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Uriel Ventris is the captain of the Ultramarines 4th Company and the hero of Graham McNeill's Ultramarines novels. He is a capable but unorthodox commander who has walked the daemon world Medrengard and came back. His long-running war with the Iron Warriors is one of the best-known Space Marine sagas.
He is famous for undertaking the Death Oath after breaking the Codex at Tarsis Ultra, a penance that sent him into the Eye of Terror. He returned after escaping Medrengard with the help of unlikely allies. Since then he has fought on Pavonis, Tarsis Ultra and Salinas. Uriel Ventris, Captain of the Ultramarines 4th Company, is the hero of Graham McNeill's long-running novel series. He bent the Codex Astartes at Tarsis Ultra and was sent on a Death Oath to the Eye of Terror and the Iron Warriors' world of Medrengard. He survived to return with his loyalty proven, although his struggle with the Iron Warriors' Warsmith Honsou continued for years.
Origins
He trained under Captain Idaeus, who taught him to think beyond the strict letter of the Codex Astartes. When Idaeus sacrificed himself at the Battle of Thracia, Ventris inherited command of the 4th Company.
Uriel inherited command of the Ultramarines 4th Company when Captain Idaeus sacrificed himself at Thracia to stop a Night Lords offensive. Uriel had disapproved of Idaeus's unorthodox methods, but he came to see their value and in time became just as willing to bend the Codex Astartes himself.
He was born in the underground cities of Calth, the Ultramar world that the Word Bearers devastated during the Horus Heresy. He passed the Chapter's trials, became a neophyte and rose to the officer corps. One of his distant ancestors, Lucian Ventris, was a 1st Company Terminator who died defending Macragge against Hive Fleet Behemoth. Uriel's first mission was to Pavonis, escorting the Administratum adept Ario Barzano, who turned out to be an Ordo Xenos inquisitor in disguise. The world was ruled by the ineffective Governor Mykola Shonai, bombed by the heretical Church of Ancient Ways and raided by Drukhari. Uriel put down a revolt by Pavonis nobles and destroyed the raiders and their human collaborator inside a C'tan tomb. However, the Nightbringer shard buried there escaped into the stars.
Key events
- Escorted an Administratum adept to the troubled industrial world of Pavonis on his first mission as captain.
- Defended Tarsis Ultra against a tendril of Hive Fleet Leviathan.
- Was given a Death Oath by Marneus Calgar for breaching Codex doctrine, and travelled with Sergeant Pasanius to Medrengard, the Iron Warriors' daemon world.
- Survived the horrors of Medrengard and the world of Salinas, then returned to Macragge and endured the Chaplains' and Librarians' tests of his purity.
- Earned the undying hatred of the Iron Warriors warsmith Honsou, who later invaded Ultramar seeking revenge.
At Tarsis Ultra he brought in a company of Mortifactors, a Second Founding successor of the Ultramarines, and fought alongside Inquisitor Kryptman. The outer worlds still fell. The planet was saved only when Uriel and a Deathwatch kill-team killed the splinter fleet's Norn-Queen, but in doing so he had left his men, and Sergeant Learchus reported the breach of the Codex. On his way home after the Death Oath, he and Pasanius fought on Salinas, a world haunted by a vengeful psyker created by its governor's brutality. Alongside Grey Knights they put down the Unfleshed when the psyker possessed them, and saw Governor Barbaden brought to justice. Later, back on Pavonis, he faced a T'au incursion and told the T'au to withdraw or the strike cruiser Vae Victus would carry out Exterminatus. They withdrew.
In McNeill's The Chapter's Due, Honsou took revenge by turning Tarsis Ultra into a dead world with a stolen Mechanicus virus. He then freed the Daemon Prince M'kar, once the Word Bearers Dark Apostle Maloq Kartho, from a hidden star fort and invaded Ultramar. Uriel faced Honsou's champion, the Newborn, at the Tomb of Ventanus on Calth and killed him with a blade taken from the hero's wargear. Honsou then brought the tomb down on everyone and his body was never found. On Talassar, Uriel threw the Blade of Ventanus to Marneus Calgar, who used it to destroy M'kar. The daemon called the weapon the Shard of Erebus, which suggests it may be one of the athames Ventanus took from the Word Bearers at Calth. Much later, during the Plague Wars, an aged and scarred Uriel reached Guilliman after the Battle of Raukos. His news helped persuade the Primarch to end the Indomitus Crusade, and Uriel led the 4th Company in the Spear of Espandor counterattack.
Battles & campaigns
- Tarsis Ultra: He fought the Tyranids while bending the strictures of the Codex Astartes.
- Medrengard: He and Pasanius spent their Death Oath in the Iron Warriors' daemon world.
- Invasion of Ultramar (999.M41): He fought the Iron Warriors of Honsou and the Daemon Prince M'kar.
Personality
Honourable, introspective and adaptable. He is torn between reverence for the Codex and his conviction that sometimes it must bend. Loyal to his brothers, above all to his friend Pasanius.
He is an idealist who sees the Codex as a guide rather than an absolute law. He is honourable and compassionate, often sympathising with those others would ignore. His friendships with Pasanius and Learchus and his rivalry with Honsou of the Iron Warriors shape his story.
Weapons & Vehicles
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Explore all 48 entries in the Weapons & Vehicles armoury.
Connections
Characters (3)
Factions
- Ultramarines primary faction
Also in this faction
Some links are thematic parallels (marked "parallel") rather than recorded meetings. See the connections web.
Legacy
Uriel is the Ultramarines' great heretic-hero: exiled for bending the Codex, he returned after surviving the Eye of Terror. His story shows the cost of the Chapter's rigid traditions, and why Guilliman himself insists the Codex is a guide rather than scripture. His novels by Graham McNeill made him one of Black Library's most enduring heroes and a gateway character for readers new to the setting. His novel series is one of Black Library's longest Space Marines sagas, and his feud with Honsou is one of its central threads.
Appearances & sources
- Nightbringer, Warriors of Ultramar and Dead Sky, Black Sun (Graham McNeill)
- The Killing Ground, Courage and Honour and The Chapter's Due
- Codex: Space Marines background