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Destiny

Discuss all things Destiny.
originally posted in:Collective Of Knowledge
Edited by Ruin Tree: 11/12/2015 3:40:49 AM
156

On Worms, Serpents, and Dragons

Before we start this show, make sure you're well-versed in the [url=https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/153754344/0/0]Books of Sorrow[/url]. If not, then at least a know what the basic premise is. I will explain what is needed here, oh reader mine. The Books start out on a gas giant known as the Fundament. In this gas giant float numerous "continents", which are actually shards of planets that have crashed into Fundament. On a few of these continents dwell a krill-like species, with an average lifespan of 10 years. We focus on one of these continents, the Osmium Court, where the king wanders senile around his castle, muttering to a dead worm he found in the "ocean". His three daughters, named Aurash, Sathona, and Xi Ro, discover a plot devised by Taox, a sterile mother, to usurp the king. The sisters escape the Osmium Court with three things: a ship, knowledge, and a worm. The king predicted that the 52 moons of the Fundament would soon line up just right and create a God-Wave that would wipe out their species. Sathona took the worm from her father's corpse, and it whispers to her, "Listen closely, oh vengeance mine..." As the sisters grow older, they decide to dive into the Fundament. The worm whispers to Sathona and tells her to dive. To dive, and see what they can find. They encounter a Leviathan, who tells them to turn back, to save themselves from the Deep, to save the world from themselves. He tells them of a war between the Deep (Darkness) and Sky (Light). But Sathona, listening to the worm, says, "Let us dive, oh sisters mine." They find the Worms. Yul, the Honest Worm. Akka, the Worm of Secrets. Eir, Ur, and Xol, the Virtuous Worms. Yul speaks to the sisters, saying [quote]Behold my passage. Behold my vast displacement, my ponderous strength, my great and coiling length, my folded jaws and curled wings. Behold the hiving cities symbiotic with my flesh. I am fecund, Aurash. I am at the beginning and end of lives.[/quote]Even though Yul calls themselves worms, they have folded jaws and wings. The worms offer the sisters immortality, power, and revenge, if only they take the worms' larvae into their bodies. Aurash becomes a king named Auryx. Xi Ro becomes a knight named Xivu Arath. Sathona becomes a mother named Savathûn. The Worms tell them to spread the larvae amongst the Osmium Court and the other continents of krill. Taox flees with her supporters, trying to rally the other species of the Fundament against them. So the sisters slaughter. Through these acts, the Worms obtain the logic needed to escape the imprisonment of the Leviathan, commenting that [quote]Reality is a fine flesh, oh general ours. Let us feast of it.[/quote]The Worms tell them to kill the Ammonites (who are protecting Taox) so that the Worms can deal with the 53rd "moon", a Traveler. They teach Auryx (who is now male) the nature of the sword logic, in order to overrun the defiant Ammonites. Auryx is betrayed by his sister for showing mercy, and is killed. Yet the Worms give him a throne world, so that he would not die. The Leviathan rises from the Fundament, attempting to right Auryx's path. But the Leviathan is killed and feasted on by the Worms. The Ammonites are wiped out, and the Traveler flees. And so begins the Hive, and their crusade against the Traveler. They begin to conquer and slaughter and extinguish all the way to the Ecumene empire. Auryx, in order to become more powerful, kills his sisters, entombing them in their thrones. He goes to Akka, the Worm of Secrets. Auryx set upon Akka with his sword, cutting him to pieces, and learning the secrets of the Deep. Auryx becomes Oryx, the Taken King. He continues to fight to the edge of the Deep, where it then speaks to him. Xivu Arath maroons Oryx in the Deep, in the ways of the Hive: eradicate weakness, if it exists. Once he emerges, he creates Crota, Eater of Hope; Ir Anûk, the Weaver; and Ir Halak, the Unraveler. Crota is goaded on by Savathûn into letting the Vex in to Oryx's throne world, Oryx gets pissed, yada yada yada. Oryx and his Court turns his throne world inside out and puts it inside a Dreadnaught, where it shall be protected. As the Hive prepare to assault something the Traveler created known as the Gift Mast, Xivu Arath comments [quote]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![/quote]The Hive then attack the Harmony, a collection of planets orbiting the Gift Mast. [quote]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. Xivu falls into deadlock. Next arrives Savathûn, flanked by her chorus and her celebrants. They trick their way onto Ana-Harmony in disguises, so that they might vivisect these dragons. The Worm our God laughs and laughs.[/quote]Soon after, Xivu Arath, Savathûn, and Oryx go their separate ways, leaving Oryx to brood and muse on his purpose. Ok, what was my point with all of this claptrap? Let's look at some important lines throughout this: [quote]Listen closely, oh vengeance mine... ...my great and coiling length, my folded jaws and curled wings. Reality is a fine flesh, oh general ours. Let us feast of it. THE DRAGONS. Our gods should be ours alone. Their smug freedom is an insult to me. But the Harmony turn to dragon-wishes... They trick their way onto Ana-Harmony in disguises, so that they might vivisect these dragons. The Worm our God laughs and laughs.[/quote]By know I'm sure you know where I'm going with this. "But Tree! The Ahamkara were [i]dragons[/i], not worms!" Yes, but they also had feathers, so they obviously weren't 100% purebred dragon. And let's not forget the flavor text of the Viper Spine VI, "Legends tell of a serpent who sold knowledge..." What if (thank you AnonPig) they were modeled of off the Aztec god, [url=http://orig00.deviantart.net/59dd/f/2009/194/8/6/quetzalcoatl___kukulcan_by_genzoman.jpg]Quetzalcoatl[/url]? Additionally, a Wyrm was a European name for a dragon. Now, I'm not saying all Ahamkara are Worms, but the Worms are almost certainly Ahamkara, oh reader mine. And it appears that the Ahamkara are servants of the Deep. It seems as if the Ahamkara follow the Traveler around, making promises and granting wishes at a terrible cost. That's why the Great Ahamkara Hunt made them "extinct" here. I say "extinct" because the Ahamkara are creatures of the Void; they can choose their shape. Ever wonder why the bones on Young Ahamkara's Spine flex, oh reader mine? Or why the flavor text of the Bones of Eao is "Defy extinction"? [b]Edit[/b]: This piece of info completely slipped my mind. In Cayde's little journal included in the Collector's Edition, he mentions transferring from Clovis Bray to the Ishtar Academy: [quote]Every big brain in the system has their sights set on the Academy. We were there for the Ahamkara, parasite reptilian critters that appeared out of thin air. Inexpliciable genome, new protiens. So much potential.[/quote]Ahamkara are parasitic creatures. This provides further connections between the Worms and Ahamkara [b]Edit[/b]: Additionally, the Scales of Eao are obtained from defeating Tier 3 Court of Oryx. Eao is most likely the name of an Ahamkara, his/her/its bones making up the Bones of Eao. This further strengthens the Hive/Worm—Ahamkara connection. [b]Edit[/b]: In the card for Kagoor, Oryx says [quote]Raising great tribute, I took council with my vanquisher worm It spoke to me — it was the speech of truth It ate of me — it was the pact I made It showed me a shape — it was the correct shape of joy Saying: this is the shape of joy, oh ruler mine[/quote] [b]TL;DR[/b] — The Worm gods that the Hive worship are members of the Ahamkara species

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  • This was a pretty good read. Very well supported theory. I will say that the Worm from the beginning of the Book of Sorrows was very small. Also, they appear to be the same Worms that we see on the Dreadnaught. In fact, even the Ghost talks about how the Hive live in Symbiosis with the Worm which is exactly what the Book of Sorrows describes. The Worms aren't Parasites because they actually do offer something to the relationship. They offer power, and direction. Anyways, I do not believe that the Worms from Fundament are the Ahamkara, but they could be. It's a little too ambiguous to be 100% sure.

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