It’s a momentous day for the Aeldari. After 28 years of faithful service, the current Avatar of Khaine is finally handing in his notice as a living shard of the Bloody-Handed God, Kaela Mensha Khaine.
This magnificent specimen, designed and sculpted by Warhammer legend and Aeldari artist supreme Jes Goodwin, first roared into life back in the heady days of 1993, when bases were green and flocked, and all the best models were made of metal.
He was so hot back then that his rules left him invulnerable to melta, plasma, flamer, gas, and virus weapons. Warhammer 40,000 was very granular back then.
Those of a certain vintage may remember an even older (and even smaller!) Avatar, first spied in the days of Rogue Trader, the genesis of Warhammer 40,000. Less monstrous but no less magisterial, this version of the Wailing Doom was a spear.
So while the sword form is iconic, the Avatar is a shard of a god and has no fixed material form, and each has slight variations in appearance.
The Avatar also wielded the spear form in Warhammer Epic 40,000, a small scale-game of mass-scale war that also had its heyday in the ‘90s. This Avatar absolutely dwarfed tiny Guardians on infantry bases, and he was very excited about it as you can see.
Most recently welcomed to the Avatar conclave was a larger Forge World specimen with a very big sword. However while the lore has stated from the very beginning that the Wailing Doom could take even the form of an axe, there’s been no sign of one on the tabletop in more than three decades.
Despite his many incarnations over the years, the Avatar has always cleaved close to the original sketches by Jes Goodwin, an utterly singular design that has stood the test of time as the figurehead of the Aeldari at war.
It’s high time, however, for the old Avatar to hang up his lustrous topknot, and settle into the retirement segment of the infinity circuit. Who will take up his molten mantle and step into his fiery shoes? You’ll have to join the Warhammer Preview Online at the Las Vegas Open to find out, or sign up to the Warhammer Community newsletter to make sure you don’t miss out on what’s coming up.