The 2nd coming of Lion el'Johnson (spoiler talk)

[jus]

Hello 40k lore enthusiasts.
I've just got done with the recently released black library "Son of the forest" chronicling the return of the lion to the 40k verse, said to have been asleep for 10000 years. Lets talk about it!

In true black library fashion it is very vague on the important details and begs more questions than it answers. But there are some really juicy tidbits that are worth discussing. Heres my take away

How did he wake up?:
We don't know... Neither does the lion. However we can assume the opening of the cicatrix and subsequent psychic awakening has caused the Emperor to gain the power to reach out. The novel begins with the lion becoming aware of himself and his surroundings meeting a "king" fishing on a boat in a lake in a forest.

How has lion changed?
Here is the most interesting thing I think. There has been a lot of progression in the development of his character. Lion during the heresy was calculating, distant, impulsive and uncompromising and not very nice. While not having lost any of his badass Primarch bearing, he seems to have realised how badly he has messed up with his legion, like a dad who was too strict with his kids most of whom have now grown to distrust or resent him.

This is an interesting development for his character I think. He isn't interested in ruling or reforming his legion per se and instead of is going around looking for the (loyalist) fallen to torture he is giving them a second chance to reconcile and join him in his quest to " protect humanity". (Chao fallen will of course have to die)

Physically, the lion has aged. He notes to himself that his reaction times are slower and that "kurze would have my hide" if they fought now. This is only discernable to himself though as he can still make hamburgers out of heretic astartes.

This kind of takes the wind out of the sails of the mighty return of the mighty lord of the first until you factor in the S tier OP ability to "forest walk" he has gained
The ability to enter from point A into a caliban like forest dimension and then out the forest again appearing at point B.
Planet to planet, also from orbit to planetside possible.

How can he do this and where did he learn it from?
We don't know. Neither does he. It starts off with a little guidance from a Watcher, so they may have done things to the lion while he was sleeping. Could be webway related?

How has guilliman reacted?
We don't know. So far they haven't met. The last longer in the book is him being told that his brother had also returned and that " I am not alone"

Aww all in all I enjoyed it and got through a few minis while listening

[Primarch]

I haven't read the book, or anything for 40K since before 8th edition (This isn't a slight against 40K, just the HH series has been more than enough to keep me busy all on its own).

I heard that in the Arks of Omen book the Lion goes toe to toe with Angron and just comes out ahead, but then again that book has his name on the front, so...

It will be interesting to see how the current DA take the news that some of the Fallen are getting pardons. 10,000 years of keeping the big secret only to be told "yeah, we aren't doing that any more."

As for the changes in his character, waking up after a long nap to find that things are technically worse than when Horus was around, was probably a bit of a shock to the system, but I'm thinking it is more rooted in the fall of Caliban. We have yet to reach that part of the Heresy timeline yet, but returning home to find that your adopted dad has thrown in with the enemy due to being sidelined during the crusade is going to cause some serious introspection. While the Lion may have been stubborn and uncompromising in his aims, he was always flexible in how they were achieved. The old legion was always very focused on analyzing data and finding better ways of reaching their goals. While not at the Ultramarine's level of breaking everything down to Theoretical and Practical, the DA were experts in what they did and far more fluid in their approach than the sons of Macragge. If Jonson recognised that he was the flaw in the Legion, he would make moves to do better.

The forestwalk thing does sound like a handy new trick to have. I doubt it will be related to the webway, as that needs gates, doesn't it? I think it is more likely to be a guided jump through the warp. All of the Primarchs share some warp related influences both by design (The Emperor), and by accident (When they were stolen as babies). Caliban itself was heavily influenced by the warp, so I guess it is something along those lines.

Just my 2 cents.

[Jye Nicolson]

I'm listening to the 30k Lion book now and will continue through to the 40k one. I wanted to get the model too but the limited box turned out quite limited - no real rush though so I'll wait for the general release to buy through Ring Tail.

My loose understanding of the Arks fight is the shield is a big deal and very helpful against Angron. Out of character, Angron's fast respawn ability is going to make him the jobbing king of 40K since he can lose a fight without really diminishing his narrative threat.

Did sound like the Imperium had a bad day that time other than dunking Angron though.

[jus]

It will be interesting to see how the current DA take the news that some of the Fallen are getting pardons. 10,000 years of keeping the big secret only to be told "yeah, we aren't doing that any more."

Thats a good point. That's what they've been secretly doing all this time. I think in Arks of omen Azrael was very confused when fallen reinforcements arrived to save the day. A sit down around the kitchen table for a heart to heart is probably in order.

My wild theory is that Luther, after escaping from the rock in his recent novel and amassing a sizable contingent of fallen will inevitably meet with the lion again, fall on his face and beg for forgiveness which the lion will grant. Rather than reforming the legion, the risen, as they are now called will become a band of questing knights forest walking around the galaxy to help where they are needed. Probably more in the imperium nihilus half where things are not looking pretty. Purely my speculation and not at all grim or dark, I know, but following the current trajectory this seems plausible. Or I could be completely wrong and they try to murder each other.

I agree with Jye with Angron being the disposable threat of 40k. He already died in his own Arks of Omen book being blown up in the ship he destroyed only to come back and be beheaded by the Lion only to come back to be....

[kojibear]

Physically, the lion has aged. He notes to himself that his reaction times are slower and that "kurze would have my hide" if they fought now. This is only discernable to himself though as he can still make hamburgers out of heretic astartes.

This kind of takes the wind out of the sails of the mighty return

Aye, tis a little disappointing to see the king of the forest having his teeth worn down a little. That being said, the stats they released have him with 10 attacks, so one can only imagine what this knightly bane of monsters was capable of in his prime!!!

On another note, it was always interesting to me that in many books the authors had the Lion referring to his sons as ‘little brother’, which seemed to me as though he viewed them as members of a fraternity rather than family when compared to the primarchs that predominantly referred to their legionaries as ‘my sons’. Just a thought I had while reminiscing on the other books I’ve read featuring the Lion.

[Jye Nicolson]

Just finished Son of the Forest and I loved it, one of the most enjoyable Warhammer books I've listened to so far. I really like the modern Lion and super want to get the mini now!

I don't know if the book is high art in of itself but it definitely did the job at my level of Warhammer hype; especially in comparison to something like Devastation of Baal which had a lot of namechecks and cameos that didn't add much and *required* 40k lore to make sense of. Here I think familiarity with the 30k background added depth but the story stood on its own.

I'm a real mark for the Primarchs in 40k and I can only hope they eventually do this good a job of bringing Russ back.