So I'm working though creating a Chaos Champion and his retinue using
Realm of Chaos: Slaves to Darkness, and accidentally looked across at the sleeve of a Motörhead LP. Khorne + Motörhead = Khörne.
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| Khorne| John Blanche 1988 |
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| Snaggletooth / Warpig | Joe Petagno 1977 |
The original
War Pig device designed by
Joe Petagno in 1977 for British rock-band
Motörhead, named after a song Lemmy wrote for space-rock pioneers
Hawkwind, released as the B-side of the single
Kings of Speed which had lyrics by British sci-fi/fantasy writer
Michael Moorcock, who essentially invented the concept of "Chaos" as commandeered by Games Workshop, eight-pointed star logo and all, in his Eternal Champion series (and is namechecked in WFB 1e as an influence).
The Warpig / Snaggletooth character appears on almost every album Motörhead ever released, however Petagno and Motörhead have (recently) parted ways, with Petagno reclaiming the character as his own.
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| Juggernaut of Khorne | Joe Petagno 1988 |
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Balrog Bloodthirster -note the elongated side-tusks | John Blanche (1988) |
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| Realm of Chaos | John Sibbeck 1988 |
It might be possible to dismiss the similarities between as belonging to a pre-existing "generic demon" category, drawing on the bestial equals evil theme, which leads to chaos beastmen, werewolves, the Elphias Levi's Goat of Mendes / Baphomet and the cynocephalus of medieval propaganda.
However, I think there are some more definite resemblances between
The Motörhead Warpig and The Blood God Khorne. Putting aside the John Blanche
Bloodthirster with massive elongate side-tusks - exactly the same as
The Motörhead Warpig - the fa ce in the centre of the composition of the cover of
Realm of Chaos: Slaves to Darkness by
John Sibbick, has some very specific motifs, the curve of the helmet over the eyes, the oversized teeth, the helmet spike which match up perfectly.
In a slightly looser sense, its the combination of dog-monkey-pig face that can also be seen in the early Bloodletter and Juggernaut designs seems to derive from the
The Motörhead Warpig. Indeed the whole Juggernaut seems to be some kind of biomechanical pig monster.
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| The Irön Pig | Juggernaut |
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| Dög of War | Bloodthirster |
No idea who Taylor Momsen really is, but appears to be some kind of plastic Avril Lavigne type rock chic / actress / vacant polymath / attention whore with a vague
Motörhead Khörne fetish. Her 'band' is called
The Pretty Reckless (sounds like pop muzak with a 'rawk' production, and zero lyrical subtlety or wit) and she plays a 2500pt Khornate army at her local FLGS. OK. I made the last bit up. She plays Dark Elves.
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| Taylor Momsen | Disciple of Khörne (via) |
And the Motörhead influence still seems to continue through more recent manifestations of Khornate imagery.
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| Khaös WarPig gets his tusks back | Warhammer Online 2008 |
Finally, nothing to do with Khörne - I don't have much interest in GWs output after 1990, but do think they owe
Derek Riggs and
Iron Maiden a pint for the Tomb Kings imagery.
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| Derek Riggs | Powerslave (Iron Maiden) 1984 |
Always felt this was the definitive view of Khorne as Snaggletooth/Snaggletooth as Khorne
ReplyDeletehttp://tinyurl.com/6bjhnkq
There's something cute about the first Blanche illo of Khorne (from Slaves to Darkness I think), he's like a big, ugly, affectionate dog. It's the gormless expression that does it for me.
Those old Maiden covers were great.
ReplyDeleteSo much detail to drink in.
- Live After Death was a particular favourite.
Too true Phlegm. I think my all-time favourite Maiden covers are the Seventh Son of a Seventh son ones - kind of icy surreal landscapes. Very atmospheric.
ReplyDeleteCoopdevil, Khörne the ugly-brute puppy makes a hell of a lot of sense! Now I come to think of it alot of the Khörne aligned beastmen of the were dog-headed variety too, although it taps into the cynocephalus / st. christopher / martial saints current too...