Does Oryx have a daughter? A deep dive into the Taken King‘s brood and Cayde-6‘s family history

Oryx, the Taken King stands as one of the most significant antagonists in the sprawling sci-fi universe of Destiny. As the God-King of the Hive, Oryx commanded legions of nightmarish alien warriors, conquered civilizations across the stars, and even harnessed the reality-bending power to "Take" creatures into his service.

Naturally, a cosmic warlord like Oryx has an expansive family tree that contains some shockingly powerful daughters. In this article, we‘ll dive deep into Oryx‘s origins and offspring, including his twin daughters Ir Anûk and Ir Halak. We‘ll also explore the mysterious backstory of Vanguard hero Cayde-6 and his son Ace to see how family ties into Destiny‘s epic narrative tapestry.

So buckle up, guardian. We‘re about to go deep on some wild Hive lore!

Oryx‘s long road to the Taken King

Before he became the super-powerful Taken King, Oryx began life as Aurash (ah-ROOSH), a proto-Hive female born on the gas giant Fundament around 6 billion years ago. The early Hive civilization on Fundament was ruled by a strict hierarchy called the Osmium Court, presided over by a king known as the Osmium King.

Aurash was one of three daughters of the Osmium King, alongside Sathona (later Savathûn) and Xi Ro (later Xivu Arath). These sisters would have a profound impact on the future Hive and their insatiable crusade across the cosmos.

According to the Books of Sorrow, when Aurash and her sisters were still young, their father the Osmium King was betrayed and killed. After stealing his ship, the curious Aurash set out across Fundament‘s vast global ocean to learn the secrets of the universe. This journey led the sisters into the depths, where they encountered the dreaded Worm Gods.

These ancient cosmic entities offered the sisters a terrible bargain: accept the gift of a symbiotic Worm larvae, and gain immense power that could help them avenge their father‘s killers. However, the price was that the Worm‘s endless hunger had to constantly be fed with conquest and slaughter. Driven by revenge and a thirst for knowledge, Aurash and her sisters accepted the Worm Gods‘ offer, sealing their dark fates.

As soon as she took the Worm larva, Aurash underwent a dramatic metamorphosis. Her curiosity and cunning sharpened, driving her to learn the secrets of life, death, and the universe itself. Seeking greater power, Aurash slew her sisters Xivu Arath and Savathûn, then used her new mastery of necromancy to revive them. This act abolished Aurash‘s female form, transforming her into the male Auryx.

Under Auryx‘s command, the early Hive became a conquering swarm that ravaged planet after planet, feeding their Worms and Sharpening their claws through endless combat. As Auryx‘s power grew, so too did his Worm‘s appetite. To learn how to control this hunger, Auryx killed and dissected the Worm God Yul to study its inner workings.

Empowered by this dark knowledge, Auryx transcended mortality itself by creating his own Ascendant realm, or throne world. This parallel reality, known as the High War, became his fortress, where Auryx‘s essence could go to recover even if "killed" in the material realm.

Now an immortal being, Auryx set his sights on even greater power, boldly seeking to slay the greatest Worm God of all – the deity known as Akka (AH-kuh). He eventually succeeded in this impossible task by using his new Taken power to nullify cause and effect, allowing him to kill Akka in the material realm and permanently in Akka‘s throne world. This victory granted Auryx the same ontological power that Akka wielded, letting Auryx Take lesser beings by dominating their wills.

It was after slaying Akka that Auryx became Oryx, the Taken King. His insatiable hunger to explore the Deep (the Darkness itself) had transformed him into a wrathful god of curiosity and conquest. In the ensuing eons, Oryx expanded the Hive‘s interstellar empire by the edge of his mighty sword Willbreaker. He battled ancient civilizations like the Ecumene, the Vex, and the ancient Harmony, Taking defeated foes to further his power.

Oryx even infiltrated the Awoken‘s home in the Reef, going to war with their Queen Mara Sov. Their climactic battle led to the creation of the mysterious Awoken being known as the Oracle Engine. He also unleashed his fury on the human Golden Age colony of Torobatl, defeating the Cabal emperor Calus and taking swathes of the Cabal populace.

Eventually, Oryx‘s crusade led him and his Dreadnaught flagship into the Solar System, seeking revenge for his son Crota‘s death at the hands of the Guardians. After devastating battles across the Saturnian moons, Oryx opened the pathway to his throne world and dared the Guardians to confront him where his power reigned supreme. But even the Taken King eventually fell in battle, slain by the Guardian‘s hand in the very heart of his realm.

As this lengthy backstory shows, Oryx‘s rise from curious princess to Taken King was marked by billions of years of combat, conquest, and ever-escalating pursuits of power through the Darkness. While ruthless and terrifying, Oryx undeniably demonstrated cunning intellect and a god-like will unseen anywhere else in Destiny lore.

Oryx‘s important daughters explained

As the God-King of cunning, Oryx propagated his lineage by birthing many children that retained shards of his intelligence and strength. His key daughters included:

• Ir Anûk and Ir Halak – Born as twin daughters when Oryx cut a Worm larva in half with his Willbreaker sword. The Books of Sorrow mention that even as infants, Ir Anûk and Ir Halak exceeded Oryx‘s expectations, displaying cunning and tactics that impressed him. When the Guardians infiltrated Oryx‘s throne world, Ir Anûk and Ir Halak stayed behind to defend the Threshold between Oryx‘s Ascendant realm and the material plane. These twin daughters acted as bosses during the intense King‘s Fall raid in Destiny 1, unleashing powerful Hive magic against the Guardians. While defeated at the Threshold, Ir Anûk and Ir Halak were not permanently killed in their own throne worlds. This leads many to speculate the sisters still live, and could one day return.

• Crota‘s Daughters – As Oryx‘s firstborn son, Crotacontinued his father‘s legacy by siring many children of his own. Crota‘s daughters included the Wizard Hashladûn, the Vex mind-fluid drinker Besurith, and Voshyr and Kinox, the Daughters of Anguish. After the Guardians killed Crota in his material form, his daughters sought revenge. Hashladûn unleashed Nightmares across the moon and oversaw the Scarlet Keep. She proved a formidable foe until the Guardians ended her grandfather‘s lineage by killing Hashladûn in her throne world. While Crota‘s brood aimed to avenge their father, it was Oryx‘s own daughters who guarded him closest, with Ir Anûk and Ir Halak defending the Taken King to their assumed deaths.

In addition to his daughters, Oryx parented several male Hive deities, including:

• Crota, his firstborn son and Prince to the Osmium Throne.
• Nokris, an heretic son banished from Hive records for consorting with the Worm God Xol.
• Malok, a foster son that Oryx Gifted to his sisters Savathûn and Xivu Arath.

Oryx‘s sisters complete the trinity

While Oryx may have been the most prominent Hive god, his two sisters Savathûn (trickery) and Xivu Arath (war) also played critical roles in the ancient Hive pantheon. As mentioned earlier, Oryx originally knew them as Sathona and Xi Ro before the sisters also transformed following their acquisitions of the Worm larvae.

Savathûn has cunningly manipulated events for centuries to undermine her siblings, including Oryx. She interfered with Crota‘s tithe system as part of a complex scheme to alter causality and learn new secrets. More recently, Savathûn has breached the Last City and supposedly exorcised her Worm, though her endgame remains shadowy as always.

Meanwhile, Xivu Arath more directly embraces combat and proves the most warlike of the siblings. She obliterates entire civilizations through sheer force of arms, and her conquests feed the Worm God Yul. Now, Xivu Arath works for the ancient cosmic threat known as The Witness, marshaling Hive forces on the lunar pyramid and Sabathun‘s Throne World.

Together with Oryx and his lineage, Savathûn and Xivu Arath form a triumvirate of Hive royalty worshipped as gods through their unfathomable power. By understanding Oryx‘s siblings, we gain a broader comprehension of the Hive‘s origins and society. While the Taken King held the highest title, he relied on his sisters and offspring to spread his dark empire across the stars.

Cayde-6 and Ace – a family torn apart

Beyond the dark dynasty of Oryx‘s brood, the central figures of Destiny also have poignant backstories relating to family. Specifically, the Exo Hunter Vanguard leader Cayde-6 hints at a human life filled with regret over leaving his wife and son.

Introduced in the original Destiny, Cayde-6 acted as a central ally to the Guardian over many years. His carefree personality and penchant for sarcasm provided levity in dark times. He also cared deeply for his fellow Exos, like Lakshmi-2, and Awoken like Queen Mara Sov and her Techeun Petra Venj. But as his numerous letters and journal fragments reveal, Cayde‘s early life as a human was marked by sadness and loss related to his family.

The name Cayde follows standard Exo naming conventions, with a short distinct word as the name and a number signifying how many memory resets/reboots they have experienced. Most Exos suffered from a condition known as Dissociative Exomind Rejection (DER) where their human consciousness rejected being transferred to an Exo frame. But memory wipes allowed them to avoid going mad from DER, at the cost of losing parts of their humanity.

As Cayde-6, it‘s indicated this Hunter Vanguard underwent six reboots, becoming more detached from his past self each time. But the fragments he left behind suggest that before he became an Exo, Cayde was a married human man with a son named Ace. He affectionately called Ace "little buddy" and cared deeply about him, but Cayde‘s gambling debts forced him to leave his family behind. With no other option, he agreed to have his consciousness transferred into an Exo body by the infamous Clovis Bray corporation.

Sadly, Cayde‘s letters reveal he could barely remember his wife‘s face or eyes due to the reboots, demonstrating his lingering regret even after centuries as an Exo. Fans widely believe Ace will appear in future Destiny lore based on this backstory. Perhaps he too became an Exo like his father, or tried to find Cayde after his disappearance. For now, these clues paint a somber picture of how Cayde‘s family ties connect with his Exo nature and identity. The mysterious but clearly impactful Ace represents a part of Cayde forever lost to resets and reboots.

Reflections on Destiny‘s complex families

By looking closely as Oryx‘s lineage of powerful daughters and Cayde‘s hints about his long lost family, we see family plays an integral role in the narrative tapestry of Destiny.

For a megalomaniac like Oryx, birthing inheritors of his power proved a clever way to sustain the Hive‘s conquests. His daughters and sons spread his legacy, commanding Hive broods and continuing the bloodline. The depth of lore dedicated to Oryx‘s family tree demonstrates how fundamental offspring are to propagating the Hive.

But Cayde‘s backstory presents a more grounded perspective. His lingering memories of Ace represent regret over mistakes and the costs of his cybernetic resurrection as an Exo. Where Oryx‘s children expanded his power, Cayde‘s family highlights what was lost on the path to becoming a Guardian.

These rich backstories underscore how Destiny uses relationships, offspring, and lineage to make its universe feel alive while raising intriguing lore questions. We can speculate endlessly about the fates of Oryx‘s heirs like Ir Anûk and Ir Halak. Is Ace still alive, and what is his perspective on Cayde‘s journey? The children of Destiny‘s major figures suggest unlimited potential for new stories, conflicts, and revelations that could unfold over saga‘s remaining chapters. Like all great mythology, the heroes and villains leave compelling legacies that drive future generations.

So in summary, yes – Oryx most certainly does have intriguing daughters as part of his twisted family history. Unpacking their lore not only expands our appreciation of the Hive, but of Cayde‘s unexpectedly moving backstory as well. Now if you‘ll excuse me, I‘m going to hug my Ghost and reflect on backing up my precious memories more often!