. It's bad storytelling, it doesn't make sense, it makes both characters look stupid, it severely limits further storytelling potential as to what they've been doing for the past thousands of years, it's out of character and unfitting of their archetypes, and it's hackneyed reference to Edgar Allan Poe's "The Raven" which could have been really interesting if the writer hadn't misunderstood the story to be about a man getting attacked by a giant bird. I'm sick of people praising it.
"TASTY CORPSE FLESH on the shinySHINY throne wants to ruin our plans! Interdict and DESTROY! Yes, my precious they wants our holy blessed objects, gollum gollum..."
In that POV short story from his perspective we see he LIKES to be caught, tho. The while thing with him as a child poking scorpions knowing they’ll sting him back.
I actually found Lorgar to be a very tragic and sympathetic character in his origin book we get to see the way Kor Phaeron twists him into a pawn of evil, breaking him down and building him back up into a tool for his personal gain. we see glimpses of the person he could have been if raised by someone who was honorable and caring, and how his abusive upbringing leads to him becoming so dependant on the belief in a higher power and his morality irrevocably tainted by a life defined by slavery, humiliation and torture. even when he rebels against his enslavement to become the master of his own fate, he remains enslaved to the dependency on faith instilled in him by Phaeron, having learned from his tyrannical, evangelical example how to lead and inspire it's no surprise that the very next thing he does is embark on a worldwide jihad, and given his success in that endeavor it's no wonder that that is how he continues to wage war in the Emperor's name once he's given command of his legion. and, just like he did when punished too severely by Phaeron, when he's shamed at Monarchia he privately resolves to seek a deeper religious enlightenment and walk the path of rebellion as a means to rise above the admonishment I think the real tragic irony of Lorgar can be seen in his moments of clarity and vision. when he so humbly out-orates Kor Phaeron even as a child, his apotheotic sense of enlightened ascendancy when he fully unlocks his psychic potential, the way that he talks about the ruinstorm as a symphony with himself as conductor. there is a definite sense there that he always had the capacity for greatness that was just not fostered in a healthy way in many ways it makes perfect sense that his nemesis would be Guilliman, who had such wise and loving parents, leadership thrust freely upon him rather than his autonomy robbed and ridiculed, raised on principles of courage and honor and not judgement and penance. Lorgar in many ways has more in common with Angron than any other primarch, and yet we rarely blame the Warhounds for taking the nails and becoming the Eaters of Worlds. how then should we be so quick to judge the Imperial Heralds for following the example set by their own father and becoming the Bearers of the Word?
It's also interesting when Lorgar gets asked repeatedly why he is talking to or trying to help Angron. Everyone is either fully clueless or suspects some ulterior motive. The idea that Lorgar genuinely cares about his brother and wants to help never seems to occur to people.
Dan Abnet (and several other writers) wanted to give Lorgar a redemption ark during the Siege books. GW said no, and it is why he was dismissed before it even started.
I, personally, love the Word Bearers, and Erebus specifically. They're just so evil and malicious that I can't help but look at them and say "You're funny" and that's why I love them. They're goofy zealots, and I wish there was a book about them that read like a Monty Python bit, because I'd read it 100%
I just like the idea of a Chaos legion that, like, actually likes Chaos. They weren't forced into it, it's not a tool they reluctantly use, they genuinely get fulfillment from Khorne and pals. I also haven't actually read any 40K books so I can enjoy that in the abstract without having to deal with the way they're actually written.
The best thing about them is that their teleology not just evil, it inverses evil to become not only good, but a moral imperative. When night lord skins a child alive he is aware of the fact that he is a monster, word bearer think of himself as a saint while foing the exact same thing. This makes them unique and fun for me.
There was that one story about a Word Bearer Dreadnought who being held prisoner by the Imperium, only this Word Bearer is peaceful and calm and preaches about pre-Chaos Traitor Word Bearer beliefs and is generally pretty chill.
@@juanpabloarroyave5583 Look up the Space Marine Conquests novel Apocalypse. It's a really interesting novel on a Space Marine sent by Guilleman to guard/save an Ecclesiarch planet on the end of a Word Bearers invasion because... obviously an ancient secret the Ecclesiarchy is hiding..
Let's be honest: lorgar might be a big player in the heresy, and horus might be CALLED the arch-traitor... But Erebus is the real arch-traitor and basically to blame for everything. Except typhon. He's also to blame.
What I really like is Lorgar himself. If you look deeper behind the meme version, you see a men who tries to appear piosly serving the gods. But in truth it is all about himself. He wants to know himself and his place in the universe. Yes, he found it in the warp and the chaos gods, but the moment they act against his visions, he rejects them. For example he despises the idea of Fulgrim being taken over by a demon, or still decides to fight Corax on Ishtvaan, even if it goes against chaos's wishes. He wants to decide his fate. He wants his vision of humans and demons as equals, transendending themself, to become more. The Gal Vorbak were much more balanced between Human and demon as later Possessed. He projects his image of how the gods should be and only goes along with them as long as they do. Above his chamber on Sicarius he wrote "Deny Fate". That aren't Words of a slave to the Chaos Gods. He tries to see beyond that and the Warp as a whole. The Word Bearers serve Chaos selflessly, as they are more a product of Kor Phaeron and Erebus, who are completly loyal. But Lorgar had more in common with his son Argel Tal, seeing the horror and necessity in it. I am also a fan of the theory that his forced ascension of Angron to demonhood was a testrun. He will try to ascend himself even further than demon prince, maybe a smaller Chaos god, for him to be a twisted mirror image of his father and the real golden god he saw in his vision on Colchis all these years ago.
Lorgar can't become a god because then he would have to accept responsibility for everything he's done, and he makes it clear over and over again in the HH that he could never do that. He comes up with excuse after excuse as to why all the terrible things he did were necessary even in spite of obviously reveling at times in the horror he causes (like his infamous ruinstorm monologue). If he became a god, he'd have to accept that he was just evil all along.
Word Bearer enjoyer over here! If I had a dollar for every time someone asked me "why do you like the lamest legion?" I'd have around 5 bucks, which is enough to buy another pot of Gal Vorbak Red. I used to despise them as much as you do but in the end they grew on me and I ended up painting my chaos army as WB. Let me share why (and sorry about the wall of text): 1) Aestethics. Dark red, silver trimmed armor? Fancy. Plus, if you enjoy freehanding and conversions they're perfectly suited for it. Add candles, robes, parchment, draw esoteric diagrams, runes and prayers on their armors and you'll get a stunning army. Ignore this point if you don't play the tabletop game though! 2) Lorgar is a loser? Kinda, yeah. But I like him for it. It's mercurial, preachy and phisically weaker than his brothers. But, before joining the Ruinous Powers, he was a man of PEACE. His conquest was slow because he employed diplomacy and took the time to build something better in each world. He was a skilled diplomat ,orator and there was wisdom in his words (even Russ admitted it and quoted from his book!). I enjoy characters that are good at something different than fighting. Plus, he's the most phisically similar to the shape Big E likes to take apparently, with golden skin and eyes. 3) After having accepted the Primordial Truth (aka the 4 Chaos Gods) the man's got a glow up. Managed to defeat a Bloodthirster (yeah I know not that big of a deal for a Primarch but still) and CAUSED THE RUINSTORM THAT CUT ULTRAMAR FROM THE REST OF GALAXY DURING THE HERESY. We're talking about a cosmic psychic achievement. Where Magnus is a powehouse when it comes to sheer psychic powe, Lorgar is an accomplished ritualist and still more than capable of smiting marines with lottle to no effort. On a sidenote, he's probably the only one who recognized the pain and sorrow of Angron. It was one of his rituals that turned him into a Daemon Prince, in a way saving his life. 4) Mistery. At the moment Lorgar is in a self imposed exhile in his Tower, deep in meditation and has been for thousands of years. What's gonna happen when he gets out? What wisdom will he impart upon his flock? 5) Politics. The WB Legion is still whole unlike the others who splitted into warbands and has a centralized power in the Dark Council of Sicarus, a bunch of old , powerful and cartoonishly evil Dark Apostles that rule in stead of Lorgar. And they are petty, scheming assholes who do nothing but plan against eachother and discuss theology. Pretty much the dark(er) version of most churches. I suggest reading the Word Bearer trilogy by Anthony Reynolds where this is expanded a bit further. Also Marduk is a pretty cool character imho. 6) The philosophycal implications of the veneration of the Chaos Gods, Chaos Undivided and the general outlook of the 17th Legion. Alright, so, the warriors of this legion are pretty monastic. They do not indulge in many pleasures and have a strict daily routine of prayer and combat drills. Why so? Because they despise the veneration of one god over the others. As a result of this, they're overall pretty sane (for chaos standards). This is a costant in all 40k. The enemy is not Chaos, is excess. Focus too much on Khorne and you become a psychotic murderer. Focus too much on the Emperor and you get the bloody Imperium. Focus too much on Slaanesh and...well, let's not get there. But if your will and faith stand strong, the whole Primordial Truth of Chaos is open to you. They are disciplined, focused and still bound by at least a shred of brotherhood between one another. As a final consideration I'd like to add that the veneration of the Chaos Gods is the safest way to ensure mankind survival. The Gods need us more than we need them. They have vested interest in our existance, although not our well-being. Lorgar, if i'm not mistaken, considered the beings of the Immaterium sentient beings with which we could share the galaxy and any other plane of existance. And in the previously mentioned trilogy, seen through the eyes of a Dark Apostle, you can find hints suggesting that such a dream is not completely unfeasible. Aight I'm out, time for the daily self flagellation and being scared of every corvid I see.
Lorgar was right in the end though the emperor did become a god and only through faith in him can we be saved from from the xenos and the heretic... Also hes sort of a tragic character because he was designed by the emperor to want to look up to authority and had the misfortune of landing on colchis to be abused by space Osama bin laden
Aren't the worlds they overlooked during the crusades also the most loyal out of nearly all the other worlds that were conquered? Kinda ironic if you ask me.
@@kenjethao7774word bearers conquered the least amount of worlds out of any legion. Because they wouldn’t move on until they fully converted the planet, to the last man woman and child.
@@misanthropicservitorofmars2116but again, that’s why their worlds were by far the most functional, united and most importanly, loyal. It might have taken them eons to get off a rock once they had landed on it, but when they finally did go away, you could pretty much leave it on its own and be as certain about its status as possible in 40k. There’d be no rebellions, no uprising, no cultists, no need to waste resources garrisoning the Imperial Army and Astartes there. I hate what they’ve become too, but let’s face it, they were right all along, and its the Emperor’s fault for not being willing to recognize it or even communicate his misgivings via means other than literal nuclear annihilation.
Good Zealots look at the Black Templar's Chapter. But yes they are bottom of the barrel obnoxious and annoying Zealots written well but you really route for them to get thier face caved in.
@@jamesbeattie8800 Honestly, the Black Templars are just a stupid version of the Word Bearers. They never try to conquer by the Word, only by the Cudgel, and they have so little tolerance for mutants (including psykers) that they make most Inquisitors look reasonable.
@@jamesbeattie8800 I bet you Khorne straight up loves the Black Templars. No psykers *and* non stop blood flow? He's going "damn boy, you look fine in that armor."
There is ONE Word Bearer that isn't a piece of shit. He's known as the Anchorite, and he just had a sudden realization that maybe The God Emperor was testing them, and they all failed. So he proceeded to betray his brothers, give himself over to the loyalists and willingly became incarcerated under a church, where he started writing sermons and add-ons to the Holy book. He tried offing himself in shame several times, but was always saved by the Ecclesiarchy, eventually being turned into a dreadnought due to the severity of his wounds. As a dreadnought, he continued his penitence, and once the Word Bearers came to "rescue him", he just beat the shit out of them and went back into his cell to continue his penance.
I think I the most surprising Lorgar moment for me and in hindsight the most terrifyingly foreboding was his vulnerability in expressing to Magnus the Red all he wants is to help people and spread the light of the Emperor to all humanity. He is so hellbent on trying to do the right thing in his eyes that he waltzes into atrocity. Its that positive aspect of humanity to want to help and do good that in an uncomfortable aesop from Black Library reminds us that evil doesnt always come from bullies or "bad seeds". Conviction can make one very easily manipulated.
“All I ever wanted was the truth.” That’s why I love the Word Bearers. They wanted purpose, they wanted knowledge, they wanted to understand the universe. When something from the Immaterium answered them, they listened. It didn’t matter that they had to butcher innocents, offer firstborn sons as a sacrifice, or tear down everything they built. They decided that Chaos had to be the truth, even though it is immoral and uncaring. Because all I ever want is the truth. But truth must be tempered with justice and morality. We can not blindly accept the words that sound pleasing to us. We must question, debate, and challenge the words we hold sacred. Otherwise we merely bear the word.
I normally don't leave comments but fuck off with that "Red corsairs are a better representation of chaos undivided then word bearers." Red corsairs are literally just black legion but pirates, all of there character is in Huron and that's it. The word bearers are the best representation of chaos undivided, since you know they actually worship chaos undivided unlike every other chaos warband or legion that is "undivided". The fandom stereotype of pretty much every undivided legion is "Oh they are chaos marines but chaos and daemons are just tools they use." That mentality needs to die, chaos space marines are CHAOS space marines. Also people need to stop with the false lore of Lorgar is hiding away from Corax as well as saying he is a bird daemon. First Lorgar isn't hiding he was in mediation and temporally came out of it to investigate something killing his men obviously this was Corax, who is now a SHADOW warp entity not a raven daemon, Corax beats Lorgars ass and then Lorgar retreats and resumes his mediation. Second the current lore states he is out and about doing stuff in real space. Also to go back to the comment of "The word bearers of is several disparate warbands" That is technically correct but the majority of these warbands defer and follow the will of the the Dark Council, who are the most powerful dark apostles of the legion and by large the legion still organizes itself as a legion, the only reason their is any disunity (besides normal chaos scheming) is that the two strongest dark apostles of the council are Kor Phaeron and Erebus who hate each other. Sorry for this rant but I'm getting sick and tired about disinformation surrounding parts of the lore I like, I swear every content creator parrots meme lore about the word bearers. Originally I was just going to leave about the first point but got heated and kept going mostly from frustration at the video and the fandom in general. While I disliked this video I hope this comment balances it out for engagement to help your channel.
I actually have some appreciation for Erebus, hes so unlikable so incredibly vile, is not everyday that you have a character that is so universally despised by everyone, even ppl who dont know anything of 40k can just see his smug face and know "oh he bad, he really bad" hes a good character, althou I wont forgive him for what he did to argel tal, cause of him theres a finite amount of argel tal x kharn BL fanfics
Well, he saw a place that needed Erebus and Erebus just filled that place. Emperor said there's no such thing as the warp fairy and dark gods and then left it at that, so when you withhold that information from the troops, it pops up and hey don't know what they're looking for and its not in the big book of stuff to shoot. Not only that you've got people who have to work next to fucking Konrad 'Call HR!' Curze that does all sorts of evil shit anyway. Erebus is just another bloke that likes being a bit of a prick once in a while. tl-dr Ignorance is not bliss What's Erebus doing? We don't know but it hasn't hurt anyone yet so just let him live his best life and mind you own business
Gotta love the word bearers, they’re the trend setters of 40k. They called big E a god long before everyone else jumped on the bandwagon, they made heresy sexy, are 1 half of the best brother vs brother battles in the whole of the Horus heresy series and the list goes on
The Word Bearers actually WON in 40k. The Imperium of Man in 40k (as opposed to 30k Hours Heresy era) is the very image of Monarchia. The imperial church is based on the book 'Lectitio Divinitates' written by... Lorgar. The church was founded by holy woman Euphrate Keeler, a slaaneshi cultist who rode with the Emperor's Children. The entire Imperial Creed is exactly what Lorgar wanted to create - and what Big E chastised him for. The Empire of Man is Chaos Undivided.
1:30 This drawing of Lorgar, especially his eyes, are so disturbing to me. Like, you can see his fanatical nature burning in his soul only looking at the eyes, the slight smile only makes it worse.
The Word Bearers trilogy by Anthony Reynolds is really good. Marduk is a fun character and the political backstabbing that goes on in the warband feels so authentic to what any sort of extremist group are like in real life.
They're the best legion by far. Perfect antagonists and they're about half the reason anything in 40K happened in the first place. They're peak 40K. Fuck people that dislike them.
Worthy of mentioning, the burning of fair Monarchia was not the first attempt to shut it down, it was simply the final. Most people say the action was horrifically out of proportion when to put it simply, Lorgar simply ignored all the other warnings.
Out of all the legions, the Word Bearers are the one legion I got nothing on besides maybe Iron Hands. Like I know their shtick is being the evil assholes who doomed mankind, but beyond being very friendly with Chaos, I got nothing besides Eliphas from DOW was amongst their number.
It's fascinating to me that people unironically hate the Word Bearers for the things they do and their outlook on the gods. Isn't that what makes them such good villains, that they can make even the readers despise them? That's why I love them.
Man this is why i like Mr Bones. Everyone else goes "the Emperor should have said this , done that , tolerated him etc". And then this man says "Yeah the Emperor made a mistake. He should have nuked him and his planet from the start". Which is of course the correct way (silence Kirioth , its Lorgars fault as well , not just Erebus)
Actually they aren’t scattered warbands. They’re still a legion, maintain massive presences in the Eye and the maelstrom, have their own empire of sorts. The Dark Apostles are kinda like the Sith, with scheming, backstabbing and power-grabs galore. The legion is dual-commanded by Kor Pharon and Erebus and despite this the WB keep their shit together. I’d recommend the Word Bearers trilogy, it got reprinted last month and of 40k Chaos books it’s right up there with Lords of Silence. They’re evil, they’re zealous but they also have friendships, comrades and rivalries.
I'm not a huge fan of the word bearers as a whole but I do think lorgar does have some pretty cool moments and plot lines. Like his relationship with angron was oddly wholesome for a while and when he gets fed up with erabus (fuck Erebus) and sends Kahn to go fuck him up . These don't redeem his character as a whole ( still a ton of wasted potential there in my opinion) but they are fun moments non the less
The thing that helps me take them seriously is that they're 100% correct, turning mustache twirling into conviction, a bad wb is written like "I'll sacrifice millions for the gods" a bad night lord is written like "I'll flay a baby cause I got nothing to do" see the difference
My favorite things about the Word Bearers is their aesthetic! EC specially their 30K style where it’s very clearly chaos but not the spikey arrow look we all know. Also something a lot of people get confused, Corvus isn’t still after Lorgar as he hides away in a tower. That was in M38, and Lorgar has been spotted outside of the eye of terror in more recent events even before the fall of cadia IIRC? So Corvus’s fate is unknown, but I believe the real reason is a very large distraction bird feeder was installed so Lorgar could get away.
At least the Word Bearers and their characters from the video games were more interesting than the ones we know in the lore, Eliphas the Inheritor from Dawn of War Dark Crusade, and Thanos… I mean Malos Vrykan from Battle Fleet Gothic Armada 2.
I love that in the book Betrayer the World Eaters were the only ones that cared about winning the battle and fighting while the only word bearer that could be counted on was Argal Tal since EVERY other word bearer was more concerned with doing their own thing and being “holier than thou” even in the middle of a fight
To be fair, even Argel Tal mentions that the World Eaters keep throwing plans out the window and charging brick while the Word Bearers were travelling with their armour and other heavy weapons. The scene where they charge a prepared gunline of Ultramarines and win through Kharn being a named character shows them being a broken mob of nutters rather than an army. At least the Word Bearers bring a goddamn tank to the fight, even if it is covered in dead Ultras (as is right).
The real tragedy is that Logar was actually a nice dood with a short temper. During the unification crusades his track record for conquering worlds was the slowest, but he would always leave said worlds in a better place than where they were before. Sadly having 2 abusive dad's, one of which never bothered to sit down and explain why he hated religious worship or warn him of the Chaos Gods, and a conniving snake for a commander really screwed him up. Like Magnus and Angron I can't really blame Logar for what he became, cause man did it feel like life hat it out for him.
“You see this perfect city, now imagine what would happen when the next emperor rises? They will fight to the death and this city will be the ashes you now see it as. There are those that came before me and when I am dead they will come after. Do not worship me like a god because that will only ensure they cannot exist with the coming of the next you may believe is a god after me.” - all that is needed to say
@@silent_stalker3687 And even then you're gonna need a lot more when talking to someone with heavy ties to theism. Had Emps kept Logar closer to his side, shown his methods instead of sending him off to conquer, while shrugging at his believes with disapproval things could've turned out so much better.
Eliphas is the only Word Bearer I'll respect. No, I don't respect Eliphas as Black Legion because the gods buchered him. Give me back my poisoned velvet cake voice, GW.
The Word Bearers don't need to be the poster children/Big Bads because they already won, lol. The entire Imperium worships the Emperor based on a book written by Lorgar, despite Big E's best (worst) efforts. Now they have all the time in the universe to philosophize and spread the good word of the dark gods. Everything at this point is gravy for them.
The Word Bearers did not win. Their goal isn't to get the Imperium to worship the Emperor, it's the get the Imperium to worship Chaos. It makes zero sense whatsever that people say that they "won." Did you just read their pre-heresy lore and stop there?
People seem to forget, the emperor sent Malcador and G-man to rationally ask Lorgar to stop his worship. He punched Malcador and broke all his ribs . Malc and G-man still pleaded with him. He was still unreasonable. So Malc told daddy…. I tried my best. Send they made them bow and destroyed them. They begged them three times… Then they spanked them. Since most people haven’t read the lore they just assume that G-man came without a word and burnt the planet to the ground for the emperor. This is not true at all.
Always been my favorite reason, I like the crazy mustache twirling and extreme bad guy Ness. I also like lorgar and his story. I just wish they didn't get destroyed so often. Great vid, keep it up
Lorgar is my favorites of the chaos primarchs as hes the only one that feels like he really made a choice in turning traitor. Horus was corrupted but Lorgar? Lorgar knew the 2 extremes of the 2 religions he was caught between, and from that vantage he willingly chose chaos
The single biggest blue-ball moment in all of 40K was Erebus getting teleported away before Kharn could turn him into chunky salsa. Hate the Word Bearers. Hate Erebus. Hate Lorgar.
For all the reasons stated in the video, I love the Word Bearers. They are flawed and all fucked up and totally stupidly evil for no reason, which is hilarious and cool and great.
They are basically “daddy is mad we use religion and are very slow so we’ll suck some Deamon gods off because we’re very angry our city was burned down”
I think its the other way around but yeah they even wrote the lectivo divinatus(I probably spelled that wrong) the book everyone loves anf makes everyone think the Emporers a god
Aaron Dembski-Bowden is one of the few Black Library authors who can make Word Bearers interesting and relatable. The Word Bearers are interesting from the perspective of being the most human and paradoxically probably the most debased of all the Legions, only the Emperor's Children fell further.
Amen! Lorgar is unpitiably impotent, but ultimately one of the most human primarchs. The universe would be quite different had he stepped into his power and confronted his foster dad. More so if he had checked Erebus or banished him. But we all know that was never in the cards, because Lorgar just refused to simply let go: let go of his shitty past, let go of never finding a father figure, let go of an ordered world controlled by gods worthy of worship. And haven’t we all failed to fully grieved a loss at one point or another? And hasn’t that choice to refuse to grieve led to much more unnecessary suffering? Even when the path is laid before him - with all the trappings of being a conqueror - he couldn’t let go of the dream of being a philosophical mendicant examplar. So he sort of simultaneously deserved and didn’t deserve all that came his way.
to answer your question: the appeal of the word bearers, is that more than any other traitor legion, they commit to the bit of throwing in with chaos, essentially a dark reflection of what the emperor tried to avoid. yeah its mostly just aesthetics and the fact that demons are cool, its one of those things you dont have to take too seriously, that said there definitely not my favourite traitor legion just because the EC exist
Word Bearer's are my chaos faction because, Lorgar was right and you all know it! Also, everyone likes to fight them cause they are the proper baddies. And if I lose, I don't care.
If you want to check out a book with actually enjoyable Word Bearer characters I highly recommend apocalypse by Josh Reynolds. The Word Bearers in that book are still zealous murders, but damn of they don't also have some charisma. The book also adds a lot of interesting ideas about their faith too. "The Gods promise glory, not that you will live to claim it"
Word Bearers:"It is a thankless job, but since the Horus Heresy books every other chaos legion or primarch has a tragic storyline. For Gods sake even the thousand sons have their Uwu-fans. Not us, we are evil, now tie that damsel to that chaos track and kick that throne-damned puppy"
I think the word bearers are such a valuable legion. They bring back the original essence of the campiness and satire of WH40K. They are such absolutely outlandishly evil individuals that it’s hard not to hate them, and I think that adds to their charm. It’s like Shooter McGavin from Happy Gilmore, the most dislikable, detestable people in a truly macabre universe, it’s the cherry on top.
This video is what happens when you only listen to memes and read a few bits of lexicanum and reddit posts and try to understand a legion. There's a whole lot more to the Word Bearers, to Logar, and to Erebus than what is described. Is Erebus to blame for "ruining everything"? Maybe, but was the Emperor's vision exactly a utopia? Not at all, it was a hell of a different kind whixh is why everyone that knew him personally turned on him over the many, many millenia. Erebus, like it or not, was the Emperor's only equal in being a man of unparalleled drive and vision, and he acted competently and steadfastly to see it through and is effectively the only true "winner" of the heresy. Lorgar had a good side that was totally ignored by virtually everyone in his life. He spared and tended to the woes of slaves on his homeworld to be lashed by Kor Pheron. Lorgar and many of his legion didn't even want to serve chaos, but did so because he didn't want humanity to fall like the Eldar did. He was a good man in a bad place, and he was ultimately lost and corrupted because the horrible truth was just that - horrible and evil. A lot of this was because the Emperor lied: there was no heaven, nor was there even the bliss of gentle oblivion, but rather in the Warhammer universe every single person that dies goes to hell. When they discovered this, the word bearers hoped a union of the real and the warp would save humanity, but didn't truly understand what they were doing and contributed to its doom. Had the Emperor shared the real truth and enlightened Lorgar early maybe things would be very different. Instead the Emperor was deeply flawed, and probably grew the power of chaos more than anyone else with his deal at Molech and the subsequent nightmare on the galaxy that was the Hreat Crusade. All Lorgar and friends did, was break the already bursting dam.
6:10 In the imperium secundus plotline (and the one book with salamanders and fulgurite) there is one that is on a mission to kill lorgar ...their plotline is just ruined by how ADB writes the imperium and the emperor as power obsessed dumdum even tho I otherwise love his books
Lorgar is entataining for much the same way that Kurze is. They're derranged maniacs that think they're doing the right thing and causes weird scenarios like he thinks making Angron, an individual that has wanted to die since before they met, into an immortal daemon prince that is in constant pain is the best thing for him. Like for real he genuinely believes he saved Angron and will defend that position to the death he's so sure of it.
The Word Bearers are so cartoonishly evil and mustache twirling that they fully shoot the moon to "you love to hate them" status. Fuck the Word Bearers, I wouldn't want to have 40k without them. Also I once painted a Master Of Possession as a Word Bearer for a pandemic project and it was genuinely a lot of fun. I ended up going World Eaters for my Chaos faction, but still.
I dont Blame Erebus from being an Idiot cause thats his thing, he was made an idiot and will remain an idiot but i personally Blame The Emperor I mean One thing is the Punishment of Lorgar but The flexing on lorgar by using Psyker might to make the word bearers bow? The Emperor just COULDNT not do that and prove Lorgar point any further? Dude was trying to further science by using the very thing that cant explained by science? 😅
you forgot to mention that Lorgar watched his father destroy a planet that was dedicated to Emps in the first place... Edit: you forgot to mention 2 more things which is ELIPHAS THE INHERITOR, the most badass chaos lord in gaming history and "death of hope" animation
They're comically evil because the chaos gods are comically evil. Their entire legion can be summed up as a miniature version of the "Great Game." Everyone wants power and favor within the legion so it's a group of cutthroats who so happen to have dick-measuring contests by building cathedrals that tower over each other.
Well, to surmise. "You're not going to shoot a puppy. Are you Erebus?"
"Yeah, in the face, why?"
These guys are just so evil it's funny.
No he doesn't shoot the puppy. He sacrifice him to the chaos gods
@@aordinaryperson8098 there's many instances where he just kills for the sake of it, no sacrifice or ceremony
Word Bearers are like Marmite. You ever like them for the reason everyone else hates them or just hate them.
@@discipleofdagon8195 The new one was "fun"
@@discipleofdagon8195it was a ceremony, a ceremony of entertainment
Studies show that 34.7% of the reason why this setting is Grimdark is because Erebus is still alive.
Recent study reveals that Erebus is a... I think the technical term is: a massive dickhead
Pretty sure whoever manages to kill Erebus would receive a promotion from all 4 Chaos Gods. Fuck Erebus!!!
With a 65.3% margin of error
And the 65.3% is because Erebus existed at all
@@BrianHall33 which Erebus?
There are two of them.
Yes.
There were 2 Erebus
Lol the jehovah witnesses of the grim dark
Dammit, I should have used that joke
As an ex-jw born and raised, i can confirm it is exactly like this
You are not wrong…
"hi we would like to talk about our lords and saviors the gods of chaos"
Pretty much. Lol
Chaplain erebus: kills argal tol and starts flexing on the world eaters by dueling them.
First captain kharn: i would like to speak to you about your health insurance my guy.
"Get up"
"Get up."
The whole fanbase cheered for that scene.
The best part is how calm and deliberate Kharn was. No snarling, no spuring from the nails. Just the fastest, scariest 3-hit combos ever.
The man never even raised his voice. It felt like the last properly human thing he did.
Attempting to murder Erabus is always a humane act, whomever does so automatically becomes the good guy of 40k.
Imagine being so angry that even the nails go on stand by.
He literally gave Erebus the Jonny Gat funeral treatment.
Like, there was no boiling Rage no furious anger, just pure cold calculated righteous Hate.
And nobody stepped in or interrupted them, they all knew that this was deserved and Kharn had all the right to do this to Erebus cause they all hated him too.
In Summary: FUCK EREBUS
He was angry enough to satiate them.
Let’s see Lucius the eternal fight Erebus. No matter who wins, Erebus is dead.
"There's only one fun character in Word Bearers"
There is a significant lack of Eliphas in this video.
ELIPHAS, OPEN THE PORTAL!
no
@@jonathanthompson4734Nooooooo! Eliphas, you treasonous dog!
The dark crusade version of Eliphas when he was still a word bearer really felt perfect like everything both a chaos lord and a elite of the word bearers should be like.
What makes Loghar so interesting and one of my favorite primarchs is ironically what people mock him for. He's weak, prideful and cowardly, he's philosopher forced to be a conquer. Also you know whats cooler then a super solider in a power armor? a deamon in power armor and word bearers love that shit.
with you on that, These severely flawed primarchs like Lorgar, Konrad Curze and (my fave) Pertorabo are a lot of fun as they sorta feel more human than some of their brothers.
@@alsonallu8642 Which in turn makes Corvus all the more terrfying that Lorgar, despite ALL of that power and newfound greatness, is hiding away from him as much as he can. It really makes you wounder just what Corvus has become and how powerful he now is...
@@naciabell7903 Tbf we dunnot know where Corax or Lorgar are, it was reported Lorgar is actually leading his Legion in the field again at the head of a Massive WB army (source CSM 8th edition pg.40) Whereas Corax who vowed to pursue ALL traitor primarchs...never went for anyone else it seems and Lorgar no longer seems all too bothered about him.
@@sindrimyr5351yeah both lorgar and fulgrim seem to be around fighting. Fulgrim has been hinted at from reports of a giant serpentine figure fighting alongside emperor's children as well as a mention of a certain name which I forget, that seems like a title for him.
@@naciabell7903That story is dumb as hell. Corvus tapping into primarch warp potential or whatever is cool but he shouldn't be as powerful as a daemon prince primarch psyker who specialises in daemons, whilst they're in the warp, just because Corvus is angy.
It's bad storytelling, it doesn't make sense, it makes both characters look stupid, it severely limits further storytelling potential as to what they've been doing for the past thousands of years, it's out of character and unfitting of their archetypes, and it's hackneyed reference to Edgar Allan Poe's "The Raven" which could have been really interesting if the writer hadn't misunderstood the story to be about a man getting attacked by a giant bird.
I'm sick of people praising it.
They should've made Erebus act like a skaven. Would've made him a thousands times better
"TASTY CORPSE FLESH on the shinySHINY throne wants to ruin our plans! Interdict and DESTROY!
Yes, my precious they wants our holy blessed objects, gollum gollum..."
In that POV short story from his perspective we see he LIKES to be caught, tho. The while thing with him as a child poking scorpions knowing they’ll sting him back.
this made my day
@@fatghostproduction7190 glad to hear
Kekekeke
I actually found Lorgar to be a very tragic and sympathetic character in his origin book
we get to see the way Kor Phaeron twists him into a pawn of evil, breaking him down and building him back up into a tool for his personal gain. we see glimpses of the person he could have been if raised by someone who was honorable and caring, and how his abusive upbringing leads to him becoming so dependant on the belief in a higher power and his morality irrevocably tainted by a life defined by slavery, humiliation and torture. even when he rebels against his enslavement to become the master of his own fate, he remains enslaved to the dependency on faith instilled in him by Phaeron, having learned from his tyrannical, evangelical example how to lead and inspire
it's no surprise that the very next thing he does is embark on a worldwide jihad, and given his success in that endeavor it's no wonder that that is how he continues to wage war in the Emperor's name once he's given command of his legion. and, just like he did when punished too severely by Phaeron, when he's shamed at Monarchia he privately resolves to seek a deeper religious enlightenment and walk the path of rebellion as a means to rise above the admonishment
I think the real tragic irony of Lorgar can be seen in his moments of clarity and vision. when he so humbly out-orates Kor Phaeron even as a child, his apotheotic sense of enlightened ascendancy when he fully unlocks his psychic potential, the way that he talks about the ruinstorm as a symphony with himself as conductor. there is a definite sense there that he always had the capacity for greatness that was just not fostered in a healthy way
in many ways it makes perfect sense that his nemesis would be Guilliman, who had such wise and loving parents, leadership thrust freely upon him rather than his autonomy robbed and ridiculed, raised on principles of courage and honor and not judgement and penance. Lorgar in many ways has more in common with Angron than any other primarch, and yet we rarely blame the Warhounds for taking the nails and becoming the Eaters of Worlds. how then should we be so quick to judge the Imperial Heralds for following the example set by their own father and becoming the Bearers of the Word?
It's also interesting when Lorgar gets asked repeatedly why he is talking to or trying to help Angron. Everyone is either fully clueless or suspects some ulterior motive. The idea that Lorgar genuinely cares about his brother and wants to help never seems to occur to people.
Dan Abnet (and several other writers) wanted to give Lorgar a redemption ark during the Siege books. GW said no, and it is why he was dismissed before it even started.
I have but one thing to say about the word bearers..."Get up." Kharn's beat down is the stuff of legend.
"Chainaxe sodomy" has entered the chat.
And how Horus cut his face off in one of the horus heresy novels (forgot which one, somewhere around betrayal of calth i think).
Say it with me...,," F✓€# Erebus!"
I, personally, love the Word Bearers, and Erebus specifically. They're just so evil and malicious that I can't help but look at them and say "You're funny" and that's why I love them. They're goofy zealots, and I wish there was a book about them that read like a Monty Python bit, because I'd read it 100%
Tbh I think they are meant to be scary not funny
F Erebus
Kor is pretty cool tho
They're the best written part about the Hourus Heresy. Even though I hate their philosophy
@@DrFeltcherThe First Heretic remains my favorite HH book.
@@aegidius_s same here
I just like the idea of a Chaos legion that, like, actually likes Chaos. They weren't forced into it, it's not a tool they reluctantly use, they genuinely get fulfillment from Khorne and pals.
I also haven't actually read any 40K books so I can enjoy that in the abstract without having to deal with the way they're actually written.
Based truth-enjoyer
The books are a mixed bag. It's easier (and cheaper) just to stick to wikis in most cases.
Word Bearers are my favorite chaos group as villains
The best thing about them is that their teleology not just evil, it inverses evil to become not only good, but a moral imperative. When night lord skins a child alive he is aware of the fact that he is a monster, word bearer think of himself as a saint while foing the exact same thing. This makes them unique and fun for me.
They go out of thier way to be comically evil, as opposed to being tragically evil, or supremely amoral.
They are the saltiest of buttholes.
Well, you just admitted the worst interpretation of them in existence
@@ClovenOnes I'll start to worry when Erebus asks me to start whittlin' with his athame...
@@garysuarez9614 That's an interesting situation for you to start worrying in
There was that one story about a Word Bearer Dreadnought who being held prisoner by the Imperium, only this Word Bearer is peaceful and calm and preaches about pre-Chaos Traitor Word Bearer beliefs and is generally pretty chill.
@@juanpabloarroyave5583 Look up the Space Marine Conquests novel Apocalypse. It's a really interesting novel on a Space Marine sent by Guilleman to guard/save an Ecclesiarch planet on the end of a Word Bearers invasion because... obviously an ancient secret the Ecclesiarchy is hiding..
"I am the Anchorite."
"Your name."
"I have no name. The man I was - is dead. I am all that stands here. A humble bearer of words."
He also was responsible for the Eclessiarchy
Let's be honest: lorgar might be a big player in the heresy, and horus might be CALLED the arch-traitor... But Erebus is the real arch-traitor and basically to blame for everything. Except typhon. He's also to blame.
And the alien snake sword
What I really like is Lorgar himself. If you look deeper behind the meme version, you see a men who tries to appear piosly serving the gods. But in truth it is all about himself.
He wants to know himself and his place in the universe. Yes, he found it in the warp and the chaos gods, but the moment they act against his visions, he rejects them. For example he despises the idea of Fulgrim being taken over by a demon, or still decides to fight Corax on Ishtvaan, even if it goes against chaos's wishes. He wants to decide his fate. He wants his vision of humans and demons as equals, transendending themself, to become more. The Gal Vorbak were much more balanced between Human and demon as later Possessed.
He projects his image of how the gods should be and only goes along with them as long as they do. Above his chamber on Sicarius he wrote "Deny Fate". That aren't Words of a slave to the Chaos Gods. He tries to see beyond that and the Warp as a whole.
The Word Bearers serve Chaos selflessly, as they are more a product of Kor Phaeron and Erebus, who are completly loyal. But Lorgar had more in common with his son Argel Tal, seeing the horror and necessity in it.
I am also a fan of the theory that his forced ascension of Angron to demonhood was a testrun. He will try to ascend himself even further than demon prince, maybe a smaller Chaos god, for him to be a twisted mirror image of his father and the real golden god he saw in his vision on Colchis all these years ago.
Lorgar can't become a god because then he would have to accept responsibility for everything he's done, and he makes it clear over and over again in the HH that he could never do that. He comes up with excuse after excuse as to why all the terrible things he did were necessary even in spite of obviously reveling at times in the horror he causes (like his infamous ruinstorm monologue). If he became a god, he'd have to accept that he was just evil all along.
Word Bearer enjoyer over here! If I had a dollar for every time someone asked me "why do you like the lamest legion?" I'd have around 5 bucks, which is enough to buy another pot of Gal Vorbak Red. I used to despise them as much as you do but in the end they grew on me and I ended up painting my chaos army as WB. Let me share why (and sorry about the wall of text):
1) Aestethics. Dark red, silver trimmed armor? Fancy. Plus, if you enjoy freehanding and conversions they're perfectly suited for it. Add candles, robes, parchment, draw esoteric diagrams, runes and prayers on their armors and you'll get a stunning army. Ignore this point if you don't play the tabletop game though!
2) Lorgar is a loser? Kinda, yeah. But I like him for it. It's mercurial, preachy and phisically weaker than his brothers. But, before joining the Ruinous Powers, he was a man of PEACE. His conquest was slow because he employed diplomacy and took the time to build something better in each world. He was a skilled diplomat ,orator and there was wisdom in his words (even Russ admitted it and quoted from his book!). I enjoy characters that are good at something different than fighting. Plus, he's the most phisically similar to the shape Big E likes to take apparently, with golden skin and eyes.
3) After having accepted the Primordial Truth (aka the 4 Chaos Gods) the man's got a glow up. Managed to defeat a Bloodthirster (yeah I know not that big of a deal for a Primarch but still) and CAUSED THE RUINSTORM THAT CUT ULTRAMAR FROM THE REST OF GALAXY DURING THE HERESY. We're talking about a cosmic psychic achievement. Where Magnus is a powehouse when it comes to sheer psychic powe, Lorgar is an accomplished ritualist and still more than capable of smiting marines with lottle to no effort. On a sidenote, he's probably the only one who recognized the pain and sorrow of Angron. It was one of his rituals that turned him into a Daemon Prince, in a way saving his life.
4) Mistery. At the moment Lorgar is in a self imposed exhile in his Tower, deep in meditation and has been for thousands of years. What's gonna happen when he gets out? What wisdom will he impart upon his flock?
5) Politics. The WB Legion is still whole unlike the others who splitted into warbands and has a centralized power in the Dark Council of Sicarus, a bunch of old , powerful and cartoonishly evil Dark Apostles that rule in stead of Lorgar. And they are petty, scheming assholes who do nothing but plan against eachother and discuss theology. Pretty much the dark(er) version of most churches. I suggest reading the Word Bearer trilogy by Anthony Reynolds where this is expanded a bit further. Also Marduk is a pretty cool character imho.
6) The philosophycal implications of the veneration of the Chaos Gods, Chaos Undivided and the general outlook of the 17th Legion. Alright, so, the warriors of this legion are pretty monastic. They do not indulge in many pleasures and have a strict daily routine of prayer and combat drills. Why so? Because they despise the veneration of one god over the others. As a result of this, they're overall pretty sane (for chaos standards). This is a costant in all 40k. The enemy is not Chaos, is excess. Focus too much on Khorne and you become a psychotic murderer. Focus too much on the Emperor and you get the bloody Imperium. Focus too much on Slaanesh and...well, let's not get there. But if your will and faith stand strong, the whole Primordial Truth of Chaos is open to you. They are disciplined, focused and still bound by at least a shred of brotherhood between one another.
As a final consideration I'd like to add that the veneration of the Chaos Gods is the safest way to ensure mankind survival. The Gods need us more than we need them. They have vested interest in our existance, although not our well-being. Lorgar, if i'm not mistaken, considered the beings of the Immaterium sentient beings with which we could share the galaxy and any other plane of existance. And in the previously mentioned trilogy, seen through the eyes of a Dark Apostle, you can find hints suggesting that such a dream is not completely unfeasible.
Aight I'm out, time for the daily self flagellation and being scared of every corvid I see.
Its ok to spread misinformation aslo g as it makes the inperium seem super duper cool and chaos sucky wucky and lame
Based, hail the Urizen
Yeah but fuck erebus still
Lorgar was right in the end though the emperor did become a god and only through faith in him can we be saved from from the xenos and the heretic...
Also hes sort of a tragic character because he was designed by the emperor to want to look up to authority and had the misfortune of landing on colchis to be abused by space Osama bin laden
Aren't the worlds they overlooked during the crusades also the most loyal out of nearly all the other worlds that were conquered? Kinda ironic if you ask me.
@@alsonallu8642bro
@@alsonallu8642Bruh
@@kenjethao7774word bearers conquered the least amount of worlds out of any legion. Because they wouldn’t move on until they fully converted the planet, to the last man woman and child.
@@misanthropicservitorofmars2116but again, that’s why their worlds were by far the most functional, united and most importanly, loyal. It might have taken them eons to get off a rock once they had landed on it, but when they finally did go away, you could pretty much leave it on its own and be as certain about its status as possible in 40k. There’d be no rebellions, no uprising, no cultists, no need to waste resources garrisoning the Imperial Army and Astartes there. I hate what they’ve become too, but let’s face it, they were right all along, and its the Emperor’s fault for not being willing to recognize it or even communicate his misgivings via means other than literal nuclear annihilation.
Honestly, I enjoy the word bearers simply because they are so easy to hate. Literally the most "love to hate" faction in 40k.
I like the word bearers because zealots are annoying. Zealots are obnoxious and it’s nice to see that represented. Great video!
Good Zealots look at the Black Templar's Chapter. But yes they are bottom of the barrel obnoxious and annoying Zealots written well but you really route for them to get thier face caved in.
They are far worse than regular zealots though
@@jamesbeattie8800 Honestly, the Black Templars are just a stupid version of the Word Bearers. They never try to conquer by the Word, only by the Cudgel, and they have so little tolerance for mutants (including psykers) that they make most Inquisitors look reasonable.
@@jagnestormskull3178 deadass you aren't wrong they are straight up more zealously hateful and xenophobic than damn Khorne.
@@jamesbeattie8800 I bet you Khorne straight up loves the Black Templars. No psykers *and* non stop blood flow? He's going "damn boy, you look fine in that armor."
There is ONE Word Bearer that isn't a piece of shit. He's known as the Anchorite, and he just had a sudden realization that maybe The God Emperor was testing them, and they all failed. So he proceeded to betray his brothers, give himself over to the loyalists and willingly became incarcerated under a church, where he started writing sermons and add-ons to the Holy book. He tried offing himself in shame several times, but was always saved by the Ecclesiarchy, eventually being turned into a dreadnought due to the severity of his wounds. As a dreadnought, he continued his penitence, and once the Word Bearers came to "rescue him", he just beat the shit out of them and went back into his cell to continue his penance.
I think I the most surprising Lorgar moment for me and in hindsight the most terrifyingly foreboding was his vulnerability in expressing to Magnus the Red all he wants is to help people and spread the light of the Emperor to all humanity. He is so hellbent on trying to do the right thing in his eyes that he waltzes into atrocity. Its that positive aspect of humanity to want to help and do good that in an uncomfortable aesop from Black Library reminds us that evil doesnt always come from bullies or "bad seeds". Conviction can make one very easily manipulated.
Imagine starting a galaxy-defining war, only to get your ass beat by a giant bird for the next 10 millennia.
“All I ever wanted was the truth.”
That’s why I love the Word Bearers. They wanted purpose, they wanted knowledge, they wanted to understand the universe. When something from the Immaterium answered them, they listened. It didn’t matter that they had to butcher innocents, offer firstborn sons as a sacrifice, or tear down everything they built. They decided that Chaos had to be the truth, even though it is immoral and uncaring.
Because all I ever want is the truth. But truth must be tempered with justice and morality. We can not blindly accept the words that sound pleasing to us. We must question, debate, and challenge the words we hold sacred. Otherwise we merely bear the word.
I normally don't leave comments but fuck off with that "Red corsairs are a better representation of chaos undivided then word bearers." Red corsairs are literally just black legion but pirates, all of there character is in Huron and that's it. The word bearers are the best representation of chaos undivided, since you know they actually worship chaos undivided unlike every other chaos warband or legion that is "undivided". The fandom stereotype of pretty much every undivided legion is "Oh they are chaos marines but chaos and daemons are just tools they use." That mentality needs to die, chaos space marines are CHAOS space marines. Also people need to stop with the false lore of Lorgar is hiding away from Corax as well as saying he is a bird daemon. First Lorgar isn't hiding he was in mediation and temporally came out of it to investigate something killing his men obviously this was Corax, who is now a SHADOW warp entity not a raven daemon, Corax beats Lorgars ass and then Lorgar retreats and resumes his mediation. Second the current lore states he is out and about doing stuff in real space. Also to go back to the comment of "The word bearers of is several disparate warbands" That is technically correct but the majority of these warbands defer and follow the will of the the Dark Council, who are the most powerful dark apostles of the legion and by large the legion still organizes itself as a legion, the only reason their is any disunity (besides normal chaos scheming) is that the two strongest dark apostles of the council are Kor Phaeron and Erebus who hate each other.
Sorry for this rant but I'm getting sick and tired about disinformation surrounding parts of the lore I like, I swear every content creator parrots meme lore about the word bearers. Originally I was just going to leave about the first point but got heated and kept going mostly from frustration at the video and the fandom in general. While I disliked this video I hope this comment balances it out for engagement to help your channel.
I actually have some appreciation for Erebus, hes so unlikable so incredibly vile, is not everyday that you have a character that is so universally despised by everyone, even ppl who dont know anything of 40k can just see his smug face and know "oh he bad, he really bad" hes a good character, althou I wont forgive him for what he did to argel tal, cause of him theres a finite amount of argel tal x kharn BL fanfics
Well, he saw a place that needed Erebus and Erebus just filled that place.
Emperor said there's no such thing as the warp fairy and dark gods and then left it at that, so when you withhold that information from the troops, it pops up and hey don't know what they're looking for and its not in the big book of stuff to shoot. Not only that you've got people who have to work next to fucking Konrad 'Call HR!' Curze that does all sorts of evil shit anyway. Erebus is just another bloke that likes being a bit of a prick once in a while.
tl-dr
Ignorance is not bliss
What's Erebus doing? We don't know but it hasn't hurt anyone yet so just let him live his best life and mind you own business
It can he hard to pull off the pure villain as to stop it being a joke. But they actually did a good job for Erebus.
Gotta love the word bearers, they’re the trend setters of 40k. They called big E a god long before everyone else jumped on the bandwagon, they made heresy sexy, are 1 half of the best brother vs brother battles in the whole of the Horus heresy series and the list goes on
The Word Bearers actually WON in 40k. The Imperium of Man in 40k (as opposed to 30k Hours Heresy era) is the very image of Monarchia. The imperial church is based on the book 'Lectitio Divinitates' written by... Lorgar. The church was founded by holy woman Euphrate Keeler, a slaaneshi cultist who rode with the Emperor's Children. The entire Imperial Creed is exactly what Lorgar wanted to create - and what Big E chastised him for. The Empire of Man is Chaos Undivided.
1:30 This drawing of Lorgar, especially his eyes, are so disturbing to me. Like, you can see his fanatical nature burning in his soul only looking at the eyes, the slight smile only makes it worse.
The Word Bearers trilogy by Anthony Reynolds is really good. Marduk is a fun character and the political backstabbing that goes on in the warband feels so authentic to what any sort of extremist group are like in real life.
They're the best legion by far. Perfect antagonists and they're about half the reason anything in 40K happened in the first place. They're peak 40K. Fuck people that dislike them.
Worthy of mentioning, the burning of fair Monarchia was not the first attempt to shut it down, it was simply the final. Most people say the action was horrifically out of proportion when to put it simply, Lorgar simply ignored all the other warnings.
As a new 40k fan, it’s wild to see CSM having something badass like that Possessed Dreadnaught. They really took everything from y’all huh?
It's just a better looking version of the Helbrute
Out of all the legions, the Word Bearers are the one legion I got nothing on besides maybe Iron Hands. Like I know their shtick is being the evil assholes who doomed mankind, but beyond being very friendly with Chaos, I got nothing besides Eliphas from DOW was amongst their number.
These guys are why I love Raven Guard, because Corax is living the dream just absolutely brutalizing as many as possible.
Due to the Emperor's Children, instead of saying "post heresy" and "pre heresy" I say "pre cocaine" and "post cocaine". I just think it's funny.
It's fascinating to me that people unironically hate the Word Bearers for the things they do and their outlook on the gods. Isn't that what makes them such good villains, that they can make even the readers despise them? That's why I love them.
Wait, no hold on, you are not conflicted, you are Arthur. You can't start without that! That's...making me conflicted.
If my evil isn't mustache twirling, i dont want it.
Man this is why i like Mr Bones. Everyone else goes "the Emperor should have said this , done that , tolerated him etc". And then this man says "Yeah the Emperor made a mistake. He should have nuked him and his planet from the start". Which is of course the correct way (silence Kirioth , its Lorgars fault as well , not just Erebus)
Actually they aren’t scattered warbands.
They’re still a legion, maintain massive presences in the Eye and the maelstrom, have their own empire of sorts.
The Dark Apostles are kinda like the Sith, with scheming, backstabbing and power-grabs galore.
The legion is dual-commanded by Kor Pharon and Erebus and despite this the WB keep their shit together.
I’d recommend the Word Bearers trilogy, it got reprinted last month and of 40k Chaos books it’s right up there with Lords of Silence.
They’re evil, they’re zealous but they also have friendships, comrades and rivalries.
I'm not a huge fan of the word bearers as a whole but I do think lorgar does have some pretty cool moments and plot lines. Like his relationship with angron was oddly wholesome for a while and when he gets fed up with erabus (fuck Erebus) and sends Kahn to go fuck him up . These don't redeem his character as a whole ( still a ton of wasted potential there in my opinion) but they are fun moments non the less
The thing that helps me take them seriously is that they're 100% correct, turning mustache twirling into conviction, a bad wb is written like "I'll sacrifice millions for the gods" a bad night lord is written like "I'll flay a baby cause I got nothing to do" see the difference
My favorite things about the Word Bearers is their aesthetic! EC specially their 30K style where it’s very clearly chaos but not the spikey arrow look we all know.
Also something a lot of people get confused, Corvus isn’t still after Lorgar as he hides away in a tower. That was in M38, and Lorgar has been spotted outside of the eye of terror in more recent events even before the fall of cadia IIRC? So Corvus’s fate is unknown, but I believe the real reason is a very large distraction bird feeder was installed so Lorgar could get away.
At least the Word Bearers and their characters from the video games were more interesting than the ones we know in the lore, Eliphas the Inheritor from Dawn of War Dark Crusade, and Thanos… I mean Malos Vrykan from Battle Fleet Gothic Armada 2.
I love that in the book Betrayer the World Eaters were the only ones that cared about winning the battle and fighting while the only word bearer that could be counted on was Argal Tal since EVERY other word bearer was more concerned with doing their own thing and being “holier than thou” even in the middle of a fight
To be fair, even Argel Tal mentions that the World Eaters keep throwing plans out the window and charging brick while the Word Bearers were travelling with their armour and other heavy weapons. The scene where they charge a prepared gunline of Ultramarines and win through Kharn being a named character shows them being a broken mob of nutters rather than an army. At least the Word Bearers bring a goddamn tank to the fight, even if it is covered in dead Ultras (as is right).
The real tragedy is that Logar was actually a nice dood with a short temper. During the unification crusades his track record for conquering worlds was the slowest, but he would always leave said worlds in a better place than where they were before. Sadly having 2 abusive dad's, one of which never bothered to sit down and explain why he hated religious worship or warn him of the Chaos Gods, and a conniving snake for a commander really screwed him up. Like Magnus and Angron I can't really blame Logar for what he became, cause man did it feel like life hat it out for him.
“You see this perfect city, now imagine what would happen when the next emperor rises? They will fight to the death and this city will be the ashes you now see it as. There are those that came before me and when I am dead they will come after. Do not worship me like a god because that will only ensure they cannot exist with the coming of the next you may believe is a god after me.”
- all that is needed to say
@@silent_stalker3687 And even then you're gonna need a lot more when talking to someone with heavy ties to theism. Had Emps kept Logar closer to his side, shown his methods instead of sending him off to conquer, while shrugging at his believes with disapproval things could've turned out so much better.
Eliphas is the only Word Bearer I'll respect.
No, I don't respect Eliphas as Black Legion because the gods buchered him. Give me back my poisoned velvet cake voice, GW.
Hi conflicted, where’s Arthur?
The Emperor made a mistake, Word Bearers did nothing wrong
The Word Bearers don't need to be the poster children/Big Bads because they already won, lol. The entire Imperium worships the Emperor based on a book written by Lorgar, despite Big E's best (worst) efforts. Now they have all the time in the universe to philosophize and spread the good word of the dark gods. Everything at this point is gravy for them.
The Word Bearers did not win. Their goal isn't to get the Imperium to worship the Emperor, it's the get the Imperium to worship Chaos. It makes zero sense whatsever that people say that they "won."
Did you just read their pre-heresy lore and stop there?
So I'm not the only one to have noted that
I always say with you “uhhhh HI!! Immm Arthur” at the start of the video but you got me this time lol
People seem to forget, the emperor sent Malcador and G-man to rationally ask Lorgar to stop his worship. He punched Malcador and broke all his ribs . Malc and G-man still pleaded with him. He was still unreasonable. So Malc told daddy…. I tried my best. Send they made them bow and destroyed them.
They begged them three times… Then they spanked them.
Since most people haven’t read the lore they just assume that G-man came without a word and burnt the planet to the ground for the emperor. This is not true at all.
Always been my favorite reason, I like the crazy mustache twirling and extreme bad guy Ness. I also like lorgar and his story. I just wish they didn't get destroyed so often. Great vid, keep it up
Lorgar is my favorites of the chaos primarchs as hes the only one that feels like he really made a choice in turning traitor. Horus was corrupted but Lorgar? Lorgar knew the 2 extremes of the 2 religions he was caught between, and from that vantage he willingly chose chaos
The single biggest blue-ball moment in all of 40K was Erebus getting teleported away before Kharn could turn him into chunky salsa.
Hate the Word Bearers. Hate Erebus. Hate Lorgar.
For all the reasons stated in the video, I love the Word Bearers. They are flawed and all fucked up and totally stupidly evil for no reason, which is hilarious and cool and great.
They are basically “daddy is mad we use religion and are very slow so we’ll suck some Deamon gods off because we’re very angry our city was burned down”
The burning of monarchia was not only justified but, not enough of a spanking for Lorgar because CLEARLY he missed the point
word bearers are chaos's version of the black templars
I think its the other way around but yeah they even wrote the lectivo divinatus(I probably spelled that wrong) the book everyone loves anf makes everyone think the Emporers a god
Aaron Dembski-Bowden is one of the few Black Library authors who can make Word Bearers interesting and relatable.
The Word Bearers are interesting from the perspective of being the most human and paradoxically probably the most debased of all the Legions, only the Emperor's Children fell further.
Amen! Lorgar is unpitiably impotent, but ultimately one of the most human primarchs. The universe would be quite different had he stepped into his power and confronted his foster dad. More so if he had checked Erebus or banished him. But we all know that was never in the cards, because Lorgar just refused to simply let go: let go of his shitty past, let go of never finding a father figure, let go of an ordered world controlled by gods worthy of worship. And haven’t we all failed to fully grieved a loss at one point or another? And hasn’t that choice to refuse to grieve led to much more unnecessary suffering? Even when the path is laid before him - with all the trappings of being a conqueror - he couldn’t let go of the dream of being a philosophical mendicant examplar. So he sort of simultaneously deserved and didn’t deserve all that came his way.
to answer your question: the appeal of the word bearers, is that more than any other traitor legion, they commit to the bit of throwing in with chaos, essentially a dark reflection of what the emperor tried to avoid. yeah its mostly just aesthetics and the fact that demons are cool, its one of those things you dont have to take too seriously, that said there definitely not my favourite traitor legion just because the EC exist
Yoooooooo, the Next legion will be the salamanders. VULKAN LIVES 🔥🔥🔥. Let's go 18th legion.
The Word Bearers were villains BEFORE they were villains...
Word Bearer's are my chaos faction because,
Lorgar was right and you all know it!
Also, everyone likes to fight them cause they are the proper baddies. And if I lose, I don't care.
If you want to check out a book with actually enjoyable Word Bearer characters I highly recommend apocalypse by Josh Reynolds.
The Word Bearers in that book are still zealous murders, but damn of they don't also have some charisma.
The book also adds a lot of interesting ideas about their faith too. "The Gods promise glory, not that you will live to claim it"
Average ultramarine fan opinion
I like Erebus
Oh man I disagree with your views on this Legion. Word Bearers are my 2nd favorite legion behind the Iron Warriors and ahead of the World Eaters.
Ah the journeys into 40k... you have achieved the Frack Erebus and the Word Bearers stage...
Challenge: Upload a w40k video to RUclips without overusing the phrase “mustache-twirling” (IMPOSSIBLE) (ALMOST EXPELLED!)
"blessed is the firing range to wide to miss" is that in one of your books right?
-based Iron Warrior after shoting some word bearers
“Approached by this nice man named Erebus.”
😆😂🤣
I think that everyone who has heard of Erebus has that tick of muttering profanity before his name.
Word Bearers:"It is a thankless job, but since the Horus Heresy books every other chaos legion or primarch has a tragic storyline. For Gods sake even the thousand sons have their Uwu-fans.
Not us, we are evil, now tie that damsel to that chaos track and kick that throne-damned puppy"
I think the word bearers are such a valuable legion. They bring back the original essence of the campiness and satire of WH40K. They are such absolutely outlandishly evil individuals that it’s hard not to hate them, and I think that adds to their charm. It’s like Shooter McGavin from Happy Gilmore, the most dislikable, detestable people in a truly macabre universe, it’s the cherry on top.
This video is what happens when you only listen to memes and read a few bits of lexicanum and reddit posts and try to understand a legion. There's a whole lot more to the Word Bearers, to Logar, and to Erebus than what is described.
Is Erebus to blame for "ruining everything"? Maybe, but was the Emperor's vision exactly a utopia? Not at all, it was a hell of a different kind whixh is why everyone that knew him personally turned on him over the many, many millenia. Erebus, like it or not, was the Emperor's only equal in being a man of unparalleled drive and vision, and he acted competently and steadfastly to see it through and is effectively the only true "winner" of the heresy.
Lorgar had a good side that was totally ignored by virtually everyone in his life. He spared and tended to the woes of slaves on his homeworld to be lashed by Kor Pheron. Lorgar and many of his legion didn't even want to serve chaos, but did so because he didn't want humanity to fall like the Eldar did. He was a good man in a bad place, and he was ultimately lost and corrupted because the horrible truth was just that - horrible and evil.
A lot of this was because the Emperor lied: there was no heaven, nor was there even the bliss of gentle oblivion, but rather in the Warhammer universe every single person that dies goes to hell. When they discovered this, the word bearers hoped a union of the real and the warp would save humanity, but didn't truly understand what they were doing and contributed to its doom. Had the Emperor shared the real truth and enlightened Lorgar early maybe things would be very different. Instead the Emperor was deeply flawed, and probably grew the power of chaos more than anyone else with his deal at Molech and the subsequent nightmare on the galaxy that was the Hreat Crusade. All Lorgar and friends did, was break the already bursting dam.
Next part is gonna be the best part 👀👀👀👀👀👀👀
6:10 In the imperium secundus plotline (and the one book with salamanders and fulgurite) there is one that is on a mission to kill lorgar
...their plotline is just ruined by how ADB writes the imperium and the emperor as power obsessed dumdum even tho I otherwise love his books
But CHAOS IS THE ONLY TRUTH and the Emperor is but a mote of sand compared to CHAOS!!!
When Lotara Sarrin?
Imagine having tourette's and it's just "fuck Erebus" *snaps fingers*
They are so evil they turns to be pretty endearing lmao
The 80s action flick villain. Paperthin, yet hard to get around and up in your face all the time due to no apparent logical reason.
"And Lorgar is such a overwhelming failure that it makes me sick."
-Lion 'El Johnson
They are the worst, but thats why I love them
Lorgar is entataining for much the same way that Kurze is. They're derranged maniacs that think they're doing the right thing and causes weird scenarios like he thinks making Angron, an individual that has wanted to die since before they met, into an immortal daemon prince that is in constant pain is the best thing for him. Like for real he genuinely believes he saved Angron and will defend that position to the death he's so sure of it.
Man, I can’t believe the series is almost over. Maybe afterwards we’ll have a short miniseries on every Forge World?
The Word Bearers are so cartoonishly evil and mustache twirling that they fully shoot the moon to "you love to hate them" status. Fuck the Word Bearers, I wouldn't want to have 40k without them.
Also I once painted a Master Of Possession as a Word Bearer for a pandemic project and it was genuinely a lot of fun. I ended up going World Eaters for my Chaos faction, but still.
I keep coming back for "Erebus...should look like a CORPSE"
Have you accepted the chaos gods as your lords and saviours? *Revs chainsword
I dont Blame Erebus from being an Idiot cause thats his thing, he was made an idiot and will remain an idiot but i personally Blame The Emperor
I mean One thing is the Punishment of Lorgar but The flexing on lorgar by using Psyker might to make the word bearers bow? The Emperor just COULDNT not do that and prove Lorgar point any further? Dude was trying to further science by using the very thing that cant explained by science? 😅
Hi Conflicted where's Arthur Bones?
Erebus isn’t even Erebus he killed the real kid named Erebus when he was a child.
you forgot to mention that Lorgar watched his father destroy a planet that was dedicated to Emps in the first place...
Edit: you forgot to mention 2 more things which is ELIPHAS THE INHERITOR, the most badass chaos lord in gaming history and "death of hope" animation
They're comically evil because the chaos gods are comically evil. Their entire legion can be summed up as a miniature version of the "Great Game." Everyone wants power and favor within the legion so it's a group of cutthroats who so happen to have dick-measuring contests by building cathedrals that tower over each other.
Erebus, the most accomplished Astartes.
I feel like the aging of Lion El Johnson was just from selling new miniatures
Arthur as a bi man I am always waiting for you to say your name. You did not this time. I am dissapoint.