The LOST LEGIONS & PRIMARCHS of the HORUS HERESY | Legions II & XI: Origins & Lore

In the universe of Warhammer 40,000, the Emperor created twenty Primarchs and twenty Space Marine Legions to unify the galaxy. But by the time of the Horus Heresy, only 18 remained. What happened to the two lost legions and their primarchs, the 'forgotten' and the 'purged'? In this video, I take a look at the evidence.

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Copyright: Unless noted in the video, all images © Games Workshop 1987-2022. Title music is 'Black Rainbows' by Karl Casey @WhiteBatAudio

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[rickpriestley]

Interesting piece and lot's of interesting and credible theories there! I have no more idea than anyone else what the truth of the matter is, of course. The backstory has certainly evolved and acquired some mass of detail since I first drew up that list of Space Marine Chapters and their Primarchs. I'm not really familiar with a lot of that material either, but it's nice to know that the spirit of the thing has been preserved and even nurtured. I will make just one observation - and it's about the intent of the missing legions - where I think GW have perhaps taken a slightly different tack than I had in mind. Not that this matters of course, and I appreciate that in creating a series of books about the Heresy a lot of things I always intended to be unknowable or semi-mythical had to be addressed directly; something I could never have foreseen when I wrote Rogue Trader. The intent is this: that the removal of records and obliteration of the memory of these Lost Legions was not a punishment but a reward - rather than being purged they were being absolved - and this was based on the assumption they had done something utterly terrible (naturally!) but then done something equally positive to earn redemption. Or think of it as a stain that cannot be erased except by extinction. The Chaos Chapters are unforgiven - out and out bad guys - but the Lost Legions, whatever their deeds, have been forgiven and the stain upon their reputation erased with their memory. At least that was the idea... but times change don't they ;)

[NeroIML]

During the video I had the idea that one or both of the lost primarchs landed on worlds where humans and xenos coexisted peacefully and that they were unable to accept or even resisted parts of the great crusade. Instead of being corrupted by an outside force like Chaos they were just not compatible with the Emperor's vision of the future of humanity. Maybe it came to a head during the Rangdan war and one of them refused orders or even surrendered to the Rangda in order to try and find a diplomatic solution?

A worse crime than falling to chaos; being a hippie. (or at least, believing in coexistence and peace rather than conquest)

[CrimsonTemplar]

40K lore is (in some ways) a masterclass on using unreliable narrators & loose plot threads to tantalize the reader rather than aggravate them.
We’ll never really know what happened to II & XI, but this video is the best roundup of the relevant lore snippets from the various books I’ve found thus far (better even than Occulus Imperia’s video). Good job Ian!

[Inquisdrknss]

Following the cerebvore idea, the infected Primarch could be the ultimate carrier. Too strong to ever die from it, but subjected to a drive to spread their curse to every one, or to even allow the contagion to mutate to become an unstoppable threat

[stevekcole]

I always liked the idea that one of the lost Legion primarchs was assigned to be the void dragon's jailer on Mars and as no whisper of the void dragon could be allowed out that the primarch and his Legion were expunged from history but are still on Mars guarding their prisoner.

[RSBurgener]

Here is something I have been able to theorize. The Emperor built redundancies into the Primarchs; Perturabo and Dorn being an example. Should one of them fail, the Imperium still had a siege master on duty. Yet Magnus the Red is the only Primarch with ultimate psyker abilities. So it stands right reason that one of the lost Primarchs was the other psyker. You can imagine what must've happened to get him and his legion eliminated.

[TheCityofTownsville]

I've been "that guy" and have created a Legion - II Legion. They're, "The Lost". I had to do something with over 200+ Space Marines I've collected over the years. I gave them a Greek style background, the flagship is the Odyssean, and become lost in the Webway when the Emperor sends the Legion to collect data on the Eldar Webway. They were to wait for his arrival at the other side when he completed it. All info was 'lost' to hide the existence of the Legion when they went on their expedition.

And, as we all know, the Emperor never did complete the task.

[alejandrorp]

Follow-up: how cool would it be that the 2 missing primarchs never did anything wrong nor heretical, only they peeked beyond the veil: there can be a viable human society outside the Imperium and that's why they were executed/held in the Black Cells.
Adding to that: what if that’s why most Primarchs can’t recall anything about them. Emps being Emps. What if Russ - we know how he values self reliance and independence and also how he only looks as being a savage- actually spared them - seeing some weight to their arguments but staying loyal to Emps- and let them go? What if he eventually left everything to check on them/ally with them to fight Chaos?

Jaghatai's mindset and behaviour could also work there. Seems to me he only sided with the Imperium because Chaos is just not an option.

Plus, what if the Alpha Legion's messy and fractured loyalties have to do with this (i.e. being anti-chaos, but also seeing the Imperium forwhat it is...)? That'd clear things for them, imo

[retroriven]

There's a lot of videos on the Lost Primarchs but this is honestly the most detailed and to the point. You even backed it up with sources from the books! Excellent job!

[Deano]

I like the idea that one (or both) became increasingly pacifist or xenophillic as a result of the rangdan campaign, and saw the reality of the great crusade and what humans were going to do. Another I like is that one (or both) become so intrigued by the webway/warp that they just bugger off. Like if Magnus had even less restraint.

[anotherzingbo]

Interestingly in the rulebook for 1989's Space Marine Epic game it says that the 3 chapters (this was before the first founding was commonly referred to as legions) wiped out at Isstvan were purged from Imperial records. The rulebook lists 8 loyal chapters (the current loyal legions, less the Raven Guard) and 9 traitor chapters (the current traitor legions) so at that point the 3 that fell at Isstvan were the lost chapters/legions. It seems to be that the number got changed to 2 when 2nd edition 40k was released and the details about the Isstvan massacre and when those legions were lost got added in later.

[TheDarkTides]

I forgot which one of them was mentioned as "good guys" making the other "bad guys" but when it comes to 2nd and 11th, i believe one of the primarchs either willingly or via mind control joned the xenos rang'da and the other died trying to save him.
When you think about it, there are plenty exaples where such thing could have happened to existing primarchs with close bond, like Ferrus and Fulgrim, Horus and Sanguinus, Leman and Lion (refering to their fistfight) and so on...

[badcarlos]

Great video. I also like the idea that one of the lost legions/primarchs was, in some way, ideologically opposed to the GC as well as potentially having different 'methodologies' for pursuing it. Purged for not being xenocidal enough seems like a very grimdark explanation

[adamjohnston]

I like the idea that at least one of the two lost Primarchs discovered something/gained knowledge that put the Emperor’s grand plan in danger. We know through Malcador that the Emperor planned for some of the Primarchs to turn against the Imperium but what if one learned of this plan and the Great War against Chaos. Maybe they learned of a different path for humanity that ran in opposition to the Emperor’s more extreme views? What if one of the forgotten Primarchs was the real threat to the Imperium and Horus was just a necessary evil? That would be someone you’d want rid of with no memory remaining.

[CynUnion-jiuj]

I kinda want to interpret the Lost literally, The Lost, Lost not meaning KIA but literally missing, in a way that makes their return... unlikely. Like a damaged webway gate or bad warp trip.

[brentbledsoe]

I like the idea that the 2nd primarch basically told the emperor that he was a maniacal genocidal hypocrite. and then took some of his legion and other humans, mechanicus cohorts, etc etc.. and simply peaced out to go start another civilization a far ways away. The primarch realized that he could do something better than the imperium, realizing the Emperor, whatever he was wasn't doing this for the good of humanity but for himself.

[wraith]

They refused to fight. They did not turn on their brothers, but picture a primarch refusing to fight. Seeing the path before them and refusing to walk it. It would destroy morale and bring questions that the Emperor could ill afford. One or more of the sons of the emperor who refused to destroy or slaughter those who refused to bend a knee.

[Shane_The_Confessor]

This was very comprehensive and well done. I don't understand the impulse everyone has when they say that we should never know. There is good storytelling potential with these two, and if it's handled well could make for some really excellent reading.

[Chruff]

I really like your idea with the Rangda

I also think one of the biggest missed opportunities of the Heresy is that Black Library didn’t double down on Russ as the Emperor’s executioner. I love the idea of him being known as having executed the 2nd and 11th (for whatever reason) and the knowledge that Russ is the knife at the back of the other Primarchs makes him a shunned and mistrusted figure. Maybe he doesn’t like his role and privately hates the Emperor for putting it on him but he’s too proud to show the envy he has for his brothers’ fraternity

In that alternate reality it should be a big deal if Word is received that Russ is coming to your homeworld and, far from almost being laughed at when the Wolves arrive on Macragge to watch Guilliman, there should be a real sense of threat there

[PeteCrutchfield]

I would love a video on Cypher being Omegon or Alpharius. Excellent video as always