Recaps

Aurora wounded The Deceiver, who showed the Void Dragon the Mountain Array before vanishing. The Void Dragon seized the fortress, and the God-Emperor sent it to Cadia, while Angron was dragged back into the world and attacked Lin Fan.

• Aurora's spear wounded The Deceiver, and he told The Deceiver that Tzeentch sent his regards.
• The Deceiver showed the Void Dragon an image of the Mountain Array before dissipating, and the Void Dragon took control of the fortress.
• The God-Emperor used the Astronomican to send the Mountain Array to Cadia, where its weapons could strike the Black Legion.
• The God-Emperor mended Angron's injuries before Angron and Orikan were dragged away, then continued resisting Nurgle's assault.
• Oedmeir noticed an anomaly while rebuilding the Golden Ark's core with Delia and took over the work alone.
• Angron awoke among his brothers, tore apart a metal skeleton, recognized Lin Fan, and charged at him.

Lin Fan and Konrad Curze subdued Angron, who begged for death, while Konrad Curze led him away and told Trazyn that Orikan was dead. Orikan remained alive inside the core and sent coded information toward the Silent King’s fleet, where a technomancer began behaving strangely.

• Angron attacked Lin Fan, who restrained him with Trazyn’s help, but Angron repeatedly asked to be killed.
• Konrad Curze questioned Angron about his desire for death, then helped him up and led him away, declaring that neither brother deserved release.
• Konrad Curze told Trazyn that Orikan was dead and that the Necrons had died long ago, leaving Trazyn distraught.
• Orikan cursed Konrad Curze from inside the core, then used codes he had learned inside the Void Dragon to send out important information.
• At the Milky Way’s edge, a technomancer in the Silent King’s fleet began acting strangely, and the Silent King stopped his guards from cutting the technomancer apart.

The Silent King received Orikan’s encoded warning and redirected his fleet toward Mars, while Lin Fan and the Primarchs discussed Konrad Curze’s disturbing way of torturing Angron with cartoons. The survivors began preparing to regroup as the ark awaited repairs.

• The Silent King decoded Orikan’s tattooed data core, recognized its Peikun origin, and sent his fleet toward Mars.
• Lin Fan asked Fulgrim what Konrad Curze had done with Angron, and Fulgrim explained how cheerful cartoons drove Curze into madness.
• Fulgrim recalled that Konrad Curze had once tortured Vulkan, prompting him to explain Curze’s deep self-loathing and guilt.
• The Primarchs agreed Angron would likely endure Curze’s treatment, and Jaghatai hoped he would not be controlled by Khorne again.
• Lin Fan checked on Trazyn, who remained dazed by memories of Orikan, then asked Yvraine when the ark could move.
• Yvraine said repairs would take five days, and Lin Fan planned to gather the surviving Imperial forces as Jaghatai wondered about his sons.

Tovens survived the devastation aboard the Mechanical Ark after the fall of Agrippina Forge World and searched the wreckage for other survivors. He found Talina gravely injured and Wodhaus unconscious, with both in uncertain condition.

• Tovens climbed out of the corpses, found a lasgun, and recalled the desperate defense and evacuation from Agrippina.
• Tovens crossed the ruined deck, searching among the dead for survivors.
• Tovens found Talina vomiting blood and realized her internal injuries were likely fatal.
• Talina pointed Tovens toward Wodhaus, whom he found badly wounded and unresponsive in damaged power armor.

Tovens woke Wodhaus after the battle, and Wodhaus found Talina dying from Khorne’s power. Tovens shot Talina at her request, but she left behind a pocket watch that let her remain connected to him, and Wodhaus concealed its daemon aura.

• Tovens struck Wodhaus with a lasgun stock, waking him; Wodhaus restrained his reflexive attack and set Tovens down.
• Wodhaus found Khorne’s power ravaging Talina and said he could not deal with it.
• Tovens comforted Talina as she apologized for disgracing the regiment, then found a pocket watch with her photograph inside her vest.
• Tovens shot Talina in the forehead, and her body turned to water and ash, leaving her uniform, armor, and pocket watch.
• Wodhaus concealed the pocket watch’s daemon aura, and Talina thanked him through it.

Wodhaus and the other survivors searched the dead after the battle, while Colvin mourned the fallen and recognized Kavan Shrek as a future leader of the Raven Guard. A white-armoured force identifying itself as both the Lamenters and the Sons of Unity arrived and began treating the wounded with alarming needles.

• Wodhaus confirmed that no psykers, Navigators, or Astropaths had survived, while Colvin brought the wounded Kaiser Whitefang and Kor'sarro Khan to the survivors.
• Kor'sarro Khan taunted Kaiser Whitefang, who managed to answer that Khan would also need a Dreadnought after losing his legs.
• Colvin reflected on the Space Marines lost in the battle and decided Kavan Shrek could succeed him as leader of the Raven Guard.
• Iteration announced that a massive Aeldari ark was docked beside the ship, and a squad of white-armoured Terminators teleported in.
• The Terminator captain said his warriors were both the Lamenters and the Sons of Unity, then sent them to treat the wounded with medical needles.

After the Agrippina survivors were rescued and the damaged ships began repairs, Lin Fan’s expeditionary fleet brought the defenders to the Biel-Tan Craftworld to rest. Lin Fan arrived with a surprise, but an unidentified speaker objected when Kor'sarro Khan called him “Uncle.”

• A Lamenters Terminator treated Kaiser Whitefang and explained the medicine to Wodhaus, who realized Lin Fan’s reinforcements had arrived and hoped Cadia would survive.
• The expeditionary fleet rescued survivors, repaired usable ships, and salvaged parts from vessels too damaged to restore.
• The Lamenters invited the Space Wolves, White Scars, Raven Guard, Mechanicus archmagi, Knight House patriarchs, Vostroyan Rough Riders, and a Cadia delegation to relax aboard the Biel-Tan Craftworld.
• Lin Fan approached the gathered defenders, and Kor'sarro Khan greeted him as Uncle, recalling his connection to the White Scars.
• An unidentified displeased voice said it had nothing to do with Lin Fan.

Lin Fan introduced Perturabo, Dorn, and Fulgrim to Wodhaus and the others, while Jaghatai explained the returned Primarchs’ purpose and proclaimed hope for the Imperium. The gathering ended with everyone joining the Primarchs in a cry for the Emperor.

• Lin Fan teased that he had brought back someone else’s father, and Wodhaus realized he might mean Guilliman.
• Perturabo, Dorn, Fulgrim, and Lamenters appeared, and Wodhaus mistook Perturabo for Ferrus, provoking a menacing response.
• The chapter described how the Imperium’s legends and propaganda shaped what people knew about the Primarchs and traitors.
• Jaghatai announced the Primarchs’ return and spoke of his duty to protect humanity and his hope that the Imperium could improve.
• Jaghatai cried, “For the Emperor,” and the crowd and his brothers answered in unison.

The Biel-Tan Craftworld encountered Cadia’s reinforcements, whose Adeptus Mechanicus and Iron Hands forces were trapped in the Warp’s chaotic waves and on the verge of turning their guns on each other. After hearing what had happened at Agrippina, Iron Father Stunus realized his forces would not have changed the battle’s outcome, and was relieved he had resisted the Archmagos’s risky plan.

• The Biel-Tan Craftworld finished repairs and traveled toward Cadia through the region between reality and the Warp, where it encountered the lost reinforcements.
• The Archmagos proposed using psyker corpses to improve the fleet’s augurs and cogitators, but Iron Father Stunus rejected the plan and urged the ships to concentrate power on their Gellar Fields.
• The Adeptus Mechanicus and Iron Hands leaders argued until their fleets formed opposing battle lines, though neither side opened fire.
• The Biel-Tan Craftworld emerged from the Warp waves, and the Imperium fleets turned their weapons toward it as Stunus prepared the Iron Hands to board.
• A Mechanical Ark carrying Magos Rom’s declaration emerged from Biel-Tan, and its message persuaded the reinforcements not to fire.
• After learning that Agrippina had been destroyed despite the efforts of its defenders, Stunus concluded that the reinforcements could not have saved it and was glad he had refused the Archmagos’s plan.

Fulgrim decided to meet Ferrus Manus’s children and explain the truth about their father’s death, despite Perturabo warning that the Iron Hands would attack him. Stunus and Captain Vicks waited at the corridor between the two flagships as Fulgrim’s delegation approached.

• Fulgrim said he wanted to see the Iron Hands and speak with them, and Perturabo warned him how violently they would react.
• Lin Fan agreed to let Fulgrim go, arranging for Jaghatai and Chapter Master Colvin to accompany him.
• Fulgrim questioned why Colvin was coming, and Lin Fan said he would understand once they arrived.
• Stunus and Captain Vicks waited at the connecting corridor between the Mechanical Ark and the Iron Hands flagship.

The chapter recounted how the Sapphire King exploited the Iron Hands’ hatred of flesh and suppressed emotions, and how Stunus led them to defeat the daemon by unleashing their fury. Centuries later, Stunus felt that same nameless anger as footsteps approached the Iron Hands’ formation aboard the Mechanical Ark.

• The Sapphire King corrupted Iron Hands through their grief over Ferrus Manus and their obsession with replacing flesh with machinery.
• In the Gaodinian Galaxy, Iron Father Christos merged with a Slaanesh factory, and his followers turned on their comrades.
• Stunus arrived with reinforcements and ordered the Iron Hands to release their fury, turning the daemon’s curse into a powerful attack.
• The Iron Hands destroyed the Slaanesh daemons and blasted the Sapphire King into scraps, then gradually changed their extreme ways.
• Centuries later, Stunus stood at the front of the Iron Hands’ formation aboard the Mechanical Ark and felt a sudden anger as footsteps approached.

Stunus prepared the Iron Hands to face the approaching White Scars and Raven Guard, while Jaghatai learned that Fulgrim had been married multiple times. The chapter left Jaghatai stunned as Fulgrim began recalling his wives.

• Stunus admired the White Scars' battle-worn armor and martial pride, though he regretted their preference for light weapons.
• Stunus recognized the Raven Guard and recalled the Iron Hands' past betrayals of them and other allies, which filled him with shame.
• As the White Scars and Raven Guard approached within five hundred meters, Stunus ordered the Iron Hands to prepare for combat and fired blank rounds from his Storm Bolters.
• Jaghatai asked Fulgrim why Stunus was firing, and Fulgrim guessed it was a wedding-style salute.
• Jaghatai realized Fulgrim had attended his own weddings, then asked about his wives, prompting Fulgrim to reminisce about Helenus and Clinia.

Fulgrim and Jaghatai discussed Fulgrim’s former wives before Stunus met Kor'sarro Khan and Colvin after the battle. Stunus offered Colvin equipment to address the Iron Hands and Raven Guard conflict, but Colvin’s indifferent reaction left him discouraged.

• Jaghatai asked Fulgrim how he had been with his ordinary-human wives, and Fulgrim explained that their marriages had been political.
• The White Scars and Raven Guard halted before the Iron Hands, and Stunus introduced himself to Kor'sarro Khan.
• Stunus offered to forge Kor'sarro a mechanical leg, but Kor'sarro declined and hinted that his injured leg was unusual.
• Stunus approached Colvin and said the conflict between the Iron Hands and Raven Guard needed to be addressed.
• Stunus offered Colvin equipment for a hundred-man company, but Colvin barely reacted and sighed, leaving Stunus discouraged.

Colvin rejected Stunus’s generous offer of Iron Hands supplies, believing the Raven Guard had no need for them, while Stunus mistook his melancholy for resentment. A strange vision of Fulgrim drove Stunus and the Iron Hands to attack, but a streak of white light stopped Stunus’s axe and swept toward the charging warriors.

• Colvin brooded over the Raven Guard’s isolation as they watched Jaghatai and the White Scars bond, while Lin Fan promised to bring back Corax.
• Stunus offered Colvin additional weapons, armor, supplies, and a support beacon to mend relations between their Chapters.
• Colvin refused the offer, and Stunus took the rejection as a deliberate insult.
• Stunus hallucinated Fulgrim and the Emperor’s Children, then roared and swung his power axe at the vision.
• The Iron Hands charged the apparent Emperor’s Children as their Devastators prepared to fire, but a streak of white light blocked Stunus’s blow and headed toward the advancing warriors.

Jaghatai Khan swiftly knocked down the Iron Hands forces to stop them from attacking, while Fulgrim let Stunus vent his fury by beating him. The chapter ended with Fulgrim battered but alive, lamenting that he was not dead.

• Jaghatai Khan struck down Stunus and overwhelmed the Iron Hands’ front ranks and Destroyers in three seconds.
• The White Scars cheered for Jaghatai, who silenced them with a glare.
• Stunus recovered, saw Fulgrim, and punched him in the face.
• Stunus repeatedly beat Fulgrim until his own Iron Hand broke and Fulgrim’s face was left battered.
• Fulgrim opened his eyes and told Stunus that he was not dead, adding that this was terrible.

Jaghatai stopped Stunus from attacking Fulgrim and persuaded the Iron Hands to sit and listen. Stunus then asked how Jaghatai had found and rescued Fulgrim from the Eye of Terror, leaving Jaghatai to explain the Primarchs’ return.

• Jaghatai lifted Stunus away from Fulgrim and ordered him to calm down and talk.
• Jaghatai introduced himself and Fulgrim to the Iron Hands, who demanded permission to attack Fulgrim.
• Stunus asked Jaghatai whether he was loyal to the Emperor, then ordered the Iron Hands to sit and listen.
• Perturabo restored the Iron Hands’ communications, while Rogal Dorn and Yvraine left to attend to other tasks.
• Stunus asked how Jaghatai had found Fulgrim in the Eye of Terror and taken him from the Ruinous Powers, and Jaghatai said the answer was complicated.

Jaghatai explained to Stunus that the traitor Primarchs were being returned so The Emperor could judge them, while Fulgrim appealed to Stunus by invoking Ferrus Manus's hopes for the Iron Hands. The chapter left Stunus facing deep divisions over whether the Iron Hands should embrace humanity or remain governed by steel and reason.

• Jaghatai told Stunus that The Emperor had tasked him with bringing His fallen children back to face judgment, but Stunus remained doubtful.
• Fulgrim told Stunus that he would not ask forgiveness for killing Ferrus Manus and instead wanted to convey Ferrus's wishes for the Iron Hands.
• Fulgrim recalled that he and Ferrus had been close and understood Ferrus's hopes, prompting Stunus to consider his father's disappointment with the Iron Hands.
• The Iron Hands' creed of rejecting weakness and treating themselves as tools had become a source of conflict after the Sapphire King's destruction and the loss of a third of the Chapter.
• Some Clan Chiefs sided with Stunus's belief in the Iron Hands' humanity, while others insisted the Chapter should be steel within and without; Stunus's authority weakened after the war ended.

The chapter described how the Iron Hands reshaped the Codex Astartes around the Iron Council and examined Ferrus’s legacy on Medusa. It ended with Ferrus’s true message to Stunus: uphold humanity with iron armor and a heart of flame.

• After the Horus Heresy, the Iron Hands blamed Ferrus’s authority and emotional decision at Isstvan for their defeat and made the Iron Council the Legion’s real center of power.
• The Iron Fathers adapted the Codex Astartes to the Iron Hands’ traditions, while keeping their changes secret and maintaining standard company sizes for the Inquisition.
• Lin Fan planned to have the Ynnari teach Medusa’s Astropaths safer, more effective psychic communication methods.
• The chapter described Medusa’s lethal environment, its clan wars, and Ferrus’s Iron Moon recruitment ritual, in which Iron Fathers and Iron Priests selected young fighters.
• Ferrus had intended to end the clans’ hatred, remove the silver metal from his arms, and transform Medusa, but his death left the Iron Hands and the planet divided and increasingly brutal.
• Fulgrim passed Ferrus’s intent to Stunus, urging him to uphold humanity with iron armor and a heart of flame.

Fulgrim challenged Stunus’s faith in machinery and argued that humanity’s strength came from a will passed down through generations. Stunus remained wary of Fulgrim and the Emperor’s Children, and the chapter ended as Jaghatai restrained his engineering claw.

• Stunus misunderstood Fulgrim’s phrase “Ironclad, Fiery Heart,” prompting Jaghatai to laugh before Fulgrim explained its meaning.
• Fulgrim told Stunus that flesh was weak but will endured, then questioned whether machinery could overcome human weakness.
• Fulgrim described Medusa’s ancient relics and ruined civilizations, leading Stunus to reconsider the Iron Hands’ devotion to technology.
• Fulgrim said that inherited will, rather than any one person’s will, could keep humanity from repeating the past.
• Stunus called Fulgrim a traitor and accused him of preparing to praise Slaanesh, while Jaghatai pinned Stunus’s engineering claw beneath his palm.

Stunus rejected Fulgrim’s explanation and called the Iron Hands to attack, turning the meeting into a battle with Jaghatai and the White Scars. As Lin Fan watched the White Scars overwhelm the Iron Hands, he asked the Emperor to bring Ferrus Manus down.

• Jaghatai subdued Stunus after Stunus’s armor fired a laser and began deploying bombs.
• Fulgrim tried to explain his new beliefs, but Stunus accused him of serving the Changer of Ways and ordered the Iron Hands to purge the alleged heretics.
• Jaghatai led the White Scars into battle against the Iron Hands, while Fulgrim refused to take part in suppressing them.
• Protected by Aegis shields, Jaghatai and the White Scars broke through the Iron Hands’ formation as Lin Fan arranged for medicine and technical support.
• Lin Fan contacted the Emperor and asked him to have Ferrus Manus come down.

Lin Fan learned that the Emperor planned for Ferrus and the Legion of the Damned to confront Fulgrim and free his soul from Chaos, then asked the Emperor to let Ferrus meet his children. After the Emperor’s communication ended, Jaghatai’s White Scars defeated the Iron Hands, and Tau medical and technical crews began separating the wounded Marines from their crude augmentations.

• The Emperor told Lin Fan that he had delayed Ferrus’s return because he foresaw Ferrus rescuing Guilliman from Fulgrim and helping purify Fulgrim’s soul.
• Lin Fan asked the Emperor to arrange for Ferrus to visit his children, and the Emperor instructed him to throw the holy icon into a fire.
• Lin Fan saw that Jaghatai’s White Scars had defeated the Iron Hands, while Jaghatai argued with Stunus and knocked him unconscious.
• Yilafren’s medical and technical crews arrived to treat the wounded Iron Hands and recover their armor and components.
• A Lamenter technician directed the crews to remove unsafe augmentations, preserve selected parts, and give one injured Iron Hand a limited dose of healing agent.

Ferrus Manus joined the Legion of the Damned and fought Nurgle’s endless daemon hordes beside The Emperor. The Emperor then summoned him for a task concerning the Iron Hands and sent him away from the battlefield.

• A loyal soul chose to keep fighting for humanity and became a warrior of the Legion of the Damned.
• Ferrus Manus appeared beneath the Golden Throne, and he and the Legion joined The Emperor’s battle against Nurgle in the Warp.
• Ferrus Manus and the Legion slaughtered millions of plague daemons, while Nurgle’s crucible continued producing more.
• The Emperor called Ferrus Manus and told him he had a task concerning his sons, the Iron Hands.
• The Emperor soothed Ferrus Manus and transported him from the battlefield.

Jaghatai reflected on the losses he had suffered during the Horus Heresy and began writing a history of humanity, including a fuller account of his own era. As he spoke with Fulgrim, he asked about Ferrus’s flaws and learned that Fulgrim thought Ferrus cared too little about other people’s feelings.

• The Emperor recalled Ferrus’s deep love for Fulgrim and the fury Fulgrim’s betrayal had unleashed, then sent Ferrus away without saying Fulgrim’s name.
• Jaghatai remembered the brothers and comrades he had lost during the Horus Heresy, including Hasik, Qin Xia, and Yesugei.
• Jaghatai explained to Fulgrim that he was recording Yesugei’s deeds and intended to write a history of humanity, beginning with a detailed account of their era.
• Jaghatai asked Fulgrim about Ferrus’s personality flaws as part of his effort to understand the breakdown between the Iron Hands and Emperor’s Children.
• Fulgrim recalled his time with Ferrus and told Jaghatai that Ferrus cared too little about other people’s feelings.

Jaghatai listened as Fulgrim described his close but strained friendship with Ferrus, then reflected on adapting Imperial history for younger audiences. Fulgrim recounted Ferrus’s failed bid to prove himself as a Warmaster candidate, which ended in victory at the cost of Guilliman’s regiments and the Emperor’s Children captain.

• Fulgrim confided that Ferrus often dismissed his artistic pursuits, and Jaghatai considered how their different temperaments had put pressure on their friendship.
• Jaghatai reflected on his historical writing and his plan to create gentler, child-friendly versions of Imperial history.
• Fulgrim recalled that Ferrus’s last expedition had been a joint operation with the Emperor’s Children and Guilliman’s forces, and that the Second Company captain and three Ultramarines regiments had been lost.
• Ferrus had sought to demonstrate his command ability in the Warmaster contest, but abandoned detailed micromanagement and instead divided the planet with an iron tide before launching a coordinated assault.
• Ferrus’s strategy annihilated the enemy, but he used Guilliman’s three regiments as cannon fodder and the Emperor’s Children captain was killed.

Fulgrim and Jaghatai reminisced about Ferrus Manus and Guilliman, easing Fulgrim’s anxiety about reuniting with Ferrus. Jaghatai secretly imagined a scandalous story about Fulgrim and Ferrus, but Fulgrim caught a Slaanesh demon born from Jaghatai’s thoughts before they hurried off to join Perturabo.

• Fulgrim told Jaghatai how Ferrus Manus had rejected his attempt to reconcile with Guilliman, and the two laughed about Guilliman’s admiration for Ferrus.
• Jaghatai thanked Fulgrim for sharing his troubles, then became inspired to write a romance about a gender-swapped Fulgrim and Ferrus Manus.
• Fulgrim noticed a Slaanesh demon near Jaghatai and caught it, while Jaghatai tried to hide that it had emerged from his thoughts.
• Perturabo called Fulgrim and Jaghatai over, and Fulgrim handed the demon to Jaghatai before rushing out.
• Jaghatai sealed the demon in a bone cylinder, while the Emperor realized Slaanesh had influenced the Primarchs’ thoughts.