The Sons Of Malice, The Fifth Chaos God. | Warhammer 40k Lore

if you're even the tiniest bit familiar with Warhammer 40K then you can definitely name all of the chaos Gods right we got corn Lord of skulls and blood grandfather nurgle Lord of pestilence and disease zinch the architect to fade and changer of ways and slanesh the Dark Prince and Lord of excess but what if I was to tell you that there was actually a super secret fifth chaos God one that absolutely hates its siblings and wants to burn the pantheon to the ground a lord of Anarchy and destruction whose followers fight against not just the Imperium of man but actively go out of their way to hunt down the followers of the other gods I speak of course of malice the Renegade God one of the most cryptic and mysterious Divine entities and the entirety of the Warhammer 40K Mythos now despite having only been mentioned a handful of times and a couple of different obscure sources this dude is by far one of the most popular characters in the entire fandom not a day goes by that I don't get at least a dozen people either asking me to cover him in my comment section or posting are crazy out there theories about his true nature No Malice is not one of the Lost primarks quit asking but who is malice and what is he all about who are his Twisted cannibalistic followers that are able to summon him into our universe and the biggest mystery of all is is malice actually Canon or was he squatted out of the story well today we're going to be getting to the bottom of that in a whole lot more as there's a lot of misinformation about malice out there but first a quick shout out to this video sponsor and then we're going to dive head first into the grimdark if I'm being totally honest with you before I started doing YouTube full-time I didn't really take skin care very seriously but here's the thing about making lore videos it's full of long nights pouring over countless PDFs and scouring over a hundred different old rule books it left me constantly looking tired with bags under the eyes 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they're hooking my viewers up with an absolutely insane offer use my code hammer70 or scan the QR code on the screen and they'll give you an exclusive 70 off their award-winning skin care trial set on top of that they're giving you an exclusive bonus offer of up to 50 off an additional skin hair or body product of your choice when you add it to your trial set this is one of the best offers you're going to see so get it before it's gone that's geology.com g-e-o-l-o-g-i-e.com big thanks to geology for partnering with me to sponsor this video as many of us are well aware the four ruinous powers are not the only malevolent sentience that exists in the realm of chaos there are dozens perhaps even hundreds of lesser chaos entities that are ludicrously powerful in their own right but nowhere near on the level of an actual chaos God however if the rumors are to be believed buried deep in the shadowy places between the plains dominated by the primordial four exists another feared by all the rest an entity whose name is only whispered in secret by even the most devoted followers of the ruinous Powers a creature of unimaginable strength who seeks not Victory through domination but outright Oblivion through eradication a renegade a lost Shadow a parasite whose power and hatred grows exponentially with every ill-gotten Victory by his hated siblings I speak of course of the fifth chaos God known simply as malice but what exactly is malice and what are him and his followers all about now if you've been part of the community for longer than in a week then I'm sure you've seen his symbol of a black and white skull posted somewhere on the internet malice is the Renegade God he is known as the outcast the lost the high arc of Anarchy and Terror once described by one of his early concept artists as like corn but way more evil he's often depicted as a chaos God of Anarchy whose followers Adorn their armor in black and white and hold the number 11 as sacred malice is a gluttonous God that demands ritualistic sacrifice be made in his name every 100 years in order to forge legendary Warriors known simply as the doomed ones these Immortal Champions forged in his name will lead his sons to certain Victory unlike the other chaos Gods who are locked within the realm of chaos and can only interact with the material realm through their fanatical followers the followers of malice have demonstrated the unthinkable ability to literally summon him directly into the material Universe the summoning of even greater demons is said to be something that can only be done by particularly large and Powerful Cults entire planets that have completely dedicated themselves to their worship and willingly offered their souls as payment for even the briefest of manifestations as far as we're aware the summoning of any of the other chaos Gods is a complete impossibility and unfortunately that's about it that's pretty much all we actually know about malice the concrete sources we have access to are incredibly limited malice himself was only ever mentioned in one canonical Source in Warhammer 40K and although we know a bit more about his sons of malice there still really isn't a lot to go off of but if we're willing to broaden our interpretation of what is and isn't Canon and get a little bit flexible with the lore we actually have some sources that give us a lot more insight into the nature of this shadowy deity and to get a better understanding of this we need to know about another character known as malal this is the entity that malice is believed to be the spiritual successor to it's important to remember that the origins of the 40K universe as we know it have their roots in Warhammer fantasy Warhammer fantasy battles was the original creation by Games Workshop that would later give rise to its sister franchise known as Warhammer 40K the basic pitch during these early days was what would happen if we took all of these factions and characters from fantasy and placed them in the Grim dark future instead if you're familiar with both franchises this is why the chaos gods exist in both pretty much unchanged and just about every other faction within 40K has a fantasy counterpart you have things like the craft world Eldar which represent the High Elves the Drew Cari which are supposed to be the dark elves Sigmar in the god Emperor both being remarkably similar beastmen existing in both universes dwarves in the leagues of voting the list just goes on and on some elements like the chaos gods were imported into the new setting pretty much unchanged whereas others had their histories and Aesthetics overhauled in order to fit the new setting however over time Warhammer 40K would come to take on its own identity and with each passing year it would separate itself further from its Warhammer fantasy Roots but even to this day those links to the Past are still on full display if you know where to look for them malal was another chaos God that existed in the early days of Warhammer fantasy here is a bit of the background fluff that was written about the character and his most esteemed Champion Caleb dark there is a name whispered quietly and with fear even by the most depraved the most evil the least saying of the worshipers of chaos that name is malal the Renegade God of chaos any man who dare look within the Unholy black pages of the Great Book of Despair that foul Tome held Sacred by worshipers of chaos would find the following words and he that went before now came last and that which was white and black in all directions was thrown against itself grown mightily indignant at the words of the gods malal did turn his heart against them and flee into the chambers of space and no man looked to malal then save those that serve which they hate who smile upon error Misfortune and who bear no love save for the Damned at such times as a Warrior's Heart turns to malal all gods of chaos grow fearful and the laughter of the outcast God Phil kills the tomb of space in eon's past malal was cast out from the bosom of chaos by the other gods or else abandoned them of his own volition no one is sure which in any case malal's relationship to the other gods of chaos is a strange one all gods of chaos pursue purposes that are wholly their own yet only malal occupies a position so resolutely parasitic upon his own unfathomable Creed to be a follower of mawal is to be a chaotic Warrior bent upon shedding the blood of other chaotic creatures as such malal is both feared and hated by the other gods malala's worshipers too are loathed by other chaotics they are Outcast beloved by neither the friends nor enemies of chaos dependent upon the least whim of their Patron deity few men worship such a god fewer still live long in his service the bonds that Thai master and servant ever drain upon the soul of the warrior and it is a rare man that can loosen those bonds once forged Caleb dark is the greatest among such Warriors the doomed ones is what they are called among men whereas The Souls of lesser servants shrivel long before they can gain real power those whose service remains true May gain immeasurable benefit Caleb dark enjoys the favor of his insane God for his resolve is incredibly strong perhaps deriving Vigor from some dark aspect of his personality some event hidden deep within his past or subconscious none would dare inquire of the man himself of his Origins and his initiation into the cult of malal no one can do more than guess of his might of arms undoubted courage and potent Unholy Weaponry however all know at least the most horrific details Caleb dark story would be told in a four-part comic series the fourth installment of which titled God amok was never actually released it premiered in the Citadel compendium in December of 1985. the story would follow and document the Journey of the titular chaos Warrior under the directions of his Patron deity he journeyed to Prague which had come under attack by the forces of corn Caleb comes to their aid and Slaughters the worshipers of the blood God the grand wizard while pergus believes that he is the chosen one spoken of in Prophecy and dictates that it will be him to release the goddess arianca the story is absolutely dripping with quintessentials 80s Dark Fantasy and it's easy enough to find online if you want to read it for yourself so let's recap real quick both malal and Malice are Renegade chaos gods of Anarchy whose followers owe no allegiance to either side both of their exalted Warriors are known as the doomed ones and both entities share the exact same symbol of a black and white skull there is no doubt in my mind that malice is the spiritual successor to malal but what happened to malal originally why was he not included in Warhammer 40K if so many of fantasy's factions characters and deities would survive the transition to the grimdart Future the long and short answer is legal trouble you see copyright concerns had Arisen at this point on who exactly owned the rights to these characters was it Games Workshop or was it the original author of the comic the important thing to Bear In Mind Is that around the time that the character of malal was first in her produced to the community it chaos itself hadn't been fully fleshed out yet even all the way back then in Warhammer fantasy the concept was still malleable the image on screen is a page from the first edition of Warhammer fantasy role play wherein there's a couple of brief mentions on different deities that can be found in the old world nurgle corn and malal are listed as three possible chaos gods and the reader is told to stay tuned for a future supplement known as the Realms of chaos that would further elaborate on them by the time this supplement would finally release the legal trouble surrounding the character would have begun and concluded thus when the Realms of chaos finally hit the shells two years later in 1988 malal was not included Rick Priestly who was one of the three inventors of the original Warhammer fantasy battle and played a major role in the production of its counterpart that we know as 40K said this when asked about the legal troubles surrounding the law in an interview conducted by the website realm of chaos 80s malal was invented for a comic strip without any reference to the actual chaos Gods I think the comic strip author just wanted to set something up that wouldn't muddy our background and which he could manipulate as he wanted whoever arranged the deal didn't think to make it clear that the work would be a genre piece and hence Games Workshop property and when it came down to it the author claimed ownership of the IP and GW had to abandon it Clash of cultures really in the games industry us poor games writers are used to this kind of thing and not so in the world of comics so back in Warhammer fantasy MO law was only considered Canon for a couple of years and although he may have never made it to the universe of Warhammer 40K malice and his sons did the Sons of malice are potentially one of the most mysterious and alluring chapters in the entirety of the setting due to their lack of concrete information and real-world courtroom drama that surrounds them but for many that drama only deepened the mystery and attraction they have inspired magnitudes more fan theories and speculation from the community than any other faction so let's talk more about the sons of malice the early history of the sons of malice is one that is clouded in mystery but it is stated that they were one of the 20 Space Marine chapters known as the astartes Priestess who were made with a specific goal of guarding the eye of Terror by this point in time Abaddon the despoiler had launched many of his black Crusades that inflicted unquantifiable amounts of damage to the Imperium so it makes total sense that they would want a buttload of Space Marines to guard the entry point into the physical Universe their original chapter name has been lost to time so for the duration of this history segment I'm just going to refer to them as the sons of malice they would end up serving for over a millennia in the service of the emperor defending Mankind from all manner of heretical and xenos threats within the rebellious psylic system there were several worlds that were home to Hype cities that existed deep beneath the ocean traitorous Heretics had infested these hives and threatened to depressurize them condemning the entirety of their population to a watery grave it was the sons of malice captain of the first company cathol and the Warriors under his command that were in instrumental in the scouring of the traitorous forces from these worlds this all happened during the Silex 225th campaign after these events the first company would honor their accomplishments through a prolonged period of Celebration led by their Captain but unfortunately for the sons said celebrations were observed by Inquisitor pyatos a senior member of Ordo hereticus what The Inquisitor witness left her absolutely revolted saying the practices bordered on what could be considered cannibalistic something that admittedly is not a hundred percent out of the realm of reality for many loyalist chapters the blood angels potentially being the most famous of which this particular Inquisitor had either never witnessed such practices within other chapters or the particular manner in which they went about it was incredibly disturbing to her the details on this are not very clear and the only sources elaborating on them exist as small chunks of flavor texts and older codexes the small Insight she had gained into the rituals of the sons of malice was enough for her to declare their censure she called upon The adepta sorora Celestine to mobilize a strike force that would be deployed from orbit in a series of droppod assaults this would land them smack dab in the middle of the first company celebrations if what The Inquisitor had seen at the beginning of the festivities was enough for her to Rally a strike force to move against them under the reasonable Assumption of deviancy then what she witnessed now Disturbed her enough to immediately condemn the first company to death the company was described as a frothing horde of fevered Maniacs that had whipped themselves up into a state of animalistic barbarity they witnessed proud astartes Warriors completely drenched and Gore blood and froth running freely from their mouth as they Gorge themselves upon the Flesh of the defeated men and women of the previous battle in an orgy of cannibalistic sacrifice realizing exactly what the sister's presence meant cathol gave the order for the company to defend themselves it is said they fell upon The Inquisitor strike force with a savagery she was wholly unprepared for the Sisters fought bravely but the animalistic Fury of cathol and his men was too much for them and they were quickly overwhelmed the sisters were slaughtered and The Inquisitor was taken captive she would be dragged up onto one of their altars and ritualistically sacrificed this treasonous act earning them their excommunication now the previous account came from the book index astarty's 4 which was published in 2004 however in the novel Cadia stands released in 2018 were given another passage that gives us a little bit more insight into what exactly happened but the accounts differ in a few interesting ways first and foremost Inquisitor pietus is called Solomon pietist and their gender has been changed from female to male not a particularly relevant detail but it's worth highlighting additionally the account says that the sisters of battle celestins that were recruited by The Inquisitor were from the order of our martyred lady they would be supported further by five regiments of Imperial Guard the biggest difference between these two accounts and potentially the most important is that after this event the chapter was not immediately declared excommunitatus Warden what had happened would reach the High Lords of Terra even though the exact reasons the attack had occurred in the first place did not regardless of the reasoning the sons of malice had killed an Inquisitor and multiple loyal Sons and Daughters of the Imperium the high Lords would send an Envoy to the sons of malice who offered them a chance to repair their sins by going on a 50-year penitent Crusade their chapter Master at the time refused their offer as from his perspective neither he nor his brothers had committed any sins and though loyal subjects of the Imperium the Imperium was trying to turn their back on them he told the envoy that they would accept no censure and do no Penance this was not a declaration of war however as the chapter master was described as an incredibly honorable man and allowed the Imperial Envoy to depart unscathed you see the tradition of cannibalizing the enemy was something that was deeply rooted in their culture as it had been practiced on their Homeworld of skeles for thousands of years even before the chapter was formed the sons of malice carried on the tradition even though they didn't speak of it openly with Outsiders the real tragedy is that if Circumstances had been different the Suns most likely would have been forgiven and remained loyal however shortly after the envoy Departed the report from The Inquisitor themselves made it all the way to Terra his words were urgent and frantic speaking of Acts of diabolical Hedonism that reeked of the occult with war so close to the eye of Terror the high Lords were not willing to take a chance and within two months an extermination Fleet arrived in the skelet system the sons of malice would Escape their judgment upon a battle barge known as The Labyrinth but their Homeworld was left undefended making it easy prey for the forces of Cadia that scoured the planet of human life in a brutal campaign of fire and murder on the run and with nowhere to go the sons of malice fled into the eye of Terror they had no kinship with the other traitors that were being hunted by the Imperium thus they fought off both of them for centuries until at last Abaddon the despoiler managed to bring them about to his cause they had been driven directly into the arms of the enemy they were created to destroy it was sometime after this that they would abandon their old chapter name and instead be reborn in the image of something far more Sinister a patron deity whose name is only quietly whispered with fear even by the most depraved evil and insane worshipers of chaos the Lord of Anarchy destruction and Terror malice the Renegade God with their Homeworld destroyed they would begin a tradition of meeting once again every 100 years on the Labyrinth the battle barge that had Shepherd them to safety this was a ritual the sons of malice took very seriously and it is said that no matter what they were doing or what blood needed to be shed they would drop everything to Journey back here we are given a bit more insight into this ritual through the short story titled the Labyrinth by Richard Ford which was published in the heroes of the Space Marines Anthology series released in 2009 and considering that this short story is the best source of lore that we have on the sons of malice it's surprise we're going to be doing a quick Grim dark Story Hour the story follows the sons of Mala Space Marine known as Invictus who seeks to prove himself this night and have all of his brothers witness his greatness firsthand the story opens with all of the sons of malice coming together aboard the Labyrinth a gargantuan Beast of a ship that was covered with dents and surface Burns Invictus thinks to himself that it is a wonder the ship survived at all as it was floating Loosely in space and was completely undefended from the prowling Imperial forces in order to properly conduct their blood rights each and every ship that has arrived has come bearing hundreds of slaves that they have taken from across the cosmos it was said that amongst their ranks were members of every known sentient Xeno species the slaves and the Suns themselves are loaded into thunderhawks that cross the void into the Labyrinth stalking Bays where they then corralled their Quarry into its great Halls their ritual comes in two parts first the feasting in glory to malice where the Suns remove their armor and descend upon the gathered slaves gorging themselves on blood and gore and then heaping the discarded remains onto the pyres the second part of their ritual is conducted by their chapter Master Lord kathal who if you remember from earlier in the video was the captain of the first company when they were originally declared traitors there are a lot of blank spots in their history but I guess by this point he's actually taken over complete control of the sons of malice he tells his brothers that the offering of a thousand souls to malice this night certainly pleased their Patron though as they all knew in the coming said they were going to need Warriors particularly blessed by their Unholy Master he speaks of course of the doomed ones now each century when the sons of malice returned to this ancient carcass of a vessel a select few would volunteer to face the challenges of the labyrinth none were ever seen again but it was said that those cunning enough to overcome said trials would be elevated to the ranks of the doomed ones malice's sect of holy Warriors in which each and every member was granted Gifts of his Untold power and were sent off to walk the dark Paths of the Galaxy it was a position that Invictus had coveted for a long time and he planned to finally obtain it this night the chapter Master asked his brothers who amongst them was willing to face the trial and including Invictus 20 Warriors in total stepped forward cathol beckoned them away and led them deeper into the dark heart of the ship where they encountered the entrance to the Labyrinth which by all accounts was just a simple unassuming door he tells them that all that would enter here do so unarmed and unarmored there was no rank within the Labyrinth and all were seen seen as equal they must use whatever resources they are able to scavenge and must have faith in one another in order to survive their ultimate goal to reach a portal on the far end of the ship any that could locate it and step within its Hollow confines would receive the benediction of malice those who could not would find nothing less than Oblivion their chapter Master says to all those I will never see again die well my brothers and with that he turns the Great Wheel that secures the door shut revealing a chamber of suffocating Darkness once they are all inside the hatchway is sealed shut behind them the members of the warband have to take some time for their eyes to adjust to the darkness but after that occurs they make their way Scavenging whatever they can find to use as a weapon a few lucky Warriors managed to pry loose ancient bolters or flamers from the skeletal grip of long Dead astarties who had failed to locate the portal whereas others break away bent pieces of rebar from the floor and columns they decide to split into smaller groups as if this place is as dangerous as they have been led to believe then they are at a better advantage of at least one group making it to the poor portal if they're not all clumped together invictus's group ends up encountering some type of monster with pockmark skin and Jagged teeth that lunged at them from out of the darkness it tears one of their members apart before eventually being put down upon Examining The Corpse of the creature they realize it is unlike any Xeno species they had ever seen and most bizarre of all it beared a very familiar branding the black and white skull of malice the fact that an unknown Xeno specie was dwelling in these dark depths at all was cause enough for alarm but the fact that it bore their holy symbol was even more perplexing over time the Labyrinth begins to take its toll on the group hidden lazwire beheads brother Kato whereas brother valius was crushed by a blast door that at first seemed inoperable when he went to Pride open and brother mordigan ended up getting doused in corrosive waste with each and every death Invictus can feel the icy Hand of Death creeping ever closer to him but he continues to push on if anyone was going to survive this trial and become one of the exalted doomed ones it was going to be him eventually they found themselves at the entrance to a large chamber its floors peppered with huge holes despite the pitfalls there didn't really seem to be any traps Invictus is incredibly nervous however but he doesn't realize why until he suddenly notices that the stench in this room was identical to the one that was coming off of the beast from before it's in that moment of realization that one of the creatures lunges from the Shadows at him the attack is met with volleys of automatic fire from his battle brothers as more of the creatures begin to funnel into the room in the ensuing Carnage one of the creatures manages to get the upper hand on Invictus tackling him and knocking them both over the edge of the pit Invictus strikes the ground hard knocking him unconscious whereas the creature ends up impaled on some bent and twisted shards of metal at the bottom some amount of time goes by and eventually he comes too he readies himself to move through the darkness and find a way back to his brothers when all of a sudden a hand reached out of the shadows and clasped his arm it was another son of malice but one he had never met before unfortunately for this Warrior he is clearly undergoing the telltale signs of mutation his arms are covered in Weeping pustules and there's fledgling Talons poking out from just under the skin he asked what happened to him the warrior tells him that the prolonged exposure to the Labyrinth starts to change them he had volunteered for the trial a century earlier and warns him that their chapter master was not telling them everything they needed to know that him and five of his brothers had made it all the way to the portal but after one of them passed through it ceased to operate for the rest they had been trapped down here for a century and he was the last surviving member of his unit but as Invictus could see due to the Warp Touch nature of the labyrinth survival meant nothing it wouldn't be long until he joined the ranks of those monstrosities that prowled in the dark confines of the ship Invictus asked the astartes which way was out and he points in the opposite direction telling him that he wouldn't make it as that path took him right through the hive of other mutants before he is able to leave the man asks him if there's a favor that he could do for him without any more words between in the two Invictus raised his bolt pistol and fired a single shot before turning and walking off into the darkness he worked his way through the tight confines of the ship the scent of the creatures and the sounds of distant Boulder fire growing stronger the deeper he goes eventually he comes to an opening where he finds another group of his brothers fighting off against the mutants one of the Marines is firing bouts of billowing Flames Into The Horde with an ancient flamer he must have scavenged and to invictus's surprise he recognized him it was generous his oldest friend who he had known since the day they were both recruited on their Homeworld of skeles he joins in the fight and helps them push the creatures back but the noise of the battle was attracting more of them the group moves into an old airlock and seals himself inside the beasts slamming themselves against the wall desperate to get at the astartes despite the creature's constant banging the barricade seems to be holding up so they take a minute to catch their breath this is where Invictus tells the new group of what he had learned that the portal would only work for one of them and the rest would be doomed to join join the ranks of these hellish monsters there's an immediate sense of unease as the Marines look back and forth at one another but generis tells them that they should deal with this later because whether or not that was even true if they stayed here the creatures would eventually get through and the ancient weapons they were using to defend themselves had a very limited supply of ammunition here's the thing though their suspicion of one another would end up being well founded for as they continue to make their way Invictus would end up betraying his brothers one by one in ways that made it look like an accident he knew what had to be done he knew what malice was demanding of them and he knew he was the only one worthy enough to step through that portal the group continued to make their way through the ship fighting off the mutants and avoiding traps a few of them were claimed by the Beast that lurk in the shadows and Invictus picks off a few more members on his own eventually the group faces off against an enormous mutant the creature killing more of their members until it was only Invictus and Daenerys Left Alive Invictus tells his brother that he only had one shot left in his pistol and he needed to make it count generous agrees throwing the flamer into the beast's mouth Invictus fires the shot and detonates its head they continue to make their way until eventually they finally find it they come across a giant glowing portal generous turns to his brother and tells them that it was fitting considering their long history that they had had together that they would be the final two left that the two of them would have to turn on one another as only one could go through the portal that they would duel with honor with their bare fists and their resolve that does despite their terrible circumstances janarius was looking forward to their fight as theirs was a kinship forged in a thousand battles and the Victor would be the one worthy enough to enter the portal Invictus tells him that that would be the case but he had lied that wasn't really his last bullet now alone Invictus Strode towards the pulsing portal and stepped over its threshold he found himself standing in the center of a wide circular platform with ancient runes carved into its base his mind was flooded with images of demonic faces but whenever he tried to focus on them they would disappear he looked around and surrounding the platform was a containment Shield which struck him as odd as he didn't understand why this place would need such a safeguard past the containment Shield he could see the Legion of his brothers glad in their battle regalia holding the standards of their chapter he realized that the portal must have led back into one of the great Halls his brothers had come to witness his victory and thus his elevation to the ranks of the doomed ones he could see the chapter master in his Librarians entering into view and walking in the direction of the platform dragging behind them 10 large caskets the purpose of them was unknown but it filled Invictus with Dread slowly each and every one was opened to reveal a blank-faced paralyzed Warrior each one bearing the symbols of the sons of malice he realized that each of them had been a champion of the trials in a previous century and that he was going to be the 11th the chapter Master announces to the Warriors that for a thousand years they had searched for Champions worthy of their dark God and now all 11 would finally be assembled none would stand in the way of their holy crusade to take back their Homeworld of skelets not the ruinous powers nor the worshipers of the corpse emperor not with him by their side he tells Invictus that he was truly worthy to call himself a son of malice and asks if he can hear him calling he had come to the Labyrinth he had come to walk amongst them there was a flash of Eldritch light around the platform an Invictus feels himself Frozen in place unable to speak he senses a massive malevolent presence in the room he sees the outline of some enormous thing up in the rafters that stared down with baleful eyes Something Wicked in the dark the Librarians begin to channel their power funneling it into the caskets and the platform that Invictus was standing on Eldritch Flames engulf his body and each of the paralyzed Warriors Invictus screamed and Terror and pain as the flesh began to burn from his bones but no amount of screaming could stop what was coming as his body was consumed he realized that not even the kind release of Oblivion would save him now the sons of malice watched as 11 of their greatest Champions were consumed by the Light their limbs emulated their torsos eviscerating their heads contorting and twisting writhing within a pool of black light in a single terrifying instant they were gone and what stood in their place was no longer their brothers they had gone to join the ranks of the legendary doomed ones what stood before them now was the Revenant that they had worshiped for Millennia the eidolon that would stand at their Vanguard as they retook what was rightfully theirs he could only be summoned by sacrifice only by giving on to him their best and most praise these were the Warriors and there he stood the Renegade God the outcast the Lost high arc of Anarchy and Terror malice and that was the story of the Labyrinth the most complete Source on the sons of malice that we actually have some time later however after the events of the story the sons of malice would find themselves joining in the 13th Black Crusade their role is detailed in chapters two through six of the novel cadius stands they are presented the opportunity to Ambush the ships fleeing from Cadia and they take an absolute perverse Delight in their Slaughter as they routed them to the Battle of Fate's Anchorage these Canadians had no idea the sins their ancestors had committed against them how they had scoured their world killed their way of life and drove them into the eye of Terror but the sons of malice were more than happy to teach them all about it through a campaign of Terror and Slaughter an interesting albeit disappointing note about this particular story is that at no point is the actual deity of malice mentioned or even referenced this doesn't necessarily indicate a change in Canon but his absence was definitely a bit disappointing one thing that does seem to be pretty consistent in this depiction when compared to the older lore is the taking of slaves as their assault on face Anchorage included the deployment of thousands of slaves they had kidnapped from the world of agropina's high forges they injected them with stimulants that turned them into frothing lunatics and set them loose on the Loyalists before deploying in a drop pot assault they were ultimately Victorious and killed every last one of the acadians in the final moment of the story The One surviving general of the acadian's forces limps out onto the battlefield mortally wounded clutching a Laz pistol with only a few shots left the agitor of the sons of malice tells him he will give him one last chance to repent to forsake his Oaths to the false Emperor and join their cause if he did this he would let him live the old General smirked raised his pistol and shouted Katie a stance before he was put down this is unfortunately as far as their story has been written in the car current Canon of Warhammer 40K however I will point out that out of all places the sons of malice would appear again in the video game battlefleet Gothic Armada 2 as an enemy faction wherein the cutscene associated with them not only briefly summarizes their story but indicates the world of skeles was not as empty and Barren as the Imperium had been led to believe there had ultimately been some survivors there and over time it reverted into a feral and barbarous world the sons of malice still laid claim to the planet and had been using its current inhabitants as inductees to further fill their ranks whether or not the events in the 40K video games are or are not canon is something that the community has debated forever I personally tend to lean into the camp that says that they aren't mostly because any game that has multiple factions will also have multiple endings and they can't all be Canon although in this particular instance it does line up with what we are told in The Labyrinth that their ultimate goal was to crusade to retake jealous and that they had been gearing up for it for a pretty long time so this being Canon is not completely out of the realm of possibility but we'll have to wait until the next time they get a story written about them to confirm or deny this the sons of malice are a beloved faction that have inspired more debate and Theory crafting than just about any other faction in the entirety of Warhammer not a day goes by that there aren't dozens of posts made about them on Warhammer forums and Comet sections across the internet but the sad reality is that there just isn't a lot of information to go off of there's not a lot of concrete Cannon about them that we can point to they've never received a dedicated novel and we've only ever been given the briefest glimpses into their histories and motivations we as the audience have two options the first is that we consider only the labyrinth in the couple of brief mentions that the sons of malice have had in official codexes and the novel cadius stands as the only actual Canon which if we do that then the sons of malice are definitely still an interesting faction but we don't know anything about malice himself the only thing that we can actually confirm about him is that he's some type of deity that the sons of malice worship we don't know if he's actually a chaos God some kind of greater demon we don't even know what his motivations are the idea that he hates the other gods which most people would consider fundamental to the character of malice it technically wouldn't actually be Canon which leaves us with an interesting mystery but not a very interesting character the second option is that we incorporate everything we know about malal into our understanding of malice which considering that the vast majority of lore centered around the other ruinous Powers is nearly identical between Warhammer fantasy and Warhammer 40K is not an unfair way of looking at it we just have to do so by attaching a big asterisk to what we think we know that technically speaking none of that has been confirmed in 40K itself it's up to you how you want to view the character and what you want to treat as Canon it's my personal belief that he exists as something of a a meta Easter egg a reference to a convoluted point in games workshop's history that has spiraled into an absolute phenomenon within the community we'll just have to wait and see if Games Workshop ever wants to do anything more with this character and flesh them out further but as it stands the vast majority of information that exists on the internet about malice stems from Decades of fan theories and speculation but what do you guys think is there anything that I failed to cover in this video that you think is really important to know about malice what do you think malice actually is is he a demon one of the lost primarks or a full-fledged chaos God that is destined to destroy the other four let me know all of your crazy theories down in the comments section no matter how out there they are and while you're at it let me know what other topics from Warhammer 40K you'd love to hear me talk about a lot of the times you guys suggest things I've personally never heard of and then when I go to read about them I end up finding something truly amazing that I fall in love with and wouldn't have known about it if it hadn't been for your recommendations so keep the suggestions coming big thanks to everyone who supports the work that I do and I'll catch y'all on the next one

Channel: WesHammer

Views: 435,716

Keywords: warhammer, warhammer 40k, 40k lore, Malice 40k, the 5th chaos god, fifth chaos god, malal, chaos gods lore, slaanesh, nurgle, khorne, tzeentch, Sons of malice, malice lore 40k, chaos space marines, chaos space marines lore, 13th black crusade, horus heresy, astartes, space marines, space marine lore, imperium of man, primarchs, emperor of mankind, warhammer chaos, 40k chaos, chaos lore, battle fleet gothic, chaos daemons lore

Id: Gbbp52l12nE

Length: 38min 29sec (2309 seconds)

Published: Sat Apr 15 2023