Destiny as a series has ended up with its share of mysteries over the last five years, leaving players to ask many questions. What is the fate of the Dreaming City? What exactly is the Darkness? Is Destiny 3 ever going to be released? Most of these have yet to be answered, but this week, after all this time, Destiny 2 gave the answer to one of the franchise’s most pressing mysteries: the pronunciation of the name “Gjallarhorn.”
This is something most players have probably wondered at one point or other. The exotic rocket launcher that bears the name has been one of weapons most synonymous with Destiny, being as the Gjallarhorn was one of Destiny’s first top-tier weapons and among the exotics most coveted by early players. While its in-game usage dwindled over time, the debate over how to say the name has carried on to this day, with players still trying to figure out if the unusual choice of spelling means they’re supposed to pronounce it as “Gallarhorn” or “Jallarhorn.”
That debate can now be put to rest, because an official pronunciation has popped up in Destiny 2 itself. This week has seen the debut of the game’s latest activity, the quest to unlock the Devil’s Ruin exotic sidearm. Part of said quest has players exploring the Twilight Gap PvP map in search of spare parts from fallen robots hidden about the area, all while Saint-14, Osiris, and Shaxx talk.
It’s during one of these dialogue exchanges that Saint-14 briefly mentions the in-game lore behind the Gjallarhorn, saying its name aloud in the process. And as it turns out, its pronunciation is neither “Gallarhorn” or “Jallarhorn,” but actually “Yallarhorn.”
Plenty of Destiny 2 players might be surprised to find that out, but it actually makes sense once one digs into the reason for it. It’s common for the letter J to be pronounced with a “Y” sound in most Germanic languages, like German, Norwegian, and Swedish. It’s from this part of the world that the word “Gjallarhorn” actually originates, being the name of an important blowing horn carried by the god Heimdall in Norse mythology.
So that’s a neat reference to classic real-world folklore and a definitive answer to one of Destiny’s longest-running questions. It will remain to be seen, though, if players will start referring to the rocket launcher by its correct pronunciation, now that they know, or stick with whichever incorrect one they’ve been referring to it by all these years. Fans probably won’t know for sure unless Gjallarhorn ever comes back into Destiny in a big way.
Destiny 2 is available for PC, PS4, Stadia, and Xbox One.