Archaon, also known as Archaon the Everchosen, is a fictional character in the

Warhammer Warhammer may refer to: * War hammer, a medieval weapon Warhammer media franchise *''Warhammer'', a series of games and related media: ** ''Warhammer'' (game), a table-top fantasy miniature wargame, and origin of the franchise ** ''Warhammer Fan ...

franchise, leader of the forces of Chaos, and one of the primary antagonists in multiple settings and mediums owned by

Games Workshop Games Workshop Group (often abbreviated as GW) is a British manufacturer of miniature wargames, based in Nottingham, England. Its best-known products are ''Warhammer Age of Sigmar'' and ''Warhammer 40,000''. Founded in 1975 by John Peake (gam ...

. He is considered one of the most powerful characters in the Warhammer multiverse, having brought about the fabled End Times, and is a major antagonist in '' Warhammer Fantasy Battle'', '' Warhammer Age of Sigmar'', '' Total War: Warhammer'', and '' Total War: Warhammer II''.

Appearances

''Warhammer Fantasy Battle''

Archaon was responsible for bringing about the End Times,Nigel Edgar
The paints of mini war games
Borneo Post, 24 May 2020. Accessed 12 July 2021. a cataclysmic event which led to the destruction of the Old World and essentially led to the shutting down of Games Workshop's original Warhammer Fantasy setting and the ushering in of the new Age of Sigmar setting in 2015. In order to usher in this world-ending event, Archaon had to gather magical artifacts in the name of the Chaos gods, earning the title 'Everchosen' while doing so.Adam Harrison
Age of Sigmar Lore: The Origins of Archaon
Bell of Lost Souls, 7 February 2020. Accessed 2 August 2021.Lore: Be’lakor, the First Prince of Chaos
Warhammer Community, 31 January 2020. Accessed 2 August 2021. Archaon's actions also led to the rise of the High Elf leader Teclis.

''Age of Sigmar''

In the Age of Sigmar, Archaon is one of the primary antagonists of the entire game, on the same level as the Chaos gods themselves.Adam Harrison
Tabletop Spotlight: Archaon Everchosen
Bell of Lost Souls, 16 December 2015. Accessed 12 July 2021 He is allied with - and outranked by - four out of the five gods,Darren Watson
Wind Up Archaon
Honest Wargamer, 22 November 2018. Accessed 3 August 2021. outranking everyone else in the Grand Alliance of Chaos.Barry Ashcroft
Warhammer Age of Sigmar 101 - Introduction to Grand Alliance Chaos
The Gamer, 3 June 2020. Accessed 12 July 2021. Though Archaon once led armies of Skaven alongside his human warriors,Jody Macgregor
Major events in the Warhammer timeline
PC Gamer, 23 September 2018. Accessed 3 August 2021. he no longer does so due to his dislike of them, despite their membership in the Grand Alliance. His control of the forces of Chaos was later challenged by the archdaemon Be'lakor. Having overseen the ceremony to crown Archaon in the first place, Be'lakor found the mortal's promotion to be humiliating. In the standard ''Age of Sigmar'' miniature wargame, Archaon is a very powerful unit whose army-level abilities, when supported by his followers known as the Slaves to Darkness, focus mostly on further empowering him.Start Competing: Slaves to Darkness
Goonhammer, 8 May 2021. Accessed 3 August 2021. In the skirmish edition of the game Warcry, both the Untamed Beasts and Corvus Cabal war parties fight for the sake of gaining his favor.

''Total War: Warhammer''

In Warhammer's first installment of the ''

Total War series ''Total War'' is a series of strategy games developed by British developer Creative Assembly for personal computers. They combine turn-based strategy and resource management with real-time tactical control of battles. Rather uniquely for real-ti ...

'', Archaon is both a major antagonist in the overall narrative as well as a playable character. Within the Chaos faction, he's one of three available leaders, functioning as a melee fighter with access to fire-based spells.Jonathan Leack
A Guide to Choosing Which Faction to Play in Total War: Warhammer
GameRevolution, 23 May 2016. Accessed 2 August 2021. The Chaos army, when led by Archaon, starts the game with standard Chaos Warriors, Chaos Warriors wielding halberds, and special Chosen infantry wielding two-handed weapons. Unless the player chooses Archaon as their army leader, then the primary objective of the game regardless of faction is to defeat him.Robert Zak
Mortal Empires lets you live out your wildest Total War: Warhammer fantasies

PCGamesN ''PCGamesN'' is a British online video game magazine focusing on PC gaming and hardware. It has a full-time team of over a dozen writers and is the oldest owned-and-operated site within publishing group Network N. History Parent company Netw ...

, 23 October 2017. Accessed 2 August 2021. Increasing invasions of all provinces by Chaos armies eventually results in a grand appearance by Archaon.Richard Scott-Jones
Does Total War: Warhammer 2’s story undermine its sandbox? On the contrary
PCGamesN, 28 September 2017. Accessed 2 August 2021. Initially, Creative Assembly wouldn't confirm or deny whether Chaos would be a playable faction at all. Eventually, Chaos was revealed as playable and with Archaon as a playable leader of the faction but for a price as paid downloadable content.Niall De'Ath
Chaos Faction and Release Date Announced for Total War: Warhammer
PowerUp Gaming, 23 October 2015. Accessed 2 August 2021. In another paid DLC, players of the Norsca faction have the option to either join Archaon's Chaos warband or to challenge him for supremacy. An update late in the game's patch history reduced Archaon's diplomatic relations with all factions, an act which video game journalist Andrew Newton described as "fitting."

''Total War: Warhammer 2''

Like the first installment in the series, the primary objective for players of the second is to defeat Archaon unless playing as him. Non-Chaos players are given the chance to defeat Archaon in a large final battle during the Mortal Empires DLC campaign. When equipped with a magic weapon called the Sword of Khaine, Archaon becomes particularly difficult to defeat even by another player's massed army units.Sid Natividad
Total War: Warhammer 2 - 15 Most Powerful Legendary Lords, Ranked
The Gamer, 3 July 2021. Accessed 12 July 2021. In addition, a separate army general, Ghoritch, was transformed from a leader in the Chaos faction to one in the Skaven faction after being banished to hell by Archaon.

Design

The character's fictional biography is violent and thematically marked by a fall from grace. Archaon was the product of pregnancy from rape, his mother suffered

maternal death Maternal death or maternal mortality is defined in slightly different ways by several different health organizations. The World Health Organization (WHO) defines maternal death as the death of a pregnant mother due to complications related to pre ...

thereafter, his father rejected and abandoned him on the steps of a church, and he attempted suicide in order to prevent the prophecy that he'd become a world-ending villain.Tyler M.
REVIEW: Archaon: Everchosen
Mengel Miniatures, 5 August 2015. Accessed 3 August 2021. In the Warhammer franchise's narrative, Archaon is described as a former templar of the civilized Empire of Sigmar before his turn to evil. Writer-actor Clint Lienau noted Archaon's possible inspiration springing from J. R. R. Tolkien's Sauron. In 2015, Archaon's model for the Warhammer miniatures series was given an updated visual aesthetic for the Age of Sigmar, including a new mount, a mutated dragon named Dorghar, with three heads representing three of the four Chaos gods. The model is noticeably large, contains a high number of separate parts for assembly, and functions as a centerpiece model for an army.

Reception

Archaon's portrayal has attracted considerable praise within the gaming community. James Whitbrook of

Gizmodo ''Gizmodo'' ( ) is a design, technology, science and science fiction website. It was originally launched as part of the Gawker Media network run by Nick Denton, and runs on the Kinja platform. ''Gizmodo'' also includes the subsite ''io9'', whic ...

referred to Archaon as the third "most ridiculous badass" of the original Warhammer Fantasy tabletop miniature game, noting that he became the most powerful and evil character not once, but twice. Matthew Pedersen of Gamers Decide ranked Archaon as the top legendary lord playable in ''Total War: Wahammer'' and noted him as the clear antagonist of the game's narrative, and Sid Natividad of The Gamer ranked Archaon in the number one spot for playable lords in the second iteration of the game, Total War: Warhammer II, noting him as "too angry to die." Tyler M. of Mengel Miniatures regarded Archaon's backstory, as portrayed in the Black Library novelizations, as tragic due to the circumstances which led the character to become evil. The character has been compared to historical figures signifying warlike behavior. Archaon's grand appearance in ''Total War: Warhammer'' was compared by Richard Scott-Jones of

to the grand arrival of

Attila the Hun Attila (, ; ), frequently called Attila the Hun, was the ruler of the Huns from 434 until his death in March 453. He was also the leader of a tribal empire consisting of Huns, Ostrogoths, Alans, and Bulgars, among others, in Central and Ea ...

in '' Total War: Attila''. University of Jena staff member Franz Klug compared Archaon to the second of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, War, as well as the Antichrist as described in the First Epistle of John. Criticisms of both Archaon's portrayal in the novels as well as the creative direction of Black Library's handling of it have also been made. Alex Lucard, writing for

Diehard GameFAN ''GameFan'' (originally known as ''Diehard GameFan'') was a publication started by Tim Lindquist, Greg Off, George Weising. and Dave Halverson in September 1992 that provided coverage of domestic and import video games. It was notable for its ex ...

, referred to Archaon as a " roided-up Marty Stu" in his review of the ''Archaon'' entry in Games Workshop's ''End Times'' series of novels. Lucard later referred to Archaon as the "lamest character" in Warhammer and lamented what he viewed as poor creative direction in Archaon killing Nagash, the lord of the undead in the original Warhammer Fantasy, in order to promote Archaon as the new big bad in the franchise.Alex Lucard
Tabletop Review: White Dwarf, Issue #79 (Warhammer: Age of Sigmar, Warhammer 40,000)
Diehard GameFAN, 1 August 2015. Accessed 2 August 2021.

References

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