Editing Lion El'Jonson (section)

=Biography=
[[Image:Warhammer-40000-фэндомы-Lion-El'Jonson-Primarch-.jpg|300px|thumb|A young Lion, looking pretty much exactly like his older version (Primarchs age extremely slow, so there's no reason why he shouldn't look the same).]]
{{Topquote|And so the Lion stepped from the [[Caliban|darkness]] and saw there was [[Emperor|light]]. And that light said unto him: "Go forth and conquer your fear. For our enemies are but fear incarnate and [[Great Crusade|only through their smiting might we be free]]." And when the Lion roared, all who stood before him trembled.|Interrogator-Chaplain Altheous - Will of Iron}}

His first decade was spent in the warp-tainted forests of Caliban, completely alone but for the [[Chaos Spawn|monsters]] and other horrors of that tainted world. He flourished there, and at the end of this decade he was found by a band of knights belonging to a group called "The Order <s>1886</s>", his first encounter with humans. Considering how impossible it is to come upon a healthy young boy in the wilderness of a death world, they believed the child to be a monster and were prepared to kill him until one of them, a young man named [[Luther]], prevented his fellow knights from attacking (which is good for them as they [[anal circumference|probably would have had some difficulty defeating a primarch]].) Luther and the band brought the boy back to their Fortress-Monastery and named him 'Lion El'Jonson' which means Lion, Son of the Forest. Yes, there's a language where "Lion" means lion, "El" means The, "Jon" means forest, and "son" is just son. Alternately, he could just be "Lion of the Jonson," which is equally apt (the HH books confirm that bit, which means that Jonson is their word for their planet-spanning forest). Whether the "El" is related to the somewhat Semitic cast of many Calibanite names is unknown (although the setting is much more Brythonic in character). There is a possibility that Lion only lived in the forest for a few months rather than years, as in HH all other Primarchs were shown to be at their prepubescent ages when they came out of their pods, and they will grow to full adult size in a year or so. Following that logic, if Lion had lived in the forest for years, he would be a full-grown Primarch when he was found and not a young boy. Alternatively, in Book 9 of the HH tabletop's first edition, Imperial researchers open up the possibility that Lion may have actually been on his own for far longer then previously thought, almost 150 years or so. This could indicate that the Emperor, in his infallible wisdom, may have put certain safety measures into place to make sure his "sons" didn't fall into the wrong (Xenos) hands, such as genetically locking them into an early stage of development (limiting their power) until they eventually came into contact with humans, at which time their growth would increase dramatically. This idea is further supported by Horus's story in 'Blood of the Emperor', in which Horus is revealed to have had no superhuman abilities during his early years aside from being able to heal rapidly; the story strongly implies that Horus' primarch abilities were dormant and didn't trigger until the Emperor himself gave him his name. When the Knights of the Order first encountered the Lion, they estimated he couldn't be more than around ten years of age, though legends had existed for nearly a century before that of a small forest spirit whose body was that of a human, haunting the depths of the forest and leaving mysterious markings in its wake.

It´s unknown how exactly the Lion survived all those years within the tainted <s>jonsons</s> forests, and in all the years to come [[/d/|he would never speak of it]]. In fact, he didn't speak for some time after being taken in by Luther, which is not uncommon when dealing with feral children that have had no sort of interactions with other people. He is one of the more interestingly developed of the loyalist primarchs.

*When fighting with Curze (in ''Angels of Caliban''), he reveals that during his ten years amongst the Chaos beasts, he had been constantly plagued by promises and threats from the lips of the daemons that haunted him (Apparently you can’t start too young as far as Chaos is concerned) and that his dreams had been of storms and darkness. He is disgusted with Curze and renounces him for his weakness for giving into such things so easily.
*The fact he emerged damaged but not [[Squad Broken|broken]] and with even the barest resemblance of humanity after spending 10 years alone without help or guidance, whilst being drowned in warp taint, is remarkable; few of his brothers were tested in such an extreme manner (the only others coming close being [[Konrad Curze|Curze]] and Mortarion), which could explain the Lion's contempt for Curze going beyond perhaps what that nasty little sociopath elicited in Guilliman and Sanguinius. Then again, what broke Curze was far more his visions than his crappy upbringing, so who can really say.

[[File:Warhammer-Lion-Caliban.jpeg|330px|thumb|right|An image so knightly it makes the Black Templars bow in shame.]]
Within the fortress monastery of the Order, the Primarch was assimilated into Calibanite society. There, he and Luther formed a close friendship, despite their differences. Where Luther was charismatic, the Lion was taciturn. While Luther understood the hearts of the men under his and enemy command, Jonson was simply a brilliant strategist, stubborn to a fault once he committed to a course of action. Despite their different approaches to many things, the two men seemed to fill the gaps in each other's personalities and thus became an incomparable team. In the following years, Lion El'Jonson would quickly rise through the ranks of the Order, until he reached the rank of [[Kaldor Draigo|Supreme Grand Master]], his great deeds winning him praise among his fellow knights. Luther started to harbour a small seed of [[Perturabo|jealousy]], feeling that his own deeds were overshadowed by those of the Lion. The Lion for his part did not care much about the power and fame that he had accrued, and preferred to be known as a hunter of beasts instead of the king of Caliban. (He was also being very mindful, if not paranoid, about the whispers of Chaos he heard during his youth being fulfilled by his actions.)

As strange as it might sound, the forces at work upon Caliban actually had their own name for the Lion, with the Great Beasts referring to him as "The Nightmare" (no, not the one from Soul Calibur). The powers that were at play upon that tainted world, whatever their origin, started making creatures with the sole purpose of killing him; despite his faults, you know you're a grade A badass when even Chaos beasts are running scared of you, and the world itself is actively trying to kill you.

When the Emperor arrived on Caliban to reunite Lion El'Jonson with his legion and send him off to the Great Crusade, not all natives were pleased with his arrival. The coming of the Emperor brought industry to Caliban, [[/d/|its beautiful jonsons cleared]], the world's untamed nature destroyed by machines of the Mechanicum. Some older members of the Order saw further change brought by the Imperials in the ranks of the younger knights; they feared that their old ways and tradition would be lost forever, and thus saw no other solution to the problem than to try and [[FAIL|assassinate the Emperor]].

Unfortunately for them, they had chosen to involve a young knight named [[Zahariel]] in their plot, and he was none too happy about it. Thanks to him, the plot was foiled and he was eventually absorbed into the Legion for his uniqueness of mind and spirit. Lion El´Jonson was given command of the I Legiones Astartes, which he named the "Dark Angels" after an old Calibanite myth (it seems a lot of the Primarchs are big softies for old myths). Military camps were set up for the general population and those distinguished enough would become [[Space Marines]], either by gene seed transformation (if they were young enough) or through extensive genetic manipulation. The first to undergo such treatment was Luther, who became the Lion's second in command.

*The five hundred members of the Legion (all from Terra) that were present upon first encountering the Lion formed a unique order within the greater body of the Dark Angels. They were known simply as the Five Hundred and tasked themselves with creating the Lion Codex, an in-depth recounting of their lord's life and deeds. The Lion wasn't [[Emperor|the most forthcoming of individuals]], so the Five Hundred decided to create an expansive collection of knowledge that would contain their deep analysis of all they had experienced so that the Legion might understand their gene-sire better (can't help but feel this is a subtle shoutout to all those loyal members of the First Legion who have over the years painstakingly tried to put all the pieces of the puzzle together). This shows readers the difference between a legitimate [[tactical genius]] that has the respect of those under their command and a [[Perturabo|douchebag unsuited for the job]].
The Five Hundred probably understood the Lion more than anyone else, and were the ones chosen to fight as his personal guard. And although the Lion was reluctant to spend their lives, he never admonished them. Instead he would wait for them to assemble on the eve of battle before moving. This silent acknowledgement was all the thanks the Five Hundred ever needed.

==Great Crusade==
[[File:Lion bust.jpg|260px|thumb|right|Bust of the Lion from Space Hulk: Deathwing]]

{{Topquote|We have killed so many in these charnel-systems, that our hands may never be free of the stain of it.|The Lion commenting on the Rangdan Xenocides: Scions of the Emperor.}}

During the campaign known as the [[Rangdan Xenocides]], the Great Crusade was brought to a screeching halt by a species of such macabre power and technological might that it looked like the Imperium had met its doom. The Imperium's losses during the Xenocides would not be exceeded until the dark days of the Heresy; several Legions were devastated by the fighting, with the implication that some of them had been [REDACTED] altogether. The First Legion, led by the Emperor himself, would be burdened with the "Lion's" share of the fighting, with the legionnaires forced to live in their armour for months or years at a time.

It was during this dark time that the Lion was discovered upon Caliban. Upon his discovery, the Emperor stood down and installed the Lion as the overall leader of the war effort against the Rangda. Those Dark Angels that fought during this campaign swore the war would have been lost if not for the presence of the Lion, with many claiming that he was the Rangdan's 'destroyer'.

This also goes towards explaining why the Lion didn't travel under the tutelage of one of his other brothers: there simply wasn't enough time. The Lion went straight from leading tech-knights on a single world to taking the fight to the most dangerous foe the Great Crusade had ever faced across entire star systems and sectors. Talk about a baptism of fire.

The Lion wasn't around during the first war against the Rangdan, but was around for the second (the main event) and the third and final war (the cleanup).

During this time, a certain person using the name "Alpharius" would seek an audience with the Lion. Both the Lion and "Alpharius" understood that the Emperor would eventually have to leave the Crusade and return to Terra, naming one of his sons as Warmaster in his stead; "Alpharius" wanted it to be the Lion. There are two different versions of this encounter, however. The first version appears in Chris Wraight's short story ''First Legion'', wherein a single legionary calling himself "Alpharius" offered to lighten the Lion's burden by secretly taking over operations against the Rangdan so that the Lion and the First could withdraw and rebuild their strength. The Lion of course refused as it was his duty to see the war through to its conclusion. In the second version, from Mike Brooks' ''Alpharius: Head of the Hydra'' novel, the Alpha Legion arrives with a full fleet and is ready to make war under the Lion's command, an offer which the Lion accepts. In this version, the legionary is in fact Alpharius himself, who is still operating anonymously, as his true goal is finding his brother [[Omegon]] in one of the Rangdan warzones. The promise of support for the Warmaster position was a combination of an educated guess, practical concerns, and an attempt at massaging the Lion's ego. Even though the Lion accepts the assistance in this version, Alpharius wasn't entirely certain that his brother couldn't see through the deception and wondered if he was playing his own game.

Despite their inconsistencies, both stories should be taken in the context of each other. In ''First Legion'' the Lion never explicitly sends Alpharius or his forces away, only refusing to withdraw to rebuild in order to strengthen his claim to the position of Warmaster, since it would make no strategic sense to refuse an offer of fresh ships and troops. In the short story, while the Lion doesn't appear to recognise Alpharius as one of his brothers, the attending captain does note that some kind of unspoken conversation seemed to be going on behind the actual words being spoken. The short story does finish by touching on the fact that the Lion saw through the offer as a dangerous temptation and that he had received similar offers before, all of which had been refused. He had no desire for glory or position, and if he was going to be remembered at all, it would be as the "Slayer of Beasts". In ''Head of the Hydra'' Alpharius had a separate personal objective; Omegon had been rumored to have appeared somewhere within the First's area of operations, and even Alpharius couldn't operate a Legion-sized formation undetected in an active warzone, and never actually planned to supplant the First Legion anyway and had made the concept up on the spot, which kind of plays into the Lion's mistrust about any supposed "offer" as indicated in the other version of the story. In any case, as "untested" allies, the XX Legion were only deployed to peripheral warzones and presumably didn't have much of an impact, since the Dark Angels still sustained massive casualties and the Lion wasn't named Warmaster. Both versions still end up at the same destination.

::''"We made a promise, brother," he says.''
::''"You think the others will keep theirs?"''
::''"What does that matter to me?"''
::''"Because this world will one day have a single master. It must be you."''
::''He starts to walk again, his boots sinking up to the spurs in mud. Every movement is ponderous, freighted with ingrained fatigue.''
::''"Have a care for destiny!" the knight calls out after him. "An oath can be forgotten. Power cannot."''
::''He keeps walking.''
::''"Then what do you wish to be known for, my liege?" the knight asks, a final plea. "When the annals are written, what do you wish them to say of you?"''
::''He keeps walking. He never looks back.''
::''"That I was ever, and only, thus," he says, tasting the raw, frigid air of another Caliban dawn. "The hunter. The slayer of beasts"''
-The Lion, ''Scions of the Emperor''.

When the Rangdan threat was finally dealt with, there was a decade-long series of purges executed by the Dark Angels and Space Wolves that left entire human-populated sectors lifeless. This was done to ensure what would hopefully be a final victory over the savage xenos; these two legions were entrusted above all others to do what needed to be done. Other legions, such as the [[Luna Wolves]] and [[Ultramarines]], who had been otherwise occupied with the ongoing wars in the galactic west, were now firmly in ascendance. These Legions had retained their strength, having not suffered at the Rangda's hand, and now took centre stage in the Great Crusade. Compared to these new 'paragons', the Dark Angels and Space Wolves were now viewed with distrust by the wider Imperium. Dark accusations would continue to overshadow them for the rest of the Crusade, and for better or worse, the Lion didn't seem to be bothered by them.

The Imperium was saved by the actions of the Lion and his Dark Angels, but through their losses sustained during the conflict, they had lost their standing amongst the other legions. With the rise of those that had not taken part in the Xenocides, the Lion had evidently lost his chance at assuming the role of Warmaster. It's likely certain members of the Legion saw this loss of prestige as a failing on the Lion's part, leading some like Astelan to view him as an unworthy leader.

Throughout the Great Crusade, there were few records of the Dark Angels' victories kept, but it was widely known that the Lion won acclaim for his masterful tactics and the tenacity of his Legion, managing to accumulate a tally of military victories second only to Horus and the Luna Wolves. It infuriated the Lion's fraternal rival Leman Russ to have to admit that another Primarch could claim more triumphs than he, but the two would not meet each other until much later.

To give an idea as to the kind of things the First Legion were up to, we can look to the Ikaros Contingency, a directive issued only to the Lion. This gave the Lion authority to "remove" entire sections of the Mechanicum that were considered problematic; it is known that it was used at least 8 times before the beginnings of the Heresy, though the records are tightly sealed away.

===The Sarosh Campaign===
Sometime during the Crusade, the Dark Angels took over the campaign to bring the planet of Sarosh into “the light” of the Imperium from the White Scars. The Saroshi managed to fool both legions into believing that they were interested in becoming a part of the Imperium (though the Imperials suspected that something weird was going on). In reality, the Saroshi were secret worshipers of the Ruinous Powers.

The Lion invited their leader The Lord High <s>Executioner</s> Exacter to his flagship (for dinner) in order to finalize the compliance. The Saroshi took advantage of this by smuggling a nuclear device onboard the spacecraft. The High Lord Exacter then denounced the Imperium and its false Emperor, before [[Derp|personally insulting the Lion]] by claiming that he and his sons were abominations and nothing more than the product of rutting beasts. The Lion responded by splitting the bureaucrat in twain.

Meanwhile in the hangar bay, [[Luther]] had discovered the nuclear device and was pondering whether or not he should let it go off and kill his long-time rival, thus finally becoming the rightful head honcho of the Order. Luckily for everyone, [[Zahariel]] was once again in the right place at the right time, and successfully reasoned with Luther. Then they ejected the device into space where it detonated, causing only minimal damage to the ship. Meanwhile, the Saroshi executed the unsuspecting Imperial civilians and army personnel on the planet's surface.

After the situation in space stabilized, a meeting was called to decide what was to be done with the Saroshi. But before the meeting, Zahariel observed the Lion and Luther speaking in a huddled corner, their words unheard by anyone, though the intensity of their conversation was plain for all to see. The Lion then abruptly turned away from Luther, his face a mask of unreadable emotion, while Luther's expression was one of despair and anguish. Zahariel would later note that from this moment on, the seemingly unbreakable bonds of trust and brotherhood between the Lion and Luther were gone forever.
[[File:Lion and his Dark Angels.jpg|400px|thumb|right|The Lion and his Dark Angels, from the Will of Iron comics]]

Needless to say, the Lion wasn't too pleased by all this and so he decided to personally lead his forces to the surface. After dealing with the Saroshi and their daemonic allies, the Lion made a declaration, announcing that the [[Imperial Guard|flow]] of new recruits from Caliban was not proceeding as swiftly as was hoped. The Great Crusade was entering a new and vigorous stage and the Dark Angels needed fresh warriors to take the light of the Imperium onwards into the dark places of the galaxy. Therefore, a corps of experienced Astartes were to return to the homeworld with all speed to ensure that the recruitment of new warriors for the Legion was put back on track. [[Luther]] and [[Zahariel]] and around five hundred other Dark Angels, made up of those that had been injured during the fighting but also some that seemed to have been picked at random, were to return to Caliban. Though officially there was no stigma or disgrace placed upon those returning and despite the apparent honour in such a responsibility, many were shocked by the decision, especially at the apparent dismissal of Luther, as up to that point, he and the Lion had been inseparable. If the Legion needed warriors so badly, why were they being pulled from the front lines? Training recruits was a job for elders, men who were full of wisdom but past their physical prime.

In “Angels of Caliban”, we are given a brief look into the mind of the Lion, which shows that he is very much conflicted about sending Luther back to Caliban, meaning it to be both a punishment and a genuine desire to demonstrate to his father/brother that he still trusted him enough to put him in charge of the very future of his sons and his Legion (he really [[Rogal Dorn|isn’t very good at expressing himself]], is he?). He viewed himself as little more than a warlord whose place was on the battlefield and believed that he had left his homeworld in the hands of people that were far more suited to running and safeguarding it than he ever could be. On top of that, he had mixed feeling regarding Caliban itself, as it brought him to question exactly where he belonged. Despite wanting to return home, there was always something more important that took precedence; there was always another enemy, always another war to wage, and new frontiers to discover (duty before anything else).

This may seem like a convenient excuse, but the Legion really was low on numbers during this period. When the Lion first bought the Legion together, they numbered only around 100,000 Marines, a pitiful number for what had been the largest of all legions; the First had already suffered significant losses during the first war against the Rangdan and would go on to suffer more during the second war. Although the initial influx of new Marines from Caliban was around 20,000, it wasn't enough for the legion to regain its former might. The Lion's decision may seem harsh, but it proved to be an effective one, as by the time of the Heresy, the Dark Angels numbered roughly 200,000. Of course, this did come at the cost of Caliban becoming heavily industrialised and its population being redirected toward supporting and supplying the needs of the legion (some were not happy about this). Of course, the campaign occurred nearly a hundred years (give or take a few decades) before the Heresy occurred. The legion barely breaking the 100,000 mark (some records putting them closer to 50,000 due to the losses suffered against the Rangdan). The Legion needed to rebuild and the number of new Marines produced on Caliban rose to just over 2000 Marines every cycle thanks to the men that the Lion sent back; by the time of the Heresy, this number had risen to over 4000 per cycle.

===The Dulan Campaign===
Despite the fact that their Legions had operated together during the Rangdan Xenocides, [[Leman Russ]] and the Lion would only meet for the first time during the '''[[Faash|Dulan Campaign]]'''.

The leader of that world refused to give in to Imperial rule, going so far as calling Russ the Emperor´s lap[[Lulz|dog]]. Russ, never one to take criticism well, put his efforts into destroying every trace of the enemy while looking for their homeworld, vowing that he would personally kill the Faash leader to avenge this slight.

Unfortunately for Russ, the courts of Terra felt he was taking too long and sent the Lion to finish the campaign for him. When the two met they instantly took a dislike to one another, but agreed to cooperate in order to get the job done. When Russ got word that members of his [[Wulfen|13th Company]] were being held captive with their mutations being broadcast across Dulan as evidence of their corruption, Russ deviated from the agreed-upon plan to take the enemy capital and so the Lion moved in and killed the enemy ruler, denying Russ his vengeance. 

Russ felt that the kill was righteously his and had been stolen from him by the Lion. Russ, never one to let go of a stick easily, began a brawl with the Lion by walking up to his brother after the battle and punching him square in the jaw. While Russ was the stronger of the two, the Lion turned out to be the better swordsman and was the quicker. Their duel went on for a day and a night, ending when the Lion threw Russ through a table. The foolishness of their fight seemed at that point to dawn upon Russ, and he got back up and began to laugh, feeling his honour had been satisfied. Unfortunately, the Lion didn't have the same opinion, so he took Russ's laughter as his brother mocking him, and if there's one thing the Lion can´t stand, it's people mocking him. He threw a left hook sucker punch and knocked Russ out cold. When Russ woke up several days later, the Lion and his forces were gone. To say he was furious would be an understatement, but once he calmed down Russ realized that the Lion had actually done him a favour by quietly disposing of any damning evidence of the Wulfen.

10,000 years later both chapters still choose a champion from amongst their number in order to re-enact their Primarchs' duel whenever the two cross paths. There are two versions of the duel: Duellum Honestas, which is to first blood, and Duellum Dolor, which is to the death. It is customary for the Dark Angels to recite the ancient battle chant '''"- Two sucker punches were thrown that day. Only one Primarch walked away."'''

===Later===
Near the end of the Great Crusade, the Lion, along with [[Horus]], [[Fulgrim]], and [[Jaghatai]] accompanied the Emperor to the planet Molech. The four Primarchs would spend almost one hundred and eleven standard Terran days upon the surface of Molech, but whatever they did during this time was erased from their memories by the Emperor himself (the same thing he did to Zahariel in ''Descent of Angels''). When they departed, they left behind almost a hundred regiments of the Imperial Army, three Titanicus cohorts and a garrison detachment from two Legions to guard the Emperor's secrets.

<div class="toccolours mw-collapsible mw-collapsed">
An interesting little detail is that Molech is apparently where the Emperor made his deal with the Ruinous Powers; the deal was apparently that in exchange for power and knowledge he would provide them with vessels powerful enough for them to enter the material universe. The fact that he returned there with exactly [[Chaos Gods|four]] primarchs is very telling...
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">

Was the Emperor planning to make good on his deal by offering up his sons as sacrificial vessels for the dark gods in order to save his own skin? Why would an almost all-powerful ("godlike" being) give up any of its power? They wouldn't, for that would leave them in a weaker position then you were before. Of course, this is trying to apply logic to Chaos, they may have agreed simply because they were bored, and this would make things more interesting (all primarchs are infused with Warp power after all). It could be that he simply tricked the Chaos Gods, as it is even explicitly said by Ingethel the Ascended in "The First Heretic" that the Chaos Gods considered the primarchs their property. So it could be possible that the Emperor simply bargained for some warp power to create "stable greater daemons" (i.e. the primarchs) for the Chaos Gods, without ever intending on delivering on the promise. Also, this was not the first, but actually the second visit of the Emperor on Molech. Therefore it is far more likely that the EMPRA wanted to fortify this world on his second visit rather than offer four of his sons up as sacrificial lambs. The planet contained a gateway to the Realm of the Chaos Gods and he possibly needed some of his sons for that (or he wanted to keep up appearances that the deal was still on and took them along as some kind of proof). Not to mention that the EMPRA even left an immortal female Perpetual behind to guard (and if necessary) close the gateway forever, should it ever become necessary. Unfortunately, she was killed by Horus before she could finish the incantation, or the whole epic duel on the Vengeful Spirit would have played out entirely different.

Later during the Heresy the Lion would encounter a two-headed [[Lord of Change]] (possibly [[Kairos Fateweaver]], the oracle of [[Tzeentch]]) who claimed to have met the Lion before but although he recognised the voice of the daemon the Lion could not remember from where. During the Lion's confrontation with the two-headed Lord of Change his mind stirred with vague recollections, of pleading and entreaty.

Did the Emperor, knowing what was going to happen, actively seek to placate the Dark Gods so as to avoid the disaster that would follow? Answer: No/Yes/Maybe, as they consider the EMPRA their greatest enemy, and furthermore refer to him as "the Anathema" for a reason ''(Anathema means a person or thing detested or loathed: The Chaos Gods hate the Emperor and may even fear what his actions might bring about)'' The origins of the Chaos Gods loathing for the Emperor may have been the result of his theft, he had wronged them, and now they want payback; you could argue that the Emperor's actions and presence are what have caused the Chaos Gods to turn their attention away from the Great Game towards the Materium (He took the greatest gamble in history, and now the galaxy is paying the price). Horus suspects that the Emprah came to Molech (on his first visit) and stole his psychic might from the Chaos Gods (saying that the Emperor came with a spaceship but left without it) and takes this as proof that the Empra was not always as powerful as he is now/was at the time of the Horus Heresy. However, it is equally likely that that the Emperor simply used a spacecraft on his first visit to Molech, as teleporting across half the galaxy would have represented a huge effort and use of psychic power - even for him - which he would have needed to recover from. This in turn would have made it impossible for him to enter the Chaos Realm and act from a position of power.

Even the word Molech is remarkably similar to the word Moloch which is a biblical name relating to a Canaanite god associated with child sacrifice. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/moloch) if you read the page there might be a couple of other interesting similarities that you might find in relation to the Emperor. But then again [[Asmodai| a guy named after the demon of lust]] is part of the zealous fun police in 40kverse. </div></div>

===Reaction To Horus becoming Warmaster===

{{Topquote|He counted all men of power to think as he did, yet while the Lion and the Wolf of Luna shared many traits, they were not the same. When news of Horus' new rank reached the Lion he did not pause in his campaigns, did not offer congratulations or lament his own fortune and this, more than the reaction of any of his other brothers, gave the Warmaster pause.|Horus' reaction to the Lion's reaction to Horus becoming Warmaster}}

Surprisingly, despite their differences, both Russ and the Lion shared a similar reaction to Horus becoming Warmaster. Whilst many of their brothers threw massive temper tantrums and acted like spoiled brats, both the Lion and Russ accepted the decision with cynical resolve, unsurprised that it was Horus that had been chosen. Neither had been pleased with the decision, but neither of them could doubt his fitness for the role, for none of the primarchs had ever matched Horus’s achievements, nor the intimacy of his bond with the Emperor. Well, except for [[Sanguinius]], that is.

Initially, after Horus’s appointment, there was a silent but very [[Slaanesh|awkward tension]] between Horus and the Lion. The relationship between the two primarchs had always been fractious (Horus believed that the Lion felt he should be the most revered primarch because his Legion was the first). It had never spilled over into open confrontation, but Horus knew that their new circumstances would put their already straned brotherly bonds under additional pressure. Surprisingly it was the Lion and not Horus who made the effort to extend the olive branch, an offer that Horus could not afford to ignore.

The position of Warmaster does not make you the next Emperor in waiting, but as shown in “Unremembered Empire”, was the highest military position in the Imperium. Horus as the <s>first found</s> (at least officially; according to new lore, that position actually belongs to [[Alpharius]], though we only have ''his'' word on that...) already had a long and proven record that had yet to be beaten, although the Lion seems to have been catching him up pretty quickly. Horus also had one thing that the Lion, despite his brilliance, did not: his natural charisma - the ability to get people to do what he wanted and to act as a mediator between his various brothers, who would normally be at each other’s throats. The Lion was both introverted as fuck and had a stubborn, independent streak which meant that although he would follow the orders he was given, he would do it “his way”, which might not gel well with what other people may have wanted.

In the short story '''The Board is Set''', the symbolic depiction of the piece used to represent the Lion is the ''"Double-Edged Sword"'', which indicates that the Emperor may have known that the Lion had the capacity to bring both favourable and unfavourable consequences and therefore kept him away from the position of Warmaster for that very reason (though ironically he did trust him and his legion with a [[Psyker|SUPER]] [[Men of Iron|SEKRIT]] MacGuffin arsenal of [[Dark Age of Technology|Dark Age]]-era artifacts that [[Adeptus Mechanicus|nobody else]] in the Imperium possessed). Additionally, [[Lorgar]] was given a vision apparently showing all the Primarchs that would side with Horus during the Heresy. One of the Primarchs shown fits the description of the young Lion arriving on Caliban. The [[Chaos Gods]] seem to have really wanted and fully expected the Lion to have joined their side during the Heresy. The fact that the Lion stayed loyal either shows that the Emperor made the right choice with the Lion, or that the sword hadn't swung both ways yet. However, it's more likely that the double-edged sword was the depiction of a loyal tool that can cut friend or foe without hesitation; a Lion that can kill his enemies but also a brother gone astray, as proven in his readiness to strike down [[Fallen Angels|fallen]] brothers if need to.

==Horus Heresy== 
Shortly after the betrayal at Isstvan III, but prior to the [[Drop Site Massacre]], the Lion and his legion were busy battling for control over the Shield Worlds, but upon learning of Horus' betrayal he emerged from the dark in order to lead a small select group of Dark Angels to capture a set of [[Ordinatus]] war engines that [[Horus]] would have used against the Imperial Palace. Note: These weapons were so big that a blast from one could [[Anal Circumference|take out an entire starport]]. Despite successfully winning this campaign and capturing the weapons, the Lion ended up having a meeting with [[Perturabo]], who was ostensibly on his way to join with Dorn's retribution force in order to bring justice to the Emperor's traitorous sons. The Lion gifted the Ordinatii to his brother with the understanding that Pert would lend his voice in supporting the Lion's candidacy for the position of Warmaster after Horus was dealt with. Suffice to say that the Lion had no idea that his brother had already turned and would likely end up using the war engines on Terra anyway. The Lion then left to re-join his legion. It would turn out that it was Pert who told the Lion of Curze and the Night Lords' activities in the Thramas sector, and was the one to place the target on Curze’s back. However, Horus was ultimately behind both Pert and Curze's actions, as the overarching plan was to set the Dark Angels up to be so busy with the Night Lords as to remove them from the wider Heresy. In particular, Horus wanted to make absolutely sure they weren't anywhere near Terra when he made his move to take it.
[[File:Lion vs Curze.jpg|380px|thumb|right|The Emperor's First and Eighth Sons, spending some quality time together. They might not look like it, but the brothers are having the time of their lives!]]

===Thramas Crusade===
{{Topquote|I was content in the dark places of the galaxy, content to kill in the name of empire and be forgotten. But you have summoned me back with your pitiful flailings at rebellion, for you have endangered the empire my toil has built and for that there is a price to be paid. First we shall speak of my brothers, Curze and Horus, and then you shall learn what terror truly means for the brief remnants of your existence.|Spoken by the Lion as he drags a Praetor of the Night Lords into the ''Invincible Reason'' so that they can have a friendly chat}}

When the [[Horus Heresy]] properly broke out, the Dark Angels began a push-pull war with the [[Konrad Curze|Night Haunter]] and [[Night Lords|his legion]] known as the [[Thramas Crusade]]. The Night Lords had originally been tasked with conquering the sector and turning its assets over to the traitors, in order to fuel the war effort in Horus’ name. Perturabo, who was still playing his part as a loyal son, informed the Lion of their activities. The Lion, under the impression that Dorn’s retribution force could deal with Horus and friends, left to gather a force of Dark Angels to bring the Night Lords to heel. It would only be during the time he was gathering his own forces that the true scale of his brothers' betrayal became apparent. The Lion and the part of the legion accompanying him would now find themselves on the wrong side of the Ruinstorm, unable to get to the other side, and faced with a enemy that could not be left unchallenged and that was very much determined to keep them tied up for as long as possible.

While the Lion was a superior tactician to Curze, finishing that particular fight was more easily said than done. The nature of the combat essentially forced the Lion to play a game of cat-and-also-cat with Curze, and if there was one thing Curze was good at (besides being spooky), it was unconventional warfare. Second, successfully ambushing a warp-capable fleet with another warp-capable fleet is almost impossible. Imperial warp drives are not only inaccurate, but are very difficult to use inside of star systems, so realspace translation with a planetary target in mind has to occur pretty far away from the actual destination. This meant that if the Dark Angels tried to counter a Night Lords incursion, the Night Lords could detect the Dark Angels long before they were in engagement range. By the time the Dark Angels could get significant assets in-system, most of the Night Lords could, and often would, already be gone.  During ‘The Lion’ by Gav Thorpe, the Night Lords are actually capable of somehow following the Dark Angels' ships during Warp travel, something that should have been impossible. The Dark Angels don’t know how they were doing it, but it is likely that the Night Lords were unknowingly getting a bit of a helping hand from the Chaos gods. Traitor counterattacks on worlds such as Sedrrice and Chenros had left both sides battered and exhausted. The situation had turned into an inconclusive quagmire with no end in sight, which suited the Night Lords just fine. So long as they could continue to keep the Dark Angels stuck on the wrong side of the galaxy, their objective was fulfilled.

Also around this point it was apparent that the Lion was hanging out with the [[Watchers in the Dark]], who were apparently feeding him information. ''(Which is kind of a WTF, are they members of the Cabal or not? And do they want to fuck over humanity or not? And what '''does''' the Lion know about it?)''. The Watchers were informing him that his legion back on [[Caliban]] were starting to get naughty (though the way that they conveyed this was... unhelpfully oblique), but the Lion also knew that [[Roboute Guilliman]] had also raised his banner in the East and could have become a threat almost as bad as [[Horus]]. Knowing that it could potentially mean sacrificing his legion if he took too long, he also made it clear during this little conversation with the Watcher that he was 100% loyal to the Emperor. He in fact went so far as to state that he would not suffer the Imperium to be led by literally anyone other than the Emperor, even if that meant he had to fight any or all of his loyal brothers so stop such an eventuality.

After a year of conflict, Curze invited Lion El'Jonson to parley on the planet of Tsagualsa, either to try to turn him or just for the lulz he might get in poking fun at him. Here, Curze once again mocked the Dark Angels, telling Lion El'Jonson that in the future, the Dark Angels' loyalty would be called into question; were they truly loyal, or had they just been waiting on the sidelines to see who won the battle? This proved that Curze wasn't in the office the day the memo about “Not Mocking the Lion” was handed out. The Lion waited patiently for his brother to stop ranting, then apologized to Curze for what he referred to as '''"such a dishonourable blow"''' before he proceeded to [[Awesome|impale Konrad through the gut]] with his sword, defiantly proclaiming that '''"-‘I do not care who knows the truth now, tomorrow, or in ten thousand years. Loyalty is its own reward."''' The two brothers proceeded to have a brutal and bloody brawl which at one point had Curze nearly strangling the Lion despite having been sucker-stabbed minutes before. Fortunately for the Lion however, Corswain of the Dark Angels leapt onto Curze's back and impaled him (again), then preceded to strangle him with his own chains, riding the Night Haunter like he was in a rodeo, which allowed the Lion to get back up; the two brothers would continue to fight until large numbers of Marines from both Legions landed and pulled them apart. Being dragged back to their individual ships while flinging curses at one another, the Lion swore that '''he would not return to Terra''' before he had made Konrad Curze and his legion pay for their traitorous actions, inadvertently ensuring that Curze's prediction would come to pass. It was also after this point that the war would start to turn against Curze really badly. Once again, do NOT mock the Lion.

Taking Curze's message about being "savage weapons" to heart, the Lion stopped chasing Curze around the whole sector and instead tried something different. He enacted a scorched-earth policy to reduce the available area that he had to defend. He took what munitions and warriors he could from less-defended worlds, moved their populations en masse to more defensible locations, then destroyed whatever remained so that the Traitors were left with nothing to fight over. This sort of worked, but also  was effectively doing much of the traitors' work for them. However, this policy created such impregnable strongholds that only ''one'' of them fell to the enemy, which was Thramas itself, and that world was taken for only seven days before being reclaimed by '''Marduk Sedras''' and his forces. Unfortunately for the Lion, this also didn't exactly solve the problem of fighting the Night Lords, as their elusive fleets could still withdraw whenever they were engaged. This meant that the Lion also needed a second aspect to his plan that he believed was to be found in the '''Perditus''' system.

During the journey to Perditus, there was a short run-in with [[daemons]] where the Dark Angels aboard the ''Invincible Reason'' found themselves trapped between reality and the Warp without the protection of the Gellar fields. The command deck of the flagship was saved by the intervention of one of the legion's former Librarians breaking the Edict of Nikaea, which helped the Dark Angels to figure out that psychic powers were the best weapon against creatures of the Warp. When the Lion reinstated the Librarius, one of the [[Chaplain|Chaplains]] got a bit pissy over him defying the Edict of [[Council of Nikaea|Nikaea]] and demanded that the Librarian be immediately executed, even as tides of daemons continued to flood the ship. So what did the Lion do? Delivered a brutal backhanded slap which KNOCKED HIS FUCKING HEAD OFF! No-one fucks with the Lion. Any questions? (it should be noted that the Lion hadn't meant to kill the guy and showed genuine sorrow and regret over the Chaplain's death).

<div class="toccolours mw-collapsible mw-collapsed">
This scene has caused no small amount of nerd rage amongst Dark Angels players. Mostly because it was fucking stupid.
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
When reading this scene, there are a number of things to bear in mind:

*This was not a common occurrence; the shock displayed by the Dark Angels who witnessed the event indicates this was not the normal behaviour for the Lion.
*The entire ship was currently trapped between reality and the Warp without the protection of the Gellar field.
*The ''Invincible Reason'' was currently being overrun by a tidal wave of daemons, and the longer it took to stop them, the greater the loss would be amongst his Legion. 
*The Lion gave the Chaplain multiple chances to stand down, explaining that, yes the Librarian had broken the Edict, but their current situation required their power to be utilized. The breaking of the Edict would be dealt with only after the daemons had been dealt with first.
*The Lion struck out in anger, hitting the Chaplain with the back of his hand, as proven by the armor shards embedded in the back of his gauntlet. This looks more like a disciplinary action then an actual attempt to kill. The Lion lashed out in blind anger, not intending to actually kill; it's up to you to decide whether this makes it better or worse.
*It only took a split second for the Lion to realize what he had done, and his normally stoic appearance was replaced by one of anguish. After looking at the hand that struck the Chaplain he knelt, his eyes never leaving the ruined body and swore that they would mourn for the Chaplain once the ship was once again safe.

The author of “The Lion”, Gav Thorpe was asked what made him decide to kill off the Chaplain, his reply can be found here: http://gavthorpe.co.uk/spoilers/[[http://gavthorpe.co.uk/spoilers/]].
</div></div>

The ace in the Lion's sleeve was an awesome, yet clearly heretical, sentient warp engine of unknown origin called the [[Tuchulcha]], that the Lion had first learned about during his time campaigning with [[Mortarion]] in the Great Crusade. Upon arriving at its hidden location he found that a group of [[Death Guard]] and [[Iron Hands]] were arguing over it. He very clearly told them both to stand down or he would destroy them, the engine, and the planet itself if need be, rather then let it fall into traitor hands. The Death Guard carried on, believing he was bluffing... until he actually followed through with his threat, only redirecting the attack once the Death Guard had backed down. This artifact was part of a trinity of sentient Warp constructs consisting of itself, the Plagueheart, and the [[Ouroboros]] (the creature at the heart of Caliban). All three parts were at one time part of a single warp entity used by the [[Old Ones]] to create their Webway network, or at least part of it. Strangely enough Tuchulcha refers to [[Caliban]] as its home and states that ‘Salvation’ is waiting there, not just for it but for the Dark Angels as well. However, since the Lion had no real way to tell friend from foe since the Death Guard were working for [[Horus]] and the Iron Hands were now working for [[Rowboat Girlyman]], he ended up shouting at [[Typhus|Typhon]] for a bit, told the Iron Hands to go fuck themselves, and took the Tuchulcha for himself.

At around this time, [[Magnus]] had sussed out that the Lion was carrying around the "seeds of his own destruction", but it is uncertain if he is referring to [[Tuchulcha]], the [[Watchers in the Dark]], the soon-to-be-[[Fallen Angels]], or something else, since there seems to be a lot of strange influences surrounding the First Legion during this period.

The Dark Angels used the Tuchulcha to ambush the Night Lords and eventually break their legion, forcing them to scatter and become a raiding force from then onwards. Konrad Curze, after emerging from the deathly coma caused by the savage mauling he had received at the Lion's hands during the ambush, would end up lurking around the Dark Angels flagship [[A Game of Pretend|playing a deadly game]] of hide and seek, which the Lion almost won until someone interrupted him by radio.

By the end of the conflict the Dark Angels had suffered almost 10,000 casualties, whilst the Night Lords had suffered the loss of around 40,000 marines; the Night Lords had 100,000 marine fighting in the conflict (100% of the legion) vs 70,000 Dark Angels (35% of the legion). But in completing the campaign, the Lion had to effectively damn himself twice in order to do so, first by being just as destructive as the Night Lords and effectively ruining much of the Thramas Sector, and second by bringing the forbidden Tuchulcha device on board his ship and using it. Though to be fair, the Tuchulcha amounted to a completely game-breaking piece of tech when it came to void warfare, as it allowed the Dark Angels fleet to basically ignore every limitation or danger of Imperial warp drives.

Though the Dark Angels couldn't be kept out of the greater fight indefinitely, Curze ultimately succeeded in the strategic objective the Traitors had been aiming for. The Lion had lost his chance to be present at Terra when the hammer fell, and the bulk of the Dark Angels would not be present either. It would take the full might of the Lion, two of his brothers, and their legions to finally break through the Ruinstorm; to be fair, this isn't that surprising, as Horus had years to secretly plan out everything (and it still didn't go exactly to plan) against his unknowing opponents, and to set out his strategies to isolate or sideline the brothers he knew he couldn't get to turn traitor.

===Imperium Secundus===
After the shattering of the Night Lords the Lion headed towards Macragge with a force of 20,000 Dark Angels, leaving the bulk of the Legion under the command of '''Corswain'''. His last command to his Seneschal was to find Russ of the Space Wolves, and to engage the enemy wherever possible.
In order to make the search as effective as possible the Legion split up into Orders, allowing them to search a much wider area. They would unfortunately fail to locate Russ, as he and the Space Wolves had already been saved by some Calibanite Dark Angels who had been sent out to distant fortresses across the void 59 years ago and had recently been trying to piece together what was happening during the Heresy due to the nebula interfering with communications. (Which begs the question, how did Russ know the Lion was heading to Macragge in ‘Vengeful Spirit’ if Althalos hadn’t had any word from the Lion and had no idea what he was doing?) Though the Calibanite Dark Angels had sworn themselves to Luther (most have never even seen the Lion or any other primarch for that matter), these ones seemed to still be loyal to the Emperor.

Corswain went on to travel with Belath (the same arse from “Call of the Lion”) to hunt down some Death Guard forces under the command of Typhon. They gave the Death Guard such a hard time that [[Mortarion]] himself decided that he needed to take control of the situation personally. Belath annoyed Corswain so much ''(yes, this guy is so annoying he managed to get under the skin of the guy who held his own in a verbal duel with ''[[Sevatar]]'' without losing his cool)'' that he was ordered to commandeer as many transports as he could and head to Caliban in order to collect all the Dark Angels stationed there and bring them into the fight.

[[File:Primarchs-Deathfire.jpg|350px|thumb|right|Lords of Imperium Secundus]]

A bit later, the Lion finally made his way out to [[Ultramar|Macragge]] with the intention of seeing [[Roboute Guilliman]]. Due to a giant-ass Warp storm aptly named the Ruinstorm, pretty much anybody who was on the eastern side of the galaxy had been cut off from Terra. Attempts had been made to penetrate the storm, but nobody had come even close to succeeding as far as those who remained were aware. As such, Guilliman had decided that until he heard otherwise, he was going to assume the absolute worst case scenario: Horus had won, Terra was in ruins, the Emperor was dead, and something needed to be done. That something would end up being the formation of a political institution called '''[[Imperium Secundus]]''', which was essentially a space-age version of the Eastern Roman Empire. The point was to preserve as much of the Imperium's progress and ideals as possible, and to try to scrape together enough of a fighting force to give the Traitors absolute hell when the inevitable attack came. To that end, Guilliman's forces had found a xenos device known as the Pharos, a lighthouse-like device built into a mountain on the planet Sotha, which they originally used as a sort of mini-Astronomican. With the light of the actual Astronomican having been cut off by the Ruinstorm, all the disparate and scattered Loyalist forces in the eastern half of the galaxy started converging on the Pharos, either thinking it was the real Astronomican or just looking for some safe harbor. The Lion, due to his ridiculous Tardis, knew precisely where he was going and had the intention of making sure Guilliman wasn't trying to become a third wheel in the current galactic clusterfuck. He arrived on Macragge with no incident despite the Ultramarines being quite on edge (Calth had just happened after all), and put on a parade with his Dark Angels that was so awesome that Guilliman actually got a bit annoyed. This was then sharply contrasted by the Lion straight up ''hugging'' Guilliman when they met, which freaked him out so badly that he dropped his helmet, which the Lion then picked up and gave back to him. Guilliman didn't want to give the job of [[Emperor|Regent]] to the Lion because he didn't trust the Lion, and the Lion didn't want Guilliman to have it because what Guilliman was doing was technically treason. In spite of this, the two brothers were actually getting on for a little while...

... And then [[Konrad Curze|Konrad]] broke loose and pretty much waged a [[Sly Marbo|one man war]] against [[Ultramar]], after which [[Vulkan]] was revealed to have been on Macragge the whole time and the two proceeded to bitchslap each other about for a bit. Guilliman and the Lion had a pissing match because of this over who was [[Keeper of Secrets|hiding the most secrets]]. Eventually [[Sanguinius]] joined the party and they made him [[Emperor|regent]], solving both of their problems.

The Lion was named Lord Protector of Imperium Secundus, essentially making him Warmaster in all but name of the loyalists now allied with the Imperium Secundus. Sanguinius would be the Emperor and Guilliman the architect (i.e the prime minister). Guilliman would command an [[Administratum|army of bureaucrats]], senators and lawmakers whilst the Lion would be the general of the combined armed forces. He would be able to take the fight to Horus at the head of the finest augmented warriors dedicated to the most beloved of the Primarchs, recruited, organised and armed by the greatest logistician in the galaxy and commanded by its paramount general. You really would struggle to put together a better combination, too bad they didn’t really get on or Horus would have had a fight on his hands.

Despite the Primarchs' public display of unity, not all was well with the newly formed alliance. The Lion took Curze’s escape very seriously, seeing it as his own personal failure; the fact that his treacherous brother had once again slipped through his fingers infuriated him and continued to play on his mind. He also became increasingly annoyed with [[Sanguinius]] who despite being made [[Emperor|regent]] seemed to want to do nothing but [[Lorgar|lock himself away and mope around feeling sorry for himself]] like some stroppy teen.

As time passed the Lion grew increasingly obsessed with hunting down his wayward brother and bringing him to ‘justice’ for his past crimes (sounds [[Konrad Curze|strangely familiar]] for some reason) and neglected some of his other duties toward the Imperium Secundus (seriously is anyone else getting a weird sense of deja vu) in favour of preparing in secret to finally put a stop to the Night Haunter’s antics. (In all fairness you can’t really blame him; hunting down another Primarch, especially one as elusive and dangerous as Curze, isn’t exactly something you can half-arse).
*Guilliman tried to blame the Lion for the attack on the Pharos, even going so far as to try to get Sang to team up with him against the Lion; Sang shot back that despite both his brothers naming him Emperor, Guilliman had never truly let go of the reins of power, with Guilliman treating Sanguinius as little more than a figurehead- going out of his way to put on a show in public, yet pulling all the strings behind the scenes regardless to Sang’s wishes. All three brothers had agreed to not draw attention to the Pharos, choosing to not have it heavily guarded on purpose to make it look unimportant; its safety was therefore their collective responsibility, not just the Lion. When the attack against the Pharos happened the Lion was busy elsewhere, beating the shit out of a portion of the World Eaters and freeing another one of Guilliman's worlds from traitor forces; all whilst Guilliman was sitting at his desk at home and Sang was isolating himself in his throne room (at least one of the three was getting shit done).

[[File:The three move forward.jpg|350px|thumb|right|The Lion looking more like a [[Neckbeard]] than usual. Dog the Bounty Hunter would be proud, though.]]
Through the events of “Angels of Caliban” the Lion proves just what he is willing to do and sacrifice in order to catch Curze, and that he is undoubtedly an apex predator among the warp spawned monsters that comprise his family. With the blessing of [[Sanguinius]] he unleashes the Dreadwing upon Macragge, whilst at the same time deploying the Deathwing to protect the capital and enforce martial law. Although the populace were unhappy about the restrictions placed upon them, the Lion had good reason for doing so; terrorist attacks had spread across Macragge, resulting in the death of large numbers of civilians and even entire patrols of Space Marines. The terrorist activity was spreading out from the mountainous region of Illyrium, whose people turned out to have been worshippers of Chaos for centuries before Guilliman's foster father was even born. The people of this region had never accepted Guilliman as Macragge's ruler, but decided that discretion was the way to go and had kept their rituals secret, for as long as a Primarch stood against them they knew that they could not win... yet. The Lion saw the pattern in their workings and knew that Curze was the one pulling the strings, something Guilliman refused to accept. The people of Illyrium now had their own demigod on their side and were quick to take action against the rest of Macragge. Both the Lion and Guilliman argued over how to deal with them. Guilliman refused to take up arms against "his" people, and the Lion argued that they could not move forward whilst this rebellion acted as a weight around their necks. Sanguinius sided with the Lion, much to Guilliman's dismay, although the Lion was warned that orbital bombardment was out of the question. The Lion simply rolled his eyes and did it anyway (in a very sneaky way of course); he orbitally dropped the Dreadwing into the mountains and had them wreck the place with their full arsenal of proscribed weapons. The Lion cleaned up the mess that Guilliman should have dealt with a long time ago, but then again that is what the Lion was there to do; he was there to do the dirty work so the other two could keep their hands clean.

The Lion cornered Curze in an isolated mountain range and ordered the Dreadwing to stand down before going in alone. Curze’s shadowman antics had grown predictable, especially for the Lion, who'd also started drawing more on his hunting instincts than in any of his previous portrayals. The final brutal confrontation between the brothers ended with Curze and the Lion reenacting the ''Knightfall'' comic as Batman and Bane, respectively. (seriously the similarities between Russ and the Lion are starting to add-up). The Lion dragged a paralysed, broken, and chained Curze before his brothers for trial, but Curze quickly flipped the script by revealing that the Lion did in fact disobey the direct order from Sanguinius regarding the use of excessive force. Despite doing all the dirty work and handing over Curze to them on a silver platter, the Lion was banished from Imperium Secundus and Guilliman broke the Lion Sword over his knee while delivering a pretty snappy one-liner. 
*An interesting scenario may have played out if the Lion hadn’t wiped out this militarized Chaos worshiping cult (they had kept their ‘faith’ hidden from the rest of the planet whilst Guilliman ruled, but now they had their own demigod on their side). If they had been left alive when the Primarchs and their forces left for Terra, this cult may have overrun the heart of Guilliman's realm in their absence. Guilliman on his return may have had to deal with his very own Caliban scenario; in hindsight Guilliman may actually owe the Lion big-time for removing them before they could become a major issue.
*There is certainly a whiff of hypocrisy coming from Guilliman here; even in the stories that features him 10,000 years later, he reminisces over the countless worlds that he had brought to ruin and the sheer number of species wiped from existence by his hands, all in the name of the Emperor. What the Lion had done was no different than what the Imperium routinely inflicted upon countless civilizations across the galaxy during the Great Crusade; the only difference is that now it was Guilliman's capital world that was affected. All of the primarchs have oceans of blood on their hands, and Guilliman getting angry because he was now on the other end of the brutality of the Emperor's Crusade is rather funny.

As the Dark Angels were preparing to leave, the Lion had an epiphany regarding Curze's visions; if Curze’s fate was to be executed by an assassin at the Emperor's command, then he needed to be still alive for such an order to be given. If Curze were to be killed before he was meant to be killed, then the loyalists might inadvertently bring about a future where the Emperor’s fate could be drastically changed for the worse. The Lion immediately went back down to Macragge, giving up the last chance he had of saving his legion and homeworld, bent the knee to his brothers and begged them (SERIOUSLY IF ANYONE STILL HAS ANY DOUBTS REGARDING HIS DEVOTION TO THE EMPEROR THEN YOU DESERVE A SLAP) to spare Curze’s life (he’s got better plot armour than the Space Wolves at this point) and pledges to be his brother’s keeper.

Now knowing that Terra still stood, the three Primarchs gathered the bulk of their forces and headed into the Ruinstorm, with the intent of forcing their way through. Sanguinius would end up almost having a major falling out with the Lion after Hawk Boy decided to break Curze out of his prison, leaving a trail of unconscious Dark Angels behind him, so that Sanguinius and Curze could go to Davin and find out what remained there. The Lion was so pissed that he nearly ordered the planet destroyed with his brother still on it. Realising what he had almost ordered, the Lion deduced that even now the enemy was manipulating them, subtly playing upon their fears, dreams and wants and exploiting their personalities and natural instincts to drag them down a path of fate that would only lead to their self-destruction. Feeling the invisible chains that had shackled him without his notice, he immediately sent a message to Guilliman, warning him to be watchful, as they could no longer trust their first instincts. The message was received by Guilliman, who took the hidden meaning very seriously as he himself was suffering his own inner conflicts of self-doubt and inaction.

Once through the Ruinstorm, the three fleets parted ways. Whilst Guilliman’s fleet tried to punch a hole through the traitors' ships in order to allow the Blood Angels to get to Terra, the Lion and his forces went on an Exterminatus spree through traitor-held space in order to draw more of Horus’s forces away from Terra. Did you ever wonder why there are no mentions of the traitor primarchs' homeworlds after the Heresy? The Lion and the Dark Angels are why. The Lion unleashed destruction of unprecedented scale, crushing traitor world after traitor world across the galaxy. When the traitors were defeated at Terra, there would be no safe haven for them to run to.

One of the biggest lessons the Primarchs took from their trip through the Ruinstorm was that symbolism and symbolic actions were very important when fighting the forces of Chaos. A sword is a more effective weapon than a firearm, not because it's more powerful, but because the person has to be the one to drive the blade home. Decisive and thorough action was crucial. The Lion took this lesson to heart; he wouldn't just destroy his enemies, he would wipe them out completely, root and stem.

===Exterminatus Campaigns===
This period of time would be known as ‘the passage of the Angel of Death’, as the Lion would throw aside any notion or façade of the ‘hero’/‘savior’, and would fully embody the aspect of the ‘destroyer’. The Dreadwing, whose actions were normally highly controlled and sanctioned were let completely off the chain, and where they walked, worlds burned. (Farith Redloss once asked if the Lion was sure he wanted to unleash the Dreadwing, as he knew that once the order was given no quarter would be given; among the legion, Redloss was a well known warmonger, and even he was like ‘are you sure you want to do this?’)

Just as he told his brothers he would, the Lion tore a path of destruction through the traitor territories. His legion destroyed [[Chemos]], [[Nuceria]], and many other worlds, but by the time they reduced [[Barbarus]] to space dust, they began to realise that they were not having the desired effect. The traitors seemed to be indifferent to the destruction of their homeworlds and refused to be drawn away from Terra.

The Lion had taken to haunting the abandoned levels of the ''Invincible Reason'' since the destruction of Luth Tyre. He didn't even bother to appear when Barbarus finally died. Although he didn't tell the legion the reason why, as it seemed the [[Astronomican]] was dead; now that the Ruinstorm was gone the Lion reasoned that the eight weeks of darkness combined with the prophetic visions of Curze and Sanguinius meant that despite their efforts Horus had won. All that was left to do was to make sure it was a hollow victory and the Lion would avenge his father by making sure Horus ruled over an empire of ash. This is expanded upon in ''Mortis''; the Astronomican is confirmed to have been snuffed out, not simply obscured, meaning that even though they may have wanted to get to Terra, they would be sailing blind. Only the Lion and his inner circle of trust knows this, however.

[[File:The broken blade.jpg|300px|thumb|right|Descriptions of the broken blade.]]

He confided only in Mistress Fiona, the ship's Navigator, and Stenius, the ship's captain. They had been reliant on Tuchulcha to travel since Luth Tyre, but had kept it a secret until they were sure of their chosen path. The revelation that Stenius had been a member of the Lion's innermost circle all along and had been trusted to use Tuchulcha came as a real surprise to Holguin, as it was a well-known fact among the legion that the Lion had been suspicious of his loyalties; turns out the Lion and Stenius are two fantastic actors.

A meeting was called to discuss what their next move should be, with the Lion demanding that all wings of the Hexagrammaton should be heard. Although the gathering took place, the Lion was nowhere to be found. The meeting started seemingly without him, the gathered assembly bowing to an empty throne. The debate gathered momentum with Astartes and mortals arguing on both sides. The Lion brought the heated debate to an end by suddenly appearing among them, seated upon the throne, catching them all by surprise. By remaining unnoticed, the Lion demonstrated that he may have been better at reading people than he let on. Without them being aware of his presence he was able to listen to the honest opinions of his legionaries, as well as his mortal crew. The mortals would never have spoken up in his presence and he was no longer getting open and honest answers from his voted lieutenants. The heads of the Hexagrammation were not just a military force but also acted as his closest advisors and confidants. Despite his efforts to reassure and encourage them to speak their minds, the death of the Brother-Redemptor at his hands had colored their view of the Lion. Although they may have had opposing views to their Primarch, they now kept them to themselves. This essentially isolated the Lion, leaving him alone without anyone he could truly confide in; this didn't help the fact that the longer the Heresy dragged out, the more the primal beast that slumbered in his heart was being pushed further to the surface. By remaining unseen he was able to get the honest views of both sides, which he wouldn't have heard if he had made his presence known.

Ultimately the Lion would choose to continue to attack the traitors' reinforcements, strongholds and supply lines, this was mostly due to the fact that without the light of the Astronomican to guide them back to Terra, they couldn’t make it back even if they wanted to.

Also of note: the book ‘Dreadwing’ insists heavily that the Lion's actions are having little effect, however later sources clearly refute this assessment. Malcador explains to Dorn how important the Lion's actions are in harming the forces of Chaos, and he is backed up by Sanguinius, who learned the same lessons as the Lion during their journey. It’s made clear that Horus’s forces are being starved of reinforcements for the [[Siege of Terra]] due to the Lion destroying anyone attempting to do so, and by destroying the traitor strongholds he is denying them any safe haven that they could retreat to. Horus' forces were now stuck between Terra and the loyalist noose slowly closing in around Sol and the traitor fleet (this pressure would help push Horus’s hand). [[pretend|It might have looked like]] the Lion's actions were having no effect from his own position at the traitor's backs, but they most certainly did.

The Lion was also not on his own, as he teamed up with many other scattered loyalist forces, including some Imperial Fists who had escaped the siege of their own homeworld. The Lion would also be joined by Russ (just like in the old lore), his legion, and the Raven Guard (Corax wouldn’t join them personally, but would lend a portion of his legion). The Lion would team up with his brothers long before the events in ‘Dreadwing’ would take place, which brings the canon events that happen in that book into question; the story overall stays the same but the details change.

Also, Corswain and some Dark Angels reach Terra on their own and jump into the fray to reignite the Astronomican, allowing the other Loyalists to get to Terra and take part in the siege - once it is back up and running it will be a race for the Lion and Russ to get to Terra in time, just like the older lore described.

==Later==
{{Topquote|You never learned! You should have been faster! It was your pride that kept you in the void! And I am guilty, just as you are. So fight me, and we will pass sentence on each other, the guilty slaying the guilty. I will not ask you again!|the Lion maddened by grief confronts Russ under the monument of [[Faash|Dulan]]}}

Near the end of the Siege of Terra, the Lion's campaign to destroy the traitor worlds came to a close and he decided it was time to make his way back towards Terra. The Primarchs led their armadas into the warp, where they were then assaulted by daemons attempting to stop them from reaching Terra. Many Space Marines and ships were lost, and warp storms personally sent by the Chaos Gods swept them off course and drove them to the many shadowy corners of the universe unseen by men before or since. The fleets drove onwards in an attempt to make it back on course, but many soldiers were lost as they succumbed to starvation, plague, or madness.

*Note: Corswain and a portion of the Dark Angels legion (the legion had been split up into many different fleets, each under the command of a legion master- in order to take the fight to the traitors over a wider portion of the galaxy) which he was put in charge of before the Lion headed for Macragge, arrived to aid Terra long before the arrival of their Primarch. The Lion has below 30,000 marines currently with him (he arrived on Macragge with only around 20-30,000 Marines), due to losses sustained on the journey to Terra and his battles against the traitor forces. Only 70,000 out of the legion's (roughly) 200,000 marines took part in the fighting at Thramas, leaving around 130,000 Marines scattered across the galaxy fighting their own battles. Corswain should have roughly around 40-50,000 Marines with him when he arrives to help Terra, unless he was able to pick up additional numbers along the way. These numbers would have made a real difference, however Corswain seems to have been unable to recall the rest of the legion after his hunt for the Death Guard forces had ended. He was able to grab a good number of Marines from Luther, though. The Luther loyalists were instructed to accompany the loyalist forces and "inconvenience" them as much as possible. The Marines loyal to Luther planned to kill Corswain as soon as they were able to, but just like Luther, after hanging around the Hound Lord for a bit they started to question their conviction. One of them even saved Corswain's life on more then one occasion. They would arrive at Terra with a force of around 10,000 marines, and immediately seek to reignite the Astronomican.

The [[Space Wolves]] and the [[Dark Angels]] dropped into the fighting around the ruins of the Emperor's Palace. Joining forces with the remnants of the [[White Scars]] and the [[Blood Angels]], they swiftly drove the forces of Chaos from the rubble. The arrival of Russ and the Lion had broken the forces of Chaos, and with the death of Horus they beat a hasty retreat from the system, but for the first time the Primarchs felt no joy in victory and saw no glory in their deeds.

Both the Lion and Russ took the Emperor's loss very badly; maddened with pain, heartbreak and despair, bitter words were spoken ''(the Lion believed that if Russ had not insisted on stopping to deal with every besieged world they stumbled across, then they could have made it on time).'' Filled with rage, the Lion prepared to strike Russ down. Russ simply exposed his chest, offering his heart to Jonson's blade. At the last second, the Lion perceived the madness of the situation. As his blade pierced Russ's primary heart, he turned his stroke aside, deflecting the blade from bone and missing the second heart. When Russ awoke he found Dorn and Jonson standing over his bed. The Lion approached his brother and bowed his head, begging his forgiveness, which Russ gladly gave. The three Primarchs swore a great oath never to do battle against each other again.

The Horus Heresy had taken a heavy toll upon the First Legion. With their Legion scattered across the galaxy fighting battles alone and without support, it was not the loss of lives that the First sacrificed to Horus' ambition. No, not for them the honourable toll of blood paid by the other loyalist legions, but a heavier burden paid with the sacrifice of the legion's unity and identity. Who they were and who they might have been had slowly but surely eroded away, piece by piece surrendered to Horus' war. With the trust, friendship and brotherhood that had existed among the legionnaires shattered beyond repair, Caliban would prove to be the final breaking point.

===Fall of Caliban===
{{Topquote| How? How can this be? Do you realise what you have done? That you have doomed yourself is terrible, but in so doing you have condemned your brothers, and even Caliban itself, to damnation. And for what? Look around you, Luther! Look at what you have become. Look at what this has done to us all. What promise did they make you that you would barter away your soul? What could be worth this price? |Lion El’Jonson, last recorded words of the Primarch during the Battle of Caliban}}

{{topquote|Damn you Luther – how could you betray us? We were your brothers, and now we must join you in eternal damnation.|Lion El’Jonson, Primarch of the Dark Angels}}

The events after the Horus Heresy are unclear; the forces of Chaos had been defeated, but they had left the Imperium in ruins. For the Lion and his Legion, one final, shattering betrayal remained to be discovered on their return to Caliban. As the Angels' unsuspecting fleet moved into orbit, they were met by a devastating barrage of defence laser fire ''(ordered by Astelan)''. Stunned by the attack, the Lion withdrew and attempted to find out what had happened. Luther had used his skills at oratory to lead the Dark Angels under his command to turn their backs upon the Emperor and their Primarch.

The fury of Jonson and the loyal Dark Angels at learning this information knew no bounds. They had fought from one end of the galaxy to the other and now they found that their own homeworld and their own brethren had turned against them. The Lion immediately ordered an assault on the planet. The massed guns of the fleet easily disabled Caliban's defence laser batteries and then scoured the planet, driving the rebel Dark Angels back to their fortress monasteries. The Lion personally led the assault on the greatest of the monasteries, knowing that this was where he would find Luther. The two opponents were equally matched, for Luther had been enhanced by the dark gods of Chaos, becoming a psyker of such power that not even the combined might of the Watchers could restrain him. [[Anime|The two former friends met in a combat the likes of which would not be seen again. The two combatants moved with inhuman speed and agility, their blade movements too fast for any observer to follow. When they connected, the impact produced shockwaves that shattered the massive cathedral, causing chunks the size of battle tanks to fall around them as they dueled. At the apex of their titanic struggle they had levelled the monastery but still they continued the battle amongst the ruins.]]

Meanwhile the massed guns of the fleet carried on pounding the planet, reducing the other fortress monasteries to rubble. As Caliban itself started to break apart under the bombardment, the battle between the Lion and Luther reached its climax. Luther, weakened by the long combat, staggered and fell, leaving himself open to a death blow, but the Lion could not bring himself to strike the finishing blow. As he hesitated, Luther unleashed a furious psychic attack that knocked the Lion to his knees and left him mortally wounded. At that moment, it was as if a curtain had been lifted from Luther's eyes, and he realised the full extent of what he had done. The truth shattered his sanity and he slumped down beside Jonson, no longer willing to fight.

A rent appeared in the very fabric of space and a Warp storm of unprecedented fury engulfed Caliban. Those 'fallen' Dark Angels who had served under Luther were sucked from the face of Caliban into the warp and scattered throughout space and time (read the Legacy of Caliban trilogy to find out who was responsible). Caliban, already weakened by the loyal Dark Angels' bombardment, was ripped apart and destroyed.

The Dark Angels flew down to the surface of what remained of Caliban and in the heart of the ruined wasteland they found Luther, who constantly repeated the same words over and over again: the Primarch had been carried away by the Watchers in the Dark and one day he would return to forgive Luther for the terrible sins he had committed. Of the Lion himself, there was no sign.

<s>The Dark Angels took the biggest remaining chunk of Caliban and turned it into their Fortress-Monastery, calling it "The Rock," and to this day, the Dark Angels and their successors hunt down "The Fallen," to torture them until they have confessed their sins and have been granted absolution, then execute them.</s> THERE WAS A SMALL ACCIDENT AND CALIBAN WAS DOWNSIZED BECAUSE IT WAS TOO BIG ANYWAY. IT'S COOL, WE GOT THIS. NOTHING TO SEE HERE, '''MOVE ALONG'''. The Lion is currently fully healed in a regenerative stasis-induced coma in a hidden section of The Rock, making him the only '''other''' loyal Primarch confirmed to be alive as of M41. The 7th edition goes at bit further by stating that when the clarion call of battle sounds for the last time, Jonson will be summoned forth from his millennial rest to defend the Imperium of Mankind from its enemies. Then shall all traitors quake in fear, for the Lion’s vengeance will be terrible indeed... And as of September 2022, if the model leaks are to be believed, that day might be sooner than later.

===The Invincible Reason===
[[File:.The invinsible reason..jpg|200px|right|]]
The ''Invincible Reason'' was the Lion's flagship during the Great Crusade. This mighty ''Gloriana''-class battleship was one of the largest of its kind and packed a massive amount of firepower, even when compared to its sister ships. During the story of the Lion and the Wolf, the ''Invincible Reason'' is described as packing more firepower than the entire Wolf fleet present. ''Lord of the First'' confirms that it has ''hundreds'' of macro-cannon batteries. The Dark Angels had a preference for Lance weaponry when it came to their void craft, and the ''Invincible Reason'' was no exception, having a large number of forward-facing lance batteries. These forward-facing lance batteries would fire in unison, creating a sword of destructive energy that obliterated everything in front of it (kinda like how Eldar Pulsars work in Battlefleet Gothic).
[[File:Thramas-void combat.jpg|200px|right|]]

Estimated armaments:
* Deck - 10x lance batteries
* Port - 20x (heavy type) plasma batteries / 13x launch bays
* Starboard - 20x (heavy type) plasma batteries / 13x launch bays
* Prow - 2x (heavy type) lances / 6x lance batteries / 2x Nova Cannons / 32x torpedo launches
* Hull - 7x orbital bombardment lances / 4x bombardment cannons
* Rear fins - 2x (heavy type) lances
* Close defense batteries - ?

The ''Invincible Reason'' currently acts as the Dark Angels' chapter flagship as of M42, and escorts [[The Rock]] through Imperial space.

===The 42nd Millennium===
[[File:Lion10th.jpg|300px|right|thumb|In the Grimdarkness of the 41st Millennium, not even the [[Emprah]]'s godly genes is entirely immune to the horrors that is: <u>'''Male Pattern Baldness'''</u>.]]
{{Spoilers}}
As previously mentioned, the Lion is back, mysteriously waking up somewhere before the [[Arks of Omen]] campaign. Unlike [[Roboute Guilliman|Bobby G's]] first class stasis manicure, the Lion was effectively dumped in [[The Rock]]'s garbage heap by the [[Watchers in the Dark]] for 10,000 years, and oh boy, were the ravages of time ''not kind'' with the Lion - he wasn't lucky enough to be put in actual stasis and consequently aged normally (as far as a Primarch can age "normally", anyway). Resembling an aging <strike>Tywin Lannister</strike> ''Davos Seaworth'' which is honestly quite fucking [[awesome]] in its own right, the Lion is now aged, with an ''obvious'' receding hairline.  It also means he's had a few minutes to fucking introspect; he hasn't mellowed at all, but he can now pull off his silent 'n solemn routine without coming off like an arrogant prick and he can actually talk to people now.  

WARNING: From here on out, everything is very heavily and explicitly spoilers for Lion: Son of the Forest and Arks of Omen: The Lion. No seriously, this next section is just a terribly written summary. Sorry.

Now, how the Lion woke up remains a mystery, although in ''The Lion: Son of the Forest'' it is heavily hinted to be the work of the Emprah and/or the Watchers. Whatever is the case, the Lion entered a [[Mirror-Caliban|dreamstate]] where he is half lucid and half hallucinating; seeing monsters hiding in the forest of what seems to be [[Caliban (Warhammer 40,000)|Caliban]], wearing the power armor of a Caliban Knight. What is interesting, is that Lion actually had a slight (temporary) hit of amnesia, having no recollection of the events of his life or even his own name.

Whatever is the case, the book is ''very'' heavy in its [[Bretonnia|Arthurian legend]]. As he explored his surroundings (Which is giving him the galaxy's worst collection of deja vu). He found a lake with an old decrepit king sitting in a boat in the middle that is obviously the Emprah. The Lion then tried to ask the King who he was, getting angry when the King refused to answer him, and then tried to go through the lake, but was stopped by a Watcher who warned him of the 'shadows' inhabiting the lake (Most definitely alluding to the [[Chaos Gods|Chaos Sweat Goblins]]). The Watcher then tells the Lion that the King will not answer him, because he isn't asking the right question. Looking around, the Lion spots a path leading away to a clearing with a strange building in the center, but the Watchers once again stop him, saying he is not ready for what awaits him in there. The Watchers then tell the Lion to trust his instincts, as another path appears with distant sounds of people shouting and monsters roaring. So the Lion continued to follow the advise of his personal group of munchkins until he met the aforementioned monsters attacking some local humans.

Instinctively, the Lion came and carved out these monsters, saving the locals who then lore dropped him with exposition on where he is and who was attacking them. Turns out the Lion had emerged from the Calibanite forest dreamscape and had emerged onto a whole other forested planet known as Camarth. The group of locals told the Lion that they are looked after by a being they called the "Protector" who, surprise surprise, turns out to be a [[Fallen Angel]]. The Fallen immediately attacks the Lion which... ''somehow'' caused the Lion to regain nearly all his memories (PTSD?). In a uncharacteristic way, the Lion subdued his wayward son rather than bitchslapping his head off and learned that the Fallen is named Zabriel. Both Zabriel and the Lion accused each other of being traitors, but after the brief awkward stint, they kind of settled down and decided to cooperate after they realised it was all a 10,000 year later misunderstanding.

For Zabriel, he has been active for 400 years and then later dumped another exposition overload to the Lion on the nature of what the fuck he missed for 10,000 years. Suffice to say, on this planet specifically, the Fallen explained that he was stuck after being attacked by a Chaos warband called The Thousand Eyes. Members of the warband are still present and it turns out that the monsters the Lion was carving up like a turkey where Chaos Space Marines. After locating the warband's HQ (Which turns out to be a former [[Blood Angels]] successor chapter) and mercy-killing the tortured and chained up Blood Angels, the Lion, got high on [[Drug|Warp Dust]] and began tripping balls....''[[derp|again]]''. This time, the forest [[Wat|''literally gave him a very real power sword'']]. Exactly where the fuck the sword just... popped out of nowhere is unknown. Whether via the work of the Emperor or the shenanigans of the Fallen, it is uncertain.

After clearing out the Chaos warband, the rest of the Thousand Eyes became aware that something was off, as they lost contact on the HQ which turns out to be a testing ground for a plot to induce the Red Thirst in the Blood Angels....which is [[Herp|''weird'']] given that the Red Thirst isn't anything new for the Blood Angels, but whatever (it definitely couldn’t be the Black Rage because…?). The warband is led by a pair of Fallen, the sorcerer Seraphax and a more ordinary marine, Baelor. The two homies have a pretty productive relationship as far as Chaos Space Marines goes, as Seraphax makes sure that Baelor is free of mutation and corruption, while Baelor stops Seraphax from going full kookoo crazy. They are also accompanied by another prominent Chaos marine called Markog who is a bit of a [[Anime|Tsundere]] towards how [[Gay|homoerotically gay he perceives Baelor and Seraphax are.]] But Markog is a filthy [[Slaanesh|Slaaneshi]], so his [[Fail|weird Yaoi fanfic]] kind of makes sense.

After ''literally'' single-handedly retaking the entire planet all by himself, the Lion expressed his usual expression of extreme disappointment over the lack of [[Navigator]]s and [[Astropath]]s, leaving him perpetually trapped on the world. Before the Lion can mope around, he heard a voice calling for him within the forest. He then goes there along with Zabriel and the Lion Guard (Which are ''NOT'' [[Space Marine]] [[Honour Guard]]s, but literal [[Neckbeards]] [[LARP|LARPing]] as bodyguards. Yes, it is as [[lulz|hilarious as it sounds]]). The Lion's merry band of misfits than found themselves in the NOT-Caliban forest and later ''somehow'' emerge on a completely different planet called Avalus. So literally, the Emperor is sending his [[Green Knight]] through the warp-manifestation of Caliban's [[Athel Loren|Magical Forest]], appearing wherever he is needed, which hopefully signals a more badass, purely knightly direction for the Dark Angels rather than their current self-critical catholic aesthetic.

The Lion then did a phone call to the planet's government. Fortunately for the Lion, Avalus is a pretty advanced and modern planet, so he could actually have a space port to fuck off. Hell, they even have a ([[Just As Planned|''Suspiciously'']]) fancy [[Archeotech]] pistol big enough for a [[Primarch]]'s hand to fit. Huh...[[Plot armour|''what a coincidence eh?'']] As they book their five night stay in Hotel <s>Travago</s> Avalus, the Lion orders Zabriel to investigate a seemingly empty ship that had recently crashed into the planet's capital, believing it may hold another Fallen. To no one's surprise, he found three Fallen Angels. All of them agreed to speak with dad and then agreed to work with him. The Lion then sends a ship to do a flyby on <s>Caliban</s> Camarth and orders all Astropaths in Avalus to broadcast the news that the Lion is back as far as they can.

This unfortunately, attracted the attention of the Thousand Eyes who then attacked Avalus so they could ''somehow'' capture the Lion. This escalated into a space battle where the Lion's ship was assisted by a flotilla of pirates who just so happens to be led by another Fallen, who is pretty ecstatic to meet up with dad. To be fair, the lore does show even pirates and crime syndicates are still fanatical devotees of the Emprah. On his way to the space station, the Lion tripped balls....[[Wat|''AGAIN'']] (Seriously, Johnson needs to see a shrink immediately after this shit), this time meeting the Emprah. So what happens when you have two of the galaxy's most socially inept people? [[Fail|You go fucking nowhere that's what]]. After several awkward questions and silences, the Emperor saves the Lion from the shadows that are trying to [[rape|tentacle rape him]] by waking him the fuck up from his drug trip. On the space station, the Lion realise that more Fallen have joined his merry band, and his private army is getting bigger by the minute.

After these shenanigans, both the Lion and Zabriel receive a distress call from Camarth and flew right to the planet's location. Once they arrived, the entire forest world was lit up in flames by the Thousand Eyes in retribution for messing with their plans. The only unmolested part of the world was a wrecked space marine outpost. They go down there to find Markog, who tells Lion that Seraphax wants to speak with him on the planet Sable then fucks off like the Slaaneshi pussy he is. The Lion's intuition made him believe that it is trap, but they went there anyway. On the way to Sable, the Lion realised that his frequent drug trips is actually a hidden latent psychic ability that he never knew he had. Like Bobby G, this revelation came as some sort of surprise for the Lion. The Lion's special psychic ability? He can '[[Magic: The Gathering|forestwalk]]', which is a layman's term for [[Awesome|"HE CAN FUCKING TELEPORT!"]] Yeah, pretty cool and he started training like a [[Anime|Shonen protagonist]]. When his ship arrived in the system, he briefly spoke with Seraphax, who invited him to the surface. Lion, correctly assuming that his ship would be attacked if they got too close, instead [[Just As Planned|forestwalks with his Fallen right into Seraphax's keep,]] much to Seraphax's [[Meme|Surprised Pikachu Face]].

After making the Thousand Eyes [[anal circumference|bend over and spread their anus]], the Lion chased Seraphax (which turns out to be part of Seraphax's plan anyway) as he managed to trap the Lion in [[Bullshit|Warp-induced bullshit chains]] (Possibly the same ones that chained Robo Gorillaman during the Terran Crusade), which was forged from the iron from the blood of Sable's butchered populace (Wow...how [[Edgy]]). Seraphax then did his Bond villain monologue, where he explained his scheme: [[Lolwut|he was going to remove Lion's soul from his body, turn what remained into his own meat puppet and have it go to Terra, gain an audience with the Emperor, and kill him so that Big E can be released from his husk on the Golden throne to become the next Warp god.]] Seraphax also claimed the creation of a Fifth Warp god from the Emperor's soul would enable the permanent defeat of the Ruinous Powers itself and secure mankind's survival. A pretty fucking ambitious plan for some third-rate nobody of a Chaos lord who would most likely be krumped in the face by the likes of [[Vashtorr]] before he even gets the chance of becoming a demigod, let alone a ''god''.

Of course, being a Primarch means that the Lion has some [[Star Wars]]-levels of [[plot armour]], as the Lion ''of course'' shrugged off Seraphax's shenanigans long enough for the Fallen to arrive and wreck Seraphax's shit. A bar brawl broke out, and in order to stand even a millisecond against someone as fucking lethal as the Lion, Seraphax went full Chaos and transformed into a [[Daemon Prince]]....''somehow'' (Don't ask how he withheld his Daemon Prince power up for that long, guess we can blame it on Baelor for convincing him not to go bananas). This horrified Seraphax's <s>boyfriend</s> homie, so Baelor turned on him by stabbing him in the back, although Seraphax returned the favour and stabbed him in turn with a corrupted blade before dying. Baelor than explained that he was misled to believe the Emperor would be freed rather than killed, and that the creature Seraphax became at the end was no longer Baelor's brother. He begged for Lion's forgiveness, and the Lion pulled one of the most unexpected moves that no one thought off. The Lion ''forgave him''. Not in the usual Dark Angels-style of [[Blam|'forgiveness']], but actually outright sparing him. Yeah, turns out spending 10 millennia sleeping and contemplating his life's choices did make the Lion a tad bit more considerate now huh?

The Lion then called Baelor one of his "Risen" (<s>Ha! We got the Fallen and now we have the Risen!</s>{{Blam}}), even as he asked the Lion to mercy-kill him to spare him from the blade's corruption. Which the Lion obliged. The Lion's Fallen then renamed themselves the Risen and wrecked Seraphax's keep before departing. Afterwards, time passed on for god knows how long. But by this point, the Lion was [[Lion's Protectorate|establishing a protectorate]] in order to safe keep these systems within Imperium Nihilus. The Risen spread out among the various human groups to lend their expertise like some supped up Robin Hood-expies. In the meanwhile, Lion entered the Forest again. This time, he did not find the Emperor, but he does follow the path to that strange building he'd seen the first time he was here. There, he fought a shapeshifting entity that takes the form of each of his brothers, trying to break his spirit and his body alike. This entity turns out to be a [[Daemon]] and, in a pretty hilarious and rare example of the Lion dunking on [[Magnus the Red|Magnymagick]], told the entity that his Magnus-copycat is [[lulz|too strong to be the real deal.]] Lol, the Lion called the nerd ''a wimp''. The Lion obviously won, and [[wat|''somehow'' gains possession of the Emperor's Shield]], which seems to be somehow tied to the psyker aegis the Emperor had cast over the palace during the [[Siege of Terra]]. While his entire journey so far is just one long-ass rearmament quest, like Archaon's search for the Treasures of Chaos, at least he actually had to work for it unlike some pencilpusher who was handed literally everything.

As more undescribed time passed, the Lion's personal fiefdom also grew. The Lion, still having [[Imperium Secundus]] fresh in his mind, was understandably worried about the [[Heresy|reactions]] of the wider Imperium. Just as he was worrying, a force of Blood Angels led by [[Dante|Lord Commander Dante]] arrived to investigate rumours of the Lion's return. The Lion was initially pretty [[rage|''fucking pissed off'']] when he saw that Dante was wearing the death mask of [[Sanguinius]]. Dante, sensing the Lion's ire and wanting to avoid getting unceremoniously bitchslapped to death, took off his helmet, knelt and infodumped the Lion with yet ''another'' exposition to update the Lion on the current state of affairs. The Lion, initially thinking he was the only remaining loyalist Primarch, was pleased to hear that Ole Rob' was alive and well. The Lion then departed with the Blood Angels and his Risen to explore the galaxy and give Chaos <s>a</s> multiple new assholes.

He also met Dante out at another point in time, having to save him from finally keeling over in a fight against [[Angron|Angry Ron]]. Of course, he used his Forest-walking power just in time to save the (relatively) young whippersnapper from a chainaxe to the midsection and then smashed the Emprah's shield so hard in Angron's face that it literally split his skull in two... y'know, just in case you needed proof about how much Daemon Primarchs are jobbers.

====The Lion, <s>the Witch, and the Wardrobe</s> the King, and the Question====

Within the Arc of the ''Son of the Forest'', the visions the Lion enters while walking through the dreamscape of Caliban's forests raises questions about several new factors: '''The Lion''', his psychic potential and purpose; '''The Watchers''', their intentions and their connection to Caliban; and '''The Emperor''', his psychic influence and plans for the Lion.

When it comes to the forests of Caliban and the Watchers within, it can be speculated that these forest dreamscapes the Lion wanders through are in fact a form of pocket dimension or passage, like a mini-Webway that the Watchers can access, allowing them to mysteriously appear and disappear in impossible places. More specifically, it manifests as a forest due to the Watchers' connection to Caliban and their cryptic purpose that bound them to it. 

It was always speculated that each of the Primarchs, even those that outright denied it, all had some form of psychic potential within them given their Warp-infused nature when the Emperor created them. Perhaps when the Watchers snatched the Lion away after Luther dealt him his psychic attack, they brought him into this pocket reality, and through the millennia as he healed, the Lion became psychically attuned to using this space, with the Watchers seemingly teaching and guiding him through such passages in the beginning of the book.

Tangentially related is the literal question that the Lion has to ask the King. This requires a bit of basic background in the tales of King Arthur (that the Dark Angels draw heavy inspiration from). In many of the Arthurian romances, beginning with the unfinished Parzival, there is a character known as the Fisher King. The Fisher King is the last guardian of the Holy Grail, who has been badly wounded in the thigh, groin, stomach, or genitals, and who must be asked the “healing question” to recover and restore his lands.

Sound familiar?

Within the first chapters of the book the Lion comes across the aforementioned King. In a boat. Bleeding. He has the opportunity to ask a handful of questions to the King (who is clearly the Emperor) throughout the book, but the Watchers tell him he is asking the wrong question. This is another strange link between the xenos Watchers and the Emperor. It begs the question, are the Watchers and the Emperor aware of each others presence, and if so, is the Emperor in this Fisher King shard/manifestation actually working with the Watchers? Far from impossible. After all, both The Watchers and Big-E are known for being enigmatic, transcendent psykers, who disdain and are anathema to Chaos. If we are to assume that they are indeed allies, the question with regards to the Lion, is to what aim? Perhaps to guide and test the Lion in preparation for something (like what we see in his later mental trial)? This could possibly explain how the Watchers and the Lion were able to obtain his sword Fealty and the Emperor's Shield throughout these visions.

Furthermore, later in the book, the Lion finds the King, accompanied by three relics: a candelabra, a chalice, and a bloody lance (in Arthurian legend, a lance wound is often the origin of the Fisher King’s injury).

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