Emperor: "The Imperial Heralds are being to religious, how should I fix it?" Horus: "Maybe yo-" Emperor: "Destroy their favorite city, that will make them understand and will not backfire in anyway"
Malcador: "Hey, Bro Emperor, These Word Bearers sure do seem pissed that the Ultramarines bombed their city. Maybe we should go easy on them when we meet?" Emperor: "Naa, let me just get them all to kneel in the ashes for a bit. Roboute, you good to watch while I make your brother ashamed?" Guiliman: *STARES IN TACITURN* Emperor: "It's settled then! Good Talk everyone."
Its behaviours like the Big-E did to Lorgar and Angry Ron that make me appreciate Bruva Alphabusa's latest project so much. Big-D is Emps in the 20th century, and he is a wack-o.
You know, other than the Salamanders, the WB were one of the most humane and sympathetic legions before Lorgar's Pilgrimage at least. They genuinely left the planets they conquered better than they were before the Imperium.
Admittedly after burning down any temples, libraries, people, ideals, and monuments that disagreed with them, but afterwards they started building and indoctrinating. Remember the Ashen Circle was founded when they were loyalist.
Lorgar is just tragic, really. A case example of someone with their heart in the right place who in the end feels pushed to do terrible acts. I think Malcador mused once that of all the Primarchs to betray the Imperium, none were so painful to learn of, nor so avoidable, as Lorgar. And for all the evil he ends up doing in the name of his faith, I think the most telling is when he is speaking to Guilleman at the onset of the Battle of Calth. When Guilleman begs Lorgar to call off the attack, pleading with him, "In the name of our father!" To which Lorgar simply, quietly replied. "I, am an orphan." What a sad man.
he was throwing a tantrum cause "daddy did not love me back". all the other primarchs (except curze) managed to create empires. following their natural to lead and build. but lorgar? willingly became a slave. Lorgar went "notice me senpai" and got angry when the emperor told him to get his shit together and do what he was told and created to do. he is as tragic as the emo kid hating his parents cause his mom took away his DS and now all the my chemical romance songs make sense. man i mean he even cut himself to get the gods attention. if thats not emo i don't know what is.
@@poppyappletree1400 Exactly what I was thinking lol. I feel like Alex here collects WW2 memorabilia but ONLY German. Thinks Jan 6 was mostly peaceful. Celebrated overturning RvW even though it has no effect on him. List goes on. He probably continues to subscribe to Arch. And Jordan Peterson. And "Sargon."
@@poppyappletree1400 in what way? They seemed to hit the nail on the head. Lest you forget Lorgar tried to sell out the entirety of humanity to get assraped by demons for eternity. I cant think of a more frightening political view.
The thing about Monarchia was that it went far beyond mere humiliation. It was a demolition of every truth the legion had ever known, the obliteration of their very reality. It inflicted an unimaginable wound on the legion’s very soul.
Not only that, it was the fulfillment of a dream. A beautiful city, happy and healthy people, all united by and dedicated to the great project. It was a mini-picture of the world they were trying to usher into reality across the stars. They built it with their own hands. A city of song, light, and laughter, where the Emperor united all. It was what a citizen of the 41st millennium would have visualized as the very heaven the Emperor’s “inevitable victory” will usher in after all the aliens are dead. And the Emperor called it a failure, and glassed it…. That would reeeeeeeally mess with your head.
I have a theory that the reason the Emperor was so mad at Lorgar was that he realized that Lorgar had beaten him. The emperor might destroy a city or two, but his Imperium was going to be religious eventually, and Lorgar shaped it.
Emperor: Gaze upon my wonders and... what is this scrawl? Someone graffiti'ed my monument. Who would do such a thing? Wordbearers shift uneasily under the emperor's gaze. Emperor: LORGARRRRRRRRRR!!!! ;p
Yea the emperor specifically didn’t want to be worshipped because he knew just how powerful religion can be and how easy it is for a faith to take hold of ppl. I mean one legion basically shaped the imperial cult of 40k and now there’s basically no undoing it.
@@Tarumarugan And yet the emperor was proven wrong by Malcador, a simple priest of the last religion,Lorgar, The sister's of silence, the adeptus soritas and eventually even guilleman who began to question him when assisted in his ressurection by Eldar and mech c'tan tech. He ironically IS literally becoming a god or always was, and some can use his name directly with such faith that they use NO psyker or warp power at all to banish and kill demons. He was warmed that humans naturally need to believe in something, and if he was going to lead them into a new age then naturally they'd need to believe in him. He cast several of his sons into doubt like Horus and Magnus and so they gave into the ruinous powers as well.
thank you for being the first youtuber to make a video about lorgar/the word bearers that isn't just a childish hate-rant based on tired memes and deliberate misunderstanding. I genuinely appreciate it.
Lorgar was the most powerful Primarch, one whose talents where completely wasted by the Emperor. Imagine if he had been tutored on the real nature of the reality beyond the lie of the Imperial Truth by the Emperor and been used as a minister of propaganda.
Isn't that kind of the point of the entire Horus Heresy? That it would've been avoided if the Emperor had simply told his sons about Chaos and why he abandoned the Great Crusade.
Yup. If the Emperor had trusted him with his plan he might have gained an incredibly useful ally who would be totally devoted to it. Instead he lied. It's often like that with that sort of person - their first recourse is to lie, it's not even second nature to them, it's their first nature.
Yeah, if he was trained to be the atheist imperium version of Joseph Goebbels he would have absolutely made the imperium more cohesive and allow for greater expansion
Around 10:00 : this makes it sound like Lorgar needed something to worship, or that Lorgar actually worshipped them. Instead a more accurate description would be that Lorgar found the truth of how their universe worked. Lorgar doesn't worship the gods, more that he accepted them as en intrinsic part of the universe and knows which rituals gives what results. If Lorgar is dedicated to anything is giving humanity a future free from the stagnation of the Emperor (which would end in the same way the eldar empire ended). A future where humanity lives in symbiosis with the Warp.
@@awakeandwatching953 Not at all. See Lorgar doesn't actually "believe in" anything since Monarchia. Instead he follows the scientific method of gathering data and testing it. He is a philosopher and a theoretical physicist.
@@AlexanderForsmanI’m not really sure that’s consistent with him building temples and shrines to his new patrons, things which do not in and of themselves empower the Gods or earn their favour. This secular approach to Chaos can be found in Erebus, and even the iron warriors and night lords as a whole, but the Word Bearers are among the keenest to declare the Ruinous powers gods, and offer them symbols of devotion that are not required for their favoure
@@laurenbastin8849 Rituals and Worship are safety protocols for handling such volatile material as Neverborn. Lorgar and the Word Bearers know the Gods exist, as part of the Truth.
Having been in the military learning lessons unintended is absolutely a thing that happens. Lorgar's reaction to his censure is quite realistic. Tbf in the real world people generally don't go that far in rebelling against such abuses but people absolutely do react poorly to nonsense.
Obviously, this series is centered around the Horus Heresy itself, so speaking of what came after is beyond the scope of the project. But it is funny that, in the end, Lorgar got exactly what he wanted. Using doctrines established by Lorgar during his time of proselytizing the Imperial Truth, the Imperium in time deified the Emperor. The latter's wounding and consignment to the Golden Throne being seen as martyrdom, and the resulting wave of religious fervor eventually enshrined as the state religion of the Imperium. By the 41st millennium, the Imperium was everything Lorgar had always wanted. Endless legions of troops worshiping and killing in the name of the God Emperor.
I do wonder what a loyalist Word Bearer company might look like. Maybe ones that had never met with Lorgar and continued to operate as Imperial Heralds, or simply ones that did not accept the worship of Chaos...
well there’s a pretty good example in the form of the Anchorite, a Word Bearer who reverted back to worship of the Emperor during the battle of Calth and surrendered to Guilliman. At some point after this he was installed in a Contemptor Dreadnought and became a key part of the Ecclesiarchy once it was set up, held in complete secrecy by the organisation due to his former heretic status, and the fact his existence was living proof of the cult’s heretical implications. Other than that he mostly spent his time praying
I started a Word Bearers army because of this video! Randomly clicked, enthralled throughout and watched a few times. Did not think I would get into CSM. Fantastic video, Arbitor Ian!
9:35 you left out the coolest part, how the emperor reached out from half way across the milky way galaxy to made every word bearer kneel with his mind alone.
I’ve been watching your channel from its beginning and I have to say as someone who plays 40K but knows nothing of the lore you are absolutely the best at articulating how complicated it all is. You’re doing the Emperor’s work.
Great video, as always. I like how your shirt mixes their color schemes. The Word Bearers are definitely the pebble that starts the avalanche. One of the most loyal & devoted legions turned against the Imperium because the Emperor is heavy handed & bad at communicating.
How is he bad at communicating? Its not like he was sending mixed messages, it was literally “no religion, no worshipping anything - especially me”. And lorgar proceeded to do exactly that. Then cried and threw a tantrum when he got spanked by daddy for disobeying him.
Out of all of the Traitor legions, Lorgar is my guy and the WB are my Legion. The whole HH is on the Emperor. Truth and transparency is always the best way.
I love that you use Black Rainbows as your end song clip, I look forward to it on all your videos and your condensed informational style on the lore. luetin's great, if you have the time. Major Kill's good for a some cheeky fun, Baldemort's amazing for the imagined paths one can explore outside the cannon. You are Leutin if he didn't get lost in the lore but with that silky smooth British accent. But concise, to the point, with a a tinge of humor that's just the right amount. A cooked to perfection dish of information.
I LOVE how Adeptus Ridiculous covered Word Bearers YESTERDAY and how they've been on a Lorgar/WB kick lately... But Ian's WB episode just so happened to be the next in his Hersey Legions series regardless.
Very very cool! Any chance we can see Necromunda videos continued as they were amazing, really not much 1995 Necromunda content floating around RUclips
I kinda missed the detail that it was Word Bearers who first had chaplains in their ranks, and that this is the reason why chaplains nowadays rock the skull helmet (which also adds yet another layer to the hypocrite sandwich that is the 40k Imperium). each new video has provided me with awesome details like this, so thanks a lot for all your work!
I've read many books on the 40k, but the Word Bearers' story just seemed to stick with me. My personal favourite legion. They end being one of the most influential legions in the 40k universe.
The fates of both Lorgar and Angron show how little the Emperor either cared for or understood basic human psychology. In Lorgars case this directly sparked the fire that would later consume Horus and lead to the Heresy. A tragic tale indeed. Thanks for doing these, I wish I could like them more than once!
Fantastic video. I love that you are making this well detailed and concise with fantastic pacing. The pre-heresy information is fascinating because I know so little of the era. Looking forward to the next video. Keep up the good work.
I love this videos and think it would be great to see on the overall themes throughout the Horus Heresy - hubris seems to be a common one for the Primarchs!
The First Heretic was a great book! Also enjoyed Betrayer. What book covers Lorgar's attempted coup and subsequent exile? I'm not that far in the series yet and I'm at the point where I'm skipping some of them, but I want to make sure I read that one.
At long last, my chosen legion. I love to see them as a mix of First Crusades Franks, modern Born Agains, and French Huguenot Wars soldiers. I should go back to painting my legion now…
It's sad that instead of Big E taking the sons that needed his tutelage most like Curze, Lorgar, Magnus, Pertarabo~ I'll exclude motarion and Angron cause they have personal vendettas with him that is hard to put aside. Had Big E thought out how unstable they could become and so giving them abit more time to understand him as well as him understand them~ but truly he did see them more as tools than as sons. He played favorites to Horus, Dorn, and Lion. At Nikea he didn't notice the taint of chaos on Magnus? Fulgrim?, Lorgar? the fuck... At some points Big E is written to be this 400IQ master planner that can get almost nothing wrong. Then at other times he makes the most obvious and dumb mistakes, maybe because he is looking so much at the bigger picture he misses the small anthills- w/e the reason sometimes the Horus heresy is abit silly.
It's so ironic that it ended with a deidified Emperor. It's like the Word Bearers achieved a cultural victory, but at the same time they didn't because they changed their faith.
Bricky doing a first heretic and word bearers podcast following with Ian talking about the legion too. WE FEASTING GOOD THIS FEW DAYS UNDIVIDEND CHADS.
I like Logar's story along with the Word Bearers overall, but I don't like how the Imperial Truth has shifted since the HH novels. As far as I know, when the idea of the Imperial Truth was introduced into 40k sometime around late Rogue Trader or in early 2nd. Edition, the Imperial Truth was that mankind was destined to rule the galaxy. Humanity needed to exterminate all mutants and xenos, "psykers were to be evaluated and controlled" (Codex Imperialis page 38), and the Emperor was the divine being sent to enact this mission. He was venerated even by Space Marines (who developed cults of their own) before he was interred on the Golden Throne. After the Heresy, the Emperor was seen as a martyr and worship of him became absolute, with the Imperial Cult brought into a single orthodoxy under the Adeptus Ministorum. Anything deviating too far from the official cannon was purged, with only Space Marines and the Adeptus Mechanicus allowed to continue as they had. The change to making the Emperor wanting a secular society was something I think was a mistake. I like the idea that Logar came to realize the Emperor only wanted to replace the Chaos Gods as humanity's tyrant, but both Logar and the Emperor always believed in the Emperor's divinity and power. To me, it makes more sense that Logar was tricked by being shown a vision of the future in which humanity suffered under Imperial rule. Wanting to avoid this fate, Logar betrays the Emperor and convinces Horus of this future. Little did either Primarch know at the time, they would be the ones who caused the vision that they saw.
Lol if that isn’t the truth. It’s a good thing I’m too attached to the wizard trope (glory to the XV) or I’d still be deciding between 7 legions. There’s just too many interesting ones!
If that ain't true, idk what is. Took me a week to decide between iron Warriors, word bearers and alpha legion. And that's as my second heresy legion army lmao
Word Bearers are wizzards too! Terribly trained, barely-in-control wizzards who've just been given a load of new toys and are CONVINCED they know what to do with them!
Something tells me that you are subs to Adeptus Ridiculous because they had put out 3 Word Bearers video and now you put out this and Im here for it :)
My favourite quote from the Heresy comes when a Word Bearer says to an Ultramarine on Calth “you burned our world, now we’ve come to return the favour”.
You think of lorgar planned the whole worshipping the emperor differently and spread his ideas amongst the lower dregs of imperial society. You'd think he'd be able to establish himself in a place where such belief can be if not accepted then at least tolerated.
@@mide2476 I wouldn't say it's insidious. I'm sure he'd find it as a noble calling. Like how the church would send missionaries to distant places. Pretty sure there would still be enough suffering in the imperium to have people believe that there's a sky daddy up there who loves and protects them.
I think with lorgar he definitely wanted an outlet for his faithful feelings, but he also did not want to accept that he was wrong in his belief that religious faith is correct overall. As doing so would leave him with a lack of existential meaning. I also kind of feel like lorgar joined chaos out of arrogance as well, becuase if the emperor isnt a god then lorgar isn't an immortal demigod, hes just the biologically engineered son of a very impressive man. And So i think what attracted lorgar to chaos is they allowed him to retain his sense of self worth, becuase now hes the archpriest of the primordial truth.
I feel like the Emperor didn't have a lot of options with Logar as his beliefs go against the Imperial Truth. Logar believed that the best way to save humanity was through faith and nothing was going to sway him from that. His fall was almost inevitable.
In another timeline if the emperor would have permitted Lorgar to be the zealot he was destined to be he would have probably been the founder of the black templars instead of Sigismund. The wordbearers would have been probably one of the strongest arms of the imperium but alas, Erebus f&cked it up royally.
Cracking video as always, even if it is about the biggest gang of d-bags ever to wear power armour! FYI, if Colchis is meant to be pronounced like the historical/mythical place on the Georgian Black Sea, I think it's pronounced "Colkis"?
I love Space Marine Chaplains but hate those choir boy fiddling Word Bearers, so I find myself uncomfortable that the concept for the Chaplain came from them
The imperial truth could never work in a setting where souls are real and there is an afterlife full of sentient timeless entities that most human cultures, both on earth and after, worshipped, and that worshipped had results.
True. The metaphysics of the 40k fictional setting has Gods, unlike real life. So what the Emperor wanted would work in real life, but destined to fail in 40k because yes, gremlins are real in 40k and hell exists.
Welllll. A theme in 40k is a species or phenomena being seen as GODS when it's in fact just a very powerful or weird entity. The C'tan and the Old Ones are just powerful species. The 'chaos gods' are natural products of a world where psychic energy goes to inhabit a different dimension. They didn't create the world, they aren't omnipotent, they don't set laws for mortals or have a vested interest in caring for them, they don't really care what happens when you die, they're just beings that are very powerful and very weird. Even the 'God-Emperor' is basically just a guy who took in so much warp power as a gamble to save humanity that he lost his own humanity in the process and now exists as a floaty cosmic force. What they call souls are just psychic energy, a form of energy that is (presumably) scientifically measurable. It wasn't gifted to humans by the divine, the 40k universe wasn't created by an intelligent creator, etc. So, kinda depends on what the definition of 'godhood' is - powerful stuff we don't understand or benevolent divinity? For the Interex, they were aware that the warp and chaos are dangerous natural forces and should be treated as such and generally managed to have an adult relationship to Chaos, much like we do with electricity. They treated the warp as a natural force and the aliens that live in it as dangerous but natural phenomena. I do think that the Imperial Truth might have stood a better chance at succeding if they'd framed it like that though and not kept it a secret, but how many more enterprising assholes would have tried to use the warp for their own benefit if they knew what it was and thought of it as science???
@@ArbitorIan Bile, Ahriman, hell even Magnus... More than all that, though, we know the Emperor was on a time crunch. I think he was hoping he could hold the Imperium together with the Imperial Truth long enough to finish the Web-way and start weaning humanity off their need of using the Warp. Just, you know, Chaos did not let him have that time. It is funny really, the Chaos Gods' primary goal of the Horus Heresy was fulfilled at the start with one conversation between Tzeentch and Magnus. I get the distinct impression everything else was just a bonus.
@@ArbitorIan thanks for your reply, I love this topic in 40k and one of the best parts of this hobby is getting to debate these topics with friends and strangers alike. I personally like asking veteran hobbyists why the word bearers never manifested miracles of the emperor?
I know most of us say it was all Horus'/Lorgar's fault, but in reality Big-E was an absolutely terrible father to just about all the primarchs. You can only treat someone like a tool for so long before they turn on you, and it doesn't help that he also lied to them about so much and exposed them to threats they weren't even aware of. While the primarchs did "choose" what they were, and there's no justification for most of it, it really was Big-E's fault that a lot of crap happened - not just the heresy. But don't worry, as Big-E himself said "The difference is I know I am right". Uria must be laughing somewhere....
@@Misadventures_85 Yuppers. So too is Uriah, of course. Big-E's closing argument of "I know I am right" was and still is the most amazing thing he's ever said in my book. It also gives us an extreme example of how Emps thinks, sees things, and justifies what he does - no matter how obviously hypocritical he is most of the time.
No. Until recently he was within his tower in prayer, recent lore has said he has rallied countless WB warbands and is on campaign again. But nothing direct.
It's a bug in RUclips - the video is unlisted for Patreons only until it goes live, but sometimes it appears in playlists anyway. Woop, you get early access I guess!
This story rings heavily of a leader's need to listen and adapt. In a lot of ways the Emporer pushed Lorgar to this by being a zealot himself. Still, I've never been a huge fan of the word bearers. In a lot of ways I think they are one of the most repugnant chapters since their focus is not just on compliance, but destruction of any culture they deem a threat.
I think all the legions are awful, but the Word Bearers make excellent villains. If I'm going to do villainous chaos marines, it's gotta be the scarlet boys.
Its hard to have sympathy for someone who doesnt not respect consent or bodily autonomy to such a degree that they want all humanity to be violated in every conceivable way by the denizens of the warp. Theres disagreeing with your parent, and there's trying to destroy reality.
Emperor: "The Imperial Heralds are being to religious, how should I fix it?"
Horus: "Maybe yo-"
Emperor: "Destroy their favorite city, that will make them understand and will not backfire in anyway"
Malcador: "Hey, Bro Emperor, These Word Bearers sure do seem pissed that the Ultramarines bombed their city. Maybe we should go easy on them when we meet?"
Emperor: "Naa, let me just get them all to kneel in the ashes for a bit. Roboute, you good to watch while I make your brother ashamed?"
Guiliman: *STARES IN TACITURN*
Emperor: "It's settled then! Good Talk everyone."
Its behaviours like the Big-E did to Lorgar and Angry Ron that make me appreciate Bruva Alphabusa's latest project so much. Big-D is Emps in the 20th century, and he is a wack-o.
To be fair, little i know the lore, a lot sources say the Emperor talked with Lorgar many times before getting drastic
He was warned multiple times
The emperor did warn him several times before tho
You know, other than the Salamanders, the WB were one of the most humane and sympathetic legions before Lorgar's Pilgrimage at least. They genuinely left the planets they conquered better than they were before the Imperium.
Admittedly after burning down any temples, libraries, people, ideals, and monuments that disagreed with them, but afterwards they started building and indoctrinating. Remember the Ashen Circle was founded when they were loyalist.
Just casually forgets the ultramarines
Counterpoint: all of those planets were made worse by erebus being there
@@axelNodvon2047 And the Imperial Fists, too.
I mean statistically weren’t the Nightlords ironically one of the least lethal to a planets population?
Lorgar is just tragic, really. A case example of someone with their heart in the right place who in the end feels pushed to do terrible acts. I think Malcador mused once that of all the Primarchs to betray the Imperium, none were so painful to learn of, nor so avoidable, as Lorgar. And for all the evil he ends up doing in the name of his faith, I think the most telling is when he is speaking to Guilleman at the onset of the Battle of Calth. When Guilleman begs Lorgar to call off the attack, pleading with him, "In the name of our father!" To which Lorgar simply, quietly replied. "I, am an orphan."
What a sad man.
he was throwing a tantrum cause "daddy did not love me back". all the other primarchs (except curze) managed to create empires. following their natural to lead and build. but lorgar? willingly became a slave. Lorgar went "notice me senpai" and got angry when the emperor told him to get his shit together and do what he was told and created to do.
he is as tragic as the emo kid hating his parents cause his mom took away his DS and now all the my chemical romance songs make sense. man i mean he even cut himself to get the gods attention. if thats not emo i don't know what is.
@@AlexHalt100 Tell me you have alarming political views without telling me you have alarming political views
@@poppyappletree1400 Exactly what I was thinking lol. I feel like Alex here collects WW2 memorabilia but ONLY German. Thinks Jan 6 was mostly peaceful. Celebrated overturning RvW even though it has no effect on him. List goes on. He probably continues to subscribe to Arch. And Jordan Peterson. And "Sargon."
@@poppyappletree1400 in what way? They seemed to hit the nail on the head. Lest you forget Lorgar tried to sell out the entirety of humanity to get assraped by demons for eternity. I cant think of a more frightening political view.
@@AlexHalt100 Lorgar conquered his world. Angron was the only one who failed.
The thing about Monarchia was that it went far beyond mere humiliation. It was a demolition of every truth the legion had ever known, the obliteration of their very reality. It inflicted an unimaginable wound on the legion’s very soul.
Not only that, it was the fulfillment of a dream. A beautiful city, happy and healthy people, all united by and dedicated to the great project. It was a mini-picture of the world they were trying to usher into reality across the stars.
They built it with their own hands. A city of song, light, and laughter, where the Emperor united all. It was what a citizen of the 41st millennium would have visualized as the very heaven the Emperor’s “inevitable victory” will usher in after all the aliens are dead.
And the Emperor called it a failure, and glassed it….
That would reeeeeeeally mess with your head.
I have a theory that the reason the Emperor was so mad at Lorgar was that he realized that Lorgar had beaten him. The emperor might destroy a city or two, but his Imperium was going to be religious eventually, and Lorgar shaped it.
Emperor: Gaze upon my wonders and... what is this scrawl? Someone graffiti'ed my monument. Who would do such a thing?
Wordbearers shift uneasily under the emperor's gaze.
Emperor: LORGARRRRRRRRRR!!!! ;p
He's just angry that his possession wasn't doing what he wanted it to do
That's a good point
Yea the emperor specifically didn’t want to be worshipped because he knew just how powerful religion can be and how easy it is for a faith to take hold of ppl. I mean one legion basically shaped the imperial cult of 40k and now there’s basically no undoing it.
@@Tarumarugan And yet the emperor was proven wrong by Malcador, a simple priest of the last religion,Lorgar, The sister's of silence, the adeptus soritas and eventually even guilleman who began to question him when assisted in his ressurection by Eldar and mech c'tan tech.
He ironically IS literally becoming a god or always was, and some can use his name directly with such faith that they use NO psyker or warp power at all to banish and kill demons. He was warmed that humans naturally need to believe in something, and if he was going to lead them into a new age then naturally they'd need to believe in him. He cast several of his sons into doubt like Horus and Magnus and so they gave into the ruinous powers as well.
thank you for being the first youtuber to make a video about lorgar/the word bearers that isn't just a childish hate-rant based on tired memes and deliberate misunderstanding. I genuinely appreciate it.
Why are you insulting Majorkill (jk)
Lorgar was the most powerful Primarch, one whose talents where completely wasted by the Emperor. Imagine if he had been tutored on the real nature of the reality beyond the lie of the Imperial Truth by the Emperor and been used as a minister of propaganda.
Right?
Isn't that kind of the point of the entire Horus Heresy? That it would've been avoided if the Emperor had simply told his sons about Chaos and why he abandoned the Great Crusade.
Yup. If the Emperor had trusted him with his plan he might have gained an incredibly useful ally who would be totally devoted to it. Instead he lied. It's often like that with that sort of person - their first recourse is to lie, it's not even second nature to them, it's their first nature.
Yeah, if he was trained to be the atheist imperium version of Joseph Goebbels he would have absolutely made the imperium more cohesive and allow for greater expansion
I think everyone can agree that Big E was a shit dad.
Around 10:00 : this makes it sound like Lorgar needed something to worship, or that Lorgar actually worshipped them.
Instead a more accurate description would be that Lorgar found the truth of how their universe worked. Lorgar doesn't worship the gods, more that he accepted them as en intrinsic part of the universe and knows which rituals gives what results.
If Lorgar is dedicated to anything is giving humanity a future free from the stagnation of the Emperor (which would end in the same way the eldar empire ended). A future where humanity lives in symbiosis with the Warp.
lorgar is a fairly accurate depiction of what people like Allister Crowley and the ancient mystery traditions (and modern secret societies) believed
@@awakeandwatching953 Not at all. See Lorgar doesn't actually "believe in" anything since Monarchia. Instead he follows the scientific method of gathering data and testing it.
He is a philosopher and a theoretical physicist.
@@AlexanderForsmanI’m not really sure that’s consistent with him building temples and shrines to his new patrons, things which do not in and of themselves empower the Gods or earn their favour. This secular approach to Chaos can be found in Erebus, and even the iron warriors and night lords as a whole, but the Word Bearers are among the keenest to declare the Ruinous powers gods, and offer them symbols of devotion that are not required for their favoure
@@laurenbastin8849 Rituals and Worship are safety protocols for handling such volatile material as Neverborn. Lorgar and the Word Bearers know the Gods exist, as part of the Truth.
Having been in the military learning lessons unintended is absolutely a thing that happens. Lorgar's reaction to his censure is quite realistic. Tbf in the real world people generally don't go that far in rebelling against such abuses but people absolutely do react poorly to nonsense.
Obviously, this series is centered around the Horus Heresy itself, so speaking of what came after is beyond the scope of the project. But it is funny that, in the end, Lorgar got exactly what he wanted. Using doctrines established by Lorgar during his time of proselytizing the Imperial Truth, the Imperium in time deified the Emperor. The latter's wounding and consignment to the Golden Throne being seen as martyrdom, and the resulting wave of religious fervor eventually enshrined as the state religion of the Imperium.
By the 41st millennium, the Imperium was everything Lorgar had always wanted. Endless legions of troops worshiping and killing in the name of the God Emperor.
The running theme of Lorgar getting manipulated by absolutely everyone in the 40k universe
Lorgar is currently relocating resources to a Nigerian Prince who sent him an email.
I do wonder what a loyalist Word Bearer company might look like. Maybe ones that had never met with Lorgar and continued to operate as Imperial Heralds, or simply ones that did not accept the worship of Chaos...
Black templars ?
well there’s a pretty good example in the form of the Anchorite, a Word Bearer who reverted back to worship of the Emperor during the battle of Calth and surrendered to Guilliman. At some point after this he was installed in a Contemptor Dreadnought and became a key part of the Ecclesiarchy once it was set up, held in complete secrecy by the organisation due to his former heretic status, and the fact his existence was living proof of the cult’s heretical implications. Other than that he mostly spent his time praying
Still my favourite Legion, ultimately the emperor was to blame for the heresy! Great video as always!
Ultimately, the Primarchs are a bunch of manchildren and the Emperors mistake was expecting them to simply to their job.
Last time I was this early the techno barbarians were still a thing
In like Rogue Trader
I started a Word Bearers army because of this video! Randomly clicked, enthralled throughout and watched a few times. Did not think I would get into CSM. Fantastic video, Arbitor Ian!
They have one of the most stylish esthetics.
9:35 you left out the coolest part, how the emperor reached out from half way across the milky way galaxy to made every word bearer kneel with his mind alone.
Emperor: “Stop worshipping me as a god!”
Also the Emperor: (uses Galaxy-spanning psychic powers for petty bullshit)
I think he was physically present, but he still could do it 😂
I’ve been watching your channel from its beginning and I have to say as someone who plays 40K but knows nothing of the lore you are absolutely the best at articulating how complicated it all is. You’re doing the Emperor’s work.
Great video, as always. I like how your shirt mixes their color schemes.
The Word Bearers are definitely the pebble that starts the avalanche. One of the most loyal & devoted legions turned against the Imperium because the Emperor is heavy handed & bad at communicating.
How is he bad at communicating? Its not like he was sending mixed messages, it was literally “no religion, no worshipping anything - especially me”. And lorgar proceeded to do exactly that. Then cried and threw a tantrum when he got spanked by daddy for disobeying him.
Out of all of the Traitor legions, Lorgar is my guy and the WB are my Legion. The whole HH is on the Emperor. Truth and transparency is always the best way.
Lorgar was right
Lorgar sold humanity out because he needed someone to blame
I love that you use Black Rainbows as your end song clip, I look forward to it on all your videos and your condensed informational style on the lore. luetin's great, if you have the time. Major Kill's good for a some cheeky fun, Baldemort's amazing for the imagined paths one can explore outside the cannon. You are Leutin if he didn't get lost in the lore but with that silky smooth British accent. But concise, to the point, with a a tinge of humor that's just the right amount. A cooked to perfection dish of information.
I LOVE how Adeptus Ridiculous covered Word Bearers YESTERDAY and how they've been on a Lorgar/WB kick lately... But Ian's WB episode just so happened to be the next in his Hersey Legions series regardless.
Also Ian doesnt fuck up like Bricky does with the lore
@@Eddieo9999 remember their motto, entertainment over accuracy
Very very cool!
Any chance we can see Necromunda videos continued as they were amazing, really not much 1995 Necromunda content floating around RUclips
You lot need to listen to the intro music with earphones and bass turned up! *chef’s kiss*
I kinda missed the detail that it was Word Bearers who first had chaplains in their ranks, and that this is the reason why chaplains nowadays rock the skull helmet (which also adds yet another layer to the hypocrite sandwich that is the 40k Imperium). each new video has provided me with awesome details like this, so thanks a lot for all your work!
Hello I'm Erebus, first chaplain of the Word Bears *guitar rift and pan out to a galaxy in flames* and welcome to Jack Ass!
I've read many books on the 40k, but the Word Bearers' story just seemed to stick with me. My personal favourite legion. They end being one of the most influential legions in the 40k universe.
Thanks for the video. Really cool, unique legion. Using faith as a weapon.
"This is a lore video"
Actually, I think you'll find this is a Lorgar video 🧐
The fates of both Lorgar and Angron show how little the Emperor either cared for or understood basic human psychology. In Lorgars case this directly sparked the fire that would later consume Horus and lead to the Heresy. A tragic tale indeed.
Thanks for doing these, I wish I could like them more than once!
Fantastic video. I love that you are making this well detailed and concise with fantastic pacing. The pre-heresy information is fascinating because I know so little of the era. Looking forward to the next video. Keep up the good work.
Great video, might be your best Heresy 101 video yet. It's hard to encapsulate Lorgar's role effectively, but you've done it.
I love this videos and think it would be great to see on the overall themes throughout the Horus Heresy - hubris seems to be a common one for the Primarchs!
The First Heretic was a great book! Also enjoyed Betrayer. What book covers Lorgar's attempted coup and subsequent exile? I'm not that far in the series yet and I'm at the point where I'm skipping some of them, but I want to make sure I read that one.
the coup is in the novel Slaves to Darkness
Finally the good guys
At long last, my chosen legion.
I love to see them as a mix of First Crusades Franks, modern Born Agains, and French Huguenot Wars soldiers.
I should go back to painting my legion now…
I've been waiting for this episode since you started making these videos! The Word Bearers are my favorite Legion! Tragic evil at its finest.
It's sad that instead of Big E taking the sons that needed his tutelage most like Curze, Lorgar, Magnus, Pertarabo~ I'll exclude motarion and Angron cause they have personal vendettas with him that is hard to put aside. Had Big E thought out how unstable they could become and so giving them abit more time to understand him as well as him understand them~ but truly he did see them more as tools than as sons. He played favorites to Horus, Dorn, and Lion. At Nikea he didn't notice the taint of chaos on Magnus? Fulgrim?, Lorgar? the fuck...
At some points Big E is written to be this 400IQ master planner that can get almost nothing wrong. Then at other times he makes the most obvious and dumb mistakes, maybe because he is looking so much at the bigger picture he misses the small anthills- w/e the reason sometimes the Horus heresy is abit silly.
Another great episode. Really enjoying this series.
It's so ironic that it ended with a deidified Emperor. It's like the Word Bearers achieved a cultural victory, but at the same time they didn't because they changed their faith.
Funny thing is that the empire now uses Logar’s original writing in their worship of the emperor. 😂😂
Bricky doing a first heretic and word bearers podcast following with Ian talking about the legion too. WE FEASTING GOOD THIS FEW DAYS UNDIVIDEND CHADS.
Loving these, regular uploads and so much lovely lore.
The more I watch these videos, the more I think the Emperor's fear of Chaos is the ultimate reason the Heresy of the Primarchs happened..
Today is a greyish day.. Lorgar only wanted to the universe to know how good of a father Big E was . He did nothing wrong but got neglected :(
Great Stuff
I like Logar's story along with the Word Bearers overall, but I don't like how the Imperial Truth has shifted since the HH novels. As far as I know, when the idea of the Imperial Truth was introduced into 40k sometime around late Rogue Trader or in early 2nd. Edition, the Imperial Truth was that mankind was destined to rule the galaxy. Humanity needed to exterminate all mutants and xenos, "psykers were to be evaluated and controlled" (Codex Imperialis page 38), and the Emperor was the divine being sent to enact this mission.
He was venerated even by Space Marines (who developed cults of their own) before he was interred on the Golden Throne. After the Heresy, the Emperor was seen as a martyr and worship of him became absolute, with the Imperial Cult brought into a single orthodoxy under the Adeptus Ministorum. Anything deviating too far from the official cannon was purged, with only Space Marines and the Adeptus Mechanicus allowed to continue as they had.
The change to making the Emperor wanting a secular society was something I think was a mistake. I like the idea that Logar came to realize the Emperor only wanted to replace the Chaos Gods as humanity's tyrant, but both Logar and the Emperor always believed in the Emperor's divinity and power. To me, it makes more sense that Logar was tricked by being shown a vision of the future in which humanity suffered under Imperial rule. Wanting to avoid this fate, Logar betrays the Emperor and convinces Horus of this future. Little did either Primarch know at the time, they would be the ones who caused the vision that they saw.
Finally the sons of Lorgar will have their share! Finally, we will have our vengeance!
Warp yeah, new video baby!
Loving these videos you are making! Would be really cool eventually if you do these kind of videos but also for each Primarch.
finally! i have been longing for this vid! thanks Ian! glory to the Urizen!
Thank you .
🐺
This isn't helping me pick a Legion, Ian! Too much engaging stuff to consider.
Lol if that isn’t the truth. It’s a good thing I’m too attached to the wizard trope (glory to the XV) or I’d still be deciding between 7 legions. There’s just too many interesting ones!
If that ain't true, idk what is. Took me a week to decide between iron Warriors, word bearers and alpha legion. And that's as my second heresy legion army lmao
Word Bearers are wizzards too! Terribly trained, barely-in-control wizzards who've just been given a load of new toys and are CONVINCED they know what to do with them!
@@ArbitorIan Ian, are you trying to get me to start a SECOND wizard army? That would indict me as having less restraint than a son of Magnus.
Maybe think of them as Space Warlocks instead!
YES! My Legion!
Something tells me that you are subs to Adeptus Ridiculous because they had put out 3 Word Bearers video and now you put out this and Im here for it :)
Can't wait for salamanders and raven guard 💚🖤
Another informative vid, good stuff 👍
My favourite quote from the Heresy comes when a Word Bearer says to an Ultramarine on Calth “you burned our world, now we’ve come to return the favour”.
Gotta say I was really surprised to learnthat thier story begins in the unification wars on terra.
You think of lorgar planned the whole worshipping the emperor differently and spread his ideas amongst the lower dregs of imperial society. You'd think he'd be able to establish himself in a place where such belief can be if not accepted then at least tolerated.
Lorgar is too prideful to do something in that insidious manner at that time.
@@mide2476 I wouldn't say it's insidious. I'm sure he'd find it as a noble calling. Like how the church would send missionaries to distant places. Pretty sure there would still be enough suffering in the imperium to have people believe that there's a sky daddy up there who loves and protects them.
Please do a lore video on the Sigilite!
YES! Finally, my favorite legion!
I think with lorgar he definitely wanted an outlet for his faithful feelings, but he also did not want to accept that he was wrong in his belief that religious faith is correct overall. As doing so would leave him with a lack of existential meaning.
I also kind of feel like lorgar joined chaos out of arrogance as well, becuase if the emperor isnt a god then lorgar isn't an immortal demigod, hes just the biologically engineered son of a very impressive man. And So i think what attracted lorgar to chaos is they allowed him to retain his sense of self worth, becuase now hes the archpriest of the primordial truth.
This video does mention similar ideas: ruclips.net/video/kTzkHZE2sT4/видео.html.
He kept believing that the emperor was a god, just not one who is worthy of worship
Love your vídeos, please make more
I feel like the Emperor didn't have a lot of options with Logar as his beliefs go against the Imperial Truth. Logar believed that the best way to save humanity was through faith and nothing was going to sway him from that. His fall was almost inevitable.
I feel like Lorgar would've at least fallen later if his legion weren't so slow at compliance.
A video about the Word Bearers and the Heresy and not one word of Erebus, who essentially orchestrated the whole thing. That felt a bit weird to me.
In another timeline if the emperor would have permitted Lorgar to be the zealot he was destined to be he would have probably been the founder of the black templars instead of Sigismund. The wordbearers would have been probably one of the strongest arms of the imperium but alas, Erebus f&cked it up royally.
Thanks for the video.
Looking forward to the Raven Guard video! I play then in 40k but I always found their lore a bit bland, so maybe I can get a new perspective on it.
"you've become the very thing you swore to destroy"
Cracking video as always, even if it is about the biggest gang of d-bags ever to wear power armour!
FYI, if Colchis is meant to be pronounced like the historical/mythical place on the Georgian Black Sea, I think it's pronounced "Colkis"?
Knowing GW's naming traditions I'd expect it to be pronounced more like the first half of the English town Colchester
really love these videos 😄
I love Space Marine Chaplains but hate those choir boy fiddling Word Bearers, so I find myself uncomfortable that the concept for the Chaplain came from them
The imperial truth could never work in a setting where souls are real and there is an afterlife full of sentient timeless entities that most human cultures, both on earth and after, worshipped, and that worshipped had results.
True.
The metaphysics of the 40k fictional setting has Gods, unlike real life.
So what the Emperor wanted would work in real life, but destined to fail in 40k because yes, gremlins are real in 40k and hell exists.
Welllll. A theme in 40k is a species or phenomena being seen as GODS when it's in fact just a very powerful or weird entity.
The C'tan and the Old Ones are just powerful species. The 'chaos gods' are natural products of a world where psychic energy goes to inhabit a different dimension. They didn't create the world, they aren't omnipotent, they don't set laws for mortals or have a vested interest in caring for them, they don't really care what happens when you die, they're just beings that are very powerful and very weird. Even the 'God-Emperor' is basically just a guy who took in so much warp power as a gamble to save humanity that he lost his own humanity in the process and now exists as a floaty cosmic force.
What they call souls are just psychic energy, a form of energy that is (presumably) scientifically measurable. It wasn't gifted to humans by the divine, the 40k universe wasn't created by an intelligent creator, etc.
So, kinda depends on what the definition of 'godhood' is - powerful stuff we don't understand or benevolent divinity?
For the Interex, they were aware that the warp and chaos are dangerous natural forces and should be treated as such and generally managed to have an adult relationship to Chaos, much like we do with electricity. They treated the warp as a natural force and the aliens that live in it as dangerous but natural phenomena.
I do think that the Imperial Truth might have stood a better chance at succeding if they'd framed it like that though and not kept it a secret, but how many more enterprising assholes would have tried to use the warp for their own benefit if they knew what it was and thought of it as science???
@@ArbitorIan Bile, Ahriman, hell even Magnus... More than all that, though, we know the Emperor was on a time crunch. I think he was hoping he could hold the Imperium together with the Imperial Truth long enough to finish the Web-way and start weaning humanity off their need of using the Warp.
Just, you know, Chaos did not let him have that time. It is funny really, the Chaos Gods' primary goal of the Horus Heresy was fulfilled at the start with one conversation between Tzeentch and Magnus. I get the distinct impression everything else was just a bonus.
@@ArbitorIan thanks for your reply, I love this topic in 40k and one of the best parts of this hobby is getting to debate these topics with friends and strangers alike. I personally like asking veteran hobbyists why the word bearers never manifested miracles of the emperor?
I’ve always seen the dark gods as much more preferable to the emperor, Lorgar is a winner in my eyes.
The Word Bearers won. It’s the deepest irony of 40K.
What were the other legions created with a specific purpose in mind? All I can think of is the War hounds
Logar did everything wrong
Who is Logar?
The next one is going to be lit 🔥
When you think about it Logar won the Herecy
Tragically ironic how it ended up wasn't it lol.
Revenging will never not sound like a fake word lol.
I know most of us say it was all Horus'/Lorgar's fault, but in reality Big-E was an absolutely terrible father to just about all the primarchs. You can only treat someone like a tool for so long before they turn on you, and it doesn't help that he also lied to them about so much and exposed them to threats they weren't even aware of. While the primarchs did "choose" what they were, and there's no justification for most of it, it really was Big-E's fault that a lot of crap happened - not just the heresy. But don't worry, as Big-E himself said "The difference is I know I am right". Uria must be laughing somewhere....
It was all Erebus fault. F
.. Erebus...
is the phrase "The difference is I know I am right" from the short story "The Last Church"? it sounds familiar
@@Misadventures_85 Yuppers. So too is Uriah, of course. Big-E's closing argument of "I know I am right" was and still is the most amazing thing he's ever said in my book. It also gives us an extreme example of how Emps thinks, sees things, and justifies what he does - no matter how obviously hypocritical he is most of the time.
it's such a good line. I felt chills when I heard it
Which books should I read for this story?
I rate this video 5/5 wet leopards
Second maybe third coolest traitor legion…
Do a carcharadons video and a tyberos video pls
Love it is Logar seen in 40k at all?
No.
Until recently he was within his tower in prayer, recent lore has said he has rallied countless WB warbands and is on campaign again.
But nothing direct.
@@theemperorschosen7607 He was hiding from Corax 🥲
@@poppyappletree1400
Yeah
Praying for salvation from angry bird
Did Lorgar become a daemon prince? Where is he?
Hopefully Lorgar gets eaten by a Crow or something, idk.
Hi sorry maybe a dumb question but is this video meant to be unlisted? I only found it in the playlist it didnt appear under uploads.
It's a bug in RUclips - the video is unlisted for Patreons only until it goes live, but sometimes it appears in playlists anyway. Woop, you get early access I guess!
@@ArbitorIanI was wondering why we were getting them early
This story rings heavily of a leader's need to listen and adapt. In a lot of ways the Emporer pushed Lorgar to this by being a zealot himself.
Still, I've never been a huge fan of the word bearers. In a lot of ways I think they are one of the most repugnant chapters since their focus is not just on compliance, but destruction of any culture they deem a threat.
I think all the legions are awful, but the Word Bearers make excellent villains. If I'm going to do villainous chaos marines, it's gotta be the scarlet boys.
HERESY! YOU BETRAYER!
I've maintained since the 30k announcement that I'm making a Word Bearers army... because everyone hates the Word Bearers.
Word Bearers.
Lorgar looked most like the emperor.
Its hard to have sympathy for someone who doesnt not respect consent or bodily autonomy to such a degree that they want all humanity to be violated in every conceivable way by the denizens of the warp. Theres disagreeing with your parent, and there's trying to destroy reality.
Lorgar saw it as accepting the terrible truth rather than believing the comfortable lie. But yeah, he's a massive arsehole.
should have order 66´d them right there
Logar was right.
✌️💚