Guardian

This article is about the defenders of Earth. For the character, see The Guardian.

Guardians
Overview
Other name(s):	"Traveler-spawn" "THEM" "Those who wield that which we cannot simulate" "Machine-spawn" "Pawns" "Young Wol(ves)" "Smallmen" "The Given" "Sol’s Protectors" "Dead Thing"
Focal world(s):	Sol System
Goals:	Protect the Solar System from threats at all cost, both alien and Solar System-born alike Restore peace and order Defend the Traveler and the Last City
At war with:	Ahamkara Most Cabal Legions Most Fallen Houses Hive Taken Vex Scorn The Dread The Witness (Disciples of the Witness) Worms Psions
Allied with:	The Reef House of Light House of Spider Imperial Cabal Cloud Striders
Distinctions:	Light-empowerment Immortality
Average lifespan:	Immortal
Notable group(s):	Vanguard Iron Lords The Hidden Titans Hunters Warlocks
Notable individual(s):	The Guardian Saint-14 Osiris Commander Zavala Ikora Rey Cayde-6 Lord Shaxx Anastasia Bray Lord Radegast Lord Felwinter Lord Saladin Forge Lord Timur Shiro-4 The Crow

"We take our first breath, with no memory of who we were before, yet we are inexorably drawn to the Light. We fight, we die, and we live again."

— Commander Zavala.

Guardians are Lightbearers who serve the Vanguard as protectors tasked with defending the Last City and Solar System against the forces of evil, such as the Witness, Fallen, Hive, Vex, Cabal, Taken, and various other threats.

Overview

"Legends are carved across history by the brave."

— Grimoire Description.

As Lightbearers, Guardians cannot recall their past lives, and the deliberate pursuit of information on their past life was forbidden. The Guardians have defended the City for centuries, however, that defense cannot hold out forever. Guardians are charged with the protection of humanity's survivors, but many have splintered off into other groups with their own agendas. For example, it is commonplace for Guardians to align with one of the City's several Factions for support. Some, however, leave the City altogether, such as those aligned with the Concordat or the Cult of Osiris. Few have turned their back on the Light and humanity altogether, such as the villainous Dredgen Yor, the original wielder of Thorn.

Guardians are equipped with an advanced arsenal of weaponry and vehicles, as well as the ability to channel the Traveler's power (referred to by some as "magic"). It is said that some Guardians rarely speak.

Thanks to their Ghosts, Guardians are effectively immortal in most situations. They take advantage of this fact in a number of ways, whether it's through the live-fire training exercises of the Crucible and Lord Shaxx, or by making new discoveries via visions as Thanatonauts. However, Guardians can be permanently killed if their Light is drained by a powerful enemy, such as powerful figures of the Darkness, or if their Ghost is destroyed. According to Emperor Calus, it is possible to permanently kill Guardians without having to drain their light first, but the method of how to do this has been forgotten by the Red Legion.

Guardians can also be killed permanently by destroying their Ghost first, removing their ability to resurrect, and then killing the Guardian. A Guardian can still live on after their Ghost is destroyed, living their "last life" as some have said, but are cut off from their abilities with the Light, being referred to as Lightless. However, a Lightless Guardian can still have access to Darkness-aligned abilities, such as Stasis and Strand, thereby making them not completely powerless.

History

During the Golden Age, the average lifespan for Humanity increased by three, but as the Collapse started and the Golden Age came to an end, the Traveler in its last breath released the Ghosts and they resurrected the first Lightbearers.

Dark Age

" No one knew what had happened to the Traveler. No one understood what had happened to the world. But they heard the whispered call."

— Ghost Fragment: The Dark Age

The Guardians' origins are rooted in the very origins of the Last City itself, in the Dark Age that followed the Collapse. In the earliest days, when the survivors of the Collapse were gathering beneath the Traveler and groups like Takanome's Rangers were all that separated refugees elsewhere from certain death, the Guardians were known as The Risen. Having been granted the power to wield the Light by their Ghosts, The Risen lacked a common, unifying purpose, and took up roles as enforcers and bodyguards for the first Factions of what would become the Last City. As the Factions feuded over their competing ideologies and competed for influence among the residents of the fledgling city under the Traveler, some of The Risen became disillusioned and abandoned their Factions, seeking a higher purpose. With tensions between the Factions already near the boiling point, this triggered the Faction Wars, a violent conflict that only ended when The Risen ceased fighting each other in order to unite against a new enemy that threatened them all: the Fallen. In the end, the Fallen were repelled, the Factions' iron grip was broken, the city under the Traveler became the Last City with massive walls erected to protect it, and the Risen became known as the Guardians.

Destiny

Centuries after the Collapse, a stray Ghost wanders through the ruins outside the Cosmodrome, searching for a new Guardian. It finds someone long deceased among the ancient remains and revives them. Ghost leads the new recruit out of the Cosmodrome and back to The Last City after finding a ship, and introduces them to the people of the Tower. The recruit returns to the Cosmodrome to explore; after slaying an Archon of the House of Devils, the recruit gains an audience with the Speaker, who confides in them that the Darkness is returning and that the recruit must help protect the City any way they can.

The recruit (now dubbed 'The Guardian') makes two important discoveries while in the Cosmodrome; the first is that the Hive, who had slain countless Guardians after they were beaten back to the Moon, have returned to Earth to prepare for an invasion. The second is that Rasputin, a Warmind, has survived the collapse, and has restored contact with the rest of the solar system. The Guardian travels to the Moon to investigate the Hive threat; they receive an urgent message that the Hive are attempting to drain the Traveler of its light and that they must be stopped at all costs. However, they also run into a mysterious stranger, who tells them to meet her on Venus to stop another rising threat.

After stopping the Hive ritual, The Guardian travels to Venus and discovers the Vex, a machine race bent on dominating reality itself. The Stranger tells The Guardian that the only way to stop the Vex and save the Traveler is to enter the Black Garden and destroy its heart. The Guardian seeks counsel with the Awoken of the Reef; Queen Mara Sov tells them that the only way into the Garden is to retrieve the eye of a Vex Gate Lord. They assume it to be a suicide mission, but The Guardian returns with the eye. The Queen tells The Guardian that they now owe her a favor in return for her information.

The entrance to the Black Garden, located on Mars, lies behind thick Cabal defenses. After successfully restoring the Gate Lord's eye using dormant Vex technology, The Guardian enters the Black Garden, a strange Vex realm outside of normal spacetime. At its center is the Black Heart, an abomination that the Vex worship and seek to use to bend reality to their will. The Guardian kills its protectors, the Sol Progeny, destroying the Heart and freeing the Black Garden from Vex control. Light begins returning to the Traveler. But to finish off the Vex threat, The Guardian must enter the Vault of Glass, the source of the Vex's reality-altering powers, and kill its leader, Atheon.

The Dark Below

Main article: The Dark Below

Eris Morn, the last survivor of a fireteam to stop the Hive god Crota, is looking for Guardians to help her. The Hive's return to Earth is but a prelude to the return of Crota, whom his followers are attempting to awaken. Eris sends The Guardian into the Cosmodrome to stop the invaders, especially after they attempt to kill Rasputin. She then sends The Guardian to stop the Hive's awakening ritual on the Moon. After eliminating Crota's generals, The Guardian finishes off Crota himself in his netherworld, the Oversoul Throne, deep within the Hellmouth.

House of Wolves

Main article: House of Wolves (expansion)

The Reef is embroiled in civil war as the House of Wolves, a Fallen house that Queen Mara Sov had conquered, is now in open rebellion. Their leader, Skolas, has declared himself the Kell of Kells and wishes to unite the Fallen under his banner. The Queen has summoned the Guardians to aid her in ending the rebellion, in return for the Reef's treasures. The Guardian is aided by Petra Venj and Variks, the Loyal, with whom they search for Skolas and put a stop to his plans. After failing to seize control of the House of Devils and House of Kings, Skolas instead attempts to seize control of the Vault of Glass and the Vex technology within. The Guardian finally captures him atop the Citadel, stopping him from summoning his entire House through the Vex's time portals. Skolas is sent back to the Prison of Elders, where he's finished off once and for all.

The Taken King

Main article: The Taken King

Oryx, the father of Crota, has sent his Hive fleet to avenge his dead son. Using his terrible power, Oryx creates a new army called the Taken and lays siege to the entire solar system. The Awoken fleet attempts to stop him before he can enter the Inner System, but they are utterly destroyed. He then starts Taking the Cabal stationed on Phobos, which catches the Vanguard's attention. Responding to a distress signal, The Guardian is sent to investigate. Upon seeing the devastation, The Guardian is confronted by a vision of Oryx, who tells The Guardian that he is there to pay back humanity for his son's death. Realizing the threat that laid before them, Cayde-6 crafts a plan with The Guardian to sneak aboard Oryx's Dreadnaught. Though they are successful, they cannot enter Oryx's inner sanctum until The Guardian becomes Ascendant; Eris helps The Guardian recover the last fragments of Crota's Soul, allowing entry into Oryx's chambers, where they duel.

Though Oryx's physical form was defeated, he retreated even further into the ship, recovering his strength. Meanwhile, the Guardians work towards pushing the Taken out of the system. Once Oryx's lieutenants, the Court of Oryx, have been defeated the Guardians push deeper into the Dreadnaught to seek out Oryx within his Ascendant Realm. There, he confronted the Guardians with his full might, even pulling them into a Darkness dimension. But in the end, using Light stolen from his pawns, Oryx was slain permanently.

Rise of Iron

Main article: Rise of Iron

The Fallen House of Devils, while looting ancient tombs from the Golden Age, accidentally unearth a self-replicating nano-technology plague known as SIVA within the depths of the Old Cosmodrome. This plague mutates the Devils into powerful machine gods which collapsed The Wall in Old Russia, prompting Lord Saladin, the last of the Iron Lords, to personally lead the Guardians in a final stand against the plague, raising a new generation of Iron Lords to guard the Last City once more. The Guardian successfully ends the SIVA threat and is made an Iron Lord, with the title of 'Young Wolf'.

Red War

The Guardian ranks would be thrown into discord after the destruction of The Last City by Dominus Ghaul, commander of the Red Legion, one year after the SIVA Crisis and two years after the Taken War, after the Skyburner's distress signal reached Dominus Ghaul.

Guardian forces were left powerless after the Light had been sealed by the Traveler Cage and were hunted en masse by Red Legion forces, with many being executed. Though trapped, the Traveler sent visions to the now lightless Guardians to seek out one of its fragments in the European Dead Zone, whereby they could regain their powers. Dominus Ghaul attempted and failed to win the Traveler's approval and make him into a Guardian, and simply took the light by force. When he gloated in front of the Traveler, the Traveler suddenly broke its cage and destroyed Ghaul, as well as slowly healing itself by drawing fragments back into itself. With the invasion ended and the city retaken, the Traveler was declared no longer dead but living once more, thus bringing back the light to the guardians all over again.

Forsaken

In a prison break at the Prison of Elders, Cayde-6 was permanently killed by Uldren Sov, resulting in decreased morale among the Guardians. The Vanguard ordered every available Guardian to track down and eliminate or capture every escapee from the Prison, but it still wasn't enough to prevent them from terrorizing the Solar system. One Guardian journeyed to the Reef and hunted down Cayde's killers, Uldren and the Scorn Barons.

After avenging Cayde, the Guardian discovered the Dreaming City, and Mara Sov ordered Petra Venj to allow Guardians into the city to combat the Taken corruption that was spreading through the city. This culminated in a Raid into the center of the Dreaming City by a fireteam of Guardians, where they successfully freed Kalli and Shuro Chi from being Taken, then killed Riven, of a Thousand Voices. However, in death, Riven granted one last wish to an entity Riven only referred to as "She".

Season of the Forge

Following the events of Forsaken, Uldren Sov was revived by a Ghost as a Guardian of the Light at his resting place in the Dreaming City.

Shadowkeep

The unearthing of The Lunar Pyramid brought forth Nightmares born of the traumatic memories of many Guardians, forced once again to confront their past enemies and shames.

Beyond Light

When news of the power hidden on Europa spread, many Guardians came to the moon to harness the Darkness-born power of Stasis. This created fractures within the Vanguard, with many arguing that there was no problem in wielding the Darkness as if it was Light, while others denounced this as foolishness. In the end, Darkness wielders among the Vanguard still exists, though many continue to hold that it is a corrupting power.

The Witch Queen

Guardians were forced to confront their beliefs once more, when the Hive Lightbearers of the Lucent Brood, risen by Ghosts like Humanity, came from Savathûn's Throne World to harvest the Light of the City's protectors. Many Guardians died their final deaths against these new Lightbearers, but so did the Vanguard strike back, with the help of the Imperial Cabal's light-suppressing technology. While the Lucent offensive was halted, their Lightbears continue to roam the Throne World, a reminder that Humanity may no longer be the chosen protectors of the Traveler. Upon defeating Savathûn and forming the Coalition, Guardians worked tirelessly to prepare for the Witness's arrival in the Sol System.

Lightfall

The Guardians pursue a Shadow Legion fleet heading for Neptune when the Witness discovers the Veil's location. In the process of stopping the newly-risen Disciple of the Witness Calus from linking the Veil to the Witness with the assistance of the Cloud Striders, they learn a fundamental truth about the nature of Light and Darkness: Light is a neutral force affecting the physical world and Darkness is a neutral force affecting the mental world. They would uncover the power of Strand as well. Despite their victory over Calus, the Witness exploited it to open a portal to the Pale Heart and begin its plans to enact the Final Shape: a form of perfect stillness within the universe using both Light and Darkness. In their attempts to find a way through the portal the Witness opened, they learn of its origins from Ahsa and discover that the only way to get through the portal required the help of the Ahamkara.

The Final Shape

Crow volunteers to enter the Pale Heart, and his paracausal connection with Mara allows the other Guardians to follow him inside. They were able to gain power directly from the Traveler in their mission to stop the Witness from enacting the Final Shape. They were also able to break the barrier between Light and Darkness by acquiring the power of Prismatic. They learn how to wound the Witness from the dissenters imprisoned by the Witness within the veiled statues. They confront the Witness at the site where long ago, a faction of Precursors called the Penitent used the Veil to become the Witness and wound it with the Light via the destruction of the dissenter statues. They would confront it again within its monolith after growing closer with their Coalition allies and force the Witness out of the monolith, permanently preventing the Final Shape from coming to pass and also giving the Coalition an opportunity to defeat it once and for all. Empress Caiatl, Mithrax, Luzaku, Nimbus, and more would aid the Guardians in the final battle against the Witness. They channel both the Light and the Darkness to defeat the Witness once and for all. With its defeat, the Echoes were created and spread throughout the system, beginning the arms race to secure them from enemies of the Last City.

Gameplay

There are 3 classes of Guardian: Hunters, Warlocks, and Titans. Hunters utilize swiftness, precision, and stealth to efficiently slay their enemies. Warlocks have the least amount of armor but the fastest regeneration and utilize a variety of projectile attacks in their abilities. Titans are able to both take and deal massive amounts of damage, prioritizing either one depending on their subclass. Titans emphasize armor and raw power, while warlocks emphasize the use of their magical abilities and agility. Hunters fall in between both classes. The Guardians include members of the human, Awoken and Exo races, and can be either masculine or feminine.

While the choice of race is mostly aesthetic, the choice of class will have more impact. Note that all three classes have access to almost all the same weapons, and are not "locked in" to any particular role. However, each class can specialize in a particular direction depending on which subclass the player is using. Choices of subclass will determine what Super the player can use, as well as what bonuses and other lesser abilities they'll have access to. Subclasses can be leveled up and switched on the fly, allowing a single character a degree of flexibility for different combat scenarios.

Guardians have 6 base stats determined by their choice of subclass: Resilience (damage resistance and Titan class ability cooldown), Mobility (movement speed, jump height, and Hunter class ability cooldown), Recovery (regeneration speed and Warlock class ability cooldown), Strength (melee ability cooldown), Discipline (grenade ability cooldown), and Intellect (Super ability cooldown). Each class benefits more from one stat but can still emphasize others. Choice of armor and subclass fragments can influence the changes in these 6 stats.

While players gain levels with experience, these levels are mainly for determining what gear and missions are unlocked. The player's actual strength is determined by Light levels. Light represents the average attack and defense values of the player's currently equipped weapons and armor; every mission has a recommended light level, so players who meet that recommendation are more likely to succeed said mission. Generally speaking, items with more rarity have a higher light level than others.

Guardian organizations

Tower leadership

• Vanguard
• Crucible

Orders

• Firebreak Order
• First Pillar Order
• Gensym Scribes
• Pilgrim Guard
• Praxic Order
• Stoneborn Order
• Sun Legion
• Thanatonauts
• The Sunbreakers
• Chain Order

Fireteams

• Dead End Cure
• Eris' Fireteam
• Kabr's Fireteam
• Fireteam "The Bad Guys Don't Care What We Call Ourselves Do They?"
• Fireteam Tuyet
• Six Coyotes
• Holborn's Host
• Jagi's Host
• Radegast's Host
• Kentarch 3
• Death Dealers

Other groups

• Iron Lords
• Iron Wolves
• The Hidden

Trivia

• Over the course of the series, the Guardians have received various titles and names for their efforts and adventures. Among them are Hivebane, Wolf-slayer, Killer of Wolves, Warrior of Light, Oryx-slayer or Slayer of Oryx, and recently Young Wolf and Lord Guardian. In Destiny 2, Emperor Calus called the Guardians Light-borne and Traveler-spawn.
• Guardians are the first faction of undead beings seen in the Destiny series, the second being the Grasp of Nokris and the third being the Scorn.
• The Spider fallen mob boss calls the Guardians Lightmongers.
• On December 18, 2020, real-world United States Vice President Mike Pence announced that the official name of servicemen in the US Space Force would be "Guardian."
• The theme that is often associated with the Guardians contains seven notes.

Gallery

Screenshots

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  Screenshot of a Human Warlock in the Beta build

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Development

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  Three known classes: Hunter, Warlock and Titan.

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  A trio of Guardians on a mission.

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  Guardians standing tall.

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  The Guardians of Destiny 2.

Promotional

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  Official wallpaper depicting the three Guardian classes.

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  The Guardians as they appear in The Law Of The Jungle live action trailer.

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  Guardians holding their ground on Mars

Browse more images on this article's gallery page.

List of appearances

• The Law Of The Jungle (First appearance)
• Destiny
• Cayde's Treasure Island Book (Mentioned only)
• Destiny 2
• Destiny: Fall of Osiris
• Destiny: Warmind (comic)
• Destiny: Cayde's Six
• The Hidden Dossier (Mentioned only)
• Bitter (Mentioned only)
• Entelechy (Mentioned only)