Uldren Sov

"I don't have time to explain why I don't have time to explain."
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Uldren Sov
Biographical information
Other name(s):	Uldwyn Sov
Homeworld:	Earth Distributary (rebirth) Dreaming City (resurrection)
Species:	Human (formerly) Awoken
Gender:	Male
Hair color:	Black
Eye color:	Washed Orange (Orange)
Political and military information
Affiliation:	The Reef (formerly) Scorn (formerly) Light-bearers
Notable info:	Prince of the Reef (formerly) Master of Crows (formerly) King of the Scorn (formerly) Lightbearer

"The line between Light and Dark is so very thin. Do you know what side you're on?"

— Uldren Sov

Uldren Sov is an Awoken, and the brother of the Queen of the Reef Mara Sov. He also went by the titles, "The Prince of the Reef", and "The Master of Crows." He was the Queen's advisor, spymaster, and enforcer, using his Crows (both the agents and the monitoring devices) to spy on the activities of the other races in the system. While loyal to his sister, he disagreed with her frequently on matters of defense and foreign policy, and was very disdainful of the Guardians. He is the main antagonist of Forsaken, having killed the hunter Vanguard, Cayde-6 and established himself as the leader of the Scorn after a massive breakout of the Prison of Elders. With the assistance of the Scorn, he would successfully open the gateway to the Dreaming City in the Tangled Shore, only to immediately be devoured by the Voice of Riven, then executed upon the creature's death. Several months after his death at the hands of Petra Venj and the Guardian, he was revived by a Ghost in the Dreaming City, becoming a Lightbearer at the expense of his memory.

Biography

First Life

""Mara!" Uldwyn shouts. "Mara, you're too far out!""

— Cosmogyre IV, Marasenna

During the Golden Age, the man who would become Uldren Sov was Uldwyn, one of the nine hundred crewmembers of the colony ship Yang Liwei. He served aboard the ship as part of Project Amrita along with his mother Osana and his fraternal twin sister Mara. He was known to be boisterous and a risk-taker, often prize-fighting with other members of the crew.

As the Yang Liwei was outbound from the Solar System, the Darkness descended to bring about the Collapse. As the Yang Liwei was engulfed by the black, light-negating field broadcast by the Darkness, the Traveler struck out with a beam of Light and held the Darkness at bay. The force of the conflict between the two paracausal forces was too great, however, and a kugelblitz formed, swallowing the Yang Liwei and all of its passengers and crew, including Uldwyn.

Breaching the Black Garden

Long before the resurrection of The Guardian, Uldren was beloved and admired by the Awoken People. He was famous for many deeds, but he knew underneath it all, the love of the people was due to his association with Mara. Seeking to be more than that to others, and to do something that even his seemingly all-knowing sister couldn't anticipate, he resolved to venture into the Black Garden with only his wing-man Jolyon. The duo venture into Meridian Bay, fending off the Cabal and Vex as they search for a way to trick the latter race into opening the gate to the Garden. Eventually, Uldren has a master plan: lure out a Gate Lord to get the gate open, then agitate the trigger-happy Cabal into killing the Gate Lord. The plan works, and the two spend an undetermined amount of time exploring the Black Garden. During their venture, Uldren finds beauty in the Garden. He develops a desire to protect it from the Guardians and a desire to one day bring Mara there. During his journey he also attacks a detachment of Cabal that get pulled into the Garden by the Vex, and learns that the Garden's secrets can "grow" into one's body and mind from an injured Legionary.

Uldren and Joylon eventually retreat from the Garden and return to the Reef, battered in body and mind by their adventure. He returns to Mara and presents a plant that he managed to take. Mara is initially impressed, but once the two are alone, Mara asks him about the Garden's heart, then expresses displeasure that he ignored her warning to not go to the Garden. While thinking about the heart, he realizes that it may be bait to lure the Guardians to the Garden and mark a milestone in the Traveler's recovery, and that he still failed to surprise his sister. The latter thought is the one that wounds him the most. Later, he talks Joylon, who asks Uldren not to make what he saw in the garden public.

War with the Wolves

Uldren intercepted a Fallen transmission that was broadcast on all channels but was unable to decrypt it, and was only able to discern that all of the Fallen Houses were having an unprecedented level of communication and cooperation. The Techeuns looked toward Earth and saw the Fallen gathering there, and the Reef's leadership came to the conclusion that the Fallen were joining forces for a major attack on the Last City. At first, they believed there was nothing they could do, until the House of Wolves passed through the asteroid belt and stopped at Ceres. There, the Awoken revealed themselves and assaulted the Wolves, using the Harbingers to shatter the planetoid and killed half the House of Wolves, including Virixas, Kell of Wolves. However, the Battle of Ceres was only the start of the Reef Wars, as the remaining members of the House of Wolves scattered throughout the Reef and split into three factions, led by Irxis, Wolf Baroness; Parixas, the Howling; and Skolas, the Rabid.

After two major losses to the Wolves at Amethyst and Hygiea and a pyrrhic victory at Iris, Uldren provided the Awoken with a major advantage when he and his Crows cracked the Fallen's encryptions. Using knowledge gained from the intercepted communications, Uldren assisted Paladin Imogen Rife in luring one of Skolas' vassals, Baroness Drevis, into a trap at the asteroid Bamberga which destroyed her Ketch and led to the capture of Drevis, Kaliks-4, and many other high-ranking Fallen. Unfortunately, the victory was short-lived as Rife's fleet was ambushed by another of Skolas' vassals, Pirsis, who gathered a massive fleet and laid siege to the settlement of Pallas, trapping Rife's forces for years. The stalemate was broken when Weksis, the Meek launched a foolhardy assault on Pallas that failed, giving the Reef superior numbers on the Fallen. Uldren and his Crows then worked with the Techeuns to create an illusion of the Harbingers, which scared the Wolves into scattering and led to the capture of Pirsis, although the Fallen captain had managed to slay Paladin Rife during the battle.

Following the capture of Beltrik, the Veiled at Fortuna Plummet, Uldren was brought a message by one of his Crows from a Fallen named Variks, the last member of the House of Judgment. Variks provided the Reef with Skolas' plan to assault the military fortress of Cybele, leading to the capture of Skolas and most of his lieutenants, bringing an effective end to the Reef Wars.

Meeting The Guardian

"My motive is simply loyalty, to a people, a Queen and a sister."

— Uldren, explaining his hostility to the Guardian

While tasking his Crows, Uldren ordered one to watch the entrance of the Black Garden and to follow any who passed through its gate. As the Crow left to set about its task, Uldren noticed one of the drones flying to avoid him and swiftly caught it in his grasp. Questioning it, he learned it was tasked by the Queen, and forced it to state its task by reminding the Crow that is served him. It revealed that it was monitoring the Black Garden and that the Black Heart and the Sol Progeny which guarded it were growing stronger. After a brief moment of contemplation, Uldren brought the Crow with him to his sister's throne room and presented it to her, while noting that he believed he had earned the right to share this news.

When a Guardian came to Reef asking for an audience with Mara, Uldren greeted them with hostility and told them that he did not believe they should be granted access to the Queen. As the Queen's Fallen guards entered the throne room, the Guardian panicked and grabbed a gun from one of the Awoken guards, causing Uldren to draw his knife and hold it to the Guardian's throat. Mara then entered the room and explained that the Fallen were hers, and after the guard retrieved their weapon Uldren removed his knife from the Guardian's throat and apologized to the Queen for the disturbance. When the Guardian declared they were looking for the Black Garden, Uldren was surprised, but was unimpressed that they intended to destroy the Darkness at its heart, dismissing their goal as unimaginative. The Guardian asked for help entering the Garden, and Uldren questioned why they would help them. Mara then called her brother over to the throne, and suggested that the Guardian retrieve a Vex Gate Lord's eye so they could make a key for them. Uldren was pleased by this suggestion, as he believed the Guardian would perish attempting the task.

Upon the Guardian's return, Uldren believed that they had run from the Gate Lord and mockingly reassured them that their was no shame in their action. The Guardian was defiant and said they did not run, transmatting the head of a Gate Lord into the throne room. Uldren was stunned they had succeeded, and when they asked for the key and location of the Black Garden as agreed, he angrily noted their ignorance of its location to his sister. She told him to provide the key and coordinates, confusing and angering him further, and Uldren exclaimed that if she wanted the Guardian dead they should just kill them now. His sister informed Uldren that his guessing of her motives was only revealing his own, and he bowed before her and claimed he only wished to serve his people and her. After she directed him once more to gift the Guardian the eye, Uldren reluctantly pulled out his knife and pried the eye from the Gate Lord's head. As he did so, the eye lost power, and Uldren cheerily noted that all the Guardian's efforts were wasted. Mara disagreed and ordered him to hand over the eye anyway, and after a moments hesitation he tossed them eye and provided the coordinates of the Black Garden's entrance on Mars. Mara then proclaimed that the Guardian would come to the Awoken's aid if they should ever need it, which Uldren bluntly noted meant that they owed them for this. As the Guardian left, Uldren sarcastically wished them luck getting through the Cabal's exclusion zone on Mars.

The Wolf Rebellion

"I do not see why this is funny. This Guardian may have dealt with them on Earth, but my Crows say we still have much to fear."

— Uldren, discussing the Wolf Rebellion with his sister

Several months after aiding the Guardian in their hunt for the Black Garden, the House of Wolves rose in rebellion against the Reef after Skolas was freed by the Nine and led a prison break from the Prison of Elders while also declaring himself Kell of Kells. Uldren and his Crows gathered intelligence on the Wolves' movements and kept Mara, Petra Venj, and Variks, the Loyal apprised of their actions while they worked with the Guardian to hunt down the rebellious Fallen. After the Guardian slew several members of the Silent Fang on Earth when they attempted to assassinate leaders of the House of Devils to let Skolas conquer them, Uldren met with his sister in her throne room. While she was pleased by the deaths of so many Fang members, Uldren informed her that he found nothing about the situation amusing, as his Crows had learned most of the Silent Fang was still alive and all had escaped from the Prison. His sister reassured him that she was not amused either, and ordered him to have Petra set more bounties on the Fang to ensure that none would continue to live.

Shortly after meeting with the Queen, Uldren was visited on the Hull of Crows by Petra, Paladin Yasmin Eld, and Techeun Shuro Chi to discuss Skolas and the Wolves' next actions. He informed them that a meeting had been set between Yavek, Wolf Baron and two Barons from the House of Kings, Vekis and Paskin. He explained that the Kings ruled the Devils from the shadows and had nearly conquered the Last City twice, and would thus never simply bow before Skolas' claim to be Kell of Kells, as the mysterious Kell of Kings had his eyes on the Traveler. Petra and Venj were skeptical, questioning Uldren on if Skolas managed to trick them with power or an artifact, but the Master of Crows believed nothing short of the Traveler proclaiming it could convince the Kings that Skolas was worthy and blunt their ambition. This statement cause Petra to note Uldren sounded like he admired the House of Kings, and he stated that any power cleverly used was worth admiring. Yasmin asked what the Baron's objective was then, and Uldren explained that he suspected they were in fact assassins sent to kill Yavek as a message from the Kell of Kings to Skolas. Shuro warned Uldren to ensure his assessment of the situation was free from personal bias, and Uldren demanded to know what she meant by that.

Uldren later reported to Mara that with all of Skolas' efforts to bring the House of Kings and Devils under his banner denied, he had returned to the Ishtar Sink on Venus. His sister guessed that he intended to rule from the deceased Winter Kell Draksis Ketch, the Simiks-Fel, but Uldren noted that while he had thought the same, his Crows reported that the Wolf Kell was not there. He then informed her that Skolas' Kell's Guard were spotted leading raids into the Vault of Glass in search of Vex technology. Intrigued by this development, Uldren was ordered by the Queen to have Petra bring Skolas back alive for questioning.

After Skolas was captured, Uldren travelled to the Prison of Elders with Mara and the Techeuns to view their prisoner. As they and Variks stood over the would be Kell of Kells cell, Uldren was amused by Skolas' attempts to reach them through the bars. However, Skolas began muttering something which Variks translated as "Dark-Binder" and "Light-Snuffer". This caused Mara to begin to leave, but Uldren questioned what her sentence for Skolas' crimes would be. She gave Skolas to Variks for the Guardians to fight in the Prison of Elders, and as Uldren held the door open for her to leave he was ordered to send Crows to Osiris on Mercury and Eris Morn at the Tower to tell them of what Skolas' had said.

Osiris and Eris soon arrived at the Reef to meet with Uldren and Mara to discuss the coming of Oryx, the Taken King. When Eris arrived at the throne room, Uldren noted that she did not have a Ghost, and she informed him that her next death would be her last. He dryly noted that his would be as well and took his place before the Queen's throne. As the meeting began, Uldren narrowed his eyes in disapproval at the way Eris spoke to his sister but did not speak out, but the Queen did not care about the lack of formality and instead declared that all of them would form a plan to kill the Taken King.

Search for the Queen

He participated in the Battle of Saturn and is the only known survivor at the time, as his ship crashed on Athabasca, Mars. However, his survival was unknown at the time, as control of the Crows passed to Variks. Uldren suspected that his sister survived the battle, as he could still sense her. A group of Crow drones found him and repaired his ship, but when he tried to break the atmosphere, he was shot down by Cabal and crashed in Hellas Basin. With all his Crows destroyed, his ship wrecked beyond repair, he treks across Mars looking for a way to get off-world. It is in these moments that the grief of losing to Oryx wears him down, causing his faith in her plans to fade at the same time his feel for her presence fades. However, when the sensation of her survival returns, he spends the rest of the Taken War and the SIVA Crisis searching for her, evading everyone including his own followers. His last known report indicated he allowed himself to be captured in order to find the Kell of Kings, to raise an army via some unclear means. He also indicated that his sister approved of his actions. Eventually, he is brought before the King's Kell, who submits to him and asks for his help in uniting the Fallen. Hoping to use their resources to search for Mara, he agrees.

The Mad Traitor

After the Red War, Uldren's alliance with the Kings leads him to become a traitor to his people. At some point, he learned that the Broken Legion was a trojan horse set up by the Red Legion. Rather than reach out to Petra, he allows the Red Legion to invade, further destabilizing the Asteroid Belt. With the help of his Fallen allies, he begins a campaign against what's left of his home in order to distract Petra from collaborating with the City. During the raids, he kills his people, steals from them, and brings more destruction to his home, using Mara's sacrifice at Saturn to justify his treachery. At the same time, between the strengthening of the Light brought about by the Traveler's awakening, and the fact that he can no longer hear Mara's voice, he is driven to brink of madness to the point where he consumes Ether to numb himself. On top of that, some unknown ailment is damaging his eyes, later made apparent to be an infection of the Darkness, most likely as a result of the battle with Oryx.

On an outing, Uldren faintly detects Mara's presence, which leads him to Fikrul, who is barely alive after being ambushed by Guardians. Uldren manages to save the Archon by unconsciously making a wish to Riven, causing Fikrul's Ether to become corrupted, and Fikrul comes to see him as some sort of father-figure. As time goes on, Uldren finds a kindred spirit in Fikrul, and they bond through their shared dislike for their peoples' fates, and a desire to see them evolve through extinction. He decides to team up with Fikrul and take over the Kings fully. With his the help of the Scorned Barons, Uldren takes over the House of Kings, and has his new right hand dock the former Kell, reducing his rank to Dreg. After this, Uldren leaves the Scorn to their devices and resumes his search for Mara. He decides to try talking Petra over to his side, but after finding her in Thieves' Landing, he sadly sees that Petra has, in his eyes, become irredeemable. In that moment, Mara contacts him again. After the sighting, he tracks down Illyn and accuses her of trapping Mara in The Dreaming City. Illyn denies it, having given up on Mara being alive, and accuses Uldren of madness. While he is ranting about his plans for the Awoken's future, he has a break that moves him to surrender to his people for his crimes. Seeing that something was was wrong with him but unable to excuse his crimes, Petra, Cayde-6, and a strike team throw Uldren into one of the lowest part of the Prison of Elders.

Forsaken

A year following the Red War, he played a role in freeing the Scorn from the Prison of Elders, where he shot and killed Cayde-6 with his own Ace of Spades, fleeing the scene afterward. From his perspective, he was doing something noble. Uldren's ultimate motive is to find his sister, Mara Sov.

With the aid of the Fallen Scorn, Uldren Sov sends what's left of the Reef into disarray and scatters the Awoken. He claims to know that his sister still lives and communicates with him, telling him that she is imprisoned within the Awoken secret structure, the Watchtower. To release her, Uldren required a combination of Light and Darkness to open the gateway for Mara Sov to be free. Already infected with the Darkness, Uldren sough out the Light in the European Dead Zone, and recovered a Shard of the Traveler but narrowly escaped an assassination attempt by Petra Venj.

Time was soon running out for Uldren, as each of the Scorn Barons fell to the Guardian one-by-one, leaving only the Fanatic as his last defense as the Guardian closed in. The Fanatic soon fell but at the center of the Watchtower, Uldren opened the gateway with the Darkness within him and the Light Shard but instead of his sister appearing, a grotesque servitor-like Taken creature, the Voice of Riven, took her place, revealing that Mara Sov was never speaking to him but a creature using him to free itself. Uldren realized this too late as the Voice of Riven swallowed him whole.

However, the Guardian soon fought their way to the center and fought with the Voice of Riven and despite the creatures strange powers, the Guardian succeeded in destroying it, releasing Uldren. Defeated, humiliated and defenseless, the Guardian, with the Ace of Spades, approaches Uldren who questions on where his sister is but Petra Venj soon arrives at the scene, equally ready to execute him. Uldren adamantly claims that everything he has done was for Mara but both the Guardian and Petra are not convinced. Ghost however, states that simply executing him isn't right but Petra angrily states that she knows what Cayde-6 would do. Uldren further supports this question on what Cayde would do and asks the Guardian on what they plan to do. After a moment of silence and thought, they aim the weapon at him. Uldren closed his eyes and was promptly executed, avenging Cayde-6 as well as the Awoken that Uldren had forsaken.

Black Armory

Uldren Sov was eventually laid to rest in the Dreaming City, where he remained for a short amount of time. Soon after his death, a Ghost found and resurrected him as a Guardian of the Light, a shocking turn of events following the events of Forsaken. His whereabouts following his revival are unknown.

Personality and Traits

"My brother was strong. Clever. Devoted. But... suggestible."

— Mara Sov.

Prince Uldren Sov has proven that while intelligent, cunning, clever and loyal to his sister and the Reef, he has shown to be condescending, smug and arrogant towards outsiders and enemies, particularly to the Guardians. Even some members of the Reef dislike him for his negative attitude but can't deny his skills, leadership, and expertise. His leadership of the Crows in both the Reef Wars and the Wolf Rebellion showcased his skills in intelligence gathering. In addition, he proved resourceful enough that he was able to avoid the detection of his own followers. During the chaos within the Reef, Uldren did show further, albeit ruthless, leadership skills as the Fallen Scorn followed his orders without question. Even the Barons held a sense of reverence for him.

Uldren has always disliked all Guardians, primarily because of their complete disregard of their place in the grand scheme of things. To that end, Uldren makes it his mission to antagonize nearly any Guardian he encounters. For his own amusement, he also habitually states that "Rasputin shot the Traveler" during The Collapse just to rile them up. When The Guardian first came to the Reef, Uldren largely didn't want to help the Guardian in finding the Black Garden despite the threat of the Vex and was content to have nothing to do with them. He also doesn't think much of Guardians' abilities, as he quickly suspected that the Guardians would fail in the mission to find and defeat a Vex Gate Lord. When the Guardian actually succeeded, he was left shocked and almost livid that he was proven wrong. In addition, Uldren is confused and angered with his sister's growing alliance with the Guardians. Out of loyalty, he kept his opinions to himself and followed orders obediently.

What happened after the Battle of Saturn with Oryx and surviving is unknown but Uldren has become even more ruthless and cruel. He was willing to betray the Reef, ally with the House of Kings and later the Fallen Scorn and commit murder in cold-blood to meet his goal of meeting his sister again. Unfortunately, Uldren's desperation to find his sister made him susceptible to Riven's machinations and his corruption of the Darkness after the Battle of Saturn only made it worse for him. He began to see visions of Mara Sov, directing his actions, which made him act erratically to those who knew him well. His condition only grew worse when Riven's hold over him strengthened, causing him to willingly betray and kill his own people. However, while his actions and mannerisms remain relatively the same to the Guardian, Uldren showed clear cases of conflict within him, especially when the Guardian traveled through the Ascendant Plane within the Watchtower. While he longed to be reunited with his sister, part of him believed that something was wrong. However, he found this out too late and was horrified when he realized that his sister was never the one speaking to him.

After being freed and defeated after the Voice of Riven's demise, Uldren remained self-righteous in his goals, adamantly stating that all of his actions were for his sister. Ultimately, when his own death came for him, he nonetheless accepted his fate.

Trivia

• Originally, Uldren was named Crow and spoke with a flanged voice in the Closed Doors Demo at E3 2013. In the original version of Destiny, players would "help the Crow loot the Academy archive." Players would meet him in an early mission, where they would have a standoff, and work with him to find Osiris. According to a source within Bungie, his personality in this version was akin to how Cayde-6 was portrayed in The Taken King. He was later retooled to be "Prince Uldren," and the Crows would be his spies.

• Uldren is performed and voiced by actor Brandon O'Neill.
• Before House of Wolves, Uldren was simply known as "The Queen's Brother."
• Uldren's crashed ship can be found on Mars by Guardians in Warmind, within the Ma’adim Subterrane Lost Sector of the Glacial Drifts location. This is an in-game error, as Athabasca is far to the north-west of Ma'adim. This is corrected in Forsaken by revealing that after he repaired his ship he crashed a second time trying to make it pass the atmosphere.

• Uldren is the first Awoken main antagonist in the franchise, and the second to not be apart of any of the main enemy races, the first being Xol, Will of the Thousands.

• It was largely believed by fans that Uldren was the leader or one of the leaders of the House of Dusk after finding many clues relating to him. His reappearance and leadership of the Scorn make the rumors partially true. He is the leader of a faction of Fallen but not the House of Dusk.
  • He may have a connection to them as when he encountered them in the EDZ they didn’t attack him and some even bowed to him.
• During the battle with the Voice of Riven, Uldren can be heard screaming and calling for help from his sister.
• Who actually kills Uldren is up for debate, as both the Guardian and Petra had their weapons aimed at him but it isn't shown who commits the deed. The Guardian possessed the Ace of Spades while Petra wielded Vestian Dynasty at the time. The gunshot sound is different from the Ace of Spades (although it was damaged at the time so it would be different regardless) and the Vestian Dynasty. It is possible both characters pulled the trigger on their weapons at the same time, only one, but definitely not neither.

• In an ironic twist, Uldren became what he so disdained, as he ended up becoming a Guardian.

Gallery

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  In-game closeup of Uldren Sov.

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  "Out in the wild, this is how we talk."

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  Uldren and a Warlock. This was during the Pre Alpha stages as Uldren is never seen on Earth in Destiny or having a gun as he only has a knife.

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  Uldren and Mara Sov, with a pair of Fallen bodyguards.

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  Pre-Alpha Image of a mission, given by the Queen of the Reef, which puts the player in contact with Uldren "Pathways out of Darkness".

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  Uldren Sov pilots a jumpship during a The Taken King cutscene.

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  Uldren Sov character reference.

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  Uldren Sov about to murder Cayde-6.

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  Uldren's design in Destiny 2.

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  Uldren newly resurrected as a Guardian

List of appearances

• Destiny (First appearance)
  • House of Wolves
  • The Taken King
  • Rise of Iron (Mentioned only)
• Destiny 2 (Mentioned only)
  • Warmind (Mentioned only)
  • Forsaken
  • Black Armory