Fulgrim (Novel)
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This article is about the novel; for the Primarch, see Fulgrim. |
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Fulgrim is a novel by Graham McNeill and the fifth book in the Horus Heresy Series. The novel was released in the UK in July 2007. It was later included in "The Novels: Volume 1" e-book collection.
Cover Description
Under the command of the newly appointed Warmaster Horus, the Great Crusade continues. Fulgrim, Primarch of the Emperor's Children, leads his warriors into battle against a vile alien foe, unaware of the darker forces that have already set their sights upon the Imperium of Man. Loyalties are tested, and every murderous whim indulged as the Emperor's Children take their first steps down the road to true corruption — a road that will ultimately lead them to the killing fields of Isstvan V...[1]
Plot Summary
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The following paragraphs contain spoilers for: | Fulgrim (Novel) |
Part One: The Perfect Warrior
Aboard the Pride of the Emperor, Remembrancers Serena d'Angelus and Ostian Delafour attend Bequa Kynska's recital while the Second and Third Companies are fighting the Xenos known as Laer on Atoll 19.[2b] At the war council that will officially declare the Cleansing of Laeran, Fulgrim vows to take the planet within a month.[2c] With Atoll 19 secured as a landing zone, the campaign begins in earnest with the arrival of the First Company and the rest of the 28th Expedition Fleet, while Delafour rejects Kynska’s advances.[2d]
As the campaign nears its conclusion, Apothecary Fabius convinces his Primarch to let him experiment with the Lear's modified physiology in order to further perfect the Legion. At a Brotherhood of the Phoenix meeting, Fulgrim announces that afterwards the Emperor's Children will join the Iron Hands in the Perdus Anomaly, with the exception of a force led by Eidolon to ensure the loyalty of previously conquered territories.[2e] Fulgrim leads the assault on the last atoll under enemy control and enters its temple, seizing the Silver Blade of the Laer for himself before ordering the total extermination of the Xenos.[2f]
Part Two: The Phoenix and the Gorgon
In the Perdus Anomaly, the Diasporex have been evading the Iron Hands' search and destroy missions, prompting their call to the Emperor's Children.[2g] Aboard the Pride of the Emperor, Delafour broods over the time Kynska had him left out of the remembrancers' visit to Laeran, all while working on a marble statue. Solomon Demeter, Captain of the Second Company, is still recovering from the injuries that prevented him from taking part in the final assault on the Laer.[2h]
The III and the X meet in the Anomaly, and Fulgrim surmises that the Diasporex need to collect fuel before they can escape this volume of space. Eidolon accepts to patronize Fabius’s research, demanding in exchange to be made into Fulgrim’s most valuable soldier. D’Angelus, obsessed with the Laer temple, overcomes her artist's block by using blood in her paintings.[2i] Looking to make sense of his experience in the Laer temple, First Captain Julius Kaesoron is initiated into the works of Cornelius Blayke. Goaded by a voice in his head, Fulgrim fulminates when Ferrus Manus springs the trap on the Diasporex without consulting him.[2j] During the Battle of the Carollis Star, the Imperials are victorious but Fulgrim resents what he perceives as other Astartes' self-aggrandizing actions.[2k]
Part Three: Visions of Treachery
The 28th Expedition Fleet sails further into the Anomaly, as Eldrad Ulthran of Craftworld Ulthwé sees an opportunity and Kaesoron immerses himself deeper in Blayke's philosophy of sensation.[2l] Delafour attracts the Primarch's ire when he explains that the beauty of art is not about perfection but passion, and the Fleet discovers the first of several idyllic worlds.[2m] As Fulgrim declares his intent to leave the planets untouched, Demeter shares with Lord Commander Vespasian his suspicions that the Laer temple has somehow influenced part of the Legion. D’Angelus murders the poet Leopold Cadmus to further experiment with her painting.[2n]
On Tarsus, an Aeldari delegation headed by Ulthran approaches Fulgrim, whose unusual behavior towards their Maiden Worlds has attracted their attention: the Farseer warns Fulgrim of Horus Lupercal's imminent betrayal.[2o] The Primarch dismisses the accusation, and Ulthran orders his escort to kill the Imperials upon realizing Fulgrim is already being corrupted by Slaanesh. The Imperials are victorious in the ensuing battle, and an incensed Fulgrim orders the newfound worlds to be virus-bombed.[2p]
Part Four: Threshold
Terran emissary Ormond Braxton informs Fulgrim of the Council’s concerns concerning the conduct of the 63rd Expedition Fleet, and the Primarch snidely accepts to investigate the matter before resuming his conversation with the distorted portrait d’Angelus has made of him. The painter confesses her murder of Cadmus to Lucius, who covers her and adopts her mannerism of self-scarification.[2q] In Auretian Technocracy space, Fulgrim meets with Horus who, along with Erebus, convinces his brother that the Emperor has betrayed them and he should join the rebellion to come.[2r]
In the Callidenes System, a ploy to have Demeter killed by Orks is foiled thanks to Saul Tarvitz, but the aftermath results in Fulgrim killing Vespasian. The bulk of the Legion under Eidolon’s command goes to Isstvan III.[2s] Aboard the Fist of Iron, Fulgrim attempts to sway Ferrus to the Warmaster’s cause. They fight, and the Emperor’s Children escape after their fleet opens fire on the Iron Hands' ships.[2t] In the later days of the Battle of Isstvan III, Lucius tricks Demeter into killing his own men and leaves the Captain to die from a sword wound.[2u]
Part Five: The Last Phoenix
As preparations are under way on Isstvan V and Eidolon leads Lucius to Fabius’s laboratory, Fulgrim confronts Delafour and impales him on his latest creation: a statue of the Emperor. D’Angelus finds the body and, racked with sorrow, commits suicide.[2v] The battlefield ready, baseline humans and Astartes alike attend the masterpiece Kynska has been working on since Laer. In a recreation of the Xenos temple's decor and acoustics, the Maraviglia turns to a massacre as Daemonettes and newly reborn Noise Marines tear through the audience.[2w]
The Battle of Isstvan V begins, the Iron Hands, Salamanders and Raven Guard making up the first wave against the traitors. The second wave arrives: the Iron Warriors, Night Lords, Word Bearers, and Alpha Legion.[2x] Refusing to regroup, Ferrus leads a renewed attack against the Emperor’s Children. He and Fulgrim duel as the second wave opens fire on the remnants of the first. Fulgrim beheads Ferrus and, distraught, gives in to the voice that has been haunting him—thus letting a Daemon take over his body.[2y] In the aftermath of the Drop Site Massacre, the traitors hold a triumph and Horus learns of Fulgrim’s fate, vowing to find a way to free his brother.[2z]
Dramatis Personae
- Horus — Primarch of the Sons of Horus, Warmaster of the Great Crusade[2a]
- Fulgrim — Primarch of the Emperor's Children[2a]
- Corax — Primarch of the Raven Guard[2a]
- Ferrus Manus — Primarch of the Iron Hands[2a]
- Vulkan — Primarch of the Salamanders[2a]
- Angron — Primarch of the World Eaters[2a]
- Mortarion — Primarch of the Death Guard[2a]
- Eidolon — Lord Commander[2a]
- Vespasian — Lord Commander[2a]
- Julius Kaesoron — First Captain[2a]
- Solomon Demeter — Captain of the 2nd Company[2a]
- Gaius Caphen — Second-in-command to Solomon Demeter[2a]
- Marius Vairosean — Captain of the 3rd Company[2a]
- Saul Tarvitz — Captain of the 10th Company
- Lucius — Captain of the 13th Company[2a]
- Charmosian — Chaplain, 18th Company[2a]
- Fabius — Apothecary[2a]
- Gabriel Santar — Captain, First Company[2a]
- Captain Balhaan — Captain of the Ferrum[2a]
Imperial Personae
- Serena D’Angelus — Offical Remembrancer, artist and imagist[2a]
- Bequa Kynska — Offical Remembrancer, composer and harmonist[2a]
- Ostian Delafour — Offical Remembrancer, sculptor[2a]
- Coraline Asenec — Offical Remembrancer, theatrical performer[2a]
- Leopold Cadmus — Offical Remembrancer, poet[2a]
- Ormond Braxton — Emissary of the Administration of Terra[2a]
- Evander Tobias — Archivist of the Pride of the Emperor[2a]
See also
Sources
- 1: Black Library - Fulgrim (saved archive page, dated 19 January 2024, last accessed 10 August 2024, original link: https://www.blacklibrary.com/the-horus-heresy/novels/fulgrim-ebook.html)
- 2: Fulgrim (Novel)
- 2a: Dramatis Personae
- 2b: One, Recital/See it Through/Laeran
- 2c: Two, The Phoenix Gate/The Eagle will Rule/In the Fire
- 2d: Three, The Cost of Victory/Up the Centre/Predator
- 2e: Four, The Speed of War/A Longer Road/Brotherhood of the Phoenix
- 2f: Five, Downed/Follow the Firebird/The Fane of Excess
- 2g: Six, Diasporex/The Molten Heart/Young Gods
- 2h: Seven, There Will be Other Oceans/Recovery/The Phoenix and the Gorgon
- 2i: Eight, The Most Important Question/Warmaster/Progress
- 2j: Nine, Discovered/Blayke/An Honest Counsellor
- 2k: Ten, The Battle of Carollis Star/Going up the Centre/New Heights of Experience
- 2l: Eleven, The Seer/The Perdus Anomaly/The Book of Urizen
- 2m: Twelve, No Purity in Pride/Paradise/Never be Finished
- 2n: Thirteen, New Model/Maiden World/Mama Juana
- 2o: Fourteen, To Tarsus/The Nature of Genius/Warning
- 2p: Fifteen, The Worm at the Heart of the Apple/War Calls/Kaela Mensha Khaine
- 2q: Sixteen, Called to Account/Scars/My Fear is to Fail
- 2r: Seventeen, Nothing Against Your Conscience
- 2s: Eighteen, Deep Orbital/Excision/Separate Ways
- 2t: Nineteen, An Error of Judgement
- 2u: Twenty, A Difficult Voyage/Isstvan III/Perfect Failure
- 2v: Twenty-One, Vengeance/The Price of Isolation/The Prodigal/Death-Marked Love
- 2w: Twenty-Two, World of Death/The Trap is Set/Maraviglia
- 2x: Twenty-Three, The Battle of Isstvan V
- 2y: Twenty-Four, Brothers with Bloody Hands
- 2z: Twenty-Five, Massacre/Daemon/The Last Phoenix
- 2aa: Enhanced edition illistrations
