At the Ghosts in the Machine art exhibition featuring Bungie concept art, the community came across a piece titled ASARU, showing a character we have not seen before (pictured above). Is it a new enemy? Race? Boss? Something else? Keep in mind that much of the community is waiting for Bungie to announce a fifth enemy race. This comes from the GDC 2013 presentation where Joseph Staten and Chris Barrett talked about the world building of Destiny, and showed one of their “postcards” that would influence the visual design of the enemy races. On that postcard, [url=http://destiny.bungie.org/galleries/gdc2013_concept_art/lg/42.jpg]seen here[/url], are five types of enemies. The first four races have been identified as Vex (red), Fallen (blue), Cabal (gray), and Fallen (green). The fifth and yellow column is unidentified, but the triangular shapes seem to match [url=http://images3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20130331073137/destinypedia/images/b/bb/Onyx_pyramid_ships.jpeg]the onyx pyramid ships seen in this concept art.[/url] You may also be able to draw the conclusion that [url=http://images1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20130329073110/destinypedia/images/6/61/Thorn.jpg]the handcannon Thorn[/url] may come from this race, since it bears a resemblance in design. The character in the concept art piece Asaru does have pointed features in its armor as well, especially in its helmet, shoulders, and arms. Since this could very well be an early concept piece that has evolved and been refined since, do you think the Asaru could be this fifth enemy race? Or could Asaru be the name of one member of this fifth enemy race, a boss similar to Rixis, Archon Slayer? Or a character from a race we already know about? Also, this probably has nothing to do with this character, but I decided to do a little research about the name Asaru and see where it has been used in history. Here’s what I found: Most notably, Asaru was a god in ancient Sumerian religion, known as the god of the spring sun as well as the god of fertility, primarily in regards to the growing of crops. He is also mentioned as the god of lustration, which means “ceremonial offerings.” He was the son of Anu, who was the chief God in the Sumerian culture (As a side note, Anu was a very powerful deity known as the god of heaven and the constellations and the king of the gods, spirits, and demons. He dwelt in the highest heavenly realms and possessed the power to judge. He was the creator of the stars, and he created them as soldiers to destroy the wicked). The most information about Asaru can be found from the ancient Babylonian culture. The Babylonians adopted and changed many of the Sumerian gods, and Asaru was absorbed into the Babylonian god Marduk. Along with the attributes of Asaru, Marduk was known as the chief god in the Babylonian culture. He was identified as the creator of the earth. He was also known for his magic and having the ability to cause objects to vanish and reappear. He was identified with the planet Jupiter, the planet that would also later be associated with the Roman god Jupiter and the Greek god Zeus, both the greatest of the gods in those cultures. One other note that I was able to find is that in Sanskrit and Latvian, the name Asaru means “tear of the eye.” Does any of this have to do with the Destiny character/race known as Asaru? Not necessarily. What do you think about this new piece of concept art?