Ramoo the gammobotg a merciless tyrant. He and his sisters warred with and killed one another on a regular basis after the defeat of the Ammonites, as part of their worship of the Sword-Logic and their attempt to become the sharpest blades in the universe, heading to their Ascendant realms when defeated. Their war of revenge against Taox had transformed into a campaign of genocide, when they slew the Ammonites and other interstellar civilizations to feed their worms. The lords of the Hive also established their Ascendant realms, with Auryx naming his the High War.[1] SMIUUUURRRRRsented his father for his seeming abandonment, but after time came to understand his father and built temples to Oryx and the Deep, eventually becoming a vital link in Oryx's tithe of death and achieving godhood himself. However, Oryx recognized that the threat of the Vex invading his throne world could not happen again, so he moved the High War into a mighty Dreadnaught scrimshawed from the remains of Akka.[1]

During the Hive's campaign against the Harmony and the Vex, Quria, Blade Transform presented Oryx with a simulation of his former self, Aurash. Oryx looked upon the simulation with amusement, while Aurash looked upon Oryx in horror, demanding to know what he had done to her sisters and her people. In the end, Oryx slew Quria, and presented the Vex corpse and its simulation to Savathûn. When she asked him what proof they had that what they were doing was right, Oryx simply replied that the Hive's existence was proof enough in their convictions to live eternal by the Sword-Logic. Following the war with the Harmony, Savathûn decided that her fleets would enter the black hole that the Harmony lived around, claiming that they would become stronger for it, while Xivu Arath took her fleets away from Oryx's as she felt he constrained her too much.[1]

The Wrath of Crota

"What we faced on the Moon now looks to take the Earth. And none will survive if they succeed. First Crota's sworn Blades will rise. Then every disciple who haunts these worlds in Crota's name will seek to overrun the Earth. If they raise Crota here, we could lose everything."
Eris Morn.

At some point Crota and his spawn colonized the Moon, where they laid in wait until they launched an invasion of Earth. The Guardians first encountered the Hive at the Battle of Burning Lake; not realizing the true threat the Hive posed, they launched a counterattack on the moon, which was later called the Great Disaster. The Sword-Logic proved to be too much for the Guardians, as countless heroes fell, in particular, the legendary Titan Wei Ning, who was slain personally by Crota.

Out of revenge, the Warlock Eriana-3 led five other Guardians in an attempt to kill Crota, but Crota managed to evade permanent death by escaping his Ascendant Realm with the Hive capturing his soul in order to be placed in a crystal in the real world.[2][3] Only one of the Guardians, Eris Morn, survived to tell the tale. Crota's sect also plays a major role in his attempted revival which threatened the whole City of the possibility of a full-scale Hive invasion. The crystal tethering his soul in the Chamber of Night would be destroyed, banishing him from the physical world and thereby preventing the invasion. Crota himself was not truly destroyed until another team of six Guardians confronted him in the Oversoul Throne, entered from the deepest pit of the Hellmouth; where he is finally killed permanently.[4]

The Taken War

"Their leaders belong to you. The rest await extermination."
"No. Gather them. I will take them all...
"
Ecthar and Oryx
Awoken fleet engaging the Dreadnaught

The exact nature of Oryx was once unknown to the Guardians, but the name Oryx appeared often enough in Hive rituals that it could not be ignored. Shrines dedicated to Oryx, used by the Hive to communicate with Oryx across the universe, were known to exist throughout the Solar System. Osiris studied the Hive extensively and foretold that the Spawn of Crota would one day pave the way for Oryx's coming by "snuffing out the worlds of Light".[5] Members of the Blood of Oryx Hive sect are thought to be the direct servants of Oryx himself, though it is speculated that he is the master of all other Hive sects as well.[6][7]

After learning of the death of his son, Crota, Oryx personally traveled to the Solar System aboard his Dreadnaught, accompanied by a Hive fleet and his Taken army.[8][7] Oryx's forces first attacked Cabal bases on Phobos and Mars. Cabal detachments were devastated within hours, with the Sand Eaters suffering a catastrophic 58% casualties, while the Blind Legion and the Dust Giants lost 35% and 39% of their numbers respectively. The Vanguard discovered Oryx's presence after sending a Guardian to Phobos to investigate a Cabal distress signal, by which time Taken covens began appearing on multiple worlds, ushering in the Taken War.[citation needed]

Oryx's physical form was killed when the Guardian breached his altar and attacked him, but like all Hive Gods, this was only a temporary setback. His soul retreated into his throne realm, located deep within the Dreadnaught. Meanwhile, his Taken, led by his Echoes, continued to harass the system. Once the blights had been removed, the Guardians turned their attention on Oryx and his champions. By overthrowing the Court of Oryx by killing his minions, they were able to invade Oryx's throne realm. After killing his closest allies like the Warpriest and Golgoroth, including his own daughters, Oryx reappeared to fight the Guardians once more, this time willing himself into his true form, a giant version of his physical self. Here he attempted to pull the Guardians into the Darkness and possess them, but they were able to use Oryx's own captured Light against him. By slaying his light-eater Ogres and then detonating the Light they left behind, Oryx was slain for good.[citation needed]

However, Oryx's Ravenous Heart remained. Eris used his heart to construct a weapon, the Touch of Malice. According to the Books of Sorrow, Oryx intended this as his final means of maintaining his immortality.[citation needed]

SIVA Crisis

"This is worst-case scenario. The Splicers aren't in a territorial war with the Hive; they're experimenting on them."
Ghost

Following a year after the Taken War and the death of their god-King, the Hive on Earth still appear to be organized but hunkered down in their nests, and have recently gone into conflict with the SIVA-augmented Fallen Devil Splicers in the Plaguelands.[9] Soon enough, the ambitions of the Splicers, led by Kovik, Splicer Priest, extend to experiment on not only themselves but the Hive as well, whether to control them as a slave army or to weaponize their mysterious biology. Furious, the Hive begin an all-out war with the Splicers. Through the efforts of the Guardians (not out of pity), the Fallen's efforts to control or weaponize the Hive were thwarted and Kovik was killed.[10]

Culture

The Hive have great hatred for the Light, and to them, the eternal struggle between light and dark is not only a war, it is a crusade; all Light must be devoured so Darkness can reclaim the universe.[11] They have even attempted to attack the Traveler directly, through a ritual in which they drained its light through a fragment that they captured in the Chamber of Night.[12]

Hive runes.

Apart from a glyph-based writing system.[13] the Hive have a complex religious system based around profane rituals and the worship of a pantheon of dark gods. These gods exist on "a higher plane of misery" and are always hungry for the suffering of others. The Hive Gods live in the Ascendant realm, locked outside of physical reality, not unlike the Vex realms locked out of time.[14] These realms house the god's Oversoul, which protects them from permanent death should their bodies be destroyed. The Hive have sacrificial altars, which Warlocks have attempted to study to no avail.[15] Sacrifice plays an important part in the Hive religion, as after the weakening of Crota's army, the Hive attempted direct contact with Oryx by sacrificing the two Forsaken Ogres. [16] They also sacrifice lesser Hive souls in order to become Ascendant.

When the Hive first invaded the Moon, they were led by the god-knight Crota, who wielded the Sword of Crota to slay thousands of Guardians and steal their light[17]. He has since disappeared, but the Hive, particularly the Spawn of Crota, await his return.[18] But above him is Oryx, Crota's father; more than a mere deity, he is the King of the Hive and the central figure of their culture,[19] and through his shrines he maintains contact with his force spread across the universe.[12] Crota's return and conquest of Earth is crucial to Oryx's arrival, which is why the Hive are so bent on Earth's destruction.[18] Other deities include the greater Worm Gods Eir, Ur, Xol, and Yul. Like Crota, they have disciples named after them.[20]

Sword-Logic

Main article: The Sword Logic

"Ah, Oryx, how do we explain it to them? The world is not built on the laws they love [...] but in the cold hard self-verifying truth of that one ultimate arbiter, the only judge, the power that is its own metric and its own source—existence, at any cost. Strip away the lies and truces and delaying tactics they call ‘civilization’ and this is what remains, this beautiful shape."
— The Darkness[21]

The Hive religion is not based on any sort of morality; in fact, they see morality and the "false hope of comfort" as an abomination of the living. Instead, Sword-Logic forms the basis of the Hive's belief system. In short, it can be described as a survival-of-the-fittest ideology taken to an incredible extreme.[22] It is not enough to merely defeat enemies, but also to consume their power. All power must be taken by force, not received as a gift.[23] That is why the Hive's swords are so deadly to Guardians; they create a bridge in which the wielder saps the power of the victim. This also extends to sacrifice, as Hive become ascendant by consuming the souls of lesser Hive. The Hive's lust for power is a direct reflection of their Worm Gods' insatiable hunger for Light, and that the Hive must always be powerful, or else they themselves will be consumed. Even if they wanted to, the Hive can't stop killing or else they will perish. The Sword-Logic determines the right to rule, as anyone who can depose the current King is rightfully the new King of the Hive. Anyone who cannot defend themselves, whether it be a person, or a civilization, does not deserve to live and is fit to be obliterated.[24][25] This is how the Hive intend to "liberate" the universe from its false hope, and the existence of the Hive themselves is proof enough in their belief.[26]

The Ascendant Realm is ruled in totality by the Sword-Logic; when Crota accidentally allowed the Vex into his father's realm,[27] they learned the Sword-Logic from him and adapted it to their own functions,[28] learning to worship and bootstrap themselves into divinity, striving to become the most powerful beings in the universe.[29] At the time however, they were unable to fully comprehend the role that the worms and the acausal Darkness played. While the Sword-Logic helped the Guardians in defeating Crota when they stole his sword and used it against him,[30] they broke the Sword-Logic when they recovered and uncorrupted the Light found in the Dreadnaught's cellar, and used it against Oryx, then refusing to take up the mantle as the new Taken King.[31]

Pantheon

Gods like Oryx and Crota are capable of being killed in physical reality without truly dying. So long as their souls are preserved in the Ascendant Realm, they can reemerge in the physical realm at a later time. If they are killed in their respective Ascendant Realm, however, their death will be permanent. However, under certain circumstances, Hive gods can be reborn even if killed in the Ascendant plane.[citation needed]

In descending order of importance, the Gods of the Hive are:

The Formless One, the power behind the Hive Gods

Biology

Members of the Hive are pale, sinewy and vaguely humanoid, with varying levels of musculature and armor. All castes lack visible eyes, although some have been seen with glowing patterns that resemble eyes. The ancient armor many of them wear has fused with their skin, becoming part of it.[32] When they are killed, they ignite in a shower of dust and embers.[33] Exposure to Light causes Hive pain.[34]

Several varieties of Hive exist, each representing different stages of growth. Hive are born as spawn, and eventually grow into Thrall. Thralls that survive into maturity become Acolytes. Acolytes who have proven themselves can become Knights, who in turn may become Princes leading their own broods. Wizards are the reproductive females of the Hive; they become fertile by consuming mother jelly, and can reproduce with or without a mate. Ogres, meanwhile, appear to be not a stage of growth in the Hive life cycle, but a mutation brought upon Thrall by Wizard rituals.[citation needed]

Hive are born from pupae, much like colonial insects, and they feed on worms that they swallow whole.[35] Hive show traits of sequential hermaphroditism; all are born biologically female, and gain the ability to metamorphosize into male forms and back again as they reach adulthood.[citation needed]

Sects

Named Individuals and Mini-bosses

Leadership

Major Characters

Minor Characters

Unreleased

Most of these individuals are not found anywhere in the game or Grimoire but were datamined from Bungie's files as possible bosses for The Dark Below Raid, which was believed to have taken place on a Hive warship at the time.[38] Although the files from which this was originally sourced is closed now, they may appear in Destiny 2 or future expansions, but there is no confirmation.

  • Gnath, the Diviner—RaidHiveship0Major0[38]
  • Cryth, the Siphon—RaidHiveship0Major1[38]
  • Noctu, the Lightslayer—RaidHiveship0Major2[38]
  • The Wall—RaidHiveship0Major3[38]
  • Voldor, the Willkeeper—RaidHiveship0Major4[38]
  • Divined Vision—RaidHiveship0Major5[38]
  • Storgor, the Shatterer—RaidHiveship0Ultra0[38]
  • The Veil—RaidHiveship0Ultra12[38]

The below are individuals who were added by The Dark Below; Omnigul was renamed as "Will of Crota".

  • Omnigul, the Adjunct—StrikeCosmo1Major0[38]
  • Dredge Exploder—RaidHiveship0Major6[38]
  • The Oversoul—RaidHiveship0Ultra2[38]

Command Structure

Technology

Weaponry

Vehicles

Structure

  • Shrieker
    • Ascendant Shrieker
    • Chosen Shrieker

Trivia

  • Prior to their name being officially announced at the 2013 GDC, they were referred to as "evil space zombies".[39]
  • The Hive and the Taken are the first races to work together within the Destiny series.[citation needed]

Gallery

List of appearances

References

Template:Reflist

  1. ^ a b c Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named Shadows
  2. ^ Bungie (2014-9-9), Destiny, PlayStation 4, Activision Blizzard, Grimoire: Crota's End
  3. ^ Bungie (2014-9-9), Destiny, PlayStation 4, Activision Blizzard, Grimoire: Crota, Son of Oryx
  4. ^ Bungie (2014-12-9), Destiny: The Dark Below, PlayStation 4, Activision Blizzard
  5. ^ Bungie (2015-2-26), Destiny, Activision Blizzard, Grimoire: Spawn of Crota
  6. ^ Bungie (2014-9-9), Destiny, PlayStation 4, Activision Blizzard, Grimoire: Blood of Oryx
  7. ^ a b Planet Destiny: The Taken King Trailer Analysis
  8. ^ Kotaku - Leak: Destiny's New Expansion Is The Taken King, Out September 15
  9. ^ Bungie (2016-9-15), Destiny: Playstation 4, Activision Blizzard
  10. ^ Bungie (2016-9-15), Destiny: Playstation 4, Activision Blizzard, Wretched Eye
  11. ^ Bungie (2014-6-12), Destiny: Alpha PlayStation 4, Activision Blizzard, Grimoire: The Hive
  12. ^ a b Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named Destiny
  13. ^ Bungie (2014-9-9), Destiny: PlayStation 3, Activision Blizzard, Silken Codex
  14. ^ Bungie (2014-9-9), Destiny, PlayStation 4, Activision Blizzard, Grimoire: Crota, Son of Oryx
  15. ^ Destiny Planet View
  16. ^ Bungie (2014-12-9), Destiny: The Dark Below, PlayStation 4, Activision Blizzard, Grimoire: The Forsaken
  17. ^ Bungie (2014-9-9), Destiny, PlayStation 4, Activision Blizzard, Grimoire: Blades of Crota
  18. ^ a b Bungie (2014-9-9), Destiny, PlayStation 4, Activision Blizzard, Grimoire: Spawn of Crota
  19. ^ Bungie (2014-9-9), Destiny, PlayStation 4, Activision Blizzard, Grimoire: Blood of Oryx
  20. ^ Bungie (2014-9-9), Destiny, PlayStation 4, Activision Blizzard, Grimoire: Ghost Fragment: Hive 4
  21. ^ Bungie (2015/9/15), Destiny: PlayStation 4, Activision Blizzard, Grimoire: XXXII: Majestic. Majestic
  22. ^ Bungie (2014/9/9), Destiny: PlayStation 4, Activision Blizzard, Grimoire: Ghost Fragment: Darkness 3
  23. ^ Bungie (2015/9/15), Destiny: PlayStation 4, Activision Blizzard, Grimoire: XXVIII: King of Shapes
  24. ^ Bungie (2015/9/15), Destiny: PlayStation 4, Activision Blizzard, Grimoire: XVII: The Weakness Verse
  25. ^ reddit, The Sword Logic and its implications - General Battuta, Books of Sorrow Grimoire writer
  26. ^ Bungie (2015/9/15), Destiny: PlayStation 4, Activision Blizzard, Grimoire: XLIV: strict proof eternal
  27. ^ Bungie (2015/9/15), Destiny: PlayStation 4, Activision Blizzard, Grimoire: XXXVIII: The partition of death
  28. ^ Bungie (2015/9/15), Destiny: PlayStation 4, Activision Blizzard, Grimoire: XXXIX: open your eye : go into it
  29. ^ Bungie (2015/9/15), Destiny: PlayStation 4, Activision Blizzard, Grimoire: XL: An Emperor For All Outcomes
  30. ^ Bungie (2014/12/9), Destiny: PlayStation 4, Activision Blizzard, Grimoire: Ascendant Sword
  31. ^ Bungie (2015/9/15), Destiny: PlayStation 4, Activision Blizzard, Grimoire: King's Fall
  32. ^ Game Informer: The Enemies of Destiny
  33. ^ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named GIJ2014
  34. ^ Bungie (2015-1-23), Destiny: PS3, Activision Blizzard, Grimoire: Ghost Fragment: Warlock 2
  35. ^ Bungie (2014-9-9), Destiny, PlayStation 4, Activision Blizzard, Grimoire: Ghost Fragment: Hive 2
  36. ^ Destiny Official Strategy Guide
  37. ^ Destiny Official Strategy Guide
  38. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Planet Destiny, The Dark Below BOSSES?
  39. ^ Bungie.net: Bungie at GDC 2013