"Vecteek couldn’t come. So I came instead. You have called and I have answered. You sought the Harbinger of Doom. I am he, little sorcerer. I am your Doom. I am Skarbrand. I am your death..."
Skarbrand, also known as the "Skarbrand the Exiled One," the "Wrathful Reaper," or the "Drinker of Blood," is an Exalted Bloodthirster of Khorne, once the mightiest of the Blood God's Greater Daemons. His arrogance, hubris and sheer rage, secretly fanned by Tzeentch, grew so great that he actually attacked his Chaos God patron.[1a]
For this supreme transgression, Skarbrand had his personality and intellect excised by the Blood God, leaving only his rage. He was exiled from the Blood God's Domain and forced to wander the immortal and mortal worlds, where he seeks to atone for his sin and end his exile by piling thousands of new skulls upon the Skull Throne of Khorne.[1a]
Quick Answers
What is Skarbrand known as in the Warhammer universe?
Who summoned Skarbrand in the lore of Warhammer?
Why is Skarbrand referred to as the 'Exiled One'?
What is the significance of Skarbrand in Warhammer 40k?
What are the characteristics that make Skarbrand unique among the Greater Daemons of Khorne?
History
"I will rip the bones from your body and leave your skin to rot! But your skull I will give to the Skull God, and it will be one among the multitude."
- —Skarbrand, the Exiled One[3a]
Exile
Skarbrand was once the greatest of all Khorne's Daemons. An eternity of battle in the Blood God's name had brought Skarbrand victories uncounted.[1a]
It was he who tore down the gates of Slaanesh's first palace and visited ruin therein. It was he who led the eight Hosts of Murder to their triumph over the combined armies of the other Chaos Gods. In all the endless years of Khorne's existence, no other of his Daemons had piled so many skulls before the Skull Throne, or spilled the blood of so many warriors and innocents alike. Thus did Skarbrand enjoy Khorne's favour like no other, an honour which would eventually lead to his downfall from grace due to his sheer arrogance.[1a]
In all of history, there have been none to serve the Lord of Skulls as completely as Skarbrand. He has taken mountains and mountains of skulls for the Blood God, and filled vast oceans with gore. He has shaken the foundations of eternity with his wrath and left a trail of slaughter across existence, yet still Khorne refuses to rescind his hated decree barring the Bloodthirster from his home. There is little regret in the Blood God's black heart and he spares none for Skarbrand, who in tortured exile serves the Lord of Skulls more completely than ever before.[1a]
Skarbrand, the Rage Feaster, eager for battle.
Alas, no being, even an immortal Daemon, could enjoy such triumphs forever, and so proud was Skarbrand that it was a simple task for Tzeentch to fan the embers of his hubris. One dark day, when Khorne's back was turned and his attention elsewhere, Skarbrand's fierce pride grew hot and, blinded by rage, he smote the Blood God a mighty blow. Powerful beyond measure was Skarbrand, and he had toppled cities with but one blow apiece, but even he could not pierce Khorne's brazen armour. Only the smallest of chinks was cut in the Blood God's armour, but even this was sufficient to draw the terrible fury of Khorne's gaze.[1a]
Incandescent with wrath, Khorne seized the Daemon by the throat. The Blood God cursed Skarbrand's name and choked all personality from him, leaving only the bottomless rage that had caused him to attack. Climbing the uppermost tower of the Brass Citadel in the Blood God's Domain, Khorne cast forth his arm and hurled the Daemon deep into the Realm of Chaos, banishing the Bloodthirster from his presence.[1a]
For eight days and nights Skarbrand plummeted, a fiery comet of ill-omen streaking across the unchanging sky. The impact of the Bloodthirster's landing gouged a canyon in the landscape and left his wings tattered and torn. Since that fateful day, Skarbrand has wandered the mortal and immortal realms, drowning his sins in the blood of the slain -- though he no longer has the wit to fully understand why.[1a]
Skarbrand, leading the infernal hosts of the Blood God.
Frozen in the moment of that rage-spurred betrayal of his god, Skarbrand has become wrath incarnate, a restless fury that cannot be stopped. Wherever Skarbrand treads, order and discipline are replaced with anarchy as those in his path drown in feelings of empty loathing and unrestrained savagery. Even the most rational of beings cannot resist the corruption of Skarbrand's madness. Fast friends and firm allies tear at one another with wild abandon. Craven and brave beings alike claw at their foes without regard for their own lives.[1a]
Through this anarchy, Skarbrand runs rampant, twin axes hacking and cleaving until there is no one left to kill. His tortured roars echo around the battlefield, waves of pure rage infused with enough force to shatter buildings and pulverise flesh. Since his exile, Skarbrand has become nothing more than a vessel filled with unreasoning hatred and rage, empty of any thoughts or the personality of the Daemon who was once Khorne's greatest chosen.[1a]
Battle of Karak Angkul
"No, you shall not escape me so easily. You will burn, mage-rat, and then you will scream. And scream. And scream."
- —Skarbrand, during the Battle of Karak Angkul[2b]
Skarbrand banished back to the Realm of Chaos after being slain in battle.
Sometime after his exile from the Blood God's Domain, Skarbrand was summoned to the mortal world by the foolish efforts of the Skaven Grey Seer Thanquol. Thanquol had actually hoped to summon forth the infamous Verminlord Daemon Vecteek to the mortal plane, but had mistakenly called forth the legendary Bloodthirster instead.[2a]
What the foolish Grey Seer failed to realise was that the magical artefact known as the Hand of Vecteek, which he had tried to use as part of his summoning ritual, was actually the hand of another, long-dead Grey Seer named Thratsnik which contained a hidden Mark of Khorne upon its palm. The mark had been carved by its previous owner as a trap for any who would take his hand as an act of vengeance against the Under-Empire that had abandoned him to his fate of lonely isolation and eventual starvation many decades before. In truth, the long-dead Grey Seer had consumed the real artefgact before his death.[2a]
Skarbrand brandishing his twin battleaxes Slaughter and Carnage.
Freed upon the mortal plane, Skarbrand wrought a terrible carnage upon the battlefield, where Dwarfs and Skaven alike fought each other and their allies in gruesome displays of mad rage and uncontrollable bloodshed due to the unnatural Daemonic presence of the Bloodthirster. It was only thanks to Master Engineer Klarak Bronzehammer, who set off a demolition charge which saw a massive stone axe that was part of a great statue of Valaya fall and sink its blade into the flesh of the Bloodthirster's head, that the Dwarf Hold survived the Daemonic onslaught.
Thanquol, having had enough of risking his life for the ambitions of others, fled the battlefield right after he blasted the master engineer with a wave of Warp-lightning and saw the Dwarf's body fall from the statue of Valaya onto the hard, rock floor many stories below. Before Skarbrand was sent back into the Realm of Chaos, he whispered to Thanquol that should the Skaven have need of him again, he would be waiting.[2b]
Total War: Warhammer III
" Keep your skull. Give me the Bear."
- —Skarbrand, convinced by The Advisor to begin the quest to take Ursun's skull
Skarbrand offers the skull of the Kislevite bear god Ursun to Khorne, hoping for redemption as his reward. The Blood God proved unimpressed.
In Total War: Warhammer III, Skarbrand was still the mightiest of Khorne's Daemons, even in exile. Hoping to appease and obtain the forgiveness of the Blood God, he collected skulls with a fervor unseen in other Bloodthirsters, but it was all for naught. Khorne still refused to end his exile from the Blood God's Domain.[4b]
Heraldry of Skarbrand and his Khornate army, the Exiles of Khorne, as depicted in Total War: Warhammer III. It is a variant of the Mark of Khorne.
However, the rise of the Daemon Prince of Chaos Undivided Godslayer and the near-death of the Kislevite bear god Ursun at the Godslayer's hand brought a mysterious man to the Bloodthirster's home in Infernius.[4a]
Sensing the potent magic on the old seer in the form of the Book of Fate, Skarbrand nearly took the man's skull, but decided to spare him and take him on as an adviser in return for telling him how to find Ursun within the Realm of Chaos so that he might take the god's head and finally present Khorne with a worthy gift that would earn his forgiveness.[4a]
If Skarbrand manages to collect four souls from the gatekeeping Daemon Princes that resided in each of the Chaos' Gods domains in the Realm of Chaos in-game, he is able to finally face Be'lakor. If the first Daemon Prince is defeated, Skarbrand takes the head of the Great Bear and presents the bear god's skull to the Blood God.[4a]
However, even in victory, Khorne only laughed at his servant's gift. Despite Skarbrand's hopes, the Blood God still refused to change his edict and so the Bloodthirster remained trapped in eternal exile. [4b]
Wargear
- Slaughter & Carnage – Each of these Daemonic axes contains another Bloodthirster's savage spirit, lending their fury to Skarbrand's strikes.[1a]
Videos
Miniatures
Canon Conflicts
Skarbrand is described as mindlessly violent and bereft of personality following his expulsion from Khorne's domain. However, in the novel Thanquol and Boneripper: Thanquol's Doom, he is said to have torn wings, which indicates the event is occurring after his exile, yet Skarbrand is depicted as being lucid, and fully capable of normal thought and speech. [2b]
Skarbrand is also depicted as fairly lucid in the story campaign of Total War: Warhammer III, as he is able to strike a coherent deal with The Advisor to quest for the skull of Ursun in return for The Advisor receiving a single drop of the Bear God's blood. [4a]
Trivia
Skarbrand also exists in the Warhammer 40,000 universe, like most of the named Daemons of Warhammer.
Sources
- 1: Warhammer Armies: Daemons of Chaos (8th Edition)
- 1a: pg. 36
- 2: Thanquol and Boneripper: Thanquol's Doom (Novel) by C. L. Werner
- 3: Warhammer Invasions Card
- 4: Total War: Warhammer III (PC Game)
Gallery
