Angron never had a choice

Content warning: This post contains discussion of trauma and abuse

As everyone is surely aware by now, GW has revealed a new model for Angron, Daemon Primarch of the World Eaters. To say I’m excited would be an understatement.

The model is, of course, brutally stunning. The design is close to his depiction on the cover of Saturnine, with more gladiatorial armour and a pair of new weapons. He’s posture bleeds aggression, stalking forward in a bestial hunch, roaring his hate at whatever foe he faces. It’s everything I wanted to see for the Daemon Primarch of Khrone, and I can’t wait to see the rest of the World Eaters range.

I love Angron. He’s a tragic figure that was let down by everyone in his life, resigned to an existence of suffering he can’t escape from. The Butchers Nails stole so much from him, maiming his brain and ability to feel, pulsing hate and violent urges into his mind and stealing all other sensations. ‘Betrayer’ gives a fantastic and intimate look at Angron and his Legion, the effects the Nails have on them, and how broken they’ve become as the Horus Heresy rages.

Angron was constantly robbed of agency through the Great Crusade, forced to do nothing as his chosen family and the only people that understood him died at the hands of their hated slave masters, abducted by the Emperor and stolen away from everything he knew, treated like a science experiment before again being robbed of agency and forced into a role and life he never wanted, only to be constantly talked down to by his brother Primarchs for being too different, for being broken and damaged in a way that no one was willing to help fix or understand, instead forcing him to be a general for another tyrants army. 

The years of war during the Heresy saw him treated no better. Horus used him just like The Emperor, as a weapon and a thing to kill instead of treating him like an actual human being, while Lorgar robbed him of bodily autonomy and forced daemonhood upon him, forcing him to be a slave to another warlord for the rest of eternity because apparently he knows what’s best for a brother he’s never understood, just one he feels entitled to save by whatever means are necessary, Angron’s wishes be damned. 

Angron is someone who was broken by abuse and trauma, never given any agency and had it actively stolen from him at every opportunity, forced to fill a role in a life he hated. There’s so much sadness and tragedy in Angron’s story. How trauma effects someone, how deep those wounds can go, how never being given the chance to heal will just make you worse, how a society will punish those too different from the norm because they aren’t being what is expected of them. I found a lot to relate to with Angron through my own experiences. There’s so many parallels you can draw between his struggles and real world experiences. Being trans, dealing with societal expectations, mental illness, dealing with trauma and the effects of long term abuse, isolation, self harm, self loathing. Angron’s story is tragic and heartbreaking. At every step of the way, he was failed by everyone.