The protagonist in Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 starts as a member of the Deathwatch – and that impresses almost everyone who hears about it. Why is that? MeinMMO explains what makes the order so special.
You play as Demetrian Titus in Space Marine 2, a former and now lieutenant of the Ultramarines – an already important order. At the beginning of the game, however, you belong to a completely different order: the Deathwatch.
These tough guys in black armor not only look cool, they are only called when there are really big problems. And when they show up, everyone knows right away: Here, mere mortals can do very little.
The Deathwatch is formally part of the Inquisition, the people no one wants to be monitored by. More precisely, they are the Divisio Militaris of the Ordo Xenos, meaning: They are the military arm of the department dealing with alien issues.
The Inquisition itself only acts in severe problem cases and the Deathwatch only deploys when they see no other way – except perhaps the complete destruction of the planet (“Exterminatus”).
Not a normal order of the Space Marines
What makes the Deathwatch so special is its structure. The order does not consist of fighters with the same “gene-seed”, that is, the same characteristics and values, but draws Space Marines from all orders together.
A Space Marine in the Deathwatch paints his armor almost completely black and leaves only the right shoulder pad free to display his old order. They stay there as long as their mission requires – which can take several years.
Due to their composition, the Deathwatch is not subject to the Codex Astartes like other orders, meaning they do not have to strictly adhere to the “rules”. Nevertheless, they serve faithfully the Emperor of Mankind, but in their own way.
Since they are part of the Ordo Xenos, the Deathwatch does not only use equipment that you know from Space Marines, such as bolters, chainswords, and the like. The arsenal of the Deathwatch includes, among other things, Xenos weapons, for which only the possession would result in execution for others elsewhere due to heresy.
Spoiler Warning: The following text involves a small detail that Titus reveals only quite late in the campaign. Those who do not know the backstory will not know anything about it at this point.
More than just Deathwatch: a Black Shield
Lieutenant Titus now has a special status even within the Deathwatch. As he tells his sergeant, he was a Black Shield – the translation in German: Schwarzschild. Black Shields are even tougher in the already extreme Deathwatch.
A Black Shield completely severs ties with his old order, something that is actually completely unthinkable for Space Marines. They exchange their entire armor and even cover the order symbol. This only happens in absolute exceptional cases, for example:
- if the Space Marine’s order has fallen to Chaos and he has no brothers left,
- if the Space Marine thinks he is no longer worthy of his order – as in Titus’ case,
- or if the order has simply been destroyed and the Black Shield is the only survivor.
Allegedly, there are even heretics among the Black Shields who want to atone. No one asks about the background and it is never revealed, because such a Space Marine dedicates his entire life to the service of the Imperium.
The Black Shields are so fanatical that they take no regard for their own lives and have only one goal: the fulfillment of their mission. Although they are correspondingly ruthless, the protection of their battle brothers is also one of their ideals. Black Shields do not seek glory, but simply want to serve the Emperor “as a last act of devotion”.
For the course of the story in Space Marine 2, you don’t need to know exactly who the Deathwatch is, but with the background, several details in the game become a bit more exciting. And the course of the story could indeed become relevant: The end of Space Marine 2 could massively influence the future of Warhammer 40,000
