TL;DR deaths singers can't die, and are a vital part of a hive gods success So the idea behind a death singer from what I can gather is that they simply exist to know and sing the song of death. Case and point. Ir Yût. But if you've explored a bit in the mission "last rites" you'll find she's still alive. This only makes sense because death singers is they're never truly "dead" as death is only a relative term for the hive. You can't technically kill something that can sing the song of death without dying. Toland said once "to know the song is to be mortal, to sing it is to die" and considering these death singers, all marked with the Sir name Ir mind you, can sing the song and kill you, and from what I can gather "prepare hive for the "next realm" which I assume is a sort of heaven for them, though considering it's the hive more hell looking, it's impossible to say they're ever really "dead." Just food for thought. As a contradiction to Ir Yût, take a look at the two new named death singers we are introduced to in the taken king. The are both daughters of oryx where as Yût is a spawn of Crota. I believe that because Crota is a lesser god of the hive he only had enough power to summon one named death singer, who would do the majority of the work on her own. However, because oryx is literally the son of the darkness, he is able to split his power between two death singers, each having half of the job, and each knowing half of the song. Which is why Raid spoiler [spoiler]when they are seen in the raid they appear side by side to kill you.[/spoiler] Now let's look at the lesser death singers, the unnamed ones, I believe these witches only appear when summoned to help with death rituals, a topic covered lightly earlier. Though you will notice that these creatures, along with Ir Yût, the Wakers and Watchers of Crota, and Omnigoul all share the same texture. Now this could just be Bungie using an easy way out of having to make separate models, but I think that if this is not true, it is because all these creatures start in the same form, but are given different tasks, and different knowledge. The knowledge includes; •The song of death •How to summon a hive God •How to protect a hive God •How to inact the will of a god Well, I hope you all enjoyed this little tidbit of lore! What should I cover next?