Warhammer 40K: Arks of Omen Spoiler-Filled Finale
The Arks of Omen is complete. So where does the Warhammer 40,000 Universe stand now? Time for a spoiler-filled chat.
Games Workshop’s capstone on the 9th edition saga is done. The Arks of Omen series wrapped up and we’re here to talk about the ending. We will have spoilers moving forward and if you clicked on the title and continued to read past this point, it’s your own fault.
Arks of Omen Finale Spoilers
The Arks of Omen introduced a few new key players. If you haven’t been keeping up or keeping score we’ve got a new Chaos Demi-God with Vashtorr the Arkifane. His plan was to gather the MacGuffins together to form the (silver) Key to …something. To do that, he created the Arks of Omen and got with Abaddon to help make his plan in real space work.
There was a ton of stuff that happened that we’re going to gloss over but eventually, Daemon Primarch Angron shows up and wrecks a fleet, Dante gets Primaris’d as does Grand Master Azrael. And the Primarch Lion El’Jonson returns. Who, by the way, pardons all of the Fallen Dark Angels and says come home to help daddy…basically.
Yep — this saga did see the return of TWO Primarchs which is pretty cool when you think about it. Anyhow, this all culminates in a big ol’fight on the Chaos-reconstructed planet of Caliban (formerly the home of the Dark Angels) which is now called Wyrmwood. Angron is killing Dark Angels who have invaded the planet to stop whatever the heck is going on.
“Even as Angron slaughtered his way through the Unforgiven, blood-red drop pods hurtled to planetfall and golden-armoured Space Marines tackled the maddened Primarch. Atop a tower strewn with the dead and dying, Angron fought Dante and his Sanguinary Guard in a titanic brawl, one that even the cream of the Blood Angels could not endure. None could stand before the Red Angel and live.
Save one.”
Dante doesn’t defeat Angron but he buys time. But you know what that means…
Naturally Lion El’Jonson shows up with his indestructible shield and has his own titanic duel with Angron. It’s the Knight vs the Beast and I bet you can guess how this one plays out.
“With all the hunter’s cunning of a Knight of Caliban, aided by the strange new spectral abilities that had accompanied him out of death’s embrace, the Lion trapped Angron for the instant he needed. Without a shred of remorse for the creature that had once been his brother, he raised the Emperor’s Shield and smashed it through the Daemon Primarch’s skull, casting him back to the warp.”
Lion El’Jonson’s discipled martial skill is enough to overcome the rage of Angron and he sends the Daemon Primarch back to the warp, banished for a time. But that was just one battle in this war and it’s not going well for the Imperium.
Eventually Vashtorr’s plan does succeed and the Imperial forces have to evacuate the planet. They mostly make it off the planet in time only to see reality rent asunder in a flash of silver light. Vashtorr and the traitor fleet escaped with the “key” complete. Now they were off to find the “lock.”
At the end of the day Vashtorr and Abaddon scored a “W” and Angron will be back (on account of being a Daemon). The Imperium did get a few heroes Primaris’d and having another Primarch back in the fight is going to be a win in the long run but they are left licking their wounds for sure. Unfortunately for them, they won’t have much time to recuperate as the Tyranid fleets have been spotted…
Final Thoughts
The Arks of Omen was a fun saga in terms of story. Things happened and some new major players were introduced and the fallout of the story has left a ton of lore seeds to grow for later. It will be very curious to see if GW bothers to do any follow-ups on this story as they sometimes tend to move on from one saga to a completely different one. I can’t see how they could ignore this one though as the key seems like a pretty major artifact that has been constructed.
In the meantime the setup for the next big saga is already here and it’s all about a new Tyranid Invasion. Honestly, this one feels a lot like a 6-issue comic book arc that just wrapped. The heroes are going to have to change focus now while the old villains get away to plot for the next season and the new villain challenges them in a different way. No rest for the wicked. At least the story of 40k is moving forward! And I can appreciate that more than anything else (even if the status quo is basically the same).
What did you think of the Arks of Omen Saga? How do you think those lore seeds will come into play later on?
