Ariel and Orion should get a divorce

Aldernut

Let's face it: the relationship is not going well.

"In that fire-lit glade, beautiful Ariel found herself drawn to the Lord Orion. He was the bravest and most handsome of his folk as Ariel was the wisest and fairest of hers. Whilst the council debated how best to oppose the Dwarfs, Ariel and Orion were deep in a conversation of their own, seemingly oblivious to the great matters that were discussed around them. Finally, they slipped away, unnoticed and unremarked."

They met a long time ago. She was instantly smitten, because he was "brave and most handsome". This is not exactly grounds for a great relationship, and it shows.

"On occasion, a chosen one will falter in his purpose, and in those years Orion’s boundless power is held by a splintered and fractious mind. (...) At various times, both the Elves of Ulthuan and Naggaroth have sought to interfere in Orion’s rebirth, each party hoping to steer the Wood Elves in a direction to their liking. Nor, alas, are the folk of Athel Loren themselves entirely immune to the lure of interference. Despite the sacrifice that the act of Orion’s rebirth calls for, many a noble family would be only too glad to see a member of their kin elevated to the position of Ariel’s consort, though it be only for a year."

So she gets a new guy every year. The old one is burned at a stake. Plus he sometimes spends a year essentially insane. And he's the subject of vast political machinations. So each year, new fad - and then there's the affairs.

"It is not just mortal intrigue that must be guarded against, for there are many gods who would delight to meddle in the act of Orion’s rebirth. Chief amongst these is Anath Raema, the Savage Huntress. She long ago coveted Kurnous’ affections, and has ever since made no distinction between the godly being for whom she once lusted, and the form he now assumes when striding the mortal world. On many occasions, Anath Raema has sought to force the selection of a prince more attuned to her charms than Ariel’s. Most of the time, her efforts meet with failure, but not always. The Wood Elves speak seldom of those seasons when Orion’s heart is divided; they simply refer to them as the ‘dark years’ and pledge anew never to let such times occur again."

Seriously, the guy is coveted by a Goddess. Like a literal Goddess. That's a bit of competition. Plus she's an old flame, and he's not over her either. So, flings lasting entire seasons. Uh, did I mention this relationship is not healthy?

"Upon their return to Athel Loren, Ariel and Orion quarrelled greatly about the deal that had been struck. Legends tell how their arguments raged for days without meeting resolution, and of how that year the normally glorious autumn months were marred by icy cold. Next spring, the unthinkable happened — Orion was not reborn. The Wild Riders brought their supplicant to the Oak of Ages, but Ariel sent them away without explanation. (...) Decades passed. Still Ariel refused to allow Orion to be reborn"

A fight! And one ending in him not getting ressed. For decades. I've known some people who hold grudges, but this is pretty extreme. Then again,

"Ariel’s final act before sealing herself away was to return Orion to the world. (...) In all, Ariel spent more than three centuries hidden from the world."

Ok, so she fell under Chaos a bit. Happens to every one of us. No biggie. But three centuries? How does this couple even have anything in common after that? Well, except the forest.

Powers that be, let them go their separate ways. Anath Raema can get it on with Orion while Ariel finds some nice country boy somewhere. One that works, stays out of politics and maybe doesn't do the stake-thing. Maybe someone who heals and harvests plants? They'd have it so much better.

Steppelord

hahahahah this made me laugh thanks.

General_Hijalti#1213

You seem to be s bit confused about Orions nature.

The strongest personality orions mind is always Orion the original.
The second is the current elf who's body was sacrificed. Problems arise when the current elf is either favourable towards Anath Raema or his mind isn't strong enough to keep all the other previous hosts personalitys in check.

None of that has anything to do with actual Orion just his host.

As for the argument well that's not uncommon among couples and Ariel was literally corrupted at the time so if Orion hadn't argued with her that would have shown he doesn't care about her or the forest.

Pocman#6295

When you have been alive for half a dozen thousand years, 300 is just like if he had a business trip.

They seem like the perfect marriage to be fair. Like they have their issues but they solve them by killing Bretonnian peasants, as any good marriage would.

Fossoway

It's like a bad romance drama. No wonder Coeddil wants to boot them out of his forest.

Murmurlock

Check the AoS, ooh wait she's dead in there( But Kurnous still alive in come kind, and there is Alariel. So it can be called end of relationship.

Son_of_grom

The lore has been written and re written so many times.... a corrupt and senile Ariel is kind of reminiscent of the dying god emperor of mankind, granted she’s not depicted as pure evil the way Big Eric is.

But i mean, the quoted passage in the op was probably written before Orion was Kurnous.

MrDragon#2461

I think the OP is playing this mostly for laughs and I agree. It's very funny if we apply modern human sensibilities to this situation.

I love the image of Orion and Ariel going into marriage counselling, both sitting in chairs in some office room with a woman in a pantsuit and halfmoon spectacles. Orion hunched over so his antlers don't scratch the ceiling and Ariel with a veil over her wings so her glittery wing dust doesn't get everywhere.
"So... tell me about your fights..." "Aha... and then you die... and she doesn't allow you to be reborn... uhuh... and then..." "Right.... ok..." Things going on like that with the woman just casually making notes.

General_Hijalti#1213

Son_of_grom said:

The lore has been written and re written so many times.... a corrupt and senile Ariel is kind of reminiscent of the dying god emperor of mankind, granted she’s not depicted as pure evil the way Big Eric is.

But i mean, the quoted passage in the op was probably written before Orion was Kurnous.

Big E isn't depicted as pure evil at all.

Sir_Godspeed#8395

If this was intended as comedy it's pretty funny.

Mr_Finley7#4571

The writers made Ariel such a dumb bih in the last book, accepting Dark Magic (the antithesis of what Isha represents) from Morathi, who is literally the root of all evil as far as elves are concerned. Sulking and keeping Orion locked away. Goddamm they turned her into a trifling ass moody teenager.

Surge_2#1464

General_Hijalti said:

Son_of_grom said:

The lore has been written and re written so many times.... a corrupt and senile Ariel is kind of reminiscent of the dying god emperor of mankind, granted she’s not depicted as pure evil the way Big Eric is.

But i mean, the quoted passage in the op was probably written before Orion was Kurnous.

Big E isn't depicted as pure evil at all.

No, just a liar, hypocrite, and arrogant to the point of tragedy.

MrDragon#2461

Assuming "Big E" is "Emps" "The Emperor" "The Corpse Emperor" "The man on the golden throne of Terra" "The Godemperor of Mankind" or my favourite: "The Man Emperor of mankind"

Imho the best version of him is Bruva Alfabusa's interpretation in his amazing youtube documentary *wink* titled If The Emperor Had a Text-To-Speech Device which does an amazing job at making WH40K extremely fun to learn about.

Pocman#6295

Mr_Finley7 said:

The writers made Ariel such a dumb bih in the last book, accepting Dark Magic (the antithesis of what Isha represents) from Morathi, who is literally the root of all evil as far as elves are concerned. Sulking and keeping Orion locked away. Goddamm they turned her into a trifling ass moody teenager.

Just after she kills her sister, no less.

General_Hijalti#1213

MrDragon said:

Assuming "Big E" is "Emps" "The Emperor" "The Corpse Emperor" "The man on the golden throne of Terra" "The Godemperor of Mankind" or my favourite: "The Man Emperor of mankind"

Imho the best version of him is Bruva Alfabusa's interpretation in his amazing youtube documentary *wink* titled If The Emperor Had a Text-To-Speech Device which does an amazing job at making WH40K extremely fun to learn about.

Yes TTS is amazing

General_Hijalti#1213

Surge_2 said:

General_Hijalti said:

Son_of_grom said:

The lore has been written and re written so many times.... a corrupt and senile Ariel is kind of reminiscent of the dying god emperor of mankind, granted she’s not depicted as pure evil the way Big Eric is.

But i mean, the quoted passage in the op was probably written before Orion was Kurnous.

Big E isn't depicted as pure evil at all.

No, just a liar, hypocrite, and arrogant to the point of tragedy.

Liar and hypocrite yes, arrogant we have no idea as we never see his true personality or what he thinks, just what people believe/want him to be

Uagrim#4644

General_Hijalti said:

Surge_2 said:

General_Hijalti said:

Son_of_grom said:

The lore has been written and re written so many times.... a corrupt and senile Ariel is kind of reminiscent of the dying god emperor of mankind, granted she’s not depicted as pure evil the way Big Eric is.

But i mean, the quoted passage in the op was probably written before Orion was Kurnous.

Big E isn't depicted as pure evil at all.

No, just a liar, hypocrite, and arrogant to the point of tragedy.

Liar and hypocrite yes, arrogant we have no idea as we never see his true personality or what he thinks, just what people believe/want him to be

He planned to take on the chaos gods.

You either have to have a real ace up your sleeve or be supremely confident in your ability. And the emperor showed no sign of the former. In fact he is now sitting on the killswitch he created himself to get one last "no u" on them but failed to activate before they let horus bludgeon him almost to death, before leaving to watch him suffer for their amusement.

TheGuardianOfMetal#3661

Uagrim said:

General_Hijalti said:

Surge_2 said:

General_Hijalti said:

Son_of_grom said:

The lore has been written and re written so many times.... a corrupt and senile Ariel is kind of reminiscent of the dying god emperor of mankind, granted she’s not depicted as pure evil the way Big Eric is.

But i mean, the quoted passage in the op was probably written before Orion was Kurnous.

Big E isn't depicted as pure evil at all.

No, just a liar, hypocrite, and arrogant to the point of tragedy.

Liar and hypocrite yes, arrogant we have no idea as we never see his true personality or what he thinks, just what people believe/want him to be

He planned to take on the chaos gods.

You either have to have a real ace up your sleeve or be supremely confident in your ability. And the emperor showed no sign of the former. In fact he is now sitting on the killswitch he created himself to get one last "no u" on them but failed to activate before they let horus bludgeon him almost to death, before leaving to watch him suffer for their amusement.

Considering that the Dark Brother's name for Big E is still "The Anathema" and not "that arrogant fool on a golden toilet"...

but yeah, from what I've heard BL novels etc. seem to go more into the direction of Big E being too clever by half, too far removed from basic human decency and an idiot of a genius who screwed everything up.

Deal with teh Chaos Gods he tried to cheap out on, former partner sold the Primarchs out to chaos because she believed that'd be better than the Emperors plan... I think she also joined Chaos later... in the Battlefleet gothic armada 1 campaign she I think is the "advisor" to Failbaddon.

I personally do not like it, because it's darker and more tragic if that ISN't the case... just goin" lol, Big E is an arrogant idiot who, despite his intelligence... insert writer blockade here..."

General_Hijalti#1213

TheGuardianOfMetal said:

Uagrim said:

General_Hijalti said:

Surge_2 said:

General_Hijalti said:

Son_of_grom said:

The lore has been written and re written so many times.... a corrupt and senile Ariel is kind of reminiscent of the dying god emperor of mankind, granted she’s not depicted as pure evil the way Big Eric is.

But i mean, the quoted passage in the op was probably written before Orion was Kurnous.

Big E isn't depicted as pure evil at all.

No, just a liar, hypocrite, and arrogant to the point of tragedy.

Liar and hypocrite yes, arrogant we have no idea as we never see his true personality or what he thinks, just what people believe/want him to be

He planned to take on the chaos gods.

You either have to have a real ace up your sleeve or be supremely confident in your ability. And the emperor showed no sign of the former. In fact he is now sitting on the killswitch he created himself to get one last "no u" on them but failed to activate before they let horus bludgeon him almost to death, before leaving to watch him suffer for their amusement.

Considering that the Dark Brother's name for Big E is still "The Anathema" and not "that arrogant fool on a golden toilet"...

but yeah, from what I've heard BL novels etc. seem to go more into the direction of Big E being too clever by half, too far removed from basic human decency and an idiot of a genius who screwed everything up.

Deal with teh Chaos Gods he tried to cheap out on, former partner sold the Primarchs out to chaos because she believed that'd be better than the Emperors plan... I think she also joined Chaos later... in the Battlefleet gothic armada 1 campaign she I think is the "advisor" to Failbaddon.

I personally do not like it, because it's darker and more tragic if that ISN't the case... just goin" lol, Big E is an arrogant idiot who, despite his intelligence... insert writer blockade here..."

No his partner send the primarchs away but she didn't and hasn't joined chaos.

Also the recent lore seems to hint that he didn't make a deal with chaos but someone not something else, maybe even his future self.

Mr_Finley7#4571

“Failbaddon” never gets old 😆

TheGuardianOfMetal#3661

General_Hijalti said:

TheGuardianOfMetal said:

Uagrim said:

General_Hijalti said:

Surge_2 said:

General_Hijalti said:

Son_of_grom said:

The lore has been written and re written so many times.... a corrupt and senile Ariel is kind of reminiscent of the dying god emperor of mankind, granted she’s not depicted as pure evil the way Big Eric is.

But i mean, the quoted passage in the op was probably written before Orion was Kurnous.

Big E isn't depicted as pure evil at all.

No, just a liar, hypocrite, and arrogant to the point of tragedy.

Liar and hypocrite yes, arrogant we have no idea as we never see his true personality or what he thinks, just what people believe/want him to be

He planned to take on the chaos gods.

You either have to have a real ace up your sleeve or be supremely confident in your ability. And the emperor showed no sign of the former. In fact he is now sitting on the killswitch he created himself to get one last "no u" on them but failed to activate before they let horus bludgeon him almost to death, before leaving to watch him suffer for their amusement.

Considering that the Dark Brother's name for Big E is still "The Anathema" and not "that arrogant fool on a golden toilet"...

but yeah, from what I've heard BL novels etc. seem to go more into the direction of Big E being too clever by half, too far removed from basic human decency and an idiot of a genius who screwed everything up.

Deal with teh Chaos Gods he tried to cheap out on, former partner sold the Primarchs out to chaos because she believed that'd be better than the Emperors plan... I think she also joined Chaos later... in the Battlefleet gothic armada 1 campaign she I think is the "advisor" to Failbaddon.

I personally do not like it, because it's darker and more tragic if that ISN't the case... just goin" lol, Big E is an arrogant idiot who, despite his intelligence... insert writer blockade here..."

No his partner send the primarchs away but she didn't and hasn't joined chaos.

Also the recent lore seems to hint that he didn't make a deal with chaos but someone not something else, maybe even his future self.

It's just what I heard, and hte folks I heard it from usually know their stuff.

Though it's quite possible that I misremember parts, misread them and/or they misremembered it while talking about it on discord.

Sir_Godspeed#8395

Surge_2 said:

General_Hijalti said:

Son_of_grom said:

The lore has been written and re written so many times.... a corrupt and senile Ariel is kind of reminiscent of the dying god emperor of mankind, granted she’s not depicted as pure evil the way Big Eric is.

But i mean, the quoted passage in the op was probably written before Orion was Kurnous.

Big E isn't depicted as pure evil at all.

No, just a liar, hypocrite, and arrogant to the point of tragedy.

Oh, you're talking about the Horus Heresy novels?

Yeah, they retconned basically every Heresy character to be a massive, immature, short-sighted dumb-bum.

Sir_Godspeed#8395

Don't get me started on how they butchered the Council of Nikaea.

Mr_Finley7#4571

That’s what happened when GW lets their bargain bin black library authors fill in too many blanks.

Rheingold#6691

Love the warhammer world, but great fiction writing it sure ain't.

MythrilSoul

if there is one thing that both WFB and 40K players ever agreed on is that Black library books are mostly non-cannon