First, I want to say this is a completely quote of a reddit post. If this post is allready quoted from reddit to the bungie forums, I'm sorry, I didn't have seen it. Second, this reddit post was made by [b]u/Simansis[/b], not by me. He earns the gratefull thanks for writing down this explainaition. [quote]Good afternoon Guardians. The past day or so has shown that some clarifications need to be made about exactly what a reboot is, why some Exo's have a number following their name, and the function of Light and how it relates or doesn't relate to the reboots Exo's have to have to function properly. I'll start with Light. Light works for an Exo the same way it works for Human and Awoken Guardians. Using Light, a Guardian can bring themselves back from death providing their Ghost is still around to do so. If your Ghost is destroyed, and then you are killed, there is no coming back. The same is true the other way around, if you are killed and your Ghost destroyed before it can revive you, you are dead permanently. The legendary Warlock Felwinter proved this in killing a Risen. Light allows the Exo Guardian to be brought back from death in the same state they were when they died. This is important. It does not replace the reboot function. What is the reboot function for Exo? The Exo mind is a Human mind. The Human mind is linked to a Human body, and to remove it from that Human body and put it into an Exo body puts a great deal of stress on the psyche of that mind. It can never fully settle down in that new body, because it is not the body it was born in. Clovis Bray decided that a reboot every now and then relieves this pressure. An Exo can be safely rebooted 20 or so times before problems were expected to occur, and Clovis Bray were most likely hopeful a solution to this problem could be found before the first Exo even got close to 20. Then the collapse happened, and that research stopped. All Exo's, with and without Light, currently active have this issue. They still need to be rebooted to keep themselves effectively sane and without any problems. However, so much time has passed that the issues Clovis Bray feared are starting to come to pass, a perfect example of this is Banshee who has been rebooted so many times his memory has become incredibly damaged. Once a reboot has taken place, a new number follows that Exo's name. Cayde has been rebooted 6 times, Banshee 44 times, etc. Rebooting does not bring the Exo back to life if destroyed. Only Light can perform that function. People seem to think this works like regeneration in Dr Who for some reason. Rebooting refreshes the mind, not the body. Lore-wise, there is nothing to suggest a particular Guardian can be brought back. His Ghost was destroyed, and then he was too. History tells us that is the end of the matter. This is not to say that at some point, a solution could be found to remedy this, but current information is what we have and unfortunately, Cayde-6, Hunter Vanguard, has died at the hands of Prince Uldren. EDIT: This post is not to speculate on what might be. This is to discuss what is currently known to be true. The Traveler being awake may well play an important part in this turn of events. It may also mean nothing. This is to educate on what is currently known, not what we may or may not want to be true.[/quote]