Bjorn the Fell-Handed

Bjorn the Fell-Handed as a Venerable Mark V Dreadnought during the Defence of The Fang on Fenris from the Thousand Sons Traitor Legion

Bjorn the Fell-Handed is a Venerable Mars Pattern Mark V Dreadnought and former Chapter Master of the Space Wolves Space Marine Chapter. He is also the oldest living Space Marine in the Imperium of Man. He fought in both the Great Crusade and the Horus Heresy 10,000 Terran years before the present time. As a living legend and the last remaining link to the Space Wolves' glorious origins, Bjorn is honoured with many names and titles by his Space Wolves brethren; amongst them "Eldest," "Trueclaw," "Revered One" and "Last from the Company of Russ."

History

Bjorn in combat during the Fall of Prospero at the time of the Horus Heresy

Beginning of the Saga

Ten thousand Terran years ago, before his internment within a Dreadnought, Bjorn fought alongside Primarch Leman Russ of the Space Wolves Legion during the Great Crusade and the Horus Heresy and saw the Emperor Himself before he was interred within the mechanism of the Golden Throne. Bjorn was a member of the Vlyka Fenryka (Wolves of Fenris)'s Tra (3rd) Great Company where he served under the command of Jarl Ogvai Ogvai Helmschrot. The stern, taciturn warrior saw combat in many theatres including the Olamic Quietude Campaign and the Burning of Prospero, during which he served as the (rather unwilling) guardian of the Remembrancer Kasper Hawser to atone for his mistake of wrongfully shooting the man's shuttle out of the sky.

First of the Lone Wolves

During the Horus Heresy, Bjorn was a young warrior of great potential. He had excelled during the Fall of Prospero, and his Pack was often singled out to lead assaults where enemy resistance was expected to be at its heaviest. It was whilst undertaking one such attack on the acrid, volcanic world of Gryth that events were to take a tragic turn. Bjorn's Pack had humbled tyrants, butchered aliens beyond counting, and even hewn down their brother Space Marines who had fallen from the Emperor's grace; yet against the Daemon king, Arvax the Arch-slaughterer, they knew only death. That Bjorn actually survived the massacre of his kinsmen was a testament to his exceptional skills as a warrior, for all others who faced the mighty Daemon of Khorne that fateful day joined Bjorn's packmates in death. Though the arrival of the mighty Primarch Leman Russ saw the Space Wolves ultimately emerge victorious against the Daemonic warhost, it was Bjorn's relentless assault who finally drove the seemingly unstoppable Daemon general from the field.

Despite his victory of sorts, Bjorn never forgave himself for the loss of his kinsmen, nor the fact that he alone yet lived having been denied a magnificent death. In the hours that followed the battle, Bjorn became increasingly melancholy, refusing to accept the hearty approval of those that had witnessed his heroic battle against the Daemon king. As he witnessed his packmates burn atop the victory pyres, he gave voice to a long, mournful howl. Kneeling before the bodies of his burning kinsmen, he swore a grave oath of vengeance against their slayer.

To Bjorn's continued frustration, it was to be five long standard years before word of Arvax's location surfaced once more. Russ immediately led his Wolves to destroy the foul creature, determined to personally slay the Daemon king himself and avenge those who had died during their last encounter. Yet in this goal, the Primarch was to be denied, for Bjorn too sought out his nemesis and, as fate would have it, was the first to face Arvax in battle. As the Wolf-King tore through the Khornate horde towards his quarry, he witnessed Bjorn's duel first-hand. Russ could only look on in pride as Bjorn deftly rolled beneath a blow attempting to cut him in half, then clambered up the Daemon's towering frame to tear out the Arch-slaughterer's throat with his trusty Wolf Claw. In the aftermath of the battle, Russ came to Bjorn in person and exonerated him in front of the entire Legion, holding his oath fulfilled.

Setting a precedent that still exists to this day, the Wolf-King promoted Bjorn to his personal Wolf Guard, naming him the "Fell-handed" in honour of his mighty deed. The Skjalds of the Chapter hold that it was the sense of loss and tragedy that Bjorn had already experienced and learned to master that influenced Russ' decision to leave him behind when he set forth on his last, fateful journey into the Eye of Terror. Of all of the Primarch's Wolf Guard, he alone had shown such strength of purpose and determination in his darkest hour; he alone would understand the lonely burden of command.

Last of the Company of Russ

During the aftermath of the Horus Heresy known as the Scouring, Bjorn proved both his tenacity and mettle a hundred times over. This, combined to the fact that he had already lived through and come out of the ordeal of losing his packmates stronger than he was before, led Russ to see in Bjorn the future leader of the Space Wolves in the reformed Imperium as forged by Roboute Guilliman. He was the only member of Leman Russ's personal Wolf Guard who could and would endure being left behind when Russ departed for the Eye of Terror; and so he was. This deed left Bjorn harboring intense feelings of rejection and bitterness to this very day, for the taciturn Primarch did not explain his decision to the young warrior, and what was meant to be high praise and honour Bjorn felt to be a punishment.

After Russ' disappearance, Bjorn assumed the Primarch's leadership of the Space Wolves, becoming the Chapter's first warden in the Primarch's name, or Great Wolf. From the moment he was appointed as the first Great Wolf by Leman Russ, Bjorn has striven body and soul to prove himself worthy of being accepted into his Primarch's presence once again. His heroic career as the Great Wolf of the Space Wolves ended during a raid against a fortress in the late 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 entombed within the mighty chassis of a Dreadnought, and even being confined to that cold robotic shell did nothing to dampen Bjorn's burning conviction. Over the following five hundred standard years, he remained at the forefront of every battle, leading by example, and counseling his successor as the Chapter's Great Wolf. Eventually the long years took their toll on the ancient warrior, and he began spending longer and longer periods dormant in stasis sleep. Now he is only awakened when the Chapter has the greatest need of his potent skills and ancient wisdom.

Bjorn is also awakened at the dawn of each new standard century to hold court at the Great Feast. The Great Feast commemorates the disappearance of Leman Russ; it is a boisterous celebration that all Space Wolves attend, where Fenrisian Ale flows freely, the ancient sagas are told to the younglings, and new oaths taken and old oaths reaffirmed. Invariably, at some point during the Great Feast, a delegation of Iron Priests will arrive, escorting a massive figure. In seconds, the Great Hall of the Fang will fall utterly silent as the Great Wolf rises and cedes his place to the new arrival. In the utter silence of profound respect, Bjorn will speak of the time of the Great Crusade, where he recounts elements from his own saga and anecdotes about their long-gone Primarch to his Battle-Brothers. To the youngest Blood Claws, Bjorn's stories sound more like a skjald's outlandish legend than a recollection of facts, yet Bjorn's memory is clear and he speaks with the authority and certitude of one who has seen it all and lived to remember it. The only moment where his voice falters is when he recounts Russ' decision to leave for the Eye of Terror and his own appointment as the first warden of the Space Wolves Chapter until Russ returns. Even after ten millennia, Bjorn still feels the pain of rejection by his Primarch as keenly as he did on that fateful day. Those who are the eldest amongst the Space Wolves believe that the only thing that could grant "The Revered One" his peace of mind again is the return of Russ, and the occasion to fight alongside his Primarch one last time.

To the Space Wolves, Bjorn represents the Chapter's greatest link to the past. He is revered as a hero almost as great as Leman Russ, and his words are to his living brethren akin to law, for he is the only one amongst them who can still judge a situation by their Primarch's standards. In this, Bjorn also functions as the Space Wolves' moral compass, and even the stubbornness incarnate that is Logan Grimnar listens and defers to Bjorn's ancient wisdom when "The Eldest" speaks against him. On those dire occasions where the Ancient is roused to take the field, the Space Wolves will fight with a tenacity and stubbornness remarkable even for the Space Wolves, for they believe that faltering in the eyes of Bjorn is akin to faltering in the eyes of Russ. Woe to the being skillful yet unlucky enough to dare to damage the mighty Dreadnought, for it only spurs the Space Wolves into a fanatical, homicidal rage, and the whole of them will charge forward madly in order to prevent "The Eldest" from being defiled by the foe.

Wargear

When he was still counted amongst the living, Bjorn was outfitted as befitted a member of Leman Russ' retinue: garbed in a mighty suit of Artificer Armour, in his left hand he wielded a Master-Crafted Lightning Claw which he always used with tremendous skill, and in his right hand he bore a Bolter modified with a pistol grip, allowing him to fire the weapon one-handed.

Internment in a Dreadnought chassis did not modify Bjorn's fighting style much; on his left arm he still wields a Lightning Claw, albeit one sized for his mighty chassis. It is much more devastating than the weapon he bore as a living Astartes, and is additionally equipped with a built-in Heavy Flamer that allows Bjorn to carbonize anything escaping his Claw's attentions. On his left arm, he bears a mighty ranged weapon: most often an Assault Cannon, which is to a Dreadnought like the standard Bolter is to an Astartes. However, if the situation requires it, the Iron Priests will equip Bjorn with either a Plasma Cannon or Twin-linked Lascannons.

However, Bjorn's most potent weapon is neither his Lightning Claw nor his tactical acumen, but his legend. To be in Bjorn's presence is to the Space Wolves akin to being in Leman Russ' presence by proxy, spurning them on to commit acts of courage so foolhardy that even their "usual" acts of near suicidal bravery seems only like child's play in comparison.

Bjorn was given the moniker "Fell-Handed" by his Primarch after his victory on the Khornate Daemon Prince known as Arvax the Arch-slaughterer and the fulfillment of his Lone Wolf's Death Oath.

Sources

• Codex: Space Wolves (5th Edition), p. 49
• Codex: Space Wolves (2nd Edition), pp. 15-16, 31, 68-69
• Horus Heresy: Collected Visions (Artbook Series), p. 240
• Index Astartes I, "Warriors of Old - Space Marine Dreadnoughts", p. 55
• White Dwarf 227 (US), "Chapter Approved - Space Marines: Space Wolves", pp. 73-80
• Prospero Burns (Novel) by Dan Abnett
• Battle of the Fang (Novel) by Chris Wraight
• The Emperor's Gift (Novel) by Aaron Dembski-Bowden
• Bjorn: Lone Wolf (Short Story) by Chris Wraight