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{{Otheruses|USE=Chaos Space Marine|OTHERUSE=other uses of Khârn|OTHERPAGE=Khârn (disambiguation)|OTHERUSE2=other uses of Betrayer|OTHERPAGE2=Betrayer (disambiguation)}}

[[Image:Khan6.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Kharn the Betrayer{{Fn|10}}]]

===Early Career===

[[Image:Preheresykharn.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Khârn before the Horus Heresy{{Fn|8}}]]

When the War Hounds' [[primarch]], [[Angron]], was found, the entire Legion rejoiced, but their elation turned to horror when their progenitor rejected them and disavowed any interest in joining the [[Emperor]]'s forces. After forcibly teleporting the primarch aboard their [[Battle Barge]], as the Emperor had ordered, the War Hounds were forced to keep him imprisoned in a cargo hold, where he killed every Marine officer who attempted to treat with him. While the rest of the battle-barge's command staff hovered in indecision, Khârn - the next ranking officer - was the only one who volunteered to try next.{{Fn|2}}

Khârn succeeded where the other Captains had failed, and led his primarch to the bridge of the ship to assume command of his Legion.{{Fn|2}} Becoming Angron's [[Equerry]], Kharn was able to find and convince Angron to rejoin the Legion after he abandoned them for nearly two years.{{Fn|19}} Seeking to gain his fathers respect and emulate his strength Kharn later volunteered to have the [[Butcher's Nails]] installed into his brain, which at the time had a 100% fatality rate. However Kharn survived the process, being the very first World Eater to endure the Nails and earn Angron's acknowledgment as his son.{{Fn|19}} During the subsequent [[Ghenna Massacre]], Kharn and Butchers Nail's-equipped World Eaters put down a revolt by his old comrade [[Mago]]. After a duel, Kharn slew Mago who before his death declared that Angron's path would lead the World Eaters to damnation.{{Fn|19a}}

During the Crusade, Khârn served as Angron's [[equerry]], often acting as a voice of reason that cooled his primarch's bloody rages (a surprising contrast with the person Khârn was destined to become). Like the other World Eaters, he underwent extensive surgery, increasing his aggression such that he now finds joy only in killing the enemy. His love of killing is so great that he has actually had a kill counter installed in the lens of his helmet. This kill counter was made from arcane technology and was a gift from the [[Warmaster]] [[Horus]] himself{{Fn|6}}.

Shortly before the [[Battle of Isstvan III]], Khârn had gained a reputation as a brilliant, but unstable warrior. Encountering him aboard the ''[[Vengeful Spirit]]'', [[Nathaniel Garro]] reflected that some of the rumors surrounding the World Eater involved atrocities that even the most battle-hardened [[Death Guard]]s found hard to stomach.{{Fn|4}} Through his dueling matches and joint campaigning with other Astartes, Kharn established friendships with [[Argel Tal]], [[Garviel Loken]], [[Sigismund]], and [[Nassir Amit]].{{Fn|14}}

[[Image:Betrayer-internal.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Khârn during the Horus Heresy{citethis}}]]

During the infighting on [[Isstvan III]], Khârn was believed killed in action while fighting [[Garviel Loken]] of the [[Luna Wolves]], a [[loyalist]] determined to stop [[Horus]]. Khârn engaged in close combat with Loken, only to be thrown against the dozer blades of a nearby vehicle, impaling his chest. It was believed that the blow was fatal, but this proved false.{{Fn|3}}

Following the transformation of Angron, the World Eaters went on to mindlessly slaughter any world they came across. Kharn accompanied Angron throughout this, and continued to insist that the Primarch was dying. Angron and his Legion refused all summons by Horus to muster at [[Ullanor]] in preparation for the drive on [[Terra]]. This eventually caused the [[Iron Warriors]] under [[Perturabo]] himself to track the World Eaters to [[Deluge]]. On the world, they found the population butchered and erected into a giant mound. At the top of it stood Kharn, who pleaded with Pertuarbo and his forces to leave before it was too late. Soon enough, Angron led an attack of World Eaters and Khornate Daemons against the Iron Warriors. Eventually the two sides came to an agreement to leave for Ullanor following the arrival of the [[Ultramarines]]. Kharn accompanied Angron to Ullanor and then to Terra.{{Fn|17}}

By the time of the [[Siege of Terra]], Khârn was barely able to hold back the urge to murder anything around him, even valued comrades such as [[Lotara Sarrin]]. After hearing that [[Mortarion]]'s [[Death Guard]] would instead be the first to assault Terra, Angron fell into a rage and massacred all he came across within the bowels of the ''[[The Conqueror]]''. [[Lotara Sarrin]] feared that he would murder the [[Tech-Priest]]'s attending to the vessels reactor, risking a catastrophic meltdown. This forced Kharn to confront Angron within the ship, where the Primarch revealed he knew of the 8th Captain's ultimate destiny and wished to supplant him as the Chosen of Khorne. The two battled, with Kharn being little match for his gene-father. However before Angron could finish him, Kharn placed a teleport homer on the Primarch which transported him to the shifting maze within the nearby [[Night Lords]] flagship ''[[Nightfall]]'' within, Angron became trapped and spent his time battling the many traps within the maze.{{Fn|20}}

During the drive into the [[Inner Palace]], Khârn was at the forefront of every assault. However he was eventually confronted by the [[Imperial Fists]] [[First Captain]] and his old sparring partner [[Sigismund]]. In the battle that followed not even Kharn's Warp-infused might could best the Imperial Fist, who much to his frustration refused to speak or acknowledge the World Eater. Finally Kharn was struck down by Sigismund, but before the final blow was struck the World Eater Captain remarked that even he was not as damaged as the embittered Sigismund had become. Sigismund then slew Kharn upon the soil of his original homeworld.{{Fn|24}} After Horus was defeated, his fellow World Eaters carried his corpse away with them as they fought their way back to their ships. Once on board they discovered that by some dark miracle, he still lived.{{Fn|1a}} Whether Khorne himself breathed life back into the berserker's body or whether the relentless clamour of battle revived his blood-lusting spirit remains a mystery, but since the Heresy Khârn has survived the bloodiest battles to the current age and never came so close to death again.{{Fn|1a}}

Kharn's injuries continued to plague him in the immediate post-Heresy period, and the Legion tore itself apart without him or Angron to guide them. Eventually he returned, fully healed, and led the remains of the World Eaters against a much larger [[Emperor's Children]] force at [[Skalathrax]]. During the Battle Kharn would become both legendary and infamous amongst the Legion. In what was dubbed the Night of Madness, Kharn turned on his brothers and took up a [[Flamer]], running through the World Eaters lines and burning them from cover in an effort to drive them forward to victory. The flames quickly spread into an uncontrollable inferno and those who sought to stop Kharn were struck down by the warrior. The actions proved to finally break the World Eaters as a Legion and they tore themselves apart.{{Fn|25}} Because of this, the World Eaters were completely scattered into small, individual war bands, and have seldom, if ever, fought as a unified Legion since then. Khârn's actions at Skalathrax earned him the sobriquet '''"The Betrayer"''', which he has carried ever since.{{Fn|1a}}

[[Image:Kharn.jpg|thumb|right|'''Khârn the Betrayer''' wielding [[Gorechild]]{{Fn|7}}]]

Since Skalathrax, Khârn has become the unstoppable and bloody avatar of Khorne.{{Fn|1a}} He hunted through the [[Eye of Terror]], slaughtering any worthy enough to be killed in Khorne's name. One of the famous battles at this time was his fighting with [[Zarghan Ironfist]].{{Fn|11}} However Kharn has taken countless lives and while [[Human]] skulls are the most desirable he is known to have slain every almost every kind of [[xenos]] and [[daemon]]. [[Hive Tyrant]]s, [[Necron Overlord]]s, [[Autarch]]s, and [[Warboss]]es have all met their end at Kharn's hand. Despite his crazed nature, Kharn will still offer his services to brave Chaos warlords. However many are reluctant to call upon him, for his allies are often as at much risk as his enemies.{{Fn|13}}

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==Sources==

**{{Endn|1a}}: pg. 48

**{{Endn|1b}}: pg. 67

*{{Endn|13}}: [[Warlords of the Dark Millennium: Kharn the Betrayer (Background Book)]]{{cite this}}

*{{Endn|14}}: [[Butcher's Nails (Audio Book)]]

*{{Endn|15}}: [[Black Crusade: Traitor's Hate]] — ''Kharn's Butcherhorde''

*{{Endn|16}}: [[Shroud of Night (Novel)]],{{Cite this}}

*{{Endn|17}}: [[Slaves to Darkness (Novel)]] — Chapters 17–19

*{{Endn|18}}: [[A Rose Watered with Blood (Short Story)]]

*{{Endn|23}}: [[Saturnine (Novel)]] Part 3 Chapter 4

*{{Endn|24}}: [[Warhawk (Novel)]] - Chapter 23

===Uncited===

*[[White Dwarf #201 (UK)]]

*[http://uk.games-workshop.com/chaosspacemarines/kharn/ GamesWorkshop - Chaos Space Marines: Khârn the Betrayer]

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