[b]EDIT: A recent grimore card (Ghost Fragment: The Ocean of Storms 2), suggests that the worms are Ahamkara. I revisited the topic [url=https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/182746373/0/0]here[/url] with the new information.[/b] There is a connection between all of these things. So the Books of Sorrow details the rise of the Hive as we know them. They used to be a weak short-lived species, and in their quest to save themselves from an extinction event, Oryx (at the time called Aurash) and his sisters entered a symbiotic deal with these worms that gave them power and immortality. The worms are from the darkness, but they are not the darkness. Source: [quote]the Darkness-which-is-the-Deep (Books of Sorrow: XLIX: Forever And A Blade)[/quote] [quote]We are the Worm your God, but we are not the Deep Itself (Books of Sorrow: XIX: Crusaders)[/quote] It's actually a very great story, and I have a thread dedicated to The Books of Sorrows [url=https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/159867284/0/0]here[/url] discussing it in much greater detail. Anyway for those unfamiliar, the Ahamkara were wish-granting dragons that appeared as one of the many new lifeforms that sprouted up when the Traveler arrived. [quote]Everyone knows the Ahamkaras were hunted to extinction. There's nothing to be afraid of anymore . . . How much life sprang up when the Traveler came. Like the Ahamkara. Do you know the legends? The dragon that made promises? (Ghost Fragment: Warlock Grimoire card)[/quote] While reading the Books of Sorrows again in search of some details about something else, I realized I missed something. Turns out that the Hive encountered the Ahamkara on another Traveler-visited system named Harmony. A civilization was making use of the Ahamkara for granting wishes, similar to how guardians did before the Vanguard had them hunted to extinction. - Guardians using Ahamkara to grant wishes: [quote]Power had been obtained from the bargains, and the City needed power. Knowledge had been gleaned, and the Ahamkara knew answers to questions no one had known to ask. But the price was too high. And no edict or forbearance seemed to stop Guardians from seeking them out, driven by hope, or vengeance, or despair (Ghost Fragment: Legends 3 grimoire card)[/quote] Harmony civilization using the Ahamkara to grant wishes:[quote] Now arrives Xivu Arath, at the head of her armada. She fights the Harmony for fifty years with strategies and discipline. But the Harmony turn to dragon-wishes, and their wishful bishops wrestle Xivu in the ascendant plane (Books of Sorrow: XLVI: The Gift Mast)[/quote] The biggest reveal was that [b]Ahamkara have the same worm gods as the Hive[/b]. Xivu Arath, Oryx's sister, said this regarding the Ahamkara: [quote]THE DRAGONS. Our gods should be ours alone. Their smug freedom is an insult to me. I’d shut them all in cells. Bring them to me! (Books of Sorrow: XLV: I'd shut them all in cells)[/quote] This confirms that the hive and the Ahamkara share the same gods (the worms). The Ahamkara speech pattern of saying "oh ____ mine," (you will find this on Ahamkara exotic armor descriptions) seems to be a speech pattern that comes from the worms. Some have said it's because Ahamkara are the worms, but the text suggests they are wrong. - Savathun (Oryx's sister, at the time called Sathona) says this about a worm: [quote]It’s dead, but it still speaks to me. It says: listen closely, [b]oh vengeance mine...[/b] (Books of Sorrow: V: Needle and Worm)[/quote] - Those who are not worms, but are under the influence of worms will sometimes speak in this manner: [quote]Let us dive, oh sisters mine (Books of Sorrow: VIII: Leviathan)[/quote] In light of this influence, it is fair to assume that the Ahamkara speak this way because of the worm's influence. Someone pointed out to me that in the Xivu Arath quote [i]"Their smug freedom is an insult to me,"[/i] the "freedom," could refer to a lack of symbiosis with worms. The Hive have found satisfying the hunger of their symbiotic worms increasingly difficult, and they are forced to go on killing to feed the worms -- not being in symbiosis with the worms would indeed be a great freedom in the eyes of the Hive. This could mean that while the Ahamkara worship the worms, they aren't merged with them as the Hive are. Having a worm in your body is not necessary for gaining power from them. Crota was once tricked into tearing a portal into Oryx's throne world (ascendant realm), which allowed Vex to invade. These Vex learned to manipulate the physics of the throne world as the Hive do by directing prayer to the worms without the need to ingest them. Source: [quote]Quria captured some worm larvae and began experimenting with them. Soon Quria, Blade Transform manifested religious tactics. By directing worship at the worms, Quria learned it could alter reality with mild ontopathogenic effects. Being an efficient machine, Quria manufactured a priesthood and ordered all its subminds to believe in worship. Then it set about abducting and killing dangerous organisms so it could bootstrap itself to Hive godhood. For some Vex reason, Quria never attempted to introduce worm larvae into its mind fluid (Books of Sorrow: XXXIX: open your eye : go into it)[/quote] [b]The Traveler[/b] Why does the Traveler's actions bring about creatures tied to the Darkness like the Ahamkara? I would say it's the same kind of symmetry described by the thanatonaut (one who commits suicide to get visions) warlock Pujari when talking about how the Traveler's terraforming of Mars is the reason for the Black Garden. Source: [quote]The Traveler moved across the face of the iron world. It opened the earth and stitched shut the sky. [b]It made life possible. In these things there is always symmetry[/b]. Do you understand? This is not the beginning but it is the reason. The Garden grows in both directions. It grows into tomorrow and yesterday. (Legend: The Black Garden grimoire card). [/quote] Basically, when the Traveler performs actions like terraforming and seeding life, something linked to the darkness always arises also -- in some cases it's the Ahamkara. [b] Regarding the "Ahamkara = worms," theory[/b] In the "I'd Shut Them In Cells" card, Xivu Arath says "our gods should be ours alone." Some of you might interpret this as the Ahamkara being the gods (and thus Ahamkara being the worms), and also interpret the subject of Xivu Arath's anger as the civilization of the Harmony system that get their wishes granted by the Ahamkara. I disagree with this view. 1) When Xivu Arath is speaking, she names the subject in all capital letters, and then gives her thoughts on the subject in subsequent sentences. For example: [quote]SAVATHÛN. The Deceitful Sister will be distracted by arcana and the song of the black hole. Treat her broods with contempt. THE TRAVELER. We chase it and we will devour it. The Deep will rule the cosmos.[/quote] likewise, in the part with DRAGONS in all caps, the dragons (Ahamkara) are the subjects [quote][b]THE DRAGONS[/b]. Our gods should be ours alone. [b]Their[/b] smug freedom is an insult to me. I’d shut [b]them[/b] all in cells. Bring [b]them[/b] to me![/quote] Substitute the subject (THE DRAGONS) for the ambiguous pronouns (their, them), and it's clear that the Dragons are the ones angering Xivu Arath for also worshiping her gods. 2) In the "Gift Mast" card, this happens: [quote]Next arrives Savathûn, flanked by her chorus and her celebrants. They trick their way onto Ana-Harmony in disguises, so that they might vivisect these dragons. The Worm our God laughs and laughs.[/quote] Vivisection is to cut something open while it's alive for the purpose of studying it. If the Ahamkara and the worms were the same, there would be no need to study them because Savanthun would already be familiar with them. 3) If the Ahamkara were the worms, there would be no reason for the Hive to suddenly refer to them as dragons when the term "worms" suffices. [b]To sum up[/b] - Places where the Traveler visit (Harmony system, and Solar system) developed Ahamkara. - Both the Hive and the Ahamkara have worm gods originating from the Darkness (also known as the Deep). - There are still questions regarding the god/worshiper relationship between the worms and the Ahamkara, but I speculate the Ahamkara merely worship the worms without joining in symbiosis. [b]Other lore threads: [url=https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/170958432/0/0]Beyond Physics: The Arsenals of The Darkness & The Traveler[/url] [url=https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/171885380/0/0]The Awoken and The Veil[/url] [url=https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/177574612/0/0]Shapes: The Hive, The Darkness, & Pujari[/url] [url=https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/180867823/0/0]The Final Shape of Darkness[/url][/b]