Red Death is one of the most well-known guns in Destiny. It's a fabled exotic with an incredibly powerful perk, it heals you. The name "Red Death" could come from two possible sources. In the Cold War era, western nations that denounced communism feared what was called the "Red Death" or in some cases the "Red Demise". This was a code name for a nation falling into communist control. But, the origin of the term Red Death along with the most popular use of the phrase comes to us from Edgar Allan Poe, author of the short story "Mask of the Red Death". In the story, a wealthy man throws a party at his home. As the party continues, however, people begin to go missing, dying. The end of the story reveals to us that a man, clad in a mask of the Red Death, has come to claim them all. Knowing some history of Poe, he died long before the start of the 20th century, and if we are to assume that humanity remained the same up until it's encounter with the Traveler, we can believe that in the Destiny timeline, Edgar Allan Poe existed and wrote Mask of the Red Death. The Red Death, is portrayed as being an analogy to the Bubonic Epidemic of the late Middle Ages. You may know it better as "The Plague" (Yes, I'm going [i]there[/i]) I believe Red Death is a SIVA production. And, honestly, it makes sense to me. The theory: SIVA was designed to help enhance weapons, but it eventually corrupted those who used them. Red Death is one such example. Red Death is an older model, SIVA corrupted SUROS Regime. I have long thought these weapons looked too similar and had too similar of perks to be independently manufactured. Feel free to add to this theory, take away from it, or just prove me wrong. And one last thing, I don't want to hear someone say "Red Death and SUROS look nothing alike" because that's just wrong.