Eldrad Ulthram

[Col. Tartleton]

Eldrad: Dead? Lost in the Warp? Heavens no, my cellphone ran out of battery. Sorry for worrying you kids, but there was nothing I could do.

Kaldor Draigo is effectively immortal and invincible, but Eldrad Ulthran gets killed by a rogue space station? Bologna.

Eldrad is higher on the 40k totem pole than the God Emperor. Yeah right.

[Eumerin]

Kaldor Draigo is effectively immortal and invincible, but Eldrad Ulthran gets killed by a rogue space station? Bologna.

It may have been Slaanesh, actually. And given the meta circumstances (Eldrad's apparent death was the "reward" that the Eldar players received for doing well in the campaign GW was running at the time), there's some suspicion that he would have returned eventually if GW had continued to progress the storyline.

Don't forget the Doom of Malan'tai!

It's a little known fact that the Doom of Malan'tai (or DoM - pronounced "dumb") is a super-secret cover operation being run by the Eldar. The farseers of several craftworlds had a vision regarding an impending horrible doom that would envelop the entire galaxy if actions were not taken to prevent it. And only the resources of an entire craftworld could stop this doom from coming to pass. But the general locations (if not the exact stellar coordinates) of the active craftworlds are generally known, and the architects of said doom would be tipped off if one of the craftworlds were seen to reroute toward the area that it needed to be in to bring about the salvation of the galaxy. So the eldar announced that a freak Tyranid abomination had killed off an entire craftworld.

The crazy thing is that the Imperium actually believed it when the Eldar announced the "death" of Malan'tai. To which all I can say is, "Really? Seriously? Haven't you guys heard of a circuit breaker? Or isolated networks? You *really* think that a race as ancient and technologically advanced as the eldar would be stupid enough to not install bypasses, redunduncies, shunts, and other safeguards to protect the residents from one of the most sensitive areas of the craftworld!?"

:P

[Lord Damocles]

And given the meta circumstances (Eldrad's apparent death was the "reward" that the Eldar players received for doing well in the campaign GW was running at the time), there's some suspicion that he would have returned eventually if GW had continued to progress the storyline.

Well, that and Altansar returning, a foothold being gained on Eidolion, Ahriman getting beat down outside the Black Library...

[Eumerin]

Well, that and Altansar returning, a foothold being gained on Eidolion, Ahriman getting beat down outside the Black Library...

When the Imperium is "rewarded" for its success in a campaign with the apparent death of the Chapter Master of the Ultramarines, then we'll talk. I don't care how many successes GW ended up giving the marines as a result of said campaign, the overall outlook among the playerbase would still end up being something along the lines of "WTH?"

Smurf-haters excepted, of course.

:P

[Inquisitor Engel]

When the Imperium is "rewarded" for its success in a campaign with the apparent death of the Chapter Master of the Ultramarines, then we'll talk.

As a reformed Ultramarines player myself, I would support this. Sicarius is a far more interesting character than Calgar.

[Eumerin]

As a reformed Ultramarines player myself, I would support this. Sicarius is a far more interesting character than Calgar.

Hah! I find myself beaten by a legitimate comment.

Sadly, the Eldar are a bit short on characters interesting and otherwise to replace him with, so the loss of Eldrad is of somewhat more consequence. Hopefully there will be a few more when GW gets around to releasing the next Craftworld codex.

[Inquisitor Engel]

Sadly, the Eldar are a bit short on characters interesting and otherwise to replace him with, so the loss of Eldrad is of somewhat more consequence. Hopefully there will be a few more when GW gets around to releasing the next Craftworld codex.

It seemed for the summer after Bill King's "Farseer" came out (supposedly the first in a trilogy) that Auric Stormcloud was being set up to be Eldrad's replacement. GW even had a model for Janus made up (the Rogue Trader currently "loaning" his body to Auric's soul via spirit-stone chicanery) tooling around roadshows and Rogue Trader events and Grand Tournaments doing stuff like objectives and special one-off games. Alas, it seems to have fallen by the wayside, which is a shame considering his name is quite cool.

There's Taldeer the Dreamer and Caerys from the Dawn of War games and Idranel from DoW2.

My vote would be for Idranel, personally because then there'd actually be a female Farseer model we could buy...

[eldargal]

Well, Taldeer and Idranel are both deceased so they wouldn't be ideal candidated to replace a deceased Eldrad. Personally I'd like Thirianna but that won't happen. Carys would be an option, or bringing back Iyanna Arienal.

[Sildani]

Don't forget Yriel's Spear of Twilight, fashioned after the "deathsword" in Farseer. It was rumored fairly heavily back then that the deathsword would be put into the new Eldar Codex as a reward; it was, in a way, and attached to a character as far away from the Eye as you can get. But it's there nonetheless.

[Shamana]

Well, Taldeer and Idranel are both deceased so they wouldn't be ideal candidated to replace a deceased Eldrad. Personally I'd like Thirianna but that won't happen. Carys would be an option, or bringing back Iyanna Arienal.

I wouldn't mind bringing back Iyanna, but she's a spiritseer, not a farseer, right? She might be better off as a named upgrade for a wraithguard or wraithlord unit. I hope we get a few named characters that aren't HQs.

[Lord Damocles]

You could get around Taldeer being dead by using Goto-Taldeer who seems to be almost absurdly similar to, but seperate from, game-Taldeer (she was from Biel-Tan not Ulthwe, and doesn't die; but she does have dealings with the Blood Ravens, make prophesies about Necrons, visits Lorn V during the events of Winter Assault, and shares the same name).

I'm not sure setting any sort of precedent on putting Goto characters into 'mainstream' 40K is a good idea though...

[Sildani]

Whatever happened to Ela'Ashbel, the bloody-teared Farseer from Kaelor?

[Inquisitor Engel]

You could get around Taldeer being dead by using Goto-Taldeer who seems to be almost absurdly similar to, but seperate from, game-Taldeer (she was from Biel-Tan not Ulthwe, and doesn't die; but she does have dealings with the Blood Ravens, make prophesies about Necrons, visits Lorn V during the events of Winter Assault, and shares the same name).

Yeah, I thought those two died and then I got confused... because... well Goto.

[Eumerin]

Of the various Farseers that have turned up in the Dawn of War series...

Macha - Survives the original Dawn of War campaign; hasn't been seen since
Taldeer - Survives Winter Assault. Dawn of War 2: Retribution confirms that she was killed following the Dark Crusade expansion.
Caerys - Apparently survives Soulstrom. Not seen since.
Idranel - Killed in Dawn of War 2
Elenwe - Accompanied Kayleth in Retribution; probably survived.


Edit -

she was from Biel-Tan not Ulthwe, and doesn't die

Aside from the issues with the craftworld of origin, Taldeer's survival in Goto's books doesn't clash with her current "dead" status in the Dawn of War games, as she survives Winter Assault in the games as well. She doesn't die until after the Dark Crusade expansion (her death is confirmed in Retribution).

[Shamana]

Forget Goto (tempting, I know); Taldeer's claim of fame are the DoW games, and the same games stated she's dead, so she is. A pity, since I found her character quite fun in a "snarky as ****" way, but there you go.

Elenwe isn't a good choice, because a) she didn't say quite much and didn't make a big impression either way, and b) why would Alaitoc be represented by a SC farseer, and not Ulthwe? Macha doesn't quite cut it for a similar reason to the latter - considering the focus the Sword-wind puts on aspects, they should be represented with an autarch, special exarch or a phoenix lord, not a farseer.