"When there is no other way, the perilous path is the only road to salvation."
Farseer Eldrad Ulthran of Craftworld Ulthwé.
Eldrad Ulthran is the mightiest and most ancient Farseer of the Asuryani's Ulthwé craftworld. He is perhaps the most gifted psyker ever born amongst the Aeldari after the Fall, his incredible foresight having saved many thousands of Asuryani lives.
Before the Fall of Cadia in ca. 999.M41 during the 13th Black Crusade, Eldrad was already over 10,000 Terran years old.
Among Eldrad's accomplishments are supposedly: igniting the Second War for Armageddon so as to spare the precious lives of 10,000 Asuryani, igniting the Sanapan Scouring, the Mortis Annihilation and the Third Coming of Orian, as well as an attempt to warn the Imperium of Man of Horus' treachery even before the Horus Heresy had begun.
Ulthran was responsible for warning the Asuryani of Iyanden of the coming of Hive Fleet Kraken and partially awakening the Aeldari god of the dead Ynnead during the Battle of Port Demesnus.
This latter deed led directly to the Night of Revelations in Commorragh and the birth of the Ynnari faction, which Ulthran staunchly supports as he believes they represent his species' only chance for salvation against the predations of Slaanesh.
Ulthran created and carries into battle the Staff of Ulthamar, and his resilience and power has been a rallying point for the declining Aeldari people.
History
Long ago, at the end of the Great Crusade, it was Eldrad who was the first to try and warn the Imperium of Man of the Warmaster Horus' treachery. However, it was the primarch of the Emperor's Children Legion Fulgrim he warned, and not the Emperor of Mankind, only later discovering during their meeting on the Aeldari Maiden World of Tarsus that he had made a terrible mistake and that Fulgrim had already been corrupted by exposure to a Greater Daemon of Slaanesh.
It was through Eldrad's foresight that the Asuryani began a series of raids against several worlds controlled by the Orks, culminating in the emergence of Ghazghkull Thraka as perhaps the most powerful Ork Warlord in the galaxy, and the diversion of his WAAAGH! to the Hive World of Armageddon, rather than allowing the Orks to move against the craftworlds.
Eldrad deliberately instigated the conflict that ultimately became the Second War for Armageddon, costing the Imperium millions of Human lives, to save 10,000 Asuryani lives.
Eldrad believed that such a sacrifice was justified since the Aeldari were a nearly extinct species and every Aeldari life was more precious than the teeming trillions of Humans who still inhabited the galaxy.
Had it not been for his warning, the Iyanden craftworld would have been completely unprepared for the attack of Hive Fleet Kraken.
Eldrad's predictions were also instrumental in the closing of the Warp rift above the Aeldari Exodite world of Haran. For many solar months, massed Asuryani forces, joined by the mighty Phoenix Lord Aspect heroes and led by Eldrad prosecuted a great campaign against the forces of Chaos.
Eventually they succeeded in closing the Warp rift, but at the cost of many Asuryani lives. This has led to the planet being known as Haranshemash, meaning "the world of blood and tears" in the Aeldari Lexicon.
On the world of Andante IV, Abaddon the Despoiler engineered a meeting between himself and Ulthran by attacking a Webway gate leading to Ulthwé. His ultimate aim was to wipe out the Seer Council, and many Asuryani deaths came in the battle that lead to Ulthran and Abaddon's meeting in combat. Abaddon ultimately escaped.
The Treachery of Vision
Farseer Eldrad Ulthran summoning forth his powers.
The Treachery of Vision is a series of texts written by Farseer Eldrad Ulthran of Craftworld Ulthwé. These writings spoke of the beginning of existence and how the universe had formed. Within these texts, Ulthran also spoke of the Old Ones as well as their War in Heaven with the ancient enemy which had emerged from the hearts of a thousand suns.
As such, it spoke of the time when the C'tan were given physical form and how they waged a war against the Old Ones. In addition, it spoke of how the Old Ones drew power from the raw Immaterium to combat this foe. According to The Treachery of Vision, Ulthran postulated that it was during that ancient conflict between the C'tan and Old Ones which led to the formation of Daemons.
He also mentioned that he had heard that there were Aeldari more ancient than Asurmen who were born during this time and fed on the power of the Warp drawn by the Old Ones. This text also spoke of the Black Library and how the most ancient of knowledge was being guarded by the Harlequins who bear an imprint of the Old Ones themselves.
Ulthran wrote that he had seen those texts and noted that they were exquisite. Ulthran spoke of how if the ancient enemy (the Necrons) returned, than their return would signal the completion of their Great Work which would seal the Warp itself and that the Sons of Asuryan would be cut off from their life source.
Furthermore, the Eye of Isha would dim and close, thus ending the great legacy of the Old Ones. This is because the ancient enemy possessed no souls and thus had little to fear from the severing of the connections between the Materium and the Immaterium that tied all of reality together.
The Farseer also wrote of how the Aeldari species' deep well of desire had first brought the manifestation of Daemons into the physical universe.
Abilities
Eldrad has supreme mastery over the psychic arts. Like all his Farseer kin, he can read the future by casting wraithbone runes, communicate telepathically across huge distances, and enter visionary trances that allow him to observe the galaxy without moving a muscle.
In battle, he can melt the minds of those who cross him, summon eldritch blasts of psychic energy, and even telekinetically hurl aside war machines with a pulse of thought. To Eldrad, such crude displays of power are last resorts.
He is a master in the arts of manipulation, so adept at tipping the scales of destiny that he can influence the course of fate with a single death, just as a master fencer kills with a single thrust.
He has used his precognitive powers to save the Asuryani craftworlds from extinction on numerous occasions. Once, he even used his prescience in an attempt to save the Humans of the newborn Imperium from the agonies of the Horus Heresy -- though his warnings fell on the deaf ears of the already corrupted Primarch Fulgrim.
Wargear
- Armour of the Last Runes - The runic scripts upon Eldrad's breastplate of Eldar Armour are incredibly powerful wards against harm. One schooled in deciphering Aeldari Lexicon runes would see they speak of enduring until the final dying of the light.
- Staff of Ulthamar - This ancient Force Staff is always carried by the chief Farseer of Ulthwé, and forms a hyperspatial link with the Infinity Circuit of that craftworld. Drawing on its power, Eldrad is able to access the wellspring of power and wisdom that flows through the craftworld, enhancing his psychic powers.
- Shuriken Pistol
- Witchblade - A Witchblade is the standard weapon of Asuryani Warlocks and Farseers, and is essentially a potent Force Weapon. When wielded by a psyker in melee combat, they are utterly devastating. Used to enhance and unleash the latent psychic power of the wielder, Witchblades are effective against all targets; humanoid, xenos, beast, daemon or vehicle. A Witch Blade contains a helix-shaped, crystalline psychic matrix embedded with runes to channel and focus a Seer's psychic energies.
- Ghosthelm - The Ghosthelm is a helmet worn by Asuryani Farseers. It incorporates intricate crystalline psychic circuitry which helps to mask the wearer's soul or spirit in the Warp, protecting them from the depredations of daemons and other Warp entities.
- Runes of Warding
- Runes of Witnessing
Videos
Canon Conflict
In the original version of the 13th Black Crusade storyline, Eldrad Ulthran suffered a far darker fate. He was believed by most Asuryani and Humans to have perished during the Cadian campaign of the 13th Black Crusade, when he was caught upon a daemonically-possessed Blackstone Fortress, or "Talisman of Vaul" as these ancient artefacts of the Old Ones were known to the Aeldari.
Eldrad had sought to stop the fortress from destroying the vitally important Imperial world of Cadia, a planet that was covered in ancient Necron monoliths called the Cadian Pylons that calmed the raging Warp Storms of the Eye of Terror and kept them from spreading, potentially destroying several Asuryani craftworlds that orbited the giant Warp rift.
As he attempted to commune with and stop the corrupted spirit of the fortress, the Farseer learned that no minor daemonic power had corrupted the machine; the deed had been done by the psyche of the Chaos God Slaanesh itself.
In vain, Eldrad tried to disengage his mind from the battle with the fortress' possessing spirit. But Slaanesh proved too strong and his soul was dragged screaming into the dark core of the fortress by the Aeldari's Great Enemy.
Yet a flicker of hope remained for Ulthran. After the noble Asuryani's soul was believed lost to Slaanesh, all but a handful of his hundreds of Waystones became lifeless and dull.
Yet if just one of the Spirit Stones retained its spark, Eldrad's soul endured whole somewhere within the Realm of Chaos, seeking its freedom -- or rescue.
This story has now been wholly superceded by the 2017 "Gathering Storm" story line which retconned the 13th Black Crusade and made Eldrad Ulthran a key player in the awakening of the Aeldari god of the dead, Ynnead and the birth of the Aeldari Ynnari faction.
See Also
Sources
- Citadel Journal 17, "The Storm, The Hunter and the Seer: Eldrad Ulthran, The Farseer of Ulthwe", pp. 47-48
- Codex: Eldar (6th Edition) (Digital Edition), pp. 53, 56-57, 110, 173-176, 197, 242
- Codex: Eldar (4th Edition), pp. 50-51
- Codex: Eldar (3rd Edition), pg. 37
- Codex: Eldar (2nd Edition), pg. 33
- Craftworld Iyandend - A Codex: Eldar Supplement (6th Edition), pp. 23-24
- Throneworld (Novel) by Guy Haley
- Warhammer 40,000: Death Masque, pg. 4
- White Dwarf 286 (US), "Heroes and Villains of the 41st Millennium: Eldrad Ulthran, Farseer of Ulthwé" by Phil Kelly
- White Dwarf 227 (US), "Chapter Approved: Eldar - Eldrad Ulthran: Farseer", pp. 73-80
- White Dwarf 172 (US), "The Eldar", pp. 5-16
- Fulgrim (Novel) by Graham McNeill
- Dawn of War Omnibus (Novel) by C. S. Goto, pp. 279-281