[quote]There is a connection between all of these things. So the Books of Sorrow details the rise of the Hive. They used to be a weak short-lived species, and in their quest to save themselves from an extinction event, Oryx (at the time called Aurash) and his sisters entered a symbiotic deal with these worms that gave them power and immortality. The worms are from the darkness, but they are not the darkness. Source: - [i]"the Darkness-which-is-the-Deep"[/i] (Books of Sorrow: XLIX: Forever And A Blade). - [i]"We are the Worm your God, but we are not the Deep Itself"[/i] (Books of Sorrow: XIX: Crusaders). It's actually a very great story, and I have a thread dedicated to The Books of Sorrows [url=https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/159867284/0/0]here[/url] discussing it in much greater detail. Anyway for those unfamiliar, the Ahamkara were wish-granting dragons that appeared as one of the many new lifeforms that sprouted up when the Traveler arrived. [i]"Everyone knows the Ahamkaras were hunted to extinction. There's nothing to be afraid of anymore . . . How much life sprang up when the Traveler came. Like the Ahamkara. Do you know the legends? The dragon that made promises?"[/i] (Ghost Fragment: Warlock Grimoire card). While reading the Books of Sorrows again in search of some details about something else, I realized I missed something. Turns out that the Hive encountered the Ahamkara on another Traveler-visited system nameded Harmony. A civilization was making use of the Ahamkara for granting wishes, similar to how guardians did before the Vanguard had them hunted to extinction. - Guardians using Ahamkara to grant wishes: [i]"Power had been obtained from the bargains, and the City needed power. Knowledge had been gleaned, and the Ahamkara knew answers to questions no one had known to ask. But the price was too high. And no edict or forbearance seemed to stop Guardians from seeking them out, driven by hope, or vengeance, or despair"[/i] (Ghost Fragment: Legends 3 grimoire card). - Harmony civilization using the Ahamkara to grant wishes: [i]"Now arrives Xivu Arath, at the head of her armada. She fights the Harmony for fifty years with strategies and discipline. But the Harmony turn to dragon-wishes, and their wishful bishops wrestle Xivu in the ascendant plane"[/i] (Books of Sorrow: XLVI: The Gift Mast). The biggest reveal was that [b]Ahamkara have the same worm gods as the Hive[/b]. Xivu Arath, Oryx's sister, said this regarding the Ahamkara: [i]"THE DRAGONS. Our gods should be ours alone. Their smug freedom is an insult to me. I’d shut them all in cells. Bring them to me!"[/i] (Books of Sorrow: XLV: I'd shut them all in cells). This confirms that the hive and the Ahamkara share the same gods (the worms). The Ahamkara speech pattern of saying "oh ____ mine," (you will find this on Ahamkara exotic armor descriptions) seems to be a speech pattern that comes from the worms. Some have said it's because Ahamkara are the worms, but the text suggests they are wrong. - Savathun (Oryx's sister, at the time called Sathona) says this about a worm: [i]"It’s dead, but it still speaks to me. It says: listen closely, [b]oh vengeance mine...[/b]"[/i] (Books of Sorrow: V: Needle and Worm). - Those who are not worms, but are under the influence of worms will sometimes speak in this manner: [i]"Let us dive, oh sisters mine"[/i] (Books of Sorrow: VIII: Leviathan). In light of this influence, it is fair to assume that the Ahamkara speak this way because of the worm's influence. Why does the Traveler's actions bring about creatures tied to the Darkness like the Ahamkara? I would say it's the same kind of symmetry described by the thanatonaut (one who commits suicide to get visions) warlock Pujari when talking about how the Traveler's terraforming of Mars is the reason for the Black Garden. Source: [i]"The Traveler moved across the face of the iron world. It opened the earth and stitched shut the sky. [b]It made life possible. In these things there is always symmetry[/b]. Do you understand? This is not the beginning but it is the reason. The Garden grows in both directions. It grows into tomorrow and yesterday."[/i] (Legend: The Black Garden grimoire card). Basically, when the Traveler performs actions like terraforming and seeding life, something linked to the darkness always arises also -- in some cases it's the Ahamkara. [b]This raises the question[/b] - Are Ahamkara created/born with worms builtin? or with some Innate knowledge of or mental connection to the worms? Or did they discover the worms much like how the proto-Hive did? If the latter, it implies there is more that planet Fundament (where the Traveler and Leviathan trapped the worms) might not have been the only place where the worms existed prior to being freed by the proto-hive. - Do they actually have worms in their bodies? Or do they simply worship the worms? i ask this because Crota was once tricked into tearing a portal into Oryx's throne world, which allowed Vex to invade. These Vex learned to manipulate the physics of the throne world as the Hive do by directing prayer to the worms without the need to ingest them. Source: [i]"Quria captured some worm larvae and began experimenting with them. Soon Quria, Blade Transform manifested religious tactics. By directing worship at the worms, Quria learned it could alter reality with mild ontopathogenic effects. Being an efficient machine, Quria manufactured a priesthood and ordered all its subminds to believe in worship. Then it set about abducting and killing dangerous organisms so it could bootstrap itself to Hive godhood. For some Vex reason, Quria never attempted to introduce worm larvae into its mind fluid"[/i] (Books of Sorrow: XXXIX: open your eye : go into it) [b]To sum up[/b] - Places where the Traveler visit (Harmony system, and Solar system) developed Ahamkara. - Both the Hive and the Ahamkara have worm gods originating from the Darkness (also known as the Deep). - There are still questions regarding the relationship betw?een the worms and the Ahamkara.[/quote] Bleh