Following on from the excellent Horus Heresy audio drama Blackshields: The False War, Josh Reynolds returns to ex-World Eater Endryd Haar in a second audio, Blackshields: The Red Fief. In the aftermath of his mission on Xana-Tisiphone, Haar is being courted by Malcador, who wants to make use of Endryd, or the weapons he recently acquired, as part of the loyalists’ defence against Horus. Wracked with indecision about whether to commit to the Sigillite’s goals, Haar leads his warriors in a raid on a World Eaters fief world to gather supplies and hopefully recruit an old ally to his cause.
It feels like a natural extension of Haar’s story after the setup in The False War, and sees him wrestling with the core dilemma of how to achieve his goal – killing Horus – without compromising on his ideals. Now that he’s some way towards gathering tools and resources, he obviously loathes the idea of dancing to the Sigillite’s tune, which isn’t entirely surprising considering Malcador’s previous attitude towards him, but he’s also pragmatic enough to understand that eventually he’ll have to choose a side. That’s the key theme of the story – Haar’s bitterness at his situation and his position in respect to his Legion, the conflict that his indecision causes, and a gradual sense of him battling his way to a begrudging decision.
There’s very little action, so that internal conflict is what drives the narrative, as Reynolds explores the way that Haar is driven by a different sort of pain to the rest of his World Eater brothers. John Banks once again does sterling work bringing Haar to furious, gravelly life, beautifully capturing the sense of him being balanced on a knife-edge. As before, this isn’t a story where Legion archetypes come through loud and clear – when roused, Haar is every bit the terrifying War Hound…but he’s capable of much more. When he reunites with old friend (well, sort of) Kalabos, voiced to unhinged perfection by Andrew Wincott, the differences between Haar and the World Eaters really come to the fore.
While it’s not so narration-light as some recent Black Library audio dramas (although with Gareth Armstrong narrating it’s always a pleasure to listen), it’s still heavily dialogue-driven. With so little action, the SFX are used sparingly to provide atmosphere, and the focus is instead on the dialogue and the acting…both of which are great. There’s no doubt that this burgeoning sub-series within the Heresy is taking a look at stories on the fringe of the main events, so might not appeal to those who only want to see narrative forward motion, but this particular story does a great job of exploring this particular fringe. Haar is a brilliant contrast to a character like Garro, and really fits the Heresy perfectly. If you enjoyed The False War and want to know a bit more about what Haar got up to next, or if you just fancy something off to the edge of the Heresy, this is a great choice.
Click here for the main Horus Heresy page on Track of Words.