Are marines immortal?

[MadLarkin]

Besides a bolt pistol to the face, like naturally are they immortal?

In the HH series Loken basically says that they are but that they will all die in battle at one point or another but in some other sources it says they live to about 200-400 years depending on how mechanically altered they become.

Which is correct? Can they die of natural causes?

[luke.noorda]

well, i agree with the first point, the second not.

as i don't really think a Marine wants/gets leave, and as he becomes older, his reflexes will devolve, so eventually he would meet his match.

and it is noted that Blood Angels have a significantly longer life span. to me 'life span' seems to suggest a Marines life has a beginning and an end, whether that is be natural means, or unnatural.
also, Dante is the oldest of marines, over 1000 years of age!

hope it helps, subject to falsity.

[MVBrandt]

IIRC from the HH series, it's implied Marines are "practically" immortal ... in the sense that you aren't going to ever see one die b/c he's old.

That doesn't mean they'll live forever ... they aren't quite the Primarchs/Emperor here ... but it does mean you shouldn't really consider them to be age-concerned warriors.

Most "successful" marines seem to live several centuries, with some of the Dreddies being truly ancient, and with Dante being over 1,000.

[DJinni]

it just depends on which fluff you are looking at.
darkangels fluff says that the members of the inner circle know the most about the heresy because they lived it, which would mean they fought alongside their primarch in the battlefields of old
but then again blood angels fluff says dante is the oldest marine.

[MadLarkin]

Cool I didn't know Dante was 1,000 years old.

That makes sense, I was just wondering what happened to Apothecary Vaddon from flight of the Eisenstein, he stayed on Earth to try and solve Nurgle's Rot so he essentially left combat. And also Battle Captain Garro, I was wondering if there was any chance he'd still be alive (there's hoping!)

Thanks for the replies guys.

[phr0z3n]

I think Garro would certianly be dead. There's no place for him left in the Imperium. His Empror is gone and his legion - poor guy, probably would have joined the Daemonhunters or something like that b4 he died. It is implied in the Flight of the Eisenstein.

Marines are pretty much normal humans times 40. They will age as normal people do, although at a much slower rate. The battle psychosis over the long period of time is what makes marines mentally weak and more likely to turn to chaos.

[The Paint Monkey]

I'd suggest that there has been a degeneration in the quality of gene-seed since the Horus Heresy. This would explain why Loken described marines as 'functionally immortal' but in the 'current' era they just live a long time and some (BAs for example who are very protective of the quality of the gene-seed) have retained a superior life span. Blood Angels are also one of the most artistically inclined chapters so maybe they're just chill guys most of the time and live longer as a result (when they're not wigging out at the enemy on the battlefield).

[MadLarkin]

That's a pretty good theory Paint Monkey, gives me hope that Garro is a grandmaster somewhere! That's where I picture Garro too, being the founder of the grey knights

[sir stompalot]

Dont for get the warp affecting time. in brothers of the snake priad is only 10 years older and antoni is atleast 40 years older when they meet again

[LordTrebor]

No I don't think they're immortal, they have long life spans yes, but then again so we really know how long a Space Marine can live? Not many die of natural causes after all.