Characters / Destiny The Reef

This page details the various denizens that reside in the Reef, far away from the Traveler's Light, as well as their direct allies.

Main Character Index | Active Guardians (Historical Guardians | Guardian Classes | Uldren Sov/The Crow and Glint) | The Tower | The Reef | The Fallen (House of Devils) | The Cabal | The Vex | The Darkness (The Hive | The Taken | The Scorn) | Other Characters and Entities

Beware of unmarked spoilers.

Reef Awoken and allies

In General

During the Collapse, every ship capable tried to flee Earth, but made it no farther than the inner asteroid belt. The descendants of these refugees became the Awoken. Rather than return to Earth, the Awoken of the Reef set up their own society, avoiding both the Traveler and the Darkness. After the Fallen House of Wolves invaded the Reef, the Queen managed to kill their Kell and made them vassals, offering the Fallen a permanent home with the Awoken. Relations with the Guardians and the Last City have been cold at best and hostile at worst, but this changed with the rebellion of the House of Wolves.

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• Amazon Brigade: The Queen's Guard is exclusively female, given their Matriarchal society (see below), as are their other armed forces such as the Corsairs.
• Crystal Spires and Togas: The derelict vessels and space stations they live on are a large part of their living space, sure... but they also have pocket dimensions scattered throughout the reef containing beautiful crystal cities where their upper class and leadership reside. These in turn are based around their home dimension of Distributary.
• Curbstomp Battle: The Reef's fleet delivered one to the House of Wolves during the Reef Wars, when Mara devastated them with her "Harbingers" and the fleet crushed what was left. Later on, they suffer one when they intercept Oryx's fleet. While the Reef ships are able to destroy the Hive's regular ships without much trouble, the Dreadnaught's Wave-Motion Gun annihilates them in a single shot.
• The Dark Arts: House of Wolves reveals that the Awoken have supernatural powers such as visions and telepathy, and that their minds are linked to either the Jovians or some aspect of the Darkness. Skolas describes them as "twinned to cold minds" and Variks says that they "whisper to the stars" and listen for whispers back, whether they be from the Jovians or the Darkness. It's implied that the reason the Queen refuses to stand with the City is because she doesn't want to risk the wrath of their patron.
• Forbidden Zone: The Awoken claim the whole of the Reef as their domain, and do not suffer trespassers in their territory. As of the House of Wolves, they have relaxed their isolationism, but not completely. Most of the Reef is still off-limits for non-denizens, but the Vestian Outpost is a limited open port, providing a place for outsiders to dock and interact with elements from the Reef.
• Get Out!: Any Awoken who show an ability to utilize the Traveler's Light are immediately exiled for fear of attracting the Darkness.
• Heroic Neutral: They have no interest in helping the Last City, and avoid the Traveler for fear of attracting the Darkness. That said, they are on better terms with the Nine. They will loosely ally with the City in times of need and at times the Queen has ordered them to assist the Guardians, and were entirely willing to challenge and fight Oryx when he arrived, recognizing him as a threat to everyone. Under Petra, however, the Reef has become more friendly toward the Guardians.
• Matriarchy: According to the Grimoire, the Awoken of the Reef are a Matriarchy, which is why female Awoken are more prominent than male Awoken. It also notes that the prominence of the Queen's Brother is rather unusual. The lore for Forsaken reveals that this is because the colony ship carrying the humans who would be transformed into the original Awoken contained roughly three times as many women as men and other genders, and their matriarchal society was established due to Gender Rarity Value.
• Neutral No Longer: After the rebellion of the House of Wolves, the Queen decides to allow the Guardians into the Reef to help end the renewed Fallen threat. She would like it noted that this does not mean a long-term alliance. Under Petra, the Reef is a little more positively aligned toward the City, though this is because the two are becoming more reliant on one another to fight off Oryx and the Taken after the Reef's military strength was devastated.
• Out of Focus: For the launch-day content in Destiny 2. Despite being a prominent player in the vanilla Destiny campaign and being the focal point of the House of Wolves expansion and host to the Prison of Elders game mode, the Reef gets next to no mention during the campaign or end-game content in the sequel outside of an oblique mention of Variks being a former comrade. Likely the Reef is still recovering from the loss of their Queen and fleet during the Taken War which, combined with their isolationism, made them loathe to communicate with the Last City during the Red War.
• Species Loyalty: The Reefborn Awoken fully expect other Awoken to be loyal to the Reef. Petra Venj describes Zavala and Rahool as traitors, and the Grimoire has the Queen describe those who leave the Reef for the City as "You who betrayed us for Earth".
  • As of Forsaken, this has largely ceased after everything that happened during the Taken War and the Scorn Crisis, at least for everybody who isn't Mara. While Mara might still hold prejudices, Petra will refer to an Awoken Young Wolf with the traditional Awoken term of "Cousin" without any hesitation or irony in her voice, and the Techeuns and Corsairs will treat you with nothing but respect, despite the fact you've got two marks against you for being both City aligned and a Guardian.
• Total Party Kill: In The Taken King, Mara Sov leads an assault with her forces against Oryx's dreadnaught. They get off a volley before he releases a Wave-Motion Gun strike that kills nearly every Awoken present, save Prince Uldren. There are hints Mara herself may have survived, considering Taken were found searching for her ship's wreckage across the system. In Forsaken, it is revealed that Mara and her Techeuns survived by way of their artificial Ascendant Realm.

Mara Sov

Mara Sov, the Queen of the Reef

Voiced by: Kirsten Potter

"It is alive. And still has its ball."

A stoic and unfriendly questgiver who always refers to the player as "it," Queen Mara Sov is the ruler of the Reef, a debris field located in the Asteroid Belt. It is home to both the Awoken and the Fallen House of Wolves, which became vassals of the Queen after she killed their Kell. Straddling the border between Light and Darkness, the Queen is disinterested in the City at best and outright hostile at worst.

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• Ambiguously Bi: She had a female lover named Sjur Eido, a Queen's Wrath, who she considers one of the four most important people in her heart.^note The other three being her brother, her mother, and herself. Her relationship with Lord Shaxx is a bit more ambiguous, considering she used an Ahamkara wish to summon him to read her The Tempest and it's heavily implied that they had sex afterwards. Later on he buys her a compound bow for The Dawning, but nothing about them has been outright confirmed as romantic.
  • Further references to The Tempest in lore reveal that it is a reference to Sjur as it was a title that both Mara and Shaxx had at some point taken to calling her after becoming friends. Casting the reading as more a shared remembrance of a friend after death with "the helmet stayed on" being Shaxx hiding tears rather than having sex with Mara. Explained here [1]
  • No longer ambiguous as of National Coming Out Day 2022.
• Ambiguously Evil: She's definitely a scheming and somewhat antagonistic person, but she's also helped out the Guardians on several occasions. However according to Skolas, after he went into the Vault of Glass, she may be an unwitting agent of the Darkness, given that he calls her "light snuffer" and "dark binder".
  • The Marasenna entries document a long list of morally ambiguous things she did to the Awoken on their adopted homeworld.
  • After seeing everything she had done, the Witness was impressed enough with Mara that they offered her a place among the Disciples. Mara is understandably disturbed by what this says about her.
• Berserk Button: Don't ever question her authority or ability to protect the Awoken, as your Ghost finds out the hard way.
• Big Damn Heroes: An interesting variation. She is the reason why the City wasn't captured by the Fallen during Twilight Gap, by destroying the House of Wolves before they could take part in the assault. Whether this was out of altruism or because she just wanted a House of her own goes unconfirmed. The City seems to be unaware of her role in the battle.
• The Bus Came Back: After The Taken King expansion in the first game, Mara was Put on a Bus up until the events of Forsaken, where she once again enlists the help of the Guardians to free the Dreaming City from Riven's grasp. She lost some prominence afterwards, but comes back again as the focus character of Season of the Lost.
• Can't Take Criticism: Mara became extremely defensive when criticized by Ghost about her leadership skills and the information she keeps from us. She went on a rant about how much she's sacrificed, and how we can't comprehend her plans.
• Cool Ship: She commands a Fallen Ketch, painted in Reef colors.
• The Chessmaster: The lore of Forsaken reveals her to be one, as not only is she behind the schism that caused the Awoken to leave the Distrubutary, but she also orchestrated the events of the Taken War (along with Eris Morn), letting herself be killed by Oryx to gain access to the Ascendant realm and gain his powers. She calls this scheme of hers Bomb-Logic, in deliberate insult of Hive Sword-Logic; to her, Sword-Logic is simplistic and easily understood, as all parts of a sword are obviously weapons; a bomb, on the other hand, has components that are not inherently weapons, but is more destructive and effective when put together. She's also able to trick a Hive Worm, a creature of godlike intellect and eons old, into performing a ceremony trapping itself as the power source for an Exotic weapon.
• Dare to Be Badass: In Forsaken, Mara speaks with the Guardian one final time before departing for parts unknown when they visit her at the height of the Dreaming City's curse. Her parting words are nothing short of encouraging, all but asking them to hold strong in the times to come.
  "Fear nothing. Bow to no one."
• Defrosting Ice Queen: Strongly averted during Forsaken: despite the thawing of relations between the City and the Reef from her invitation to hunt the House of Wolves, she is still glacial in terms of personality towards Guardians in general. They only serve a purpose for her. That being said, the lore of Forsaken shows that she does have (or at least used to have ) a more laid-back persona, especially in presence of her lover, Sjur Eido.
  • This trope is later played straight starting with Season of the Lost. With the advent of the Reef Awoken's closer alliance with the Vanguard and her witnessing Crow's indifferent and cold behavior toward her, something seems to stir introspection within Mara. Her subsequent interactions with the Guardian and members of the Vanguard are gradually more respectful and positive, with Mara dropping her secretive attitude by several grades and willingly offering us her help and her power with little to no strings attached. By the time of Season of Defiance, she knights the Guardian, Devrim, Crow, and Amanda as members of her Queensguard, and openly mourns Amanda's death later on despite her lack of closeness with the Vanguard shipwright.
• You Know I'm Black, Right?: Downplayed, when talking to Misraaks during Season of Defiance, Mara hears his strict dogma that completely dismisses the Darkness as evil and tries to get him to see the value in a moderate stance between the two without outright pointing out how she and her entire species are half Darkness and half Light.
• Exact Words: In a post-game mission for Witch Queen, she promised Savathun's dying worm she would provide it a vessel, with the implication being she'd become its newest host. At the end of the mission, she follows through on her bargain. What she did not inform them was that said vessel was going to be a Grenade Launcher for the Young Wolf's personal use.
• Face Death with Dignity: Faced with the Dreadnaught's Sphere of Destruction after tanking the Techeuns' Wave-Motion Gun like it was nothing, she only closes her eyes in resignation. The narration states that the Awoken "have played their part, all according to the plan". In Destiny 2, it is revealed that she didn't actually die, but instead transferred herself to her own Ascendant Realm to escape death.
• Fatal Flaw: Arrogance. She refuses to plan for things she has not personally foreseen; her being a combination of The Oracle and The Chessmaster doesn’t help. This tends to bite her in the ass a fair bit, with some high-profile examples being:
  • Most of the Reef Awoken being killed by an insane Uldren; because Mara refused to tell him her plan, he was left open to Riven’s manipulations.
  • The Dreaming City Curse; it’s made explicitly clear that Mara’s really pissed about it. Also initially caused by Riven manipulating Uldren and Mara ordering the latter’s death.
  • She planned to use Uldren once he was resurrected, and flat-out states she was manipulating him to this end. Crow, whose memory wipe freed him from Mara’s psychological conditioning, sees her for what she really is and thwarts her attempts to regain control of him, and the tunneling device Mara planned to use to groom him further is infinitely more useful as one of the Young Wolf's many weapons of mass destruction.
• Graceful Ladies Like Purple: She has a very extensive purple and gold motif, which can be seen on everything from her soldiers to the shaders she rewards the player with for turning in bounties. Hell, the Reef alone probably has more purple in it than the entirety of all the Saints Row games combined, which is really saying something. This particular color scheme also invokes royalty and queenly grace, which is extremely fitting for her because, well, she's the queen of the Awoken.
• Graceful Loser: At the end of Season of the Lost Mara and her Techeuns successfully remove Savathun's worm from the Witch Queen, but Mara's intent to kill her afterward is foiled by the fact that Savathun managed to escape. Despite this setback, she's far from disheartened and finds gaining the Witch Queen's worm an excellent consolation prize.
• Green-Skinned Space Babe: As a female Awoken it goes with the territory, especially since the spaceborn Awoken are more aloof and isolated than their Earth-bound relatives.
• Heroic Neutral: The Reef is not aligned with the City, and there are some evidence of past hostilities between the two societies. While the Awoken of the Reef distrust the Traveler and its Light, the Queen is willing to work with the City, provided it benefits the Reef. She is even willing to do the City a few favors, but she always collects on her debts... This extends back even to her transformation into an Awoken, as she was caught in the middle of a clash between the Light and Darkness, and affected by both of them at the same time.
• Hidden Elf Village: The Reef believes in isolationism, and while the Queen is willing to accept single visitors on occasion, it's not until the House of Wolves rebels that she grants broad access to the Reef. Even then, it's implied that she's only working with the Guardians so that the Awoken themselves only have to leave the Reef in small numbers, reinforcing their isolationist nature.
• I Just Want to Be Normal: An admittance she makes to her lover Sjur in stating:

Mara: Sjur, on the day you worship me, you cannot love me anymore, for to worship is to yield all power, and I cannot love what has no power over me.

Sjur: I see...Then to me you are not yet a god.

• "It" Is Dehumanizing: She refers to the player as "it".
• Klingon Promotion: She became the ruler of the Fallen House of Wolves after deposing their Kell, then following up by killing or capturing all the other Kell-claimants.
• Jerkass: Though she's more restrained in her speaking than her brother, she's also incredibly cold and even a bit cruel at times. For example, sending the guilt-ridden Petra Venj to the City as an ambassador, seemingly just to both torment Petra and screw with the City. She reveals in 'Season of the Lost' that she not only foresaw Uldren’s death and subsequent resurrection, she actively manipulated him into it so she could make use of him as a Lightbearer when he came back.
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold: That said, she did intervene to save the Last City from having to face the House of Wolves at full strength as well, when she could have remained hidden and safe, and did her best to stop Oryx despite knowing it would be safer to run. She also is very serious about keeping her debts as well, and shows no hesitation in admitting when someone's impressed her.
    • She also legitimately loves Uldren, but is terrible at expressing it. After his resurrection into Crow, he refuses to have anything to do with her after he finds out how horrible she was to Uldren. Mara actually accepts this.
• Manipulative Bastard: And how. She psychologically abused Uldren by withholding love until he did something useful. She then looked down on him for being so subservient.
• Meaningful Name: "Mara" is also the name of the closest thing Buddhism has a devil figure, the lord of all that keeps people trapped in the physical world, but something of a Noble Demon figure who also reminds people that to exist at all is to suffer. It's revealed in the lore of Forsaken that she is the main reason why Awoken are physical creatures who can suffer rather than omnipotent Energy Beings; she felt existence as something truly omnipotent would result in a Lotus-Eater Machine situation, so she hijacked the genesis of their pocket universe so that the Awoken would be born as The Ageless, but not truly undying.
• Mundane Utility: She once used her pet Ahamkara, Riven, to bend all of reality just she could summon someone to her chambers for what essentially amounts to reading her a bedtime story (and that is probably not all...). That someone turns out to be Lord Shaxx, and it's mentioned that on top of reading The Tempest out loud for a long time, his helmet stayed on.
• Never Found the Body: Following the annihilation of her flagship, both Petra and Uldren start searching for her, certain she's alive and not stopping until they have confirmation that she's dead. While a throwaway line in Curse of Osiris surmises that she died, it is revealed in Forsaken that she is in fact alive, though trapped in an Ascendant Realm.
• Noble Bigot: Towards Guardians, as revealed in her Forsaken Lore. She finds them immature, and outright unnerving at times given their lackadaisical attitude towards death not to mention reliant on the Light, something her entire ideology is opposed to. She still recognizes they're heroes, and grudgingly admires their will to self-improve, and has a much higher estimation of the Traveler itself.
• Not Quite Dead: While she technically died, she survived in some capacity in the Ascendant realm. Petra is relieved to hear her voice when she re-establishes contact in the Dreaming City via the Oracle.
• Official Couple: Shaxx's interactions with Eva Levante during the Dawning seem to suggest that the time Mara called him to her chambers wasn't just a fluke.
• Pet the Dog: Expresses blatant, outward sorrow at Amanda's passing in Season Of Defiance.
• Pre Ass Kicking One Liner: Her rag-tag fleet of pirates and scavengers goes up against the full force of the House of Wolves.
  Kell of Wolves: I AM LORD OF WOLVES. YOU ARE AN EMPTY THING WITH TWO DEAD SOULS. THIS IS MY HOUSE. THESE ARE MY TERMS. SURRENDER AND I WILL ONLY TAKE YOUR SHIPS.
  The Queen: I AM NOBLE TOO, OH LORD OF WOLVES.
  Kell: YOU HAVE NO LINE. YOU HAVE NO POWER.
  Queen: STARLIGHT WAS MY MOTHER. AND MY FATHER WAS THE DARK.
  Kell: CALL ON THEM, THEN, AND SEE WHAT HELP THEY OFFER.
• Reality Warper: Whatever the nature of the paracausal powers the Awoken have, they are the strongest around her. An minor example in the lore was back when the Awoken used radioactive decay as bomb triggers, Mara's mere presence manipulated probability unconsciously and made the atoms a thousand times less likely to decay. While a more major example was when Mara first created the Awoken by merely observing and becoming self-aware of their own existence. The same entry as the first example summed it up as such:
  Kelda Wadj (Referring to Mara): "People are literally safer when you are around."
• Really 700 Years Old: The Awoken have lived for 12.1 billion years due to living inside a singularity orbiting the Sun. And Mara gets special mention as the first Awoken.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: The Blue to her brother's Red.
• Resurrective Immortality: The Witch Queen confirms that her use of a throne world in The Taken King gives her permanent access to this trope, as Eris is able to quickly fetch Mara through a Hive ritual when a Noodle Incident on 136199 Eris (the dwarf planet) seemingly kills her off again.
• Revenge Before Reason: She's so furious at the House of Wolves rebellion that she abandons centuries of isolation and invites the Guardians into the Reef.
• The Stoic: In contrast to her brother, the Queen shows little emotion.
  • Proves Not So Stoic during the sixth time you visit her chambers. Having heard your Ghost's accusations of being a terrible Queen, she angrily shouts at him while stating that he knows nothing of what she sacrificed to keep her people safe, and asks if you and him would make better rulers. The room even shakes violently at one point.
• Superweapon Surprise: Instrumental to her first victory over the House of Wolves, shattering their massive fleet with mysterious 'Harbingers' that only she can control. While unnamed, we do see a vicious power from Mara in the Taken King opening cinematic. A cluster of orbs of concentrated power that functions not unlike a Warlock's super, it requires three priest-like attendants to channel their power to her and the strain causes her to collapse briefly. While it proves ineffective against Oryx's capital ship, it utterly shreds his escort vessels and each orb has enough gravitational pull to drag a large amount of asteroids with them.
• Took a Level in Kindness: Dips into this post-Season of the Lost. While still distant with her allies, Mara treats the Guardians more amicably than she did in the first game, even offering words of encouragement. It's implied that the Guardians' newfound understanding of the Darkness and their willingness to use it is why Mara softens up, as one of her major problems with the Guardians was their rigid faith and vehement rejection of the Light and Darkness respectively while the Awoken were made from both. An especially poignant moment is in Season of Defiance where she joins the Last City in mourning Amanda Holliday, an act she never would have done, much less considered.
• Tough Leader Façade: Downplayed, as she is genuinely The Stoic and ruthlessly dedicated to her goals, but her lore revealed in Forsaken shows her to be a lot more compassionate than she lets on; the very reason why she's in the Reef is because she felt she had a duty to save Earth from the Darkness. She herself is fully aware of this, and internally admits she has to be a symbol more than a person.
• Tranquil Fury: Skolas' betrayal renders her utterly furious, to the point that she invites Guardians to the Reef to hunt him down. But she never loses her cool at any point. She lets slip another moment of this during one of the Astral Alignment dialogues, after Glint tells her how the Spider treated her brother.
• We Used to Be Friends:
  • She once was friends with the person who has now become the Emissary of the Nine, but now maintains a strictly professional attitude with them. Considering she doesn't hold the Nine in high regards due to their machinations and the fact that the Emissary is a shell of her former friend, she's fairly bitter about it.
  • Siblings in this case. While her relationship with Uldren was "questionable" to put it mildly, it's clear Mara genuinely loved him, and was understandably furious when she learned of his resurrection as Crow and the abuse he suffered under the Spider. That said, her manipulations are what damages and sabotages any of her attempts to reconnect with her revived brother as Crow is understandably put-off, and after regaining his memories as Uldren Sov through Savathun, wants absolutely nothing to do with her, something Mara sadly acknowledges and accepts.

Uldren Sov (Unmarked Spoilers)

Prince Uldren Sov, the Master of Crows

Voiced by: Brendon O'Neil

"The Queen herself judges who may or may not enter the realm. Me? I see no reason she should be available for whatever washes up at the reef."

The Queen's confidant, chief enforcer, and brother. Unlike his sister, he is upfront about his distrust of the City. He is driven insane after the apparent death of his sister during the events of The Taken King, and becomes the main villain of Forsaken.

After being killed, he is later revived by a ghost to become a guardian, with his ghost taking on the name Glint and himself taking on the name Crow.

For more information on Uldren and his revived self, click here.

Petra Venj

Petra Venj, Queen's Wrath

Voiced by: April Stewart

"Last week I was delivering court messages. Today we're delivering explosions! I love fieldwork! Get after them, Guardian."

An emissary of the Queen of the Reef, Petra Venj first appeared during the "Queen's Wrath" special event. She returned to Reef, where she was elevated to serve as the Queen's Wrath and becomes the Guardian's story agent during the House of Wolves. She returns in Forsaken, calling the assistance of Cayde and the Guardian to stop the Scorn. Following that expansion's main campaign, she ventures into the Dreaming City, determined to find Mara Sov and free the place from the evil that has crept in.

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• Action Girl: She doesn't get to show off her skills in battle until Forsaken, but once she does it is apparent why she was made Mara's Wrath. Petra can cut through Fallen and other enemies just as easily as a Guardian, and she doesn't have the benefit of resurrection.
• Ambiguously Gay: Her complete devotion to Queen Mara Sov and utter devastation at Mara's apparent death suggest it's not entirely out of her sense of duty. Best exemplified by this idle dialogue:
  Petra: I had a dream last night. I was hunting with the Queen on great white horses in a field of black flowers, and then... well... It was a good omen.
• Despair Event Horizon: After the disappearance of Mara Sov, Variks and Ikora Rey fear she may have crossed this, with Variks wondering if she's fit to lead because of her grief and Ikora concerned she'll "pull an Eris Morn."
• Dreaming the Truth: She has a recurring dream in the Dreaming City of birds plucking out flowers then the flowers keep returning and the birds keep plucking them and isn't sure if she's the bird or flower only that the dream terrifies her. As the corruption in the Dreaming City reaches it's peak, Petra realizes the awful truth behind it's meaning. Both the birds and the flowers represent Petra and the Awoken, the meaning is that they are all caught in a time loop with no way out except to repeat their actions.
• The Exile: It's implied in her Grimoire card that she spent several years in exile from the Reef after her actions caused the deaths of several Guardians during the first war with the House of Wolves and strained the relationship between the City and the Reef. The Queen's response was to appoint Petra her ambassador to the City. This is either to torment Petra or insult the City. Knowing the Queen, probably both. This partly explains why Petra enjoys playing Mission Control for the player Guardian so much - she's just happy to be home.
• Eye Patch Of Power: She's sporting one with the House of Wolves.
• In Harm's Way: As noted above, Petra loves working in the field. Her risk taking behavior annoys Variks so much that he occasionally gives her leads that are supposed to get Petra killed and out of the way. Petra responded by sending Guardians in her stead, since dying is an inconvenience to them.
• Jerkass Has a Point: While her attitude towards Crow is rather cold, it is not without reason as she rightfully points out to the Young Wolf that Crow shares Uldren's desire for recognition and acknowledgement, and his bond with "Osiris" would make him susceptible to Savathun's manipulations.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Being a Reef Awoken, she displays complete loyalty to the Queen and her country, but as of House of Wolves she's a hell of a lot friendlier to the Guardians she works with than the rest of the Reef; being amiable and even congratulating the player upon completion of objectives.
• Kick the Dog: When she meets Uldren as the Crow in the Season of the Lost, she's unreasonably cold towards him, even though she acknowledges the fact that he might still be in the dark about a considerable part of his past. She has a reason to be on edge with him.
• Large Ham: Sometimes gets carried away when commenting on your situation.
• Mission Control: Both she and Variks share the spot for giving you directives towards the House of Wolves quests, and later resumes the role during Season of the Lost alongside the Crow and Queen Mara.
• My God, What Have I Done?: During the Battle of the Twilight Gap she accidentally cause the permanent deaths of several Guardians by calling in an airstrike too early. She's still filled with remorse over this, not helped by the fact that she was transferred to the City as ambassador shortly after, meaning she had to constantly interact with the allies of those people she indirectly killed...
• My Greatest Failure: She expresses considerable regret that she could've prevented the events of Forsaken (which resulted in the death of Cayde and the Reef being destabilized beyond measure, along with the slaughter of many Awoken) by just killing Uldren when she had the chance rather than locking him up in the Prison of Elders. When she gets the chance, however, she and the Young Wolf correct her mistake by killing him.
• Nice Girl: Petra's one of the friendliest Awoken the player can encounter. She's consistently polite and loves doing fieldwork with the Guardians whenever she gets the opportunity.
• The Nicknamer: If the Young Wolf is an Awoken then Petra will start calling them "cousin" in the later part of Forsaken.
• No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: In a sense: A lot of the time whenever Petra tries to do the right thing, the end result can be arguably worse. Cayde-6 even quotes this trope almost word-for-word in Forsaken.
  Cayde-6: "You got a blast radius, P.V."
• Put on a Bus: After some issues with farming ascendant materials, Bungie cancelled the Queen's Wrath and "put it back in the oven", as they said. Petra disappeared along with it. She returns in Destiny 1's ''House of Wolves'' and Destiny 2's ''Forsaken'' expansions.
• Revenge Before Reason: Averted. Although she would love nothing more than to purge the Taken from the galaxy with a ferocity worthy of someone called The Queen's Wrath; She knows that her people are in no position to wage war, and they need her as their leader.
• Sad Clown: She's very cheerful and often cracks jokes, but her backstory is... quite depressing. She loses the clown part after Mara Sov is seemingly killed.
• Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: While Crow has no problems working with her, even trying to be friendly and asking her to go out for drinks to celebrate a job well done, Petra understandably has reservations about him and keeps him at an arm's length. Her reasons for giving him a cold shoulder is not because she still holds a grudge against him because of his past self's crimes, but rather because of his similarities to Uldren Sov, especially his desire for recognition and his insistence that Savathun is an ally when they are anything but.
• Tragic Keepsake: At one point Petra gives a quest to retrieve any sign of Mara from the dreadnought. The item that the player brings back to her is the Queen's broach, which she then keeps.
• Undying Loyalty: She's unbelievably loyal to Mara Sov to the point that Mara's apparent death at the hands of Oryx seems to have utterly broken her mental state.
• We Used to Be Friends: Petra tells the Young Wolf in Season of the Lost that she and Uldren were once friends, albeit in a strange way. Although she can't forgive him for his crimes in Forsaken, she does admit she thinks of him from time to time.
• You Are in Command Now: After the Awoken fleet is destroyed by Oryx, and Mara Sov is killed and Uldren Sov is missing, Petra basically in command of the Reef's armies.
• You Don't Look Like You: Originally, Petra's character model was the same outfit that the Reef guards wear. She received an original character model in the House of Wolves expansion.

Master Ives

Master Ives, Cryptarch

Voiced by: Gideon Emery

"You'll find that the Reef Cryptarchs are somewhat more competent then that Rahool."

A member of the Cryptarchy, Ives serves as the Master of the Palace Division. He is sent by the Queen to the Vestian Outpost in order to decrypt engrams for the Guardians who arrive in the Reef to hunt down the Queen's bounties.

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• Bus Crash: After being absent for all of Destiny 2's first year, Master Ives is reported to have been killed following the first Festival of the Lost's conclusion, and it's your job to find his murderers.
• Cultural Posturing: When not putting down Rahool, Ives tends to make comments about how much better the Reef is than Earth.
  Ives: It must be very hard to think on Earth. The gravity makes your mind slow.
• Dying Alone: Ives was murdered by Fallen, who went on to vandalize his robes in such a manner that even his rival, Rahool, was appalled by it when he found out about the murder. Holliday was worried that there would be no one to avenge his death, but luckily your Guardian stepped up.
• Insufferable Genius: He really likes to brag about how much better the Cryptarchy of the Reef is than the one at the Tower, particularly Master Rahool.
• The Rival: He considers Master Rahool to be his, and often makes disparaging remarks about him and his decision to leave the Reef. In fact, most of the comments he makes are about Rahool.
  Ives: Ha, Look at this. Rahool, your brains have turned to mush since you left the Reef.
  • This would eventually come to a breaking point when Rahool asks Ives to open up the Reef archives because of the recent losses they've incurred. He eventually writes back and basically tells Rahool he has no spine.

Abra Zire

Paladin Abra Zire

A Paladin in the Royal Armada.

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• Arch-Enemy: Of Beltrik, the Veiled, who she clashed with multiple times during the Reef Wars. When Zire learns that Beltrik is among the Wolves who escaped the Prison of Elders, she destroyed a asteroid in her anger.
• Character Death: Assumed dead after the battle between Oryx's fleet and the Reef Armada.
• Four-Star Badass: Won the Battle of Iris during the Reef Wars, defeating the forces of Parixas and killing the aspiring Kell of the House of Winter. She also captured Beltrik, the Veiled at the Fortuna Plummet and Kaliks-12 at the Battle of Cybele.
• Pyrrhic Victory: Her victory at Iris turned out to be this, since she had gone there pursuing Drevis after she attacked and slaughtered the Awoken at Amethyst but was tricked by Drevis and Greyor into fighting Parixas instead, eliminating a rival of Skolas.

Hallam Fen

Paladin Hallam Fen

A officer in the Royal Armada during the Reef Wars, Fen was promoted to Paladin during that conflict.

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• Number Two: To Paladin Imogen Rife during the Reef Wars.
• Rank Up: For his victory in capturing Pirsis and delivering Drevis to the Queen, Fen was promoted from commander to Paladin.
• You Are in Command Now: After his mentor Imogen Rife was slain by Pirsis, Fen took over command of Rife's forces and coordinated with Paladins Leona Bryl and Kamala Rior to defeat and capture Pirsis.

Kalli

Techeun Kalli

One of the Queen's last seven Techeuns. She was Taken alongside Sedia and Shuro Chi by Oryx when he invaded the Dreaming City during the events of the Taken War in the first game. She is the first boss of the "Last Wish" raid, serving as one the last lines of defense for the mastermind seeking to corrupt the Dreaming City.

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• Ascended Extra: She appeared in a couple Grimoire cards and very briefly at the start of The Taken King and was presumed dead afterwards, but in Forsaken she too is shown to be alive, freed from Taken corruption, and becomes part of the ongoing Dreaming City questline.
• Brainwashed and Crazy: Was Taken shortly after her presumed death and served as the first boss of the Last Wish Raid under Riven's influence before being freed.
• Puzzle Boss: While she can be done in with raw damage, you must kill the Taken Knights that spawn around the correct pressure plates in order to gain access to small doorways that let you survive her ontological weapon should you fail to down her before she unleashes it.

Shuro Chi

Techeun Shuro Chi

One of the Queen's last seven Techeuns and second of the three shown and explored in Forsaken. She was Taken alongside Kalli and Sedia by Oryx when he invaded the Dreaming City during the events of the Taken War. She is the second boss of the "Last Wish" raid, serving as one the last lines of defense for the mastermind seeking to corrupt the Dreaming City.

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• Ascended Extra: She appeared in a couple Grimoire cards and very briefly at the start of The Taken King and was presumed dead afterwards, but in Forsaken she is also shown to be alive, freed from Taken corruption and becomes part of the ongoing Dreaming City questline alongside her sisters.
• Brainwashed and Crazy: Was Taken shortly after her presumed death and served as the second boss of the Last Wish Raid under Riven's influence before being freed.
• Brown Note: Being Taken gave her access to her own version of a Hive Deathsong, which she will use in the fight against her and will kill the team within 4 minutes if they don't interrupt it.
• "Get Back Here!" Boss: You must pursue Shuro Chi throughout three floors of a coliseum as she repeatedly tries to chant a song that wipes you out if you don't interrupt her by shaving each of her six health bars then solving a puzzle that resets her song and grants you passage to each successive floor.
• Ms. Exposition: After being freed from the Taken influence, Shuro Chi can be talked to in the Dreaming City, whereupon she'll send you on an Exploration patrol to teach you about the Awoken's history and the City's secrets.
• Time-Limit Boss: The fight is divided into three phases, and you have 4 minutes to clear each one. Fail, and she kills your whole team.
• Total Party Kill: While most Raid bosses have an attack that does this, Shuro Chi is notable for having two of them. Shuro's Song puts the party on a four-minute time limit to take out two sections of her life bar (and complete a glyph puzzle after the second and fourth sections) before they are killed instantly. When she is vulnerable to damage, though, she will begin casting the previous boss's Obliteration, forcing the team to either interrupt her by throwing an Eye of Riven at her or dealing enough damage.

Sedia

Techeun Sedia

One of the Queen's last seven Techeuns, and the final of the three shown and explored in Forsaken. She was Taken alongside Shuro Chi and Kalli by Oryx during his invasion of the Dreaming City parallel to the raging Taken War. Unlike Kalli and Shuro Chi, who formed a line of defense in the "Last Wish" raid, Sedia is found in the depths of the Adytum. She is the boss of "The Corrupted" strike, where Petra instructs you to free the Techeun from the Taken corruption.

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• And I Must Scream: She and Shuro Chi mention how them being Taken was like a prison with their consciousness still intact, but unable to do a thing as the power that directs the Taken moves them around. During the mission "Broken Courier" on the second Dreaming City cycle and onwards, she also mentions that she tried to reach out to a Corsair to prevent the latter's death, only to find out some unknown paracausal force is stopping her from changing the sequence of events.
  "I foresaw this. I foresaw it with such clarity. And when I tried to warn her my voice failed me."
• Ascended Extra: She appeared in a couple Grimoire cards and very briefly at the start of The Taken King and was presumed dead afterwards, but in Forsaken she is shown to be alive, freed from Taken corruption, and becomes the secondary quest giver in the Dreaming City.
• Brainwashed and Crazy: Was Taken shortly after her presumed death when Oryx invaded the Dreaming City around the same time the Taken War took place. Noticeably, once you free her from her Taken state by defeating her in "The Corrupted", she's terrified that the force that was controlling her, Savathûn, could come back at any moment to Take her again, to the point that she begs for the nightmare to end.
• "Get Back Here!" Boss: After damaging her down to the last third of her health, Sedia will flee into the Ascendant plane, and your fireteam must pursue her all the way to an altar containing the last energy charge needed to destroy her barrier.
• My Greatest Failure: When you liberate Sedia in "The Corrupted" strike, she's reduced to a sobbing mess, tearfully claiming that Mara Sov cannot possibly trust her after Sedia, in her Taken state, divulged some of the Dreaming City's greatest secrets to the one being she shouldn't have: Savathûn, the Witch Queen.

Prison of Elders Personnel

Variks

Variks, the Loyal / Eliksni Rebel

Voiced by: Dee Bradley Baker

"All that are Fallen are not lost...yes?"

An elderly Eliksni scribe, appearing similar to a Fallen Vandal, Variks is one of the last of the House of Judgment, an ancient Eliksni House. Owing no loyalty to the House of Wolves, Variks is one of the few Eliksni who is still loyal to the Queen, serving her as Warden of the Prison of Elders.

Unfortunately, this loyalty would be tested with the Queen's absence and the Fallen's dwindling numbers throughout the years, and Variks would eventually abandon his post to go unite the Fallen in his own way, causing a chain reaction that kickstarts the plot of Forsaken. Following his disappearance into the wild, the Praxic Order marks him as an outlier with the designation of VIP #1121.

Two years after the events of Forsaken, Variks would send a distress call on Europa, alarming anyone who can respond of a rising Fallen empire led by Eramis, the self-styled Kell of Darkness; this kickstarts the Beyond Light expansion.

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• An Arm and a Leg: He lost both his arms to Skloas and had to replace them with prosthetic limbs. One of those prosthetics gets ripped off by Eramis during their confrontation at the start of Beyond Light, and Variks can later be heard on the camp radio looking for a replacement.
• Artificial Limbs: His upper arms were cut off by Skolas - at some point he acquired cybernetic prosthetics. ^note Note that Fallen Dregs can often reclaim rank as Vandals and regrow their arms after proving their worth, but they usually cut off the lower arms, rather than the upper arms.
• The Atoner: Variks is well aware that the Young Wolf and Ghost are at least not entirely happy to see him again after his unwitting part in Cayde-6’s death. He also admits that he spends everyday regretting what happened to him and swears that he will answer for these crimes, but not before the Eliksni are safe from Eramis.
• Blatant Lies: He assures you that anything about him you hear from anyone except himself, is a lie.
  Variks: I am loyal to the Queen, all else you've heard of me are lies.
• Catchphrase: A few. "Kill them dead." And "They will try to kill you. Kill them back."
• Dragon with an Agenda: He allied himself with the Queen and betrayed Skolas in order to ensure the survival (and possible resurgence) of the House of Judgement. He's constantly talking about how he wants you to tell Petra good things about him, and asking about your ship and Ghost (Given that Fallen worship technology in general and the Traveler in particular, however, this may not be sinister). He also says his relationship with the Queen is 'complicated'.
  • As of The Taken King, Variks is officially searching for the true "Kell of Kells" to unify and lead the Eliksni.
  • Forsaken lore tabs reveal that he has become bitter that even with the Traveler's awakening at the end of the Red War, there would be no answers nor salvation from it for the Fallen. This, coupled with doubts about whether or not Mara Sov's plan would succeed, as well as continued interactions with the imprisoned Scorned Barons and Prince Uldren, would eventually drive him to turn his back on the Reef and try to unify the remaining Fallen on his own terms.
• Defector from Decadence: Depends on the situation:
  • Inverted with regards to the rest of his race. The other Fallen Houses have forgotten the ways of the House of Judgement; Variks is among the last to still hold true to those ideals.
  • Played straight with his defection to the Reef, as he felt that Skolas indiscriminately killing civilians was dishonorable.
  • Played straight again in Beyond Light. He originally sided with Eramis and helped her in her plans to make Europa into a safe haven for the Fallen. That changed when he saw her using Stasis and saw how much the power changed her, going so far as to take a Splinter from her.
• Despair Event Horizon: As of "Rise of Iron" he is coming perilously close to this. Seeing Sepiks Prime corrupted by SIVA disgusts and disheartens him greatly, and at that moment he considers his people truly Fallen and leaves him desperate to find a way to help them.
  Variks: Must be a better way for Eliksni. Must be a way to stop the fall.
• Enemy Mine: While his part in Cayde-6's death was revealed, and has so earned the permanent enmity of the player Guardian, he still sends them a Distress Call in Beyond Light when Eramis declares herself the Kell of Darkness, not wanting her to self-destruct the Eliksni forever.
• Forgiven, but Not Forgotten: Zigzagged in that his role in Cayde's death is still very much a sore spot for Zavala, but he agrees with the Reef's deal to give Variks temporary immunity in order to deal with the remains of the House of Salvation on Europa.
• Hazy-Feel Turn:
  • As revealed in Where Loyalty Lies in the Destiny Book: Most Loyal, Variks was the one who orchestrated and executed the prison break that released all inmates of the Prison of Elders, The Scorn and Uldren Sov included, leading to the death of Cayde-6 and chaos for the Tangled Shore and Reef. A combination of his interactions with an imprisoned Uldren and the Scorned Barons, as well as fear that Mara Sov's plan could have failed, changed his perspective on the Reef and the purpose of his tenure as a Warden, but instead of joining up with Uldren's gang, he left the Prison of Elders on his Ether-filled ship with Fallen of different Houses, all the while declaring himself a Kell, potentially even seeking to become the Kell of Kells.
    "Secrets had protected the House of Judgment. The more knowledge one could obfuscate, the more significant one became. Secrets bred possibility. Secrets bred… sway."
  • In Joker's Wild, stolen intelligence indicates that the Praxic Order wants to detain him since he's now gone rogue and styled himself as the Kell of Kell (while still representing House Judgement). However, the Awoken monarchy (acting through the Queen's Wrath) has claimed jurisdiction over him and will consider any prosecution in their absence of involvement to be an act of war, indicating that the Reef Awoken consider the matter with Variks as their own business and no one else's.
• Hunter of His Own Kind: Technically he's getting you to hunt for him, but the fact remains that he's out for revenge against the Fallen.
• Ignored Expert: He warned Petra that the Scorned Barons, then nothing but seven lowly Dregs and a heretical Archon, would end up posing a bigger threat than expected, but she didn't take the case seriously, dismissing them as Fallen.
• Insistent Terminology: His grimoire cards make it apparent he doesn't like being called 'Fallen', and prefers their race's name of Eliksni, but agrees that Fallen is more appropriate for the other Houses.
• The Jailer: Following the events of The Taken King, Variks was essentially given full control of the Prison of Elders, monitoring its inmates and feeding them as necessary. During the course of Destiny 2 (as detailed in the Forsaken lore tabs), he even had to take care of Scorned Barons and Uldren, who, along with Fikrul, would eventually question his allegiance to the Reef.
• Large Ham: His tenure as Warden of the Prison of Elders inevitably has him bellow objectives to the Guardians, complete with pork-filled boss announcements.
  Variks: SYLOK!! THE DEFILED!!! Thirsts for your light!!
• Last of His Kind: He's the last known member of the House of Judgment, and one of two known Eliksni that still remembers the time before the Whirlwind, the other being Craask, Kell of Kings; this partly explains the old warden's respect for the influential Kell. After hearing of Craask's death at the hands of Uldren and Fikrul, Variks despairs, as he is now the only known Whirlwind survivor, and any new Kell would likely not know him, nor the laws that govern the Fallen Houses.
• Long-Lived: Variks is exceptionally old, even by Eliksni standards; in fact, he might as well be the oldest of them all, as he was witness to the Traveler abandoning his people during the Whirlwind (a pre-Golden Age event), and still lives on to this day, compelled to try and unite the Fallen no matter the cost.
• Mission Control: Both he and Petra share the spot for giving you directives towards the House of Wolves quests. He resumes this role during the campaign of Beyond Light.
• My Species Doth Protest Too Much: Variks is the only Eliksni that Guardians can interact with beyond fighting.
• Noble Demon: He's a great deal shiftier than anyone else in the Reef, and not just because he's an Eliksni. Much of his motives and true feelings are hidden behind closed doors. However, he's also the most polite and friendly with the player out of everyone in the Reef, is very firmly ready to work with the Guardians despite his resentment towards them, and risks little to lose your trust.
  • As an example, the end of the Malok questline added in April 2016 has him having no hard feelings about you killing Malok instead of capturing him, standing that as much as he wanted Malok alive, there are always others that can be captured.
• Nostalgia Filter: Variks resents how the Fallen essentially lost most of their pre-Whirlwind culture, what with Kells and Prime Servitors being killed left and right and the broken chain of command being reduced to scavenging and piracy, and would gladly do anything to bring back the Eliksni's sense of trust and honor, something Fikrul repeatedly mocks him for. By the events of Destiny 2, he'd hoped that he'd find an ally and fellow hierarchy believer in Craask, Kell of Kings, which makes the latter's murder at the hands of Uldren and Fikrul all the more upsetting for him. Even his desertion from the Reef is fueled by his resolve to unite the scattered Fallen Houses, not out of malice for the Awoken nor the Guardians.
• Only Friend: As much as he resents the Guardians for being the chosen of the Traveler, he does respect their fighting prowess. Specifically, he says it's good to work with your Guardian and with Petra. The two seem to be the only ones he can truly call friend. That relationship becomes strained due to his part in the Prison of Elders jailbreak, being an unknowing participant in Cayde-6's death. When Variks and the Young Wolf meet again years later, Variks knows that they are not happy to see him.
• Pardon My Klingon: When the leader of Silent Fang yells at the Guardian(s), Variks chooses not to translate it. The best he can tell you is that it was "an insult". According to fan translations it's "Traveler thief".
• Proud Warrior Race Guy: Implies that this is what the Eliksni were before they became Fallen. He tells the Guardian to fight with honor, thinks Skolas is dishonorable, and goes on about how his arena will keep the Guardian strong and quick.
• The Resenter: Variks wants to roar over how unfair the universe is toward the Fallen. He resents the City and the Guardians for having the favor of the Traveler. He resents the Awoken for having their visions and contact with the Jovians. He resents the Hive for having their gods like Crota. He resents the Vex for having their Axis Minds. He resents the Cabal for having reinforcements. Most of all, he resents that all those races have those advantages, and the Fallen have nothing.
• The Spymaster: Petra gives him command of Uldren's Crows after the latter's presumed death.
• Staff of Authority: Walks around with a long staff, which he apparently took from a Captain of the House of Devils named Vajis. Every time you interact with him as a vendor, a distinct thud will be heard as he plants it on the ground.
  Variks: I took this staff long ago from Devil Captain, Vajis... Called 'Clever-Headed.' He was not as clever as Variks.
• Token Heroic Orc: He (along with the Spider) are the only Eliksni who are willing to ally with the Guardian.
• Trial by Combat: The entire point behind the Prison of Elders. Variks tests both prisoners and challengers and judges them, finding who is strongest, and learning more about both in the process.
• We Used to Be Friends:
  • He's disgusted that he once dared to call Fikrul his friend, at least back when the latter was an Archon tending to Kaliks Prime. He's appalled by the atrocities Fikrul and the rest of the Scorn have inflicted on the Fallen, and really would have Fikrul dead if it wasn't for Petra ordering him to keep the Barons alive.
  • Variks' interactions with Eramis makes it clear he considered her a dear friend of his, even helping her in their plans to make Europa into a place the Eliksni could call home. Then Eramis discovered the Pyramid and gained powers from the Darkness, leading to her wanting to build an army to destroy both the Last City and the Traveler. Variks initially believes there's still some good left in Eramis, but the final mission dashes his hopes and solidifies the end of their friendship.
• You No Take Candle: English is not his primary language, so there are times when determiners are missing, and he often ends his sentences with "yes?". This is revealed to be an affectation in Destiny 2. Ambient dialogue from the Spider in Forsaken reveals that Variks's accent is just an act he put on to let the Awoken lower their guard around him, and "Where Loyalty Lies" adds that he uses a voice synth to keep up the charade and that his actual voice is much deeper. Beyond Light has him discard the facade altogether and start speaking perfectly fluently; while his real voice has a slight accent, he speaks far more quickly and with much better grammar, though he keeps the "yes?" Verbal Tic - he still keeps it up when you talk to him, though.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: With Petra. Her reckless behavior annoys him, they often snark at each other, and he's tried to send her on missions designed to get her out of the way. However he also respects her, asks the player to tell her good things about him, and after Mara Sov's apparent death, he's legitimately concerned about her emotional health and ability to lead since she's seemingly crossed the Despair Event Horizon.

Warden

The Mad Warden

Voiced by: Dee Bradley Baker (re-used Variks voice lines)

"An old friend is here. Judgement at hand."

Variks' pet Servitor, modified to monitor the Prison of Elders challenges and allow the former to send out announcements to the competing Guardians. During the events of Destiny 2, Variks left the prison amidst the mass prison break, leaving the Servitor alone and causing it go mad, convinced that it was Variks. The Mad Warden is the boss of the "Warden of Nothing" strike, with the Drifter sending you on a mission to put it down.

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• A.I. Is a Crapshoot: It began malfunctioning some time after Variks left the Prison of Elders, and eventually became utterly convinced that it was Variks, using the latter's voice lines (albeit punctuated with a short distorted audio garble, indicating that it is the Warden AI and not the real Variks) and simulating Prison of Elders scenarios by sending out inmates against each other.
• Flunky Boss: An interesting variant, as while the Warden will summon both Cabal and Vex reinforcements during the battle, those two factions can and will duke it out against each other if they don't find you first. Heck, even the Vex and Cabal bosses that are summoned on the Warden's last health threshold are more likely to stomp each other given how close in proximity they both spawn.
• Go Mad from the Isolation: Variks' disappearance really did a number on the Servitor. The Drifter surmises that it grew co-dependency issues following its master's absence.
• Playing with Fire: Unlike most Servitors who fire large bolts of Void energy, this Warden fires a massive beam of Solar energy that inflicts damage over time. When knocking a threshold of its health bar, it will also unleash a massive solar flare that's only avoided by staying out of its line of sight.
• You No Take Candle: Courtesy of being the means of communication between Variks and the Guardians during the Prison of Elders challenges, the Mad Warden shares the same odd speech pattern that ends with "yes?", though it does choose its sentences carefully.

The Spider's Crime Syndicate

The Spider

The Spider, The Shore's Only Law / Eliksni Entrepreneur / Rakis

Voiced by: Robin Atkin Downes

"I cannot wait to see how this ends."

The clever and engimatic leader of the Fallen residing in the Reef's Tangled Shore, the one they call the Spider is a master negotiator and influential crime syndicate boss. He isn't too pleased with the Scorn causing chaos in the Shore, and so teams up with the Young Wolf and Petra Venj to hunt down Uldren Sov and the eight Barons.

Black Armory reveals that he is, for some reason, linked to the titular Armory, likely due to their prejudice towards the Light.

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• Adipose Rex: He's pretty much the only real authority in the otherwise lawless Tangled Shore (heck, even his vendor epithet is "The Shore's Only Law"), and he's fairly chubby for someone whose status is similar to a House's Kell. He prefers sitting back and sending his guards to assist you in your hunt for the Barons. The 2022 Guardian Games class items also imply that on top of his weight, he either doesn't have legs or simply refuses to use them.
• Affably Evil: He's far more in the stereotypical Fallen mode than Variks, but he's also substantially more polite than the old warden, and lore tabs show him to be an extremely fair, even-handed, and generous employer to the Fallen in his syndicate, to the point where he inspires honest loyalty out of genuine devotion.
• Aliens Speaking English: He's the second allied Fallen that can speak English (after Variks from the first game), though he is much more fluent and boasts a smooth baritone voice. Justified, in that he works with the Awoken (who speak English) a lot and needed to be fluent for ease of transaction.
• Arms Dealer: And a very influential one in the Tangled Shore, with arguably more sway than even Petra.
• Benevolent Boss: Zigzagged. Yes, he is a ruthless arms dealer and will gladly kill anyone who crosses him, but he is always honest in his dealings, his subordinates are well-fed & fairly compensated for their work, and he's not above making deals if it suits him. Many of of the Fallen loyal to him are so because it's a better life than they had under their former Captains and Kells. Of course, Season Of The Hunt shows that this doesn't necessarily stop him from opting to plant a bomb on Glint's shell once he takes Crow under his wing, and despite his far more beneficient treatment of his subordinates over the traditional Bad Boss approach of Kells, he ultimately doesn't care whether they live or die as long as his ends are accomplished. Overall, its seems most of his benevolence is a matter of pragmatism rather than principle.
• Beware the Nice Ones: The lore for Warden's Wail shows that he does have the capacity to deliver harsh punishments to even Guardians without actually killing them, with a Warlock implied to have made some other Guardians disappear on the Shore essentially being forced to hand over all of his possessions as payment for his crimes. Apparently, the secret ingredient is the fact that Guardians are full of pride.
• The Bus Came Back: After spending several seasons since Hunt in the background, the Spider returns along with the Drifter in Season of Plunder.
• Collector of the Strange: In addition to his arms dealing, he seems to have a strange fascination with pre-Golden Age humanity, and has a private collection of artifacts. Examples include crowns and pieces of art such as Starry Night and the Mona Lisa.
• Cultural Rebel: The Spider is a huge oddball among the droves of Fallen space pirates clinging on to Eliksni tradition in that he's got an uncanny interest in human culture and speaks perfect English, in sharp contrast to evidently old-fashioned individuals like Variks and Mithrax. Reports from the Praxic Order imply that he's part of a younger generation of Fallen that isn't influenced by the older Elkisni cultural heritage and instead imitates and appropriates human behavior. This is further evidenced in a conversation with his henchman Arrha, who has a hard time understanding what the Spider requests of him.
  "How interesting." Spider scratches his chin. "Very good, Arrha. It's time for you to go fishing."
  "Fishhhhhh… ink?"
  Spider heaves a put-upon sigh. "Catch me one of those boats, you fool."
• The Don: Definitely gives off this vibe as the powerful, well connected and smooth talking head of all organised crime across the Tangled Shore.
• Dramatic Irony: In Forsaken, he helped the Guardian hunt down Uldren and the Scorn simply because they were interfering with his business. In Season of the Hunt, Uldren has entered his employ. The Spider lampshaded the karmic irony of it all when discussing it with the Guardian.
• Enemy of My Enemy: While he holds no love for the Reef or Guardians, he knows what kind of a threat the Scorn pose to him, so he's willing to lend his services.
• Exact Words: At the end of Season of the Hunt, the Spider tells the Young Wolf they can have anything in his lair as a reward. To Spider's immediate chagrin, the Guardian tells him he wants his enforcer, who is standing not ten feet away in said lair and has no choice but to honor his word unless he wants his reputation to suffer.
• Hidden Depths: He enjoys collecting artifacts that humans created before the rise of the Traveler and is fond of using human sayings when discussing his plans. However he doesn't like it when people pry into his hobbies and he will kill people to protect his secret. Also his methods of a guaranteed pay for guards and mercenaries is actually a form of commerce which is a human concept rather than Eliksni hierarchy which is based more on servitude and utter loyalty.
• Hold Your Hippogriffs: Apparently, "a load of Dark Ether" is a suitable Eliksni alternative for disparaging what he thinks are wishful thinkings.
• How the Mighty Have Fallen: Jokes about "Fallen" aside, Beyond Light and forward has not kind to the Spider, with him losing a lot of his associates to the Wrathborn. Revealing that he didn't care if they lived or died put a serious dent in his associates view of him, to the point that when the House of Light took up residence in the Last City, Crow started raiding the Spider's private storehouses and encouraging his associates to pledge themselves to the House of Light's banner, further weakening the Spider's position. By the time Mara Sov returns, and with his treatment of Crow being well known throughout the Reef, the Spider considers his position on the Tangled Shore to be weak enough that he seriously approaches the Drifter to see if he can smuggle the Spider out of the Reef. At the start of Season of the Plunderer, he's unceremoniously captured by House Salvation, requiring the Player Guardian to rescue him on behalf of the Drifter; he's very embarrassed to have been locked up in such a manner, to say the least. By the time he sets up shop in the Eliksni quarter of the Last City, the Spider is a shadow of his former power with very little in the way of leverage, with his presence being tolerated by Mithrax, Commander Zavala, and Crow, and is explicitly told by Mithrax that if he steps out of line, he'll be killed (which Ikora Rey and Saint-14 have expressed willingness to do themselves) or be sent to Mara Sov as a gift.
• Humanity Is Infectious: He's developed a fascination with human society and customs, and taken to using human turns of phrase, much to the confusion of some of his followers. He's even built up a secret collection of human cultural artifacts. On a more practical note, his use of generally human-style motivational techniques like fair compensation and paid healthcare time (rather than the Fallen's traditional and much more cruel methods of enforcing loyalty) have earned him an almost fanatical following.
• Insane Troll Logic: The House of Light is fleeing persecution from the House of Salvation and needs to work with the Vanguard to stop the Endless Night. The only other option is to be killed by their former compatriots or in interracial violence. So obviously, they must deserve to be manipulated by Lakshmi-2 into experiencing more Fantastic Racism, and Violence Really Is the Answer on how to get them to change their ways.
• Jerk with a Heart of Jerk: He may have a fair leadership structure on the outside while attracting Eliksni through his honest ways, but Year 4 reveals he still sees them as disposable anyways and actively looks down on people who don't conform to his Machiavelli Was Wrong mindset, even if they don't have any other options. Downplayed, in that he honestly thinks this is the best possible way for his species to avoid another Whirlwind.
• Machiavelli Was Wrong: As shown in the lore tabs, he finds ruling by the normal fear Fallen Kells and Barons do is exhausting, counterproductive, and inefficient-he'd much rather give everyone a fair wage and housing. It's for this reason that he's inspired some of the most fanatical loyalty among all the Eliksni. However, as his associate Arrha reveals, this mindset also goes the other way — he believes that people who are ruled by fear are idiots who deserve to die horrible deaths, including the House of Light.
• Mysterious Past: About the only thing we know about his past is that he's a former member of the House of Wolves and served on a pirate Ketch, even then being an Information Broker.
  • Some light gets shed on his past in Season of Plunder, as it's revealed he'd been a pirate in his past. He had been part of a crew with his brother Siviks and Mithrax, but was eventually marooned on an asteroid by Mithrax.
• Noble Demon: Despite essentially being a Fallen mob boss, he’s calm, polite, understanding (albeit with the occasional jibe), and doesn’t go out of his way to hurt people for its own sake. It’s even a major contributing factor as to why he’s so powerful, as he’s managed to recruit a ton of other Fallen into his services simply by being humane and fair in the treatment of his subordinates, unlike many of the more traditionalist Kells who terrorise their own underlings into blind obedience with near to outright gratuitous cruelty.
• Only Known by Their Nickname: Everybody only refers to him as the Spider, and nothing else... until Season of Plunder, where Misraaks calls him Rakis during an argument in the Ether Tank.
• Pet the Dog: Played with. While it's almost certain he didn't do it out of the goodness of his heart, he willingly took Uldren under his care, gave him the name Crow and made him his enforcer on the Tangled Shore.
  Spider: (to the Guardian) Now, I could have sent him off to the Tower, but... we all know what's waiting for him there.
• Punny Name: His real name, "Rakis", sounds a lot like "arachnid."
• Put on a Bus: Between Season of the Hunt and Season of Plunder, he wasn't seen outside of lore cards and tabs like the Wayfinder Ghost's, and being mentioned by other characters on occasion such as Mara Sov.
• Pragmatic Villainy: The Spider is all too willing to antagonize Guardians if it will benefit him, and he will be the first to remind others of their debts to him. Unlike his fellow Fallen however, even he's aware of the damage that Guardians can cause and will always resort to diplomacy rather than fight them. This is seen when he begins to make fun of the Young Wolf's allegiance to the Drifter, only to back off immediately when the Young Wolf begins to inspect their heavy weapon's position in front of him.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: The Lore for the Wayfinder Ghost shell shows him requesting the help of the Drifter to smuggle him out of the Reef, aware that Mara Sov is going to take the news of her brother’s mistreatment at his hands very personally.
• Sitcom Arch-Nemesis: Towards Mithrax, who he regards as a softie that will only render the Eliksni vulnerable to extinction again, and still holding a grudge over his change of heart from his brutal pirate days.
• Spell My Name with a "The": Though humans and Awoken all seem to refer to him as "Spider," apparently "Rakis" translates in Eliksni to "the Spider."
• Token Heroic Orc: Though not exactly a "hero" by most definitions, he is (along with Variks and Mithrax) the only Eliksni willing to ally with the Guardians. Lore tabs eventually reveal he's one for the House of Wolves too.
• Took a Level in Jerkass:
  • Season of the Hunt sees the Spider behaving a lot more ruthlessly, from putting a bomb in Glint to keep Crow under control to being completely indifferent to his associates being Mind Raped into mindless berserkers by Xivu Arath, more concerned that the glimmer continues to flow into his coffers. He also starts seriously considering making a move to carve out more of the Reef to expand his own holdings beyond the Tangled Shore (including getting a foothold in the Dreaming City), though losing the Crow and the loss of his forces to the Wrathborn kill that before he can even start.
  • Season of the Splicer reveals his syndicate wants to replace the House of Light to force the Vanguard into a plutocracy, believing it's their fault they're experiencing Fantastic Racism. The 2022 Guardian Games very heavily implies he has already migrated enough of his forces to enact this plan after previously sneaking in Arrha as a refugee.
  • Season of Plunder downplays this, revealing part of the reason he's being such a jerk is because of his personal dislike of Mithrax, seeing him as someone who doesn't understand that in the end, survival is all that matters. Despite this, he's willing to swallow his distaste for the sake of a share of the loot in playing Privateer.
• We Used to Be Friends: With Mithrax, back when they were hatchlings in the House of Wolves, however grumpily; today, he's a Sitcom Arch-Nemesis to him.

The Dreaming City

Spoiler Character

Riven of A Thousand Voices

^{In the Last Wish}

Voiced by: Various^*Riven speaks to you telepathically, and she takes the voice of many members of Destiny 2's supporting cast (Forsaken), Debra Cardona (Season of the Wish)

"Only Light and Dark together can open my way back into your world!"

An Ahamkara who formerly was supreme among the Awoken's many kept secrets. While she lived, she did much for the Awoken, trading ageless knowledge and wisdom in their bargains with her. During Oryx's incursion into the system during The Taken King, he strode into and conquered The Dreaming City, and Took its Techeuns and Riven herself. While Taken, Riven broke free of her limitations as an Ahamkara, and seeks to free herself from the seal placed on her in the Dreaming City. Riven is the true antagonist manipulating Prince Uldren during Forsaken's main story, and is the final boss of the Last Wish raid.

She later returns in Season of the Wish as a spirit summoned by Mara Sov to grant the Last Wish, agreeing to fulfill it only after the Coalition helps retrieve her clutch of eggs.

---

• Arc Villain: She's the true mastermind behind the events of Forsaken. While Uldren may drive the plot with his actions, it's Riven who's corrupting and manipulating him into committing various atrocities throughout Forsaken, and once Uldren is dealt with, the Guardians turn their attention to Riven, going to the Dreaming City to put end to the threat she poses.
• Bigger on the Inside: Not necessarily Riven herself, but her heart. For the final part of the raid, the players have to carry her heart so it can be cleansed, and every so many seconds the player holding the heart will be transported to this not-seen-before realm to fight off Taken while the process repeats for each player. However, some players have noticed, among others clues, that there are two giant hand shadows in the sky of this realm; the hands of whomever is holding the heart, indicating that we actually get transported into Riven's heart. This gets more disturbing when you consider that you are not randomly being teleported into the heart, but more likely the heart is eating you.
• Body Horror: When Uldren first opens her way back using a mixture of the Darkness within himself, and the Light of a shard of the Traveler, her 'Voice' is a massive, fleshy orb with a mouth for an eye and tentacles made of Light and Dark, called a 'Chimera'. Riven herself is a nasty piece of work, being infected with several Taken blights on her body.
• Breath Weapon: Riven can either slam you with one of her four tentacle-like appendages, or straight up breathe Taken flames at you. Shortly after she's done breathing fire, you have a fairly small window to shoot her mouth and stun her, progressing further into the boss fight.
• Catchphrase: In the lore tabs, she usually say this about when she makes wishes with people.
  Riven: Most of those who [Bargain] with me do not win.
• The Dragons Come Back: After the Great Ahamkara Hunt, she seems to be the only Ahamkara left in the Sol System, because she was hidden away in The Dreaming City by the Awoken.
• Eldritch Abomination: The 'Voice of Riven' boss fought at the end of the Forsaken campaign was bad enough, being a chimera made up of Scorn flesh strapped to a Servitor shell and possessing both Light and Taken affinities. Then you get to meet Riven herself in the "Last Wish" raid; a massive, wingless dragon with Taken blights all over her body and who's capable of transporting you into an Ascendant Realm on a whim. Even after you kill her, Riven's corrupted heart still causes trouble, allowing her to fullfill her wish for the Dreaming City's downfall.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Riven is deceitful and crafty, as many Ahamkara are, and is a spiteful and sadistic being even when she's uncorrupted by Taken magic- with her freely admitting, in her own words, to finding "[...] joy [in] turning desire to woe"- but found love in the honest, selfless, and compassionate Taranis, to the point of genuinely mourning her separation from him and his death shortly after she was Taken.
• Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: Well, though she’s more Blue-and-Orange Morality rather than outright “Evil”, Riven fits here.
  • It’s a bit of a Justified case in that, being an Ahamkara, a species noted as being intrinsically selfish and self-serving, it makes sense that Riven would be stymied by altruistic actions and desires. However, she does show that she’s intrigued by altruism. Her mate, Taranis, is the most prevalent example. Taranis, unlike the rest of their kind, was a Benevolent Genie who fulfilled wishes as they were asked of him, no strings attached. Later, after his mate Riven is Taken, he sacrifices himself to scatter their eggs across the Ley Lines. While Riven didn’t understand his kindness, she admits that it was what attracted her to him and helped fuel her love for him.
  • Similarly, Riven is confused by the Sov siblings’ Character Development. Mara, once a stoic and cunning Chessmaster who kept to herself, was now becoming open with her emotions and placing her trust in others. Crow, formerly Uldren, a man who always pushed as far as he could for his sister’s approval, was now willing to sacrifice himself for his new friends. Riven, for all her life, had been at peace with her nature as an Ahamkara, which provided for her needs and kept her alive, so it makes sense that she’d be confused by the Sov siblings growing beyond their original selves for “the greater good”. Riven admits that their newfound altruism is a trait she wouldn’t subscribe to, believing that it makes one vulnerable. That said, she gives a few words on how altruism can be an advantage for “Good” over “Evil”. Namely that, someone who puts others over self-preservation can’t be predicted, and if they can’t be predicted, how can they be countered?
• Extra Eyes: She's got several eyes when she reveals her true face, and you must shoot some of them to prevent her from wiping the fireteam. Shoot the ones that shine brighter than the rest, and she'll reel in pain, retreating into the shadows.
• Horrifying the Horror: In one lore tab when Savathun made a wish to Riven, she was able to peer into her mind and what she saw from her goal stunned her so much that when the Witch-Queen laughed, unlike with Oryx who she laughed with, Riven sat in silence.
• Insistent Terminology: From the lore tabs, she usually tends to describe laughter as "Unrestrained Bursts of air from his/her face."
• In Love with Your Carnage: Like Calus, Riven is in awe of your prowess despite being nary a blip in the grand scheme of things, fighting gods and monsters while being so tiny as she puts it. Despite being aware that you've come to kill her, her banter indicates that she's amused by your intent and would like to see it through. She even claims that determinators like the Guardians and Uldren pair best with her kind, and offers to become friends.
• The Man Behind the Man: The true Big Bad of Forsaken. While Uldren is the Arc Villain of the expansion's main storyline, it turns out that he was being manipulated by Riven, who was using the guise of Mara Sov to trick him. She also displays a degree of control over the Taken, but it isn't clear if she's working alone or, possibly, working under Oryx's sister, Savathûn.
• Master of Illusion: She uses the guise of Mara Sov, the Awoken Queen and Uldren's sister, to manipulate the latter into freeing her from the heart of the Dreaming City where she's locked away.
• Meaningful Name: Major ranking Taken you fight often have names according to who their master is, such as 'Blade of Oryx' or 'Envoy of Savathûn'. The Taken you fight in the final mission of Forsaken come bearing the title 'Taken By The Voices,' which is a nod at Riven's title, 'Riven of A Thousand Voices' and implies she Took these minions herself, rather than them being former minions of Oryx.
• Nested Mouths: Most of the time, Riven will confront you while her mouth and eyes are shielded by an external maw resembling a Venus flytrap. Only when she does get serious that she opens up the maw and reveals a mouth filled with multiple rows of teeth and ten Glowing Eyes of Doom.
• Not Quite Dead: Even after being slain in the raid by a fireteam of Guardians sent by Petra, the latter stipulates that Ahamkara transcend death, transforming wishes into reality even if they're nothing but bone and dust. Worse even, getting killed and having her heart ripped out triggers Riven's last wish; a curse to make the Dreaming City fall to the Taken.
• Opposites Attract: Riven is by all accounts a paragon of the Ahamkara, a cunning, deceitful, manipulative trickster who must be bargained with an excess of caution to avoid disaster. Her mate Taranis, in contrast, was a White Sheep, perfectly content to grant wishes at face value despite the minimal benefits to himself.
• Puzzle Boss: One that puts every single other Destiny raid boss before her to shame! The only real way to best her is to divide your fireteam into two groups, as the encounter would otherwise fail since one side would have no callouts. Stunning Riven by shooting her mouth, appendages and eyes is essential to surviving up until the part where you directly attack her, and you also have to solve a symbol cleansing puzzle that takes cues from the encounter before her boss fight. Shooting the correct eyes is essential in avoiding a Total Party Wipe, and there is very little room for error. Her final stand mode is also more elaborate than the other bosses, as you essentially have to climb your way up to her through an Ascendant Plane to pummel her one last time.
• Sealed Evil in a Can: She's holed up in the Dreaming City, where she can't escape from, and tried manipulating Uldren into opening the City's door. In her own words, even paradise can be a prison when you can't leave.
• Thanatos Gambit: By fighting her, Riven will recognize your reason for fighting and convert it into a wish that will also allow Savathûn's daughter, Dûl Incarnu, to begin her search for the secrets of the Awoken. But don't worry, because that's all there is to the new invasion... maybe.
• Voice Changeling: Throughout the "Last Wish" raid, she tries to probe your intentions and tempt you via telepathy, and her voice, while distorted, swaps between recognizable characters like Zavala, Ikora, Toland, Asher Mir, and so on. Interestingly, the voices heard are always different for each fireteam member.
• Voluntary Shapeshifting: She's described as frequently shapeshifting on a day-to-day basis, based on how she was feeling, when she was in the service of the Queen.
• Walking Spoiler: Riven is the true antagonist of Forsaken, contrary to what promotional material may suggest. Uldren, who was set up to be the expansion's Big Bad by killing Cayde and unleashing the Scorn, is nothing but an Unwitting Pawn set up to try and free her, after which she takes the reins in the War for the Dreaming City. Because of this, the mere mention of her name spoils a big twist in Forsaken's storyline as well as the latter half of its plot.
• Wham Line: Up until Forsaken's climax, it isn't clear what force is manipulating Uldren using Mara Sov's likeness. When she uses the phrase "o brother mine", the same wording an Ahamkara would use in their flavor text, it becomes clear that Uldren is being used by a much more sinister power than previously let on.
• Worthy Opponent: In her last words, Riven admits to Mara that she always saw her as this, for her wishes, her cunning, and her push to fulfill her desires. She even says that Mara could be a good guide for her soon-to-be-born children, and gives her a sincere farewell.
• Yin-Yang Bomb: Like the Awoken, she uses powers of both Light and Darkness.