The Nine

"I don't have time to explain why I don't have time to explain."
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The Nine

"You want our source, our primal cause? WE ARE THE SHADOWS OF YOUR WORLDS' MASS."

— The Nine

The Nine (often represented as the IX; also known as the ennead) are a group of enigmatic dark matter-based entities affiliated with the planets of the Sol System. They control several locations within the Unknown Space, a mysterious region within the Ascendant Realm whose nature is poorly understood.

Overview

The Nine are essentially beings of pure thought, composed of galaxy-spanning streams of dark matter which developed cognition after being pulled into loops by the gravity of Sol and its planets. Their existence is predicated on the existence of those planets, particularly the life that developed on them; hence, their primary concern is sustaining that existence, whether by protecting that life or by finding a way to end their reliance on it.

Despite their omnipresence over the influence of the Dark Matter in the universe, the scope of their power over the world of "normal" matter is limited, and so they primarily act through a handful of agents, emissaries, and associates. They appear to be capable of freely manipulating the dark matter that composes themselves. They are also able to manipulate and even synthesize regular matter under certain circumstances, such as through the portals of Cocytus.

At present, the Nine are divided into two factions. One faction, consisting of five members, seeks to study the Light and use it for their own purposes, and is responsible for sending Xûr, Agent of the Nine and The Emissary to interact with the Guardians. The other four seek to free themselves from their dependence on matter-based life and the Light, and to that end have experimented with creating their own realms through spacetime engineering and the creation of dark matter-based black holes akin to the singularity that contained the Distributary.

History

Origins

As revealed by the Nine to Lavinia Garcia Umr Tawil, the Nine originated from streams of dark matter particles passing through the galaxy and the solar system. As dark matter only interacts with normal matter through gravity, these streams were drawn to the cores of the Sun and its orbiting planets. The infalling dark matter was then flung back into space, before being pulled in again to form endless loops. These loops formed the basis of emergent consciousnesses that would become the Nine.

The Nine did not truly "awaken" until life evolved within the solar system. The movements of life-forms resulted in perturbations to the loops of dark matter particles cycling through each celestial body, creating waves that formed the basis of complex thoughts. According to Lavinia, the dark matter of the Nine passes through every living thing and every iota of matter in the galaxy.

The Nine were cognizant of their dependence on the life of the Solar System: if that life ended, so would the Nine as thinking entities. They began searching for a way to end that dependence and sustain their existence independent of it. Two factions emerged after the arrival of the Traveler to Sol: one faction sought to harness the paracausal properties of Light to construct living bodies for themselves out of regular matter, the other sought to create a pocket universe with physical laws that could accommodate them.

Reef Wars

During the Reef Wars, the Queen's Wrath Sjur Eido was killed by an unknown party, and her bow stolen. A strange coin was left on her body as "weregild", suggesting that the Nine were in some way involved with her death.

City Age

"He says the Nine are vulnerable every moment they touch our world."

— Brother Vance

Little of the Nine was known outside of the cryptic sayings of Xûr, Agent of the Nine. Osiris is said to have met with the Nine on Europa, and before his exile had an obsessive interest in them to the exclusion of his duties as the Warlock Vanguard. Nonetheless the Nine had a vested interest in helping the City, tasking Xûr to sell powerful weapons to Guardians. Following the Red War, the Nine have taken an active interest in Guardians, and hosted the Trials of the Nine through their proxy, The Emissary. Emperor Calus is dismissive of their efforts.

The Nine have an alliance of sorts with The Reef, but their loyalty is in doubt following the release of Skolas, Kell of Kells at their command. The Cabal know of them as the Ennead.

Arrival of the Taken King

Shortly after the battle of Saturn, when Oryx invaded the Dreaming City, the Nine debated about what to do regarding Oryx's incursion, for he threatened all life. Some members seemed to blame Mara Sov for worsening the situation, claiming that her actions had "ruined everything." Oryx soon took Riven, after which the Nine were driven into a frenzy. Although their wording is ambiguous, communications between the Nine during this time seem to indicate that they knew of surviving Ahamkara other than Riven, and that they killed them in order to prevent them from falling into Oryx's grasp.

The Red War

Sometime during or before the Red War an Awoken named Orin (and potentially an agent of Mara Sov) sought out nine Ghosts who had gone beyond the Solar System and inquired after their findings. Receiving only a set of coordinates she left them. She also found several "deep-orbit minds" in the midst of her search. Orin soon encountered some of the Nine herself. After warning her of the possibility of going mad from the conversation and of a potential price as consequence, they tasked her with finding three "worthy keys". They then commended her for seeking them out, for her resourcefulness in acquiring a ship and her decision to avoid "a golden snake who poses as a god".

One of the Nine was responsible for disabling the City's satellites, allowing Ghaul to successfully attack and occupy the city. The purpose of this was to learn how the Light could be taken, but that particular member of the Nine was severely punished, as Ghaul's success led to the deployment of the Almighty, which would have destroyed the Sol system and the Nine had it not been disabled.

Whether before or after Orin/the Awoken agent visits them, the Nine speak of two significant events. The first event is with expectation and appears to be Mara Sov's plan with her Techeuns. They are confident that her fall is inevitable for the odds she plays with have been weighted by them. The second event is harder to construct and is tinged with overtones of regret and sadness; the Nine could be referring to anything from the Great Ahamkara Hunt, to The Collapse, or the Harbingers. Regardless of the specifics, one member urges the rest to "rid [themselves] of regret".

Forsaken

During the Guardian's third visit to Mara Sov's throne, the Queen was seen talking to The Emissary, saying that she agreed with the Nine's terms regarding an "asset" to be stationed "beyond the grave of the First Fleet". She then told the Emissary to remind the Nine that she had shown enough patience regarding the matter. The Emissary leaves and Sov warns the Guardian not to get involved in the Nine's schemes, claiming that they never end.

At an unknown time after the curse was unleashed upon the Dreaming City, the Nine argued with The Emissary regarding her status as a pawn of the Nine, Mara Sov's plan, and an oncoming storm. During the conversation, the Emissary pointed out the fact that seemingly only five of the Nine were present, which the Nine admitted was true.

Joker's Wild

During her surveillance of the Drifter, the Praxic Warlock Aunor Mahal recorded at least one conversation between the Nine and the Drifter. The Drifter appeared to be speaking aloud to empty air, and remarked upon the Nine showing him visions of a future universe consumed by Darkness, as well as another vision of a universe suffused with Light. The Drifter rebuked the Nine for trying to sway him to their cause, upon which they apparently attempted to kill him by overheating his brain. The Drifter responded by using his Light to counter their attack.

In addition, one can hear different members of the Nine speak directly to the Emissary during several invitations of the Nine.

Identity

"I cannot explain what the Nine are. They are... very large. I cannot explain. The fault is mine, not yours."

— Xûr, Agent of the Nine

Very little about the Nine or the Jovian peoples was known for very long due to their enigmatic nature, and lack of information on their true form as the planets of themselves. In Destiny, a Grimoire Card, Ghost Fragment: Legends 2, presents nine legends that offered contradictory clues and hints as to their nature. Many of the entities described by the legends actually exist, but while they all seem to be linked to the Nine, the nature of the connection varies. The Emissary claims that both deliberately seeking them out and doing nothing may lead one to encounter them, as they are "everywhere and nowhere". The Cabal call them the Ennead, and characterize them as "trapped and reaching out". These theories all turned out to be incorrect, as the Nine are infact the conscient dark matter of the galaxy and beyond, literally being "everywhere and nowhere" as described by the Emissary herself.

• Former human colonies who made a compact with an alien force to survive became the Nine and/or the Jovians.
• Deep-orbiting Warminds (or potentially subminds) who survived the Collapse. Questioned by Orin on her search, who asked her in turn about the location of the "lying robot" who "no longer lies with others."
• Ancient leviathan intelligences originating either from Europa or Titan. The Emissary names "the hydrocarbon pits of distant moons" as one possible place the Nine may be found by worthy Guardians.
• The Nine originated from the Corona-Borealis supercluster. The Emissary advises worthy Guardians to listen for the Nine in its direction.
• The first Awoken, now transcended into mental energy moving along the Jupiter-Io flux tube. When the Awoken first self-created in the Distributary, nine of the Yang Liwei's 900 crew were not accounted for.
• Nine Ghosts who exited the Solar System and studied the heliopause. Apparently made contact with the Nine when they did so, and so were sought out by Orin, but were unforthcoming with details.
• Remnants of the Darkness, broken by the Traveler's sacrifice, still seeking to destroy human civilization.
• A viral language of pure meaning. A concept familiar to Xûr, who defines "[doing] what you say" as speaking it.
• Imprints of a transcendent entity left behind after its complete destruction.

In Destiny 2 there are seventeen Lore entries from which can be gleaned five particular members of the Nine based on the writing style, with a potential sixth and seventh. It should be noted that VI could be I speaking more, and VII a possible typo, and thus not conclusive or definite.

These members are as follows:

I	II	III	IV	V	VI	VII
Proper Punctuation.	lower case	BIG CASE	BIG PUNCTUATION.	B I G C A S E A L L S P A C E	Proper Punctuation II (potential)	B I G C A S E A L L S P A C E W I T H P U N C T U A T I O N (potential)
Most well-spoken and neutral in personality.	Almost whisperlike and cautious.	Pragmatic and straight to the point; emphatic.	Well-spoken but straight to the point; emotive and forceful.	Contrariwise and sarcastic; emphatic and forceful.	Also well-spoken with a neutral neutral personality.	Potentially the same personality and speech patterns as V but uses punctuation.

The Nine also seem to have a connection to the Awoken or Ahamkara, as they were greatly angered by Oryx's incursion into the Dreaming City, and were driven into a frenzy when Riven was taken. In addition, the Techeun Shuro Chi believes that the Ahamkara either originated from or were sent by the Nine.

Members

• Sun (implied)
• Mercury
• Venus
• Earth
• Mars
• Jupiter
• Saturn
• Uranus
• Neptune

Agents of the Nine

• Xûr, Agent of the Nine
• The Emissary

Territory

• All known planetary moons in the Solar System
• Unknown Space

Trivia

• The Nine is a homage to Bungie's Myth series, where a similar group also known as the Nine lead the forces of Light against the forces of Darkness. Five members are named: Alric, Rabican, Maeldun, Murgen and Cu Roi.
• The name, "The Nine" or "IX", is likely a reference to the "Ix" in Frank Herbert's Dune series, a fictional planet whose position from its sun inspired the name, ruled by the Ixian Technocracy. Ix was the primary provider of technology for the Old Imperium (or Galactic Padishah Empire) after the infamous Butlerian Jihad, which banned AI; ironically, Leto Atreides II used many of their creations later in his reign, a situation unthinkable in his early years.
  • Additionally it could also reference the Nine Rings of Power in J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings trilogy, given by Sauron (in disguise as Annatar) to corrupt nine powerful kings of men to his service, of which three were Númenórean, the last noble survivors from the island kingdom of Númenor that Sauron had destroyed. "Nine for Mortal Men doomed to die..." The Nine in Destiny similarly tempt Guardians with strange gifts.
• The identity of at least five Nine was put together in a reddit post by u/jeckal_died, and serves as the basis for some of this article, minus the speculation.
• The Nine are technically a completely natural phenomenon and came to gain consciousness in a causal manner. The implications of this in regard to the nature of the Destiny universe, dark matter, and planets as a whole is unknown, but it now establishes that universal forces themselves are capable of achieving sentience.
• If the Sun is not one of the Nine, it is possible that Pluto is. Considering eight of the Nine are planetary bodies, it would be internally consistent for them all to be.

List of appearances

• Destiny (First appearance)
  • The Dark Below
  • House of Wolves
  • The Taken King
  • Rise of Iron
• Destiny 2
  • Curse of Osiris
  • Warmind
  • Forsaken
  • Black Armory
  • Joker's Wild