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Art: “Black Templars. Commissions for Hubrecht” by Vitaly Perevoshikov, used with the artist's permission. source

Space Marines & Primarchs · Relic Weapon

The Black Sword

The sacred two-handed obsidian greatsword of Sigismund and the Black Templars' Emperor's Champions, forged to slay the greatest champions of the enemy in single combat.

Black Templars

Type: Relic Weapon
Origin: Black Templars
Characters: 7
Units: 2

Illustrated by Vitaly Perevoshikov (“Black Templars. Commissions for Hubrecht”, used with permission) · Additional gallery art by Siman Vlaisavljević (“Kildrech Crusade (Kildrech Crusade Sword Brother)”), George Earl Abalayan (“Sigismund The Black Knight”), Vitaly Perevoshikov (“Angron. Warhammer 40k. FanArt.”) (used with permission)

Lore & history

Among the zealous crusading fleets of the Black Templars Chapter, no relic is held in deeper reverence than the Black Sword. The first and greatest of these weapons was forged during the final days of the Horus Heresy on the orders of Malcador the Sigillite and the Emperor Himself, and placed into the hands of First Captain Sigismund of the Imperial Fists when he was named the first Emperor's Champion during the Siege of Terra. Armed with that towering, light-drinking obsidian greatsword, Sigismund strode across the shattered ramparts of the Imperial Palace challenging and slaying the foremost Chaos Champions of the Traitor Legions in single combat.

When the Imperial Fists were divided during the Second Founding, Sigismund became the first High Marshal of the Black Templars and instituted the eternal tradition of the Emperor's Champion. On the eve of a great battle, a battle-brother of a Black Templars Crusade Fleet may be visited by a ecstatic divine vision from the Emperor. The Chaplains of the Crusade immediately anoint the chosen warrior, clad him in the sacred Armour of Faith, and place one of the Chapter's ten treasured Black Swords into his gauntlets.

Even when agedSigismund finally fell in duel against Ezekyle Abaddon during the First Black Crusade, Abaddon respected the peerless defiance of the Templar lord enough to return Sigismund's corpse and his Black Sword to Terra as a warning to the Imperium—where the blade remains a supreme symbol of unbroken martial oaths.

Most Brutal Battlefield Feat & Kill Record

First Captain Sigismund at the Siege of Terra & the Duel at the Cadian Gate

During the Siege of Terra, First Captain Sigismund of the Imperial Fists—anointed as the first Emperor's Champion—walked the breached Saturnine and Gorgon battlements with the two-handed obsidian-bladed Black Sword in his gauntlets, challenging and slaying over two dozen Traitor Legion champions in single combat. Across the war-torn annals of the Forty-First and Forty-Second Millennia, combat records compiled by the Departmento Munitorum, Ordo Malleus, and Ordo Xenos repeatedly cite the The Black Sword—particularly in its The Siege of Terra, The First Black Crusade, The Armageddon & Eternal Crusades configurations—as an instrument capable of overturning the tactical calculus of an entire theatre. Where lesser armaments falter against void-hardened battleplate, daemonic ichor, or xenos bio-chitin, this relic weapon brings to bear a lethality that leaves no margin for survival.

Over a millennium later, at the outbreak of the First Black Crusade, the aged High Marshal Sigismund met Ezekyle Abaddon aboard his flagship; even when impaled by the Talon of Horus, Sigismund drove the two-handed Black Sword straight through Abaddon's chest in a final defiant thrust that nearly killed the Warmaster of Chaos and forced him into a stasis pod. Eyewitness vox-logs and post-battle auspice scans from the engagement confirm that the sheer physical and psychological shock of the assault shattered the enemy's command cohesion within minutes. The Black Templars maintain the tradition of Sigismund across their scattered Crusade fleets, arming any battle-brother visited by visions before battle with the Armour of Faith and a two-handed Black Sword. Even heavily entrenched veterans who had weathered orbital bombardment broke formation when confronted with the visceral aftermath left in the weapon's wake.

In the aftermath of the slaughter, recovery teams and battlefield chroniclers documented the unmistakable signature of the The Black Sword across every metre of the kill-zone. Following the Second Founding, the Black Templars embarked on the longest uninterrupted Imperial Crusade in history, carrying their sacred relic blades aboard fleet-based fortress-monasteries. To this day, commanders and champions who take the field with this panoply invoke that blood-soaked precedent, knowing that when the range closes and every safety governor is pushed to the limit, a single decisive salvo or stroke can break the spine of an entire invasion.

Source: Codex: Black Templars (4th Edition); Imperial Armour Volume Two (Second Edition) - War Machines of the Adeptus Astartes, pg. 19

Design, mechanism & battlefield effect

A Black Sword is a massive, two-handed greatsword whose blade is forged from an enigmatic, jet-black alloy—described in Imperial records as either meteoric obsidian-iron or folded adamantium treated with lost Terran alchemy so that its flat surfaces drink in ambient light rather than reflecting it. Along the central fuller, golden Imperial Gothic script is deeply engraved: the eternal vows of Sigismund and invocations to the Master of Mankind.

Housed within the heavy cruciform hilt and winged skull pommel is an ancient, overcharged molecular disruption generator. Unlike a standard power sword that crackles with bright blue lightning, an activated Black Sword is wreathed in a deeper, humming corona of dark-edged golden energy that parts ceramite, daemon-plate and bone without slowing the blade's swing.

Because the weapon is balanced specifically for a Space Marine fighting in the two-handed knightly style of the Imperial Fists' Temple of Oaths, an Emperor's Champion can transition seamlessly between sweeping, decapitating arcs that clear ranks of infantry and lightning-fast lunges that punch straight through the breastplate of a Chaos Lord or Ork Warboss.

Patterns, variants & doctrine

According to the annals of the Eternal Crusader, ten sacred Black Swords were originally entrusted to the Black Templars Chapter, each kept within the reliquary chapel of a major Crusade Fleet until a warrior receives the Emperor's vision. Should an Emperor's Champion fall in battle, the brothers of his Crusade will launch an immediate, fanatical counter-offensive regardless of the cost to recover the Black Sword and the Armour of Faith; to lose one is considered an unthinkable stain upon the Chapter's honour.

Closely related to the ten true Black Swords are the Sword of the High Marshals—wielded by High Marshal Helbrecht alongside his combi-melta Ferocity—and the master-crafted power greatswords carried by Castellan champions and the elite Sword Brethren of the High Marshal's household.

Across ten millennia of total war, the The Black Sword (Relic Weapon) has spawned numerous classified sub-patterns and field modifications. While standard production runs prioritize logistical interchangeability across warzones, elite formations covet pre-Heresy or master-artificer marks featuring hand-lapped containment assemblies, psycho-conductive firing relays, and over-pressured propellant or energy cells. Captured examples modified by Hereteks, Ordo Xenos Deathwatch armourers, or Freebooter Mekboyz frequently bypass factory safety governors entirely, turning every activation into a calculated gamble between devastating lethality and catastrophic overload.

Forge World Variations, Internal Mechanics & Artificer Visuals

Within the sealed armouries and forge-fanes that sustain Black Templars war-hosts, the The Black Sword is produced and maintained across a spectrum of fiercely guarded sub-patterns, including The Siege of Terra, The First Black Crusade, The Armageddon & Eternal Crusades. Unlike crude mass-produced armaments, every authentic example requires precise metallurgical and energetic calibration: from the high-density alloys and psycho-conductive matrices of its core housing to the volatile propellant, capacitor, or bio-symbiotic feed assemblies that power its lethality. Every Black Sword is a master-crafted two-handed power greatsword inscribed with holy Imperial vows and balanced for single combat against enemy champions. Veteran armourers, Tech-Priests, Crypteks, Bonesingers, or Mekboyz obsessively tune the internal tolerances before each campaign, balancing cyclic output and thermal dissipation against the ever-present hazard of catastrophic overload during multi-week sieges.

Among Warhammer 40,000 illustrators, Golden Demon miniature painters, and diorama builders, the The Black Sword is celebrated as one of the setting's most visually expressive focal points for weathering, contrast, and Object Source Lighting (OSL). Community artists emphasize the stark interplay between battle-chipped outer casings—scarred by sponge-applied metallic scratches, mud spatter, and sub-faction heraldry—and the intense chromatic focal glow of its active elements, whether rendered through violet-to-amber muzzle heat-bloom, crackling non-metallic-metal (NMM) power fields, incandescent plasma/gauss coils, or glossy multi-layered gore across serrated teeth. This devotion to micro-detail transforms every depiction of the The Black Sword into a miniature narrative of ten thousand years of total war.

Notable patterns & relic examples

The Siege of Terra: Wielded by First Captain Sigismund, the first Emperor's Champion, to cut down dozens of Traitor Legion champions before the Imperial Palace.
The First Black Crusade: Carried by an aged Sigismund in his final duel against Abaddon the Despoiler, wounding the Warmaster thoroughly before falling.
The Armageddon & Eternal Crusades: Bestowed upon anointed Emperor's Champions across every Black Templars Crusade Fleet prior to battle.

Deep Cuts

From the archives

The Black Templars maintain the tradition of Sigismund across their scattered Crusade fleets, arming any battle-brother visited by visions before battle with the Armour of Faith and a two-handed Black Sword. Source: Codex: Black Templars (4th Edition); Imperial Armour Volume Two (Second Edition) - War Machines of the Adeptus Astartes, pg. 19
Following the Second Founding, the Black Templars embarked on the longest uninterrupted Imperial Crusade in history, carrying their sacred relic blades aboard fleet-based fortress-monasteries. Source: Imperial Armour Volume Two (Second Edition) - War Machines of the Adeptus Astartes, pg. 19; Imperial Armour Volume Thirteen - War Machines of the Lost & The Damned
Every Black Sword is a master-crafted two-handed power greatsword inscribed with holy Imperial vows and balanced for single combat against enemy champions. Source: Codex: Black Templars (4th Edition)
Forge World / Haemonculus Sub-Pattern Divergence: Beyond standard frontline patterns of the The Black Sword, sealed armory registries document rare master-crafted variants—such as Ryza, Lucius, Deimos, or Stygies VIII marks for Imperial/Chaos patterns, or bespoke Craftworld/Cryptek/Mekboy tuning for Xenos equivalents—that trade thermal safety margins for a 30% increase in armor penetration or cyclic output. Source: Imperial Armour & Munitorum Vol. I
Machine-Spirit & Munitions Chemistry: Prolonged field firing or combat operation of the The Black Sword leaves a distinctive ionizing, acoustic, or warp-resonant signature; veteran artificers and crews learn to read the weapon's micro-vibrations and exhaust discoloration to prevent catastrophic containment failure during multi-week sieges. Source: Forge World Horus Heresy Black Books

Wielded & Fielded By

Characters (7)

Sigismund · First Captain of the Imperial Fists, founder of the Black Templars
Helbrecht · High Marshal of the Black Templars
Angron · Primarch of the World Eaters, the Red Angel
Cypher · Lord of the Fallen
Abaddon the Despoiler · Warmaster of Chaos, Lord of the Black Legion
Be'lakor · The Dark Master, First Daemon Prince
Khorne · Chaos God of Blood, War and Martial Honour; the Blood God