Lucius the Eternal: Warhammer 40K's Ed Gein, but wasted?

After watching the Netflix series about Ed Gein, I wondered whether any character in the Warhammer 40,000 universe shares that same disturbing energy. I landed on Lucius the Eternal, a champion of the Emperor's Children who, like Gein, turns the people he destroys into something he keeps. In my opinion he should be one of the most terrifying figures in 40k, but I think the way his stories have been written has left him hollow.

This is a mix of lore, a touch of horror and plenty of the bizarre, in the spirit of Halloween.

Why Lucius the Eternal mirrors Ed Gein

Lucius is a champion of Slaanesh, the Chaos god of excess and obsession. He has picked up a few nicknames along the way: the Soul Thief, Fulgrim's Champion, even the Scion of Chemos, which refers to the planet he came from. He is infamous, and not someone you would want to bump into casually at the supermarket.

Ed Gein was famous for taking people apart and making grotesque trophies of them: lampshades, clothes, masks. Lucius does the same thing in the grimdark 40k way. He is obsessed with pain and suffering, and with turning battle into a twisted art. Every time he kills someone, their soul is trapped inside his body, their screaming face bubbling up through his armor. Where Gein stitched together pieces of his victims in his farmhouse, Lucius is a walking catwalk collection, his very being made of the people he destroyed. He doesn't just kill you. He makes you part of him permanently.

Lucius showed a sadistic streak early on Chemos

Lucius grew up on a dreary planet called Chemos. Not exactly the Shire; more like Mordor with worse neighbors. From early on he picked up any skill ridiculously fast, like the annoying kid at school who is good at everything. The local nobility took notice, and Lucius leaned into the art of war, mainly sword fighting. Instead of learning the recorder, he went full Geralt of Rivia with a blade.

Much like Gein had early warning signs, Lucius showed a sadistic streak very young. He would kill people he swore were bandits or beggars who had attacked him first, a bit like Anakin insisting they started it after wiping out an entire Tusken camp. When he tried teaching swordsmanship, his lessons usually ended with students missing a finger or an eye, or at the very least carrying a few scars. Imagine Obi-Wan training Luke but repeatedly stabbing him.

Then came a big annual sword fighting contest on Chemos. Still a skinny teenager, Lucius dueled a veteran champion twice his age. He took a nasty stab to the gut, shrugged it off in true horror movie fashion, and calmly took the man apart piece by piece. Just as an angry crowd of the champion's disciples was about to jump him, a towering sergeant of the Emperor's Children stepped out of the shadows and told him he was wasted there. That is how Lucius was scooped into the Legion. Where Gein turned his trauma into strange crafts, Lucius channeled his into dueling and carving people up on the battlefield.

Lucius became captain of the Emperor's Children's 13th Company

By the Great Crusade, Lucius had risen to captain of the 13th Company, a proper high rank for a lad who started out dueling villagers. His skill with a blade had reached legend status. Other Marines saw him as a Geralt of swordplay, with less brooding charm and much more smugness. But while everyone knew he was deadly, they also thought he was proud, reckless and frankly a bit of a child. Even his closest friend kept him at arm's length, the kind of friend who is one bad day from going full Anakin.

I think the Gein comparison still lingers here. Gein was known in his small town as the odd but harmless type, socially awkward and maybe childish, nothing sinister until people found his farmhouse. Lucius gave off the same vibe in the Legion: immature, even a bit daft, with something much darker bubbling underneath.

Dueling was his obsession, and he was never bested with a blade. The one time he lost was against Garviel Loken of the Luna Wolves, and even then Loken didn't beat him with a sword. He punched him in the jaw, the Warhammer version of Indiana Jones shooting the swordsman in Raiders of the Lost Ark. Lucius couldn't let that stand, and he got his revenge in the rematch. He also fought with an ornate antique sword forged by a clan of smiths during the Unification Wars, a museum relic. Imagine Gein committing his murders while cosplaying with a medieval heirloom from the attic. Lucius was all style over sanity.

Lucius betrayed the loyalists at Istvaan III

After the betrayal of Istvaan III, Lucius fought alongside Saul Tarvitz and the other loyal Emperor's Children for a time. But it became clear that Tarvitz was the true hero of the hour, the one the loyalists rallied behind. For Lucius, whose pride was bigger than his sense of humor, that was unbearable. Jealousy ate away at him. Just as Gein's life was twisted by obsession and resentment, Lucius couldn't stand being in someone else's shadow, and his hunger for glory snapped what little loyalty he had left.

He turned his blade on 30 of his own men, loyal Marines who trusted him. When Captain Solomon Demeter arrived, Lucius called for help, pretending the Marines he was slaughtering were traitors. Demeter rushed in and realized the truth only when the 30 were dead. The two clashed, and although Demeter was already wounded, it was a brutal fight. Lucius killed him, cutting down a brother in arms not out of necessity but maybe from pride, envy or the twisted thrill of proving himself. Who knows? Like Gein surrounding himself with remains, Lucius left a battlefield of corpses that day to feed his vanity.

Lucius, the possession of Fulgrim and two deaths

You'd think Lucius would have been shunned after selling out the loyalists. Instead, treachery and skill with a blade made him quite the catch. He went from backstabber to Lord Commander, leading Fulgrim's own bodyguard of assault Marines, which is failing upwards. But he wasn't all swagger. He began having unsettling dreams and became convinced Fulgrim wasn't himself. He was right: Fulgrim had been possessed.

So Lucius made it dramatic. With Fabius Bile and others, he captured his own Primarch. They tried torture and exorcism, and none of it worked. Eventually Lucius realized Fulgrim had already expelled the demon himself, like staging an intervention only to learn your friend had already quit drinking. Lucius stayed loyal and followed Fulgrim on his quest for the Angel Exterminatus.

Along the way he met Nykona Sharrowkyn of the Raven Guard. In their first fight Lucius gained a scar across his cheek. In the second, Sharrowkyn gave him a matching scar on the other side and drove two blades through his hearts. Plural, a perk of being a Space Marine that didn't help him that day. Lucius died, then woke up later in Fabius Bile's Apothecarion, very much alive and apparently more impressed with himself.

Lucius's hunt for Sanakht ended in the crystal labyrinth

Still obsessed with proving himself after Sharrowkyn embarrassed him, Lucius went hunting for his next worthy challenge. He met Hathor Maat of the Thousand Sons and instantly couldn't stand him, because Maat was what Lucius used to be: sharp, brash and dripping with potential. Like Gein burning with resentment at people with normal, stable lives, Lucius couldn't bear seeing a younger version of himself and needed to tear it down.

Maat mentioned Sanakht, the Thousand Sons' greatest duelist, who lived in a tower on the planet of sorcerers. None of the Legion's psychic seers could ever predict him losing. To Lucius that was irresistible, much like Gein's fixation on the things his mother told him were untouchable. Sanakht welcomed him calmly and asked if he was eager to die. Lucius replied that he had already done it once. Sanakht stayed a step ahead and even offered pointers mid fight, which Lucius's pride wouldn't let him accept. Through sheer fury Lucius disarmed him, but Ahriman threw up a psychic barrier and said he needed Sanakht alive. It was like the referee blowing the whistle just before your winning goal in a cup final.

Lucius tagged along with Ahriman's group to bide his time. He dueled Yasu Nagasena, a skilled but unaugmented swordsman, and tossed him off a causeway, but Nagasena survived, a dent in Lucius's reputation. Then it turned into a horror film, which is one reason I chose him. Lucius fell under the sway of a demon that manipulated Maat into rewriting parts of the Book of Magnus. The group ended up trapped in a crystal labyrinth where Lucius faced visions of rivals who had beaten him, Sanakht, Loken and Sharrowkyn, and defeated them all. Then he saw a reflection of his old self, the one thing he couldn't face. Just as Gein couldn't cope with a normal self outside his mother's grip, Lucius couldn't deal with the man he was before pride consumed him. He lost control and the labyrinth swallowed him.

How Lucius's curse began in the arena

Once the Emperor's Children gave themselves fully to Slaanesh, Fulgrim ran gladiatorial games on their new home world, blood sport festivals for when there were no fresh planets to butcher. Lucius was the golden boy of the arena, undefeated, until he crossed blades with a Lord Commander named Sirius and was killed. The intensity of that fight was so intoxicating that Slaanesh noticed, a symphony of pain and pleasure a god would not let fade.

Days later, Sirius began changing. His skin cracked, his hair fell out, and soon nothing was left of him but a screaming face twisted into Lucius's armor, with Lucius back on his feet. Here the Gein comparison goes into overdrive for me. Anyone who kills Lucius and feels even a flicker of pride, satisfaction or grim enjoyment begins to become him, their face and soul added to the screaming mass on his armor. Even the Necrons aren't immune if they take the tiniest satisfaction in it. Every death feeds him, and every victor becomes another trophy.

Lucius after Fulgrim abandoned the Legion

Fulgrim later abandoned the Legion for his demon world. Most of the Emperor's Children saw it as rejection, but Lucius stayed loyal as Fulgrim's champion while the Legion tore itself apart. He clashed with Fabius Bile and many others and was reduced to leading a smaller war band, yet his infamy never dimmed, because everyone knew killing Lucius meant risking becoming him. In one bizarre job, Fulgrim even tasked him with killing a clone of Fulgrim that Fabius had cooked up.

Over the millennia he carved through champions across the galaxy, including the Emperor's Champion of the Black Templars and the Dark Eldar. After brutal setbacks his war band was whittled down to about 20 Marines, and he had to team up with Fabius Bile. With his help Lucius rebuilt into a much bigger force called the Faultless. He appeared in the 13th Black Crusade leading Emperor's Children forces, and later in an alliance of Chaos and xenos smashing through Medusa V.

The curse is wearing Lucius down

The curse has worn him down. He has died so many times he has lost count, with gaps in his memory where whole lives should be. Each return leaves him a little less stable and less sane. Slaanesh's gift has curdled into a curse. Gein was trapped by the grotesque world he built until he was more ghost than man, and I think Lucius is the same. I think each death is proof that someone bested him, and because of the curse he can never face them again or settle the score.

Lucius's scars, weapons and Armor of Shrieking Souls

Most of the scars on his face were inflicted by himself. I believe he was once handsome, but being called too pretty by fellow Marines drove him mad; he wanted to be feared, not admired. The first crack was Loken's punch, which broke his nose so it never healed, no matter how many apothecaries tried. Later Serena d'Angelus, a painter traveling with the 28th Expedition, carved two scars across his cheeks to remind him of Loken's insult. From there Lucius took the knife to himself after every victory until his features were buried under scars.

His signature weapon is the Lash of Torment, a demon infested whip that screams as it bites. His sword, the Blade of the Laer, is a relic soaked in corruption taken from an alien foe. Before that he treated weapons carelessly, and his old blade was simply called Nineteen. His Armor of Shrieking Souls carries the faces of thousands he has killed, and he can unleash their screams as a weapon. A rack of combat stimms crafted by the Dark Eldar, won in gladiatorial pits, pumps him full of drugs mid fight. When he dies he sometimes returns without his gear, yet his weapons always find their way back, as cursed as he is.

Which death really started Lucius's curse

From what I've read, Lucius isn't well liked among fans, and there's plenty of back and forth in the lore, particularly about his first death. His codex entries, from what I found, are clear that Sirius killed him in the gladiatorial pits and that's when Slaanesh took notice. Then there's the novel Angel Exterminatus, which I read, where Sharrowkyn kills him earlier. The difference is that Sharrowkyn felt no satisfaction; it was necessity. Because the curse only triggers when the killer enjoys the victory, that death didn't count, which I think is why Sirius is usually listed as the first. He's not just keeping trophies; he is the trophy.

I think the Emperor's Children have been written badly

From what I can tell, the trouble with Lucius isn't really Lucius, but how the Emperor's Children have been written, and I'm still getting to grips with it. I think the older background painted them as proud and vain but with reason: fewer in number, but skilled enough to earn their arrogance. They saved the Emperor's life, which is why they alone wore the Palatine Aquila. Fulgrim could put even Guilliman on his back, and Lucius was scary good before Slaanesh touched him.

Then the Black Library novels chipped that away, particularly Dan Abnett's introduction of the Legion in Horus Rising, which makes them look a little dumb, with Tarvitz the only competent one. Lucius the prodigy is humiliated by Loken because he didn't expect a punch, which makes no sense for a master swordsman. In older material Fulgrim beating Ferrus Manus proved how dangerous he was; in the Black Library version Ferrus relents and the demon blade does the work. Other traitors like Kharn, Angron, Mortarion and Abaddon stay imposing even when they take a hit, but the Emperor's Children end up close to a caricature, which I don't think does them justice. When writers like Josh Reynolds handle them, they feel vibrant and dangerous.

On paper Lucius is a prodigy, Fulgrim's golden boy and a cursed immortal: Warhammer's answer to Ed Gein, a man who wears his victims. In practice he rarely wins on his own merit; it's always tied to his curse or a contrived twist. He's often written as a hollow version of himself, which in a way is perfect for Halloween. Gein never escaped the grotesque world he built in that farmhouse, and Lucius is the same on a cosmic scale. He isn't just cursed in the lore. He's cursed in the writing too, forever wearing the faces of others but never quite allowed to wear his own.