Kurnous
Kurnous also known as the Hunter is a male deity and one of the Eldar Gods, where he served as the god of the hunt, accompanied by his hounds[3a] and his falcon, Faolchú.[3a] It is said that Kurnous gave the Aeldari the gift of desire and body[5], a gift that lead to their prosperity as well as the avarice that caused the Fall of the Eldar[5] Kurnous was revered for his sight - both across the fields he hunted and into the hearts of the people.[6]
History
Among the Eldar, Kurnous was the husband of Isha and father to Eldanesh [5] (and by extension the whole Eldar race). It was his daughter, Lileath, who saw into the future that the War God Khaine would be torn asunder into hundreds of pieces by a great mortal army. Khaine, in his anger, approached the Phoenix King Asuryan and demanded that the Eldar be destroyed. Instead, Asuryan created a great barrier that separated the realm of mortals from the gods but left Isha in tears for not being able to see her mortal children. Thus, she and Kurnous pleaded to the smith god Vaul for help, who fashioned from Isha's tears spirit stones through which they could communicate with their children.[1a]
Khaine would later learn of this act and report it to Asuryan, where the Phoenix King became enraged at his commandment being disobeyed. Seeing Kurnous and his wife's actions as a betrayal, Asuryan handed the pair to Khaine to do as he wished, short of killing them. Thus, Khaine confined the two and made them endure constant torment whilst they resided in his care.[1a] Kurnous and Isha suffered for countless years under this fiery torment until Vaul the Smith petitioned for their release. The War God agreed to do so only in exchange for a hundred swords within a year's time. Vaul seemingly succeeded and both Kurnous along with his wife were set free. But once they were away, Khaine discovered that one of the blades was a forgery as Vaul had failed to craft the remaining one in time and substituted a mortal sword in the last one's place. In anger, Khaine sought vengeance against Vaul and this chain of events led to the War in Heaven.[1b] This saw the War God chain Vaul to his own anvil for helping Kurnous and Isha to escape.[2]
Kurnous would be destroyed during the Fall of the Eldar, with his perfect sight he was able to see the approach of Slaanesh before the other gods but bound with chains of fire by the jealous god Khaine was unable to call out his warning cry.[6] Slaanesh, resentful of Kurnous' keen vision which could see him for his hideous corruption and upset his vanity, turned his eyes to crystal and tore them from his head before shattering them and flinging the shards across the cosmos.[6] Many shards have been found by the Aeldari, an eternal reminder of the dark legacy of the eldar and artifacts which grant sight beyond sight and vision beyond vision to those who bear them.[6]
It is said that the original Eldar homeworld possessed three moons; one of these, that was greenish and dim, is known as Kurnous the Hunter's Moon.[1c]
Despite his death during the Fall of the Eldar, Kurnous is still revered by aeldari Rangers and Pathfinders. Relics imbued with the myths of Kurnous are supernaturally able to imbue the wielders with keen-eyed skill.[5] The Harlequins remember Kurnous through the Saedath of Cegorach's Jest which saw the Laughing God make off with one of the hunter's antlers.[7]
See also
Sources
- 1: Codex: Eldar (4th Edition):
- 2: Codex: Craftworld Eldar (3rd Edition), pg. 17
- 3: Codex: Eldar (2nd Edition):
- 4: Warhammer Community: New Asuryani Clash with Chaos Space Marines in the Next Warhammer 40,000 Battlebox (posted 25/12/2021) (last accessed 27 January 2025)
- 5: Codex: Aeldari (10th Edition), pgs. 13 & 106
- 6: Warhammer 40,000: Rites of War Instruction Manual, pg. 86 (last accessed 12/2/2025)
- 7: Codex: Harlequins (8th Edition), pg. 16
