Dante
"The woods are lovely, dark and deep, But I have promises to keep, And miles to go before I sleep, And miles to go before I sleep."
- Robert Frost
"Are you the legend, or are you the truth behind the legend?"
- Amphiaraus to Dante Hercules
Dante is the Lord Commander of the Blood Angels. He has been a Space Marine for over 1500 years, including the last 1100 as Chapter Master. He has kicked the asses of uncountable xenos, mutants, heretics and daemons in countless wars upon countless worlds.
Background
- Early life
Dante's childhood is detailed in the novel Dante by Guy Haley. According to the book, Dante was born in the Great Salt Waste of Baal Secundus (Baalfora) in approximately 445.M40. His father, Arreas, was a kind but undistinguished member of the Salt clans (Irkuk clan to be specific) that made a living harvesting salt from the chemically contaminated land (they travel in sand roamers, very much like the sandcrawlers of Tatooine). His mother died giving birth to a younger brother when he was seven (452.M40), the baby naturally dying as well.
Dante was the boy's 'Angel' name, equivalent to the traditional Christian baptismal name, whereas Luis was his personal name. Most Baalite clans used their Angel name in day-to-day life, but Dante's people preferred their personal names. So, Luis is generally used in the book for the scenes where Dante is a child.
As Baalfora was a post-apocalyptic hell-hole (think Fallout with a strong flavour of Mad Max), the Salt clans were malnourished, physically stunted, and suffering from radiation. The Blood Angels did not think highly of them as a source of potential recruits. An in-universe observation is made that the Salt Clans were small and scattered, and so the inference to be drawn is that there was not much fighting to be had to breed a martial culture among them. You can imagine Dante's relative chances of becoming a Space Marine in such conditions. That said, life in the Great Salt Waste was no easy-living. Dante killed his first man when he was ten, helping his people fight off nomads who had attacked their caravan.
- Journey to Angel's Fall
Dante had grown up hearing the stories of the Blood Angels from his father, who nevertheless discouraged the boy from attempting to join them by guilt tripping about abandoning family. Dante's situation was made worse by the fact that he was only a boy of eleven, and his father pointed out that he would probably be much smaller and weaker physically than other potential recruits. The Warlords of the Dark Millennium (WotDM) info book is more explicit in stating that Dante’s growth (but so too for everyone else) was stunted by malnutrition, and damaged by the exposure to the rad-deserts of Baalfora. However, Dante knew the next trials would be a generation away (probably he would be dead then), and so this was now or never. When news came that there was to be a trial (456.M40), Dante abandoned his father in the middle of the night, making off for Angel's Fall where the trials were held.
Dante made it, showing bravery and character, but also benefiting from a combination of luck and fate. Dante fucked up at the very beginning, losing his crawler to a type of quick sand due to his own fault. He would have died of thirst while traveling across the sand dunes on foot, if not for the Sanguinor, who appeared and pointed the way to life saving water. Dante subsequently befriended a pair of older aspirants (Florian and Daneill) who did not kill him opportunistically (what are the chances?), as you suspect might or should happen to small boys traveling alone in WH40K. Well, Florian and Daneill did contemplate snuffing Dante there and then, but you can only take Grimdark so far.
Thereafter there is a heroic episode in which Dante shows great bravery and resolve, but continuing to benefit from luck. It was the numbers that saw the boys through when attacked by a Fire Scorpion (and it was only a juvenile), but Daneill died when he drank 'thirst water', which sucks the moisture out of anything it touches. The final hurdle is using a winged para-glider to traverse the canyon from the Heavenwall mountains (the 'Angel's Leap', here being where Sanguinius first flew). The potential aspirants were attacked by Blood Eagles, but Dante and Florian were one of the few survivors (both besties by now).
- The trials
After receiving a pass for genetic compatibility, and potential (First Winnowing), Dante begins the first set of athletic trials, where he fails to distinguish himself. He expects to be failed at this stage (Second Winnowing), but makes it through into the second stages, which he also survives without distinction in feats of combat and physical valour. However, it is here that Dante begins to show a flair for leadership, which he uses to help guide his team to victory in the Trial of War. Besides leadership, Dante's biggest strength and ultimate point of character, is his heart and morality. When it came to his final physical test (Final Choosing), the High Chaplain of the time pitted him against his best friend Florian, whom he was urged to kill. Although Florian had reluctantly committed himself to the task, Dante pulled a Luke Skywalker after getting the best of his friend and threw down his staff, telling the Chaplain to stuff it. To which the Chaplain gave him a pass--clearing the most treacherous test of all (Florian obviously failed), one called the Test of Horus. The Blood Angels egg on aspirants to kill their friends, all in the name of the 'greater good' of serving the Emperor as remorseless killers. It is a trick, patterned after Horus (aka Satan) tempting Sanguinius (aka Jesus Christ) on the Vengeful Spirit during the Siege of Terra. All true Blood Angels will do as Sanguinius did. Fucking Brilliant.
In the ultimate trial, the Winnowing of Weariness, aspirants are made to take a long vigil without falling asleep. However, Dante fell asleep (failing the task), dreaming of his parents. It was the Sanguinor that roused him before the Blood Angels could catch on. Damn, he is a man of destiny or what.
During the gene-seed implantation (Blood Change), Dante drank from the chalice containing the blood of Sanguinius, and then slumbered in a sarcophagus for a year. As was normal, Dante had visions of Sanguinius' life and times. What was unusual was that Dante survived drifting in and out of consciousness, while screaming the names of figures and events from Blood Angels history in great torment. Normally those who suffered like this died while trying to claw their way out, or emerged as monsters in the thralls of the Black Rage. However, Dante emerged in normal condition, every inch the angel that the gene-seed implantation was supposed to produce. Some Blood Angels believed that it was a sign of greatness. The Black Rage could not be held off forever, but only forestalled. Dante's mastery of his anger inside the sarcophagus basically foreshadowed his future potential to hold off the Black Rage for an absurd length of time (1600 years and counting).
Generally, the novelisation (if you can't tell by now, it is fucking awesome) tries to avoid making Dante a Mary Sue (Haley neatly undercuts the trope in chapter one), but it is clear that he is a man of destiny. So, there is a bit of a revisionism to the earlier fluff about his non-Mary sueishness that readers drew from the WotDM info book. Dante (at this stage) is clearly not the strongest, but he is good enough, and certainly good-hearted enough to be the chosen of whatever force that guides the Sanguinor.
The Blood Angel
Scout to Chapter Master
In the novels and the rest of the fluff, Lord Commander Dante is generally portrayed as a stern but kind fatherly figure to the Blood Angels, who's a good guy and isn't afraid of anything. But before becoming a legend, he was simply Captain Dante, and before that Sergeant Dante, and of course, a battle-brother and a scout at the beginning.
- Scout
As a young Space Marine scout, Dante fought against the Orks in the Ash Wastes of the planet Rora, Eudyminous System (467.M40). It was Dante's 23rd engagement. Turns out that his sergeant, Gallileon, is assessing him for potential as a line officer, and so he gets put on the spot. Dante's tactical plan works, but then he was also at fault for leading the Orks onto his squad in the first place. So, good brain, but not an infallible warrior. The larger campaign is more difficult for the Blood Angels Company, and the Sanguinor himself has to bail them out.
A few years later in 470.M40, Dante fought under Sergeant Basileus on Ereus V, participating in the extermination of the Orreti. However, Dante sympathised with the fate of the pitiful Xenos race. Blood Angels indoctrination techniques are quite obviously a fail, or perhaps Dante was too much for them, the Mr. noblebright that he is. On the other hand, Dante and the Blood Angels do end up going all vampire on the Orreti, mercy be damned. Yeah, who would miss these sorry-ass aliens? Ugluk Basileus: looks like meat is back on the menu boys! Of course, this obviously has to be the first step on Dante's route to non-blood sucking enlightenment.
- Battle Brother
Dante has his first encounter (besides an aspirant who came back mad from inside the sarcophagus) with the Black Rage in the hive world of Tobias Halt (518.M40). Battling the Chaos marines of the Purge warband, Dante's battle-brother Laziel falls to the rage and thinks they are the old legion, relieving the siege of Terra. More problematically for Dante, his fury at his inability to protect the factory workers of Holywell Hive leads to his fall to a bloodlust which culminates in him slaughtering the traitor marines, and then draining the factory workers. After that he swore off the partaking of blood save for sacrimental rituals. Which might not sound like much. But to a chapter with the Blood Angels' particular...quirks, and the fact that the only way to temporarily sate the undying thirst inside them is to drink blood (be it mixed in wine, broth, or just really raw meat) is like a neckbeard going without Mt. Dew for an hour. And he SUFFERS for it. He has to try different things at all hours just to keep his mind off of it. Reduced to counting blood drop rubies in a bowl just to concentrate through a war council.
- Sergeant and Captain
Dante rose to become the Captain of the Blood Angels 5th company in 752.M40. He replaced Captain Avernis, who fell during the assault on the Odrius pirate lair freeport in Mas. At that point, Dante had been a sergeant, leading 'Squad Dante'. The Dark Eldar corsair king Hellaineth attempted to engage Dante in some philosophical discussions, but Dante wisely turned him down. While the port was destroyed, Hellaineth escaped, and not before leaving Dante with some niggling doubts anyway. Damn Space Elves. But no worry, the Sanguinior is there to ensure the emperor's finest remains eternally committed to the good fight.
- Rise to Chapter Master
In the WotDM info book, Dante became the Chapter Master in approximately 900-999.M40. Turns out that Dante was not chosen because he was the best of the Captains, but simply because he was the only surviving line officer after the debilitating Kallius Insurrection that left no more than 200 Blood Angels alive. Some might interpret this as lessening Dante's legend, and indeed the point is raised in the infobook from an in-universe POV. As a legend of M41, there is a retrospective rose-tinted perception of his every deed, and how Dante became a Chapter Master is apparently a matter the Blood Angels care not to discuss. This is stupid. It is actually saying something that Dante is the only line officer left after perhaps the most dangerous campaign the Blood Angels had fought in a long time. In WH40K survivors are the winners, and Dante was a survivor. Whoever wrote that bit of fluff did not think it through.
The WotDM is only one version of how Dante became Chapter Master. Another version of his ascent involves the Secoris Disaster, which is similar enough to the Kallius Insurrection, whilst maintaining some key differences. In this, Captain Dante and Captain Kadeus were the only line officers who survived the Secoris Tragedy (996.M40), a disastrous attempt by the entire chapter (under Chapter Master Sangallo) to cleanse the Space Hulk Sin of Damnation. Only fifty Blood Angels survive. Kadeus would go on to become Chapter Master, and together with Dante, rebuild the chapter. Ultimately, Kadeus would die in the Blood Angels fortress-monastery on Baal, naming Dante as his successor and handing him the Axe Mortalis.
Obviously the dates are off, for the latest fluff has Dante as Chapter Master for over 1000 years. However, due to the Imperium's shitty record keeping (acknowledged from a meta POV in WotDM), it is quite possible to correct hedge the dates. Alternatively, Dante has been Chapter Master for less than thousand years, and the whole over a thousand year shtick is Imperium propaganda (possibility acknowledged in WotDM). To be sure, the Secoris tragedy comes from the earlier fluff by James Swallow (see Dante: Lord of the Host) and Gav Thorpe (Space Hulk), but not that old. Moreover, the Sin of Damnation (Secoris incident) is mentioned prominently in the Blood Angels 7th ed (2014), whereas the dates for Dante's rule of the chapter is not quite clear from it.
Ultimately, whatever fluff you choose to follow, Dante was a badass. It was to him to lead the Blood Angels Chapter during the Dark Millennium that is M41.
Lord Commander
According to fluff, Dante has led the Blood Angels to their "most glorious and triumphant millennia since the time of the Scouring". Some notable exploits are mentioned here.
- Terion (Early M41)
Dante led the Blood Angels to relieve the world of Terion at the dawn of the 41st Millennium, defeating an alliance of Night Lords and the Traitor warband known as the Brotherhood of Darkness. In an upbeat ending, the devastated Terion was rebuilt into a paradise, and all that remains of the war’s legacy is a colossal monument to Dante in the capital city. Grimdark? What grimdark?
- The Gates of Pandemonium (M41)
Date kicked Skarbrand's ass at Pandemonium sometime during M41, casting the creature back into the warp. With Skarbrand’s banishment, the Daemonic armies were overwhelmed by the Blood Angels.
- Skylos (M41)
Dante defeated a powerful Chaos chronomancer at Skylos, who had shrouded the whole planet with his dark sorcery. The chronomancer would attempt to use time as a weapon against Dante, even stealing several decades of his life. Unfortunately for the chronomancer, the loss of a few decades is irrelevant to one such as Dante, who hacked him down with the Axe Mortalis (detailed in the short story Dante: Lord of the Host).
- WAAAGH! Big Skorcha (798.M41)
Dante led the Blood Angels in defense of Baal and its moons from WAAAGH! Big Skorcha, which included numerous Orks from three entire Space Hulks.
- Battle of Stonehaven (901.M41)
Dante led the drop assault that broke WAAAGH! Bludcrumpa's decade-long siege of the Forge World Ironhelm.
- Second War for Armageddon (941.M41)
Dante's reputation led Chapter Masters Tu'Shan of the Salamanders and Marneus Calgar of the Ultramarines to acknowledge his overall command of imperial forces in Armageddon.
At the walls of Tartarus Hive, Dante and Tu'Shan would famously fight side by side against Ghazghkull Thraka and his bodyguard, winning the day for the Imperium. A generation later, Dante's name is still spoken with reverence in Armageddon, and one of the Armageddon system's deep space monitoring installations was named in his honour.
- The Gehenna Campaign (955.M41)
Dante and the Blood Angels 3rd Company battled against the Necron Legions of the Silent King on Gehenna, his leadership allowing the company to fight the enemy to a stalemate for three standard weeks. When a Tyranid splinter fleet enters orbit, the Blood Angels and the Necrons ally to fight the common foe successfully. However, it turns out that the Necrons were using the Blood Angels, letting them bore the brunt of the fighting (hmmm, perhaps Dante would have done well to internalise the lessons about Xenos perfidy). The Necrons fled before the Blood Angels recognised the treachery, but Blood Angels propaganda made it out that Dante let them leave in gratitude for their 'contributions' to the defense. Heh, perhaps not only his exploits, but also virtues and nobility are exaggerated. Just kidding, we know Dante is the man.
- The Blackfang Crusade (994.M41)
Dante mobilised the whole Blood Angels chapter, leading them to drive the Orks from their empire (twelve worlds) in the Blackfang system, and also its two neighbouring systems. All in a single standard year.
- The Third Tyrannic War (997.M41-early.M42)
Hive Fleet Leviathan, the largest Tyranid force ever to invade the Galaxy, is eventually defeated at Baal. Dante and the Blood Angels play an important role, contributing decisively in the Cryptus Campaign and the defense of Baal (and its moons) itself.
Appearance
Dante's eyes are described as pale amber, while his once golden hair has long since turned white (WotDM and the novelisation Dante). In the Blood Quest comic series, his hair is long, going down to his chest ala Thranduil/Lucius Malfoy. Bishounen much?
Dante is so old that his age shows; his face is deeply wrinkled, and incredibly for a Space Marine, there are tell-tale signs of physical aging like loosening skin folds and loss of muscle definition. How old you ask? Apparently, the skins of ancient marines became thick and seamed with shallow wrinkles akin to cracks in leather. Aaand Dante has gone even further beyond that. His wrinkles at one point were so deep that they sharpened his "fine bone" face to "the point of brittleness". Mainly the reason why Dante never shows his face in public; seeing him uncovered would shatter the mystique of the immortal golden hero. Okay, so not that Bishounen. Think Jedi Master Cin Drallig.
In the novel Deus Encarmine, Dante is described as having a 'hawkish countenance', including an aquiline jaw and nose. It is said he had the "aspect of a predator at rest". So, one can imagine a patrician face, which looks like a snarling Elrond when enraged. Aaand the fangs. Don't forget that Blood Angels like Dante have long fangs which grow as far to prickle the lower lip.
Dante swore off living blood after a nasty vampire incident. Towards the end of the novelisation, Dante drinks blood after fifteen hundred hundreds years, which somewhat reverses his physical aging. Still old, but the blood gives him strength and youth. Well, he is a spehss vampire after all. Dante had previously taken sacramental blood, which seems to be a big thing in ceremonies etc. There is no reason why this should not have restored his youth, and indeed, Dante describes it as "borrowed life" as well. Perhaps there is something in the Blood Angels gene that allows them to draw strength from 'living' blood particularly.
Note that in the novelisation Dante brings up the in-universe speculations about the 'functional immortality' of Space Marines. He thinks that marines had rarely survived long enough to test the theory, but seeing himself after sixteen hundred years he doubts it is true. He is old, and wonders how many years he had left in him.
The Man, the Myth, the Legend
"You are the greatest hero of the Imperium! Who can claim to have lived so long or achieved so much?"
- Dante's equerry Alfred Arafeo
"I have seen all the evil that the galaxy harbours, and I have slain all whose presence defiles the Emperor."
- Dante to the Blood Angels
Fluffwise, the WotDM for Dante seems to push for a trinity of 'big three' Space Marine Commanders of M41, including Logan Grimnar, Marneus Calgar, and Dante himself. The fluff goes on to present Grimnar as the most beloved figure in a folk hero sort of way, while Calgar turns out to be a four-star badass that is most respected in his capacity as a Chapter Master. In comparison, Dante is presented as a distant hero figure to the people of the Imperium, an immortal golden warrior whose deeds have become indistinguishable from legend.
The WotDM outlines the in-universe myths and legends surrounding Dante. He is basically to the Imperium what Calgar is to the Dark Lord. According to the Imperium, he is the oldest Space Marine alive, whereas that distinction actually belongs to the Blood Angels Veteran Sergeant Cleutin. Who cares about sergeants, eh? (but note the Cleutin fluff was 2nd ed, maybe retconned). Much is also made of the fact that Dante has basically got more shit done than entire several chapters founded in M41. AND the WotDM goes on to state this is not enough for the Imperium, they go full ham in which legend is intertwined with truth ala 'if-it-didn't-happen-it-should-have-happened" myth-making (doesn't go into detail though).
Note that it's not just Imperium propaganda. The Imperium consists of a million worlds, and Dante's legend has been "distorted by time, flawed retellings, and authorial myth-making". The WotDM goes on to offer Dante's possible reaction to his legend. One view is that Dante lets his legend grow because he knows mankind needs heroes in the Dark Millenium. Another is that Dante has better things to do than pay heed to the words of mortal men and women.
The novelisation Dante basically states outright that Dante has tolerated the embellishment of his legend to provide humanity with a hero. In the words of Dante himself "I allow my legend to grow beyond all measure of truthfulness. I allow men to think me infallible and potent beyond my means. I embrace it gladly for the service it gives mankind".
Dante himself remains grounded, and tired of the hero worship. He thinks he is no saint and that he has had to pretend to be something he is not. In his words, "...although I am mighty and wise, and of the Adeptus Astartes, I am just a man. Under my armour beats a human heart alongside the one gifted me by the Emperor". Daaaamnn.
The Sanguinor
Dante has a special relationship with the Sanguinor, who has come to him several times in aid. The first time to save Dante when he was dying of thirst while trekking to Angel's Fall for the Blood Angels trial, and a second time to aid him during the trials itself. The third time Sanguinor appeared to save a young Dante's scout squad from the Orks, and a fourth time the Sanguinor came to dispel Dante's doubts about the shitty human experience in the Imperium. And...counting. Since becoming Chapter Master, Dante has seen Sangunior many a times.
On the first occasion Dante had been praying to the Emperor to save him, and on the fourth occasion Dante had been invoking Sanguinius for guidance. This is interesting as the Blood Angels like Dante don't believe the Emperor and Sanguinius to be gods. Who is the Sanguinor and why does he help Dante? The Blood Angles do not consider him divine, but a mysterious entity which helps them in times of great peril. However, Dante not yet a Space Marine when the Sanguinor first appeared to help him. So, the Sanguinor is some sort of Baalite entity, one who does not restrict himself to helping the Blood Angels.
Dante himself believes the Sanguinor to be a pure entity, and replied as such to an inquisitor who challenged the Blood Angels over the being's true nature. Interestingly, Dante feels close to Sanguinius during the Sanguinor's presence, almost as if "Sanguinius himself were there". Hmmmmm.
Dante and the Imperium
"All my life I have striven to serve not only the Imperium, but humanity. "
- Dante
In the novelisation, Dante is portrayed as being aware of the grim conditions of humans under the Imperium. Unlike most Imperial commanders, he is not okay with throwing away the lives of Imperial Guardsmen (for whom he has the highest respect), or any other soldier of the Imperium. These sentiments come across really strong in the Shield of Baal series as well, unsurprising for one timeline in the novel is a continuation of that series.
Dante's views on the impotent administration of the Imperium are....well. The relevant quote from the novelisation is revealing, "I have fought every foe that mankind must ace, from the overt aggression of the orks to the grindings of unthinking bureaucracy". Yeah, Dante just compared the lovely chaps at the Administratum to the vilest enemies of mankind he had slain over the last 1600 years.
Dante also wonders, if Sanguinius was a hero, why did he leave the moons of Baal as wastelands, when he could have easily restored them. He questions if an 'Angel' would leave his people to suffer so that their strife-hardened children might make for good warriors. Utimately, Dante answers his own question, "it was the way it was, because it had to be that way". Grimdark.
Dante and the Xenos
The novel Dante reveals his views on the xenos. Dante thinks that he had been (rightfully) taught to mistrust xenos races, but that he never truly hated them. He proves sympathetic to the Orreti, a dying xenos race pitifully eking out a living by scavenging on dead words (think the gypsy). Unfortunately for the Orreti, dead Imperial worlds are still Imperial, and the Blood Angels exterminate them after they are thought to be responsible for the destruction of a dead colony world. Grimdark. Actually, exterminate wouldn't describe it. The Blood Angels went all vampire on the Orreti, and even 1500 years later, Dante remembers the incident with great regret.
Dante only truly hates the Tyranids, and that is so because they seek to extinguish life itself. In a display of noblebright, Dante believes "non-humans strove only to survive as mankind strove". Expect to see words like nobility, honour, mercy, and virtue in such scenes, but also perfidy, treachery, and atrocities. Dante would certainly be considered a heretic by many in the Imperium (but recent events might lead one to think otherwise)
Of course, Dante is no idealist opposed to human supremacy (he is a space marine after all). He desperately contemplates an alliance of races, but only for the great war against the Tyranids. However, Dante concedes that he not could not envisage true unity among humans, let alone between the different races. Ahem, suppose Dante has not got the memo yet.
In conclusion, there are some elements which might make Dante seem to be a Mary Sue for WH40K. Oh, who are we kidding. He would be right at home in Star Trek.
End Times
"Death is lighter than a feather, duty heavier than a mountain"
- Imperial Rescript to Soldiers and Sailors
In the plot, Sanguinius made a prophecy that there would be some great battle that would kick the asses of all others and that there would be a great, golden warrior standing between the Emperor and the darkness. Dante believes that this golden warrior is him and despite many thinking that it is pure hubris that motivates the thought--Truthfully he only clings onto it as his own personal motivator. Dante is tired, and he's seen nearly all the horrors the universe could throw at him. And he personally has almost completely run out of hope. He has seen the Blood Angels at their highest highs and their lowest lows and he knows that humanity is headed for its darkest moments, and the only thing that gives him strength to don his armour and continue to fight against the evils the universe has shat at them, is that one final duty that he feels he has yet to perform before he can kick it.
In the novelisation Dante, it actually got put into words, in-unverse in the form of the scrolls of Sanguinius.
"I fear what I have seen. My visions plague me with darkness. So little of comfort can be gleaned from them. The consequences of our victory are dire indeed, as I have described in these writings, and yet there are some things I cannot bring myself to record, visions so dark that they fill my heart with despair.
The dreams of my father are dead, that is certain. Long aeons await of war and suffering that would break the heart of the Emperor to perceive. He never showed any sign that He saw the dark future advancing towards us. Does He know? I cannot credit that He does not. My gift of foresight – if gift it can truly be named – descends from His, and His is more potent than I can conceive. Time and again I have asked myself, did He always know, and did He foresee all that has come to pass? Or was He, like me, taken unawares? The brighter future I once saw has been burned to ashes and a second, rotten potentiality raised in its place. I curse you, Horus, I curse you to the end of days.I have written too often on these matters. I still cannot divine the answer. I shall instead write down my dream of last night. This brought some comfort to me when no comfort ought to be expected, and is thus worthy of record. Dante unrolled the scroll, exposing the next page.
There shall come to pass days of great darkness, when mankind is diminished and all the lights of the world shall be extinguished, and the final scraps of hope torn away. I dreamed I was upon a plain of black sand studded with diamond stars. In the dream there was a great hunger that pervaded all time and space, a more terrible and consuming appetite than the thirst that dogs my sons. It rose from the east of the night, and swallowed the moons of Baal that coursed across the unfamiliar sky. Before Baal Secundus was consumed, a bright light flashed upon it and sped away, outpacing the shadows.The hunger spread rapidly, bloated by its meal of my home. Fortified by the blood of Baal, the formless hunger took shape, becoming a ravenous dragon that consumed the stars in great mouthfuls, until the only light was the memory of their glory, trapped in the diamonds on the sand. As the last star was eaten, the hellish Octed of the traitors burned through the western sky, writ in fire on the starless void. Then this too went out, and I was alone in the dark.
Shadows swirled and parted. The vision lost its disguise of metaphor, and I looked upon a scene that may be a true echo of the future. I saw my father. Ruined. Broken. I knew it was Him, though His body was little more than a corpse, for I could feel His mind. His power was much reduced in potency, and I could feel no sense of consciousness there, merely raging, ungoverned power that threatened to obliterate my sleeping mind. This living corpse of my father was trapped in machinery that fed His soul the essence of others. I do not know if I should commit this to paper, even in my private writings. He cannot ever know of this fate, if He does not already. Or is He aware, and makes this choice between that life in death and the utter destruction of mankind? If so, my respect for my father grows. As the guns of the Warmaster pound at the walls of the Palace, perhaps this miserable reality is the best that can be hoped for. Perhaps this is what I must die to ensure.
The hunger came for my father. The puppets of the Dark Gods clashed with the hunger for the pleasure of killing Him. There was a warrior in gold before the throne, surrounded by my father’s Custodians and other heroes who, mighty though they were, paled next to the lords of our days. There they fought, and there they died. The vision ended as the devourer of flesh and the devourers of souls closed in on my lord and creator. There was despair only, despair and more despair. But before I woke something more. I sensed stirring in the warp, and the touch of my father, His mind made anew, and the knowledge that all might be well.
As I am fated to, so too did this golden warrior lay down his life to protect my father. The precious seconds he bought with his blood could change everything, or they could change nothing. Maybe the vision is false. I pray the future is mutable, and so it has proved in the past. All but the moment that draws near, the reckoning when I must face my brother. That I cannot avoid. I do not know who this golden warrior was. He appeared similar to my Herald, and I saw my own face depicted upon his mask, but he was not me, and he wore a form of armour I do not know. It is certain that he was one of my sons, and whether his sacrifice will prove to be in vain or not, I know this: that he was a noble warrior, true and purer than any of his age, and I love him for that, for it means that my works for the Emperor, at least, have not been undertaken in vain, and that my unavoidable death might also prove fruitful."
Another prophecy concerning Dante comes from the WotDM infobook. In-universe, this prophecy was made by Sargon Eregesh, Storm Oracle of the Black Legion.
‘In the Time of Ending, we will see the final flight of the Dead Angel’s Host. They rise above us on howling wings. They fall upon us in a celestial storm. At their vanguard flies the Last Archangel. To the Neverborn, he will be the Death-that-Soars. To you and I, he will be a mortal man bearing the immortal face of his fallen father. To the Imperium of Man, he will be hope. A warrior of infinite courage. A soldier of infinite sorrows. Beware the golden mask that forever stares and never smiles, weeping tears of frozen gold.’ – From ‘The Mourner’s Prophecies’,
Dante himself thinks in the novel that for the past 1100 years or so, he's not been himself. By taking up the mask of Sanguinius, he also took on that aspect. A symbol, a protector, in a time where they most desperately need it, a beacon of hope. Shoulders squared, until he is called upon for his final duty.
On the Tabletop
8th Edition Dante!
| Pts | WS | BS | S | T | W | A | Ld | Sv | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Commander Dante: | 215 | 2+ | 2+ | 4 | 4 | 6 | 6 | 9 | 2+/4++ |
Commander Dante himself, one of the big three, and damn does it show. As of 8th Edition, he has changed. First off, his ability to hit or shoot anything on a flat 2+ is a great buff, but when combined with his Chapter Master ability which allows him and other units with the Blood Angels keyword within 6" to reroll failed hits, he and any force he accompanies quickly become a terror to behold. His Death Mask now inflicts a -1 modifier to enemy leadership for units within 3" of him. Keep in mind that the day one FAQ released says that these penalties stack, so slap him with a 5-man Sanguinary Guard squad all with death masks, and you have enemies suffering from a -6 penalty to their leadership holy shit.
As befitting of the oldest and most fabulous space vampire, he is no slouch in combat and has some great equipment. He comes with an inferno pistol that still has a 6" range, but it's an AP-4 weapon with D6 damage that gets to shoot while in melee. The Axe Mortalis has completely changed from seventh edition. It is now a S+2 AP-3 axe that does D3 damage and can reroll failed wound rolls against characters. Throw him at enemy characters and laugh as you tear them down while rerolling failed hit and wound rolls. Did I mention he has 6 attacks now? With lucky rolls, that's a potential 18 damage inflicted on one character or 6 elite models being struck down by this stone cold pimp.
Namesakes
Sadly, this article has nothing to do with the titular writer of The Divine Comedy. Just because you wrote the first self-insertion fan-fiction does not mean that you get your own article on /tg/. Though he did inspire the modern version of hell, which lends itself to Planescape, Monstergirls and the Warp.
It also has nothing to do with the protagonist of the Devil May Cry series, who despite being the most awesome thing since sliced velociraptors, is both a Demon and a heretic by Imperium standards. Maybe a mutant, too, given the white hair. Never let the Inquisition near your video game collection, is what we're saying here.
Gallery
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when 5th ed dropped this was the norm
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An old piece from previous rulebooks and the times when Gee Dubs was cool.
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The guy's Possibly facing a fucking titan here... it won't be quick for the poor titan though...
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Cool guys like Dante always get cool stuff.
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