Davian Thule
Captain Davian Thule (Also known as Davian Cool) was a captain of the Blood Ravens 4th company. He appeared in Dawn of War Dark Crusade and throughout the entire Dawn of War II franchise, where he sorta lost his accented voice, sounding a bit gruff, and got interred into a Dreadnought afterwards (which is probably the best thing that could happen to him).
Dawn of War
Thule first appeared in DoW:DC as the Captain leading 3 companies of Blood Ravens to pacify the planet of Kronus and secure knowledge that pertains to their chapter's history. He was victorious in the end but had his eye poked out when he fought with the Necron Lord there, it is theorized that the cron lord also got his throat, explaining why he lost his sexy accent in DoWII. In his victory, he found certain relics and information about the Chapter's past and it changed how he looked at his chapter forever, which would indicate that the whole prospect of the Blood Ravens stemming from a Thousand Sons cult is true or he found Kyras' stash of /d/-themed porn there.
Dawn of War II
Captain Thule then returned in DoWII, leading the forces on Calderis. He's so badass that all he does is mounts on top of a hill and starts shooting everything with his heavy bolter without flinching, just to show everyone that he's awesome that way. Much later during the Tyranid incursion, he was mortally wounded and poisoned by a Tyranid warrior and was put on stasis to prevent the poison from utterly killing him. He still beat its ass into the ground before succumbing.
There's a mission on Typhon that requires you to obtain a Tyranid bio-toxin sample as so Apothecary Gordian can create an antidote for Thule and for a certain poison to kill the local splinter fleet's synapse web/connection to the Hive Mind. After you get the bio-toxin sample, he deep strikes as a Dreadnought in the same mission to help you battle the Tyranid Hive Tyrant that appears there. After that' he's pretty much available for use in any mission you desire, and boy, will he mess up anyone's day. Give him the ability to self-repair, venerable status and optimize him to be either choppy or shooty (shooty is a bit better), and watch him plow through everything like an IG Baneblade against a lame Cultist rush. He's an invaluable asset for some of the hard-ass bosses like Warboss Bonesmasha and the Avatar of Khaine and is tied with Cyrus for being the most useful member of your team.
With an assault cannon and hellfire rounds and a mighty strike, he can very quickly obliterate large masses of enemies, sweeping away everything at a distance and sending anything that gets close to him flying and get stunned, and if he does take damage; just activate his absurdly fast self repair and watch him start up the rampage all over again, hell he can even charge and send everything in his path flying like bowling pins. And the upside to all of this? All of these abilities recharge very quickly.
If you go all in with Dread Claws, he's pretty much a walking rape machine in CQC. Aim his furious charge skill on a group of enemies and use mighty strike when he stops and viola! 80% of the units in that horde are dead or horribly messed up. He's also one of the damned best tankers this way if you didn't want a choppy Force Commander. The only downside to this is that he's slow, so bosses with the AoE/charge attacks can mess him up and you need one of your guys to carry the "Rites of Repair" item if you haven't gotten his self-repair ability yet, and with that you will still need that item to patch him back up right away in a fight if he gets incapacitated.
Chaos Rising
Thule returns later in Chaos Rising, still as a Dreadnought. He can't be corrupted like the other squad members but will permanently leave your squad if your hair-etical force commander starts being too heretical. He's basically the ace-in-the-hole for all your missions like in the last game, he can tank and/or screw up the hard bosses in levels like Araghast the Pillager, the second Eldar Avatar of Khaine, if you're pure until the end, Martellus' fucking Chaos Predator (FUUU!!!!), and motherfucking Ulkair (MOTHERFUUUUU!!!!). He can also make enemy armor shit brix from a distance now as multi-meltas are now available as an arm weapon.
If you do trade him for a couple of tainted wargear and powers, you just screwed everything up because he's way better than most of the Chaos powers because hot damn, as good as his hellfire assault cannon sweep was; it is no match for the sheer rapage that the Multi-melta sweep unleashes (the multi-melta sweep can eat up over a hundred thousand hit points in one go if you use it right) and the Multi-melta can still do a shit ton of damage in it's normal firing mode. And using it in combination with the mighty strike is just pure rape. You'll stun your targets allowing you to quickly work out the optimum range and begin the multi-melta sweep's pure unrestrained buttfuck of anyone unlucky enough to be on the wrong end of your weapon, combine this with venerable dreadnought hood and your team will pretty much always be buffed.
Although no Dreadnought could ever replace Davian Thule, if he were on tabletop he'd probably be an unholy mix of Bjorn the Fell-Handed and Moriar the Chosen.
Retribution
Thule also returns in Retribution and probably for the last time in the series, he is also no longer playable. He's the target for Eliphas' first mission for revenge and is sadly killed. Many who depended on his sheer power and fluff over the course of three games will miss him and shed Manly Tears upon his death, a number of tears only rivaled by those shed when you have to brutally slaughter Sergeant Merrick in the first Tyranid mission which is bullshit because Merrick is too badass to die.. We like to pretend that the Venerable dreadnought honor guard unit you can use in place of Martellus in the Space Marine Campaign is him. No we don't just pretend it's him, we know it's him...right? *sobs* Strangely enough, the Chaos Dreadnaught that you can take in Neroth's place outshines him (even though his whiny bitching about wanting to die is infinitely more annoying.) Which leads us to suspect it's not him... *sob*
And for a final note, Gabriel, in the final mission of the Space Marine campaign says "Cyrene's secrets live solely with me, and so they shall die with me." However, in the Dawn of War 2 campaign, Gabriel says to the Commander "You may tell Captain Thule that the secrets of Cyrene die with me" This may be a 'sob' clue that Davian is actually dead... 'sob' he actually says "...the secrets of KRONUS die...", praise the Emprah!
Thule is also notable for having an experimental Dreadnaught Assault-Cannon Claw when you fight him in the Chaos Campaign. It fires hellfire cannon rounds out of the under-slung flamethrower of the power claw. It is one of the most innovative weapons crafted by the Adeptus Mechanicus and was, of course, "gifted" to the Chapter by the Mechanicus for helping to save Forgeworld Graia, which took place shortly after the events of the original Dawn of War II.
Let's Look at This Logically
Eliphas' first mission is the only one wherein he does not kill his counterpart from another race, implying a greater degree of canon. After, Relic could have easily made him kill Diomedes. Placing Davian as the final boss of the first level might be hinting at a deeper meaning. After all, the Eliphas vs. Thule rematch was something a great deal of neckbeards wanted to see.
Hence, it is so that /tg/ must prepare itself for the possibility that Davian Thule might be dead. No one has to like it, of course. But hiding behind a fragile wall of weak reasoning will not make things better. *the original writer of this section goes off to quietly sob* HERESY! Davian Thule is not dead... I have personally seen him later on in the game (probably due to a glitch) as a venerable dreadnought of the bad moon clan.
Additionally, as a result of lab tests conducted by /tg/ -- we have found that in all three games where the two are present, Eliphas will beat Davian Thule roughly 80% of the time. Especially in Retribution, where Eliphas cannot drop below 90 points of health in the first mission and is thus functionally immortal while fighting Thule. Not to mention his having better damage than him.
Finally, in the final mission, Gabriel says in his monologue: "...Now Cyrene's secrets lie solely with me....and so shall they die with me..", regardless of what faction you bring to the fight. Thule knew about the secrets of Cyrene as well, which Gabe mentioned in the original DoWII just before the suicide mission to poison the hive mind. Thus, Davian Thule is most likely dead in Retribution. That, or someone in Relic forgot their own canon and fucked up.
OR it could just be a thing the two of them had. "I saw some fucked up shit on Kronus." "Dude... Cyrene man..." "Let's never tell anyone about it." "Totally."
Memorable Quotes
- "Emperor protect... let none find us wanting..." *blows up*
- "Oh, Davian, He cannot hear you." - Eliphas, before *sob* killing him *sob*
- "I have grown practiced at killing you, Eliphas." - Clearly not practiced enough, given how that fight ended. *sob*
- "Commander... you must step back from madness... do not make yourself into my enemy..." - What Thule says after every third mission if you're turning evil. And you'd better do as he says.
- "I am Davian Thule. And I shall be your death, alien." - Before fucking over a Hive Tyrant.
- "We are NOT Brothers, Heretic!" - A fine thing to say to every Chaos Marine who tries acting like Eliphas.