Gotrek Gurnisson

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Gotrek Gurnisson is a fictional character in the Gotrek and Felix series of books by Bill King, set in the Warhammer Fantasy universe.

Within the series Gotrek (a dwarf) is portrayed to have once committed a terrible deed that cast shame upon his family and clan, causing him to renounce his former life and take up Slayer Oath and seek an honourable death, fighting against monsters and other dangerous creatures. The story states that like all dwarfs, Gotrek is incapable of not giving his all to a task and sees it as dishonourable to simply let his opponents kill him; as a result, he has been so successful (or arguably, unsuccessful) in his quest for an heroic end that he has now been adventuring for over 80 years. Gotrek has the typical appearance of Dwarven Slayer: heavily muscled and tattooed with a beard and hair dyed bright orange and spiked with pig grease. He is missing an eye which was lost in a battle with a horde of orcs and goblins, and favours a heavy axe as a weapon.

At one point they introduced Felix Jaeger which was stated to be "Gotrek's long term companion is the human", generally accompanied him on his adventures. Gotrek met Felix whilst on a drunken tavern spree in Altdorf, where he saved the young poet from being ridden down by the emperor's cavalry during the 'Window Tax' riots. In an act of drunken stupidity Felix swore to accompany the dwarf on his travels and to write an epic poem about him once he was dead.

Gotrek wields an enormous battle axe imbued with immense magical potency by ancient dwarven runic magic. He gained this weapon during his excursion into the northern Chaos Wastes, where he recovered it from the dead son of King Thangrim Firebeard. In the Warhammer Fantasy Battle table top wargame, Gotrek's axe is similar in power to the axe wielded by the dwarven king, Thorgrim Grudgebearer. This weapon was the Runemaster's Axe of the lost dwarven horde of Karag Dum, and supposedly previously belonged to the dwarven deity Grimnir. Although the link is rarely, if ever, directly stated, the suggestion appears to be that the second, and more powerful of Grimnir's axes is now wielded by Gotrek Gurnisson. The elven mage Teclis once read the magical aura of Gotrek and determined that immense power was flowing from the axe and subtly changing the Slayer into something greater than an ordinary dwarf.

Though the exact nature of Gotrek's crime is never stated, the story Beastslayer features a Chaos Lord of Tzeentch requesting a vision of his twin sorcerers. After a scene depicting Gotrek's acquisition of his axe, the next scene involves Gotrek returning to a burning village, ending as it focuses on the corpse of a dwarf woman and her baby. The next scene depicts Gotrek in the throneroom of a dwarf hold, arguing with a dwarf lord. Though no dialogue is given, the lord's guards attack Gotrek, resulting in the slaughter of virtually every dwarf present in the chamber. The scene finishes with Gotrek shaving his head with a knife.

Taken from this, it's likely that Gotrek's shame is either tied to the slain woman and child (who may have been his own family) or the slaughter of the guards and defilement of the throneroom or both.

Gotrek has been a Slayer for decades, although the exact length of time is never specified. During this time, Gotrek has fought a diverse assortment of enemies, including a dragon, a powerful Chaos Warlord named Arek Daemonclaw, a pair of twin Chaos magicians of incredible power that almost killed Teclis, a giant that was said to be 'the strongest of the Old Ones' guardians', a skaven grey seer, rat ogres, and a Bloodthirster Daemon of Khorne.

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