"Rose" never existed. Get that out of your heads.

It is certainly open for interpretation as we know the grim cards are ambiguous. Doesn't surprise me though, you had to come out full asshole with your comment. Typical destiny community member who thinks he knows more than anyone else. The grimoire can be interpreted many ways for thorn. The man had darkness inside him while being the hero of light and was eventually consumed and in turn tainted the rose which became thorn. It could also be the other way around. The Rose was thorn all along and was slowly poisoning his light and consuming it to eventually turn him into a dark being to do its bidding. Oddly enough this story actually supports the possibility of either occurring. If the thorn has the potential to defile it's user for some purpose, obviously killing, which in turn benefits thorn in some way... Who's to say that thorn wasn't defiled by a previous user which caused its ultimate transformation. If thorn is of the darkness and gets benefits from killing, maybe it too can be influenced by the light and changed. Or the Rose was Thorn all along and the weapon is just a weapon with no purpose or sentience. This would boil the story down to a hero succumbing to internal demons and simply becoming evil. Where the hero of light saw a Rose the hero turned to the darkness now sees a Thorn. This story would be just a simple adjustment in perspective. This could definitely be likely but in my opinion is the most boring version. There are several other ways... I am most curious as to how the weapon ties into the hive and its origins. In any case if the gun did transform I would love to see its prior state.

There is no ambiguity. It's extremely clear on this.

So you are saying the answer is the last example I provided?

Somewhere in between the last two. Thorn was crafted by Yor using the arcane powers of the hive. Apparently he intended to us the darkness against itself. He was proud, perhaps even arrogant, certain he could resist any pull from the darkness. Eventually those dark whispers planted seeds of doubt, and darkness took hold in his mind and heart. The gun is not sentient. It is, however, tied very closely to the darkness. [i]That[/i] is what wishes to devour life. That's what led Yor astray. Only after he succumbed could he see the gun for what it really is.

Okay that makes sense too. Where did you get those pieces of info from? I read this a few days ago which I thought was a nice compilation. http://thebests.kotaku.com/the-best-story-from-destiny-s-hidden-lore-1728113953

The three ghost fragments on thorn. I'll put it all out here when I get a chance. :)

Okay I read them all. I haven't been much of a ghost hunter so I looked them up. The transcripts are really interesting. A couple things struck me as really interesting. His ghost refers to thorn as a tainted rose. Yor also mentions he crafted the weapon. I would like to know more about this and who he was before Yor. Almost seems like Yor could be a good candidate for a taken guardian.

Explain.

Ghost fragment: thorn. Read the last paragraph. Ironic that the very card that spawned the notion of a Rose also shows that it never existed anywhere but in Yor's mind.