originally posted in:The Ashen Conflux
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Today we will discuss Ghosts.
We don't have much on them, but using what we do have it is possible to piece together a good deal (this post uses logic to determine certain things about Ghosts using our limited info. I will tell you which parts are inferences rather than facts).
Let's begin.
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[i]So what do we know?[/i]
-Ghosts were made by the Traveler when it was crippled.
-They are machines of Light who were each made to find a specific partner.
-They can completely reconstruct their selected Guardian even if there are no remains of their body.
-Each Ghost behaves uniquely and seem to have minds like those of humans.
Edit: We now know that Ghosts have a mental symbiosis with us, so can sense our emotions and get a rough idea of our thoughts. Here's the evidence
https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/226242765/0/0
[b]Creation:[/b]
Reading Ghost Fragment: Ghosts, we can infer that the described pocket dimension (called the Beyond) is where the Ghosts came from as it is the memory of a Ghost. The Ghost describes an inverted world surrounding several stars that is lush with life and even has/had "people" inside, and that no signs of this world escape what it is contained in and it can be present in a microscopic amount of space (a Dyson Sphere, if you will).
Another grimoire, Mysteries 2, also describes an inverted world that the writer saw in a vision. In this series of dreams or visions that the writer received, they see many things inside the inverted world and also make a couple references to the Traveler ("the machine"), so judging by the way they described and compared the dream we can infer that this was the inside of the Traveler.
Using this information, the argument can be made that Ghosts were the inhabitants of the Beyond, which also means that, IF there are still "people" in there living and reproducing, we will have a theoretically endless supply of Ghosts. Of course, we still don't know if new Ghosts are actually being made or not.
A Ghost is made for the purpose of finding a Guardian, and as far as we can tell they are made to find one specific person. However, as in the case of the Ghost of Jaren Ward and Shin Malphur, we know that a Ghost can pair with multiple Guardians throughout its time if it chooses to do so.
How a Ghost is created and how it works are completely unknown to us. I don't know what the Traveler used to build the Ghosts (the possibility that it used the broken pieces of its mechanical shell is a possibility) but it seems like it put the souls/minds of the "people" living inside of it into the small mechanical capsules it built.
From Ghost Fragment: Ghosts 2 we know that each Ghost has a name/designate, but we know from the gameplay and lore that Guardians only ever call them as Ghost. It appears that Ghosts do not tell Guardian's their names for reasons unknown and leave their partners to either make up a nickname or simply say "Ghost".
From this same grimoire we are also aware that SIVA is incapable of breaking down, enhancing, or manipulating Ghosts. I can only assume this is because of their Light and/or the mysterious technology of their shells.
[b]Abilities:[/b]
A Ghost, being small and highly maneuverable, makes an excellent intel gatherer for the Tower. Many Ghosts journey out into the system in search of their Guardians and, using their unmatched ability to interact with and gather information from technology, will often return to the Tower with many secrets to tell. They can easily sneak around out of sight and, listening and secretly hacking into systems.
Ghosts are superior to any super computer, AI/Warmind, or enemy technology system that we have ever encountered. Their inner workings and how they were given such technological skill are unknown to us.
Ghosts also have the ability to completely reconstruct and restore the life of their Guardian. Anything from a paper cut to complete disintegration, a Ghost can make it as if the injury never existed. I believe that they may be able to do this by taking the matter/atoms in the space around them and piecing them back together to recreate in exact form whatever was destroyed. Their ability to transmat gear, vehicles, and their Guardians also displays what could be explained as the ability to rearrange matter, and it also correlates with the Traveler's ability to terraform planets by arranging matter to create water, breathable air, and the other requirements for life. The way the Traveler changes the gravity of a world to be comfortable for its inhabitants is harder to explain, but I believe it can be done by manipulating the matter of the world's core to make it more dense.
Back on track: if you suffer a wound that you cannot recover from with your own Light (I feel it's safe to assume the regen factor for gameplay is your own Light so that it's only necessary to hav your Ghost for major wounds) your Ghost can do anything from restoring a lost limb to bringing you back from death by total disintegration.
Guardians also do not age or grow sick, and I have theorized that this is because either their Light or their Ghost keeps their cells at peak condition of their age at revival so that no aging occurs and no viruses or bad bacteria can effect them. I would have to assume their own Light does this seeing how Guardians without Ghosts like Eris don't appear to age either.
Along with all these skills, Ghosts are also capable of receiving and transmitting radio signals, allowing communication from worlds away. One can also both watch and hear everything that a Ghost is currently experiencing by viewing a live feed or recorded feed from the Ghost's perspective.
[b]Value:[/b]
To this day we still do not know if new Ghosts are being made, and because of this and the fact that they are needed for our Guardians to properly combat our enemies, we must take care to keep every Ghost we can safe.
Even in death, the remains of a Ghost retain valuable memories and information that can lead to our success is this endless war. Without the creation of Ghosts to be our scouts, our most knowledgeable librarians, our proficient mechanics, our best hackers, and the creators of our warriors, humanity would have been lost long ago.
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In tribute to dinklebot and nolandroid, as well as all the other Ghosts out there, wether they have already given their Light for humanity or continue to shine in the Darkness to this day.
For more lore posts, along with some stories I have written, check out my Archive: https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/217384398/0/0
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This little light of mine I'm gonna get this door Ohhh this little light of mine While you shoot the hive This little light of mine I'm gonna get this door A million times a million orrr mooorrrre