Deathsong

"Four trillions souls were about their days and nights as an unknown melody caught the breeze. It was beautiful—an ethereal gift and the end of all things. The Choir sang. Only twenty strong. As their voices grew in volume, the people started to scream. The planet's crust shifted and cracked. The seas roiled and spilled out over the land. The core shook. The ground shattered. Defenses scrambled. It was too late. Less than an hour after the Song began, the hidden homeworld of a forgotten people split in twain. These are the Song's powers, its gifts—anti-life and oblivion."

— Insquisition of the Damned: IX.II: The Unmaking

The Deathsong is a creation of Hive Wizards to rend, kill, and utterly destroy all things, both physically and spiritually, that hear it. The exception is the singer, though how they do so is uncertain: Toland, the Shattered speculates that they are either weaving themselves into the song and becoming part of it, or are engineering the song for someone else of greater strength and pinning that being's power against the quiddity of death..

History

The song was originally known as the Song of Life (also known as the Song of Creation) and was gifted by the Traveler. The song's frequencies were heard across the stars, wherever life's promise took hold. Worshipped by both members of the Ammonites and the Hive, others sought to understand and control it, unravel its secrets and gain control over life and, more importantly, death. Though for centuries, the Song remained untamed as it seemed the Song did not grant life on its own.

A group of Hive known as The Choir eventually formed that celebrated the Song and would make repeated performances. However, the origins of the Song of Life and Creation from the Traveler caused the Song to hurt and corrupt the Darkness infused Hive, while the Song's secrets remained beyond their grasp. Eventually, a Hive known as the Striken found hidden notes within the song and, by making them Reversed and Mirrored in pitch, weaved her own song that she sang at the Choir, killing the First Conductor. Intrigued by the song, the Choir eventually captured the Stricken and had her interrogated to understand her findings. The Stricken's discoveries would be used to create a whole new song, what would soon be known as the Deathsong. During the Hive-Ammonite war, the Choir employed the Deathsong against a world and species whose names were erased from the the World's Grave. Landing at set points around the planet's equator, twenty members sang, causing unparalleled devastation worldwide until, less than one hour later, the planet split in half.

At some point, however, the Choir became known as the Broken Choir, and their legendary perfected Deathsong was lost. The Choir and their Deathsong would be considered the stuff of myth and folklore, untrue at best and greatly exaggerated at worst. Although many Deathsinger Wizards that came created deadly Deathsongs of their own, they are considered far from the true power of the perfect-pitched Song in legends, and many such as Ir Yût had given up on the dream of rebuilding the Choir and perfecting the Deathsong.

One Wizard, Azavath, would still cling to her dream of rebuilding the Choir, leading it and perfecting the Deathsong, being noted that she is one of the rare few so purely connected to the pain of being that makes her worthy of the Choir. After her rebirth by Savathun as Ir Airâm in the body of her dead sister, Malkanth, she would attempt to rebuild the Choir with four other Witches. After the events of Shadowkeep, The Guardian, with the assistance of Eris Morn and guidance of Toland, the Shattered, would go to search and weaponize a Deathsong from Ir Airâm and her choir to form a rocket launcher known as Deathbringer.

List of appearances

• Destiny: The Dark Below (First appearance)
  • The Taken King
• Destiny 2: Season of Opulence (Mentioned only)
  • Shadowkeep