Primarch
In the fictional universe of Warhammer 40,000, the Primarchs were engineered superhumans created by the Emperor to command his future Legions of Space Marines. Originally twenty in number, they were said to have been created using the Emperor's own DNA. Of the 20 Primarchs, 18 are known while two remain mysterious. Their genetic material was also used to form the basis of the Legions they would command.
All were created in genetic laboratories hidden on Terra, and were almost complete before they were scattered across the galaxy. The cause of this is unknown; the forces of Chaos, the Emperor and the Primarchs themselves are claimed in varying tales to be responsible for snatching the infant Primarchs' incubation cradles from Earth and dispersing them through the Warp.
According to the novel False Gods, The Emperor might have allowed the forces of Chaos to scatter the Primarchs across the Galaxy for purposes unknown, also the Emperor might have procured the power needed to create the Primarchs from the Chaos gods via unknown means. As the Great Crusade progressed, the Emperor was reunited with each of them as His armies re-established contact the worlds on which the Primarchs had come to rest. Most had, in the intervening time, risen to positions of power or infamy as a result of their remarkable physiology and abilities. At least two had been subject to mutation; Sanguinius, who had angelic wings and was reported to be psychic; and Magnus, who had bright red skin and was widely known to have formidable psychic talent.
Fictional origins
The Primarchs were the twenty genetically-engineered "sons" of the Emperor. The Emperor used his own DNA in their creation, and they were designed to be far superior to the average human: immensely larger, stronger, hardier, faster, and more intelligent. They were also incredibly charismatic, as their main role was to be generals and leaders of the Imperial military. In addition, their genetic material was used to create their "sons," the Adeptus Astartes. But while the Space Marines are known to be better in every aspect compared to baseline humans, they are but pale shadows compared to their gene-sires who are akin to demigods.
During their creation, a warp vortex caused by the Chaos Gods collected the infant Primarchs and scattered them across the galaxy. Sensing that the Primarchs still lived, the Emperor of Mankind created 20 Space Marine Legions, each based on the DNA of a single Primearch, to go into the galaxy to find their lost leader. Each Primarch landed on a long-lost planet inhabited by humans and would be strongly affected by the planets' cultures, their interactions with their father upon reuniting with them, their relationships with their legion and siblings, along with their exposure to the Warp when they were scattered.
| Legion Number | Name | Alternate Name | Homeworld | Name of the Legion | Allegiance | Current Status | Description |
| I | Lion El'Jonson[1] | The Lion | Caliban | Dark Angels | Loyal | Alive, secretly asleep within a secret chamber on "the Rock". | |
| II | Deleted from Imperial records, authorization unknown. | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| III | Fulgrim | The Phoenician | Chemos | Emperor's Children | Traitor | Daemon Prince on a hidden planet of unending pleasure | |
| IV | Perturabo | The Lord of Iron | Olympia | Iron Warriors | Traitor | Daemon Prince, ruler of Medrengard. | |
| V | Jaghatai Khan | The Great Khan, The Warhawk | Mundus Planus | White Scars | Loyal | Unknown, disappeared into the Webway. | |
| VI | Leman Russ | The Wolf King, The Great Wolf | Fenris | Space Wolves | Loyal | Unknown, disappeared into the Eye of Terror. | |
| VII | Rogal Dorn | The Emperor's Champion, The Praetorian of Terra | Inwit | Imperial Fists | Loyal | Unknown, Allegedly died in a Black Crusade | |
| VIII | Konrad Curze | The Night Haunter, The Lord of the Night | Nostramo | Night Lords | Traitor | Dead, assassinated by Callidus assassin M'Shen. | |
| IX | Sanguinius | The Great Angel | Baal | Blood Angels | Loyal | Dead, slain by Horus. | |
| X | Ferrus Manus | The Gorgon | Medusa | Iron Hands | Loyal | Dead, slain by Fulgrim and his head offered to Horus. | |
| XI | Deleted from Imperial records, authorisation unknown. | ||||||
| XII | Angron | The Red Angel, The Lord of the Red Sands | Nuceria | World Eaters | Traitor | Daemon Prince. | |
| XIII | Roboute Guilliman | The Battle King, The Avenging Son | Macragge | Ultramarines | Loyal | Mortally wounded by Fulgrim currently held in stasis, rumoured to be healing. | |
| XIV | Mortarion | The Death Lord | Barbarus | Death Guard | Traitor | Daemon Prince, ruler of the Plague Planet. | |
| XV | Magnus the Red | The Crimson King, The Red Cyclops | Prospero | Thousand Sons | Traitor | Daemon Prince, ruler of the Planet of Sorcerers. | |
| XVI | Horus Lupercal | The Warmaster, The First Primarch | Cthonia | Luna Wolves/Sons of Horus | Traitor | Dead, slain by the Emperor. | |
| XVII | Lorgar Aurelian | The Urizen, The Golden One | Colchis | Word Bearers | Traitor | Daemon Prince, ruler of Sicarus. | |
| XVIII | Vulkan | The Lord of Drakes | Nocturne | Salamanders | Loyal | Unknown, disappeared. | |
| XIX | Corvus Corax | The Raven-Lord | Deliverance | Raven Guard | Loyal | Unknown, disappeared, last seen heading for the Eye of Terror. | |
| XX | Alpharius Omegon | The Last Primarch | Unknown | Alpha Legion | Traitor | The name stands in fact for two twin Primarchs. One may be dead, slain by Roboute Guilliman. (It is not known which of the twins was killed. The reliability of this information is disputed, therefore it is possible that both Alpharius and Omegon are still alive.) Another is possible dead as well, having apparently been slain by Rogal Dorn while the former was incognito on Pluto. | |
The overall order of the rediscovery of each Primarch by the Emperor is as follows...[2]
- Horus
- Leman Russ
- DELETED FROM IMPERIAL RECORDS (canonical reason for absence)
- Ferrus Manus
- Fulgrim
- Vulkan
- Rogal Dorn
- Roboute Guilliman
- Magnus the Red
- Sanguinius
- Lion El'Jonson
- Perturabo
- Mortarion
- Lorgar
- Jaghatai Khan
- Konrad Curze
- Angron
- DELETED FROM IMPERIAL RECORDS (canonical reason for absence)
- Corax
- Alpharius Omegon
Fate of the Primarchs
Traitors
- Warmaster Horus was killed by the Emperor of Mankind during their battle on Terra.
- Magnus rose to the rank of Daemon Prince of Tzeentch.
- Angron rose to the rank of Daemon prince of Khorne.
- Mortarion rose the rank of Daemon Prince of Nurgle.
- Fulgrim rose to the rank of Daemon Prince of Slaanesh.
- Lorgar rose to the rank of Daemon Prince of Chaos Undivided.
- Perturabo rose to the rank of Daemon Prince of Chaos Undivided.
- Konrad Curze, aka Night Haunter, was assassinated. He allowed his assassin's infiltration, apparently wanting to die to justify himself and his convictions.
- Alpharius apparently was killed by Roboute Guilliman. The source which reported his death may have been manipulated. It is not known if Alpharius or Omegon is the Primarch killed in the report. Due to the report's unreliability, neither may have been killed. To make matters more perplexing, Rogal Dorn apparently slew Alpharius on Pluto but kept his death a secret to deny him any recognition to him or his ideology. Meanwhile, Omegon took his brother's place in public as Alpharius upon being summoned to meet Horus before the Battle of Terra.
Loyalists
- Ferrus Manus was killed at the Drop Site massacre at the start of the Horus Heresy by Fulgrim.
- Sanguinius was slain by Horus after refusing to join him during the Battle of Terra at the end of the Horus Heresy.
- Lion El'Jonson was sucked unto a Warp vortex after a battle with his corrupted foster father, Sars Luthor, before placed deep within "the Rock", the biggest remaining piece of Caliban and current home base of the Dark Angels where he has sleep away for millenia. Only the Emperor of Mankind and the Watchers in the Dark know of this secret with even his "sons" amongst the Dark Angels unaware of his fate.[3]
- Jaghatai Khan disappeared while pursuing the Dark Eldar into a Webway portal after they had managed to raid Mundus Planus. There are rumours that he fights there still, lost in the twisting paths of the Webway. After nine thousand years it seems highly unlikely, but not impossible.
- Leman Russ disappeared in the Eye of Terror with his personal retinue. His final words before his disappearance is that he would return for the 'Wolftime' (the final battle).
- Rogal Dorn boarded a Chaos cruiser during the First Black Crusade alongside a company of his legion and allegedly died fighting. A skeletal fist is allegedly all that the Imperial Fists were able to retrieve.[4]
- Roboute Guilliman was slashed across the throat with an envenomed blade by his former brother Fulgrim. His dying body is perfectly preserved in a stasis field at the heart of the Temple of Correction. It is rumored that wound is slowly healing but denied by others.
- Vulkan disappeared without a trace. He was last seen locked in mortal combat with a massive ork known as the Beast during the War of the Beast (the greatest ork threat to the Imperium in recorded history in the 32nd Millenium) before their battleground was engulfed by explosion of a giant reactor. The Beast survived to be killed later on but Vulkan disappeared. The Salamanders believe that their gene-sire will return once they have found all of his nine artifacts that he hid away with five of them having been found.
- Corax was racked by guilt and shame. In order to rebuild quickly the strength of his legion from the dropsite massacre on Isstvan V, Corax accelerated the growth of the gene-seed organs, producing more Space Marines, but this process also deteriorated the gene-seed (with covert sabotage from the Alpha Legion), causing many to become hulking monsters. Riddled with guilt over what he had done, Corax administered euthanasia to all of them and then locked himself away within his sanctum, the Raven's Tower. Exactly one year later he left his tower, haggard and gaunt, and took a small shuttle craft with the words Never more. It was last monitored setting a course for the Eye of Terror.
Two unknown Primarchs
Almost nothing is known about the two unknown primarchs. All that is known is that they were intentionally erased from Imperial records before the Horus Heresy some time before Corax and Alpharius were recovered due to some transgressions or catastrophes while their legions were rumored to have been eradicated, absorbed into the Ultramarines, or a combination of both. Outside of the game universe, the Games Workshop explains that their absence is a reference to the lost legions of Rome, and is an opportunity for tabletop gamers to create their own custom Space Marine Legions. Before Games Worshop explicitly states that the two universes were separate, many people say that Sigmar from Warhammer Fantasy is one of the lost primarchs and still continue to do so.