Ragnar Blackmane

Ragnar Blackmane is a Space Marine officer of the Space Wolves Chapter. Blackmane ultimately became the youngest Wolf Lord to lead one of the 12 Great Companies of that Chapter in the history of the Space Wolves. He is credited with stopping an invasion by the Forces of Chaos of the Space Wolves' Shrine World of Garm by the Thousand Sons Traitor Legion by throwing the artefact called the Spear of Russ through a Warp portal, preventing the Daemon Primarch Magnus the Red from stepping through and returning to realspace from the Warp.

History
Ragnar was born on Fenris, the homeworld of the Space Wolves Chapter. He was a member of a nomadic tribe called the Thunderfists who were attacked by another Fenrisian tribe, the Grimskulls. During the attack, Ragnar and Strybjorn (a member of the Grimskulls) were silently observed by the Space Wolves. Both Ragnar and Strybjorn were mortally wounded in a duel that earned them a place as Space Wolves Neophytes. This rivalry would continue for the rest of their lives, although by the time they both became Blood Claws, they had come to respect and liked one another. Ragnar's clan was destroyed that night and Ragnar lost the first love of his life. Later her image would be used to attempt to turn Ragnar to the service of Chaos. After the battle, the two were taken to Russvik training camp, and later the Space Wolves' fortress-monastery, The Fang, for training and their eventual transformation into Astartes. After he received the gene-seed organ implantation and the painful transformation it wrought upon his body, Ragnar was dropped a long distance away from the Fang in the Vanaheim mountains, and ordered to make his way back to the forteress-monastery or die trying. During this traditional ultimate test of a Space Wolf aspirant's mettle, he was a attacked by a giant Fenrisian Wolf which he managed to slay. Ragnar took the wolf's pelt to use as a cloak. Killing such a large beast was almost unheard of on Fenris and he was thereafter nicknamed "Blackmane," after the color of the pelt he wore. Ragnar would continue to wear this cloak well into his days as a Wolfblade, and later during his time as a Wolf Lord. During this time, he also befriended Sven, another Space Wolf. Their friendship would continue throughout their days within the Chapter.

Very soon after their transformation into Astartes, Ragnar's pack was sent to investigate the disappearance of a missing pack of Blood Claws on Fenris. They investigated a cave in the mountains, and found a shrine dedicated to Chaos. Soon afterwards, they were attacked by a group of Thousand Sons Chaos Space Marines led by Madox, a Chaos Sorcerer. The majority of the pack and their sergeant were killed by the Chaos Space Marines, with only Ragnar, Strybjorn, Sven and two others escaping. Ragnar commanded the rest of the survivors to go ahead and establish communications with the rest of the Space Wolves to alert them to the existence of the Chaos shrine and the presence of the Thousand Sons warband, while he stayed behind to help Strybjorn, who had been injured. Before Ragnar and Strybjorn could escape, however, Madox confronted them. Ragnar duelled the Chaos Sorcerer with Strybjorn's help, and managed to defeat him. Both Astartes believed the sorcerer dead. The duo then escaped the cave, and the rest of the Space Wolves destroyed the heretical shrine. Ragnar's first mission as a proper Blood Claw, in the Great Company of Berek Thunderfist, was to assist a pair of Inquisitors, Ivan Sternberg and Karak Isaan, a psyker and the first woman since his transformation into an Astartes that Ragnar had developed romantic feelings for, a feeling which he thought extremely "un-Wolflike". The Inquisitors had come to Fenris to request the aid of the Space Wolves in reclaiming the three pieces of the Talisman of Lykos, an ancient Eldar amulet, in order to save a dying planet, Aerius. The planet was suffering from a deadly plague, and Sternberg suspected that the Black Pyramid, a famous structure of the planet, which was once the site of a battle of the Space Wolves, the Imperial Guard and the Inquisition against the Eldar, could restore the planet. One piece of the Talisman was kept in the treasure rooms of The Fang, one was to be found on the planet Galt, and the third was lost in the Warp on a Space Hulk.

Along with the survivors of his pack, and Sergeant Hakon, who had been the training sergeant for the Neophytes at Russvik, Ragnar travelled into space for the first time. When they arrived at the planet Galt, they found that an Ork horde had invaded the system and the Ork Warlord in command was in possession of the piece of the Talisman. Ragnar and his companions infiltrated the Ork horde, and battled against the Warlord to reclaim the piece of the Talisman. One of Ragnar's pack, Lars, was killed by the massive Ork leader, but they managed to recover the piece of the Talisman and escape from the world.

After this, Inquisitor Isaan used her psychic abilities to discover that the last piece of the Talisman was aboard a Space Hulk, near the dead sun of Korealis. Ragnar and the Inquisitor successfully recovered the final piece of the Talisman after battling the myriad dangers aboard the Hulk. When they travelled to Aerius to use the Talisman, they found nearly the whole planet had already been infected by the plague. An Eldar hologram warned them off as they entered the Black Pyramid, but the Space Wolves and the Inquisitors ignored it. They were shocked to find a Great Unclean One of Nurgle, a Greater Daemon named Botchulaz, inside, who had been controlling the Planetary Governor Sternberg's troops. Sternberg and one of Ragnar's pack, Nils, fell battling the powerful daemon, and Karah Isaan sacrificed herself to seal the Pyramid, trapping the Great Unclean One within.

All of the recognition Ragnar received for this deed was lost, however, when he hurled the sacred Space Wolves artefact known as the Spear of Russ into the Warp portal on the Space Wolves shrine world of Garm to prevent the Daemon Prince and former Primarch Magnus the Red of the Thousand Sons Traitor Legion from entering realspace. The Spear had been stolen by Chaos forces under the command of Madox, the Chaos Sorcerer Ragnar had battled and believed he had killed, on Fenris. Though even the Space Wolves' Great Wolf (Chapter Master) Logan Grimnar believed that Ragnar's actions had saved the Chapter from a potential disaster, many Space Wolves believed Ragnar had dishonoured himself and his fellow Battle-Brothers by losing one of the Space Wolves' greatest relics.

As a "punishment" for his actions, Ragnar was made a Wolfblade and sent to Terra to serve as an Astartes bodyguard to the Chapter's allied nobles of the Navis Nobilite in House Belisarius. While on Terra, Ragnar was instrumental in foiling a plot of vicious racists within the Navigators' Houses themselves.

Shortly afterwards, Ragnar and his fellow Wolfblades found themselves embroiled in a Dark Angels plot to capture and kill one of the Fallen Angels. This plot was also being orchestrated by the Chaos Sorcerer Madox. A Dark Angels Chapter Strike Cruiser assaulted the planet of Hyades, which was under the protection of the Space Wolves. Ragnar found himself and his companions in the midst of a massive battle between the Dark Angels and the Space Wolves, led by the Wolf Lord Berek Thunderfist, who was passing through on a routine patrol of the star systems that lay under the protection of the Space Wolves. The natural distrust of the Space Wolves and the Dark Angels, which had been passed down since the days of the Great Crusade, caused the two sides to fight each other. This battle was interrupted when Ragnar and his companions, as well as a Dark Angels Kill-teamwhowere sent first to capture the Fallen Angel, managed to kill the Fallen Angel and discover Madox's involvement. The two groups of Space Marines worked together to defeat an approaching Chaos warfleet, although Berek's ship was more damaged than the Dark Angels', as they had retreated to repair while the Space Wolves battled the Thousand Sons warband under the command of Madox. With the aid of his fellow Wolfblades, Ragnar also recovered the Spear of Russ on the Daemon World of Charys with the aid of the Space Wolves' long-lost 13th Great Company. This act redeemed Ragnar in the eyes of his Battle-Brothers and he was reinstated as a member of Berek Thunderfist's Great Company after he returned from his time as a Wolfblade.

Ragnar then accomplished the extraordinary feat of being raised from the rank of Blood Claw directly to Wolf Guard without first spending time as a Grey Hunter. This unique honour was given to Ragnar for single-handedly slaying the Ork Warlord Borzag Khan and his entire retinue of Nobs in melee combat. When Ragnar's Wolf Lord, Berek Thunderfist, was killed in combat with a Chaos Champion Ragnar hunted down the Traitor and slew him in vengeance. For this deed, Ragnar was elevated to the rank of Wolf Lord and took command of Thunderfist's Great Company, making it his own. As such, Ragnar became the youngest Astartes to ever become a Wolf Lord in the Space Wolves' history.

Gift of Blackmane
The Artificers of the Blood Ravens Chapter once crafted a Power Axe in honour of Ragnar Blackmane called the Gift of Blackmane, which they intended to send to Fenris as a gift for the Wolf Lord. Like most Space Wolves, Ragnar only had contempt for an Astartes Chapter like the Blood Ravens which relied so heavily on psychic powers in combat like their ancient enemies the Thousand Sons. Ragnar refused the gift, remarking, "Let them keep their trinkets."

Traits
Ragnar is an incredibly powerful warrior; surpassed only by the Great Wolf Logan Grimnar and the Space Wolves' most powerful Rune Priest, Njal Stormcaller, in the Space Wolves Chapter. Ragnar also uses a powerful Frostblade that was given to him by Lady Juliana, Celestarch of the Space Wolves' allied noble house of Navigators, the House Belisarius. He is also known in the Chapter for his unusually keen senses and sixth sense for discovering when things are amiss.

Canon Conflict
Ragnar is said in the 5th Edition Space Wolves Codex to have been trained by Ulrik the Slayer. However, in the Space Wolves novels Ragnar's mentor is Ranek the Wolf Priest.