List of Eldar (Warhammer 40,000)
 | This article's lead section may be too short to adequately summarize the key points. |
This is a list of notable characters and heroes of the Eldar race in the Warhammer 40,000 fictional setting.
Eldrad Ulthran
Eldrad Ulthran was the mightiest and most ancient of the Farseers of the Eldar Craftworld of Ulthwé. Among Eldrad's accomplishments are supposedly igniting the Second War for Armageddon so as to spare the lives of ten thousand Eldar[1], the Sanapan Scouring, the Mortis Annihilation and the Third Coming of Orian, as well as warning Fulgrim, Primarch of the Emperor's Children of Horus's treachery[2] (though he failed, realising only too late that Fulgrim had already been corrupted by Slaanesh) and warning Iyanden of the coming of the Tyranids[1]. The veracity of these accomplishments are often debated, as they are usually derived from work by Inquisitor Czevak (which he himself admits strays into the realm of paranoia) and the rantings of a tortured Eldar Ranger. It should also be noted that, of these battles, only the Second War for Armageddon is ever described in detail. It is also noted, that he is one of the few individuals, perhaps the only, to fight in hand-to-hand combat with Abaddon the Despoiler himself and live to tell the tale.
Eldrad perished during the Eye of Terror campaign[3], when he was caught upon a Blackstone Fortress, or Talisman of Vaul, that he was trying to stop from destroying the Imperial world of Cadia. As he attempted to commune with the spirit of the Fortress, the Farseer learned it had been corrupted, and not by any random power. The machine had been corrupted by Slaanesh. Eldrad desperately tried to disengage, but his efforts came too late: his soul was dragged screaming into the Talisman's corrupted core for all eternity. The Talisman's current whereabouts are unknown. [4]
Eldrad's Fate
Prior to the 13th Black Crusade, Eldrad had fragmented his consciousness into hundreds of waystones, for the use of battlefield leaders. In the closing stage of the war, he led an assault on the surviving Talisman of Vaul in a desperate attempt to rescue its soul, saving the planet of Cadia in the process. He spirit-linked with the Talisman's core, only to realise that all Eldar traces within the fortress had been devoured, replaced by the vile power of Slaanesh.
The new Codex: Eldar (November 2006) features Eldrad as a historical special character. His background material, however, ends with a flicker of hope. It states that after Eldrad's soul was lost all but a handful of the waystones, into which he had divided his consciousness before handing to his commanders, became lifeless and dull. So long as one stone retains its spark, Eldrad's soul endures[5].
Prince Yriel
Prince Yriel, Autarch of Iyanden, was a brilliant if reckless commander in Iyanden's fleet. He is not of pure Iyanden blood but is honored as one of the greatest defenders of Iyanden. He was originally exiled when he led a successful and pre-emptive attack on a Chaos fleet that left the Craftworld open to attack. He and his crew formed a corsair fleet, the Eldritch Raiders, and had become infamous throughout the galaxy in only a few decades, a testament to Yriel's skill[5].
He and his fleet saved Iyanden at its time of greatest need, at the height of the Tyranid invasion by the Hive Fleet Kraken. As the Craftworld was about to fall, Yriel and his Eldritch Raiders blew a sizeable hole in the Tyranid's fleet and reinforced Iyanden's forces. Yriel himself slew the leader of the hordes, a supposedly invincible creature, with the Spear of Twilight, a cursed artifact that contains the power of a Supernova. Yriel was then instated as an Autarch of Iyanden, and is currently searching for a way to rid himself of the Spear, which is slowly killing him.
Yriel first appeared in early first edition as the "self-styled 'Lord Prince Yriel,'" where it is mentioned that Imperium fostered rivalries between Yriel and other pirate companies resulted in factional fighting; his conquest and absorption of two of these rival groups (Xian's Black Raiders and the Scarlet Command) making him the single most powerful Eldar pirate operating in the galaxy.
The Spear of Twilight
The Spear of Twilight was a legendary artifact of kept in the Shrine of Ulthanash in the Craftworld Iyaden. The weapon was "so powerful it would burn the bearer's soul"[5]. The spear, unlike other weapons, could not be removed by the owner and thus Yriel, when he used the powerful spear to kill the leader of the Hive Fleet Kraken, was bound by its curse.
The spear's curse operates by draining Yriel's energy, which is represented by him taking a wound at the end of each battle he fights in. The spear is a singing spear, the psychic weapons used by Eldar Warlocks, and each wound is able to ignore the armour saves of its enemies[5].
Avatars of Kaela Mensha Khaine
Legend has it that Slaanesh and The Bloody-handed God fought a titanic battle in the warp. Despite Khaine's divine might and mastery of war, Slaanesh, glutted on the power of the gods, eventually proved the stronger[1][5].
Exhausted from the battle, Slaanesh was unable to destroy Khaine completely. Instead, Khaine was rent into many pieces and driven from the warp forever. Each fragment eventually came to rest inside the wraithbone core of each craftworld, where they took root and grew into an Avatar, which under a sacrifice can be summoned to serve it's craftworld in war. The Avatar carries "the wailing doom," a mighty sword that is said to be one of the 99 swords of Vaul that ignores the armour and invulnerable saves of the foes of the eldar.
Other Eldar
- Elarique Swiftblade: Autarch of Alaitoc (character recently created for the Medusa V campaign)
- Farseer Taldeer of Ulthwé.: an Eldar Farseer who commanded the Eldar forces on Lorn V and Kronus, leading them in the war known as the Dark Crusade.
- Farseer Caerys of Ulthwé.: an Eldar Farseer who commands the Eldar forces in the Kauvara system.
- Farseer Macha of Biel-Tan: Farseer in the PC game Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War. She is featured in the Dawn of War novel series fighting with and alongside Blood Raven Captain Gabriel Angelos mainly as a protagonist.
- Iyanna Arienal: Spiritseer of Iyanden, she carries the Spear of Teuthlas into battle and wears the Armour of Vaul[1].
- Nuadhu "Fireheart": Wild Rider of Saim Hann, Nuadhu is a legendary Vyper rider that rides standing up to aid in his attacks[1].
References
- ^ a b c d e Thorpe, Gav (2000). Warhammer 40,000 Codex: Craftworld Eldar. Nottingham: Games Workshop. ISBN 1-84154-029-3.
- ^ McNeill, Graham (2007). Fulgrim. Nottingham: Black Libraryp. ISBN 1-84416-476-4.
- ^ Chambers, Andy (2003). Warhammer 40,000 Codex: Eye of Terror. Nottingham: Games Workshop. ISBN 1-84154-398-5.
{{cite book}}: Unknown parameter|coauthors=ignored (|author=suggested) (help) - ^ See [1] for details.
- ^ a b c d e Kelly, Phil (2006). Warhammer 40,000 Codex: Eldar (4th Edition ed.). Nottingham: Games Workshop. ISBN 1-84154-791-3.
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† Cassern S Goto,. Eldar Prophecy (Warhammer 40,000 Novels (Paperback)). Nottingham: Games Workshop. ISBN 1-84416-451-9.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link)