Lorgar, Bearer of the Word

By Gav Thorpe

"Most devoted of all the primarchs, it was Lorgar who first fell to the lure of Chaos. Once known as Aurelian, this golden son of the Emperor of Mankind found himself an outcast because he worshipped his father as a god. Humbled before the ruins of Monarchia, chastened and brought low, Lorgar yearned for deeper meaning. He found it in the power of Ruin and thus began the descent into heresy. His fate had not always been so. On Colchis, his adopted birth world, Lorgar was not always the zealot, though his path would be nurtured by one: the priest Kor Phaeron."

This book is very much the origin story of Lorgar, primarch of the Word Bearers, from the Warhammer 40,000 universe. How he comes from slave to become master of a legion. This is one very much for fans of the Word Bearers keen to know more about how Lorgar was found, after the scattering of the primarchs by the chaos gods.

The Word Bearers were quite central to the Horus Heresy timeline, and their representation shows. The Word Bearers have another addition with Lorgar, Bearer of the Word (they really could have thought of a better title though) to their books like The First Heretic, Know No Fear, The Purge, and The Unburdened.

Gav Thorpe has a huge amount of experience with writing for Black Library, so we have an established writer who is really the ‘main man’ of the Dark Angels taking on the origin story of Lorgar of the Word Bearers.

Father & Son

The challenge for an author of the primarchs series can be complex: often to show the transition from primarch and/or establish and develop the character of the featured primarch. Gav Thorpe explores the father-son relationship of Kor Phaeron and Lorgar masterfully, with Lorgar transitioning from being a slave to the eventual leader but having to deal with the domineering Kor Phaeron. It’s effective, and for me brings echoes of the God of War videogame series with its complex father-son relationship between Kratos and Atreus. Lorgar is written well, being humble and charismatic, but develops into someone more capable of taking control. Kor Phaeron is bitter, resentful and power hungry, and is a great character to play off against Lorgar and to perhaps add context to his future renouncement of everything he’s known.

The plot works well – there’s several challenges through the book that help its progression whilst also serving to develop Lorgar and other characters. Events also serve to show this development, as do their interactions with other characters and non-key characters, such as the secondary characters who follow Lorgar. This book is really strong on storyline and plot and definitely one of the areas it performs best in.

From slave to master

The start of the book with Lorgar and other slaves in the desert and under Kor Phaeron’s ownership really sets a harsh atmosphere, full of both pious and punished characters. The imagery works well enough, and after reading I don’t think the descriptive writing deserves any knocks but didn’t exactly stand out either. So the book does well enough in terms of its descriptions of settings, people and metaphors but didn’t exactly blow me away quite like the story and characters did.

Bearer of the Word

We’ve covered this in the story section somewhat, but I feel the characters are done exceptionally well. You want to hate Kor Phaeron, Lorgar is humble, likeable and charismatic, but will also do what needs to be done. He also brings conflict in the reader – you know he is worshipping the dark powers and will be responsible for bloodshed and atrocity. The Word Bearers being a large part of the root of the dark tree that grows. Yet he draws sycophantic followers to him – both in and outside the book. Even the sub characters are interesting and play their part. Some slaves quite rightly fear Kor Phaeron but have hope in the form of Lorgar, and react accordingly from a position of hopelessness. The characters and their development over time is its strongest point.

Readability

As this is an origin story I found that contrary to most Horus heresy books, there wasn’t too much Warhammer terminology here that might be a hurdle to someone unfamiliar with the lore. Chaos is also represented in a simple but effective fashion, so this is quite a good book for someone who isn’t fully familiar with with the Warhammer 40,000 background. The language used wasn’t particularly complex either (although perhaps this contributes to the imagery being quite average), so this is quite readable. These books are also shorter than most Horus Heresy books being 200 pages rather than 300-400, which makes it an easier read.

For fans only?

Some of the primarch books really feel like they serve the purpose of ‘if you want to read more on a particular primarch or because you like their legion’, and so probably aren’t necessary for the casual reader, but I did really enjoy the characters and development in this one. The story was strong and very engaging, making this quite worth your time even if you’re not a huge fan of the Word Bearers. You’ll definitely dislike Kor Phaeron even more.

Final Score

This one had such enjoyable characters and story despite being around 200 pages, it deserves a high score. It really does what it says on the tin: explores Lorgar’s backstory, keeps you interested and sets the scene for the later role of the Word Bearers in the Horus Heresy. It’s great for fans of Lorgar and the Word Bearers or 40k fans who are keen to read more even if it isn’t essential reading.

8/10