Dante
Commander Dante is the Chapter Master of the Blood Angels and the oldest living (non-Chaos, non-Primarch, non-Dreadnought) space marine. No one outside of the Blood Angels inner circle actually knows how old he is. All that is confirmed is that he has been the Chapter Master for at least 1100 years. Even Logan Grimnar can't remember a time before Dante. He has kicked the asses of uncountable xenos, mutants and heretics in countless wars upon countless worlds. He is the victor of count-von-countless campaigns and his deeds are indistinguishable from legend. He even (canonically this time) one-shotted Skarbrand back into the warp. poor thing can't get a break.
He also has long, straight black bishounen hair down to his waist (usually tucked in to his armor and golden mask when on the battlefield,) if the Blood Quest comic series is to be believed. Which it totally is! Old as hell but pretty as hell! Just as a spehss vampire should be.
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 old. Like really damn old. And thus he's seen nearly all the horrors of the universe thrown at him. 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 novels and the rest of the fluff, he's generally portrayed as a stern but kind fatherly figure to the chapter, who's a good guy and doesn't afraid of anything. In an interesting bit of anti-Mary Sue, his Warlords info book makes it explicit that he became chapter master not because he was the brightest or the strongest of his peers, but simply because after a campaign that left only two hundred Blood Angels remaining, he was the only senior officer that was still alive. Actually a running theme in the book, where it's stated that as an initiate competing to become a space marine, he wasn't particularly special either. He didn't achieve the most kills in the blood trials but neither did he bomb them (obviously). And in the golden sarcophagus, the priests feared for his sanity as he screamed incessantly through the transformation, even finding bloody claw marks from his nails coming off. Yet for all that he become the leader that would lead the boys in red to their most glorious time since the scouring.
The book extends this theme into the present, where it's stated that Logan Grimnar is the most beloved chapter master by the common folk of the Imperium and Marneus Calgar is the most respected by imperial commanders, but Dante is still seen as as a figure of awe--the greatest simply because 1,100 years of service speaks for itself. He is literally a man become legend, even amongst astartes.
That said, a chapter master capable of surviving the climb to 1,100 years of experience is definitely extremely capable of laying out copious amounts of whoop-ass.
He also worked with a Necron army to defeat a Tyranid hive fleet. But it came to light later that while the official records say they had mutually decided not to jump each other afterwards. Truthfully the Necrons duped the Blood Angels after Dante tried to ice the Silent King.
Also he's getting too old for this shit.
On the Tabletop
SWEET EMPRAH! WHAT AN UPDATE.
Standard Chapter Master statline with a +2 str AP 2, mastercrafted-axe, striking at (His insanely high) initiative 6!!!!?! +1 str on a charge. Rejoice brothers! For the new codex has been kind. He lost his ability to nerf the enemy HQ, which isn't fun, bringing the death mask to just a regular one on steroids. But now he has Eternal Warrior, finally!
He now has a pretty good chance of taking on most any character in the game with a decent chance at winning (except maybe chapter master smashfucker).Even Abaddon has to watch out now that he gives all Blood Angels Hatred.
For extra lulz, stick him with a ten-man sanguinary guard with a banner, a sanguinary priest, and have a librarian within a foot of you give him a boost with Quickening (and Unleash Rage if you have it/are particularly sadistic) AND the blood angels FOC, for a cool statline of WS 7(!) BS5 S7(!) T4 W4 potential I10(!?1?!) potential A 10 (!!??!!) Ld 10 sv 2+ 4++ FNP 5+++ with fleet (from Quickening) and eternal warrior, and Hit and run--just for funzies. Enjoy your opponent's bitter tears of butt-hurt as you drown him in ap 2 attacks while the Sanguinary Guard Mop up the rest.
and while the above combo might not work well in the competitive scene, it is however, Hilarious.
Sadly, this article has nothing to do with the titular writer of Dante's 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 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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One of the best ever pieces depicting Dante.
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Taking on a freaking Avatar of Khaine like a boss...
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Cool guys like Dante always get cool stuff.
