⚠️ Note of warning: if my theory is correct, I reveal the end of the saga ("roots" of the garden)... so, if you want to be surprised... DON'T READ THIS! Fair warning. ⚠️ The most important character to the narrative, you probably never heard of.... The lore that should be understood for Revenant leading into Heresy: [url=https://www.destinypedia.com/Lore:Dust#The_Kell]The Kell[/url] [i]"The Reef is punch-drunk. Lavinia thinks that loss has driven the Awoken into a state of collective traumatic mania. Endless revels light up the purple sky; people leap off the world and drift away into the artificial atmosphere, to be collected, protesting woozily, by the skiffload. Lavinia is a wallflower here, forever on the edge of things. She gets pangs of homesickness every night, and tells herself that the Reef is the right place to begin her journey home. This meeting, right now, might be the first step... "Much mourning," the Fallen at her side murmurs. "Master Ives murdered, Variks missing. Spider hires away my friends. Well, I stay to guard Master Ives's work. You come in, make yourself into a home. I will bring nitrogen tea and records." "Thank you." Lavinia wants to laugh, or maybe cry, at the malapropism. If only she could make herself into a home! But it'll be all right in the end. She will find the Nine, bring the truth home, and earn forgiveness. The Fallen returns with tea and devices. "Watch. Record from Prison of Elders. Master Ives fascinated by it." She sees Skolas, fallen Kell of Fallen Kells, waiting to die by combat. His huge horned armor lags his motions, like a weary companion trying to mimic everything he does. A servitor pumps ether into him. Lavinia wonders what would happen if she took Ether. Would she feel clearly and coldly determined? Would she turn into a huge Lavinia? Would she stop missing her home? "Mara." Skolas's mouth was not made for that name. "Mara, do you hear?" "The Queen of the Reef sentenced him to the fate of all Fallen," Lavinia's companion sighs. "To strive, and struggle, and fail. But he was already lost. His mind broke at the Citadel, where he saw into time." Skolas blows white vapor. Frost crackles on his mask. "You gifted me to the Nine. And they sent me back. People think you are a fool. That you made an error releasing me. Led your people to die on my blade, as I led my people to die on yours." Lavinia's translator murmurs along with the Kell's words. "The Nine's agent never told me why he released me. Now I know. You know also, I think. Both of you require the Guardians... and the Nine do not understand life and death. So they sent me back to you, to make the Guardians come. They did not comprehend the harm. "I do not comprehend them either. I traveled among the Jovians for years, in their dominion. But I do not know the Nine. You, Mara Sov... you are the only one who bargains with them. You are the only one who has foreseen their role in the game. You keep your successes secret, so the world only knows your mistakes. No wonder I underestimated you." He hefts the scorch cannon his jailers have given him. Lavinia thinks of the tools his House once favored: shuttle and loom. "I saw the shape of the Nine on Venus. A place that was once precious to them, where wishes could transfigure their flesh. I saw that they are bound to this star and to these worlds. You are of a kind in that way, you and the Nine. Not I. I will be glad to leave this world, Mara Sov. I am tired of being a pawn." Skolas lays his huge horned head back against the cell wall. Lavinia, watching, spills her tea in excitement. "They want to help us," she whispers. "They're from our planets! They want to help! Oh, I'm sorry, I'm so clumsy—" She leans down to mop up the spilled tea. A flashbang grenade detonates in her face. The next thing she knows an Awoken officer is sentencing her, under martial law, to life in prison for espionage. Lavinia, fumbling for any sign of her good luck, is glad to see the Fallen go free".[/i] Here's Lavina's bio on destinypedia: [url=https://www.destinypedia.com/Lavinia_Garcia_Umr_Tawil]Lavinia Garcia Umr Tawil[/url] I was recently asked... well, taunted... I'm paraphrasing, that if Mara Sov is connected to everything... then she must have instigated the Red War and aided Ghaul in some way... They were trying to put words in my mouth. I said I never connected Mara to the Cabal... yet 👀. Here it is: [i]"during the second Dawning celebration following the Red War, she sneaks into an archives facility and hacks into it to find any information that will help her, knowing full well the consequences of getting caught. Her queries contain seemingly superfluous information about dark matter, until she comes across a paper theorizing that dark matter could have caused the failure of the City's sensor network before Ghaul's invasion".[/i] [url=https://www.destinypedia.com/Lore:Dust#The_Stacks]The Stacks[/url] [i]"Lavinia then [u]saw all of Mara's interactions[/u] with the Nine, [u][b]and how one of them allowed Ghaul to sneak past the City's defensive satellite network[/b][/u]".[/i] [url=https://www.destinypedia.com/Lore:Dust#The_Witch]The Witch[/url] [i]"In passing, Lavinia sees the entire history of the Queen's interactions with the Nine: more than anyone suspected, and more vital. She sees how one of the Nine blinded Guardians to Ghaul's approach, risking everything (for Ghaul would have destroyed the sun, and the Nine with it) to learn how to steal the Light. She sees how that one was punished".[/i] Mara Sov is responsible for the tech that allowed the Cabal to avoid the sensors, she conspired with the "dark" faction of The Nine to do so. She instigated the Red War. Mara Sov the Heretic, Queen of Secrets (Lies). Ikora.... 😩 Why!?! [i]"Guardian, I hesitate. I am touched by doubt. We must speak clearly. But you can’t talk precisely without knowing precisely who you’re talking to. (Think of everything we said to Osiris—) I feel as if I know you. But have I ever allowed you to know me? I used to act as fast as I thought, and sometimes much faster. That’s youth. Eventually I made too many mistakes to ignore; that’s youth too, ignoring your mistakes until they pile up and topple. I dug myself out. I learned to keep myself hidden. Hidden purpose, hidden knowledge. A hidden Ikora, and for the world, a face of perfect composure and intent. Even when we lost the Traveler, I went to hide in my own confusion. I am going to try to un-hide myself. I may frighten or confuse you. I am not an easy person to know. This is a folio of intelligence reports from my Hidden network. It will illuminate the events leading up to the current apokalypsis. In the original Koine Greek, that word means unveiling, and also revelation. In the spirit of unveiling I have also included fragments of my own personal writing about the nature of Darkness and Light. They are less the work of Ikora Ray the great Warlock Vanguard than of ikora ray, the unfashioned and uncertain woman. In the early Books of Sorrow, Savathun scribbles a warning that Oryx’s text is full of lies. Mara Sov’s hagiography and self-indictment, the Marasenna, warns the reader to remember that it is narrated in the first person, even and especially when it pretends to be objective. Truth is always edited by the truthteller. I give you no such warning. This is the unaltered truth of what I know and who I am. May it bring you the clarity I have sought. Ikora"[/i] [url=https://www.destinypedia.com/The_Hidden_Dossier#Letter_From_Ikora]The Hidden Dossier[/url] For emphasis: [i][b]"Mara Sov’s hagiography and self-indictment, the Marasenna, warns the reader to remember that it is narrated in the first person, even and especially when it pretends to be objective".[/b][/i] biography that idealizes its subject - Hagiography For emphasis: [i]"Ikora warns her that continuing will have consequences she cannot protect her from. She presents a choice to Lavinia: leave and she will overlook the theft, or stay the course and force Ikora to bring her in. Refusing to turn back, Lavinia is brought before a tribunal and exiled from the City".[/i] [url=https://www.destinypedia.com/Lore:Dust#The_Bone]The Bone[/url] [i]""Help me!" Lavinia begs. "[u]There's something here! Something that connects everything[/u], the Trials, and the Ahamkara, and the Guardians, and the Nine. [u][b]There are things the Consensus knows about Ghaul's attack, things they haven't told us—"[/b][/u] Ikora Rey puts up one finger. Lavinia shuts up. "Choose. Are you going to go back to school, and let me pretend you were never here? Or do I have to report you for theft of an Ahamkara bone?" Lavinia takes a deep breath. "I'm sorry," she says. "I have to keep going. I'll try my luck." The tribunal's verdict is unanimous. Lavinia Garcia Umr Tawil has trespassed against her oath to guard the common welfare of humanity. She will never set foot in the City again".[/i] Ikora... what have you done? 😭 She's Mara's 'friend'... Mara's spy. Ikora ... The Lost. FOR EMPHASIS: The MOST IMPORTANT QUOTES leading into Heresy when Mara took Kell and claimed the Wolves: Mara Sov, [i][b]"STARLIGHT WAS MY MOTHER".[/b][/i] [i][b]"AND MY FATHER WAS THE DARK".[/b][/i] [url=https://www.destinypedia.com/Grimoire:Enemies/Fallen#Ghost_Fragment:_Fallen_4]Ghost Fragment: Fallen 4[/url]