Commander Zavala & the Traveler’s Chosen

So, I won’t put any spoilers here since this quest line is still very new to the game and there are still, undoubtedly, many people who are working on it. But, since the lore is very accessible on the Ishtar collective – I’ll kind of talk about it but won’t at the same time, if that makes sense.

First, let me start off by saying that you can get ahold of this lore by either visiting the Ishtar Collective here, or by checking out Byf over on YouTube who goes into a lot of this in-depth. But – cliff’s notes for what I’m going to be talking about here?

With the darkness returning, all of the dark little tid bits all over the place are gearing up – including the Ahmakara bones – like the one that Shaxx keeps netted up over his freaking head. And apparently, according to some lore entries, something… somewhere… is watching the tower through it. We don’t know who or what but it’s got it’s creepy dark little slimy eye dead set on…. well, you can probably guess based upon the title of this post. This may or may not be a spoiler but since this information doesn’t directly pertain to the quest, I’m going to call it easily accessible lore and there for out of the realm of spoilers.

But… we’ve been seeing Zavala kind of… withdraw, ever since Cayde was killed. A lot of fans wanted to think that Zavala didn’t care about Cayde and was basically unaffected by his death simply because he didn’t want revenge against Uldren. Oh, he wanted it. He just simply couldn’t act on it and here’s why.

“We are not an army, we are not conqueres.” That line is actually very important. Think about that for a moment. Guardians are immortal, barring what happened with Ghaul and the red war, and even then – Guardians are hard as hell to kill. Imagine if they all got together and decided they were a legit army? They couldn’t be stopped. Now, people – humans – don’t like strange and different other people. You think the mortal humans of the city look on the guardians kindly and perfectly all the time? No. There are a few neighborhoods in that entire big ass city where Guardians can live alongside normal people. That’s it. Everywhere else? No Guardians allowed. Because people are scared of them, or they straight up have a huge distaste for them (-cough-Hawthorne-cough-). Either way, imagine if Guardians started looking less like a group of beings that kind of did stuff kind of over… there… in small groups… and started looking more like a big ass group with a single mission? Yeah. Because the Red Legion came for the city, right? Nope, they came for the Traveler and the light, and yes, the Guardians. So – Guardians absolutely cannot appear to be an army of any kind. And banding together, even to avenge a fallen friend? That’s a hard no. And Zavala knows this. He knows that if they decide to go off half cocked, which he knows damn near all hunters will at the drop of a hat if given word one to do so – and if they do end up starting some crazy ass war with the Reef and the Awoken? Who, then, is going to suffer their revenge scheme? The people in the city. Not the guardians – they’ll just get rezzed and be fine. But the people? Not so much. So, Zavala doesn’t have the luxury of thinking in terms of right now. So, he literally can’t condone it.

But since that moment… he’s been… noticeably different. He’s been… sadder. Losing his light changed him and then losing Cayde? It was like a reminder that things were never going to be the way they were before. His relationship with Ikora is fractured, the Vanguard is crumbling before his very eyes and it appears he just doesn’t have the will to want to save it at all. Basically speaking, we’ve got a commander that looks like he’s dealing with some serious depression. A crisis of faith. PTSD from losing his light. A strong warrior like him suddenly rendered powerless? That’s a hard thing to deal with for him and yet, he can’t deal with any of it because he’s the Commander. He has to appear strong, still a leader, still right there in the forefront.

And if you go read about that slimy spy in that skull – with its eye on Zavala – you can read about how it sees that gaping hole in him, where his faith used to be. His faith in the Traveler. Because he doesn’t believe the Traveler will save them anymore. Why? Because she didn’t. It’s a classic crisis of faith only he’s not angry about it – I don’t think he has the strength to be angry anymore. I think he’s dead ass tired of it. Something, I’m sure, all guardians go through at some point. And that hole inside of him isn’t going to be left empty for long if that spy has anything to say about it. It’s going to get filled up with darkness. Don’t forget – Zavala’s awoken and that actually matters here. Awoken have the capacity to have both great light and great darkness inside of them and they have to operate on a knife’s edge – not having too much of one or the other. That’s why they’re so damned creepy most of the time and that’s why Uldren was so easy to corrupt. It only takes a nudge. Most of the time, they can balance just fine – because they’re surprisingly strong of mind but when they’re hurt, when they’re struggling (for Uldren, loosing his sister fucked him all up – for Zavala… losing his light, losing Cayde… losing the life he once had…) when they’re like that? It’s so very easy for them to fall to the darkness that’s already inside of them and then? To have more darkness be poured in? Fuck that. It’s usually over. Uldren was oddly lucky, being spit out the way he was. But Zavala’s going to be consumed from within if he’s not careful… but with his depression – will he even notice that he’s being eaten alive? Will he even care?

I’ve got a really bad feeling that he’s going to be the next character we lose and it worries me.

Anastasia Bray and Rasputin

Y’all.... I cannot stop thinking about the whole possibility of Rasputin being turned into an Exo. I mean... come on. What if... oh man, there are so many what if’s. So, spoiler warning up front because this is going to get into some apparently data-mined information or supposedly “leaked” info or whatever. But first…

Let’s talk about the EXO program created by Bray Tech. I find the Exo’s to be extremely interesting. The entire concept has been done quite a few times over in various genres and games/stories/worlds. We saw something similar in Dragon Age Origins with the Golems. Unwilling or willing souls being put into stone bodies so they could basically be impervious to harm and essentially be super soldiers. The whole “robo cop” thing and “master chief”, hell even Fallout 4 did something with the robo-brains. It’s been done, a lot. But, I think, Destiny has done it the most… comprehensively. There’s a huge backstory to go along with them and a lot of complexities. Not to get too technical because I’m not going to go all lore-in-depth on this but… the EXO program was so incredibly controversial for the EXO’s that they won’t even talk about it. From what I understand, they are the ones that shut that shit down and they damn sure won’t talk about it. None of them will. Now, not all of them even remember it but those that do – won’t say shit. Because the EXO program was jacked up. For starters, as it always is, not everyone was a willing participant. And, as usual, a lot of people died during the program. I mean, it was an experiment. There were bound to be casualties as they figured out how to make it work. But some of the casualties were… unnecessary. Bray Tech suffered severely from the “science brain” thing. Some of the early Exo’s went insane because they were people… trapped in robot bodies. Something any regular, random, laymen would be like “well… duh, of course they went crazy” about. But, something that flew right over the scientists heads. Basically, what ended up having to happen was they had to give Exo’s the physical ability to eat, drink, sleep, and… do… other things. Yeah, that. –droll stare-. So, for all the fan fic writers out there, there you go. They have the equipment. Because people want, people crave, covet, desire and to not be able to fulfill those things? To not be able to sate those desires? They go fucking crazy. And crazy people do crazy shit and when you put crazy people in basically indestructible metal insanely strong bodies, bad things can happen. So, a lot of people died before they figured this basic shit out. Then once they figured that out, if the Exo’s didn’t do what they were told, basically, they just reset them. Scrambled things up just enough so that they were compliant again. And basically kept them as slaves. Now, everyone knows how that works out in the end. So, from what I understand, the Exo’s shut down the Exo program so that there couldn’t be any more Exo’s made because it fucking sucks. Yeah, it sounds great, be strong – be basically immortal – live forever – never get hurt! Yeah! But it sucks. As most guardians can probably attest to after a few centuries of watching people and places just kind of… fade away. I’m still not entirely clear on how Exo’s become guardians, especially if they haven’t actually died yet… or if it’s like… they’re just… shut down or in stasis or like in “sleep mode” or something. I don’t know. Anyway! That’s the Exo part and that’s only a fraction of what Bray Tech did. (They also built Rasputin, who fucked humanity over in a big way but in that way of logic. Sacrifice 1 to save 100 kind of way only he did it on a much bigger scale. Again, robo-brain, i-robot, it’s apparently what AI’s are just going to do…) So yeah… moving on.

Okay, unpopular opinion here... but... I cannot stand Ana Bray. Well, kind of, okay, let me explain. First, let me say that as a character, Ana is adorable. But she’s not without her flaws, which is what makes her a good character. She’s incredibly well written and that’s what makes her great. She’s got a rich history and backstory, she comes from an incredibly interesting family and franchise or whatever you want to call it but… yeah… the Anastasia Bray... thinks that her family? Was like... the greatest ever. That they... didn’t do anything wrong. When... erhm... they did a lot wrong. But! She thinks... or appears to think... that they... didn’t? Or rather, that the ends justified the means. So, like, even though the entire Exo program was horrible. Completely and 100% unconscionable... she supports it. Because it gave the world such great and wonderful golden age technology and advancements. And that, that right there - that thinking? That’s what makes her a Bray. Now, I know the arguments. People can go back and forth all day long about whether or not technological advancements should happen and personally? I think that they should but that scientists should still maintain their moral compasses and take those moments to really think about what they’re doing. Like... maybe don’t force people into robot bodies and then effectively kill them because they’ve gone insane... because you put them in a robot body! Anyway... and then there’s that whole faking her death thing. But not for the reasons one might think. I mean, she saw an out and damn she took it - good on her. But it was the reason she took it that was kind of shitty. I’m not saying Guardians shouldn’t go looking for who they were before, that’s fine though often, you won’t like what you find down the rabbit hole but you might? So, who knows. But... she did abandon people she called friend to chase after it. And that would be fine as long as she stayed gone not pop back up all “oh yeah... this is my pet robot...” Which, by the way, her view of is so incredibly skewed, it’s not even funny. You can see the beginnings of it when you go get the shard to tempt Xol with in the EDZ when Rasputin damn near kills your ass and Zavala’s all “how’d you get him to do that?” And she’s all “I asked him... he listens to me.” Which are two entirely different things but she apparently doesn’t understand that. Highlighted further by the fact that Rasputin doesn’t listen to her for shit. He doesn’t listen to anyone. He’s an extremely advanced, extremely traumatized, extremely homicidal AI, that has been isolated from any interactions other than extreme hostility from all fronts until this one person comes along (Ana) and is all “oh he listens to me, he’s my friend, I’m his buddy” and he might look at her like that but come on... he damn sure isn’t all “friends! my glorious friends!!!” And if he is? He isn’t going to be all 100% sure what friendship actually means.

Also, if Ana did slap his ass onto what amounts to a hard drive? He’s going to freak out. He is literally going to go insane, just as her ghost warns. He’s going to fucking flip. Imagine being able to be damn near everywhere all the time and then suddenly what? You’re here. Only. Right there. No where else. You’re in a box. A cage. He’s going to fucking flip out. If he doesn’t straight up try to kill her, or kill her ghost because he knows how the whole guardian thing works – he damn sure isn’t going to stick around. He’ll bolt, he’ll leave, he’ll get the fuck away from her, probably in a blind panic. And that’s the end of my speculation, I’m sure he’ll try desperately to find a way to… transfer himself back into his old… hardware? Or something.

But… fantasy type speculation time… because this wouldn’t actually happen in game but might be canon – like… how Eris is apparently our bestie canonically.

Wouldn’t it be fucking wicked if like… Rasputin went to find us? Like, our guardian and just fucking showed up? And we didn’t know who he was at all, just some random Exo? And then he spoke, desperate sounding freaky ass Russian? (Which always bugs me, the fucker knows English, he just speaks his version of Russian to be an ass.) And imagine our guardian being all “WHAT THE FUCK?!?” Because Rasputin?! An Exo?! OH OH OH And we take him to Zavala because what else are we going to do with him?! And our ghost is like “this is a way bad idea…” and we’re like, again, “well, what else are we going to do with him!” And Zavala’s like “…..” And Rasputin’s like “…..” And then it’s a huge game of keep the two titans away from each other because Rasputin? Oh, he’d have titan qualities, he wouldn’t be one because he wouldn’t be a guardian but he’d damn sure be close. OH OH OH And he’d have the Valkyrie! So, he’d be like a Warlock? OH OH OH!!!! And Ikora’s just like “why is this my life? –ugh-“ And we’re like dragging this Exo away who’s damn near screaming obvious threats at Zavala in some freaky ass computer Russian and Zavala’s just simmering, telling anyone who will listen that he wants that thing out of the tower. So where do we take him? OH OH OH!!! We take him to Ada-1. Because what else are we going to do with him!!!!! And then Ada-1 is all “Who is this?” And we’re like “You don’t want to know.” And she’s like “Actually I do, which is why I asked.” And then suddenly he’s like “Rasputin.” And we’re like “I knew you spoke English, you asshole!” And Rasputin is just all staring at some of the gun mock-ups and Ada’s like “… is he okay?” And we’re like “uh… so fucking far from okay it’s not funny.” Meanwhile, Ana’s burning up Zavala’s comm link and ours all “RASPUTIN IS AN EXO AND HE’S FUCKING MISSING!” And finally we bark back “WE FUCKING KNOW YOU GOD DAMN PSYCHO WHAT THE FUCK WHERE YOU THINKING!” And then she’s like “Oh thank the Traveler, he’s with you.” Like he’s some god damned run-away teenager that was like I’m going to go live with Dad! rawr! And then we hear the fucking Drifter all “well, well, well, who do we have here.” And we’re like “Fucking nobody, Eli, go back to your bank.” And Rasputin’s like “garble-garble-Russian-garble-Valkyrie-DIE!” And Ada’s all “WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK!” And Ghost is just like “ugh…” And we’re just like “Fucking kill him, Rasputin, I don’t even care at this point.” And you aren’t going to do anything until you hear Eli make a strange sound that sounds like some kind of weird rat squealing in pain and then you have to run down the hall because the Drifter ran, he’s not stupid, and you have to pull Rasputin off of him and it’s like Terminator 3 and you’re just like “how did my life end up like this.” And then you hear Calus over there tapping into his little stooge all “Guardian?? Is that… you…” and you’re like “SHUT THE FUCK UP, YOU GOD DAMNED CREEP.” And you finally get Rasputin off world. And now you have an Exo side-kick and Zavala’s not talking to you and the Drifter’s trying to buy him from you and Calus is sending you little heart emoji’s and Ana’s begging you to bring him back and Ada’s suggesting you take him to some weird undisclosed location and your ghost is just lamenting about how things used to be when hive Princes and Taken Kings were the only things you had to worry about.

Wow… that kind of got out of hand… but then again, Rasputin being an Exo would make everything get out of hand.