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It seems most, if not all primarchs were destined for greatness (or had already achieved some local prominence) even before the Emperor tracked them down and recruited them for his Great Crusade. Which one of them has your favorite early backstory?

Do you think some of them would have fared better if left to their own devices and allowed to achieve greatness on their own terms?

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Honestly?
I like Alpharius the best!
"Straight to work, my Lad!"

Angron hands down. He's the ultimate tragedy and pinnacle of 40k IMO.

He starts off surviving an assassination by what is widely believed to be the Aeldari trying to stop his destined ascension to Daemonhood.
Then he gets enslaved and forced to kill his found family for the sport of the High Riders.

He finally gets a chance at freedom during his rebellion on Nuceria then has it taken from him to be enslaved to yet another tyrant, only this time the tyrant claims to be his father. It is at this point that Angron breaks and decides that the whole universe is against him, so he will return the favour.

He mutilates his sons out of spite, hates his brothers for judging him from their ivory towers, and kills because it is the only thing he can do that he controls.

Angron then breaks with the Emperor only to be a slave to Horus (which he knows and doesn't care about because he is always a slave), then when he finally comes close to freedom from life, Lorgar enslaves him to a Dark God in the guise of saving him.

Angron never gets to choose his life. He is born a weapon, made a slave, and stays that way for his eternal life.

It isn't hubris, vanity, or power that caused Angron to fall. He fell because he was dragged by the throat.

Had none of this happened, Angron could have been one of the greatest Primarchs in the Imperium.

Angron didn't fall, he was pushed? I can buy that.

I like the Lion's pre-Emperor backstory, as well as Sanguinius' - this may be because Angels of Death was my first Codex, admittedly.

I like how Mortarion was the leader of a revolution even before the Emperor tracked him down.

There are too few characters in Warhammer 40,000 who fight tyranny instead of embracing it. It's a tragedy that one of those few fell to Chaos.

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I think the Lion probably has the most interesting backstory prior to being found. Member of/eventual leader of a group of Knights trying to push back chaos from their homeworld and somewhat succeeding. Its a difficult place to live, but they somehow made it work with skill and a little luck.

Angron is certainly tragic and is far more interesting than most people give him credit for, but at the same time it's somewhat of a forced narrative since he always fails because the narrative demands it. So there isn't much to his character.

Kruze is just Batman.

Dorn and Guilliman were just playing minecraft till they got found.

Russ was getting to hang out in his Norse Mythology larp planet, so while it is kinda interesting at the same time it is predictable and not too exciting.

So yeah, the Lion is prob the most interesting IMO.

I like Curze, because it could've gone a lot of different ways. I think in old WD chapter approved lore, Nostramo was more feudal and Nighthaunter had just killed the despot king and was sitting on the throne when emps came in and gave Curze a konniption due to his golden aura- oh, and the whole future-sight thing.
Also second Angron- but it may be more "Angron had better background pre-nails". As I've said before, Kharn has the same problem of being a well-built character, then the nails/ Khorne comes in and it's all "BFTBG!!!" constantly.. and taking off a power armor sleeve for a beefy arm.

 Grey Templar wrote:
I think the Lion probably has the most interesting backstory prior to being found. Member of/eventual leader of a group of Knights trying to push back chaos from their homeworld and somewhat succeeding. Its a difficult place to live, but they somehow made it work with skill and a little luck.

Angron is certainly tragic and is far more interesting than most people give him credit for, but at the same time it's somewhat of a forced narrative since he always fails because the narrative demands it. So there isn't much to his character.

Kruze is just Batman.

Dorn and Guilliman were just playing minecraft till they got found.

Russ was getting to hang out in his Norse Mythology larp planet, so while it is kinda interesting at the same time it is predictable and not too exciting.

So yeah, the Lion is prob the most interesting IMO.

The Lion and Guilliman are both somewhat the same, and interesting.
Guilliman deviates into a little G Rated Oedipal/Skywalker "You Killed My Father"
and the Lion going more into Kingdom of Heaven Balian of Ibelin (but since that was younger - whatever was adapted into that).
Angron borrows heavily from Spartacus.

Yeah, sort of. But the Lion is more interesting, a little more of a true struggle than Guilliman. He just had it a little too easy.

Guilliman himself, probably not all that interesting. But his achievements?

Say what you like about the Ultramarines, but Ultramar still stands as What Could’ve Been, Imperium wide. And that’s down to Guilliman and his abilities. Which in its way, makes what became of The Imperium all the worse.

It seems to me that each Primarch was destined for great things before the Emperor's intervention, but it is interesting to imagine what they would have achieved if they had been allowed to develop on their own and achieve greatness in their own ways.

Kurze earned himself a badass name. He's not just Batman, he's also Jack the Ripper.

 JaelynDiaz wrote:
It seems to me that each Primarch was destined for great things before the Emperor's intervention, but it is interesting to imagine what they would have achieved if they had been allowed to develop on their own and achieve greatness in their own ways.

Well, Angron was destined to die under a pile of bodies.

I kinda feel Corvus had an interesting upbringing. Insurrectionist uprising ending in dropping nukes on a moon.

Fulgrims COULD have been the best if we ever got to see it, taking a completely horrific society where resources are so tight that you must be sanctioned to have children, a world so destroyed by some ancient horrific act that its barely holding on.

Then turning it into a paradise, I would like to see this story told so his fall is even more tragic.

As for actual stories, hard to say, Mortarions was good, the Lions was also solid but we only get half of it.

 morganfreeman wrote:

 JaelynDiaz wrote:
It seems to me that each Primarch was destined for great things before the Emperor's intervention, but it is interesting to imagine what they would have achieved if they had been allowed to develop on their own and achieve greatness in their own ways.

Well, Angron was destined to die under a pile of bodies.

It's the fate he wanted, and would've been the only time he got to choose what happened to him.

 Dysartes wrote:

 morganfreeman wrote:

 JaelynDiaz wrote:
It seems to me that each Primarch was destined for great things before the Emperor's intervention, but it is interesting to imagine what they would have achieved if they had been allowed to develop on their own and achieve greatness in their own ways.

Well, Angron was destined to die under a pile of bodies.

It's the fate he wanted, and would've been the only time he got to choose what happened to him.

I agree with you, I'm just saying it doesn't take much imagination to see what he would've achieved.

 Gert wrote:
Angron hands down. He's the ultimate tragedy and pinnacle of 40k IMO.

He starts off surviving an assassination by what is widely believed to be the Aeldari trying to stop his destined ascension to Daemonhood.
Then he gets enslaved and forced to kill his found family for the sport of the High Riders.

He finally gets a chance at freedom during his rebellion on Nuceria then has it taken from him to be enslaved to yet another tyrant, only this time the tyrant claims to be his father. It is at this point that Angron breaks and decides that the whole universe is against him, so he will return the favour.

He mutilates his sons out of spite, hates his brothers for judging him from their ivory towers, and kills because it is the only thing he can do that he controls.

Angron then breaks with the Emperor only to be a slave to Horus (which he knows and doesn't care about because he is always a slave), then when he finally comes close to freedom from life, Lorgar enslaves him to a Dark God in the guise of saving him.

Angron never gets to choose his life. He is born a weapon, made a slave, and stays that way for his eternal life.

It isn't hubris, vanity, or power that caused Angron to fall. He fell because he was dragged by the throat.

Had none of this happened, Angron could have been one of the greatest Primarchs in the Imperium.

Might as well just close the thread now, as we have our winner.

Jaghatai.

Russ.

Angron, kinda-sorta.

Perturabo was fethed the moment he got into the Tyrant's hands.

Mortarion.

Jaghatai Khan has a crazy backstory. He grows up in a loving family. But after his father got killed, he went on to commit horrific genocide in vengeance, Mongol style.