The link is to my podcast where we read, discuss the theory and more! If you'd rather just read the theory here ya go! Before we begin with this theory i think it’s important to talk about Cayde for a moment, i know we already covered Cayde’s lore in the Hunter Vanguard Lore Cast, but to really ground in this theory it’s important. Cayde, as you’re all aware, is the Hunter Vanguard, and a Vanguard is one of the leaders of the Guardian community. Sitting behind a desk and taking the lead, being in charge of people, being held responsible for not only his own actions, but for those beneath him. Essentially everything that Cayde doesnt want. He wants to relax and do his own thing, and if it wasnt for the Vanguard Dare he wouldnt even be in the position he’s in. [quote]"It is true that finding a Hunter representative to the Vanguard has always been…difficult. Their independent point of view is not something we can survive without, though. And so, over the years, we've had Hunter mentors come and go. That is, of course, what the Dare is for." —Zavala (Cayde’s Challenge)[/quote] So now let’s look at the teaser trailer, Last Call. we see Cayde in his element here, in the heat of battle he stops to get a drink. As he does so he retells the story of the initial Cabal attack, even now calling it a “boring meeting” and “an ugly contest where everyone was winning.” Playing music to set the mood, pouring a drink, and talking to the sweeper bot as the City falls around him, called back into action by a Warlock and Hunter running by only after one of the few remaining walls of the bar falls. And now let’s move on to the Rally the Troops trailer, which shows us that our Vanguard has been separated with Cayde and Ikora seen together in the City and Zavala outside it. The purpose of this video is to inspire Guardians to fight, at least from a lore perspective, so the obvious candidate is Zavala. He’s the Vanguard Commander, everything the Guardian populace does goes through him. But, as i said he’s separated from half the group. So the obvious choice from the B team’s inspirational speech would fall to Ikora Rey wouldnt you agree? Well that’s what i’d think at least, she’s not shy to speaking up when she thinks she should. In the opening cinematic of The Taken King while the Vanguard looks at the Dreadnaught for the first time she talks about “needing a Warlock on there” she clearly holds herself and her mentees to a high regard. Cayde even mocks her afterwards saying “oh here we go” as if to say that she’s done this several times before. But Ikora isnt rallying her troops, Cayde is. Now i’ll admit that Cayde rallying is likely a product of filling the gap, and pleasing the entire audience, whereas Ikora would just be a mirror of Zavala. But what if it’s more than that? What if Cayde felt pushed to step up, even so he wasnt serious in his speech. What if Ikora isnt actually there? If you watch it again you’ll see she only interacts with Cayde, and even though Cayde absolutely fails to get any reaction out of the crowd their full attention is on him. Why wouldnt they, why wouldnt even just the Warlocks be looking to Ikora to save the speech to rally the troops and inspire them to fight? Why didnt Ikora speak up when Cayde couldnt even remember the name of Ghaul? Why is it that Ikora is barely even needed in this scene? I think it’s because she died in the attack. Not initially, and it wont be revealed immediately within the game either, so let explain. I believe that the story of D2 will begin with Zavala’s team, that’s where our Guardian will start, getting an Opening and closing Cinematic to our first mission, which is the Rally the Troops trailer and a little extra, just like we did in the Taken King. One of the objectives shown to us in details is… [quote]To defeat the Red Legion and confront Ghaul, you must reunite humanity's scattered heroes, stand together, and fight back to reclaim our home.[/quote] So starting on the outskirts of the City we’ll not only have to go after getting new powers and armaments, but we’ll have to push into the City’s remains and reuinite Cayde’s team and Zavalas. Now i know the immediate reaction to me saying that Ikora died in action is that “we see her in the trailer” and yes technically we do, but in my opinion that’s a misdirect, and theres a few reasons why. Now i completely understand why people would say this isnt enough information to base this opinion on, but really there’s one line thats said in the video, followed by a select scene, a scene which was tweetered out by our very own community manager Deej. [quote]Despite the sacrifice of many brave Guardians. [/quote] At this point we’re shown a solo shot of Ikora as if it’s her reference image when introducing her to a crowd. [url=https://twitter.com/DeeJ_BNG/status/847497896253575168]This scene[/url] was tweeted by Deej with the text “My life for you Ikora.”