Kurnous

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Kurnous realizing that his wife just ran off with another man.
THE FUCK DID I HEAR! THAT BITCH CHEATED ON ME BEHIND MY BACK!?
- Kurnous not taking too well about his wife's affair kidnapping

Kurnous was the Eldar god of the hunt, and husband of Isha. He fathered Lileath, the goddess of dreams and prophecy, and the entire Eldar race.

He was a proud father for some time, but then Lileath predicted that his mortal children would shatter the war god Khaine one day, and Khaine decided that the proper response was to kill all of them first. Asuryan managed to pacify Khaine by erecting a barrier between the mortal world and the realm of the gods, but Kurnous and Isha were deeply saddened by being separated from their children. They managed to persuade Vaul to forge them a way to speak to their children from Isha's tears, but when Asuryan heard of this, he handed them over to Khaine to punish as he saw fit. They were tortured by the war god until Vaul managed to buy their freedom with an offer to forge one hundred blades for Khaine; Vaul ran away with Isha and Kurnous as soon as the transaction was finished, because before long, Khaine realized that Vaul had only forged ninety-nine blades and made up the one with a mortal blade.

No mention is made of Kurnous's involvement in the resulting War in Heaven, but while Khaine won in the end, the Eldar that he hadn't slaughtered were permitted to survive, and they went on to rule the galaxy. Unfortunately, they got lazy, and their hedonism gave birth to Slaanesh, who proceeded to devour all the gods but Khaine, Isha, and Cegorach.

Even though he no longer exists in any meaningful sense, he is occasionally invoked -- in particular, the Harlequins describe themselves as "Kurnous's hounds, sent to the hunt."

Moon[edit]

The Eldar homeworld had three moons. The dim, green moon was named for Kurnous and nicknamed "the hunter's moon".

Warhammer Fantasy Battle[edit]

The High Elves of Warhammer Fantasy Battle also have a god of the hunt named Kurnous, who is the husband of a goddess of the harvest named Isha, but otherwise shares little in common with his 40K counterpart -- for one thing, he is still alive and actively worshiped.

He has a mortal champion among the Wood Elves called Orion, a demi-god who is a living avatar of Kurnous. Each year a specially selected Wood Elf takes on Orion's mantle, being the newly reborn demi-god at the start of each spring. In this way Orion becomes the representation of Kurnous as well as part of the seasons. He leads hunts through Athel Loren and beyond, bringing down the many enemies of the Wood Elves.

In The End Times it was revealed he really was Orion, who first sees their daughter poison his wife then dies to the enraged Khaine possessed Tyrion in battle. Still, Orion manage to ruined part of his armor which allows him to get sniped to the heart.

Age of Sigmar[edit]

While still no word if he managed to revive in Age of Sigmar, the Kurnoth Hunters revere a God know as Kurnoth, Alarielle's "Soul-Consort". While it hasn't been outright stated whether this is a separate entity or not it is heavily implied that Kurnoth could be a revived Kurnous, or at least a reincarnation.

The new Sylvaneth Battletome however is reason to hope. He not only exsits within Alarielle's spear, which used to be his spear, but some traces of his being still exist and stir occasionally.

In one of the more recent Warhammer Horror novels, it is revealed that the resurgent Alarielle might well have split the spirit of Kurnous when she first asserted authority over Ghyran, taking the more noble, less bloodthirsty aspect and forming it into Kurnoth to serve as her "Soul-Consort" and imprisoning the darker, much more murdery aspect underneath an area known as Weld not far from where Greywater Fastness now stands. When Sigmar and the Azyrites drove away Chaos and began actively colonizing the area around Weld, they inadvertently awakened the sleeping dark part of Kurnoth and he began influencing the mortal population, encouraging them to perform sacrifices and other worship in his name to help with his rebirth. Alarielle is seemingly aware of this, sending Sylvaneth to try and disrupt the locals and their doings, but given that she has other pretty significant concerns "dark" Kurnoth is coming along quite well in terms of regaining his power, corrupting the people of Weld and the area itself with his bloodthirsty nature. This aspect of Kurnoth takes the traditional form of the god, a huge male figure with a stag's head and hooves, but in this case the form is made entirely of weeping, rotting wood (because he's darkkkkk). Some Sylvaneth have fallen under his influence and most of those that watch over the area are pretty damn afraid of him, but for now "dark" Kurnoth is contained to the region around Weld and is not yet strong enough to get back at Alarielle for trying to lock him up for eternity.

Trivia[edit]

By his aspect and name, Kurnous is reminiscent of the Gallic horned god Cernunnos, a deity linked with wildlife and nature. Though the god itself doesn't seem to be directly associated with hunting, the concept of "Wild Hunt" was known to later Celtic cultures, and the picture of a bloodthirsty deer-man slaughtering the enemies of the forest is fucking cool anyway

The High Elves and their gods of Warhammer Fantasy
Characters: Eltharion - Everqueen - Teclis - Tyrion - Prince Imrik - Alith Anar
Cadai: Asuryan - Hoeth - Isha - Kurnous - Lileath - Loec - Mathlann - Vaul
Cytharai: Addaioth - Anath Raema - Atharti - Drakira
Eldrazor - Ellinill - Ereth Khial - Estreuth - Hekarti
Hukon - Khaine - Ladrielle - Morai-Heg - Nethu
Events: The War of the Beard - The invasion of Naggaroth
Misc: Ulthuan - The Vortex - Waystone - Widowmaker
Appearances: Blood Bowl - Dreadfleet - Mordheim - Warhammer Fantasy Battle
The Gods of the Eldar
Asuryan - Cegorach - Isha - Kurnous - Khaine - Lileath - Morai-Heg - Vaul - Ynnead