History Literature / Ultramarines

--> "[[MyNameIsInigoMontoya My name is Petronius Nero]]. You tried to kill my captain. [[PreparetoDie]]."

* EnemyCivilWar: Honsou versus Toramino and Berossus in ''Dead Sky, Black Sun''. He initially assumes Uriel and company were sent by Toramino.

* DeathbyIrony: In ''The Killing Ground'', [[spoiler: Colonel Verena Kain's involvement in the Khaturian Massacre was to lead in the Screaming Eagles veterans, as well as Hellhound tanks to raze the town of Khaturian to the ground, a task she carried out with relish. She dies when the Lord of the Unfleshed hurls her into a bonfire, killing her in the same manner as the victims of her orders at Khaturian]].

* InTheBack: [[spoiler: The Tyranid Norn Queen shoots Uriel in the back with a poisoned spine. He only survives due to a Deathwatch Apothecary and Pasanius performing blood transfusions to stabilise Uriel long enough to get him back to Tarsis Ultra for more extensive medical treatment]].

* RoaringRampageofRevenge: [[spoiler: Sylvanus Thayer in ''The Killing Ground''. Having seen his family die in the bombing of Khaturian and being left a quadriplegic cripple with 90% third degree burns to his body inhis futile attempt to avenge them causes latent psychic abilities to awaken in Thayer, which he uses to enslave the ghosts of Khaturian and the recently arrived Unfleshed to his will to serve as pawns to allow him to exact his revenge on all those responsible. He is also uncaring of the fact that his vengeance-fuelled powers run the risk of opening a warp rift on Salinas that will necessitate the planet's destruction by the Inquisition unless he is stopped]].

** The short story ''Leviathan'' makes a few to [[Film/Aliens]].

* TakeMyHand: [[Spoiler: Uriel does this to Captain Bannon in ''Warriors of Ultramar'' while trying to pull him aboard a departing Thunderhawk as he dangles from a rapelling cable. Bannon, already locked in combat with what is either a winged Tyrant Warrior or possibly a Hive Tyrant (the in-text description isn't clear), instead cuts his line, falling to his death blow to allow the Thunderhawk to escape and preventing the creature from getting aboard]].

** The [[spoiler: Clawed Fiends dispatched by de Valtos' Dark Eldar allies to kill Governor Shonai and Barzano in ''Nightbringer'' track their prey by scent.

* PragmaticHero: Governor Leto Barbaden in ''The Killing Ground'' considers himself one, mixed with the [[DarkShepherd]]. He [[spoiler: argues that his decision to bomb the city of Khaturian-which the local resistance had been using as a safe haven for their families-to the ground in order to goad the rebels into a foolhardy attack against the Achamen Falcatas was the best choice, as it allowed him to root out the rebel leaders and end the insurrection in a single stroke. He is later lambasted by Uriel and several of his own advisors that this was more a case of StupidEvil, as his actions turned what had been a small scale insurrection into a planet-wide state of hostility towards him and his men, to the point where his guardsmen cannot leave the safety of their barracks without being subjected to ambushes, bombings and guerilla attacks]].

* RoaringRampageofRevenge: [[spoiler: Sylvanus Thayer in ''The Killing Ground''. Having seen his family die in the bombing of Khaturian and being left a quadriplegic cripple with 90% third degree burns to his body causes latent psychic abilities to awaken in Thayer, which he uses to enslave the ghosts of Khaturian and the recently arrived Unfleshed to his will to serve as pawns to allow him to exact his revenge on all those responsible. He is also uncaring of the fact that his vengeance-fuelled powers run the risk of opening a warp rift on Salinas that will necessitate the planet's destruction by the Inquisition unless he is stopped]].

%%* TakeMyHand

%%* TheyHaveTheScent

* DeadPersonConversation: In ''The Chapter's Due'' on Calth, Uriel has one with [[spoiler: the spirit of Remus Ventanus, an Ultramarines Captain from the Horus Heresy who fought M'Kar in his human form during the Battle of Calth and passes on to Uriel how he can destroy the Daemon Prince]].

* ManlyTears: At the end of ''The Killing Ground'', when after all the hell they have gone through to atone for their sins and prove their loyalty, both Uriel and Pasanius weep at their first sight of the Fortress of Hera as it sinks in that despite all the odds, they've made it home.

%%* TheNoseKnows
%%* {{Pirate}}

** The short story ''Leviathan'' makes a few to [[Aliens]].

* DidYouJustFlipOffCthulhu: IN ''Nightbringer'', Uriel gets the attention of the Nightbringer by holding a melta-bomb up to its face and threatening to detonate it, explaining that if he does so, it will ignite the flammable gases filling the cavern they're in and burying them all beneath ten kilometres worth of rock, something which even the Nightbringer (still weak from sixty five million years of hibernation) can't survive. Reading Uriel's mind through an empathic link with the beings around it, the Nightbringer realises Uriel isn't bluffing and reluctantly retreats.

* FixFic: A lot of bits people complained about in the fifth edition codex were addressed in ''Chapter's Due''. Mostly by showing that while exceptionally good at their jobs the Ultramarines were still fallible and could be outdone in some areas by the rest of the Imperium.

** ''Warriors of Ultramar'': Being the [[Dirty Coward]] he is, Simon van Gelder [[spoiler: shuts down Erebus City's air defences so his starship can take off without being shot down. During take off, his ship narrowly avoids a crash with an Ultramarines Thunderhawk...and the swarm of Tyranid gargoyles that were pursuing the Space Marine aircraft attack the new target. Without the air defence guns to bring the aliens down, van Gelder's ship is overwhelmed and he is torn apart when the Tyranids break into the cockpit]].

** Inquisitor Kryptman actually breaks his word [[spoiler:to spare a planet in the path of a Tyranid Hive Fleet from Exterminatus]] in ''Warriors of Ultramar'' since it was the simplest solution to a majot problem.

%%* InTheBack

%%* ItsAllAboutMe

** ''The Killing Ground'': The duel between Uriel, Pasanius and Leodegarius. [[spoiler: Leodegarius hands their heads to them, then mentions that only by losing could they prove their loyalty

** The short story ''Leviathan'' makes a few to [[Aliensfilm Aliens]].

** Techmarine Harkus makes a few to [[StarTrek]] in ''Warriors of Ultramar''

** The short story ''Leviathan'' makes a few to [[Aliens(film) Aliens]].

** Techmarine Harkus makes a few to [[Star Trek]] in ''Warriors of Ultramar''
-->'''Harkus''': [[I'mADoctor,NotAPlaceholder I'm a Techmarine, not a miracle worker]]!

** Mykola Shonai in ''Courage and Honour''. [[Spoiler: She invitied a Tau delegate to talk with the intention of having the Tau establish trading links with the hopes of bringing Pavonis out of its economic depression, but when the Tau (as Uriel warned) resorted to violence when their overtures were rebuffed, she is arrested, tortured and brutally interrogated to learn what other information she might have given the xenos, the savagery of which ultimately kills her]].

-->'''Harkus''': [[I'mADoctorNotAPlaceholder I'm a Techmarine, not a miracle worker]]!

* ShoutOut: In the fourth book, several characters seem to share first names with members of Music/SystemOfADown

%%* BadDreams

* BloodMagic: The Mortificators' shamanic rituals involve drinking each others blood, giving them visions that have a surprising, but not perfect accuracy.

%%* BuyThemOff

%%* DeadPersonConversation

%%* HoistByHisOwnPetard

%%* ItHasBeenAnHonor

%%* LightIsNotGood

* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: Koudelkhar Shonai, Governor of Pavonis in ''Courage and Honour''. Having been captured, imprisoned in a POW camp and subjected to Tau propoganda advocating the benefits of the Greater Good, he is initially willing to defect to the Tau Empire. However, when he sees the Tau's willingness to gun down unarmed prisoners during an attempt at an uprising, and his mother is killed in the resulting firefight, he realises the Tau are every bit as vile and dangerous as Imperial rhetoric says all xenos are.

* NoHoldsBarredBeatdown: To be honest, when the Ultramarines get into close combat, a lot of their fights become like this.

%%* PowderKegCrowd

** Kasimir de Valtos and Vendare Taloun in ''Nightbringer''. In the former's case, he murders many of the ruling elite on Pavonis, sets off a civil war and allies with Dark Eldar pirates (all horrendous crimes against the Imperium) to release the C'tan known as the Nightbringer in the belief it will make him immortal, while the latter reluctantly allies with him in a bid to seize the position of Planetary Governor that his family used to hold. Kasimir discovers that the Nightbringer has no need to acknowledge his existence, much less reward him, and ends up being decapitated and his soul eaten by the Nightbringer, while Taloun is arrested, forced to confess his crimes in a very public trial, then hanged from a statue of the Emperor.
** Mykola Shonai in ''Courage and Honour''. She invitied a Tau delegate to talk with the intention of having the Tau establish trading links with the hopes of bringing Pavonis out of its economic depression, but when the Tau (as Uriel warned) resorted to violence when their overtures were rebuffed, she is arrested, tortured and brutally interrogated to learn what other information she might have given the xenos, the savagery of which ultimately kills her.

* SecretTestOfCharacter: Uriel and Pasanius get one in "The Killing Ground"; their final test to prove their purity after returning from the Eye of Terror is an unarmed duel with Brother Leodegarius of the Grey Knights. They are [[NoHoldsBarredBeatdown utterly thrashed]], only to discover they weren't supposed to win; only those who were empowered by Chaos could have won, so by losing, Uriel and Pasanius proved they were untainted.

%%* SourSupporter

* VillainousBreakdown: Kasimir de Valtos, the main antagonist of ''Nightbringer'' suffers one at the end. Having caused the deaths of thousands of people (either murdered by his own hand, or killed in pirate attacks carried out by Dark Eldar mercenaries working with him, or in a civil war he had instigated to seize control of Pavonis) all in the name of freeing the Nightbringer in the belief it would make him immortal as a reward. When his plan finally comes to fruition, he is briefly connected to the Nightbringer's mind through an empathic link as it awakens, at which point his mind breaks at the realisation the Nightbringer is as far removed from him as he is from an ant, and the C'Tan has no reason to even acknowledge his existence, let alone reward him. Kasimir is reduced to tearfully begging the Nightbringer to make him immortal, which only results in the creature deigning to notice him for long enough to kill him.

%%* DeadGuyOnDisplay

%%* DressingAsTheEnemy
%%* DrivenToSuicide

%%* GetItOverWith

%%* ManlyTears

* DidYouJustFlipOffCthulu: IN ''Nightbringer'', Uriel gets the attention of the Nightbringer by holding a melta-bomb up to its face and threatening to detonate it, explaining that if he does so, it will ignite the flammable gases filling the cavern they're in and burying them all beneath ten kilometres worth of rock, something which even the Nightbringer (still weak from sixty five million years of hibernation) can't survive. Reading Uriel's mind through an empathic link with the beings around it, the Nightbringer realises Uriel isn't bluffing and reluctantly retreats.

%%* NoHoldsBarredBeatdown

%%* RewardedAsATraitorDeserves

%%* SecretTestOfCharacter

%%* ActionSurvivor: Everyone form Damnos by the time the Ultramarines show up.

* BigDamnedHeroes: Agrippan saving Sicarius and killing the Voidbringer.

* BigBookOfWar: The ''Codex Astartes'', which Roboute Guilliman wrote after the HorusHeresy suggesting organization and tactics for virtually any scenario that Guilliman could have thought of at the time. However, by the 41st millennium there are new threats which Guilliman never foresaw. One of the underlying themes of [=McNeill=]'s series is the Ultramarines learning when and when not to follow it.

* ArmedWithCanon: There seems to be an ongoing war between Creator/GrahamMcNeill and [[AscendedFanboy Matt Ward]]. The former has repeatedly tried to lessen the Ultramarines recent depiction as [[GodModeSue God Mode Sues]] [[SpotlightStealingSquad who everyone wants to be]] in his novels. The latter has made repeated efforts to Retcon [=McNeill=]'s novels out of existance.

** In the first scene they did this, their chaplain drank the Chapter Master's blood to get a vision to decide if the chapter will aid Tarsis Ultra. The [[PowerOfBLood power of that blood]] proves to be too much for him in the trance, and he regurgitates it. The still-fresh blood is offered to Uriel to seal the pact, and he manages to choke it down. While he did find that it ''was'' empowering, he had pretty much the [[{{Squick}} same reaction]] you just did.

%%* CainAndAbel

* ShoutOut: In the fourth book, several characters seem to share first names with members of Music/SystomOfADown

The ''Ultramarines'' series by GrahamMcNeill delineates the adventures of one member of the titular Ultramarines, Captain Uriel Ventris: ''Nightbringer''; ''Warriors of Ultramar''; and ''Dead Sky, Black Sun'' (in the omnibus ''Ultramarines''); ''The Killing Ground'', ''Courage And Honour'', and ''The Chapter's Due''.

* ArmedWithCanon: There seems to be an ongoing war between GrahamMcNeill and [[AscendedFanboy Matt Ward]]. The former has repeatedly tried to lessen the Ultramarines recent depiction as [[GodModeSue God Mode Sues]] [[SpotlightStealingSquad who everyone wants to be]] in his novels. The latter has made repeated efforts to Retcon [=McNeill=]'s novels out of existance.

* AfterlifeExpress: The Omphalos Daemonium is a daemon train that transports souls.

* AndThereWasMuchRejoicing: In ''Courage and Honor'' when the Tau blow up the Administratum Tax Bureau, citzens of Pavonis celebrate, as neither side has any love for tax collectors.
* AMillionIsAStatistic: A short story in ''Planetkill'' ends with the annihilation of Tarsis Ultra, the same planet whose citizens the Ultramarines spent an entire book saving.
** In ''Warriors of Ultramar'' itself, the huge amount of deaths caused by the Tyranid invasion is oddly understated.

* TheAtoner: Starting in ''Dead Sky, Black Sun'', Uriel and Passanius are exiled from the chapter and sent out on a [[SuicideMission death oath]] in penance of...[[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotHeinous breaking with the Codex Astartes]].[[note]]In context, this meant breaking not only with Chapter tradition, but Chapter laws and a possible violation of, in the Ultramarines' eyes, what separates what a marine should be from those that had turned away from the Emperor.[/note]

** In the first scene they did this, their chaplain drank the Chapter Master's blood to get a vision to decide if the chapter will aid Tarsis Ultra. The blood proves to be too much for him in the trance, and he regurgitates it. The still-fresh blood is offered to Uriel to seal the pact, and he manages to choke it down. While he did find that it ''was'' empowering, he had pretty much the [[{{Squick}} same reaction]] you just did.

%%* CoolGate

%%* EldritchLocation: Medrengard and the rest of the Warp.

* LargeAndInCharge: The Lord of the Unfleshed, Marneus Calgar, the tyranids, M'kar... Honsou is one of the few exceptions.

* MercyKill: [[spoiler:The Lord of the Unfleshed]] receives the Emperor's Peace for being [[spoiler:deemed unredeemable]] in ''The Killing Ground''.

* NiceJobBreakingItHero: Uriel seems to do this alot. Whether he's [[spoiler: sparing the omnicidal star god, releasing the daemonic juggernaut, stirring up a worlds ghosts or pissing off the Warsmith,]] he seems to leave places much worse than when he found them.

* InterplayOfSexAndViolence: From ''Nightbringer'', the scene between the wych and the ''kyerzak'', or the Honored, [[spoiler: or de Valtos]], were explicitly engaged in foreplay the Honored was [[MeatgrinderSurgery surgically disassembled and reassembled]]. Also, they had sex afterwards, if not something...worse.