Mortarion

Overview

The grim Primarch from the poisonous world of Barbarus, who hated psykers and tyranny but was delivered into Nurgle's embrace when his fleet was trapped in the Warp.

He wields the scythe Silence and wears the Barbaran plate armour, as well as a rebreather that protects him from his own poisonous aura. During the Heresy, his fleet was becalmed in the Warp and ravaged by Nurgle's plague, and he accepted the Plague God's offer of release. He has since become a daemon prince and led the Death Guard in the Plague Wars against Ultramar. Mortarion, the Death Lord, was primarch of the Death Guard. He grew up in the toxic world of Barbarus as the adopted son of the necromancer lord Necare, whom he eventually rose against. He resented the Emperor and psykers alike. After joining Horus, he led his Legion into the Warp, where they were becalmed and ravaged by the Destroyer Plague. To save them, he swore himself to Nurgle and became a Daemon Prince of Decay.

Origins

He was raised by a warlord-necromancer of Barbarus. He led the humans of the lowlands against their overlords before the Emperor arrived.

On Barbarus, he was raised by a warlord-necromancer who ruled the mountains above a poisonous fog. Mortarion grew up resisting the toxins and eventually led the lowland humans against their overlords. When the Emperor arrived and killed his adoptive father, Mortarion resented him for stealing his vengeance.

His arrival remade the XIV Legion. The Dusk Raiders had been mostly Terran-born, but after Mortarion took command nearly every new recruit came from Barbarus. The old Terran rites and the Officio Militaris traditions faded under Barbarus's grim culture. By the eve of the Heresy, the Barbarans and the remaining Terrans distrusted each other. Mortarion judged about a third of the Legion likely to stay loyal, many of them former Dusk Raiders like Nathaniel Garro, and he sent them down to Isstvan III. At Nikaea he spoke passionately against Magnus. The horrors he had seen psykers and sorcerers create on Barbarus drove him to warn against any use of sorcery in the Emperor's service.

Key events

1. Was found on Barbarus, raised by the sinister Overlord of Barbarus, and led the human villagers' rebellion against the poison-mist warlords who ruled the heights.
2. Typhus engineered the Death Guard fleet's entrapment in the Warp, where the Destroyer Plague afflicted the whole Legion.
3. Accepted Nurgle's offer to save his sons and became a daemon prince.
4. Waged the Plague Wars against Ultramar in the Era Indomitus with Typhus and Ku'gath.
5. Struck down Guilliman with the Godblight on Iax, then fled when Guilliman rose again channeling the Emperor's power.
6. Fought Jaghatai Khan on Prospero during the Heresy.

Horus Heresy fiction shows how isolated he became. He went to Jaghatai Khan looking for an ally against the sorcerers multiplying among the Traitors, since he trusted neither Angron nor Curze. When the Khan refused, Mortarion warned him that half the White Scars had already declared for Horus. Typhon arranged his eventual fall. He had the fleet's Navigators killed as suspected loyalists, and he promised his Warp-gift would carry them safely. Mortarion hated relying on what he called witchery but saw no choice. The fleet entered the Warp and never came out unchanged.

Battles & campaigns

• Barbarus: He led the people of Barbarus against the Overlords. The Emperor intervened only when Mortarion faced Necare.
• The Destroyer Plague: The Death Guard fleet stalled in the Warp, and Typhus's betrayal delivered them to Nurgle.
• Siege of Terra: He fought the Khan on the Palace walls.
• The Plague Wars: In the 41st millennium, he attacked Ultramar and fought Guilliman on Iax.

Personality

Sardonic, stubborn and proud of his endurance; he remains in bitter denial about his servitude.

He is stubborn and proud of his resilience, and he refuses to admit his servitude to Nurgle. He hated psykers and tyranny, but became a servant of a god. His bitterness toward the Emperor is mirrored in his resentment of his current master.

Weapons & Vehicles

Silence (Plague Scythe)Relic Weapon

The colossal, rust-pitted two-handed battle scythe of Daemon Primarch Mortarion, forged on Barbarus and steeped in the soul-rotting pla…

Plague Knife & BaleswordMelee Weapon

The corroded, pus-dripping combat blades of the Death Guard Plague Marines, so saturated with Nurgle's supernatural contagions that a s…

Plasma Gun & Plasma IncineratorRanged Weapon

A volatile directed-energy rifle that hurls bolts of miniature sun-hot plasma capable of vaporising Terminator plate and tank armour—at…

Flamer & Heavy FlamerRanged Weapon

A volatile liquid-promethium projector that floods bunkers, trenches and xenos swarms in clinging, self-oxidising gouts of cleansing ch…

Deathshroud TerminatorsElites · Unit

The mute, scythe-wielding Terminator bodyguards and executioner-emissaries of Mortarion, sworn never to stray more than forty-nine pace…

PlaguebearersMonsters & Daemons · Unit

The one-eyed, rotting lesser daemons of Nurgle, endlessly counting their god's diseases.

Explore all 48 entries in the Weapons & Vehicles armoury.

Connections

Characters (7)

• 
  The Emperor of Mankind creator · Imperium of Man

  Mortarion resented the Emperor for intervening in his war against Barbarus's overlords.

• 
  Jaghatai Khan enemy · White Scars

  The Khan defeated Mortarion in a brutal duel during the Siege of Terra.

• 
  Kaldor Draigo enemy · Grey Knights

  Draigo struck down Mortarion at Kornovin and carved a name onto the daemon primarch's heart.

• 
  Roboute Guilliman enemy · Ultramarines

  Mortarion led the Plague Wars against Guilliman's Ultramar.

• 
  Grandfather Nurgle patron · Chaos Daemons

  Nurgle claimed Mortarion when the Destroyer Plague ravaged the Death Guard in the Warp, and later raised him to daemonhood on the Plague Planet.

• 
  Ku'gath Plaguefather fellow servant of Nurgle · Chaos Daemons

  Both took part in the Plague Wars, in which Ku'gath led Nurgle's daemonic legions alongside Mortarion's Death Guard.

• 
  Typhus betrayed by · Death Guard

  Typhus led the Death Guard into Nurgle's grasp during the Heresy.

Factions

• Death Guard primary faction
• Chaos Daemons also affiliated

Related units (4)

Daemon PrincesPlague MarinesPoxwalkersDeathshroud Terminators

Also in this faction

Be'lakorKairos FateweaverKhorneSkarbrandSlaaneshTzeentch

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

Legacy

Mortarion turned the Death Guard into Nurgle's legion of plague and endurance. The Plague Wars showed that he and his sons remain a devastating force. The Death Guard remain the main army of Nurgle, and Mortarion's Plague Wars against Ultramar renewed his long feud with Guilliman.

Appearances & sources

• The Horus Heresy novels The Flight of the Eisenstein and The Buried Dagger
• Mortarion: The Pale King (David Annandale)
• Dark Imperium: Plague War (Guy Haley)