Worm
A Worm larva
Overview

Homeworld:

Fundament

Focal world(s):

Dreadnaught

Goals:

Serve the Darkness
Destroy the Traveler

At war with:

The Sky
The Traveler

Distinctions:

Vast displacement
Ponderous strength
Great, coiling length
Folded jaws
Curled wings

Average lifespan:

Indefinite

Notable group(s):

Worm Gods

Notable individual(s):

Akka, the Worm of Secrets (deceased)
Eir, the Keeper of Order
Ur, the Ever-Hunger
Xol, Will of the Thousands (deceased)
Yul, the Honest Worm

 

"Take into your bodies our children, our newborn larvae. From them you shall obtain eternal life. From them you shall gain power over your own fragile flesh: the power to make of it as you will. And should you find an imperfection in the world, an injustice or an inconvenience — you will have the power to repair it. Let no mere law bind you."
Yul[1]

The Worms are an ancient, parasitic worm-like species that dwelled deep under the oceans of the gas giant Fundament. They are disciples of the Darkness and draw their god-like power directly from it. It is through a pact with the Worms that the ancestors of the Hive became the Hive and launched their conquest of the whole universe. The Worms are worshipped and revered as the Hive's highest deities, beyond even Oryx, the Taken King and his sisters Savathûn and Xivu Arath. All Hive are infested with a larvae from one of the five Worm Gods, which drives them to feed off constant conquest and destruction lest the Worm grow unsatisfied and consume them instead.[1]

Worms are notable for their ability to survive death in some form, similarly to Ahamkara. Despite calling themselves worms, the Worm Gods describe themselves as having jaws and wings, and that they are of massive size and strength.

History

Billions of years ago, the Worm Gods were trapped deep beneath Fundament and guarded by the Leviathan.[1]> One of their dead larvae eventually washed up on the shore of the Osmium Court, where it was found by the proto-Hive Osmium King and taken as his familiar. Following the Osmium King's murder by the Helium Drinkers, his daughter Sathona took it from him as she, Aurash, and Xi Ro fled the Court. This worm gave advice to Sathona and through her guided the three sisters in their quest for vengeance.[2][3]

Eventually, the worm lured the sisters to the domain of the Worm Gods, who tempted them with power and immortality in exchange for becoming parasitized by their larvae.[1] The sisters accepted, taking on the names Auryx, Savathûn, and Xivu Arath. Acting in concert with the Worm Gods, they took more larvae back to the surface in order to offer the rest of their species the same bargain.[4] Those who refused to accept were killed by the emergent Hive.[5]

The Worm Gods oversaw the Hive's conquest of Fundament, providing knowledge, orders, and censure to their leaders as necessary. When the war freed the Worm Gods from Fundament's core, they responded by opening a wormhole into geostationary orbit, allowing the Hive to invade Fundament's moons and the Ammonite civilization that dwelled there.[6] The Hive eventually exterminated the Ammonite and slew the Leviathan. Eir and Yul consumed their captor's corpse.[7] After this, the Worm Gods withdrew to the Ascendant Realm and generally left the Hive alone.

Auryx would later seek out and slay Akka for the knowledge to commune directly with the Darkness. He returned as Oryx, the Taken King. [8] However, Akka remained active in some fashion and battled Oryx following the events of the Golden Amputation.[9] At some point Oryx recovered a fragment of Akka's shell and used it to craft his Dreadnaught.[10]

Some time after the death of Akka, Yul began to contemplate taking the power from the weakest of the four remaining Worms, in order to withstand any future attacks by Oryx. Knowing himself to be vulnerable, Xol, Will of the Thousands made a pact with Oryx's abandoned son, Nokris, to flee Fundament and seek new worlds to conquer together.[11]

A long-standing Vex incursion in Oryx's throne world eventually drew the attention of the Worm Gods. Eir commanded him to "SET YOUR HOUSE IN ORDER".[12]

Many years later, upon the frozen ice caps of Mars, Xol would perish at the hands of the Guardians along with his herald.

Worm Gods

Trivia

  • The Worms have very similar speech patterns to the Ahamkara. Note the below table.
Worm Text Source Ahamkara Text Source
Reality is a fine flesh, oh general ours. Let us feast of it. Book XII - Out of the Deep Reality is the finest flesh, oh bearer mine. And are you not… hungry? Skull of Dire Ahamkara
It’s dead, but it still speaks to me. It says: listen closely, oh vengeance mine… Book V - Needle and Worm Give me your arm, oh bearer mine. Let me help you fill the world with teeth. Young Ahamkara's Spine
  • In Destiny 2, worms occasionally fall out of the bodies of dead Hive when killed with a precision shot.

Gallery

List of appearances

References

  1. ^ a b c d Bungie (2015/9/15), Destiny: The Taken King, PlayStation 4, Activision Blizzard, Grimoire: IX: The Bargain
  2. ^ Bungie (2015/9/15), Destiny: The Taken King, PlayStation 4, Activision Blizzard, Grimoire: IV: Syzygy
  3. ^ Bungie (2015/9/15), Destiny: The Taken King, PlayStation 4, Activision Blizzard, Grimoire: V: Needle and Worm
  4. ^ Bungie (2015/9/15), Destiny: The Taken King, PlayStation 4, Activision Blizzard, Grimoire: X: Immortals
  5. ^ Bungie (2015/9/15), Destiny: The Taken King, PlayStation 4, Activision Blizzard, Grimoire: XII: Out of the Deep
  6. ^ Bungie (2015/9/15), Destiny: The Taken King, PlayStation 4, Activision Blizzard, Grimoire: XIII: Into the Sky
  7. ^ Bungie (2015/9/15), Destiny: The Taken King, PlayStation 4, Activision Blizzard, Grimoire: XIX: Crusaders
  8. ^ Bungie (2015/9/15), Destiny: The Taken King, PlayStation 4, Activision Blizzard, Grimoire: XXVIII: King of Shapes
  9. ^ Bungie (2015/9/15), Destiny: The Taken King, PlayStation 4, Activision Blizzard, Grimoire: XXXVI: Eater of Hope
  10. ^ Bungie (2015/9/15), Destiny: The Taken King, PlayStation 4, Activision Blizzard, Grimoire: XLI: Dreadnaught
  11. ^ Bungie: Destiny 2 Narrative Preview
  12. ^ Bungie (2015/9/15), Destiny: The Taken King, PlayStation 4, Activision Blizzard, Grimoire: XXXIX: open your eye: go into it