Blacktalon is an Age of Sigmar show, focusing on Stormcast Eternals. Its lead character is Neave Blacktalon. The fourth episode just got released, and I've eagerly watched it. This review contains spoilers, so don't read on if you haven't seen the episode yet.
The series is ostensibly about Neave Blacktalon, but it's actually about what it's like to be a Stormcast Eternal. It seems that in Warhammer, you don't get to be a superhuman for nothing. There's a price. A Space Marine in Warhammer 40k receives horrendous genetic and physical modification. A Stormcast Eternal in AOS gets reforged upon death, but loses something in the process.
In the very first episode ("Reforged"), Neave awakened from having been reforged. She knew then that she'd lost something, but she wasn't sure what. She did have memories, though, of battling some plague-ridden barbarian. At the end of the episode, somebody brought her part of a broken weapon, saying that she'd told him to deliver it to her.
It was clear that before she'd been reforged, she had been in the process of piecing together her forgotten past.
In this episode, it's all explained. Or at least, some of it all is explained.
The intro to this episode shows a happy family living in Ghyran, the Realm of Life, who are suddenly running in terror from a pestilence of insects. The Realm of Life is, as its name implies, full of life, and is considered the rightful domain of Alarielle, the Everqueen and goddess of life. Then again, a realm brimming with life is awfully attractive to another god, specifically the chaos god Nurgle.
The problem is, at least from the perspective of the powers of chaos, Nurgle can be a hard sell for mortals. Although Nurgle does deliver bounteous life in the form of bacteria and virus and fungus and pestilence, that often results in the death of the fragile human being. What's the secret to making Nurgle appealing to humans in the Realm of Life?
Cut to the fruit farmer from the episode intro, as a decaying and cursed tree kin, taking nurglingfruit things to his prisoners in hopes that they'll eat it and join him as a living disease. It turns out, the secret is coercion and torture.
With the help of the Idoneth aelf (whose name I still haven't seen spelled out anywhere), Neave goes to investigate further. Of course, her old friend Hendrick Silverwolf insists on tagging along because it's a show about Stormcast Eternals plural. When Neave realises that the shard of the broken weapon (delivered at the end of the first episode) bears the inscription "Thea", Neave is inundated with vivid flashbacks. Someone who looks an awful lot like Neave herself is living on an idyllic fruit farm in Ghyran, when it's suddenly overtaken by a swarm of insects.
It's all coming together at last. Or at least it would have, if Hendrick hadn't literally stabbed Neave Blacktalon in the back. Turns out, Kendrick is a real jerk and can't let Neave manage her own choices. Not a great look for him, honestly.
The weirdest thing, I think, is that Kendrick announces his intention before doing it. He says "I'm sorry, Neave! But you won't remember this," and then stabs her. Normally, that might have been a safe gamble but he's stabbing Neave because she's remembering stuff from before she was reforged. Does it not occur to him that she could feasibly remember that he apologised to her right before she felt a sword go through her? Well, I imagine this'll be a plot point in the future.
There are some really exciting moments in this episode, especially in the last few moments. I've got a long list of Black Library books I have yet to read, but this episode has ensured that I'll be adding some Blacktalon books to the list. I need to know more about this character, and I need to know more about Nurgle's struggle to gain footing in Ghyran.
It's unrelated to this episode aside of timing, but along with this episode the soundtrack album by my favourite Warhammer composer, Jonathan Hartman, was released. It's a great score, with some really interesting choral phrases, and an addictive heroic theme that returns at the most satisfying moments. It's destined to be the soundtrack as I build and paint my Mibyllorr Darkfang model.
All images in this post copyright Games Workshop.