Mortarion, Primarch of the Death Guard, grew up under the poison skies of Barbarus fighting the tyrants who ruled it. He hated sorcery all his life, yet in the Horus Heresy he sold his Legion to Nurgle to escape a plague and became the Daemon Prince called the Death Lord.
Mortarion at a glance
| Primarch of | the XIV Legion |
| Legion | XIV: Dusk Raiders, later Death Guard |
| Homeworld | Barbarus, a world of toxic mists |
| Flagship | The Endurance |
| Wargear | The great scythe Silence, the Lantern pistol, a rebreather against poisons |
| Allegiance | Traitor (Nurgle) |
| Status | Daemon Prince of Nurgle, ruler of the Plague Planet |
Who was Mortarion?
Mortarion is the Primarch of endurance. Where his brothers relied on speed, fury or brilliance, Mortarion relied on simply refusing to fall. He was grim, proud and stubborn, a hater of psykers and sorcery who trusted only what he could see and break. The irony at the centre of his story is cruel: the brother who hated the Warp more than any other ended up one of its most powerful servants.
Origins on Barbarus
Mortarion's capsule landed on Barbarus, a world covered in thick poisonous fog. Humans lived in the low valleys, where the air was barely breathable. The high peaks, where the fog was deadly, were ruled by the Overlords: sorcerer-tyrants who preyed on the people below. One of these Overlords found the infant Primarch and raised him in his fortress as an adopted son.
As he grew, Mortarion learned what his "father" really was. He fled down the mountain, lived among the ordinary people, and trained them to fight back. He built them armour and weapons, and slowly led them up into the poison air to strike the Overlords' castles. Barbarus taught him two lessons he never forgot: hate sorcery, and survive whatever the world throws at you.
Discovery by the Emperor
When the Emperor arrived, Mortarion was preparing to attack his adoptive father, the last and strongest of the Overlords. He refused help, and the Emperor let him try. Mortarion climbed into the deadliest air, but the poison finally overcame even him. The Emperor stepped in, saved him and killed the Overlord himself. Mortarion swore loyalty, but he was bitter that he had not finished his own war. That resentment stayed with him.
The Dusk Raiders become the Death Guard
Mortarion took command of the XIV Legion, the Dusk Raiders, and renamed them the Death Guard. He recruited from the hardened people of Barbarus and shaped the Legion in his image: slow, relentless infantry who could fight in toxic, radiation-soaked places no one else could survive. His First Captain was Calas Typhon, a Barbaran who was secretly a psyker, and another famous captain was Nathaniel Garro, who would stay loyal when the Legion fell.
The Great Crusade
The Death Guard became the Imperium's specialists in grinding sieges and poisoned war zones. Mortarion refused to have Librarians in his Legion and argued against psykers at the Council of Nikaea, where the Emperor banned the Legions from using psychic powers. His closest bond among the brothers was with Horus, whom he admired. He disliked Magnus and his sorcery, and he respected Jaghatai Khan as a rival.
The Horus Heresy
Mortarion followed Horus into rebellion. At Isstvan III the Death Guard purged its own loyal warriors. Captain Garro escaped aboard the frigate Eisenstein to warn Terra, one of the first warnings of the betrayal. At the Drop Site Massacre on Isstvan V, the Death Guard helped destroy the loyal Legions.
On the way to Terra, Typhon, already a servant of Chaos, led the Death Guard fleet into a warp storm and stranded it. A horrible disease, the Destroyer Hive, spread through the ships. Space Marines who could not die rotted alive. Mortarion, who had survived every poison, now felt the true agony of plague. He called out to whatever power would save his sons. Nurgle answered. The Death Guard became the Plague Marines, and Mortarion became a Daemon Prince of Nurgle.
The Khan and the Siege of Terra
Mortarion fought the White Scars more than once. At the Siege of Terra he and Jaghatai Khan met in a famous duel at the Lion's Gate spaceport, a fight that nearly killed the Khan. The Death Guard spread disease and despair through the defences. After Horus's death, Mortarion took his Legion into the Eye of Terror, where he claimed a world now called the Plague Planet.
The Plague Wars
In the current era of 40K, Mortarion has returned to lead the Death Guard in person. His greatest campaign was the Plague Wars, a huge invasion of Ultramar, the realm of Roboute Guilliman. Worlds rotted under his plagues until Guilliman came back to face him. The two brothers fought on the world of Iax, and Mortarion was driven off, but the Death Guard remain among the most dangerous enemies of the Imperium.
Typhus and the Death Guard today
Calas Typhon became Typhus, the Herald of Nurgle, carrying a cloud of flies and the Destroyer Hive inside his armour. For a long time he led his own plague crusades; now he again serves Mortarion. The Death Guard fight as a single Legion more than most traitors, slow and unstoppable, keeping the old Barbaran discipline under all the rot. Their Plague Marines shrug off wounds that would kill other Space Marines, and their bloated daemon engines carry disease wherever they go.
Personality and brothers
Mortarion was gloomy, proud and hard to like. He valued endurance above everything and showed little warmth to anyone. He resented the Emperor for saving him on Barbarus, admired Horus, mocked Magnus and fought the Khan. His deepest flaw was pride: he would not ask for help until it was too late, and the only help left was Nurgle.
Mortarion FAQ
Why did Mortarion fall to Nurgle?
His Legion was dying of the Destroyer plague in the Warp. Mortarion accepted Nurgle's offer to save them.
What is Mortarion's weapon?
A huge scythe called Silence, made in the style of the reapers' tools of Barbarus.
Did Mortarion fight Guilliman?
Yes. In the Plague Wars he invaded Ultramar and fought Guilliman before being driven back.
Who is Typhus?
Mortarion's First Captain, once Calas Typhon, now the Herald of Nurgle.
Why did Mortarion hate psykers?
He grew up enslaved by the sorcerer-Overlords of Barbarus.
Books to read
- The Flight of the Eisenstein (James Swallow)
- Mortarion: The Pale King (David Annandale)
- The Buried Dagger (James Swallow)
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