Magnus the Red

Overview

The one-eyed giant sorcerer-Primarch whose quest for knowledge damned his Legion. His attempt to warn the Emperor of Horus's treachery shattered the Emperor's Webway project and brought the wolves of Fenris down on Prospero.

He wields the Blade of Magnus and possesses vast psychic power, making him the most powerful psyker among the Primarchs. During the Heresy, Leman Russ's Space Wolves destroyed Prospero, and Magnus made a pact with Tzeentch to save his Legion. He has since become a daemon prince and returned to realspace several times. Magnus the Red, primarch of the Thousand Sons, was the greatest psyker among his brothers. He was a scholar from Prospero who believed knowledge was never dangerous. His desperate attempt to warn the Emperor of Horus's betrayal shattered the wards around the Emperor's Webway project. The Emperor sent Leman Russ to bring him in, and the Wolves burned Prospero. Magnus then sided with Tzeentch and became a Daemon Prince.

Origins

Landed on Prospero, a world of psykers, where he became a scholar of the Warp and later commanded the XV Legion, which suffered from mutation.

On Prospero, he grew up among a society of psykers who studied the Warp. When the Emperor found him, Magnus took command of the XV Legion, which was afflicted by mutation. Magnus sought a cure in the Warp and made bargains he did not fully understand.

Suspicion shaped his Legion from the start. Because of the flesh-change and the Imperium's distrust of psykers, Magnus and his sons became unusually close, and only about a century into the Great Crusade were they allowed to join it as the 28th Expeditionary Fleet. On a joint campaign, Magnus and Russ almost came to blows over psychic powers until Lorgar stepped in. The Death Guard, Imperial Fists and Raven Guard Primarchs led the calls for the XV to be disbanded and struck from the records like the II and XI.

Key events

1. Was found on Prospero, a world of psykers, and became its scholar-king.
2. Defended psychic study at the Council of Nikaea, where the Emperor restricted the use of sorcery.
3. Bargained with Tzeentch to save his Legion from the flesh-change.
4. Sent a sorcerous warning to Terra, ruining the Webway project.
5. Prospero was burned by the Space Wolves, and Magnus was broken by Leman Russ.
6. Has opposed Guilliman in the Era Indomitus, losing to him in a duel on Luna.
7. Rules from the Planet of the Sorcerers in the Eye of Terror as a daemon prince of Tzeentch.

In the Wrath of Magnus campaign he restored himself to the material realm. After Logan Grimnar ordered Exterminatus on Midgardia, whose people Mortarion's plague had infected, Magnus used their deaths to teleport the Planet of the Sorcerers out of the Eye to an orbit above the ruins of Prospero. The ritual opened a new Warp rift that spilled out daemons for his army.

Battles & campaigns

• The Council of Nikaea: He defended the use of psychic powers, but the Emperor banned sorcery.
• The Webway breach: His sorcerous warning broke through the wards of the Imperial Webway.
• The Burning of Prospero: Russ and the Space Wolves invaded Prospero, and Russ broke Magnus's back.
• Siege of Terra: He returned as a Daemon Prince to fight in the Palace.

Personality

Curious, arrogant and tragic, convinced to the last that he meant well.

He was curious and confident in his own understanding of the Warp, often to the point of arrogance. He believed that knowledge was a tool for good, and he sought to save his Legion from mutation. His tragedy was that his good intentions led to ruin.

Weapons & Vehicles

Nemesis Force WeaponsPsychic Weapon

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Power SwordMelee Weapon

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Plasma Gun & Plasma IncineratorRanged Weapon

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Explore all 48 entries in the Weapons & Vehicles armoury.

Connections

Characters (8)

• 
  Constantin Valdor enemy · Adeptus Custodes

  Valdor accompanied the Space Wolves and Sisters of Silence to Prospero to arrest Magnus.

• 
  The Emperor of Mankind enemy · Imperium of Man

  Magnus's sorcerous warning shattered the Emperor's secret webway project, leading to the Burning of Prospero.

• 
  Leman Russ enemy · Space Wolves

  Russ broke Magnus's back during the Burning of Prospero.

• 
  Ragnar Blackmane enemy · Space Wolves

  Ragnar drove Magnus back on Garm, losing the Spear of Russ.

• 
  Roboute Guilliman enemy · Ultramarines

  Magnus fought Guilliman on Luna during the Terran Crusade.

• 
  Ahzek Ahriman commander · Thousand Sons

  Ahriman was Magnus's Chief Librarian and is now an exile who seeks to undo the Rubricae.

• 
  Kairos Fateweaver fellow servant of Tzeentch · Chaos Daemons

  Both serve the Changer of Ways.

• 
  Tzeentch patron · Chaos Daemons

  Tzeentch spent centuries manipulating Magnus, then took the Thousand Sons after Prospero and later made Magnus his Daemon Primarch.

Factions

• Thousand Sons primary faction
• Chaos Daemons also affiliated

Also in this faction

Be'lakorGrandfather NurgleKhorneKu'gath PlaguefatherSkarbrandSlaanesh

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

Legacy

Magnus's fall is one of the Heresy's great tragedies, a mistake born of good intentions. His Legion fractured into the Rubricae and Ahriman's renegades, and the Thousand Sons remain locked in eternal enmity with the Space Wolves. The Thousand Sons became Rubricae, and Magnus's later campaigns, including the Fenris assault in the 41st millennium, have kept his feud with the Space Wolves alive.

Appearances & sources

• The Horus Heresy novels A Thousand Sons and Prospero Burns (Graham McNeill and Dan Abnett)
• Magnus the Red: Master of Prospero (Graham McNeill)
• The War of the Spider and Ahriman novels (John French)