Gotrek Gurnisson: The Story So Far
Gotrek Gurnisson is widely renowned as one of the greatest heroes in all the Warhammer universes. A dwarf slayer in the world-that-was, he survived countless battles, and even the End Times. Eventually, Gotrek found himself in the Mortal Realms of Warhammer Age of Sigmar, where his adventures continue. But how did he begin?
Gotrek was created by William King back in the earliest days of Warhammer fiction. Bill wrote some short stories for various anthologies featuring an unlikely duo – a dwarf slayer who couldn't seem to meet his doom, and his companion, Felix Jaeger, a young human poet who drunkenly pledged to record Gotrek's eventual death in an epic poem.
Their first appearance was in the story 'Geheimnisnacht' in the anthology Ignorant Armies, which was published 30 years ago in 1989! The characters proved popular, and Bill was inspired to use them in short fiction that appeared in the range of Warhammer Armies books published in the early 1990s – stories that would go on to be re-released decades later as Gotrek & Felix: Myths and Legends.
The duo also appeared occasionally in army books and in White Dwarf magazine, notably in the epic two-part saga 'Skaven's Claw', which saw them defeating a plot by the villainous Grey Seer Thanquol in the city of Nuln. Around this time, they also received the ultimate accolade for Warhammer characters – miniatures of their own!
When Black Library launched in 1997, Bill returned to Gotrek & Felix in new short stories for Inferno! Magazine – and when Black Library turned its attention to novels in 1999, one of the very first was Trollslayer, a collection of seven stories that brought the pair to a whole new – and very enthusiastic – audience. This was quickly followed up by Skavenslayer, which started with 'Skaven's Claw' and expanded that into a full-fledged invasion of Nuln by the ratmen, with Gotrek & Felix key to thwarting it.
Between 1999 and 2003, Bill wrote five more full Gotrek & Felix novels which took the pair into the far north to fight the hordes of Chaos, to the siege of Praag, the undead-haunted lands of Sylvania and mysterious mist-shrouded Albion.
In these books, the pair gathered a whole cast of characters who became almost as popular as Gotrek and Felix themselves. These included the Kislevite warrior-princess Ulrika (who was turned into a vampire and spun off into her own series), wizard Max Schreiber, Slayer Snorri Nosebiter and dwarf engineer Malakai Makaisson.
After Giantslayer, Bill retired from writing the series, and it seemed like that would be the end of Gotrek's adventures, his doom unfulfilled… until 2006, when the series returned under the stewardship of Nathan Long, in Orcslayer. Set twenty years after their original adventures, this and four further novels plus an audio drama saw the pair return to action, battling ever-more-dangerous foes as Gotrek tried to meet his glorious death.
This era also saw more new models of Gotrek & Felix, this time in a larger scale and as part of a diorama that also included Ulrika, Max and Snorri.
In 2012, Gotrek & Felix: The Anthology allowed a host of authors to tell tales of the now-infamous duo. This was followed up more new stories. Rather than continuing the ongoing saga of Gotrek & Felix, these dipped back into their past, focusing on telling iconic tales of these heroes at their peak… and then the End Times began.
As the Warhammer world drew to its inevitable destruction, it was obvious that Gotrek was going to be involved somehow, and it fell to David Guymer to tell that story across two novels. Kinslayer brought Gotrek, Felix and their friends back together in a tragic tale that finally revealed the shame for which Gotrek took the Slayer's oath, and Slayer pitted them against their ultimate enemy, and finally gave Gotrek his heroic doom.
And so the saga of Gotrek Gurnisson came to an end. Or so it seemed.
Last year, Gotrek returned. The audio drama series Realmslayer, written by David Guymer, saw Gotrek emerge from the Realm of Chaos into the Mortal Realms. Without Felix, his axe or any idea what was going on in the bizarre new world he found himself in, Gotrek embarked on a new adventure. Followed now by the aelven warrior Maleneth – much to the dwarf's displeasure – Gotrek set out on new adventures across Realmslayer, Robbie MacNiven's novella The Bone Desert and short stories by David Guymer and Darius Hinks.
And that brings us bang up to date with Gotrek Gurnisson… at least until September this year, when he's back with two new sagas – the audio drama series Realmslayer: Blood of the Old World, written once again by David Guymer, and Darius Hinks' new novel, his first in the Mortal Realms, Ghoulslayer.
These incredible stories will be accompanied by a script book for Realmslayer and the first new iteration of Gotrek as a model for thirteen years… and it's absolutely breathtaking, depicting his new look as he carves his way through skaven (always some of his favourite enemies to kill), still seeking his ultimate destiny. This will be accompanied by rules for using Gotrek in your games of Warhammer Age of Sigmar, and we're sure we'll be seeing him on tabletops everywhere very soon.
You can catch up on Gotrek's adventures from the world-that-was in paperback omnibus editions collecting classic novels and short stories, as well as picking up eBooks of the entire saga. Realmslayer is also available to download now from Audible, as well as direct from Black Library, and is the perfect way to prepare for the new tales coming your way in a few months – grab it now and start listening!
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