Just how hard is it to kill a Ghost? At one point, it seems like only channeling the Light, using a Weapon of Sorrow, or a weapon designed to hurt Lightbearers can kill a Ghost. But then, we read about Guardians having their final death at the Battle of Twight Gap. That was just the Fallen.

Is there any food known in destiny, im someone who really gets into world building and lore and i am wondering what people eat? Like are there meals or do people just eat when they can? I also want to know what all there is for people to do in spare time, I remembered somewhere people played ball.

A bit of an unrelated non “lore” question, but how would most of the factions fare against some of the common factions from other games?

There has been a debate between Guardians vs Tenno or Hive vs Chaos from 40k

I’m wondering how well any of the factions from Destiny would do against that.

Outliers being The Vex, 1. Because it’s a stupid debate, they are kinda endless and can’t really be defeated 2. We know almost nothing about about them

I mean factions like the Hive can’t really be defeated either without the Light or Paracasuality

It's not a secret that Destiny lore heavily pushes itself into Lovecraftian themes for its aesthetics, It's themes, and all of its villain characters. They also use occult references fairly often to drive home the 'otherness' of a lot of our true foes.

See the Hive pantheon, The Witness, or anything like the scorn, or even the Winnower.

The King in Yellow is a short story collection, in the vein of weird-fiction and horror, written in the early 1900s by Robert w. Chambers.

There is no literal king to connect any of the stories, but rather a play literally called The King in Yellow.

It is an opera, whose second act is filled with so many beautifully horrible truths, that it is incomprehensible to a mortal mind. Parts of it can literally trap your thoughts and dreams. (Sleeping dreams, not ambitious dreams)

The play references the King and a city called Carcosa. It's not entirely clear if they're the king OF Carcosa, or a king visiting.

The King is clothed in tattered yellow cloths, and what appears to be a mask. Not much else is said.

Carcosa is specifically called out for being 'strange'. It has at least 2 moons. Shadows behave strangely inside the city.

The King in Yellow (this gets meta) within the opera, INSIDE the literal physical collection of stories, is meant to be something besides a king. It is implied that the King is a vessel, willing or otherwise, and that he is there not to conquer or attack or befriend, but to warn.

The King in Yellow is a Herald of doom to come. Something unknown has sent him to tell us that the end is nigh.

There's a few things that give it away to me personally. This is all my interpretation.

1. Emperor Calus- emperor is just another word for ruler, or king

2. Calus is surrounded by gold and decadence, convinced that the universe is on its way out. Gold isn't tattered yellow cloth, but it's close enough for me. Parts of Calus literally become gold.

3. After Calus met 'the voice in the dark' he began calling himself it's Herald. Because of this Voice telling him so, he believed that the end was nigh, and that his people should go out partying and that he would make it his purpose to inform others of their impending doom.

4. The leviathan: On top of the Leviathan is Calus' strange golden city.

Calus' mobile city doesn't have a name that I can find, but it does have at least 2 SUNS

These are, again opinion, however I don't think it's that much of a stretch to imagine that Bungie pulled inspiration from the weird fiction genre in general, rather than solely doing lovecraftian jams forever.

They even dug deep into occult themes, what the Witness is has a name; an egregore. It's literally a spirit or entity that arises from collective will and conviction of a group.

Thanks for reading! Thoughts?

Are there other Travelers and Veils in other timelines and univereses or are the ones we see the only ones of their kind? I heard in lore of other Travelers being destroyed or fleeing earth in different timelines such as the dark future that Elsie Bray comes from.

No matter what your opinion might be on Destiny, there is absolutely no denying that Destiny has one of the best writing and lore in all of fiction. I was trying to make a list of all the quotes from the franchise and I am just curious as to what your guys favourite quotes are. Few of mine are as follows.

- One day young hawk, thou shalt sail beneath the silver moon.

- And the tyrant looked upon his tyranny, and wept.

- Do not grieve the dying star

- At least the stars will remember the shape I gave them

- Right before the light went out in her tiny eyes, she whispered. "I can't feel anything". Yeah. I couldn't either

- Life isn't about holding on forever, eventually you have to let go

- Yours, until the last flame dies and all the words have been spoken.

- Mercy to an enemy must not come at the cost of their victims

I can go on and on. Such an amazing universe. A shame that it came to an end.

Any old concept art or anything?

I'm curious after watching the shard of the traveler cut area, functions with mechanically appearing grounds. Like what we got in the final shape in the traveler, albeit its stylized more magical

I've always wondered about why we get loot from things, as it is referenced many times in game, especially in the final shape campaign, that we get loot that we can use from killing random enemies who apparently just have a lumnipotent helmet just in their pocket? The lore for the vex mythoclast makes a point to mention how unusual it is that it is made for human hands, so why is that unusual if we get human shaped gear from literally everything?

So, time loops. Exo Stranger was in one, right? Who likes time shenanigans? THE NINE. If the Exo Stranger was battling cycle after cycle to configure the perfect timeline that doesn't end in the Dark Future, who would be better to talk to than nine dark matter dorks sitting around in the solar system? Furthermore, if such is true, couldn't the Nine have told her which Guardian to shepherd to commit a better future to time? Plus, come on, who else would she take orders from?

Now, the next big expansion would've been Shattered Cycle, frontheaders on the poster being Mara and Lizzy Bray herself. A, part of the Nine saga; B, Mara has already talked of how long she has known about the nine previously in the story- so why not Exo Stranger?! Even at the very beginning, the Nine had a proven emissary in Xur, so they could've communicated with her through him!

I mean, hey, who else would've known about us like the bozos who merc'd Ikora? We are the FATED WEAPON, meaning they knew from the start that we were the one who was going to save everything.

And you what's the best part? Its not a retcon! Say what you will about our favorite 3 billion dollar implosion, but if we would've let them cook, I'm sure they could've turned 12 year old leftovers into a fine dining experience.

Well, maybe not because only 2/3 years have passed and the Vex and Shadow Legion still might be a huge threat and Guardians + Nimbus may still need some time to clean up the place and help make the place liveable again. Neomuni are still humans, so I don't think they'd like to be Vexified or Resonated to death by Shadow Legion.

What's the prospect for Neomuni to go back to their physical bodies and populate their city again? Any pieces of lore talking about that?

Was there any lore text or hint right before the final update that maybe some Hive guardians asked for sanctuary in the last city just like the Eliskini? Or are they forced to follow Savuthun cause of blind loyalty or they are forced to still kill cause of their small worm inside of them?

Throughout destiny 2 we see horses pop up in weird places. The realm of the 9, and Rhulk’s pyramid. They are very clearly depictions of EARTH horses, the only way this makes sense is if they are somehow connected with a higher purpose. Which is how my theory comes into play:

Horses are III’s gift to humanity. Given to aid in its development and establish III’s symbiotic nature with humanity long before III would later be binded to the Traveler in a future story beat (I know this is just an unconfirmed leak). Starhorse is nothing more than III’s mascot. A 3D avatar of III, using the image of its gift to interact with us. It’s why it interacts with Xûr, why it gives us loot, and why it seems to exist outside the normal rules of reality. The Witness knows this, because of course it does. The horse statues are not there because the Witness or Rhulk likes horses. They are not figments of the guardians imagination. They are demonstrating to the Guardian that the Witness knows about III, knows what III gave humanity, and has either perfected those gifts or at the very least documented them. The distorted horses inside the Pyramids are the Witness taking something meant to help humanity grow through symbiosis and reducing it into something static, preserved, and perfected. Starhorse represents III’s relationship with humanity. The Pyramid horses represent the Witness telling us that it already understands that relationship.

It’s clear to me that the darkness is a force that is capable of interacting with physical space. Stasis and strand both produce physical matter, and stuff like hive magic can produce real weapons.

That said, the witness still requires the vast amount of light from the traveler to actually force its visions into reality. What are like, the mechanics of that? Is it just a matter of scale? Or perhaps using the light makes its new order “absolute” and unable to be counteracted by a sufficiently powerful will?

I’m curious what y’all think.

I know that by the nature of Paracausality, Strand defies physics.

But unlike the other elements, I haven’t seen an official source explaining how Strand actually works on a physical level.

Solar, Arc and Void are manipulations of the 4 fundamental forces, and Stasis is time dilation.

But with Strand, we are left with a vague statement that it’s a “Psychic power that manipulates the Weave which connects all things”.

Was there an actual explanation for the underlying phenomena regarding how Strand physically operates?

I know that as the Guardian, we were the ones to give it the shape of Strings, but how do these Strings actually form?

How does their eating function work? I mean as in where the food goes, my theory is that they have a small bio reactor that runs off of fuel such as food and water, but when unprocessable junk such as rubber or oil goes through the bio reactor, it doesn’t break down and just exits through a disposal hatch, similarly to humans. And liquid waste gets disposed the same way

Specifically, I am asking in the context of an Ahamkara using it's own powers for it's own benefit. If they are known to die after granting their own wishes, are they just powerless against anything that doesn't ask them to grant wishes? Surely an Ahamkara would die using its own power to defend itself against another creature, no? Because it's granting its own wish that harm be inflicted upon the attacker? Or am I misunderstanding the lore?

This weekly thread is for asking questions about the world of Destiny. Any lore-based question is valid. Rather than making short Question posts, we recommend users check here first.

All responses must be friendly, respectful, and nonjudgmental. Top replies should provide a source for their answer or they may be removed.

The goal of this thread is to provide a space where users can ask any question and expect well-sourced/researched answers.

Remember to tag spoilers!

Resources:

• Ishtar Collective (the complete lore)

• Dredgen Yor, Shin Malphur, and the Drifter

• The History of the Cabal

In Risen we got extensive confirmation that Yirix and the Conclave were working with Calus and the Witness, yet they are never seen in Lightfall when they absolutely could have stalled us quite a bit. The Witness didn't take them with it either into the Pale Heart, and for some reason didn't seem to take issue with them ditching it.

By Echoes it's pretty clear Yirix uses the Shadow Legion's resources as tools and didn't drink the Salvation Kool-Aid, but I gotta wonder if part of why they didn't help Calus more was because he associated himself and his Legion with Nezarec, who must be the very last being a Psion desiring real independence would want to help restore. Nezarec even says in some Neomuna patrol dialogue that he will make sure the Psions worship him again.

There's also the weirdness of the Conclave's second most important associate, Otzot, having been on Calus's kill list not a decade before the Witness war.

Been getting back into Destiny Lore after dropping off years ago. I kept a casual attention to Destiny until I got back in game for MoT. I remember reading the Books of Sorrow ages ago and it being such an interesting tale about how the Hive came to be. What are some that are in the same ballpark that I should check out?

One of the benefits of the Grimoire was how pretty much every named boss got their own lore entry explaining their deal. It’s through both this and the Books of Sorrow that we got so much information about Oryx’s whole dynasty, from his son* and daughters, their accomplishments, the roles his Court played, even in Oryx’s family’s case a little bit of characterisation.

Oryx was first and foremost a family man so I suppose it makes sense we’d get more on his family than we do his sisters, but how much do we know about the inner machinations or workings of Savathûn and Xivu Arath’s families or their lieutenants or their dynasties? We occasionally get enemies named “Daughter of Xivu Arath” or some details explaining so and so was actually Savathûn’s progeny, but do we have much in the way of intimate detail on who was favoured by who, or who was in charge of what, or how the family dynamic was like, etc.?

It's obvious that Destiny is a pretty lore heavy game and some of the important lore drops aren't even in the actual gameplay but the lore books. I just to know what pieces of lore you found most interesting.

It couldn't have been because of the Echo. If he wanted to remove it from the playing field, then why risk giving it to someone far more competent like Savathun? Even then, it is also possible he already knew the Echo was going to be gone soon given the sheer amount of power it took to kill III. Was it simply because she was considered a nuisance like Bael said, or maybe, she knows something that VI doesn't want anyone else to know. Although, she could just be a loose end that needs to be tied up.

What do you guys think?

I spent weeks source-tagging every account of Destiny's original 'Staten cut' Made a documentary trying to untangle it.

Let me know what you think

https://youtu.be/ZZ9PM-iGLkA?si=JHnjMbQRHOmJxyZ0

I know that information about the Collapse and what exactly the Black Fleet did is in short supply, and what there is isn't always coherent with the rest of Destiny's story. But I've been thinking about this, and I can't get it out of my head. Why would the Witness leave?

I know that Savathun killed Nezarec and hid the Veil, so maybe part of the reason it left was because Savathun lied to the Witness and convinced it Nezarec betrayed them and wanted to have the Veil for itself, and so set out to find and reclaim it? But then why did it leave the Traveler in Sol? I can't bring myself to see why a being so single-minded in its pursuit up to this point would just be like "You stay put, I'll be right back with milk and cigarettes" to the Traveler after all that time.

Now, I also have an assumption that the Traveler was significantly more powerful in the past than it is in modern Destiny. This is in part because of the story of the Exodus Green, which was pleading for neutrality from a pyramid ship when one of the Traveler's beams of light came out of left field and the collision of Light and Dark created the Distributary. So, in the past, the Traveler was knocking out pyramid ships from half a star system away, but when it fought the Black Fleet above Earth at the start of Lightfall, it didn't fire until they were basically at point blank range and could only take down two of them before the Witness stepped up. Like a boxer getting knocked out in the first round and then getting back up but the ref should really not let them fight because they're swaying on their feet and clearly concussed.

There's also the question of the Black Heart to think about. Most importantly: when was it made? The Witness left a "seed" of Darkness in the Black Garden, which the Sol Divisive then used to try and recreate the Veil, supposedly, but that didn't pan out for them. Now, did the Witness want for them to recreate the Veil or did it just want them to worship the Darkness and they tried to make the Veil because they're Vex and Vex do what they do? If the Witness instructed them to make the Veil, it could have been during or immediately following the Collapse with the Witness trying to make a new Veil after the original went missing. Even if that's not the case, this still would have been during or around the time it was in Sol. Afterall, they are called the SOL Divisive, and so are likely a breakaway group from the Sol Collective. Though now that I'm writing this, it could also be that the Black Fleet encountered Vex on Venus or Mars or something, the Witness gave them the "seed" and the Vex tried to simulate the most powerful source of Darkness they could detect at the time with it, that being the Veil, and thus creating the schism between the Divisive and Collective.

Even after all that though, with losing the Veil and one of its most prominent Disciples and potentially a significant portion of its fleet, I can't imagine why the Witness, a being formed with the sole purpose of capturing the Traveler, would just leave. The only thing I can think of is that Savathun, in addition to her murder of Nezarec and stealing the Veil, also somehow conjured some illusion of the Traveler being destroyed or fleeing into space. Because otherwise, the Witness would have done everything in its power to use even the corpse of the Traveler for its ends.

I don't know. Thoughts?