"To the righteous we bring hope. To the tainted we bring fire."
- —Castellan Garran Crowe
Castellan Garran Crowe, warden of the Daemon Weapon called the Blade of Antwyr, the most powerful Chaos relic in the possession of the Grey Knights.
Garran Crowe is a castellan of the Grey Knights Chapter and a notable hero of that elite and highly secret unit of the Adeptus Astartes. Castellan Crowe is both the head and Brotherhood Champion of the Purifier Order.
A nobler exemplar of the Grey Knights would be impossible to find -- by the measure of the Grey Knights, Crowe is a flawless soul, not so much resistant to the temptations of Chaos as immune to them. It is well that this is so, for Garran bears a burden greater than any of his brothers: the Daemon Sword known as the Blade of Antwyr, a cursed relic of unimaginable evil that continuously brings him into both physical and spiritual peril by tempting him with Chaos' promises of power or seeking to bind his will with black sorcery.
Even so, Crowe must be forever on guard, for the sword's sibilant whispers echo endlessly through his mind, offering to add its strength to his own in the pursuit of victory. Many mortals would embrace such a chance, thinking their will would be strong enough to control the sword.
Yet no matter how dark the hour or desperate the battle, Crowe has never succumbed; his thoughts and actions are his own. He is the warden of the foul blade, incorruptible and inviolable, and will remain so until the day of his death.
Some of the grand masters believe that Crowe embodies a dormant strain of the Chapter's gene-seed, a piece of the Emperor that has awoken and taken root within him. It is this quality that grants Crowe a unique perspective on the universe, as he does not see Chaos as others do. To Crowe, the Immaterium is as water flowing over reality, cool and deep, with Daemons flitting like shadows beneath its surface.
Quick Answers
What is the role of Castellan Garran Crowe in the Grey Knights Chapter?
What makes Garran Crowe a notable hero among the Grey Knights?
What is the significance of the Black Blade of Antwyr in relation to Castellan Crowe?
How does Garran Crowe exemplify the ideals of the Grey Knights?
What makes Garran Crowe immune to the temptations of Chaos?
History[]
"I am the power of death incarnate. I am the sword's edge; I hungrily cut the flesh and drink deep of the bloody well beneath. Give me your body, and I promise you glory, I promise you vengeance and I promise you immortality -- if you will only let me..."
- —Antwyr, the Sword-god within the Daemon Weapon called the Blade of Antwyr.
Origins[]
Castellan Garran Crowe defends himself against Slaaneshi Daemonettes.
Castellan Garran Crowe is considered a flawless soul, immune to the temptations of Chaos by his battle-brothers. Garran carries a burden greater than any of them, for he is charged with the wardenship of the Chapter's most perilous Chaos relic: the Blade of Antwyr.
A Daemon Sword ancient beyond imagining, the blade first came to the attention of the Grey Knights during the latter years of the 37th Millennium, during the mad days of the Occlusiad War.
The sword was so named as it was unearthed by the apostles of the Blind King in the ruins of the temple of Antwyr, a cursed place dedicated to a savage and heretical god. With the power to grant the wielder control of all who gazed upon them, the blade's bearer led legions of Heretics and madmen across the Vidar, Tremayne and Darkspire Sectors.
Only the intervention of all eight brotherhoods of the Grey Knights was finally able to destroy the Daemonhost in a cataclysmic battle. As for the sword, it fell to the floor amid the blood and corpses of that terrible conflict's aftermath, only to slip out of time and space and vanish into the Immaterium before the Grey Knights could recover it.
Over three thousand standard years later the Prognosticars foretold of the blade's return, and this time the Grey Knights were ready. On the moon of Tethys the sword was taken, its vessel slain before the Blade of Antwyr could fully possess him, and was borne back to Titan.
For many solar days the Chapter's grand masters debated the fate of the blade, unable to find a means to destroy it, and fearful that abandonment or imprisonment would merely give the Daemon within a chance to lure a fresh host. So it was that the Blade of Antwyr was placed in the hands of the Purifiers, as only they possessed the spiritual strength to resist corruption and ignore the malign whispers of the Daemon trapped within.
For Terran centuries the sword has been placed into the capable hands of the Purifiers' Castellan Champion and passed down from one Purifier to the next, the order always choosing the strongest among them to bear the burden. And so it came to be wielded by Garran Crowe.
Battle of Sandava II[]
Before the Blade of Antwyr came to be wielded by Crowe, it was held by Castellan Merat Gavallan, Champion of the Purifier Order.
During that time, Cardinal Beatus Rannoch came aboard the Ecclesiarchy missionary ship Envoy of Discipline. While surveying their cargo of relics, the cardinal discovered a singular mask. Seized with desire, Rannoch immediately sought to possess it. Despite the suspicions of the Sandava II militia's general, Vendruhn Glas, the Slaaneshi Daemon Mnay'salath used it to possess the cardinal.
When the Prognosticars alerted the Grey Knights of the threat Mnay'salath and its Daemonic legions posed, the entire Purifier Order was dispatched to contain the threat. Throughout the campaign, the malign voice of the Blade of Antwyr gradually wore down Gavallan's defences, reducing him to a hollow shell of his former self.
Finally, the Blade of Antwyr managed to manipulate the lord governor of Sandava II, Otto Glas, into seizing hold of the Daemon Weapon. Possessing the governor within mere moments, the Blade of Antwyr sliced open Gavallan's throat, killing him.
It was only through the efforts and sacrifice of Garran Crowe that the Blade of Antwyr was recovered and Mnay'salath defeated. Even then, the Blade of Antwyr still hopes to find purchase upon Crowe's soul, desperate for the freedom it briefly knew.
An Eternal Burden[]
Garran Crowe wields the Daemon Sword called the Blade of Antwyr in battle against the Daemons of Chaos.
The Blade of Antwyr is as potent a Chaos artefact as the Grey Knights have ever encountered. Some within the Chapter speculate that the Blade of Antwyr is more than merely a Daemon Prince or Greater Daemon trapped within the greatsword's physical substance by foul sorceries, and may even be the last surviving fragment of an ancient Chaos God.
Mortals standing too close to the relic's wielder are driven mad by the constant whispers and lies of the sword as it twists their thoughts against them. Only Grey Knights are able to resist its words, and even then only for a time before they too feel their wills being bent and buckled under the onslaught.
Remarkably, Crowe alone seems immune to the effects of the blade, though it is known that the Blade of Antwyr speaks to him too. Part of the castellan's duty as guardian of the sword is to record the blade's words, in case there might be some piece of forbidden knowledge or clue to its weakness hidden therein. So far, vaults filled with tomes recording the Daemon Weapon's lies and curses has yielded little of apparent worth, though Crowe continues undaunted.
Crowe is never without the Blade of Antwyr, and always has one hand placed upon its hilt lest the weapon try and escape its captor. At first, Crowe carried the sword upon his back, or kept it sheathed and hung upon the wall of his personal chambers. More and more often Crowe would discover the sword had moved when his back was turned, or had slipped free of its scabbard.
In combat, this could have proven disastrous if another had laid hands upon the weapon, turning them into the next of the sword's Daemonhosts. Even other Purifiers are not permitted to touch the blade. This has forced Crowe to fight with the weapon in battle, unable to take up another weapon for fear of the sword's escape.
The Black Planet[]
Daemons are creatures of vindictive hatred, and their endless schemes are spun out over eternity as they fight for the souls of mortals. The Blade of Antwyr contains such an ancient being, and it is no stranger to the servants of the Dark Gods, having crossed them many times in its long existence.
So it is that when Crowe faces a champion of one of the Ruinous Powers, the blade sometimes recognises his foe. This often prompts the Blade of Antwyr to try and aid the other Daemon in slaying its captor, renewing its struggle against Crowe or whispering secrets learned from long standard years of watching him fight. Sometimes, however, the blade meets an old enemy it would see sent back into the Warp. In these cases it will offer up aid to the Grey Knight, hoping to see an ancient score settled.
Crowe never heeds the Daemon's advice, knowing that truth from such a creature can carry an even higher cost than lies. However, the castellan will take the recorded ramblings of the blade to the Prognosticars that they might be able to glean useful knowledge from them.
One such thread of malice from the Blade of Antwyr led to the Battle of the Black Planet in 888.M41, where the blade tried to thwart the plans of Skulltaker, the Herald of Khorne who is one of its ancient rivals. The Khornate Daemon had chosen the planet after being drawn there by the miasma of violence lingering upon it.
The world had been almost depopulated after a standard-year-long raid by the Drukhari, its billions of Human citizens reduced to a scattering of half-starved tribes hiding in the ruins of their once-proud cities. Skulltaker knew the planet was ripe for the Blood God and began a ritual to see it cast into the Warp where Daemons would feast upon the souls of the living and dead alike.
After the Prognosticars informed him of the impending Daemonic incursion, Supreme Grand Master Geronitan chose Crowe to lead the assault, forming Strike Force Iron Helm to thwart Skulltaker's plans. Teleporting from low orbit, the Grey Knights arrived at the planet's ruined spaceport to find a vista of horrific carnage, headless bodies piled in mounds as far as the eye could see. In the centre of the corpse-choked platforms and landing pads stood an arena crafted from the bones and skulls of the slain.
Unopposed, the Grey Knights entered the arena to the howls of Daemonic spectators and the sight of Skulltaker standing in the middle of a sea of severed heads, his Daemonic servants dragging away his latest victim to the mounds outside. The Blade of Antwyr screamed and cursed upon sensing the presence of the Khornate Daemon, even as hordes of Bloodletters descended upon the Grey Knights.
Crowe knew that only he could hold back Skulltaker, perhaps buying time for his brothers to break the Daemonic host bearing down upon them. The sword exuded eager bloodlust when Crowe decided that single combat with the prideful Daemon was the only way to prevent it from killing his battle-brothers. Though he was loath to act in a way that pleased the Daemon within the Blade of Antwyr, Crowe called out a challenge to Skulltaker.
Before the Khornate Herald could charge, Crowe used a gift given to him by Geronitan for this very purpose: a vial of the crystallised tears of the Emperor Himself. The blessed tears consecrated the ground around Crowe, robbing Skulltaker of a measure of his power. Even with this advantage, it was all Crowe could do to counter the powerful Daemon's blows and resist the unholy strength powering them.
The Blade of Antwyr hammered at Crowe's mind, crying out for release and promising a swift end to Skulltaker, if only the Grey Knight would accept. The castellan stoically ignored the telepathic screams of the blade. For solar hours, Crowe and the Herald of Khorne duelled until Skulltaker noticed its form fading as the ambient energies of the Warp weakened across the planet.
Totally focussed on slaying Crowe, the Daemon had ignored the actions of Strike Force Iron Helm as it purged the world and sealed the rents in reality. With a final curse and a promise of grim retribution, Skulltaker vanished into the Immaterium, leaving only the hollow, mocking laughter of the Blade of Antwyr in Crowe's mind.
Keeper of the Blade[]
Garran Crowe bearing the Blade of Antwyr.
For most Purifiers, the burden of holding back the tendrils of the Warp is natural and instinctive, their minds shielding them from the darkness and casting back its hungering gaze. Even so, there are things that press in upon the souls of even these most incorruptible of Grey Knights, horrors from beyond that scratch incessantly at the door to reality.
The Blade of Antwyr is such an object of Chaos, a scar upon the face of reality. Such is the power of this cursed blade that wherever Crowe carries it the taint of the Warp stains his surroundings. On Titan the champion must keep to the Chambers of Purity, often in isolation.
Occasionally other Purifiers will meet with him, but even these brothers cannot be allowed to stand in the presence of the Blade of Antwyr for long. When Crowe travels across the Imperium on the secret missions of the Chapter, he is likewise cloistered away, only venturing out when called upon to enter the fray.
The castellan spends his time away from war ceaselessly training, the vicious curses of the Daemon within the sword always in his mind. For many standard years he has suffered Antwyr's insults in silence, his scorn a shield against the furious rantings of the dead god.
The Blade of Antwyr at first tried to overcome Crowe with sheer strength of will, battering against his mind for years, hoping to break down the Purifier's defences and possess him. When it became clear Crowe would not yield, the Daemon within the Blade of Antwyr tried a different tactic, offering him untold power, yet still the castellan resisted.
However, the blade's promises become ever more specific to the castellan the longer the two remain together, and it hopes one day to find a chink, however small, in Crowe's formidable mental armour.
Psychic Awakening[]
During the Psychic Awakening that swept across the galaxy following the birth of the Great Rift in the Era Indomitus, Crowe was sent to rescue the Grey Knights who were unable to escape the Thousand Sons' homeworld of Sortiarius, following the Chapter's retreat from the Daemon World during the Assault on Sortiarius.
Wargear[]
Castellan Garran Crowe displaying his panopoly of war, including the Blade of Antwyr.
- Blade of Antwyr (also called the Black Blade of Antwyr) - The Blade of Antwyr is a Warp-spawned Daemon Sword that was captured by the Grey Knights many Terran millennia ago and is impervious to all means at the Grey Knights' disposal to destroy it. The Grey Knights were reluctant to simply cast the dangerous artefact into the void of interstellar space where they knew that eventually a new bearer would be drawn to its evil aura or to seal it away in a vault within their fortress-monastery on Titan as it would only invite corruption to the Chamber's guardians. A fateful decision was made to place the Blade of Antwyr into the safest prison the Grey Knights could conceive; the hands of one of the Chapter's own Purifiers. Castellan Garran Crowe is the current guardian of the malefic weapon, and it continuously brings him into both physical and spiritual peril by tempting him with Chaos' promises of power or seeking to bind his will with black sorcery. The Blade of Antwyr was first discovered by the Apostles of the Blind King in the 37th Millennium during the Occlusiad War. It consequently corrupted one of the Blind King's followers. Possessed by the blade, this individual launched a campaign which devastated the Vidar Sector, Tremayne Sector, and Darkspire Sector. Even though the Grey Knights defeated the blade's forces, it managed to transport itself into the Warp. The Grey Knights were unable to secure the weapon for three standard millennia before finally capturing it on Tethys. Castellan Crowe was chosen as the current guardian of the weapon following the death of the previous Castellan Champion, Merrat Gavallan, on Sandava II.
- Storm Bolter (Wrist-mounted)
Sources[]
- Codex: Grey Knights (5th Edition), pg. 42
- Codex: Grey Knights (7th Edition), pp. 29, 59-63, 95, 98, 139-142
- Castellan (Novel) by David Annandale (Cover)
- Psychic Awakening: Pariah (8th Edition), pg. 21
- Warden of the Blade (Novel) by David Annandale, Chs. 1, 8, 12
- Warhammer Community - Grey Knight Castellan Crowe and his Haunted Sword Return With an Awesome New Model