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Top Five Space Marine Librarians

5 Minute Read
Nov 19 2015
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You do NOT want to pay these guys the overdue fees. Check out the Top Five Space Marine Librarians!

Hey BoLS readers! AdamHarry back again with my top 5 Space Marine Librarians presented in no particular order. They aren’t rated from least-to-greatest power or anything. My criteria was based on their backstory and their impact on the game. Some had more backstory and others have had way more impact. I’ll let you figure out which is which. With that out of the way here is my Top Five List of Space Marine Librarians!

1) Ezekiel of the Dark Angels

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First off, this guy has a sword that traps souls. +1 for style points. Secondly, the Grandmaster of the Dark Angel’s Librarians is a mystery. But not a fun Scooby-Doo mystery – Oh no, he’s more like a scary Stephen King mystery. No one is really sure what else this guy can do and that’s probably how he likes it. And finally, Ezekiel is really good with secrets, both rooting them out and keeping them. Ezekiel has entire libraries of secrets. He’s basically Grim Dark Santa and he knows everyone’s been naughty.

2) Mephiston of the Blood Angels

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This guy’s title is “Lord of Death” – so he’s already got a cool nickname. He’s so awesome he’s got two miniatures (although they are under different names). Calistarius survived the Red Thirst after a church fell on him in the middle of a battle. For seven days he wrestled against the madness and emerged as Bram Stoker’s Dracula Mephiston, Lord of Death! Not only did the ordeal make him an even scarier combatant, it also unlocked the full power of psychic potential. And just to top of his already impressive resume let’s not forget the time he was tempted by the Chaos Daemon M’Ker…a situation that ended when Mephiston beat the life out of him.

3) Tigurius of the Ultramarines

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Chief Librarian Varro Tigurius is the poster boy of Space Marine Librarians and for good reason: His abilities make him a deadly combatant, tactician and wise councilor. Tigurius has saved countless Imperial lives in his remarkable career. He has been able to foresee multiple enemy invasions and advise the Chapter Master on how to stop them before they start. He’s so powerful that it’s rumored that Tigurius has been able to penetrate the Hive Mind. If that’s true the only other Imperial psyker that could rival him would be the Emperor himself.

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4) Ahriman of the Thousand Sons

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Ahzek Ahriman is a tragic figure. I won’t go into all the details but lets just say that he is still (technically) the Chief Librarian of the Thousand Sons. At his core he was just on the wrong side of a philosophical debate on how to best use knowledge. The sole *surviver of an enchantment that he thought would save his chapter from destruction, Ahriman only wanted to do the right thing with the gifts he was given. He’s been around for over 10,000 years (he’s an original Terran) and has studied more about psychic powers than any other Librarian in the History of the Imperium. Ahriman’s sorcery is on par with the best psykers in all of 40k – That is why he’s on this list.

5) Njal of the Space Wolves

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Njal Stormcaller is one of the great Rune Priests of the Spaces Wolves which are Librarians in all but title. He also has had two different models over the years. His psychic powers were also strong enough to blast apart a Bloodthirter. But Njal is on this list for the for the simple reason that he was such a game changer in the 5th-6th edition era of 40k. Not only could he use one of the best/controvesal psychic abilities (JotWW) but he also had the power to effect the table with his crazy tempest calling. He was a fixture in just about every Space Wolves list and his impact on the meta-game during this time was huge.

 

Cut List

I considered quite a few others but here were a few stand-outs that I felt deserved a mention and explanation why they were cut.

1) Sarpedon of the Soul Drinkers – He’s basically an AD&D villain reject at this point. Spider legs scream Drow and this is the Grim Dark, not Spelljammer.

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2) Draigo & the other Grey Knight characters – While many of them are powerful Psykers, technically none of them are Librarians. Plus a bunch of them got cut in the latest codex after failing their Ward save.

3) Blood Raven’s Librarians Isador Akios and Jonah Orion – Akios fell to taunting and temptation of chaos. This eventually led to his execution which means he certainly wasn’t a contender. Orion was the sole survivor of the psykers sent to battle the Hive Mind on Aurelia. The fact he survived with his sanity is actually quite the feat. However he was slain at Cyrene – and any Librarian in our top 5 would have stopped that from happening.

 

*Edit: Most of the Thousand Suns got encased in their armor – all the super cabal survived the happening. Read about it here.

Well there you have it readers! Who do you think deserves to be on this list? How would you rate them and in what order would you rate them – background or in game effectiveness? Let us know in the comments below! AdamHarry, OUT!

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Author: Adam Harrison
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