Blood Angels

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"You are armoured by the Emperor himself. Righteousness is your shield, Faith your armour and Hatred your weapon. So fear not and be proud, for we are the sons of the Sanguinius, the Protectors of Mankind. Aye, we are indeed the Angels of Death." —Blood Angels Chapter Master Dante

The Blood Angels is a series of novels and short stories by author James Swallow. The Blood Angels are a Warhammer 40,000 chapter of Space Marines, and the novels cover the early history of the Chapter and more specifically, the stories of Battle-Brothers Arkio and Rafen as Arkio declares himself to be a reincarnation of the Chapter Primarch, Sanguinus. Later novels Black Tide and Red Fury deal more with the Chapters ongoing struggles with it's own flaws, the Red Thirst and the Black Fury, which at times threaten the purity of Battle-Brothers and could bring about the collapse of the Chapter as a whole; either through an inability to sustain the losses suffered due to the latter or through the former being perceived as the Taint of Chaos on them and their successor Chapters.

Novels released to date:^[when?]

• Deus Encarmine (December 2004)
• Deus Sanguinius (April 2005)
• Red Fury (September 2008)
• Black Tide (February 2010)
• Heart of Rage (novella — also released in audio version) (July 2009)
• Bloodline (novella) (September 2010)
• Blood Debt (short story)
• Redeemed (short story)

Please resist the urge to put examples on this page or link to this page on tropes unless you are citing from 40K novels in which the Blood Angels feature. Examples which are specific to rulebooks or other i-universe fluff should go on either the 40K page or in the Space Marines section of the Warhammer 40000 page.

Tropes used in Blood Angels include:

• Alas, Poor Villain: Rafen has this reaction to Sachiel.
• Ancestral Weapon: The Spear of Telesto.
• Attack! Attack! Attack!: Typical Blood Angels combat doctrine. Justified by their berserker tendencies, which could ruin any more sophisticated plan by surfacing at the worst possible moment.
• Axe Crazy: Death Company Battle Brothers and those affected by the Red Thirst.
• BFS: Malfallax's warpblade is explicitly said to be ten metres long. He is a giant Eldritch Abomination though.
  • Astorath's Executioner Axe; Gabriel Seth's Blood Reaver, a giant chainsword that can cut Land Raiders apart.
• Badass: Every Space Marine is one of these.
• Badass Grandpa: Commander Dante. Seriously, he is one thousand years old!
• Bald of Awesome: Subverted. Most Blood Angels have hair.
• Beauty Equals Goodness: Played straight with Sanguinius. Subverted with Arkio, where it's a sign of Chaos corruption.
• The Berserker: Every Blood Angel Space Marine is susceptible to this (excluding Mephiston or is it?), providing much bait for excessive Wangst. Fortunately the author sidestepped it.
• Berserk Button: Well, actually, most of the time they are not sure what do it, but it happens.
• Beware the Nice Ones: The Blood Angels are one of the nicest chapters of Space Marines, but if they hit the Black Rage or Red Thirst, then Emperor have mercy on you, because the Blood Angels won't.
• Bishonen — The default Blood Angel Warrior is an impossibly-handsome paragon; his appearance modified by inheriting the literal genes of their Primarch Sanguinius. It's an important part of the fluff, Baal and it's moons are death worlds devastated from total war, most of it's inhabitants are severally scarred by radiation.
• Blade on a Stick: The Spear of Telesto.
• Blessed with Suck: YMMV, since the Flaw is exactly what is destroying the Chapter, it's what makes it so strong.
• Bling of War: Like all Space Marines, but given that Sanguinius took it a little further than the other Primarchs, it's only fitting that the Blood Angels take it a bit further than most Astartes, as they dress their Captains and Sanguinary Guard in gold armour. Arkio causes a bit of a buzz when he says he wants gold armour as well.
• Blood Magic: Blood Boil, The Blood Lance and The Sanguine Sword Psyker Powers.
• Blood on These Hands: Rafen blames himself for the death of the Blood Angels sent to investigate Arkio.
• Bottled Heroic Resolve In the second book it's revealed what those syringes on Mephiston's armour are for.
• Cain and Abel: Only In Space, sort of reversed, its still fratricide only the killer is upholding God's will (sort of) and the dead brother was literally turning into a Demon and both of them are unbelievably awesome badasses.
  • A little more fitting is Horus and Sanguinius themselves. Horus and Sanguinius were described as being closer than any of the other Primarchs, enough that both tried to sway each other from their own side of the Horus Heresy. In the end, Horus (the elder, in a sense) slew Sanguinius, fitting this trope to a tee.
• The Chessmaster: Stele plays a mean game.
• The Chosen One subverted, still The Chosen One, just by a different divine patron than he was expecting
• Combat Medic: Sanguinary Priests are this.
• The Corruption: The Chapter's Curse and the vampire-esque behaviour it can bring about are frequently viewed as signs of Chaotic taint by more...upright Chapters.
• Deadly Doctor: Sanguinary Priests. They can carry power weapons and have a better Weapon Skill then regular marines.
• Death From Above: The Blood Angels are masters of using Jump Packs and Death From Above attacks, it helps that Sanguinius had wings and was a master of flight.
• Death Seeker: Once you fall into the Black Rage, you can never climb back out barring a miracle. Those that succumb are put into a separate legion and unleashed in suicide attacks.
  • On Shenlong, people begin actively seeking the "murdergift" of being killed by the Blood Angels. They probably didn't even object when Mephiston ordered the planet subjected to Exterminatus.
• Death World: Baal is not a nice planet.
• Drop Ship: Storm Ravens, one of the chapter's most powerful vehicles. works like a Land Raider and is quite resilient because of it's speed.
  • Thunder Hawk gunships and transports, the larger and more ubiquitous cousin to the Storm Raven.
• Earthshattering Kaboom: Befalls Orilan and Shenlong.
• Emotional Bruiser: The average Blood Angel not only inherits the rage and literal blood of Sangunius, but his pure and sensitive heart as well.
• Evil Counterpart: During the Heresy, the World Eaters were the Blood Angels greatest rival in melee superiority.
• Evil Is Not a Toy: Stele finds this out the hard way.
• Fearless Fool: Actually subverted on Cybele, where the Blood Angels admit that after seeing so many of their comrades fall to the black rage, they are afraid.
• Feel No Pain: Part of the army uniquiness. The Sanguinary Priests brings Furious Charge and Feel No Pain to those close to them.
• Fighting From the Inside: Koris struggles with the black rage while trying to tell Rafen of Stele's treachery.
• Forbidden Chekhov's Gun: The Black Rage is generally a bad idea. However, in order to use the full power of the Spear of Telesto, Rafen embraces it willingly and does not lose his mind.
• Genetic Memory: A problem for all Blood Angels and their descendants, leads to The Berserker
• Genius Bruiser: Commander Dante. He was chosen out of all the Chapter Masters to command the forces of Armageddon.
  • Also,Mephiston, the Lord of Death. He is the Chief Librarian of the Chapter.
• Gladiator Games: How they chose aspirants. (At least they don't watch for amusement)
• Good Is Not Nice: They're one of the nobler Chapters, but are absolutely ruthless in combat.
• Grim Reaper: Astorath, THE GRIM. It's actually part of his work. As a High Chaplain of the Blood Angels he has to kill every Death Company Battle Brother that did not get a Death Equals Redemption.
• Hair of Gold Very common due to it being a possible trait gained from Sanguinius, but not universal.
• Honor Before Reason: Often, but not always. (The villain doesn't grasp that it's not always, and it's a plot point in his defeat.)
• Insubstantial Ingredients: Mallafax's sword is part solid delusion.
• It's Raining Men: Deep Strike. With a Jump Pack, they are actually the best.
  • Commander Dante being the best of all of them. He never miss.
• Killed Off for Real: Captain Tycho.
• The Last Dance The Death Company allows its inductees to go down fighting rather than A Fate Worse Than Death by being consumed by the black rage.
• Lightning Bruiser: Space Marines are this. The Blood Angels are even more. When not acting as Terminators, their First Company acts as Assault Marines.
• Losing the Team Spirit: The deaths of many of the angels at the hands of the black rage. It takes a suicide suggestion to get Turkio to even consider a last stand, let alone an attack. The others refuse to join even this in a Not So Stoic moment.
• Macross Missile Massacre: One of the Apocalypse's Formations is this. You need three Stormravens, and they fire all their Blood Strike missiles at once.
• Magic Knight: Mephiston, Chief Librarian of the Blood Angels. His powers serve only to make him faster and hit harder.
  • Blood Angels Librarians and Dreadnought Librarians.
  • The whole army can be this, it helps they have a army wide Feel No Pain rule.
• The Magnificent: Mephiston The Lord of Death.
  • Astorath, The Grim.
  • Lemartes, Guardian of the Lost.
• The Man Behind the Man: Iskavan reports to Garand, who reports to Abaddon. Stele's games are also just a small part of Malfallax's.
• Meaningful Rename: Mephiston the Lord of Death used to be Brother Calistarius.
• Melee a Trois: The battle between those still loyal to the God-Emperor and those now following Arkio is complicated by Word Bearers.
• Mind Rape
  • Stele's interrogation of a Word Bearer Marine is literally referred as Mind Rape
• Morality Chain: Stele believes Rafen to be Arkio's last link to his humanity.
• My God, What Have I Done? You've turned on your brothers and become a Cosmic Plaything
• Names to Run Away From Really Fast: Mephiston, Lord of Death; Astorath, the Grim; Death Company;
• Napoleon Delusion: Those who suffer the Black Rage believe that they are Sanguinius at the final battle with Horus during the Heresy. This makes them unable to be reasoned with, but utterly unstoppable on the battlefield unless killed.
• Nice Guy: Sanguinius is one of the nicest primarchs during the crusade era.
• Not as You Know Them: Those who have succumbed to the Black Rage.
• Not So Stoic: In the opening of Deus Encarmine, Space Marines confess to being afraid to face their foes, after the horrific attack on their fellows.
• Not Using the Z Word: "Vampire" has been used by detractors of the Blood Angels since the Great Crusade, as such no Blood Angel will utter the word. Nevertheless, Rafen immediately makes the connection when he sees Arkio being corrupted by Chaos.
• Our Vampires Are Different: They're Super Soldier Knight Templars
• Praetorian Guard: Honour Guard. Also the original purpose of the Sanguinary Guard for Sanguinius.
• Power Gives You Wings: Subverted with the Sanguinary Guard. They don't get real "wings", but Jump Packs decorated with them. They are also the uttermost elite force of the Chapter.
• Rebellious Rebel: Rafen. Koris and the other murdered veterans, to some extent.
• Red Eyes, Take Warning: Death Company Marines.
• Shout-Out: We've seriously gone this long with out mentioning that the Spear of Telesto was found on planet Evangelion?!
  • There's an "Ikari Fortress" that the Blood Angels raid later on the book.
    • That certainly goes a long way towards explaining the Exterminatus even later in the book.
• Situational Sword — spear, really
• The Spartan Way — Considering they're Space Marines this is a given.
• Start of Darkness — Blood Debt is one for Stele.
• Tender Tears — Sanguinius is famed in his living days as a sensitive and warm-hearted warrior, as fearsome in battle as he is pure and kind.
• Unstoppable Rage: The Blood Angels's hat.
• We Have Reserves: Averted with the Chapter, who is slowly dying, losing more and more battle-brothers to the Black Rage.
• Winged Humanoid: Sanguinius.
• Wounded Gazelle Gambit — Stele pulls this, with astropath Horin as his victim.