# Colour Strips on HH Book Spines



## Count_the_Seven

Quick question, on the spine of the Horus Heresy series each book has a little band of colour along the top - anyone know what it's for?

For example, the first three in the series had a dark red strip, but since then there have been several other colours, though mainly green. Nemesis, the new book has a green strip.

It must mean _something_... Any ideas?

:scratchhead:


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## Brother Subtle

No one has any idea. I've had a look and I can't work it out. Apparently the BL have said it's just random...?


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## Count_the_Seven

Very strange thing to do if it has no meaning IMO. They changed the metallic colours as well, but I thought that was due to a change in production at the time as there was no obvious reason for the change there.

Odd.

:scratchhead:


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## Turkeyspit

The answer lies somewhere in the understanding of *4 8 15 16 23 42* - I'm SURE of it :wink:


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## Baron Spikey

The change between gold, silver, and bronze lettering is to differentiate between printings- with Gold being the rarest (usually just pre-orders) and so on.


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## Dead.Blue.Clown

It means...

Actually, I've forgotten. The art director told me once when I asked, but I didn't really get it.


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## Davidicus 40k

I would say they just use whatever color fits with the cover, but Baron has a logical-sounding explanation.


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## Commissar Ploss

Dead.Blue.Clown said:


> It means...
> 
> Actually, I've forgotten. The art director told me once when I asked, but I didn't really get it.


I'm sure Uncle Vince would know. I'll ask him.

CP


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## Words_of_Truth

I thought it was to do with certain books being linked to others within the series, but who knows.


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## Commissar Ploss

Davidicus 40k said:


> I would say they just use whatever color fits with the cover, but Baron has a logical-sounding explanation.


Baron's description was for the color of the words on the cover, not the color stripe on the spine of the book. That's really what's in question here.

CP


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## Count_the_Seven

Sorry Commander, I opened a second front on the lettering... the answer there is credible, but still no plausible theory on the coloured strips.

I'm going to get back to Nemesis...


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## Marneus Calgar

I always thought it was based around the legions that the story was based around. So, Decent of Angels and Fallen Angels, based around Dark Angels, then the stripe is green. Obviously, I haven't really checked, and I'm not in a posistion to check. So, if anyone could check for me, then I'd appreciate it. 

Also, tell me if I'm wrong!


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## Words_of_Truth

Count_the_Seven said:


> Sorry Commander, I opened a second front on the lettering... the answer there is credible, but still no plausible theory on the coloured strips.
> 
> I'm going to get back to Nemesis...


I loved Nemesis, was an interesting story and anything with Dorn in is immediately awesome anyway.


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## Bindi Baji

Brother Subtle said:


> Apparently the BL have said it's just random...?


on BL's forum it was stated implicitly by one of the author's (I think it was McNeill about 2006 ish) that the colours had a meaning, 
he went on to say that he wondered when it would be explained


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## RudeAwakening79

ok, I was also wondering about this when I received Nemesis last saturday....my hope is on Commissar Ploss.


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## Commissar Ploss

RudeAwakening79 said:


> ok, I was also wondering about this when I received Nemesis last saturday....my hope is on Commissar Ploss.


i'll probably get something within the day. He wont be back into the office until monday, i assume. He's good with this kind of info.  fingers crossed.

CP


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## Commissar Ploss

here we go, final answer:

Me:

"Hey mate,

I had a question in regards to the Horus Heresy series. The colored bands on the spines of the books. What is the significance of those? or are they just random? thanks in advance. If you don't know, no big deal. "

Vince:
"Yes, they are random. Evidently a rumour started that there was some significance to them. The coloring of the titles however is planned. Gold is first edition, silver second and bronze third and subsequent"

Me:
"ah, i see. thanks for the information mate. I appreciate it. "


You're welcome everyone! :grin:

CP


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## Brother Subtle

And the truth shall set you free!


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## Words_of_Truth

I got all first edition  including one limited edition.


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## Dead.Blue.Clown

Guys...



Dead.Blue.Clown said:


> It means...
> 
> Actually, I've forgotten. The art director told me once when I asked, but I didn't really get it.


They do, or at least did, have a meaning.


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## Brother Subtle

Dead.Blue.Clown said:


> Guys...
> 
> 
> 
> They do, or at least did, have a meaning.


well if the meaning has been lost or abandoned by BL, can you tell us what the meaning 'used' to be aaron? you know it's only us 40k nerds who would give a shit about the 'mystery of the colour coded spines' :grin:

p.s. if you get a chance check out my blog (link in my sig), i reviewed your night lords book on it a while back. i think i gave it a good review without kissing your ass too much like other reviewers :so_happy:


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## Turkeyspit

Randomness? That implies a lack of order...or perhaps...Chaos?

I think that means tha..

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Terminal Shutdown
by order of Inquisitor Uranos
Omega-7 clearence required

The Emperor Protects

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++​


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## Commissar Ploss

Dead.Blue.Clown said:


> Guys...
> 
> 
> 
> They do, or at least did, have a meaning.



lol ask him again mate! I'd love to hear the meaning if there is one. I believe you, i just don't want to wrongfully bash Uncle Vince.

CP

or if you don't want to ask him, send me his email. I'll do it.


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## World Eater XII

Ah the plot thickens!


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## Commissar Ploss

World Eater XII said:


> Ah the plot thickens!


as does the gravy...


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## World Eater XII

Nah thats just my dodgy cooking!

Want extra lumps?


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## Bindi Baji

World Eater XII said:


> Want extra lumps?


that just makes me think of school custard.......


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## Barnster

Why did they virtually all turn green though?

Remind me never to eat any of you guys cooking


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## Brother Subtle

will the first ultramarines only HH novel have a pink strip? *wink


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## Commissar Ploss

Hey Aaron, any recollection of what the meaning is? :wink: just wondering if you can back it up. 

CP


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## Dead.Blue.Clown

Commissar Ploss said:


> Hey Aaron, any recollection of what the meaning is? :wink: just wondering if you can back it up.
> 
> CP


Yeah, I actually remembered what they were, once my author copies of _The First Heretic_ arrived. I think it's a deliberate secret, waiting for people to guess. Which is... weird.


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## Lord of the Night

Hmm sounds cool. We probably wont figure it out until the Siege of Terra is released, once the entire series is finished the meaning behind the colours will likely be staring us in the face.


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## Bane_of_Kings

Could it be something that represents the Loyalists and the Traitors? For example, Battle for the Abyss is largley about good guys, and that has a Green thing.

Fulgrim and A Thousand Sons have Blue, and they are both renegade legions. Ignoring the red for the first three books, which could possibly be put in the "series within a series" section, you have an almost perfect match between heretics and loyalists. 

~Bane of Kings


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## Lord of the Night

_A Thousand Sons_ is purple, not blue.


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## bobss

Bane_of_Kings said:


> Could it be something that represents the Loyalists and the Traitors? For example, Battle for the Abyss is largley about good guys, and that has a Green thing.
> 
> Fulgrim and A Thousand Sons have Blue, and they are both renegade legions. Ignoring the red for the first three books, which could possibly be put in the "series within a series" section, you have an almost perfect match between heretics and loyalists.
> 
> ~Bane of Kings


Excluding the opening Trilogy (_Horus Rising, False Gods and Galaxy in Flames_) I used to believe that Horus Heresy novels that exceeded the traditional ~416 pages received a different colour banner._ Fulgrim _and _A Thousand Sons_ work perfectly for this. However, having bought _Nemesis_ yesterday (Pretty much due to the fact its big...) this theory is shattered. Thats ~500 pages and is green, thus in summarative conclusion: Fuck knows.

Oh, and_ Legion _is about a renegade Legion and is green, I believe?


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## Lord of the Night

bobss said:


> Oh, and _Legion_ is about a renegade Legion and is green, I believe?


Nope purple.


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## Brother Subtle

My copy of mechanicum has no colour on the spine? Did I get a super limited special edition? Nope, some dick just cut the cover wrong! Bastardo!


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## Bane_of_Kings

That's what happened to my _Horus Rising_, I think. .

~Bane of Kings


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## Commissar Ploss

Dead.Blue.Clown said:


> Yeah, I actually remembered what they were, once my author copies of _The First Heretic_ arrived. I think it's a deliberate secret, waiting for people to guess. Which is... weird.


that is odd... I guess if you're going to have a secret, it might as well be something tiny and obscure?

CP


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## Stabed

The first three are Red, Fulgrim is blue, Legion and A Thousand Sons are purple, and the rest are green.

The only conection that comes to mind are that the Alpha Legion and the Thousand Sons didnt really chose to turn to Chaos, and purple is more of a ambiguous colour.

Do we know what colour The First Heretic Strip is?


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## WeTurnedTheTide wecame

Thats bullshit look at what happens and when in most of each book. NONE are in Order 

Blues are First

Fulgrim
The First Heretic
They both start and 80% of the books are 50 years before the virus-bombing of Istvaan III

Dark Purples Next 

Legion
A Thousand Sons
Prospero Burns 

If you read False Gods BEFORE Horus is corrupted he gets word that the Emperor sent the space Wolves to bring in Magnus "Though utterly loyal, the legion of Magnus The Red is viewed with suspicion for arcane methods".
In Legion it explains that Horus hasn't become corrupted yet and why the Alpha Legion "turn" against the Emperor.
If you read Galaxy in Flames The Alpha Legion pretty much know what Horus is up to even before he tells them his plans and they have already killed all imperial units that were attached to them already unlike Horus and the other legions Death Guard, Emperors Children, World Eaters who slowly corrupted them before virus-bombing of Istvaan III

Then Dark Red

Horus Rising
False Gods
Galaxy in Flames
There all about Horus just before the virus-bombing of Istvaan III or during it 

Followed by Green

Flight of the Eisenstein
Descent of Angels
Battle of the Abyss
Mechanicum
Tales of Heresy
Fallen Angles
Nemesis

These are All set all during or after the virus-bombing of Istvaan III 
E.g Flight of the Eisenstein Loyal Death Guard escape and head for Terra, Decent of Angels the start is years before Istvaan III but 60% of the books set during Istvaan III and just after most of Fallen Angels is set just after Istvaan III. When the Dark Angels are sent to stop imperial units that have sworn in there lot with Horus from raiding a forge world which happens to be one Horus set up during the early years of the great crusade.
Mechanicum's set after because Horus sends Regulus his Mechanicum Representative to use a secret to bribe Kelbor-Hal Fabricator General of Mars to gain his loyalties.Tales of Heresy is just small stories set during and after Istvaan III. Nemesis set two years and more after Istvaan III while Horus is planing his attacks on the imperium.


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## TechPr1est

what
the
fuck


you do have a point even though you posted in a 2 year old thread

s'ok your new


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## Duke_Leto

WeTurnedTheTide wecame said:


> Thats bullshit look at what happens and when in most of each book. NONE are in Order
> 
> Blues are First
> 
> Fulgrim
> The First Heretic
> They both start and 80% of the books are 50 years before the virus-bombing of Istvaan III
> 
> Dark Purples Next
> 
> Legion
> A Thousand Sons
> Prospero Burns
> 
> If you read False Gods BEFORE Horus is corrupted he gets word that the Emperor sent the space Wolves to bring in Magnus "Though utterly loyal, the legion of Magnus The Red is viewed with suspicion for arcane methods".
> In Legion it explains that Horus hasn't become corrupted yet and why the Alpha Legion "turn" against the Emperor.
> If you read Galaxy in Flames The Alpha Legion pretty much know what Horus is up to even before he tells them his plans and they have already killed all imperial units that were attached to them already unlike Horus and the other legions Death Guard, Emperors Children, World Eaters who slowly corrupted them before virus-bombing of Istvaan III
> 
> Then Dark Red
> 
> Horus Rising
> False Gods
> Galaxy in Flames
> There all about Horus just before the virus-bombing of Istvaan III or during it
> 
> Followed by Green
> 
> Flight of the Eisenstein
> Descent of Angels
> Battle of the Abyss
> Mechanicum
> Tales of Heresy
> Fallen Angles
> Nemesis
> 
> These are All set all during or after the virus-bombing of Istvaan III
> E.g Flight of the Eisenstein Loyal Death Guard escape and head for Terra, Decent of Angels the start is years before Istvaan III but 60% of the books set during Istvaan III and just after most of Fallen Angels is set just after Istvaan III. When the Dark Angels are sent to stop imperial units that have sworn in there lot with Horus from raiding a forge world which happens to be one Horus set up during the early years of the great crusade.
> Mechanicum's set after because Horus sends Regulus his Mechanicum Representative to use a secret to bribe Kelbor-Hal Fabricator General of Mars to gain his loyalties.Tales of Heresy is just small stories set during and after Istvaan III. Nemesis set two years and more after Istvaan III while Horus is planing his attacks on the imperium.


This works very well as an explanation but there is at least one anomaly that might argue against it... Tales of Heresy contains stories from way before (The Last Church for example) so by your theory the spine colour (for that story at least) would be blue.


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## Angel of Blood

Fulgrim doesn't start 50 years before the events at Istvaan, starts very close to them in fact. Descent of Angels however does start fifty years before Istvaan and the entire book stays there at fifty years before, it's not until Fallen Angels that the 50 year gap is closed, yet it is green. Fear to Tread is set around the time of Istvaan, yet it's blue. What colour are The Outcast Dead, Deliverance Lost and Know No Fear? Don't have them with me, but by your reasoning they should all be green. Flight of the Eisenstien starts before the virus bombing but ends after it, like The First Heretic, surely this should give it a blue spine by your reasoning.


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## WeTurnedTheTide wecame

Yeah like i said at the start "look at what happens and when in MOST of each book." 

Fulgrim starts years before Istvaan 

Ill agree Descent of Angels does kill my theory. 

Fallen Angles (All during or just after Istvaan so it will be green)


Plot summary

As news of Horus’s treachery spreads, the Great Crusade grinds to a halt as the primarchs and their Legions decide where their loyalty lies – with the Emperor, or the rebel Warmaster Horus.
Arriving in the Gehinnom system, Lion El'Jonson and a force of Dark Angels set about subjugating the system’s core worlds which are key to the Warmaster’s plans to overthrow the Emperor.
Meanwhile, on Caliban, Luther and the rest of the Legion feel abandoned by their primarch. Civil war erupts as the planet strives to break from Imperial rule, and the Dark Angels are thrown into a deadly conflict where all that they know and trust is thrown into doubt.

Flight of the Eisenstien as iv said Most of its during or just after Istvaan so its green so it fits in my reasoning 
The First Heretic does have a blue spin?

Fear to Tread,Outcast Dead haven't read so cant say.
Deliverance Lost and Know No Fear are both Gold, Both great reads as well.
Their Mostly set after Istvaan.
Like iv said if More then 50% of the books set in a certain time say before Istvaan it would be blue even its the mostly during or just after it would be green


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## TheReverend

Like someone said before, there was probably a plan but it's not there any more and we'll probably never know what it was... I had a pretty good theory buried somewhere in these threads but I forget what it was


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## WeTurnedTheTide wecame

Dude look at my Theory and the time lines that are all linked to the colours


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## Angel of Blood

It's a good theory, but there's too many inconsitencys for it to be the rule and a few too many where you have to bend the rules too make it fit. Know No Fear and Deliverance Lost are both gold, Know No Fear is set after Istvaan is fully over, Deliverance immediatly after, so by your rule they should be green, The Primarchs is also gold, three of the four story's are set after Istvaan and one of them before, Fear to Tread is gold, and it's set during Istvaan. Flight of the Eisenstien should still be blue by your rule like The First Heretic and Fulgrim, starts off before Istvaan in another system and different campaign before moving to Istvaan, again like Fulgrim, so it should be blue. 

Anyone got The Outcast Dead to hand for the colour?


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## nioveratus

The Outcast Dead is "green"


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## WeTurnedTheTide wecame

LIKE IV FUCKING SAID like 10 TIMES WHEN MOST OF THE BOOK HAPPENS!


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## WeTurnedTheTide wecame

Yeah Saw the Primarchs today its gold Golds the only thing thats fucked my theory Unless
Gold they have made gold for the Primarchs based books now


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## TheReverend

WeTurnedTheTide wecame said:


> LIKE IV FUCKING SAID like 10 TIMES WHEN MOST OF THE BOOK HAPPENS!


hahahaha, chill out mate, they are just books, made up by someone completely from their imagination, none of it's real...:biggrin:


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## Angel of Blood

WeTurnedTheTide wecame said:


> Yeah Saw the Primarchs today its gold Golds the only thing thats fucked my theory Unless
> Gold they have made gold for the Primarchs based books now


Deliverance Lost and Know No Fear are no more Primarch based than Fulgrim, Thousand Sons or Fear to Tread are. So that's that one out the window.

And what's with the cap locks rage. Again there are too many inconsistencies for your rule to be correct, your finding some correlations yes, but correlations can be found in everything if you look hard enough, doesn't make them correct.


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