Taranis

Taranis
Biographical information
Other name(s):	Taranis Rivensmate
Species:	Ahamkara
Gender:	Male
Political and military information
Notable info:	Sacrificed himself to scatter Riven's clutch in order to protect them.

Taranis was an Ahamkara and the mate of Riven.

Biography

Taranis was born without the presence of the sire and dam that created him, as his first meal was the shell of the egg he was hatched from. He would then learn the ways of hunting from the Ahamkara elders. As he grew, he began his first hunt on Mars by using the wishes of a Cabal soldier to relax for one day without giving up on her patrol duties. He would manipulate her wish, creating a sandstorm that shrouded the firebase, then bask in her satisfaction. Though it didn't fully sate him, Taranis considered it a successful hunt.

At some point, Taranis would follow a faint trail and find a way into the Black Garden where he would make his nest. While he found the place good for teaching himself who he was and for providing sustenance from the possibility of the place when his hunts didn't provide enough, he found his nest lacking. After tasting an itch in his heart knowing his nest is not enough, Taranis begins his hunt for it, eventually leading him to Venus where he would discover the presence of the Eliksni scavengers and Lightbearers as they engaged with the Vex and Psions. A lone Lightbearer with a pale lantern sat beneath a willow tree with faint desires. Taranis waited for the Lightbearer to wish but found that he wished for nothing, and so Taranis left.

He then followed a path towards the Awoken stronghold covered in jewels: the Dreaming City. Upon arriving in the Dreaming City through the Spine of Keres, he would meet his future mate, Riven, when she pinned him down with a huge claw, inquiring about his presence in her lair. After some time bonding with Riven in the Divalian Mists and meeting Gwilym, Taranis finally invites her to visit his lair in the Black Garden. She accepts the invitation. Together, they would begin forging a bridge between their lairs inside the Black Garden and the Dreaming City and produce whims, with Taranis serving the role of a dam and Riven serving the role of a sire.

However, by the time the Great Ahamkara Hunt began, Taranis disobeyed Riven's order to stay out of the Dreaming City and visited Azirim, who warned Taranis of the potential end of their species. Taranis next visited Gwilym, but she betrays his trust as he calls in a Corsair to catch him, citing an incident where Azirim tricked the Corsairs, including an old partner of hers, into falling down a cliff within the Gardens of Esila. However, Taranis escaped his fate by changing his form into a dragonfly. By the end of the Great Hunt, he and Riven would become separated physically and become the last of their kind along with the clutch they produced.

When Taranis returned to the Dreaming City one last time, he learned that Riven had been Taken by Oryx and their eggs in the Dreaming City had been corrupted with Taken energies. Upon returning to the Black Garden, Taranis would make a noble sacrifice to protect the uncorrupted clutch, granting his wish to scatter the clutch at the cost of his life. He would also bequeath a Bow as the final instruction to ensure the survival of his species: the Wish-Keeper. The Guardian discovered his corpse as they recover one of the eggs that had been stolen by Akardon, Pitiless Mind to stop Riven from granting the 15th wish, which would grant access into the Pale Heart of the Traveler to stop the Witness. Riven would be shocked at Taranis's fate and instruct the Guardian to keep Wish-Keeper to honor Taranis's legacy to protect the whims from the Witness's attempt to enact the Final Shape. After uncovering the celestial anomalies throughout the Dreaming City and the Black Garden, the Guardian uncovers more of the relationship between Riven and Taranis.

Trivia

• Taranis is named after the god of lightning in Celtic mythology.

Appearance

• Destiny 2: Season of the Wish (First appearance)