History Characters / TotalWarWarhammerTheSkaven

* DiscOneNuke: Begins the game with a Tier 5 Doomwheel, one of the most powerful Skaven units, but has no food-producing territories near him unlike Skrolk and Queek. While he'll expand a lot faster, he'll hit food shortages a lot faster too.

* FleshGolem: Clan Moulder's specialty is making ''hideous'' deformed monstrosities that take BodyHorror UpToEleven, mostly in their laboratory-city Hell Pit (which is represented in Mortal Empires).

* DirtyCoward: Considered ''the'' DirtyCoward of an entire [[UpToEleven race]] of them. Unlike Queek, who is motivated to stay in battle due to his bloodlust, or Skrolk, who is motivated to stay due to his religious fanaticism, or Ikit, who is motivated to stay due to his desire for further scientific knowledge, or Snikch, who is motivated by his need to prove himself as the best assassin in the world, or Throt, who is motivated by his insane hunger... Tretch doesn't have any such motivation, being very prone to leaving his armies for dead the moment he sees a good opportunity to run for it.

* TheDreaded: [[UpToEleven Oh yeah.]] Snikch scares the living shit out of everyone that knows of his existence. Scheming Warlords are cowered into submission by the mere prospect of him paying them a visit, he's practically an unending wellspring of UrbanLegends spoken of with great reverence and fear by Skavendom, and the Council of Thirteen is ''afraid'' to use him, less he be used against them at a later date. Snikch is such a terrifying figure that '''Malus Darkblade''', one of the cruelest and most feared Dreadlords in the history of the Dark Elves, is forced into a VillainousBreakdown and a huge OhCrap moment when he knows Snikch's coming for him. This entire mythology surrounding him has been carefully crafted by Clan Eshin to intentionally invoke this.

* AxCrazy: ''Oh yeah''. Ghoritch was already a half-insane Khornate berserker during his human days, and is said to have gotten [[UpToEleven even worse after his transformation]]. He has the Fury special rule to reflect his raging bloodthirst.

* ThisIsADrill: The Warp Grinders, an early tier Weapons Team, use massive drills of warpstone to not only tear apart armor and settlement walls, but they are also capable of casting powerful spells that lock enemies in place, and do terrieble damage to low-tier units in an aoe effect.

* ForDoomTheBellTolls: A great bell features prominently in Skaven mythology (one which you can hear in the trailer) and Grey Seers often ride into battle on a wagon with a mounted Doom Bell, an enchanted bell capable of evoking various magical effects, shattering enemey leadership, and providing various buffs to the Skaven battle line.

* BatmanGambit: [[spoiler: The entire plot was kickstarted by them. They tricked the other races into action, which only end up powering the Skaven, and make it possible for the Horned Rat to be summoned into the mortal plane.]]

Introduced in ''VideoGame/TotalWarWarhammerII'', the Skaven are playable in custom/multiplayer games, the ''Eye of the Vortex'' campaign and the ''Mortal Empires'' super-campaign.

* DarthVaderClone: A powerful warrior with magical powers who serves one of the most powerful lords of the Underempire and requires a suit of PowerArmor to live after being scarred and crippled.

* DarthVaderClone: A terrifying, {{Cyborg}} enforcer of an evil [[TheEmpire empire]], who is TheDreaded for both allies and enemies, is as much a powerful warrior as he's a talented General, and is something of a TragicVillain.

* HorrorHunger: From the moment of their birth to their dying breath, all Skaven are gripped by the Black Hunger, a constant, gnawing ache that drives them half-insane with the need to feed. Consequently, the Skaven have a [[IAteWhat very]], ''[[ImAHumanitarian very]]'' loose definition of "food" and will eat anything or anyone they can get their paws on. It's quite common for pups to eat their smaller litter-mates, and even taken as a mark of greatness if a Skaven is particularly cannibalistic.

* DemotedToExtra: Exaggerated. Supreme Warlord Kratch Doomclaw is the leader of Clan Rictus, a Lord of Decay, member of the Council of Thirteen, and one of the most powerful Skaven alive. He appears ingame (the only Lord of Decay to do so) as Chief Doomclaw, the generic warlord leader of minor faction Rictus Clan-Nest.

!! Queek Headtaker, Warlord of Clan Mors

!! Lord Skrolk, Plaguelord of Clan Pestilens

!! Tretch Craventail, Grand Chieftain of Clan Rictus

!! Ikit Claw, Chief Warlock Engineer of Clan Skryre

!! Deathmaster Snikch, Chief Assassin of Clan Eshin

!! Throt the Unclean, Master Mutator of Clan Moulder

!! Ghoritch, Castellan of Hell Pit

[[center: [-[[{{Characters/TotalWarWarhammer}} Main characters index]] | [[Characters/TotalWarWarhammerTheEmpire The Empire of Man]] | [[Characters/TotalWarWarhammerTheKingdomOfBretonnia The Kingdom of Bretonnia]] | [[Characters/TotalWarWarhammerTheTzardomOfKislev The Tzardom of Kislev]] | [[Characters/TotalWarWarhammerTheEmpireOfGrandCathay The Empire of Grand Cathay]] | [[Characters/TotalWarWarhammerTheDwarfenKingdoms The Dwarfen Kingdoms]] | [[Characters/TotalWarWarhammerTheHighElves The High Elves]] | [[Characters/TotalWarWarhammerTheDarkElves The Dark Elves]] | [[Characters/TotalWarWarhammerTheWoodElves The Wood Elves]] | [[Characters/TotalWarWarhammerTheLizardmen The Lizardmen]] | [[Characters/TotalWarWarhammerTheVampireCounts The Vampire Counts]] | [[Characters/TotalWarWarhammerTheTombKings The Tomb Kings]] | [[Characters/TotalWarWarhammerTheVampireCoast The Vampire Coast]] | [[Characters/TotalWarWarhammerTheDaemonsOfChaos The Daemons Of Chaos]] | [[Characters/TotalWarWarhammerTheWarriorsOfChaos The Warriors of Chaos]] | [[Characters/TotalWarWarhammerTheBeastmen The Beastmen]] | [[Characters/TotalWarWarhammerTheNorscanTribes The Norscan Tribes]] | [[Characters/TotalWarWarhammerTheGreenskins The Greenskins]] | '''The Skaven''' | [[Characters/TotalWarWarhammerTheOgreKingdoms The Ogre Kingdoms]] ]]-]

* TheChewToy: As a lower-ranking Skaven, he is the primary recipient of Vulscreek's abuse. This abuse ranges from simple insults to being forced to go down into an ancient temple that houses a Verminlord of immense power known as "the Screaming One". [[spoiler:Even when he becomes the chosen herald of the Horned Rat itself, standing as one of the most prestigeous figures in all skavendom, he discovers to his horror that he's become indebted to the Screaming One.]]

* DealWithTheDevil: Any non-slave Skaven who allow themselves to get a modification from Throt have already begun gambling with their own lives. If the mods are compatible, then they became better and more valuable than normal Skaven, opening up a lot more prospects for them and being more likely to survive in Skaven society. But if the the mods turned out to be incompatible, then their lifespan has been cut significantly and they will either end up being recycled or spontaneously explode during a battle.

* GodOfEvil: He is easily one of the strongest forces of evil in the setting that isn't a Chaos God. The Horned Rat is the embodiment of decay, entropy, and [[YouDirtyRat everything the Skaven are]]. [[ReligionOfEvil Clan Pestilens]] specifically reveres him in his aspect of ThePlaguemaster.

[[center: [-[[{{Characters/TotalWarWarhammer}} Main characters index]] | [[Characters/TotalWarWarhammerTheEmpire The Empire of Man]] | [[Characters/TotalWarWarhammerTheKingdomOfBretonnia The Kingdom of Bretonnia]] | [[Characters/TotalWarWarhammerTheTzardomOfKislev The Tzardom of Kislev]] | [[Characters/TotalWarWarhammerTheEmpireOfGrandCathay The Empire of Grand Cathay]] | [[Characters/TotalWarWarhammerTheDwarfenKingdoms The Dwarfen Kingdoms]] | [[Characters/TotalWarWarhammerTheHighElves The High Elves]] | [[Characters/TotalWarWarhammerTheDarkElves The Dark Elves]] | [[Characters/TotalWarWarhammerTheWoodElves The Wood Elves]] | [[Characters/TotalWarWarhammerTheLizardmen The Lizardmen]] | [[Characters/TotalWarWarhammerTheVampireCounts The Vampire Counts]] | [[Characters/TotalWarWarhammerTheTombKings The Tomb Kings]] | [[Characters/TotalWarWarhammerTheVampireCoast The Vampire Coast]] | [[Characters/TotalWarWarhammerTheDaemonsOfChaos The Daemons Of Chaos]] | [[Characters/TotalWarWarhammerTheWarriorsOfChaos The Warriors of Chaos]] | [[Characters/TotalWarWarhammerTheBeastmen The Beastmen]] | [[Characters/TotalWarWarhammerTheNorscanTribes The Norscan Tribes]] | '''The Skaven''' | [[Characters/TotalWarWarhammerTheGreenskins The Greenskins]] | [[Characters/TotalWarWarhammerTheOgreKingdoms The Ogre Kingdoms]] ]]-]

[[center: [-[[{{Characters/TotalWarWarhammer}} Main characters index]] | [[Characters/TotalWarWarhammerTheEmpire The Empire of Man]] | [[Characters/TotalWarWarhammerTheKingdomOfBretonnia The Kingdom of Bretonnia]] | [[Characters/TotalWarWarhammerTheTzardomOfKislev The Tzardom of Kislev]] | [[Characters/TotalWarWarhammerTheEmpireOfGrandCathay The Empire of Grand Cathay]] | [[Characters/TotalWarWarhammerTheDwarfenKingdoms The Dwarfen Kingdoms]] | [[Characters/TotalWarWarhammerTheHighElves The High Elves]] | [[Characters/TotalWarWarhammerTheDarkElves The Dark Elves]] | [[Characters/TotalWarWarhammerTheWoodElves The Wood Elves]] | [[Characters/TotalWarWarhammerTheLizardmen The Lizardmen]] | [[Characters/TotalWarWarhammerTheVampireCounts The Vampire Counts]] | [[Characters/TotalWarWarhammerTheTombKings The Tomb Kings]] | [[Characters/TotalWarWarhammerTheVampireCoast The Vampire Coast]] | [[Characters/TotalWarWarhammerTheDaemonsOfChaos The Daemons Of Chaos]] | [[Characters/TotalWarWarhammerTheWarriorsOfChaos The Warriors of Chaos]] | [[Characters/TotalWarWarhammerTheBeastmen The Beastmen]] | [[Characters/TotalWarWarhammerTheNorscanTribes The Norscan Tribes]] | '''The Skaven''' | [[Characters/TotalWarWarhammerTheGreenskins The Greenskins]] ]]-]

* CriticalFailure: As you would expect of "Skaven-grade reliability", Throt's Augmentation Process isn't 100% foolproof: there is a chance (that grows ever higher with each new augment) that a modification will end up being unsuitable, which will then cause the affected unit to slowly suffer a biological breakdown and eventually die (indicated by a red aura on their unit card, which almost entirely removes their replenishment).
* DealWithTheDevil: Any non-slave Skaven who allow themselves to get a modification from Throt have already begun gambling with their own lives. If the mods are compatible, then they became better and more valuable than normal skaven. But if the the mods turned out to be incompatible, then their lifespan has been cut significantly and they will either end up being recycled or spontaneously explode during a battle.

* FatBastard: Throt is incredibly fat from his work with warpstone.

* HyperactiveMetabolism: Due to his mutations, Throt is in a constant state of hunger and always eating or chewing something, and needs to eat four times his already massive size daily. This is the driving force for his conflict with Wood Elves, as he believes that they possess the magic to put an end to his hunger.
* HorrorHunger: Even more so than other Skaven. Throt's mutant metabolism plagues him with a constant, gnawing hunger, and he is known to lose control of himself and simply grab the nearest living thing -- including other Skaven -- and devour it on the spot.
* HunterOfMonsters: Ironically, his proffesion has made him ''very'' skilled at this, his aptly named "Creature Killer" has been specifically designed to allow him to depose of failed test subjects personally. When used it gives all units around him immunity to pyschology, as well as a large bonus to anti-large.

* MakerOfMonsters: The best example of this in the Warhammer world. Throt can be directly credited for creating many of the Clan Moulder creations, with the Hell Pit Abomination being his greatest yet.

* ThePatriarch: Throt pays regular visits to the clan's Brood Mothers. So regular are these visits that most of Hell Pit is related to him, making him sort of a dark patriarch for the clan.

* RandomNumberGod: Yes, it is possible to have an army full of perfectly augmented units that are fully enhanced and have no adverse side effects. And Yes, it will take a lot of time and luck (and SaveScumming) to make each unit for creating one such army.

* TooAwesomeToUse: Naturally, a perfectly augmented unit is several times better and more cost-effective than a normal, unenhanced unit. The biggest problem is that they can be very hard to replace if they get annihilated and thus should never be treated as expendable, even in dire circumstances.
* VillainousGlutton: Is infamous for his voracious appetite, which includes practically ''anything'' on hand. One of his casual animations is him guzzling down a ''giant shard of warp-stone''.

* AnimalSpeciesAccent: {{Averted}}. Because he is a Khornate berserker brain in a Rat Ogre body, he does not speak like a Skaven, who repeat the same or similar words (steal-take, kill-kill etc), use broken speech, or refer to other races as "things" (death-things, lizard-things etc). Because he speaks like a human, he has the clearest and most grammatically correct speech pattern out of all the Skaven characters.

* TheBerserker: In his human days, Ghoritch was a literal berserker, a high ranking Chaos Warlord serving Archaon, and a follower of the Blood God. As a Rat Ogre, Ghoritch is just as bloodthirsty and frenzied in combat, but with piston-powered claws rather than axes in his hands. His "Evisceration" Special Ability has him unleash a flurry of massive, destructive hits in an endless rage to smash everything to a bloody pulp allowing him to tap into the Red Rage of Khorne, and it ''destroys'' elite units, and anything unlucky enough to be around him when he enters this state. He even gets the Norscan Special Rule, which increases his combat stats the longer he remains in combat.

* FourLegsGoodTwoLegsBetter: Unlike other Rat Ogres, Ghoritch walks on two legs. This can be attributed to his human brain, granting him greater control over his motor functions.

* GameplayAndStorySegregation: It goes without saying that Throt and Ghoritch would most likely try to kill each other if they were put in the same room together. But in this game, having Throt and Ghoritch in the same army is perfectly alright, although this could also be interpreted as TeethClenchedTeamwork.
* GeniusBruiser: Khornates may be AxCrazy, but Khorne is the god of ''strategic'' warfare as well, meaning that his followers are often [[FourStarBadass skilled generals as well as masterful warriors]]. Ghoritch is one of them, and he lost ''none'' of his tactical acumen when being transplanted into a Rat Ogre, meaning he's now a masterful general in command of a living hulk of mutated muscle.
* GoneHorriblyRight: The creation of Ghoritch via transplantation of a Norscan's brain into one of the best-made Rat Ogre bodies is both a noteworthy point of great success and great regret for Throt the Unclean: he essentially made an arch-rival that can equal or surpass him and bring about his downfall.

[[caption-width-right:320:"Squirt musk of fear, vermin, for the Headtaker comes before you!"]]

[[caption-width-right:350:"Such a paradise! Unblemished. Pure. It must be gifted the touch-touch of Pestilens!"]]

[[caption-width-right:350:"Lucky, maybe -- but I take credit-glory, yes-yes!"]]

[[caption-width-right:350:"I gather all Warpstone, build biggest bomb ever!"]]

[[caption-width-right:350:"Attack in silence, cover tracks. Quick death, they shall have."]]

[[caption-width-right:350:"THROT SO HUNGRY!"]]

[[caption-width-right:350:"Monster with mind!"]]

[[caption-width-right:350:"Clever child..."]]

[[caption-width-right:300:"Comet makes Elf-Things weak! Council wants power of the Vortex!"]]

[[caption-width-right:350:"Skaven confirmed!"]]

* AFormYouAreComfortableWith: Well, as comfortable as a massive rodent god of evil can possibly be in comparision, though. In a deep cave with a more direct contact to his realm than most other places in the world, he disguises himself as mere verminlord[[note]]"mere" in this case being his equivalent to a [[DemonLordsAndArchdevils greater daemon]][[/note]] called ''The Screaming One''.

* TheChewToy: As a lower-ranking Skaven, he is the primary recipient of Vulscreek's abuse. This abuse ranges from simple insults to being forced to go down into an ancient temple that houses a Verminlord of immense power known as "the Screaming One" [[spoiler: who later turns out to be The Great Horned Rat himself]].
* TheDogBitesBack: [[spoiler:Literally! When ordered to sacrifice his entire clan to summon the Horned Rat, Sneek finally snaps and tears out Vulscreek's throat, sacrificing the Grey Seer's clan instead and becoming one of the favored of the Horned Rat along with Skrolk and Queek.]]

* ThirteenIsUnlucky: Their holy number, which can be found in quite a few places, such as the thirteen seats of the Grey Seers and the thirteenth spell. In the reveal trailer, you can hear the Screaming Bell ring thirteen times. Finally, the Skaven were the thirteenth race to be revealed for the ''Total War: Warhammer'' trilogy. Quite a few things in-game are tied to the number as well, such as certain upgrades for Skaven Lords being available at level 13 and the Temple of the Horned Rat building providing 13+ to Public Obedience, just to name two examples. [[spoiler: It will also take thirteen gongs of the Horned Rat's bell in order to summon him from the Vortex and end the world.]]

* UselessUsefulStealth: Not the case for their actual in-game battles, where their infiltrating/hidden units can really turn the tide of battle if used well, but this unfortunately comes into play within either campaign. One of the touted advantages of playing Skaven is that their settlements will appear as ruins to all other factions, and need to be scouted by Agents or armies to safely find the Skaven lurking within. On paper, being able to hide in relative safety and ambush unwary foes looking for new territory are considerable advantages, but this is rendered totally useless by a number of factors. To begin with, a large swath of unoccupied ruins are extremely suspicious in most circumstances; AI factions readily settle ruined settlements, and even just three empty cities in one area is a giant red flag. Computer opponents already [[TheAllSeeingAi know you're there without scouting]], and human opponents only need ten seconds to look for a high level of Skaven corruption to guess where Skaven are hiding. The final nail in the coffin is that moderate to high levels of Skaven corruption will result in obvious signs of Skaven inhabitation (signs, burrows, Warpstone boulders, etc.) appearing on the campaign map, announcing your supposedly hidden presence loud and clear to anyone with a working pair of eyes. This was downplayed with ''The Prophet and the Warlock'' expansion, as Skaven can create undercities ''underneath other factions' fully intact cities'' without being detected, with the only way for the other faction to attack them being getting lucky.

* WorthlessYellowRocks: Played with. The Skaven use warpstone as currency and have absolutely no use for gold. That said, they know that it's highly sought after by other races, and depriving those other races of something they want is more than enough of a reason for the Skaven to mine gold.

* ZergRush: They utilize this tactic more than any other faction in ''Total War: Warhammer'' due to numbering in the billions at least and the unit sizes to match, with worthless slaves and soldiers being plenty and disposable. Let's put it like this; where the Orcs and Vampires, the former masters of the ZergRush, could sport over 2000, maybe even 3000 troops in a battle if focusing on disposable units, the Skaven can bring along at least '''5000''' with just a standard army!

Throt the Unclean is a Legendary Lord available to those who purchase the DLC pack ''The Twisted and the Twilight''. He leads the Clan Moulder sub-faction in the Eye of the Vortex and Mortal Empires campaigns, starting in northern Naggaroth and Hell Pit, respectively.

* BadBoss: The Horned Rat cares nothing about the Skaven who worship him. His only appearances in the mortal plane involve him literally scooping up and consuming thousands of his followers, and he requires immense daily sacrifices to appease his wrath.

* BigBad: He takes this role for ''Total War Warhammer 2'', as every other faction's final mission is to stop the Skaven from summoning him.

* AFormYouAreComfortableWith: Well, as comfortable as a massive rodent god of evil can possibly be in comparision, though. In a deep cave with a more direct contact to his realm than most other places in the world, he disguises himself as a burning vermin's face that refers to itself as ''The Screaming One''.

* GodOfEvil: He is arguably one of the strongest force of evil in the setting that isn't a Chaos God.

* EpicFail: [[spoiler: A Grey Seer, one of the most powerful and influential members of the under-empire, gets killed by his own scribe-slave. In a grimdark setting like Warhammer, this is just one of the more embarrassing ways to go.]]

* SupportingLeader: Queek and Skrolk manage the forces of their respective clans, but they both receive missions from Vulscreek, and by extension the Council of Thirteen.

** Then there is the upgraded verision, the Poison-Wind Mortars, that may have smaller unit sizes, but make up for this by possessing far larger projectiles that are shot from a much safer distance.

** The Dwarfs are ruled by a singular [[TheHighKing High King]] who almost always have his people's well-being as his highest priority, right next to settling grudges. The Skaven are ruled by [[OmniscientCouncilOfVagueness the Council of Thirteen]], most of whom are more interested in squabbling among themselves and jockeying for positions of prominence instead of furthering Skaven society in the slightest. Further, while the High King is perfectly willing to fight and die for his people on the battlefield, the members of the Council of Thirteen do almost anything in their power to ensure that they never have to do any fighting of their own.
** The Dwarfs use outwardly plain but safe runecrafting, and generally shun other forms of magic. The Skaven use the destructive and dangerous Lores of Ruin and Plague, and make extensive use of GreenRocks to power their society and its weapons.

* ZergRush: They utilize this tactic more than any other faction in Warhammer due to numbering in the billions at least, with worthless slaves and Soldiers being plenty and disposable. Let's put it like this. Where the Orcs and Vampires, the former masters of the ZergRush, could sport over 2000, maybe even 3000 troops in a battle if focusing on disposable units, the Skaven can bring along at least '''5000''' with just a standard army!

* AxCrazy: Even by Skaven standards, Queek is ''nuts''. To the point that he actually talks to his battle trophies. In combat, he's noted to be a ''raging lunatic'' cackling madly as he cuts down foes. In-game he can get the frenzy ability.

* BattleTrophy: Has a fondness of collecting the remains of his enemies and proudly displays them on the trophy rack on his back. These range from skulls or severed hands to the entire spine of a dead skaven.

* BloodKnight: Skaven are cowardly creatures as a rule, and whilst some might be occasionally more brave than others, Queek is notable for being unnaturally courageous. This is entirely due to Queek's love of violence, and he is so eager to kill that he leads from the front.

** Queek also hates Grey Seers because he despises playing politics. In-game this is represented by all Grey Seers in your faction starting out at -2 loyalty.

-->"[[spoiler:Clan Mors victorious, with me-me at it's head!]]"
* VillainousValour: Queek, unlike practically ''every other skaven warlord'', fights in the frontlines alongside his Stormvermin, and is a genuinely brave, [[AxCrazy albeit completely insane]], warrior.

* BattleAura: Skrolk is so disease ridden he travels with a constant miasma of foul diseases and plagues, all of which lowers the melee attack of all enemy units around him with his "Aura of Pestilence" skill.

** The ''Mutated'' Rat Ogres take the BodyHorror nature of the previously mentioned unit, crank it up a few notches, make them ''slightly'' smaller then Giants, and grate countless Warp-Infused weapons, a few new limbs and adornments to them. The cream of the Rat Ogre creations in Clan Moulder's possession, they are giant single-unit monster brawlers rather then coming packs due to their colossal size, who excel at butchering infantry clumps and killing armored units.
** The Hell Pit Abomination is considered the pinnacle of all Clan Moulder's skill in fleshcraft, and is one of the most horrifying things in the entire Old World. A nightmarish ''monstrosity'', the Hell Pit Abomination is an amalgamation of warpstone, cogs, pale flesh, ''dragons'', and dozens of still ''living'' Skaven, stitched up together and turned into an massive behemoth. Thankfully they are very rare, and seldom seen, for the effort to create one is a nightmare unto itself. On the battlefield, they utterly demolish infantry clumps and destroy enemy leadership.

* GameplayAndStorySegregation: Two big ones, both of which contributes to making the Skaven [[GameBreaker ridiculously powerful]] because [[AntifrustrationFeature having them in-game would make a pretty bad experience]]:
** In-lore, Skaven technology is famously [[NoOshaCompliance unreliable]] because, besides making things extremely powerful, Skaven don't really care if it [[HoistByHisOwnPetard blows up in the user's face]] (as long as that user isn't themselves) after they sell it to someone else, which means that their machinery could act in unexpected ways, malfunction, or just plain explode anytime it was used. But because having your artillery[=/=]weapons teams risk killing themselves with every single shot they fire would be pretty awful to play, in-game they are entirely reliable and will murder your enemies without ever backfiring on you (hell, they even get the exact same "will not fire because a friendly unit is in the way" as other races, whereas in tabletop they'd fire into a mob anyway).
** While their ChronicBackstabbingDisorder is somewhat implemented with the loyalty system, it ''severely'' downplays how treacherous Skaven are, because if it did, your Legendary Lords would also be subject to the loyalty mechanic, confederation would be impossible, all of your lords would almost constantly go rogue, you wouldn't be able to hold a large territory without constant rebellions popping up, etc... (the only moments Skaven are willing to genuinely work together are either [[GodzillaThreshold when the very survival of Skaven-kind is at risk]] or when their God himself appears to tell them to get their shit together or die horribly).

* GeoEffects: Skaven settlement structures spread "Skaven Corruption", which represents the proliferation of the ratmen in the surrounding landscape. While corruption is low, there's plenty of space and resources to go around and everyone is happy. When corruption is high, meanwhile, the skaven are so numerous that pickings are slim and they're driven to fight each-other, weakening public order across the province. [[PowerAtAPrice However]], the more rats are present, [[WeHaveReserves the more frequently the "Menace From Below" army ability can be used in individual battles]]. Overall, the Skaven benefit from maintaining low corruption in their own territory while working to spread it in regions they don't fully control, undermining other empires and strengthening their own armies.

* AdaptationalWimp: A minor example; as his ''Total War'' incarnation gives him a host of new, powerful rules he never had in tabletop, but he was explicitley a Lord character in his white-dwarf armylist, here's he's been downgraded to a Hero.
* AnimalSpeciesAccent: {{Averted}}. Because he is a Khornate berserker brain in a rat-ogre body, he does not speak like Skaven, who repeat the same or similar words (steal-take, kill-kill etc), use broken speech, or refer to other races as "things" (death-things, lizard-things etc). Ghoritch speaks like a Khornate beserker and speaks in complete sentences. He has the clearest and most grammatically correct speech patterns out of all the Skaven characters.
* AscendedExtra: Ghoritch was a semi-official character originating from a White-Dwarf article, had a kit-bashed model, and got no other mention in the fluff. He gained a [[EnsembleDarkhorse cult following]] over the years for being such a cool concept, and was turned into a full-on Legendary Hero for ''Total War.''
* AxCrazy: ''Oh yeah''. Ghoritch was already a half-insane Khornate beserker during his human days, and is said to have gotten [[UpToEleven even worse after his transformation]]. He has the Fury special rule to reflect his raging bloodthirst.

* BarrierWarrior: He carries a warp-powered shield generator on his back; his '''Blood Shield''', and it allows him to confer magic reistance to himself and allies around him when activated.

* CanonImmigrant: Ghoritch originates from a semi-official White Dwarf armylist, the Horrors of Hell Pit, which the game draws both him and his Mutated Rat Ogres from.
* CoDragons: As he answers only to the Nine Lords of Hell Pit he's technically this with Throt, being the Commander of Clan Moulder's standing army, while Throt is its most senior breeder. However, this arrangement is despised by both of them; Throt considers Ghoritch his greatest mistake and sees him as a rival who can topple his position, while Ghoritch still wants to kill Throt for what he did to him.

* TheDreaded: Ghoritch was originally an infamous Norscan beserker, but now he truly qualifies this; as the Castellan of Hell Pit, Ghoritch terrifies all of Skavendom. ''Throt'', his creator, is absolutely terrified of him. Has both Fear and Terror to go along with this.

* OneManArmy: As soon as Ghoritch awoke after his surgery, he made a mad dash for the surface, ''slaughtering'' anything in his way as he literally tore through an army of FleshGolem on his lonesome. He got all the way to Clan Moulder's blood arena, and was surrounded...and then proceed to butcher everything thrown at him, and was ''winning'', until he was offered a leadership position in the forsaken fortress. In-game he has a powerful statline to match, making him an infantry mulching powerhouse.
* RedIsViolent: Parts of his robotic body are crudely painted red; fitting for a beserker of Khorne.
* ReligiousBruiser: He was a devoted follower of the Blood God in life, and his FlavorText states he ''still'' worships and receives much favor from Khorne, so much he's able to beseech the Dark God's to onset a blood rage within him.

* ThisIsADrill: He wields a giant, Steam-Powered, Warp-Stone Power Drill outfitted to his offhand as a way to puncture through the skulls of his enemeis.