The Serpent Lodge was a suspected Chaos cult and its temple on the planet Davin, and it’s where Warmaster Horus was turned against the Emperor. That makes it one of the most consequential places in Warhammer 40k history, the spark that lit the Horus Heresy.
What the Serpent Lodge was
The name covers two things: a group of suspected Chaos cultists, and the temple they operated from on Davin. Their temple was called the Delphos.
The Lodge treated Horus for a crippling injury he picked up campaigning on Davin’s moon. That treatment was the cover for something much bigger.
The temple itself
The Delphos sat in the middle of a huge crater, thousands of metres across, at the end of a long valley. The main land route ran along a stone causeway lined with crumbling statues of ancient Davinite kings.
The building was octagonal, with a bastion and tower at each corner and eight more towers ringing a central dome, each tipped with a fire. A single archway led inside.
You reached the dome by climbing massive stone steps lined with coal braziers and serpent-carved pillars. Between the gated archway and the top of the steps sat a wide circular pool that fed three narrow watercourses down the staircase, one on each side and one splitting the middle.
The gate was two big doors of beaten bronze. Their design only made sense when closed: a fruit-laden tree with two great snakes coiled around it and each other, heads entwined above. Captain Garviel Loken of the Sons of Horus noticed it looked a lot like the caduceus worn by Space Marine Apothecaries. The paving echoed the tree with three carved roots running to the pool. Once shut, those gates could only be opened from inside.
The secret chamber and the ritual
At the Lodge’s heart was a hidden chamber, shielded by powerful magic and screening tech. Disgruntled Mechanicum adepts installed that protection in exchange for information from the Word Bearers.
The chamber was circular, with a sacrificial circle and sinkhole at its centre. There the Lodge members cast the spells that let Erebus speak with Horus while the Warmaster stayed in the temple.
Why it matters
This is where the Heresy really begins. The Word Bearers and the Ruinous Powers used the Lodge as part of an elaborate scheme to turn Horus against the Emperor, and it worked.
Davinite belief held that the injured brought inside were left to the care of the spirits of the dead and their destiny. They were expected to come out healed. Horus did, but not as the man who went in.
- Location: Davin, at the end of a valley inside a vast crater.
- Also called: the Delphos.
- Key figures: Erebus, the Word Bearers, and Warmaster Horus.
- Purpose in the plot: the ritual site where Horus was corrupted.
Key facts
- The Serpent Lodge was both a suspected Chaos cult and its temple on Davin.
- The temple was known as the Delphos and stood in a crater thousands of metres wide.
- Horus was treated there for an injury from fighting on Davin’s moon.
- The Word Bearers and the Ruinous Powers used the Lodge to turn Horus against the Emperor.
- A hidden chamber at its heart held a sacrificial circle used for Erebus’s contact with Horus.
FAQ
What was the Serpent Lodge in Warhammer 40k?
It was a suspected Chaos cult and its temple on Davin. The Lodge treated Horus’s injury and secretly hosted the ritual that turned him against the Emperor.
Who was behind Horus’s corruption at the Serpent Lodge?
The Word Bearers, working with the Ruinous Powers. Erebus used the Lodge’s hidden chamber to communicate with Horus during his stay.
Why is the Serpent Lodge important?
It’s the starting point of the Horus Heresy. Without Horus’s turn there, the civil war that nearly destroyed the Imperium doesn’t happen.