[b]Disclaimer:[/b] [i]There ARE spoilers below. Be warned.[/i] I do not know whether or not this has been posted in the past, nor do I believe this theory is actually valid as concrete truth. This is merely a possible conclusion I've been able to deduce based on my observations in-game in Destiny, my prior experience with large-scale games (MMO and otherwise), and some of the heat from the community directed at these locations which brought my attention to this topic. Scroll to the bottom of this post for a more concise summary underlined in bold. If anyone finds a brutal flaw in this theory, call me out. I whipped it up sporadically throughout the course of the day and may have overlooked huge stuff. Now, as we know, this particular Destiny title has four "Comets" slated for release, two of which are "The Dark Below" and "House of Wolves." Two have yet to be revealed, which is irrelevant to this particular part of the thread. A few particular things have greatly interested me, provoking my pondering of the subject - the Hive, the Fallen, Rasputin, the true motives of the Traveler, and the currently-sealed areas in the Cosmodrome alone (Seraphim Vault, Jovian Complex, and King's Watch respectively). I have personally visited and explored these sealed regions, two of which have ties to the Hive, one of which happens to be just below the signal we receive from Rasputin via the Fallen comm device in the Forgotten Shore, just above a bunker titled "Bunker RAS-2." My guess is that this bunker housed (potentially, one of) Rasputin's equivalent to a central processing core, essentially his "brain," or a piece of it. The bunker itself is guarded by a Celebrant of Oryx with an absurd amount of health or resistance, guarded by two Hallowed Knights. These three Hive are seemingly guarding the entrance to a sealed section of the Cosmodrome facility that is in excellent condition when compared to any other location in playable New Russia. Thus, when one glitches into the area below Bunker RAS-2, one finds himself in the Seraphim Vault. This place is in immaculate condition - a completely perfect place among the debris and detritus that is the entirety of the Cosmodrome. A "seraph" or "seraphim" is essentially a flying being of unfathomable holiness, (or "Light," in this case) which bears the appearance of a serpent. A recent thread, located [url=http://www.reddit.com/r/DestinyTheGame/comments/2hqmkb/how_destinys_content_completely_changed_over_the/]here[/url], elaborates upon what its author believes to be development cuts in both storyline and game content over the last year due to shady happenings behind closed doors with either Activision, Bungie, or both, which said author believed may have been initiated by the loss of Joseph Staten (Destiny's lead writer) and eventually Martin O'Donnell (Destiny's lead musical composer) from the team. One of the mentioned cuts is the potential that the Traveler may in fact [i]not[/i] be the paragon of human achievement, or the usher of humanity's Golden Age - rather in truth, the harbinger of the Darkness itself, dormant while its legend grew more warped as the centuries passed. One warmind - Rasputin - was said to have faced the Darkness and survived. It is said to protect a very important secret beneath the Cosmodrome which the Fallen House of Devils wishes to extract. What we perceive as a seraphim - the Traveler - could yet be merely a serpent disguised as an angel, so to speak. But, how, in-game, could one come to know this? Only through finding Rasputin, and learning its secrets. The Hive's motives on Earth are still rather unclear. It could, of course, be the culling of humanity from the system, as is one of their goals. There are vicious strike teams beneath the initial spawn point in The Steppes when we choose to patrol the Cosmodrome, beneath the Skywatch, and beneath the Forgotten Shore in Bunker RAS-2,. Why are the Hive's elite units so close to the very start of a low-level player's experience with Destiny? Well, here's the next part of this theory. There are at least four locations (to my knowledge) where at least level 16 Hive are stationed in the Cosmodrome: -The computer cluster just beneath the spawn in The Steppes (2 Hallowed Acolytes, 1 Hallowed Knight) -The computer cluster just beneath the helicopters in Skywatch (1 Hallowed Knight or Ogre) -The Grottos (assorted high-level Hive of all kinds, including Thralls, Acolytes, Knights, Wizards, and an Ogre) -Bunker RAS-2, at the entrance to the Seraphim Vaults (2 Hallowed Knights, 1 Celebrant of Oryx) The Hive located at The Steppes and the Skywatch are all near computer systems or heavy concentrations of technology, each location bearing doors that are inaccessible. In Bunker RAS-2, the Hive are blocked by yet an inaccessible door (which leads to the Seraphim Vault). This may of course be coincidence, considering the sheer amount of computers and old tech in the facilities. Perhaps, though, the Hive is searching the Cosmodrome for whatever lies below it, like the House of Devils is. The fact that the Hive of major/ultra status are situated in all three locations near significant technology caches and inaccessible doors is curious. The Jovian Complex is a very Hive-themed location, as well, and is surrounded by Hive. King's Watch (the inaccessible region that has barely been touched upon so far in this thread), however, is exclusively Fallen-related. If we ignore King's Watch, we have a whole slew of Hive-themed content just waiting to be explored... or, patched in. In many games, including World of Warcraft and some other games of significance which release expansions onto the main game world, more often than not, it's prefaced by a patch-in of content that acts as an introduction or prologue to the coming main storyline and events of the next big piece of the game to hit shelves and online marketplaces. We already have an example of content that was previously inaccessible that shipped with the game - the infamous Vault of Glass. To introduce these more prominent expansion "Comets," the first of which being The Dark Below (an exclusively Hive-themed venture), I believe these areas have the potential to be patched in as pre-release prologue content, free of charge. What better way to kick off an expansion or event than to unlock content as new storyline? In these locked areas, I believe we may uncover something big about the Hive and their search for Rasputin and his knowledge of the Darkness. Through Hive-themed patched introductions to The Dark Below, incorporating some of the locked areas in Skywatch, Bunker RAS-2, Seraphim Vault, Jovian Complex, and more, there's some good possibility that Bungie's "ever-changing, evolving world" will be assisted by the selective lockout and reopening of specific areas as it suits story progression. [b][u]Long story short: Rasputin knows secrets about the Darkness. The Hive want Rasputin's secrets. The Fallen want Rasputin's secrets. The Guardians want Rasputin's secrets. Rasputin's in the Seraphim Vault. These secrets could potentially be about the Traveler, as the seraphim ([i]perhaps a fallen angel, of sorts?[/i]). The Hive on the moon may wish to use Rasputin's secrets to further Oryx's or the Hive collective's motives. The sealed areas (Seraphim Vault, Jovian Complex, and inaccessible areas under The Steppes and Skywatch) could be patched open, filled with NPCs, scripted with storyline, and expanded upon in preparation for... expansions, specifically The Dark Below.[/b][/u] I kinda wanna see Rasputin blow my mind. Reddit has been going crazy with theories about him.