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Horus was one of the twenty Space Marine Primarchs in the fictional Warhammer 40,000 universe. He was the leader of the Luna Wolves Legion, the favoured son of the Emperor of Mankind, and the galaxy's greatest traitor.
Early life
Created by the Emperor in the gene-laboratories of Luna, Horus, along with his brothers, the Primarchs, were scattered across the galaxy by an accident of unknown cause. The capsule carrying the infant Horus came to rest on the Hive World of Cthonia, the primary planet of a system within a reasonable slower-than-light distance of Holy Terra.
As such, he was the first of the Primarchs to be rediscovered by the Emperor, and for many years was the only son of the ruler of Mankind. There was said to be a great affinity between them; the Emperor spent much of his time with Horus, instructing the latter in all aspects of culture and warfare. The Emperor quickly granted command of the Luna Wolves Legion to Horus, and with these warriors at their backs, began to forge the Imperium of Man.
The Great Crusade
For thirty years, Horus and the Emperor fought together, saving each other's life on several occasions. However, the discovery of a second Primarch was inevitable, and while the Emperor left to meet another of his sons, Horus was left in command of the Great Crusade. While happy that he would soon meet one of his brothers, Horus swore to himself that he would always remain the Emperor's favoured child.
As the Great Crusade pushed outward, and more Primarchs were discovered, the Emperor's time became divided, pulled in more and more directions. Horus was often placed in overall strategic command of the Crusade, a position in which he proved his skill time and time again. He quickly won the approval and support of the other Space Marine Legions, along with their leaders.
One of the skills that made Horus such a great general and leader, above his warrior skills and ability to strategise, was that he possessed an innate understanding of psychology; able to read men so as to promote their strengths or exploit their weaknesses. This allowed him to find a non-military solution to several campaigns, using his skills of negotiation and the threat of unstoppable force to bring world leaders into the Imperium without bloodshed. Horus always ensured that he followed any local customs, believing that he would lessen the hostile reaction of opponents who wished to parley.
His understanding of the human mind allowed Horus to find the best within his fellow Primarchs, allowing him to deploy the various Legions into battlefield roles that they were best suited to. He quickly learned of the skills belonging to the White Scars and Night Lords for rapid strikes, while the Imperial Fists and Iron Warriors would be at the forefront of sieges. Horus was said to wield the Space Marine Legions, and later the human soldiers of the Imperial Army, as a lesser general would position individual squads to perform to their advantages. He was also responsible for promoting competitive rivalries between certain Legions, rivalries that would overflow into outright hatred when the Great Crusade took a turn for the worse.
The Corruption
Shortly after Horus' Legion declared victory in the Ullanor Crusade against the Orks, the Emperor declared that this was the greatest victory yet for his Imperium. Amongst the awards and accolades he promised the Luna Wolves Legion was if Horus wished to he could rename them the Sons of Horus in honour of their leader, who in turn would be promoted to the rank of Warmaster, Supreme Commander of the Imperium's millions-strong armies. He declined to change the name to begin with, not wanting his Legion to be seen as superior to the rest. He did eventually change the name, after an incident with the Emperor's Children legion, where they refused to listen to a company captain. Horus believed that by changing their name they would command the respect he did, and that the rest of the legions would listen to them. If this worked is unknown.
Despite the honours bestowed on him and his Legion, it was said that Horus was not content. The wording of the Emperor's declaration, claiming the glory of Horus' victories as entirely his own, chafed. Although this was the usual rhetoric for such announcements, Horus saw that while the Emperor remained comfortable in his palace on Terra, Horus was out in the field of battle, winning the Emperor's Imperium for him. It seemed that a deep-rooted resentment had finally been brought to the surface.
Before he could return to Terra to officially claim his new title, Horus fell ill on the Plague Moon of the feral world of Davin. While he recovered, Horus demanded to take part in a warrior lodge initiation on the planet, maintaining his policy of observing native customs where possible. However, this initiation was different, provoking a shift in the character of the Primarch. The warrior lodge had been the front for a Chaos coven, who had converted the second-greatest man in the Imperium.
Horus began to introduce the concept of the warrior lodge throughout his Legion, and also stretched his influence to bring several other Primarchs onto his side. Horus was now allied in full to Chaos, and envisioned a new empire, with the Warmaster at its head.
The Horus Heresy
The first sign the Emperor accepted of Horus' turning was when he used virus-bombs to 'pacify' a planet, killing sixteen billion to defeat one man and his tiny heretical faction. When the Emperor demanded an explanation, Horus retorted by denouncing the Emperor, claiming him unworthy of the battles fought in his name. Horus then went on to declare that he would replace the Emperor as the head of Mankind. The Emperor, worried by the outburst of his son, ordered seven Legions of Space Marines to find Horus, determine his loyalty, and destroy him and his Legion if necessary.
Of the seven Legions sent to Istvaan V, four turned to the side of Horus. Between them and the three Legions already on planet, they almost completely annihilated the loyal Iron Hands, Salamanders and Raven Guard Legions. Horus had just declared civil war on the galaxy, beginning a series of events that would still bear his name ten thousand years later.
In total eight Legions turned traitor, though they were soon joined by the Thousand Sons who had just been themselves betrayed by the Emperor, along with the regiments of the Imperial Army and space-fleets which were under their control. They began to lay waste to the Imperium that Horus had fought so hard to construct. The Horus Heresy came close to shattering the Imperium as brother fought brother on the battlefields of a thousand worlds.
The final stage of Horus' plan to defeat the Emperor resulted in the fifty-five day Siege of the Emperor's Palace on Terra. Battering the defenders with almost innumerable forces, Horus may have achieved his goal. However, on the fifty-fifth day, Horus learned that the Space Wolves and Dark Angels Legions were on their way to reinforce the horribly outnumbered Loyalist forces on the surface.
Gambling the result of the Heresy on a single action, Horus lowered the shields protecting his battle barge. The Emperor, accompanied by an elite bodyguard, teleported aboard, but were scattered throughout the Chaos-warped starship. Horus easily defeated several Imperial Fists veterans before fighting Sanguinius, the angel-Primarch of the Blood Angels. When Horus realised he could not defeat the Angel in personal combat, he used the power of Chaos to destroy his mind. Finally, the Emperor found his way to Horus' command room, and engaged his once-beloved son in a titanic duel.
The Emperor fought Horus, power sword against lightning claw, with brutal blows that would eviscerate any mortal man dozens of times over. The Emperor held back for most of the battle, remembering Horus as his beloved son and not wishing to believe that he had turned so utterly to Chaos. This allowed Horus to inflict minor wounds on the Emperor, since nothing short of half the Emperor's power would be sufficient to defeat him and drive the combined forces of chaos away. At the critical point in the battle, the Emperor lowered his guard in a last attempt to turn Horus back to good but Horus used this to his advantage and struck the Emperor a mortal blow, and in that instant the Emperor realised how far his favoured son had turned. With iron resolve, he gathered his full strength and delivered a massive psychic blow that mortally wounded Horus and caused the Chaos gods to withdraw. In his final moments, the powers of Chaos were driven from him, and the Emperor sensed his favoured son's return to sanity for a fraction of a second before the Emperor dealt Horus a mercy stroke.
Although accounts of the actual battle vary, almost all confirm that the end of the duel resulted in Horus' death, and the fatal wounding of the Emperor. Knowing instantly that their leader had fallen, the forces that had declared their loyalty to Horus splintered and fled, their daemonic allies disappearing back into the warp. Pursued by Imperial forces, most of the traitor marines retreated into the warpstorm known as the Eye of Terror. The Sons of Horus did likewise, but under the direction of Horus' lieutenant, Abaddon, took the time to launch an assault on Horus' battle barge and retrieve their leader's body.
After Death
The tale of Horus does not end with his death. His body was enshrined on the daemon-world the Sons of Horus claimed for their own within the Eye of Terror. He resided there for several hundred years, before the body was stolen by Fabius Bile and the Emperor's Children Traitor Legion, in an attempt to clone the body of the Warmaster.
Abaddon led an assault on the fortress, and believing that the worship of his Legion's dead Primarch had trapped them and led them to the brink of destruction, utterly destroyed Horus' corpse and claimed the Warmaster's power claw, the 'Talon of Horus', as his own.
Inspiration
Horus bears many similar characteristics to Lucifer. Once one of the most favoured angels of God (the Emperor), he fell from grace (to Chaos) and led many angels (the Traitor Legions) to fight against God in a war in Heaven (Earth or Terra).
Unlike Lucifer, Horus defeated Sanguinus (whereas Lucifer was cast down by Michael) and moved on to fight with the Emperor himself.
References
"Horus (Warhammer 40,000)"