Arkhan the Black

Arkhan the Black's new look

Arkhan is the first and most loyal follower of Nagash, who somehow went from a wastrel in a minor noble family to a super-badass necromancer-warrior. He has decimated kingdoms; eg, Araby never fully recovered from the war he waged against it, and has fought for and against many of the Tomb Kings. As of the End Times, following GW's retcons, he becomes Warhammer Fantasy's first Hero Killer, being the first playable Special Character to kill off other playable Special Characters and during the End Times he has the highest body count of all of them.

The Legend

Born thousands of years ago, back when Nehekhara was a kingdom of the the living, Arkhan was originally a member of a noble family in Khemri during the reign of king Thutep. Despite his lineage he was the black sheep of the family, more interested in gambling, drugs, back-alley brawls and (implied) whoremongering. His title 'the Black' started as a mocking reference to the fact that, as a mortal, he consumed so many sweetmeats and drugs that he ruined his teeth. Arkhan is officially credited with leading the suicidal counterattack that allowed Nagash to escape the Army of the Seven Kings, singlehandedly holding them off with spellcasting and swordplay for an hour before some random schmo managed to hit him in the heart with a spear (in the Time of Legend's novel it's a shot from a Cathayan gun, but GW said the army books trump Black Library novels). Dying, he croaked out a curse that anyone who touched his bones would die horribly, and burst into black flames that left behind only a blackened skeleton. The Khemrians were so spooked that they wouldn't dare touch his bones, so they just covered them under a great heap of rubble (In earlier lore, there was no curse, but the Nehekharans didn't desecrate Arkhan's remains out of respect for his badass last stand).

Here's where the lore starts to diverge. According to the Time of Legends:Nagash novels and backed by a sentence in the End Times:Nagash book, Arkhan didn't just stay in that cairn. He was smuggled to Lahmia along with Nagash's works, restored to unlife and kept as a prisoner of Lamashizzar and W'soran to teach them Nagash's magic. During this time Neferata found their secret tutor and chatted with him. She wanted Arkhan to teach her as well, and used her charm to try and persuade him. To everyone's surprise, including her own, Neferata sympathized with the imprisoned lich and formed a genuine rapport with him that grew into something more. Arkhan gladly taught her magic until someone discovered their secret lessons and tried to assassinate Neferata with a deadly magical poison. Arkhan tried to save Neferata, and his methods reacted with Neferata's blood and turned her into the first vampire. Their lessons continued for a while until Neferata's brother found out and decided he wanted in on vampirism. Neferata refused, but her brother had Abhorash there to help him; thus he won the ensuring struggle. Afterwards, Abhorash beheaded Arkhan and put him back in the cairn near Khemri.

Surprisingly, Nagash didn't forget what Arkhan did for him and when he came back, he resurrected Arkhan as the Liche King, the first of his nine Dark Lords in a blatant rip off of the Nazgul from The Lord of the Rings. Ever since then, even as Nagash has gone elsewhere, Arkhan has tried to take over Khemri on his own, waiting for his boss to finally come back to him. Sometimes he travels the world, meeting interesting people, killing interesting people or retrieving magical artifacts.

Even Settra the Imperishable can't seem to get rid of this guy. Though they have fought over a dozen times, the Liche King's sorcery is far greater than anything Settra or the Liche Priests can muster, allowing him to hold out despite an inferior army and military prowess. As a result, Settra usually settles for just beating Arkhan to a stalemate, making him swear oaths of fealty that they both know Arkhan will wipe his bony ass with when he gets cocky enough later, and leaving to get other shit done. The other Tomb Kings have varying levels of tolerance for him, and he has allied with them either for the right price or if their plans need it; surprisingly, Khalida has allied with Arkhan despite the fact that he's the right hand man of the evil that led to the creation of vampires and was indirectly involved with their creation in the Time of Legends novels. Though being undead and serving Nagash dulled his emotions, he's still in love with Queen Neferata.

With the coming of The End Times, Arkhan made his move to bring Nagash back. He entered Sylvanvia seeking the rest of Nagash's books, but Mannfred took exception. After an amazing duel that resulted in a stalemate, they called a truce and Arkhan arranged the plan to retrieve Nagash's treasures, with him and Mannfred leading several armies. Despite attacks from Beastmen led by Malagor and Mannfred's attempts at betrayal, Arkhan succeeded and Nagash returned to the world. During this time, Arkhan also established himself as a Hero Killer, killing Kemmler (magical duel), the Fey Enchantress (bled out as a the sacrifice to bring Nagash back), Eltharion (aged to dust by magic) and Nekaph (incinerated by magic). During the war for Nehekhara, he took all the undead in Nagashizzar and conquered Quatar in a big offscreen battle that's barely alluded to. At Khemri he was cut in half by Settra, who'd had enough of him by that point, and magically smuggled Nagash into Khemri. After the battle for Khemri ended with Settra's defeat and its destruction, Arkhan was free to go to war at the behest of his master once more. Now the Mortarch of Sacrament, riding the Dread Abyssal Razarak, The Doom of Traitors, Arkhan still serves Nagash with dedication in his actions... but, perhaps, is starting to reconsider serving him.

When Nagash entered his sarcophagus to absorb the wind of death after conquering Nehekhara, Arkhan led them in his absence. When Isabella and the Nameless attacked, Arkhan showed some tactical savvy and organized the defence, but was defeated after a vicious fight with Isabella and killed. Nagash was furious over Arkhan's failure, but knew Arkhan was reliable and intelligent so Nagash restored him and Krell. When Nagash travelled to Athel Loren to work with the living, Arkhan was silent but laughing up his sleeve over the whole situation. After a fight with the forces of the Chaos Gods, the Incarnates and their forces are sent to Middenheim. Arkhan helps co-ordinate Nagash's army, then Throgg came with an army of monsters. Nagash told Arkhan to take two Morghast hosts and hold them until dead. When Arkhan asked for any further instructions he sensed Nagash's doubt before Nagash said, "DIE WELL MY SERVANT." and abandoned him. Though it ends with Arkhan fighting, it's repeated that it's a fight he can't win.

In the Lord of the End Times novel, after the Incarnates fail to stop the rift, Neferata encountered Arkhan with an unconscious Isabella. Arkhan had survived Nagash's last order and driven back the army of Chaos monsters (with the unexpected help of Settra) but he was battered. Arkhan told her that Aliathra's magic gave him a vision of a mysterious figure who could save/restore the world even after it was destroyed, and that he would help them if he could. Arkhan then showed her his slowly disintegrating hand; with Nagash's destruction Arkhan was dying as well. He bade Neferata flee and try to avoid the world's destruction, and take Isabella with her, stating he thought it was possible she could survive the end of the world. Neferata kissed him, took Isabella and fled while Arkhan tried to buy her time with his magic. As Neferata escaped, there was a last burst of purple magic and she could no longer sense him and grieved, thinking him destroyed.

With the world's reconstruction in Age of Sigmar, Arkhan's back! He's somewhat bound to Nagash and it's confirmed while Nagash exists, so does Arkhan. He fought alongside Nagash when the latter was allied with Sigmar, but that's all that's known about him for now.

On the Tabletop

As a Tomb King

Arkhan's a spellcaster, first and foremost. Though he can only use spells from the Lore of Death, his copy of the Liber Mortis makes him a level 5 caster (though he loses a level, and thus a random spell, if it ever gets destroyed), and his Staff of Nagash lets him convert three dispel dice from one turn into three fresh power dice in the next turn. Like a Tomb King, he has the Nehekharan Undead, Flammable and "The Curse" special rules.

Fluffwise, Arkhan's supposed to be good in melee as well as a caster, and his Tomb Blade of Arkhan, which restores wounds to a unit he's with for each unsaved wound he inflicts on an enemy unit, would seem to support this. Statwise... not so much. At Strength and Toughness 5 and with 3 Wounds, he might seem survivable, but with only light armor for protection and a Weapon Skill of only 4, backed by three Initiative 3 attacks, it really isn't worth it. Especially not when he costs 360 points, takes up a Lord slot, and can potentially be your Hierophant.

If you feel you really need the magical offense, he's not a bad choice in a higher value game, but making him your Hierophant is a pretty bad move, since he can't use any of the Lore of Nehekhara spells that a Hierophant is supposed to use. He's also got the option to ride a flying chariot; using it is inadvisable.

As Mortarch of Sacrament

So, how does Arkhan change in the Undead Legion? He costs 650 points, is a Monster (Special Character), and has gained +1 Toughness, +5 Wounds and +4 Attacks. His Tomb Blade now only restores his own health and he's traded the Liber Mortis and Staff of Nagash for the Staff of Spirits, which operates much the same as his old staff (can sacrifice two Power Dice in one magic phase and then apply them to a spell in the next magic phase). He can Fly, is a Large Target, causes Terror, is Undead, rolls a D6 at the end of any Close Combat phase in which he's caused a Wound and recovers a lost Wound of his own if he rolls a 6, he reduces the wounds he suffers due to Unstable by -1 (in addition to any other modifiers), can march as normal, and doubles the points worth of models he summons when casting spells from the Lore of Undeath, including the additional points generated by Raise the Dead counters. He's a level 4 caster who can generate any combination of spells he wishes (that is, four from one, or two from each, or three from one and a fourth from the other) from both the Lore of Death and the Lore of Undeath. If this make him sound like a mini-Nagash, that's because he pretty much is - While Nagash is awesome and can do awesome things, he's 1000 pt, so Arkhan is like a budget version of him, with lesser, altough still powerful versions of his abilities. Take him if you don't want Nagash to fill up half your army and when you want room for other dudes and dudettes.

Gallery

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  Arkhan the Black back in the day.

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  Arkhan's first model (surprisingly less derpy than his master's original model).

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  He probably wishes serving Nagash came with a dental plan.

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  Arkhan's badass new model.