Well, to surmise. "You're not going to shoot a puppy. Are you Erebus?" "Yeah, in the face, why?" These guys are just so evil it's funny.

Lol the jehovah witnesses of the grim dark

Studies show that 34.7% of the reason why this setting is Grimdark is because Erebus is still alive.

Chaplain erebus: kills argal tol and starts flexing on the world eaters by dueling them. First captain kharn: i would like to speak to you about your health insurance my guy.

"Get up." The whole fanbase cheered for that scene. The best part is how calm and deliberate Kharn was. No snarling, no spuring from the nails. Just the fastest, scariest 3-hit combos ever. The man never even raised his voice. It felt like the last properly human thing he did.

"There's only one fun character in Word Bearers" There is a significant lack of Eliphas in this video.

What makes Loghar so interesting and one of my favorite primarchs is ironically what people mock him for. He's weak, prideful and cowardly, he's philosopher forced to be a conquer. Also you know whats cooler then a super solider in a power armor? a deamon in power armor and word bearers love that shit.

They should've made Erebus act like a skaven. Would've made him a thousands times better

I have but one thing to say about the word bearers..."Get up." Kharn's beat down is the stuff of legend.

I actually found Lorgar to be a very tragic and sympathetic character in his origin book we get to see the way Kor Phaeron twists him into a pawn of evil, breaking him down and building him back up into a tool for his personal gain. we see glimpses of the person he could have been if raised by someone who was honorable and caring, and how his abusive upbringing leads to him becoming so dependant on the belief in a higher power and his morality irrevocably tainted by a life defined by slavery, humiliation and torture. even when he rebels against his enslavement to become the master of his own fate, he remains enslaved to the dependency on faith instilled in him by Phaeron, having learned from his tyrannical, evangelical example how to lead and inspire it's no surprise that the very next thing he does is embark on a worldwide jihad, and given his success in that endeavor it's no wonder that that is how he continues to wage war in the Emperor's name once he's given command of his legion. and, just like he did when punished too severely by Phaeron, when he's shamed at Monarchia he privately resolves to seek a deeper religious enlightenment and walk the path of rebellion as a means to rise above the admonishment I think the real tragic irony of Lorgar can be seen in his moments of clarity and vision. when he so humbly out-orates Kor Phaeron even as a child, his apotheotic sense of enlightened ascendancy when he fully unlocks his psychic potential, the way that he talks about the ruinstorm as a symphony with himself as conductor. there is a definite sense there that he always had the capacity for greatness that was just not fostered in a healthy way in many ways it makes perfect sense that his nemesis would be Guilliman, who had such wise and loving parents, leadership thrust freely upon him rather than his autonomy robbed and ridiculed, raised on principles of courage and honor and not judgement and penance. Lorgar in many ways has more in common with Angron than any other primarch, and yet we rarely blame the Warhounds for taking the nails and becoming the Eaters of Worlds. how then should we be so quick to judge the Imperial Heralds for following the example set by their own father and becoming the Bearers of the Word?

There was that one story about a Word Bearer Dreadnought who being held prisoner by the Imperium, only this Word Bearer is peaceful and calm and preaches about pre-Chaos Traitor Word Bearer beliefs and is generally pretty chill.

I, personally, love the Word Bearers, and Erebus specifically. They're just so evil and malicious that I can't help but look at them and say "You're funny" and that's why I love them. They're goofy zealots, and I wish there was a book about them that read like a Monty Python bit, because I'd read it 100%

The best thing about them is that their teleology not just evil, it inverses evil to become not only good, but a moral imperative. When night lord skins a child alive he is aware of the fact that he is a monster, word bearer think of himself as a saint while foing the exact same thing. This makes them unique and fun for me.

They go out of thier way to be comically evil, as opposed to being tragically evil, or supremely amoral. They are the saltiest of buttholes.

I just like the idea of a Chaos legion that, like, actually likes Chaos. They weren't forced into it, it's not a tool they reluctantly use, they genuinely get fulfillment from Khorne and pals. I also haven't actually read any 40K books so I can enjoy that in the abstract without having to deal with the way they're actually written.

Word Bearers are my favorite chaos group as villains

Let's be honest: lorgar might be a big player in the heresy, and horus might be CALLED the arch-traitor... But Erebus is the real arch-traitor and basically to blame for everything. Except typhon. He's also to blame.

Honestly, I enjoy the word bearers simply because they are so easy to hate. Literally the most "love to hate" faction in 40k.

What I really like is Lorgar himself. If you look deeper behind the meme version, you see a men who tries to appear piosly serving the gods. But in truth it is all about himself. He wants to know himself and his place in the universe. Yes, he found it in the warp and the chaos gods, but the moment they act against his visions, he rejects them. For example he despises the idea of Fulgrim being taken over by a demon, or still decides to fight Corax on Ishtvaan, even if it goes against chaos's wishes. He wants to decide his fate. He wants his vision of humans and demons as equals, transendending themself, to become more. The Gal Vorbak were much more balanced between Human and demon as later Possessed. He projects his image of how the gods should be and only goes along with them as long as they do. Above his chamber on Sicarius he wrote "Deny Fate". That aren't Words of a slave to the Chaos Gods. He tries to see beyond that and the Warp as a whole. The Word Bearers serve Chaos selflessly, as they are more a product of Kor Phaeron and Erebus, who are completly loyal. But Lorgar had more in common with his son Argel Tal, seeing the horror and necessity in it. I am also a fan of the theory that his forced ascension of Angron to demonhood was a testrun. He will try to ascend himself even further than demon prince, maybe a smaller Chaos god, for him to be a twisted mirror image of his father and the real golden god he saw in his vision on Colchis all these years ago.

Word Bearer enjoyer over here! If I had a dollar for every time someone asked me "why do you like the lamest legion?" I'd have around 5 bucks, which is enough to buy another pot of Gal Vorbak Red. I used to despise them as much as you do but in the end they grew on me and I ended up painting my chaos army as WB. Let me share why (and sorry about the wall of text): 1) Aestethics. Dark red, silver trimmed armor? Fancy. Plus, if you enjoy freehanding and conversions they're perfectly suited for it. Add candles, robes, parchment, draw esoteric diagrams, runes and prayers on their armors and you'll get a stunning army. Ignore this point if you don't play the tabletop game though! 2) Lorgar is a loser? Kinda, yeah. But I like him for it. It's mercurial, preachy and phisically weaker than his brothers. But, before joining the Ruinous Powers, he was a man of PEACE. His conquest was slow because he employed diplomacy and took the time to build something better in each world. He was a skilled diplomat ,orator and there was wisdom in his words (even Russ admitted it and quoted from his book!). I enjoy characters that are good at something different than fighting. Plus, he's the most phisically similar to the shape Big E likes to take apparently, with golden skin and eyes. 3) After having accepted the Primordial Truth (aka the 4 Chaos Gods) the man's got a glow up. Managed to defeat a Bloodthirster (yeah I know not that big of a deal for a Primarch but still) and CAUSED THE RUINSTORM THAT CUT ULTRAMAR FROM THE REST OF GALAXY DURING THE HERESY. We're talking about a cosmic psychic achievement. Where Magnus is a powehouse when it comes to sheer psychic powe, Lorgar is an accomplished ritualist and still more than capable of smiting marines with lottle to no effort. On a sidenote, he's probably the only one who recognized the pain and sorrow of Angron. It was one of his rituals that turned him into a Daemon Prince, in a way saving his life. 4) Mistery. At the moment Lorgar is in a self imposed exhile in his Tower, deep in meditation and has been for thousands of years. What's gonna happen when he gets out? What wisdom will he impart upon his flock? 5) Politics. The WB Legion is still whole unlike the others who splitted into warbands and has a centralized power in the Dark Council of Sicarus, a bunch of old , powerful and cartoonishly evil Dark Apostles that rule in stead of Lorgar. And they are petty, scheming assholes who do nothing but plan against eachother and discuss theology. Pretty much the dark(er) version of most churches. I suggest reading the Word Bearer trilogy by Anthony Reynolds where this is expanded a bit further. Also Marduk is a pretty cool character imho. 6) The philosophycal implications of the veneration of the Chaos Gods, Chaos Undivided and the general outlook of the 17th Legion. Alright, so, the warriors of this legion are pretty monastic. They do not indulge in many pleasures and have a strict daily routine of prayer and combat drills. Why so? Because they despise the veneration of one god over the others. As a result of this, they're overall pretty sane (for chaos standards). This is a costant in all 40k. The enemy is not Chaos, is excess. Focus too much on Khorne and you become a psychotic murderer. Focus too much on the Emperor and you get the bloody Imperium. Focus too much on Slaanesh and...well, let's not get there. But if your will and faith stand strong, the whole Primordial Truth of Chaos is open to you. They are disciplined, focused and still bound by at least a shred of brotherhood between one another. As a final consideration I'd like to add that the veneration of the Chaos Gods is the safest way to ensure mankind survival. The Gods need us more than we need them. They have vested interest in our existance, although not our well-being. Lorgar, if i'm not mistaken, considered the beings of the Immaterium sentient beings with which we could share the galaxy and any other plane of existance. And in the previously mentioned trilogy, seen through the eyes of a Dark Apostle, you can find hints suggesting that such a dream is not completely unfeasible. Aight I'm out, time for the daily self flagellation and being scared of every corvid I see.

Lorgar was right in the end though the emperor did become a god and only through faith in him can we be saved from from the xenos and the heretic... Also hes sort of a tragic character because he was designed by the emperor to want to look up to authority and had the misfortune of landing on colchis to be abused by space Osama bin laden

Gotta love the word bearers, they’re the trend setters of 40k. They called big E a god long before everyone else jumped on the bandwagon, they made heresy sexy, are 1 half of the best brother vs brother battles in the whole of the Horus heresy series and the list goes on

Imagine starting a galaxy-defining war, only to get your ass beat by a giant bird for the next 10 millennia.

I like the word bearers because zealots are annoying. Zealots are obnoxious and it’s nice to see that represented. Great video!

I think I the most surprising Lorgar moment for me and in hindsight the most terrifyingly foreboding was his vulnerability in expressing to Magnus the Red all he wants is to help people and spread the light of the Emperor to all humanity. He is so hellbent on trying to do the right thing in his eyes that he waltzes into atrocity. Its that positive aspect of humanity to want to help and do good that in an uncomfortable aesop from Black Library reminds us that evil doesnt always come from bullies or "bad seeds". Conviction can make one very easily manipulated.

As a new 40k fan, it’s wild to see CSM having something badass like that Possessed Dreadnaught. They really took everything from y’all huh?

Due to the Emperor's Children, instead of saying "post heresy" and "pre heresy" I say "pre cocaine" and "post cocaine". I just think it's funny.

The Word Bearers trilogy by Anthony Reynolds is really good. Marduk is a fun character and the political backstabbing that goes on in the warband feels so authentic to what any sort of extremist group are like in real life.

I love that in the book Betrayer the World Eaters were the only ones that cared about winning the battle and fighting while the only word bearer that could be counted on was Argal Tal since EVERY other word bearer was more concerned with doing their own thing and being “holier than thou” even in the middle of a fight

The thing that helps me take them seriously is that they're 100% correct, turning mustache twirling into conviction, a bad wb is written like "I'll sacrifice millions for the gods" a bad night lord is written like "I'll flay a baby cause I got nothing to do" see the difference

Out of all the legions, the Word Bearers are the one legion I got nothing on besides maybe Iron Hands. Like I know their shtick is being the evil assholes who doomed mankind, but beyond being very friendly with Chaos, I got nothing besides Eliphas from DOW was amongst their number.

I actually have some appreciation for Erebus, hes so unlikable so incredibly vile, is not everyday that you have a character that is so universally despised by everyone, even ppl who dont know anything of 40k can just see his smug face and know "oh he bad, he really bad" hes a good character, althou I wont forgive him for what he did to argel tal, cause of him theres a finite amount of argel tal x kharn BL fanfics

I like Erebus

The Word Bearers don't need to be the poster children/Big Bads because they already won, lol. The entire Imperium worships the Emperor based on a book written by Lorgar, despite Big E's best (worst) efforts. Now they have all the time in the universe to philosophize and spread the good word of the dark gods. Everything at this point is gravy for them.

word bearers are chaos's version of the black templars

“All I ever wanted was the truth.” That’s why I love the Word Bearers. They wanted purpose, they wanted knowledge, they wanted to understand the universe. When something from the Immaterium answered them, they listened. It didn’t matter that they had to butcher innocents, offer firstborn sons as a sacrifice, or tear down everything they built. They decided that Chaos had to be the truth, even though it is immoral and uncaring. Because all I ever want is the truth. But truth must be tempered with justice and morality. We can not blindly accept the words that sound pleasing to us. We must question, debate, and challenge the words we hold sacred. Otherwise we merely bear the word.

The real tragedy is that Logar was actually a nice dood with a short temper. During the unification crusades his track record for conquering worlds was the slowest, but he would always leave said worlds in a better place than where they were before. Sadly having 2 abusive dad's, one of which never bothered to sit down and explain why he hated religious worship or warn him of the Chaos Gods, and a conniving snake for a commander really screwed him up. Like Magnus and Angron I can't really blame Logar for what he became, cause man did it feel like life hat it out for him.

"And Lorgar is such a overwhelming failure that it makes me sick." -Lion 'El Johnson

Aaron Dembski-Bowden is one of the few Black Library authors who can make Word Bearers interesting and relatable. The Word Bearers are interesting from the perspective of being the most human and paradoxically probably the most debased of all the Legions, only the Emperor's Children fell further.

I'm not a huge fan of the word bearers as a whole but I do think lorgar does have some pretty cool moments and plot lines. Like his relationship with angron was oddly wholesome for a while and when he gets fed up with erabus (fuck Erebus) and sends Kahn to go fuck him up . These don't redeem his character as a whole ( still a ton of wasted potential there in my opinion) but they are fun moments non the less

Worthy of mentioning, the burning of fair Monarchia was not the first attempt to shut it down, it was simply the final. Most people say the action was horrifically out of proportion when to put it simply, Lorgar simply ignored all the other warnings.

Lorgar is entataining for much the same way that Kurze is. They're derranged maniacs that think they're doing the right thing and causes weird scenarios like he thinks making Angron, an individual that has wanted to die since before they met, into an immortal daemon prince that is in constant pain is the best thing for him. Like for real he genuinely believes he saved Angron and will defend that position to the death he's so sure of it.

Wait, no hold on, you are not conflicted, you are Arthur. You can't start without that! That's...making me conflicted.

Ah the journeys into 40k... you have achieved the Frack Erebus and the Word Bearers stage...

"blessed is the firing range to wide to miss" is that in one of your books right? -based Iron Warrior after shoting some word bearers

Word Bearers:"It is a thankless job, but since the Horus Heresy books every other chaos legion or primarch has a tragic storyline. For Gods sake even the thousand sons have their Uwu-fans. Not us, we are evil, now tie that damsel to that chaos track and kick that throne-damned puppy"

I always say with you “uhhhh HI!! Immm Arthur” at the start of the video but you got me this time lol

The 80s action flick villain. Paperthin, yet hard to get around and up in your face all the time due to no apparent logical reason.

If my evil isn't mustache twirling, i dont want it.

My favorite things about the Word Bearers is their aesthetic! EC specially their 30K style where it’s very clearly chaos but not the spikey arrow look we all know. Also something a lot of people get confused, Corvus isn’t still after Lorgar as he hides away in a tower. That was in M38, and Lorgar has been spotted outside of the eye of terror in more recent events even before the fall of cadia IIRC? So Corvus’s fate is unknown, but I believe the real reason is a very large distraction bird feeder was installed so Lorgar could get away.

The Word Bearers were villains BEFORE they were villains...

I keep coming back for "Erebus...should look like a CORPSE"

They are basically “daddy is mad we use religion and are very slow so we’ll suck some Deamon gods off because we’re very angry our city was burned down”

Erebus, the most accomplished Astartes.

They're the best legion by far. Perfect antagonists and they're about half the reason anything in 40K happened in the first place. They're peak 40K. Fuck people that dislike them.

I feel like the aging of Lion El Johnson was just from selling new miniatures

It's fascinating to me that people unironically hate the Word Bearers for the things they do and their outlook on the gods. Isn't that what makes them such good villains, that they can make even the readers despise them? That's why I love them.

Man, I can’t believe the series is almost over. Maybe afterwards we’ll have a short miniseries on every Forge World?

I think the word bearers are such a valuable legion. They bring back the original essence of the campiness and satire of WH40K. They are such absolutely outlandishly evil individuals that it’s hard not to hate them, and I think that adds to their charm. It’s like Shooter McGavin from Happy Gilmore, the most dislikable, detestable people in a truly macabre universe, it’s the cherry on top.

The Word Bearers are so cartoonishly evil and mustache twirling that they fully shoot the moon to "you love to hate them" status. Fuck the Word Bearers, I wouldn't want to have 40k without them. Also I once painted a Master Of Possession as a Word Bearer for a pandemic project and it was genuinely a lot of fun. I ended up going World Eaters for my Chaos faction, but still.

There is ONE Word Bearer that isn't a piece of shit. He's known as the Anchorite, and he just had a sudden realization that maybe The God Emperor was testing them, and they all failed. So he proceeded to betray his brothers, give himself over to the loyalists and willingly became incarcerated under a church, where he started writing sermons and add-ons to the Holy book. He tried offing himself in shame several times, but was always saved by the Ecclesiarchy, eventually being turned into a dreadnought due to the severity of his wounds. As a dreadnought, he continued his penitence, and once the Word Bearers came to "rescue him", he just beat the shit out of them and went back into his cell to continue his penance.

Have you accepted the chaos gods as your lords and saviours? *Revs chainsword

I like the Word Bearers,they are neat

The single biggest blue-ball moment in all of 40K was Erebus getting teleported away before Kharn could turn him into chunky salsa. Hate the Word Bearers. Hate Erebus. Hate Lorgar.

The burning of monarchia was not only justified but, not enough of a spanking for Lorgar because CLEARLY he missed the point

They are so evil they turns to be pretty endearing lmao

Lorgar is my favorites of the chaos primarchs as hes the only one that feels like he really made a choice in turning traitor. Horus was corrupted but Lorgar? Lorgar knew the 2 extremes of the 2 religions he was caught between, and from that vantage he willingly chose chaos

Even my Tyranids are disgusted by that biomass.

I think that everyone who has heard of Erebus has that tick of muttering profanity before his name.

Listening to Erebus get his ass kicked by Kharne is like my morning coffee.

To be fair to the emperor, he did issues decrees to get Lorgar to knock that shit off but he kept going anyway

Good to see another video from you! Hope you're doing well

But CHAOS IS THE ONLY TRUTH and the Emperor is but a mote of sand compared to CHAOS!!!

ABSOLUTE MAGIC NERRRRRRRRRRRRRRDS

I fucking love Erebus

The chaos space marine leader in Dark Crusade is Eliphas the Inheritor. He's a word bearer and purely by virtue of his voice and lines he's my favourite CSM character. Also the word bearers paint scheme is awesome and more iconic than the Black Legion. If word bearers get a charismatic character they could absolutely play the big bads.

That thumbnail....In stitches! Who couldn't laugh at a pic of Lorgar with the word 'Creep' stencilled on his forehead. I'm guessing Corvus is jotting that into his 'prank book'.

The Emperor made a mistake, Word Bearers did nothing wrong

Next part is gonna be the best part 👀👀👀👀👀👀👀

you forgot to mention that Lorgar watched his father destroy a planet that was dedicated to Emps in the first place... Edit: you forgot to mention 2 more things which is ELIPHAS THE INHERITOR, the most badass chaos lord in gaming history and "death of hope" animation

CALTH WAS AN ACT OF SELF DEFENSE

The two Word Bearers I like are Argal Tal and Eliphas. Every one else should go eat the death porridge

Lorgars 2 best moments in lore were when corvus corax beat the bricks off him, and then when it happened again.

Can you do a video on the Officio Assasinorum.

“Like a shitty butterfly, it sucks.” I have no idea what this means but also I know exactly what you mean

Hi Conflicted where's Arthur Bones?

Imagine having tourette's and it's just "fuck Erebus" *snaps fingers*

They are the worst, but thats why I love them

prove of that the emperor knew what he was doing and the heresy was part of his twisted plan

"IS THIS WHAT YOU THINK GODS DO?!?!?"

There's one other fun Word Bearer in the Heresy books: Barthusa Narek, a sort-of loyalist recon marine on a quest to find a way to kill Lorgar. He goes through a wild series of adventures across the heresy war, including doing some assassination work for Eldrad Ulthran of all people. His most recent appearance is a short section in The End and the Death, which showed him making it all the way to the surface of Terra during the final stages of the Siege.

Word Bearers are by far my favorite Chaos Legion. I came for the daemonkin, stayed for the cartoonishly evil zealots

With the Word Bearers being allowed to exist you really have to wonder what in the hell those other two legions did wrong.

I don’t know who’s more evil Word bearers Or World eaters

After watching this video I can only conclude the guy making them had invested his life savings in Calth-based real-estate

They're comically evil because the chaos gods are comically evil. Their entire legion can be summed up as a miniature version of the "Great Game." Everyone wants power and favor within the legion so it's a group of cutthroats who so happen to have dick-measuring contests by building cathedrals that tower over each other.

An obnoxious villain is just so fun. It’s like that’s the point your not suppose to like them yk?

1:30 This drawing of Lorgar, especially his eyes, are so disturbing to me. Like, you can see his fanatical nature burning in his soul only looking at the eyes, the slight smile only makes it worse.

to answer your question: the appeal of the word bearers, is that more than any other traitor legion, they commit to the bit of throwing in with chaos, essentially a dark reflection of what the emperor tried to avoid. yeah its mostly just aesthetics and the fact that demons are cool, its one of those things you dont have to take too seriously, that said there definitely not my favourite traitor legion just because the EC exist

“Fuck Erebus” “Fuck Erebus” We all reply in unison