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On this warhammer wiki page about the laughing god (http://warhammer40k.wikia.com/wiki/Laughing_God), it says 'Harlequins are directly protected by their God, becoming one with him on death. The only exception to this is the Solitaire whose soul must be won from Slaanesh by the Laughing God.'
Does anyone know who 'Solitaire' is?

Solitaire is a Harlequin who takes up the mantle of Solitaire, dancing the dance alone, until they die.

When they do another of the Troupe will take on the SOlitaire mask (which is blank, from memory) and leave the troupe.

A solitaire is also the one who plays Slaanesh in dances, IIRC.

all harlequins go through a harrowing in order to become harlequins. This involves them being possessed and overcoming and casting out the demon. Sometimes when this happens the eldar's soul goes with the demon. This is how a solitaire is born.

the rest is here.
http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Solitaire

UrbanCowboy wrote:all harlequins go through a harrowing in order to become harlequins. This involves them being possessed and overcoming and casting out the demon. Sometimes when this happens the eldar's soul goes with the demon. This is how a solitaire is born.

the rest is here.
http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Solitaire

I couldn't find that page earlier - But thanks everyone for all the info .

UrbanCowboy wrote:all harlequins go through a harrowing in order to become harlequins. This involves them being possessed and overcoming and casting out the demon. Sometimes when this happens the eldar's soul goes with the demon. This is how a solitaire is born.

the rest is here.
http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Solitaire

Someone recently (i.e. within the last week or so) once again brought up that "information" at Warseer, and once again it was pointed out by others who post there that no one appears to have actually been able to confirm that the supposed source for that information actually states what Lexicanum claims it does.

Ergo, as far as anyone can tell, the "Demonic possession" bit regarding Harlequins is probably just a "fan" having fun at the expense of everyone else.


Ignoring what Lexicanum states, there is very little known about Solitaires. The original fluff for them suggested that they were individuals who didn't travel with the troupes but instead lived among regular eldar (the one that appears in the fluff bit is a regular old technician, iirc, and the visiting troupe doesn't even know that there's a solitaire present on the craftworld until midway through their performance when they suddenly recognize that one of the audience members is a Solitaire). More recent fluff puts them back in with the troupe, but as an individual who is avoided by the other members because they "walk the Path of Damnation" (whatever that means). A prior Eldar codex (not the current one) indicated that unlike other Harlequins, the Solitaire's soul was already claimed by Slaanesh... but that occaisionally the Laughing God was able to distract Slaanesh when the Solitaire died and allow the Solitaire to escape his eventual fate.

The one thing that has definitely remained the same over the years is that Solitaires are the only ones who are able to play the part of Slaanesh in The Great Dance.

As I recall, the other Eldar are afraid to go near a Solitaire, in case their link with the god that is hunting them damns them. One can presume this is a typical superstition held by the normal Eldar about them.

Gorskar.da.Lost wrote:As I recall, the other Eldar are afraid to go near a Solitaire, in case their link with the god that is hunting them damns them. One can presume this is a typical superstition held by the normal Eldar about them.

That was added in the same bit of fluff that changed things so that their soul was pre-claimed by Slaanesh. In the most recent Eldar codex, the reason given for other Eldar avoiding them was due to the "Path of Damnation", but there were no further details provided. Of course, the information provided in the most recent CW: Eldar codex fits easily enough with the bit about their soul being pre-claimed by Slaanesh.


And to add a bit extra regarding thier role within performances, iirc (it's been a VERY long time...) the original fluff stated that Solitaires were the only ones who played the role of Slaanesh in the Great Dance because they were the only ones who could do so without going insane. I don't think that rationale has been provided in the more recent fluff. Instead, the implication seems to be that the Solitaire's willingness to play Slaanesh is connected to the whole "soul claimed by Slaanesh" (previously) / "walk the Path of Damnation" (now) thing.