Destiny 2 has extensive lore that stretches back eons in an epic war between the forces of Light and Darkness. Players are thrust into this cosmic war as Guardians, humans from the Golden Age, resurrected by the Traveler's Light to battle the Darkness. Destiny 2's most recent expansion, The Witch Queen, sheds more light on the history of these two paracausal forces and the beings and factions fighting for each side. With additional seasonal content and 2023's Lightfall story expansion set to continue this eternal struggle, there's still plenty of fuel in the tank to reveal rich lore and story.
While this battle has been constant for billions of years, through numerous galaxies, involving countless civilizations, one species in particular has played a significant role in shaping the universe by serving the Darkness: the Hive. Throughout Destiny lore, the Hive have been formidable foes that have brought destruction to almost every other race they've encountered. One Hive God, Oryx the Taken King, has altered the Destiny universe through his thirst for knowledge and power.
Becoming a Hive God
Before becoming the Hive, Oryx belonged to the Krill race and was called Aurash - then female - and heir to the Osmium Court, along with her two sisters, Sathona and Xi Ro, all daughters of the Osmium King. Their father, influenced by a dead Worm familiar he could hear, feared a cataclysmic event that would destroy their civilization. The sisters fled after their father's assassination, Sathona retaining her father's Worm familiar, which she now heard.
Urged by the Worm, the sisters recovered and fixed an ancient ship which they used to dive deep into the oceans of Fundament to learn how to prevent the coming Armageddon. Declining the advice of the Traveler's disciple, the Leviathan; the sisters discovered the Worm Gods. The latter served the Darkness and followed the Sword Logic. This philosophy stated that those who were not strong enough to survive were not worthy of existence. By accepting the Worm God larvae, the sisters were transformed into Hive Gods, with Aurash becoming the male Auryx, king of the Hive; Xi Ro becoming Xivu Arath, the God of War, and Sathona becoming Savathun, the Witch Queen.
Forming a symbiotic relationship with their larvae, the Hive Gods were immortal so long as they followed the Sword Logic to destroy those they felt deserved death by following their inherent natures (Auryx being inquisitive, Xivu Arath being strong, and Sathona being cunning). Converting the remaining Krill with other Worms, the Hive race was born. With their Worm larvae being ever hungry, the siblings committed untold atrocities across the galaxies on genocidal levels to survive even into the present.
Becoming Oryx, the Taken King
At one point, Auryx realized that the Worms had not been fully transparent with the Hive Gods. The larvae's ever-growing need for death could not be met with just the three siblings, which meant that when it grew past their ability to feed the Worms, they would perish. Auryx summoned his sisters to Throne World in the Ascendant Realm; they offered Auryx their powers to help find a solution. Auryx killed them, using the collective ability to confront his patron Worm God, Akka.
Slaying his deity allowed Auryx to create the Tablets of Ruin to call upon the Darkness itself, giving him the power to Take. This transformation completed his journey to becoming Oryx, the Taken King, a mighty entity with the forces of Darkness that few entities could withstand. Following this ascension, Oryx revived his sisters and created the tithe system to feed their Worms permanently. Through this system, each Hive would kill to feed their Worm and tithe the rest to their superior moving up the chain to the three Hive Gods.
Creating Offspring
The ability to Take is granted only to the highest servants of the Darkness and involves creating a portal that rips an individual from the universe. The individual is brought to some location within the Ascendant Realm before the will of the person who Took them. The Taken being is brought back to reality or the original universe with inherent powers of Destiny 2's Darkness and obsession to serve who Took them. Oryx soon created his army of Taken, yet, that wasn't enough to soothe his lust for dominance.
Using the Tablets of Ruin, Oryx was finally able to commune with the Darkness and learned that the Sword Logic was instrumental in creating the Final Shape - an ultimate form of life that could survive anything. Contemplating this newfound knowledge, Oryx pondered if he were becoming a nihilist. These thoughts led him to create his spawn: Crota, Son of Oryx; and the Deathsinger Twins, Ir Anuk and Ir Halak. This ensured Oryx's tithe, lineage, and power would always be more significant than his sisters.
The Taken War
Crota eventually achieved godhood and was responsible for slaughtering countless Guardians in the Great Disaster, devastating to the forces of Light. However, surviving Guardians could enter Crota's Throne World, using his Sword Logic against him through his fallen blades and kill him permanently. Upon learning of his son's death, Oryx entered the Sol System on his Dreadnaught with an army of Hive and Taken.
Facing initial setbacks with his invasion with his Hive forces, Oryx finally unleashed his Taken to harass Sol while using his abilities to Take to convert the parties thrown at him from the Awoken. The Guardians pushed into his Dreadnaught, now his Throne World, and confronted Oryx in a giant Taken form he Took of himself. While trying to Take the Guardians, they managed to unleash his captured Light which ruptured his insides and permanently killed him.
Oryx's remains orbit Saturn, but he had hoped that his murderer would take up his mantle, thus continuing his lineage and Worm feeding in some form as the new Osmium King. However, since the vanquisher was a Guardian who refused to take Oryx's place, all his carefully laid plans fell to ruin. Nevertheless, Oryx's death left a vacuum with the remaining Hive that was soon filled by his sisters and their continued fight against the Traveler and the Guardians.
Destiny 2 is currently available on PC, PS4, PS5, Stadia, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.