Editing Cypher (section)

==Who is he?==
{{Topquote|'''He weaves in and out of my vision- I see one who is many. I see they who will test the Unforgiven. In one Hand he carries hope, in the other despair. I speak of Cypher. He is coming closer all the time.'''|Luther, the Dark Oracle}}
{{Topquote|Cipher: a secret or disguised way of writing; a code. |Dictionary}}

Given the above citation, it is unlikely that GW ever wants to pull down their own pants. Cypher is as elusive as Robert Denby, a living urban legend who either has the patronage of a Chaos god to grant him immortality until he finishes his long mission, a title passed down among agents of the Fallen, a son of a bitch who sold us out to the Machines, or a bunch of random dudes pulling the [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FKCmyiljKo0 Spartacus Maneuver]. The issue of his identity becomes even more complicated when one considers that "Lord Cypher" was a title used by '''The Order''' of [[Caliban]] (and by extension, the Dark Angels) who was assigned to embody their traditions and customs and ensure that they would be adhered to at all times. It was specifically mentioned that the Lord Cypher was to completely abandon his old identity upon assuming his position and was given a cloak and hood to keep his appearance concealed at all times- given the nature of this role, it is possible that there has been more than one "Cypher" since the Horus Heresy, with each new one inheriting the equipment and personality of his predecessors.

===Knight of Lupus / Green Knight===
Thankfully we have more than just theories to go off, and something that ''is'' known for certain: his history with the Order of Lupus. If there has been more than one Cypher since the Horus Heresy, we know who the very first one was. Anyway, the Order of Lupus was a Calibanite Knight Order that was actually a [[Ordo Malleus|cult that studied and collected knowledge of Chaos]]. They were wiped out by Lion El'Jonson, save for a single survivor who was allowed to join the Order and later the Dark Angels and became The Lord Cypher, a rank of the Dark Angels. He is the person who introduced Luther to the "truths" of chaos, but kept Luther and the other Dark Angels on Caliban ignorant of the [[Horus Heresy]] at large that was going on around them.

Through Zahariel's eyes: ''"Where there had been an armour-clad warrior there stood a man garbed in a robe of bark and leaves, a tree given human form. More than a tree, a whole forest, his hair its spilling canopy, his muscles powered by the strength of millions of deep roots…"'' This may seem weird but it seems to be a reference to [[The Green Knight]] of Arthurian legends.

The Green Knight can appear as one of Arthur's greatest champions where he is often portrayed as an exorcist and one of the most powerful knights in Arthur's court, or he is transformed into the Green Knight in order to test Arthur's court. His major role in Arthurian literature includes being a judge and tester of knights, and as such the other characters see him as friendly but terrifying and somewhat mysterious. He was also a [[Brettonia|Brettonian]] rather obviously. Or as a reference to the green man, a vegetation being in medieval art; a recollection of a figure from Celtic mythology; a Christian symbol; or the Devil himself. very fitting for Caliban don't you think.

In any case, this Lupus-Cypher was "killed" ''(we see him fall, and the body removed by Zahariel's men)'' during the Fallen uprising, and the Librarian Zahariel took his place as Lord Cypher. The whole young Knight of Lupus thing might just be some kind of elaborate cover story though as when he was unmasked by Zahariel just before his death, Zahariel was able to recognize him as someone from his own past, he may not have even been a space marine given he was still able to feel fear, though he almost certainly was not human.

===Zahariel El'Zurias===
See also: [[Zahariel]]

One thing that is known for certain is that the Librarian Zahariel becomes the Lord Cypher during Luther's declaration of independence. So far he is the last known person to hold the role, since the fluff hasn't identified anyone else to occupy the role after him.

However, at this point Zahariel is consumed by the power of the '''Ouroboros''', essentially making him possessed and therefore a pawn of Chaos.

===Holguin - Voted-Lieutenant of the Deathwing===
At the end of “Angels of Caliban” Holguin has self-appointed task of looking after the broken Lion Sword and planned to reforge it and make it whole once again. 

However, looks like Holguin did succeed in reforging the sword, because the Lion was once again in possession of it in the space between the Horus Heresy and the Scouring. After the fall of the Emperor, the Lion met his brother Russ in the Imperial palace, and resolved their grievances with each other thrown up on '''Dulan''', with both of them admitting their guilt over putting pride ahead of their duty by being away from Terra at the time of the final battle. The Lion Sword gets thrust through Russ's chest with the Wolf King not making any move to resist, but the Lion turns the blade aside without striking any organs and leaving his brother alive. Russ then believed that they finally understood one another after that and grew to respect and admire his brother ''(but not envy, never that)'', calling him the best of them all.

So unless Holguin took the sword, gave it to the Lion, then took it back ''again'' then he's not any more likely to become Cypher over any other officer of the legion.

Additionally, Holguin was put in command of the forces of the Dark Angels on [[Macragge]] after the Lion's imposition of martial law during [[Imperium Secundus]], so you'd think Guilliman would recognise him when he met Cypher in the 41st millennium, but instead only recognised the sword that Cypher carried.

===Corswain===

A potential candidate based on loose circumstantial evidence (which is par for the course for Cypher). Despite being the Lion's second-in-command during the Heresy and a famous champion of the legion, Corswain is essentially unaccounted for after the Fall of Caliban. The modern Dark Angels continue to venerate him as a hero of The First, but there is no actual indication that he died at Caliban, or that he continued to lead the chapter in some capacity after the Second Founding. His last known position was kicking Fallen ass in orbit when the legion finally made it home and found everything had gone to shit.

According to [[Luther]] himself, ''his'' Lord Cypher ([[Zahariel]]) was killed by Corswain at some point during the orbital battle, though when he mentioned this, Supreme Grand Master Morderan gave him a funny look, as if it did not fit with his understanding of events, potentially meaning that either Luther was incorrect or the Dark Angels record of events was incomplete. Its worth mentioning that Morderan seemingly blew his own brains out in Luther's cell after some kind of disastrous meeting with Cypher. It also may have been the [[Watchers in the Dark]] protecting Luther instead of a suicide, but either way, the encounter with Cypher clearly rattled Morderan beyond Astartes levels of self-control.

If this is the case, it's possible that Zahariel broke the Ouroboros' influence over him and passed the title and knowledge to Corswain, with Zahariel either dying or being shipped off to the Grey Knights to become Epimethius. Also considering that he had direct knowledge of [[Tuchulcha]] and Typhus' involvement with the Warp device, Corswain is pretty well placed to become Cypher and stop Typhus and Astelan further down the timeline.

Another circumstantial piece of evidence pointing towards Corswain comes in the novel ''Unforgiven'' where Cypher tells Azrael that he would have made a good Seneschal for the Lion; a role that Corswain himself was groomed for. Unless Cypher was giving false flattery, it means he was personally familiar with the Lion at the very least; which rules out nearly all of Luther's Fallen on Caliban ''(except for a small handful)'' as they never knew their Primarch.

Corswain as Cypher is also symbolically interesting. He was one of The Lion's most loyal sons, the first outside Loyalist to reach the Solar System during the Siege of Terra, and one of the few individuals the Fallen still regard with utter dread. It's been said that Cypher holds the key to redeeming the Fallen, but that forgiveness could easily be a double-edged sword. Neither the Lion nor the Emperor were known for their forgiving nature, and Corswain was called the Hound of Caliban for a reason. In short, him being Cypher could represent final, merciless absolution a long time in the making.

===Grey Knight Founder===
It seems that one of the Cyphers was originally destined to become one of [[Malcador]]s Knights Errant and one of the first grand masters of the [[Grey Knights]]. In the Pandorax novel Grand Master Epimethius of the original [[Grey Knights]] and one of the [[Fallen Angels]] is awoken after a ten thousand year sleep and is confronted by a [[Lord of Change]], who is confused at the [[Not as Planned|turn of events]] by expecting a different person and '''actually fears''' the consequences of the change in fate. Epimethius himself states '''[[Awesome|"someone switched places with me. That is now his path to walk"]]'''. Granted, they don't mention Cypher by name in that book but it does go great lengths in explaining Cypher's motivations in that he selflessly '''CHOSE''' to become fallen with the rest of his brethren and is attempting to rewrite his destiny for some unfathomable purpose.

It is not entirely known when Epimetheus was recruited from Caliban prior to the fall, although the Knights-Errant ''were'' on Caliban trying to figure out what [[Luther]] was plotting and found him in the middle of a downward spiral, but Cypher helped them escape, so the opportunity was there for him to get out or potentially send someone in his place. Not to mention the fact that Epimetheus is an Alpha-Plus Psyker, so if he was a "proper" Fallen he could purge the Dark Angels if they even looked at him funny, and would probably make the entire Inner Circle collectively shit themselves right through their Termie buttplates if they knew about him.

===Time Traveler===
Another theory is that he is being cast through time in a similar manner to the [[Legion of the Damned]] appearing wherever and whenever he is needed. This is subtly hinted at several times in the fluff, first with the minor inconsistency of his [[C'Tan|phase knife]] which exists outside of the [[derp|space-time continuum]], so Cypher has it in some instances, but does not have it in other encounters. Secondly, he can fuck with the established timelines and somehow confuse [[Tzeentch|Lords of Change]] whose JOB it is to know the future ''(see above)'' and thirdly, Cypher/[[Zahariel]] is somehow connected to the [[Ouroboros]] which was concealed on [[Caliban]], which if you know your philosophy is the representation of time recycling itself eternally. So he could be time traveling, or waiting for eternity to swing back around to try things a little bit better each time round.
*According to certain Arthurian legends merlin’s wisdom and knowledge came about because he was ageing backwards through time and so already knew what was going to happen because he had already lived it. In a way Cypher could be playing the part of the Dark Angels version of the Eldar phoenix lords; traveling back through time in order to set up events in preparation for the final battle. Whatever the final plan might be according to the Lord of Change in the “Pandorax campaign” it is directly interfering with the great game of the ruinous powers; when it finds out that two of the players have somehow swapped destinies it is terrified about the implications.

===41st Millennium===
Unless the [[Watchers in the Dark]] can pull some resurrection shit or Lupus-Cypher is a [[Perpetual]] ''(or Cypher never actually "died")'' Because the Ouroboros plotline only gets resolved at the end of the 41st Millennium and we have no further candidates that we know of with any connection to the creature, and no evidence of anyone taking the mantle from him then is likely that Zahariel remains as Cypher through to the 41st Millennium.

During the talk between Azrael and Luther in “The Unforgiven” Luther mentions that his Cypher was slain by Corswain during the destruction of Caliban. Although given the situation at the end of the same book there may be more than one lord “Cypher” running around Caliban at that time.

Though with respect to the Grey Knight angle, it is possible that Zahariel passes the mantle on to someone else further down the line, allowing Zahariel to become Epimetheus whilst "Cypher" became the Fallen Angel we know so well. But the question remains: who?