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Best character deaths


b1soul

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In all seriousness, I loved the death of Veritus in The Beheading. 

 

When he says

"I was there...The day The Emperor killed Horus..."

 

It was a great nod to the first line that started off this whole literary journey. 

 

Also, I liked Nemesis. Deal with it. On the one hand, I felt rather cheated by how easily Spear killed Iota, because it seemed so much of the novel was leading up to the confrontation of these two warp anomalies. On the other hand, I see how it was a scene that was meant to show the reader that Spear was a different kind of threat alltogether. (Even if Eristede killed him with a special bullet in the end...) 

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Sigismund, if only for his final lines to Abaddon.

 

You will die as your weakling father died. Soulless. Honourless. Weeping. Ashamed.

And oh, how I hope it comes true :D

 

Other than that, Sergeant Haakon from the 2nd ed. Space Wolves codex. Throws a krak grenade down a carnifex's mouth before it rips him apart, IIRC. One of the first 40k stories I ever read, when I was 6 or 7. Hooked me instantly!

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pretty much all the lads described during the initial purgings at istvaan - the death guard chaps realising theyve been betrayed - the dreadnaught holding his buddy in his arms 

 

the initial showdown between the mournival.

 

Argel :cussing Tal. I dont know whether i can say best cos it bloody hurt me so much. 

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That one scout from Legion of the Damned. I don't remember his name, but that neophyte was a full brother in honor. He got impaled by a lightning claw (most of his organs being turned into kebab in the process) and bisected by the bite of a daemon. He still clung to life thanks to having enough of the gene-organs, and even had his life saved by a guy who wasn't even an apothecary and just stitched him up to the best of his ability. The scout was back to fighting just hours later despite missing his pelvis and legs, being a torso put on top of a column to act as a sniper and lob grenades at the daemon horde below him. 

 

The Excoriator scout managed to save his brother's lives multiple times by popping enemies from a distance, and only went out because a horde of flying furies descended on him. So he took them with him by detonating a brace of grenades, which blew up the horde of furies and collapsed the pillar, crushing more daemons. 

 

He might have just been a random supporting character, but I'll be damned if I don't say it was the best even a main character could hope for.

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Hmmm I don't know if this fits with the thread but one that sticks out to me isn't so much the death itself(because the death is never told) but the lead up to it. It's from a short story called Apothecary's Honour.

 

The Apothecary Korpus from the Avenging Sons tries so hard to save all the Progenoid Glands from being taken by Chaos and in the end after being captured by Chaos he is happy to know he succeeded. Then his horror when the Chaos Apothecary tells him yes he did save all...except for two. He dies screaming knowing his glands will be used to create a Chaos Marine.

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I was devastated when Eszrah ap Niht died in the last GG book. It was such a pointless death and typified war and how utterly rubbish it is.

And from the same series we have Braggs death which I don’t want to talk about, it too traumatic and my wife couldn’t put up with me sobbing during the night.

GG series really ties you into the unit, your cheering them on and then they just die. It’s cold nasty and can be shocking..... and that’s great writing!

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Sigismund, if only for his final lines to Abaddon.

 

You will die as your weakling father died. Soulless. Honourless. Weeping. Ashamed.

And oh, how I hope it comes true :biggrin.:

 

Other than that, Sergeant Haakon from the 2nd ed. Space Wolves codex. Throws a krak grenade down a carnifex's mouth before it rips him apart, IIRC. One of the first 40k stories I ever read, when I was 6 or 7. Hooked me instantly!

 

 

It will come true. Sucked that he was used as a hack technique for a subpar novel .

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Ferrus. 

Had he followed the tenants of the Codex Astartes, or to be fair to him, the Principia Bellicosa, he might still be alive.

 

 

Or worn a helmet .

mejh, you know Ferris. He was always prone to......losing his head.
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Ferrus. 

Had he followed the tenants of the Codex Astartes, or to be fair to him, the Principia Bellicosa, he might still be alive.

 

Or worn a helmet .

mejh, you know Ferris. He was always prone to......losing his head.

He let it go to his head... seemed like a love tiff to me.

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Sigismund, if only for his final lines to Abaddon.

 

You will die as your weakling father died. Soulless. Honourless. Weeping. Ashamed.

 

 

 

Sigismund...just DAMN

 

I've never been a huge fan of the Black Templars, but Sigismund made me a fan (especially when combined with ADB's other BT novels)

 

Sigismund is now what I measure any knightly Marines against.

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As someonr who found Black Templars very two dimensional until reading ADB's takes on them, I have to say that Sigismund's death stands out as one of the most beautifully written ones. The scene and the characters involved just ooze pathos, desperation and hatred, and yet there is still admiration comming from Abaddon. What also sticks out to me in that scene is that, despite winning, Abaddon is not the better fighter. The only two reasons he won are Sigismund's age and luck. Where it not for that, Sigismund would have torn him a new one.

Sigismund's last words are so hauntingly spiteful and the way his corpse is treated afterwards speaks volumes.

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As someonr who found Black Templars very two dimensional until reading ADB's takes on them, I have to say that Sigismund's death stands out as one of the most beautifully written ones. The scene and the characters involved just ooze pathos, desperation and hatred, and yet there is still admiration comming from Abaddon. What also sticks out to me in that scene is that, despite winning, Abaddon is not the better fighter. The only two reasons he won are Sigismund's age and luck. Where it not for that, Sigismund would have torn him a new one.

Sigismund's last words are so hauntingly spiteful and the way his corpse is treated afterwards speaks volumes.

yeah, seeing Abaddon show Sigi so much respect really got me. I also like how that book in conjunction with others more or less proves that Sigismund was the best of the space Marines at dueling.
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Archamus. When he took the pale spear, it felt like the Imperial Fists, and maybe even Dorn himself, lost something incredibly essential. Something that's maybe even irreplaceable. It felt like a tipping point where the Imperial Fists lost the true heart of their Great Crusade ideals. Dorn lost his true praetorian, his shield from hubris, and Kestros feels like an ill-tempered replacement in the same sense that Horus's Mournival became imbalanced.

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Dorn lost his true praetorian, his shield from hubris, and Kestros feels like an ill-tempered replacement in the same sense that Horus's Mournival became imbalanced.

 

That's an interesting parallel, and not one I'd thought of. Very subtle

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The cultist called 'Vil Teth' from Know No Fear.  Basically, he was eaten alive by a Tracker (some sort of Warp hound).  But he did not die, though he should, and his is in unimaginable pain, before he eventually dies. 

 

Here's a quote:  "Teth's not dead.  He should be.  He ought to be.  Too much of him is missing or gnawed away for him to mend or lead any kind of life.  He can't speak.  He can't even express his overwhelming agony, except to paddle his fingerless hands and churn what's left of his jaw."

 

It is not the most heroic or memorable death, but it is certainly one of the most gruesome and painful, even for WH40k.  It's comfortable to read these kind of things sometimes.

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Sanguinius. They better not <bleep> it up.

 

I liked the outnumbered Custodian at the end of First Heretic who broke his vow of silence to say something to the effect of “I never liked you anyway”.

 

Sigismund

 

Vulkan.

 

Vulkan.

 

Vulkan.

 

Vulkan.

 

Vulkan.

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