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Wasn't there a Chapter who stopped chasing down their target to help save some civilians? It was not Salamanders or SW.

Anyway, the point is that the SW are not the only "good" guys. There are more, and also better/more humanitarian chapters running about.

Melissia wrote:
And even if you add all this up, it still pales in comparison to what a SINGLE Inquisitor did to stop the Tyranids.

But sacrificing entire worlds to almost kinda slow the Tyranids down was so worth it...

The only thing that Kryptman did that "worked" was leading the Tyranids (well, a Hive Fleet splinter thing) into Octarius and into conflict with the Orks.

And the GK/Inquisition have killed so many imperial citizens literally nothing else will compare to that number. That thing with the GK and the killing the people after the first war of Armageddon? That was not the first time that happened, and it certainly won't be the last. Well, until GW bring the Emperor back and he smacks down the High Lords, Ecclesiarchy, and Draigo for being genocidal mooks. Assuming that's where GW wants the plot to go...

About the Space Wolves: They do a lot for the little man, but also a lot to piss off those who have the capacity to kill them, and some of that stuff is not good, no matter which way you look at it.

TheSovereign wrote:It depends on which books you've read. Prospero Burns and A Thousand Sons portray the Wolves very differently (on purpose, I think, as the stories are written from different perspectives). Ultimately, the Wolves are what you want them to be: either bestial, noble warriors or vicious, uncaring savages.

or secret answer D) all of the above. You were right in saying that elements of both are present, but it doesn't matter whether you want them to be or not; they are what they are. A successor chapter might escape their bestial/savage side a bit if you want them to, or embrace it fully. The Space Wolves have good aspects to them, and bad aspects to them. That's what makes them (super)human.

Melissia wrote:

At the same time I can't help but laugh a little - this "Are ______ good?" seems to be a problem that exclusively belongs to the Factions not classified as Xenos Horrificus.

Chaos, Tyranids, Necrons, and my Orks - well the fandom/players never get into arguments such as these.

I object!

Orks are the only truly good race in the galaxy! They follow their moral code closer than any other race that actually has something resembling a moral code!

they also have a near-perfect society. There's a quote in... Some codex, but it's an IoM dude who comments on how the orks have almost literally evolved the perfect society. If anything, being an Ork presents the best options of any species in 40k. Are they good? Not really, they kill things for fun. But at the same time, they aren't xenophobic morons who slaughter entire systems to keep themselves a secret. Their simplicity is why they are so successful.

Russ Mandarin wrote:

b1soul wrote:The Salamanders and to a lesser degree the Ultramarines could be considered good guys. As someone pointed out, the SW's policy of keeping Fenris an extremely unpleasant place sort of undermines any claim that they're "good guys"

Let's just say they're a lot nicer than the Inquisition

I'm sorry how are they keeping it an unpleasant place to live?
The planet is a death world its always going to be like this in fact if you ask the native fenrisians they take pride in the fact that they survive on such an uninhabitable planet that is constantly raging against them.
This is the recruiting ground for the Space Wolves the native fenrisians have always been a tribal warrior culture. Nothing is going to change this

you mean besides advanced in their culture and society? And humans were (and in some places still are) tribal warriors who embraced that culture wholeheartedy, but over time values changed and advanced in technology were made that completely changed the paradigm of what it meant to be a warrior.

No it is not, and I actually think that the Rain Forest tribes example works well. What I meant was that, unless the Space Wolves are intentionally stunting the growth of Fenris' society, the tribes would eventually fade away due to their own changes in tech and culture.