Malus Darkblade: How to RUIN a Good Character

#warhammer #totalwar #multiplayer #landbattle #chaosdwarfs #rts
Discord: discord.gg/fEveschQmT
Board Game: www.puppetmastersprojects.com/
Patreon: www.patreon.com/humanboy

[@skeith1543]

Welcome to the End Times, where everyone makes really dumb decisions. On my end of the Elves doing crazy nonsense, It's Imrik. He doesn't have a whole book series and in the grand scheme of things he's a minor character. But i love dragons and Imrik's the Dragon guy for the High Elves. One thing you can know for sure though. Imrik Loves Dragons. He would die for them, to keep them safe from the predation of anyone, but especially the Dark Elves. He hates Dark Elves for what they do to Dragons they steal from ulthuan. To wit: they steal baby dragons whenever possible then dump a ton of dark magic into the eggs causing the dragons to mutate, followed by allowing the hatchlings the opportunity to destroy their siblings when they hatch. They also don't mind casually destroying dragons eggs for Power buffs in combat, as in the Dark Elf Book you can take a Dragon Egg for a one turn power boost. On ulthuan, Dragon eggs are so rarely laid any more that each one is incredibly precious and heavily guarded. They're almost sacred objects. That aside, keep in mind Dragons are intelligent and sapient Creatures in the warhammer universe. They are at the very least on par with a human and often far smarter and wiser then even elves. The Dark Elves can't have that. so they torture the hatchlings and throw more dark magic at them. This results in the Hatchlings growing really fast, and also permanently stunts their mental growth. Their bodies often sport all manner of defects and open wounds due to the Hyper growth and non-stop beatings. In essence the Dark ELves turn Dragons into little more then gigantic attack dogs with wings. They can't even breath fire any more, but a poisonous gas. So in the End Times, Malekith sends an envoy to Imrik, and basically wants Imrik to join him. Doing this would steal away a lot of ulthuan's power as the Dragons have been waking in numbers that haven't been seen in centuries. Imrik has 0 (ZERO) reason to ever sign up with Malekith as He bears the weight of Caledor on his shoulders. Calaedor is the Dragon Nation, and Malekith's been kidnapping and torturing Caledors firmest allies into mutated monsters for thousands of years. Not to Mention the dragons themselves would have rebelled and likely destroyed Caledor in revenge for such a betrayal. Make no mistake, The founder of Caledor might be called 'The Dragontamer' but the dragons are by no means enslaved. They can and will ditch Elves who don't have their respect or if the dragons have other pressing matters to attend too (Read the War of Vengeance and the Sundering trilogy book 'caledor') So, what does Imrik do? He signs up with Malekith. Why? Cause malekith sent him a gift basket with a few dozen Eggs. This makes no sense. The World is ending. Everything is going to hell. Those eggs might be precious, but they have Zero value to the war effort. It takes decades for a dragon to even grow up enough to be used in battle and they still won't be nearly as powerful as a grown dragon or the Star dragons. never mind actually hatching the damn things. But No. imrik betrays ulthuan for Malekith. oh and Minaithnir just goes along with it. Imrik's mount and like the Oldest dragon awake on ulthuan, more or less the leader of the Ulthuan dragons due to power and age. Doesn't have a word to say about things. Nor does any other dragon for that matter. I think the books said a few dragons remained allied with Ulthuan, but the Dark Elves basically had swarms of dragons to throw at their enemies at that point.... Sigh.

[@windblownleaf6450]

The problem is the writers already know everything has to go to shit, which produces some real problems for making a sensible story. Everything needed to be twisted and bent to get to that outcome of everything getting wrecked so games workshop could reboot. Much of what happened in the end times wasn't done that way because it made sense or it was good writing, but to meet stupid, arbitrary goals.

[@tooth.harvester]

I wish there were more vids like this. Malus (the real Malus written by Dan Abnett and Mike Lee) is one of the most fascinating Warhammer characters. Despite being quite a dumbass, he displays enormous personal bravery and he's a great military leader, willing to make tough decisions but possessing genuine regard for his men. His loyalty to his friends is also a cool layer to his personality. By contrast, End Times lore sucks. I frankly don't acknowledge it.

[@AliceBowie]

He also grows as a person, starting off kind of a trust fund screw up who just drinks and hangs out in the flesh pits, and becomes a hero. He's also a good natured guy for someone who comes from an evil culture with from an evil race.

[@darkmelancholy]

Darkblade's mistake was being popular enough to get a whole book to make him look stupid before suffering a cheap death like most characters during the End Times. He was set up for a tragic death, but instead it just sort of happened. Same with Tyrion, whose end could've been a tragic tale of classic elven hubris... but then just... pops up again (just in case you were worried there might be an ounce of pathos or sense of stakes in this sorry saga). And don't get me started on Morathi...

[@Yotamb9]

End Times lore is trash?! I am shocked! In all seriousness, the only good things to come out of the End Times were the Vlad arc, Throgg's stuff, and Thorgrim strangling Queek to death (the only W the Dawi got in that god-forsaken pile of #@$%).

[@will9501]

I thought he was joking. This is great.

[@JCPoetryCourner]

I LOVE this so goddamn much! My soul for a Malekith rant

[@jacksmith3148]

Great content! I love the breakdown of why, specifically, this stuff doesn't work, and I could see a similar thing for a lot of characters in The End Times. Maybe that'd be a nice series, just deconstructing who they were and how they were done dirty.

[@TaRAAASHBAGS]

An End Times critique is pointless because almost all of it is terrible.

[@jacksmith3148]

​@@TaRAAASHBAGSOf course, but I think it'd be fun to look at regardless. More of an autopsy than a critique, to say "here's who they were, what they did, and here's how the End Times fucked them up".

[@jonathanwatson4484]

best option the end times never happened, make your own canon

[@jjb69321]

I honestly really enjoyed this type of video! You should make one about the Skaven book's next 👍

[@Khainite]

It has been a good amount of time since I read the Malus books but he's one of my favorite characters of all time and most certainly my favorite Warhammer character, Fantasy or 40K. I love the Dark Elves overall. Hell I took my online name from what a Dark Elf devotee of Khaine is called. I've read through the original 5 several times as well as the short story included in the newer printing of his books. I read Deathblade once when it came out in like 2015 when the End Times shit was happening and I also hated his characterization in it too. One of the things I liked about the way the Druchii were presented in the Malus books is their twisted honor, Malus included. Yes the Druchii were absolutely backstabbing, murderous monsters, but there were plenty of times where Malus was shown respect by common soldiers for his willingness to lead from the front and turn bad situations and stand up for is men and vice versa. During the siege of Ghrond he saluted and pushed a fallen spearman into the fires below saying something along the lines of "a worthy end for a warrior of Naggaroth." I recall he left a small contingent of Druchii regiments behind to cover his escape when fighting a Chaos horde and didn't feel good about it. Not much in the grand scheme but as far as Dark Elves go at least it shows there is some level of kinship between them, at least when a common enemy is present. They're more than happy to kill each other otherwise Malus included. Still I don't think people give Malus enough credit. He's certainly a fine warrior considering he often hacks through tons of enemies and sustains horrible injuries in many fights, and is sometimes even fighting shit he struggles with even with the daemon's power like the Dragon Ogre Shaggoth. I'd say he does a fine job with scheming against his siblings, other lords and even other enemies. It's usually a mixture of luck and his own "proactive" approach to situations (like getting right in the middle of them) but he often comes out on top in the end. Often bloodied but alive while those that schemed against him are dead. He just doesn't usually have the resources to pull strings like his siblings or father or other lords, so has to make do with clawing his way up through guile and force. Another factor I always liked about the Dark Elves as a whole is while they're absolutely evil they're still anti Chaos and turn back invasion from them all the time. Sort of an evil orderly faction, though they do scheme and ally with Chaos (more like use them) when they can like when they used them to invade Ulthuan at least once. Still I'd argue they're one of the most evil Warhammer races from either 40K or fantasy as the Dark Eldar torture and kill to sustain their souls but to my knowledge Fantasy Dark Elves have no such fear from Slaanesh, though they do have more of a connction with him/her because of the pleasure cults. Khaine is one of my favorite Warhammer gods too. A shame how he's treated in 40K and AoS. Overall I'm just disgusted with how the whole Warhammer World ended and how AoS replaced it. Still a bitter taste almost 10 years later.

[@romashyn4649]

With hate all things are possible!

[@acmaiden5236]

I'm always a sucker for lore vids. I'd totally read some WH books but I'm stuck on another saga for probably 2 more years. Keep em coming 👍

[@majormoolah5056]

Everything Malus survived... and finally he fell to a character assassin :)

[@therealdoomsage]

While I've certainly been known to occasionally come violently unhinged at the slightest provocation, it's never once caused me to have a stroke, heart attack nor cranial aneurysm seven years prior to the event; it's always happened at the time, or immediately following. Sometimes it's the next morning just as the "Fuck, Mornings are bullshit" leadership debuff takes me below the threshold and * pop * Imagine an aneurysm so unbelievably powerful that it just gibs the entire body as it haemorrhages into itself in an implosion of ultra-mega-rapid-high-velocity-blood pressure.

[@skupipup]

Lore nerd mains be like... Appreciate these type of videos. Would love to see you turn this into a series.

[@TankerBrothers]

I personally enjoyed this a lot. I think you should do this more often, kinda introducing some lore and oppinions into the channel makes for a nice change of pace. Also, yeah, the end times novels suck. Kinda just kill off everyone without a second thought to get a new product through, makes no sense.

[@JanJansen985]

The other problem with the end times lore as a whole is that a lot of it was written by the 40k guys They didnt really get it

[@darkmelancholy]

@@JanJansen985 Good point. You really get a sense that (some of?) the authors thought the setting was just 40k without space marines

[@stevebaratheus1075]

I really liked this keep doing lore stuff. Your way of description is hilarious

[@nmmeswey3584]

Oh hubby you don't seen to realize, these rants are half the reason I tune into your streams! The other half is the squeaky voice freakouts!

[@joshburns6101]

Love lore dives with your personality. Please, continue to be the best of shits.

[@ryanmcdonald2853]

Good video. I dig this content as much as your tournament streams

[@Palladiux]

I could listen to this kind of long-form content from you for hours, dude

[@odmloupi]

fuck that ending lol. the worst part for me is not the ending actually, but the giant time jump in between "lord of ruin" and "deathblade"

[@JD-bk4zi]

I hope this turns into a series

[@therealdoomsage]

MY BODY IS READY

[@Alknix]

10:00 The best part in this scene is that Malus actually gets ASHAMED. The dude he's talking to, actually doesn't know that Malus is that "hero" Hauclir had been praising. He says: "Hauclir keeps telling about that highborn he served once, and he says that guy was absolutely awesome", and Malus replies: "Yeah, I knew him, and Hauclir is lying - that guy was a complete moron and a piece of shit."

[@uss_cushing]

So as a new fan of warhammer the vibe I’m getting is don’t bother reading with anything that has the end times. Thanks for the heads up.

[@HumanBoyYesYes]

THATS THE GENERAL CONSENSUS caps lock

[@NyJoanzy]

This book really makes me wonder how there even are Dark Elves.

[@HumanBoyYesYes]

same

[@hypers829]

Excellent content, sat through the whole thing and wanted more!

[@PhilosophicallyAmerican]

As long as we are End Times ranting: "Slayer." So the temple of Grimnir is high up in the middle mountains and no one has seen it because they couldn't get above the cloud layer. Has there NEVER BEEN A SUNNY DAY IN 6,000 YEARS? Are these the flipping Skyrim mountains that are eternally wreathed in clouds? Was there never a sharp-eyed elven archer back in the day that said, "Huh, that's a funny looking mountain peak. I wonder if my dwarf allies know anything about it. They know plenty about mountains after all." Then there's Grimnir himself. I know he's called an ancestor "god," but dwarf deities were really just dwarfs that were scary-good at their chosen craft. Grimnir didn't defeat hordes of demons with ridiculous, wimpy, elgak magic powers. He cut them down in their hundreds of thousands with a couple rune axes (yes, I know they are the most powerful melee weapons in the setting but still). When Gotrek and Felix meet Grimnir, he's practically got magic coming out of his orange mohawk. He's summoning ethereal opponents. He crafting grand illusions (or even teleporting dudes across the world). He restores Gotrek's lost eye with a thought. He's got the whole eight winds at his fingertips! If Teclis saw this he would start crying in a corner in shame at being BESTED AT MAGIC BY A DWARF. Then there's the end fight. Grimnir needs to be saved from a Bloodthirster. Not the named, right-hand-of-Khorne, super-charged variety Bloodthirster. Just a standard, garden-variety Bloodthirster. My brother in Grungni, YOU EAT BLOODTHIRSTERS LIKE AN OGRE AT A HALFLING BUFFET! You know how Black Fire Pass became Black Fire Pass? That was Grimnir fighting Urmskaladrak, the Father of Dragons. Black Fire Pass exists because of Urmskaladrak's breath attack and Grimnir ended him. What's a puny Bloodthirster to the dwarf that killed the Father of Dragons and soloed entire armies of daemons? Grimnir needs help with Bloodthirsters like Gotrek needs help fighting a clanrat. IT'S GOING IN THE BOOK! *furious scribbling ensues*

[@captainron9360]

I really enjoyed this, would love to see more.

[@raunleashed1604]

I have not watched the video yet but I am hyped from the intro!!!

[@emmahagens]

found your channel through this, once i heard the problem was endtimes i was not suprised. even as someone who has never read the end times, i love for the absolute hate against it.

[@12SickOne34]

One can't just have a Warhammer-centric channel without indulging in a lore rant every now and then. Highly understandable.

[@Putridfilth02]

very much support this, im gonna have to play as him too now

[@FiddleWiddle]

Love how passionate you are!

[@CptRusky69]

I loved this rant, thank you! Listened to it at work. Also makes me want to play a Malus campaign in TW:WH3 for the first time

[@TheReapergod36]

I loved this! please give me some synopsis on some N'kari stuff! Or some books to read.

[@Cpt0bviouss]

Would please consider doing a rant about game of thrones ending? This video was great, more would be awesome.

[@PAUL-ESNEED]

As someone who only played the games - I found this incredibly captivating! Awesome video, can't believe the 47 minutes flew by. I didn't think Malus was very interesting but after this - I certainly see him in a new light. Although I also see why the end times are hated by fans. Sad.

[@emixam6947]

Dropping a comment for the algorithm. If you like doing this than 100% keep going!

[@bh7969]

this is better content then the battles, when i fall out of wanting to play tw warhammer3 theres not really a want to watch battles, but ill watch this stuff whenever

[@bh7969]

also the looser more improvisational delivery of information is so much more digestible and less obnoxious than the cookie cutter video essay loredump

[@the_indelible5534]

I completely agree with your critisisms of the deathblade book i also thought that it was by far the weakest only in the part about killing the scouts i think the rant wasnt rlly justified bc if i remember correctly didnt malus say that he killed the scout so nobody would know aboug the army marching towards them so his soldiers wouldnt route out of fear of being rear charged when he orders the next assault on eagle gate. Also one thing i think you missed which botherd me was that on the last charge at the eagle gate malus thought that sth is off and he anticipated a trap but thought well who cares if thousands die I have got more but then he sees the trap and is like oh no we are fucked i gotta surrender to tzarkaan to save this battle. They rlly butchered his charactere in the last book

[@8thobretenov354]

If I ever write a book I want you to review it. And if you like this post you're getting a preview copy and it will be non fiction and it will have IEEE references, you have been warned.

[@jorgehuertas3995]

I was really enjoying the death blade novel at the start. Then it started to be rushed AF and things clashed a bit. Malus mentions her sister Yasmir's magic. But that's not the sister known for her magic. He started randomly killing people and developed the most awful strategies. Malus was a character that could have completed the invasion with cunning alone, but he is just so dumb during it. And the ending is the hardest disrespect of a character I've seen.

[@Obscurit1]

A lot of your audience and youtube in general is used to shorter content and may be unable to find time for this 47 minute pour of emotions, however I really enjoyed this format. Maybe put some more structure into the build-up, get to the examples a bit faster, if you don't lose your signature emotional parts with that.

[@Josh-j1r]

As C L Werner sat with his c*ck in hand, he smiled knowing he had just ruined one of best Anti Heros ever made. He ruined him because it wasnt his Character...should have left it at book 5.

[@leonemaledetto1500]

This is your best work.

[@Remyonbass251]

Absolutely love the lore rants

[@AliceBowie]

I just ignore all End Times stuff. You should find the comics by Dan Abnett that he expanded into the books. They're a little different.

[@rubz1390]

How good/bad are CL Werner's other writings?

[@HumanBoyYesYes]

Actually really good. I think he didn't understand malus and was rushed by the end times schedule, so he wrote about a "generic bad guy" instead of the character Malus was built up to be

[@Alice-mv9pj]

If you compare Deathblade to the previous books and even the comics it sucks, but being the End Times I understand the change on his personality, he was a damn Tyrant and they needed to kill him. Cheap death. Silar my fav retainer in the comics was the Vaulkhar...no mention of that whatsoever, andmany other things that didn't make sense,like Malekith forgiving his attempt to murder him lol

[@VenatorStellorum]

End times is literally just the worst

[@jymjym7995]

i'd say malus is a bit of a schemer. he definitely knows how to talk his way out of things but only temporarily. i think the second book is the best for showing that. he makes up a lot of shit and manages to find a way to get to the nurgle island. but when he gets there he has said so many lies to the point where every plan falls apart. he's not completely useless at it, he's good at talking, he just ain't good at long term schemes. i like that. also bad guys killing their own guys is stupid no matter who does it. wait what? didn't he get rid of tzarkan in the fifth book? what did i miss?? WHAT ? WHAT!? WHAT THE FUCK IS HAPPENING!? WHAT IS THIS? HOW COULD THEY POSSIBLY FUCK IT UP THIS BAD!? thank you for making this video. now i don't have to read the endtimes shit. although not gonna lie, i wish to go back to obliviousness because despite flaws i love these books, and now am sad knowing how it ends.

[@tobiashagstrom4168]

I'm not familiar with the character, but from what you describe, it sort of sounds like maybe this could partially be explained by him holding that sword of Khaine, and subsequently becoming more psychopathic over time?

[@BH.888]

i love warhammer lore videos but most of them are very dull and arent entertaining. happy u arent one of those, listened the whole 47min. good video and hope for more 👍

[@shadowofhawk55]

At work, will watch. If you mean Deathblade, I heavily agree. Such a wasted chance for Malus to end his story with glory. If you mean anything before it, you are as Noble as Naigara and as faithful as Yasmir.

[@HumanBoyYesYes]

Deathblade yes ;)

[@shadowofhawk55]

@@HumanBoyYesYes (Angrily Rants about why Werhner is a fucking Hack for how he treated my Boy Malus and Hauclir and Silar!) [Addendum, my only real complaint with the Series is that Malus and Lhunara isn't a thing that doesn't happen, it would be so freaking cool for them to be a Daemon Possessed Druchii couple].

[@pedrochiswell3629]

i thought this was pancreas no work. Watch him he has a pretty similar format to this. Maybe you can draw inspiration from him

[@dathremo.]

do more lore stuff pls - I like your voice

[@masaheimoi]

I have real hard time getting into Warhammer fantasy books because I know end to their story will be: "and then they died and everything they had done was pointless". Why should I care what characters do if it is pointless?

[@Enzo_honey]

At 1:24 you sound just like one of the flashgitz animators lol

[@trowachess]

Lore YesYes!

[@edddoubled3534]

Is this book even worth reading from an enjoyable point of view? Like even avoiding how they butcher our boi, is it enjoyable in any shape or form?

[@paulmualdeave5063]

He confused Malus with Malekith. Maybe both starting with a “M” confused the author. I get the impression the author absolutely hates the Malus character. That’s being charitable in saying he may not be an imbecile.

[@emilvennerberg4927]

Malus aint the strongest dark elf, he is not the smartest, not the fastest, not the most cunning, he is in fact rather average for a dark elf exept for one thing. He is probably the single most stuborn character in the entire setting. This guy puts a dwarf longbeard to shame in that department.

[@bone_zoner]

oh sick lore vids

[@thegreatbookofgrudges6953]

Yes-yes more of it

[@Ratman36]

MORE-MORE!!!!!

[@patchesgaming9139]

They could have literally had Tyrion kill Malus in an epic duel but nah he goes out like a cry baby bitch, this is why switching authors in a series is bad because characters will be written differently and their motivations will be altered and the overall vibe of a character will be different. The only different time a author switch didn't completely crap on the original authors novels in my opinion was when Nathan took over Gotrek and Felix but even then it took time to adjust to his version, I hated Josh's take on Gotrek and Felix and David's take was satisfactory but moral of the story is author changes can break what made a character appealing.

[@patrickbuder6266]

please give us the malekith rant

[@HumanBoyYesYes]

2 days then yes

[@JD-bk4zi]

RUIN THE CHARACTERRRR YES-YES

[@Apostate_prostate]

Comments for the comment gods

[@ziomekszary647]

I guess we just hate the End Times. Like who like them

[@pandemic_diesel]

love it always and forever yes yes

[@davidhernando353]

End of Times is a narrative cancer that destroys everything it touches. In my opinion the worst thing GW has ever written.

[@mc2rpg736]

I really liked this video, but mostly because of how annoyed you were. Shouty lore videos are much better than calm ones.

[@ladiesman5801]

Very good!

[@vitaliyred622]

GW love ruining thier character and turning them into idiots.

[@godemperoroni-chan9004]

very much like

[@leonemaledetto1500]

YES

[@jimmycarlin9988]

That was awesome

[@tazbom2470]

I like it in the comments

[@ilikevideogames4943]

I like it

[@christianweibrecht6555]

High & dark Elves have the worst end time lore I hope all wood elves where quickly exterminated the eaten by skaven

[@danelundberg2960]

Good points and I wholeheartedly agree with you, but sweet Jesus... calm down with the shouting! Makes the video unbearable to listen to after a while. Apart from that, you're onto something here content-wise. Keep it up 👍

[@RockyX123]

Most of End Times is trash sadly

[@diagonal3715]

Almost dont care about wh deep lore cuz its all on english, and im russian and too lazy to read english library, but i liked ur video cuz its cool. But imo u need to work on the script cuz u have too much "water" Keep doing what u doing bro