Ragnar Blackmane
Ragnar Blackmane, also called the Young King, the Gifted One, or the Allslayer, is a goddamn beserker killer werewolf of the Space Wolves Chapter, and while he does border on Mary Sue Furry Sue levels of perfection in war, Ragnar is known for his hot head and arrogance, often flying into berzerker rages in battle. Sure, he may be one of the most dangerous, accomplished marines who ever lived, but he's also a glory hound, a hothead, and kind of a dick. Think Cato Sicarius, but with less tactical genius and more melee and manly charisma. In fact, he's such a goddamned hothead that he murdered a Dark Angel once. Ragnar was so enraged and ashamed after losing an honor duel to the angel that he lashed out in anger and killed him. I'd make a joke about bloodlust and Khorne worship, but it's not like Khorne's greatest champion is also a dishonorable asshole or anything.
Somewhat uniquely, he also has six different books. Four of these were written by William King (of Gotrek & Felix fame), while the other two were written by "Lee Lightner," a pseudonym for two separate guys. The latter two books are diametrically opposed in terms of editorial quality, with the sixth being quite well edited, and the fifth being barely legible in the last four chapters.
Although it is repeatedly stated that he got his nickname (yeah Blackmane is a nickname, what kind of surname would it be anyway) after the black Fenrisian Wolf he hunted and whose pelt he wore as a fellow wolf fetishist, almost all art depicting him show a white/grey wolf pelt on his shoulders. Go figure. In the first book it is stated thar his black hair is unique among his people, hence "blackmane" refrencing his own black hair.
He was born on Fenris, but also lived on Holy Terra for a few years.
Besides his ri-dick-ulous amounts of plot armour, he's also equipped with Batman's utility belt; containing high-tech, non-standard, and possibly non-existent equipment such as:
- Micro grenade dispenser!
- Dispensing micro grenades instead of the regular frag, krak, and melta grenades. Grenade capacity: Unlimited.
- Tubes of syntiflesh!
- Obviously substitutes flesh when you are wounded. Duh.
- Emergency repair liquid ceramite!
- Or some such shite, for when you have time to mend the cracks in your bathroom tiles.
- Food obsessed sidekick!
- For some heavy-lifting errands, extra plot armour, and occasional grimdark comedy. There are more than one and they all live in a secret compartment of the utility belt.
During the Psychic Awakening Ragnar set out on a mission to kill Ghazghkull Mag Uruk Thraka following some apocalyptic visions from the rune priests. The battle on Krongar ended up being so intense that he not only lost his two companion wolves but Ragnar himself was forced to cross the Rubicon Primaris after fighting the Ork Warlord. Unfortunately (or fortunately if your an Ork) Ghaz managed to survive DECAPITATION by the Space Wolf thanks to the Ork's favorite painboy reattaching his head to a new body. Upon realizing this following his awakening as a Primaris, the newly revived Ragnar tries to finish off Ghaz by taking a page from the Imperium’s enemies. More specifically he borrows the good old tactic of dropping a FREAKING SPACE STATION on your enemies with ambiguous results regarding whether or not it worked.
The Books[edit]
Space Wolf: This book covers everything about the recruitment and training of the Space Wolves, as seen through the perspective of Ragnar. It starts with Ragnar still a Fenrisian tribesman. After some viking-related escapades (including the death of his father and sexy time with a viking chick), Ragnar goes batshit insane and kills tons of rival tribesmen. This causes the Wolf Priests to show up and recruit him. Then a drill sergeant named Hakon yells at him a lot. The book concludes with his first assignment as a Space Wolf, in which he and his buddies stop a Chaos invasion at the cost of two thirds of his team. Ragnar and one of his comrades even kill a Chaos Sorcerer named Madox.
Ragnar's Claw: A friend/ally of Great Wolf Logan Grimnar (who is, inexplicably, an Inquisitor) shows up and asks Logan for his help rebuilding a psychic artefact. Naturally Logan has better things to do so he weighs Ragnar's pack the job. A (kinda/sort of) love interest (who happens to be a psyker) dies to imprison a Greater Daemon of Nurgle. Entertainingly, Ragnar gets pissed on by a drunk Ork. Not quite as bad as it sounds.
Grey Hunter: The Thousand Sons decide to repay the Space Wolves for Prospero by defiling a sacred planet. Naturally, this pisses off the Wolves. Due to his plot armour, Ragnar kills Madox (again) before throwing the spear of Leman Russ through the eye of Magnus (yes, Daemon Primarch Magnus).
Wolfblade: Ragnar is banished (but only for a little while) and forced to protect a Navigator house named Belisarius. Why? Because he threw the most sacred relic of the Wolves into the Throne-forsaken Warp. This leads to much dicking about on Terra as well as massive amounts of just as planned. This is the ONLY Blackmane book with no Chaotic enemies.
Sons of Fenris: Due to some shenanigans by the Fallen there's a war between the Dark Angels and some balls-of-steel PDF troopers on a promethium-filled Death World called Hyades. Ragnar gets involved in some just as planned in the jungle.
Wolf's Honour: There's more Inquisitors, some Daemon Worlds, Wulfen, and a planet called Charys that's going to get BLAMmed. Basically, Ragnar tries to steal the spear of Russ back and, in doing so, pisses on centuries of Magnus' just as planned.
Ragnar Blackmane: Yes, a novel named after himself. Technically a tie-in with the fall of Cadia, but the book itself is primarily about Ragnar's flashbacks to different events, the main two being his duel with a Dark Angels champion that looks at issues of honor, and his run-ins with the Flesh Tearers, which serve to highlight the best and worst parts of the Wolves.
On the tabletop[edit]
| Pts | WS | BS | S | T | W | A | Ld | Sv | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ragnar Blackmane: | 100 | 2+ | 2+ | 4 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 9 | 3+/4++ |
Ragnar is a powerful close-combat character that specializes in raping hordes of MEQs and GEQs, and he's not half bad against TEQs. He's also a personal favorite of this author. Like all the Vlka Fenryka Ragnar has ATSKNF, plus he has the CHARACTER, WOLF LORD and INFANTRY keywords. He also has War Howl which allows him to reroll charges for every unit within 6 inches of him and Insane Bravado (+D3 attacks when he performs an Heroic Intervention). His warlord trait, "Saga of the Warrior Born," which allows him to always fight first in the assault phase even though the order in which units fight always seems a bit fucky. He can also take two Fenrisian "Wolves" if he so chooses. As far as gear goes he has power armor (notably not runic armor), bolt pistol, frag and krak grenades, melta bombs, belt of russ (gives him an invuln), and a Str+1 AP-4 Damage 2 frostsword. With D3+1 attacks on heroic interventions, Ragnar is brutal on the charge phase. Anything without a 2+ armor or a good invuln is dead against Ragnar and he stands a fair chance against TEQs due to his volume of attacks and rending, but at the same time his lack of a 2+ armor save means you should keep him away from lots of power weapons. Ideally speaking, stick him in a group of Blood Claws or Grey Hunters with a Wolf Standard. Charge something. That thing dies. Repeat.
| Pts | WS | BS | S | T | W | A | Ld | Sv | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Primaris Ragnar Blackmane: | 120 | 2+ | 2+ | 4 | 4 | 6 | 7 | 9 | 3+/4++ |
EXCEPT NOPE, LADS, he's a big boi now! Now he's rocking an extra wound, an extra two attacks and a superior melee attack - that Shock Assault rule gives him +3 attacks instead of +1. That's ten 2+ attacks, re-rolling ones for his aura, at S6 AP-4 D2. He's also still got all his nice, old abilities, re-rolling failed charges in a 6" aura, and his Warlord Trait is the same, so he still fights first if he's the warlord. His Wolves are gone, unfortunately. He's got power armor still, hence the 3+, and a Belt of Russ like all the other Jarls, hence the 4++. He's got a bolt pistol and frag and krak grenades for secondary equipment. You can pop him in an Impulsor with some Hellblasters or something to cover him, pop them out near the enemy with the Hellblasters closer than him, blast things with the plasma fire and then charge Ragnar on the following turn. He's squishy, though, so keep him at least moderately screened at all times.
Trivia[edit]
During these novels, Ragnar sent 968 silent prayers to Russ to maintain his plot armour's thickness.
At the beginning of Ragnar's books he gets laid by a chick in his village a few hours before he is Chosen by a wolf priest. This means that Ragnar is one of the very few canon marines who isn't a virgin, and could in theory be a father. Though it seems that the space wolves in general don't bother with teaching their brothers to keep their dicks in their power-trousers since Bjorn himself was known for trying to bed or flirt with nearly every pretty lady in the Imperial military he met way back in the Heresy, up to and including the Sisters of Silence And there is a story about how some Wolvws were tricked by a chaos illusion and only found out when one of them made a pass on one of the lady's bring drinks.
In canon he became a wolf lord by Killing a warboss and his bodyguards by him self, but in the 3rd edition codex this is pointed out as 'being almost certainly apocryphal'.