Bjorn the Fell-Handed

Bjorn the Fell-Handed is a Venerable Dreadnought and former Chapter Master of the Space Wolves Space Marine Chapter and also the oldest living Space Marine in the Imperium of Man. He had fought in the Great Crusade ten thousand years before the present time in the Warhammer 40,000 universe.

History
Ten thousand years ago, before his internment within a Dreadnought, Bjorn fought alongside Primarch Leman Russ of the Space Wolves Legion during the Horus Heresy and saw the Emperor before he was interred in the Golden Throne. During the aftermath of the Horus Heresy, Bjorn sought to rebuild the Imperium with such conviction that Leman Russ elevated him to become a member of his personal retinue. He was the only member of Leman Russ's personal Wolf Guard that was left behind when Russ departed for the Eye of Terror. This deed left Bjorn harboring intense feelings of rejection and bitterness to this very day.

After Russ' disappearance, Bjorn assumed the Primarch's leadership of the Space Wolves, becoming the Chapter's first Great Wolf. His heroic career at the head of the Space Wolves ended during a raid against a fortress in the 31st Millennium, when he was so severely wounded and crippled that he was beyond the aid of the Chapter's Apothecaries. To preserve Bjorn's life, his paralyzed body was transplanted within a Space Wolf Dreadnought. Over the following five hundred years, he remained at the forefront of battle. Eventually the long years took their toll on the warrior, and he began spending longer and longer periods dormant in stasis sleep. Now he is only awakened once every thousand years, or when the Chapter has the greatest need of his potent skills and wisdom. He is also awakened at the dawn of each new century to hold court at the Great Feast, where he recounts elements from his own saga to his Battle-Brothers. He represents the Chapter's link to the past, and is revered by the Space Wolves as a hero almost as great as Leman Russ.

Bjorn is thought to have gained the moniker "Fell-Handed" partly because he used a Lightning Claw, but mostly because of what happened during the scouring of the Thousand Sons Legion's homeworld of Prospero occurring at the start of the Horus Heresy. There, his left hand was corrupted by psychic feedback from a sorcerer of the Thousand Sons he had just slain. As the corruption crept up along his arm, Chief Custodian Constantin Valdor cut it off, saving Bjorn's life. [[Category:B]]