Editing Dante (section)

==The Blood Angel==

===Scout to Chapter Master===
[[File:The_Red_Angel.jpg|thumb|400px|right|What he looked like before getting kitted in gold.]]
In the novels and the rest of the fluff, Lord Commander Dante is generally portrayed as a stern but kind fatherly figure to the Blood Angels, who's a good guy and [[Meme|doesn't afraid of anything]]. But before becoming a legend, he was simply Captain Dante, and before that Sergeant Dante, and of course, a battle-brother and a scout at the beginning.

;Scout
As a young Space Marine scout, Dante fought against the Orks in the Ash Wastes of the planet Rora, Eudyminous System (467.M40). It was Dante's 23rd engagement. Turns out that his sergeant, Gallileon, is assessing him for potential as a line officer, and so he gets put on the spot. Dante's tactical plan works, but then he was also at fault for leading the Orks onto his squad in the first place. So, good brain, but not an infallible warrior. The larger campaign is more difficult for the Blood Angels Company, and the Sanguinor himself has to bail them out.

A few years later in 470.M40, Dante fought under Sergeant Basileus on Ereus V, participating in the extermination of the Orreti. However, Dante [[heresy|sympathised with the fate of the pitiful Xenos race]]. Blood Angels indoctrination techniques are quite obviously a [[fail]], or perhaps Dante was too much for them, the [[noblebright|Mr. noblebright]] that he is.

On the other hand, Dante and the Blood Angels do end up going all vampire on the Orreti, mercy be damned. Yeah, who would miss these sorry-ass aliens? (<s>Ugluk</s> Basileus: looks like meat's back on the menu, boys!) 

Of course, this obviously has to be the first step on Dante's route to non-blood sucking enlightenment.

;Battle Brother
Dante has his first encounter (besides an aspirant who came back mad from inside the sarcophagus) with the Black Rage in the hive world of Tobias Halt (518.M40). Battling the Chaos marines of [[The Purge]], Dante's battle-brother Laziel falls to the Black Rage and thinks they are the old legion, relieving the siege of Terra. As for Dante, his fury at his inability to protect the factory workers of Holywell Hive leads to him temporarily going berserk due to the Red Thirst, killing six [[Chaos Space Marines]] single-handedly.

Unfortunately, this did nothing to actually sate the thirst, driving him to drain the civilians dry in a maddened frenzy before the [[Sanguinor]] appears to knock him out of it (quite literally - Sangy beats Dante unconscious with two punches, with the thirst having receded by the time he wakes). The last surviving civilian (who had initially greeted Dante) was [[Blam|executed]] [[grimdark|by the Blood Angels that found the two of them, to hide the secret of the Red Thirst from the Imperium]].

After that he swore off the partaking of blood save for sacramental rituals, disgusted and deeply guilted by his loss of control.

;Sergeant and Captain 
Dante rose to become the Captain of the Blood Angels 5th company in 753.M40. He replaced Captain Avernis, who fell during the assault on the Odrius <s>pirate lair</s> freeport in Mas the year before. At that point, Dante had been a sergeant, leading 'Squad Dante'. The Eldar corsair king Hellaineth attempted to engage Dante in [[heresy|some philosophical discussions]], but Dante wisely turned him down. While the port was destroyed, Hellaineth escaped, and not before leaving Dante with some niggling doubts anyway. Damn Space Elves. But no worry, the Sanguinor is there to ensure the emperor's finest remains eternally committed to the good fight.

;Rise to Chapter Master

In the WotDM info book, Dante became the Chapter Master in approximately 900-999.M40. Turns out that Dante was not chosen because he was the best of the Captains, but simply because he was the only surviving line officer after the debilitating Kallius Insurrection that left no more than 200 Blood Angels alive. Some might interpret this as lessening Dante's legend, and indeed the point is raised in the infobook from an in-universe POV. As a legend of M41, there is a retrospective rose-tinted perception of his every deed, and how Dante became a Chapter Master is apparently a matter the Blood Angels care not to discuss. [[Derp|This is stupid]]. It is actually saying something that Dante is the only line officer left after perhaps the most dangerous campaign the Blood Angels had fought in a long time. In WH40K survivors are the winners, and Dante was a survivor. Whoever wrote that bit of fluff did not think it through.

The WotDM is only one version of how Dante became Chapter Master. Another version of his ascent involves the Secoris Disaster, which is similar enough to the Kallius Insurrection, whilst maintaining some key differences. In this, Captain Dante and Captain Kadeus were the only line officers who survived the Secoris Tragedy (996.M40), a disastrous attempt by the entire chapter (under Chapter Master Sangallo) to cleanse the [[Space Hulk]] Sin of Damnation. Only fifty Blood Angels survive. Kadeus would go on to become Chapter Master, and together with Dante, rebuild the chapter. Ultimately, Kadeus would die in the Blood Angels fortress-monastery on Baal, naming Dante as his successor and handing him the Axe Mortalis.

Obviously the dates are off, for the latest fluff has Dante as Chapter Master for over 1000 years. However, due to the Imperium's [[administratum|shitty record keeping]] (acknowledged from a meta POV in WotDM), it is quite possible to <s>correct</s> hedge the dates. Alternatively, Dante has been Chapter Master for less than thousand years, and the whole over a thousand year shtick is Imperium propaganda (possibility acknowledged in WotDM). To be sure, the Secoris tragedy comes from the earlier fluff by James Swallow (see ''Dante: Lord of the Host'') and Gav Thorpe (''Space Hulk''), but not that old. Moreover, the Sin of Damnation (Secoris incident) is mentioned prominently in the Blood Angels 7th ed (2014), whereas the dates for Dante's rule of the chapter is not quite clear from it.

Finally, note that Blood Angels codex like the 5th and 6th ed state that that [[Darnath Lysander|Lysander]] does not recall a time when Dante was not the Chapter Master of the Blood Angels. Since Lysander was lost in the warp in late M40, and reappeared almost a thousand years later in 964.M41 (Codex: Space Marines 5th ed), Dante must have been Chapter Master before the former date. Thus, it is probably the Secoris tragedy that has been retconned, or at least, given less precedence by recent BL writers. It's probably down to shitty Imperial record keeping and GW being hopelessly inconsistent with dates. If Dante hasn't corrected it, it may be because it is too hard on him to think about how many brothers he lost.

Ultimately, whatever fluff you choose to follow, Dante was a badass. It was to him to lead the Blood Angels Chapter during the Dark Millennium that is M41.

That said, the 8th Edition Blood Angels Codex (most recent on the moment of writing) also reinforces previously mentioned info from 5th and 6th codexes, as [[Darnath Lysander|Captain Lysander]] still doesn't recall times when Blood Angels had the Chapter Master other than Dante, thus making his ascension after Kallius Insurrection more likely one, if not outright makes it canon.

It is 2021 here, and GW has chosen the only surviving line officer as canon (Darkness in the Blood). They made a good story and a good lesson out of it though; you can either stay strong to outlive your mistakes, or you can pick an easy way out, as the main supporting character in the book did. The book also says the chapter master before Dante was called Remael, actually, is this part of story taken directlly from WotDM?

===Lord Commander===
[[File:Vampire Awesomeness Incarnate.png|thumb|400px|right|One of the best ever pieces depicting Dante.]]
There is some fluff in the novels about Dante's personality as a leader. Basically, it can be said that he functions as an executive authority of the Blood Angels, rather than a 'lord' (like a Jedi Master of the High Council rather than the pre-Ruusan Reformation Jedi Lords). However, the title of ''Lord Commander'' is often used in conjunction with ''High Lord'' in the Blood Angels series by James Swallow. Meanwhile, the 7th ed codex and WotDM infobook seems to have shortened the title to just ''Commander'', while including subsidiary titles like ''Master of the Blood Angels'' and ''Lord of the Angelic Hosts''. It is not clear what exactly is the precise wording of the title. Swallow enjoys appending 'Lord' or 'High Lord' to Commander, but it could be just be reflecting the in-universe reverence of the Blood Angels for Dante. In any case, Dante behaves anything but like a 'lord' or 'master'. He is first-among-equals amongst the Blood Angels (or likes to think himself as such). He addresses First Captain [[Karlaen]] as brother, and brooks no ceremony while interacting with [[Mephiston]] and others.

According to the WotDM infobook, Dante has led the Blood Angels to their "most glorious and triumphant millennium since the time of the [[Great Scouring|Scouring]]". Some of his notable personal exploits are mentioned here.

It seems he doesn't sweat the small talk per se, and venerates a warriors honor more than a title. He certainly has many titles, all of which signify that he is indeed a warrior to be venerated above all others, but Dante really places respect above all else. Dante respects even the lowliest guardsmen who lays it all on the line for the defense of humanity, he doesn't ask anything more.

; The Gates of Pandemonium (Undated; M40-M41?)
Dante kicked [[Skarbrand]]'s ass at Pandemonium sometime during M41, casting the creature back into the warp. With Skarbrand’s banishment, the Daemonic armies were overwhelmed by the Blood Angels.

; Skylos (Undated; M40-M41?)
Dante defeated a powerful Chaos chronomancer at Skylos, who had shrouded the whole planet with his dark sorcery. The chronomancer would attempt to use time as a weapon against Dante, even stealing several decades of his life. Unfortunately for the chronomancer, the loss of a few decades is irrelevant to one such as Dante, who [[awesome|hacked him down with the Axe Mortalis]] (detailed in the short story ''Dante: Lord of the Host'').

; Ruden III (Undated; M40-M41?)
Dante's victory over Eldar corsairs on Ruden III is mentioned as one of his legendary deeds in ''Shield of Baal: Exterminatus''.

; Vetrim (Undated; M40-M41?)
Dante's role in the liberation of Vetrim from its Tau overlords and human turncoats is one of the legendary deeds singled out in ''Shield of Baal: Exterminatus''.

; Orana (Undated; M40-41?)
Sometime during M41 Dante personally led the Blood Angels strike force that saved the planet of Orana from an invasion of Chaos Space Marines and Daemons. Orana's capital hive was transformed into a hideous Hellspire, with stone and metal transformed into bloody flesh and bone, and Chaos sorcerers summoning a powerful Daemon lord. When all seemed lost Dante launched himself at the Daemon lord, banishing him back into the warp. With the Daemon's banishment, the Chaos forces were overwhelmed and the planet saved for the Imperium.

; Alchonis Campaign (Undated; M40-M41?)
Not much details about this, but that badass "I have seen all the evil that the galaxy harbours...." quote of Dante was uttered at the start of this campaign, with Dante personally involved (Codex Blood Angels 3rd ed).

; Pyrus Reach (Undated; M40-M41?)
Dante personally led a Blood Angels force during the Pyrus Reach campaign, which is featured in the ''Dark Millenium'' cardgame.
The conflict involved forces of Chaos led by [[Erebus]] and his [[Word Bearers]], and an Ork Waaagh! led by Warboss Garzulk the Faceless from the mighty Goffs clan. Space Elves from a Craftworld are also involved, and as usual, involved in some behind the scenes shenanigans that got the [[Dark Angels]] into the mess as well.

; Canau (Undated; M40-M41?)
Dante led the Blood Angels to liberate the planet of Canau from the Orks. Singled out as one of his most legendary exploits, subject to much mythmaking where he slew so many Orks that even the [[Matt Ward|Dark Lord]] has trouble accepting the numbers cited.

; Ultima Macharia (Undated; M40-M41?)
Dante performed some memorable deed here (Blood Angels 5th ed). No details are given, but possibly something to do with the [[Macharian Heresy]]. Most probably it is mentioned because it is the farthest planet on the western half of the galaxy, providing a nice mirror to Dante's involvement in Jonol (see below), the planet on the edge of the Eastern Fringes of the Segmentum Ultima.

; Jonol (Undated; M40-M41?)
Dante is mentioned as being involved in some bloody victory on this planet. Jonol is the homeworld of the Honoured Sons Space Marine Chapter, on the Eastern Fringes of the Galaxy, and probably the rationale for its prominence in Dante's fluff is to show he has fought across the length and breadth of the Imperium.

; Terion (Early M41)
Dante led the Blood Angels to relieve the world of Terion at the dawn of the 41st Millennium, defeating an alliance of [[Night Lords]] and the Traitor warband known as the Brotherhood of Darkness. In an upbeat ending, the devastated Terion was rebuilt into a paradise, and all that remains of the war’s legacy is a colossal monument to Dante in the capital city. [[Grimdark]]? What grimdark?

; WAAAGH! Big Skorcha (798.M41) 
Dante led the Blood Angels in defense of Baal and its moons from WAAAGH! Big Skorcha, which included numerous Orks from three entire Space Hulks.

; Battle of Stonehaven (901.M41)
Dante led the drop assault that broke WAAAGH! Bludcrumpa's decade-long siege of the Forge World Ironhelm.

; Kalagazaar (911.M41)
When Grey Knight prognosticars predicted [[Ka'bandha]] return to the mortal world, the Grey Knights revealed themselves to the Blood Angels, bringing the news to Dante and proposing a joint strike. The Blood Angels and Grey Knights then attacked Ka'Bandha at his fortress on the Daemon world Kalagazar, banishing him and his Daemonic legions and then subjecting the planet to exterminatus. At the end of the mission the surviving Blood Angels have their memories wiped, with Dante having agreed to that at the mission's start. The fluff does not make it clear if Dante himself actually participated in the mission, but it seems much more probable that he did than not (7th ed rulebook).

; Second War for Armageddon (941.M41)
Dante's reputation led Chapter Masters [[Tu'Shan]] of the [[Salamanders]] and [[Marneus Calgar]] of the [[Ultramarines]] to acknowledge his overall command of imperial forces in [[Armageddon]].

At the walls of Tartarus Hive, Dante and Tu'Shan would famously fight side by side against [[Ghazghkull Thraka]] and his bodyguard, winning the day for the Imperium. A generation later, Dante's name is still spoken with reverence in Armageddon, and one of the Armageddon system's deep space monitoring installations was named in his honour.

; Malogrim (Undated; 941-999.M41?)
Sometime during M41 Dante personally led the Blood Angels as they defended the planet of Malogrim from a three-way invasion involving Orks, Dark Eldar, and Chaos Space Marines of the [[Emperor's Children]]. The Orks were led personally by [[Ghazghkull Thraka]], and the Dark Eldar spearheaded by [[Lelith Hesperax]] and her Wych Cult of Strife.

This conflict is undated, but the appearance of Ghazghkull gives a date shortly before 941.M40, or sometime afterwards. Of course, there is no hard and fast canon, and this is from a card game the ''Siege of Malogrim Hive''. Possibly there was never a date indicated, just like what developers claimed for [[Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine]].

;The Gehenna Campaign (955.M41) 
Dante and the Blood Angels 3rd Company battled against the Necron Legions of the [[Silent King]] on Gehenna, his leadership allowing the company to fight the enemy to a stalemate for three standard weeks. When a Tyranid splinter fleet enters orbit, the Blood Angels and the Necrons ally to fight the common foe successfully.

However, it turns out that the Necrons were using the Blood Angels, letting them bore the brunt of the fighting (hmmm, perhaps Dante would have done well to internalise the lessons about Xenos perfidy). The Necrons fled before the Blood Angels recognised the treachery, but Blood Angels propaganda made it out that Dante let them leave in gratitude for their 'contributions' to the defence.

; The Blackfang Crusade (994.M41) 
Dante mobilised the whole Blood Angels chapter, leading them to drive the Orks from their empire (twelve worlds) in the Blackfang system, and also its two neighbouring systems. [[Awesome|All in a single standard year]].

; The Third Tyrannic War (997.M41-early.M42)
[[File:Dante-vs-Hive-Tyrant.png|300px|thumb|right|Dante taking on a hive tyrant]]
[[Hive Fleet Leviathan]], the largest [[Tyranid]] force ever to invade the Galaxy, is eventually defeated at Baal. Dante and the Blood Angels play an important role, contributing decisively in the Cryptus Campaign and the defence of Baal (and its moons) itself.

Responding to Dante's call-to-arms, every Blood Angels successor chapter (save the [[Lamenters]]) assembled at Baal. During the fighting, Baal Primus (Baalind) and Baal Secundus (Baalfora) were both pretty badly fucked up, but the arrival of a relief force led by Guilliman allowed the Blood Angels to claim victory on Baal.

'''Spoilers for [[Devastation of Baal]] ahead!'''

As the destruction of Baal came to a close, Dante and a mere 2000 marines from various chapters found themselves in a last-stand scenario. With the Arx Angelicum's defences destroyed, their Astropathic Choir dead or maddened, most of their Neophytes consumed by the horde and no hope for victory left, each and every marine present inducted themselves into the [[Death Company]] using ash, soot, and blood in place of paint to darken their armour. Dante gives one final inspirational speech to the assembled marines and orders the prisoners of the Tower of Amareo to be unleashed to accompany them as they began their suicidal charge into the Tyranid hordes.

In the process of pushing towards the Swarmlord as their final hope of victory, Dante begins to willingly succumb to the Red Thirst and very nearly falls to the Black Rage, barely keeping his bloodlust in check by swearing to himself that he'll see the Swarmlord dead before he gives in completely. As he and his forces pushed forward and were thinned out by the swarm, the [[Sanguinor]] and [[Legion of the Damned]] showed up and assisted Dante in reaching the Swarmlord.

In the ensuing duel, Dante found that for all his might and experience, it was nothing compared to the might of the Swarmlord (exacerbated by the way Dante was exhausted, hallucinating, and bordering on psychotic madness). Dante attempted to weave around the Swarmlord to get swings in with the Axe Mortalis or shots with the Perdition Pistol, but barely drew any blood. As his jump pack ran out of fuel, the Swarmlord took advantage and very nearly killed Dante then and there, but Dante abandoned his backpack all together. However, this had the unfortunate side effect of his armor no longer having a power source and it rapidly began shutting down.

Dante made one final charge, parrying and shattering one of the Swarmlord's bone swords; however, the momentum of the sword continued through the blow and impaled Dante through one of his hearts, leaving him gravely poisoned and bleeding to death. Before the Swarmlord could cleave Dante in two, his armor's sealing foam melded it to the bone sword, catching the Swarmlord unawares. Using this momentary hesitation, Dante fired the Perdition Pistol into the Swarmlord's face at point-blank range, melting it into hot Tyranid goop (though it still manages to sever its own arm and shoot Dante an epic death glare with one eye before finally dying).

Dante finally succumbs to his wounds, wondering who the golden warrior that Sanguinius saw dying before the Emperor was. He awoke to the sight of the Sanguinor, standing beside Sanguinius himself. Sanguinius called Dante the greatest of his sons and said that Dante had earned his right to rest beside him for all time. Dante begged for eternal rest, [[Grimdark|literally]] ''[[Grimdark|crying]]'' [[Grimdark|as he asked for his father to finally let him die]], but Sanguinius regretfully told him that he still had a duty to perform in the mortal world, and poured strength into Dante, reviving him. Dante himself nearly has a mental breakdown over the fact that his suffering would continue, but he swiftly gets over it as the below is revealed to him.

===Dark Imperium===
Dante lives to see the Blood Angels and the Imperium win against the Tyrannids on Baal. He meets with Guilliman afterwards, who names him Warden of Imperium Nihilus, the supreme commander of Imperial forces north of the Cicatrix Maledictum. Guilliman basically orders Dante not to kneel before him and says that he, above all else, earned the right to stand up with him.