40K Grimdark Theories: Belisarius Cawl Is Arkhan Land
Let’s take a look at a crazy theory that the identity of one of 40K’s most important players – is an even more important player!
Belisarius Cawl is one of the major players in the current 40K storyline. He was first introduced in the Fall and Cadia. Since then he has been instrumental in the Imperiums survival. He was, in large part, responsible for the return of the Primarich Guilliman. He is also the genius behind the recent Imperial technological revolution, including the introduction of the Primaris Marines. For someone with such a significant role, relatively little is known about him. His past, and goals, remain shrouded in mystery. One intriguing theory about Cawl is that he is none other than the ancient tech-priest Arkhan Land.
The Theory
For those who don’t know, Arkhan Land was a famous Magos of the Mechnicium during the Great Crusade and the Horus Heresy. If you’ve heard of the Land Raider and the Land Speeder… well, those are his. “Land’s Raider” and “Land’s Speeder” were their original names. He and Cawl share several things in common.
Let’s look at a few major Cawl Facts:
- He is a powerful Magos of Mars.
- He was active before the Horus Heresy and claimed to work with Emperor on Space Marines.
- Not long after the Heresy, he went into hiding on Mars to work on the Primaris Project.
- He is an innovator discovering, or rediscovering, new tech and creating new weapons.
- He seems to have specialized knowledge of grav and plasma tech.
Now let’s look at Land:
- He is a powerful Magos of Mars.
- He was active before the Horus Heresy and did consult with the Emperor on a matter relating to the Primarchs – though he did not directly work on the creation of the Space Marines.
- Not long after the Heresy, he went missing on Mars during an expedition- he is presumed dead.
- He is an innovator discovering, or rediscovering, new tech and creating new weapons.
- He seems to have specialized knowledge of grav and plasma tech.
So we can see that the two men do share some big similarities here. In particular, it’s Land and Cawl’s shared affinity for new grav and plasma tech that stands out. Land was behind the grav tanks used by the Custodian Guard. His personal transport was a variant of the Raider that was larger, used grav tech, and had extra guns. That’s not too different from a Primaris Repulser. Land’s disappearance also happened right around the time Cawl would have started working on the Primaris Project. It’s possible that Land faked his death to go underground to work on the Project. If Cawl and Land are the same, Cawl may not even know it. Afterall the Magos has a faulty memory after more then 10,000 years.
The Wrinkle
This theory was pretty popular after Cawl was introduced. It seemed to answer several questions about this newly introduced character. Unfortunately, the novel Wolfsbane seemed to put some major holes in the theory. Wolfsbane introduced the Heresy era Cawl, a mid-level member of the Mechanicum trying to survive, and learn, during the Heresy. While Land and this Cawl do share traits, not the least of which is a personal rejection of extreme cybernetics, preferring to remain mostly human, they are separate people. Though it’s possible the two would meet on Terra and could have worked together, the existence of Cawl in Wolfsbane seemed to sink the idea that he and Land are the same. Or did it?
The Twist
At the end of Wolfsbane, Cawl kills his mistress Hester Aspertia Sigma-Sigma, a powerful magos who has thrown in with the Warmaster. In killing her, Cawl steals some of her knowledge and tech. This included knowledge of cloning and the ability to transfer knowledge, and even personalities, between people. Later, as described in Belisarius Cawl: The Great Work, Cawl absorbed the memories, knowledge, personality, and soul of his new mentor Ezekiel Sedayne. Cawl’s personality can overpower Sedayne’s, something Sedayne had not anticipated and taken control of his original body.
The Conclusion
This leads us to an interesting conclusion: that the being is known as Belisarius Cawl currently is not the original Cawl at all, or even a single person, but rather an amalgamation. “Cawl” in fact is quite possibly a composite mind/soul made up of several beings, the original Cawl, Sedayne, Aspertia, and maybe others, all contained in the mostly mechanical body he uses. It’s equally possible that these beings have fused into one, or are all co-habiting and sometimes one or the other is in more control.
This, rather than age, could also be behind Cawl’s memory lapses, they are simply times when other souls are in charge. Whatever the direct nature of the mish-mash that is Cawl, this does give us a new possibility for the Land=Cawl theory. It’s possible that Land still is Cawl. He is simply one of the beings absorbed into the composite Cawl and became part of the collective. In this case, “Cawl” would have gained cloning knowledge from Aspertia, first-hand insights on creating the Space Marines from Sedayne and knowledge of grav and plasma tech from Land, each absorbed and added to the whole. This might have been done with or without Land’s agreement, but would ultimately mean that in a way, they are the same being.
Let us know what you think of this crazy theory, down in the comments!
