Tabletop Game / Warhammer: The End Times

Death rises. Empires rot. Gods perish. Kingdoms fall. Chaos reigns.

"The Three-Eyed King has long awaited this moment, the hour of which his destiny is at last unveiled. He leads an army of madness and rage, against which no sane being would willingly stand. Perhaps I am not sane, as I will fight one last time. Not for victory, but for survival, for the hope that a spark can ensure. It is a slender hope, and the laughter of the Dark Gods rings loud in my ears.....These are the End Times..."

— Lileath: Goddess of the Moon (Sigmar in the trailer)

Warhammer: The End Times is a campaign and range of products for the 8th edition of the Wargaming series Warhammer. This relates the final days of the world and the events that leads to said end. It was followed by Warhammer: Age of Sigmar, a semi-reboot of the Warhammer setting.

The products of this new line can be sorted in Game Books, Novels, and Models. So far, The End Times has been released in several parts. The first part, centered on Nagash, was released in August 2014, with all the products related to it released in the same month. The second part, centered on the three brothers Glottkin, was released in October 2014. The third part, centered on the Elvish Civil War Khaine was released in November 2014. The fourth book Thanquol was released in January 2015 and focused on the Skaven unification and asasult on the world.

The End Times are composed of:

Part 1: Nagash

• Warhammer The End Times 1: Nagash.: This is the main book of the first part. It's composed of two volumes: one explaining the story of the resurrection of Nagash and the battles before and immediately after, including also the struggles of the Empire in the north against the vanguard of the forces of Archaon. The other volume contains the rules, characters, army lists and scenarios to play said battles in the tabletop.

• The return of Nagash: This novel from Josh Reynolds is related to the main book and relates the first half of it: mainly the gathering of the artifacts needed to the resurrection of Nagash, the ritual and the response of several forces involved in said resurrection or in the initial events of the End Times. It follows the story set in the campaign Blood of Sigmar and places emphasis in the tense relations between Mannfred and Arkhan.

• Kinslayer: This novel is the latest entry of the Gotrek & Felix series of novels. It's part of a trilogy named ''The doom of Gotrek Gurnisson''. In this novel Felix has settled down, with a wife and child, while Gotrek has travelled north to meet his death against the northern hordes. Felix, unwilling to leave his friend to die alone, and to honor the promise he made to him, follows Gotrek to the north, and also reunites the gang in the process: Snorri Nosebiter, Max Schreiber and Ulrika Magdova.

Part 2: Chaos

• Warhammer The End times 2: Glottkin: The rumored second part of the End times arc. It is centered in the invasion of the Empire overseered by the three Glott brother (the Glottkin). It's essentially the same in form as Book One: Nagash, but advancing the history.

• The Fall of Altdorf: This book follows the events mentioned in Part one: Nagash regarding the Empire and the subsequent fall back to Aldorf. In there the Reikmarshall Kurt Helborg must organize the defense of the city against the forces of chaos, led by the Glottkin. But an unlikely ally appears...

Part 3: Khaine

• Warhammer The End Times book 3: Khaine: The third book in the End Times series, centered around the loss of the Dark Elves' kingdom of Naggaroth and their subsequent invasion of Ulthuan, culminating in the final chapter of the elven civil war.

• Warhammer: The Curse of Khaine: A book that follows the events of the novel from Malekith's perspective and following his journey and the revelation of the greatest sin of the High Elves, and the end of a destiny six thousand years in the making.

Part 4: Thanquol

• Warhammer The End Times book 4: Thanquol: The fourth book in the End Times series, centered around the Skaven all-out assault on the Dwarven and Lizardmen homelands. It confirms that the Skaven are for the moment fully united, and more than capable of destroying most of the world.

• Warhammer: Rise of the Horned Rat: A book chronicling the war between the Skaven and the Dwarves, mentioning that the Skaven are attacking all Dwarf holds but focusing on Karak Eight Peaks, and Karaz-a-Karak. It also features Thanquol's rise in status from an outcast Grey Seer to a major architect in the Skaven plan.

Part 5: Archaon

• Warhammer The End Times book 5: Archaon: The fifth book, and the climax of the series. The Old World is in ruins, and the forces of Chaos, led by Archaon the Everchosen, are poised to destroy what little remains.

• Slayer: The final book of the Gotrek & Felix saga. The survivors of Kinslayer get involved in stopping Be'lakor's plans to usurp the Chaos gods, and the first Slayer himself has to step in.

• Warhammer: The Lord of the End Times: Josh Reynolds returns for the Grand Finale. Archaon's forces descend upon Middenheim, and the remaining factions, both living and undead, are forced to unite in a final, desperate defense.

There is also a character page of those involved in the End Times.

The page is about The End Times only. While a lot of tropes of its parent game Warhammer also apply, please note only the tropes regarded in the End times and the characters shown in the campaign. Thank you.

Tropes of The End Times:

• Aborted Arc: In End Times: Archaon, Vlad von Carstein takes Jerrod, the Duke of Quenelles, aside and tells him to go to Abhorash and Gilles le Breton, and tell the former that "He was right." What it was that Abhorash was right about was meant to be included in a subsequent book, but was unfortunately never implemented.
• Alternate Universe: The End Times that lead to Age of Sigmar is not the same universe as the one depicted in editions 5 through 7, nor the RPG, nor any books or games that came out in that period. All of them are quite explicitly set during or after the Storm of Chaos (a weaker attempt by Chaos to end the world that was repulsed), with a detailed timeline. See also Retcon.
• Anyone Can Die: As it is the story of The End of the World as We Know It, The End Times removed the long standing policy of Status Quo Is God, resulting in the deaths of a multitude of well-known and popular characters, many of whom had been in the game for decades.
• Arc Words: From Return of Nagash, "Nagash must rise."
• Artifact of Doom: Where do we even begin? From all the artifacts needed for the ritual of the return of Nagash (all of which were made by him and belonged to him once; one is actually his severed hand), to the Fellblade that once killed him. A prime example is the Sword of Khaine, which is drawn by Tyrion during the start of the second phase of the Elven Civil War.
• Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence:
  • At the end of Book 1, Nagash absorbs the power of the Nehekharan death god, Usirian.
  • In Book 4, what few Lizardmen survive leave the world in tiny bubbles that lead to a different world.
• The Atoner: Several characters, particularly Korhil, Tyrion and Duke Jerrod.
• Back for the Dead: Characters that haven't been mentioned for decades and a number of one-book-wonders show up for a line or two just to establish that they were still around. This goes all the way back to Harold Hammerstorm, the guy from the front of the first boxed set who was never given a personality beyond the name and that he has a hammer. They're invariably bumped off in the same book that they return in; with the ones who no longer have models in production going first, followed by the ones who no longer have rules.
• Back from the Dead: Several, mainly in the Undead faction: Nagash the most prominent, but also Vlad Von Carstein is back. Gilles le Breton for Bretonnia, but since he is the Green Knight, it's more like Not quite Dead.
• Badass Boast: "SETTRA DOES NOT SERVE! SETTRA RULES!" Made even more badass in that he said this to the Chaos Gods themselves after they offered him immortality in turn for his service.
• The Bad Guy Wins: Every standing faction conflict in the setting. It starts getting kind of ridiculous, to the point where a joke among the fandom at the time came about that noted how you could predict who would win each book based on how evil the combatants were. Skaven versus every human kingdom other than the Empire? Skaven. Chaos and Orcs versus Ind and Cathay? Chaos and Orcs. Elf civil war? Dark Elves. Battle for Kharak Eight Peaks? Skaven, Goblins withdraw intact. Dwarfs versus Skaven and Goblins in general? Skaven. Nagash versus Tomb Kings? Nagash. Skaven versus Lizardmen? Rocks Fall, Everyone Dies, but Skaven were winning up to that point. Sigmar versus Archaon? Tie, but only because Grimgor softened Archaon up first. Chaos versus everyone? Chaos.
• Be Careful What You Wish For: A meta example. Fans had been clamouring for GW to "advance the storyline" for decades. And advance the storyline did.
• The Bus Came Back: After several years away from the setting, Drachenfels has returned and now serves as Mortarch of Nagash. Though he has lost his memory, and part of his reasons in serving the great necromancer is under the belief that he can restore his memories. In End Times: Archaon he betrays Nagash, possesses Luthor Huss and turns to Chaos. Focusing his entire power into Luthor leaves him vulnerable, and after Vlad gives Luthor a moment of control back Luthor is able to channel divine power through himself and kill Drachenfels for good, although he's been killed off "for good" many times now so who knows if it'll stick. An unnamed vampire heavily implied to be Genevieve appears a few times to drop off hints to Gelt on how to handle Manfred's return, but it's barely a cameo..
• Big Bad: Before the start of the arc, Archaon was gathering his forces to unleash them on the south. Now, Nagash has returned, supposedly, to stop him and claim the world for himself in the process, though by the final book, it is ultimately Archaon who earns the title, as Nagash allies himself with the Incarnates and their forces in order to ensure his survival.
• Big Bad Ensemble: Thanquol is actually a fairly minor character in his own book, only being involved in one of the featured battles. Queek Headtaker, Ikit Claw, and a rotating group of Clan Pestilence leaders share the main focus. In the novel version he's reduced to a cameo.
• Boring Yet Practical: When Manfred attacks a Skaven colony in the first book he just floods the tunnel network with zombies until they clear a way to the last bastion and then steps in with his elites. Even the characters point out how dull this is.
• Broad Strokes: While the major events are the same between the game books and the novels, the details are often quite different. Part of this is that the novels treat earlier Black Library novels as canon and the rulebooks do not, resulting in oddities like major characters having different backstories and personalities or just flat-out not existing.
• Can't Kill You, Still Need You: In Return of Nagash, both Mannfred and Arkhan keep dwelling on how easily they could kill and usurp the other, but know they still need each other to resurrect Nagash.
• Chickification: Neferata gets hit with this. Despite being a Mortarch and being the first vampire, Neferata does not accomplish anything major by herself unlike the other Mortarchs; she was rescued by, and forced to work with, Krell (also a Mortarch) and his forces when she went back to the secret cavern of the Dwarf gods and later was put in a stalemate by Khalida who thwarted her attempt to reclaim Lahmia (although since her real objective was just to draw Khalida's army away from the battle in Khemri it was technically a win). In addition, Neferata is the only female Mortarch.
• Civil Warcraft: Bretonnia gets hit by one of these by the bastard son of Louen, Malloubaude. Arkhan was also around to help him. It ends badly for both sides.
• Combat by Champion: Despite the huge armies involved in these battles, a lot of fights feature major characters finding and dueling each other in the midst of the chaos.
• Cosmic Retcon: The events of Storm of Chaos are effectively undone by the End Times, and history appears to have taken a different path.
• Cutscene Power to the Max: The Skaven are able to defeat almost everyone else in the fluff.
• Deal with the Devil: A few occur. The Skaven choosing to ally with the Chaos Gods. The latter also make a similar offer to Settra, who refuses them. The forces of order consider accepting Nagash's offer of alliance to be this.
• Defiant to the End: Out of the Tomb Kings who refused to serve Nagash after Settra's defeat and the destruction of Khemri, only King Phar didn't end up surrendering not that it did him any good.
• Did You Just Flip Off Cthulhu?: It doesn't matter if you're Nagash. It doesn't matter if you're the Chaos Gods. Settra does not serve. He rules, and he's perfectly willing to say that to your face.
• Didn't Think This Through: Clan Skryre decides that, during the Skaven invasion of Lustria, blowing up the Chaos Moon while it hangs in low orbit would be the perfect way to one-up the Grey Seers.
• Divided We Fall: A recurring theme. Archaon himself notes at the beginning of End Times: Glottkin that the Dark Gods only have a chance at succeeding as long as the races of Order don't unify. The Lizardmen likely would've been up for it, but the Skaven take them out early. Ultimately, the Dwarfs go full "every hold for himself" and coordinate little with either each other or external allies (leading to the dwarf city-states being picked off one by one by the Skaven), the Southern Realms do so as well as a continuation of their usual policy (to the same result), and the Bretonnians, High Elves, and Wood Elves flat-out expend most of their strengths in disastrous civil wars before they see a single Chaos Warrior. The Empire is the closest to being a team player, but they still suffer considerable internal disunity that nullifies much of their strength - it's directly due to such schisms that the Chaos hordes get past the Auric Bastion at all. It is worth noting that, even with all the boons given to Chaos and the Skaven in this campaign, Order still would have won if not for a last-second betrayal by Mannfred. Josh Reynolds also confirmed in ask.fm sessions that Chaos would've gotten beaten early had Order unified from the beginning.
• Detonation Moon: Clan Skryre uses a gigantic cannon blow up Morrslieb, causing mountain-sized chunks of pure Warpstone to rain on the planet. The Slann barely manage to keep the resulting cataclysm from destroying the entire world, but Lustria is wiped off the map.
• Downer Ending:
  • Chaos wins. The Winds of Chaos shatter their ancient prison and open a third Warp Gate underneath Middenheim, turning the world into a twisted hellscape, slaughtering and consuming the souls of every person in the world, plus everyone who ever died beforehand, before wandering off to find some other world to ruin. Only a few refugees escape into other worlds and other universes where, it's implied, the whole process will start all over again from square one, with the same ultimate conclusion.
  • On a smaller scale, basically every book before Archaon as well. Each book ends on a hopeful note, but several characters are dead and the good guys have only won a pyrrhic victory at best. There's a reason the books are all named after the antagonists.
  • Oddly enough, from a purely utilitarian point of view, the End Times is implied to be a good thing by later Age of Sigmar lore. The world gets destroyed, and 99% of humans, elves, dwarfs, and lizardmen die (a handful were spirited away by their gods or via magic hideouts), but the survivors found great civilizations in the Age of Myth that developed the strength to repulse Chaos's future attacks and live in a golden age for millennia - even managing to mutilate and imprison Slaanesh, one of the big four. Said civilizations are both massively larger and (from the brief descriptions we get) sport much higher standards of living than the Old World. Their End Times equivalent, the Age of Chaos, does happen and destroys many of said civilizations, but is eventually beaten back regardless and most survive, leading to the Age of Sigmar.
• Dropped a Bridge on Him: As a result of the sheer volume of character deaths throughout the series, a lot of them, some of which are quite important to the setting, die rather anti-climatically. One good example is Thorgrim Grudgebearer, high king of the dwarfs. He actually wins the big battle, only to then be stabbed in the back by a skaven assassin when he returns to his quarters. To make matters worse, the secret door the skaven got in through then allows the rest of the skaven to charge in and conquer Karaz-A-Karak. This is described in a couple of paragraphs.
• Enemy Mine:
  • The Dark Elves, Wood Elves, and High Elves, previously separate and with a mutual dislike/hatred for one another that's lasted thousands of years, unite under Malekith after Ulthuan sinks.
  • Towards the end, the living races ally with Nagash in order to face Archaon and the forces of Chaos.
• Entitled to Have You: Elize feels this way towards Erikan even telling him to his face when she admits she loves him. Tyrion has this attitude towards Alarielle as he starts to become Khaine's avatar.
• Evil Versus Evil: Several evil forces clash, such as:
  • Nagash goes to war against the forces of Chaos, intending to usurp the Chaos Gods and become Chaos itself.
  • Orc boss Grimgor Ironhide brings the Ogre Kingdoms under his heel by beating Overtyrant Greasus Goldtooth in a duel, then attacks the Chaos Dwarfs with his joint Orcs & Ogres army and wins.
  • Goblin boss Skarsnik ends up in a fight against the Skaven after they go back on their word to leave the Dwarf hold conquered during a brief Enemy Mine between them and Skarsnik's forces.
• Exactly What It Says on the Tin: The setting, and the game system, come to an end.
• Game Changer: The return of Nagash is viewed as serious threat in-universe by everyone, including the Chaos Gods. It also even the event that was used to introduce The End Times to the Warhammer fanbase and was one of the aspects of the End Times that was better receieved. Nagash's return had many effects on/in the story including, but not limited to, the weakening of Bretonnia, the destruction of Nehekhara, exacerbating the elven civil war and inundating the entire world with death magic and undead (represented by all wizards from all factions being able to use the new Lore of Undeath in the game).
• God in Human Form: The End Times introduces the concept of the "Incarnates", eight individuals who are the "Incarnates of the eight Winds of Magic". The "Winds Incarnate" were made by Teclis to create an opposing force to the Four Chaos Gods.
• Godzilla Threshold: It appears that Teclis helped to engineer the return of Nagash in order to counter the imminent destruction of the world by the forces of Chaos. Sadly, it wasn't enough.
• The Heavy: While each individual book is mostly driven by the character it's named for, the overall plot is driven by Mannfred von Carstein. He's the one who made Nagash's resurrection possible, was partly responsible for Aliathra's death which spurred her father Tyrion to draw the Sword of Khaine and exacerbate the elven civil war, sicced Be'lakor on Lileath and revealed her true nature to the Bretonnians leading to Haven being lost, and in the end he's the one who sabotages the Incarnates and prevents them from saving the world.
• Heroic Sacrifice: Several. Of note, one attempted by Morgiana, who knew that she was required to bring Nagash back. It fails. Vlad also does one to free Isabella from Nurgle.
• Hero Killer: Several major characters, of note many playable in the game, get killed off. Villain Protagonist victims aside, here are some Hero Killers and their victims;
  • Arkhan the Black (killed; Morigana Le Fay, Eltharion, Nekaph)
  • Neferata (killed; Thorek Ironbrow. This is debatable, as she dealt a lethal wound to Thorek Ironbrow but he killed anyway himself by detonating his Anvil of Doom in an attempt to destroy the undead army).
  • Festus (killed; Louen Leoncouer)
  • Otto Glott (killed; Kurt Helborg, Karl Franz)
  • Tyrion (killed; Orion)
  • Deathmaster Snikch (killed; Thorgrim Grudgebearer)
  • Isabella (killed; Luthor Huss, Vlad)
  • Ka'Bandha (killed; Caradryan)
• Horny Vikings: The Warriors of Chaos, of course. Bonus points as the Last Great Chaos Invasion is essentially just one big Viking raid - with fleets of longships making landfall on the Empire's northern shore, unloading cargoes of black-armoured Chaos champions and insane barbarians who then promptly slaughter their way to Altdorf and Middenheim in an orgy of blood and annihilation.
• Horsemen of the Apocalypse: The first four books was rumored to have this theme and it seems to have followed with the titular character's respective roles/patron gods:
  • Nagash - Death
  • Glottkin - Pestilence
  • Khaine - War
  • Thanquol - Famine
  • Fittingly, the fifth book is centered on Archaon, who also rides upon a horse and does indeed bring the apocalypse to the world.
• Irony: Zacharias the Everliving is now ironically dead, due to his refusal to serve Nagash. Also Heinrich Kemmler (the Lichemaster) getting killed by Arkhan (a lich, one of the first in the world); Arkhan even lampshades it.
• Killed Offscreen:
  • Exaggerated in classic Warhammer fashion, with entire civilizations being killed offscreen, the very first (but most certainly not the last) of which is Kislev, long established to be a significant bulwark against invasions from the north, revealed to have been destroyed before the beginning of the first book.
  • A lot of characters in The Curse of Khaine die off-screen in the third act. Especially jarring is Morathi, given how important her character was in Malkeith's backstory.
  • Lileath's Haven is seemingly devoured by the Chaos Gods without her noticing once Be'lakor overhears Jerrod mentioning it. Later Age of Sigmar lore implies it actually survived.
• Last Stand: Arkhan and the remaining undead try to keep one Chaos army from getting past them to stop the Incarnates, the last of the allied Dwarves (joined by the spirits of their fallen heroes) another. Both forces are ultimately killed to the last, but they fought like heroes out of legend and they held the line.
• Left Hanging: A number of plot threads from the game books are resolved in the novels or not at all, including the eventual fates of major characters:
  • That spell Aliathra cast on Arkhan? Never mentioned again, except for at the very end of the final novelization when he speculates about it.
  • Settra disappears from the gamebooks after the Chaos gods resurrect him. He shows up in the last novel among Archaon's champions, where he promptly switches sides and leaves a trail of destruction through the Chaos forces. His final fate is never revealed.
  • Thanquol ends his book witnessing the fall of the dwarf king and being guaranteed a seat on the Council of Thirteen. He then promptly disappears from canon and is never mentioned again.
• Little Hero, Big War: Josh Reynolds adds a few of these in both his novels, mostly to have a perspective outside the larger-than-life main characters once in a while. For the vampires there are the Drakenhof Templars (see Quirky Miniboss Squad below), and in the Chaos camp Canto the Unsworn returns from The Road of Skulls where he served a similar role. The humans have a random guy named Wendel Volker who manages to work his way up from a guard captain on the Sylvanian border, to being inducted into the Reichsguard just in time for both sieges of Altdorf, then fights in Valten's vanguard during the fall of Middenheim, then leads the survivors of that battle to Averheim where they are instantly forced to fight in that siege too, and finally ends up as part of the Emperor's bodyguard and the last avatar of Ulric.
• Minor Major Character: Aliathra, daughter of the Everqueen and Tyrion. She is one of the sacrifices used to bring back Nagash, her death contributes to her father drawing the Sword of Khaine and Nagash taunting her parents about her fate nearly leads to his attempt at parley failing.
• No Endor Holocaust: Averted. The destruction of Morrslieb would have destroyed the world if the Lizardmen hadn't burned up most of their energy making sure it didn't, and even then they couldn't save Lustria.
• Offscreen Moment of Awesome: Having sworn an oath to protect Bretonnia in the distant past, Abhorash, the father of the Blood Dragons Vampire bloodline, joins with the returned Founder of the Kingdom Gilles le Breton to fight against the forces of Chaos one last time, but this is only implied by the narrative and explicitly shown.
• Oh, Crap!:
  • Vlad's magic sword automatically drains the blood from those it stabs. He realizes why that's not always a good idea just slightly too late after stabbing [[Plaguemaster Otto Glottkin]] in the back.
  • Nagash is stripped of all of his godlike powers when he comes in contact with the Third Warp Gate opening beneath Middenheim. He dies panicking as his body disintegrates.
• Not-So-Omniscient Council of Bickering: The Incarnates spend a lot of time deciding on their next course of action out of the options^note Infuse Athel Loren with all of the magic of the Incarnates and use it as a redoubt against the Chaos Gods even if the rest of the world dies they^note March on Middenheim and the other Chaos rifts and use their powers to seal them (the option they end up trying) have^note Give all their power to Nagash so he can summon all the dead in the world and use them to purge the world of the Chaos Gods worshippers/forces (rejected because Nagash would obviously turn on the others afterwards).
• Out of Focus:
  • The Knights of Blood Keep have a major part in the first book, but Abhorash and the rest of the Blood Dragons vampire bloodline has been completely absent. In the same vein, the Necrach vampire bloondline (mad-scientist/wizard vampires who worship Nagash as a god and seek his return and would've leapt at the opportunity to bring him back), have been completely absent except for a brief mention of Zacharias who was quickly killed off and the mention that the Master of Shadows in End Times:Glottkin was originally a Necrach. Yet it is implied that several Necrach's joined the Von Carsteins and assumed the identity of that bloodline. (Alternatively, they aren't mentioned because every named Nechrarch other than Zacharias was already canonically dead.)
  • Gilles le Breton and his last Grail Knights team up with Abhorash and his vampiric Blood Dragons for one last stand against the Chaos army before the Incarnates begin their desperate plan. That is literally all we're told about what should be the most epic cavalry charge in the history of the setting, and as close as Bretonnia or the Blood Dragons come to any kind of resolution.
  • The Ogres and Orcs combining into one force, the death of several leaders from both groups in the ensuing power struggle, and their subsequent destruction of the Chaos Dwarves civilization and the never-really-developed human empires to the east are mentioned only in passing.
• Punny Name: The Skaven, unsurprisingly, named their latest invention, a communication device, the Farsqueaker.
• Papa Wolf: Even during a daemonic invasion on his homeland, Tyrion was bound to set a second expedition in order to save his bastard daughter Aliathra from the hands of Manfredd von Carstein. It took convincing from his brother and most trusted companions to change his mind and lead the defense.
• Quirky Miniboss Squad: The Return of Nagash spends a good part of its length following Manfred's vampire Templars, which are only mentioned as his elite cavalry unit elsewhere. There's an ambitious female power-behind-the-throne type, a thug she manipulated into power, a suicidally depressed newbie who's her former lover (who she's still in love with), the old leader who has devolved into a near bestial state, and a character who's blatantly the Warhammer version of Count von Count, complete with purple skin.
• Retcon: The End Times in their entirety are a retcon. Though no actual stories had been set later than 2522 IC (the 'present' of the setting at the point the End Times kick off) there were many references in previously published Warhammer fiction to much later dates with the Framing Device of the Zavant stories explicitly having the Old World survive for at least another century, a paragraph in Beasts in Velvet suggesting a text would inspire revolutions for centuries to come and so on.
• Rewrite: Vashanesh, who had recently been written out of canon (and heavily implied to have been something Vlad made up to screw with Neferata), is written back into canon when it's confirmed he was Vlad's old identity. The rule book does anyway; the novel sticks with the "he didn't exist" version.
• Sealed Good in a Can: Tzeentch trapped Sigmar in the Wind of Azyr (Heavens) after the latter ascended to godhood, preventing him from effecting the world directly. When the vortex on Ulthuan is undone, the wind of Heavens enters Karl Franz's body, leading Sigmar to inhabit it in the guise of a resurrected Karl Franz until he is whole.
• Secret Test of Character: Book 3 reveals that Malekith has been undergoing one of these ever since he failed to withstand the fires of Asuryan. The first time.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here:
  • At the start of the End Times the Slann declare that the Great Plan of The Old Ones has failed and the Great Exodus must begin. In Thanquol we actually see (some of them) leave for parts unknown. Also, the Ogres when the Mountains of Mourn start erupting.
  • Lileath decided that this world is beyond saving and took a few elves, the grail knights of bretonnia who didn't die, and Araloth into another world, hoping that she and Araloth, along with the remaining elves, will become the new Elven Pantheon while the Grail Knights become the new human pantheon.
  • After Ikit and his taskforce manage to tunnel into Nagash's Black Pyramid while its owner is occupied by his Nurglite allies, one of the bombs he brought with him overloads. He then hastily activates a teleportation device, bringing himself to safety while leaving his companions behind.
• Skewed Priorities: Sure, Mannfred, the end of the goddamn world is the perfect time to try and usurp Nagash.
• "Shaggy Dog" Story:
  • Lileath deliberately prolonged the elf civil war and manipulated Brettonia through its entire history (through her character The Lady) in order to create a hidden realm for her followers (both human and elf) and descendants to survive the end of the world. It's discovered by Chaos and presumably destroyed off-screen almost immediately.
  • The entire storyline was this. It was always at least possible for Chaos to be defeated, and it looks like the Incarnates are actually going to stop the destruction of the world. That is, until Mannfred kills Gelt.
• The Stinger: There is one at the end of each End Times book;
  • End Times: Nagash has Settra, ripped apart so all that's left is his still-animate head, stuck staring at the ruins of Khemri, unable to move or do anything but yell to scare buzzards away from eating his remains. A mysterious force (here implied, and later confirmed, to be the Chaos Gods) pulls Settra's body back together before four voices speaking as one promise him power and kingship again if he wants it. The book ends with Settra, giving no reply, staring across his ruined domain.
  • End Times: Glottkin ends with Archaon discussing his plans with Kairos Fateweaver who taunts him that it is not a mortal man he should be worried about; at this point several major characters who would oppose him are female, have become immortal, are undead, or any combination of the aforementioned categories, including his former nemesis Karl Franz.
  • End Times: Khaine has Araloth being told by Lileath, the last remaining god from the original elven pantheon and his lover, that she has set up an afterlife with the newly deified Eldyra presiding over it that can be made into a new world and she assigns Araloth make it a good place as well as take care of their child. When Lileath opens a portal to this paradise, Araloth enters it, his fate unknown.
  • End Times: Thanquol has Thanquol and Skreech witness High King Thorgrim's assassination by Snikch and the beginnings of the invasion of Karaz-A-Karak, then discussing their alliance with Archaon and the forces of Chaos to stop Nagash, while they plan to betray the forces of Chaos at the right time and take over.
  • End Times: Archaon has a humanoid being grasp at the final light of the universe as the Chaos Gods leave to desecrate another realm and a miracle happens, implying that the world will be reborn once again.
• Spanner in the Works: Malagor tries to be this to Arkhan's plans to resurrect Nagash, and fails. Mannfred is this to the Incarnates plans.
• Sword of Plot Advancement: The Widowmaker is central to the plot of End Times: Khaine. As the entire elven civilization goes to war and by this replays the old myths about the war between gods with Malekith as the unlikely Asuryan, Alarielle as Isha, and Tyrion as Khaine and whatnot, Tyrion is pushed to draw the Widowmaker, empowering him with the power of Khaine but also corrupting him. A good chunk of the entire war then revolves around how to handle the sword.
• Throw the Dog a Bone: Thanquol's plots all go off without a hitch after decades of blowing up in his face. By the end of his book he is the highest ranking Grey Seer remaining (having assassinated his superiors), has the patronage of the most powerful Verminlord (who is going out of his way to be helpful since aiding Thanquol directly aids his own goals), and is almost certainly about to get his coveted seat on the Council of Thirteen. Unfortunately, in the next book, the entire world goes boom. There are a few hints in other materials that Skavenblight had been moved to another world by then though, later revealed to be the realm of Chaos.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: Teclis allowed his bastard niece Aliathra to be sacrificed as part of a ritual to resurrect Nagash. Because Aliathra's blood was that of Aenarion's and not of Asuryan's, Nagash was denied the divine powered he sought, and therefore, giving Teclis and Malekith time to properly deal with the great necromancer. This also factors in Teclis' plan to allow Nagash's return so to seek an alliance with him to fight the Chaos Gods.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: Several characters are still alive at the end but don't make it to ''Age of Sigmar", including immortals last seen with others who did. Thanquol disappears after the end of his own book and has no further impact on the plot, although Word of God is that he's the one who saved Skavenblight.
• When All You Have Is a Hammer…: Eltharion taking on Arkhan to rescue Aliathra and stop the ritual to resurrect Nagash after his sword was destroyed piercing the barrier. It didn't work, with Arkhan killing Eltharion.
• Worf Had the Flu: By the time he gets to duel Thorgrim Grudgebearer, Skaven champion Queek Headtaker is far past the prime he enjoyed during the battle of Karak Eight Peaks.
• Worthy Opponent: A few cases. King Phar viewed Mortarch Krell as this during the battle of Numas. The story reason the new Khornate tribes are showing up for the first time is that they consider the hard core of remaining Southern warriors to be this. Up until this point everyone but other Warriors of Chaos was considered Not Worth Killing.
• You Are What You Hate: The Glottkin, one of the largest threats that beset the Empire, are Imperial by blood. Archaon also hates Norscans, Daemons, Gods and Chaos. Actually, Archaon hates everything, because after becoming the true Everchosen, all that remained of him was a dehumanized husk that lived on cold, seething, world-destroying hate. It goes without saying, but all individual Skaven hate their own race.
• You Have Failed Me: The Glottkin, after being defeated by Karl Franz, are punished by Nurgle by being imprisoned inside jars within his realm.
• You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Several villains do this. Nagash tries this on Mannfred by giving him to the elves. Archaon does this when he gets dissatisfied with Kairos.
• You Killed My Father: And Mother. One of the reasons why the Glottkin pledged themselves to Nurgle was to avenge the deaths of their parents at the hands of soldiers from the Empire.