Warmaster, First Captain, Clone of Horus? Come see the background on one of the most nefarious characters from the 41st Millennium: Abaddon the Despoiler!
Via our friends at Lexicanum
Ezekyle Abaddon, more commonly known as Abaddon the Despoiler, is the Warmaster of Chaos, former First Captain and now absolute leader of the Black Legion, and rumoured to be the clone-progeny of Warmaster Horus. He is the most powerful Warmaster of all, successor to Horus, and blessed by all four of the Gods of Chaos. Despite being the Warmaster of Chaos Abaddon has refused giving himself fully over to the Ruinous Powers as the Daemon Primarchs have, as this would limit his existence beyond the Eye of Terror and push his ultimate vengeance against the Imperium beyond his grasp
Pre-Heresy
Originally the firstborn son of the most mighty of Cthonia’s gang warlords, Ezekyle killed his father in single combat after a disastrous Cthonian coming of age ritual. Though he lived in exile after that point, his massive build and natural ferocity saw him grow to be a legend amongst his people. Before long the vicious young warrior came to the attention of the Luna Wolves, and he was recruited into their brotherhood.
During the Great Crusade, Ezekyle Abaddon rose to the prestigious post of First Captain. He loved and worshipped Horus as a father, and it was rumoured that Abaddon was one of the few “Sons of Horus,” those Space Marines who were created directly from Horus’s geneseed.Extremely proud and quick to anger, Abaddon’s martial record was unsurpassed by that of any other Luna Wolf.Bellicose by temperament, Abaddon was usually the most hawkish of the Warmaster’s advisors. During the final years of the Crusade, Abaddon disagreed, sometimes violently, with Horus’s decision to parley with the Interex, a human civilisation that allowed an alien species to co-exist with them.
During the Ullanor Crusade, Abaddon accompanied Horus and a detachment of Terminators from the First Company in a daring strike on the headquarters of the Ork Warboss Urlakk Urg. While the majority of the detachment held the entrance to the Warboss’s tower against hordes of greenskins, Horus confronted and slew the Warboss. As the greenskin hordes fled in terror, Horus found every one of the terminators had fallen except for Abaddon, barely alive and buried under a mountain of Ork bodies.
In addition to his position as First Captain, Abaddon was also one of the four members of the Mournival, a special advisory council to the Warmaster, since its inception. He took his position extremely seriously, but did enjoy sharing his sense of humour with his Mournival brothers. Abaddon eventually grew frustrated and angry at the Emperor’s supposed abandonment of the Space Marine Legions, feelings which swelled to the surface when Horus lay near to death on Davin. A member of the warrior-lodge within the Sons of Horus, he went along with Erebus‘s plan to take the Warmaster to theSerpent Lodge for healing, beginning Abaddon’s road to damnation.
The Horus Heresy
Abaddon during the Horus Heresy
After Horus’s recovery, Abaddon grew ever more protective of his Primarch and his Legion’s reputation, to the point where he saw remembrancer criticism and Imperial investigation into Legion activities as threats and insults that could not be borne. He therefore sanctioned the murder of Ignace Karkasy and the blaming of Legion-caused civilian casualties upon Garviel Loken. This course of action was frustrated by the refusal of Tarik Torgaddon to accede to the plan, and the Mournival brotherhood was effectively broken as a result.
Abaddon’s thinking would prove to be in tune with that of his commander, who would eventually order not only the death of Karkasy but also that of Loken. Seemingly destined to be in lockstep with the Warmaster, when Horus came to the warrior-lodge of his Legion to sway them into following him onto what would prove to be the path of heresy, Abaddon was amongst the first to swear his unquestioning loyalty.
Abaddon was present at several of the major actions of the Horus Heresy. During the purging of the loyalist Legionaries at Isstvan III, Abaddon notably took to the field to attend the final meeting of what had once been the Mournival, at which he dueled with Garviel Loken. Though slightly wounded in the combat, Abaddon emerged the victor.Abaddon again dueled Loken on the Vengeful Spirit in the aftermath of the Battle of Molech after the Knights-Errant attempted to assassinate Horus. He later appeared at the forefront of battles at Yarant, and in the Siege of the Imperial Palace.[1a] During the final confrontation, Abaddon fought against Terminators of theImperial Fists Legion aboard Horus’s battle-barge, the Vengeful Spirit, and thus was not present when Horus was defeated by the Emperor. Abaddon’s anguish at the death of his “father”, drove him completely mad. Before the Sons of Horus retreated, Abaddon led a vicious counterattack that reclaimed the Warmaster’s body, before leading the retreat into the Eye of Terror.
Post-Heresy
Shortly after the Heresy, Abaddon abandoned the Legion; broken by the death of Horus and sick of war, he wandered alone into the Eye of Terror.Meanwhile, within the Eye itself, civil war soon broke out amongst the traitor Legions. Becoming embroiled in a war against the Emperor’s Children, the Sons of Horus’ fortress on Maeleum was destroyed and the Emperor’s Children stole the corpse of Warmaster Horus himself. Eventually with the help of Fabius Bile, a number of clones of Horus were created, an act which disgusted the Sons of Horus. At this point Abaddon, disgusted by the actions of the Emperor’s Children against his Primarch, returned and took the position of Warmaster and leader of his legion.Abaddon led his forces in a lightning raid on the Emperor’s Children’s stronghold, destroying all the clones of Horus. After his victory, Abaddon proceeded to purge the Black Legion of traitorous and self-serving elements, such as the Word Bearers champion Rynax the Unspoken, the NurgleChaos Lord Purgor the Putrescent, and the Slaaneshi Sorcerer Hexagalimere. Making a bloody examples of these Renegades, Abaddon was able to cement his hold on power over the Legion.
Now the unquestioned leader of the Sons of Horus, Abaddon eventually renamed them the Black Legion to expunge the name of Horus, who failed in his attempt to take over the Imperium. Studying what his predecessor had done, Abaddon realized that while he needed to court the Ruinous Powers as allies, he became determined to never become a thrall to their will as had been the case with Horus in the end.He eventually returned at the head of a diabolic horde which ravaged entire systems around the Eye of Terror before the Imperium could muster the strength to halt it. During this first Black Crusade, Abaddon made many bloody pacts with the infernal powers. In the crypts below the Tower of Silence on Uralan, Abaddon recovered the Daemon Sword Drach’nyen.With the howling daemon blade in his fist Abaddon became nigh unstoppable. Whole cities were burned in sacrifice to the ever-hungry daemons of Chaos, and entire armies were torn apart by gibbering Warp entities. Abaddon’s power swelled to inhuman proportions as the gods of Chaos rewarded him lavishly and he undertook acts of fiendish bravery which horrified those who stood against him.
During the Gothic War Abaddon almost brought an entire sector to its knees. His fleets were augmented with a newly constructed flagship, known for good reason as the Planet Killer. Alongside this he somehow activated and gained control of the Blackstone Fortresses, mysterious constructions allegedly рre-dating the Imperium itself that combined to generate prodigious destructive firepower. Abaddon attacked while the sector was cut off from reinforcements by Warp storms and caused huge damage to the Imperial battlefleet, destroyed a number of planets and devastated many more. Only the intervention of the Eldar enabled Imperial forces to stop the Chaos fleet.
In his most recent assault, the 13th Black Crusade, Abaddon managed to gain a foothold in the Cadian Gate, planning to extend the Eye of Terror to encompass even Terra in a plan known as The Crimson Path. Although his ultimate victory has thus far been prevented, the High Lords of Terra live in fear of the day that Abaddon unites all of the Traitor Legions into an unstoppable horde and returns to play out the last acts of treachery begun by Horus ten thousand years ago. should Abaddon’s armies triumph, the floodgates will be open and a never ending tide of Chaos will pour out of the Eye of Terror to despoil the Imperium, and perhaps once again strike at the most prized of worlds – Terra itself.[1a]
Appearance, Abilities, and Wargear
Imposing in almost every way, Abaddon possessed a particularly deep voice, was taller, stronger and bulkier than the average Space Marine, and wore his long black hair in a strikingly tall topknot when not using a helmet. He had similar facial features to those of Horus, particularly the widely spaced eyes and long, straight nose. He often wore a large black wolf-pelt over his Power Armour, to which he also attached a cloak upon occasion. Abaddon possessed both a suit of power armour and suit of Terminator Armour, the former being painted in the standard colours of his Legion, while the latter was primarily black in colouration. This marked him out as a member of the 1st Company elite, all of whom wore black armour.
Indeed, Abaddon’s personal unit was the black-armoured Justaerin Terminator Squad, but he normally left command of it to Captain Falkus Kibre. His fellow Captain, Horus Aximand quipped that this was because Abaddon was actually too big to fit inside a Terminator suit. Towards the end of the Great Crusade, Abaddon would only be seen in his black Terminator garb.
Since the Heresy, Abaddon has wielded two of the most potent Chaos weapons in the galaxy: the Talon of Horus, a combined storm bolter and Lightning Claw, formerly possessed by Horus himself, and the daemon sword Drach’nyen. While Abaddon can call upon the powers of Chaos in battle, he is not fully corrupted by them and fiercely maintains his perceived independence from the Ruinous Powers.
During his centuries of exile, Abaddon visited each of the six Daemon Primarchs, attempting to receive aid from each.
- From Angron he gained the favor of Khorne by fighting the Primarch’s daemonic champions on Goreswirl.[
- From Mortarion, he earned the favor of Nurgle in exchange for the the Chaos artifact known as the Hand of Darkness, which the Lord of the Death Guard sought to use to craft a Zombie Plague.
- Though Magnus the Red, refused to meet with him, Abaddon still gained the blessing of Tzeentch in exchange for the Eye of Night, the sightless remnant of the Stone God. He then turned toAhriman, who in turn pledged the services of his Rubric Marines to the Despoilers cause.
- From Fulgrim, the Despoiler was given the favor of Slaanesh in exchange for a Pythosian Psyker, offered as an unblemished vessel to contain the avatar of Slaanesh.
- From Lorgar, the Warmaster learned the rare art of Daemonancy. Lorgar proved willing to aid Abaddon due to his hatred of the Adeptus Ministorum.
- From Perturabo, Abaddon was given vast Daemon Engines produced deep within the Eye of Terror. The Iron Warriors proved eager to test these weapons against the renown defenses of Cadia.
Will Abaddon finally take down the Imperium in his next black crusade, or can the Imperium and it’s allies finally stem the crimson tide flowing out of the Eye of Terror?
About the Author: Rob Baer
Rob Baer
Job Title: Managing Editor
Founded Spikey Bits in 2009
Socials: Rob Baer on Facebook and @catdaddymbg on X
About Rob Baer: Founder, Publisher, & Managing Editor of Spikey Bits, the leading tabletop gaming news website focused on the hobby side of wargaming and miniatures. Rob has won many Warhammer 40k Tournaments over the years, including the Adepticon Team Tournament and American Team Tournaments, and is on a first-name basis with almost every major company in the space.
He’s all gaming all the time. With over 30 years of experience in retail and distribution, Rob knows all the products and exactly which ones are the best. He advocates for gaming stores and manufacturers in these difficult times, always looking for the next big thing to feature for the miniatures hobby, helping everyone to provide the value consumers want.
While he’s played every edition of Warhammer 40k and Warhammer Fantasy (since 5th Edition) and has been hobbying on miniatures since the 1908s, Titans of all sizes will always be his favorite! It’s even rumored that his hobby vault rivals the Solemnance Galleries, containing rulebooks filled with lore from editions long past, ancient packs of black-bordered Magic Cards, and models made of both pewter and resin.
