40k's Most Badass Detective: Gregor Eisenhorn | Warhammer 40k Lore

In a sealed chamber aboard an Inquisition ship, a soul summoned from the dead transforms into a chaos spawn, forcing a Lord Inquisitor to bellow the Right of Banishment while blasting it with a flamer. This is the world of Xenos, the first novel in Dan Abnett’s Eisenhorn trilogy, and it operates as a horror-infused detective story set in the 41st millennium. The episode covers the full plot of the novel, tracking Inquisitor Gregor Eisenhorn from a frozen world called Hubris to a reality-bending alien homeworld, as he investigates a conspiracy that ties together chaos cultists, a rogue trader, a noble house, and a corrupted xenos artifact.

Eisenhorn and the Inquisition’s Factions

Gregor Eisenhorn is an Inquisitor of the Ordo Xenos, born on Cressworld in 198.M41. He was likely taken by the Black Ships as a child, trained in the Scholar Progenium, and later apprenticed under Inquisitor Hapshant alongside his friend Titus Endor. Eisenhorn describes himself as having a “singular force of will,” which is both his psychic gift and his defining character trait. He identifies as an Amalathian, a Puritan subset of the Inquisition that believes the Imperium should remain exactly as it is—the God-Emperor’s intended design. This is contrasted with Radicals, who are willing to use xenos technology or even heretical tools if the ends justify the means. The tension between these two ph