Editing Dante (section)

==More fluff==
[[File:SoB Ex Dante.png|thumb|400px|[[Ultramarines|Most Chapters]] [[Space Wolves|can only wish their Liege was this]] [[Emperor's Children|fabulous]].]]
===Dante and the Imperium===
{{topquote|All my life I have striven to serve not only the Imperium, but humanity.|Dante}}

In the novelisation, Dante is portrayed as being aware of the grim conditions of humans under the Imperium. As most Imperial commanders (yes most, the Imperium wouldn't have survived if the majority of their top brass were incompetent maniacs), he is not okay with throwing away the lives of Imperial Guardsmen (for whom he has the highest respect), or any other soldier of the Imperium. In the short story, ''The Word of the Silent King'', Dante allies with the Necrons to defend Gehenna from the Tyrannids. Captain [[Erasmus Tycho|Tycho]] pointed out that chapters had been declared excommunicate traitoris for less, but Dante was prepared to risk it for the people of Gehenna. Admittedly, Dante does have a backup plan to assassinate the Silent King with a cyclonic torpedo hidden in his own Rhino if the parley went bad, and he intended to assassinate him afterwards. In the end, the Necrons managed to leave before he could seek the Silent King out but he had already forgone a much better opportunity in the first place to help defend the people on Gehenna.

Dante's views on the impotent administration of the Imperium are....well. The relevant quote from the novelisation is revealing, "I have fought every foe that mankind must face, from the overt aggression of the orks to the grindings of unthinking bureaucracy". Yeah, Dante just included the lovely chaps at the [[Administratum]] among all the vile enemies of mankind he had slain over the last 1600 years.

Dante also wonders, if Sanguinius was a hero, why did he leave the moons of Baal as wastelands, when he could have easily restored them. He questions if an 'Angel' would leave his people to suffer so that their strife-hardened children might make for good warriors. Ultimately, Dante answers his own question, "it was the way it was, because it had to be that way". [[Grimdark]].

===Dante on the Xenos===
[[File:Dante VS Avatar.jpg|thumb|200px|right|Fighting the xenos. Dante taking on a freaking [[Khaine|Avatar of Khaine]] like a boss.]]
The novel Dante reveals his views on the [[xenos]]. Dante thinks that he had been (rightfully) taught to mistrust xenos races, but that he never truly hated them. He proves sympathetic to the [[Oretti]], a dying xenos race pitifully eking out a living by scavenging on dead worlds. Unfortunately for the Oretti, dead Imperial worlds are still Imperial, and the Blood Angels exterminate them after they are thought to be responsible for the destruction of a colony world. [[Grimdark]]. Actually, exterminate wouldn't describe it. The Blood Angels went all vampire on the Oretti, and even 1500 years later, Dante remembers the incident with great regret.

Dante only truly hates the [[Tyranids]], and that is so because they seek to [[Necron|extinguish life]] [[What|itself]]. In a display of [[noblebright]], Dante believes "[[heresy|non-humans strove only to survive as mankind strove]]". It could be argued that he's wrong, since the predominants aliens in 40k being shitheaded asshole space monsters is one of the reasons of mankind's struggles. Aliens like the [[Dark Eldar|Drukhari]], [[Orks]] and [[Necrons]] are solely led at bay because the Imperium counter-attacks instead of bending over. But it could be argued that he's right, as xenos are in no way allies and they must also strove to survive each others. Either way, expect to see words like nobility, honour, mercy, and virtue in such scenes, but also perfidy, treachery, and atrocities. Dante would certainly be considered a heretic by many in the Imperium, but [[Roboute Guilliman#41st millennium / Gathering Storm|recent events]] might lead one to think otherwise.

Of course, Dante is no idealist opposed to human supremacy (he is a space marine after all). He desperately contemplates an alliance of races, but only for the great war against the Tyranids. However, Dante concedes that he could not envisage true unity among humans, let alone between the different races.

In conclusion, there are some elements which might make Dante seem to be a Mary Sue for WH40K.

===Dante and the Imperial Cult===
[[File:Dante WH40K Armageddon.png|300px|left|thumb|Dante wearing the death mask of Sanguinius.]]
{{topquote|On this day, as on every other, I ask you grant me wisdom and strength, great Sanguinius, so I may guide our Chapter to ever greater glory.|Dante praying to Sanguinius}}

The Blood Angels generally keep to the [[Imperial Truth]], but venerate the Emperor and Sangunius as ancestral figures. However, it is not a stone-cold atheism that is shown by chapters like the [[Excoriators]]. There is a lot of room for doubt, and Dante at times finds himself agreeing with the [[Ecclesiarchy]] about the Emperor and Sanguinius (well, duh, the baroque Catholic vampires in spehss thing won't work otherwise).

Dante prays daily to Sanguinius in ''Deus Encarmine'', albeit cynically noting in the novelisation ''Dante'' that Sangunius had never actually answered his prayers. Hmm, it would seem that Dante and the Blood Angels are yet to to identify why it is that the Sanguinor keeps bailing them out time and again. In the first and third entries of the ''Gathering Storm'', and any number of a dozen+ novels set during or following the Fall of Cadia, it is confirmed and outright stated that heroes like [[Saint Celestine]] and the [[Legion of the Damned]] are warp entities that the Emperor himself sends forth to save the day, which incidentally goes a long way to explaining why daemonkind respond to them with such fear, given the link to Big-E; the Ruinous Powers didn't name Him ''Anathema'' for nothing after all. <s>While there is no confirmation, it is very strongly implied</s> ''The Darkness In The Blood'' has confirmed that the Sanguinor is indeed some sort of Blood Angels warp manifestation, and to be associated with Sanguinius in some fashion (the [[Inquisition]] likes to [[Chaos|think otherwise]]). When Dante has a moment of doubt, he prays to Sanguinius for reassurance, but doubts if the prayer will be answered. Not so co-incidentally, the Sanguinor appears at that precise moment and tells Dante there is hope for the Imperium.

James Swallow has also played on the atheist/religious angle in ''The Sanguinor: the Exemplar of the Host''. In the story, The Blood Angels veteran sergeant Ganon is a cynic and very atheistic, whereas others in his squad are more spiritual. In comparison, Blood Angels like Dante fall on the agnostic spectrum, and whether the Emperor (and Sanguinius) are divine or not depends on what exactly is a god in WH40k. The one thing that is clear is that there are 'higher powers' at work that help out the Blood Angels in their time of need.

;The Ecclesiarchy and Dante 
[[File:Lord muthaflubbin dante by mrrumbles-d6mqupm.jpg|200px|right|thumb|pictured: too old for this shit.]]
A lot of people in the Imperium venerate the Space Marines as the Emperor's Angels, and the Blood Angels are at the very top when it comes to being revered (well, at least until Roboute-living-god-Guilliman showed up again). The Sanguinala is a Christmas/Easter like festival in honour of Sanguinius (aka spehss Jesus), and on that day the people of the Imperium wear the livery of the Blood Angels. You should not therefore be surprised to see the veneration even extending to the greatest warriors of the Blood Angels, including Dante. In the novelisation ''Mephiston: Blood of Sanguinius'', fanatical pilgrims and priests even travel to Baal to worship [[Mephiston]]. It is not clear how common it is, but evidently this is not considered [[heresy]] (note that the pilgrims were led by priests who needed Mephiston's superpowers to bail their planet out, and so this is possibly an one-off display of sycophancy). On the other hand, ''The Carrion Throne'' reveals that the 9 loyalist Primarchs are extolled as the archangels of the Emperor, created to battle the 9 "great devils" of Chaos. The word Primarch itself seems to have come to denote the greatest of angels. So, simply by virtue of descent the Space Marines (especially the greatest heroes) can be expected to be treated with a high degree of reverence, being lesser angels.

In the novelisation, [[Sisters of Battle|Sister]] Amity Hope of the [[Sisters of Battle|Order of the Sacred Rose]] tells Dante and the Blood Angels that they are the "sons" of the Emperor's most "holy offspring" Sanguinius, whose soul is guided by the Emperor, and works through them. Interesting. The Order of the Sacred Rose appears in the [[Dawn of War]] series and are rather antagonistic to the [[Blood Ravens]]. So, it seems that the Blood Angels find a place in the Imperial cult and are exempt from the contempt shown by some sisters to other chapters. Then again: dawn of war could be an exception to this rule given it's relative distance to the main 40k canon.

The GW website states this about Dante: "Amongst mortal men he is nothing less than a saviour, a golden god who descends from the heavens on wings of fire to smite his foes in deadly close combat". There is also a bit in the Blood Angels 7th ed about him being a "golden god" to the "common soldiers" of the Imperium.

===The Red Thirst===
[[File:Drink Dante.png|thumb|200px|right|Chug! Chug! Chug!...]]
{{topquote|He was an angel, not a monster.|Dante on why he refused to take living blood}}

Despite suffering from the [[Red Thirst]] like all Blood Angels, Dante refused to drink living blood for the longest time. There is a discrepancy in the novelisation about when he took the decision. On the one hand, Dante thinks at one point that he had not drank living blood since the incident on Ereus V, whereas the decision is shown as being taken after he lapses to the thirst at Tobias Halt. In any case, Dante consequently suffered from a constant hunger for blood, compared to an appetite "gnawing at his stomach and soul" and a "hunger that filled his dreams with the bright lustre of blood".

In one council scene, Dante is shown as counting blood drop rubies in a bowl, evidently said to help in meditation. While it is not explicitly stated that it is to ward off the thirst, the immediate context for the scene is his decision not to drink wine spiced with 'dead' blood, and so one can interpret it as an attempt to distract himself from the temptation. Note that Dante did occasionally drink wine spiced with blood. It is just that by that point in the book even the tiniest dollops of dead blood could drive him to almost intolerable temptations.

He eventually drinks living blood near to the end of ''Dante'', courtesy of a gambit by his mortal equerry Arafeo. Arafeo, knowing he was dying of old age and aware of Dante's weariness as well as his fears about the Imperium's future, cut his own wrists before using Dante's sense of honour (and his need for blood) against him to drive Dante into drinking his blood, finally rejuvenating him both physically and mentally.

===Codex Astartes/Codex Imperialis===
In ''Deus Encarmine'', the Blood Angel battle-brother Koris voices Dante's wisdom that a "Blood Angel who does not strive to question is no better than a mindless servitor". It can thus be argued that Dante is not an orthodox follower of the [[Codex Astartes]], or at least not in the manner many other chapters chose to interpret it. Note that this also depends on if you see the Codex as being an in-universe inflexible bible (see the page), and that bit might just be an innocuous line that has nothing to do with the codex otherwise. In fact, the context for the line in the book itself is about faith and belief. However, it would be still possible that Dante's wisdom encapsulates the codex. Finally, note that the Blood Angels 7th ed says that they adhere as closely to the Codex Astartes as possible, albeit with few important variations.

Interestingly, there is a scene in the novelisation ''Dante'' in which Dante reminisces about the glory days of the old legions, set in the context of the rising tide of enemies facing the Imperium. So, Dante seems to be one who would possibly not be adverse to the concentration of Space Marines in one single force, and indeed he calls all the Blood Angels descendants to Baal for the war against the Tyranids. His logic is that only the full strength of the Blood Angels and successors in one single point of action can hope to succeed.

''Devastation of Baal'' points to him being in favour of Guilliman's reforms.

===Friends, allies, and enemies===
[[File:BA's.jpg|thumb|left|300px|Tyranids vs Blood Angels, or how Dante sees the End Times]]
During the Second War for Armageddon, Dante became bros with the Chapter Master of the [[Salamanders]], [[Tu'Shan]]. He praised Tu’shan for his contributions, which the Salamanders take as a 'supreme gesture' (8th ed codex Space Marines). To commemorate their past victories and the bond between them, the Blood Angels and Salamanders meet every now and then to exchange counsel, trophies of war, and vows of friendship (''The Burden of Angels'' by Nick Kyme).

The Blood Angels-Salamanders bond is remarkably strong. On one occasion to celebrate the anniversary of their alliance on Armageddon, the Salamanders led by Tu’shan arrived on Hecatomb, a planet claimed by the Blood Angels. On this planet, long ago, Dante had vanquished the Chaos champion Raegus Malifact. While exchanging ritual vows, the Blood Angels librarian Abathor became possessed by the shattered blade of Raegus, which had contained some of his essence. Waves of Daemons spilled forth, and while the warpspawn and Raegus/Abathor were beaten back, the event triggered the Red Thirst in Dante and the Blood Angels. They fought. Dante vs Tu’shan. Blood Angels vs Salamanders. Before they became dinner, the Salamanders and Tu’shan were able to calm down Dante and the Blood Angels by appealing to their humanity. Despite the unsavoury incident, the Salamanders pledged to be as strong as friends as ever.

The Blood Angels under Dante also have the dubious distinction of becoming 'allies' with the Necrons, fighting together on Gehenna against the [[Tyranids]]. Dante has the supremely dubious honour of shaking hands with the Silent King himself, in person. To be fair, the Blood Angels ''did'' fight the Necrons at the start, and it turned out that the [[Silent King]] had made an accord with Sanguinius 10,000 years before. So, this was just a (temporary) renewal of an ancient alliance. In a monologue, the Necron lord [[Anrakyr]] later admires the Blood Angels, giving honour to their dead on Gehenna.

Also to be noted are the Daemons of [[Khorne]]. [[Ka'bandha]], ancient foe of Dante and the Blood Angels, was leading a campaign against them when Hive Fleet Leviathan invaded Baal. As the dust of the conflict cleared, it became evident that the Khornate daemons actually fought against the Tyranids on Baalind (Baal Primus), leaving behind the eight-pointed star of Chaos made out of Tyranid skulls. Suffice to say that there is some degree of respect (perhaps Khorne still desires the Blood Angels as his own, hmmm) and, if anyone is to destroy the Blood Angels, Ka'Bandha thinks it should be him.

Unsurprisingly, Dante gets on fabulously well with Roboute Guilliman.

More recently, he also had the distinct privilege of meeting [[Lion El'Jonson]] as well. While the Lion was seriously pissed off that he was wearing the death mask of his late brother, he eventually learned to accept and even befriend the ancient chapter master. Hell, Lion even saved him from being ripped to pieces by [[Angron]] despite Dante's very serious death-wish.