Roboute Guilliman is known for his triumphs in The Great Crusade and The Horus Heresy but how did this mighty Primarch meet his demise?
Via our good friends at Lexicanum
In the aftermath of the Great Betrayal, the Emperor had been incapacitated, and the Space Marines’ numbers had been decimated by defections to Chaos and battle losses. The Ultramarines were left as the largest loyal legion, and Guilliman assumed the title of Lord Commander of the Imperium. For years thereafter, Guilliman deployed and led the Ultramarines throughout the galaxy, reclaiming worlds lost to Chaos and preventing the loss of still others to rebellion or invasion from outside the Imperium. At the same time, Guilliman reorganized the Space Marine Legions as Chapters and composed the Codex Astartes, the tome that the Ultramarines (and many other chapters) follow strictly.
Guilliman led the assault against the Alpha Legion on Eskrador in the aftermath of the Heresy, and due to the vanity of Alpharius, he utilised a surprise attack at the heart of the traitors and killed Alpharius in a duel. However, he and the Ultramarines were greatly mistaken in their belief that the snake would die without the head, as indeed, the Alpha Legion’s symbol is a hydra, a multi-headed serpent. The Ultramarines were soundly pushed back time and again by the traitor marines, undaunted at the loss of their Primarch. Guilliman eventually pulled his forces back into orbit and bombarded the planet from above.
Later, in a battle against the Emperor’s Children, Guilliman would meet his end. Where Alpharius had not greatly embraced the Chaos powers, and was essentially unchanged from his original Primarch form, Fulgrim had been to the Eye of Terror, reaping the terrible powers therein, and had been elevated by Slaanesh to a mighty and fell Daemon Prince, no longer resembling a man, but his original purity of form corrupted and augmented by the ruinous powers. Fulgrim was now a serpentine creature of immense stature, and multi-limbed. Each limb carried a poisoned sword, and in the clash he stabbed Guilliman in the neck; Guilliman was interred in the Stasis field by the Apothecaries, and remains frozen in the instant of death, while Fulgrim escaped back to the Eye of Terror.
Currently, his mortal body remains in stasis, on the Shrine of Guilliman deep within the Temple of Correction, one of the holiest places in the entire Imperium. Some pilgrims claim that the Primarch’s wounds are slowly recovering, a feat credited to the power of the Emperor. Others deny the phenomenon, and point out the sheer impossibility of change within the stasis field. Yet enough believe the stories to come and witness for themselves the miracle of the Primarch.
