Garviel Loken

Garviel Loken' is main character in the beginning trilogy in the novel series The Horus Heresy. Loken is a captain of the Luna Wolves 10th Company.

Loken is portrayed as thoughtful, calm and rational. While not a man of many words, he often surprises those around him with his depth of character, unexpected in one who is bred for war. Like most of the members of his Legion, he is a native of Cthonia, the world where Horus was found by the Emperor. Unlike his companions, Loken spends a great deal of his time reading and studying ancient writings loaned to him by his friend, Iterator Kyril Sindermann. It is the insights gained from this study that enabled Loken to see the corruption of Chaos for was it was as it took hold of Horus and most of the Legion around him. It was his devotion to the truth at all costs, and his loyalty to the Emperor that ultimately placed him at odds with those who followed Horus into darkness.

Captain Loken’s courage and strength has made him a very mobile officer in the Luna Wolves. Loken’s close friend Senior Captain Tarik Torgaddon mentored Loken and several aspects of martial life and eventual induction into the Mournival. Loken is inducted into the Mournival after the Luna Wolves campaign on Sixty-Three-Nineteen. Loken also has the distinction of being the only member of the Mournival not to share a direct facial similarity to the Warmaster Horus. As member of the Mournival Loken was to be the Warmaster’s ‘naysmith’ and present a calm attitude for the Warmaster. During this time Loken enjoyed a privileged position within the Warmaster’s inner circle.

When the Luna Wolves were conducting operations on Sixty-Three-Nineteen, a strange voice appeared in the communication devices used by the Luna Wolves. The voice only identified itself as ‘Samus’ this voice warned against the oncoming invasion by the Luna Wolves. The Luna Wolves chased the source of the communication into a mountainous region of the planet. While there Sergeant Xavyer Jubal began corrupted by what would later be known was the ‘Warp’, he transformed into what was described as a monster attacking his fellow Astartes. After a fierce confrontation Captain Loken was able to subdue and ultimately kill the deranged form of Xavyer Jubal. This confrontation would begin to stir all the truths that Loken had been told about religion and spirits.

After the events on Sixty-Three-Nineteen the Luna Wolves were sent to reinforce Emperor’s Children on a planet later nicknamed ‘Murder’. The Emperor’s Children had been sent to planet ‘Murder’ in order to investigate the disappearance of the Blood Angels. It was on Murder that Loken and his Mournival brother Tarik met and befriended Saul Tarvitz of the Emperor's Children.

The relationship between Loken and his Mournival brother Abaddon became strained as his calm, thoughtful personality clashed with Abaddon's quick temper and gruff nature. Despite this, they stood together with Horus as he led an attack on rebel forced on the moon of Davin. When the Warmaster was mortally wounded in battle there, it was Loken who opposed the idea of taking Horus to a temple of Tzeench on Davin to be healed. While Abaddon and Aximand opposed him, Tarik stood with Loken. The rift in the Mournival nearly came to violence, but Loken chose to wait and see the result.

This cost him the trust of not only his two Mournival brethren but also of Horus himself. It was at this time the Luna Wolves were renamed the Sons of Horus. Now falling into the grip of Chaos, Horus chose Isstvan III to dispose of those he could not count on in his new quest, to dethrone the Emperor and rule the galaxy himself. Loken and Tarik were sent to the planet to be slaughtered by virus bombs launched from the Warmaster's fleet. A warning from their friend Captain Tarvitz gave them enough time to seek shelter and thus survived the resulting virus plague and the firestorm that followed.

With the betrayal now obvious, Loken and Tarik took up the name Luna Wolves once again to symbolize their split with the Sons of Horus as they openly fought against the Warmaster's Legions. The fought a defensive fight for several weeks before the final battle, in which Aximand and Abaddon traveled to the surface to confront Loken and Tarik face to face. Loken fought bravely against Abaddon but he was ultimately mortally wounded, and died in the final bombardment of the planet from Warmaster Horus' fleet.



Loken has many friends with in his Legion as well as outside it. He befriended the rememberancers Mersadie Oliton and Ignace Karkasy. Oliton followed Loken and often met with him in his personal armory to record the takes of his experiences in battle. Karkasy was a poet who, after landing in trouble with the army and nearly b eaten to death for openly speaking his mind, caught Loken's attention. Loken respected him for his willingness to speak the truth and sponsored him, allowing him to remain with the fleet. Loken protected Karkasy, even when Karkasy's poetry became openly critical of the Astartes.

Another important figure in Loken’s life was Kyril Sindermann, with whom Loken had in depth discussion on all things in the universe including religion. This association along with his protection of Ignace Karkasy led to strife with his Warmaster and his Warmaster’s new confidante Chaplain Erebus of the World Bearers Legion.