Space Marines are already a rarity in the world of Warhammer 40,000, but one among them stands out even more than almost all others – and this one is double special: Anval Thawn. The literal Übermensch is not only virtually impossible to kill, he is also a member of the secret Grey Knights.
If you know Warhammer 40,000 from the media, you probably have a very false picture of the world. Space Marines serve as poster boys, who are often the center of games and books or at least appear in some way.
Sure: pumped-up muscle men cater to a certain fantasy that just works. Actually, Space Marines are a rare sight and one you really shouldn’t wish for.
Most people have never seen a member of the Adeptus Astartes, but even among this absolute elite of the Imperium, there is still one exception that is less likely than three sixes in a row in the lottery.
The cover image does not depict Thawn, of whom no official images exist, but Commander Agravain of the Grey Knights, whom you can play in Chaos Gate: Daemonhunters:
Anval Thawn, possibly the last living Perpetual
Usually, Space Marines are created by breeding “normal” humans. At a young age, their bodies begin to be modified, they have more and better organs, becoming literal Übermenschen.
By the way: Only men can become Space Marines because the official assumption is that women would not survive the process. How much truth there is to this is, as always, open to debate.
Anval Thawn, however, is an exception: he is not a normal human, but a Perpetual, a nearly immortal being. Perpetuals are considered “mutated” humans, but practically they are higher beings, as they cannot die naturally and can become virtually infinitely old.
The most well-known Perpetual is the Emperor himself, followed by Erda, the “mother” of all Space Marines, and Malcador the Sigillite.
Of all these beings, Anval Thawn is considered the last living one, assuming that the life signs from the Emperor rather mean that he has ascended to godhood. This sounds contradictory, but Perpetuals are not completely invulnerable.
How do you kill a being that cannot really die?
Perpetuals can become several millennia old, and that is exactly what is said to have been the case with Anval Thawn: during his recapturing, he was said to have been waiting for a long time to be picked up rather than being accidentally chosen.
Perpetuals have the ability to regenerate even when destroyed on an atomic level. However, their ability is closely tied to the Warp, the realm of Chaos, and that is where their vulnerability lies.
If a Perpetual is not simply killed in real space, vaporized, or ripped into countless pieces, but his soul is extinguished in the Immaterium, he dies permanently (similar to demons).
This happened, for instance, to Erda, who was killed by the Athame blade of Erebus, or to Malcador, whose soul was extinguished in the beacon of the Golden Throne to give the Imperium time in the fight against Horus.
Perpetuals can, by the way, even be artificially created. Vulkan, the primarch of the Salamanders, is such a being that was constructed by the Emperor. He has died several times but has regenerated each time. He is currently considered missing. Other organizations have also created Perpetuals, and according to Erda, they are the “next step of human evolution”.
The Chapter that Nobody Must Know About (and Survive)
Anval Thawn, however, aside from being a Perpetual, has another secret: he belongs to the Grey Knights. This chapter of Space Marines is so secret that any “normal” person is killed if they learn of their existence. Other Astartes simply have their memories wiped so that they cannot remember the Grey Knights.
The only people who know and work with the Grey Knights are members of the Inquisition, the most dangerous institution of humanity. Here, the Grey Knights serve as the military arm of the Ordo Malleus, which specializes in the fight against demons and Chaos.
Accordingly, all Grey Knights – including Anval Thawn – are powerful psykers, even the strongest in the Imperium, except for possible outliers. But even for his brothers and the Inquisition, Thawn is a certain enigma, as he has died and been resurrected several times. His reasons for joining the Grey Knights are also a mystery.
For Thawn himself, however, his immortality is more of a curse. Not only do many of his brothers view his resurrections with skepticism, as they strongly remind of Chaos, he himself has to watch the Imperium fight an increasingly desperate battle.
As a Grey Knight, Thawn may even know the last command of the Emperor, which will surely only strengthen his grim outlook on the future of humanity: Games Workshop officially reveals one of the greatest mysteries from Warhammer 40,000 and seals a cruel fate for the Emperor
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