We don’t know the rules of the Speaker election system; maybe some new Speakers stepped down from power or were impeached and then replaced. But the most obvious and likely reason for every change in Speaker is that they died their final deaths. As Ghual proved so helpfully, the Speaker is a target and can be reached during battle (especially considering how he lives on the wall), or he could even venture out sometimes in order to study the Light and just get caught in a bad situation. Being the Speaker doesn’t make you untouchable I️s the Speaker’s Ghost that is always floating next to him in the first Destiny invisible? In D1 they literally put a Ghost next to every Guardian vendor in the Tower, which means the Vanguard, Shaxx, and the Speaker all had one. Even Saladin had one. And then there’s the “powerful connection to the Traveler” line straight out of his grimoire, clearly meaning he has Light. Plus it’s a lot harder to study and understand the Light if you can’t use it. He also lectures Ghual on what it is like to be a Guardian, and he and Ghual both talk about the sacrifices they have made (heavily implies that the Speaker made sacrifices as a Guardian to protect humanity)

Oh yea I remember. Wish they’d come out with a lore doc from D1 to present. Grimoire is something I can’t deal with. Thanks for the clarification.