"Kul was but a man and he almost brought the Empire to its knees. I am a demi-god, and I shall finish what Kul could not! The men of the Empire lie awake at night dreading the time of my coming. That time is now!"
- —Thorgar after his ascension as a Daemon Prince[1]
Thorgar the Blooded One
Thorgar the Blooded One, also known as Thorgar of the Khazags and Hroth, was a mighty Daemon Prince of Khorne and the protagonist of the Chaos campaign of Warhammer: Mark of Chaos.
History[]
Path to Glory[]
Thorgar fought in the armies of the twelfth Everchosen Asavar Kul during the Great War Against Chaos, having been but a minor Chaos Champion among many others at the time. Nonetheless, he was a bloodthirsty warrior who tirelessly sought the favour of his Dark Gods and harboured lofty dreams of immortality. When his warband's Champion died during the Battle of Kislev City, Thorgar took his place and led the battered survivors away from the vengeful armies of Magnus the Pious, following Kul's defeat.
Thorgar spent the immediate aftermath of the war in raiding in the World's Edge Mountains, glutting himself on plunder. Eventually, he drew the eyes of the Chaos Gods and was sought out by their herald, the Kurgan sorcerer Sudobaal. Sudobaal commanded Thorgar to rebuild an army from the survivors of Asavar Kul's horde, as well as from among those Norscans and Kurgans who refused to surrender following the Everchosen's defeat, and follow the setting sun to a Chaos shrine hidden in the north-eastern Empire, where he would prove his worth before his daemonic patrons. Gathering the Norscans and Kurgan locked in battle with the Empire's forces amidst the crags and defiles of the World's Edge Mountains, Thorgar amassed a potent raiding party and struck out to despoil the Imperial province of Ostermark.[1]
Thorgar by chance happened upon the hidden warcamp of a Norscan chieftain known as Engrik Wolfbane, and was heartened by the presence of his kinsmen who still continued the fight against the Empire. Seeing the favour of the gods with this wandering warrior, Engrik and his warband joined with Thorgar to raid the outlying townships of Ostermark. At one such township, Thorgar fought the Champion of Khorne known as Kraag Bloodwound, who contested the sacrifice of its inhabitants in his own name.[1]
After slaying Kraag in single combat, Thorgar took command over his Chaos Knights. The Champion then led his warband to plunder a Sigmarite temple, recovering the artefacts of the Chaos Gods that had been taken by the Imperials after the Great War. Sudobaal remerged during this time, warning the Northman of a mighty army of Talabecland that had arisen to dash the hopes of the followers of the True Gods. Having never known an enemy he would not face with joy, Thorgar led his warband to reinforce his fellow Northmen at the fortress of Heldenburg, which had been claimed by the followers of Chaos after the defeat of Asavar Kul's horde.[1]
At Heldenburg, Thorgar and his Northmen held off the Imperial army, claiming yet another victory for the glory of Chaos. His numbers swelled by Norscans and Kurgans, Thorgar continued westwards according to Sudobaal's instruction. Before reaching the shrine, Thorgar defeated a challenge from an enigmatic Nurglite warlord known only as the "Flylord" of Nurgle, whose warband fled in humbled disarray when Thorgar struck down the Plague Champion in single combat, much as he had with Kraag Bloodwound. With all obstacles overcome and a sizeable horde at his back, Thorgar sought his destiny at the shrine of the Chaos Gods.[1]
Here, Sudobaal revealed his spirit form before the Northmen, and spoke cryptically of how Thorgar would now have to prove his worth to the Chaos Gods by overcoming the trials of the caves alone. Thorgar eagerly stepped within the bowels of the shrine, proclaiming that he would not fail his gods, and that his name would become legendary as that of their greatest champion. With his mighty oath spoken, the Northman threw himself against the trials with vicious abandon, cutting his way through hordes of daemonic spiders to reach a pestilent chamber where a horde of Nurglite Plaguebearers awaited him.[1]
After a brutal contest where his axe bit deep into countless ranks of daemonic flesh, Thorgar at last passed the trial, his wounds restored by the feculent restoration of the Plaguelord. From the mounds of desiccated flesh, he recovered a magnificent axe. Sudobaal hailed the weapon as Foebane, a Daemon Weapon forged anew from the shards of Asavar Kul's own battleaxe. Having proven his worth as a warrior, Thorgar's next trial was a leader of men, and so he led a phantom army of Northmen to do battle with the legions of Khorne, he and his otherworldly Marauders shedding the blood of Bloodletters in sacrament to the Lord of Slaughter.[1]
Having overcome the raging Daemons of Khorne, Thorgar was now forced to battle against Wyrdspawn. After dispatching the hulking aberrations, Thorgar claimed the Armour of Damnation, a set of phantom Chaos Armour that was nearly impenetrable to mortal weapons. With magical blade and otherworldly armour, Thorgar proclaimed himself invincible, and was suddenly spirited to the furthest chamber of the cave where his final and most terrifying challenge awaited him.[1]
All who tread upon the Path of Chaos must wrestle with their own selves -- their hopes, their greed, their fear, and their anger -- which threatens to overcome them at every turn. To prove his resilience and worthiness to follow the path to its final conclusion, the Chaos Gods bade Thorgar to face a terrible test, to fight his own self in single combat. Aghast at the prospect, but still steeling his northern courage against such a foe, Thorgar launched himself into furious combat with his doppelganger. With the axe Foebane carving terrible blows in the phantom-Thorgar, and his own plate deflecting the furious ripostes of his enemy, the Blooded One finally emerged from the terrible battle battered, but still alive. From his own bloody corpse he claimed the fabled Ring of Change, a terrible artefact that allowed its wearer to wield the mutating power of the Chaos Gods -- the very power of Change itself. The very essence of Chaos.[1]
With all the trials concluded, the unbowed Thorgar found that there was but one final test to complete before the next stage of his destiny could be completed. In the final, cavernous antechamber of the shrine lay two massive runes dedicated to the Chaos Gods -- one carved in the likeness of the Rune of the Fly, the symbol of Nurgle, and the other, the Skull Rune of Khorne, Lord of Battles. Here, Thorgar heard the voices of the Chaos Gods themselves, or perhaps their daemonic heralds, and chose to pledge his soul in dark service as one of their number's Exalted Champions.[1]
Upon doing so, Thorgar's armour and body were reforged in the favoured image of his new master, and he swore he would do all within his power to bring his new patron Chaos God glory. His master then spoke to Thorgar, commanding him to find the body of Asavar Kul and take up the Kurgan warlord's mantle as their Great Servant. For at the moment of Kul's demise, the Chaos Gods intervened to protect his body and imbued it with their power in the hopes that a successor might one day rise to take his place. Yet as this was done, the meddling High Elves, knowing that the power entrapped in Kul's corpse could spell untold devastation upon the mortal world, intervened and hid the Everchosen's corpse with spells so intricate that even the All-Seeing Eyes of the Chaos Gods were thwarted.[1]
Emerging from the caves with his body and armour bearing the marks of his new allegiance, Thorgar learned from Sudobaal that it was a mage of Saphery who cast the final enchantment. Once the Elf mage was found, and the knowledge torn from his dying lips, the Blooded One would hold knowledge that even the Chaos Gods did not. Bellowing a call to his lieutenant -- the Norscan Berserker known as Olaf, who rejoiced to see that his chieftain yet lived -- Thorgar proclaimed that the feeble High Elves would weep bitter tears in memory of the day he became their foe, and bade that his proud warriors ready for war and a journey to towards the Sea of Claws.[1]
Hunt for the Mage[]
"They know you are here! Without me, you will be destroyed! I have no regrets! And I expect no mercy..."
"And you will receive none."
- —Thorgar, before slaying the traitor Sudobaal[1]
Sudobaal then instructed Thorgar to locate a High Elven mage who knew the location of the corpse of Asavar Kul. During this time Thorgar allied with Kasqit, a Skaven Warlock Engineer of Clan Skryre. Having angered the Skaven's ruling Council of Thirteen, Kasqit quickly accepted the alliance in order to receive Thorgar's protection, and agreed to help Thorgar locate the mage. As he grew in power Thorgar ended up killing Sudobaal for turning against him. Shortly afterwards, having communed with the immortal spirit of Asavar Kul, he was elevated to daemonhood as a Daemon Prince.[1]
In his new, resplendent daemonic form, Thorgar fought and slew the great Dragon Prince of Caledor, Khalanos, before laying waste to the Elf lord's army. He then marched upon the army of Talabecland as they fled towards the city of Talabheim. Cornered in the burning square of a ruined Talabec village, Count Feuerbach challenged Thorgar to single combat. Though he fought bravely, wielding one of the legendary Runefangs, the Elector Count ultimately fell before the might of the Daemon Prince.[1]
With their leader dead at his hands, Thorgar marched upon the walls of Talabheim, seeking to claim it in the name of Khorne. Fortunately for the city's defenders, reinforcements had arrived in the form of Count Stefan von Kessel of Ostermark and his High Elven allies, led by the mage-princess, Aurelion.[1]
At the height of the battle, Count Stefan, mounted atop a noble Griffon, engaged Thorgar in an epic duel. Eventually, the Daemon Prince was able to cast down the young Elector Count's mount, even as the Imperial warrior's Runefang pierced his unholy flesh. However, as Thorgar prepared to kill Stefan, he was suddenly engulfed in a blast of magical flame. Aurelion could not harm the Daemon Prince, but she was able to distract him. With his attention turned towards the High Elf, the cannon batteries of Talebheim unleashed a massive onslaught of destruction upon Thorgar, banishing him to the Realm of Chaos. With their leader destroyed, the Northmen hordes soon broke and fled. Talebheim was saved.[1][2]
Wargear[]
As a mortal warrior Thorgar was a truly ferocious fighter, having bested several other Chaos Champions in single combat and earning the patronage of one of the Dark Gods, either Khorne or Nurgle. As a Daemon Prince, his might was increased yet further, allowing him to slaughter both a fabled Dragon Prince of Caledor and his monstrous Dragon steed.
- Slayer of Kings - The Slayer of Kings was gifted to Thorgar by none other than the twelfth Everchosen, Asavar Kul himself. It was a huge sword with the raging soul of a captive Greater Daemon, U'zuhl, bound within it. It was lost when Thorgar was defeated at the Siege of Talabheim. It was later re-discovered by the future thirteenth Everchosen, Archaon.[2]
- Armour of Damnation - This highly ornate suit of Chaos Armour shimmered with unnatural energies that distorted the position of the wearer so that an enemy's blows missed their mark.
- Ring of Change - Filled with the warping power of Chaos, the Ring of Change could transform an attacker into a slavering Chaos Spawn.
Canon Conflict[]
Thorgar is a character created for the PC game Warhammer: Mark of Chaos. In the tie-in novel of the same name, he is renamed as "Hroth." The novel deviates from the events of the game in several key ways, with Hroth's appearance and several aspects of his story being drastically revised from what is depicted in the game.
Thorgar starts the game as a Champion of Chaos Undivided, and is able to select a single Chaos God patron at the end of Chapter 1 in the campaign, either Khorne or Nurgle. Thorgar's appearance and abilities can change significantly depending on this choice, and it has repercussions both story and gameplay-wise later on in the campaign. This differs significantly from the events of the tie-in novel, where Thorgar's equivalent character begins the story as a Champion of Khorne.
Thorgar has a namesake in the tie-in novel by Anthony Reynolds in the form of a red-bearded Chaos Marauder who serves the antagonist Hroth the Blooded. At the beginning of the novel, Thorgar's brother falls fighting an Imperial soldier, and Hroth offers him his decapitated head, remarking that his brother was a great warrior and that by keeping his skull his spirit will watch over him.
While Thorgar is described in the prologue of the Chaos Campaign of Mark of Chaos as a "Kurgan of the Khazag tribe," his name is derived from the Old Norse given name "Þorgarðr" (Thorgarthr), and actually survives in Norwegian as a modern variant of this Old Norse name. He lacks the tanned skin that characterises most Kurgan warriors. Additionally, in the introduction to the third chapter of the PC game's campaign, Thorgar and his army are described as "the Norse," making his true ethnic identity somewhat unclear.
Thorgar shares his epithet and various aspects of his characterisation with the primary timeline's canon character Haargroth the Blooded.
Sources[]
- 1: Warhammer: Mark of Chaos (PC Game)
- 2: Mark of Chaos (Novel) by Anthony Reynolds
Gallery[]
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