Agreed. I’ve [i]never[/i] liked Mara Sov. (Which is a credit to the talents of the actress who plays her.) All the way back to Vanilla Destiny she always struck me as a sociopath, and her catalog of crimes in the lore has done nothing to change my opinion of her. She is cold, calculating, deceitful and manipulative. Although she tries to rationalize that it’s always for the greater good, she is destructively power hungry in the same way that Clovis Bray was. Just without the narcissism that drove Bray’s evil deeds.

Completely agree. Toxic relationship. I think Crow is going to be an excellent addition.

No. He’s right. Mara has a long history of deceitfulness. Go read the history of the Awoken in the lore. The shit she did before the Awoken came back to The Reef makes what she did during [i]Taken King[/i] look small-time. The woman is cold, ruthless, manipulative, and power hungry.

Mara Sov is responsible for what happened to Uldren [i]because:[/i] Mara had this plan to bait the Taken King, pretend to die, sick the Guardians on TK. Then ultimately take his power for herself and build her own ascendant throne world. She let her brother think she was dead, instead of letting him in on her plan. She knew what thinking that would do to him, and she didn't care. She even made some dismissive comment about that in a cut scene. Believing his sister and queen dead was what drove him crazy and made him susceptible to Riven's manipulation. The creepy way Riven behaved toward Uldren while pretending to be his sister was completely believable to Uldren. Think about that a minute! Anyway that is why I blame Mara. She is super manipulative with everyone around her. She is deceptive, even framing the first awoken queen and using her as a scapegoat for how the Awoken turned out. [b][i]How Mara Sov decided the Awoken should be![/i][/b] My conclusions are based on in game cutscenes, lore cards, as well as lore videos on youtube by "My name is Byf".

Both the Darkness and Ahamkara magic dies is work with Desire. Like the Ring of Power/One Ring from Lord of the Rings, the Darkness amplifies and twists Desire into something selfish and destructive. It’s a corrupter and destroyer. Ahamkara magic is like the wishes that Djinn (Genies) grant. Or the Faustian Bargain/Crossroad deal from Christian lore. It’s powered by the desires of the wish maker, but in tempered by wisdom or foresight. So there is always a poison pill in how it is granted so it always turns out badly for the wish maker. TLDR: without in acknowledged inner darkness/ambition to work on, there is nothing for the Darkness to work upon. It’s why Frodo was able to resist the influence of the One Ring for almost a year during the trip to Mt. Doom. Why both Frodo and Samwise were able to resist its seduction to the point where they were able to offer to give It away ( to Galadriel, and back to Frodo). Samwise was so grounded that when the Ring sought to corrupt him by showing him visions of spreading gardens throughout the world? Sam laughed it off as foolishness. It was Uldren’s unspoken wish for the power that went with his royal status, that was the flaw in his character that allowed both the Darkness and Riven the means to corrupt him so quickly and so thoroughly. The reason why Mara is such a shitty person is she understood this about her brother. Had a good idea what would happen when she was gone....[i]and she did it ANYWAY.[/i]