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I have just finished reading the novel Shadows of Treachery and in the last story Prince of Crows Sevatar recalls how the Ultramarines found out about the Night Lords tradition of Traitors and fools being made to paint there gauntlets red to show that they were awaiting execution by there commander. It then says that the Ultramarines copied the idea but instead of red hands they made the marine paint his helmet red and it only meant censor not death.

Now i'm not all that knowledgeable on the Ultramarines but i thought Sargent's had red helmets is this just for certain companies or is this just another case of an author changing fluff as they see fit?

Pre-Calth a red helm for the Ultramarines was a mark of censure, signifying the marine was placed on disciplinary review and on penance.

Post-Calth it was incorporated into a Sergeants insignia in honour of a sergeant who was under censure during the Calth betreyal and subsequently proved instrumental in defeating the Word Bearers.

Ah i see thanks for the info.

Yeah, in Know no Fear there's an Ultramarine Sergeant marked for censure with his helmet painted red.

The Codex Astartes, based on what i know based on the SM codex, states that sergeants traditionally wear red helmets. Probably because of Know No Fear.

Or alternatively Know No Fear was written to specifcally cover the issue that 'eavy Metal has been painting Ultramarine sergeants with red helmets for decades

I think its mostly that Dan Abnett loves subverting things you think you know, so he introduces the idea of red helmet = bad at the start of the book, making the reader think 'hang on, that's not right...' and then by the end of the book all is explained.

This is the man who kicked off the whole Horus Heresy novel series with the line "I was there when Horus killed the Emperor" after all.

I was unaware of this, it's really interesting. Thanks for the info.