Krell's story is that he was a Chaos Champion long before the Empire existed, participated in the attack on Karak Ungor, and was slain by a Dwarf called Grimbul Ironhelm while he was attacking Karak Kadrin. Then, 1,500 years later, Nagash raised him as a Wight King while he was hunting for his Crown of Sorcery. After Nagash died, Krell went on a campaign against the Empire, burning towns and cities, until Sigmar defeated him at the Battle of Glacier Lake.
Then, much later on, Kemmler finds him and etc.
This has been consistent all the way back since 4th edition, with those details recorded in 4th edition Undead, 5th edition Vampire Counts, and 8th edition Vampire Counts.
I forgot Krell's backstory apparently. I never really payed much attention to him honestly.
I do have to wonder why the author of End Times Nagash likes him so much. He gets as much screentime as Arkhan and Mannfred by this point. Before End Times he was literally just a hanger on for Heinrich, now he's his own character and gets to upstage Neferata.
I forgot Krell's backstory apparently. I never really payed much attention to him honestly.
I do have to wonder why the author of End Times Nagash likes him so much. He gets as much screentime as Arkhan and Mannfred by this point. Before End Times he was literally just a hanger on for Heinrich, now he's his own character and gets to upstage Neferata.
Well you have to admit that he is interesting in some aspects, since he is possibly one of the few characters to have been a servant of Chaos and then ended up jumping ship to another power.
That is a potentially interesting angle that could possibly have some fun ramifications if they utilize it correctly.
Well you have to admit that he is interesting in some aspects, since he is possibly one of the few characters to have been a servant of Chaos and then ended up jumping ship to another power.
That is a potentially interesting angle that could possibly have some fun ramifications if they utilize it correctly.
As expressive as Krell can often be, the issue is that the book never tries to have him communicate with anyone. He can't speak, but that's fine if he can find some other way of communicating, but he doesn't really do that aside from giving orders to soldiers to make coordinated movements. We get occasional glimpses at his feelings, but we never really get his perspective. Krell would be a dull character if he was the only one you're working with, so despite him being a constant fixture he has to always be accompanying someone else that acts as the focal point with Krell being a supporting character (First with Heinrich, then Arkhan and now Neferata).
He would be an interesting character, but despite all the badass moments he gets he's really more of a "cool action scene" dispenser than anything else.
The oddest part of the whole mess aside from Chaos suddenly winning everything is....how the heck did the get a cross factional cheese platter of VIPs from every faction ready for extensive torture and sacrifice without anyone already in hot pursuit?
I'm probably not going to make a post about the final section today, but there is one interesting event that occurs which I feel bears mentioning. Thorek Ironbrow does this:
"In the centre, Neferata and her handmaidens pressed upon the dwarfs that stood before Thorek Ironbrow. While Imentet felled the last of the Longplaits, Neferata herself dispatched the remaining orange-crested slayers. Thorek, seeing his doom close in upon him, struck a mighty two-handed blow upon the white-hot anvil, and the potent magics contained therein thundered forth once more. Arcs of arcane power tore clean through Imentet, smashing apart her coven throne like so much kindling, and leaving the vampiress suspended in an orb of living lightning. She hung, wracked by streaks of lightning that scorched her undead body so that not even dust was left to fall.
Neferata's shrill cry of rage was horrifying to hear." Page 233
It's not stated outright, but I'm pretty sure that Thorek Ironbrow literally atomised Imentet. I suppose that is one way of permanently killing a Vampire.
Not sure if they intended to imply that Neferata might be bisexual by describing them as "like a harem". Anyways, several of them have names and stuff, like: the Pallid Sisters, twins from icy Kislev; Lycindia the Cruel, the Duchess of Malstonia; Naaima, a concubine out of far Cathay; and the Red Coven, a hellish trio atop a coven throne, made up of Heterneb of ancient Lahmia, Giselle of Marienburg, and Bellatash of Tilea. Of these, keep your eyes on Naaima.
He would be an interesting character, but despite all the badass moments he gets he's really more of a "cool action scene" dispenser than anything else
Krell: elaborate charades motions signifying thusly,
'ate the Living.
'ate Sigmar.
'ate dwarves. Not racist, just don't like'em.
Luv me axe.
Luv me undead hordes.
Luv me Nagash.
Simple as.
By default? You just threw as many models as you wanted on the table. The only balancing mechanism the release rules even suggested was using number of models (not number of wounds, models) as a rule of thumb for an even match-up. Apparently the top-down statement of intent behind it was that if someone walked off the street into a Games Workshop store and said "I like this model", the amount of time and reading it took to get them playing a game with that model was to be pared down as much as possible, at the cost of all other considerations. No more points to add up, no more army structure, no more big rulebooks. According to their reports to shareholders at the time, the belief of GW was that 80% of their customers were modellers and collectors who didn't actually play the game. This was based on them proudly never doing any market research whatsoever, which they infamously declared 'otiose in a niche'.
While it's never a good idea to blame everything on one person. a lot of these types of problems defiantly had Tom Kirby's fingerprints on them.
I guess for those that don't know, Tom Kirby was the general manager of Games workshop when it was making its most.... 'out of touch'? decisions in regard to the late 2000s and 2010s. from what I understand, the guy is apparently someone that would be a great manager of a finance firm or liquidises, but should have never gotten involved in a marketing-focused business. was the driving force behind 'bled the stone' level of entirely profit-focussed to the detriment of anything else plus the introverted, never engaging with it's customers, closing down it's forums dynamic of the 2010s.
there is a lot that can be said about Kevin Rountree, partitualery around fan work, But everything positive about games workshop you see today; Warhammer Community, the Twitch Livestreams, support at major events, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter accounts etc is a result of his change of focus in at least acknowledging that you have to try and keep your most profitable buyers happy, or at least engaged, and is why its clawed its way back from it's 2010s death spiral.
While it's never a good idea to blame everything on one person. a lot of these types of problems defiantly had Tom Kirby's fingerprints on them.
I guess for those that don't know, Tom Kirby was the general manager of Games workshop when it was making its most.... 'out of touch'? decisions in regard to the late 2000s and 2010s. from what I understand, the guy is apparently someone that would be a great manager of a finance firm or liquidises, but should have never gotten involved in a marketing-focused business. was the driving force behind 'bled the stone' level of entirely profit-focussed to the detriment of anything else plus the introverted, never engaging with it's customers, closing down it's forums dynamic of the 2010s.
there is a lot that can be said about Kevin Rountree, partitualery around fan work, But everything positive about games workshop you see today; Warhammer Community, the Twitch Livestreams, support at major events, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter accounts etc is a result of his change of focus in at least acknowledging that you have to try and keep your most profitable buyers happy, or at least engaged is why its clawed its way back from it's 2010s death spiral.
I remember a conversation I had with my FLGS owner in the Tom Kirby era where he said he always had to learn about new releases from me and other customers because GW would only tell him there was a release coming up, not what it actually was until release was like two weeks away at maximum, and apparently it wasn't much better for distributers. And thus he had to ask the people who went looking for internet leaks what they were so he could figure out what he was actually ordering.
Tom Kirby GW didn't just ignore its customers, it ignored everyone.
I'm probably not going to make a post about the final section today, but there is one interesting event that occurs which I feel bears mentioning. Thorek Ironbrow does this:
"In the centre, Neferata and her handmaidens pressed upon the dwarfs that stood before Thorek Ironbrow. While Imentet felled the last of the Longplaits, Neferata herself dispatched the remaining orange-crested slayers. Thorek, seeing his doom close in upon him, struck a mighty two-handed blow upon the white-hot anvil, and the potent magics contained therein thundered forth once more. Arcs of arcane power tore clean through Imentet, smashing apart her coven throne like so much kindling, and leaving the vampiress suspended in an orb of living lightning. She hung, wracked by streaks of lightning that scorched her undead body so that not even dust was left to fall.
Neferata's shrill cry of rage was horrifying to hear." Page 233
It's not stated outright, but I'm pretty sure that Thorek Ironbrow literally atomised Imentet. I suppose that is one way of permanently killing a Vampire.
To be fair, the only "real characters" present there for Thorek to kill were Neferata and Krell. I would have been fine with Krell dying there, but definitely not Neferata since she's one of the only major female characters in the End Times. And whoever writes End Times is absolutely enamored with Krell.
I also haven't gotten to the section, but I think Ungrim gets a decent run from people writing down End Times summaries. Well, up until he dies offscreen at least. I remember Scyla Anfgrimm fighting equally against Incarnate Ungrim and on the other side of the battlefield Ludwig Schwartzhelm somehow manages a double suicide against Valkia the Bloody. Power levels are wonky as hell in the End Times.
So I've realised that I've actually never put in place any sort of spoiler policy or clarified the degree of "blindness" that I'm coming into End Times with, so this post is to make it clear. I'm going to start posting a list of bullet points in regards to spoilers about future events in the End Times to give you guys an idea of what I know. Fair warning, there is obviously going to be some extreme spoilers here, so only read if you already know what's going to happen or you don't care about spoilers.
Please note that a lot of this information was acquired from wiki diving and hearsay. I most likely will get a lot of this stuff wrong as I continue to read and figure out that what I heard second or thirdhand wasn't exactly accurate. I don't want you guys to correct me, and aside from what I post here, I don't actually want to get spoiled on what happens next. You can talk about the stuff I'll mention here, but do so under spoilers if you really need to. I know a lot of things that will probably happen, but I don't know exactly how it happens, and the surprise factor brings a level of visceral emotion that you won't get to see me experience if I already knew everything in advance.
That being said, let's go. Here's what I know about the End Times, in no particular order:
Nagash kills Valaya and eats her. He also kills and eats all the Nehekharan Gods and takes over the Underworld. He places Dieter Helsnicht, one of his Mortarchs, as the Keeper of the Underworld.
Malekith is the true and rightful king of Ulthuan and Aenarion's heir, Asuryan's chosen. The whole thousands of years of war and Malekith being burnt was apparently a misunderstanding borne of Malekith not cooking in the flames for long enough. Malekith takes over Ulthuan and becomes the Eternity King, unites all of Elven Kind under one host, and fights against Tyrion, who has somehow become the Avatar of Khaine and is working with Morathi and several rebel elements to fight back against Malekith's Eternity Host. Alarielle becomes Malekith's wife due to the whole Phoenix King/Everqueen marriage thing.
Tyrion dies and comes back to life later. Alith Anar saves Malekith's life from Tyrion and shoots Malekith with an incredibly painful arrow as a warning for him to never step out of line or he'll kill him. Alarielle heals him.
Eldyra somehow becomes the Avatar of Ereth Khial. Imrik becomes the Avatar of Nethu. Alarielle becomes the Avatar of Isha and somehow consumes Ariel, maybe metaphorically. Araloth becomes the Avatar of Asuryan. Orion becomes the Avatar of Kurnous. Morathi becomes the Avatar of Hekarti. Tyrion becomes the Avatar of Khaine. Daith becomes the Avatar of Vaul. Sea Lord Aislinn is revealed to be the Avatar of Mathlann.
Teclis' masterplan is to bind the Eight Winds of Magic to mortal beings, making them ascend to become Incarnates. I don't know what exact Winds he planned to bind to each individual, but what it ends up going to is the following: Nagash with Shyish, Malekith with Ulgu, Ungrim Ironfist with Aqshy, Thorgrim Grudgebearer with Chamon, Karl Sigmar with Azyr, Tyrion with Hysh, Alarielle with Ghyran and Grimgor Ironhide with Ghur. When Thorgrim dies Chamon moves to Daith and after Daith dies it moves to Balthasar Gelt. When Ungrim dies, the head of the Phoenix Temple Caradryan inherits Aqshy. Only the Dwarves lost their Winds, the remaining Incarnates stuck with their initial Wind.
Karl Franz is killed by the Glottkin, who are End Times OCs that came out of nowhere to become the headliners for the Nurgle faction in End Times and later in Age of Sigmar. Karl Franz calls out for Sigmar and is struck by a lightning bolt. He is later reincarnated as an Avatar of Sigmar. I call this version Karl Sigmar.
Speaking of Avatars of Sigmar, Valten becomes an important character soon enough as it's revealed that he's Sigmar's Avatar. He gets Ghal Maraz and goes through a gauntlet of Chaos Champions in Middenheim as he protects the Sacred Flame of Ulric. I believe he kills or defeats Wulfrik the Wanderer, Count Mordrek the Damned, Engra Deathsword and Sven Bloody-Hand.
Valten duels Archaon in Middenheim, and before Archaon could win the duel (which he probably was), a Verminlord Deceiver backstabs Valten in an ignoble and ridiculous callback to Valten's pointless death in Storm of Chaos.
Balthasar Gelt dabbles in a little Necromancy as he gets corrupted by power, he's exposed in a plot by the Changeling and kicked out of his position. He leaves for Sylvania and becomes Mannfred's apprentice. Gregor Martak, the Patriarch of the Amber College, becomes Supreme Patriarch and somehow becomes the Avatar of Ulric and fights Archaon and is killed by the Everchosen.
Archaon kills Ulric and snuffs out the Sacred Flame.
Isabella von Carstein somehow becomes possessed by Nurgle or one of his Daemons I don't know which, and there's a lot of drama between possessed Isabella and Vlad who wants to save her.
Luthor Huss somehow gets possessed by the Nameless (Drachenfels) until he is saved by Vlad who clears the possession from him to enlist his aid.
Vlad gives his ring to Isabelle and commits a double suicide with her, hoping to bring her back to unlife clear of corruption. It's successful, but he's dead and the world is ending. Neferata picks Isabella up and has an actually emotional moment right before the end of the world apologising to Isabella for not being fast enough to save her. Scene is inexplicably broken by Khalida deciding to forgive Neferata for some reason, despite their lifelong grudge.
Skarnik's pet Squig Gobbla dies, he gets depressed, and he withdraws and disappears. The authors forgot about him so he never appears again despite being foreshadowed as the Avatar of Gork. I think there was a twitter answer or something that says something about him just hanging out depressed in his cave until the end of the world.
Grimgor fucks shit up all the way through to the end. He rampages through the Dark Lands and destroys the Chaos Dwarves. He blazes through the Mountains of Mourne and duels Greasus. Greasus decides to reenact the same move that won him the crown as Overtyrant by bear hugging Grimgor, and Grimgor makes him regret it. He dies and Grimgor drafts the Ogre Kingdoms into his great Waaagh. Grimgor rampages across the Far East and I think it was revealed on twitter or something by one author that Grimgor apparently took care of the Far East with his forces. Grimgor also beat Malekith's ass, and Malekith decides he needs Grimgor's help so he uses pretty words to direct Grimgor's ire towards Archaon. Grimgor joins the forces of Order (and Nagash) to save the world and puts up one hell of a fight against Archaon but Archaon has a cheat engine and activating his sword's emergency protocol lets him decapitate Grimgor.
Louen Leoncoeur returns in a moment of need when Nurgle was about to capture Shallya or something. He's somehow ascended and is literally glowing as he fights against Ku'gath Plaguefather and kills the Greater Daemon by pinning him down and bleeding holy blood at him, melting him into a puddle.
Thanquol becomes the High Seer of Council of Thirteen and alongside some Verminlord guy made for End Times becomes the effective leaders of Skaven society. New Verminlords attempting to emulate the strengths of the Chaos Gods appear. Stormfiends are produced. Skaven get their shit together and destroy the majority of the planet with their plots by blowing up the moon and letting the chunks fall. The Skaven are one of two races to survive mostly unchanged to Age of Sigmar. I think they went to space or something.
Lizardmen activate their backup protocols and turn their Temple Cities into spaceships to leave to space. A good number stay behind to cover the retreat and fight back against the Skaven and Daemons infesting Lustria. All the Slann who stayed behind including Lord Mazdamundi have their souls snuffed out as they desperately fight back against the falling moon chunks that would obliterate the planet. Lord Kroak decides to act and creates a gigantic Shield of the Old Ones to protect most of the planet with the exception of Lustria and Southlands. This sacrifice saves the world momentarily.
Grymloq, Kroq-Gar's Carnosaur companion, is killed by Lord Skrolk. Kroq Gar goes mad and kills Skrolk. I don't know what happens to him eventually.
Karl Sigmar and his Griffon companion Deathclaw die to Archaon. Sigmar decides that enough is enough and that the third time's the charm so instead of sending another avatar he finally gets out of Azyr (which apparently is where he's been stuck in all this time through a Tzeentch plot) and comes face to face with Archaon.
Teclis, Gelt and Mannfred attempt a ritual to save the world and are almost successful. Mannfred decides to backstab Gelt for some reason though, and with Gelt's death Teclis has to suck up Chamon into himself and he implodes because apparently he was also hoarding three other Winds inside himself when their owners die. This results in the end of the world, and the reason as to why so many people utterly despise Mannfred.
Sigmar and Archaon face off in an epic battle (for the third time) towards the end of the world where it remains inconclusive as they fight each other and dive into a portal, being one of the only completely intact survivors of the End Times.
Slaanesh grows incredibly glutted after feasting on the souls of Elves, which is relevant because of Age of Sigmar where they get dunked on.
Nagash of course manages to destroy or capture Nehekhara and add them to his Legions of Undeath. Morr is implied to be Usirian because apparently he disappears after Nagash eats the Nehekharan Gods. Settra refuses to serve and fights back against Nagash, accepting a deal from the Chaos Gods until they eventually imply that he works for them, then he gets mad and decides to fight against them instead. According to one author on twitter he killed Kholek Suneater and disappeared into the sunset to try to kill Chaos.
Ludwig Schwartzhelm dies to Valkia the Bloody but he manages to get close enough to stab his Imperial Banner through her Spine and kill her. Not that it matters since she's in Age of Sigmar and he isn't.
Gotrek somehow survives the End Times because Grimnir wills it. Felix does not. Gotrek is sad.
Scyla Anfgrimm and Ungrim get into a really close fight that ends with Ungrim winning through the power of gravity (kicked down a cliff). Ungrim dies offscreen at some point (I think) and his death burns Averheim to the ground.
Boris Todbringer maintains his unhealthy obsession to Khazrak One-Eye and the two of them engage in a Metal Gear Solid 4 Finale fight that ends with them getting down and dirty on the ground. Boris kills Khazrak and the Beastmen watching the fight rip him to shreds afterwards. Was it worth it? Probably not.
Queek Headtaker kills Belegar Ironhammer. Thorgrim kills Queek. Deathmaster Snitch assassinates Thorgrim because he left the door open and was too busy writing stuff down in the Great Book of Grudges.
Throgg the Troll King kills Sigvald the Magnificent and gives his corpse a golden shower for some reason.
I think that's about it? I probably know a few small things or some other stuff that I've repressed in my memory, but that's the jist of it. Anything that's in the list is fair game for talking about under Spoilers, but I would appreciate if the thread didn't spoil anything that I haven't put on the list and haven't covered yet.
Teclis' masterplan is to bind the Eight Winds of Magic to mortal beings, making them ascend to become Incarnates. I don't know what exact Winds he planned to bind to each individual, but what it ends up going to is the following: Nagash with Shyish, Malekith with Ulgu, Ungrim Ironfist with Aqshy, Thorgrim Grudgebearer with Chamon, Karl Sigmar with Azyr, Tyrion with Hysh, Alarielle with Ghyran and Grimgor Ironhide with Ghur. When Thorgrim dies Chamon moves to Daith and after Daith dies it moves to Balthasar Gelt. When Ungrim dies, the head of the Phoenix Temple Caradryan inherits Aqshy. Only the Dwarves lost their Winds, the remaining Incarnates stuck with their initial Wind.
I continue to question Teclis brilliance, as well as basic sanity.
I already though Nagash was a stupid idea, Malekith is obvious, but why the hell Grimgor?
I might buy the excuse that Nagash was the greatest Shyish-mage, so he was by whatever warped view Teclis had a better choice than someone like Elspeth von Draken, before he inevitably betrays them.
But why the Orc?
Sure, he'll fight Chaos, but also everything else. He has no particular attachement to the Wind or any magical skill at all.
And he's a murderous psycho even by orcish standards.
I continue to question Teclis brilliance, as well as basic sanity.
I already though Nagash was a stupid idea, Malekith is obvious, but why the hell Grimgor?
I might buy the excuse that Nagash was the greatest Shyish-mage, so he was by whatever warped view Teclis had a better choice than someone like Elspeth von Draken, before he inevitably betrays them.
But why the Orc?
Sure, he'll fight Chaos, but also everything else. He has no particular attachement to the Wind or any magical skill at all.
And he's a murderous psycho even by orcish standards.
So I've realised that I've actually never put in place any sort of spoiler policy or clarified the degree of "blindness" that I'm coming into End Times with, so this post is to make it clear. I'm going to start posting a list of bullet points in regards to spoilers about future events in the End Times to give you guys an idea of what I know. Fair warning, there is obviously going to be some extreme spoilers here, so only read if you already know what's going to happen or you don't care about spoilers.
Please note that a lot of this information was acquired from wiki diving and hearsay. I most likely will get a lot of this stuff wrong as I continue to read and figure out that what I heard second or thirdhand wasn't exactly accurate. I don't want you guys to correct me, and aside from what I post here, I don't actually want to get spoiled on what happens next. You can talk about the stuff I'll mention here, but do so under spoilers if you really need to. I know a lot of things that will probably happen, but I don't know exactly how it happens, and the surprise factor brings a level of visceral emotion that you won't get to see me experience if I already knew everything in advance.
That being said, let's go. Here's what I know about the End Times, in no particular order:
Nagash kills Valaya and eats her. He also kills and eats all the Nehekharan Gods and takes over the Underworld. He places Dieter Helsnicht, one of his Mortarchs, as the Keeper of the Underworld.
Malekith is the true and rightful king of Ulthuan and Aenarion's heir, Asuryan's chosen. The whole thousands of years of war and Malekith being burnt was apparently a misunderstanding borne of Malekith not cooking in the flames for long enough. Malekith takes over Ulthuan and becomes the Eternity King, unites all of Elven Kind under one host, and fights against Tyrion, who has somehow become the Avatar of Khaine and is working with Morathi and several rebel elements to fight back against Malekith's Eternity Host. Alarielle becomes Malekith's wife due to the whole Phoenix King/Everqueen marriage thing.
Tyrion dies and comes back to life later. Alith Anar saves Malekith's life from Tyrion and shoots Malekith with an incredibly painful arrow as a warning for him to never step out of line or he'll kill him. Alarielle heals him.
Eldyra somehow becomes the Avatar of Ereth Khial. Imrik becomes the Avatar of Nethu. Alarielle becomes the Avatar of Isha and somehow consumes Ariel, maybe metaphorically. Araloth becomes the Avatar of Asuryan. Orion becomes the Avatar of Kurnous. Morathi becomes the Avatar of Hekarti. Tyrion becomes the Avatar of Khaine. Daith becomes the Avatar of Vaul. Sea Lord Aislinn is revealed to be the Avatar of Mathlann.
Teclis' masterplan is to bind the Eight Winds of Magic to mortal beings, making them ascend to become Incarnates. I don't know what exact Winds he planned to bind to each individual, but what it ends up going to is the following: Nagash with Shyish, Malekith with Ulgu, Ungrim Ironfist with Aqshy, Thorgrim Grudgebearer with Chamon, Karl Sigmar with Azyr, Tyrion with Hysh, Alarielle with Ghyran and Grimgor Ironhide with Ghur. When Thorgrim dies Chamon moves to Daith and after Daith dies it moves to Balthasar Gelt. When Ungrim dies, the head of the Phoenix Temple Caradryan inherits Aqshy. Only the Dwarves lost their Winds, the remaining Incarnates stuck with their initial Wind.
Karl Franz is killed by the Glottkin, who are End Times OCs that came out of nowhere to become the headliners for the Nurgle faction in End Times and later in Age of Sigmar. Karl Franz calls out for Sigmar and is struck by a lightning bolt. He is later reincarnated as an Avatar of Sigmar. I call this version Karl Sigmar.
Speaking of Avatars of Sigmar, Valten becomes an important character soon enough as it's revealed that he's Sigmar's Avatar. He gets Ghal Maraz and goes through a gauntlet of Chaos Champions in Middenheim as he protects the Sacred Flame of Ulric. I believe he kills or defeats Wulfrik the Wanderer, Count Mordrek the Damned, Engra Deathsword and Sven Bloody-Hand.
Valten duels Archaon in Middenheim, and before Archaon could win the duel (which he probably was), a Verminlord Deceiver backstabs Valten in an ignoble and ridiculous callback to Valten's pointless death in Storm of Chaos.
Balthasar Gelt dabbles in a little Necromancy as he gets corrupted by power, he's exposed in a plot by the Changeling and kicked out of his position. He leaves for Sylvania and becomes Mannfred's apprentice. Gregor Martak, the Patriarch of the Amber College, becomes Supreme Patriarch and somehow becomes the Avatar of Ulric and fights Archaon and is killed by the Everchosen.
Archaon kills Ulric and snuffs out the Sacred Flame.
Isabella von Carstein somehow becomes possessed by Nurgle or one of his Daemons I don't know which, and there's a lot of drama between possessed Isabella and Vlad who wants to save her.
Luthor Huss somehow gets possessed by the Nameless (Drachenfels) until he is saved by Vlad who clears the possession from him to enlist his aid.
Vlad gives his ring to Isabelle and commits a double suicide with her, hoping to bring her back to unlife clear of corruption. It's successful, but he's dead and the world is ending. Neferata picks Isabella up and has an actually emotional moment right before the end of the world apologising to Isabella for not being fast enough to save her. Scene is inexplicably broken by Khalida deciding to forgive Neferata for some reason, despite their lifelong grudge.
Skarnik's pet Squig Gobbla dies, he gets depressed, and he withdraws and disappears. The authors forgot about him so he never appears again despite being foreshadowed as the Avatar of Gork. I think there was a twitter answer or something that says something about him just hanging out depressed in his cave until the end of the world.
Grimgor fucks shit up all the way through to the end. He rampages through the Dark Lands and destroys the Chaos Dwarves. He blazes through the Mountains of Mourne and duels Greasus. Greasus decides to reenact the same move that won him the crown as Overtyrant by bear hugging Grimgor, and Grimgor makes him regret it. He dies and Grimgor drafts the Ogre Kingdoms into his great Waaagh. Grimgor rampages across the Far East and I think it was revealed on twitter or something by one author that Grimgor apparently took care of the Far East with his forces. Grimgor also beat Malekith's ass, and Malekith decides he needs Grimgor's help so he uses pretty words to direct Grimgor's ire towards Archaon. Grimgor joins the forces of Order (and Nagash) to save the world and puts up one hell of a fight against Archaon but Archaon has a cheat engine and activating his sword's emergency protocol lets him decapitate Grimgor.
Louen Leoncoeur returns in a moment of need when Nurgle was about to capture Shallya or something. He's somehow ascended and is literally glowing as he fights against Ku'gath Plaguefather and kills the Greater Daemon by pinning him down and bleeding holy blood at him, melting him into a puddle.
Thanquol becomes the High Seer of Council of Thirteen and alongside some Verminlord guy made for End Times becomes the effective leaders of Skaven society. New Verminlords attempting to emulate the strengths of the Chaos Gods appear. Stormfiends are produced. Skaven get their shit together and destroy the majority of the planet with their plots by blowing up the moon and letting the chunks fall. The Skaven are one of two races to survive mostly unchanged to Age of Sigmar. I think they went to space or something.
Lizardmen activate their backup protocols and turn their Temple Cities into spaceships to leave to space. A good number stay behind to cover the retreat and fight back against the Skaven and Daemons infesting Lustria. All the Slann who stayed behind including Lord Mazdamundi have their souls snuffed out as they desperately fight back against the falling moon chunks that would obliterate the planet. Lord Kroak decides to act and creates a gigantic Shield of the Old Ones to protect most of the planet with the exception of Lustria and Southlands. This sacrifice saves the world momentarily.
Grymloq, Kroq-Gar's Carnosaur companion, is killed by Lord Skrolk. Kroq Gar goes mad and kills Skrolk. I don't know what happens to him eventually.
Karl Sigmar and his Griffon companion Deathclaw die to Archaon. Sigmar decides that enough is enough and that the third time's the charm so instead of sending another avatar he finally gets out of Azyr (which apparently is where he's been stuck in all this time through a Tzeentch plot) and comes face to face with Archaon.
Teclis, Gelt and Mannfred attempt a ritual to save the world and are almost successful. Mannfred decides to backstab Gelt for some reason though, and with Gelt's death Teclis has to suck up Chamon into himself and he implodes because apparently he was also hoarding three other Winds inside himself when their owners die. This results in the end of the world, and the reason as to why so many people utterly despise Mannfred.
Sigmar and Archaon face off in an epic battle (for the third time) towards the end of the world where it remains inconclusive as they fight each other and dive into a portal, being one of the only completely intact survivors of the End Times.
Slaanesh grows incredibly glutted after feasting on the souls of Elves, which is relevant because of Age of Sigmar where they get dunked on.
Nagash of course manages to destroy or capture Nehekhara and add them to his Legions of Undeath. Morr is implied to be Usirian because apparently he disappears after Nagash eats the Nehekharan Gods. Settra refuses to serve and fights back against Nagash, accepting a deal from the Chaos Gods until they eventually imply that he works for them, then he gets mad and decides to fight against them instead. According to one author on twitter he killed Kholek Suneater and disappeared into the sunset to try to kill Chaos.
Ludwig Schwartzhelm dies to Valkia the Bloody but he manages to get close enough to stab his Imperial Banner through her Spine and kill her. Not that it matters since she's in Age of Sigmar and he isn't.
Gotrek somehow survives the End Times because Grimnir wills it. Felix does not. Gotrek is sad.
Scyla Anfgrimm and Ungrim get into a really close fight that ends with Ungrim winning through the power of gravity (kicked down a cliff). Ungrim dies offscreen at some point (I think) and his death burns Averheim to the ground.
Boris Todbringer maintains his unhealthy obsession to Khazrak One-Eye and the two of them engage in a Metal Gear Solid 4 Finale fight that ends with them getting down and dirty on the ground. Boris kills Khazrak and the Beastmen watching the fight rip him to shreds afterwards. Was it worth it? Probably not.
Queek Headtaker kills Belegar Ironhammer. Thorgrim kills Queek. Deathmaster Snitch assassinates Thorgrim because he left the door open and was too busy writing stuff down in the Great Book of Grudges.
Throgg the Troll King kills Sigvald the Magnificent and gives his corpse a golden shower for some reason.
I think that's about it? I probably know a few small things or some other stuff that I've repressed in my memory, but that's the jist of it. Anything that's in the list is fair game for talking about under Spoilers, but I would appreciate if the thread didn't spoil anything that I haven't put on the list and haven't covered yet.
Can someone explain to me what's up with Nurgle in the End Times from like, an out of universe perspective? It's genuinely baffling to me, coming into the End Times and reading Age of Sigmar, how much Nurgle got in a very short period of time. Before End Times, Nurgle had Festus the Leechlord as his mortal Champion and that was it until Tamurkhan came out. But Tamurkhan was a campaign supplement and not a main book and he was Forgeworld besides, so his model was probably quite expensive which would limit his popularity and the popularity of the Nurgle models produced alongside him.
But coming into the End Times, Nurgle gets one of the most ridiculous glow ups I've ever seen. Orghotts Daemonspew, Gutrot Spume, Glottkin, Morbidex Twiceborn, and Bloab Rotspawned all came out of nowhere in the End Times to become major headliners for Nurgle, all getting their own models and being supported in Age of Sigmar. Nurgle went from like, one mortal hero with a model, to six mortal heroes, the most out of any of the Chaos Gods, and I'm only counting the ones with statblocks, not the ones that are only mentioned like Festak Krann or whatever.
Of the five End Times books, one is called "Nagash", another is called "Khaine", another is "Thanquol", another is "Archaon", and another is "Glottkin". All of these are established characters except one. Glottkin is introduced in End Times and gets his name on the title. None of the other Chaos Gods even get that treatment. I'm feeling some confusion.
EDIT: Oh yeah, they also got a new elite infantry unit called the Putrid Blightkings. They got a lot of support in End Times.
40k bleed over, the death guard and demons of Nurg daddy updates and new models were in the works/coming out around the that time so the whole faction was getting a lore update and make over to drum up interest.
40k bleed over, the death guard and demons of Nurg daddy updates and new models were in the works/coming out around the that time so the whole faction was getting a lore update and make over to drum up interest.
Well, that might be understandable if there was crossover in the models between the two games, but the entirety of the support Nurgle got in End Times were Mortals, none of which could be carried over. They made five new heroes with their own sculpts and models, and Ku'gath Plaguefather still doesn't have a model despite having an existing 8th Edition statblock. It's weird.
Can someone explain to me what's up with Nurgle in the End Times from like, an out of universe perspective? It's genuinely baffling to me, coming into the End Times and reading Age of Sigmar, how much Nurgle got in a very short period of time. Before End Times, Nurgle had Festus the Leechlord as his mortal Champion and that was it until Tamurkhan came out. But Tamurkhan was a campaign supplement and not a main book and he was Forgeworld besides, so his model was probably quite expensive which would limit his popularity and the popularity of the Nurgle models produced alongside him.
But coming into the End Times, Nurgle gets one of the most ridiculous glow ups I've ever seen. Orghotts Daemonspew, Gutrot Spume, Glottkin, Morbidex Twiceborn, and Bloab Rotspawned all came out of nowhere in the End Times to become major headliners for Nurgle, all getting their own models and being supported in Age of Sigmar. Nurgle went from like, one mortal hero with a model, to six mortal heroes, the most out of any of the Chaos Gods, and I'm only counting the ones with statblocks, not the ones that are only mentioned like Festak Krann or whatever.
Of the five End Times books, one is called "Nagash", another is called "Khaine", another is "Thanquol", another is "Archaon", and another is "Glottkin". All of these are established characters except one. Glottkin is introduced in End Times and gets his name on the title. None of the other Chaos Gods even get that treatment. I'm feeling some confusion.
EDIT: Oh yeah, they also got a new elite infantry unit called the Putrid Blightkings. They got a lot of support in End Times.
This might be unrelated but I seem to recall reading that GW was trying to minimize the prevalence of Slaanesh around the same time. It is entirely possible that they wanted to elevate Nurgle to fill the spot.
This might be unrelated but I seem to recall reading that GW was trying to minimize the prevalence of Slaanesh around the same time. It is entirely possible that they wanted to elevate Nurgle to fill the spot.
I know that Slaanesh was dunked on in the beginning of AoS as they sealed him inside a box and made him irrelevant for the Realmgate Wars (the starting campaign), but Slaanesh got a 2019 and 2021 Battletome for his faction the Hedonites of Slaanesh and got a lot of updates and a serious glow up in terms of models and aesthetic.
This is the old Keeper of Secrets:
This is the new Keeper of Secrets:
Slaanesh also finally got a headliner Keeper of Secrets with an actual model. The previous "headliner" for Slaanesh in Fantasy was N'Kari, and N'Kari never got stats or a model. In Age of Sigmar, they created a cool new Keeper of Secrets, Shalaxi Hellbane, who was specifically made to kill Bloodthirsters, which is a cool as hell concept:
I'm honestly not sure if they intended to play Slaanesh down and they decided to back down on the decision and bring him and his faction back to prominence due to player feedback or if it was always part of the plan to downplay Slaanesh's influence for a while until they could muster the resources to reconstruct Slaanesh's image.
I know that Slaanesh was dunked on in the beginning of AoS as they sealed him inside a box and made him irrelevant for the Realmgate Wars (the starting campaign), but Slaanesh got a 2019 and 2021 Battletome for his faction the Hedonites of Slaanesh and got a lot of updates and a serious glow up in terms of models and aesthetic.
This is the old Keeper of Secrets:
This is the new Keeper of Secrets:
Slaanesh also finally got a headliner Keeper of Secrets with an actual model. The previous "headliner" for Slaanesh in Fantasy was N'Kari, and N'Kari never got stats or a model. In Age of Sigmar, they created a cool new Keeper of Secrets, Shalaxi Hellbane, who was specifically made to kill Bloodthirsters, which is a cool as hell concept:
I'm honestly not sure if they intended to play Slaanesh down and they decided to back down on the decision and bring him and his faction back to prominence due to player feedback or if it was always part of the plan to downplay Slaanesh's influence for a while until they could muster the resources to reconstruct Slaanesh's image.
I think the biggest question we should ask is if there was any big leadership shifts in-between, if so then we can probably explain the backtrack on a combination of fan backlash and leadership changing.
Can someone explain to me what's up with Nurgle in the End Times from like, an out of universe perspective? It's genuinely baffling to me, coming into the End Times and reading Age of Sigmar, how much Nurgle got in a very short period of time. Before End Times, Nurgle had Festus the Leechlord as his mortal Champion and that was it until Tamurkhan came out. But Tamurkhan was a campaign supplement and not a main book and he was Forgeworld besides, so his model was probably quite expensive which would limit his popularity and the popularity of the Nurgle models produced alongside him.
But coming into the End Times, Nurgle gets one of the most ridiculous glow ups I've ever seen. Orghotts Daemonspew, Gutrot Spume, Glottkin, Morbidex Twiceborn, and Bloab Rotspawned all came out of nowhere in the End Times to become major headliners for Nurgle, all getting their own models and being supported in Age of Sigmar. Nurgle went from like, one mortal hero with a model, to six mortal heroes, the most out of any of the Chaos Gods, and I'm only counting the ones with statblocks, not the ones that are only mentioned like Festak Krann or whatever.
Of the five End Times books, one is called "Nagash", another is called "Khaine", another is "Thanquol", another is "Archaon", and another is "Glottkin". All of these are established characters except one. Glottkin is introduced in End Times and gets his name on the title. None of the other Chaos Gods even get that treatment. I'm feeling some confusion.
EDIT: Oh yeah, they also got a new elite infantry unit called the Putrid Blightkings. They got a lot of support in End Times.
I just googled some of those characters and all of them were just some dude on a mount too big for their own weapon to ever reach an enemy. Maybe the other Gods just aren't that suited for those presumably very profitable models since their vibes would clash. Though I am fully expecting someone to post a picture of a Khornish Champion whose also out of blood splatter range due to some silly huge mount in response to this^^
