Fimir still exist in Age of Sigmar lore despite the lack of model. In the Everspring Swathe, one of the region in the Ghyran realmsphere, there is an island simply named the Peel. Said island is rumoured to be inhabited by malevolent mist-dweling creatures. Though not proprely named, the island is bordered by the "Fimir Bay", so we can easily guess what kind of creatures they are. It wouldn't be the first time AoS writers make reference to "lost factions". The Chaos Dwarfs, for instance, make a few appearences : Zharr Vyxa in Shyish and the Forge Anathema in the Great Parch of Aqshy. Great video by the way !
Chaos Dwarfs were directly referenced mere weeks ago in one of the promotional videos for the 3rd edition starter when discussing the Hobgrots and their hand grenades.
GW has generally been pretty alright with various works of theirs referencing pretty much anything they haven't explicitly retconned out of the lore. It's a good way to do it, gives them a way to pick those things back up if they get new ideas about them at some point. Both the 40k and AoS settings are so large that you can painlessly fade things in or out.
Great content as always! Interestingly enough, the Fimir make an appearance in the Total War: Warhammer games as part of the Norscan faction. Both the Fimir Balefiend and Fimir Warriors are available as playable units. Nothing is mentioned of their previous history though!
@@Lynch2507 outdated?? Nahhhh they are TRADITIONAL! Lol. It's tradition to release like 15 races into a game, and update 13 of them constantly, some of them having full faction overhauls, double the hero units and sometimes triple the roster, meanwhile chaos gets a few gameplay updates for the mechanics (no legendary lords though, never!) but norsca?.......we don't talk about norsca..... Hey beastmen got a single new hero and large unit once so....that's cool
There is also a voice line of the Changeling in the Shadows of Change expansion that speaks about turning into a Fimir to lead an Albion invasion, pretty cool :)
I like how GW were wanting to create a unique fantasy race and then just completely rob some cool artwork off a book of Irish mythology lol, they were cool looking figures though.
@@Commodore22345 You're missing what I'm saying. Popular doesn't mean objectively good, nor does just copying it make the new thing good. I would love to see a game that uses the Scottish origin of halfling (an early term for teenagers) instead of everyone just using hobbits. You can have other things. Not everything needs to just be a copy of Tolkien. That's what fimirs were. They were a relatively new contribution by GW on top of the Tolkienian tropes, such that it made the Old World a more unique and interesting place rather than just another D&D setting. Just stealing from Tolkien just makes things another boring Euro fantasy setting.
I remember Fimorians from Slaine comics in 2000AD in the 80's I like the Fimir, would be a great replacement for orcs, goblins or other common fantasy monsters in an RPG
There's a bit more on Fimir from the Hogshead 2nd ed WFRP supplement 'Dying of the light' which has them in the marshland around Marienburg and introduces daemonomaniacs. A lot of fans also take material from the unofficial Warpstone magazine, issue 25 of which was dedicated to one take on their backstory. :)
Quite a bit of Irish language and mythology influence that was prominent in Fantasy and 40k got forgotten about or ignored as time went on, for example the Eldar used to use Irish or peudo-Irish words a lot.
Yeah the Craftworlds are named after Celtic pre-Christian religious festivals like Biel-Tann = Beltane, Saim-Hann = Samhain, Lugganath = Lughnasad etc. To say nothing of the Howling Banshees aspect warriors. I think the WH40K writers intended the Eldar to be a metaphor for real life Celtic peoples, in terms of the sociopolitical commentary....
I have was lucky to snag one of the lovely Forge World Fimirach Noble models a few months back, painted up complete with a swamp base. If they released new ones I'd play them in a heartbeat!
Hia just a note on the Marags, there was an update for the Frimer for WHFRP, not writen but fully endorced and cannonised by GW that made a change to the witchqueens of the frimer. They CAN breed, but in doing so they lose most of there magic and ALL of there standing in there comunity. after all any slave can be a breader. this also means that should a female be born when not needed she may find herself in the pens rather than just executed. this also make s the frimmer Witch queens even more evil as the misery they inflict in there nabours is as a result of the Marrags choise of power over famerly..
Just wanted to say you're a breath of fresh air! Nice to see some one who really gets the history of the lore and GW products/tone and the context of British Sci-Fi in the 80's.
While I can understand that the designers/writers may now wish to distance themselves from a design desicion they wouldn't make today. This IS Warhammer, and the fact that there are a race of creatures who can only propgate by abducting females (a VERY VERY VERY common practice by tribes of our own world, even to this day.) Isn't that unsurprising. It's not like they described anything, they simply eluded to a dark and horrifying truth. I mean, lets face it, we all know that the Dark Elves and Dark Eldar practice the EXACT same behavior. Yet it's never explicity mentioned in any writings pertaining to them, but we all know it happens. And I'll say it again, This Is Warhammer. Nobody should be surprised that a grimdark setting is full of horrorfying fates.
Maybe there is something wrong with me, but i love the concept of specie that in order to survive has to abduct human children. That makes them scary, and I can imagine parents teling they kids that if they misbehave Fimirs will kidnap them or something.
Man, I remember all of this from the time... loved the design. Just FYI, 'cyclopean' doesn't mean what you think it means... it means 'giant', not 'one-eyed'... so Lovecraft described the ancient halls in At The Mountains Of Madness as 'cyclopean'.
They are in the Total War: Warhammer games as part of the Norsca Faction. As this game is a gateway into the tabletop for a lot of new people, I suspect we might see more of the Fimir in the future.
Fimir in WFRP were great. Is this marsh safe? Can we communicate with these one-eyed critters, or should we stay weary of them? I had so much fun with these ""monsters".
I first encountered the Fimir in Hero Quest and occasionally saw them in old "White Dwarf" back issues but had no idea about the larger role they played in the Warhammer universe, so this is very enlightening. Thanks for posting! I did however, when I first read about the Fomorians in Irish folklore, instantly react about "ah so that is where Games Workshop got the Fimir from!".
great video! ive always loved the cool and unique design of the fimir ever since playing with my dad's copy of hero quest as a kid, and even grabbed 3 from forgeworld in early AoS, though never managed to get more than that before they were discontinued. Really hoping they can make a resurgence in the future and become a staple of the setting rather than just coming and going again
This is an amazing channel!! These history of videos are magnificent, can’t wait to see more. I’m surprised you didn’t mention the fimir showing up in Warhammer Total war. Also, do Zoats next!!!
Heya! Thank you so much for putting a sexual assault trigger warning. You are one of the only 40k/fantasy lore channels that do that. Often it's a recurring theme in other channels either taken very lightly as (questionable) parts of the lore or is the subject of off colour jokes and it really makes navigating the space a challenge. So... Thanks! It does help ^-^
design-wise I see some of the design in the new 'ork-things' featured in AoS now. Besides, Fomorians could be found in I-Kores 'Celtos-Game' - never played it but always loved the sculpts, especially the Gael, obviously heavily inspired by Frank Frazettas Work.
Hi, just wanted to add that they've added the Fimir back into Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, for the 4th edition. They don't get a lot in the small bestiary in the back of the book but it's possible future books will expand on that. And I appreciate you putting a content warning there for people that might need it.
Used to luv using fimir in wfrp. They made such a cool race to play against as a more terrifying encounter. Used them in multiple long play scenarios interwound through other campaigns with the draik pulling strings behind the scenes with human worshipping demon cults. Got a lot of the green plastic Fimir some I converted into shirls etc. Got the forgeworld sculpts and a couple other guys from other companies.
Ah... I remember the Heroquest model, and the story in a Heroquest sticker album having the Fimir as a really nasty monster that was really dangerous...
Another amazing video. Never heard of the Fimir before! I'm wondering why did Warhammer went from square to circle bases? What's the history of bases? Seriously, so many Warhammer (aos/fantasy/40k) really don't play the games and this sort of research is always highly appreciated.
Thanks! There were hex bases before that! I'd say mostly it's because round bases fir better on models that might move in any direction. Square bases are only a better choice in a game where you have to rank up models into blocks. When WHFB switched to AoS, and went from a rank-and-file game to an individual movement game, there was no reason to keep square bases.
@@Madhattersinjeans some vehicles (various armies' dreadnought equivalents mostly) had square bases back in the day, too… i expect for no reason other than gw didn't feel like creating new moulds for large round circular bases when they already had large square ones (and typical 40k armies would have at most one or two models that even used them). it was interesting to see bikers go from being on rectangular cavalry bases, to _no_ base, and now back around to oval bases.
if you ask me, age of sigmar switched to round bases from square/rectangular ones just to force all the whfb players to rebase all their models or else buy entire armies all over again ;)
I certainly remember Fimir from Heroquest and i always meant to get myself a squad or contingent of allied Fimir warriors........so so cool! Ogre sized Fimir was another cool figure. As a squats player I would still love a fimir batallion or something. Goodness only knows how much Fimir models cost on ebay thede days! An arm and a leg no doubt.
I always wondered what the hell a Fimir was ever since I got hero quest, especially since I was still a fan of Warhammer Fantasy at the time and had never heard of them before or since. As an Irish person who loves that Fimorians and irish mythology in general, I thought oh cool! I think Irish mythology could be a great resource material and wish it was used/popped up more. After finishing the video i am both disappointed and slightly offended. At least those later models looked cool
I feel the same way, Fomorians are increadibly interesting in Irish mythology and shame to see them misused as just "bog dwellers who rape women". Genuinely as a kid I always thought Balor of the evil eye was such a cool mythological figure. The idea that his eye was a sort of superweapon that took several men to open its lid, and had to be extremely careful to only look in their enemies' direction, is amazing 😅.
I would love to see the Fimir reintroduced as a proper squad in either AoS or 40k. In 40k they could be mercenaries hired by Oaks, Tau or Drukhari, or they could be classified as abhumans within the Imperium of man?
No mention of the Corum books from Moorcock? The Fimir were the GW version of the Fhoi Myore although Moorcocks guys were closer to the legends. For those who don't know GW chaos is mostly stolen from moorcock as well.
Yeah, I totally agree that early Warhammer lifted a ton from Moorcock, especially regarding Chaos. But I kinda think that, given the abilities and backstory he gives the Fhoi Myore - which are very different to the WHFB Fimir - it's probably a case of lifting from the same background.
as a Scandinavian I find it endlessly funny they copyrighted the names of Fenris and Valhalla at some point, on account of 2 planets in the WH40K galaxy being named that @@boneman-calciumenjoyer8290
I have HeroQuest and never really played it. I have all the pieces, the video, and probably took it out of the box.... twice because I never understood how to play nor had enough people to do so.
Its an old Warhammer Community video - there's a link in the description. Essentially, the joke is that any time someone asks GW about Squats, plastic Thunderhawks, etc, they gave tk go reset the countdown clock.
Hi. In warhammer fantasy 4th edition the fimir are back (it's a reboot of 1st) and even there are some clues to their in the "If looks could kill" adventure.
Subbed bro enjoying the obscure lore :). I hoarded the metal minis for the fimir and I love then except I dont play Sigmar. The Fimir are the trolls from Berserk for Sigmar
I came across this lore as a beardling. It was unsettling then, I guess that was it's intent to some extent. I ended up changing it for my games though as I thought there was no room for it in my teenage games.. as I did find. them a fascinating race. The change I made was.. that they still used Humans (or whoever they got their hands on) as part of their breeding cycle.. The Meargh.. acting more like a queen ... implanting their captives with a an embryo ... like a Parisite.. emerging to consume the host. Yes I think my tiny teenage brain was jazzed about Alien/Aliens at the time and it was a pretty hammy way to make these guys just... simply ... horrible. Anyway I hope they return somehow... in a less problematic way.
Honestly the Fimir don't seem any worse than the Goblins from the anime "Goblin Slayer" who have a similar reproductive cycle. And which is given far more focus than the Fimir's aspect likely would have seen on the tabletop or as part of a novel.
I didn't like that warhammer took the family friendly approach, this is supposedly grimdark. There are so much opportunity to showcase until that limit was imposed.
Do Genestealer Cults reproduce in the same way? It’s always very quickly brushed over in lore vids and no one really elaborates. They do seem to have the same feel in tone to this race.
Yeah its called a 'kiss' and we both know that's tongue and cheek... Have you seen a genestealers tongue its enough to take your breath away haha From the wiki: The Genestealer will find a suitable host and hypnotise them into passivity using an effect induced with its eyes. The Genestealer then thrusts its long, whip-like tongue (which also serves as an ovipositor) into the body of the host, where it deposits its DNA in the form of a type of virus that infects the somatic and germ line cells of the host.
Its funny how what the fimir did was problematic...but when the dark elves did it it was fine and remained a detail.. We see stories about goblins doing that sort of thing all the time now.. Its all fictional...whats so problematic with evil, fictional monsters doing evil things?
Have always been surprised GW hasn’t properly dived into Celtic Mythology as source material at some point. Related to the Fimir, we rarely heard about the mystery isle of Albion. The Regiments of Renown giants set is one of the few products specifically related to this region and I can’t help thinking the Fimir inspired the sculpts. Definitely felt like that was a moment when GW could have delved further into this lore but it wasn’t the case.
I hope these guys find their way back into Age of Sigmar. I haven't invested much time into the game yet, but my cursory glance over everything that isn't lizardmen has felt very samey. There's a bunch of elves, some dwarfs, sigmarines, orks, chaos, and some humans. The only thing that really stood out to me were the ghosts and the Skaven. I guess as I write this out, I'm not entirely sure how to differentiate the Fimir from the beastmen, but they sure do look neat.
Fomoroid lore is more similar to Greek cyclops than Celtic fomorians tbh. I don't think they are relates in lore in any way. Fomoroids in AoS are race of giant humanoid with one eye. Long time ago they were master in craftsmanship, especially as masons, no more evil than normal human or dwarf. But as time went on, they became de-facto slaves for Order civilisations, and later tortured and mutated completely as slaves of Chaos warriors. Now their species is just misarable brutes that sometimes show glimpses of former glory - like mosaics made up from human teeth and bones in slavepits. Fimir also exist in AoS, but they are almost forgotten by gw. But there is a place called "Fimir Bay" in Ghyran
I don’t see a problem with the fact the Fimir steal human women for breeding, its a dark fantasy with dark themes. These monsters are evil and we don’t like them because they are heros, they are the boogeymen.
Also there were already half Orcs in the game, did anyone think they came around from a match on "e-harmony"? They could only be a result of a spot of "rape and pillage" on the part of the Orcs....Not to mention all the Slaanesh stuff. Warhammer (FB) is a Wargame that revolves around mass slaughter and in the real world war and rape very often go hand in hand, there is no graphic description of the reproduction in the background so i see this as sad modern "wokeness", nobody ever thought anything of it at the time, the reason the Army never took off is that unlike the Skaven which were introduced a bit beforehand they were never backed up with a full range of models and the army list such as it was gave them almost no equipment options including zero ranged weaponry, stat wise they stack up reasonably against Ogres for the pv but ogres have more access to armour and weapon upgrades.
Massive kudos for the content warning. Dark fantasy often tends to attract...difficult...type of people, it's nice to see this issue addressed in a civilized manner
I love how we can enjoy a world where people wear heads of enemies as trophies, piles of skulls everywhere, dark elves murder-torturing each other in the streets. Blood, blood, blood! But it is okay, we say. We are all intelligent enough to separate fantasy from reality. I mean it's not like there is any violence in the real world anyway, right? But when we get to the breeding habits of the Fimir, we must speak in the most somber and heavy tones. Suddenly it's wrong and we can no longer separate fantasy from reality.
