40K Lore: Ka’Bandha & The Blood Angels
With the Forge World news from yesterday hinting at the return of a Primarch as well as a Daemon infestation, we thought it would be time to delve into the lore and rediscover what’s up with this “Blood Grudge” between The Blood Angels and Ka’Bandha the Bloodthirster!
In case you missed the news from yesterday it’s a very bloody teaser featuring the Blood Angels vs Bloodletters and a Big ol’ Bloodthirster. But who is that Bloodthirster and why are these two forces going at it? Well Loremasters, that’s what we’re here to find out!
Ka’Bandha And The Blood Angels
Ka’Bandha is a Bloodthirster of Khorne and is described as the mightiest of Khorne’s servants. He first appeared leading Daemonic forces against the Blood Angels at the Battle of Signus Prime alongside the Keeper of Secrets Kyriss the Perverse, being summoned to the Materium by sacrificing the Word Bearer Astropath Corocoro Sahzë. During the battle Ka’Bandha engaged in an airborne battle with Sanguinius and broke the Primarch’s legs before unleashing the Ragefire upon the Legion and activating the dormant Red Thirst within the Legion. After Sanguinius was recovered thanks to the efforts of his Blood Angels, he engaged in a second round of fighting with Ka’Bandha and banished him back to the Warp. Ka’Bandha may also have been responsible for the Black Rage afflicting the Blood Angels and their Successor Chapters to this day.
The Daemon would return to plague the Blood Angels again during the Battle of Terra, where it yet again challenged the Angel to battle. Attacking the Primarch when his back was turned, the daemon quickly cast Sanguinius to the ground. But, unlike Signus Prime, this time Sanguinius rose to his feet once again, and calling upon the last of his strength, hefted the Daemon by the neck, raised it above his head, and with a last display of might, broke Ka’Bandha’s back over his knee, before hurling the Greater Daemon back into the heretic army and finally retreating back to the safety beyond the walls of the Eternity Gate.
In 944.M41 the Grey Knight‘s prognosticars predicted that Ka’Bandha would shortly return to the mortal world. Knowing Ka’Bandha to be a dangerous foe, and moreover one who had earned the bitter enmity of the Blood Angels, the Grey Knights brought this news to the attention of Commander Dante and proposed a joint strike. A combined strike force of Blood Angels and Grey Knights assailed Ka’Bandha’s fortress on the Daemon world of Kalagazaar. Ka’Bandha was banished, the Daemon armies were destroyed and Kalagazaar itself subjected to Exterminatus. At the campaign’s end, the surviving Blood Angels had their memories wiped – a price Dante agreed with the Grey Knights at the mission’s start.
In 999.M41, Ka’Bandha returned from the darkness of the Warp with a Daemon army at his command, his first blow striking against Ammonai, the outermost planet of the Baal system. He later engaged the Blood Angels in the Battle of Khartas. He next appeared during Khorne’s Blood Crusade.
After the Devastation of Baal, a massive effigy of Ka’Bandha’s eight-pointed symbol made out of the skulls of dead Tyranids was found on Baal Prime. He was later banished back to the Warp by Mortarion during the War in the Rift.
Spared from destruction by Ka’Bandha?
For more info about the Blood Angels and the Blood Thirster Ka’Bandha Check out the Lexicanum!
