Just How Powerful is a Thunder Warrior Really? | Warhammer 40k Lore

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Thunder Warriors were the precursors, the prototypes for the Space Marines, but were they actually inferior?
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[@majorkill]

I was always intended to make a Thunder Warrior video today, its just coincidentally on theme with my exploding power lines. NEW MAJOR MINI, the Lightning Captain is Live : www.majorminis.com.au/products/lightning-captain Space Lions are getting delist in 48 hours, last chance to get them here : www.majorminis.com.au/products/space-lion-squad

[@shanelop8749]

Make a BattleTech video!!!

[@jeffboberson8588]

Can we have admech major minis

[@sharinganamvs9839]

Day 4 of requesting for a video on Cato Sicarius

[@bmwg35]

Boo, you could have touched on Endryd Haar

[@withlovefromlightindust591]

Hello Majorkill, Would you please make some lore videos on the Imperial Truth, the Imperial Creed, the Ecclesiarchy, and the High Lords of Terra? Pretty please? Thank you.

[@Sully3000]

I'd like to see thunders warriors interact with a primarch, like guillman. Guilliman: What are you? Tw: Your fathers first mistake.

[@jorahtheexplorer3262]

Primarch Bob: the mullet?

[@kristofevarsson6903]

Guilliman: "What are you?" Thunder Warrior: "Disowned, like many of our brothers. But unlike them, I never faltered. Never failed. And still he turned on me, on us..."

[@Nexsoxs]

​@@kristofevarsson6903I honestly think the any living iron lords, 4th legion of the thunder warriors, would just laugh at the iron warriors. Space marine iron warrior "Waaawaaawaaa my battles are too harddd" Iron lord "bitchmade" Like can you imagine a thunder warrior complaining about "hard fights"???

[@kristofevarsson6903]

@@Nexsoxs The Thunder Boys were literally, physically built different 💪🏻

[@Cole-ui8bi]

Big E did made something of a prototype to the primarch with wings

[@albertluke372]

Imagine if Khorne or Nurgle was able to corrupt the thunder warriors and using warp magic to remove all their drawbacks and enhancing them with daemon powers.

[@alphaomega938]

When T warriors are exposed to the warp they go berserk, power up and kill everything around them including allies

[@osirisshadoll4572]

The gods can just boost random DeathGuard/WolrdEater to get the same result, plus DeathGuard keep their genius mind, average SM would outsmart average TW any day, spare some outliner Not to mention the connection between Chaos Primarch and CSM offer more benefit than TW

[@balticbvll2987]

Yea too bad that would never of happened, for all their faults, they the most loyal fighting force you could ask for. Even, in my opinion, better than the custodes, because they werent automatons engineered to be loyal without question. They were mere men, men who were the size of a truck but still men, they fought for the Emperor because they loved him. They didnt fight for anything else but the Emperor, he was their god, and to betray him was to spit in the face of all that they held dear - honor, loyalty, unity and their love of the emperor.

[@deceidwithinfected4443]

@@balticbvll2987 Yeah great how for all this loyality toward the empereror he repaid them by masacaring them all really shows again how nice of a guy the emperor really is

[@blacktemplarchaplainmarius42]

If the Warp did a Chronosphere effect from RA2(In another life), 15 Thunder Warriors who were Patrolling through a massive Storm around Terra before the culling, were time traveled lets say 5000 years around the 31st Millennium, seeing Chaos Astartes and few Warp tainted sorcerers try to persuade the ancient Warriors but they attack nonetheless, killing few Traitor Marines and then time kicking them in balls because the effects of age being their worst enemy and were cut down losing 5 Thunder Warriors. But then the Sorcerer wanted to keep them alive by manipulating their flesh with the help with a Psychic grip more difficult to let loose, the Thunder Warriors did not yell in pain instead giving them a boost of strength to the delight and chagrin of the sorcerer. Few Thunder Warriors were possessed by daemons while other's mentality going off so bad it would make the World Eaters look like peasants, the Thunder Warriors inhumanly roared like wild beasts ripping off the psychic grip from the sorcerer and charge with inhuman speed much to the dismay of the traitors. The traitors put up a good fight but the battle was one-sided, the traitors were destroyed and massacred by brutal means almost wiping out the entire warband, safe for 2 the Sorcerer and his Daemonic 2nd in command. They were prepared for their final stand readying for a fight and enter the Warp with open arms but to their Surprise, the Tainted Thunder warriors stood still in front panting and breathing menacingly with tainted blood fresh of the warband on their armor. The warriors stood looking down at the sorcerer and later kneel to their new Master. The Chaos Sorcerer saw this as an opportunity, an opportunity he may think this was Tzeentch's plans, so he planned to mold his new warriors into something new that the Emperor would slightly dread while his custodies would look with disdain, that a lost group of Thunder Warriors were corrupted by the Warp, reborn with a new purpose to slaughter and ravage their enemies. These were Thunder Warriors no more, they are reborn as *_The Blood Warriors_* tainted with immense strength and savagery as a blighted gift from the Dark Gods.

[@paimonisfood4986]

What would've happened if the Emperor decided to mass produce Thunder Warriors during the Heresy?

[@Majorfuckinghero]

While probably a decent counter to the lesser tactical traitors like World Eaters or The Deathguard, they would probably have been outgunned and outsmarted very fast by almost any other legion.

[@lUseMyBlade]

Keeping them in Stasis as shock assault troops was better imo.

[@zacharyweaver276]

Thunder warriors feel like they'd be more vulnerable to chaos so not a good idea

[@Kareszkoma]

Massacre of heretics, most likely. But he didn't, even though he could've. Thunder Warriors seem to be resistant to Choas, but maybe not.

[@hummerskickass]

If he could manufacture enough equipment to arm them with then they would have been a significant advantage. His description of them being retards is a bit hyperbolic. They just weren’t genius level space marines. They would still be tactically adapt and capable of fighting a complex war. Having a bunch of super soldiers on the defense who are even tougher than the guys attacking you could free up space marines for other more complex tasks.

[@NP3GA]

The Thunder Warriors are like the Tiger tank: strong, fast and can take a lot of hits but extremely unreliable and it's probably gonna die on it's way the battle

[@Kareszkoma]

Okay, that's just unfair. They are lot better than that comparison. They marched to other nations, even sprinted at and they definitely made it. They crushed enemy armies and they were massively effective. The survivors of the Ararath massacre charged at the custode and actually broke through. They broke through the Custode wall. Than kept running and sprinting for hours. That's just a difference.

[@sphyre1196]

I like the analogy but I am not sure the Tiger H was really all that fast and I don't suppose you are talking about the King Tiger.

[@josephboustany4852]

​@@Kareszkoma at first I thought you were saying that op was being unfair to the tiger tanks and was confused (I know nothing of tanks) then I had a pretty good laugh at myself after reading you comment

[@Kareszkoma]

@@josephboustany4852 Ohh.. I see. Thank! Glad you had a laugh. I guess I should be naming the subject first next time.

[@Reepicheep-1]

Especially when backstapped by Custodes.

[@jonathan6401]

How each pre-heresy primarch would react to the current imperium when placed in Gullimans shoes would be a cool video idea

[@Sluggadome_Rotunda_Bernardson]

You got this dude! It will happen one day!

[@Ecthelion842]

Lorgar: They worship dad?! COOL! BEST FUTURE CONFIRMED! Angron: ANGRY Mortarion: Stinky and angry about psychers and his dad being worshipped Corvax: Angry about corruption, but willing to do what needs doing. Probably angry about daddy church Konrad: I TOLD YOU! I SAW THIS SHIT AND I TOLD YOU ALL! I WAS RIGHT THE WHOLE TIME! VINDICATION! Horus: Probably horrified Leman: Angry at corruption, angry at the Inquisition, angry at the dad church Alpha/Omega: Confused and confusing everyone Vulcan: hugs for everyone, some hugs would be lethal though Fulgrim: IT'S NOT PRETTY ENOUGH! MORE GOLD! Sanguinus: Holy fuck, how the hell have you monkeys survived?! Ok, sons, time to use the black rage to leroy jenkins this galaxy Unknown two: Unknown Ferrus: Not enough augments, time to make it mandatory for all Imperial citizens. *mechanicus squees in background* The Lion: Time to go doomslayer mode on this galaxy

[@ouromov2895]

@@Ecthelion842 Khan: "Oh you forgot me from your list, just the way I like it." *Revs bike and fights with his sons in some distant battles*

[@abdullahirfan9991]

​@@ouromov2895 apart from robot gorilla man, ghagatai Khan is level headed and has the unique power of common sense. Also he fast as fuck

[@ouromov2895]

@@abdullahirfan9991 Honestly he has the most common sense out of the bunch. He didn't just blindly believe in the Emperor either, but didn't side with Chaos out of his own calculated choice. He weighed his options and went like. "Nah, I'm loyal and will destroy the heretics."

[@memosanchez8916]

Imagine how strong thunder warriors would be if cawl was allowed to perfect their augmentations the fact it took the custodes suprise attacking them shows how powerful they really are

[@ASH-su6nb]

Not that thunder warriors are not powerful, cause they're are but wouldn't the custodes be in their infancy at the time, I would imagine hundreds of years of training has made much stronger

[@projektava9385]

@@ASH-su6nb there is limit between training and combat expirience since they stoped figthing i dont think their ability ti fight got that much better over the time, also there is limit to technique, if you could mass produce 100 000 of thunder wariors it looks like they would just defeat anything, also the point about inteligence is pretty dumb, just give them good comanders with enchanced brains, give them astartes comanders, and let those beasts do their work

[@ru_gamerandotaku2431]

I think cawl already did in a way through the primaris but it's probably more like cawl getting a message from big e saying to finish the sm rather than perfect the thunder warriors but still though I'd love to see what cawl would do if he somehow rediscovers a way to bring back the tw probably from finding one of the old ones that have somehow still survived or he just accidentally managed to find a way

[@godking]

@@ASH-su6nb Custodes predate Thunder warriors it simply takes alot of resources to even create one of them

[@RorikH]

Possibly spicy take: It would've been cooler to have Cawl rediscover and refine the design of these guys, maybe with some better mental stability, than to create Primaris. More, "Decaying Empire pulling up some old and dangerous tech", less "Decaying Empire no longer decaying"

[@Kareszkoma]

Isn't that what the Primaris is though? Where did that extra mass came from? There was a reason why Space Marines weren't as big as the Thunder Warriors. But the the Primaris is also a lot more durable. The TW had crude muscle grafting, bodily enhancements. Primaris had technological better bodily enhancements.

[@ericmacrae6871]

​@@Kareszkoma extremely good point. Remember that Crawl saw a vision of the Emperor who essentially said to him that he needed to finish his work on the Space Marine

[@MWH12085]

The Primaris are basically Thunder warriors improved

[@RorikH]

@M Yes, but a major theme of the setting of 40K is that most of the factions are decaying or already decayed. I think regressing to an earlier, worse design because it's easier to implement en-masse (I mean, not necessarily the original method, but Cawl's updated method could be cheaper) would be more interesting than just the same but better so people buy new toys.

[@woaddragon]

I don't know much about that. On one hand, the issues of the the Primarus is the magnetizatiin of the already big " space marine problem". On the other hand, I can see that " Improved thunder warriors" would still be considered the " Brighting of the Grimdark universe. This is special the case in hindsight.

[@billalumni7760]

Wow, that part about being immune to pain really makes the Thunder Warriors seem a cross between Astartes and Orks, with all the physical benefits.

[@classarank7youtubeherokeyb63]

Sounds like they're much stronger than your typical ork but not self-replicating or long lived. And probably inferior to your typical Krork.

[@eoincollins379]

I was so disappointed the last thunder warrior's didn't show up in The seige of Terra. The last 300 buying time for the Emperor to come off the golden throne would of been the ultimate end to the war.

[@billjameson1254]

Read Outcast Dead, a few do show up.

[@Nexsoxs]

They did. They leaned into hordes of traitor marines and renforced loyalist space marines. Unfortunately they lack the numbers to truly impact the battle.

[@aldrinmilespartosa1578]

​@Nexsoxs loyal till the end. Funny that they turned traitor, considering they pretty much have the grips more, doing everything right but still killed.

[@ZerglingLover]

hopefully they can beat a thunderbird in one on one combat

[@tbone9474]

Money's on thunderbird 2

[@MarkOfAstria]

With or without pilot?

[@Flesh_Wizard]

But they can't beat a thundercûnt though

[@chrisdouglas1158]

What about a thundercat?

[@ZerglingLover]

@@MarkOfAstria honestly, i didn’t even know there were so many thunderbirds. I was referencing the mythical birds, and presumably, you couldn’t pilot them. are you referencing something other than the car, motorcycle, mythical beast or what appears to be a website?

[@Kareszkoma]

Also... A Thunder Warrior Heresy is very hard to put down. If they fight toe to toe with Custode, it's a huge threat.

[@velstadtvonausterlitz2338]

Ushotan didn't fought toe to toe with Constantine. It's more like Constantine allowing ushotan to enjoy his moment before putting him out of his misery.

[@robdeskrd]

@MamboJambo, Thunder Warriors ain't going toe to toe with a Custodes, some Primarchs would have trouble going toe to toe with a Custodes- These guys don't receive any gene-seed or implants, they are individually altered at the cellular level starting around 5 years old!

[@agentc7020]

@@robdeskrd Some primarchs would have trouble fighting *a* custodes? Bs, one on one ANY primarch destroys a custodes, now if you threw a big number at the primarch that's where we'd see differences in who takes how many out.

[@agentc7020]

@@velstadtvonausterlitz2338 Sounds like banana cope ngl.

[@petaisajoke]

@@robdeskrdas a banana boy fan this comment is just nonsense

[@lukegeraci1743]

Would have been interesting to see mass production of thunder warriors for the siege of terra

[@gideonmele1556]

That would gave been hilarious. Traitors at the gate and then… Death Guard: “tf are these?” Assembly lined TWs: “we’re you but bet- derp” Pert: well this was unexpected

[@mattk1764]

Fun fact: In one of the HH novels (unfortunately I forgot which), I read of a former World Eater, and it is heavily implied he was a Thunder Warrior before becoming a World Eater (he had a thunderwarrior tattoo on his body, and he too had managed to kill a custodian 1v1)

[@andrewzhu5394]

you mean endryd haar right?

[@gfgffdd]

Yes ​@@andrewzhu5394

[@aldrinmilespartosa1578]

There's goes my headcannon. It would have been funny if the TW couldn't be currupted by thunder worriors.

[@gladiatordude3723]

@@aldrinmilespartosa1578he wasn’t chaos corrupted he was actually a loyal during the heresy

[@Kareszkoma]

@@aldrinmilespartosa1578 Unlikely that a TW would be ever corrupted normally. Because they saw the Old Terra, during old night, and choas techno barbarian wizards whatevers, and they joined the cause, because Big-E promised to make Terra better and get rid of them. They fought against them and destroyed them. They knew them in a way, that they didn't want any of it.

[@alotosius]

Its GW isn't it? they are coming after you with their horde of bloodthirsty layers. Stay strong Majorkill!

[@deezboyeed6764]

Welcome to the future.

[@VeryDeathlyShiny]

They already destoryed Valorak.

[@lucca144]

Given how it's just specific models and he's looking for new artists, I'd be willing to bet that it has more to due with an internal dispute.

[@mrblack5145]

​@Luka144 I agree.. I would reckon to guess someone in charge of model design had a disagreement- be it financial or creative- with MajorKill. The artist(s) likely has ownership of the model itself so as their intellectual property, they can take it with them when they breach the contract. Then again, MajorKill has openly admitted that he's terrible at reading fine print of contracts, so its entirely possible that he failed to secure the legal rights to the model design. I'm sure we will get the full story when hes able to tell us regardless.

[@Caboose816]

It honestly wouldn't surprise me. A lot of his minis look very similar. The ones he's keeping are either quite different, or there's no GW version. Well find out soon enough.

[@danpitzer765]

Now picture this - Bile learns to make Primaris. Uses that to fix himself. Decides that's not good enough. Buys some Thunder Warriors off Trazyn to study. Makes Primaris Thunder Warriors.

[@bonefetcherbrimley7740]

Thunder primaris.

[@abdullahirfan9991]

Bile waking up one day: *why is everything on fire in a vacuum*

[@MrRyjlox]

I actually think Bile should find a way to make better Thunder Warriors as a counter to Primaris. I feel with the way Bile operates, Thunder Warriors would be more his style rather than just trying to copy someone elses work.

[@Logan-il1rw]

I would’ve much rather had improved thunder warriors (primaris thunder warriors) than primaris space marines

[@michaelhowell2326]

The Thunder Warriors are one of my favorite factions from the 40K Universe. I think it would nifty as hell if one or two made an appearance.

[@mcmarkmarkson7115]

Yea, those boys actually perfectly fulfilled their duty unlike any other creation of the Emperor. Srsly though, why did the emperor kill them when he allowed even more retarded space marines like Angrons legions to exist.

[@taxevasiongaming]

I think a few were allowed to fight in the world eaters

[@inductivegrunt94]

Honestly, I love Thunder Warriors. They're basically what the World Eaters want to be, while being 100% loyal to the Emperor. I'd love to see how the traitor legions would have reacted if Big E had 100,000 of these guys unleashed upon them during the Siege of Terra. That would be so awesome! They're just so feeaking badass and I really want more of them in 40k lore.

[@TheNapster153]

I've mentioned before, Angron with Thubder Warriors would've been the perfect fit. The former can have his tantrums and the latter can take the punishment on top of remaining loyal to Emps. Furthermore, the two sides have something to bond over the fact they were both ticking time bombs and are just waiting to die.

[@Dimetropteryx]

Their mental degradation is basically ultra-PTSD. Episodes of blacking out, reliving old battles, violent rampages. Unaugmented human intelligence in 40k is a very wide spectrum. The Astra Militarum has some pretty smart fellas. Thunder warriors who stood out were promoted to primarchs for the Thunder Legions, for example Arik Taranis and Ushotan.

[@noobskyebot]

I’d love to see a modified version of the Thunder Warriors brought back as a counter to the Primaris Marines.

[@masonking240]

I would love a video going over Arik Taranis as a whole since it’s he easily implied he survived the Horus heresy

[@thedango6890]

If i do start purchasing mini's it will be from MajorKill. Those models are slappin!

[@killerzillavolt2655]

I like to think that the Minotaur chapter are like a hybrid of space marine and thunder warrior. Which might explain their strength compared to other marines. Both methods are used to make a Minotaur.

[@averageeughenjoyer6429]

Knowing them the inquisition made a hybrid geneseed out of the strongest

[@Adino1]

That would also explain why they are so secretive. Great theory.

[@henryforsberg2629]

oh damn! finally something about the thunder warriors

[@Shablimbles]

So in other words majorkill is being attacked because he’s selling better minis than the other guys

[@axelcreep9185]

This will help me a lot for a fanfic I'm doing where the cabal rescues a considerable amount of thunder warriors and they found a faction of corsairs/mercenaries.

[@Liethen]

Would have been cool if instead of Cawl, the primaris were made by Arik Taranis as the fruit of his labors trying to stabilize himself and his fellow survivors. Or as an alternative instead of the backstory we got for Cawl, if instead it turned out he was Arik in disguise, having failed to fully stabilize his flesh, replacing it instead with cybernetics, but having created the primaris as a consolation prize.

[@Sgt_Glory]

That's actually brilliant

[@robertnelson9599]

@@Sgt_Glory At least he would have had a better backstory than a fucking vat grown slave.

[@Googleisstupid-sk3hm]

Thus right here!! Brilliant!!

[@darkohanusic]

Great video,I would love to see your take on a video about the traitor guard

[@im2randomghgh]

Endryd Haar, a successful space marine/thunder warrior hybrid, was so strong that in power armour he was able to yeet terminator clad Abaddon, who is already primarch sized, through a wall. He also punched Abaddon hard enough to crack his armour.

[@gfgffdd]

Imagine it. Thunder Warriors Astartes Hybrids. The ultimate super soldier. And than imagine solar auxilia as support forces. Perfekt Combination

[@planetbob6703]

There’s a currently running fanfic where the emperor decides to keep producing more stable thunder warriors besides astartes. With problems in the gene seed being discovered much earlier it’s considered a security measure in case they turn against Big E.

[@hulguntristan6268]

Link ?

[@planetbob6703]

@@hulguntristan6268 it's called Everqueen. Isha escapes the birth of Slaneesh and decides Terra is the safest place to crash. Big E doesn't like having an Eldar warp construct around but her knowledge of biomancy and Eldar wraithbone make her too valuable to destroy. The improvements to the thunder warriors, food, medicine, terraforming, etc. make the conquest of Terra much faster than planned, greatly benefitting his plans. On the other hand chaos tends to create roadblocks to get her. The author also gives citations to plotpoints or small details, which is pretty nice. It has some emperor backstory. I'm not going to spoil who was involved in his creation though. At the current point of the story Horus has been found but an earlier decision of Isha comes back to bite her. She sent out a secret message to the Eldar to help them through these dark times, not expecting a craft world to find her location and attempt to "rescue" her. The emperor is obviously not pleased with this breach of trust...

[@hulguntristan6268]

@@planetbob6703 nice

[@hellomybaby-hellodarknessm6895]

“I’m here to reunify the galaxy and chew bubblegum, and I’m all out of- wait what are the custodies doing?”

[@adrienwatson2179]

The "One of the Thunder Warrior Leaders" Was not just some Thunder Warrior His Name was Ushotan..and he was called "The Primarch" one of the "Primarchs" of the Thunder Warrior legions Some say there was no difference (Physically) between them and the lesser TWs.....but these guys were bad ass enough for thr Emperor to name his sons after them

[@zerofighterfairy]

I love Thunder Warrior helmet, especially the front part with the glass eyeshield

[@taianonni]

Great vid as always Majorkill... Thunder warriors remind me of mercenaries/conscripted soldiers vs professional armies of Space Marines ie: knights, samurai, gallowglass or other "hereditary" caste of fighters. They come off more like berserkers and, begrudgedly, I agree they would be poor PR for a galactic crusade

[@matthewsleppy1118]

Do you think it is possible that the leader of the space sharks is actually a thunder warrior that found away to fix some of his degradation problems

[@averageeughenjoyer6429]

Too big

[@matthewsleppy1118]

@@averageeughenjoyer6429 who is too big. The thunder warrior or whats his name the leader of the sharks

[@averageeughenjoyer6429]

@@matthewsleppy1118 Tyberos is primarch sized

[@agentc7020]

@@averageeughenjoyer6429 Space marines are shorter than thunder warriors to begin with, if Tyberos was a thunder warrior then that'd explain better his massive size.

[@averageeughenjoyer6429]

@@agentc7020 But even they don’t get that big, the best theory would be him being a raptor

[@justchyll2009]

Doesn’t Trazyn have a Thunder warrior in his collection? I wonder if they’ll use that in a later story

[@billyherrington5112]

A Thunder Warrior, silver armored custodes, Luna Wolves Helmet,Biotitans, whatever you want

[@adrienwatson2179]

​@@billyherrington5112 A Titan Legio or two Ya know, the usual

[@z-man1237]

@@billyherrington5112 Don’t forget a Krork

[@Googleisstupid-sk3hm]

I timed traveled and gave him the unlimited weapons to stop cold feet,......Legos. He marvel at ,past human weapons of destruction. I told him , the pastvhumans send their regards..

[@FenrisSulfr]

Some thunder warrior luv at last! Hope these dudes get a fan made story some day!!! How they conquered Terra until they're demise!! Even the Big E getting Luna and Mars and the real beginning of the Great Crusade is fascinating

[@CallsignYukiMizuki]

Majorkill is the kind of guy that could make the Emperor willingly scooch over when he wants to sit on the Golden Throne

[@Coalition2298qy.]

What does that mean

[@joshley1320]

I will always want a full series like the horus heresy on the unification wars to see these bad boys in action

[@Loken-wd4tw]

Is the minotaur chapter of space marines a refined and perfected thunder warrior/ space marine hybrid mix now that'd be some interesting shenanigans to explain

[@gumbercules3925]

A thunder warrior chaos champion or demon prince would be neat One of them living just long enough to join chaos at the start of the heresy isnt a stretch.

[@gideonmele1556]

Burner super soldiers, when you need it done fast and cheap and can’t be bothered if it breaks down

[@petersaunders5808]

11:09 Honestly, skip the terminator armor part. Just give them a rebreather system, power their legs, drop pod them in, grab a bag of popcorn, and watch them go.

[@Alcoholfreebeer]

I do wish that somehow there are still some thunder warriors out there. I think it would be cool if they met fabius bile and he helped them become able to live for millenia, I also just wish they made models for them currently.

[@Yumao420]

I've been saying for some time that they would be amazing to see as basically as cheap supersoldiers used with the Imperial guard and Inquisition since it seems that a single plasma rifle is basically more expensive and way more short lived. So there's my grain of sand

[@adrienwatson2179]

Think about it this way Several Thunder Warriors survived and were CURED of their issues at the end of the Heresy. (Including Asterion Molech is...larger....faster...stronger than any other Astartes (Other than our favorite Carcharadon.) Molech IS Arik Taranis, the Thunder Warrior lord Thats my head canon anyways

[@Alcoholfreebeer]

​@@adrienwatson2179 Honestly, I feel like that makes a lot of sense, we know that thanks to their size and strength the Thunder Warriors were stronger than the astartes. The idea that Arik Taranis (someone that would presumably have lots of experience fighting astartes and possibly a few custodes) would be extremely talented at killing astartes makes sense. Furthermore, it would explain why the minotaurs are so good at killing astartes, their leader has thousands of years of experience fighting all kinds of the emperor's super soldiers.

[@jim4695]

The Valdor novel has some great insights on this topic. You could never put Thunder Warriors on a space ship because they'd have killed each other by the time they got to a war zone. I dont know why they weren't used in the pacification of Luna though, as using them as bezerker troops in front of the 16th would have been a better end than Ararat.

[@gigglehurtz3167]

its a generalized agreement they were actually quite a bit stronger than a space marine but not as versatile, long lived, or stable. As far as i knew. I remember some story about when the dark angels were used to help cull them that they took down 2 or 3 astartes for every 1 thunder warrior dead.

[@OneReallyGrumpyJill]

Me: "Man, I wonder where Majorkill is" Majorkill: currently experiencing second coming

[@oddersisadog]

The Emperor should have turned them into a Honor Guard so to speak, basicaly have a sit down talk with the entire force after the battle of Arararat...minus the betrayal. Tell them you gave them the honor of the last battle for a unified Terra. "Now you have the honor of being the Honor Guard. Never again will your number be created but you will have to option to retire or fight in the Honor Guard." Make the HG commanded by Custodes and have them basically fight until they are all dead in vanguard assaults, but have each one that dies in battle immortalized as statues in the capital. With how much shit is in space...that shouldn't take too long.

[@biojunky]

Just finished The Outcast Dead. Great topic to cover. I always assumed thunder. Warriors were smaller than space marines untill the end of that book!

[@slimjim877]

I wonder why they just weren't tossed into stasis pods, and then sent out to fight things like the orks, or chaos worlds. Would have got them out the way, and given them a more glorious end.

[@bloodhunter07]

I hope GW will make a new faction made of thunder warriors who escaped terra and hide in a save place in the warp and then found a way to upgrade and fix themselves and now they are roaming the galaxy saving human worlds but still planning to kill the big asshole

[@DungeonsNDreadnoughts]

Subbed on my business account. You'll be getting an email from us shortly about working with you on miniatures! Hope we hear back from you

[@CrimsonVrs]

can't believe this guy took out his areas power for this vid, that transition was smooth as fnck though ngl

[@alexanderimmortal4354]

I've heard they were stronger than Custodes as well but it was their unstable mental state that sealed their fate in the Emperors eyes to eliminate them

[@VeryDeathlyShiny]

No, they were not stronger than Custodes. The problem with the Thunder Warriors was that they were blood thirsty and had no place in the Emperor's vision of a "civilized Imperium". He creatred the TW from the various tribes of techo-barbarians roaming Earth after long-night. They followed His orders, so long as those orders were decimation, but they were very unstable and by the time that Terra had been fully conquored under His banner, He had completed the I legion, soon to be known as the Dark Angels. The DA in addition to His custodes were tasked with purging the Thunder Warriors. Keep in mind, the Astartes in addition to the Primarchs - were fully intended to be discarded just like the Thunder Warriors. Once the scattered fragments of humanity were re-unified, He would have given the order to purge the legions and then either destroyed the Primarch, used the few who were useful statesmen/infrastructure (Guilliman, Horus to lead and Magnus to be a 9V battery plugged into the golden throne) and then sealed the rest into their "villas" below the imperial palace (essentially prisons). But the Heresy fucked all that up - or perhaps it was the plan all along - who knows. But circling back, no. The TW were *NOT* stronger than custodes. When the order to purge them was given, the custodes slaughtered them all, near-effortlessly. You need to keep in mind the power scaling. A custodes is to an astartes, as an astartes is to an imperial guardsman.

[@LouisKing995]

@@VeryDeathlyShinyI disagree with that often touted power scaling argument. It’s total banana fanboy nonsense not backed up by any official source. And anyway the OP didn’t say better than a custodes, he said physically stronger, which is perfectly plausible. Thunder warriors are effectively just gene bred super humans. The imperium is filled with similar beings. A typical Ogryn is likely stronger than a custodes, but it does not mean they’d beat a custodes in a fight.

[@gfgffdd]

​@@LouisKing995 Well spoken sir

[@Zeke90k]

would love to see some thunder warriors worshipping chaos gods

[@sphyre1196]

Would you rather have a Legion of Angrons or a Legion of Guillimen? That's how I see the comparison between Thunder Warriors and Astartes.

[@Kareszkoma]

That's kinda unfair too. Angron? Really? Lots of Thunder Warriors were educated. They were just normies. They weren't berserkers who were lost in their minds, only when the chemical hyper aggression kicked in. They used tactics, plans and every kind of fighting styles. They only charged the enemy if the enemy couldn't counter it effectively. That's very different from Angron.

[@sphyre1196]

@@Kareszkoma Angron used ambush tactics too against the high riders as far as I know. But he deteriorated more and more when he was reunited with his Legion just like the Thunder Boys. He was a crude brute force instrument just like the thunder warriors. Also Angron wasn't uneducated or stupid, none of the Primarchs were, his condition just made him react irrational and on instinct. I have a lot of sympathy for Angron and his story but he still remains a bad Primarch due to the Nails, which were none of his fault tbh.

[@Kareszkoma]

@@sphyre1196 Yes, that is an entirely other topic. I understand your sympathy. But for the most part, I feel like it is unfair. The Thunder Warriors did better, than if you were to compare late Angron with Guilliman. The Thunder Warriors were doing generally a lot better. Even if they were crude instrument, they weren't unprecise or foolish. They were only human. While the Astarte were more enhanced humans. In that later comparison, being human, that comparison I could agree with.

[@TheAteam4eva]

Man I’d love to have a 40K warband of Chaos aligned renegade Thunder Warriors resulting from the events at the end of The Outcast Dead

[@Kareszkoma]

Another thing is, that they can be mass produced, while the Astarte, not so much. They can be made rather rapidly, and cost effectively. They can be used as a normal army, for decades or maybe half a century.

[@gfgffdd]

Yes. That is something i allways say to space marine fanboys. It takes 25 to 100 years to realy create and train a fully space marine. A Thunder Warriors were recruted from battle hardend experianced veterans. So you did not even need to train them much. And i dont think that their transformation takes more than a year.

[@Kareszkoma]

​@@gfgffddAs far as I know, it takes months. Also, Veterans against Techno-Barbarians. Survivors. Which made them especially resilient against them and the Choas forces. *1 Technically, only 15 years till a full grown Space Marine. There is an XP Cheat. Pretty much only used by the revenant legion. Every new Initiate had to eat from the flesh of the fallen veterans, sergeants, veteran enemy warriors and generals. To gain their knowledge through flesh. With -enough- flesh, the initiate can get years of experience in a matter of days or months. As for the rest, it is lot of years. Aside that, Thunder Warriors weren't trained, but could be. They could receive education while they serve. On the Battlefield, briefings and so on. Their armor platings were simple, their armor were simple. Advanced, but very barbaric. And they had basic tech comms, supplies and boltgun weaponry. Which was effective and mass produce able. Pretty much pressing metals and assembling. Those guys were super cost effective and very fastly made. Super armies in months or years. Incomparable to a Space Marine. Space Marines are good, but they still tend to lose against Thunder Warriors a lot. *1 A weird thing thou. 30k Space Marines were mindwiped. For some reason? Even though much of the resistance of 40k SM-s and TW-s came from their humanity and experience. Hence why in 40k it's so extremely rare for a Chapter to join Choas. A weird choice?

[@volks2605]

Endryd Harr might be something interesting to talk about.

[@rayraybordley8732]

Been out of work for 6 months from a couple surgerys thanks for making me smile I appreciate you homie. Been listening for years and started my first army last month. *dark angels 💪

[@cp1cupcake]

There was a power company merger something like 20 years ago in the US. They tried running both sets of grids on only one of the old company's computers. The computers froze, leaving all of the workers on shift to think that all of the calls about loss of power were isolated incidents. Around 55 million people across the USA and Canada lost power. As I understand it, from a guy who was working at the time, they only started realizing what was going on when off shift workers started reporting substations on fire.

[@musicalDrebin]

Hell yeah! i've always wanted thunder warrior models! personally i don't get why Big E killed them. just stop making them, and send what was left out in the great crusade, so they could die fighting like they wanted. i don't know. maybe he just felt the Dark Angels needed to cut their teeth on some hard targets. Emps can be pretty cold like that sometimes

[@Mrwigglyau]

They sound like a cool rebel faction that could be introduced in the new edition at some stage, write the lore in that they where the results of those hybridisations carried out in secret.

[@spacemarine00]

DAMN bro that is wild regarding the Mini's. Please dont give up as myself and others buy your miniatures for our collection. Also YES PLEASE give us more Thunder Warrior Mini's!

[@Yemith_Gaming]

Seems to me, 100 thunder warriors in terminator armor in stasis would be a hard counter for most Ork Boyzs, chaos berzerkers and short time tyranids and no fun for dark eldar as it you couldn't torment them.

[@simonpark843]

Interesting video about an often-neglected area of 40K lore. Nice one.

[@trimeerious4349]

Getting a video about how each of the primarchs would have reacted to being in Guillimans current situation as the first to reawaken would be pretty cool ngl

[@jeremyrm7]

I love the idea of using the thunder warriors as drop troops in the initial crusade, would’ve been a hell of a way to go

[@Steezyjo510]

I like to think that Moloc and some of the minotaurs are secretly thunder warriors and that's why they rip through space marines like paper but are also loyal to the high lords for sparing them.

[@nicolaskemp313]

5:11 how badass - to humble even Astartes and then casually just leave. Id watch an animation of this. To see in the Thunder warriors eyes after killing your squads best duelist and a few of your mates: “my days are numbered true, but how many more of you really want to waste your lives here?” Surviving an encounter, no less actually walking away from one with squad of space marines is the epitome of badass.

[@sparkrock9134]

Hey MajorKill, a question I've always wanted to know that you haven't done a video on is on Saint Celestine and Diplomat of the imperium. Diplomats always show up to settle various conflicts in the setting and looks unique in the art. Are there any Diplomats of the imperium that are named characters that settle wars or setting peace agreements with other Xeno races for the good of the imperium/world? Are there Diplomats that make things worse and escalate the conflicts? Be a pretty interesting topic if you have any free time.

[@norrecvizharan1177]

The moment you said "while the thunder warriors lacked any self healing traits or instantly clotting blood, they were essentially immune to pain" it kinda instantly clicked into my mind as to why they were so much more potent than regular Astartes. Generally speaking, pain is the body's way of keeping us from outright ripping ourselves apart through exertion, which can lead to an extreme strength boost at the obvious cost of longevity. Really makes ya wonder how terrifying it'd be if you removed pain as a whole from the Astartes. Maybe then they'd truly be the 2.0 version, but the only theoretical cost is that they might easily cripple themselves or have difficulties in longer fights due to ripping muscle mass quickly.

[@unintentionallydramatic]

Can you make a video about the Custodes/Thunder Warrior ascension process? I feel like TWs were probably even more mass producable than SMs. SMs have to be free of mutation and that's kinda not exactly easy to get from random Age of Strive tribals.

[@gideonmele1556]

Maybe that’s why they get super cancer. They’re basically space roid ragers and if one has a bit of the ol’ mutation and a pinch of chaos I could imagine the overclocking/hypermetabolizing would shoot any existing issues into overdrive

[@unintentionallydramatic]

@@gideonmele1556 Very, very, very likely got something to do with it too. You take some already not exaaaactly healthy soldierman and inject him with space growth hormone that ain't gonna go well.

[@gfgffdd]

The Thunder Warriors are faster to produce than Astartes. If you need at least 20 years to produce an Astartes you will only need 2 years at max for Thunder Warriors. And keep in mind that they could be upgraded into Thunder Astartes with geen seed.

[@DustyPazner]

I think a modern day thunder lord or some sort of consequence like chaos thunder warriors or something would be cool.

[@ladiesgentswegothim]

While reading the Siege of Terra, I was secretly hoping for a secret company of Thunder Warriors kept in stasis for some glorious last stand against the traitors. Missed opportunity IMHO.

[@willesco7416]

That would've been EPIC. But I think with the deamonicic taint they would've fell to Khorne almost immediately. Khorne's face was literally in the sky watching the battle and even went for Dorn in an attempt to turn him. A TW who lacks the brain capacity beyond hack n slash and knows he is dying from some Thousand Son-esk changer of ways tumor in his colon? Blood for the Fn Blood God! 😂

[@JoeSmith-sl9bq]

If I was a TW woken from stasis I would instantly join the traitors

[@ladiesgentswegothim]

@@JoeSmith-sl9bq See that would be interesting too

[@averageeughenjoyer6429]

@@willesco7416 They didn’t turn to chaos when having every reason to

[@willesco7416]

@Average Eugh Enjoyer the warp wasn't as active during that time. They weren't in the stars yet and the Big E was on the battlefields then. They wouldn't try to turn them with him watching. During The Seige of Terra the Choas Gods presence was front and center while he sat on the golden throne

[@nobobonobo]

1:52 video starts

[@NobodyDungeons]

This is definitely something I have to incorporate into my own space marine chapters.

[@JosephMoses-e2s]

These videos are a major boredom killer mid-workday

[@dwenchan831]

Should be great for boarding actions including on space hulks- speed not an issue, takes a lot of punishment just like an orgyn but way smarter..Just upgrade their armour, give them dependable bolt guns, a thunder hammer and a ballistic shield

[@timeforthehammer1401]

Does anyone know if the thunder warrior from the novel the outcast dead is still alive and doing anything useful during the Horus heresy?

[@SpottedHares]

Kind of sounds like Thunder Warriors are the mass produced throttled to the max Space Marine. Since you know they’re not gonna last might as well run them in over drive.

[@zacharyweaver276]

I would love a story about a thunder warrior crime lord on Terra who survived Roboute's purge and is dealing with gangers, and cultists while trying to avoid attention from inquisitors and custodes

[@SuperSteelyGlint]

There kind of is one already, l can't remember the name of the book atm but it's part of the Horus heresy series

[@SuperSteelyGlint]

Outcast Dead is the book.

[@Overanalyse_This]

Tyrannus is one of the most badass names in 40k!

[@40kterapy3]

Keep up the awesome content

[@jacobpowell2037]

I imagine majorkill trying to explain the hand thing that he does when he says,”let’s get into it.”, by saying something like, “ yeah, so I just kinda do this with my fucking hands.”

[@Adino1]

I need more of Arik Taranis' story. It has been 13 years since we last heard of him.

[@robskovira5626]

As far as durability goes even without the blood clotting organ, I think the Thunder warriors were far superior than space marines as durability goes. Endryd Haar a world eater who is quite possibly a former thunder Warrior was insanely tough to bring down. Receiving multiple lethal strikes before finally succumbing to his wounds. Also Valdor noted that the thunder Warriors needed multiple hits to kill them. outside of bisecting them or decapitation, hits that would kill a space marine outrght wasnt enough to kill them.

[@cp1cupcake]

Idea: the reason that Thunder Warriors beat Space Marines was just experience. By the time the Space Marines were common, the Unification Wars were pretty close to over while the Thunder Warriors would all be fairly used to combat.

[@draco_1876]

They were still stronger

[@EdgarTheOgre]

I hope they rewrite the story around the Thunder Warriors, the Emperor just casually deciding to kill them all because they were not "compatible with this new empire" just doesn't make sense because they would have died anyways either of illness or old age. And they were pretty obedient and loyal, they would have stayed in Terra guarding the throne if they were ordered to do so. Something should have happened to justify the chain of events that came to be.

[@Dimetropteryx]

Agreed. Actually, I hope it's reduced to pure economics. The Imperium did end up making 10 Thunder Warriors for each Custodes, and 10 Astartes for each Thunder Warrior.

[@lborlet5204]

He intended the situation to be an of mice and men sort of thing, where they were all dead before they could ever realize what was happening. Good intentions with bad results is common for the big e

[@EdgarTheOgre]

@@lborlet5204 yeah but there is no believable logic behind his actions. The bit E was supposed to be smart, killing Thunder Warriors just because they were outdated explains nothing at all.

[@TheRealMycanthrope]

So what you're saying is a Thunder Warrior in fully powered armour would be a terrifying force to behold

[@NP3GA]

Day eighty one of asking majorkill to compare Abaddon and Archaeon

[@richardthomas9497]

There is actually a Space Marine named Endryd Haar, of the War Hounds (later World Eaters), that killed a Thunder Warrior in single combat.

[@lolmeme69_]

Endrys Haar is probably a former Thunder Warrior himself. When he was captured by the Sons of Horus during the Heresy, an apothecary interrogated him and it was heavily implied that Haar was a Thunder Warrior.

[@richardthomas9497]

@@lolmeme69_ Or that Haar was part of an experimental transition of Thunder Warriors to Space Marines. Being a Terran-born Astartes, Endryd Haar managed to surpass the Thunder Warriors expiry date; from the purging of the Thunder Warriors right up to Great Crusade and Horus Heresy.

[@lolmeme69_]

@@richardthomas9497 Yep, exactly! Haar was also said to be about as brutal as your average World Eater - only, he didn't have the Butcher's Nails. It took Abbadon, a Space Marine in Terminator Armor to kill him - and even then, Haar nearly killed Abbadon.

[@Sea_Wheat]

Haar really be hella sus

[@Ultra-Mewstinct]

I love the thunder warriors, the based prototype

[@Flesh_Wizard]

Please, everyone knows that Alex Mercer is the most based prototype

[@jarrodwakefield4992]

I think the Thunder Warriors live on in the modern day Assassin temples. Juiced up mortals that can 1v1 Astartes depending on the situation

[@kurokaze511]

"He didn't need Thunder Warriors 2.0" Apparently he did. I mean, bigger, stronger, and more resilient than a normal Astartes kind of describes another super-soldier that the Imperium just got. Honestly it makes me dislike the Pimaris even more because now it seems like there wasn't actually a good reason to not just make the Thunder Warriors more stable since that's apparently what Cawl did.

[@drarsen33]

Keeping them in stasis on Terra to act as garrison in case of invasion would have been the way.

[@AdamJohnstone-dk4gt]

What’s wild about the power outage, hopefully no one was hurt and everyone got power back as soon as possible 😊

[@JefferyGillit-ot7vl]

The Thunder Warriors would have been highly susceptible to the influence of Khorne. The last thing the Emperor needed were these savage beings who could curb stomp Space Marines and go toe-to-toe with Custodies, in the fold of the Pantheon.

[@SpaceEmps]

Just read into Arick and the mad lad actually did it. A whole lore video could be made on him.

[@erwinthedodo9205]

I'd love to see the thunder warriors come back in some capacity. Maybe some survived and reproduced somehow and help save the imperium when the tyranids eventually invade terra