Castellan Crowe

"This sword should be used by a Daemon prince, but I'm using it as an oversized walking stick coz that's just how I (t)roll"

Castellan Garran Crowe is both Captain and Brotherhood Champion of the Purifiers of the Grey Knights Chapter of Space Marines. The Purifiers are a group of specialists that burn shit with their minds and are the purest-hearted of the Knights. Castellan Crowe, needless to say, is both of these things, as well as being one of the best swordsmen in the Grey Knights.

Sounds like a Mary Sue, no?

Ironically, Castellan Crowe is the only Grey Knights character (aside from Brother-Captain Stern, Hyperion, Justicar Thawn, Justicar Alaric and the awesome Grand Master Mandulis) that has not earned the enmity of /tg/.

(Except the verry few Daemonhunters veteran who thinks a Grey Knight using a daemon sword instead of sending it into a black hole or hiding it into a multiple-layer stasis field... is just bullshit--Chaos wants the Imperium to imprison that sword, though! It is probably what the Imperium did last time before the 3 sectors incident. Plus, Tzeentch sorcerers only need to reverse the flow of a blackhole for just a few moments to extract the sword even if it was thrown in. Keeping the sword with the purest grey knight they can find is probably the pathetic best the Imperium can do right now)

Y He No Part of Ward's Dick Club?

Because he's a badass.

He's a badass because he wields a daemon sword.

A daemon sword called the Black Blade of Antwyr.

A daemon sword that could not be destroyed by the Inquisition.

A daemon sword that mindfucked every other guy that had ever wielded it.

A daemon sword that corrupted three full sectors and required the entire Grey Knights Chapter to step in and stop it.

A daemon sword that actively tries to murder Crowe every time he wields it.

A daemon sword that has near-infinite power and might possibly be a God in its own right, just waiting to be unleashed... (THIS IS SO DEFINITELY NOT MALAL RETCONNIAN HELL, RIGHT GUYS?)

But Crowe just uses it as a regular sword, because using that near-infinite power would corrupt him.

Somewhat surprisingly, this pleased many Writefags, most of whom had grown weary of the overused "evil-thing-Fucks up-and-corrupts-good-guy" trope and rather enjoy a more heroic take on it.

Also, barely enduring the influence of a single daemon weapon makes a lot more sense (and is a lot cooler than) not only surviving in the Warp, but actively destroying all the Chaos Gods' shit. than being able to stroll through the Warp unharmed, destroying things and killing daemons, without any of that shit actually happening for reals because it gets remade after the Draigo-Jack are done there - But then again, that is the Warp, so sense might not fair to judge upon.

Although, Especially in the 5th edition book Ward makes sure to note how Crowe is the purest Marine of the purest purifier order of the purest space marines that are the Grey knights, so uhh, while a cool dude, even he is not safe from Ward taint. To be fair though, you're going to have that with ANY specialized group. If we were talking about the White Scars it would read like "Khan is the fastest Marine of the fastest racing order of the fastest space marines that are the White Scars." Any time you have a group that does one thing specifically, you will have one person that does it exceedingly well. It would be Mary Sue-Matt Ward bullshit if someone from like, the Ultramarines was better at banishing daemons than Grey Knights were. It's only when someone from another non-specializde group's skill exceeds those of a specialized groups skill set is when their validity is called into question.

7th Edition also adds and takes away from his sueness in equal measure by making the leader of the Purifier Order (where the purest of the pure are grouped) and making him the most likely guy to take the place of Kaldor Titanfucking Draigo, but he keeps refusing because he has a bigger job taking care of the extremely foul blade and trying to keep track of what it says so he might find that one golden nugget of truth amongst a sea of insults.

+++++++

"I am the Warden of the Blade... It is my prisoner. I cannot destroy it, but I will contain it, and I can punish it. It will seek my suffering, but it will suffer too. The Blade will strike for the Emperor, and never for itself." - Castellan Crowe

Samples of the Blade's True Power

Whatever entity is trapped inside the blade, it does not want to be under the control of the four known chaos deities. Though it is not beyond using their own machinations to engineer its escape, even working to partially fulfill the other deities' plans just to create an opportunity for it to take advantage of.

The Blade will call mortals and even other Chaos entities to it, promising invincibility and glory even to the servants of the other dark powers. This is almost always successful, as daemons are immediately drawn to the blade's call regardless of the orders of their former masters, and mortals take very little to convince.

When wielded by a mortal, the Blade's consciousness immediately and completely overwrites the consciousness of the wielder, beginning the process of transforming the physical body into a kind of armored shadow-like creature that only the blade knows the origins of. It likes to keep a portion of the wielder's soul intact, though, just so it can taunt it on its colossal gullibility and fuck-up.

In the presence the Blade and its wielder, other people are constantly under assault by its influence. No longer needing to seduce potential pawns to help it escape, the blade simply overrides the will of whomever is unlucky enough to catch a glimpse of it. One look is all it needs to overwhelm any mental resistance.

The blade can incite violence and obscene rituals if it so chooses, but it does not need these in order to gain power. All it needs are more followers. The blade's capability multiplies with each mind it takes over (the more people it controls, the more people it can control), enabling it to bring millions of people under its will through a chain reaction of influence.

The shear speed at which the blade can bring more people under has no equal even among the other dark powers. Meanwhile, the people the blade enslaves do not become blood-thirsty fanatics or raving pleasure seekers either, they march as a single force, silent and mindless. Inside, the souls of the enslaved are trapped within their own fallen bodies, constantly taunted by the blade's laughter and telepathically tortured.

See Also

• [[1]]: This plays every time he polishes his daemon blade. Not only is it called "Black Blade", it shifts from dark and gloomy to light in tone, and ends up like a conflict with a lot of energy... So it fits fucking great.
• [[2]]: And then there's this.
• [[3]]: Castellan Crowe's story is expanded here. Note: The book is written in the same vein as the old Ben Counter books about the duty of the Grey Knights; with solemn diginity and a kind for resigned determination; that though their job does tremendously suck beyond the universe's ability to contain, they still have to do it. That no matter how pure their purpose or how much they prepare, Chaos can still lead them on a merry chase that may sometimes end in the Grey Knights' failure. And when that happens, there is really no other choice for them but to keep cracking on regardless.