Eldrad Ulthran

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"When there is no other way, the perilous path is the only road to salvation"[12]


Eldrad Ulthran
Eldrad Ulthran Art.jpg
Homeworld Ulthwé
Born Pre-Fall of the Eldar[1]
Active Period M29 - Present
Species Aeldari
Type Asuryani
Gender Male
Occupation(s)
Affiliation(s)

Eldrad Ulthran, whose name means "First of Ulthwé",[19] is the chief Farseer of the Ulthwé Craftworld[10a] (although he was briefly exiled).[10b] Eldrad is one of the oldest living Aeldari in the galaxy.[19] He is perhaps the most gifted psyker amongst the Eldar, his incredible foresight is the most accurate and powerful of any Farseer[21] having saved the Aeldari race many times[1a] Eldrad has broken Titans, boiled the blood of Daemons and slain kings and heroes without number.[5] Eldrad carries the ancient Staff of Ulthamar into battle,[19] and since the 13th Black Crusade, Eldrad is considered a Legendary Hero, his name synonymous with wisdom, foresight, and self-sacrifice.[3]

Biography

Eldrad Ulthran[4]

Eldrad Ulthran is over ten thousand years old,[4][10b] one of the oldest living Aeldari in the galaxy, born some time after the launch of Craftworld Ulthwé[19] and before the Fall of the Eldar.[1a] Ulthran forsaw the The Great Devourer before it ever entered the galaxy.[21] It is at Eldrad's direction that Craftworld Ulthwé remains close to the Eye of Terror, vigilantly guarding against Chaos.[19]

Fall of the Eldar

Eldrad has lead Craftworld Ulthwé since the Fall of the Eldar[1a][4] personally saving remnants of the Aeldari race from danger over a hundred times in the few short centuries that followed.[1a]

In the same time, his psychic gift has diminished to the point that he must rely upon the guidance of the dead seers of Ulthwé either within Ulthwé's Dome of Crystal Seers[1a] or in the Spirit Stones of the first Seer Council of Ulthwé within the ancient Staff of Ulthamar.[19]

Horus Heresy

Main article: Horus Heresy

Eldrad forsaw the Age of Darkness, a time of Chaos as calamitous and momentous as the Fall of the Eldar, and took action to prevent it.[1a] Eldrad was the first to warn the Imperium of Horus' treachery, meeting with Fulgrim on the Maiden World of Tarsus, only to learn the Imperium was ignorant of the dangers of Chaos and the Primarch had been corrupted by Slaanesh.[1b] Eldrad and his guard of Ulthwé warriors were unable to kill the Primarch before Fulgrim unleashed Virus Bombs on the maiden world[1b] – losing Eldrad's trusted adviser, the ancient Wraithlord Khiraen Goldhelm, in the melee and causing Eldrad to distrust the human race.[1b]

Eldrad again intervened in human affairs when he appeared before the Cabal agent John Grammaticus. Ulthran revealed to Grammaticus that he opposed the Cabal's aims and that their belief that Horus would usher in Chaos' ultimate demise was not set in stone. He believed that humanity were meant to be the firebreak against Chaos, and that without them the Eldar would fall and the galaxy shortly afterwards. He offered Grammaticus a way to leave the Cabal and a chance to stop being a traitor to his own race. Using the Fulgurite originally intended to kill the Emperor and then Vulkan, Grammaticus was instead convinced by Eldrad to use it to heal Vulkan's shattered psyche.[6]

Eldrad next appeared psychically in the form of an old man to Vulkan, urging him to access the Webway on Nocturne and journey to Terra as his destiny demanded. He did the same to Barthusa Narek, recruiting him for a new mission. Eldrad became determined to eliminate the Cabal, believing their plans would eventually bring ruination to the galaxy and that humanity was the key to defeating Chaos. Together with Narek, Eldrad assassinated most Cabal members including Gahet, Slau Dha, and Damon Prytanis. After killing Prytanis, Damon allowed Narek to go on his way but took John Grammaticus.[11]

War of the Beast

Main article: War of the Beast

During the War of the Beast, Eldrad led a ritual to transport Shadowseer Lhaerial Rey and her Harlequin Troupe into the Imperial Palace to deliver a message to the Emperor himself. Ultimately Lhaerial was captured, and as an olive branch displayed the tooth Vulkan had given Eldrad.[7]

Recent History

Eldrad has begun to turn to Crystal and spends long days apart from the world of the living within the Dome of Crystal Seers, his movements slowing and his body beginning to turn a transparent crystal. Eldrad has forseen retiring his soul to mingle with those of his ancestors, but has denied this fate in order guide the lesser races[5] and continue to battle Chaos.[19]

Had it not been for his warning, the Iyanden Craftworld would have been completely unprepared for the attack of Hive Fleet Kraken.[19] In addition, he prevented Craftworld Saim-Hann's infestation by the Hrud,[3] allowed Farseer Auric Stormcloud to invoke the Pact of Anwyn to disrupt Daemon Prince Shaha Gaathon's plans,[14] thwarted the mysterious works of the awakened C'tans and stopped the Days of Blood from coming to pass.[3] Since the rise of the Imperium, he has prevented over a hundred other such disasters.[4]

Haranshemash

Eldrad Ulthran (2nd Edition)[26]

Eldrad's most important[26] predictions were famously instrumental in the closing of the warp rift above the Exodite World Haran, which was to be used by the Gods of Chaos to pour forth their innumerable servants into the materium and the Eldar Webway. For many months, massed Eldar forces from all over the galaxy, joined by the mighty Phoenix Lords and led by Eldrad, persecuted a great campaign against the forces of Chaos. Eventually they succeeded in closing the warp rift, but at the cost of many Eldar lives. This lead to the planet being known as Haranshemash, the world of blood and tears.[3]

Maedrax

Main article: Battle of Maedrax

Eldrad forsaw a Mechanicus Explorator Fleet unwittingly awakening the Necron dynasty on the Tomb World of Maedrax, and Ulthwé forces destroy the fleet as they land on Maedrax to purge the Necron presence.[10a] A nearby Battle Barge of Blood Angels come to avenge the mechanicus fleet forcing Ulthwé to fight on two fronts – against the Space Marines and the entire awakening dynasty.[10a]

Armageddon Wars

Main article: Armageddon Wars

It was through Eldrad's foresight that the Eldar began a series of raids against the Orks, culminating in the emergence of Ghazghkull Thraka as perhaps the most powerful Ork Warlord in the galaxy, and diversion of his Waaagh! to the Hive World of Armageddon, rather than allow the Orks to move against the Craftworlds.[3][4] Eldrad deliberately instigated the Second War for Armageddon, costing the Imperium millions of lives, to save tens of thousands of Eldar lives.[21]

Thirteenth Black Crusade

Main article: 13th Black Crusade

On Andante IV, Eldrad led an expedition to counter[19] an attack by Ezekyle Abaddon and the Sorcerer Zaraphiston on a Webway gate which, if captured, could lead to Ulthwé.[2] His ultimate aim was not to attack the Craftworld itself, but to wipe out Ulthwé's Seer Council by eliminating their only means of escaping the planet.[2a] Eldrad coordinated the defences of the forces of Ulthwé[3] along with the allied Asuryani forces of the Ghostwind,[22] pouring his consciousness into Waystones[15] and distributing the stones among his lietennants which enabled him to guide the myriad strike forces through the Webway to coordinate attacks and unleash the full potency of his Eldritch Storm attacks in multiple places at once.[15]

Many deaths came in the battle that lead to Eldrad and Abaddon's meeting in combat but the ancient seer along with the combined might of his Ulthwé retinue prevailed over the Despoiler and his Black Legion warriors in a titanic hand-to-hand battle, but before the killing blow could be dealt by the Staff of Ulthamar.[2b] In that moment, Eldrad learned with certainty that his end would come as a martyr for his craftworld and the he would be unable to prevent Abaddon's plans.[19] Before the staff could touch his flesh, Abaddon was whisked away from the battlefield by his patron gods.[2b]

Exhausted and spent, he appointed a controvercial member of the seer council as his successor before departing with his Warlock bodyguards on a desperate quest to rescue the Chaos-corrupted soul of a Talisman of Vaul before it boiled the seas of Cadia,[19] entering the psychic matrix where he pitted his spirit against it's corrupted heart[3] – his mortal body dissapearing entirely. While gone, all but a handful of his distributed Waystones dulled to lifelessness as he bodily entered the Warp itself.[3] In that moment, Eldrad became a mythic figure, synonymous with wisdom, foresight, and self-sacrifice.[3]

Only the youngest of Eldrad's protégés, the Warlock Q'sandria, believed Eldrad could survive the predation of Slaanesh within the Warp[3] but Q'sandria proved correct when Eldrad reappeared, bringing the Shadowseer Sylandri Veilwalker to aid the Imperial forces in the 13th Black Crusade[9]

Awakening Ynnead

Eldrad leads the Masque of the Midnight Sorrow at the Battle of Port Demesnus[8a]

In the closing days of the 41st Millennium, Eldrad worked with the Masque of the Midnight Sorrow.[8a][10c] to bring about the awakening of Ynnead through a psychic ritual wherin the crystalized Farseers from Ulthwé's Dome of Crystal Seers would be used as conduits to the Infinity Circuits of all craftworlds across the galaxy into the carrecenad surface of the moon of Coheria, temporary joining the spirits of all craftworlds into one place in Reality creating a psychic beacon magnitudes brighter than the Astronomican which could guide Ynnead's abstract soul from the immaterium into reality – the consequences of which would not be without incident, as fleets across the galaxy would be thrown off course and the every Craftworld left temporarily as inoperable dark husks as their Infinity Circuits are left bare awaiting Ynnead's intervention. However, Eldrad was foiled when the Deathwatch employed a Stasis Bomb at the Battle of Port Demesnus, an act which defied his farsight;[25] Suddenly the ritual beyond the skeins of fate, as potentially was his and Ulthwé's survival. Eldrad was forced to retreat, with the grim awareness that the energies he had been able to gather were lost to the void.[27]

Rather, those energies found Yvraine.[27] In the wake of Yvraine's apotheosis and the birth of the Yncarne and the Fracture of Biel-Tan, in an effort to hasten the "Seventh Path"[8a] and bring the Ynnari close to the Eye of Terror, Eldrad urged the seer council of Ulthwé once more into reckless action: to create a hyperspatial bridge in the Warp through a great ritual connecting their Crystal Seers to those of Biel-Tan. Turning them from their duties in the Infinity Circuit and risking the crystal seers to warp corruption in this way was a heinous taboo, and the bridge would risk Daemon incursion for every moment it was held open; the Seer Council privately dissented but nonetheless followed their High Farseer in his gamble.[8b] Opening the passage created a wave of translocation, shunting Imperial ships light-years away from their destinations and tore open Gellar Fields, but the Ynnari moved through without incident save a few driven to fear seeing the raw Warp.[25] The cost to Ulthwé was high: three of Ulthwé's finest Farseers turned to crystal during the ritual.[10b]

As Yvraine thanked the Seer Council for their help, the council took the moment to instead turn against Eldrad accusing him of misapropriating his role as leader of Ulthwé: for the tunnel he had built and the farseers turned to crystal, for the wayward arrogance he displayed on Coheria,[8b] sacrificing both an Ulthwé and Saim-Hann warhost in the effort[25] and knowingly in the skeins dooming Biel-Tan, and for the perverse use of the Crystal Seers in both efforts.[8b] Yvraine spoke in his defense, and her Biel-Tani followers urged Ulthwé's aid. The council was interrupted by the appearance of the Altansari, who pledged themselves to the Ynnari and urged Ulthwé to join as well but the steadfast refusal fo the Seer Council soured to blows until the Harlequins of the Masque of the Midnight Sorrow appeared with Kysaduras the Anchorite. The Ynnari would continue, Kyasduras and a contingent from Ulthwé would join, the seer council would not stop them: Eldrad would join them, now in exile.[8b]

Despite his exile, Eldrad continued to guide the Ynnari and formed his own group known as The Exiles, renegade Seers who continue to follow the strands of fate which keep the Rhana Dandra at bay.[10b] He next appeared on Kalisus in the Cadian System as a member of the Ynnari to guide several Imperial survivors of the destruction of Cadia into the Webway.[9]

Eldrad eventually returned to Ulthwé, leading his Ynnari in the defence of the Craftworld.[10b] In his reestablished role on Ulthwé's Seer Council he instructed Yvraine and her Ynnari in retrieving the Hand of Darkness for Roboute Guilliman.[16] Sometime afterwards while exploring the Falls of Unshead Tears within the Webway, he encountered the Slaaneshi Daemon N'Kari, who attemped to trick him to claim his soul. However, Eldrad was able to drink from the falls, gaining a vision of Ynnead's rise and the full awakening of the Necrons. The rune of Saim-Hann appeared at the end of his vision, which led Eldrad to believe the Craftworld held special significance.[17a] To that end, he accompanied Yvraine and the Ynnari alongside a Saim-Hann warhost to Zaisuthra to potentially discover the last Cronesword[17b], though they were ultimately unsuccessful.[17c]

Eldrad has since drifted from the Ynnarri cause, believing that Yvraine has become increasingly desperate and is too willing to sacrifice Eldar to pursue her goals,[18] and not seeing hers as the path which avoids the Rhana Dandra.[10c]

Wargear

Eldrad Ulthran carries the Staff of Ulthamar. For protection, Eldrad wears the Armour of the Last Runes — a potent artifact and ward against harm. He is also equipped with a Witch Blade, Shuriken Pistol, Ghosthelm, and protective runes.[5]

Over his long life as a seer, Eldrad has created several unique Psychic Runes that only he has mastery of.[10b] He can supposedly cast from as many as four thousand runes.[21]

Organisations

Eldrad is often involved in Asuryani efforts to coordinate between the Craftworlds, as well as with Humanity and other species, in the fight against Chaos.

Images

  • Eldrad Ulthran miniature

  • Eldrad Ulthran miniature (7th Edition)

Trivia

TriviaScrollTrans.png

The following information is not to be regarded as officially sanctioned and/ or is not written from an in-universe point of view. A detailed explanation of the term "Trivia" as used in the Lexicanum can be found here.

Notes

See also

Sources

Heretic Tomes banner.jpg

This article includes background material from a Black Library publication re-released under the Heretic Tomes banner which, per the Heretic Tomes Publication Disclaimer, contain parts which are considered outdated and in contradiction of established background lore.


Craftworld Eldar Forces
Command Autarchs • Bonesingers • Farseers • Spiritseers • Warlocks • Exarchs
Aspect Warriors
Troops Guardians (Guardian Defenders • Storm Guardians) • Windrider Squadrons • Rangers (Pathfinders • Shroud Runners) • Ghost-Warriors • Wraithguard • Wraithblades
Support Weapons Grav Platform • Support Battery • War Walker
Constructs Avatar of Khaine • Wraithknight • Wraithlord
Special Characters Amallyn Shadowguide • Eldrad Ulthran • Illic Nightspear • Iyanna Arienal • Nuadhu 'Fireheart' • Yriel
Phoenix Lords Asurmen • Baharroth • Drastanta • Fuegan • Irillyth • Jain Zar • Karandras • Lhykhis • Maugan Ra
Fortifications Webway Gate
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