Sanguinor
Among the Blood Angels, there is nobody more mysterious than the Sanguinor. Known by the moniker of Exemplar of the Host, this mighty angelic warrior appears out of nowhere Legion of the Damned style whenever Blood Angel forces are in serious jeopardy while fighting.
About the Exemplar of The Host
Nobody knows who or even what the Sanguinor is. The marines believe that he's no more than a myth, while the Chaplains keep extremely detailed records on when he appeared during the millennia, and Dante's served so long that he's actually seen the Sanguinor several times, albeit rarely. Some believe that he's the personification of Sanguinius's noble and idealistic side (while the rest took form of both the Red Thirst and Black Rage) that disappeared after the Primarch got slain by Horus. The Sanguinary Guard on the other hand think that the Sanguinor is actually Azkaellon. The latter is less believable for one single thing. The average lifespan of a Blood Angel is even greater than that of any non-Dreadnought or non-Chaos Space Marine (can live up nearly a thousand years or longer as Dante proved it thanks to their blood drinking habits), yet even the Blood Angels can't live that long. That would mean that Azkaellon should be as old as Bjorn (if not slightly older). This makes it completely impossible, unless he did find a way to increase his lifespan (but that is wild speculations, as well that nobody knows if the Space Marines have waaay longer lifespans than humans, or are truly immortal, unless he's a Perpetual, which would suddenly amp up the (secret) political importance of the Blood Angels to raise the attention of the Historical Revision Unit).
Our beloved HERESY detecting paranoia driven nutballs on the other hand speculate that the Sanguinor is neither of the first two, instead being something of a warp creature created by the mass desire and need of the Chapter, proving that the Angels are slowly spiralling down into corruption (disregard it all as mad Monodominant propaganda). Whatever the truth is, the Sanguinor is part of the heritage of the Blood Angels and their loyalty to the Emperor and Imperium.
True Origins
The GW digital advent calendar presented us with a story called "The Herald of Sanguinius". Set at the beginning of the Imperium Secundus, the New Emperor Sanguinius finds himself overwhelmed by petitions from people who wish to speak to him.
Captain of the Sanguinary Guard Azkaellon already considered a bit possessive over his duties as a bodyguard; gets a bit paranoid about letting all these people see his father as he suspects treachery and betrayal everywhere. Sanguinius agrees that he cannot sit on a throne all day and hear petitions, so between them they agree to create a Herald who will speak for Sanguinius whenever the Primarch is busy doing something else.
To this end, the Sanguinary Guard came together and allowed two of their number to nominate themselves for this new position of "stand-in Emperor", then left the room whilst they drew straws between them. The "winner" was a Sanguinary Guard named Aratron, whilst Azkaellon slew the other to keep his identity a secret. Then Aratron's face was permanently sealed within a golden mask and from then referred to only as "The Sanguinor".
In modern 40k, it is unlikely that Aratron remains the Sanguinor, since outside of the time-influencing effects of the warp, Astartes tend not to live THAT long. So it is quite possible that the Sanguinor is just a continuation of the old tradition of creating a herald for their Primarch.
The Khartas Incident
One of his appearances was on the planet Khartas when the Blood Angels were pursuing Ork Freebooterz. The Ork vessel that crashed on the planet had its warp drive go haywire, allowing Daemons of Khorne to pour through the portal that was created by the drive. The horde of Daemons were led by Ka'Bandha (the same douche of a Greater Daemon that fought Sanguinius back during the Horus Heresy), who quickly slew nearly all of the thirty Blood Angels that made planetfall. The Daemonic Horde were to finish off the surviving marines that have entrenched themselves in a ruined Cathedral, when the Sanguinor appeared out of nowhere and did the following:
- Bitchslapped Ka'Bandha out of the skies via the aerial variant of dynamic entry.
- Fought marine to daemon with him. The two fought with such speed and ferocity that they couldn't best each other.
- Broke Ka'Bandha's Axe in order to twist the odds of the battle in his favour.
- Penetrated him through the heart with his sword.
After finishing off the Greater Daemon, the Blood Angels and Sanguinor finished off the rest of his horde and destroyed the Ork warp drive.
When the Stormraven Gunships appeared to pick up the survivors, the Sanguinor vanished as fast as he appeared.
There was also that one time when he showed up in the dreams of a Heresy-era Apothecary somehow, which makes his identity even more confusing- quite notably, said Apothecary was unable to tell the difference between the Sanguinor and Sanguinius himself. Make of that what you will.
Current Status
The Sanguinor appeared to help the Blood Angels in the Shield of Baal campaign against the Tyranids after telling a weary Dante that there's still hope.
On the Tabletop
Now with all of that said, he doesn't quite have Primarch-level stats, but that's to be expected because he doesn't have a Primarch-level pricetag either. T4 and 3 wounds is kinda meh; Eternal Warrior with 2+ / 4++ is less meh. The thing that hurts him the most, however, is his lack of Independent Character, so you've basically got a golden jump-pack DISTRACTION CARNIFEX at the same cost as a Land Raider. However, he can take a sanguinary priest to give him a bodyguard, and FnP. He gives all units within 6" +1Attack, so keep him near death company for extra rape. He can buff all BA models in six inches to have +1 attack, and he can reroll failed to hits/wounds during any and all challenges. This makes him capable of threatening almost any HQ in the game, if not necessarily killing the higher-end ones.
Gallery
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His mini in all of its fabulousness.
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That Fabulous poker face of his.
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If what the Sanguinary Guard said about The Sanguinor was true (as well as the Inquisition), then Azkaellon wouldn't look human at all, or the Sanguinor would have been a warp abomination rather than a Space Marine. So better if you think of him as Sanguinius reborn. That's all.
