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Hi Guys,

After reading the latest HH novel, Shadows of treachery I was wondering ...

So Night Haunter was loyal to the emperor, but felt betrayed by fulgrim breaking his confidence and dorn not agreeing with his methods of control. Also the fact that once he left nostramo the new recruits to his legion were the gang scum he hated and hunted all his life, he came to hate his legion.

So why did he join Horus? He had the gift of prohecy and was also haunted by chaos during his life, but was loyal essentially. He just disagreed with Dorn about the methods of control and punishment. No need to turn traitor over that... More a brotherly feud isnt it?

So the question remains, why did he join Horus? Why did he let himself be killed? Was it because he was loyal to the emperor or because he wanted to prove to Dorn that his method of killing as punished for any crime was correct in the end? Hence why Dorn is looking sadly at kurtz statue in the novel, musing over what he is destroying and his extreme methods during the outcast dead? And Dorn saying to the emperor that he would never knowingly fail him - suggesting that he had failed the emperor in chastising and driving kurtz to Horus/chaos?

Thoughts and insight are most appreciated

The Night Haunter had some personal issues.

He didn't think anyone was good enough. He felt that without the threat of death for even the simplest infractions that everyone would slide into anarchy. So, he kept an iron grip on the population of his world.

He knew the people in his legion were pretty screwed up. His home planet had started backsliding and the only acceptable people to become legionaries were criminals. This was very disturbing to him, but he did nothing about it.

He escaped from Dorn simply because he thought the Emperor was going to kill him for his past "sins". Attacking a fellow Primarch being pretty high on his list of capital crimes. The reality was that he was probably only going to simply be censured and possibly sidelined for a while.

After the escape he went back to Nostramo where he found that his worst fears were realized: the populace had gone back to the old ways and everything was in chaos. So in a fit of anger he destroyed the planet.

After running from Dorn and destroying Nostramo he knew there was no place for him in the Imperium. Note that (at least thus far in the story) he never actually threw his lot in with Horus; however a good part of his legionaries did. After the invasion of Terra, the Emperor sent a large number of assassins after Curze. Of course, if he had simply stayed with Dorn and trusted that the Emperor would try to solve his dreaming issues, then this would not have had to happen.

The reason why he let himself be killed is that he was following his own rules. He had killed innocents and committed acts of treachery and deceit. The only thing to rectify this in his mind was to die; which his dreams had foretold.

Essentially it's a story about a man who is ultimately downed by his own ideas of ruling through fear; which meant he lived in constant fear of the Emperor.

He basically became what he hated the most...then he realized it at the end.

Thanks for the reply, man thats insightful !!

It makes understanding the character and plot easier and more coherent. He was clearly disturbed, hanging dead legionaries in his office and talking to them.

But that stuff only happened to him later ... perhaps as his gene seed deteriorated or he came under the influence of chaos? Most likely his gene seed deteriorated due to chaos touch, when he was young, outside of his control?

Its good that he died loyal to the emperor, trying to atone for what he did (by letting himself die). It also makes sense why he let his legion be known as traitors rather than issue instructions to surrender to the imperials, as either way they were going to die, as they deserved to in night haunters eyes.

Speaking of which, do the night lords still hold together as a legion these days or are they just in roving small warbands with little purpose other than terror?

Read Lord of the Night. The Emperor used him as a scapegoat for the darker side of the Crusade, his actions were not only sanctioned but ordered by the Emp, after mauling Dorn something that apparently many others wanted to do he faced trial, he stood trial for not just the fight with dorn but also his Legions conduct, them an Imperial Assasin made an attempt on his life, he escaped, after that their was really no going back, even if he had joined the loyalist and not betrayed them on Istvan the he most likely would most likely be killed and his legion liquefied by a leader he saw as a corrupt hypocrite. The Emp had really bad priorities, he should sent his assassins after after Agron givin what he was doing to his own legion.

My theory is he thought that the World Eater would just self destruct on their own and knew full well the Butchers Nails would kill Agron. He probably thought the same thing about Konrad, the Horus Heresy Novels mention him suffering necrosis and what would seem to be dementia and some sort of personality disorder. Given Empy had powers of seeing the future I doubt that he didn't know about the defects his sons would have, I also wonder if he gave the Blood Angels their defect on purpose as a replacement for the World Eaters, then dispose of them with a tearful eye. Think of the Thunder Warriors, givin short lifespans so the Emp could easily erase them from history. Like one Chaos Marine said in Blood Reaver, the Primarchs were never meant to be the heirs to the empire, which is likely why half of them revolted.

 sumi808 wrote:
Hi Guys,

After reading the latest HH novel, Shadows of treachery I was wondering ...

Why did he let himself be killed?

He felt that his life had been pointless and had achieved nothing, but he reasoned that he could amend that by proving a point....by dying. I still haven't got my head around this but he was known for getting increasingly unhinged at the end.

And what's up with that Raven Guard 'Knight Lord? Weird, dude. Still awesome, though.