"As a Chaos Warrior devoted to Khorne, Skarr is a skilled and brutal combatant, known for his savage and bloodthirsty nature. He dispatches enemies with alarming ease, even resorting to ripping out throats with his teeth..."
- —Description of Skarr Bloodwrath as depicted in Total War: Warhammer III.[2]
Skarr Bloodwrath
Skarr Bloodwrath, the "Daemonic Lord of Khorne," is a mighty, near-immortal Chaos Champion of Khorne, the Chaos God of war and murder. Bloodwrath is a Skullreaper and a member of the Skaramor, the dedicated tribes of Northmen who serve as some of the Blood God's most potent Chaos Warriors.[1a]
Bloodwrath has been slain many times, but the Blood God always brings his Champion back to life from the spilled blood of his foes. Yet with each resurrection Bloodwrath loses more of himself, consumed with the insane need for constant slaughter and bloodshed.[1a]
Quick Answers
What is Skarr Bloodwrath's relationship with the Chaos God of war and murder?
How does Skarr Bloodwrath come back to life after being slain?
What is the significance of Skarr Bloodwrath being a Skullreaper?
What happens to Skarr Bloodwrath with each resurrection?
Who are the Skaramor that Skarr Bloodwrath is a member of?
History[]
"Skarr's approach grants a horrible realisation. Doom is upon you. There is no escape. Only the inevitable end."
- —Description of Skarr Bloodwrath as depicted in Total War: Warhammer III.[3]
Origins[]
Bloodwrath began killing in Khorne's name from the moment he was strong enough to heft an axe, swiftly garnering the reputation of a bloodthirsty butcher of the worst kind. While still a mere whelp in the eyes of his fellow Skullreapers, he slew the chieftain of his tribe of the Skaramor in a brutal display of violence.[1a]
Though this was far from the first skull that Bloodwrath had claimed for Khorne, it was the first one that drew the vast and terrible eye of the Blood God. Standing over the corpse of a rival twice his size, Bloodwrath roared in agony as the Mark of Khorne branded itself upon his beating heart.[1a]
Though the tribes of the Skaramor did not deign to challenge the weak peoples of the south, Bloodwrath found no shortage of foes to battle in Khorne's honour. The Chaos Wastes rang to the sound of Bloodwrath's war cries, and as the years passed so his legend grew.[1a]
Bloodwrath cut down Ungolor of the Tahmaks with insulting ease. He hacked the heads from the Greatspawn Wythlych, before hurling the abomination from atop Bloodfire Falls. It was Skarr who fought for twenty years amid the Daemon-thick morass of the Blood Marshes, and he who felled the Keeper of Secrets T'shy'thnis below the Infinite Arch.[1a]
Unstoppable though Bloodwrath was, none could fight with such raging abandon without eventually being slain. Yet death proved not to be the end for this Champion of Khorne.[1a]
Concept art of Skarr Bloodwrath for Total War: Warhammer III.
Bloodwrath met his first death in the lair of the sorcerer Vydas the Liar. Skarr slew every one of the Tzeentchian magus' nine hundred and ninety-nine worshippers, only to be sliced in half by Vydas' crystal blade. Yet Khorne judged the blow a cowardly one, struck from behind a veil of sorcerous illusion. Thus, the Blood God breathed fresh life into his Champion that day.[1a]
Bloodwrath's mortal form burned away to nothing, only to be reborn from the pooled blood of Vydas' followers. Skarr surged up from the bloody lake, huge Daemon axes on brass chains clutched in his white-knuckled fists. Hurling his new weapons across the shadowed chamber, Bloodwrath sunk both blades deep into Vydas' unnatural flesh.[1a]
Dragged with horrible inevitability into Bloodwrath's embrace, Vydas the Liar pleaded and squirmed. By way of a response, Bloodwrath tore his foe's throat out with his teeth. Glittering blood sprayed in a wide arc before Khorne's Champion ripped one axe free and lopped the sorcerer's head from his shoulders.[1a]
Skarr Bloodwrath as rendered for Total War: Warhammer III
Skarr Bloodwrath has died many times since that day, but always Khorne has brought his Champion back to life through the spilled blood of his foes. In return, Bloodwrath reaps such a tally of skulls that none can keep count. Bloodwrath is one of Khorne's most favoured, savage to the point of madness, devoted to nothing but slaughter in the name of his merciless deity.[1a]
In battle, his chain-linked Daemon axes whirl about him in a hurricane of blood and death. Those who follow him must keep pace with his murderlust, or else fall by the wayside, their skulls in turn offered up for the glory of Khorne. One by one, they are all cut down. Eventually only the gore-soaked Bloodwrath remains, to gather new followers in the name of the Blood God and lead them to war once more.[1a]
Incessant resurrection has its price, however. With each bloody rebirth, Bloodwrath has lost a little more of himself, His grasp upon reality slipping with each step upon the eventual road to Daemonhood. These days, Bloodwrath needs no sustenance save combat. He does not sleep, and the fire in his veins is such that he could never rest even should he wish to. His fury is endless, his hunger for battle a constant clamour that drowns out all consideration of strategy or caution. The more murderous Skarr is in battle the more he heals, allowing him to continue the slaughter in Khorne’s name.[2][1a][1b]
So lost to Khorne's rage has Bloodwrath become that none save Archaon, the thirteenth Everchosen, can command him. Even then he only bends the knee at Khorne's behest, his form trembling every moment with the barely suppressed need to kill. To Archaon, Skarr Bloodwrath is nothing but a blunt instrument, a living weapon to be wielded unto destruction. Bloodwrath, lost amid a red haze of bloodlust, could not care less. Khorne demands slaughter like never before, and Skarr Bloodwrath will deliver it gladly.[1b]
End Times[]
Siege of Averheim[]
An archetypal Champion of Khorne, Skarr Bloodwrath lived only to reap skulls for his master. He had no flair for strategy, no desire for anything save the thudding of his twin Daemon-axes into the flesh of his foes, and the spray of their blood upon his skin. Skarr had been slain many times before the forces of Chaos laid siege to Averheim during the End Times, but each time, Khorne breathed new life into him before his corpse had cooled...[1c]
Though he was no general, Skarr ultimately led the Skaramor assault upon the Imperial city's northern wall. He was the first on the rampart, his chained axes whirling through the downpouring rain. Already, a dozen bodies lay at his feet, the bold colours of Ostland and Talabecland glistening with fresh blood.[1d]
An Ostlander captain bellowed a challenge, his greatsword already swinging before the words were fully uttered. Skarr's next strike split the tempered steel as if it were a twig, and the backswing clove the captain's head from his body. Roaring with triumph, Skarr heaved the ruined corpse to one side and stepped into the newly-created space. Behind him, bellowing Skaramor warriors hauled their way onto the wall.[1d]
Oaths to Sigmar, Grimnir and the blessed Lady of the Lake rang out across the wall as the defenders strove to clear the rampart, but the enemy were too many. Few amongst the defenders could match a Skullreaper's battle fury. Only where the Dwarfen Slayers and Duke Jerrod of Asareux's Companions of Quenelles fought did the onslaught slow. With each moment that passed, however, more of the wall fell into Skarr's grasp. The trickle of Skaramor upon the walls became a flood. Duke Jerrod, his sword already slick with the invaders' blood, cursed his ill fate, and ultimately ordered the retreat from the walls as the Skaramor flooded into the stricken city.[1d]
Wargear[]
- Bloodstorm Blades - Only the strong have a chance of withstanding Skarr's twin, doubled-headed battleaxes, the Bloodstorm Blades. From his blood-dimmed point of view, none fall under that category.[2][3]
Miniatures[]
Sources[]
- 1: Warhammer The End Times V: Archaon (8th Edition)
- 2: Omens of Destruction: Introducing Skulltaker (Creative Assembly Blog)
- 3: Total War: Warhammer III (PC Game)