Khârn the Betrayer wielding Gorechild
Gorefather and Gorechild were a deadly pair of archaic Chainaxes wielded by the bloody-handed Angron, Primarch of the violent World Eaters Space Marine Legion during the Great Crusade and Horus Heresy eras in the 30th and early 31st Millennia. This deadly pair of axes were amongst the most potent weapons known amongst the relics of the Primarchs, made all the more deadly by Angron's consummate skill as a fighter.
During the opening years of the Horus Heresy, when Angron's legion fought alongside Lorgar and his Word Bearers Legion in the invasion of the Ultramarines' War World of Armatura as part of the Shadow Crusade campaign, Angron discarded both Chainaxes after they became irrevocably damaged when he was buried beneath tonnes of rubble from a falling building. He utilised both his axes in order to climb out from under the ground after the edifice's collapse and then threw them away, as they were ruined and never to be wielded again.
Angron's Equerry Khârn discovered and retrieved the discarded Gorechild, despite risking his Primarch's wrath. Legion tradition dictated to leave such discarded weapons alone. The Primarch maintained the superstitions of Nuceria, believing that inherited weapons brought ill luck -- a gladiatorial conceit of his homeworld. Khârn ignored his Battle-Brothers' protests, and for reasons he couldn't quite explain, could not bear to let such a prize go to waste. So he enlisted one of the most skilled artisans of the Dark Mechanicum to restore its blade assembly and razor-sharp Mica-dragon teeth. So it was that Gorechild was reborn in the hands of its new master.
Gorefather's and Gorechild's jagged whirling teeth were torn from the jaws of Mica Dragons on the Death World of Luther Mcintyre and their shafts were forged of adamantium. Even in the hands of an unskilled user (which Khârn is clearly not) Gorechild can split an armoured Space Marine from crown to crotch.
In the hands of the Betrayer, it can deliver devastating blows with deadly accuracy. In all the years afterwards, Khârn would keep the Chainaxe bound to his wrist with chains when the fighting was at its thickest. Upon the walls of the Imperial Palace during the Battle of Terra, legends say that he slew over a million of the Loyalist defenders before Gorechild fell from his grasp. However, like so much of the mythology surrounding Khârn, this is difficult to verify in the light of cold fact and is most likely mythic hyperbole.
Sources[]
- Codex: Chaos Space Marines (6th Edition), pg. 59
- Codex: Chaos Space Marines (4th Edition), pg. 48
- Codex: Chaos Space Marines (3rd Edition, 2nd Codex), pg. 49
- Codex: Chaos Space Marines (3rd Edition, 1st Codex), pg. 26
- The Horus Heresy - Book One: Betrayal (Forge World Series) by Alan Bligh, pg. 255
- Warlords of the Dark Millennium - Champions of Chaos (Digital Edition)
- White Dwarf 227 (US), "Chapter Approved: Chaos, Khârn the Betrayer"
- White Dwarf 201 (US), "The Betrayer"
- Butcher's Nails (Audio) by Aaron Dembski-Bowden
- Betrayer (Novel) by Aaron Dembski-Bowden
- Chosen of Khorne (Audio Drama) by Anthony Reynolds
- Khârn - Eater of Worlds (Novella) by Anthony Reynolds