Who is Magnus the Red in Warhammer 40k? The huge, one-eyed, copper skinned daemon primarch of the Thousand Sons Chaos Space Marines is one of the strongest and most mysterious characters in all of Games Workshop’s grim, dark future. An incalculably powerful psychic sorcerer, Magnus is also perhaps the most divisive of all 40k characters, with some viewing him as a well intentioned victim of circumstance, and others as a dangerous fool who brought the Imperium to ruin. Did Magnus really do nothing wrong? Read our guide, and decide for yourself.
If you’re new to deep 40k lore, you should also read our complete guide to all the Warhammer 40k primarchs for context – or learn all about the Adeptus Astartes with our compendium of the Space Marine legions and modern chapters.
f you want to read the novels for yourself, our ultimate Horus Heresy reading order is your first stop.
Who is Magnus the Red?
Warhammer 40k‘s Magnus the Red is primarch of the fifteenth legion Astartes – the Thousand Sons – once a loyal general in the armies of humanity, and now a bloated, monstrous creature of the Warp, sworn to the service of Tzeentch, chaos god of change, fate, magic, and trickery.
Discussions on the Thousand Sons Primarch always run hot in fandom spaces. His role in the setting’s ‘present day’ – the 41st and early 42nd millennia – is as a champion of his chaos god, leading his cursed legionaries in secret plots and wars against the Imperium of Man – but it wasn’t always so.
Before the Horus Heresy civil war, Magnus was completely loyal to the Emperor of Mankind – and there’s much to suggest that he always wanted to remain so, turning traitor against his better judgement due only to cruel twists of fate.
What is certain is that Magnus’ actions at the outset of the Heresy – for better or worse – unintentionally set the war’s great chain of tragedies in motion, sealed his own fate of chaos damnation, and laid the foundations for the catastrophic Siege of Terra, which left the Emperor of Mankind entombed, half-dead, on the Golden Throne for over ten millennia.
Depending on how you view Magnus’ character, he could seem one of the great tragic figures of Warhammer 40k, inexorably falling to Chaos like water circling a drain. Or you may see him as one who didn’t heed the warnings from those wiser and better informed than he was, toying with forces he was ill-equipped to handle.
“Magnus did nothing wrong” is the eternal refrain in such debates – always met with equal and opposite assertions that, actually, he did rather a lot wrong. We don’t profess to know the definitive truth behind Warhammer 40k’s Magnus the Red and his fall to Chaos – but we can give you all the information you need to make up your own mind.
Magnus the Red’s origins
Magnus the Red – so known because of his unusual, copper-coloured skin – was always special, even amongst his Primarch peers being stolen and dispersed throughout the galaxy in their technological creches. He was aware, awake, and remembers everything of his journey. Landing on the planet Prospero, he was raised amongst psykers – the only place in the universe where that may have been possible.
His psychic powers quickly became apparent, as Magnus became the pre-eminent psyker on the planet, swiftly outclassing his teachers. Instead of simply drawing power from the Warp, Magnus looked into it, learning from its swirling depths in a way that no-one else ever could. It was during this time that he led his planet into glory, rebuilding cities, purging their enemies, and forming the core of what would become the Thousand Sons legion.
It didn’t take long for the Emperor to find his psychic son – and Magnus was quickly given command of his very own legion, now named the Thousand Sons after integrating Magnus’ own cabal of Prosperine sorcerers. Soon enough, Magnus discovered his legion, derived from his own gene-seed, was beset by horrific mutations.
In desperation, and seeing no other way to save them, Magnus made a terrible bargain trading an eye for a cure from a being he thought was merely a run-of-the-mill Warp entity. This entity was in fact the chaos god Tzeentch, sealing a mistake that would haunt Magnus for the rest of his years.
As the Great Crusade progressed, Magnus and his Thousand Sons proved themselves to be masters of the Warp; at least, they thought so. As his Primarch brothers began to encounter more creatures born of the Empyrean they learned to distrust Magnus, as his powers and summonings shared many similarities with daemon-kind. This resulted in the Council of Nikaea, a debate to decide once and for all if psychic powers should be banned in the Imperium. To Magnus’ great displeasure, they were, with all legions ordered to immediately cease any use of psykers.
Magnus paid no heed to this edict, instead choosing to continue his investigations into the Warp in secret. It was on Prospero where he learned of the threat to the Imperium threatened by Horus Lupercal and the impending civil war. Attempting to warn his father, the Emperor, he resorted to using mysterious powers born of the Warp to reach him in his throne room. Magnus did indeed succeed in reaching his father – but the cost was immeasurable.
Inside the throne room on Terra, a giant flaming figure walked out of the Webway, the secret project the Emperor was cultivating to free humanity from dependence on the Warp. Magnus tore a hole in the Webway as he attempted to reach the Emperor, causing daemons to flood it, and making it impossible for the Emperor’s work to continue. Millions on Terra died that day, and the Emperor himself viewed this act as the moment the future of humanity was sealed: we would never be free of the Warp, and would one day fall to Chaos.
The Emperor’s justice was brutal. Leman Russ and his Space Wolves were sent to Prospero to end the Thousand Sons and Magnus once and for all. There, in sorrow, Magnus refused to fight until the very last moment, teleporting his legion away to the Planet of the Sorcerers deep within the Eye of Terror.
From here, Magnus’ power was magnified beyond measure. Despite feeling considerable remorse for his actions against the Emperor, he sided with traitors during the Horus Heresy, eventually joining them on their assault on Terra itself. Though he was stronger, he still refused to give himself entirely to Chaos – until a battle against Vulkan, Primarch of the loyalist Salamanders legion, almost cost him his life.
There he relented, giving himself wholly to the Ruinous Powers and to Tzeentch in particular, ascending to a new and more powerful form. Finally, as a mighty Daemon Prince, Magnus the Red had become the Crimson King in form as well as name.
Where is Magnus in Warhammer 40k?
After the failure of the Horus Heresy, Magnus fled to his tower on the Planet of the Sorcerers. There he plotted and schemed to bring down the Imperium – though, with time, he became subsumed by the Great Game (the endless warring between Chaos powers) becoming more and more Tzeentch’s tool. After all, as a Daemon Prince, his will may not entirely be his own any more.
Though he has become aloof from the affairs of mortals, he has descended a few times to wreak havoc upon real space. His vendetta against the Space Wolves continues to this day; a Thousand Sons attack on Fenris and its sister planet caused deep wounds for the sons of Leman Russ.
In addition, as is often the case with the disciples of Tzeentch, it hid a plot to draw the Thousand Sons’ planet back into the real universe, and out of the Warp. A plot which, fuelled by the destruction on Fenris’ sister planet, was ultimately successful.
Since then, the Daemon Primarch Magnus the Red has been seen leading his legion during the Terran Crusade, and attempting to summon a horde of daemons during the days of the Dark Imperium. It is not known what his ultimate goal is – but chaos, devastation, and deep mysteries always walk alongside him.
Magnus the Red models
There are two Magnus the Red models available from Games Workshop – a Finecast resin 30k character model for use in games of Warhammer The Horus heresy, and a massive, plastic centerpiece model of the daemon primarch for Warhammer 40,000 armies.
Like his brother in Chaos, Mortarion of the Death Guard, and the new model for Fulgrim of the Emperor’s Children, Magnus the Red makes for a brilliant painting project and a superb inclusion for any Thousand Sons army. You may be utterly shocked to read it – after reading the above information about our rogue enchanter – but Magnus makes quite the powerful psychic spell-slinger on the tabletop battlefield.
Whilst he is psyker without peer, Magnus the Red isn’t the toughest of the Daemon Primarchs, and, if you’re used to fielding Mortarion and seeing him shrug off wounds left and right, you may be surprised at his squishiness.
Magnus is definitely a character to take for specific purposes, not as an all-round buff for your army. That said, what true Thousand Sons player could resist being accompanied by the Crimson Cyclops himself?
Well, that’s it for our full guide to Magnus the Red, for the time being. If you want to get on your soap box to defend (or pillory) Magnus’ folly, why not come join the Warhammer 40k discussion in our Discord community? It won’t be like the Council of Nikaea, we promise.
Alternatively, we can recommend a deeper dive into the setting with our compendium of all the Warhammer 40k factions – or an easier path, by playing through some of the best Warhammer 40k games on PC and console.
Source: Wargamer
