Ragnar Blackmane
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Ragnar Blackmane (also Ragnar and Ragnar Thunderfist) is the name of the principal character in a series of Warhammer 40,000 novels written by William King. The novels are first-person perspectives in the sci-fi adventure genre.
Contents |
[edit] Introduction
The series explores the life of Ragnar Blackmane, a member of the Space Wolves Chapter of the Space marines. There are five books in the series which are listed below in order.
- Space Wolf
- Ragnar’s Claw
- Grey Hunter
- Wolfblade
- Sons of Fenris
They outline his life, from his upbringing in a feudal medieval village to his career as a Space Wolf brother.
Ragnar has since been featured in a diorama depicting his first battle with the Thousand Sons Chaos Space Marine Madox.
[edit] Personality
Ragnar has the traits normal for a main character in adventure novels. He is strong, skillful, intelligent and continuously distinguishes himself above the rank and file of the rest of the battle-brothers.
His success is mainly due to his capability for anger, but this anger also threatens to result in his utter failure.
On one hand, this anger seems to give him a berserker ability, which got him chosen to join the Space Wolves and has turned the tide of a battle a few times, however most berserkers in the Warhammer 40,000 history at best result in horrific, bloody deaths at the hands of their enemies, but usually end up fighting their comrades after not being able to stop their berserk rage.
Another mild symptom of this is that immediately after a battle he is usually struck with a dark melancholy mood that his battle-brothers don’t seem to share. This gives rise to almost philosophical thoughts within Ragnar of whether it is normal of not, and if it is not normal, is it a blessing that will lead to great things or will it doom him to failure (or worse the forces of Chaos).
The source of this fear was created when he passed through the Gates of Morkai during his initiation. Even though he passed almost all tests against Chaos, one test used his hatred to almost destroy him. However, his hatred, while damning him, also saved him since he rechanneled his anger to the exam in order to stop what he was doing. Afterwards the Rune Priests had reservations about letting him live, since a Space marine susceptible to Chaos would be disastrous.
Strybjorn, one of the Grimskulls who attacked his tribe, was made his comrade and then sub-ordinate. The mere presence of Strybjorn also provokes his hatred, which does not help Ragnar at all. Especially since it was his hatred of Strybjorn that almost caused his failure of the Gates of Morkai exam.
[edit] History
[edit] Novels
[edit] Space Wolf
This book outlines his jouney from being a member of the medieval tribe on Fenris to his full indocrination as a Space Marine. This includes in entire training in the Space Wolf system. It concludes with his first confrontation with the Chaos Space Marine Madox.
[edit] Ragnar's Claw
This book details his first off-world adventure. He travels between several planets in an inquisitorial warship, tracking down pieces of an Eldar artifact, which could cure a horrible plague infecting the world of Aerius. It also gives insights into the great power of the Chaos God Nurgle.
[edit] Grey Hunter
This book outlines a campaign involving the entire Space Wolf chapter (except for one company, which was left behind to rejuvenate the gene-seed should the entire campaigning chapter be eliminated). It describes the organisation of the chapter as it goes to war and of the other imperial units, since it joins a large Imperial Guard force including elements of the Adeptus Mechanicus' Titan Legion.
It also involves the excitement of Ragnar's Claw, both because of their involvement in the operation and that they were ready to receive their elevation to Grey Hunter. However, Ragnar performs a great feat that can either be interpreted as saving the chapter or damning it. Hence, instead of being promoted to Grey Hunter, his future is uncertain.
[edit] Wolfblade
Due to his actions in Grey Hunter, Ragnar is sent to Terra to join the Wolfblade squad there. This assignment can be seen as exile, however it exposes him to the inner workings of the Imperium and thus gives him skills and contacts that may help his ascension in the ranks of the chapter when the duty is complete.
[edit] Later
Ragnar Blackmane is a Wolf Lord in the Warhammer 40,000 canon and has a further history.
[edit] Trivia
[edit] Ragnar Facts
Ragnar Blackmane's anger gives him nigh on supernatural reflexes in the novels, during battle this allows him to analyse and control the fight. In the Space Wolves Codex this is reflected in his special character bonus of 4+ invulnerability save.
Has defeated the Dark Angels champion at the last chapter tournament, a tradition passed down since the primarchs of the respective chapters themselves brawled amongst each other. The prize he won was presented, by him, to Ulrik the Slayer.
Will most likely receive the mantle of Great Wolf should anything ever happen to Logan Grimnar, considering Ragnar's extreme powers both mental and physical, the astonishing speed at which he has risen through the chapter ranks, his ability to deal with powerful Chaos sorcerors whilst a fledgling and even being attributed with the amazing feat of "smiting a Chaos Prince"; even if half his known feats were canon he would still be appreciated as one of the most mighty of all Space Marines and a worthy successor.
[edit] Alternate Names
Ragnar Blackmane also has the names Ragnar and Ragnar Thunderfist for the following reasons.
Since he was a member of the Thunderfist tribe, he was born as Ragnar Thunderfist. However, new Space Wolves usually drop their last name since tribe politics should no longer apply after they become Space Marines. Ragnar dropped his name during training, before he needed to, since his tribe had been annihilated.
Some Space Wolves are given individual surnames for performing a great feat, hence Ragnar later earned the surname Blackmane from a feat during his training and an eccentric and individualistic feature he developed afterwards.
[edit] Narration
After giving a draft of the first novel to Games Workshop, their main criticism was that it was confusing for a sci-fi book to start in a medieval setting since the novel starts with Ragnar’s life in medieval Fenris. So the writer added a prologue and epilogue that was set in Ragnar’s future and the rest is told as a flash-back to ease the reader’s confusion.
Due to this, the story is told entirely in Ragnar’s first-person since it is all flashback. This made the story hard to write due to the fact that everything that happens must be perceived or deduced by Ragnar. So the writer couldn’t include events/conversations happening that Rangar doesn’t see or describe enemy movements that might increase the drama of the situation. Rangar is also privy to councils that wouldn’t usually include him, but do since he is needed in order to allow the book to include the conversations involved.
It also means the reader knows that Ragnar will not die in the main body of the book however, since it is an adventure, it would usually be guessed that he wouldn’t die anyway. In any case, the end is not as important as the body of the story in this novel. Also Ragnar Blackmane is a character that is further used in Warhammer 40,000 canon, so most fans will know he cannot die.
The other books are written in the same manner to maintain a theme amongst the series even though they don’t need this style of writing. The author has said he will not attempt this style again because of the difficulties with it[1].
[edit] Ragnar's Mentor
The rune-priest Ranek is Ragnar's mentor throughout the novels, however in the Warhammer 40,000 canon, Ulrik the Slayer is Ragnar's mentor.
When questioned about it, William King the author said "To tell the truth I don't know if I ever will resolve this one. I tend to look at these things the way I look at history books. Sometimes you get two (or more) contradictory accounts of the same thing."
