Five things you didn’t know about Destiny’s story

Destiny: The Taken King improved on a lot of things from year one: Leveling is more intuitive, it's got a revamped quest system, you can earn best gear rather than worshiping RNGesus for it, and they actually added a story! Well, an easier-to-follow story with some very impressive cutscenes.

What you may not know is that Destiny always had a pretty interesting story... if you wanted to read about it. I'm talking about those grimoire cards you collect. They hold about 85% of Destiny's story, and you're missing out on a lot if you don't take a look at them. And since I know some of you haven't, I'm going to share a few of them with you.

Here's five things you probably didn't know about Destiny's Story. 

Oryx, The Taken King, was originally a female 

It all began with the Proto-Hive, which somehow crashed its planet into the gas giant known as Fundament. The planet pieces formed the continents of Fundament and rested on its toxic oceans. The Proto-Hive then inhabited the planet, alongside other species that lived on Fundament's 52 moons. The Proto-Hive had very short lifespans, which rarely exceeded 10 Fundament years. 

The Proto-Hive was ruled by the Osium King, who had three daughters: Xi Ro, Sathona, and Aurash. The Osium King was overthrown when Taox killed him and drove his daughters out of Fundament. His daughters swore to avenge their father's death and kill Taox. The three sisters came in contact with Leviathan, an apprentice of the Traveler, who told them to abandon their quest of vengeance, which could only lead to Darkness. 

Sathona had salvaged a worm they found on the shore of Fundament before the fall of their father. The worm spoke to her and led them to core of Fundament, which housed more of these worms. The worms fed from the Darkness itself. The three sisters made a pact: to consume a worm in order to have immortality. The cost was to give in to their natures - and if they ever strayed, they would be consumed by the worms. Xi Ro's nature was to test her strength, Sathona's her cunning, Aurash's her inquisitiveness. Xi Ro consumed the Knight Morph and became Xivu Arath, Salthona consumed the Mother Morph and became Savathûn, And lastly, Aurash consumed the King Morph and became Auryx. Or as we know her, Oryx - The Taken King, who over the years became a male( which was not fully explained in the grimoire). The sisters then returned to their Proto-Hive and spread the worms, thus creating the Hive race.

And that is the story of Aurash, The Hive Princess? 

Guardians are Zombies.

That's right, your guardian is a zombie risen from the dead. All guardians were selected by Ghosts and the Traveler from ranks of ancient warriors. So Earth is guarded by an army of the undead, risen by Ghosts. How awesome is that?

Dredgen Yor is a Dark Guardian

Dredgen Yor was the original owner of Thorn, and he's also pretty much Destiny's equivalent of Darth Vader. He started off as a noble hero, and champion of the Crucible. He would then seek the Hive for guidance in defeating the Darkness, which eventually led to him to fall to the dark side...er...I mean into the Darkness completely.

He used Hive sorcery to slay guardians and find his own twisted way of peace. He helped bring about the fall of Palamon, a settlement on Earth, and the killed the settlement's guardian, Jaren Ward (owner of the Last Word). He spared Jaren's Ghost and his son, Shin Malphur, hoping the son would seek vengeance against him so that he could make him fall to the Darkness as well.

Dredgen Yor finally met his ultimate fate by Shin Malphur and his Last Word.  

Xur, Agent of the Nine

After the Collapse, Earth had not ventured past Jupiter, though the planet had Earth Colonies. Past Jupiter and the Reef are the Jovian worlds. Xur is from the Jovians, which is ruled by none other than the Nine. Little is known about the Nine other than the fact that they are allies to the Reef - until they released Skolas from the Prison of Elders, and now their loyalty now may be doubtful. Some speculate the Nine that bows the Darkness itself, and Xur is just an agent of war, fueling the constant battle. Only time will tell Xur's true identity and motives. 

Cayde-6 and the Exo

Very little is known about the origin of the Exo. They were created by the humans and assigned to protect them. All Exo have a dream called "Deep Stone Crypt", which is a dream of the place they were all born. Every Exo has a number assigned after their name. It's speculated that this indicates how many times that particular Exo had its mind wiped. 

Cayde-6 can recall further back than any Exo. In his memories, though he admitted that they are out of sync, he recalls being a human soldier with a huge debt over his head. He turned himself into Europa, a moon on Jupiter, where he was turned into an Exo. This leads us to believe that all Exo may have been human at some point. 

So next time you hear someone say Destiny doesn't have a story, refer them to the Grimoire. Hopefully Bungie will start publishing Destiny novels like they did for Halo. Stay tuned for more Destiny coverage here at GameSkinny. 

If there are any Destiny story pieces you'd like to share, leave them in the comments below!