End Times; Nagash - Spoilerific discussion.

[Cap'nSmurfs]

Gelt becomes a necromancer of sorts, throwing in his lot with Vlad von Carstein. It's hinted that he's been getting his best ideas from Neferata's coven for a while. The head of the Amber College is now the Supreme Patriarch.

The College of Death crumbled into ash on Nagash's ascension.

We don't know what's up with Morathi exactly, other than that she's been suspiciously reclusive. The Dark Elves have some of the least coverage in this book; presumably they will be very prominent soon, however.

On female characters: there's a lot of them, and some of them get to be competent, heroic badasses, even if life doesn't go well for them. Khalida is awesome. Eldyra is very, very capable. Neferata's coven and The Queen herself are by turns terrifying and sneaky. Katarin is being unspeakably brave beyond the border, even if we don't see it. Meanwhile, the leader of the chaos assault on Naggaroth was Valkia; Malekith's court and Ulthuan's armies are both explicitly described as lords and ladies / men and women. It's about as good a representation in quality and certainly quantity as GW have ever done (outside of maybe Sisters). There's still problems. A few too many damsels needing rescuing (or sacrificed), but it's headed in the right direction.

THe main thing, to my mind, is that there's a lot of strong characterisation. Neferata isn't a great battlefield leader, but she is a sneaky, self-serving master manipulator. She knows things even Arkhan doesn't. Mannfred is impulsive, selfish, and ultimately not as powerful as he thought he was. Vlad is aristocratic and contemptuous. Krell is a capable and driven military leader. And so on. It's all about characters, and that's why it's so good.

[eldargal]

Yay!

[Cap'nSmurfs]

Also, the Countess of Nuln isn't even mentioned to my recall, I have no idea where people got that from.

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Also, "Ariel and Alarielle" is a difficult thing to say quickly.

[eldargal]

No mention beats being ded.

Random speculation: Given that characters without models are being splatted but we are seeing a new wave of models for important evil characters (Nagash + Neferata, and some other guys idk) I wonder if we will see models for some of the characters that are being built up by this series that don't have models? Elydra springs to mind, and the Tsarina of course and I guess there will be some male characters too.

[Mr Mystery]

Also, the Countess of Nuln isn't even mentioned to my recall, I have no idea where people got that from.

It's briefly mentioned in the 'setup' bit for The Empire. Nuln suffered horrendous riots in the lead up, with mobs of fanatics (doesn't say to which God(s) though) rampaging about, and the Countess being evacuated safely.

As for the Damsels in Distress - There is indeed some here and there, but given the general setting of fantasy, and the extreme amount of ladies of badassery, I think that can be overlooked for the most part. Others may disagree of course!

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No mention beats being ded.

Random speculation: Given that characters without models are being splatted but we are seeing a new wave of models for important evil characters (Nagash + Neferata, and some other guys idk) I wonder if we will see models for some of the characters that are being built up by this series that don't have models? Elydra springs to mind, and the Tsarina of course and I guess there will be some male characters too.

It does seem possible.

I reckon we've not heard much about the Tsarina, as this is merely Volume One of The End Times, and her involvement would likely be best covered in the Chaos one.

I really, really hope we get some nice spangly Good Guy models out of this. Undead have done very well after all!

[Cap'nSmurfs]

I think that we're looking at new models for some of the very biggest characters in their Ultimate Forms. So probably not Eldyra - but she's there if you want to convert, which is easier than ever with the likes of the Sisters if Avelorn bits - but I suspect that maybe some Greater Daemons, possibly Archaon, and... Well, I have a hunch that Malekith will get a new model.

Or Tyrion, or Teclis. Or all three. Which one will have the Sword of Khaine, though...?

Oh, and I probably should have mentioned, don't know why not: Volkmar the Grim is pretty dead. Pretty, pretty dead. As in, the ancient Necromancer Nagash uses his body as a vessel for his mortal manifestation dead. Bye Volkmar! Again!

[eldargal]

Sigmar's Blood got around it by having a bunch of chaps kidnapped also. I'd kill to have the Countess of Nuln rally the Empire forces, women never get to do that.><

hey might have Elydra replace Eltharion (who I never liked, glad he is ded) in the next High Elf book or something. Actually this End Times thing could be a good way of pruning off some of the deadweight SCs tha have been around for ages and replacing them with some more women without making all the idiot dudebros think GW has been taken over by feminists (like EA). #tangent.

[Mr Mystery]

So so loving this.

Not knowing what is going to happen (barring the odd spoiler from this very thread, which we all went into eyes open!) is quite thrilling. Normally, especially with the books, you know the protagonist is ultimately going to win.

But this time, it's all spangle new and hard to tell!

[Cap'nSmurfs]

The war-leader of Malekith's now-postoned invasion of Ulthuan is a woman!

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Oh! And while Isabella isn't back (yet!), it is Vlad's motivation for joining Nagash. He can't bear to live without her, and only Nagash has the power to fix it.

[eldargal]

The war-leader of Malekith's now-postoned invasion of Ulthuan is a woman!

- - - Updated - - -

Oh! And while Isabella isn't back (yet!), it is Vlad's motivation for joining Nagash. He can't bear to live without her, and only Nagash has the power to fix it.

Yay, go GW.

Ha, called it. Not that it was hard to predict. Less miffed than I would have been without talk of all the other female badassery.