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Could someone inform me as to the exact meaning of this line? I read through both A Thousand Sons and Prospero Burns but I either missed or didn't understand what they were saying.

The author was being a smart arse
Or
He was refering to the fact that the wolves were introduced to Fenris (And thus aren't natives) and have adapted and evolved to fit with Fenris (And thus aren't technically wolves)
The fluff on SW has them devolve into wulfen wehn the gene-seed acts up not wolves.
I have another theory but it's ridiculous to the point that even i don't think it's worth a damn...

there are no wolves on fenris.
but there might be some issues with the canis helix and unstable geneseed

The SW codex I believe states that one of the requirements for becoming a SW is that you must consume the Canis Gene which essentially reshapes your body and if you can ride out the pain and the change you become a SW if you don't you simply devolve into a wolf. In Prospero Burns Longfang or one of the other Runepriests flat out tells the protagonist that one of the wolves he is looking at is actually a friend who tried to save him at the begining of the book. He doesn't believe it so the Runepriest moves on. The other Fenris guy who tried to save him was now a SW so that implies that they both took the Canis gene and only one of them made it.

So when they say there are no wolves on Fenris what they mean is that most of the wolves on Fenris are probably failed SW candidates.

If you follow Magnus' logic in Thousand Sons he seems to imply that initially all colonists on Fenris were actually genetically engineered to be like wolves or werewoves in order to survive the Deathworld.

Hey, if you can have a chapter of proto-vampires (Bloodangels) why not Viking Werewolves?

You don't devolve into a wolf though...
Wulfen maybe but not a wolf.
There are many meanings to what they say in the Horus Heresy novels and so many of them aren't countered by anything so they technically can't be wrong.
Longfang may simply have been refering to a belief that the soul returns to the 'circle of life' which is common in many tribal civilisations, without further explaination it is impossible to know.
Saying that the wolves on Fenris are mostly failed SW apirants makes no sense though...
Genetically engineering the colonists to be wolves also makes no sense, the original settlers homes were built on Asahiem deep in the caverns in the mountains, they eventually became dangerously irradiated (mutations and such) and when Russ became leader of the SW legion he forbade people to live there.

IMO it was simply the author trying to act clever without really thinking it through, however because there are so many different views which aren't necessarily countered it is hard to be wrong.

.. err..... no.

it was simply the author trying to act clever without really thinking it through,

hmm.. not really. This idea, indeed all the major plot points from the HH series are shared and approved by the HH writers "team" and the powers that be at GW HQ.

reds8n wrote:.. err..... no.

Spoiler:

"You don't devolve into a wolf though"...
It would seem that in some cases this is what happens.

This is followed up upon in "Battle of the Fang" as well.

" tells the protagonist that one of the wolves he is looking at is actually a friend who tried to save him at the begining of the book."

Indeed.

it was simply the author trying to act clever without really thinking it through,

hmm.. not really. This idea, indeed all the major plot points from the HH series are shared and approved by the HH writers "team" and the powers that be at GW HQ.

Still not convinced.
If they do turn into wolves they sure as hell don't manage to reproduce which kinda makes it okay-ish.
I haven't read the Battle of the Fang but i have heard some interesting spoiler-y rumours.
If they do turn out to be turning into wolves then my faith in BL and GW (Which has already been somewhat taxed) is completly gone...
I'll still get some of their books but i will probably ignore the vast majority... kinda do that already but i'd do it more...

Once Matt Ward starts editing BL books. I will be completely finished.

reds8n wrote:.. err..... no.


hmm.. not really. This idea, indeed all the major plot points from the HH series are shared and approved by the HH writers "team" and the powers that be at GW HQ.

In that they authorize them for sale, yes. In that they care if it matches canon, not so much. Besides, revision is common as is the view that the books are based on retellings, myth, etc. So not viewed as literal truth. Just a profit source