Just read this Grimoire, and holy crap. How have I not read this before? Thank you. [quote]You stand here now and now and now many times and here I am awonder, all awonder, how you manage it. How do you step forward. How do you step back. Do you step ACROSS is there a world of worlds, a web, and you a spider upon it. Are you searching for that one thread you need? Is that thread named victory?[/quote] So it seems like the speaker in this card is talking about someone being in multiple presents or timelines (now many times). Stepping forward and back through time. This could refer to someone inside a Vex network or simply beyond the veil. Possibly Osiris, because according to his grimoire card, he may have found a way to explore the Vex gate network. This could also be the Exo Stranger who is believed by many to be a time traveler (hence the weapon that should not exist). Whoever it is, they are looking for timeline (or thread) where we defeat the Darkness. [quote]You’re not one of THEM [long dead, alive again, their bodies grafted to powers they and I do not understand][/quote] The speaker says that the entity is question is not one of "THEM," and the following description matches the Hive since the Hive have worms grafted inside their bodies for power. "THEM" could also mean guardians. [quote]and not one of IT [the flower eater, the queen of final shapes, that which also inhabits its petitioners][/quote] The speaker says that the entity is question is not one of "IT," which suggest something inorganic like the Vex (well they're mostly inorganic). The line in the brackets speaks of a flower eater, and if "IT" refers to the Vex, then the flower definitely is a reference to the Black Garden (Gardens grow flowers). To further support this, the Black Garden grimoire also uses the imagery of flowers to symbolize worlds. Therefore, the flower eater devours worlds. I believe this world eater is the Darkness. This queen (the Darkness) inhabits its petitioners, just like the Heart of the garden inhabited the Vex statues (makes sense, because the Heart is a piece of the Darkness) [quote]and you’re certainly not MINE although once you must have been [I bear an old name. It cannot be killed. Not even here.][/quote] So the subject is not of Rasputin (who bears an old name, and cannot be killed), but once was of Rasputin. This makes me believe that it is the Exo Stranger because there has been theories connecting the existence of exos to Rasputin. In fact Cayde-6, an exo, is supposedly the vessel of Rasputin, but lost his memories (Ghost Fragment: Rasputin). [quote]I ruled an age of steel and fire. My rules were clean. Now upon my return I see cults with rites of time. I see machines who worship in places outside the world.[/quote] The speaker seems to be Rasputin. He ruled in the golden age of humanity, went offline, and returned to the strange world we see today. Makes sense given the name of the card. [b]Now to your question[/b] First of all, Oryx was the King of Shapes, not the King of the Final Shape. We know the Final Shape is what the Hive are trying to acheive; it is a perfect end state of the universe that is completely self-sufficient and perfect. We also know the Darkness (AKA the Deep) has also been called the Final Shape as well (cited in the original post), and the Hive worship the Darkness. It's fair to say that the Final Shape refers to the Darkness when it has completely taken over the universe and becomes one with it. Toland told a story about the ultra-Darwinian competition that drives the progress of everything, even the smallest non-living things like atoms. Simply put, some things are better at existing than others, and so those things go on existing until something better at existing comes along. This process will eventually drive the universe to a state of conflict which will end with one side or entity having such power and complete victory that nothing else will ever exist without that entity's permission (thus eliminating all possible new challengers). This philosophy mirrors that of the Hive and worms, and the Vex are also trying to acheive a similar victory by making themselves a law of the universe. Toland used the metaphor of three queens being at the very last battle. Only one can win. One of these queens will definitely be the Darkness itself since it is aggressively in the competition that is existence more so than anything else we know (to our detriment). Also, this story is from a card titled Ghost Fragment: Darkness 3, so the Darkness is definitely that queen that eats the flowers (worlds). [quote] Why does anything exist? [...] Why do we have atoms? Because atomic matter is more stable than the primordial broth. Atoms defeated the broth. That was the first war. There were two ways to be and one of them won. And everything that came next was made of atoms. [...] Atoms made stars. Stars made galaxies. Worlds simmered down to rock and acid and in those smoking primal seas the first living molecule learned to copy itself. All of this happened by the one law, the blind law, which exists without mind or meaning. It's the simplest law but it has no worshippers here (out there, though, out there - !) [...] Imagine three great nations under three great queens. The first queen writes a great book of law and her rule is just. The second queen builds a high tower and her people climb it to see the stars. The third queen raises an army and conquers everything The future belongs to one of these queens. Her rule is harshest and her people are unhappy. But she rules. [...] This explains everything, understand? This is why the universe is the way it is, and not some other way. Existence is a game that everything plays, and some strategies are winners: the ability to exist, to shape existence, to remake it so that your descendants - molecules or stars or people or ideas - will flourish, and others will find no ground to grow. And as the universe ticks on towards the close, the great players will face each other. In the next round there will be three queens and all of them will have armies, and now it will be a battle of swords - until one discovers the cannon, or the plague, or the killing word. (Ghost Fragment: Darkness 3)[/quote] If you want to read the whole thing http://db.destinytracker.com/grimoire/enemies/darkness/ghost-fragment-darkness-3

It's probably true that the darkness is the flower eater. However in the taken grimoire it says we're facing the same flower we met in the black garden. So flowers might not be worlds but instead essences (or maybe clusters of essences) of life or sentience or something. This might be supported by the grimoire where the colony ship's AI says it want's to plant new flowers using it's people as metaphorical seeds. Also I believe THEM are guardians. Once dead now alive is almost certainly referencing that as far as we know almost all guardians were once dead. A power he doesn't understand could be the sky (light) which has a paracausal nature.

Nice catch. Pujari says that the flowers are worlds, and yet Eris says that the Darkness (from the Black Garden) is a flower. Perhaps the Darkness itself is large enough to be considered it's own world; the worm gods do move inside it according to (XIX: Crusaders). Flowers being clusters of essences (or shapes) would make sense as well. Could you give me the name of the grimoire with the colony ship you mentioned? I'm interested.