[Part 1]
To understand much of the speculation we’re making here, it’s critically important to understand a few prerequisite things before-hand, as due to a lack of in-game lore pertaining to Nokris, we will draw on Real-World mythology and lore, in order to help make significant connections and extrapolate information.
The first, and most important thing to recognize, is that Destiny has on many occasions drawn inspiration from Real-World mythology, and used it as inspiration for in-game content that we have seen, to date.
In a brief, but significant example of this, we can reference the Gjallahorn exotic Rocket Launcher, in which the name “Gjallahorn,” is derived directly from Norse Mythology.
In Norse mythology, Gjallarhorn (from the Old Norse language, meaning “yelling horn” or “the loud sounding horn”) is a horn associated with the god Heimdallr, and the wise being Mímir.
In the Prose Edda of Norse Mythology, In chapter 51, it is foretold that during the events of Ragnarök, the enemies of the Norse-Gods will gather at the plain Vígríðr, and Heimdallr will stand and mightily blow into Gjallarhorn, in order to alert the gods, who will awake and assemble together. Ragnarok is said to be the Norse equivalent of “Armageddon”; an “End of Days” event, in which the giant wolf Fenrir will devour the Norse God, Odin.
This is just one example of an instance in which Destiny has derived from Real-World Lore. Other examples include the names “Radegast,” from Norse Myth, “Osiris,” from Egyptian Myth, and various names of enemies, such as “Ogre,” “Wizard,” “Gorgon,” and many others.
Let us keep this in mind, and keep ourselves open to interpretation as we continue on from this point.
Let’s begin.
As we bare this in mind moving forwards, there is still very little information in-game at this point, about Nokris herself. Faced with this obstacle, I opted to turn to the most immediate information at hand that we have about Nokris, based on the sole-confirmed appearance of her, which is in the form of a glorified, statue-esque carving of her (and I’ll explain why I’m so certain that Nokris is in fact a female), which appears on Oryx’s Dreadnaught, just outside of his Throne Room, during the Regicide Mission.
The first thing we note is that she is honorized and commemorated along-side another figure in statue-form; a statue of Crota, the “Hive God” known as the Eater of Hope, and the son of Oryx, himself. The most obvious thing to deduce from this is that this implies Nokris is on a similar, or “Equal” level to Crota, at least in the mind of Oryx, presuming he is the one who ordered the creation of the two obelisk-like statues.
Take into account, now, that Crota is believed to be a God-Tier Hive, and this statue is not only featured beside Crota’s Statue, but it is also featured beside, and from perspective, “beneath” a statue of Oryx, which sits between and behind the statues of Oryx and Nokris, implying almost a “trifecta” sort of correlation. So from this, let us draw our first assumption:
- Nokris is a Hive-Deity, be it God or Goddess; one who is presumably on-par with Crota, and perhaps even Oryx, himself.
[Part 2]
Now let’s move to our second bit of speculative-assumption:
- Nokris is a Female; a “Hive Goddess,” and not a “God,” as Crota and Oryx are considered to be.
This assumption is one I’ve deduced after I moved to the next most-obvious bit of information about Nokris, and that is the name, itself, “Nokris.” My next step was to dissect the name, and see if I could find any significant parallels to derive between this name, and names in various figures of Lore and Myth. My process (vastly simplified) was this:
The name: “Nokris.” dissected to Nok - Ris. When I hear “Nok,” I immediately think of “Noct,” as in “Nocturnal.” Nocturnal means: “Of, or pertaining to, or occuring in the night.” Interestingly, as I already had a sparse awareness of it, there is a Greek Deity known as “Nyx,” and in the Roman-Translation of the name, it becomes “Nox.”
In the Greek/Roman Myth, Nox is the Goddess (or personification) of the night.
- “A shadowy figure, Nox stood at the beginning of creation, and mothered other personified deities such as Hypnos (Sleep) and Thanatos (Death). She sired them with primordial deity, Erebus (Darkness).”
When pertaining to Hive Lore, two these themes are unmistakable, specifically to the Hive and Taken, the themes of “Death,” and more generally to “Destiny,” itself, the theme of “Darkness.” As in, “The Darkness.” The great enemy of the Traveler that we’ve been fighting against since Vanilla-Destiny’s release. From what we know and speculate of The Hive, there is one figure in their race who has been seen to stand above others, and an individual who is most-associated with being a figure of “The Darkness,” itself.
That individual is Oryx; and here we begin to see another forming parallel to draw speculation from:
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If Nokris is inspired by “Nox,” and is indeed female, then it’s not a great stretch to believe that Oryx could be a figure representative of “Erebus,” i.e., “The Darkness.” The being which Nox created her Deity-Offspring with.
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If this is the case, this may imply that Nokris was not only a Hive Goddess, but she may in fact be, or have-been, the mate of Oryx, and the Mother of Crota, and the two Death-Singers, Ir-Anuk and Ir-Halak, the “Hive-God Children” of Oryx, that we’ve fought, and killed.
Before we continue further down our Spin-Foily Rabbit Hole of immense speculation, let’s stop a moment to summarize, and simplify where we’re at so far in our speculations:
1.) Nokris is a Hive Deity, likely a Goddess, of great significance in the story surrounding Oryx and Crota, and in large-part the history of the Hive, themselves.
2.) Nokris is likely inspired (at least in part) by the Greek/Roman Mythos of the Goddess “Nox” (or alternatively, Nyx), who is the personification and Goddess of “The Night.” Which leans some speculative-worth to the idea that Oryx fills the counterpart-role of “Erebus,” the Greek/Roman personification and God of “Darkness.”
3.) These two beings in Roman/Greek Myth are considered to be “Primordial Gods.” Gods and beings who’s existence precedes even that of Zeus, the “King” of the Olympian Gods, himself. This is another interesting parallel, as the Hive ar known to be an incredibly ancient race, implied from the fact that “Ghost,” in the game, mentions that the materials used in the creation of some Hive statues are not only “ancient,” but predate the creation of the Earth, itself, by literally millions of years, or more
This certainly lends credence to the ideas that Nokris and Oryx (the latter of whom was implied to be immortal) may have been inspired by these two Greek/Roman deities, who were said to be as old as “creation,” itself.
[Part 3]
Now that we’ve taken a moment to recap and summarize our (heavy) speculations thus-far, let’s delve into the next bit of information that we have about Nokris.
The next, and arguably most prominent information that we have about Nokris is, perhaps, the most glaringly obvious. It is the fact that we don’t have any other information or reference of Nokris, to speak of.
She isn’t mentioned by Eris, there’s no information that’s indexed about her from the Dreadnaught, and as Ghost says, there’s nothing about her in the “World’s Grave” files from our wars against Crota and the Hive, either. There is literally nothing more about her in the canon-lore…
But, what if I offered you the speculation that this “Absence of Evidence,” is some of the most interesting “information” about Nokris that we have? There’s an old addage that says, “Silence speaks volumes.” And in the case of Nokris, I argue that the absence of mention and the absence of knowledge of her, speaks almost as loudly as the abundance of history that we have for Oryx and his sisters, speaks on their behalf.
Let’s begin with the most obvious question that begs asking:
- “If our speculation is even remotely correct, and Nokris is possibly the mate of Oryx, and Mother of Crota and the Death-Singer-Sisters, then why is there no mention of her?”
And that is the most interesting thing, isn’t it? Look through the Books of Sorrow; look through the Hive Grimoire-Cards, look through the Eris Morn Grimoire and listen to her dialogues, and through all of these, we hear nothing of Nokris. In fact, we even hear information in the Books of Sorrow that offers Counter-Argument to our speculation.
In the calcified fragments titled: “Eater of Hope,” and “shapes : points” we see Oryx’s recounted “creation” of his three children, Crota, Ir-Anuk and Ir-Halak, respectively. In each of these, Oryx takes sole credit for his childrens creation, as though they were created purely by his will, and by his communions with “The Deep.”
So what would make us even speculate that Nokris may be the unnamed, uncredited Mother of Crota and his sisters, when we’ve read in the Books of Sorrow, which seem to be a direct retelling of the Hive’s History, that Crota and his sisters have no Mother? The answer lies in another Calcified Fragment; the Fragment titled: “XLI - Dreadnaught.”
In this Fragment, Oryx describes the method through which he created his Dreadnaught, the his purpose for its creation; to house his “Throne World,” and defend it from his siblings, Savathun and Xivu Arath. As we read these pontifications of Oryx and the creation of his Dreadnaught, we come across graffitti scribbles in the pages of the tomes, a note of warning from Oryx’s sister, Savathun, known for being the “Cunning” sibling.
The note reads as follows:
“[I am Savathûn, insidious] — [I graffiti this notice for you] — [These Books are full of lies!]”
This small foot-note, though written from an external source of questionable integrity, throws into doubt the many things we’re told by Oryx in these long tomes of what is essentially the Hive’s “Bible.” As has been said by philosophers throughout time, “History is written by the winners.”
To explain briefly, let’s use this example:
Essentially, history is a matter of perspective, and it’s always coming from the perspective of the people who win the major conflicts, and go on to write History as they viewed it. “The difference between a rebellion and a revolution is success.” To America, it’s war against Britain was a “Revolution,” because America won the war. If they had lost, it might be no more than a few pages in a text-book, known as “The Colonial-Rebellions,” or something to that effect.
It’s very possible that this is the case with Oryx and his Book of Sorrows-collection. And if this is the case, then that suggests that there was very likely a falling-out between Oryx and Nokris at some point or another in their history. A conflict, perhaps even a Civil-War, in which Oryx and Nokris fell upon opposing sides where, as the Hive do, they made war on one another; a war in which Oryx emerged victorious.
But as we see in these Books of Sorrow, even though Oryx has made war with his sisters, Savathun and Xivu Arath, and even though the siblings allegedly killed one another multiple times, they are still referenced, and perhaps even revered in Oryx’s retelling of the Hive’s History… So, why is there no mention of Nokris?
I can only speculate that the conflict between Nokris and Oryx must have been one of a truly grand scale, if not in literal terms, than in terms of relative severity. It must have been a dispute that was so bitter; so resentful between them, that when it was “resolved” to its final conclusion, Oryx felt it necessary to wipe out Nokris from all record of the Hive’s History. Everything from their union, to even the creation of their Children, Nokris was essentially “erased,” on a Grandious scale.
Everything that is, except for one, single reminder. The statue outside of Oryx’s throne-room. The very statue that stands adjacent to his slain Son, Crota. Perhaps this is proof that Oryx was a more sentimental being than we knew him to be. Perhaps his affection for Nokris was, at one point, so immense and so sincere, that he could not bring himself to completely purge her from existence entirely. And so in his own way, Oryx honors Nokris with one, singular gesture of sentimentality.
One lone likeness of her, bestowed a place of honor beside their son, the Hive-God Prince, Crota… And perhaps–just maybe–this statue is also a reminder to Oryx of something more. Something that Oryx believes himself to be a fool if he were to forget, and so he keeps its ever-lasting reminder close at hand.
A reminder that, possibly… Nokris is still out there, somewhere.
[Part 4]
Post-Speculation Speculations:
These are just a few interesting tid-bits and “food for thought” sort of notes that I couldn’t quite find a fitting place to mention in the previous 3 posts, so, just think of these as sort of “Deleted Scenes” and “Bonus Features” for your After-Theory-Enjoyment.
1.) “What about the theory that Nokris was wiped out by the Vex, and that’s why there’s no mention of her?”
This is a very interesting idea, honestly. For a while I was speculating this myself, but then I drew a few interesting conclusions that I believe essentially dispels this theory, at least in part.
If we look at how the Vex operate when they erase something, or someone from time, we’ll notice that the “deletion” from existence is absolute. When Praedyth fell victim to this fate inside the Vault of Glass, all memory and all record of Praedyth and Praedyth’s existence up to his entry into the Vault was completely wiped away.
There was no record of him, or his presence in the Future War Cult, and this extended not only to Praedyth’s immediate self, but also to connections, actions and correlations to Praedyth. For example, as we see during the “No Time To Explain” quest, the Future War Cult’s Leader (the faction that Praedyth was part of), had no memory of Praedyth.
As Lakshmi-2 states during the quest: “A Guardian I’ve never heard of leaves behind a Ghost I’ve never seen, carrying files stamped with Cult headers, files I would have had to authorize to be stamped that way.”
These items could only be recovered inside of the Vault of Glass, itself. A place where time does not simply move forward, but “Flows and ebs,” like a swirling tide, leaving “fractures” in which small fragments can escape through; fragments like Praedyth’s Ghost. Fragments like the weapons we obtained in the Vault; The Fatebringer, Praedyth’s Revenge and Praedyth’s Time Piece. These items only continued to exist INSIDE of the Vault, until we retrieved them.
Items like these can exist in the Vault, and can be brought back from the Vault now, only because we slew Atheon, and bought a momentary “peace” to the time-flow inside the Vault. But even bringing these items out of the Vault does not restore the existence of the Guardians who wielded them.
Lakshmi-2 still had no recollection of Praedyth, or even any memory of ever having approved the Files that his Ghost carried, with War Cult headers stamped for approval. Even her own actions, because they were connected to Praedyth, were “undone,” and wiped from all memory and existence.
Baring this in mind, if Nokris had been “Wiped out” by the Vex, then all memory and all things pertaining to Nokris would also have ceased to exist, and while this is the case for any “information” we may search for about Nokris, there is one thing that remains.
The statue.
If Nokris had never existed, the statue on Oryx’s Dreadnaught would not exist for us to have discovered in the first place, because Oryx would never have created it in her likeness; Oryx would never have known her, to know her likeness in the first place.
2.) Looking Deeper into Greek Mythos surrounding Nox.
a.) In Hesiod’s Theogony, Nyx/Nox is born from Chaos. This is intriguing to me, because in Greek Mythos, there is a Goddess who personifies Chaos and Discord. This Goddess’s name, you ask? Her name is Eris…
b.) Also in Hesio’d Theogony, Nox gives birth to Moros (Doom, Destiny), Ker (Destruction, Death), and Thanatos (Death).
The most interesting part of this to me is Nox giving birth to “Destiny”… Why? Well, we are discussing Destiny’s Lore… Wouldn’t it be mind-blowingly ironic if the “conflict” between Oryx and Nokris came because of something to do with, say… Nokris creating the Traveler? Or Nokris piloting the Traveler?
Very Spin-Foily here, but maybe there’s a slight possibility that Oryx has been hunting the Traveler because it has some connection to Nokris. How ironic would it be if the Mother of Crota was also the “Mother” of the Traveler; essentially the “Mother” of “Destiny,” itself.
3.) In some interpretations of Greek Myth, Nox gave birth to Thanatos and other children of hers, without the help of Erebus. Is it possible that Oryx was never truly the Father of Crota? Might Crota have actually been Nokris’ child, forcefully taken from her by Oryx?
We’ve seen Oryx do this once already; Malok was the son of his sister, Savathun. But Oryx used his powers to transform him into a “Taken,” essentially stealing her child as an insult to Savathun, and making him Oryx’s slave, forcing Malok to offer worship to him.
This is NOT unlike what we know Crota to have done. Crota battled, and conquered entire civilizations, wiping out entire worlds and laying waste to countless-millions of lives, in order to offer tribute to Oryx. Crota built shrines to Oryx throughout the Universe, and these shrines (such as the Shrine of Oryx on the Moon) fed tribute to Oryx, and made him more powerful through this tribute.
Perhaps Crota shared a similar fate to Malok, and was simply brain-washed to believe that Oryx was his one, true creator and Father.
If you have any additional thoughts or speculation to offer, I invite you to join in the conversation and share your ideas. As always, it’s been a pleasure to share my theories with you, Guardians.
Thanks for reading.