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Ferrus Manus

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Ferrus Manus, literally meaning "Hands of Iron", was one of the twenty Primarchs created by the Emperor before the Great Crusade.

Ferrus Manus (M31)

Youth

Ferrus was stolen away by the forces of Chaos just as his brothers, and spent his first years on the planet Medusa.

Medusa was a harsh, unwelcoming planet inhabited by a tough and stoic people. Ferrus would not join these tribes, as many of his brothers did. Rather he would seek out physical challenges, to make himself stronger and more resilient. These tests ended with his battle against Asirnoth, the Great Silver Wyrm, a metallic beast impervious to harm and Ferrus had to drown it in magma to kill. The melted flesh of the wyrm fused into Ferrus' flesh, giving him the true metal hands his Legion would take its name from.

Ferrus now returned to the tribes and started lecturing to them on technology. The clans advanced at a stunning pace and Medusa prospered. But Ferrus took care to leave the inter-clan rivalry and fighting by never taking sides, as he saw the competition between them as healthy and good.

The Emperor eventually came to Medusa, and Ferrus Manus tested himself on him as well, in a cataclysmic battle that is said to have lain waste to entire mountains. Finally having found someone equal, Ferrus accepted the Emperor as his master and took command of a legion of Space Marines.

Great Crusade

Thousands of planets would fall to the remorseless Iron Hands under Ferrus' leadership. Each weak link in humanity was to be purged if mankind was to grow stronger. Scholars spoke of the wave of piety and faith that spread before the Iron Hands; with many planets suddenly motivated to look into themselves when they heard that the Iron Hands were approaching.

Horus Heresy

File:Ferrus Manus.jpg
Ferrus Manus and Fulgrim in a duel.

Rumour has it that Fulgrim approached Ferrus Manus before the heresy and tried to lure him to join Chaos. Ferrus Manus was so enraged at this proposal that he attacked Fulgrim. A short duel took place. The fireblade, given to him by Ferrus Manus, was destroyed in the battle. Fulgrim escaped after rendering Ferrus unconscious, for he could not bring himself to kill his brother.

The Iron Hands was one of the loyal legions the Emperor called to Isstvan V. Given the large distance, Ferrus Manus took the Legion's fastest ships and departed only with his veterans. They were all lost during the battle, when following the loss of their primarch they were struck down by the traitor legions, caught between the hammer of the Emperor's Children and upon the Anvil of the four support legions of the second wave.

Some say Ferrus survived Isstvan and now resides on Mars, but the Iron Hands strongly refute this. The truth of the matter was that Fulgrim personally killed Ferrus during the battle at Isstvan V, using the Daemon weapon he acquired fighting the Laer. Fulgrim was distraught with grief for the loss of his closest brother, at his own hands, eventually giving into the whispers of Chaos, who spoke promises to ease his pain. Sadly he gave into the request of the Daemon inside the blade, which ripped apart his mind and soul, overtaking his body and pushing him into the deepest corners of his mind. It turned him into the Daemon Prince he is now, and it was this Daemon that brought the mutilated head of Ferrus Manus before Horus.

Controversy around the Necrons and Ferrus

Some have linked the Asirnoth, the Great Silver Wyrm to the Necrons, more exactly stating that Asirnoth was the C'tan the Void Dragon. The artifacts of old said to be located on Medusa combined with the "living metal" that fused into Ferrus' hands have been pointed out, and has been said to have given Ferrus' the ideas and technology he taught to the tribes afterwards. It has been stated, however, that the new Necron codex was still largely unwritten at the time the Iron Hands-article was published, and that the concept of the C'tans were developed later.

This was proven false in the Horus Heresy novel Mechanicum. The Void Dragon resides in the Noctis Labyrinthus on Mars. He was inprisoned there by the Emperor before the Wars of Unification began. The Void Dragon is the reason the Mechanicum can even create the technology they have and still do.

Sources

1Fulgrim by Graham McNeill
2Mechanicum by Graham McNeill

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