While the Destiny franchise has its fair share of different enemies for players to fight, the insect-like Hive have been the major focus for Destiny 2 recently. Xivu Arath, the sister of Oryx, and The Taken King himself have been a thorn in players' sides for a while. Meanwhile, the Hive's Witch Queen has yet to fully reveal herself in-game as well. Savathun has seemingly been orchestrating events behind the scenes; she's responsible for the repetitive curse afflicting the Dreaming City, controlling the Taken, and even conspiring against the Darkness.
Season 12 of Destiny 2 also introduced players to the final sibling of the Hive Gods. The Hive's God of War, Xivu Arath, has also been attempting to steal the power left behind by Oryx. After the Pyramids appeared in the solar system, and Savathun seemingly disappeared, Xivu Arath sprung into action to spread her influence further. Season of the Hunt saw her High Celebrant using Cryptoliths to corrupt other factions to turn them into Wrathborn, Arath's personal corrupted army.
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With more story beats left to come in 2021, including Savathun's dedicated expansion, the Hive have quickly become one of the most complex enemy factions in the franchise. In fact, the Hive have been split into numerous Sects and Broods over the years, many of which pledging allegiance to different leaders. While the differences are subtle from a gameplay perspective, the different sects all have very big lore implications for Destiny 2. Here are all of the different Hive sects players have come across.
The Hive's Blood of Oryx is one of the major sects players typically fought during the first Destiny. They could be found inside the Cosmodrome, on the Moon, and inside the Dreadnaught from the first game. They were the servants of Oryx, The Taken King, and were commonly associated with the color purple.
This sect was primarily made up up the Court of Oryx and his family members, including Crota, Malok, Alak-Hul, and Nokris, before his eventual expulsion due to dabbling with Necromancy. Part of the Blood of Oryx sect were the Taken faction, assimilated by Oryx during The Taken King expansion.
Another Hive variation found within the Dreadnaught, the Silent Brood is one of the smaller sects in the first Destiny. Members of the Silent Brood were the Wardens of Oryx, tasked with vanquishing any who rose up against The Taken King, like Oryx's adopted son Alak-Hul. They were found deep within The Founts and were the primary enemies from The Sunless Cell strike. Players could locate them based on their turquoise/light blue coloring.
Another sect from the first Destiny, the Venom of Oryx were a specialized taskforce sent by The Taken King. During The First Firewall mission, the Venom arrive attempting to destroy the Warmind Rasputin from the inside. Similarly to the Silent Brood, the Venom of Oryx is one of the smallest Hive sects primarily made up of Hive Knights. The force was led by Kandorak, and his death gave players a quest item called the Curious Transceiver.
As the name implies, this sect is controlled by Oryx's son Crota, and were found inside of the Hellmouth on the Moon as well as Crota's throne world. Primarily colored yellow, they served as the major antagonists inside The Dark Below expansion for the first Destiny. This group is made of up many iconic Hive villains such as Omnigul, Phogoth, and Sardon. More recently, the Spawn of Crota attempted to regain control of the moon under Crota's daughter, Hashladun.
From a lore perspective, the Spawn of Crota were directly involved with conquering the Moon, as well as pushing back the Vanguard forces who attempted to take it back. This Spawn of Crota was responsible for what happened to Eris Morn's fireteam, a major storyline from the Shadowkeep expansion of Destiny 2.
Following Crota's ultimate defeat at the hands of the Vanguard, and Oryx falling in The Taken King expansion, the Hive left behind on the Moon consolidated together to rise up. Going by the name Hidden Swarm, this Hive Sect was controlled by Crota's daughter Hashladun, as well as her three sisters. Using the Pyramid found under the Moon's surface, Hashladun built the Scarlet Keep and used ancient magic to control the Nightmares pouring out of the pyramid.
As they gained power, Eris Morn caught wind of what was going on, bringing players back to the Lunar surface for the Shadowkeep expansion of Destiny 2. Known as the outermost line of the Hive's defense, this sect is notable for using the color red along, with spikes growing out of their bodies. While much of their leadership was killed in the Shadowkeep expansion, this sect continues on, most recently involved in the death of Sagira.
With Osiris visiting Luna to track down the Cryptolith signals, he came across a gathering of the remaining Scarlet Court. The High Celebrant of Xivu Arath was attempting to take control of the Hidden Swarm away from her sister, Savathun. While Osiris attempted to eliminate the remaining Hive here, the High Celebrant managed to pin him down before more of the leadership could be killed. In an effort to save the Warlock, Osiris' Ghost Sagira sacrificed herself by destroying the Cryptolith and saving Osiris. Unfortunately, it's unconfirmed if Crota's final daughter Kinox was killed in this battle, leaving the fate of the Hidden Swarm up in the air.
This sect of the Hive are led by the Witch Queen Savathun, and were commonly found in Destiny 2 on Titan, the Tangled Shore, as well as the Dreaming City. When compared to the other Hive sects, Savathun's group appear to be more muscular and organic. The first reveal of this sect was through the Destiny 2 strike Savathun's Song, which detailed a hive ritual intended to sink the colony there, extracting void light from Guardians to power a massive Shrieker.
While Savathun has yet to reveal herself, she's been involved in a lot of major storylines that have taken place within Destiny 2, including stepping into the void left behind by Oryx to control the Taken. She's responsible for the corruption of the Wish-Dragon Riven, and establishing the repeating three-week curse inside of the Dreaming City. However, she also allied herself with Oryx's disgraced son Nokris, who attempted to take control of the Tree of Silver Wings on Io to block the Vanguard's communication with the Darkness.
Even though her plans have fallen apart, she continues to hold a significant amount of influence over the Hive and Taken. Things may finally come to a head later this year when the Witch Queen expansion arrives, heavily implying that the content will finally deal with the looming threat of Savathun's plans.
Originally appearing on Mars as part of Destiny 2's Warmind expansion, the Grasp of Nokris are Hive that have been trapped under Mars' surface for hundreds of years. However, when Nokris was cast out by his father Oryx over the use of Necromancy and bargaining with the Worm God Xol, he set out to conquer Mars. The Warmind Rasputin sensed the threat and flash-froze the entire Hive army, entombing them for centuries.
However, after the Traveler's reawakening at the end of Destiny 2, the burst of light began to thaw the polar ice caps on Mars, causing the Hive to reemerge twisted with ice. Considering their leader's affinity for necromancy, The Grasp of Nokris is the only Hive sect to be composed almost entirely of reanimated Hive. However, as Xol fell to the Guardians, and Nokris left Mars to join with Savathun, the remaining members of the sect appealed to Savathun for help. Considering that Mars was recently lost to the Darkness and the Content Vault, the fate of this Hive group is unknown.
Following the orders of the Hive God of War, Xivu Arath, this sect recently came to light in Season of the Hunt. While they may not have been known to the player, Xivu Arath's army has been fairly active since the Scorn managed to break out of the Prison of Elders in Destiny 2: Forsaken. Member's of her sect were dispatched to the Dreaming City to steal artifacts in locations like the Spine of Keres, attempting to prevent guardians from using the Oracle Engine to block all communications.
However, Xivu Arath's activity significantly increased after the Darkness claimed various locations within the Solar System. In an attempt to steal power away from her sister Savathun, she dispatched her Wrathborn and the High Celebrant to increase her influence. One such location was the Moon, where she attempted to assimilate the remaining members of the Scarlet Court to her cause. However, Osiris intervened and nearly wiped out the entire court before being captured by the High Celebrant, only to be saved by Sagira sacrificing herself.
With the High Celebrant on the loose, Xivu Arath constructed Cryptoliths around the solar system to corrupt nearby beings, turning them into corrupted Wrathborn. Through the magic of the Cryptolith, Wrathborn are enhanced with increased strength and resilience at the cost of free will. Wrathborn's ranks not only include Hive, but other factions like Cabal and Eliksni as well. These creatures were the primary antagonists of Season 12 in Destiny, leading players to the final mission where they were forced to kill the High Celebrant.
While the Mindbent sect may not be considered an official Hive group, they were no doubt a major thorn in players' sides thanks to their leader Hiraks, the Mindbender. Originally a simple Fallen Dreg, Hiraks fell into the Hellmouth on the Moon. Hiraks emerged from the Hellmouth obsessed with the Hive, studying their ways, and finding a way to form his own throne world within the Ascendant Plane. He fashioned armor to appear like a Hive Knight, and even took Brood Queen, In Ananh, as his consort.
However, this Baron's major claim to fame is his ability to control the minds of the Hive. As such, he was able to create his own Hive army, and typically uses a Knight's Boomer weapon in battle. He was a major target for players as one of the eight Scorn Barons needed to be killed before reaching The Dreaming City in the Forsaken expansion.
Destiny 2 is available now for PC, PS4, PS5, Stadia, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
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Source: Destinypedia