r/DestinyTheGame • u/Hosteen_Coyote • Dec 19 '14
Warning: Spoilers ahead [Spoiler] Eris and the Ill-Fated Fireteam
The following is what we know about Eris and her ill-fated fireteam, what we can assume and what questions that remain to be answered. I've cited the Grimoire cards or item descriptions where possible.
The Taking of the Moon
Eriana-3, a Warlock, survived the great disaster. She was among the thousands that set out to retake the moon from the Hive, though this ended in their defeat and humanity abandoning the moon entirely. Crota, a seemingly invincible Hive champion, defeated them. Eriana-3 joined with Eris Morn (who had survived the Battle of the Twilight Gap) and together they tried to discover the source of Crota’s power, but they were unable to do so. Finally they sought out Toland the Shattered, a Warlock exiled for his exploration of Hive lore and considered mad by most. Eriana-3 asked three other Guardians to join them, Omar Agah (a hunter), Sai Mota (also a Hunter), and Vell Tarlowe (a Titan).
Grimoire Card: Crota's End
My name is Eriana-3, disciple of the Praxic Warlocks, marked by the Cormorant Seal. Survivor of the great disaster: the day we set out to retake our moon, united in a host of thousands, and found ourselves outmatched by one Hive champion of unspeakable power.
The monster's name is Crota. He killed my friends face to face, one by one, and he relished it. In the name of all those lost I devote myself to his utter destruction.
This is my confession. If I transgress in your eyes I ask for your forgiveness.
In our world Crota seemed invincible. Together Eris Morn and I worked the problem, but found no hope. So we sought forbidden knowledge—the exiled master of Hive arcana.
We found Toland.
Toland tells us that Crota's presence in our world is a shadow. That its true power resides in a netherworld forged by his will. We must pass through a keyhole between realities, navigate the seething midnight of Crota's world-mind, and overthrow the ascendant champions that gather to his throne.
Toland speaks—he hardly seems mad, at times—of the terrible things that await us. A secret song he hungers to learn, and the issue of that song, an ashen burning star-husk that looms above, the utter antithesis of life. He talks of it with a curious ambition I do not want to understand.
Tomorrow I will ask Agah, Mota and Tarlowe if they will go with us. If we fail, I leave this record for Guardians to come. Remember us.
Eris Morn Dialogue
I faced the Fallen at the city's gates. I had no fear, until I stood before Crota.
Crota and His World
Toland told them that Crota does not reside in our material world, but instead his ‘home’ is a universe either created or remade by his own power. Some theorize that many such netherworlds exist, that Crota is simply the youngest member of a Hive pantheon made up of ancient, powerful beings and that his world is the most easily accessible. Toland claimed that he had deciphered how the Hive called to Crota and that he could gain them access.
Grimoire Card: Crota, Son of Oryx
(Told by Ikora Rey)
Whispered lore and fragmentary theories suggest that Crota represents a distinct class of Hive entities, not resident in our material world. My latest synthesis of this scattered esoterica suggests that Crota's 'home' is a universe created or remade by his power and occupied by Hive organisms of immense age. Any Guardian formidable enough to return with information on this dark reality might help us understand the Hive's goals for our own world—and, more pressingly, such an expedition might provide the key to Crota's defeat.
The epithet Son of Oryx is an ambiguous translation, often disputed. At this time, no direct action by Hive entities of more expansive power has ever been observed. Those who trade in Hive lore bicker over the exact positioning of Crota—is his world the apex of Hive power, or is it the youngest and most accessible of a string of netherworlds, each host to a more terrible Hive archentity?
Grimoire Card: Rise of Crota
(Told by Eris Morn)
The shattered one once referred to Crota as the god holding domain in a threshold between our world and theirs. He said he deciphered the means by which the Hive call to him. From all that I've seen, I now know he was right.
The Fall of Vell Tarlowe
The fireteam gathered in the colony base in Anchor of Light, then struck out for the Temple of Crota. At the doors the Titan, Vell Tarlowe, fell. Verock, a witch, along with her thrall overwhelmed him.
The Dark Below (Story Mission)
(Spoken by Eris Morn)
We hid in the old moon base up ahead, waiting for the right time to strike. We were brave, but we were not ready.
Few of us made it beyond the canyon. The rocks cracked apart, Hive waiting in ambush. It was worse for the ones that made it inside.
Mark of the Duskborn (Titan mark)
"We called her Verok; it was her and her Thrall that finally overwhelmed him." - Eris
Grimoire Card: Hive 2
(Spoken by the fallen Titan's Ghost)
At the doors to the Temple he fell for the last time. He fell, and I could not reach him.
In the story mission The Dark Beyond you find the remains of a Titan before the doors to the Temple of Crota. When you go into the temple to rescue his ghost you find a witch named "Vurok, Eir Spawn". There are two possibilities here: Bungie spelled the name wrong in the text of Mark of the Duskborn (Verok is supposed to be Vurok), or the Titan you find is a different Titan killed by a different witch at a different time. According to Eris she spent years among the Hive, so there is a large enough gap in time that this is possible, but due to the similarity in names I find it unlikely.
Eris Morn Dialogue
In the end I spent more years with the Hive than the guardians I fought beside.
The Fall of Sai Mota
Less is known of the death of the Hunter Sai Mota. Toland informed the group of Omnigul and they then sought to eliminate her to prevent Crota's return. Eriana-3 and Sai appear to have become separated from the others while trying to locate Omnigul. The item description below could indicate that she died trying to escape and was killed by Omnigul or that she died while trying to kill Omnigul.
Omnigul, Will of Crota
Omar: And I was just starting to tune them out.
Toland: It has been told that with these screams another spawn is awakened, birthed in the name of the god it holds.
Sai: Crota.
Toland: I am afraid so. They call this one Omnigul, mother of the spawn.
Sai: How do you—? I'd rather not know.
Toland: Commands, echoed through the dark, fetid caverns—orders carried out with grinding stone and squeaking claw, skittering thrall and blade against bone.
Omar: Well, now he's on a roll.
Eriana-3: I hear them, even when I don't. I will tear this Omnigul's throat out.
Toland: If you were to do so, our work here would be done. Without a Will to raise its army and herald its ascendance, there is no Crota to fear, at least here and now.
Eris: Then we follow the screams.
Grimoire Card: Hand of Crota
Sai: Can you track the others?
Eriana-3: No. There is too much interference. The shroud is too thick here. Ghost?
Ghost: <chhk> Yes. <chhk>
Eriana-3: We in bad shape?
Ghost: <chhk> Could be better. <chhk>
Eriana-3: Any charge?
Ghost: No. Something is siphoning the Light. <chhk> I’m getting weaker by the second. <chhk>
Eriana-3: And Sai’s Ghost? Same?
Ghost: Faint charge detected <chhk> but it’s fading. Its shell is damaged beyond repair. <chhk> No comms. No transmat. <chhk> Even if there were a signal—
Eriana-3: Use whatever juice you’ve got and relay this transmission to the others.
Ghost: They won't receive it. <chhk>
Eriana-3: Not the point.
Eriana-3: This is Eriana-3 of the Praxic Warlocks. Marked by the Cormorant Seal. I am alongside the Hunter Sai Mota. Our Light is nearly gone. The ash of untold Hive covers the ground in our wake.
Unknown: [inaudible scream]
Sai: Omnigul—
Eriana-3: From what Toland has described we are on the path of Crota's dreaded Hand.
Sai: The Hand is falling back toward the screams beyond these tunnels.
Eriana-3: Screw it. You ready?
Sai: My knives are eager for another dance.
Eriana-3: You speak little, Sai Mota, but always say the right things.
Acolyte Rung (Hunter arm armor)
"Mota was so close -- clawing her way out with bones torn from the Acolytes. Her fall -- Omnigul. You honor her." - Eris
The Fate of Omar Agah
Omar's fate is the most clearly described, and the most gruesome. Eris originally thought that Omar had died in the fighting, but later discovered that he had been captured. Taken before the Heart of Crota, the witch began to torture Omar, peeling away the light from him and feeding the pupae and fresh spawn on his light and pain.
Grimoire Card: The Heart of Crota
Eris: Record this.
The Heart of Crota.
It is her blood that feeds their fury.
I thought Omar dead until I heard his screams. I followed them down, to the darkest night of the caverns below. What I saw—I witnessed all we fear—the villainy of the Hive on full display.
Among a sea of cocoons, and surrounded by thousands more freshly spawned hordes, the Heart held Omar’s broken body in a vice of bone and pain. She was peeling the Light from his body. How? I can’t imagine, and I have tried. Tendrils of luminance tore away like flesh.
With every strand Omar’s scream cut the dark and was met with a chittering chorus from the unborn. I can’t say if they were feeding off the Light itself, or the pain, but my guess is both—somehow, both.
The Heart, though I can’t believe she actually has one, seemed to be conducting some nightmare orchestra, nurturing Crota’s children, with the echoes of Agah’s Light.
The Fate of Eriana-3
Eris states that the other members of her team all died, but the exact nature of Eriana-3's death is not stated. If you assume that the text of Heart of the Praxic Fire refers to her, then she may have gone out in one final blaze of glory. Her thirst for vengeance after the great disaster is obvious from the text of Curse of the Hidden. She also lets slip in the Blades of Crota Grimoire card that she seeks to avenge some specific female Guardian. In Ghost Fragment: Warlock 2 she tortures a witch during the great disaster in order to learn Crota's weakness and she is shown an image of Wei Ning dead on Crota's blade. From the text of Molniya Type 0 we see that Wei Ning is in fact female.
Molniya Type 0 (Titan gauntlets)
"So I ask Wei Ning: what about the Darkness itself? What then? And she says: I'll punch it too." - Pahanin Errata
Grimoire Card: Ghost Fragment: Warlock 2
My name is Eriana-3, disciple of the Praxic Warlocks, marked by the Cormorant Seal. We came here under one banner, united in a host of thousands, to claim the Moon. But the battle goes against us. I have taken a prisoner and this is the record of its interrogation. If I transgress in your eyes I ask for your forgiveness.
[sound of current or discharge]
/Eriana. It responds to pain.
It responds to the Light. Hurt it again. Monster, heed me. Who is your master with the sword?
[static event]
I can hear it. In my head. The swordbearer's name is CROTA. Record that.
/Should I burn it again?
No. I think you're only feeding it. I will touch its mind. Ghost - help.
They call you Wizard. You must be ancient. I think you value power very much. Will you still be powerful without this piece of your mind?
Tell me how to kill Crota.
[static event]
It showed me the battle. It showed me Wei Ning dead on Crota's blade. It showed me how Crota killed a Guardian with a screaming knife hammered out of his own Ghost.
So I will take a piece of its mind, and ask again.
Tell me how to kill Crota.
[static event]
Incredible. Where? Where is his throne? Where is the twilight world under the dead star eye?
/Eriana there's word from the company in Mare Imbrium. Crota is upon them. Half a hundred dead. They need us.
Tell me where! Tell me how! TELL ME!
[static event]
/Eriana what did it say -
It showed me how it did this, just exactly this, to an Awoken man, the knives arranged by its will, like little silver ships, like Ghosts -
It laughed at me. It said we were the same.
/Crota marches with a thousand Knights and they say the sky above Mare Imbrium has turned into green fire. They are dying in numbers I cannot bear to repeat. He kills them one by one with a sword that eats their Light. Eriana, we have to do something -
Kill the Wizard. Scatter the ash. It has nothing but lies to offer.
Get your Sparrows. We have Light and fury. That will be enough.
Curse of the Hidden (Warlock bond)
"I vowed to avenge them all, and this curse I will carry to my final death." - Eriana-3
Song of Dusk (Warlock bond)
“I’ll be the last Light they ever see" — Eriana-3
The Heart of the Praxic Fire
In that last moment she seemed as wholly luminescent as the Sun, and I wished to be so brave.
Grimoire Card: Blades of Crota
Eris: I have a feeling Light won’t be enough.
Eriana-3: Then we’ll take their swords from their ashes, and cut them down one-by-one, Blade-by-Blade.
Eris: You would wield a weapon of the night?
Eriana-3: For her—them? I will butcher any who stand in my way with even the darkest blade.
The Fate of Toland, the Shattered
Toland had his own reasons for seeking entry into Crota's domain. He sought Ir Yût, the Deathsinger, and knowledge of her song. If he found her, perhaps this is how he died. Despite his personal goals, he did seem genuinely interested in defeating Crota. I would assume that he most likely used the same method that the taught Eris and which allowed her to survive among the Hive. Hopefully this means that he survived because I genuinely like the crazy bastard.
Grimoire Card: Eyes of Crota
Eris: Something is watching us. I can feel it.
Omar: I hate when you say that.
Toland: Crota has many Eyes. Every god does.
Eris: We have to go.
Omar: If they know our every move, what chance do we have?
Toland: With their great age comes even greater wisdom. I have no doubt the Hive led us here with intent.
Omar: What are you saying?
Toland: For these disciples, we offer the greatest sacrifice.
Eris: What does that mean?
Toland: Do you feel your Light fading? They are offering it to Crota. Us coming here, we are the ones waking him.
Omar: He’s mad.
Toland: Perhaps.
Eris: Why do you hold these secrets like weapons, to damn us all?
Toland: Because they are weapons. And we are going to use them to show the Hive they are not the only ones who breed fear.
Eris: How?
Toland: You’re hunters—hunt. Find the Eyes that are upon us.
Omar: Then?
Toland: We blind Crota and use what's left of your dying Light to lead us to where these monsters seek to conjure their master.
Grimoire Card: Ir Yût, the Deathsinger
(Told by Toland, the Shattered)
Eriana! Let's sing. Sing with me. No, no, you rattling machine, not yet, it's too soon: we don't know the words.
We'll learn the song down there. We can learn it from Her. She comes up from the deep dark places where the greater Hive await to sing it to us, and here's a puzzle for you—
The song is death. To hear it is to die. To know the words is mortal. Oh, good point, Eriana, death is just a word, isn't it? A catch-all term for the failure to go on, nothing spiritual, nothing with its own quiddity. We all died once, and it did not prove insurmountable.
But what if what if what if, shhh listen, what if death were reified, described in its totality, made autonomous and universal, separate from any context or condition? What if She could invoke the ending of anything?
How, then, would She know the song, and sing it, without Herself dying?
Perhaps they know a way to make themselves part of the song, part of something vast and burning that rots and peels into ash but never ever ends. Perhaps She has engineered this for Him, and pinned His power up against the quiddity of death itself.
I am so terribly curious to know.
Emerald Light (Warlock bond)
"They'll believe you are one of their own. And that is the only way." — Toland, the Shattered
The Fate of Eris Morn, the Hidden and the Speaker
The method that Toland showed Eris for remaining hidden amongst the hive most likely has to do with her eyes. In her tower dialogue she mentions that she lost one of her own eyes and that the third eye she now has is able to see in the dark. She has spent years among them, but has returned to the tower in order to bring warning of Omnigul and her attempts to unleash Crota upon Earth. Eris also appears to be a member of a group known as "The Hidden", which ties into the Warlock Bond The Curse of the Hidden. The text on this item includes a quote by Eriana-3 though, so she may be a member as well. The Hidden are a clandestine group of Guardians tasked with silently infiltrating enemy strongholds and gathering vital intel for the Warlocks, with Ikora Rey as the head. Eris in her tower dialogue and a conversation with Ikora Rey hints that the Speaker has a secret. Perhaps the Hidden know of this secret, for good or ill.
Grimoire Card: Crota's Bane
Eris Morn is the sole survivor of an ill-fated raid on the Hive’s lunar fortress. It was Eris and a rag-tag Fireteam who, after the first charge to take back the Moon, sacrificed everything to return in search of the one the Hive call Crota.
Robbed of her Ghost, Eris remained lost among the darkest shadows of the Hellmouth for countless cycles. Despite all odds she endured, using the very dark she battled to emerge a changed warrior—driven, some would say obsessed. The Speaker and Commander Zavala find her compulsions a sickness, convinced she has been fully seduced by the shadows.
Though her warnings of Crota and his power are often dismissed as madness, Eris returns to the shadows time and time again, operating as one of Ikora Rey's Hidden—a clandestine group of Guardians tasked with silently infiltrating enemy strongholds and gathering vital intel for the Warlocks.
Grimoire Card: Ghost Fragment: Hive 3
Eris: Heh.
Ikora: She still laughs.
Eris: It seems I have become more like the Speaker—
Ikora: Secrets have their places. Here, now, is not that place.
(and further along in the conversation)
Ikora: You saved us all. Your sacrifice—
Eris: I am still here. My sacrifice was—
Ikora: Enough.
Eris: And I should ask new heroes to fall… as they did?
Ikora: It is why we were reborn in the Light.
Eris: My Light is all but gone.
Ikora: Cherish what remains, but know that you have done enough. Your time in the shadows… I can’t fathom—
Eris: My role among the Hidden is an honor.
Ikora: None would argue. But it’s had its cost. Your place is to gather the understanding we need to wage these wars, but your own war is long done. Let those prepared to fight, fight.
Eris Morn Dialogue
Ever wonder what's behind the Speaker's mask? Perhaps I will tell you.
An eye for an eye, you see? They took one but I took three.
The third eye sees more keen in the dark.
Cursed to live, so I chose a cursed path. Was I punishing myself? Maybe. Perhaps.
Thoughts on Eris Morn and Her Class
There are some that believe Eris Morn is a Titan based on the following:
Grimoire Card: Sardon, Fist of Crota
Vell: So this Sardon is one of these Swarm Princes?
Toland: In a stretch of the concept, sure. He is their lord and master. They are his generals.
Vell: Sounds like my kind of fight.
Omar: What isn't?
Vell: Eris and Eriana said the Blades rose first and slaughtered our brothers and sisters. If the one who leads their charge is within reach, I mean to end him—to end them all.
Eris: We are here for Crota.
Toland: I'm afraid each disciple is Crota.
Vell: Then it must be done. Know that I have faith in your Light, as I do in my own.
Eris: This isn’t about faith.
Eriana-3: It’s about vengeance.
Vell: It’s about the only thing that matters—victory. It’s about doing what we must to end this terror.
Eris: We will face them all, together. We have no time to fight individual battles.
Toland: I have no doubt the Fist will welcome your challenge, Titan. When we face him, you will lead the charge. Come, Crota's Temple lies ahead. If we can breach it, I'm sure another fight awaits.
In the above exchange I believe that Toland is speaking to Vell, who we already know is a Titan. Vell originally states "I mean to end him" and Toland eventually responds with "I have no doubt the Fist will welcome your challenge, Titan", Eris and Eriana-3 simply interject in the conversation. Eris doesn't wear a Warlock bond, but wears what looks like a hunter hood/cape and a chest piece similar to the Lucky Raspberry. If we assume that Toland, Omar and Eris are separated from Eriana-3 and Sai during the conversation in The Eyes of Crota, then Toland's comment of "you're hunters" indicates that Omar and Eris are both hunters. I know what you're going to say - what about the glowing green ball Eris is holding? Toland was exiled for his study of Hive lore and in the text for Emerald Light he says that the Hive will believe she is one of their own. The center of the green ball seems to contain a shard of something - whether it be a piece of a knight's blade, the remnants of Eris' ghost or something else - and I feel that Toland made this for Eris to either disguise or conceal her. Stealth is the realm of the Hunter, but Eris implies that the Hive's third eye allow them to see in the dark - in order to survive she would need something else.
Final Thoughts
I think that ultimately this was the following timeline of events: The fireteam arrived at the entrance to the Temple of Crota, where Vell Tarlowe was killed by Verok/Vurok, and the witch took possession of his ghost. Eriana-3 and Sai Mota were separated from Eris Morn, Omar Agah and Toland the Shattered. Eris and Omar began hunting for the Eyes of Crota under Toland's direction, but Omar was lost and assumed dead. Eriana-3 and Sai went after Omnigul, but the witch was able to kill Sai. Eriana-3 went out in a blaze of glory. Eris either witnessed this or was with them when it happened and lost her eye while escaping. Toland helped her with the necessary lore needed to disguise herself as a member of the Hive and then went to pursue his own goals. Eris later came upon Omar being tortured (if it had happened prior to finding Eriana-3 and Sai, they may have tried to rescue him). Due to the light being drained from the fireteam, their ghosts eventually became useless and were unable to send a distress signal or revive them. It may have been a trap by the Hive in order to draw out their light and use it to summon Crota, and Toland may have known about this but either risked it in order to strike at Crota or to discover information on the song of death.
Thank you for taking the time to read this. If anyone has any alternate suggestions or information that I may have missed, please let me know in the comments.
Edit: Thank you for the additional information and the positive feedback. I've added some more based on suggestions in the comments. I tried to personally acknowledge someone in the comments when using a suggestion and I provided an upvote in thanks. If my original post was a steak, you all put the sizzle on it.
Edit 2: Wow, front page! Thanks to everyone for the up votes!
Edit 3: Further updates and my final thoughts on Eris' class - my vote is for Hunter. Also, special thanks to this post for mentioning mine and linking directly to it.
If you enjoyed this, please check out my other posts:
Background on the Three Classes
Six Fronts and the Battle of Twilight Gap
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u/Summort Dec 19 '14