Editing Taken War

{{New content|[[Destiny 2]]}}

{{Quote|Six of you went down into the pit. You sought revenge for those I've lost. You slew a god. Crota, with his last breath, he reached out across the night, and now, the night has answered. Oryx, Crota's father. He smells the blood of his son on your hands. We have slain his brood; we have murdered his son! And now, the Taken King comes for us all.|Eris Morn.<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HQymFddoo9I '''YouTube''' - ''The Taken King Prologue'']</ref>}}

'''The Taken War''' was a major, system-wide conflict fought between the [[Hive]], led by [[Oryx, the Taken King]], and all other races in the system. The war began as a direct result of the [[Guardian]]s slaying Oryx's son [[Crota]], to stop an attempted invasion of [[Earth]]. Oryx brought his fleet to [[Saturn]], and began blighting the system with his [[Taken]] forces. The war continued to rage even after Oryx's death, as the Taken continued to haunt the system and pretenders arose to lay claim to the Taken King's vacant throne.

 

 

==Central powers of the war==

*[[Hive]]

**[[Taken]]

*[[The Last City]]

**[[Guardians]]

*[[Fallen]]

 

*[[Earth]]

*[[Venus]]

*The [[Moon]]

*[[Mars]]

*[[Saturn]]

For centuries, the Guardians of the Last City have fought with the Hive to prevent them from invading Earth and destroying the Traveler, only in the recent years have the Guardians been able to make progress in driving the Hive back. The Hive in the system were led by Crota, Son of Oryx who brought about the [[Great Disaster]] after the Guardians sought to retake the Moon. Though a fireteam led by [[Eriana-3]], a survivor of the battle, sought revenge against the Hive Prince, her team failed in killing Crota, only destroying his physical form. Only Eris Morn survived that mission and has since then feared Crota's return and has sought the means to destroy him and avenge her fallen comrades. Her fears came true when Crota's servants endeavored to resurrect their master and have him lead an all-out invasion of Earth.  

Gathering Guardians who listened to her warnings, Eris sought to put a halt on Crota's return by first eliminating his armies' leaders and preventing the ritual to return Crota's soul to the material world. Thanks to the Guardians' efforts, Crota's followers fell and in the Chamber of Night, the Guardians destroyed Crota's soul crystal, preventing his return to the physical world. Despite this accomplishment, Eris knew that Crota could only be killed in his Ascendant Realm, located within the deepest pit of the Hellmouth and she advised the Guardians to prepare.

Forming a new Raid team, the Guardians breached Crota's Ascendant Realm and battled with the Hive Prince. Despite the Hive God's formidable powers and his Oversoul, the harrowing battle ended with Crota being slain by the Guardians with his own sword. With Crota's death, the Hive were dealt their first real defeat in centuries.

[[File:Battle on Saturn.jpg|300px|thumb|right|Awoken fleet engaging the [[Dreadnaught]]]]

The [[Awoken]] of the [[Reef]] were the first to respond to the Hive God's invasion. [[Mara Sov|Queen Mara Sov]] gathered her fleet to engage the [[Dreadnaught]], Oryx's capital ship, directly in the [[Battle of Saturn]]. When conventional weapons failed, the Queen and her [[Techeun]]s unleashed the [[Harbinger]]s, energy weapons of mysterious power. While they tore through the lesser Hive ships, the Dreadnaught was unscathed. In retaliation, Oryx unleashed his [[Oversoul]], which obliterated the Queen's fleet in a single blast, including her flagship and a few of Oryx's own ships.<ref>'''Bungie (2015-9-15)''', ''[[Destiny]]: [[The Taken King]], PlayStation 4, Activision Blizzard, [[The Coming War]]''</ref> Though no body was recovered, the Queen was assumed dead, and [[Petra Venj]] was named Queen Regent.<ref>'''Bungie (2015-9-15)''', ''[[Destiny]]: [[The Taken King]], PlayStation 4, Activision Blizzard, [[Grimoire]]: [[Grimoire:Inventory/Special_Weapons#Telesto|Telesto]]''</ref> However, the battle succeeded in its primary objective, halting Oryx's fleet and keeping it locked outside of the inner system.<ref>'''Bungie (2015-9-15)''', ''[[Destiny]]: [[The Taken King]], PlayStation 4, Activision Blizzard, [[The Coming War]]''</ref>

{{Quote|The base is a loss. We have reports of these "Taken" across the system.|[[Commander Zavala]].<ref>'''Bungie (2015-9-15)''', ''[[Destiny]]: [[The Taken King]], PlayStation 4, Activision Blizzard, [[The Coming War]]''</ref>}}

As the Guardians worked to establish a beachhead they also encountered the Skyburners Cabal Legion main battleship rammed into the Dreadnaught. Knowing that the Cabal have been on the Hive warship longer, they would have real field intelligence on finding a way to reach Oryx. The Guardian infiltrated the crashed Cabal ship and learned that Oryx could only be reached through a portal called a rupture and the Cabal already had to team sent to the coordinates, led by Primus Ta'aun. The Guardian was able to catch up to the Primus just as they reached the portal entrance and were on the verge on being overrun. Primus Ta'aun was then assaulted by the Taken and was soon Taken himself. As the Guardians neared the portal, an Echo of Oryx and a wave of Hive and Taken attacked but the Guardian survived but when they tried to pass through the rupture they were repulsed. Eris Morn explained that only an ascendant Hive could enter the rupture.<ref>'''Bungie (2015-9-15)''', ''[[Destiny]]: [[The Taken King]], PlayStation 4, Activision Blizzard, [[Enemy of My Enemy]]''</ref> To become ascendant, the Guardian needed to gather Crota's essence; by collecting a shard of crystal from the Chamber of Night, and using the same stealth technology from Rasputin, the Guardian snuck into Crota's netherrealm and stole the essence in the middle of Crota's death ceremony. Though they were discovered and nearly killed, the Guardian succeeded in escaping with enough of Crota's essence to pass as an Ascendant.<ref>'''Bungie (2015-9-15)''', ''[[Destiny]]: [[The Taken King]], PlayStation 4, Activision Blizzard, [[Last Rites]]''</ref>

Returning to the Dreadnaught, they successfully passed through the rupture and at reaching the second portal rupture, Oryx unleashed his two new Taken Champions, Ta'aun and [[Baxx]]. The Guardian defeated them and entered the rupture to the entrance of Oryx's inner sanctum, where Oryx personally challenged them to come and face him. Despite his dark power Oryx was unable to defeat the Guardian and retreated to his throne realm, leaving behind his sword, [[Willbreaker]].<ref>'''Bungie (2015-9-15)''', ''[[Destiny]]: [[The Taken King]], PlayStation 4, Activision Blizzard, [[Regicide]]''</ref>

Though Oryx vanished from the material realm, he continued to blight the system. Only by attacking the source of the blights on each planet could the Vanguard direct their attention on ending Oryx himself. Defeating the Taken's Champions helped to narrow down the source of the blights. [[Cayde-6]] tracked down the source of the blight on Earth to an Echo of Oryx hiding in [[King's Watch]], where it was defeated.<ref>'''Bungie (2015-9-15)''', ''[[Destiny]]: [[The Taken King]], PlayStation 4, Activision Blizzard, [[Kings of Decay]]''</ref> [[Ikora Rey]] discovered a message from [[Praedyth]] coming from the [[Vault of Glass]]; however, this was a [[Vex]] ploy to get the Guardian to remove the Taken that had invaded the Vault, as Praedyth had long since died. The blight on Venus was tracked down to the top of [[The Citadel]], where another Echo of Oryx was encountered and defeated.<ref>'''Bungie (2015-9-15)''', ''[[Destiny]]: [[The Taken King]], PlayStation 4, Activision Blizzard, [[Entropy's Pinnacle]]''</ref> [[Commander Zavala]] discovered another Echo of Oryx on Mars, this time using a secret entrance under [[Freehold]] to invade the [[Black Garden]]. The Echo was driven from the Garden and was defeated finally on [[Phobos]], in the very room where the War had begun.<ref>'''Bungie (2015-9-15)''', ''[[Destiny]]: [[The Taken King]], PlayStation 4, Activision Blizzard, [[Fear's Embrace]]''</ref>

The Reef aided [[the Last City]] in this phase of the war, helping to clear blights and defeat Champions on [[Earth]], [[Venus]], and [[Mars]]. However, the Reef was also interested in looking for signs of the missing Queen, and preventing an opportunistic [[House of Wolves]] from rising to power again, as they attempted to make a new home on Mars under the leadership of [[Orbiks Prime]]. With Variks and Petra's aid, the Guardians were able to track the Wolves down and destroy Orbiks Prime, leaving the Wolves broken and leaderless once more.<ref>'''Bungie (2015-9-15)''', ''[[Destiny]]: [[The Taken King]], PlayStation 4, Activision Blizzard, [[Prime's Path]]''</ref>

{{Quote|We have confirmed it among our number within the Hidden. I have asked Ikora's Warlocks to reach out, and they sense nothing. The Orb is quiet. On the Moon, his shrine is dark and cold. It is true: the Taken King is dead. The Hive's dark god, and his foul son, have been purged from the universe.|Eris Morn, undisclosed report to Osiris.<ref>'''Bungie (2015-9-15)''', ''[[Destiny]]: [[The Taken King]], PlayStation 4, Activision Blizzard, [[Grimoire]]: [[Grimoire:Activities/The_Taken_King#The_Road_to_King's_Fall|The Road to King's Fall]]''</ref>}}

With the blights eliminated, the Vanguard made preparations to once again enter the Dreadnaught, and slay Oryx for good. Oryx's Lieutenants still lived, most of them residing in the [[Court of Oryx]]. Eris had the Guardians depose the Court, as well as eliminate [[The Infantine]] before it could be infused with Taken power. Soon, there was none left but Oryx himself, as well as his closest allies, the [[Warpriest]], [[Golgoroth]], and his daughters [[Ir Anûk, Deathsinger|Ir Anûk]] and [[Ir Halak, Deathsinger|Ir Halak]]. With the Court soundly defeated, the Guardians used the rupture there to invade Oryx's Ascendant realm, killing his servants one by one and destroyed his soul, killing Oryx once and for all.<ref>'''Bungie (2015-9-15)''', ''[[Destiny]]: [[The Taken King]], PlayStation 4, Activision Blizzard, [[King's Fall]]''</ref>

The Taken War did not end with Oryx's death, unfortunately. The Taken continued to persist despite the loss of their master; though without Oryx's power they began to slowly decay, they remained a significant threat that the Guardians had to continue fighting. With the Osmium Throne vacant, some powerful Hive and Taken saw an opportunity to seize it for themselves. One was [[Alak-Hul, the Darkblade]], a Hive Knight who Oryx had considered a foster son. Before Alak-Hul could break free of [[The Sunless Cell]] where Oryx had imprisoned him earlier for his attempted usurpation, he was defeated by a fireteam of Guardians.<ref>'''Bungie (2015-9-15)''', ''[[Destiny]]: [[The Taken King]], PlayStation 4, Activision Blizzard, [[The Sunless Cell]]''</ref>

Sometime later, the Taken Knight [[Malok, Pride of Oryx]] enacted his own bid to claim dominance over the remaining Hive and Taken with his mastery of the blights. [[Variks, the Loyal]] received reports of Malok's activities and sent in the Guardian to investigate. Eventually, the Guardian was able to drive Malok out of the Dreadnaught and into the Hellmouth, where he met his end when confronted by a fireteam at the Shrine of Oryx.<ref>'''Bungie (2015-9-15)''', ''[[Destiny]]: [[The Taken King]], PlayStation 4, Activision Blizzard, [[Blighted Chalice]]''</ref>

Malok's death, as well as any other powerful contenders were killed before they could take Oryx's place, would officially mark the end of the Taken War. However, the Guardians would have to continue fighting the weakened Taken and Hive forces within the Solar System while also dealing with the [[Devil Splicers]] conflict a year later.<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=39jvouEt44s '''YouTube''' - ''Rise of Iron Trailer'']</ref>

However, a faction of [[Taken]] would continue to be active during [[The Red War]]. They thrived within the [[European Dead Zone]] and [[Lake of Shadows|engaged]] Guardian forces present there.

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**''[[The Taken King]]'' {{1st}}

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