Lelith Hesperax

You can be the king, but watch the queen conquer.

She'll conquer you so good.

Her ExcellenceLelith Hesperax is a Dark Eldar special character, the leader of the Wych Cult of Strife and the most renowned Succubus (a Wych champion) in Commorragh. She is easily one of the biggest badasses in a universe of badasses, simply because she has survived the arenas for millennia - she was already a powerful Succubus when Asdrubael Vect began his rise to power, and in fact aided him in his coup. While there are thousands of warriors who carved bloody swaths across the galaxy, she's the only one who does it without modifications, the blessing of gods, super-special weapons, or a wearable tank - she's armed only with two daggers, her hair, a sports bra, and a thong. Not even shoes? Not even shoes.

And we're not kidding about her hair - she so skilled at twisting around the hooks woven into it that it counts as a shardnet and impaler AND as an AP2 power weapon. Yes, she's so good at whipping her hair back and forth and using tiny ass daggers to find weak points that her attacks cut through terminator armor when a goddamn actual power sword won't. She is also listed as having plasma grenades, but since she isn't modeled with them, we must assume this is simply a way of granting "distracting" rules to DAT ASS.

Lelith Hesperax is the most oversexed special character in any codex - nearly naked, with a purring voice, and whole rings of perverts dedicated to trading videos of her offing opponents. Yes, there are snuff films in 40K. And the 7th edition codex hints that at least one entity of the warp is watching them...is Slaanesh just fapping, or is Khorne scouting for a Sci-fi Valkya?

Oddly enough, she seems to lack the ambition and sadism of most Dark Eldar, similar to Drazhar. She knows she's the best in the arenas, and has proven it for about as long as Europe has been a thing, but she doesn't seek political power beyond leading the Wych Cult of Strife. She simply shows up before a raid (a rare occassion- she's often in such high demand that bids for her services have triggered kabal wars), does her thing with her Bloodbrides, and takes home interesting trophies from fallen opponents that she houses in a private museum. She's not only a gladiatrix, a noble woman, and a porn star - she's a curator. She probably catalogues that shit in a little tweed jacket late at night when nobody's looking. She's still a mass-murderer and bloody-minded warrior, but that's par for the course in 40K, so it's hard not to view her as less of monster than most Dark Eldar, and just a natural born killer.

She also manages the Crucibael (sigh), the greatest arena in the universe, with Reaver arenas the size of cities and a coloseum carved of living jade. Vect has commented that this grandeur is appropriate, for "Lelith Hesperax is the greatest treasure of the Dark City, and one does not display one's finest emerald amid squalor." D'aaaaaw. That's Aborabael Vect.

Unfortunately, her model doesn't see as much use as it could due to her mediocre strength 3 and lack of access to combat drugs (Lelly is straight-edge - NOT EVEN ONCE, YOU GUYS)- the only way to up her strength is with the furious charge granted by Power from Pain. However, she is great against tarpits of Strength 3 troops, and is fucking hilarious against Tau. She used to gain X attacks, where X is the difference between her insane weapon skill of 9 and the highest WS value amongst her opponents, but now she just has Rampage. She also has a hilariously high Ballistic skill - also 9 - despite having no ranged weapons until the 6th edition grenade update. You can just imagine an archon begging her to at least carry a Blaster, but BITCH STUCK UP. WE'RE GETTIN REAL TIRED OF YO SHIT, HESPERAX.

More like "Succubus of the Cult of Waifu," amiright?

Stories involving Lady Hesperax

• Hesperax's Pet - For those who actually want to see the queen conquering someone. (Limited time offer: get a glimpse of her long-hidden kinder, romantic side.)

See Also

• Reri Hesperax - Much like Lofn, another teegee half-eldar creation, Reri is thought to be the half-breed child of Lelith and her human mate named Avitus (No, not that Avitus), born from the story above. Whether or not this makes her count as a Dark Eldar Trueborn remains to be seen. Reri's father remains an unknown in her own story, but common headcanon seems to keep Avitus around.

Dark Eldar Lords and Ladies
Asdrubael Vect - Archon Tahril - Baron Sathonyx Drazhar - Duke Sliscus - Kheradruakh Lady Malys - Lelith Hesperax - Urien Rakarth