Editing Lion El'Jonson (section)

== Relationship with other Primarchs ==
[[Image:Lion.port.jpg|thumb|400px|right|Reminder: His armor is BLACK not GREEN!]]
{{Topquote|He saw our imperfection, and he suffered it to remain, and that was the heart of his nobility. In the end, then, he truly was better than us. The archetype of Legions, First of us all. |High praise from Leman Russ}}

There are very few known instances of interaction between the Lion and his brothers during the Great Crusade. This was primarily because the Lion, like the Khan, tended to put in the most work out on the fringes of the Crusade. He was thrown straight into the Rangdan Xenocides and for the most part he busied himself and his Legion with the business of conquering worlds in the Emperor's name, and so was rarely seen at big events. He was not present at the investiture of [[Horus]] as Warmaster at Ullanor, nor was he a part of the [[Council of Nikaea]]. It seems that despite all of this and his lack of presence during family meetings, his reputation always seemed to precede him whenever Primarchs met.

For instance: [[Leman Russ]] first met the Lion at the end of the [[Faash]] campaign, and had only heard about him based on his rapidly increasing war record and the fact that he seemed to be doing well in the courts of Terra at a time when Russ was starting to be scrutinized as being unsuitable for his current task. Their first actual face-to-face meeting with each other involved Russ being forced to give an apology for an avoidable friendly-fire incident (the wolves ignored hails, and killed over a hundred Dark Angels by blowing up an enemy ship that they had boarded); Russ considered the Lion insufferably arrogant and promised to wreck him if he pulled similar shit (which is odd as it was the wolves that were the ones in the wrong- an apology is the very least they could do) again. The two did eventually garner a mutual respect for one another, but only after the Emperor had fallen and the bad blood between them had been resolved.

Similarly, [[Roboute Guilliman]] seemed to have first met the Lion face-to-face before the Heresy had already begun. He was making disparaging jokes about how good the Dark Angels look on parade, and had to be placated by his foster mother pointing out that the Emperor brought him into the Great Crusade before the Lion was discovered. To his credit however, Guilliman was entirely aware that his negative feelings towards the Lion were mostly due to his own ego, and outright told the Lion at one point that he was one of only two Primarchs that he actually looked up to or ever felt jealous of, the other being Horus. Moreover, Guilliman believed that it was really only a two-horse race between the Lion and Horus for the position for '''Warmaster'''. Even so, he didn't include the Lion amongst his "Dauntless Few" ''(Primarchs whose Legions could pair with his own Ultramarines to defeat any adversary, regardless of the forces laid against them - though admittedly, Guilliman had barely any knowledge of how the First Legion organized itself, or what its capabilities were thanks to the convoluted layers of the Hexagrammaton and the Hekatonystika)''. Guilliman also later clarified that the Lion's motives were too inscrutable and that he was just too insular to make the Regent for the new [[Imperium Secundus]]. This was almost entirely due to the Lion keeping too many secrets, and as such Guilliman simply didn't trust him. He had similar feelings regarding Jaghatai Khan; sincere admiration but little trust due to the closed off nature of the Khan. Though Guilliman himself didn't trust the Lion, he had absolutely no doubt as to the Lion's loyalty to the Emperor.

[[Rogal Dorn]] thought that Lion was too egocentric and full of himself to really care about anything but his own feelings and deeds, unable or ''unwilling'' to view the world from other people's perspective, and as such was unfit to lead. Though this could also just be a case of psychological projection, with Dorn projecting his own negative qualities upon another. After all, Dorn accusing anyone else of having a prideful, harsh or abrasive personality is a laughable case of the pot calling the kettle black. ''(Heck I don’t think he had a single nice thing to say about any of his brothers. Even Sigismund in “Templar” silently agreed with Alajos that Dorn could be ‘frustrating’ at times.)'' However, though Dorn's social skills had all the subtlety and nuance of a barbed-wire bat to the face, he was, as he tended to be, essentially correct about the Lion's personality. The vast majority of the people the Lion encountered, even if they admired him, believed him to be quite a self absorbed ass. His success in leading his Legion however, speaks for itself, as does the amount of trust the Emperor placed in him. Rather amusingly, the two once compared notes on prosecuting wars, with the Lion being quoted as saying ''"No plan survives contact with the enemy"'', to which Dorn responded ''"Then you aren't making enough plans"''. Despite this seeming antipathy, the Lion was one of only two Primarchs permitted entrance into the inner sanctum of the [[Phalanx]].

The Lion held both Guilliman's and Dorn's accomplishments in high regard, referring to them as "men of the head", but also noted that they could also be too rigid when it came to "sticking to the plan". The better the plan, the better the assault. Yet there are times when even the most well thought out strategies must be abandoned, and instead one must put their faith in their own power and ferocity. Knowing when to forsake the reasoned approach is the difference between victory and defeat. Basically, Lion knew when to use the disciplined and intellectual styles of Dorn and Guilliman and when to let his sons go super space murder-machine like the Space Wolves and World Eaters.

As for [[Horus]] himself, the only recorded meeting between the two was at Zaramund in 970.M30 when the Lion boarded the ''Vengeful Spirit'' without ceremony or any form of Honour Guard or retinue. He gatecrashed a war-council and caused everyone else in the room to drop to their knees instantly, especially after Calas Typhon had dithered about whether or not to do so for Horus. The Lion says two sentences to Horus before turning to berate [[Luther]] about disobeying orders and then stalks off again like a boss. Horus has gone on record as saying that he, unlike his brother, had been raised within the halls of his father, being groomed and raised by the Emperor himself to lead, while the Lion had been nothing but a primitive savage on some backwards nothingness of a world, and therefore was unfit to be Warmaster. The black book ''Crusade'' goes into this in a bit more detail: although the Lion was not beloved by his brothers, he was still highly respected, which led to very few of his brothers going out of their way to seek out the reclusive Lord of the First, with only Horus keeping a worried eye on his brother's activities. Horus had grown frustrated by his inability to gain a foothold within his brother's legion, unable to project his influence on the Dark Angels like he could with the others. Although the Lion and the Dark Angels had over the years effectively removed themselves from the spotlight - much of their actions being obscured and hidden away from the records of the Great Crusade - to the point that some had even begun to forget about their glories, Horus was increasingly annoyed by how close his brother and father seemed to be, especially the sheer trust the Emperor seemingly placed in the Lion. Horus and his Legion were the top dogs, their records during the Crusade unsurpassed, so why was the Lion given the keys to their father's vaults that were forbidden to all others? The Lion's reaction to Horus becoming Warmaster worried Horus the most. Although this was the proof that he, Horus, was the favoured son (if you think that sounds petty he also "forgot" to send the Lion an invitation, though to be fair the Lion is about the ''last'' person you'd ever want at a party), he had expected the Lion to at least put up a fuss. However the Lion simply accepted the decision without even pausing for a moment in his crusading, almost as though Horus' grand moment didn't matter to him. It should be noted however, that the Lion absolutely did think the job should have been his, and Horus knew it. The Lion just brooded about it rather than throwing a tantrum.

Although he has demonstrated no negative feelings towards Magnus, he still supported the sanctioning of his brother at Nikaea. Why this was the case was never expanded upon. Despite this, his representative was given the authority to stand in favour of the Librarius itself.

Amongst his other brothers; [[Sanguinius]] considered him practically beyond reproach, though did not give any reason why he felt that way, and refused to countenance any censure of the Lion for his actions in prosecuting the Shadow Crusade until the evidence against him was irrefutable. Upon his banishment from Imperium Secundus, the Lion held no animosity towards either of his brothers; this was not his place, and he would leave knowing that he and his legion had fought hard. The Dark Angels managed to reclaim much of the Five Hundred Worlds lost to the traitor forces. They could leave knowing that they had helped to secure a foundation upon which humanity could begin to build again. The Lion and his legion may no longer have a place in it, but he knew that as long as Sanguinius and Guilliman were in charge, Imperium Secundus would work out just fine. Still, the reason for the Lion's banishment was a questionable one. The fact that the man in question saves your empire and is probably very popular with the people only makes things more complicated.

His relationship with [[Konrad Curze]] has probably seen the most development, though this only occurred after the Heresy had already made them enemies of each other. Their interactions often shown them as reflections of one another; they were both self-raised in the wilds of their own planets and had the potential to have come to the same fates. The Lion admitted that he once considered Curze to have been one of his closest brothers, the two being somewhat kindred spirits (due to the nature of their childhoods, growing up alone in the dark), and Curze in turn referred to the Lion as his "blood brother" now turned "blood enemy".

Apparently, [[Alpharius]] found that the Lion was the only brother that he could not abide, ironically because he could ''"never tell what he is really thinking"''. Though someone called "Alpharius" appreciated his views on war and secrecy and wanted the Lion in the position of Warmaster, so offered to help him out during the Rangdan Xenocides and keep the First Legion intact. This may be a case of Alpharius being deliberately contrary with his words or may represent the view of an entirely different person, there were two twins after all. This is further covered in ''Head of the Hydra''; whichever one of the twins it was did actually believe the Lion should have been named Warmaster. Even after the Lion declined the offer to withdraw, in order to preserve and rebuild his legion, "Alpharius" still decided to hang around and help out the First Legion from the shadows. However, Alpharius later gave an alternate reason for wanting to help the Lion, and that was to gain access in Legion strength to the area of space where the Lion was operating, as he had received intelligence that Omegon had been located in the region. Alpharius himself was able to infiltrate the Dark Angels legion (although even he had a really hard time doing so), but highly suspects the Lion knew he was there, much to his annoyance. However during Alpharius's initial meeting with the Lion, he was accompanied by nine other Alpha Legionnaires and was confident that the Lion had not seen him for what he was; at least he was mostly sure, but he still had a sneaky suspicion that made him a bit uncertain- one telling of the meeting has the people observing the meeting being aware of an unspoken conversation happening between the two. He was mostly confident that, when he told the Lion that the Alpha Legion had not been reunited with their Primarch (as technically the Alpha Legion never really lost Alpharius), the Lion seemingly took him at his word. Alpharius in his own mind concluded that the Lion was quite self absorbed, but also peerless in a number of ways; although he could never be sure with the Lion, it infuriated him that what he thought was “true” might actually not be true, as he never really knew if the Lion was acting, nor the extent of what he actually knew- the troll got a taste of his own medicine and found it a bitter pill to swallow.

The only "friend" the Lion might have had amongst his brothers during the Great Crusade seems to be [[Vulkan]] and/or [[Perturabo]]. Though the theory about Vulkan is only based on the in-game mechanics from the allies chart, where their ''Legions'' are Sworn Brothers to each other (the Dark Angels' only sworn brothers in fact), though the Salamanders are buddies with a lot of Legions and there is no real indication of what the Lion or Vulkan actually felt for one another personally. After Vulkan's apparent demise, the Lion did seek out [[Artellus Numeon]], the former Pyre Guard commander and now current de facto leader of the Salamanders legion, who had sunk into a deep depression over the discovery of the fate of his Primarch. Mourning in one of Magna Macragge's former cemeteries the Lion (in his own blunt fashion) had a heart to heart with Numeon, in which both shared their loss of Vulkan; the Lion confessed his doubts regarding the fall of Terra and reminded Numeon of his duties as the new Legion Master of the Salamanders. Another thing that could say something about their relationship is that the Lion’s Helm which, as the name suggests, was supposedly once worn by the Lion is said to have also been crafted by one of his brother Primarchs. This could easily be referring to another brudda, however.

As for Perturabo, the Lion had enough trust in him to hand over a bunch of Ordinatus-class weapons just prior to the deployment at Isstvan V on a promise that Perturabo would support him as the new Warmaster in order to continue the Great Crusade. The Lion even pointed out that Perturabo's compliments actually meant something to him, though this may have simply been the Lion being (very uncharacteristically) polite; it's kind of sad that Perturabo, who craved recognition, may have screwed over one of the only brothers who actually recognised his worth. It would have been nice if some writefag were to make something in which Perturabo, touched by the Lion's words and trust, decides to fuck over the traitors with the Ordinatus goodies and remain loyal for the Lion's sake.

According to ''Crusade'', the Lion and [[Jaghatai Khan]] were actually pretty close. Despite their differences, they had grown to value each other's blunt and frank characters; both are bloody great at snarky comebacks and sarcastic, character destroying one liners. During ''Unremembered Empire'' the Lion did end up questioning where the Khan's allegiance would fall. The Lion's job according to ''Crusade'' was to be the watchman of his father's domain, to protect humanity's borders from the monsters in the dark (think the Night's Watch from Game of Thrones). Both the Khan and the Lion spent the majority of their time venturing out into the unknown, ahead of even the forces of the other legions; the Khan was the pathfinder, and the Lion cleared the path for those that followed. Both were perfectly happy to be out in the void doing their own thing, far away from what passes for "civilization"; in this way the two were kindred spirits. During the Sarosh Campaign the Lion did take over from the White Scars, freeing them from being stuck in one place, even when many legionnaires from both legions admitted to not understanding way the Lion would bother with such a minor world that held no chance for glory or significant noteworthiness. He probably would have gotten along with Mortarion like a house on fire, given his propensity for thankless solitude and his crappy upbringing. Sadly, the two seem not to have interacted much.

Primarchs like Guilliman and Sanguinius were built to be seen, and play central roles within the future of their father's realm. Not so the Lion. He was built to remain always at a distance, never truly leaving the shadows. He was built to be the distant watchman of his father's domain, who would do what needed to be done to keep it safe (and if needs be destroy it), regardless of how unpleasant the tasks he was duty bound to perform might be; it was something he understood and accepted, and clearly had a significant effect on how he both viewed and felt about his fellow Primarchs. (You could almost call him a "watcher in the dark", wink, wink, nudge, nudge... I'll see myself out).