This post is mostly lore-based theory, with a bit of fanfic at the end to illustrate these ideas. If you don’t like it, feel free to mute me, but fanfic is allowed in #lore according to community manager Dmg04. Now. I, like most of us here in lore, love the Destiny story. I love finding every little detail by searching through Ishtar Collective and reading this subforum. It’s one of the best parts of the game to me. I love (most of) the characters, and I find their stories are well-developed and intriguing. Except for one. The Young Wolf. Crota’s End. Avenger of Cayde-6. The Man with the Mythoclast (Or perhaps the Woman with the Wardcliff). Us. All we have to our name is our deeds, which, in the context of the Destiny Universe, are momentous indeed. But as characters, we are just the worst. To be fair, we are a player-controlled video game character. Our storyline, unless one is written, is not exactly going to win any Academy Awards. But as this is purely from a lore standpoint, let’s take game logic out of the equation for just a bit here. Firstly, why are there three Guardians who have done the same deeds? Killed the same world-threatening foes? Killed the same world-threatening foes? How can my Hunter, my Titan, My Warlock, AND my friend John have all scanned the same doors and blew up the same ships? The answer lies in the single best concept, lore wise, ever to be put in-game. The most under-explained, poorly executed AMAZING concept of all of Destiny. That, of course, is the Infinite Forest. The Infinite Forest is not a big room inside Mercury where the Vex just “do their thing.” I mean, its easy to ignore the full potential behind the Forest. In CoO, the Forest is treated simply as a method of getting to where we need to go in the timeline to stop the Vex’s dark future. But that’s not all that the Infinite Forest is! It is capable of simulating infinite realities simultaneously. There is no way to know whether our Guardian is in “real life” or not. The term “real life” is completely relative. Our reality is one of countless billions that grow in number as we speak. To be completely clear, I am not saying our Guardian has no free will. If Destiny has proved one thing, it is that Guardians, through their connection to the Traveler, can have an impact on the universe. The Vex are not controlling our future, we are. But every choice we make has a cataclysmic effect on the cosmos. I’m sure I don’t have to explain the concept of the multiverse to anyone here, as we are all nerds without a life who already know how it works. But its essentially the butterfly effect. Each of our choices forms reality, and an alternate reality is spawned from each option we did not choose. [i]This brings me to the fanfic section of my post, avert your eyes, Kseth27 ;)[/i] So to illustrate this concept, and contribute to the fanfic hive-mind, I’m going to tell you a bit about each of my three Guardians. They were all born, in their respective realities, as a human male, given the name Ryden Samir. My human Hunter, in his first life, was a mechanic in the Cosmodrome. He died there after being deemed “not important enough” to be placed on an escape ship during the Collapse. He was resurrected by the Vano, the Ghost, and proceeded to become the greatest guardian who ever lived. He was adventurous, naturally, but he was a rather quiet hunter. Never said much if he could help it. The Cabal burned down the entire Last City, stripped Ryden of the Light, and he said not one word the entire time, even when he exacted his revenge. He preferred to be known by his code name, Nighthawk Regardless of his serious personality, he was fast friends with Cayde, who considered making Ryden laugh as training for someday getting a smile out of Zavala. He made bets on his own Crucible matches, often outwitting Cayde himself. Ryden enjoys using the City’s current weapon meta to its fullest extent in the Crucible, much to the chagrin of his opponents. This was not his only frowned-upon Crucible practice... he was also known for dancing during matches and perhaps the occasional celebratory T-bag. While his opponents shout in anger, the people of the city loved it. Even Shaxx was known to laugh out loud after Ryden topped off a 20-man kill streak with some break dancing. Ryden didn’t have the best relationship with Zavala, although their similar personalities led to mutual grudging respect. Always one to show off but never talk about it, Ryden rides and flies whatever ship and sparrow are the newest and the shiniest. In memory of Cayde, his favorite exotic is the Ace of Spades. He hesitated briefly before killing Uldren, and he and Petra Venj pulled the trigger at the same time. My Awoken Titan was born human as well. He was stationed as a mechanic aboard the Yang Liwei, the fated colony ship to which something happened on the edge of the Deep, and the Awoken were created. Instead of settling in the Reef, this Ryden instead returned to Earth, and scoured the Cosmodrome for answers. He was killed in circumstances that he does not remember. He was revived by Vano as a Titan. His exploits became famous throughout the known universe, but he was maybe best known for his Crucible talent. He was a known favorite of Lord Shaxx, and he insisted that his fellow Guardians refer to him by his proper title, Lord Samir. Somewhat more honorable than his other-dimensional Hunter counterpart, Lord Samir would have sooner died his final death than T-bag. While upholding the core Titan values, Samir believed in Shaxx’s philosophy of Titanhood: Offense is the best defense. He vowed to keep the wall strong by destroying all who would climb it. This led to a tentative relationship with Zavala from the beginning, however, with the events of Forsaken, the two had a fallout that culminated in the end of any friendly relationship between them. Cayde’s death had dealt them each a serious blow to their pride and worldview, and they alienated each other as a result. Samir adores the Wardcliff Coil. He rides a Timberwolf, an Iron Banner themed Sparrow, and he flies a Currus Gloriae XLII, a jumpship reminiscent of the pre-Golden age atmosphere-only fighter jets. When faced with the decision to kill Uldren, Samir could not bear the thought of killing a manipulated, unarmed man. He knew it what Cayde would have done, and he made his own choice. Petra Venj pulled the trigger. My Exo Warlock was also born as a human, but he opted to sign up to work as a mechanic for Braytech. This was due, in no small part, to his love for one of their scientists, Dr. Anastasia Bray. However, he was illegally and immorally converted into an Exo and renamed Samir-1. He retained snapshots of his human life, as most Exos did. They grew fainter and fainter with each reboot, until Samir-7 gave up searching for Anastasia and broke free of the Deep Stone Crypt. He, too, was given visions of the Cosmodrome by the Traveler, plucking an ancient rusty chord within the steel of his frame. He returned their and studied for any evidence of who he was until his death. After Vano resurrected him as a Warlock, Samir-7 proceeded to break every rule the Warlock order had. His relationship with Ikora was strained, and once the Exo overheard Ikora saying that he reminded her of her former master. Indeed, in Osiris, Samir-7 found a kindred spirit. But whereas Osiris vowed to understand the nature of the Vex, Samir-7 found the Sword Logic of the Hive and the Knife Logic of the Taken of far more intrigue. Upon meeting Ana Bray on Mars during the events of Warmind, Samir-7’s life was ravaged. Standing before him was his love from lifetimes upon lifetimes ago, newly risen as a fellow Guardian. Ana was also jolted, although she hid it well... she recognized Samir from the Bray-eyes only hidden files of the Deep Stone Crypt. Their story has yet to unfold. Samir-7 has no love for the Crucible. The Drifter’s Gambit is his arena of choice. He uses it to channel anger and frustration into the Drifter’s Motes of Dark, not stopping once to question the morality of it. He once told the Drifter that a man with a Golden Gun was useless against and Exo with Nova Warp. But Samir-7 loves the city, and he loves humanity. His favorite exotic is the Skull of Dire Ahamara. He rides a Warrior’s Steed and flies a City Apex. However, when faced with Uldren Sov’s body, he did not hesitate. Hope you enjoyed both the theory and my examples. Let me know if I missed anything Lore-wise. See you Starside!