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I have just finished the Talon of Horus, in several places it suggests that Abbadon is a clone of Horus. I have also seen this idea postulated online in several places.

This is, however, contradicted as being a possibility in the Horus Heresy and Siege of Terra books. In these Abbadon's history on Chthonia is told, how he refused to kill his friends to become his father's heir. It talks about his first meeting with Horus after completing his change to a legio astartes. The books also suggest that Horus Aximand (little horus) resembles his Primarch far closer.

All this suggests that there can be no way that Abbadon is a clone of Horus.

So my question, in the past, in a codex or an older story did Games Workshop suggest that Abbadon was a clone of Horus and are the Black Library stories now trying to fit that change into the story while not having Abbadon be a clone by suggesting it is what people think, and something Abbadon doesn't deny, but is not actually true?

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  • at what time does talon of horus take place? before or after the siege of terra in the 40k timeline?
    – TerranGaming
    Commented Jul 10, 2019 at 10:17
  • a long time after, it details the hunt for the Vengful Spirit by a small warband of "traitor" marines in the Eye of Terror following the Emperors Children destroying the Sons of Horus stronghold and Fabius Bile stealing the body of Horus. It also details the start of the founding of the Black Legion
    – Richard C
    Commented Jul 10, 2019 at 10:44
  • so then its not mutually exclusive right? abbadon during the siege of terra may be the real abbadon however he might have been replaced by the clone of horus that fabius bile made, after all it is said that abbadon killed the clone but what if clone horus killed abadon and assumed his position and identity?
    – TerranGaming
    Commented Jul 10, 2019 at 12:19
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    No it is made very clear that that that clone has been destroyed by Abbadon. It was witnessed by multiple people who where fighting the Clone and have no reason to lie/be kept alive by the clone post the fight. unless someone can point to something that suggests otherwise the talon of horus book makes that very clear.
    – Richard C
    Commented Jul 10, 2019 at 14:12
  • It will be impossible to answer this question unless the Black Library actually retcons Abbadon. But, they do have a history of retconning all sort of characters and events. Leman Russ for example used to be an Imperial tank commander, an especially famous one, so famous they named the tank after him. Then GW retconned him into a Primarch.
    – Daft
    Commented Jul 11, 2019 at 14:53

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As others have said in the comments it’s impossible to know for sure without knowing the inner workings of Black Library. However my inclination is to say no and attempt to explain why I say that in my answer. Obviously I’ll put in the disclaimer that I don’t work for Games Workshop and therefore my answer is purely based on my understanding of the fluff.

When mortals undergo the process to transform them into the Adeptus Astartes aside from the more obvious aspects (growing two feet in height, gaining strength, speed, and intelligence) they also take on aspects of their gene-sires. This is because their Primarchs are the source of the genetic material for their legions (and successor chapters).

This goes beyond fighting style. Blood Angels are often described as especially beautiful, Space Wolves are great hairy guys, and Salamanders are all dark skinned with red eyes (bear in mind that originally not all legionaries were from the Primarchs’ planets, many came from Terra so these must be gene-seed/genetic rather than environmental/cultural.

The Luna Wolves and Alpha Legion experienced this to the extreme. Alpha Legionaries all look pretty much identical and almost the same as their Primarchs. The Luna Wolves had a number of individuals, known as the True Sons of Horus who didn't just look a bit like their Primarch but appear as diminutive duplicates. Horus Aximand (Little Horus) was one, Ezekyle Abbadon was another. It’s safe to assume that this was as a result of the gene-seed implantation rather than two mortals from Cthona looking identical to a Primarch who was created on Terra before being lost to the warp. It's not entirely sure whether Little Horus was Terran born or from Cthona but Ezekyle Abbadon was the son of a Cthonan warlord.

In short, Abbadon is not a clone of Horus, a primarch’s biology is utterly beyond that of even an Astartes. He’s a True Son of Horus, one of the few in his gene-lineage who’s appearance changed to be almost exactly like him.

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    Thanks for the answer, however my question came from the fact that I am pretty sure in older versions of the fluff Abaddon was stated as being a clone but in more recent stories etc that has been rolled back.
    – Richard C
    Commented Dec 12, 2019 at 11:52
  • @RichardC yeah, I'm not sure anyone will be able to answer that one short of BL writers so I did my best. Have you tried asking BL? Aaron Dembski-Bowden is pretty active on social media!
    – Liath
    Commented Dec 12, 2019 at 12:46
  • The primarchs are not grown on Terra, they were dispersed as pods in space while still in the making. @Liath
    – Schneejäger
    Commented Dec 12, 2019 at 14:30
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    They were created on terra but were lost to the warp. Maybe created would have been a better word and then they grew up on their home worlds. My point was they’re not genetically linked to their troops.
    – Liath
    Commented Dec 12, 2019 at 17:57

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