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So, Mortarion grew up on Barbarus, a planet with more poisonous gas the higher up you go. Down on the surface, the normal humans are enslaved, while up on the mountains in the clouds, there's a race of vaguely defined warlord/sorcerers. They seem to be humanoid, but not human, based on the descriptions of them in the story. One of these warlords finds Mortarion after a big battle with his rival warlords, and is gonna kill him, but decides to adopt him instead when he realizes a normal human couldn't survive this high up cause of the poisonous atmosphere, and he always wanted a son but hasn't been able to have one (sterile? maybe those poison gases are having an effect after all). So he raises Mortarion, but Mortarion turns on him and kills him and all the others of his species. Oh, and this species apparently uses undead and daemonic creatures in their armies. This is about all we know about these beings.

Now on Lexicanum, it says that some scholars theorize that these beings were Dark Eldar. The source listed is Index Astartes III, but there's no page number and I don't have the book, so I can't confirm this.

How likely is it though, that Dark Eldar ruled Barbarus and that Mortarion was raised by one? Sure, these beings are described as sorcerers, but looking at DE technology, its very easy to see how humans would make that mistake. They're cruel slavers. As I mentioned, they seem to be human like, but not human. They use "undead" (wracks and grotesques?) and daemonic beings(mandrakes? various beasts like the clawed fiend?) in their armies.

If Mortarion was raised by a Dark Eldar, it would certainly explain why he was such a weird loner with a bit of a death fixation. I don't imagine that would be a very happy, well adjusted childhood. If it WAS a Dark Eldar, I imagine it would have to be an Archon. A haemonculus would just use him for science experiments and the warlord description and fixation with founding a dynasty seem more Archon like.

Personally I kinda like it because it ties another major race with the Primarchs. What do you think are the points for this theory? Against?

I'll admit that this DE angle seems legit. However a flaw I see is that Dark Eldar are against the use of the Warp out of fear, so why would Mortarion's father have daemonic creatures working for him?

 skarnalaxwarlord wrote:
I'll admit that this DE angle seems legit. However a flaw I see is that Dark Eldar are against the use of the Warp out of fear, so why would Mortarion's father have daemonic creatures working for him?

Webway beasties are often considered "daemonic" by humans and are extremely similar in some ways, so the same logic as the "sorcerers" thing would apply. There's also the Mandrakes, who are outright confirmed to be part DE, part daemon. So I wouldn't say they're summoning bloodletters or anything, but there are definitely things in the DE army list that fit the "daemonic" bill.

Sounds like it's entirely possible, though there'll be no way to know for certain unless somebody writes a novel like Descent of Angels, only for Mortarion. Personally, I'd like to see the story of Conrad and Corax first - Space Batman and Space Ezio, they're rise and fall!

Cool idea. I've always wanted to know what his father was, as I didn't even know till recently he wasn't human

In the Horus Heresy Book I Betrayal they mention the alien overlords, and gives some description

Page 123, 2nd paragraph

The true name of Barbarus' xenos masters has been stricken from the record, and not even Thorn dared enunciate it in his writings, but the evidence of their foul appetites and hideous strength is well established. Giants they were, thrice the height of a man and bedecked in rusted armour, these gaunt and horrific petty gods were beings whose science and necromantic lore had long ago conqured death save by great violence, and who filled their eternities with intrigues and conflict among their own kind played out with unimaginable inventive malignity. The foot soldiers of their feuds and internecine wars were an endless parade of nightmares: hordes of wire-stitched walking dead, tormented, half-mad shape-shifting predators and membrane -winged golems, Their champions were more horrific yet, plasm-mounds of acid-dripping amorphous tissue whose thousand screaming mouths begged incessantly for death, and countless other fiendish creations beyond sane description-all carved and cut from the living flesh of Mankind. To their charnel lords the feral humas were not even slaves, but merely meating hanigning in a larder wainting to be plucked forth for the feast

What's interesting is that the minions they mention sounds like a mix between those dark eldar abominations and nurgle plague zombies, but the rusted armour makes me think of alien plague marines.

Isn't it odd for the Dark Eldar to stick around on a planet, building 'mansions' when they could just return to Commorragh ? It makes no sense for them to have stuck around after Mortarion began conquering the mansions one by one (not to mention they didn't try to exact retribution).

Maybe it would make sense for an isolated Haemonculi Coven or something of the sort. Or the Warlords could also have been mutants or some xenos species corrupted by Chaos.

It's also strange that a Dark Eldar would treat him as a "son" since they're extremely xenophobic and would only view the primarch as an insult to their own superiority.

The key feature of the vampire things that ruled Barbarus is their ability to survive poisonous fog even beyond the fortitude of a primarch. Is that a DE thing?

 Manchu wrote:
The key feature of the vampire things that ruled Barbarus is their ability to survive poisonous fog even beyond the fortitude of a primarch. Is that a DE thing?

Don't think so. It's not really mentioned anywhere unless its become a thing in the newest codex. And the description of how they were giants in rusted armour doesn't really fit the DE either.

Yep, I think the DE thing is pretty forced. Seems like Mortarion's adopted dad was meant to be a some kind of Nurgle worshiper.

 Manchu wrote:
Yep, I think the DE thing is pretty forced. Seems like Mortarion's adopted dad was meant to be a some kind of Nurgle worshiper.

Yea, that seems more likely. Nurgle and DE don't really go together anyway. If the Primarch in question was Fulgrim, then maybe. And the whole surviving the poisonous gas thing has more to do with fortitude and toughness (which the Death Guard embody) than with DE/Slaaneshi values like pain and pleasure.

Giants they were, thrice the height of a man and bedecked in rusted armour

If you take six feet as an average male height, these guys are eighteen feet tall. Eldar are tall and gaunt, but not that tall.

DE aren't exactly known for making bases and homes on planets either, they don't stay out of the webway/Commoragh for too long. With that and the description I don't think they're DE. It's a big Galaxy after all, why can't they just be a different alien species without having to be one we already know about?

 Psienesis wrote:

Giants they were, thrice the height of a man and bedecked in rusted armour

If you take six feet as an average male height, these guys are eighteen feet tall. Eldar are tall and gaunt, but not that tall.

Average male height is 1.75 meters. Not six feet.

I always though Eldars were taller than merely six feet. More like two to three meters tall.

Anyway he could have been a Chaos Eldar, but the Dark Eldar suffer some pretty big hangups about using sosserry, so I kind of close the book about them.

 Wyzilla wrote:

 Psienesis wrote:

Giants they were, thrice the height of a man and bedecked in rusted armour

If you take six feet as an average male height, these guys are eighteen feet tall. Eldar are tall and gaunt, but not that tall.

Average male height is 1.75 meters. Not six feet.

It's still 16-17 feet. Bigger than any Eldar. That size rivals Magnus.