Khorne

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BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD! SKULLS FOR THE SKULL THRONE! MILK FOR THE KHORNE FLAKES! - The Chant of Khorne being Overused to Death


The Big K. Sitting comfortably on his Skull Throne.

Introduction

Khorne, also known as Kharnath, Arkhar, Khorgar, Kjorn, Khar, the Bloody Handed, the Axefather, the Bloodwolf, the Wolf-Father and 8790 other names, is the Chaos God of war, rage, wrath, battle, martial honour and excellence at arms. He is commonly held to be the strongest Chaos God by default, and is associated with wolves and powerful hunting dogs, as well as lions and bulls. For another reason that is likely inspired by occultism, Khorne's sacred number is eight - and thus, his followers tend to organize themselves into groups of eights and its multiples. Fun fact, this also means that the names of Khornate daemons are usually comprised of eight syllables.

Khorne, by virtue of being the most powerful Chaos God, is also the most powerful general divinity in both iterations of Warhammer. In both versions of Warhammer, his followers are characterized by an overbearing need to spill blood and engage in honest battle, as well as a violent code of martial honour and an 'only the strong survive' approach to morality. They tend to be dutiful, as well.

Khorne also has the distinction of being the only Chaos God whose word you can take at face value. They don't realize that disdain for scheming and backstabbing isn't the same as being stupid. Nor do they realize that overcomplicating things is actually the worst thing a planner can do. Any plan that relies on more than one variable to succeed (ie: the vast majority of Tzeentch plots) is almost always doomed to fail. So you actually want results? Be practical. Involve only as many steps as you need (IE: Sharp implement to the face repeatedly))

Appearance

Khorne is described as resembling a giant, iron-hewed warrior clad in red armour, with a massive battle-axe and a winged helm that conceals a snarling face like that of a wolf.

Of course, most artists at GW forget that he's supposed to look a giant Chaos Warrior and instead make him look like an overgrown Bloodthirster on a chair. A chair from which he often gazes down on his followers fighting and making merry and quaffing blood-mead like a certain war-god venerated by a race of tall, powerfully built, war-loving white people who dwell in an icy land north and east of the British Isles.

Khorne and His Worship

Khorne is the easiest god ever to worship. Where other more pussified (Oh go to hell Imperials, you know it's true) gods may demand you to memorize overly long prayers and hymns, or to build huge houses of worship and other such gay bullshit, Khorne is venerated with one thing and one thing only. The time honoured tradition of hack'n'slash.

Khorne is worshipped on the battle field. His hymns are the sound of steel on steel, his prayers are the blows of hammer and axe and the bellowing of 'Blood for the Blood God! Skulls for the Skull throne!".

In essence, you worship Khorne by being a good warrior. And as a warrior, you'll find your interests and his tend to generally align; he wants death but isn't picky on who, and you want to live to fight another day. Thus, the mere act of preserving your life will earn the pleasure of the god of battle.

However, Khorne is one of those honourable war-gods. So don't think that beating your enemies by anything other than sheer strength, skill and aggression will make him happy. And for the love of Sigmar/Empra, don't try to cheat by picking fights with the weak or helpless or by giving him baby skulls. Khorne expects a form of savage, viking-esque dignity from his followers and for them to be generally manly, this means you have to fight worthy opponents and those generally able to at least hold up a sword. After the worthwhile enemies are out of the way; gorge yourself on the blood of women and children all you want. Most of the writers forget this, thinking that Khorne really gives no fucks about what you kill, and it makes Khorne snarl in anger. Though he continues to send his flesh-hounds to hunt down those who flee and abandon their brothers on the battlefield, be they Chaos or non-Chaos.

Aside from that, Khorne has no commandments whatsoever. But deviating from the aforementioned in the slightest is begging for the flesh-hounds to tear your ass apart.

Such as it is, it would be incorrect to think Khorne doesn't have priests dedicated to him. Though, being a warrior god, these priests tend to be warriors themselves and are often marked by their god. In essence, the only difference between them and a Chaos marauder/Space Marine is several pounds of armour. In Warhammer Fantasy, these priests are called 'Bloodfathers', and in lieu of magic that is gifted to their priests by other gods, Khorne just gives HOLYSHITAWESOME fighting skills and visions of bloodshed.

Khorne is also venerated by working brass into your armour and weapons and donning fashionable high collars. Occasionally, a warrior so pleases Khorne that he gifts him with specially made ones that in addition to looking fabulous can also grant total fucking immunity to magic.

Anyway, Khorne is worshiped by warriors, generals and basically anyone who likes battle. His chosen Space Marines legion is of course the World Eaters, in Warhammer Fantasy, the Norscans tend to venerate him with the greatest piety, especially the Aesling tribe, who are Khorne's most devoted servants in Fantasy.

Khorne's take on magic

As posted by an Anon some time ago, he perfectly summed up what Khorne's opinion on magic is:

Okay, here's what the "FUCK WIZARDS" thing means.

Note that the hate of psykers/wizards/etc is pretty much the exact same and works by the same logic for both Khornates and the SoB/Black Templar/etc. Its a Conanesque kind of swords and sorcery thing. Khornates hate wizards for trivializing encounters with a single spell and overshadowing fighters. They hate turning what should be a military endeavor into a weird wizard show where people turn into frogs. They hate Slaaneshi for the same reason, they take what should be a wholesome murder fest and make it into something creepy and weird, what with them "discomporting themselves with the dead" and all that. In Realms of Chaos, its entirely possible for a librarian or wizard to go to Khorne. They just refrain from using their powers, and only use their psi/magic (in combat) to resist spells from that point onward.

They are okay with laser beams. They are okay with sniper rifles. They are okay with flaming swords. They are okay with running people over with tanks. They are okay with chemical gas. They are okay with exterminatus. They are okay with holocausts. They are okay with blitzkriegs. They are okay with honorable duels at dawn.

They are not okay with turning people to frogs, mind controlling people, raining glitterdust from the skies to blind everyone, raising armies of zombies to do the killing for you, and so forth. They are not okay with someone pointing their finger and you dropping dead. They are okay with rituals to summon demons. They are okay with navigating the warp without crashing into suns. They are okay with sending astropathic messages. They are okay with chaining wizards up and forcing them to eternally forge magic items on pain of death.

You may consider it hypocritical that Khornates are okay with blatantly unfair TECHNOLOGICAL murder, but not okay with blatantly unfair MIND/MAGICAL murder, but the point, or at least one interpretation, is that wizards/psykers fucking cheat. They do. They steal the power of the Warp for their own ends. As long as they stay in line, and do nothing but permit the warrior to enact his craft, fine, let them live, albeit in terror, enslaved by chains of brass until the day they are no longer useful, at which point their skulls can join Khorne's throne.

But stealing the Gods' own fire and using it to do what mortals should do through their own skill and strength is unacceptable. Remember that technology is completely valid to Khorne. Stealth is completely valid to Khorne. Skill is completely valid to Khorne. Cleverness is completely valid to Khorne. The nuclear bomb and other innovations that come after it could be seen to be unfair. But it is a mortal invention. Mortals should give honor to Khorne by murdering each other through the sweat of their brow.

The scientist who devises new ways to kill is a saint. His work can be put to any other use -- enriching human life, ending hunger, fighting diseases, answering great questions. But the scientist who devises new bombs and weapons is, in his own way, a champion of Khorne. He takes his limitless human potential and nobly limits himself to new ways to kill. Whether you kill with a sword or a bomb, you are killing using good old fashioned mortal strength and genius. You aren't stealing warp energy from the gods in the form of a fireball and cravenly calling it your own.

The forger of enchanted weapons, though deserving of slavery and abuse as all wizards are until the day they die, is an ideal symbol. It is fitting that spell energy be subjugated to and entombed within cold steel, just as wizards deserve to be subjugated to warriors until they lie cold and headless in the ground or else burnt to ash. The magic weapon is a symbol of might's superiority to magic.

Blood for the Blood God! Skulls for the Skull Throne! When the Galaxy burns, we will define righteousness!

Khorne and other Chaos gods

As a rule, Khorne despises Slaanesh because s/he's an effeminate milk-sop who can't grow a beard or swing an axe like she's got a pair (even though she's probably got the biggest pair, but less on that), and also because He personifies acting outwardly (ie: seeking the deaths of others), while Slaanesh acts inwardly (ie: pleasuring him-/herself). Khorne also finds Slaanesh's obsession with luxury and torture wasteful and dishonorable. Slaanesh is about living it up while Khorne is about tearing it the fuck down.

Khorne also hates Tzeentch, though they are not fundamental rivals, because his reliance on magic is seen as a sign of weakness and his desire not to face his foes in person is decried by Khorne as cowardly. Khorne sees his penchant for deceit and trickery as dishonorable.

Khorne thinks he hates Nurgle also, because the fat fuck doesn't even try to get shit done. Thus, his embodiment as sloth runs contrary to the active, vital aspect of Khorne.

In short he hates everyone. And they hate him too. Except Nurgle, whose too nice to hate anyone. Except Tzeentch. The know-it-all birdy bastard...

Khorne and non-Chaotic Gods

Well, Ulric is his little brother and they tend to get along rather well. Ulric's still ridiculing Khorne over the fact that one of his greatest champions, Haargroth, got his head smashed in by Ulric's Ar-Ulric, Khorne usually replies by pointing out that Storm of Chaos isn't canon anymore. Not that that stops Ulric. Khorne and Ulric often get into arguments over which one of them is moar Viking; with Khorne usually winning by pointing out that his top worshipers actually are Vikings and that he has a Valkyrie. They also settle this with arm wrestling and drinking contests. There's a lot of belligerence, but you can sense the brotherly love underneath. Indeed, it's kind of a Raoh/Ken relationship.

Despite both being war-gods, Khorne has a poor relationship with Myrmidia, seeing her bullshit 'planning' approach to war as cowardly and lacking in manhood. Most meetings between the Blood God and the Maiden of Strategy end with the Blood God pummeling her into an inch of her life for being a sorry excuse for a war goddess.

Khorne is the only Chaos God who tolerates Sigmar because he respects the idea of a mortal man becoming a god. That and Sigmar's comic book series, Sigmar the Emprahrian, has great splashpages of fights and no WORDSWORDSWORDS.

When asked about the Emperor, Khorne usually responds with a streaming torrent of bloody curses and oaths which causes a bloody froth to start leaking from his helmet. In short, he is remarkably indifferent to the old man.

Khorne is utterly sick and tired of anyone who dares associate him with 40Khaine. Before eviscerating anyone who makes that connection, he will often explain on how Khaine is an honourless god of murder and sadism while he himself is a god of honourable and forthright battle and courage, and how sadism is contrary to his code (Khorne indeed used to be about honorable combat, but now he's just about mindless violence. Goddammit, GW). Khorne then reiterates that Khaine's elfishness and love for scantily clad women is sickening and makes him more like Slaanesh... Of course, this is just a front on Khorne's part. Khaine's love of war combined with his elfness and that his most ardent worshippers are scantily-clad women proves Khaine to be the secret love-child of Khorne and Slaanesh (tsundere confir- *sounds of violent, painful evisceration* WHO DARES ? IN MY OWN PAGE, ON ALL THINGS ? FUCK YOUUUUUUUU

That being said, Khaine does have a dual nature in Fantasy thanks to being worshiped by Dark Elves and paid respect to by High Elves, where one side is indeed honorable and just wants to keep fighting and being badass which means Khorne can tolerate him approximately half the time. The fact that both are patrons of Blood Bowl teams is usually the common ground, with Khaine and Khorne crashing/trashing some other God's house to watch on game nights while downing can after can of Bloodweisers and shoveling Dwarf Rinds in their faces. Khaine periodically tries to invade the realm of Khorne whenever the Khornate team beats the Dark Elf team, with such meetings ending with Khorne individually breaking every bone in his body and spitting on the pain-wracked heap. When Khaine's team beats Khorne's, Khorne takes out his aggression by beating the fuck out of Slaanesh while Dark Elves go on safari hunting Khorne's worshipers.

Khorne has absolutely no patience for the Horned Rat, who is a favorite of Nurgle and Tzeentch respectively. It's a weak vermin who's very existence pisses him off. As a result, Khorne is much more fond of Sotek who encourages killing the fuck out of Skaven whenever they appear, and is also a fan of blood sacrifice (the fact that Sotek wants hearts and cares nothing for skulls is reassuring since they don't intrude on each other's fetish); this fondness is entirely one-sided.

Like the other Chaos Gods, Khorne has no fucking clue what the Great Maw is. However, it doesn't seem to complain when Ogres worship Khorne, so he's got nothing against him...her...it...schclim...whatever.

The pantheon of the Tomb Kings mostly stick to themselves, so Khorne only knows they exist..

Khorne is impressed with the Bretonnian race by the fact they're the epitome of honor and glorious valor. On the other hand, their entire race has been tricked by a single fucking Wood Elf demigoddess into doing their every command which fills Khorne with incomprehensible fury. As it stands, the first being that's going to get the axe when Khorne manages to get an avatar to manifest in the material plane is Ariel the Wood Elf queen.

Mork and Gork/Gork and Mork are Khorne's old drinking buddies. They piss him off more than any other beings in existence, but after a good 3-way beatdown and a few billion cases of squig beer he realizes they're alright company.

Khorne has a feeling that he'd get along with the gods of the Dwarfs, but even their introductions (being long ass winded descriptions of their primary worshipers and their lineages) irritate him so much he can't even get into a conversation with them. One of them is STILL giving his own introduction, and has been for about 20,000 years or so now (and he hasn't even reached the changes that have happened since he started). Unable to make him aware of what's going on around him, Khorne simply moved him into the guest room and bricked it off with a wall of skulls.

His portrayal in Warhammer Fantasy

He's Odin.

No that's it. Get the fuck out; he's an axe-crazy, psychopathic, daemonic version of Odin.

Oh? Oh? You want details you balls-less cunt lapper? Is that it?

Fine. Let's get this over with.

Well, for one thing, Chaos worshipers in Warhammer Fantasy actually are Vikings. Read about them here. Secondly, Khorne is closely associated with wolves in that setting (one of Odin's names literally translates to 'Battle Wolf'), and even has a wolf-like pet in Karanak. Idiots and/or Greeks like to think that Karanak is actually Cerberus, but these people tend to forget that Cereberus was a guardian of a place - something which Karanak is not. Karanak is simply a pet that Khorne keeps for amusement and an occasional hunting companion. Thus, fulfilling a role similar to Freki and Geri, or more closely, Garmr. Also, it's revealed in Knight of the Realm that Khorne owns two hunting wolves/giant fleshounds called Garmr and Gormr, with whom he partakes in a wild hunt across the heavens. Yeah.

Another point of similarity is that both Odin and Khorne are war gods explicitly connected with Berserker rage, and they are thus in exactly the same way in that they bestow it. Additionally, they have their own warrior-cults associated with them who fight with said rage that is gifted to them by their gods. Odin's Olfhednar are practically the same as Khorne's Chosen in both form and function.

Additionally, thanks to Valkia, Khorne also has his own Valkyries to further the similarity between him and Odin. This was inevitable, of course, given that the Warriors of Chaos are indeed an evil version of the Vikings as has already been stated. It should also be noted that Valkia's similarity to the Valkyries is not a superficial one. She is actually referred to as 'the Sword-Maiden of the Blood God' in the WoC codex, and is Khorne's Chooser of the Slain who carries those worthy champions and warriors of his to fight on in the Blood God's halls after death.

Finally, we got a glimpse of his neck of the Realm of Chaos in the Valkia novel written by Sarah Cock-well. It was basically Chaos Valhalla.

Again finally, did you know that one of the many translations of Odin actually means 'frenzy'.

To a lesser extent, this is also true in 40K. Where Khorne, while not explicitly worshiped by Vikings (in this version, sadly, they've been Christianized and turned into furfags), is still served by a cult of warriors in fact called 'Berzerkers'. Who are actually rather close to the historical Norse warriors in that they are a marauding band of badass mercenaries beholden to no-one and fight alongside whoever it serves them to. All the cool Space Wolves worship Khorne anyway, so he shall forever be known as the Roid-Raging Odin.

Odin is the only god in any mythology explicitly linked with Berserker rage and is primarily associated with wrath and bloodlust in battle. Odin even means 'the furious'. Tyr takes over more orderly aspects of wars, and handles diplomacy. Where as Odin is badass motherfucker who causes wars by throwing his spear at places and even fights on the battlefield in person. Fucking badass. Odin in his aspect as a god of Wisdom, however, is parallel to Tzeentch. Odin in his aspect of a war-god is parallel to Khorne. Haha no. Here's some of Odin's wisdom from the Havamal:

"A cleaved head no longer plots."

"A head stuck on a pike no longer conspires."

"Put to the sword they who disagree."

Also, what you think is magic and what Vikings thought was magic are two entirely different things.

KHORNE IS FUCKING WARHAMMER ODIN.

Champions Of Khorne

In 40K

Because most fa/tg/uys are idiots and newfags who likely don't know that another Warhammer existed long before bolters and power armour. And this makes the Blood God snarl in anger.

  • Kharn the Betrayer: Embodiment of Crazy Awesome and Patron Saint of fun guys everywhere. Kharn is Khorne's greatest mortal champion in 40K and has a wholly deserved reputation as a team-killing fuck-up. Once upon a time, Kharn was a straight-laced, meticulous Assault Captain of the World Eaters 8th company. But after a certain chain of events dedicated himself wholly to Khorne, thus becoming one of the most fucking lethal warriors in the galaxy as well as probably the most religiously devoted of Khorne's servants. Also notable for shattering two entire Space Marine legions by himself with a flamethrower in a single night.
  • Angron: HE! GETS! SHIT! DONE!!!'. Khorne's foremost Daemon Prince alongside Doombreed. PERIOD.
  • Doombreed: Khorne's greatest Daemon Prince ever and possibly either Genghis Khan or Turgeis the Devil IRL. Notable for launching an actually successful Dark Crusade that wiped out two Space Marine chapters. Which is more than a certain armless failure has pulled off.
  • Svane Vulfbad: EVEN IN 40K KHORNE'S CHOSEN ARE VIKINGS. Svane Vulfbad is motherfucking badass Chaos Terminator Space Wolf Chaos Lord who grew tired of the Imperium's sickening effeminate inability to GET SHIT DONE and the Space Wolves' sickening fur-fetishes and instead decided to dedicated himself to a god worthy of his kickassery. He thus became a badass Chaos Lord dedicated to Khorne (because a berserker god of war who likes axes meshes well with Vikings) and slaughtered a shitton of Space Wolves despite being outnumbered and escaped Harald Deathwolf. He is currently rampaging throughout the Imperium. He has the best facial hair in all of 40k.
  • Crull: A Chaos Lord from Winter Assault notable only for making idiotic statements, and utilizing Sorcerers in his warband when there's some possessing to be done. Also has a weird way of saying "drown".

In Fantasy

VIKINGS!!! VIIIIIIIIIIIIKIIIIIIIIIIIIINNGSSSSSSSS!!!

  • Valkia the Bloody: A pissed off badass Valkyrie who chooses who will fight on in the Halls of the Blood God after they die in glorious battle. She managed to kill a motherfucking DAEMON PRINCE as a lowly, un-Marked, un-augmented human in SINGLE COMBAT to earn Khorne's favour, CUT ITS FUCKING HEAD OFF, AND THEN CARRIED IT BACK TO THE NORTH TO PLACE AT THE FOOT OF THE SKULL THRONE. And then she died on the way. But Khorne was so impressed by this badassery/ pissed off by her death, he resurrected her as a fucking Daemon Princess. Now she flies around the battlefields of the world slaughtering anything that looks at her funny and bearing Norsemen to the Khorne's place for a glorious afterlife of fighting and drinking. She is also far more attractive than anything of Slaanesh's menagerie, much to the Prince of Pleasure's eternal rage and the Bloodfather's great amusement, primarily due to having hair.
  • Garmr Hrodvitnir: A Chaos Lord of Khorne who managed to almost kill Gotrek Fucking Gurnisson in a fight. 'Nuff said.
  • Hrothgar Daemonaxe: A Chaos Lord who only had his rules and miniatures released at a Games Day. He had the statline of a Bloodthirster. His miniature also depicts him throttling an elf, which makes him a good person.
  • Arbaal the Undefeated: Nicknamed 'Arbaal the Easily Defeatable' due to his rules from Champions of Chaos having been shockingly awful. Arbaal's been effectively retcon'd out of existence under the excuse that he's journeyed into the Realm of Chaos to challenge Khorne himself to a fight. Good luck with that.
  • Scyla Anfingrimm: The greatest You-Know-What ever to walk the earth. Scyla was a Chaos Lord of Khorne who got one too many mutations before his time and devolved into a YKW. But he's the most badass YKW ever, and is a leadership 10 general. Which is impressive considering the only thing he can say is "KILL FOR KHORNE! KILL FOR KHORNE! KILL FOR KHORNE!".

Fun Khorne Facts

  • Khorne used to have a list of fun facts like the other gods. However, Khorne was not amused by this flubdubbery and sent this section and all writers who contributed to it, down the moat of boiling blood that surrounded his citadel. Thus, all other writers have relented on posting any more.

Gallery

  • Khorne's followers off the battlefield. REVERSE ARMWRESTLE!!!

    Khorne's followers off the battlefield. REVERSE ARMWRESTLE!!!

  • Waffles for the Blood God!

    Waffles for the Blood God!

  • Khorne's trainers prefer violent Pokémon.

    Khorne's trainers prefer violent Pokémon.

  • Would have been a somewhat adequate picture, had they taken the right photographs of the actual Berzerkers. Lulz.

    Would have been a somewhat adequate picture, had they taken the right photographs of the actual Berzerkers. Lulz.

  • Mark of Khorne.

    Mark of Khorne.

  • Khornette

    Khornette

  • Just as Planned. Always as Planned.

    Just as Planned. Always as Planned.

  • Khorne's 'rivalry' with-OH GOD NOT IN THE FAC-*BLAM*

    Khorne's 'rivalry' with-OH GOD NOT IN THE FAC-*BLAM*

  • Khorne wants to know why the drawfags never give them noses.

    Khorne wants to know why the drawfags never give them noses.

  • In the grim darkness of the far future, there is still time for tea...

    In the grim darkness of the far future, there is still time for tea...

  • Warriors of Chaos - Making everything 40K look like bitches since 2002.

    Warriors of Chaos - Making everything 40K look like bitches since 2002.

  • There is such a thing as being too mad for Khorne!

    There is such a thing as being too mad for Khorne!

See also

The Chaos Gods of Warhammer 40,000 and Warhammer Fantasy
Four Main Chaos Gods: Khorne - Nurgle - Slaanesh - Tzeentch
Other Gods of Chaos: Archaon - Hashut - Horned Rat - Nuffle
Malal - Morghur - Necoho - Zuvassin
Chaos Gods of Law: Alluminas - Arianka - Solkan the Avenger
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