Warhammer 40K: Chaplain Lemartes, Guardian of the Lost
Chaplain Lemartes is the only member of the Blood Angels to fall to the Black Rage and have the willpower to contain it.
When a Blood Angel falls to the Black Rage they await a terrible fait. He is reborn in a world of anger, hatred, fury and nothing else. As well as Sanguinius’s memories, the Blood Angel is touched with a small portion of his unearthly power, boosting his strength and vitality to superhuman levels.
Most of the time, the Black Rage consumes them entirely and their fate is to join the Death Company where death awaits them — one way or another. But that is not the case for Chaplain Lemartes…
Chaplain Lemartes, Guardian of the Lost
Lemartes is a particularly strong-willed Chaplain of the Blood Angels, the only Battle-brother to date who has managed to contain the Black Rage. He now serves as Guardian of the Lost, the Warden of the Angels’ Death Company.
Lemartes 3rd Edition Miniature
Lemartes succumbed to the Black Rage while the Blood Angels were preparing to deploy against orks on Hadriath XI. Like all members of a Death Company, his only options were to fall in battle, or, in the unlikely event he survived, to be executed by High Chaplain Astorath. Yet after the battle, when he was taken to the company’s field Apothecarion, Lemartes insisted that he was in control of himself. Astorath hesitated, because Lemartes was clearly in the grip of the Rage, yet he was still coherent and able to restrain himself from attacking his own brothers. Astorath made the incredible decision to send Lemartes in stasis back to Baal, to be thoroughly examined by the Sanguinary Priests.
Lemartes 5th Edition Miniature
Every test the Sanguinary Priests ran showed the same startling conclusion: Lemartes had been struck by the Rage, yet his willpower was keeping it in check, a thing unheard of in the entire history of the chapter. They warned Astorath that it would be impossible for Lemartes to stay in control forever, so Astorath offered him his unique role as leader of the Death Company.
Lemartes 10th Edition Miniature
Under his guidance, those Blood Angels lost to the Rage fight like heroes of legend, winning some measure of redemption before they fall. Between engagements, Lemartes is returned to stasis to protect his battle-brothers from the Rage. Some whisper that Lemartes’s eventual fall to the Rage is inevitable, while to others he is a sign of hope that perhaps other Blood Angels can also master their curse.
While Lemartes may have the strength of will to contain the Black Rage, their has only ever been one member of the Blood Angels to actually overcome it along with the Red Thirst…
For more on the Blood Angels check out the Lexicanum
