Gunnar Thorolfsson
Gunnar Thorolfsson was a member of the Space Wolves' 13th Great Company, during the Great Crusade and Horus Heresy.[1]
History
Born on Fenris, Gunnar was among those Space Wolves who had served King Thengir, and then his adopted son Leman Russ upon the King's death. By the time Russ was discovered to be a Primarch and was found by the Imperium during the Great Crusade, Gunnar had risen to serve in Russ' first Einherjar. He would undergo the process to become a Legionary and aided his Primarch in fighting the Emperor's wars. His close comrade, Jorin Bloodhowl, did the same and they both served in the Space Wolves' 13th Great Company.[1]
In the Great Crusade's later years, Jorin had become the Great Company's Jarl and Gunnar served as his trusted Husjarl. It was during this time the two would be among the Space Wolves who took part in successfully bringing Hunderax to Compliance alongside the Night Lords. Each Legion was led by their Primarch, but tensions grew between them after the Night Lords committed atrocities on the world's population. Gunnar was so outraged by their actions that he tried to convince Russ to mete out justice to the Night Lords and their Primarch, Curze. Russ refused to do so and this caused Gunnar to become obsessed with punishing Curze's Legion.[1]
He also took part in the Dulan Campaign and the Burning of Prospero. It was in that last battle's aftermath that Gunnar became disillusioned with the Space Wolves' traditions. This occurred after the Legion became aware that the traitorous Warmaster Horus had changed the Emperor's orders. Instead of bringing the Thousand Sons' Primarch, Magnus, to Terra in chains, Horus had instead convinced Russ the Emperor wanted him dead and Prospero destroyed. In Gunnar's eyes, the Space Wolves' need to be the Emperor's Executioners had caused them to blindly accept this and had turned a potential ally into an enemy. This was compounded by the Space Wolves' rapid evacuation, which had caused them to leave hundreds of their Legionaries behind on Prospero. They would then learn of Horus' betrayal of the Imperium, as the Horus Heresy engulfed the galaxy. The Night Lords were among the Traitor Legions to join Horus and upon discovering this, Gunnar's obsession with their actions on Hunderax rose up. He then asked and was given permission by Russ to launch an independent campaign against the Night Lords. Gunnar took with him a large number of his 13th Great Company Battle-Brothers, who willingly joined his cause, and began a war with the Traitor Legion.[1]
During the 7th year of his campaign, Gunnar discovered several worlds that had been scoured of life by the Night Lords. He soon learned that a Night Lord commander and the Chaos Lord Prince of City's Edge were responsible and began tracking them. Gunnar later found the Prince as the Chaos Lord was invading Bloodfall and the Space Wolf vowed to protect the world from the Traitor Legion. He then led his Battle Brothers against the Prince's Night Lords and Bloodfall was engulfed in war. However, it would not be until the Space Wolves received unexpected aid that the battle turned in their favour. Led by Jarl Jorin Bloodhowl, a large force from the 13th Great Company came to their Battle Brothers' aid. Despite this, the highly skilled Prince nearly killed Jorin before Gunnar shot him with a plasma gun. This then allowed the Jarl to behead the Chaos Lord and the Night Lords were killed soon afterwards. With Bloodfall saved, Gunnar met with Jorin, but it was not a joyous occasion: the forces of the traitorous Warmaster Horus were ravaging the Beta-Garmon System and would soon reach Terra. With the Emperor's life now at stake, Leman Russ had called his Space Wolves to him. They had been ravaged by the Heresy, however, and if they were to aid Terra, every Space Wolf needed to answer his call. This included Gunnar and his forces, who had not heard their Primarch's summons.[1]
However, despite hearing Russ' summons, Gunnar refused to do so. He had vowed to defend Bloodfall from the Night Lords and he would not leave it defenceless. Gunnar continued by saying the Emperor had uncountable forces to defend Terra, while the people of Bloodfall only had his group of Space Wolves. To Gunnar, in his duties to protect the Imperium, Bloodfall had just as much importance to Mankind as Terra did. This dismayed Jorin and even more so when all of Gunnar's Space Wolves agreed with him. No matter what argument Jorin made, Gunnar would not be swayed to return. What he did not know, however, was that Leman Russ had told Jorin that Gunnar did not have to. The Primarch had stated that if Gunnar wished to continue his campaign, then Russ would allow him to do so. Jorin would not allow this, as the Jarl believed every Space Wolf was needed to save the Emperor. In order to finally end the matter, Jorin challenged Gunnar to a duel to the death. The winner would claim the loser's warriors as their own. In that way, the Jarl would succeed in his mission, even if he had to kill a close Battle Brother to do it. However, Jorin had been severely wounded in his battle with the Prince of City's Edge and was easily defeated by Gunnar. However, Gunnar refused to kill the Jarl - he would not blindly follow the Space Wolves' traditions or orders, as that had allowed Horus to trick the Legion during the Battle of Prospero. Instead, the Space Wolves needed to learn to use their own judgement and honour the spirit of their oaths. His philosophy had allowed Gunnar to honour his oaths to the Emperor, by protecting Bloodfall and its people. This was the path his Space Wolves chose and in choosing, they could not be manipulated away from it. In Gunnar's eyes that was how the Space Wolves would avoid the next Prospero. His comrade's words caused Jorin to begin thinking back to what Russ had told him, about letting Gunnar decide what to do. The Primarch settled the matter for Jorin and the Jarl finally accepted Gunnar's decision. While Jorin did not like it, he was beginning to understand Gunnar's philosophy.[1]
