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When starting a new Warhammer project, I like to do a bit of research first to get to know the faction I'm painting. Originally I'd started the Marines Malevolent as a more casual force for 10th edition 40k (which I'm not particularly invested in). I was inspired by a bit of lore I'd read about them several years ago, but otherwise nothing more. However, some of my friends are organising a little private gaming event set in the Third War for Armageddon - and restarting the Malevolents project for it, I felt compelled to do a bit more of a thorough deep-dive on the chapter.
Often a lot of 40k lore is wrapped up in layers of fan interpretations, so I wanted to find out what actual, official information we have on the Marines Malevolent. Firstly - what do they look like!
Imagery
It might seem like a silly question, but there's actually very little official artwork of the Marines Malevolent. They were first depicted in an Index Astartes article in 2000, then on the cover of Bitter Salvage in 2013, and lastly in a promotional booklet that came with the 7th Edition Space Marine Codex in 2015. To my knowledge, we have never seen any official illustrations of the Malevolents outside of these recoloured templates, nor have we ever seen a miniature painted in their colours by the studio. Also notable is that the Malevolents don't seem to have ever made a visual appearance in a Space Marine codex - only ever being mentioned in passing.
Beyond their basic colour scheme, we learn a little bit about their heraldry - the Index Astartes depiction informs us that hazard stripes demark a veteran status, and tells us that the 3rd company wears… a completely plain looking shoulder pad? Their 2015 depiction then goes on to suggest that they are a codex compliant chapter, with a stripe across the helmet indicating company by its colour (red being the colour for 3rd company). This seems to be a simple retcon of their Index Astartes appearance. However, we also see a separate depiction of a Malevolent shoulder pauldron… with green trim? Some of the other chapters in the successor chapter booklet also show separate pauldrons with different company colours, but none of them do that as well as changing up the way in which company is indicated. Not to mention the strange variant of the Marines Malevolent chapter symbol that is depicted here and nowhere else… I think what we can surmise from all this is that the Marines Malevolent are not particularly consistent with their heraldry.
Lastly, I think it's worth taking note of the mark VI corvus pattern helmet the Malevolent is wearing in his first appearance. Several other chapters are shown sporting this helmet in the same publication, but due to this being the only official image of the chapter for over 10 years, it seems to have become a core part of their identity.
With their appearance out of the way, I wanted to read about their exploits. I've now read through every published work featuring the Marines Malevolent, and have detailed all the things that I thought helped characterise the chapter. Some of these I quite enjoyed - if you want to read about the Malevolents yourself, I'd recommend checking out Bitter Salvage, In The Depths of Hades and Vengeful Honour as a short little trilogy. Otherwise, spoilers ahead.
Third War for Armageddon Website (2001)
While their name pops up in Index Astartes and Codex: Armageddon, the first piece of writing we have about the Malevolents comes from the Third War for Armageddon website. We learn about the event the Marines Malevolent are perhaps most famous for - the bombing of the Emperor's Deliverance refugee camp. If you know about the Marines Malevolent, you probably know about this - some orks needed to be shelled, and it just happened that there were over 12,000 Imperial refugees in the way. "Acceptable losses", as Captain Vinyard informs the Armageddon Command Guard.
This is our first time meeting Captain Vinyard (or Vinyar), and we get a good sense of his personality here. Arrogant, belligerent, and viewing baseline humans with contempt - "there is no such thing as innocence, merely degrees of guilt". Already, it provides a nice snapshot of the chapter's malevolent (lol) culture.
You can still go read this little article over on the Wayback Machine!
Codex: Space Marines (5th Edition) (2008)
A brief passage in this Codex gives us our first taste of the Marines Malevolent's fued with the Salamanders. Tu'Shan, Chapter Master of the good-natured Salamanders, is horrified by The Malevolent's disregard for human life, and comes to blows with Captain Vinyard.
Vinyard has also been renamed to Vinyar, although I'm unsure if this was intentional or a typo. Either way, it would end up sticking.
Salamander (2009)
When researching the Marines Malevolents, you quickly realise one thing - their entire presence in Black Library is written by one man: Nick Kyme. Somewhat ironic, considering the chapter he's most well known writing for.
This was actually the first 40k book I ever read, way back in 2010, so it's a big inspiration for this army. It's also where quite a lot of the current Marines Malevolent lore comes from.
This time we meet our favorite yellow bastards aboard an abandoned Mechanicum ship, where they're scavenging for armour and equipment. We learn that the Malevolents are actually quite poorly supplied - perhaps due to strained relationships with the Mechanicum - and as such wear scrappy, patchwork armour, often featuring older variants of wargear. This seems to be Kyme's interpretation of their beakie-helmed depiction, as several characters in his writing wear Corvus pattern armour. The marines carry older style drum-fed bolters, and we even briefly see some terminators wearing "an ersatz variant of the modern Tactical Dreadnought Armour", described as "bulky, with raised pauldrons surmounting a sunken, box-shaped battle-helm that had a rudimentary mouth-grille". I'm unsure unsure if these are referencing something, maybe some of the older Rogue Trader/2nd Ed Terminator designs?
We see a bit of fun heraldry with the Malevolents too - some characters, like Lorkar and Vinyar, sport the hazard stripes we saw in Index Astartes to indicate their veterancy. We also see a beakie helmet adorned with a shark's fanged mouth (something that seems to be quite popular in fanart depictions), as well as another marine with a skull painted across his faceplate.
We meet Vinyar here once again, and he's as awful as ever. Kyme describes him with both pauldrons adorned with hazard stripes, his left arm wielding a power fist with fingers fused shut, and draped in a scrappy black cloak. He, like Lorkar, is bald, save for "sporadic tufts of closely-shaven hair" (as well as usually many scars). I guess they're not very good at shaving?
There's a few more things that Kyme adds to their lore here. We learn that the Malevolents are "unaccustomed to Librarians in ranking positions", as they "still adhere to some of the tenets laid down at Nikea". Whether this means they don't have a Librarius, or simply don't treat them very well, is left up to interpretation. One does call a Salamander Librarian a "warp dabbler" though. This is also the first utterance of the Marines Malevolent battlecry, "Hate is the surest weapon" - although it isn't actually referred to as one here, it's just something Lorkar says.
Lastly, the element of them being scavengers is made to be quite significant in this novel. While their quarrel with the Salamanders is definitely fueled by pride and arrogance, it does actually seem like they really do need material more than anything. Vinyar even chooses to help out the Salamanders later in the story, all so he can sequester power armour and wargear from their Chapter Master.
Devil's Trappings (2014*)
A short story that sets up some of the events that occur in Nocturne. The story follows Lorkar, the sergeant from the previous novel, who is once again out scavenging for equipment. Some more marines are introduced too, sporting some unusual equipment such as a heavy stubber, or simply a pair of knives in lieu of a functioning bolter.
This story also introduces the "Vilifiers", an elite group within the chapter led by a Malevolent named Kastor. It seems like for many of the Malevolents it's their goal to be inducted into the Vilifiers, and we see a bitter rivalry between Lorkar and a fellow sergeant develop in hopes to prove their worth to Kastor. It culminates in Lorkar betraying his comrade, throwing him into a pit of enemy Xenos and shooting him in the back. There's quite a bit of unspoken enmity between the rest of the Malevolents too, causing a lack of communication that leads to some unfortunate outcomes.
After stealing some power armour from some mysteriously unmarked astartes corpses, the Malevolents immediately put it on, despite Lorkar's hesitance. Unsurprisingly, the armour was cursed! Stuck in suits of warp tainted armour, they report back to Captain Vinyar, but surprisingly they aren't immediately executed. Despite so vehemently despising heresy, in a display of hypocrisy, Vinyar instead chooses to use Lorkar as a tool for petty vengeance.
*Lexicanum lists this story as being released in 2014, but it definitely seems like it was intended to be read between Salamander and Nocturne. It's possible it was released through other means before this date.
Nocturne (2011)
Now consigned to the taint of Chaos, Lorkar's squad throws their lot in with a renegade fleet to assault the Salamanders homeworld, Nocturne. Their goal is to take vengeance upon Tu'Shan, after his perceived slight against Vinyar in Salamander. Honestly, I don't think they add a whole lot to the story here. We do get to see a little of Lorkar reflecting on the nature of the Marines Malevolent, wondering if the chapter has lost its way, blinded by hate. They all die at the end of the book though, so any self reflection is a little moot.
Imperial Armour Volume Ten - The Badab War - Part Two (2011)
The Marines Malevolent are mentioned very briefly in the section on the Star Phantoms. It reads as such:
"[The Star Phantoms] are known to have engaged in a bloody and protracted conflict with their former allies of the Marines Malevolent, resulting in that Chapter's near destruction at their hands."
It's a little funny to imagine the Malevolents meeting their match in terms of anti-social behaviour. Or maybe this incident is what caused them to develop into the Chapter they are now, with all their 'weak' being culled?
Emperor's Deliverance (2011)
A little short story detailing the same events described on the Third War for Armageddon website. The details remain the same, with some added flavour, like Captain Vinyar's speech being broadcast on the vox-radio:
"++… innocence does not exist, only degrees of guilt. Freedom must be earned, it must be fought for. Cowards, the weak and the impure do not deserve to live. Hades was lost on the backs of the craven. Armageddon will only be won by the strong. We of the Marines Malevolent will stand before this menace and we will—++"
It also seems that not all of the Malevolents are quite as cartoonishly petty as Vinyar. Varik, a more no-nonsense member of the chapter, holds back his brother Nemiok from "retaliating" against an outraged Sister Hospitalier, telling him "you go too far". A little meaningless after annihilating a camp of refugees in crossfire, but it is interesting to see that the Malevolents aren't all so callous.
This story also incorporates the lore previously mentioned in Codex: Space Marines, as it ends with Tu'Shan confronting Vinyar. Lexicanum states that these events take place before Salamander, however this reads more like two rivals meeting once again, with Vinyar greeting Tu'Shan with a sneering "You". Whatever the case, Tu'Shan gives Vinyar a good 'reprimanding' although we don't get to see exactly how. Probably far too mercifully, knowing the Salamanders.
Machine Spirit (2012)
A Death Watch short story, featuring a Marines Malevolent and a Salamander (as well as some other dudes) forced to work together to hold off a horde of Kroot. This particular Malevolent is characterised by his zealous faith in the Emperor. Ultimately, love conquers all and the astartes of the two chapters are able to overcome their differences, learning to work together. It's quite cute.
This also seems to be the first time the phrase "Hate is the surest weapon" is referred to as the chapter's battlecry.
Bitter Salvage (2013)
A very short story, but probably one of my favorites. This time we focus on Ballack (really, that's his name) as he accuses a Black Templar of kill-stealing, and gets into an honour duel. Despite the Templar's skill, Ballack bests him by stabbing him in the back, as one might expect of an astartes with 'Malevolent' in his chapter's name.
The real twist is that this was all an elaborate setup on Ballack's part. He had held his fire, allowing the Templar to make the killing blow and prompting the excuse for an honour duel. All of this to gain some power armour to patch up his suit.
This story perfectly encapsulates the nature of the Malevolents - their malicious, but not without purpose. They know how to play their opponents, goading them to get what they want. It also shows that they're a little frugal - Ballack orders his squad not to "waste [their] ammunition", unless of course it can be beneficial.
The Surest Weapon (2014)
Another short story, focusing on a marine named Vadeth who is once again aspiring to join the ranks of the Vilifiers. Kastor employs some rather extreme measures to test whether he's worthy. A weird magic rock is involved, suggesting once again that the Marines Malevolent aren't totally opposed to somewhat heretical means if it's away from the eyes of others... We also see a marine wielding a mattock, which I thought was interesting.
In the Depths of Hades (2014)
We return to Armageddon and Captain Vinyar, as well as Kastor and the Vilifiers. We get more of a description of Kastor's appearance this time: "he looked battle-worn but vital, and was less scarred than Vinyar. Shoulder-length, pearl-white hair framed his face, giving the warrior a pseudo-angelic cast, but there was hate enough in his dark eyes to drown nations". He wields a thunder hammer - "spoils of a much earlier conflict" - and wears armour of Black Templar provenance, with some of the black and yellow paint chipping away to show it. Kastor's demeanor is a little less prideful than Vinyar, instead more concerned with practical matters. Still a bit of a jerk, of course.
The position of the Vilifiers within the chapter's structure is a little unclear here - they don't seem to be a part of the 2nd company like Vinyar is, but Kastor is referred to as a sergeant in this story and the Vilifiers his "squad". It's possible that the Vilifiers are the chapter's 1st company, and that Kastor has his own personal squad that he commands, but it's never really explained. Either way, Vinyar and the Vilifiers are not on good terms.
In this story, the orks have taken prisoners from the Imperial Guard, and as a result the humans refuse to comply with Vinyar's orders until the captives are rescued. Kastor steps in to solve the dispute, infiltrating the ork camp with a squad of Vilifiers. However, the rescue soon becomes too much hassle for Kastor - and his solution is to simply kill the remaining survivor, using the news of the tragic death of the prisoners to spur on the guard regiment. "Vengeance is a much better motivator than gratitude", in his words. Truly a poignant example of "the surest weapon".
Ballack also returns in this story, once again getting into feuds over kill-stealing accusations. However, his motivator isn't spoils of war this time - he's been wounded in battle, and is desperate to prove his worth in battle in front of Kastor. It's an interesting bit of vulnerability that betrays a bit of tragedy to the chapter's culture: no battle-brother dares voice his weakness, lest he be left behind. Or worse.
Vengeful Honour (2014)
The last of Nick Kyme's short stories focuses on Ballack once again. Ballack continues to ruminate on his mortality, with a sense of resignation to fate throughout the whole story. Kastor shows up to check if Ballack can still "pull his weight" among the Vilifiers. Despite the two being longtime comrades, it seems the chapter's intolerance for weakness leaves little room for pity. Interestingly, Kastor is referred to as a Captain here, lending more credence to the idea that the Vilifiers are a seperate company within the chapter (or just that Nick Kyme didn't really think it was important).
Ballack ends up encountering the Black Templars from Bitter Salvage, where this time he is challenged to a duel, as vengeance for the Templar he slew earlier. The duel is soon interrupted by orks, and we see the two duellists forced to work together to survive. The similarities between the Marines Malevolent and the Black Templars feel pretty evident here - both fervent in their hatred and stand-offish. Perhaps the main difference is that the hatred of the Templars comes from a place of somewhat unthinking zeal, while it's more of a duplicitous and practical tool for the Malevolents.
Ballack is presented with the opportunity to kill the Templar and be done with the matter - but instead chooses to stay his blade. Maybe due to feeling so alienated from the rest of his battle brothers, he seems to have found some camaraderie with his opponent. It's short lived though, as the Templar stabs him in the back - not really restoring honour to his fallen comrade, but just killing out of hatred. It's a fitting end to the Marine Malevolent, as the culture his chapter has fostered really leaves no room for empathy or kinship, and maybe this symptom extends to the Imperium in general.
Vengeful Honour would be the last appearance for the Marines Malevolents for quite a while, not appearing in any publications for another 9 years, until…
The Iron Kingdom (2023)
The Iron Kingdom is the fifth book in the Dawn of Fire book series, part of Games Workshop's efforts to flesh out the 41st millennium in a post-primaris world. Nick Kyme once again writes this book, and with Kyme comes the return of the Marines Malevolent! We learn that like many other chapters, they're serving in Guilliman's Indomitus Crusade, and have even been outfitted with new supplies - much to their surprise. These Malevolents are Primaris Marines, outfitted with new mark X tacticus armour. They play a somewhat minor role in the novel, only really having a few passages to make appearances in before being killed off.
The main Malevolent we are introduced to is Captain Renyard - whose name seems to be a portmanteau of Vinyar and Rennard, characters from Kyme's earlier works. Renyard is a firstborn astartes who has "crossed the Rubicon Primaris", although he still sports a "plough-blade faceplate" (presumably a mark III helm). He wields a gladius, bedazzled with an emerald in its pommel - a sword which he once used to slaughter a squad of loyal guardsmen who had looked at it for too long. Classic Marines Malevolent shenanigans.
Unlike Vinyar, Renyard shows a slightly different characterisation of the chapter. While Vinyar was vain and petty, Renyard's bad attitude mostly comes from his brute utilitarianism. He lacks patience for other warriors of the Imperium who are bound by honour and pride, thinking of them as "fools who thought battles were glorious and war could be honourable". He doesn't seem to think of himself as better than his peers either, reflecting on how one day he will simply meet his end when he meets a warrior stronger than him. He seems to be at peace with this.
The Iron Kingdom is a tale of the Imperiums colonialism, as we see the Indomitus fleet trying to reabsorb Kamidar, one of their lost colonies, with a great deal of resistance. The rebelling world traps the Imperial delegation and cuts off all communication, so Renyard is sent to reestablish the vox-link, leading a small guerilla force. Almost comically, the first hurdle his squad has to get past is a refugee convoy crossing in their way. Since his mission is time sensitive, and must be kept secret to avoid political complications, Renyard opts for the simplest and fastest solution - ruthlessly exterminating the entire convoy. Later, he ends up at the Kamidarian royal palace and orders it all to be burned down, including the civilian population trapped inside. The Imperial delegation is trapped inside too, unbeknownst to him. A Storm Reaper, one of the astartes from the delegation, takes issue with Renyards actions, leading to Renyard and his squad getting team-killed for their callousness.
I think it's sort of interesting the way the Malevolents are handled here. They were sent down to Kamidar to get a job done by any means possible, and they did exactly that. The fleet was under great pressure to complete the occupation swiftly, and if not for Renyard and his men, this wouldn't have happened. Yet because their actions were deemed too distasteful, they were betrayed by their allies. Just because the rest of the Indomitus fleet wasn't going around shooting civilians in the face or burning their homes, the Imperium still sees Kamidar as nothing more than another source of resources for their never-ending war. The fate of Kamidar as a world of the Imperium is certainly just as grim as any havoc Renyard's men had enacted. The Marines Malevolent are simply the colonial war machine with all niceties stripped away, and are hypocritically hated by the rest of the Imperium for it.
While it is interesting to think about all this, I don't feel like the novel actually does a great deal to unpack these ideas. In fact, the moral of the story seems to be that you should probably just give in to your oppressors, since trying to resist just results in even more bloodshed. It isn't really presented in a satirical way either, but more of a dull, by-the-numbers Black Library fashion. Which is unfortunate, because I think this was one of my favorite depictions of the Marines Malevolent so far.
Lastly, I thought it interesting to note that Nick Kyme seems to have switched from describing their armour as "bile yellow" to "mustard yellow" here. Does it mean anything? Probably not.
Conclusion
The Iron Kingdom is currently the last appearance of the Marines Malevolent. I'd really love to get some official artwork, or even a standalone novel one day. Nick Kyme gets a lot of flack for his Black Library works, but I think he could actually make something pretty interesting if he had the chance to write a full novel on the Malevolents. It's interesting how so much of their modern fan interpretation stems from his work.
There is one short story I haven't mentioned here, which is The Lost King. It's only a singular mention though, so it didn't really feel important, but I mention it now for completion's sake. Interestingly, it seems to be the only Black Library work mentioning the Marines Malevolent that isn't written by Nick Kyme.
I ended up writing way more than I thought I would for this. I always thought the premise for the Marines Malevolent was pretty fun, but after reading through all these stories I find them quite compelling. I hope you found this exploration of the Marines Malevolent insightful, or at least somewhat interesting. Mind you, I think I did this more for myself, and I'm glad I did - writing all this out definitely helped me get a clearer picture in my head of what these guys I'm painting are like. I think it's always good to be a little too emotionally invested in your miniatures. It gives them character!
Lastly, if I've made any mistakes or left anything important out, feel free to let me know via instagram or other channels.
Thanks for reading!! And remember, hate is the surest weapon!!! :P
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