[b]So before I start anything please bear in mind for those of you that have yet to finish the story that I will go into some spoilers, onwards then![/b] Hello everyone, so I've drummed up some theories on the enemy factions in the game and whether or not I feel they are all as evil as we are meant to believe. Its a pretty hefty read but interesting. Anyway enjoy and feel free to tell me what you think in the comments below. [u]I'll start off with the Fallen first:[/u] So from what I've seen, read online, and through the Grimoire cards I've determined that the Fallen aren't as evil as we are to perceive. From what I've read the Fallen are bands of pirates who were once part of what I can assume to be a galaxy spanning empire. (Not sure if empire is the correct word choice here.) However they now rove as separate houses; as shown by the banners and flags they still fly, long after their collapse. We are also shown several different warring houses, Devils/ Exile/ Kings, etc. But why do they fight each other? Would it not make sense to essentially team-up (for a lack of better words) or perhaps there Kell's all follow different ideology, far to diverse now to have all Fallen unify under one banner. Anyway onto the meat of the story with the Fallen, I've read that the Fallen didn't arrive in Sol until after the Collapse had already occurred. If the Fallen were an integral part of the Darkness would they not have fought with it? I've also read that the Fallen apparently search star systems for remnants and remains of their former civilization, this leads me to believe that the Fallen were once a prosperous race similar to Humanity however the Darkness consumed and destroyed much of their species, leaving these few roving houses who have turned to piracy as a way of life, to get by and search for a way to restore their former glory as a species. Continuing with this we see the Fallen fight other species of the darkness, specifically on Luna. Down in the Hellmouth we see the House of Exile fighting against the Hive, but why? Why would the armies of darkness fight against each other? Is it because the Hive were becoming a threat to not only Humans but to the Fallen as well? Or is it entirely possible that in the grand scheme of things the darkness is so powerful it cares not what its armies do onto one another? Personally I think it is the former. All in all when it comes to the Fallen I see them in a position where Humanity could have been, but because of the Traveler we were spared their fate. The Fallen I feel are somewhat of an unsung hero in a very strange way (If my theory turns out correct) and we've seen that one of their houses has already conformed to the Reef, suggesting that they are open to allying with other species. I do hope to see the Fallen fleshed out more in the game, and would personally love to see them have a similar story twist that the Elites from Halo had; Bad guys turned good who turned out to be good the entire time. [u]Moving onto the Cabal.[/u] I feel that the Cabal are in some ways similar to the Fallen but not as handicapped so to say. While the Fallen use their Ketch's as mobile homes essentially, the Cabal are very actively warping troops, vehicles and supplies from their own worlds to Mars where they are transforming the planet into a fortress, but why? We know that the Cabal never attacked Earth or any other planetoids in Sol for that matter so why come here? I read a report from a Ghost that hid among the Cabal on Mars and the Ghost noticed severe dissent among members of the groups their, stemming from what the Ghost suggested was that the Cabal were running away from something. Could that something be the Darkness? Had it come for the Systems that the Cabal inhabited? This would explain why the Cabal are so ferociously fortifying Mars, to prepare a world that would be impenetrable to the coming darkness. Perhaps Mars was chosen, or Sol for that matter because the Traveler inhabited this sector of space and they felt that along with their militaristic might, the Traveler could also shed some protection from the darkness. Further more to separate the Cabal from the Darkness is that we see the Cabal and the Vex waging war with each other on the sands of Mars. This is similar again to what I mentioned with the Hive and Fallen, why would the armies of Darkness fight each other? Perhaps the Cabal are very xenophobic and will take any act of expansion as aggression? Perhaps they just destroy any species they come across? (This one is unlikely because the Psions are clearly another species that was integrated into the Cabal) Or perhaps they did try to communicate with the Vex but failed to; We already know that Humanity tried the same thing with the Vex and were met with no positive results, its not hard to imagine the same result happened to the Cabal. Anyway I feel that the Cabal along with the Fallen aren't true members of the Darkness, or members at all actually because if my theories are true then they are both along with Humanity victims of the Darkness. However with no Traveler of there own, they are trying to get by as best they can. [u]Next up we have the Vex.[/u]The Vex are very strange in my book however for as strange as they are I don't feel that they either are a member of the darkness. The Vex were discovered by Humanity on Venus during the Golden Age and caused severe problems because they can change reality and cause never ending simulations, however the simulations don't differ from what we perceive as reality, ensuring madness upon any intelligent species. (This was why a Warmind had to intervene during the Golden Age experiments.) However the Vex from what I understand, went on to take over Venus after the darkness had destroyed much of it and began their own nefarious plot. The Vex are time traveling-dimension spanning robots that as the Stranger says "Is evil so dark that it despises other evil." Whoa... So clearly the Vex aren't aligned with either the Fallen, Hive and evidently the Cabal as they can be seen waging war with one another on Mars. So just what is there plan? Universal domination? Wouldn't that put them at odds with the darkness which clearly wants that for its own. Or perhaps the Vex are in some ways akin to the Reapers from Mass Effect. Its mentioned in the game that the Vex ruins are billions of years old on Venus so they have clearly walked in the light of our solar system long, long before us... But then left it, leaving behind a small populace to remain dormant on Venus and Mars, why? So perhaps domination isn't their goal but galaxy wide extinction instead? Further more if that's the case is it their end goal to destroy even the darkness itself? The Vex are in my opinion by far the most shrouded in mystery among the four different enemies. Their just so different in how they behave, how they act towards other species, their lore, where they have been and where they will go. Hopefully this will be expanded on. [u]Lastly we come to the Hive[/u], who I feel are the one true member of the darkness, if not an extension of the darkness itself. The reason I say that the Hive are true members of the darkness is because they are the only ones we have seen actively conducting crusades, so to speak, against the light. The ritual the wizards were performing on the shard of the Traveler comes to mind right away. It is said that the Hive have an utmost hatred of the light and fight towards a universe that is completely raveled in darkness, this further reinforces them being an extension or a servant a slave even of the darkness. The reason I say slave is that I've read that the Hive are "[b]An impossibly ancient race that has kept themselves alive on sarcophagus-like Tombships.[/b]" Perhaps and I'm just thinking out loud here, but perhaps the Hive were the first species to ever be destroyed by the darkness but rather than out and out kill them off, the darkness enslaved the species and now uses them as an extension of its own will. This would explain why they are so zealous in their efforts to extinguish the light from the universe. Back tracking a bit though, I mentioned that the Hive are impossibly old, I'm guessing far beyond what human intelligence is capable of perceiving so I wonder if they are affiliated with the Vex or at least knew of them before their own collapse. Perhaps the Hive way back in the day before being the Hive, were themselves at war with the Vex as the Vex tried to exterminate them, but perhaps they signed a deal with the darkness to do away with the Vex or even creepier, perhaps they created the darkness. We can see and I've read that the Hive Wizards can call upon and even summon the darkness for rituals or to even aid them in battle, so its not far-fetched to believe that either the Hive created the darkness or the darkness bestowed powers upon the populace of the Hive. Going off on a tangent now but perhaps when the universe was young and the two main factions were the Hive and Vex, the Vex were originally winning in their crusade against the Hive. However once the Hive called upon or created the Darkness the Vex were getting beaten back and to save themselves from extinction they created warp gates that allow them to skip time, even dimensions. This would explain why the Vex were found in stasis on Venus, they were perhaps waiting for the right time to strike and come back and fight there eon long crusade against the Hive. (Lol, I could be totally wrong with this tangent but I just blew my own mind with it.)