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So I was taking to some friends about this, the Primarchs names are all taken from sources of popular culture/classical literature etc... We managed to go through all of them but I'm wondering if any of you had other ideas...
Obviously Angron is basically 'Angry' but the others seem a bit more well thought out...
Can you list all the primarchs and explain where their name was derived from?
Lion'El Johnson's name came from a Poet, a friend of Oscar Wilde's I believe.
Magnus I believe means "great" in Latin or something to that effect.
Vulcan is named after the Roman god of fire and forge.
Horus is named for the prodigal son of Egyptian Mythology.
That's all I got for now.
Midnightdeathblade wrote: Think of a daemon incursion like a fart you don't quite trust... you could either toot a little puff of air, bellow a great effluvium, or utterly sh*t your pants and cry as it floods down your leg.
Alpha and Omega are also the first and last letters in the Greek alfabet.
Konrad Curze is an amalgamation of the name of the writer (Conrad) and one of the characters (Kurtz) of the novel Heart of Darkness, turned into the movie Apocalypse Now, I believe.
Also, it's not just the Primarchs, either. Most of the special characters that have been around since second edition are named after some person or mythological figureor other.
Abaddon : A bad 'un. Also a fallen angel/devil.
Ahriman: God of death, darkness and evil in zoroastrianism.
Typhus: I really shouldn't need to explain this.
Most Dark Angel special characters are named after an angel or summat as well.
You missed Ghazgul Maguruk Thraka. Margaret Thatcher.
Lorgar Aurellian means Lorgar the Golden One in High Gothic, which is just a bastardised version of Latin.
haha! All this time I never noticed the Ghazzy reference!
I wonder, why would they name such a warboss after such a kind and gentle soul?
We are arming Syrian rebels who support ISIS, who is fighting Iran, who is fighting Iraq who we also support against ISIS, while fighting Kurds who we support while they are fighting Syrian rebels.
mattyrm wrote: haha! All this time I never noticed the Ghazzy reference!
I wonder, why would they name such a warboss after such a kind and gentle soul?
Midnightdeathblade wrote: Think of a daemon incursion like a fart you don't quite trust... you could either toot a little puff of air, bellow a great effluvium, or utterly sh*t your pants and cry as it floods down your leg.
Konrad Curze is an amalgamation of the name of the writer (Conrad) and one of the characters (Kurtz) of the novel Heart of Darkness, turned into the movie Apocalypse Now, I believe.
They really went to town with that one: Curze's homeworld was named Nostramo - another of Conrad's books, whilst he was supposedly killed by an assassin named M'Shen - after Martin Sheen who played the assassin in Apocalypse Now.
It survives as a name in the same way that King does in English, but it was that actual title of a Mongol Emperor. Jaghatai is a less common spelling of Chagatai, Genghis' second son who succeeded him to the Khanate.
I'm skeptical about Lorgar, its a very obscure reference and a very different pronunciation.
More likely its like Angron:
Angron = Angry
Lorgar = Lore
Allegedly Leman Russ was named after a guy named Russel Mann, but I've seen no evidence for it (IIRC there is no such name in the RT credits, by comparison Pedro Kantor's namesake Pete Cantor has first billing under playtests), interestingly there was a WW1 Belgian General named Leman, who was responsible for building and commanding a series of forts that caused something of an annoying speedbump to the German invasion. This is curious as altho there were no mentions of it being besieged the example Chapter Fortress-Monastery in the RT rulebook was the Space Wolves.
Sir Samuel Buca wrote: You missed Ghazgul Maguruk Thraka. Margaret Thatcher.
Lorgar Aurellian means Lorgar the Golden One in High Gothic, which is just a bastardised version of Latin. [/quote
Allegedly the very old female harpy has a face that resembles Thatcher and the male harpy has a face that is supposed to resemble Reagan. These are the third edition models. Its one of those things you can kind of see if you try, lol.
These are pretty solid. I knew most of the references, but good work on the few I wasn't sure of. I like your Guilliman version better than Priestley's, lol.
It does seem that some of the names were kind of arbitrary, while others were pretty obvious in their references.
Marneus Calgar is referred to as "one of the Imperium's greatest tacticians" and he treats the Codex like it's the War Bible. If the Codex is garbage, then how bad is everyone else?
Anyway, my personal pet theory regarding the twins is that they are named after Alphard (or Alpha Hydrae), which is the brightest star of the Hydra constellation. As a barium star, it most likely has a companion or twin star, but it is hidden from sight. Then add the first and last letter of the Greek alphabet, as mentioned before, and you get an adaption of Alpha and Omega to get Alpharius and Omegon.
Of course, that's probably giving the designers too much credit, so the alphabet was probably the entirety of their inspiration. Hell, Angron was named after an angry guy named Ron, so they weren't putting too much thought into it.
Anyway, my personal pet theory regarding the twins is that they are named after Alphard (or Alpha Hydrae), which is the brightest star of the Hydra constellation. As a barium star, it most likely has a companion or twin star, but it is hidden from sight. Then add the first and last letter of the Greek alphabet, as mentioned before, and you get an adaption of Alpha and Omega to get Alpharius and Omegon.
Of course, that's probably giving the designers too much credit, so the alphabet was probably the entirety of their inspiration. Hell, Angron was named after an angry guy named Ron, so they weren't putting too much thought into it.
I don't know, Alpha Hydrae does seem to be a pretty solid source for Alpharius as well as the symbol for the Alpha Legion (the Hydra). With Alpha Hydrae being a binary star, GW may have sought inspiration for a twin and when trying to name him, they decided to go for the end of the alphabet to create a "balance" in the names. Hence Alpharius and Omegon.
Gods? There are no gods. Merely existences, obstacles to overcome.
"And what if I told you the Wolves tried to bring a Legion to heel once before? What if that Legion sent Russ and his dogs running, too ashamed to write down their defeat in Imperial archives?" - ADB
There are references all over the fluff - not just in character names but things like planet names and so on as well.
Blood Angels I know refer in seemingly equal measure to the demonic and to historical thinkers. Dante, Mephiston, and Baal for the former, Tycho and Corbulo for the latter... meanwhile the old special Dreadnought, Moriar the Chosen comes from "non omnis moriar" - or translated, "I shall not wholly die".
Then there are those who are obvious references, but not in name - Lord Solar Macharius is far and away in the mould of Alexander the Great, but his name doesn't give it away.
"Hard pressed on my right. My centre is yielding. Impossible to manoeuvre. Situation excellent. I am attacking." - General Ferdinand Foch
Corax's name is the Binomial name of the Common Raven, "Corvus Corax"
Gods? There are no gods. Merely existences, obstacles to overcome.
"And what if I told you the Wolves tried to bring a Legion to heel once before? What if that Legion sent Russ and his dogs running, too ashamed to write down their defeat in Imperial archives?" - ADB
My theory on Guilliman is a reference to Robbie Williams. Just sounds somewhat similar.
Roboute Guilliman.
Robbie Williams.
Guilllermo, a Spanish name, is roughly equivilent to William, I am told.
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Deadshot wrote: My theory on Guilliman is a reference to Robbie Williams. Just sounds somewhat similar.
Roboute Guilliman.
Robbie Williams.
Guilllermo, a Spanish name, is roughly equivilent to William, I am told.
Simply not possible. Roboute's been around since the 80's - while alive, Robbie Williams didn't become famous until he was in Take That in the 90's.
...I also can't see there being many massive Take That fans in the GW studio back then anyway...
"Hard pressed on my right. My centre is yielding. Impossible to manoeuvre. Situation excellent. I am attacking." - General Ferdinand Foch
I dunno, maybe the guy who came up with that name went to school with Williams.
Automatically Appended Next Post: Or something. Just a hypothesis based on a dislike of both. Dislike is such a weak word. I detest them both. Except Guilliman, he's tolerable.
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2013/07/02 16:37:56
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Yeah. At least he contributes something useful (structure for space marine chapters to ensure there isn't HH 2, and economic genius for Ultramar).
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bahzakhain wrote: Wait, you're saying super-arrogant and not-really-ultra Roboute is tolerable? I've heard things making more sense come out of a Chaos Spawn!
Guilliman is super arrogant and none-ultra? That’s heresy!
amanita wrote: So dare I ask what happens if he farts? Could it blow the seals on the lower portion of his armor? Or is a space marine's system immune to such mundane fluctuations of bodily conduct?
Moktor wrote: No one should be complaining about this codex. It gave regular Eldar a much needed buff by allowing us to drop Fire Dragons and D-Scythe Wraithguard wherever we want, without scatter. Without this, I almost lost a game once. It was scary. I almost took to buying fixed dice to ensure it never happened again.
Kidding. In all serious, the difference is the fanboism towards Roboute Guilliman, and that people appreciate something awesome (Sanguinius, a flying, demi-god angel who was Horus' direct counter and died fighting Horus so the Emperor might defeat him and save humanity for at least a while), over a binman (RG just cleaned up the mess with his Codex).
Honestly, who does the general public appreciate more? A war hero like Sanguinius or Wiston Churchill, or the following government who fixes the aftermath? Like Guilliman or the Labour government? To use British history as an example
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VensersRevenge wrote: Why does everyone hate on the Ultramarines so much? Mat Ward also wrote Blood Angels as well. Know one hates on Blood Angels that much.
I'm pretty sure it just comes down to a combination of them being the posterboys of Space Marines and the awful fluff Mat Ward wrote in the 5th edition codex that made every other chapter seem like they had inferiority complexes toward the UM.
Deadshot wrote: Kidding. In all serious, the difference is the fanboism towards Roboute Guilliman, and that people appreciate something awesome (Sanguinius, a flying, demi-god angel who was Horus' direct counter and died fighting Horus so the Emperor might defeat him and save humanity for at least a while), over a binman (RG just cleaned up the mess with his Codex).
Reading this post of yours Deadshot makes me wonder if you have actually bothered to read anything at all about Guilliamn, other than the typical comments from the neckbeard crowd on various forums, who try to downplay Guilliman’s achievements at every opportunity they get.
Deadshot wrote: Honestly, who does the general public appreciate more? A war hero like Sanguinius or Wiston Churchill, or the following government who fixes the aftermath? Like Guilliman or the Labour government? To use British history as an example
I would prefer any primarch over Sanguinius to be honest. Sanguinius is so perfect; he can do no wrong and has no flaws, yawn . Guilliman on the other hand has kicked some major arse in the new HH books, while still making plenty mistakes on his own (read Betrayer and you will see what I mean)
amanita wrote: So dare I ask what happens if he farts? Could it blow the seals on the lower portion of his armor? Or is a space marine's system immune to such mundane fluctuations of bodily conduct?
Moktor wrote: No one should be complaining about this codex. It gave regular Eldar a much needed buff by allowing us to drop Fire Dragons and D-Scythe Wraithguard wherever we want, without scatter. Without this, I almost lost a game once. It was scary. I almost took to buying fixed dice to ensure it never happened again.
Fluff for the Fluff God! 
thanks man
"Hard pressed on my right. My centre is yielding. Impossible to manoeuvre. Situation excellent. I am attacking." - General Ferdinand Foch 
. Guilliman on the other hand has kicked some major arse in the new