Hive Tyrant
Hive Tyrants are monstrous Tyranid creatures created to be commanders of the Tyranid swarm. They embody the Hive Mind completely and act as the primary Synapse conduit through which it enforces its will over lesser Tyranid creatures. Hive Tyrants are extremely powerful, large and strong monsters three times the height of a man that can tear through plasteel or ferrocrete as if they were glass. They excel in both close combat and ranged fighting, and in fact every part of their body is perfectly designed to maim and kill. They are highly mutable, with individual Hive Tyrants displaying a wide range of physical characteristics, biomorphs, and bio-weapons.[1a]
Contents
Overview
Unlike most other Tyranid creatures, Hive Tyrants are completely self-aware, incredibly intelligent, and can learn from their mistakes. Some possess an instinctive cunning that borders on tactical genius. Though in the end they are still ultimately slaved to the Hive Mind, their relationship with it is closer than that of any other Tyranid creature. This makes them terrifyingly psychic and able to manifest deadly psychic powers in battle, including being able to invigorate the Tyranid swarm, destroy the foe's morale, or shred the enemy's minds. Hive Tyrants are equipped with a range of Biomorphs, but most common are the Bonesword, Lash Whip, Heavy Venom Cannon, and Stranglethorn Cannon.[1a] They tower over even a Space Marine Dreadnoughts and are protected by chitinious plating that makes them immune to all but the heaviest fire.[14]
Hive Tyrants are essentially immortal, as their experiences, character and knowledge are stored within the collective consciousness of the Hive Mind. Should one be slain in battle, a replacement body can be grown and imbued with the same experiences as its predecessor.[1a] Like the greater Tyranid species, Hive Tyrants are highly adaptable and will rapidly change tactics and even its own biology should it be required. This includes being adapted with a pair of leathery wings when facing aerial foes, or mounting heavy bio-weaponry to deal with foes at range.[14]
Hive Tyrants appear to be either a more complex and highly evolved form of Tyranid Warrior, or else they evolved from a completely different and higher genus. Some Imperial techno-magi believe that Hive Tyrants are the consort-minds of the Norn-Queen that forms the repository of the Hive Fleet's own collective consciousness, which would mean they completely embody the Hive Mind, but their destruction would not diminish it in any way.[5]
Basic Info
| Ordo Xenos Departmento Analyticus Record [6b] | |||
| Designation | Hive Tyrant | Main Weaponry | 4x scything claws |
| Common Title | Overfiend | ||
| Species Name | Tyranicus praefacto,[2a] Tyranicus praefactor[6b] | Secondary Weaponry | Fangs and claws |
| Average Height | 2.9 m[Conflicting sources] | ||
| Average Weight | 6.1 tonnes | Tertiary Weaponry | None |
| First encountered | Tyran | ||
| Role | Battlefield command | ||
| Threat evaluation | Very high | ||
Hive Tyrant Variants
- Acid Tyrants have highly acidic blood and employ a large variety of toxic bio-morphs.[2a]
- Swarm Tyrants are capable of giving birth to clutches of Rippers in a similar manner to Tervigons and wield large Fleshborers.[3b]
- Winged Hive Tyrants have wings[6a]
- The Swarmlord is a unique Hive Tyrant created to out-think the enemy when standard Tyranid strategies fail.[1b]
Notable Hive Tyrants
- The Dagon Overlord
- The Hive Lord
- The King in Green
- The Nephilim King
- The Swarmlord
Images
Winged Hive Tyrant[6a]
Hive Tyrant by Mark Gibbons[8]
Hive Tyrant[9]
Winged Hive Tyrant[11]
Miniatures
Trivia
 |
- In Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader, the term "Hive-tyrant" applied to the ruler and primogenitor of the whole Hive Fleet - they were described as immensely psychic, huge, bloated with eggs and virtually immobile. The destruction of this Hive-tyrant would disperse the fleet.[4] This description fits the Norn-Queen of more recent publications. It was during the second edition of the game that the position of the Tyranid Hive Tyrant in the Tyranid hierarchy changed to its current position; not the highest embodiment of the hive-mind, but the largest version commonly encountered in battle.[10]
Conflicting sources
- Conflicting sources: This exact height for a Hive Tyrant is not consistent, and art depicting a Hive Tyrant standing next to an Guardsman on the same page the 2.9 Meter height is given shows the creature standing at least triple the guardsman's height,[6b] and given other similar scaling images in the same book show a relatively consistent roughly 1.5 meter tall Guardsman, 2.9 meters is possibly a typo, putting the height of the Hive Tyrant a mere 0.5 meters above the height of a Shrike.[6c] Later sources reconcile this by emphasizing that the Hive Tyrant's appearance and biology is variable depending on the situation.[14]
See also
Sources
- 1: Codex: Tyranids (5th Edition):
- 2: Codex: Tyranids (4th Edition)
- 3: Codex: Tyranids (3rd Edition)
- 4: Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader, pg. 200
- 5: Codex Imperialis (Background Book),
[Help] - 6: Imperial Armour Volume Four - The Anphelion Project:
- 7: Warhammer Community (07/03/2022) (saved archive)
- 8: White Dwarf 210 (UK), pg. 75
- 9: Codex: Tyranids (6th Edition) (E-Book) - Forces of the Hive Mind
- 10: Codex: Tyranids (2nd Edition), pg. 34
- 11:Magic: The Gathering's Universes Beyond Warhammer 40,000 - Winged Hive Tyrant - for details see Hive Tyrant/Sources
- 12: [1] (saved archived page, last accessed 24 June 2015)
- 13: Forge World webstore : WINGED HIVE TYRANT (product code : IA-TYR-T-003) (saved archive)
- 14: Codex: Tyranids (8th Edition), pg. 62
- 15: Leviathan (Box) Rulebook, pg. 231
