Let's talk about the Eldar gods.

[FerociousBeast]

I've been interested in these guys ever since playing Rites of War a few years ago. However, I know next to nothing about the eldar, and never really got around to finding out, so I was wondering if someone could help me out.

Who are they? What are they? How many? I think I remember hearing that there were only two left (the Great Harlequin and Kaela Mensha Khaine?). What did the gods think about the Eldar right before the birth of Slaanesh?

Well, I'm just curious, so thanks in advance for your help.

[Tegadil]

There were a bunch of gods in the old Eldar pantheon. Among them were Asur, Khaine, Isha, Vaul, Kurnous, Cegorach and Lileath. Cegorach and Khaine are the only two who still live, although Khaine is shattered and there is very little hope of him returning. Most of the fluff on them is myth and legend, and there's no definitive way to say if most of them were even real. As far as what they thought of the Eldar just prior to the fall, I have no idea.

[KingKupo]

and currently, a new Eldar "god" is being created, Ynnead, god of the dead. but he's still "sleeping". I believe that for him to awaken, they must have enough soulstones in their infinity circuits. he's supposed to save the eldar race somehow.

[DarthFelth]

i dont think kaine would ever merge again, hes saver the way he is

[Athair]

Ynnead will rid the warp of Slaanesh, and protect the Eldar from the daemons of the warp (The Eldar's soul is strong enough to last for an indefinate period in the warp). Currantly, Khaine (in the form of Avatars) and Cergorath (the Laughing God) are the only two active Gods. The rest were eaten by Slaanesh.

[Cailet]

Look at WFB Elven gods there's more info and they are essentially the same.

[Imperial marine]

apparently dark elves worship khaine as the god of murder strange

[Master Chief]

Khaine, if I recall correctly, is the bloody-handed god because he once killed a guy that another god liked, so to repent he made his hand bleed continually to show his crime.

[Coey]

Isn't Khaine really another face of Khorne? or something along those lines?

[DarthFelth]

no he is anouther god, but they are "kin" if you read the battle between, khorne and him had somethings in comon, he hates slaanesh, he didnt want one of his own being eaten my slaanesh

[Coey]

So the Eldar worship a god who is related to Khorne?

[DarthFelth]

he isnt an exact relation i will find teh fluff for you

*goes off to look*

*Edit*

AVATARS
When Kaela Mensha Khaine, the Bloody Handed God of the Eldar, fought with Slaanesh the Lord of Pleasure, he was quickly overwhelmed and his energy captured by the newborn God. For the Bloody Handed God was as much a part of Slaanesh as of Khorne - being a product of that part of the Eldar nature which finds gratification in murder and pleasure in bloody violence. Khorne the Blood God, the Patron of War, Murder and Battle, roared with rage to discover one of his own taken from him in this way. Then Khorne and Slaanesh clashed headlong, the Blood God fighting to recover the portion of his power that had been robbed from him, Slaanesh driven by his uncontrollable hunger to consume everything in his path. The Bloody Handed God of the Eldar was tossed this way and that, at first grasped by Slaanesh, then tugged back into the compass of Khorne.

Eventually the rage of the Blood God and the passion of the Lord of Pleasure were exhausted, and the boundaries between them were established. Like a leaf in the eye of a hurricane, Kaela Mensha Khaine fell among the calm, down through the Realm of Chaos and into the material universe. As he entered the material universe he divided into many shards of energy, scattering his power so that neither Khorne or Slaanesh could ever find him again. Each shard entered the body of an Eldar, filling the body with his own mind, possessing it, so that it became a virtually indestructible blood-lusting murderer - the material manifestation of the Bloody Handed God. These are the Avatars of the Bloody Handed God

[Coey]

ty in advance.

[DarthFelth]

well i assumed that people who moan about fluff would have actually read it, maybe you should ;)

[Tegadil]

I've never bought into the Khaine-Khorne connection, personally. I've always thought it was a stupid line of reasoning for Khorne to hate Slaanesh, as well. And if memory serves, that bit of fluff is quite old.

That said, Khaine's hand bleeds because he killed the greatest of all Eldar heroes, Eldanesh.

[Aquila]

Khaine killed his brother... don't have my codex handy so I can't tell you the name, though.

[Tegadil]

Khaine didn't have a brother. At all. As I said in my previous post, Khaine was made to have his hand bleed for his murder of Eldanesh. Not his brother, but an Eldar hero.

[FerociousBeast]

I've never bought into the Khaine-Khorne connection, personally. I've always thought it was a stupid line of reasoning for Khorne to hate Slaanesh, as well. And if memory serves, that bit of fluff is quite old.

That said, Khaine's hand bleeds because he killed the greatest of all Eldar heroes, Eldanesh.

. . . which is of course also quite old fluff . . .

Khorne is the part of everyone who commits acts of violence or wishes to. As such, Khaine, who isn't a Chaos god and thus probably also helps "contribute" to him, is also bound to Khorne. However, he is also bound to Slaanesh, which caused the controversy.

And all of the Chaos gods hate each other. Some more and some less, but they are all basically enemies who sometimes come together for their own good, yet break apart when alliance becomes unnecessary.

If I remember correctly (and this is from the latest Chaos codex) Khorne hates Slaanesh and vice versa, and also hates Tzeentch. Tzeentch hates Nurgle and vice versa. I'm not sure if Tzeentch hates Khorne or not.

Chaos is Chaos. There's no reason why it should get along.

[Sarcastic Jedi]

Khorne x Tzeentch
Slaneesh x Nurgle

[FerociousBeast]

No, I'm pretty sure Tzeentch and Nurgle are enemies. The codex says that Tzeentch hates Nurgle because Nurgle, as the god of decay, is always seeking to tear down Tzeentch's well laid plots and plans.

[Aquila]

They all hate each other. GW likes to have a thing where certain deamons are arch-nemesis. Used to be Khorne and Tzeentch hated each other more than anything else... now I guess Khorne decided he hates Slaanesh more. Whatever.

[Tegadil]

. . . which is of course also quite old fluff . . .


Yes, it is quite old. However, unlike the piece of fluff cited, it has not been over-written. There is no mention made in the 3E Codex: Eldar or Codex: Craftworld Eldar as to why the Avatar's hand bleeds. However, it is specifically mentioned in the 2E Codex: Eldar (Page 8, inset "THE MYTHIC CYCLES OF THE ELDAR", "As well as the many gods there are countless mortal heroes descended from the gods. These include the great hero Eldanesh, who was slain by Khaine and whose blood is said to drip from his arms and hands..."). Given GW's revisionist policy, the 2E fluff is not over-written and it can be assumed that the blood flowing from the hand of the Avatars of Khaine is representative (at least) of the blood of Eldanesh.

However, it is safe to assume that the piece cited is no longer valid. I would guess that he got it from CriticalHit and that piece was transcripted from White Dwarf 127, from the year 1990. The 2E Codex: Eldar was copyrighted in 94, and the 3E codices even further after that. Two of these three codices tell of the fall, and neither even mention Khorne, nor do hey allude to them. In their pages, Khaine simply fails to destroy She Who Thirsts and breaks into the Avatars to preserve himself.

[psycojester]

From what i've seen Khrone hates Nurgle the least, and Tzeentch hates Slaanesh the least

[FerociousBeast]

In their pages, Khaine simply fails to destroy She Who Thirsts and breaks into the Avatars to preserve himself.

OK, I stand corrected. That doesn't quite sound like Khorne and Slaanesh tug-roping with Khaine, and as such, in my opinion sounds much better :)

However, I still have no problem whatsoever with the idea of Khorne and Slaanesh being enemies.

[DarthFelth]

all chaos gods are enemies, khaine was shattered into the avatars when khorne and slaanesh were fighting over him and reached a stand still, im sure i posted the info before :p Khaine was a very weak god, very weak, they played with him like a dog does with its raggy toy ;)

[Sarcastic Jedi]

Well She who thirsts just got powered by the souls of billions of Eldar while Khaine lost his power source, oh course Slaneesh won.

[DarthFelth]

no she didnt, khorne stepped in ;)

[Shua_Zane]

Don't Know much about Eldar gods but I know about the Gods who created them. I know that the Gods who created the Eldar were at war with the Necontyr who then found the C'tan and were given immortality and then pushed back and devastated the "Old Ones" which also created Krork (orks) since the creation fo the eldar psykers were running rampent and Necrons don't like psykers or the warp so they went into the stasis tubes waiting for a sentient race to awaken them. It also says that Necrons destroyed the Old Ones and that the jackal god is most likely the Deciever.

P.S. Thats just my knowledge on Eldar gods so dont get flame happy.

Edit- From what i hear Slaanesh hates Dark Eldar the most.

[DarthFelth]

thats rouge trader, you remember the old slann models ;)

[Athair]

Slaanesh isn't picky about which Eldar he/she hates.

[Shua_Zane]

well i read somewheres he hates DE most cuz they do exactly what he likes most but don't worship him. DE all about pain and getting pleasure from hurting others ya know.
although i agree he hates all eldar.

[Tegadil]

Just to nitpick, neither the C'Tan or Old Ones are gods. The C'Tan are powerful, but they're prolly demi-gods at best. The Old Ones were just really advanced.

Also, Slannesh really doesn't differentiate between the different types of Eldar. She just wants to catch 'em all/be a pokémon master.

[Shua_Zane]

C'tan are gods u fools. Born from the Stars themselves and i was wrong Old ones weren't gods just really advanced. Here's exerpt from the Necron codex.
Gods from anceint times. The C'tan appear as metallic skinned appritions floating above the battlefeild. Phantom, ethereal winds howl around their vestements, wreathing them in ghostly fires that emana from deep within their bodies.

some special rules of the C'tan
Manifestation: Despite being contained within the necrodermis, the C'tan is a living god. The sheer power on display is extremly intimadatiing. Any unit that wishes to assualt a C'tan must take a leadership test. if the test is failed, the unit's nerve cracks in the face of ageless evil and it may not make an assualt that turn.

I dont mean to jump on ur case but their are to many none belivers onthese boards. :P
not to mention C'tan in Necontyr means Star-God. The C'tan are the only Gods able to live in the matteruim.

[FerociousBeast]

Technically, if you can be killed, you're not a god. Of the "gods" in 40K, none of them seem to pass this test.

Ergo, the C'tan aren't gods, the Old Ones aren't gods, the Emperor isn't a god, not even the Chaos Powers are gods. But if we were to take a more lenient definition of gods, I would still have to say that the Old Ones most definitely are not gods, and the C'tan, of the remaining, are on the most shaky ground.

[Shua_Zane]

U can't kill the C'tan unless u put em in the warp and the Eldar webway thingy i forget what it is called. When u defeat the C'tan on the battlefeild all ur doing is rupturing the Necrodermis and realesing the C'tan within. I am sure if u brought a chaos god into the matterium u could kill them once and for all.

Edit- true but u must admit they are the closest thign to a actual god in the 40k universe.

[Master Chief]

What about the Phoenix Lords? Whenever they're defeated, they simply become the next Exarch who wears the armor. Though, in the prophecy, it does say they will all die at the final battle against darkness...

[Athair]

C'tan are not Gods. There were definately more than 4 C'tan to start with. There have only ever been 4 Chaos Powers. This means that the C'tan were destroyed (eaten to be precise) and therefore are not Gods. The Chaos Gods and Orky Gods will remain as long as their are feelings/orks. And we're not even close to running out of either. C'tan could either starve or be pummled to nonexistance by a Warp Cannon.

[Major_Pain]

Guys, who is "she who thirsts"?

MP

[Kadaj]

Guys, who is "she who thirsts"?

slaanesh


What about the Phoenix Lords? Whenever they're defeated, they simply become the next Exarch who wears the armor. Though, in the prophecy, it does say they will all die at the final battle against darkness...

theyll probably die because there will be no eldar left to fill the armour, theyll all be dead, DEAD, ALL DEAD I TELL YOU! :werd:

[Cailet]

eaten to be precise

By the Nightbringer, which means we have no real available comparisons.

However, we can easily work from the premise that they are as powerful as Eldanesh, hell Nightbringer matched off against Khaine and nearly won.

They are beings of godlike power, so it makes sense to refer to them as gods. We can't even be sure if the Emperor is a god so there is no way to resolve this one either.

[MaD_hAmiSh]

Theres some stuff about Eldar God's in the book Farseer by William King.