Last year, we teased the arrival of a new Horus Heresy Character novel following the exploits of Eidolon, Lord Commander Primus of the Emperor’s Children. With its release on the horizon, we spoke to the author Marc Collins to find out what makes this prideful and preening warrior tick.
Warhammer Community: Though he’s the Lord Commander Primus of the Emperor’s Children, Eidolon isn’t quite as well-known as characters like Lucius and Saul Tarvitz. What makes him stand out from his III Legion comrades?
Marc: Ultimately, I think it comes down to the fact that he’s incredibly unlikeable. Eidolon starts off as an
arrogant commander who fumbles the situation he’s supposed to be saving on Murder – and he gets very memorably dressed down by Torgaddon.
He doesn’t have the same tabletop presence as Lucius does in Warhammer 40,000, but he has a background which stretches back to the original Emperor’s Children Index Astartes column in White Dwarf 255.* He also doesn’t have the human and heroic touch that Tarvitz brings to the narrative.
Eidolon is one of those characters who actually becomes more interesting and more capable as he embraces Chaos. His death at Fulgrim’s hands changes him, body and soul. When he comes back, he moves from being a shambling horror to reckoning with his new form. Becoming a commander who harries the White Scars, who aids Mortarion, and who establishes himself as capable of commanding a third of the Legion.
His influence and hold over the Legion stretches down through the millennia, where we see him still in a position of power by the time of Josh Reynolds’ Clonelord. Tarvitz is a memory, Lucius is lost to his own desires, but Eidolon is a power that lasts.
It’s his arrogance, the sheer unbridled hubris, that makes him so compelling to write. Eidolon is a character that so many start out hating, but by The Path of Heaven by Chris Wraight I found him quite deviously likeable. The work that writers like Chris do with him paint Eidolon very much as a ‘villain’s villain,’ but finding the core of humanity in that – the flaws and vulnerabilities that make him that way – and toying with them made it a truly enjoyable process.
WarComm: Eidolon is a man of many titles – in what way does this reflect on the kind of warrior and commander he is?
Marc: Looking at the many titles that Eidolon has held was a great part of my research. When I was first considering my working title for the book, The Auric Hammer really jumped out. There’s a beautiful simplicity to it. A testament to his skill with his weapon, Glory Aeterna.
But he’s also the Exemplar, one of the III Legion’s finest. He’s the Soul-Severed, having to make peace with his broken nature after his death and rebirth, as in Amor Fati by Michael Haspil. He’s pulled in so many different directions, regarded in so many lights, and he has to navigate that. Eidolon is a warrior and commander with everything to gain and everything to prove.
WarComm: How would you describe Eidolon’s own relationship with the Warp?
Marc: As the Firstborn of the Kakophoni and the Master of the Eternal Song, there’s an intimate relationship between Eidolon and the Warp. He’s willing to embrace many of the gifts that Chaos brings, but he also has a wariness. He wants to lead, not be a slave to the Gods. He only wants to serve Fulgrim, or in his absence, his own ambition.
Seeing Fulgrim become a Daemon Primarch, and playing a role in that ritual, Eidolon has witnessed firsthand the costs of absolute power. He’s playing a longer game – one that I think daemonhood wouldn’t suit. He is a being imbued with a great deal of Warp power, but he remains bound by physical needs and pursuits.
What he wants, he wants on his own terms. He wants to prove that he is still a peerless warrior, gifts or no. That same hubris that will drive him all the way to Terra, and the walls of the Imperial Palace.
WarCom: What draws you towards the Emperor’s Children as subjects for a novel?
Marc: For me personally, I find that the Emperor’s Children are just very fun to write. Of all the Traitor Legions they have the earliest messy fall that we see. Fulgrim is book five of the Heresy, and while we see corruption in other Legions and other forms before then – they go to excess.
And when you are a brotherhood of monsters, there’s ample opportunity to play with expectations. What I wanted to do was to have characters who were actively fighting to remain true to themselves, contrasted with characters who have utterly embraced their own ruin. And even within those who have succumbed, to have characters who were in control versus characters who had lost it utterly.
It was very fun to use those nuances of presentation as foils for Eidolon, contrasting the worst aspects of his nature. A lot of themes in the novel are the different paths you face in life, the consequences of your actions, and the sacrifices necessary for power. The Emperor’s Children embody these in spades.
I think part of it is knowing that there is no true nobility left in their ambitions. They are just there to play out the despicable acts that Slaanesh has laid before them. Eidolon wants to indulge himself, but he also wants the power to control what others do. To direct his brothers’ urges.
WarComm: Without treading into spoiler territory, were there any moments that you particularly enjoyed writing?
Marc: I enjoyed building the world of Tatricala as a stage for Eidolon’s pride and his folly. I wanted somewhere where he could have proven himself enough to be exalted by Fulgrim and have that moment loom large over Eidolon’s character arc. It gives him a lot of moments of introspection amidst the madness.
I also really enjoyed surrounding him with a cast who really bring out the worst in Eidolon. It was great returning to classic characters from the wider series who I’ve had a chance to write, like Von Kalda, but also putting some new figures forward amongst the ranks of the Third Millennial. It gave me the opportunity to craft some nicely horrible set-pieces as these terrible people do terrible things.
Eidolon: The Auric Hammer is coming to pre-order very soon indeed, in a lavish special edition, a regular hardback, MP3 audio, and as an ebook.
* A seminal White Dwarf article series which defined the 18 original Legions.
