Warhammer 40K's angriest big boy is back and he's about to fight you

Warhammer 40,000 is not a particularly subtle setting. This is a galaxy where the human empire is crashing huge church tanks in the middle of a mass battle, and where a guy can go from pretty OK to a demon lord that casually explodes out of his face in a heartbeat. Farmerder Rote Engel, takes these non-sequiturs to a whole other level.

The guy basically has two goals in life: be crazy and kick ass, and he was very, very crazy at that point because he’s been at it for 10,000 years. Now he’s returning to the scene in a big way alongside his World Eaters clan the Chaos Space Marines, and he certainly is looks very scary and impressive but what is he up to and why is he suddenly back and more violent than ever?

An oh-oh origin

Angron is one of the 20 Sons of the Emperor of Mankind. Way back before the year 30,000, the Emperor created 20 perfect boys called Primarchs to help him lead a great crusade to unite humanity. The extradimensional forces of Chaos, fearing the Emperor, decided to throw a wrench into the works and scatter his boys across the galaxy on a variety of different planets, most of which were pretty horrible.

Angron grew up on Nuceria, a high-tech world that enjoyed gladiatorial combat. Angron could not befriend the planet’s leaders; He was one of the Gladiators and they put a powerful piece of technology into his head called Butcher’s Nails. Angron was a sensitive, caring protector…but the Butcher’s Nails defied his better nature and turned him into a killing machine.

Warhammer 40,000: Angron, Primarch of the World Eater's new model depicting a massive red demon clad in the remains of Space Marine armor, wielding a ferocious sword and evil chain-axe with large wings in the air. — A new Angron model accompanies the next book in the Arks of Omen series.

Eventually Angron managed to rally his fellow gladiators to rise up against their cruel masters. Then the Emperor appeared. The Emperor gave Angron the selling point (join me and your brothers, unite the galaxy, etc.) and Angron told him to step on the rocks, intent on dying in his rebellion. The Emperor chased Angron out of there, refusing to waste one of his sons’ superb genetic material on what he saw as a failed restart Spartacus.

The Emperor gave Angron his own chapter of Space Marines, the World Eaters, built from Angron’s gene seed – originally, in a sense, his own cloned sons. Angron never forgave his father, and he continued to repeat the cycle of abuse, injecting the Butcher’s Nails into each of the World Eaters. When Horus, another Primarch, launched the Horus Heresy to overthrow the Emperor, Angron boarded this train directly and drove it to Daemon Station.

explained Angron

The Horus Heresy ultimately failed, leaving the Emperor a broken corpse on the Golden Throne and the Empire irretrievably destroyed. But there was no peace. Angron maintained the strategy of repeatedly ramming his face – or the faces of the World Eaters – into the target. It’s not the most sophisticated strategy, but it has earned Angron the favor of Khorne.

Khorne is one of the four Chaos Gods, and if you’re wondering what his selling point is, “BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD, SKULL FOR THE SKULL THRONE!” Khorne loves blood, war, murder, and carnage. Angron and Khorne are a pair made in heaven, and Khorne elevated Angron to a terrible demon primarch.

Warhammer 40,000: Models of the World Eaters Space Marines, heavily armored figures wearing red armor with skulls.

In the current timeline, set in the 41st Millennium, the Empire of Man enjoys a nice respite after a bunch of demon-hunting Space Marines managed to banish Angron back to the Chaos Realm of the Warp. But with the Arks of Omen event, Angron is back and he’s stronger than ever. He has a massive chain ax in one hand. His offhand? He used an iron bar to smite a demon of excess and sin, and after striking long enough, the demon and iron bar fused into a sword. It’s both hellish metal and very good – in short, classic Warhammer 40K.

In the Arks of Omen event, Abaddon the Raider – Horus’ lackey and Warmaster of all Chaos-corrupted Space Marine Chapters – launches another crusade across the stars with the Balefleet ships, accompanied by a Chaos demigod known as Vashtorr the Arkifane. As Abaddon and Vashtorr work together to overthrow the Emperor (who still sits on that throne 10,000 years later), Angron is just kind of causing trouble. He is stronger than ever; If you banish him, he will return in eight weeks, eight days and eight hours. (That’s a total of nine weeks, I’d guess, but Chaos beings love to get involved in the drama.)

Angron is a compelling character because, despite all the killing and bleeding, he started out as a terrified little kid on an alien world, forced to fight for his life. Which, by the way, is the origin story of most Space Marines, Chaos tainted or not. When salvation finally came for Angron, she wasn’t in the form of a loving, noble primarch like Roboute Guilliman. It was in the form of a cruel, abusive father who despised the slaves who were his friends, his family. The Butcher’s Nails still haunt him even after he has been transformed into a powerful, brutal Daemon Primarch; He has transcended his physical form, but the psychological effects of the nails are so strong that they are still ingrained in his mind.

The Coming World Eaters Army Codex and Novel Angron: The Red Angel will probably shed more light on Angron and his boys, but one thing’s for sure: they’re back, they’re crazy, and they want to turn your skull into a chair.