Angron

Overview

The gladiator-slave Primarch whose brain was mutilated by the Butcher's Nails implants. The Emperor took him from his slave-revolt before his last stand, a wound he never forgave.

He wielded the chainaxes Gorefather and Gorechild and ascended as a daemon prince of Khorne during the Shadow Crusade, before the Heresy had ended. He was later banished after unleashing the First War of Armageddon, and the World Eaters fractured into warbands after his loss. Angron, the Red Angel, was primarch of the World Eaters. He was raised as a slave gladiator in Desh'ea on Nuceria and fitted with the Butcher's Nails, an implant that rewarded rage and punished calm. The Emperor took him away before his last battle against the Nucerian High Riders, and Angron never forgave him. He became the Imperium's most uncontrollable primarch and later a Daemon Prince of Khorne.

Origins

Landed on Nuceria, where he was implanted with the Butcher's Nails and forced to fight as a gladiator. He led a slave revolt, but was teleported away by the Emperor before his comrades' final battle.

On Nuceria, he was captured by slavers and implanted with the Butcher's Nails, a device that rewarded rage with pleasure and punished calm with pain. He led a slave revolt, but when the Emperor arrived, he took Angron away before his comrades' last stand, a betrayal Angron never forgave.

The Butcher's Nails were studied closely. Aboard the Adamant Resolve, Vel-Kheredar, the XII Legion's archmagos veneratus and Kelbor-Hal's representative, studied the Primarch's skull for seven hours under Malcador's watchful eye and found that the implant had remapped his brain. Later the Emperor brought the technoarchaeologist Arkhan Land to a secret laboratory in an extinct volcano to examine the device, a Cruciamen, while Angron was kept unconscious. Land had encountered one before in the Hexarchion Vaults on Mars, which the Emperor and Kelbor-Hal had sealed because the knowledge inside could pervert human thought. Guilliman fought beside the World Eaters at Arigatta and saw the slaughter they made of the Basalt Citadel. He became one of their sharpest critics.

Key events

1. Was found on Nuceria as a gladiator slave implanted with the Butcher's Nails. He led a doomed revolt, and the Emperor took him away before his fellow rebels died.
2. Took command of the War Hounds, renaming them the World Eaters and spreading the Nails through the Legion.
3. Fought Guilliman at Nuceria during the Shadow Crusade and nearly killed him.
4. Ascended to daemonhood during the Shadow Crusade.
5. Reappeared in the Era Indomitus, rampaging through the Arks of Omen campaign before facing the returned Lion El'Jonson.
6. After the Heresy, the World Eaters fragmented into warbands rather than remaining a unified Legion.

The 'Night of the Wolf' followed the massacre of Ghenna's entire population. Russ was sent to bring the World Eaters to heel, and the Legions met on the fields outside the dead city of Malkoya. Russ told Angron that the Nail surgeries and the massacres had to end, that the World Eaters would go to Terra under Space Wolf escort, and that everything possible would be done to remove the implants there. Angron refused and warned his brother to leave. They fought, and Angron's first axe, Widowmaker, which he had carried since the start of the Crusade, broke against Krakenmaw and was never used again. Horus later told Angron exactly what he wanted to hear.

Battles & campaigns

• Nuceria: He and his gladiators fought the armies of the High Riders. The Emperor teleported him away and left the others to die.
• Isstvan III: He threw himself at the loyalist World Eaters and other Legions purged by the virus bombing.
• Armatura and his ascension: His Legion's sacrifices in the Shadow Crusade brought about his transformation into a Daemon Prince.
• Siege of Terra: He led the World Eaters against the Palace.

Personality

A being of agony and rage, whose rare moments of clarity reveal his deep grief.

He was a tormented soul, wracked by pain and rage. His rare moments of lucidity revealed a deep grief for his lost comrades and anger at the Emperor. His hatred drove him to Khorne's embrace, and his transformation into a daemon prince gave him release from his suffering.

Weapons & Vehicles

GorechildRelic Weapon

The legendary mica-dragon-toothed chainaxe forged for Primarch Angron and rebuilt for Khârn the Betrayer, tearing through ceramite and …

ChainaxeMelee Weapon

The screaming, blood-drenched motorised war-axe of the World Eaters and Khorne Berzerkers, trading all defensive finesse for bone-shatt…

Power SwordMelee Weapon

A master-crafted blade sheathed in a crackling molecular disruption field that parts ceramite, bone and steel with effortless lethality…

The Black SwordRelic Weapon

The sacred two-handed obsidian greatsword of Sigismund and the Black Templars' Emperor's Champions, forged to slay the greatest champio…

Explore all 48 entries in the Weapons & Vehicles armoury.

Connections

Characters (5)

• 
  The Emperor of Mankind creator · Imperium of Man

  The Emperor took Angron from Nuceria before he could die alongside his fellow gladiators, which Angron never forgave.

• 
  Khorne patron · Chaos Daemons

  Angron became Khorne's Daemon Primarch, raised on Nuceria through a Word Bearers ritual.

• 
  Khârn the Betrayer commander · World Eaters

  Kharn served as Angron's equerry and remains the most infamous World Eater.

• 
  Lorgar Aurelian brother · Word Bearers

  Lorgar was one of the few brothers close to Angron and helped bring about his ascension to daemonhood.

• 
  Skarbrand fellow servant of Khorne · Chaos Daemons

  Both are among Khorne's most wrathful champions; neither is subtle.

Factions

• World Eaters primary faction
• Chaos Daemons also affiliated

Also in this faction

Be'lakorGrandfather NurgleKairos FateweaverKu'gath PlaguefatherSlaaneshTzeentch

Some links are thematic parallels (marked "parallel") rather than recorded meetings. See the connections web.

Legacy

Angron's rage shaped the World Eaters into Khorne's most savage servants. His return has reawakened their sense of purpose, and the Nails still twist all who bear them. The World Eaters adopted the Butcher's Nails to be closer to their primarch, and they remain a host of berserkers bound to Khorne.

Appearances & sources

• The Horus Heresy novels Betrayer (Aaron Dembski-Bowden) and The Crimson King
• Angron: The Red Angel and Angron: Slave of Nuceria
• Codex: World Eaters (2023)