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1 / 4 · Click to enlargeLore & origins
Every Blood Angel carries two curses in his gene-seed. The first is the Red Thirst, a craving for blood that must be kept in check. The second is the Black Rage. A Blood Angel who succumbs to the Black Rage relives the last hours of Sanguinius, believing that he is fighting Horus on the Vengeful Spirit ten thousand years earlier. He loses his sense of present time and can no longer be trusted to follow orders.
The Chapter does not abandon these warriors. Its Chaplains gather them into the Death Company and lead them into battle one last time. Their armour is painted black and marked with red saltires, symbolising the wounds of Sanguinius. Most never return; a Death Company Marine who survives the battle simply waits for the next. Chaplain Lemartes, the Guardian of the Lost, leads them even though he is himself afflicted by the rage and holds it back by sheer will.
The Black Rage is found in the Blood Angels' Successors as well. The Flesh Tearers suffer especially badly. When a Dreadnought pilot succumbs to the rage, he is entombed in a Death Company Dreadnought, chained until he is unleashed in battle.
The Death Company is made up of Blood Angels and successor Chapter battle-brothers who have succumbed to the Black Rage, a flaw in their gene-seed that makes them relive Sanguinius' final battle with Horus. They lose their sense of self and believe they are their Primarch's companions at the end. They are painted black with red saltires. Chaplains lead them into one last battle, where most die in a frenzy. The Chapter's Chaplains and Lemartes, 'Guardian of the Lost', lead the Death Company. Astorath the Grim, the Redeemer of the Lost, is sent to grant mercy to those who cannot be saved.
Appearance & wargear
Death Company warriors wear black power armour with red saltires or blood-red crosses, and sometimes jump packs. They fight with bolt pistols, chainswords, power weapons and thunder hammers. Their armour is often decorated with ritual wounds and blood drops. Primaris Death Company Intercessors share the same livery.
They wear black power armour with red crosses and saltires, and carry chainswords, bolt pistols, power weapons, thunder hammers and jump packs. Many are scratched and battle-damaged.
Weapons & Vehicles
The brutal motorised tooth-bladed sword carried by Space Marines, Imperial Guard officers and Chaos renegades, chewing through armour a…
A massive warhammer whose head releases a deafening concussive shockwave and disruption blast on impact, shattering Terminator plate an…
An oversized servo-assisted armoured gauntlet sheathed in a matter-shredding energy field, capable of tearing open tank hulls and crush…
A master-crafted blade sheathed in a crackling molecular disruption field that parts ceramite, bone and steel with effortless lethality…
The signature .75-calibre rocket-propelled mass-reactive firearm of the Adeptus Astartes, firing self-propelled explosive bolts that de…
A heavily armed VTOL assault gunship and flying transport of the Adeptus Astartes and Grey Knights, capable of carrying both a full squ…
An armoured orbital-insertion capsule fired like a shell from a Space Marine Strike Cruiser, slamming into the heart of the enemy battl…
A walking war machine that keeps a mortally wounded hero alive inside an armoured sarcophagus, so he can fight on for centuries.
Explore all 48 entries in the Weapons & Vehicles armoury.
Battlefield role & tactics
Death Company are shock troops thrown at the strongest part of the enemy line. They are almost impossible to stop, ignore pain and fear, and fight until they are killed. Chaplains lead them with the deliberate aim of guiding their rage against the enemy, so that the warriors' final battle is useful to the Chapter.
Death Company are frenzied shock troops thrown at the enemy with no regard for survival. They are hard to kill and devastating in melee, but they cannot be controlled or held back.
Notable battles & users
- Lemartes: the Chaplain who leads the Death Company despite suffering the Black Rage himself.
- Defence of Amethal: during the Diamor campaign, Death Company forces fought in Dante's relief of the world.
- Flesh Tearers: Gabriel Seth's Chapter loses so many to the Black Rage that its Death Company is often large.
- Ghost War (811.M37): the Blood Angels Chapter fought a huge Black Legion warband on Mackan during the 7th Black Crusade. Abaddon and his lieutenants Iskandar Khayon and Telemachon Lyras nearly destroyed the Chapter.
- Gaius Point (998.M41): the Flesh Tearers' Death Company slaughtered Imperial civilians during the Third War for Armageddon, and the Order of the Argent Shroud reported it, as told in Aaron Dembski-Bowden's short story.
- Shield of Baal (998.M41): the Death Company fought as the Cryptan Shield collapsed before Hive Fleet Leviathan.
Related
Characters (5)
Sanguinius · Primarch of the Blood Angels, the Great Angel
Commander Dante · Chapter Master of the Blood Angels, Regent of Imperium Nihilus
Astorath the Grim · High Chaplain of the Blood Angels, Redeemer of the Lost
Gabriel Seth · Chapter Master of the Flesh Tearers
Mephiston · Chief Librarian of the Blood Angels, Lord of Death
