Davian Thule is a Captain of the Blood Ravens described as being widely respected, a good tactician, and very protective of the troops under his command. He is one of the greatest living heroes of the Chapter alongside Gabriel Angelos. Thule appears in Dark Crusade, Dawn of War II, Chaos Rising and Retribution.
Background[]
Thule is a senior Marine, Dawn of War II mentioning him having been already noted for his heroism as an Initiate 400 years earlier. The Chapter had launched a campaign against an Imperial colony whose governor had come under the influence of a Chaos Witch – apparently a psyker tainted by the Ruinous Powers – named Morga or Morgana. The witch proved stronger than anticipated, and managed to kill most of the deployed Blood Ravens before Thule managed to slay her.
The Cadia campaign[]
Just prior to the Kronus campaign, Thule led the 4th Company to the fortress world of Cadia to fight off a large incursion by the Traitor Legions.
Thule's arrival was spectacularly timed, and his troops dropped right into the midst a massive column of Iron Warriors bound for the city of Kasr Sonnen. Heavy losses were inflicted on the Iron Warriors, and they were thrown into disarray.
When word was received that the Black Legion was en route to support the Iron Warriors, Thule was ordered to immediately withdraw by the Chapter Master Azariah Kyras. Thule initially ignored the order and continued to press his advantage, but finally relented when the Chapter Master threatened to relieve him of his command. The Cadian Regiments withstood the second assault alone, but losses were heavy.
Involvement[]
Dawn of War: Dark Crusade[]
Thule during the Kronus campaign
Davian Thule was given command of three Blood Ravens Companies that were sent to re-conquer Kronus. Upon arrival Thule sent an order to Governor-Militant Alexander to evacuate all civilians and Imperial Guard personel, to allow the Blood Ravens to purge the planet. Alexander, however, refused and Thule reluctantly had to fight his brothers in arms, his orders were absolute Kronus had to be purged.
When the Imperial Guard had been defeated, Thule showed a marked respect to both the surviving Guardsmen and even honored the body of Alexander for his fervour in following his orders. However, the 5th Company of the 1st Kronus Regiment were executed under Thule's orders for having betrayed their Regiment.
The Blood Ravens under Thule's command eventually managed to re-conquer Kronus, regaining many precious Chapter relics and other valuable resources such as Tau genetic material, Chaos artifacts, and the remains of an Eldar Avatar of Khaine; however, the latter apparently caused trouble during transport. During this time, he managed to kill a Necron Lord but at the cost of his right eye in which he has to replace with a cybernetic one.
Thule should have being honoured after his heroic actions on Kronus; however, the secrets he discovered there as well as the somewhat questionable action of attacking Imperial Guard forces led him to fall from grace.
- Davian Thule was once considered to be among the greatest of the Blood Ravens. His brilliant command of the Kronus campaign should have vaulted him even higher into the inner circle of Blood Raven leadership, but instead led to a falling out with the Blood Ravens' Chapter Master.'
- Many have speculated that Thule's fall from grace was because of his unwillingness to vilify the Imperial Guardsmen slain on Kronus, a fact that was noted in the Imperial investigation on the matter. There are darker rumors, though, of secrets discovered on Kronus – secrets that shook Thule's faith in the Blood Ravens and caused him to withdraw from Chapter politics.
Dawn of War II[]
Davian Thule was in charge of stopping the ork invasion of Calderis. While defending Argus Gate, however, he was attacked and poisoned by a Tyranid Warrior. When the Force Commander recovered some Prime Gene Samples, Davian was interred into a Dreadnought sarcophagus, allowing him to continue battling the enemies of sub-sector Aurelia. (KEY EMPHASIS ON ACQUIRING HIM: When in the Campaign it eventually splits into 3 simultaneous tasks of securing Angel Forge, locating the Techpriest Array and acquiring the Prime Sample, you will get the dreadnought Davian as early as possible if you focus only on the Prime Sample).
In combat Davian's role can be either a heavy albeit slow frontline melee fighter or heavy ranged attacker that can melee rather well if he has to. Being made of metal, infantry-healing items and abilities don't normally work on him but he does eventually gain a strong self-repair ability and he has the largest pool of health of any of the squads, so he's quite unlikely to be the one to die first in a heavy fight.
He CAN be a very strong melee fighter, but honestly the damage he can do with a range-focused build is much higher. His most brutal ability is a Barrage that eventually gets boosted with explosive ammunition; one use of this can regularly rip whole infantry squads to pieces, reduce buildings to rubble, turn most vehicles to scrap and generally make anything on the receiving end of it have a very bad day at a reasonably good range, so it isn't too difficult to get Davian into position to use it at the most effective spot to do the most damage. Combined with an eventual passive skill that gives him energy regeneration on each kill, Barrage literally becomes self-sustaining against infantry, completely refilling Davian's entire energy pool while the skill is still firing allowing him to use it at an absolutely frantic pace as it doesn't have a very long cooldown. Once you finally get him (which can take a while) you're likely to not ever remove him from your active squad list.
Dawn of War II: Chaos Rising[]
After the battle against the Tyranids, Davian Thule the Dreadnought would continue to serve in the Force Commander's taskforce and takes part in the campaign against the forces of Chaos.
As before he is very, VERY brutal in ranged combat, as he retains his awe-inspiring Barrage ability that can erase entire squadrons of enemies instantly. One of his most noteworthy new skills is the Stamina skill Defensive Weapons; this enhances his Ancient Defender self repair mode so that he is still able to use his weapons while repairing, turning him into an extremely lethal self-repairing gun turret which can be a very useful bullet-sponge for protecting your allies.
During the campaign, Davian Thule would sometime give advices relevant to the developing situations. Thule is also very vocal if the Commander is becoming corrupted asking him to step back from madness. Davian Thule is the only squad not to gain corruption during Chaos Rising.
If the Force Commander gains too much corruption the player will be unable to deploy him as he will refuse to serve alongside a corrupt Commander.
Dawn of War II: Retribution[]
Davian Thule is the first boss in the Chaos campaign, and appears as a Venerable Dreadnought. He is slain by Eliphas. It is not known if this is canon. Thule does not appear during the Space Marine campaign.
In the Space Marine campaign, Thule's heavy bolter, or "Thule's Ally" is a weapon that can be used by Diomedes and The Ancient.
Gallery[]
