Destiny: The Taken King – Who is Oryx?

If you think the god-Knight Crota is nasty, wait until you meet his father, Oryx, otherwise known as The Taken King in Bungie’s upcoming Destiny expansion of the same name. We imagine life was all right for Oryx up until a team of Guardians slaughtered his boy on the moon. Now his Dreadnaught ship appeared near Saturn and The Taken King wants revenge.

At the moment, Oryx is the biggest and baddest Hive leader, and the second creature belonging to this undead species to speak English; the first is Crota. In addition to being a handful in his own right, Oryx commands a powerful army known as The Taken, corrupted Hive, Vex, Cabal and Fallen who do his bidding. These foes look similar, complete with a supernatural flame, but possess unique abilities and mannerisms compared to “normal” versions of the aliens you battle in Destiny. This forces you to change strategy when dealing with these adversaries. For example, one foe can split into two creatures, while another teleports several feet around the environment at will. 

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In fact, you won’t battle The Taken in one location. You might be on Earth minding your own business when all of a sudden, Oryx unleashes a few of his goons in the middle of a firefight with the Fallen. Now you have two enemy types to deal with.

Initially you wind up on a Cabal base on Phobos, with a mission to investigate a distress signal. If you recall from time spent looting Mars, the Cabal don’t flee from a battle, so it’s odd to see the hulking and heavily armored creatures getting the heck off this rock to avoid Oryx’s forces, and more specifically, from becoming members of The Taken. 

The millions of years old Dreadnaught ship is a massive labyrinth (essentially a floating castle) filled with puzzles, Shrines and of course, tons of loot. It is a brand-new environment in the Destiny universe, and while we’ve yet to see a complete assault, we imagine it’ll be a while until you reach the ancient Hive king, if at all. 

Fortunately, Bungie will give players the tools to fight back against Oryx. You’ll go on quests to uncover three all-new subclasses in the game. To learn more about the Nightstalker (Hunter), Sunbreaker (Titan) and Stormcaller (Warlock), read Prima’s Destiny subclass guide. Then get ready to kill Oryx when The Taken King debuts on September 15. 

For more The Taken King news, this video contains lots of info on the upcoming DLC.