Oversoul

Crota's Oversoul

"If we can separate our deaths from ourselves, and hide them, we will be hard to kill."

— Ir Anûk and Ir Halak to Oryx

An Oversoul is a Hive construct first conceived of by Ir Anûk and Ir Halak, the twin Deathsinger daughters of Oryx, the Taken King.

Overview

Ascendant Hive detach their souls from their physical bodies and contain them within Oversouls, which are described as "tautological and autonomous thanatospheres". Oversouls enhance an Ascendant Hive's ability to survive death, as they protect that Hive's soul upon the loss of its physical body, and generate a death impulse, similar to the lethal ability of Hive Deathsingers, to eliminate any immediate threats. In short, the Hive use Oversouls to separate and hide their deaths from their true selves, granting them a resilience beyond mere immortality.

Oversoul is first mentioned in the Books of Sorrow. Oryx's daughters experimented by dying "in a wound between places", possibly somewhere in the Ascendant Realm, in order to detach their souls and hide them away. Their father used this concept in his Dreadnaught, making the ship itself into his Oversoul. This both protected his soul and gave it the power to attack potential threats using its death impulse, thereby expanding the limits of his Throne world and Taking any survivors. A noteworthy example of the power of his Oversoul was when he used its death impulse to annihilate the entire Awoken armada that engaged his battle-group in the rings of Saturn. The blast was so immense that it left a massive hole in the rings, leaving only the Dreadnaught and a few Hive Warships behind.

Grimoire cards for several courtiers of the Court of Oryx describe different methods of hiding one's death. Kagoor, the creator and commander of Ogres, hid hers so that she cannot be harmed until the Ogres protecting her are destroyed. Savathûn, the Witch Queen hid the death of Krughor inside "another curse", granting it a shield that can only be taken down by explosions of Cursed Thralls. Three sisters Alzok Däl, Gornuk Däl and Zyrok Däl hid their deaths in each other, meaning they can only be permanently killed if they are destroyed all at once.

Toland, the Shattered describes his journeys through the Sea of Screams as "flying between green-black suns in the labyrinth beyond Crota's god-star", which suggests Oversouls are not a rare sight in the space between throne worlds.

Gameplay

The Oversoul is a mysterious entity first found in Crota's End. It can be seen from outside Crota's fortress, and from within. During the fight with Crota, the Oversoul acts as Crota's Enrage weapon; when Crota recovers, or he becomes Enraged after ten minutes, the Oversoul will activate. Guardians have ten seconds to sufficiently damage the Oversoul into retreating or else they die.

In the King's Fall raid, the Warpriest uses an Oversoul of his own called the Oculus, which kills any Guardian not standing directly in the shadow of a monument during its attack.

List of appearances

• Destiny (First mentioned)
  • The Dark Below (First appearance)
  • The Taken King