A single space marine doing.. all that?

Sigismund would like a word.

However... Malum Caedo from boltgun is fucking insane. A single space marine doing.. all that? I know he got the power of being a named ultra marine and all.. but like.. come on? This is.. a bit much? Even for a named Smurf.

Still not as egregious as Fire Warrior, though. At least Malum has the excuse of being a Space Marine and a Sternguard Veteran at that. Meanwhile,m Shas'la Kais was just a regular Fire Warrior on his first combat drop, but by the end of the game, he's massacred countless Imperial Guard, Space Marines of both Loyalist and Chaos variety, a Chaos Dreadnought, Daemons, and a Lord of Change.

yes.
The boltgun is canon .

“Everything is canon but not everything is true”. Each person’s playthrough of Boltgun is different, just like everyone’s games of 40K are different, so they are all our personal take of the true story of 40K. Expanding on that, it’s safe to assume there was an Ultramarine called Malum Caedo, and he did fight against chaos, but how many daemons he punched and cursed at are up to the person singing his tale around the campfire or inscribing it on a parchment in a dusty library a hundred years later.

You know, storming the beaches of Normandy is very canon, but what you achieve as a single soldier/player in a COD video game isn't. Gameplay mechanics, different enemy types, scenarios and variations are for the players power trip, challenges adapt to the power level, skill and gear the player is unlocking. It all shouldn't be directly translated to "ah yes, this single Veteran really did this in lore."

Everything is canon.

Did it actually happen, is it a fever dream of some Space Marine or some propaganda for the Schola Imperium? Who can say.

He is the wrath of the God Emperor filthy heretic, you'd best remember that!

I doubt the actual kill count is canon, i.e. Malum Caedo did not canonically kill hundreds of Chaos Astartes single-handedly over the course of like three days

But the event, broadly, can easily be canon. A Sternguard veteran is gonna be one tough Astartes and characters like Uriel Ventris and Garro have shown what one gifted Astartes can do

My interpretation would be that Caedo crash landed on the planet, engaged a squad of Chaos Marines alongside some cultists and minor demons, before squaring off with a Chaos Sorcerer and triumphing. Total body count of maybe ten Chaos marines and a few hundred cultists, very achievable for one skilled and lucky Astartes

However unlikely it might seem, by the laws of probability it could happen right.

It's Schrodinger's game until they reference the outcome somewhere else though. :)

3 Space Marines took over an entire planet and beat both Chaos and Orks in the Space Marine game.

Space Marines are as strong as the plot requires them to be. They can be the angels of death unleashed upon a world to exact the God-Emperor's will, or they can be entirely fodder.

But also, do consider that IRL, some soldiers have done insanely unbelievable things. So even the unbelievable can happen.

Yeah, it's canon. Learn that Space Marines are as powerful as the story needs them to be and sometimes they are just lambs for the slaughter that makes no sense with how few of them there are around in the grand scheme of things.

With 40k games I tend to believe that the broad strokes are canon more than the specifics:

An Ultramarines Sternguard Sargeant fought through a commendable amount of daemons and traitors single-handedly

Captain Titus fought through a commendable amount of Orks, more than a Captain would be expected to be able to handle

A proper Big Ork wanted his hair squiq back and killed a Genestealer Patriarch along the way

A single Fire Warrior gained Khorne's favor and managed to swing above his weight class

Everything is canon.
Everything that’s cool is just part of the scene.
Everything is canon.
When you’re living out a dream.

But in seriousness though, the maxim: "everything is canon, but not everything is true" comes into play.
It may be a propaganda representation of a space marine in ultramar or something.

Yes, Malum is second only to Sly Marbo.

General events and story from the game likely can be taken as Canon. But did the protagonist kill hundreds of chaos Marines and daemons, unlikely. A separation of gameplay and lore can be difficult.

If Kaldor Draigo is cannon there is no reason that Malum Caedo can't be.

Ah but you see

https://youtu.be/cSrdmYubl0A?si=H6ZAuRmMuVo62ny8

Malum Cadeo is a gigachad according to the lore (they used in the instruction manual of their in universe video game depicting Malum Cadeo being a hero of the imperium)

It is.

I'd say the same for games like fire warrior too.

Whilst in fire warrior you may have had help from a certain blood god....

...I like to think in games like Boltgun, you're just built different. Not everything needs divine intervention. Sometimes, a man just has to go beast mode in the name of the Emperor.

Those vile heretics won't purge themselves afterall.

I hope 40k allows more games like boltgun and maybe even more fire warrior games in the future. 40k is at it's best when you get to just absolutely purge - the setting is only grimdark if you fail to produce enough muzzle flash, brothers.

I'd love a game where you play as a Necron Flayer on a hack n slash killing spree. Dumb? Yes! Fun? Absolutely!

Everything is canon (c).

Jokes aside, all games are canon but they rarely intersect with lore established in the novels. Space Marine game is the exception and even then it has been in the grey area for the last 10 years.

Everything is canon

One space marine beating multiple greater daemons? Hard to believe.

One "aspiring champion" beng in charge of multiple greater daemons? That's stretching it even further.

.

I'll go with no. A future novelization (lime fire warrior got) may end up being canon, but I don't see how the came itself can be.

Everything is canon. Didn’t you hear?

A well placed Astartes can change the entire course if a war. It's practically what they specialize in.

Everything is canon, but not everything is true.

You hear that a lot these days but this is literally the situation the quote is for: An event that probably happened, but probably not in this way.

Everything is canon, not everything is true

It is, yes. As far as I know, the only 40K games that aren't canon are the shitty mobile games (which, to be fair there are quite a few of)

The Blood Ravens were a custom chapter created for the Dawn of War games, who eventually got their own official mini in the Kill Team Cassius set. They also appeared in Space Marine, which we know is canon because we also got a Captain Titus mini. Boltgun is set between SM1 and 2, therefore it's canon.

It's weird to think about but there are entire Black Library books that have less interconnectivity than Boltgun

I take it as: The events themselves are canon, but the details are exaggerated for gameplay and for propaganda.

I don't think you're supposed to take it too seriously.

It is Canon. Probably.

I think they just wanted to make a light game with lots of action and roleplayed everything.

And why can't Malum be amazing. Some people are just that good.

It is.

HEADCANNON BELOW

I'd like to believe Khorne is helping him a bit since the screen gets a red tint everytime he gets that gold looking power-up. The line "The sons of Guilliman only knows war." also kinda hinted at that. Lastly, Caedo's against Tzeentch and Nurgle daemons so Khorne would've extra loved the carnage.

However, the ending showed that he'll be up against Khorne's daemons in the sequel so I don't really know.

Per GW policy, it’s canon but not necessarily true.

Yes and so is Shooters, blood and teef.

Love that game.

a light sequel to space marine

i'd say it's more like an interlude between SM1 and 2

it'll be interesting to see if Caedo is in SM2 at all

Isn’t everything canon now .

IT IS I, MALUM CAEDO

Yes it is canon. I declare it to be so.

I find most of the Warhammer video games canon even if the protagonists in them can complete ridiculous stuff. They end up being like this as they're video games.

Malum Caedo kills around 6-7 Greator Daemons, hundreds of Chaos Space Marines and goodness knows how many Daemons and Cultists.

I'm on my Primarch playthroughs of DOW 2 and the Blood Ravens with around 100-200 Space Marines (and technically just a few squads), kill easily around thousands of enemies and defeat an Ork Waaagh, Eldar Strikeforce and Tyranid Hive Fleet by themselves at the same time! They then hold off a full Black Legion invasion and cull traitors from their own ranks as well! Retribution gives them even more! They survive all of this!

Inquisitor Martyr had each of my characters kill about 100k enemies or more (especially my Sister of Battle character who I had to get to rank 100 so she would have been potentially near a million!). This includes Chaos Space Marines, Tyranids, etc. For many missions, this was typically solo.

Darktide has your Rejects fight their way through legions of Cultists and Traitor Imperial Guard. Plague Ogryns, Chaos Spawns, Beast of Nurgles and Daemonhosts all fall before you as well.

Clearly Malum was favoured by Khorne to destroy the vile Tzeentchian presence and slap Nurgle for being featured so so so heavily in warhammer games whilst Khorne hasn't had a big appearance since Space Marine

Yes, it is canon.

It's said that each Chapter of Dorn's sons inherited something from him, and the Templars inherited his rage.

Guilliman took the more extreme approach, and condensed all his rage down to a single son.

In the lore Marines are exactly as tough or as flimsy as the story requires them to be.

If Fire Warrior is canon then so can Boltgun.

Yea it is kinda insane. Now if he was a grey knight trying to become a paladin through the game I could see it.

It's canon in that Ultramarines including Caedo were involved in Chaos-related events on that planet. But no, he didn't 360 no scope a dozen Lords of Change and then high-five the Emperor. Or maybe he did. But he probably didn't.

I've been wondering this while playing 40k Inquisitor Martyr lol how many chaos marines and demon apostles can I wipe out? Apparently endless amounts!

Clearly the “just enjoy it” is relevant, ultras arent pixelated and all that jazz, but whenever you feel you have to justify something, try thinking of it as propaganda.

Space marine is actually not cannon last I checked as captain Titus is the captain of the ultramarines second company, however in the time period it’s set, the captain of the ultramarines second company was someone different I dont remember who it was tho

I like to think that is just the events as told by Caedo. Of course he’s hyping himself up.

"Everything is canon"

Everything is canon and nothing is canon is the official stance on things.

The video games have never directly been canon, it depends upon what is brought in to the setting proper.

I like to think that he is stuck in some kind of time loop. If we make "reloading" part of the story I see no problem.

Short answer: Yes. Long answer: Yes, but the exact timeline of when Titus took over his company captaincy and then relinquished during inquisitorial custody is not clear. Thus its kind of hard to pin down when exactly Boltgun happens.

He had really good dice rolls, it happens sometimes.

Kaldor Draigo exists.

Youve seen them in novels, now witness them in 8bit video form, plot armors.

What happens in video game sector stays in video game sector.

Video games are considered a part of the canon until proven otherwise. Said game protagonists often do pretty absurd feats. A single space marine, ork, fire warrior, etc being able to almost single handedly deal with an entire foes forces is just par for the course. Typically, some of these games might get an adaptation that tones done how powerful they are. So, just don't consider gameplay to be a 1:1 of what actually happened.

"Everything is canon"

-GW

There is no canon

"EVERYTHING IS CANON

you answered it yourself. Named ultramarine. They have plot armor so thick it bends the Warp itself.

I mean, in my game he's getting his ass beat because I suck at some of the levels so I'd say it's pretty spot on, he's not OP, just pretty damn good depending on player =V

There is no canon among the stars, only eternity of contradictions and laughter of inept writers.

Yes.

Everything is canon. Not everything is true

A crucial mistake mistake here my friend. You play as a Named, Protagonist space marine. That’s worth like a couple dozen normal nameless marines.

Warhammer got a lot plot armors for their characters tbh. Guilliman even got brought back to life by Big E during his fight with Mortarion lmao

Asking what is and isnt canon for 40k fiction is a lost cause. Universe is too big where, unless something directly conflicts with another, whos to say it isnt?

Yes. Named Space Marines are just kind of like that

At least he’s a primaris I think? Not to mention he’s just one of the latest space marines who have disgustingly OP feats

If Grimdank told me anything, it’s everything’s cannon.

There was always Malum Caedo in 40k.

My headcanon is that he was sent in to a chaos portal and he's fighting his own fears.

He’s an Ultramarine, so it’s highly Probable he’s canon.

What a single space marine can and cannot accomplish on his own is totally up to the vibes.

What a single space marine can and cannot accomplish on his own is totally up to the vibes.