40K: The Lord of Iron – Perturabo vs The Hrud
Black Library Author Guy Haley talks about the Primarch of the Iron Warriors and his battle against the Hrud!
We’ve talked about the Iron Warrior‘s Primarch Perturabo and his the new Black Library book that chronicles his early days and “what makes him tick” before. But now GW has a short interview with the author Guy Haley, and it’s got some interesting tid-bits about the Hrud – a mysterious race that fans have been theorizing about for years – and about how things could have turned out differently for the Lord of Iron.
via Warhammer Community
Guy: “I’m a fan of novels with two timelines; it’s a trick I’ve used in Dante and Baneblade, and now also Perturabo. Half the story tells of his youth on Olympia and the other half follows his hopeless campaign against the Hrud in the Sak’Trada deeps, followed by his home world’s betrayal and its subsequent devastation at his hand.”
“Perturabo is one of the most complex of them all. In various stories, he’s been depicted as surly, thoughtful, resentful, noble, skilful and murderously tempered. In Fulgrim, he’s intriguingly shown to be possessed of some curse or very weak psychic power that manifests itself as an ability to see the Eye of Terror.
These traits may seem mutually exclusive, but real people are easily that complicated. The interesting question is: why?”
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“I won’t spoil the story. Let’s just say that by looking at Perturabo’s childhood, the book builds up a portrait of the Lord of Iron. The cultural peculiarities of the Olympians interact with his own failings and the trauma of his creation to make him the way he is.”
Read the Full Breakdown from Black Library Author Guy Haley HERE
Guy Haley does a great job of painting the Primarch as conflicted and deep in the story. But, in the interview, he also drops some pretty great hints at the Hrud and the possible future for them as well:
Guy on writing the Hrud:
“However, though the Hrud have been lurking in the background for some time, they have never been given an army or had models made for them. They have been mysterious creatures since their first mention, and I suspect they will remain that way. I, therefore, had to depict them in a manner that honoured that mysteriousness without being too obfuscatory for the purposes of a story.
AdvertisementI have defined the Hrud and their technology a little more in this story, but not so much that it will spoil their enigma or preempt any attempt at some future point to make a wargames army for them, should that day ever come.”
Personally, I’ve been SUPER curious about the Hrud because of the old 3rd edition rulebook:
They first appeared in this sketch as “Nocturnal Warriors” – little more than creatures with rats-like tails and hoods obscuring their features. Their mythology has been expanded on over time and they eventually became much larger than first depicted:
I’ve always had a soft spot for these strange Xenos. While we’ve never had them represented as a full army on the tabletop, did you notice how Guy Haley didn’t want to rule that possibility out? Does that mean we might have a new species come to the game in 8th Edition 40k? Well, maybe not at launch but I wouldn’t rule them out for 2018…
For More on the Hrud Check out the Lexicanum
Perturabo – Hammer of Olympia Limited Edition $65
I wasn’t super curious about Perturabo, but now that I know the Hrud are involved, I might just have to check this Primarch book out!
