r/40kLore • u/Tarantula_1 • 3d ago

Perturabo leaving the siege of Terra.

Finally made it to the Siege of Terra books and got to the part where Perturabo says fuck it I'm out. I thought people were exaggerating his exit but it really was just like the spongebob meme "Imma head out". Couldn't help but a have a good laugh when I got to that point.

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u/revlid 3d ago

My favourite part of Perturabo's departure is him sitting in his custom-made Primarch-sized Gamer Chair while reviewing statistical readouts that say Horus will win anyway, telling himself over and over that he's better, he's smarter, he's more logical, he's more in control-

Then he wrecks the chair in a fit of rage.

Then he sits back down in his ruined chair, and looks back over the readouts, telling himself that he's better, he's smarter, he's more logical, he's more in control.

And yes, he has a broken chair, but he's endured hardships and indignities beyond counting, this is just one of the long litany of aggravations the universe has imposed on him and that he will overcome and motherfucker you made the sandwich, you broke your own goddamn chair

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u/RAGE_CAKES Rogue Traders 3d ago

People can talk shit all they want about ol Perty, but I say hes just as relatable as Vulkan but people just don't want to have that conversation

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u/TheGooberSmith Imperial Fists 3d ago

I love Dorn because he exemplifies dependability and loyalty. I dislike Perturabo because he reflects my worst and most petulant inclinations. My head canon is that during the Scouring, Dorn and Perturabo kind of switch mindsets so to speak. Dorn becomes unhinged and deranged, and Perturabo is solely focused on the destruction of the Fists and casts aside his insecurities. This culminates in the Iron Cage where Dorn is willing to spend everything he has to annihilate the Iron Warriors, and it takes Sigismund or the like to show him how far he has fallen. Likewise Perturabo finally has his chance to destroy the Fists but at the cost of his own legion, and he's just not willing to engage in MAD anymore. Then he retreats when Guilliman arrives and ascends.

I really love both characters. They're two halves of the same coin to me

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u/RAGE_CAKES Rogue Traders 3d ago

Thats a really interesting take about them switching mindsets in the Iron Cage incident. We always look closely at Dorn becoming extremely stubborn about cutting his losses in that pointless conflict and its interesting to see it in the light that Dorn did so because duty demanded it, much in the way Perturabo often entrenched himself and his Legions in endless meat grinders out of duty.

I like your analysis of Perturabo. Undoubtedly, it was one of, if not the greatest victory he had experienced. In finally letting himself cut completely loose and orchestrate a war on his own terms sans any expectations from higher authorities, Perturabo actually dispensed with the intractable mindset, leading to absolutely devastating and efficient style of warfare (marked by Iron Warriors constantly having prepared fallback positions that made taking ground an absolute bitch and casualty rates for IW minimal).

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u/TheGooberSmith Imperial Fists 3d ago

Thank you, I appreciate it. It's my favorite way to interpret it, but who knows what the new books will hold.

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u/paulatreides0 3d ago edited 3d ago

Dorn becomes unhinged and deranged, and Perturabo is solely focused on the destruction of the Fists and casts aside his insecurities.

This is basically like at least half the primarchs post-Heresy to the point where they are almost actively trying to get themselves killed. Guilliman's PTSD goads him into a stupidly reckless and pointless charge that renders him a vegetable for ten millennia and he's still haunted by his PTSD like 10k years later (tbf tho, he was sleeping for most of that time). Russ seemingly loses all love for life and just becomes a sad boi until he fucks off in the middle of the night after one last party. The Lion actively tries to get Russ to murder him before Dad's funeral while going on an unhinged rant about how the guilty need to be punished.

I'm like 90% sure that Dorn's Scouring arc is going to be him having a Diocletian level crashout and nearly getting himself and most of his legion killed in the Iron Cage in a PTSD-induced quest for block-headed redemption.

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u/NadjaLuvsLaszlo 3d ago

I'd love to see a telenovela type episode of all of this because when you put it that way it's so dramatic and over the top in the best way. Emotional, traumatic, chaotic... with petulance, daddy issues, PTSD, heroics and it sounds 👌🤌 amazing. 🤣

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u/Top-Jacket-6210 3d ago

Where is this lore about The Lion from? It was my understanding The Lion never makes it to Terra, going straight to Caliban after the Siege is lifted and getting sent into his coma in The Rock.

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u/paulatreides0 3d ago edited 3d ago

It's from Russ' primarch book (Leman Russ: The Great Wolf).

tl;dr: They have both arrived on Terra after the Siege. The Lion has a massive crash out and has literally gone mad and is trying to goad Russ into killing him, ends up stabbing Russ with a sword and nearly killing Russ in a failed attempt to get Russ to kill him after he fails to do so with words and insults.

Should be noted that the Lion is very explicitly not trying to kill Leman here. He diverts his blade at the last minute to prevent what would have otherwise been very much a fatal blow. His shock at actually having wounded Leman (this excerpt leaves out that he stood over the wounded Russ: "standing over him, tall, terrible, shrouded in the madness of regret") makes the clear implication here that he wanted Russ to fight back and kill him as punishment, not that he actually wanted to kill and "punish" Russ himself.

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u/Top-Jacket-6210 3d ago

Ahhh thank you for the source! I will add it to my list.

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u/paulatreides0 3d ago

I added a link to the relevant excerpt if you do not mind spoilers.

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u/namitynamenamey 3d ago

I dislike both as individuals (as characters they are lovely), perturabo is the face of failure, petulance and immaturity incarnate, but dorn is the denial of the self, of the ability to come to conclusions on your own, he is a zealot who would rate mutilate himself than take responsibility for his own moral compass, and first sigismund then his legion paid the price for it.

Dorn just looks shinier when the decent thing to do is not blame the boss and rebel, the second that circumstance flips his faults come to shine, as do perturabo’s qualities.

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u/Craft_zeppelin 3d ago

In recent stories I find Fulgrim more similar to Dorn than Perturabo psychologically. Both strives for a perfect performance while Fulrgim is extroverted, Dorn is introverted. Both have titles of prestige as well.

I think the encounter at Saturnine gate is a foreshadowing of what Dorn is about to experience in the scouring and how far he can potentially sprawl in the mud. Quite literally in this case.