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Astorath is the High Chaplain of the Blood Angels. His terrible office is to find the sons of Sanguinius who have fallen so deep into the Black Rage that an honourable death in battle is no longer possible, and to end them. Across the whole Sanguinary Brotherhood he is honoured and quietly dreaded.
He wields an executioner's axe and travels from Chapter to Chapter, hunting brothers lost to the Black Rage. He has been called the Redeemer of the Lost, and his presence on a battlefield is both a mercy and a horror. He also fights alongside Blood Angels and their successors against all enemies. Astorath the Grim, Redeemer of the Lost, is the High Chaplain of the Blood Angels. He travels between the successor Chapters of Sanguinius to find the brothers lost to the Black Rage and give them a final death with the Executioner's Axe. He is honoured for the mercy he brings and loathed because it is stained with the blood of his own brothers.
Long ago the Sanguinary Brotherhood decided that this terrible duty should fall to a single son of Sanguinius, and so far one Chaplain has proven enough. Astorath therefore travels constantly, killing anything that stands between him and the brothers he has come to release. Blood Angels background material says the Black Rage seems to grow worse wherever he goes, and even sane Blood Angels fight more wildly near him. The truth is the reverse. He senses the Rage before it shows, even before its victim knows. Each case sounds in his mind as a doom-laden chord, and the music grows louder as more brothers fall. Distance does not dull it, whether the doomed are on Armageddon or in Ultramar.
Origins
Little is recorded of his earlier life. Long ago the Blood Angels decided this burden should rest on a single warrior of Sanguinius' line, and so far Astorath alone has carried it.
Astorath's origins are unrecorded in the lore. His long service and his singular role have made him a legend among the Blood Angels and their successors. Whether he chose his burden or had it thrust upon him is unclear.
Key events
- Travels between the Blood Angels and their successor Chapters, sensing the onset of the Black Rage before even its victims can.
- Ends each lost brother's life with a single blow of his axe, which the Chapter regards as an act of mercy.
- Fought on Armageddon against Ghazghkull's hordes.
- Has commanded Blood Angels fleets in his own right.
- Keeps a hidden reclusiam on Baal, guarded by the Erelim, five Chaplains whose location is known only to Chapter Masters.
The novella Astorath: Angel of Mercy shows that he never believed the rumours that Primaris Marines were immune to the Flaw. He was proved right when he had to give the Emperor's Peace to Primaris warriors intended for the Red Wings Chapter. In Guy Haley's Darkness in the Blood, after Mephiston returned from the Rubicon changed, Astorath argued that he should be executed. Dante overruled him. His Executioner's Axe is described as master-crafted, edged with void-diamond to a monomolecular sharpness, with a haft shaped like a human spine. Many consider it cursed by the blood of so many of Sanguinius's sons.
Battles & campaigns
- Duty among the successors: He moves from Chapter to Chapter to lead and then execute the Death Company.
- Devastation of Baal: He fought with the Blood Angels during the Tyranid attack on their home world.
- Era Indomitus: He continues his grim duty in a galaxy torn apart by the Great Rift.
Personality
Solemn and burdened, with deep compassion beneath the grim exterior. Battle-brothers grow wilder near him, though the lore insists he draws the Rage out rather than causes it.
He bears his burden without complaint, believing that a merciful death is the last gift he can give to his brothers. He is deeply compassionate and grieves for every brother he slays. His quiet faith sustains him.
Codex: Blood Angels (5th edition, p. 44) gives his attitude in a single command: honour the Death Company, not because they will win the day, but because their fate will one day belong to everyone present. His grief fuels his determination that each lost brother should die after one last great victory. Background material describes the Erelim, a choir of five Chaplains who guard his hidden reclusiam on Baal. Only the Chapter Masters of the Blood Angels and their successors know where it is.
Weapons & Vehicles
A master-crafted blade sheathed in a crackling molecular disruption field that parts ceramite, bone and steel with effortless lethality…
The screaming, blood-drenched motorised war-axe of the World Eaters and Khorne Berzerkers, trading all defensive finesse for bone-shatt…
The brutal motorised tooth-bladed sword carried by Space Marines, Imperial Guard officers and Chaos renegades, chewing through armour a…
The signature .75-calibre rocket-propelled mass-reactive firearm of the Adeptus Astartes, firing self-propelled explosive bolts that de…
Blood Angels who have fallen to the Black Rage, painted black and led into one last battle by their Chaplains.
The golden, winged honour guard of the Blood Angels, whose death masks are cast in the likeness of their lost Primarch.
Explore all 48 entries in the Weapons & Vehicles armoury.
Connections
Characters (2)
Factions
- Blood Angels primary faction
Related units (3)
Also in this faction
Some links are thematic parallels (marked "parallel") rather than recorded meetings. See the connections web.
Legacy
Astorath bears the burden of granting mercy to Blood Angels lost to the Black Rage. He is feared and respected in every successor Chapter. His role shows the grim compassion of a brotherhood that must kill its own to spare them disgrace. Astorath is one of the clearest examples of the Blood Angels' curse and of the grim honour they find in facing it.
Appearances & sources
- Codex: Blood Angels background
- Astorath: Angel of Mercy (Guy Haley)
- The Devastation of Baal