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Art: “The Return of the Wolf.” by Vitaly Perevoshikov, used with the artist's permission. source

Space Marines & Primarchs

Logan Grimnar

The Great Wolf, Chapter Master of the Space Wolves

Status: Active
Connections: 3 characters
Battles: 3 recorded here

Illustrated by Vitaly Perevoshikov (“The Return of the Wolf.”, used with permission) · Additional gallery art by Vitaly Perevoshikov (“The Return of the Wolf. (Plate 2)”), Vitaly Perevoshikov (“The Return of the Wolf. (Plate 3)”) (used with permission)

Overview

Logan Grimnar, the Old Wolf, has led the Space Wolves as Great Wolf for centuries and fought for seven hundred years in all. He rides to war on the chariot Stormrider. Across Fenris he is revered as a living saga, and he answers to his own sense of honour as much as to Imperial authority.

He wields the Axe Morkai, a relic he took from a Chaos champion during the First War for Armageddon. His wolves Tyrnak and Fenrir run alongside him into battle. He has led the Space Wolves against countless foes, and he is one of the most respected Chapter Masters in the Imperium. Logan Grimnar, the Great Wolf, has ruled the Space Wolves for over seven hundred years. He is warlord of Fenris, beloved across the Imperium and famously independent. He openly defies the Inquisition when he believes it is wrong. He fought Angron on Armageddon and defended Fenris itself during the Wrath of Magnus. He is preparing for the Wolftime.

Most Brutal Moment

The aftermath of Armageddon

After the Space Wolves and other forces helped drive back Angron's horde during the First War for Armageddon, the Inquisition decided that the surviving citizens had seen too much of daemons and Chaos to be allowed to live freely. The survivors were sterilised and scattered into forced labour camps to rebuild the world, and new colonists were brought in to replace them. Logan Grimnar protested loudly, joined only by the Salamanders. The episode set the Space Wolves against the Inquisition and cemented his lasting hatred of the Inquisition. Aaron Dembski-Bowden's The Emperor's Gift tells how close it came to war. Logan's fleet escorted refugee ships away from the Inquisition. At a parley in neutral space the Space Wolves were fired on and lost four ships. When Grimnar was brought aboard a Grey Knights ship to 'surrender', he killed Grand Master Joros for breaking the parley and teleported out. When Inquisitor Lord Kysnaros later besieged Fenris, Grimnar boarded his flagship Corel's Hope with twenty Terminators and killed him. Only Bjorn's insistence finally brought him to make peace.

Source: Space Wolves background (First War for Armageddon)

Origins

A Fenrisian warrior who rose to lead the Great Company known as the Champions of Fenris. When the previous Great Wolf fell, he was chosen to lead the whole Chapter.

Grimnar has been Great Wolf for more than five hundred of his seven hundred years, making him one of the oldest loyalist Chapter Masters. Unlike more distant Chapter Masters, he holds court among his warriors in the Fang and fights in the front rank. He rides to war on the chariot Stormrider, pulled by Thunderwolves, and his reign spans the Chapter's clashes with the Inquisition and the Wulfen crisis.

The Champions of Fenris supplement gives his beginnings. In 313.M41 he was an Iron Blood tribesman fighting the Sea Devil and Ice Fang tribes on the Boiling Ocean. He was the last of his crew still standing at the ruins of a temple of Morkai when Ulrik's Terminators came for him. In the Trial of Morkai he killed the ice troll Frostblood by driving a broken bone into its eye while it savaged his arm. He served as a Blood Claw in Asvald Stormwrack's Great Company and became known for his grin and his jokes as much as his courage. He fought in the Macharian Crusade and later, in 415.M41, took Asvald's place as Wolf Lord when Asvald fell against the Orks in the Cyclopean Rift. In 440.M41 he became Great Wolf after Sigvald Grimhammer was murdered by a Dark Eldar Succubus. Older sources name Anakron Silvermane as his predecessor instead.

Key events

Rose through the ranks under the watchful eye of the Wolf Priest Ulrik the Slayer, who still calls him 'young Grimnar', and led the Champions of Fenris before being chosen as Great Wolf.
Took the Axe Morkai from a mighty champion of Chaos during the First War for Armageddon.
Defied the Inquisition's purge of witnesses after a daemonic incursion, which led to a bitter conflict and a siege of Fenris by an Inquisitorial armada. Bjorn the Fell-Handed brokered an uneasy peace.
Served as supreme commander of the Imperial defence at the Cadian Gate during the 13th Black Crusade.
During Magnus the Red's assault on the Fenris system, he led the fight on Midgardia. Egil Iron Wolf saved him, and Grimnar wounded Magnus with the Axe Morkai, buying time for the Grey Knights to banish the daemon primarch.

In the 13th Black Crusade he was supreme commander of Cadia's defenders, and at Kasr Sonnen he and Azrael set aside their Chapters' rivalry to beat a far larger army. In the Season of Blood he returned to Armageddon against Angron and clashed repeatedly with High Marshal Helbrecht, fearing another purge of civilians. Helbrecht allowed only limited purges, and the two worked together in the final assault on the Red Angel's Gate.

Battles & campaigns

First War for Armageddon: He led the Space Wolves against Angron's forces and helped defeat the Daemon Primarch.
Eros Kyn: He alone held the Heaven Gate, with the dead piled ten deep around him.
Wrath of Magnus: He defended Fenris against the Thousand Sons.

Personality

Gruff, shrewd and loyal. He holds court with his war council, listens to grievances, and has no patience for Imperial politics that dishonour his warriors.

He is a wise leader who values his warriors and their lives. He is suspicious of Imperial authorities, especially the Inquisition, which has clashed with the Space Wolves. His honesty and his willingness to defend the innocent have earned him respect, even among those who dislike his Chapter. He was the only Space Marine leader besides the Salamanders to speak out against the cull of Armageddon's survivors.

Weapons & Vehicles

Signature Wargear & PanoplyThe Great Wolf of the Space Wolves rides his thunderwolf-drawn battle chariot, Stormrider, wearing ancient Terminator plate and swinging the Axe Morkai—a reforged Khorne daemon battle-axe taken from a Chaos Champion—paired with a wrist-mounted storm bolter.

Power SwordMelee Weapon

A master-crafted blade sheathed in a crackling molecular disruption field that parts ceramite, bone and steel with effortless lethality…

Storm BolterRanged Weapon

A twin-barrelled, double-chambered automatic bolter wielded one-handed by Space Marine Terminators, Grey Knights and battle tank pintle…

Thunder HammerMelee Weapon

A massive warhammer whose head releases a deafening concussive shockwave and disruption blast on impact, shattering Terminator plate an…

Drop PodTransport Vehicle

An armoured orbital-insertion capsule fired like a shell from a Space Marine Strike Cruiser, slamming into the heart of the enemy battl…

Explore all 48 entries in the Weapons & Vehicles armoury.

Connections

Characters (3)

Bjorn the Fell-Handed adviser · Space Wolves
Bjorn has refused the Great Wolf's mantle and counsels Grimnar.
Leman Russ gene-father · Space Wolves
Grimnar is the Great Wolf of the Space Wolves.
Ragnar Blackmane commander · Space Wolves
Ragnar serves Grimnar as Wolf Lord.

Factions

Space Wolves primary faction

Some links are thematic parallels (marked "parallel") rather than recorded meetings. See the connections web.

Legacy

Grimnar is the Great Wolf, one of the longest-reigning Chapter Masters in Space Wolves history and the keeper of Russ's traditions. His resistance to Inquisitorial overreach and his willingness to fight for ordinary humanity rather than for doctrine define his Chapter's spirit. His long reign has made him a figure of both reverence and stubborn controversy. His long reign makes him the anchor for centuries of Space Wolf history, from feuds with the Dark Angels to the Wulfen crisis. He embodies the Space Wolves' independence and defiance, and his reign has seen the Chapter's greatest triumphs and tragedies.

Appearances & sources

Codex: Space Wolves background
Logan Grimnar: Great Wolf (Robbie MacNiven) and The Great Wolf
The Space Wolf novels