One of the in-universe theories on the Nine reads:
“The Nine are Ghosts who pierced the Deep Black without a ship and meditated on the hissing silence of the heliopause.” -Ghost Fragment: Legends 2
One of the recent lore entries, The Long Walk, reads:
“[Eight sparks. A ninth, dim in the corner. And Orin in the middle.]
ORIN: Are we all here? Come into the light, please.
G-9: I like where I am.
ORIN: They said you all went to the deep without a ship. How?
G-7: Our charges are gone, but we’re still creatures of Light. No different from the one you carry in your pocket.
ORIN: You’re all either very brave or very foolish.
G-6: You sound like Shaxx.
G-5: She does. I’m glad my charge is gone.
G-4: Don’t say that.
G-5: It’s true.
G-4: Don’t say it out loud. Some of us go our whole lives without finding one. Show some respect.
G-5: Don’t talk like you’re better than me. You’re in here, too.
ORIN: Please. I’m sorry to call you all here, but—
G-2: You’re not sorry.
ORIN: I need to know what you found out there.
G-9: Nothing.
ORIN: At least give me the coordinates.”
The character “Orin” has only been mentioned here so far. We may assume she is a Guardian, based on G-7 and G-9’s comments.
The lore entries for the Trials exotics record their conversation, where “meditation” is mentioned (Adjudicator).
However, the most compelling information here is the way G-7, G-5 and G-9 talk about themselves. “My charge.” “Like the one in your pocket.” “Finding one.”
The most on-the-nose possible clue here is the letter G.
I’d like to check the pulse of the forum on this. Does this perhaps confirm that the Nine are Ghosts?
The nine Ghosts definitely match the description of one of the Legends 2 lines, but I don’t think the Nine are necessarily only those Ghosts. Some of the other Trials entries match the other Legends 2 descriptions, such as A Sudden Death:
You spoke with the deep-orbit minds.
Which matches with the second ‘theory’:
The Nine are deep-orbit warminds who weathered the Collapse in hardened stealth platforms.
The Nine are survivors of the cis-Jovian colonies who made a compact with an alien force to ensure their own survival.
Saying that the Nine are only the Ghosts seems reductive, especially with the nine theories in Legends 2, and the intrigue that the Emissary still brings (the horse, “you’re not thinking small enough,” “look for us in the hydrocarbon pits of Titan,” etc.).
I think it’s worth noting that those connections are a little more tenuous, if still made plausible by the item descriptions’ diction.
Also, if those descriptions log the conversation between the Ghosts and Orin, it’s possible the Ghosts spoke with the deep-orbit minds during their travels, but it’s still the Ghosts who make up the Nine.
Definitely, though given A Long Walk’s connection with Legends 2 it’s not impossible Bungie was referencing other Nine theories.
Given that we don’t know who spoke with the warminds, and that the entry says “you” as opposed to something like “they,” I don’t think the entries are cataloging solely the Ghosts’ adventures. Additionally, the other entries also use singular pronouns:
You sought us out in the deep black.
YOU WENT MAD TRYING TO UNDERSTAND
S H E I S N O T R E A D Y
While it’s possible, I think it’s a stretch to assume that all of the entries involve the Ghosts.
What if each of the “nine theories” is true? Like, one of the nine is the heliopause ghosts, one is the deep orbit Warminds, one is the leviathans from the gas giant moons, one is the survivors who made a pact, etc etc, and the group " the nine" is actually more like a semi-democratic group representing different life forms?
That’s the only way I can interpret it that doesn’t self contradict
Similar to what you’ve said, one of the spinfoil theories that’s been thrown around in Discord & on r/DLore is that the Nine aren’t one race, but a sort of ‘council’ of different races/species/etc. Of course, some of the theories don’t quite make sense as actual characters (namely “The Nine is a viral language of pure meaning”), but the Nine don’t seem to make sense regardless. It’s not especially supported other than Legends 2 containing nine individual theories, but it’s an interesting idea. With the Emissary mentioning several of the Nine theories in their idle dialogue, it’s possible that the Nine are all of these things, or none of them- one of their lines is also “you’re not thinking small enough.”
There’s also the idea that Orin became the Emissary, but that’s also pretty much based upon spinfoil. Still interesting, though.
Viral language of pure meaning makes me think it’s some kind of machine language/AI collective, a la the vex or even Mass Effect’s Geth, just without any kind of robot body
Nothing has been totally confirmed quite yet. If one of the theories is correct- namely the nine Ghosts- that paves the way for the others to be correct, too, but we still don’t know if a) those Ghosts are actually part of the Nine or b) if the other theories are connected with other ‘members.’
The Titan line implies that the same sea monster(s?) we see on Titan are in some way connected to the Nine, though. At the very least, it points towards the idea that those nine things exist, whether they are part of the Nine or not.
It seems very plausible right now that the Nine are ghosts (not excluding any other theories) Because of that one single item. Seems too big of a coincidence or a stupid red herring to put 9 “G” or ghosts in the lore on a Trials of the nine item, if it has nothing to do with “NINE”. I like the possiblity of all theories being true. But there is so much hidden speculation around every corner of every theory… I mean not the biggest one, but you can easily draw lines between “Leviathan intelligence? is the big worm maybe a warmind?” Does contradict “ancient” tho, unless timespan since warminds were created can be called ancient. Are the nine ghosts, ghosts who¨ve lost or abandoned their guardians? taken control of their own destiny rather than being an eternal voice/advisor for guardians? Are the Nine warminds? and if so, is the Nine now The One? Being Rasputin? Since he has control over all warminds now? Did Rasputin make the Nine?
Is The Nine a senate of ahamkara directing the way the system flows? The worm gods being a part of the Nine explaining why The Nine has allways been so subtle about being evil and good? Helping in our salvation or destruction? Is the Nine all travelers? Is the traveler a huge ass ghost? The Nine Ghosts traveled to the deep black… Did they become the travelers?? Is the time-space continuum so confusing, and non explainable that The ghosts created by the traveler, are somehow, the traveler who created the ghosts??
Or are those theories slowly trying to tell us, that the NIne are basicly everything and nothing at once? Light and dark at once. Creation and destruction at once.
Soooo many thoughts to have on this subject, and its exciting… I know most of what i said was mindless spitballing, but the fact just remains… WE DONT KNOW anything!
Yes, but there are nine Ghosts. If each Ghost is a member of the Nine, and there are nine members, then the Nine would be made up of nothing but Ghosts. We don’t know if those Ghosts, like Orin, were looking for something (the Nine), or became part of the Nine, or are the Nine themselves. They’re connected, but we can’t say “the Nine are these Ghosts and only these Ghosts.” Not yet, at least.
The best idea we currently have is each of the nine theories being correct, or at least relevant. Beyond that, it’s mostly spinfoil. But given that the nine Ghosts exist, and the monster on Titan exists, we can guess that the other ‘members’ exist, too.
I’ve always read Legends 2 as poetry. “The Nine are” is utilizing poetic license to describe the whole of the collective, but really just an individual member. That card has, in nine lines, described the individual members of the nine. Nothing in the lore suggests anything could fit all-in-one.
