Abaddon the Reaver is the new Master of War, who has gathered in a single crushing fist the scattered legions of apostates who took refuge in the Eye of Terror after the Heresy of Horus. The warrior of Chaos took the place of the fallen in the battle of the primarch, to continue his work, but not to repeat the mistakes. This character of the Warhammer 40,000 universe will be discussed in the article, as well as his devastating Campaigns against the Imperium of Humanity, for which he was nicknamed the Destroyer.
Abaddon to Heresy. Moon wolves. Sons of Horus
The captain of the first company of the Moon Wolves legion was famous for his fiery temper. But due to military merit, he was characterized as a mighty warrior, hero and loyal son of his primarch Horus Lupercal.
This is not to say that the Astartes Legions were famous for their kindness and responsiveness, because they were created as weapons of eternal war with the aim of capturing the Galaxy, destroying xenos and those who did not want to accept Imperial Truths.
Ezekiel's ambivalent nature manifested itself in different ways: he was the first to break into the battle, but allowed himself low-intellectual statements about his brothers. He was respected by many and disliked by many. Despite his genetic affinity with his primarch, an illustrious tactician, strategist, and eminent diplomat, Abaddon did not inherit anything from him except fanatic devotion and cruelty in battle.
He was particularly hostile to the xenos, therefore, after the attack on the colony, Kinebrakhov sharply criticized the position of Horus, who wanted to negotiate with the human-like race of Intereks.
Ezekiel revered his primarch as a father and leader, therefore he always followed the instructions, which earned him an honorary membership in Mornival. The captain had a very impressive appearance for the space marines: he was larger than his brothers, taller and had a low voice. A distinctive feature was the manner of braiding hair in a bun, resembling a palm tree or totem of an ancient idol. Thanks to this, the character Abaddon the Reaver is recognizable on numerous Warhammer 40,000-themed art.
The captain followed his primarch in everything. When the legion was renamed the Sons of Horus, Abaddon rejoiced more than Lupercal himself. And when the primarch, designated by the Master of War, set foot on the path of Chaos and went against the Emperor of Mankind, Ezekiel followed him.
Horus Heresy
While the betrayal of the Master of War did not become apparent, Ezekiel strongly defended the reputation of the legion, but fell through when he decided to eliminate the chroniclers who were seconded to the legion, who criticized the actions of Horus.
He participated in the cleansing of Istvan lll from loyal space marines who managed to survive the viral bombardment. The irony of fate is that he fought against those whom he had recently called his brothers at Mournival. The “last meeting” of the fraternity was the duel between Abaddon and Garvel Loken, from which the first captain emerged victorious.
Toward the end of the Heresy, he personally witnessed how Horus fought with the Emperor of Humanity and lost. Filled with rage, Ezekiel with a platoon of terminators ousted the loyal units (which were more concerned about providing all possible assistance to the wounded All-Father) from the barge "Vengeful Spirit", after which he removed the battle claw from the body of the defeated primarch and retreated to the Eye of Terror.
After the Heresy
We forgot the Imperium to the same extent that the Imperium forgot us, although over time our battles began to splash into real space. Our enmity has become cramped in the underworld itself.
Aaron Dembsky-Bowden, "Claw of Horus"
Not yet nicknamed the Reaver, Abaddon was for a long time in splendid isolation on board the "Vengeful Spirit", silently drifting on the border of the Eye of Terror. According to the novel “Claw of Horus”, the first captain comprehended and overestimated a lot. New Abaddon is no longer a hot-tempered grunt, but a charismatic leader wise by experience.
If for the Imperium the civil war ended with the retreat of the legions of heretics in the Eye of Terror, for the latter the battle did not end for a minute. As puppets of the Disastrous Powers of Chaos, the legions fought with each other throughout the Eye of Terror, echoing the warring ambitions of their powerful lords from the Immaterium. Abaddon was above that. He did not see any point in the constant feuds and set a goal to win a place in the Galaxy.
Taught by the mistakes of his father, Ezekiel did not want to become a doll in the hands of the Dark Gods. What he proposed to those who wanted to join was a promising adventure: raids with the aim of robbing and withdrawing so as to gradually regain possession. At the same time, the new leader recommended forgetting about blindly following the primarchs who ascended to the Warp waves and left their children.
Where persuasion did not help, tactics of intimidation and intimidation were used - all in order to rally the disparate gangs of heretics that exterminated each other in a single fist.
Black Crusades
For his devastating raids on the possessions of the Imperium, the new leader was nicknamed the Reaver. Abaddon at Warhammer 40,000 is a bit of a “third way” for those who don’t like the tyranny of the empire of people, mired in the religious cult of the God the Emperor, and those who don’t like the fate of the Dark Gods puppet due to destructive mutations and the threat of losing own self.
The new Warrior does not fight for the glory of the Pantheon, but primarily for himself and his battle brothers, who rejected the heraldic symbols of the legions and joined Ezekiel, painting his armor black.
Military campaigns were characterized by the devastation of imperial worlds close to the Eye of Terror. The first blow was very unexpected, and before the imperial forces were able to counterattack, the heretics did tremendous damage to the worlds of the Cadian Gate.
Over the next 10,000 years, Abaddon the Reaver conducted another 12 crusades. From the side it seems that they all culminated in the defeat of the forces of Chaos. In fact, the imperial chroniclers did not know the true goals of the Master of War.
A number of powerful artifacts were collected that allowed Abaddon the Reaver to carry his will not only to humanity, but also to the legions of traitors in the Eye of Terror, as well as their primarchs. For example, he received the demonic singing blade Drak'Nien, capable of dissecting both realities.
In addition, Abaddon the Reaver (photo can be seen below) brought a huge amount of resources to the Eye of Terror to build the “Planet Killer” - a ship of unprecedented power, capable of destroying entire worlds in a matter of hours.
The found artifacts, as well as demonic entities subordinate to the will of the Destroyer, contributed to the successful search in the Eye of Terror for the primarch traitors and their call to service. So began the 13th Black Campaign.
Cadia
"The flows of Empireyes subjugated themselves,
And he kept all the Legions in his hands
Dare to destroy the commotion,
You called them to fight on Cadia "
Keepers of Death - Abaddon. Talon of horus
A battle of such epic proportions as the battle of Cadia, as well as events of this magnitude, is a carefully thought-out commercial move from Games Workshop in the development of the universe. Abaddon the Reaver in Warhammer 40,000 is as significant a figure as Horus or even the Emperor himself. Therefore, with the release of new editions of the board game, further plot narrative is developed through books.
Unfortunately, there is still no full-fledged novel about the battle on Kadia (and the cycle “Heresy of Horus” has not yet been completed), therefore we have to be content with the codes and rules of the new editions.
According to the code of the Black Legion, from each apostate primarch, the Warrior received gifts that strengthen his army many times over. In addition, innumerable demonic hordes, mutants, heretics and xenos joined him. All this unholy stream leapt from the Eye of Terror, marking a new raid on the Imperium.
In a dizzying battle, both sides suffered significant losses. Activated Cadian Pylons gave hope to the Imperials, for a ray of light directed to the very center of the warp storm began to close the Eye of Terror. But due to the instability of the ancient system, something went wrong. As a result, Cadia fell, Abaddon’s troops triumphed, and the uncontrolled Eye of Terror began to expand. In the Galaxy, a warp strom arose, known as the Great Rift, which split the Imperium in half. Abaddon’s next goal is Terra.
Other projects
In addition to the original board game for the Warhammer 40,000 universe, many books have been written and computer games created. The most famous examples are the recently released Dawn of War lll and the early-access Warhammer 40,000: Inquisitor - Martyr.
A huge number of projects, although interesting, are only an implementation of some idea of opposing dark and light forces in the “wrapper” of WH40K. It is difficult to say whether there are games that describe a significant event in the universe. On how to realize the dream of an ordinary gamer and give the opportunity to play for some well-known personality in the series, there’s no question.
None of the projects have the character Abaddon the Reaver. References to his Crusades are directly or indirectly present in a number of projects. The most striking example is the Battlefleet Gothic: Armada, which tells of the Gothic War - the invasion of the Reaver in the Gothic sub-sector. In the introductory video, Abaddon himself appears on the flagship “Planet Killer”.
There is an Android app called The Horus Heresy: Legions, which is a card game like HearthStone. One of the opponents may be Ezekiel Abaddon with his deck of cards.
Desktop
The only way to control such a charismatic character is with board game owners. In a fan environment, they even want to joke about “Armless Aba”, as if hinting at unsuccessful military campaigns.
The allegory was born due to poor-quality designs of individual miniatures of Abaddon the Reaver, whose hands fell off due to gravity.
Rumors
The universe of eternal war, grotesque and gloomy Gothic is not completely finished and is constantly evolving. As you know, even a small fraction of uncertainty gives rise to a lot of rumors and speculation. So in fan communities it is believed that Abaddon the Reaver was stabbed in the back on Cadia. Another source, entitled White Dwarf No. 286. Heroes & Villains of the 41ST Millennium by Graham McNeill, states that Eldrad Ultran defeated him in battle. Nevertheless, the official status of the Reaver (according to the Games Workshop) is alive! If Abaddon makes a mistake that will lead to his death, someone will come in his place. After all, as the official slogan of the project says, "in the darkness of the future there is only war."
Further development
Many fans of such a wonderful universe would like to read books describing such key events as the Battle of Cadia or the duel of Horus and the Emperor ...
But the official developer, apparently, protects the "most delicious" in the end. The cycle "Heresy of Horus" has not yet been completed, but there is already a "Claw of Horus" from Aaron Dembsky-Bowden, which tells of events after the civil war.
If we take into account the codes and official backs, then it comes to the second assault of the imperial palace on Terra, and books about this have not yet been written. The project is developing slowly, which cannot but upset, because fragments of significant events have to be scooped from various novels and rules that come out with new editions.
Total
If we discard the hypertrophic pathos that official codes abound in and go deep into non-fanatical books, the personality of Abaddon the Reaver in Warhammer is the image of a strong leader who is a powerful warrior and leader capable of making difficult decisions and living with their consequences.
The world of the “Hammer of War” is distinguished by the absence of unambiguous images of good and evil. Both sides are good and bad in their own way, and therefore such outstanding personalities choose their path, trying to beat out the desired “place in the sun”.
And with the efforts of developers, the strong ones “grow into” all kinds of gifts of Chaos, mutations and pacts with demonic entities. However, everything is within the canon of Warhammer 40,000.