Memory Decay before Ghost Ressurection?

Lore
#1

So I want to make nice discussion topics but everyone always does them before me…

I have read about some of this in fanfics, and wanted to know;

Do guardians forget who they were before being resurrected?
and
What happens if they died not long before their resurrection?

Pointo oneo
We know that ghosts revive guardians, but not specifically how, and that they “recreate” them when guardians are first revived (as is shown in d1’s opening scene). Ghosts somehow hold the information of a guardian’s body structure and memories. I guess it would be like a blueprint that is stored as memory in the ghost shell itself, and needs light to power and/or quicken the recreation (as we have to assist guardians who have fallen). As kinderguardian the ghost mentions that “And you… well, you’ve been dead a long time. So you’re going to see a lot of things you won’t understand.”, hinting that we remember our past lives. Obviously nobody else talks of remembering their past life before being a guardian, and it points to the theory that guardians have no memory of their past life.

Point numbero two o
There is one mention of a guardian who died, the passage will be below, then was resurrected very soon after (a few years) because of the fact that her former self had left a journal. Stuff tends to decay over time so I imagine that there was maybe 2-3 years max of in between time where she died then was resurrected. Here is the piece.

Lore: Shinobu’s Vow

I don’t know how to write this. I died. Well, Shinobu died. This is hard. But she—I?—she must have kept this journal for a reason. So here goes. One of the Hunters, Nadiya, told me most Guardians were dead for centuries before Ghosts find them, when all traces of their first lives are long gone. “Nadiya” is a name she chose for herself. “Shinobu isn’t your name anymore,” Nadiya said. “It could be,” I said. Then Nadiya said, “Shinobu and I were going to skip town.” She told me I—Shinobu—had realized there was no stopping the Fallen. That her village, Coyote, was doomed. “She wanted to leave this place,” Nadiya said. “She didn’t want to die here.” So much for that. —Excerpt from the diary of Himura Shinobu

She obviously does not remember her former life, even though she was dead for very little time. This makes me a little confused however, because if when the person dies they lose their memory. But when they get killed and are revived they don’t? The brain is very complicated and memories consistent of electrical signals that create memories. When your ghost revives your body, it should have no memories. But somehow guardians are special?

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#2

I think that all the memories are lost upon the Guardian’s first resurrection. Otherwise you’d get Guardians who hate the cause. I’m currently writing a fan-fiction about an Exo. He has flashbacks from his past but that is due to him being rebooted and thus named Tim-2. I think that a Guardian only remembers their past if they died out of a darkness zone as a Guardian. Again, this is my opinion. I have read a lot of the lore and remember enough of it to formulate an opinion but I can never remember where certain pieces of lore are. For the fan-fiction I’m writing I had to set up certain ideas and rules and I said that the Ghost who resurrected my protagonist was his second one. He had died in the hands of the Hive and his late Ghost has been destroyed. Again, just my interpretation. I’ll DM you a link to my story if you want.

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#3

That would be great :slight_smile: I love destiny fanfics alot

#4

Well, brains decay fast. Even if you where dead for 1 year you would not remember who you once were. In my opinion when ghosts resurrect you they are using the Light to create whole new cells and connection, essentially creating a whole new being from a dead vessel. So when your ghost first revives you your brain is totally decayed and there is not much left of the brain, so your ghost creates a new one. Of course this also brings up the parts of this that don’t line up, like how a guardian in a stasis pod was revived and remembered the wars he fought in. The stasis pod probably preserved his brain.

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#5

I was thinking that was the case, but then what happens when our guardian gets killed in a battle? A fallen chops off your head and you die, your ghost makes a “new” brain for you and you still remember what happened before.

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#6

From this theory I’d just say the ghost knits you back together and your brain was in a way still ‘intact’.

#7

Sorry I meant something else by that… :confused:

When your brain tissue is destroyed, you lose you memories. Many a guardians have gotten shot through the head and returned completely normal. My point was how do the ghosts ‘save’ the memories even when the brain tissue is gone?

#8

I think you answer your own question in the topic.
I’ve always believed that Ghost holds the Guardians memories, as a back up.
As in the Ghost holds the Guardians memories, not the past person because that one wasn’t a Guardian. Get it?

The reason the Guardians and Shinobu doesn’t remember their former lifes are because their first death was without Ghost.
Can’t tell this for 100%, but Cayde got fragments from his former life? Or more likely, he’s read his journal so many times he start to understand the the man he was before, a gambler, joker, father etc. Eventually he start to become that man.

I actually think this sentence is breaking the 4’th wall, as it is us, the player behind the screen.
We know what a car looks like, the ships, rivers, planets etc etc.
We however does not know anything about the aliens, Vanguard, The City and the Traveler nor the Ghost.
Hence the “You’re going to see a lot of things you won’t understand” comment.

But that’s just my 2 cents on this issue :stuck_out_tongue:

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#9

He is an exo, and from what we know cayde witnessed the collapse which means that 1. He is not that dead. 2. His brain does not decay so when he is revived he should remember more things. Still cayde did not know who his family is but still has good memory of other things.

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#10

And exo’s are notorious for having worse memories the more times they are reset.

#11

Yes, reset but not just from resurrections/headshots.