Abaddon

He has no arms.

Or does he?

Ezekyle Abaddon, known as Abaddon the Despoiler to the people of Warhammer 40,000 and Failbaddon the Armless to the people of the fanbase, is Horus' successor as leader of the Black Legion and Warmaster of Chaos. He is renowned as the single greatest threat to the Imperium in the galaxy. This says more about the Imperium than Abaddon as his raging incompetence is now well known. He has launched thirteen consecutive Black Crusades against the Imperium, every one of which has failed miserably (by all we mean an overwhelming majority of 13/13).

Overview

Ezekyle Abaddon was the First Captain, leader of the First Company of the Luna Wolves. He looked upon Horus as a leader and a father, eventually revering him as a god and holding him above even the Emperor.

Not only was he First Captain of his legion, whose exploits were known throughout the Imperium, he was also part of the Mournival, a group of four captains who acted as counsellors to the Warmaster, and indeed had been in the group since its inception.1

Extremely proud and quick to anger, Abaddon's martial record was unsurpassed by that of any other Luna Wolf.1 One of Abaddon's greatest glories was the final battle of the Ullanor Crusade, where only he and his Primarch Horus walked away from the speartip strike on the Ork Warlord's headquarters2. He took his position extremely seriously, but did enjoy sharing his sense of humour with his Mournival brothers.

Imposing in almost every way, Abaddon possessed a particularly deep voice, was taller, stronger and bulkier than the average Space Marine, and wore his long black hair in a strikingly tall topknot when not using a helmet. He had similar facial features to those of Horus, particularly the widely spaced eyes and long, straight nose. He often wore a large black wolf-pelt over his Power Armour, to which he also attached a cloak upon occasion. Abaddon possessed both a suit of power armour and suit of Terminator Armour, the former being painted in the standard colours of his Legion, while the latter was primarily black in colouration. This marked him out as a member of the 1st Company elite, all of whom wore black armour.1 Indeed, Abaddon's personal unit was the black-armoured Justaerin Terminator Squad, but he normally left command of it to Captain Falkus Kibre. Little Horus Aximand quipped that this was because Abaddon was actually too big to fit inside a Terminator suit.2 Towards the end of the Great Crusade, Abaddon would only be seen in his black Terminator garb.

Abaddon had a dislike of aliens that was notable even for a Space Marine; his antipathy for them was so strong that he actually argued against the Warmaster's intention to parley with the Interex, a human civilisation that allowed an alien species to co-exist with them.1

Abaddon eventually grew frustrated and angry at the Emperor's supposed 'abandonment' of the Space Marine Legions, feelings which swelled to the surface when Horus lay near to death on Davin. A member of the warrior-lodge within the Sons of Horus, he went along with Erebus' plan to take the Warmaster to the Serpent Lodge for healing. In this way was Abaddon's road to damnation begun. The Horus Heresy Abaddon during the Horus Heresy

After Horus' recovery, Abaddon grew ever more protective of his Primarch and his Legion's reputation, to the point where he saw remembrancer criticism and Imperial investigation into Legion activities as threats and insults that could not be borne. He therefore sanctioned the murder of Ignace Karkasy and the blaming of Legion-caused civilian casualties upon Garviel Loken.2 This course of action was frustrated by the refusal of Tarik Torgaddon to accede to the plan, and the Mournival brotherhood was effectively broken as a result.

Abaddon's thinking would prove to be in tune with that of his commander, who would eventually order not only the death of Karkasy but also that of Loken. Seemingly destined to be in lockstep with the Warmaster, when Horus came to the warrior-lodge of his Legion to sway them into following him onto what would prove to be the path of heresy, Abaddon was amongst the first to swear his unquestioning loyalty.

Abaddon was present at several of the major actions of the Horus Heresy. During the purging of the loyalist Legionaries at Isstvan III, Abaddon notably took to the field to attend the final meeting of what had once been the Mournival, at which he dueled with Garviel Loken. Though slightly wounded in the combat, Abaddon emerged the victor.3

As Horus was slain and the Emperor mortally wounded at the end of the Horus Heresy, Abaddon tore the Lightning Claw (the "Talon of Horus") from Horus's armour and retreated with the Traitor Legions to the Eye of Terror. Post-Heresy Abaddon the Despoiler

Abaddon eventually renamed the Sons of Horus as the Black Legion to expunge the name of Horus, who failed in his attempt to take over the Imperium. He eventually returned at the head of a diabolic horde which ravaged entire systems around the Eye of Terror before the Imperium could muster the strength to halt it. During this first Black Crusade, Abaddon made many bloody pacts with the infernal powers. In the crypts below the Tower of Silence on Uralan, Abaddon recovered the Daemon Sword Drach'nyen.4 With the howling daemon blade in his fist Abaddon became nigh unstoppable. Whole cities were burned in sacrifice to the ever-hungry daemons of Chaos, and entire armies were torn apart by gibbering Warp entities. Abaddon's power swelled to inhuman proportions as the gods of Chaos rewarded him lavishly and he undertook acts of fiendish bravery which horrified those who stood against him.

During the Gothic War Abaddon almost brought an entire sector to its knees. His fleets were augmented with a newly constructed flagship, known for good reason as the Planet Killer. Alongside this he somehow activated and gained control of the Blackstone Fortresses, mysterious constructions allegedly рre-dating the Imperium itself that combined to generate prodigious destructive firepower. Abaddon attacked while the sector was cut off from reinforcements by Warp storms and caused huge damage to the Imperial battlefleet, destroyed a number of planets and devastated many more. Only the intervention of the Eldar enabled Imperial forces to stop the Chaos fleet.

In the most recent assault, Abaddon managed to gain a foothold in the Cadian Gate, although he was unable to consolidate his gains and they have largely been snatched from his grasp by a vicious counterattack from the Imperial Navy. Although his ultimate victory has thus far been prevented, the High Lords of Terra live in fear of the day that Abaddon unites all of the Traitor Legions into an unstoppable horde and returns to play out the last acts of treachery begun by Horus ten thousand years ago.4Should Abaddon's armies triumph, the floodgates will be open and a never ending tide of Chaos will pour out of the Eye of Terror to despoil the Imperium, and perhaps once again strike at the most prized of worlds - Terra.5

Miserable Failure? Or Greatest of Trolls?

Abaddon's Black Crusades generally fail due to the same reason - and it is always the same reason. When a Black Crusade gets going, Abaddon's forces bribe/coerce/intimidate other Chaos forces to accompany them, in a similar manner to an Ork WAAAAGH!! absorbing other Ork tribes as it gets going and building momentum. Many of the forces Abaddon winds up forcibly conscripting in this manner serve one purpose, and one purpose only - an expendable force of morons whilst Abaddon goes on to accomplish whatever the fuck his objective is. Once he's gotten what he's gone out for, he effectively SINDRIIIIIIIs his erstwhile allies and leaves them to rot whilst his forces make off with cargo holds full of slaves, loot, and whatever the fuck else Abaddon was headed out for. This is, again, similar to how Orks operate - as a WAAAAGH!! loses steam, little bits will break off from the main force to do its own shit. Abaddon uses these force castoffs in pretty much the exact same way, using them to keep his enemies busy whilst his forces float back to the Eye of Terror.

Whilst Huron Blackheart of the Red Corsairs uses similar tactics, there's a difference - Huron doesn't abandon his followers to die for no particular reason but the lulz, an advantage which has allowed Huron to garner something precious from his troops: loyalty. It is this reason (amongst others) that many believe that Abaddon's days are numbered if Huron ever gives enough of a shit to go give Abaddon a stern talking to.

Whilst it can be argued that Abaddon's failures are just that - failures - especially when directly measured against the victories of the Thousand Sons during the Obscuras Purging or World Eaters' exploits during the Dominion of Fire - a more adequate description is that he got what he wants and then leaves. In this regard, he kind of serves all the chaos powers at once - his dicking over his allies appeases Tzeentch, the death toll these little raids of his cause appease Khorne, the sheer volume of slaves and plunder they take please Slaanesh, and the destruction left in the wake of their crusades (which often end with virus bombings to cover their tracks) pleases the Plaguefather greatly.

Though even the staunchest of Abaddon's defenders will point out he's overpriced and that the arms on his model break fucking constantly. And that he generally sucks at extreme long-term planning. Tzeentch must enjoy fucking him over.

The "No Arms" meme

His plan from the very beginning

While the exact origin of why /tg/ continues to depict Abaddon without his arms is unclear, this is partly the story. It all started when some drawfag made a picture of Abaddon painting, being the failure that he is he depicted him without arms and so now he fails in the ability to paint.

The other explanation is that Creed stole them during his invasion of Cadia, probably while doing doughnuts around him in a Baneblade, or it was Just as planned.

Another explanation points to a certain dick, who actually fought Abaddon and defeated him (in a White Dwarf issue where Abaddon was trying to wipe out the Ulthwe Seer Council but was driven off, actually defeated/killed alongside his retinue by Eldrad and his council, but 'teleported to safety'), cutting off both of his arms in the process, which further points to Abaddon's incompetency and lack of arms.

But actually, it's mostly due to the fact that his model's arms are fragile and thusly tend to BREAK ALL THE TIME, FUCK.

Appearance in Chaos Rising

Abaddon makes a brief cameo during any of the endings, who's about to torture Eliphas for his failure to kill the Blood Ravens. For a second, it would appear that he ACTUALLY had arms, but it was later revealed by the camera crew that another Chaos Terminator with a lightning claw was behind Abaddon to act as his arms.

Appearance in Retribution

Abaddon finally gets his big break in Dawn of War II: Retribution. He appears in the Chaos Campaign and serves no purpose than to screech about killing Kyras. The camera is conveniently positioned and several filters are employed in his portrait to avoid showcasing his lack of arms. This would explain why all he ever does is screech. At one point after Eliphas fails to dispatch of Kyras, Abaddon declares how he will make him suffer. Eliphas, no doubt unaware of his armlessness, begs for mercy. Realizing that he can't do anything to him because he has no arms, he quickly lets Eliphas go under the guise that he wants to see him suffer.

Nurgle, Khorne, Slaanesh and Tzeentch all collectively went; 'Son, I am disappoint."

...But we all know better than that. And this is because, even with his retinues, Abaddon still could not kill off the Ulthwe Seer Council and a certain dick. Eliphas has, by this point, brutally murdered the entire Biel-Tan Seer Council with their Farseer by himself. Thus, we come to the obvious conclusion that Eliphas is probably the one who should be running the Black Legion. To be fair, /tg/ has had an ongoing betting pool on which of the Chaos Lords is going to be the first to up and try to SINDRIIIIII him, with the most common executioners listed being Ahriman of the Thousand Sons, Eliphas, and Huron Blackheart.

Abaddon's 14th Black Crusade

Too important; moved here.

See also

• Abbadon at the Therapist
• FAIL
• [1] In which, Abaddon becomes a god among men. And this is only the start!
• The entire Abadddon Quest archive, read on and laugh hard.
• true story of how Abaddon lost his arms.