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You can argue that Asurmen is the greatest of the Aeldari, but his activities in the lore are very scarcely mentioned. We know he has been fighting against Chaos and more recently the Tyranids, but what he does exactly and what his achievements are are still sketchy.

The most prominent Aeldari figure before Yvraine is Eldrad Ulthran and, oh boy, what a complete waste this guy is.

Here is a list of his total spectacular failures:

+ Tries to convince Fulgrim, who was corrupted by Chaos sword, to turn against Horus. Of course, Fulgrim turns on Eldrad instead.

+ Sends a bunch of idiotic, impatient, bloodthirsty Harlequins to parley with the Imperium and send a message to the Emperor himself. A fight ensues with the Custodes and most of them get massacred.

+ Raises Ghazkull to a position of power to save 10,000 Aeldaris. Ghazkull then creates the biggest WAAAAGHHHH! since the War of the Beasts and probably kills 10 times the number of Aeldari in his rampage.

+ Attempts to awaken Ynnead prematurely, only to be stopped by the Deathwatch.

+ In the old lore, he was defeated by an Avatar of Slaanesh. He survives in the new lore but hasn't done much.

The only redemption in his character arc I can think of is that he and a Word Bearer renegade wipe out the biggest idiots of the Horus Heresy, even bigger than Eldrad himself, which is the Cabal. That's not enough to make me take Eldrad seriously.

Like, come on. Every Chapter/Legion of Space Marines have awesome characters upon characters and the entire Aeldari race has this pathetic loser as their greatest? Granted, Aun'va, the supreme leader of the Tau, isn't known for intelligence, but that guy is like 30 years old when he was assassinated compared to Eldrad being at least 15,000 years old in the current setting. You would think that someone living so long would have more functioning brain cells. Most importantly, Space Marine Chapter Masters are mostly relatable because they have their own weaknesses and insecurity despite their powers, which leads to character growth. Eldrad never seems to reflect on his mistakes or shows any determination to be better, ever. He is a lame, stagnant character in 40k and whose achievements are always overshadowed by his shameful failures.

He is an Eldar and Black Library hates Eldar.

You get nice rules but horrible characters, that's the way of the Eldar under GW/BL.

Currently listening to arch's sabbath world crusade videos and i'm kind of thinking that is a non imperium characteur problem overall.

Somehow, even the most brilliants mind of the chaos army are dumb as heck and pull off insane plans that would be so satisfying to see come to fruition but instead they necessarily make one loser move that costs them the win every time, often flying themselves blindy on the edge of an imperial sword to get atomised for no valid reason other than to have them lose.

Which is a bit sad, because the stories could be great, but that forcing of imperial victories over everyone else down our throats makes for stories that feel way less credible and way less crafted, with enormous deus ex machina strings.

I believe unfortunatly that this is an irremediable flaw of 40k's story writing in general, but hopefully, we can make up our own and have our master brain xenos/chaos lords do great stuff.

On the plus side his appearances in CS Goto's novels are free from poor decision making.

Firstly, as Tyran has already said, it's a non-Imperium character and they exist to be foiled.


Secondly, you are lacking the context or misrepresenting some of your examples:

1 - Reading futures and determining fate is not precise. Eldrad didn't attack Fulgrim in the first place because he witnessed the IIIrd passing by a cluster of Maiden Worlds and leaving them alone due to their beauty. It was that that convinced Eldrad that Fulgrim might be "civilised" enough (by Monkeigh standards) to listen to Eldrads warning about Horus. Eldrad didn't know the Blade of the Laer had corrupted Fulgrim until it was too late. The blade had already twisted Fulgrim's mind and the literal devil on his shoulder.

2 - The Harlequins were not bloodthirsty. Impatient, yes, because of the danger posed by the coming War of the Beast but they were also in hostile territory where they were immediately shot at by the Lucifer Blacks. Eldrad knew there was Webway access in the Imperial Palace but not where it was or how close it was to the Emperor. It was a gambit to try and get humanity to get its backside in gear to stop the Orks from dominating the Milky Way, a gambit by the way that eventually worked. The Custodes were only encountered when the Harlequins reached the gateway to the Golden Throne.

3 - Eldrad stopped a Craftworld from being destroyed by a Waaagh!!! that in turn had Ghazghkull in it. He did not cause the rise of Ghazghkull any more than the Dark Angel bolt round that blew out 30% of his brain when he was a lowly Boy.

4 - It's a boxset where the Imperium got models, of course, the Aeldari lost.

5 - It wasn't an avatar of Slaanesh, he was consumed after attempting to prevent the firing of the Blackstone Fortresses during the Eye of Terror Campaign then GW did the one right thing and decided "Maybe killing off an important character for one of the bigger selling factions isn't a great idea" and undid it.

Comes back to life through the power of retcons -> Immediately attempts to destroy the Craftworld Eldar. Chad move IMO.

You eff with fate? And fate effs right back.

Whilst possibly the best at it, even Eldrad’s prophetic abilities aren’t perfect. And the further out you go from the event you wish to happen, the more numerous the strands of fate become, and more complications are inherently invited.

Let’s look at one of the claims. In trying to save 10,000 Eldar lives, Eldrad did a whoopsie and caused Ghaz to become what he is now.

That I’m afraid is an overly simplistic view of things.

Ghaz has, primarily, duffed up The Imperium, drawing vast numbers of other Orks, big and small, under his banner. Again, mostly engaged beating up The Imperium.

As Craftworlds tend to stick to deep space, relying on the Webway and fleets to get what they need and where they want? They’re far, far less likely to even find a Craftworld. And with so many Orks following Ghaz, that’s fewer left for said stumbling.

Having two of your most powerful, numerous and widespread threats kicking the absolute crap out of each other, instead of you, is a boon.

And what are those 10,000 spared Eldar going to contribute? One could end up walking an Aspect Path, and assuming the mantle of a lost Phoenix Lord at an opportune time, turning a campaign and sparing yet more Eldar lives in turn. Heck, among those 10,000 could be the next incarnates of every Phoenix Lord.

And what of the stuff that went as hoped? Oh. That’s right, we’d never hear of those, because the desired outcome was arrived at, and nobody else is any the wiser.

Ynnead? Sure, didn’t go to plan. But it still accelerated Ynnead’s overall awakening, meant Guilliman could return to the fray, meaning the Primaris came into play, and suddenly Abaddon’s near total victory is thrown heavily into doubt, as his forces now have entirely unforeseen foes to contend with. So his efforts were not in vain. At all. And they by no means made anything worse for the Eldar as a race.

Fulgrim? Clearly a risk, and he’s lucky not to have lost his life. But if he’d done nothing? Presumably the same outcome as right now would be arrived at - horrific Daemon Primarch and all his terrible sons. But, had it worked? I’m sure Slaanesh still would’ve claimed its own Primarch and pet Legion. But in terms of the wider conflict? Suddenly it’s not a straight 50/50 split between the Legions, Ferrus Manus wouldn’t have died as he did. Indeed, the entire Isstvan Atrocity might’ve turned out quite differently, potentially to the point where the Heresy could’ve failed there and then.

Just…stop and think about what it is to have foresight. It’s to know what might be coming. And where you might act to avoid or lessen what’s coming. Even if you try and fail? It doesn’t mean you’ve made anything objectively worse. But if you do nothing? It. Will. Happen.

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
Ynnead? Sure, didn’t go to plan. But it still accelerated Ynnead’s overall awakening, meant Guilliman could return to the fray, meaning the Primaris came into play, and suddenly Abaddon’s near total victory is thrown heavily into doubt, as his forces now have entirely unforeseen foes to contend with. So his efforts were not in vain. At all. And they by no means made anything worse for the Eldar as a race.

The residents of Biel-Tan may disagree with this assessment, Doc.

Also, Eldrad's intention was to make things much worse for the Asuryani...

They're lucky some Deathwatch happened to be disobeying orders on Coheria at the time.

Since my limited knowledge base (playing Iyanden and reading 6 × C.S. Goto novels featuring the Eldar) makes me perfect to share my opinions with everyone...

Eldrad has always been the best MaGuffin in the 40k universe. He's the old guy in the beginning of ever 1980s slasher flick...

If you go to the Lake, you will all dieeeeee...

And one girl survives, and the rest of us go.... "See the old man was wrong. Someone survived."

Honestly i just think its terrible wrighting from GW/BL. The Eldar have effectively one stereotype, and that is be arrogant and obnoxious before john space marine knocks you down a notch or two. Then they double down if theyre alive. Im really excited for the new model wave next year, but I stopped reading black library novels after the final book in the Ynnari series ruined Eldrad and Nuadhu Fireheart for me.

Eldrad particularly suffers from GW's authors just not being very good at writing.

We're TOLD tha Eldrad is some 5D chess playing mastermind with a plan to save the Eldar race; but we're SHOWN him him bumbling around genociding his own people, with everyone being kind of ok with it just because he has named character plot protection.

There was a very conspicuous plot left open after Eldrad's death in order to bring him back, but that might require more thought and talent than anyone working on Death Masque was willing to put in, so screw it.

That, and someone able to direct fate is really difficult to write about.

As I said in my previous post? We only know of Eldrad’s goofs/failures, because when it works? There’s nothing to tell, and no real way to prove it. And there’s really nothing for Eldrad to comment on.

He saw an undesirable outcome. He did his thing, and said undesirable outcome was avoided or mitigated to some degree. And that effort will inevitably involve several moving parts.

Let’s say Eldrad foresees a specific Guardian is going to go on to lead a Craftworld, and it’s that Leadership which will prove critical. And Eldrad foresees a battle where that Guardian will die.

At first? The solution is simple. Tell that Guardian to stay home, yeah? Except…it may be the experience of being in that battle which sets the Guardian’s feet on the path Eldrad needs them on. So the Just Stay Home option isn’t going to work. Now you need to look into the specifics of what kills them, how to avoid that, without stopping whatever formative event it is you need to happen.

All about calculated risks. And like real life? People tend to remember your screw ups, not your successes. And with Eldrad? There’s no one able to appreciate his successes, by the very nature of those successes.

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
That, and someone able to direct fate is really difficult to write about.

As I said in my previous post? We only know of Eldrad’s goofs/failures, because when it works? There’s nothing to tell, and no real way to prove it. And there’s really nothing for Eldrad to comment on.

He saw an undesirable outcome. He did his thing, and said undesirable outcome was avoided or mitigated to some degree. And that effort will inevitably involve several moving parts.

Let’s say Eldrad foresees a specific Guardian is going to go on to lead a Craftworld, and it’s that Leadership which will prove critical. And Eldrad foresees a battle where that Guardian will die.

At first? The solution is simple. Tell that Guardian to stay home, yeah? Except…it may be the experience of being in that battle which sets the Guardian’s feet on the path Eldrad needs them on. So the Just Stay Home option isn’t going to work. Now you need to look into the specifics of what kills them, how to avoid that, without stopping whatever formative event it is you need to happen.

All about calculated risks. And like real life? People tend to remember your screw ups, not your successes. And with Eldrad? There’s no one able to appreciate his successes, by the very nature of those successes.

In the Vigilus books, there was a surprisingly good portrayal of an Eldar manipulation, but it was so subtle (and minor in the grand plot) that it was easily missed. Basically, in passing, it is mentioned the Eldar attacked to kill a certain Chaos cultist leader/sorceror though the Imperials then retaliate as it seemed an unprovoked attack on an Imperial planet. Much later in a little blurb about a Chaos vs Mechanicus battle for important sites controlling geothermal power, it is mentioned how the Mechanicus narrowly win but might not have if "the name of cultist sorceror" had shown up with their magic. The Eldar manipulation succeeded and the Chaos cult lost...and nothing is mentioned or said ever again about this little plot.

That is why it is hard to write about Eldar fate manipulation unless you write from the Eldar POV. The successes result in prevented bad outcomes that nobody else would know were prevented.

It also might be a bit of poor writing in another way, from GW. Maybe they aren't explaining enough how advancedEldrad's foresight is--just assuming that you know he's really good at it.

So, Eldrad may be reading tenuous threads of fate that few, if any, other Farseers could even recognize, much less tease apart. So he's trying to intervene in events that other Farseers don't even see. Yes, he might fail to ensure the desired outcome, but other Farseers weren't even aware of the possibility of manipulating them.

Personally, I like this, because it reinforces the hubris of the Eldar with Eldrad in microcosm. He's able to view hundreds, or thousands, or millions of strands of fate (so he IS the greatest Farseer), but he fools himself into believing that his visionary abilities will allow him to usher those fates into being. He can see possibilities to which even other Eldar are blind, but his arrogance prevents him from using that knowledge with humility and caution.

Nice explanation, into the head cannon folder, so eldar