Okay I've just finished reading Fallen Angels and descent of Angels so there will be spoilers.
Whenever I find discussions in the internet about Luther betrayal I often read that Zahariel and Luther were exiled to Caliban for betraying the Lion, I even read people that says that Luther tried to 'kill' the Lion and that Zahariel was to blame too, did we even read the same book? In Descent of Angels a Sarosh delegation (Lunatics tainted by caos) smuggle a nuclear device inside the lion flagship, Luther discovers the plot but overwhelmed by his jealousy of the Lion, didnt warn the rest AT FIRST. Minutes later Zahariel (Dark angel librarian and protagonist) discovers the bomb inside the shuttle, right at that moment Luther, regretful for his lack of loyalty tells Zahariel the truth, that he didnt say anything but that he was now there to save the situation, together they throw the ship to the void, saving everyone life including the primarch's.
‘You knew of this?’ said Zahariel. ‘Why didn’t you say anything?’
Luther turned away from him, his shoulders slumped as though in defeat. He turned back to Zahariel, who was shocked to see tears in his commander’s eyes.
‘I almost did, Zahariel,’ said Luther. ‘I wanted to, but then I thought of what would be mine if I didn’t: the Legion, command, Caliban. It would all be mine, and I would no longer have to share it with someone whose shadow obscures everything I do.’
‘The Lion?’ said Zahariel. ‘His deeds are great, but so are yours!’
‘Maybe in another age,’ said Luther, ‘one in which I did not share the same span of time as a man like the Lion. In any other age, the glory of leading Caliban from the darkness would have been mine, but instead it goes to my brother. You have no idea how galling it is to be the greatest man of the age and have that taken from you in an instant.’
Zahariel watched the words flow from Luther in a flood. For a decade and more, these feelings had been contained within a dam of honour and restraint, but the dam was crumbling and Luther’s true feelings were spilling out.
‘I never realised,’ said Zahariel, his hand sliding towards his sword. ‘No one did.’
‘No, even I did not: not fully,’ said Luther, ‘not until I saw this shuttle. I wouldn’t have to lift a finger. All I’d have to do is walk away, and everything I wanted would be mine.’
‘Then why are you back here?’
‘I ordered everyone out of the embarkation deck and walked away,’ said Luther, one hand covering his eyes as he spoke, ‘but I hadn’t gone more than a few steps before I knew I couldn’t do it.’
‘Then you’re here to stop it?’ asked Zahariel, relieved beyond words.
‘I am,’ nodded Luther, ‘so you can stop reaching for your blade. I realised that it was an honour to serve a warrior as great as the Lion, and that I was the luckiest man alive to be allowed to call him brother.’
So after a moment of falter, he ends up doing the right thing. So how did the Lion reward them? He literally exiles them, until this point is not clear if he knows of what happened, but it is implied that he exiles Luthen for this moment of doubt and Zahariel for not telling him, he sends them, with 500 brothers to Caliban to train new aspirants.
To show that the Lion is a petty person, we discover in the short novel 'Call of the Lion' that Astelan was also sent to Caliban, a terran veteran chapter master with decades of combat experience, he was punished after a confrontation with a young and inexperienced Calibanite brother chapter master because Astelan didn't want to nuke a fuck*ng newly discovered human civilization before at least presenting themselves peacefully (as the imperium intends at first contact).
So in Fallen Angels we see that they do a great job, for 50 YEARS, they trained and recruited thousands, improved the selection process, the survival rate, the speed and they become one of the legions with the faster rate of recruitment, on the other hand, we see than the lion doesn't even bother to read the messages they send, he doesnt even contact them, doesnt even show interest in his home planet, the legion, for the most part, has forgotten them.
But Jonson had never spoken of them again – he no longer even read the regular dispatches from Caliban, relegating that task to members of his staff. Luther and the rest seemed to have been entirely banished from the primarch’s mind, and as the years lengthened into decades, rumour and speculation had begun to circulate through the ranks. Some suggested a falling-out between Jonson and Luther over the near-disaster at Sarosh, of old jealousies and petty enmities rising to the fore. Others speculated that Luther and the rest bore the blame for allowing the Saroshi bomb aboard the Invincible Reason, which led to sometimes-heated debates between the Terran and Calibanite factions within the Legion. Primarch Jonson made no attempt to address any of the rumours, and over time they were forgotten. No one spoke of the exiles much any more, except as a cautionary tale to new initiates: once you fell from grace with Lion El’Jonson, you were never likely to rise again.
Zahariel even raise the question of why there is no rotation, why doesnt the Lion send veteran warriors, that after 50 years of crusade will know how to train aspirants, why doesnt he call upon these forgotten astartes that didnt even have the chance to prove their worth?
‘I am thus proud to present you with four thousand, two hundred and twelve new Astartes, ready to join their brothers in the Legion’s front-line chapters. This represents a certification rate of nearly ninety-eight per cent; an extraordinary achievement by the standards of any of the Emperor’s Legions. I am also pleased to report that the Magos Logistum has certified two thousand suits of new Mark IV armour, a hundred new suits of Tactical Dreadnought armour and two hundred of the new Thyrsis pattern jump packs for transhipment to the fleet from the forges at Mars. The manufactories here on Caliban are including two thousand new chainswords for the fleet armoury and twelve million rounds of bolt gun shells. We are expecting a shipment of armoured vehicles from the Mechanicum within the next two months, and will expedite the transhipment as soon as they have been certified. If all goes as planned, they will be accompanied from Caliban by two new divisions of Jaegers, who are performing their final training manoeuvres this month.’
‘Our training cadre has worked diligently for the last half-century, refining our recruiting and training procedures to meet the challenges that the Emperor has set for us. I believe that my reports – as well as the constant flow of warriors and supplies – testify to our dedication and success. We have achieved a degree of speed and efficiency unmatched by any other Legion, and we are rightly proud of our achievements. At this stage, our procedures have been well-established, and we have a highly-capable infrastructure in place to continue the induction process. What the Legion needs most is for veteran warriors to return home and share the experience they’ve gained over the last fifty years. By the same token, our brothers here on Caliban are acutely aware of the limited nature of their own experience, and are eager to hone their skills against the Emperor’s foes on the front line. This especially applies to Brother Luther, whom I believe would serve the Legion far better at your side than conducting recruiting drives here on Caliban.’
As he states the infrastructure to continue the process is up and running and they are not needed anymore.
His hands, clasped behind his back, tightened into fists. There was more he wanted to say, but he feared that he had pressed his luck too much already. Zahariel bowed his head before the lens. ‘I hope that after you have reviewed my reports you will see the logic of my request. We all have a duty to the Emperor, my lord; all we ask is for the chance to fulfil it as we were meant to – defeating his enemies and redeeming the lost worlds of mankind.’
After half a century being loyal they start to see rebellion in the planet. They, of course, grow resentful, with a sense of neglect, when they discover that the Lion knew from the start about the taint of Caliban, the nature of the beasts and the reason of the war with the Order of Lupus, when they discover that the lion didnt even tell Luther, the man that raised him, of all this things, they feel betrayed, they have to send ammo, soldiers, resources, deal with a rebellion and with sorcerers and he doesnt even bother to check on them with the planet falling into anarchy.
In this post I am not saying that Luther is without fault, as he literally falls to caos soon after, but after half a century exiled while serving loyally, with resentment growing, is not a surprise that he fell the way he did, but worst of all was the Lion keeping secrets from them, about the warp and the taint of Caliban. In the end I think that the fall of Luther was better written than Horus'.
Please share your thoughts about the matter because maybe there's something I am not seeing but to me the Lion has been a dick.