Plenty of Dark Angels are crossing the Rubicon Primaris these days, from Interrogator-Chaplain Asmodai to Deathwing Master Belial and even Grand Master Azrael himself. The first Primaris Space Marine to be a member the Inner Circle was none of these storied heroes, however, but instead the up-and-coming Master Lazarus – who now stars in his first ever full-length novel, Lazarus: Enmity’s Edge by Gary Kloster.
To find out just how this conflicted hero is getting on ahead of his debut, we caught up with the author to unveil a few secrets of our own.
Warhammer Community: For those who missed his debut during the Psychic Awakening, who is Master Lazarus and what makes him such a compelling character?
Gary: Lazarus’ basic history is simple. He took command of the Dark Angels’ Fifth Company after the death of Balthasar and led them well, drawing on his keen tactical ability. But what makes him different, what drew me to him as a character, is his death.
During the battle of Rimenok, Lazarus martyred himself to defeat the sorcery of the Thousand Sons. He gave his life to save his men and win the battle – and then he was brought back, changed. Lazarus believed he was sacrificing himself, and found instead that he was improved and strengthened by crossing the Rubicon Primaris.
But this experience scarred him – he woke from death to find himself trapped in a new, altered body, and the aftershocks of that left their mark. Strong, capable characters like Space Marines are great fun to write, but characters with flaws and problems really give you something to grip, and edges to use to cut into the plot. That’s why I find characters like Lazarus compelling, this tension between their strength and the flaws that mark them.
WarCom: Of the myriad factions fighting in the 41st Millennium, what particularly draws you to the Dark Angels?
Gary: I’m drawn to the Dark Angels because they have real narrative weight. They are the First Legion of the Adeptus Astartes and have been there from the beginning, helping forge the Imperium, so they’ve seen some incredible things.
They also have a part knight, part warrior-monk style that I love, and of all the Chapters, they are the ones that I feel pull off the gothic medieval warrior aesthetic the best.
Finally, they have secrets, and those secrets are flaws. The Dark Angels have dedicated themselves to destroying those flaws, and have fought a secret war amongst themselves for thousands of years to stamp them out, but as I intimated before as an author… flawed characters are the absolute best.
WarCom: Did writing the short story The Buried Beast help to get inside the Captain’s headspace? And how has he evolved as a character since then?
Gary: It did. That story focused on Lazarus’ issues with his unexpected resurrection – with being remade and reborn, without having any say in the matter. His crossing of the Rubicon Primaris may have made him more powerful, but it was a circumstance that was imposed upon him, and he hates having his fate dictated to him.
But through his work with the Chapter’s history, he discovered a new path – a new focus that allowed him to integrate with his new body. Still, a change that profound is an ongoing process, and he used the simplicity of his Chapter’s ethos to cut through the complexity of his circumstance.
It was important to have him find a path that allowed him to embrace that ethos without becoming a fanatic. Simplicity may give focus, but it can blind and restrict. Lazarus knows this, and walking the line of that contradiction becomes another way for him to find focus in his new life.
WarCom: How did the process of writing Lazarus: Enmity’s Edge differ from that of your first full Black Library novel, The Last Volari?
Gary: The main difference between writing those two books was that weight of history I mentioned before. The Kastelai vampires of the Age of Sigmar certainly have a past, but it’s nowhere near as fleshed-out as that of the Dark Angels. Staying true to that past with Lazarus: Enmity’s Edge did constrain me in some ways, but it also gave me a really solid narrative structure to build on.
WarCom: Without spoilers, are there any juicy moments you particularly enjoyed writing?
Gary: I love writing combat sequences. Action is fun to describe, and that’s one of the things I love about doing a Space Marine book. Describing a battle through the eyes of a character like Lazarus, a man who can understand the ebb and flow of the fight around him even while engaged is great.
But the book also has a mortal character that I follow at times, and I had a great time describing combat through her eyes too. The contrast between how a ‘normal’ mortal (she has her own weirdness, but it's unrelated to fighting) sees a fight in the 41st Millennium and the perspective of a Space Marine was a whole lot of fun to describe.
Lazarus: Enmity’s Edge is set for release next month, so keep a close eye on Warhammer Community for more details of its impending pre-order.