Who is Andal Brask? He was the Hunter Vanguard before Cayde-6, who was murdered by Taniks, the Scarred. We don't know very much about him. In total, we have four grimoire cards that use his name. Before I get into this, I haven't watched any videos about the Vanguard Dare, Andal Brask, or the hunter Vanguard and I don't actually know if there are any, so if there are any similarities to anyone else who had looked into this character before I promise there's no relation and I will be very interested in finding more people who put the pieces together the same way, or a different way, than I did. This is all just from my own thoughts and theories and through discussions with other lore enthusiasts. The first part is what we know, the second is what I think. I really do want to know what you guys think on this. The only grimoire references we have about Andal are: —Ghost Fragment: Cayde-6 MAJOR EVENTS OF 126 YEARS AGO: SIGNIFICANT PROGRESS MADE IN FACTION ACCORDS. RELATED: BRASK, A. —Taniks, the Scarred Taniks, the Scarred, a mercenary known for the theft of Aksor from the Prison of Elders and the murder of Hunter Vanguard Andal Brask, sells his services to any Fallen House willing to pay the right price —Ghost Fragment: Rasputin My old friend Andal—he used to stand here, right in this spot—he'd come up with these wild stories. He'd say, you know, Cayde, I've been examining the evidence, and personally I've come to think it's you. You're Rasputin, legendary Warmind, defender of Earth. And I wish you'd remember that, so you could reclaim your full power and save us all. You can see how that'd be embarrassing, especially when he'd say it right in front of Zavala, who already thought I was wasting my life scrounging for engrams. You know how Zavala gets. But I'd just say, well, Andal, you might be on to something there, but if I'm honest with you I think coordinating our defense throughout the solar system sounds exhausting, so I'd best leave it to you. Then Andal goes and plays his final joke, and I end up as the punchline. So here I stand, reading reports, giving orders, and getting my worry on. —Hunter Vanguard Cayde-6 was a daring Hunter with a fast ship, a quick gun hand, and an eye on the legendary Vault of Glass. Of course he couldn't say no to a challenge - not even the notorious Vanguard Dare. He lost the bet, to his immense regret. Now, following in the footsteps of his fallen friend Andal Brask, it is Cayde's turn to oversee his far-flung brethren as the Hunter Vanguard in the Tower. He works dutifully, but longs for a chance to get back into the fight. —Hardcase Cloak If you learn nothing else, learn this: when a Hunter takes up the cloak of a dead comrade, this is a vow. Cayde and Andal were good friends, we know that 126 years prior to the events of D1, Andal was still the hunter Vanguard, and that's the best kind of timeline we have here. We know that Andal died to Taniks, we know that Cayde was challenged to the Vanguard Dare, and we know that even though Andal lost his life, Cayde lost the dare. What is the Vanguard Dare? This much I'm not sure about, but due to Cayde's loss of it versus loss of life, it has to be more complex than most theories out there. Personally, and this is pretty simplistic, I think the two of them could have switched jobs, and Cayde relented and admitted to Andal that his desk job was a lot harder than he thought. This idea only really works with the rest of my theory. The thing that gets me about all of this is the phrasing of the Taniks card and I think that's part of the reason I'm so interested in it. The [b]murder[/b] of Andal Brask. Murder is no simple label, it is vicious and it implies that the battle was unfair or one sided. Andal did not fall, he did not die, he was not slain; he was murdered. As Taniks was essentially a hired gun, it could be possible that someone or something took a hit out on Andal. Or, perhaps, Andal has fought Taniks before and this was a revenge killing. I have another idea. The Vanguard don’t leave the Tower, Cayde is always mourning his inability to leave and even mentions in D1 that he is glad he only has a year left. We have no idea how long a Vanguard term would/could be. Though that could be foreshadowing to Cayde’s reboot/death. Which is another theory for another day. Anyway, there’s no record of Taniks ever coming to the City. So, why would Andal leave, was it the Dare? Did he challenge Taniks alone, or did he leave for something else only to get tracked down and murdered by him? We can more or less confirm that Cayde did find Andal's body and retrieved his cloak, the one piece of art we have dedicated to Andal he is wearing the same cloak that Cayde wears now. One last point; Cayde doesn’t sit in for the Taniks strike. You would think that he would, if his friend was murdered by him. Is it regret? Is it shame? While he may not have said anything, I would bet anything that he listened to every single word. Now for the theory. I had a discussion with a friend recently about Andal and what the Vanguard Dare could be, who Andal actually was, what his motivations were. I had a few theories about him that I wasn't really talking about, but last night as I was asking him what he thought of this whole thing he ended up confirming my speculations almost entirely. Andal's only quote ends with "And I wish you'd remember that, so you could reclaim your full power and save us all." While I've always loved this phrase, he brought something up I hadn't thought of. He said that it sounded like it came from a man who was quite simply done with everything, a man who had seen too much who was now just tired. Someone who wanted /out/, whatever way 'out' may be. So here's the theory. Andal Brask's death was no accident, it was no murder, it was a plan – it was on purpose. His death was a calculated move and his intention was to trap Cayde as the hunter Vanguard. It says that Cayde can't resist a challenge, Andal would obviously know this with them being close friends. But, why would he want to trap Cayde? I will continue this in another reply because it's way too long to fit here.