Ragnar Blackmane
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This article is about the Wolf Lord. For other uses of Blackmane, see Blackmane (disambiguation). |
"We may be few, and our enemies many. Yet so long as there remains one of us still fighting, one who still rages in the name of justice and truth, then by the Allfather, the galaxy shall yet know hope."[1e]
 Ragnar Blackmane as a Primaris Space Marine[9] | |
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| Title(s) | The Black Wolf[7] Thunderfist |
| Homeworld | Fenris |
| Born | c. M41, Fenris |
| Active Period | M41 - Present |
| Species | Human |
| Type | |
| Gender | Male |
| Relatives |
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| Occupation(s) |
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| Affiliation(s) |
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| Preceded by | Berek Thunderfist (as Wolf Lord) |
Ragnar Blackmane, also known as the Black Wolf[7], is the youngest Wolf Lord in the history of the Space Wolves, commanding the Blackmanes Great Company.[3]
Contents
Biography
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The following paragraphs contain spoilers for: | Space Wolf (Novel Series) |
Origins
Ragnar was born Ragnar Thunderfist on Fenris, a barbarian of the Thunderfists tribe. When he was still a teenager, his village was attacked by a rival tribe, the Grimskulls, who slaughtered his family and most of his tribe. Despite his youth, Ragnar showed extraordinary fighting talent, using berserker-like rage to slay many of the invaders. He finally fell in combat with the Grimskull youth who had killed his father, Strybjorn, though Ragnar dealt him a mortal wound in kind. Because of their equal ferocity and fighting skill, both youths were selected by the Wolf Priest Ranek to join the ranks of the Space Marines, and their lives were saved by the medicine of the Astartes.[12a]
Ragnar was sent to one of the training camps on Fenris, and was eventually sent through the Gates of Morkai, in which he was subjected to psychic interrogation, searching for any hint of taint. His hatred for Strybjorn, against whom he had sworn revenge, was almost his undoing, but he did not give in to the wolf spirit and was allowed to drink from the Cup of Wulfen. At the end of his initiation rite he returned to the Chapter's fortress of The Fang bearing the pelt of a blackmaned Fenrisian wolf, a notoriously vicious breed.[12b]
Early Exploits
While still in training at the Fang, Ragnar's Blood Claw pack stumbled onto a secret base beneath one of Fenris's mountains being used by the Thousand Sons Chaos Space Marines. Ragnar and Strybjorn confronted the Sorcerer Madox, and together managed to banish him back to the Warp.[12c] Ragnar also fought in Magdelon Incursion in 712.M41[5]
First Mission
Ragnar's Blood Claw pack's first mission off-planet was to assist and escort Inquisitor Sternberg, an old ally of the Great Wolf Logan Grimnar, in tracking down an Eldar talisman which Sternberg believed was crucial to stopping a plague on his home planet. The talisman's pieces were scattered throughout the galaxy, taking Ragnar and his Claws to a world overrun by Orks, where they slew a massive Warboss gifted with psyker powers, and a Space Hulk infested with genestealers. The final journey of their quest took them to Sternberg's home planet, where they confronted the Daemon Botchulaz, who had almost escaped the prison the Eldar had fashioned for him.[13]
Uprising on Garm
Ragnar's actions won him great renown, and he was inducted into the Great Company of Wolf Lord Berek Thunderfist. Soon a great portion of the Chapter was deployed to Garm, where a Chaos-fueled uprising had stolen the Spear of Russ, a sacred relic of the Wolves. During the climactic battle, Ragnar was again confronted by Madox, who was conducting a ritual to raise fallen Thousand Sons again and to summon his master, Magnus the Red, into the Materium. In a desperate action, Ragnar threw the Spear into the opening warp rift, preventing Magnus's return.[14]
Exile to Terra
While many, including Logan Grimnar, believed it to be the only way to save the chapter from annihilation, Ragnar was despised by many for the seeming loss of the relic to the enemy. As a symbolic punishment, Ragnar was assigned to the Wolfblade on Terra, a bodyguard unit for Lady Gabriela Belisarius, an important scion of an allied Navis Nobilite house. There, he foiled an assassination plot by a rival House, and defeated the Imperial Assassin Xenothan in the process. As a reward, the Navigators gifted him with the ancient Frost Blade that he continued to use for the rest of his life. While accompanying Gabriela on an inspection tour of their holdings on Hyades, Ragnar was caught in the middle of a plot by The Fallen, allied with a resurrected Madox, to foment war between the Dark Angels and the Space Wolves. Ragnar formed a temporary alliance with a rival Dark Angel, Jeremiah Gieyus, that helped defeat the Fallen's commander and encouraged a truce between the two chapters.[15]
The Wolfblade had stumbled onto another plot by the Thousand Sons to resurrect Magnus and destroy the Space Wolves entirely, which involved the Spear of Russ. When the Wolfblades were temporarily recalled to Fenris for debriefing, Ragnar swore an oath before Logan Grimnar himself, to recover the Spear or die trying.
In the midst of the brutal Chaos attack on the Wolves protected world of Charys, Ragnar led a strike team to the mirror world version of Charys, with the aid of the lost Thirteenth Great Company. There, he confronted Madox yet again, killing him with the Spear, interrupting the ritual, and returning with the Spear to Grimnar.[16]
Trial of the Flesh Tearers
In 960.M41 while aboard the Veregelt, Ragnar in engaged in a ritual honour duel with a Dark Angels Champion, killing him in a fit of rage despite agreeing to first blood prior to the match. This created further animosity between the two chapters[6b], leading to Ragnar agreeing to a second duel to the death with the Dark Angels Sergeant Sorael to settle the matter. However, before the duel could begin, the Imperials were ambushed by Night Lords warships and forced to flee.[6c] Afterwards, Ragnar and his squad boarded a derelict Flesh Tearers ship, the Baryonyx, leading to a clash with one of the maddened warriors found in stasis within.[6d]
In the subsequent council with Berek and his Wolf Guard, the fate of the Baryonyx was discussed. Some wished to return the ship to the Flesh Tearers, while others wanted to keep it for themselves. Ultimately Ulrik the Slayer arrived and decided to return it. Ragnar, alongside fellow Wolf Guard Nalfir Razortongue, was assigned to the mission to return the ship to the Flesh Tearers at Cretacia.[6d] Upon arriving at the Flesh Tearers homeworld, Ragnar was nearly executed on the spot for being a Space Wolf by the Chaplain Scarath.[6e] Instead, they were banished to the harsh wilds of Cretacia in a test of survival and met Sergeant Vorain, who was seeking to mend ties between the two Chapters.[6f] Before the trio could be extracted via gunship, a large pteranadon attacked the group. Nalfir was killed slaying the beast, and Ragnar later returned to Fenris with his body alongside Vorain. Vorain then acted as an emissary between the two chapters.[6g]
Jarl
Ragnar was one of the few, if not the only, Space Wolves to completely bypass the rank of Grey Hunter, being elevated from a Blood Claw straight to the rank of Wolf Guard in Berek Thunderfist's entourage. This incredibly rare feat was achieved after Ragnar single-handedly killed Ork Warlord Borzag Khan and his entire retinue in close combat.[17]
When Berek was killed in single combat with the Chaos champion Ghorox Bloodfist, it was Ragnar who hunted down and slew his former Lord's killer. As a result, Ragnar was elevated to Wolf Lord and took command of Berek's Great Company. He is the youngest battle-brother to ever reach such a rank.[6a]
Later, during the Hunt for the Wulfen, Ragnar fell upon Dragos, battling in Daemon-haunted jungles to recover his former 13th Great Company brethren. After rescuing the Wulfen, Blackmane rescued Mechanicus personnel stranded on the planet.[4]
Thirteenth Black Crusade
Ragnar led his Great Company to Cadia as part of the Thirteenth Black Crusade in 999.M41, battling at Kasr Belloc against Chaos hordes. During the battle, he reunites with a force of Flesh Tearers under the now-Captain Vorain as well as Dark Angels under Sorael, who he had pledged to fight in a duel to the death decades earlier. Despite the war around them, the duel takes place and Ragnar emerges victorious, but chooses not to kill the Dark Angel and instead focus on their common enemy.[6h]
Later in the war, Ragnar was nearly the target of an assassination by the heretical Cardinal Leon Chirastes, who had his agents dispatched in a campaign of vengeance against the Space Wolves over the Incursion of Fools. Ragnar was warned of the plot by the renegade Járnhamar Pack at Kasr Vasta and was able to foil it just as Cadia fell. Afterwards while leaving the Cadian System in the Frigate Dawnrunner, Ragnar clears Járnhamar Pack of any prior wrongdoings.[18]
Age of the Dark Imperium
During the Psychic Awakening, the Space Wolves attempted to curb the power of the infamous Ork Warboss Ghazghkull Thraka. Ragnar and his Great Company eventually cornered Ghazghkull at the Battle of Krongar. During the battle, Ragnar Blackmane managed to decapitate the Ork Warboss but suffered great wounds himself. He only narrowly survived after days of intense surgery that saw him cross the Rubicon Primaris. Upon returning to duty, Ragnar was horrified to find that Ghazghkull still lived. In another attempt to slay The Beast, Ragnar redirected an orbital station into Krongar's surface. During the hunt for Ghazghkull, Ragnar's two wolves Svangir and Ulfgir were slain by Ghazghkull.[9]
Wargear
Ragnar goes into battle with a Frostblade dubbed Frostfang and Bolt Pistol. He also wears a Belt of Russ, which is gifted to each Great Company and the skin cloak of a Fenrisian Wolf he slew during his Trial of Morkai.[11]
Ragnar's own Wolf Guard consists of Brothers Egil (who went through basic training with Ragnar) and Gunnar, as well as many others. He was sometimes accompanied into battle by two Fenrisian Wolves, Svangir and Ulfgir.[1d]
Blood Ravens artificers once crafted a Power Axe in Ragnar's honour, named Gift of Blackmane, and intended to send it to Fenris as a gift. When informed of this, Ragnar is said to have laughed aloud and remarked, "Let them keep their trinkets."[2]
Quotes
Images
Ragnar Blackmane miniature (8th Edition)[8]
Ragnar Blackmane miniature (5th Edition)[3]
Ragnar Blackmane miniature (2nd Edition)
Ragnar Blackmane (Epic scale)
Trivia
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Conflicting sources
- According to some sources, Ragnar was recruited by Ulrik the Slayer, who also recruited Logan Grimnar. However, this is contradicted by the Space Wolf novel series, in which Ranek Icewalker recruits Ragnar, and also plays a similar role to Ulrik's as a close advisor to Grimnar.
See also
Sources
- 1: Codex: Space Wolves (5th Edition):
- 2: Dawn of War II, single-player campaign, wargear selection screen
- 3: Games Workshop webstore: Ragnar Blackmane (last accessed 10 April 2015)
- 4: War Zone Fenris: Curse of the Wulfen, Chapter 1
- 5: Imperial Armour Volume Thirteen - War Machines of the Lost and the Damned, pg. 24 - Magdelon Incursion
- 6: Ragnar Blackmane (Novel):
- 7: Warhammer Community: Psychic Awakening: The Feast (posted 24/02/2020) (last accessed 24 February 2020)
- 8: Warhammer Community: Fight of the Millennium (posted 09/03/2020) (saved archive page, dated 17 March 2020, last accessed 23 November 2025)
- 9: Psychic Awakening: Saga of the Beast, pg. 35
- 10: Joytoy: Ragnar Blackmane (last accessed 21 July 2024)
- 11: Codex: Space Wolves (7th Edition) - The Young King
- 12: Space Wolf (Novel):
- 13: Ragnar's Claw (Novel), Chapter 13
- 14: Grey Hunter (Novel), Chapter 26
- 15: Sons of Fenris (Novel), Chapter 15
- 16: Wolf's Honour (Novel), Chapter 21
- 17: Codex: Space Wolves - Wulfen Edition (E-Book): Sagas of the Space Wolves - Ragnar Blackmane
- 18: The Helwinter Gate (Novel), Chapter 34
Uncited
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