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The Legion of the Damned is one of the great mysteries of the Imperium. Its warriors appear unannounced at desperate battles, fight with supernatural fury and vanish when the battle is won. They never speak, and no one knows where they come from. Their armour is black and decorated with skulls and flames, and spectral fire burns around them.
The most widely repeated theory links them to the Fire Hawks, a Chapter of the cursed 21st Founding. In 963.M41 the Fire Hawks' whole fleet, including their huge star fortress, was declared "Lost in the Warp" after a jump towards the Crow's World Sub-sector. On one occasion the warriors left behind the ancient banner of the Fire Hawks, inscribed with a High Gothic motto meaning "For the Emperor beyond the point of death". Whether they are the Fire Hawks, cursed and transformed, or something stranger still, the Imperium does not know.
The Legion of the Damned are ghostly, flame-wreathed Space Marines who appear without warning to aid Imperial forces in desperate battles, then vanish. One common theory says they are what remains of the Fire Hawks Chapter, changed by the warp storm that swallowed their ship. They are silent and never explain themselves.
Appearance & wargear
Legionaries wear black power armour decorated with bones, skulls and flame designs, and are surrounded by ghostly fire. Their faces are never seen. Their weapons, including bolters, flamers, meltaguns and heavy weapons, seem to fire shots wreathed in the same unnatural flame. One figure, Sergeant Centurius, carries a relic skull known as the Animus Malorum.
They wear black power armour decorated with skulls, flames and bones, and their bodies glow with spectral fire.
Weapons & Vehicles
The signature .75-calibre rocket-propelled mass-reactive firearm of the Adeptus Astartes, firing self-propelled explosive bolts that de…
A volatile liquid-promethium projector that floods bunkers, trenches and xenos swarms in clinging, self-oxidising gouts of cleansing ch…
A short-ranged thermal sub-molecular agitation weapon that flash-melts battle tank armour, bunker doors and heavy walkers into bubbling…
A volatile directed-energy rifle that hurls bolts of miniature sun-hot plasma capable of vaporising Terminator plate and tank armour—at…
A master-crafted blade sheathed in a crackling molecular disruption field that parts ceramite, bone and steel with effortless lethality…
An oversized servo-assisted armoured gauntlet sheathed in a matter-shredding energy field, capable of tearing open tank hulls and crush…
The lesser daemons of Khorne, red-skinned horned warriors who hack down their foes with burning hellblades.
Explore all 48 entries in the Weapons & Vehicles armoury.
Battlefield role & tactics
The Legion arrives when all hope is lost. It appears in the heart of a battle, strikes the enemy with terrifying force, and seems to shrug off wounds that would kill other Marines. It is not an army that can be called on. Imperial commanders treat its appearance as a miracle.
They are unpredictable allies who appear in desperate battles and fight with supernatural resilience.
Notable battles & users
- Certus-Minor: the Excoriators' 5th Company was saved from the Khornate Cholercaust by the Legion, though almost every Excoriator died.
- 13th Black Crusade: the Legion aided Space Wolves in disabling the Blackstone Fortress Will of Eternity above Cadia.
- Dark Imperium: the 8th edition rulebook describes the Legion fighting in the Era Indomitus.
- Swords Reforged (343.M41): they appeared during Hive Fleet Moloch's invasion of the Imperial weapons-testing world Ghodba.
- Doom of Idharae (852.M41): they aided the Invaders Chapter against an Aeldari Craftworld.
- Great Bastion of Andraxas (922.M41): they joined Tigurius' Ultramarines strike force rescuing Tech-priests.
Related
Characters (1)
The Emperor of Mankind · Master of Mankind, Lord of the Imperium
Related units
Factions
Contested & retconned lore
The Fire Hawks theory does not fit every record. Wiki timelines list Legion appearances that are dated before the Fire Hawks were lost in 963.M41, such as the Pyrocataclysm of Vilidad Prime (006.M40) and the defence of Ghodba against Hive Fleet Moloch (343.M41). Official sources present the Fire Hawks link as a theory, not a fact, and the Legion's true origin is deliberately left unexplained.