# The Primarchs names.



## Zooey72 (Mar 25, 2008)

I have turned my brain off when reading the Heresy books when it comes to the names of the Primarchs. Did the Emperor name them, or were they given names on their home planets? I figured that the names of the Primarhs were on their capsules when they landed and the people who found them, or the Primarch himself adopted the name. Kind of like the whole comic book "Wolverine" theme. How could they read it since they were different cultures? All of it is based off the Terran language so even after 10k years of isolation there may still have been enough of a connection to decipher it. OR, the writing on the capsules was Colchisian (as pointed out in the "First Heretic", there were glyphs on the capsules put there by the Emperor). Colchisian is the universal lang. of Chaos and I am sure each Primarch was put on a planet that would have some connection to Chaos since the ruinous powers were able to cherry pick them.

Here is the inconsistencies that I can see in either case. Ferrus Manus and Curze contrast each other whichever case you believe. If Ferrus Manus was named by the Emperor he named him he knew he was going to eventualy have hands of iron (Ferrus Manus means Iron Hands in Latin). Not to mention his legion always had the name "Iron Hands" which also seems like too much of a coincidence. You could also make the same case for the "Blood Angels" since their primarch has an angelic form (that however can be explained by looking in the capsule before they were thrown in the warp and seeing wings on the fetus).

Now if you go with the idea that the primarchs got their names from the cultures they were placed in Curze has an inconsistency. When he meets up with the Emperor, the Emperor calls him by his "given name" and Curze rejects it saying he is his adopted persona "The Night Haunter". Where did the name Conrad Curze come from since he obviously didn't come up with it, and the local population are the ones who came up with "Night Haunter".


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## Child-of-the-Emperor (Feb 22, 2009)

In most cases the Primarchs were named by their adoptive humans on the worlds they found themselves on. For example Lion El'Jonson means "Son of the Forest", and Mortarion means "Child of Death".


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## Zooey72 (Mar 25, 2008)

Ok, but where did Conrad Curze come from than? If you are known as something menacing like "Night Haunter", why to "ya, but my friends call me Conrad", and how was the Emperor aware of the Curze name?


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## Angel of Blood (Aug 18, 2010)

The Emperor named him Konrad Curze when he arrived on Nostromo.


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## Zooey72 (Mar 25, 2008)

Angel of Blood said:


> The Emperor named him Konrad Curze when he arrived on Nostromo.


Where did you get that info from, and why would the Emperor decide to change Night Haunter's name and no one elses?


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## Angel of Blood (Aug 18, 2010)

Prince of Crows. And I'm guessing because all the others had actual names, ones that could fit in his Imperium. Night Haunter just doesn't really fit in for the sagas and tales the Primarchs exploits would invoke.


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## Zooey72 (Mar 25, 2008)

Also, other than his name being "Ferus Manus" his Legion was named by the Emperor if I am not mistaken. The Warhounds and the Dusk Raiders changed their names once their primarchs were discovered, but I believe the Iron Hands have always been the Iron Hands.

Too much of a coincidence for the Emp. to name them that and than suddenly their Primarch (Ferrus Manus) gets Fists of Iron!


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## hailene (Aug 28, 2009)

Zooey72 said:


> Too much of a coincidence for the Emp. to name them that and than suddenly their Primarch (Ferrus Manus) gets Fists of Iron!


You would think that the Emperor was some sort of powerful pysker with the ability to see parts of the future or something. Maybe? Or is that too much even for the Emperor?

(Playfully sarcastic here, in case anyone was wondering .)


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## Brother Lucian (Apr 22, 2011)

Zooey72 said:


> Also, other than his name being "Ferus Manus" his Legion was named by the Emperor if I am not mistaken. The Warhounds and the Dusk Raiders changed their names once their primarchs were discovered, but I believe the Iron Hands have always been the Iron Hands.
> 
> Too much of a coincidence for the Emp. to name them that and than suddenly their Primarch (Ferrus Manus) gets Fists of Iron!


Hmrm, they were known as the Storm Walkers pre Ferrus Manus, and usually refered to as the Iron Tenth when Manus was discovered. So they likely took their name from their primarch.

http://warhammer40k.wikia.com/wiki/Iron_Hands


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## Lupe (Jan 3, 2011)

Angel of Blood said:


> The Emperor named him Konrad Curze when he arrived on Nostromo.


No, the Emperor _called_ him that. Now, why he called him that is not clear, but there's two explanations possible here.

a) The Emperor named his sons while they were in test tubes and most of them simply ignored his choices and retained the names they'd been given on their homeworlds (although this is strange, since Perturabo suddenly feels like he knows his name when he's first asked about it and then introduces himself to the people who asked him)
b) The primarch needed to adopt some sort of name to interact with various people on Nostramo during the time that his reputation as the Night Haunter was still being built, and the Emperor just picked it out via prophecy or telepathy.

Now, obviously, I think the second option makes more sense. I doubt even a primarch can kill enough important people to become public enemy number 1 of an entire hivevorld over night. That's an entire planet after all, just moving between kills takes forever. And besides, he did love to space his kills in between, to let the effects sink in, to terrorize the people who would be next in line. During that time, the primarch needed a name, an identity, if only not to draw attention to himself.

The story behind the name would be interesting to hear, though. Was it just two words picked at random? Was it the name of one of his victims or someone he wanted to avenge? Is there any baggage attached to his choice?


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## Angel of Blood (Aug 18, 2010)

Have you read _Prince of Crows?_. It establishes pretty clearly that he certainly was public enemy number 1 very quickly, but they named him Night Haunter even before then, and he took and embraced the name. Before then he wasn't even using a name, and he didn't mingle at all.

After the Emperor names him as Konrad Curze, he tells him 'That is not my name'


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## Angel of Blood (Aug 18, 2010)

_Soul Hunter_ also states "He would come to be known by the name his father had chosen for him: Konrad Curze. To the people of Nostramo, the would forever wrapped in nightfall's embrace, he was - at least at first - altogether less human. Never dud the Primarch bear a human name there."

Both sources are conclusive. The Emperor gave him the name Konrad Curze.


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## ckcrawford (Feb 4, 2009)

Angel of Blood said:


> _Soul Hunter_ also states "He would come to be known by the name his father had chosen for him: Konrad Curze. To the people of Nostramo, the would forever wrapped in nightfall's embrace, he was - at least at first - altogether less human. Never dud the Primarch bear a human name there."
> 
> Both sources are conclusive. The Emperor gave him the name Konrad Curze.


I hope they don't beat the horse, but I feel Konrad Curze's story needs a tinny bit of explanation. We all know he was mad and such, but after the introduction of other primarch personalities and even the extent that legions took to ensure victory over human populations, I've become more skeptical as to why Dorn and the Emperor thought he was a special freak.


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## forkmaster (Jan 2, 2010)

It should be remembered the background have been expanded in the aftermath. When creating the loyalists and traitors, they went with names on the Primarchs that would fit the theme of what they would become later on (and in turn also their Legions). When thinking about it, a guy named Mortarion can't end up anything but evil kind of. It's only afterwards they have tried to incooperate so the stories fit the background. CotE and Angel did give a clear specification on how and when in their answers though.


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## Vaz (Mar 19, 2008)

ckcrawford said:


> I hope they don't beat the horse, but I feel Konrad Curze's story needs a tinny bit of explanation. We all know he was mad and such, but after the introduction of other primarch personalities and even the extent that legions took to ensure victory over human populations, I've become more skeptical as to why Dorn and the Emperor thought he was a special freak.


Oh no, I hope that doesn't mean we'll be forced to read another book written by ADB from the perspective of Sevatar.


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## forkmaster (Jan 2, 2010)

Vaz said:


> Oh no, I hope that doesn't mean we'll be forced to read another book written by ADB from the perspective of Sevatar.


ADB has implied about a story where Sevatar talks to a ghost girl within his confinement after _Prince of Crows_. I'm uncertain if its the audio where ADB wrote the NL-side and and Thorpe will be doing the DA/the Fallen-side. Amazon have announced them already. And I do believe _Nightfall_ will still happen.


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## 40kBookReviews (Aug 24, 2014)

ckcrawford said:


> I hope they don't beat the horse, but I feel Konrad Curze's story needs a tinny bit of explanation. We all know he was mad and such, but after the introduction of other primarch personalities and even the extent that legions took to ensure victory over human populations, I've become more skeptical as to why Dorn and the Emperor thought he was a special freak.


Personally I think we've had all the exposition on Curze that we need... and then some.

Obviously he is a rather fascinating Primarch due to his "brokenness" but I really don't need to hear any more stories about the hunger for blood and life in eternal darkness, striking fear into puny mortals.

As for why he was shunned by some of his brothers, I think that has to do with both his methods and his personality.
Though rather extreme, it could be argued that the Night Lords did not behave worse than several other legions, but I think that their principles of conquest and control through terror and gruesome public displays of cruelty rubbed many other Primarchs the wrong way.
Added to that is the fundamentally flawed psyche of Curze, which seems to have tormented him from his early days and gradually broke him more and more, something that I'm sure his brothers also picked up on.


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## ckcrawford (Feb 4, 2009)

40kBookReviews said:


> Personally I think we've had all the exposition on Curze that we need... and then some.
> 
> Obviously he is a rather fascinating Primarch due to his "brokenness" but I really don't need to hear any more stories about the hunger for blood and life in eternal darkness, striking fear into puny mortals.
> 
> ...


As far as current fluff goes, it does seem that he is the most hopeless primarch. I think thats fair if he really is simply a troubled primarch with no greater purpose in the Heresy but to be cannon fodder and slow down more important legions. However, if they do decide to push how significant he is in terms of his visions, I wouldn't be against it.


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## Zooey72 (Mar 25, 2008)

Ok...

Going from the other end of the name spectrum...

If all the primarchs were named by their collective birth world parents why was Curze the only named by the Emperor?

Curze was not the only primarch who had a bad upbringing. Angron got his "slave" name that he kept. Mortarion didn't care for the way he was named. If anything Curze (out of all the resentful primarchs) would have been the only one who really liked his name. It represented him as being a boogey man. The name came from a fearful population he terrified into submission.

I guess you could argue the Emperor is a dick and gave him a name because he knew he enjoyed the one the population gave him too much.


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