I always forget how many factions are in the lore that we haven’t met/fought yet. The Concordant, Shadows of Yor, hostile Frames, rogue guardians etc. Would honestly love to see more of these factions, even if it’s a one off case
That would be kind of cool if they started adding in more horror elements to pretty much all aspects of the game. Especially with considering what's to come, and I'm not just talking about Witch Queen either.
Something I will note is that the "Pan-pan, pan-pan" and "All stations" call is naval terminology for "Something screwy is going on, everyone get your heads up". It doesn't imply immediate danger, but it implies the definitely possibility for everything going wrong. All the dials on your plane suddenly doing a flip before settling back to normal is a "Pan-pan" call. Mayday is "Oh dear god we're all doomed" and "we need help right bloody now". Just bit of lore.
@@3ndlessL00p Because I did a bad job of describing it, here's the official description. "The radiotelephony message PAN-PAN is the international standard urgency signal that someone aboard a boat, ship, aircraft, or other vehicle uses to declare that they have a situation that is urgent, but for the time being, does not pose an immediate danger to anyone's life or to the vessel itself. " And because I didn't define "all stations", it's a radio @everyone.
The Chrysura melo loretab confirms that when Eris was talking about “artifacts of darkness awakening across the system” and telling shaxx to remove the skull from above his spot she was right
Videos like these remind me how big of a world Bungie has crafted, even outside the concept of Light and Dark. It gives me hope for the "...and beyond" part of Destiny 2
The world that they've built is incredibly vast. What is a real shame is that they struggle to put it all in the game. I'm not referring to whether or not lore exists in or out of the game, but rather that it exists in the form that it does *within* the game. What I mean is that, a lot of the lore is presented simply in text form, and it makes one wonder what the game would be like if we actually got to see and experience most of it in-game.
@@JJMomoida That'd be great. But. We're, what? Seven years in so far? Covering all the lore in game form would span decades. There's a fair percentage of the current players who wouldn't live to see the end of that.
@@JBinFL I'm not saying they ought to cover all the lore in game form. That is even less feasible. I just feel like going forward, it should be integrated more into the narrative and world as opposed to text logs. Essentially, I would like to avoid a situation in which a character gets A LOT of characterization in, say, a lore book or something, and they're eventually introduced into the game proper only for people who don't read the lore to go "who's that?"
Beyond light and dark has some very interesting things such as this, the IX and the whole Vex situation. Honestly im hyped as hell for the coming war with the Entity, Xivu, Black Fleet and Worm Gods but damn im even more hyped to learn more about the IX and Vex haha
Aphelion is a point in a planets orbit when it is farthest from the sun, since bungie adores metaphor in their naming conventions, I'm going to assume the Aphelion are related to the darkness, they're "Farthest from the light of the sun. Also, I'm getting similar vibes to the creatures from that one lore tab from the dark age about monsters in the dark.
Good observation. I'd be surprised if Bungie started adding lore about these creatures and then never followed up with the actual addition of these creatures in-game. Could see them being teased in post witchqueen seasons up to Lightfall as a new enemy type.
@@chriszalitach2462 i dont get new enemy type vibes from them. I could be wrong but im getting more big boss vibes like Ahamkara/Riven etc. Maybe we see one as a raid boss at some stage
Imagine hearing ghost say in the witch queen “huh. There’s a distress message repeating on all awoken channels. Something about a….. sky shock event?” And seeing a burning awoken ship fall out of hyper speed halo 3 style with a blinding glow in the cockpit.
the Aphelion might be an amazing Raid Boss. 6 Guardians that each has slain gods beyond the power of most beings, Oryx, Crota, and so on, barely managing to defeat One of the Aphelion. Just one.
As much as I hate saying that, I would also add a mechanic that prevents us from melting it once the challenge mode is removed. One of the most powerful being in the universe, killed in 5 minutes by 6 loot hungry dudes wielding [META WEAPON] would be a bit ridiculous.
I’ve been waiting for a video on the Aphelion for a while. They seem so interesting and terrifying that I really hope we get to see something as deadly as them in game. A new paracasual enemy would be so cool
The one thing about the Aphelion that I think people brush over is what one of the Awoken who was on the Amestris says during the attack. “It’s the Core! It’s the Core! This is the Stalking Core!” The Stalking Core is only mentioned one other time in the Lore, and it’s in the Imponent I entry in Marasenna. The narrator mentions a “Core that Stalked” when talking about how early Awoken scientists were able to create power sources without petrochemicals, and how some of their attempts ended in horrific disasters. “May they in particular forgive the lurid stories of the molten lead reactor, and the twelve who were impaled to the ceiling by their control rods, and the Core That Stalked.” The way it’s capitalised makes it sound to me as though it’s a common thing that the people of the Distributary knew about, like it were a folk tale or common horror story, rooted in history. The Awoken who mentions it on the Amestris was likely a Distributary Awoken if they remember it, and it means that there must be some kind of connection between the Aphelion and the Distributary. Whatever they saw on the Amestris was similar to the stories told in legend about scientists who died to something so terrible that it’s indescribable. I think the connection between the Awoken and the Aphelion goes deeper than them just living in similar places, I think the Aphelion my have been a biproduct of the Distributary’s creation, or may have followed the Awoken who left it/were created when they did so. Nothing like them is mentioned during the Golden Age, they aren’t mentioned in Marasenna, and only the Awoken know about them, so they must only be in the same places as the Awoken, and have likely only existed for as long as they’ve been here. I’m DEFINITELY reading too much into this, but I think there’s something much bigger going on with them than people realise. If the Stalking Core was an attempt at creating some kind of fission core, then the Aphelion could be some kind of living biproduct, or maybe the core itself was brought to life somehow. ‘Stalking/stalked’ is such a specific word, it implies predation, and implies that whatever doing it is *alive.* If the Aphelion kill through intense radiation, then they could be a form of living nuclear reaction, accidentally brought to life by the Awoken’s experiments in the Distributary.
This is an interesting connection. And there's more. One of the distress calls during the Amestris incident mentions that "everything is blue." This is possibly referring to a phenomenon known as Cherenkov radiation ( en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cherenkov_radiation ). It further implies that the Aphelion may be a byproduct of or perhaps attracted to early Awoken experiments with nuclear and radiation-based technology in the Distributary. I think the Aphelion are also the same creatures that Drifter encountered, though perhaps as they occur naturally in the wild. Perhaps those were somehow able to breach into the Distributary, attracted by prey they seem to enjoy the most: paracausal Awoken beings. It wouldn't surprise me if a creature such as that was able to move through the two worlds, seeing as they're described as the greatest predators.
@@kaungsi5613 I don't understand why ppl think that Quira was going to be some Oryx level threat when it was always just a tough hydra with the ability to take.
The Star-Eater Scales lore tab seem to be related to the Aphelion, given all the info provided about their behaviour and appearance. The Scales themselves even seem to shimmer with a faint starlight pattern
It's not a clear connection, but I can see it. The Scales lore tab is definitely strange, and I suspect it will make more sense some time in the future when we have more information.
The Aphelion might also be the creatures that were described to be present during the Collapse as detailed by Heriette Meyrin in the Black Armory Papers since they seem to have come with the darkness
Maybe that's what we'll fight in the raid that comes with the witch queen. I also think it's part, if not is the darkness itself. It would explain why they didn't show up on the ships camera feed. Much like when Asher attacked the pyramid on io, the rounds fired were held, and shrouded in darkness. I'm really hoping we see more if them, and the veil
@@fishnutz5196 same here! I want a little tease from Bungie but I don't at the same time lol. I'm hoping as this season progresses, more lore entries will hint about it
so here's a thought... let's say the aphelion are the creatures found on a distant world. Could we potentially see them appear after The Final Shape? Maybe a new species we have to challenge as we branch out of Sol and into the rest of the universe
@@robertjoseph6765 lightfall indicates that the darkness is attacking so i wouldnt expect to see them then. But who knows they might be from the darkness
What about the Star-Eater Scales hunter exotics? The lore tab seems to describe an Eliskni's encounter with an Aphelion outside the sol system. During the encounter he isn't attacked, but there is a bright blue shimmer outside his Skiff and he experiences hallucinations of his brother. I bring it up because if the Scales on Star-Eaters are the scales of an Aphelion then it links the Aphelion to the Drifter Planet, and by extension the Drifter Planet to Athenaeum World X The exotics perk allows the wearer to "eat" orbs of light to empower their super. The creatures on the Drifter Planet drained the light of the Crew and they died to the cold unable to be resurrected. There's also the possibility of the Drifter Planet creatures being only related to the Aphelion, like worms and ahamkara both evolving to use the Anthem Anathema, maybe these creatures both used some evolutionary mechanism to devour light. The Chronicon does say they discovered the "secrets of the aphelion" not the Aphelion themselves. Athenaeum World X and the Drifter Planet have so much potential lore surrounding them. The secrets of the Aphelion, light suppressing or devouring fauna, monoliths that froze the creatures (pyramid constructs and stasis). Not to mention it's probably the furthest out from the sol system that guardians have ever been.
I feel like there is a connection between the star eater scales and the aphelion cuz they describe them as shimmering and hunt paracausal energy and when u "consume" an extra orb of power the star eaters glow blue, meanwhile their lore talk about some kind of hallucinations or trance so I think they're made from an aphelion
Oh god its true. I did not Connect It with the blue. So star eater scales and activates eating orbs of power Means they eat suns -> light. Or perhaps since now its 'power' means Darkness as well (they eat paracausal energies). They bait their Prey by attacking them psychically. In the sense of Techeuns, they are slaughtered mentally because of how they are conditioned (they are basically extensions of maras Will) that Eliksni merely got a headache, because the Aphelion was not interested. Imagine how terrifying It would be to be spared by some horror you are not even aware of because you are "not enough to sate them"
The Darkness, The Veil, The Boiling Shadow, The Aphelion, even the Darkness' "mist" we've seen since at least Shadowkeep. I'd love to see if any of these are the same entities, and what sick guns we can get Eris to turn them into.
I’d like to float a theory that the Aphelion and The Darkness are analogous to Aliens and the Engineers. Aphelion sound like the perfectly engineered weapon to snuff out the light by how they were described by The Drifter. Listening to all the accounts of encountering them sound like how encountering an Alien would sound in that world. Just a thought.
I remember way back from before the time Shadowkeep was even announced, there was a leak for an idea of Destiny 3. This obviously never came to pass but some of the ideas were kept around that were seen in the leak. Two of the ideas that were included in it were two new enemy factions, the Veil and the Aphelion. The Aphelion weren’t elaborated on much but were vaguely to the Darkness and were able to take our light based abilities away (i.e. resurrection and subclass abilities). And then the Veil were said to be minions of the Darkness (said to be almost lizard-like and matched a baseline description of a Darkness encounter in the Black Armory Papers) and even acted similarly to how they’ve been seen in the story (particularly Season of Arrivals and Beyond Light). The Aphelion, I think, are a potential enemy in another DLC or maybe a raid boss in the future (probably sometime in Lightfall if Bungie didn’t forget).
The Aphelion seem like they will be a post Light vs Darkness threat that we don’t see until Destiny 3. No room for them in the story now but things will massively change soon.
@@Lynch2507 I mean I wouldn’t care much, I’m happy with this current story ending the way it seems like it will. But they’ve repeatedly used the term “Light and Darkness saga”. They’ll eventually need a new game for whatever comes next, after we have left the Sol System and the Pyramids/Traveler are destroyed, so yeah
One other lore that ties in here is from “Imponent I” where the awoken mention “the core that stalked” and describes a bunch of techeun type people being killed in the context of developing nuclear power. the aphelion also seems to leave radiation in its wake. Did the aphelion come first and the awoken made this story to warn people away from it, or did the early awoken create it originally in the distributary?
The Star Eater Scales lore (postulated to possibly be about an/the Aphelion) includes something being wrong with the ship's core/engine. Perhaps the Aphelion manifest in nuclear cores? Or are called/attracted by them.
I've always been really interested in the Aphelion and I've had similar view points when it comes to the drifter connection. The only thing that confuses me is that, correct me if I'm wrong, the creatures drifter and co. ran into were just wandering around rarely coming close to them. And while we saw those creatures nullifying paracausal activity and that would line up with our knowledge of the Aphelion. I don't really see the Aphelion simply wandering around. If they are supposed to be an apex pretador of sorts it seems not intune with their nature. Either way cool to see you make a video on probably my favorite topic in destiny lore, besides The Nine.
I completely agree. Drifter and his crew were dying left and right from the cold, and while their light was snuffed out by the creatures, the creatures themselves didn't really ever attack. The behavior is not at all consistent with what little we know about the Aphelions. Besides, according to the Chronicon, that world that Drifter visited was in fact Athaneum World X, which contained information on the Aphelions- but it doesn't say that it contained the Aphelions themselves.
Correct. The only thing linking the Aphelion with Drifter's creatures is that they were both mentioned in the Chronicon---and that said entry describes them distinctly from each other.
The Aphelion were also mentioned in a grimoire card or two back around the era of Taken King or earlier. It has been so long, so I dont remember much, but i think it was one of the grayscale cards with a gold hue? Legends?
Seeing these kinds of creatures in the Destiny universe makes it feel much more alive. I’d like to see more of them, whether they’re in a boss fight like Riven or in a destination like the worm on Titan, the pterodactyls on Venus and the alien frogs on Nessus.
Maybe this has some connection to what happened on the Glykon, what with the scorn "screaming with a thousand dead voices" or something like that and the ship not appearing to be physically damaged but abandoned.
Well not technically abandoned as the Glykon had cabal there and katabasis on a macabre display so there were remains lol and if it was highly contaminated I doubt the vanguard would have allowed repeated returns to the ship
Man ever since I read the lore about the Aphelion, I've been so damn fascinated by it. It gives off serious Xenomorph vibes in terms of mystery and horrifying lethality. I cant wait to test the sharpness of our claws against one.
Maybe an Aphelion will intefere in Savathun's exorcism? If they prey on Techeuns, the coven we rescued would surely be too tempting a target to ignore. Seeing as how the Techeuns are paracausal, perhaps they may be Darkness related? Maybe Savathun might even summon one as soon as her worm is removed?
I've given this some thought since the beginning of the season and my hypothesis is that the Aphelion is a lifeform endemic to the ascendant realms, and the spaces in between.
So after Vow of the Disciple, I think it's prudent to point out that the Aphelion is referred to in singular (it) and it plagued the Awoken. Another tale is told by Mithrax, of Skira the Watcher, which plagued the Eliksni. Rhulk, the First Disciple, plagued the Worm Gods and Hive and a number of other beings, supposedly. (He also killed his own people) The next likeliest Disciples, are Calus/Xivu Arath who could be said to have plagued the Cabal. The Black Heart (???) could be said to have plagued the Sol Divisive Vex. And Savathûn, who at one point was almost made a Disciple, was enamored with Humanity, and if not actively trying to undermine the Witness, would likely have plagued Humanity, especially after all we know that she was here in the Sol system since the Traveler came. This leads me to the assumption that both the Aphelion and Skira are Disciples
Interestingly enough, I recently learned about the aphelion in my Spacecraft Dynamics class. The aphelion refers to the point in an orbit around the sun which is furthest from the sun. So if we take the sun as a symbol of the light, the aphelion is the furthest from the light, aka the dark.
An important thing that isnt often brought up when talking about the Aphelion is the name. In astronomy, it refers to the point on a body's orbital trajectory where it is the furthest from the sun. These beings are the furthest thing from the light. Food for thought~
It'll be interesting to see how the Aphelion relate to whatever monsters the Drifter found outside the solar system, the Harbingers, & the monsters described from the collapse. There isn't too much similarity between them apart from what we don't know about, but it'll be cool to figure out how they're related someday, if at all.
I think the Aphelion would make awesome antagonists for the next saga of Destiny after "The Final Shape". They don't seem to be aligned with the light or the darkness so perhaps they represent some kind of other power in the galaxy.
Fun fact: it's interesting you bring up the SKYSHOCK thing because I don't think many notice. The Aphelion is the third entity to have a SKYSHOCK event announced when they arrive. The second entity was the Taken when they arrived on Io after the Cabal mined the Light from the moon. The first entity... The Pyramids and their God when they arrived during the Collapse. Aphelion is also a reference to a point in a celestial body's orbit where it's the furthest from its star. Call this speculation but its name may very well mean "furthest from light or Light". Further reinforced by Shuro Chi likening them to the Taken. The creatures on the ice world are not the Aphelion according to Calus's scribes. I agree that everything there is suspect, but it's a note nonetheless. Regardless I believe both are related to the Dark. I mean, black goo creatures who were only stopped by a freezing ability accessed only after Drifter's Ghost was modified to use abilities "beyond the Light" and a creature likened to the Taken through at least two factors? There are a lot of things Dark, O Creator Mine...
I feel like all these extremely interesting but obscure pieces of lore, factions and paracausal beasts/races like the Aphelion are things Bungie is setting up for after the Light and Dark saga.
Perhaps it could be associated due to some original gameplan to have Destiny done in multiple sequels, but it is kind of absurd how Season of The Drifter was an absolute feast for future lore happenings that we did see delivered upon("blade and the hourglass") or are still very much up in the air and worth finding out. And of course that was the season that had people checked out the most during Year 2.
The transmissions on the Amestris claiming there was a hull breach and then the SAR claiming there were none is one of the most interesting revelations to me. Almost convinces me the aphelion make some sort of psychic attack on the mind that heavily distorts the victim's perception of reality.
I've always had a theory that the aphelion, the creatures drifters crew discovered and what we call the darkness are one and the same With the sound file that came out a while ago called "The sounds of darkness" this seems to be the type of sounds or screams that these creatures make very alien like and almost gross sounding if that makes sense My best guess as to what kind of texturing these creatures might have would be similar to the form of the black gardens dark heart a formless kind of substance When drifter and his crew discovered these creatures and was attacked by them it was described as them simply moving over one of the members and them just dying without a noise or anything and them not being able to be revived by their ghost we don't know how big these creatures are but they definitely seem to have some kind of shapeshift ability that could allow them to get into pretty much any area should an opening be present this would allow them to also sweep through an area and kill anything it touched if it could change form or size to suit the situation There's a pyramid ship in savathuns throne world so who knows maybe an aphelion or multiple are lurking inside or maybe even something that could possibly control them or explain what they are
Actually, this may hold a little water. The term "aphelion" in astronomy is used to denote the point during it's orbit at which a celestial body like a planet is the farthest from it's star. That would make it the point furthest from the "light" and closest to the "dark", poetically speaking. The name could be used here to denote creatures furthest from the Light and closest to the Dark.
I thought the way those crew members died was that the creature passed close by and the guardians’ light was suppressed long enough for him to die of exposure and not be able to be revived
This also makes sense from the Amestris log calling it "the core" a amorphous being that can kill just by proximity. If this means my guardian is about to die to a gelatinous cube... well that was a nat-1
If i remember correctly, Ahamkara technically utilized light in their paracausal bargains. Perhaps these aphelion are the darkness equivalent of the dragons?
Hmm... I dunno... Not to knock Bungie, but there is an awful lot of parallel between Destiny and Halo once you go looking for it, so maybe there's something in their prior works that allude to what they might do with these?
I tried to look into it during season of the chosen, and although it might seem like a stretch, I found interesting similarities with the glykon. The weird fauna, the same one that's aboard the derelict, actually makes screaming/humming noises, as well as the pollen things. Also they do all emit a blue glow, just like is mentioned in the bamberga lorepage. Idk the connection might be a bit of a stretch, but considering what they were doing on glykon, with semiparacausal things having to do with psychic powers it might be possible.
Might be a bit of a stretch, but the description of these creatures makes me think back to a piece of lore from back in season of the worthy, a survivor recount from the collapse. As they sat, waiting in a bunker, they described a scraping coming from just outside the bunker, followed by a screeching. Might be early aphelion presence in the sol system, might not, just thought it was interesting.
You know I feel like that whole line about Aphelion being more fearsome than the gods we've slain is Awoken arrogance more than anything else. After all how would the Awoken know,what gods have the Awoken slain?
I mean, Sjur Eido hunted ahamkara like they were white tails during deer season. Granted, that may be just one cracked awoken lady but still, you never know with the Awoken.
@@pasta1549 very true but do you think she would survive an encounter with Oryx? I dont know. I do think alot of people forget Oryx is still by far the strongest we have faced its just it happened so long ago. I honestly dont even think Savathun could match him (until she gets the light that is)
Topic idea for a future video: a video all about Sjur Eido, her time with Mara, her murder and theories of how she might return. Should be lots to dig into, if it's not on your list already, Byf.
From the description of their attacks, I'm getting a feeling that the Aphelion may not even be "real" in the sense that they exist on our plane. It sounds more like the attack the mind of their prey, which is why Techeuns would be especially susceptible to their assaults. Shuro Chi, who had the incredible mental fortitude both to hit shaxx and to face off against the ahamkara, may have had the power to mentally overcome the Aphelion, allowing her to escape. THe radiation may be it's means of acquiring its prey, by not necessarily breaching the ship but breaching the reality that separated it from it's intended target. Because one thing to note was that the distress call only lasted for 2 minutes, and it seems like no one escaped which reminds me of the Glykon and how no one seemed to be able to escape there either. It might assault the mind, and only those with **immense** strength of both mind and soul can escape.
Good ideas, I think I agree. I interpreted the statement about Techeun's being particularly susceptible because they have such instinctive trust and following orders (since just before saying that, Shuro Chi said they obey their queen and fear only what she fears, perhaps implying the instinctive obedience was part of how they could be corrupted/Taken/taken advantage of
@@MayanScientist Same thoughts. It's also why I think there is no sign of the attack after it's all done. They couldn't even find the hull breach that was mentioned in the distress call. Which says to make me think it twisted reality to let itself in. similar to how the darkness would move around pieces of the Glykon.
So some people have been speculating about a new Darkness subclass that we might be getting sometime in the future. Since it looks like we aren't getting one with Witch Queen, I'm thinking we might get a Radioactive kind of subclass and that the story around it will have to do with the Aphelion. Maybe during either Lightfall (although that seems like it might be more of a Guardian vs. Guardian civil war) or during the Final Shape
I feel like the unique mechanic with these things (if we ever face one) would basically be a complete shutdown of any light/dark based attacks and ghost revivals (you couldn't revive or self revive if one was in the area),the only way to kill one would be with kinetic weaponry
Might the radioactive surface contamination have been the remains of the aphelion's victims? If they were digested so completely that only particles and energy were left-- and if they are somehow related to the creature that killed one of the Drifter's crewmates such that their Ghost couldn't revive them-- then the Aphelion might feed on souls or something.
I think in the old Chicago lore it mentions a creature that are able to hunt guardians, so maybe that could be a aphelion but then we don't know exactly what's there in old Chicago
I mentioned this as well and got dismantled since there was no strong evidence to prove a true link. I figured since there isn't much known about the rest of the Earth lore wise that it could be a possibility, or perhaps maybe because the disaster of the collapse that some animals might have been mutated because of radiation, or perhaps it's probably actual animals that have been forgotten. I mean in Destiny we see birds you can see fish rabbits and cats in some crucible maps. Perhaps a stretch there, bit we also get to see wolves at the Iron Temple. The lore for the rest of Earth is very little
A potential clue as to the nature of these beings is in their name and what it means. "Aphelion: The point in the orbit of a celestial body at which it is futhest from its star."
If the Aphelion truly rest in that Lost Sector, then it would be hiding somewhere in plain sight. Now that I think about it, why is there a random pile of Glimmer that cannot be collected at the end of the lost sector? Also, the Drifter’s interest in the Aphelion is what leads me to believe there’s a connection to the Nine and to SIVA (through that scrap ship found from the Zero Hour puzzle that has Twin Snakes logo). In addition, with the other factions out of the way and the Vanguard distracted, it’s a prime time for Lysander to make a move again, unless he hasn’t already set his plans in motion….. All this stuff with the Aphelion is recent history as well, sometime in between Rise of Iron and D2 Vanilla and/or during the Red War. ]]]Orin would do anything for her love; she would even give up her Ghost.[[[
Maybe the Creatures that the Drifter found were Pawns of the Aphelions. Some kind of mindless creatures made out of the darkness just to obey when needed.
Sooo, what are the possibilities that the Aphelion tie in with the lore of the Star-Eater Scales, and, even more mysteriously, with Skira? You know, the thing Misraaks causally mentioned a bit back. Something overpowering that hunts? Its a bit of a stretch, but its worth noting!
while they do sound cool, the comments acting like they're gonna be the next big bads are a bit... over reactionary. Like, ok, not every single dangerous thing in the lore is hinting at the TRUE nature of the darkness or a REAL enemy thats been behind everything all along. Sometimes shit is just to flesh out the dangers in the universe. Like, if we ever get a story of exploring the universe outside the solar system, Aphelions might just be the equivalent of like, the Tyranids from 40k, just big mindless killing machines. Not like, the true antagonists that planned everything
@@gabrielpineirogarcia2078 they're described the exact same way as Tyranids usually are. hell, even down to the audio log from a doomed vessel. a force of nature antagonist would be a nice change of pace for Destiny i think
You say not the big bad then compare them to tyranids who are surmised to have eaten the entirety of several galaxies and even the void fears to a point that even undead machines rushed back home to get the big guns just to fight off the first few shock waves of them.
I was thinking about the creatures the drifter mentioned before you made the comparison. Plus since characters that are related to the drifter have been included with some of the lore. It only makes sense.
It intrigues me that they appear either in deep space or within the mind/ascendant plane?? It reminds me of a monster in the old Star Wars cannon about creatures whom were were ghosts stuck within hyperspace and lived by sucking the life out of crew ships albeit the descriptions are different with one appearing as a woman with a large gaping mouth full of teeth to an entity that flashes and glows as it stalks you while emitting a viscous scream
I'm betting that the creatures on that ice planet are the Aphelion, or at least that the "beyond the system" idea is correct. Also, about those darkness creatures, ice cages? Sound familiar, maybe a little like the Crucible post-Beyond Light?
One thing I noticed is that apparently their attacks are accompanied by a huge radiation spike - and one victim noting how "everything is blue". Certain forms of lethal, ionizing radiation involve a blinding, blue glow (most iconically the infamous Demon Core). This, combined with one victim describing it "shimmering" before attacking, makes me wonder if these beings hunt by basically emitting incredible amounts of radiation. It would be an effective strategy if you were immune yourself - simply start glowing and watch as everything is cooked to well-done around you. Considering that the ever-hyperbolic Calus remarks on them "being able to destroy entire worlds in the blink of an eye", it may be that these beings perhaps even rival atomic weapons in terms of how much energy they output when hunting. While I'm also speculating here, the idea of a creature that is basically a living, walking atom bomb, minus the actual explosion, is quite daunting to imagine!
Whatever they may be they are clearly multidimensional. The crew talked about a breach in the hull of the ship where the Aphelion were entering yet when rescue arrived there was no breach. So based on that it seems they must've entered through a portal. Also the unified screaming they do sounds a lot like when the multiple scorn had their minds connected to the crown of sorrow to commune with the dark. Dark either is also blue is it not? And the swollen bodies of the screebs glisten or shimmer. The small connections are interesting at the very least.
Love your content Byf! Would you be willing to do a video about the origins of the different subclasses the early Risen used and perhaps what some early Risen felt about the different powers their class had access to or even a Guardian that did not like the class it rose with. Anyways love your content!! Keep up the great work!!!
When I first played Presage, I was almost praying for the ship to have been ravaged by an Aphelion. They are my favourite unknown in the Destiny universe.
Anyone else think of the Black Armory lore entry that described a creature from the attack. It screamed too, also no one has encountered anything like it since the fall.
Definitely interesting connection to the drifter for sure. Could also be that its the "voice" in the darkness that has been mentioned recently. It does sound like it is something in the power of darkness or death , if they are so powerful to wipe out planets in the blink of an eye. Something similar but opposite can be said about the traveler. Really makes you wonder what's inside the statues of the darkness and even more , what's inside the traveler. Because if something so potent too kill exists then something potent of life must also.
this just a quick thing i noticed but the aphelion are described as “shimmering” and “glowing”. also when the aphelion entered the ship they say “everything thing is blue” and on top of that there was “radioactive surface contamination”. Ionization radiation in large concentrations gives off a blue glow or “shimmer”; additionally ionizing radiation oftentimes interferes with technology especially any sort of transmission which would also explain the raids cutting off as soon a the aphelion reach its target. according to the chronicon the aphelion come from a athenaeum world , which are know to be hostile places. We also now that at some point in time the awoken most likely had nuclear power and nuclear power CORES emit ionizing radiation. plus from what we can tell the aphelion stalk there pray. SO it is my hypothesis that the aphelion are a species of predatory beings that emit very high amounts of concentrated Ionizing radiation, that are incredibly strong, can survive the vacuum of space, can make 300 people just poof while only leaving radioactive surface contamination and from everything we’re told can kill techeuns and make look like a playground game.
Some sort of energy being maybe? It would explain how they entered the ship without leaving any sign of a hull breach, why they 'shimmered', why 'everything (was) blue', and why the ship was filled with radiation afterwards.
Random thought: Cayde's message [it's on Enceladus] to Petra was to be told to Paladin Orin. What if that was code instead to tell Petra what was on Enceladus, and that thing is the Aphelion?
- ... no matter what gods you've killed... you will not survive it. - You underrated my abilities! Jokes aside, I had the same theory, that the creatures the Drifter and crew found on the frozen planet were aphelion. Some more theories: Them being partially in those prisons can either mean that someone long before Drifter, have found them too, and imprisoned them, or they were "made", either some scientific experiment, that have gone wrong, or by some other powers (for example a tweaked "taking"). Also, for whatever they might be, it is possible that they have some innate radioactivity, and "phase walking", or maybe the radioactive contamination is a side effect of them moving around dimensions/space-time.
"Everything is blue." Sounds like things are blue-shifting. Blue-shifting happens when light approaches a gravitational field. As you approach a black hole the light from the stars becomes blue. Perhaps the Aphelion has the ability to activate localized gravity snare to keep prey from running with the Aphelion being the center of this field. It would also potentially explain the radiation.
@@Asturjgm Which may also explain a potential tie to the Darkness. Maybe these predators aren't really predators in the sense of an animal, but assassins. Taking out high value targets that could assist us.
![BRASIL vs. URUGUAY [1-1] | RESUMEN | ELIMINATORIAS SUDAMERICANAS | FECHA 12](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/-hWBAuxF1eY/mqdefault.jpg)
I always forget how many factions are in the lore that we haven’t met/fought yet. The Concordant, Shadows of Yor, hostile Frames, rogue guardians etc. Would honestly love to see more of these factions, even if it’s a one off case
The light eating monster the drifter saw and also nezrac
So true
@@ismael2901 Drifter was just talking about seeing Calus naked from behind.
The Shadows are a bait organization made by Shin Malphur.
We’ve been fighting the same 4-5 enemy groups (if you separate the Hive and Taken) since D1. At least it’s more diverse than Halo? 🤷🏽♂️
First is shimmered, then it crawled, then it screamed. The Aphelion is definitely just a giant taken screeb.
The universe's apex predator has, unsurprisingly, evolved to crab.
anything almighty is a crab
im picturing it looking like that as well
@@bannanakablaby8679 Just like crabpeople
these kinds of lore books make me really want more horror-esque missions like Presage.
Given the Reveal Trailer for Witch Queen, it seems like they might be adding horror elements to the campaign
That lore book reminded me a lot of what happened on the Glycon for some reason
That would be kind of cool if they started adding in more horror elements to pretty much all aspects of the game. Especially with considering what's to come, and I'm not just talking about Witch Queen either.
Zero Hour’s labirynth?
Same, I really don’t like horror but Bungie did it right
Something I will note is that the "Pan-pan, pan-pan" and "All stations" call is naval terminology for "Something screwy is going on, everyone get your heads up". It doesn't imply immediate danger, but it implies the definitely possibility for everything going wrong. All the dials on your plane suddenly doing a flip before settling back to normal is a "Pan-pan" call.
Mayday is "Oh dear god we're all doomed" and "we need help right bloody now".
Just bit of lore.
Thank you, I had no idea what pan-pan was all about lol
@@3ndlessL00p Because I did a bad job of describing it, here's the official description.
"The radiotelephony message PAN-PAN is the international standard urgency signal that someone aboard a boat, ship, aircraft, or other vehicle uses to declare that they have a situation that is urgent, but for the time being, does not pose an immediate danger to anyone's life or to the vessel itself.
"
And because I didn't define "all stations", it's a radio @everyone.
@@H9092-2 I kinda viewed it as "head on a swivel" like be alert because something's up. Sorta like that?
@@henram36 Pretty much. All Stations is @everyone and panpan is "hey, something fucky is going on, can I get eyes on it?"
The Chrysura melo loretab confirms that when Eris was talking about “artifacts of darkness awakening across the system” and telling shaxx to remove the skull from above his spot she was right
Videos like these remind me how big of a world Bungie has crafted, even outside the concept of Light and Dark. It gives me hope for the "...and beyond" part of Destiny 2
The world that they've built is incredibly vast. What is a real shame is that they struggle to put it all in the game. I'm not referring to whether or not lore exists in or out of the game, but rather that it exists in the form that it does *within* the game. What I mean is that, a lot of the lore is presented simply in text form, and it makes one wonder what the game would be like if we actually got to see and experience most of it in-game.
@@JJMomoida That'd be great. But. We're, what? Seven years in so far? Covering all the lore in game form would span decades. There's a fair percentage of the current players who wouldn't live to see the end of that.
@@JBinFL I'm not saying they ought to cover all the lore in game form. That is even less feasible. I just feel like going forward, it should be integrated more into the narrative and world as opposed to text logs. Essentially, I would like to avoid a situation in which a character gets A LOT of characterization in, say, a lore book or something, and they're eventually introduced into the game proper only for people who don't read the lore to go "who's that?"
Beyond light and dark has some very interesting things such as this, the IX and the whole Vex situation. Honestly im hyped as hell for the coming war with the Entity, Xivu, Black Fleet and Worm Gods but damn im even more hyped to learn more about the IX and Vex haha
@@fishnutz5196 what makes you think we'll be fighting the worm gods?
Aphelion is a point in a planets orbit when it is farthest from the sun, since bungie adores metaphor in their naming conventions, I'm going to assume the Aphelion are related to the darkness, they're "Farthest from the light of the sun. Also, I'm getting similar vibes to the creatures from that one lore tab from the dark age about monsters in the dark.
Good observation. I'd be surprised if Bungie started adding lore about these creatures and then never followed up with the actual addition of these creatures in-game. Could see them being teased in post witchqueen seasons up to Lightfall as a new enemy type.
I could see them coming from Pluto or some far away planetoid
@@chriszalitach2462 i dont get new enemy type vibes from them. I could be wrong but im getting more big boss vibes like Ahamkara/Riven etc. Maybe we see one as a raid boss at some stage
@@fishnutz5196 Fair enough. The lore tab does say that one Aphelion took down an Awoken ship on its own, so you might be right
@@gabrielpineirogarcia2078 you know Russia is bigger than pluto right? 😂
Imagine hearing ghost say in the witch queen “huh. There’s a distress message repeating on all awoken channels. Something about a….. sky shock event?” And seeing a burning awoken ship fall out of hyper speed halo 3 style with a blinding glow in the cockpit.
oh my god I would love that. it would be horrifying, but I would love it.
Funny thing is, this thing even induces fear in the same way as the flood. What an excellent way to give an enemy to truly be afraid of.
the Aphelion might be an amazing Raid Boss.
6 Guardians that each has slain gods beyond the power of most beings, Oryx, Crota, and so on, barely managing to defeat One of the Aphelion. Just one.
As much as I hate saying that, I would also add a mechanic that prevents us from melting it once the challenge mode is removed. One of the most powerful being in the universe, killed in 5 minutes by 6 loot hungry dudes wielding [META WEAPON] would be a bit ridiculous.
Perhaps that's what's in the pyramid within Witch Queen
@@LeElister64 I bet you if that does indeed happen cheese forever will find a way to melt it
@@LeElister64 "one fucking guardian"
Zavala
@@LeElister64
Can be a 2 part raid boss where it retreats to assistance of others giving it like a phase 2 or 3 to be a challenge
I’ve been waiting for a video on the Aphelion for a while. They seem so interesting and terrifying that I really hope we get to see something as deadly as them in game. A new paracasual enemy would be so cool
After the light and darkness saga ends, maybe we will get more into this ancient enemie.
The one thing about the Aphelion that I think people brush over is what one of the Awoken who was on the Amestris says during the attack.
“It’s the Core! It’s the Core! This is the Stalking Core!”
The Stalking Core is only mentioned one other time in the Lore, and it’s in the Imponent I entry in Marasenna. The narrator mentions a “Core that Stalked” when talking about how early Awoken scientists were able to create power sources without petrochemicals, and how some of their attempts ended in horrific disasters.
“May they in particular forgive the lurid stories of the molten lead reactor, and the twelve who were impaled to the ceiling by their control rods, and the Core That Stalked.”
The way it’s capitalised makes it sound to me as though it’s a common thing that the people of the Distributary knew about, like it were a folk tale or common horror story, rooted in history.
The Awoken who mentions it on the Amestris was likely a Distributary Awoken if they remember it, and it means that there must be some kind of connection between the Aphelion and the Distributary. Whatever they saw on the Amestris was similar to the stories told in legend about scientists who died to something so terrible that it’s indescribable.
I think the connection between the Awoken and the Aphelion goes deeper than them just living in similar places, I think the Aphelion my have been a biproduct of the Distributary’s creation, or may have followed the Awoken who left it/were created when they did so. Nothing like them is mentioned during the Golden Age, they aren’t mentioned in Marasenna, and only the Awoken know about them, so they must only be in the same places as the Awoken, and have likely only existed for as long as they’ve been here.
I’m DEFINITELY reading too much into this, but I think there’s something much bigger going on with them than people realise.
If the Stalking Core was an attempt at creating some kind of fission core, then the Aphelion could be some kind of living biproduct, or maybe the core itself was brought to life somehow. ‘Stalking/stalked’ is such a specific word, it implies predation, and implies that whatever doing it is *alive.* If the Aphelion kill through intense radiation, then they could be a form of living nuclear reaction, accidentally brought to life by the Awoken’s experiments in the Distributary.
This is an interesting connection. And there's more. One of the distress calls during the Amestris incident mentions that "everything is blue." This is possibly referring to a phenomenon known as Cherenkov radiation ( en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cherenkov_radiation ). It further implies that the Aphelion may be a byproduct of or perhaps attracted to early Awoken experiments with nuclear and radiation-based technology in the Distributary.
I think the Aphelion are also the same creatures that Drifter encountered, though perhaps as they occur naturally in the wild. Perhaps those were somehow able to breach into the Distributary, attracted by prey they seem to enjoy the most: paracausal Awoken beings. It wouldn't surprise me if a creature such as that was able to move through the two worlds, seeing as they're described as the greatest predators.
Shuro Chi: ... no matter what gods you've killed... you will not survive it.
Our Guardian: BET...
A worthy test subject for our newly recovered gally
That thing best be a raid boss and not some shitty story quest let down like Quria Blade Transform was.
@@kaungsi5613 It could be a new enemy race.
@@kaungsi5613 I don't understand why ppl think that Quira was going to be some Oryx level threat when it was always just a tough hydra with the ability to take.
I don't truth Shuro Chi's words when she says "no matter what gods you've killed". How many has the Awoken killed?
The Star-Eater Scales lore tab seem to be related to the Aphelion, given all the info provided about their behaviour and appearance. The Scales themselves even seem to shimmer with a faint starlight pattern
It's not a clear connection, but I can see it. The Scales lore tab is definitely strange, and I suspect it will make more sense some time in the future when we have more information.
What does the Lore entry say, I don't have that exotic yet myself
@@BatteredWalrus Pro tip: You can actually go into your Collections, inspect Exotics you don’t have, and still read the Lore tab for them
@@andrewryan1946 Yes
@@BatteredWalrus depressing story of an Eliksni dying alone.
Byf: Only a fool would underestimate the Aphelion.
Me: Can't wait to turn them into the dopest gun oh man
No matter how many gods you have killed you have no chance run
@@ronanoftheborealvalley4353 I refuse
you got me lookin like 🗿 with that one chief
hahaha we’ll turn you into a gun! hahahah get it? its funny right?
@@peabrain6872 why are you mad
"You will not survive it."
The Titan urge to accept that challenge.
The Aphelion might also be the creatures that were described to be present during the Collapse as detailed by Heriette Meyrin in the Black Armory Papers since they seem to have come with the darkness
Maybe that's what we'll fight in the raid that comes with the witch queen. I also think it's part, if not is the darkness itself. It would explain why they didn't show up on the ships camera feed. Much like when Asher attacked the pyramid on io, the rounds fired were held, and shrouded in darkness. I'm really hoping we see more if them, and the veil
@@Nchill74 WQ raid would make sense since its on the Ziggurat and says "fight an ancient evil" oh man im hyped
@@fishnutz5196 same here! I want a little tease from Bungie but I don't at the same time lol. I'm hoping as this season progresses, more lore entries will hint about it
so here's a thought... let's say the aphelion are the creatures found on a distant world. Could we potentially see them appear after The Final Shape? Maybe a new species we have to challenge as we branch out of Sol and into the rest of the universe
That would be so cool
My guess actually would be Lightfall. It fits the theme. Remember they drain the light just by being in the presence of guardians.
@@robertjoseph6765 lightfall indicates that the darkness is attacking so i wouldnt expect to see them then. But who knows they might be from the darkness
Branch out of sol ha good joke Bungie would have most likely vaulted the entire game before that ever happens
I like the weird mini stories in the Awoken's past! Beautiful!
What about the Star-Eater Scales hunter exotics? The lore tab seems to describe an Eliskni's encounter with an Aphelion outside the sol system. During the encounter he isn't attacked, but there is a bright blue shimmer outside his Skiff and he experiences hallucinations of his brother.
I bring it up because if the Scales on Star-Eaters are the scales of an Aphelion then it links the Aphelion to the Drifter Planet, and by extension the Drifter Planet to Athenaeum World X
The exotics perk allows the wearer to "eat" orbs of light to empower their super. The creatures on the Drifter Planet drained the light of the Crew and they died to the cold unable to be resurrected.
There's also the possibility of the Drifter Planet creatures being only related to the Aphelion, like worms and ahamkara both evolving to use the Anthem Anathema, maybe these creatures both used some evolutionary mechanism to devour light. The Chronicon does say they discovered the "secrets of the aphelion" not the Aphelion themselves.
Athenaeum World X and the Drifter Planet have so much potential lore surrounding them. The secrets of the Aphelion, light suppressing or devouring fauna, monoliths that froze the creatures (pyramid constructs and stasis). Not to mention it's probably the furthest out from the sol system that guardians have ever been.
I feel like there is a connection between the star eater scales and the aphelion cuz they describe them as shimmering and hunt paracausal energy and when u "consume" an extra orb of power the star eaters glow blue, meanwhile their lore talk about some kind of hallucinations or trance so I think they're made from an aphelion
Oh god its true. I did not Connect It with the blue.
So star eater scales and activates eating orbs of power Means they eat suns -> light. Or perhaps since now its 'power' means Darkness as well (they eat paracausal energies).
They bait their Prey by attacking them psychically. In the sense of Techeuns, they are slaughtered mentally because of how they are conditioned (they are basically extensions of maras Will) that Eliksni merely got a headache, because the Aphelion was not interested. Imagine how terrifying It would be to be spared by some horror you are not even aware of because you are "not enough to sate them"
*Byf playing with a bow in the background gameplay*
Me: Byf will mention Sjur Eido at least once in this video.
*Byf does exactly that*
"No matter what gods you have killed... you will not survive it."
Me: Clearly you don't entirely comprehend who I am.
Also me- has a .49KDA in PvE.
12:40 Ouch.
@@nettaatzili1936 🤣🤣
Gotta admit, that's pretty funny.
You cant kill the Ogres in the Pit of Herecy. Just felt like pointing that out
@@elseggs6504... Shanks.... You're right...
The Darkness, The Veil, The Boiling Shadow, The Aphelion, even the Darkness' "mist" we've seen since at least Shadowkeep.
I'd love to see if any of these are the same entities, and what sick guns we can get Eris to turn them into.
Move over tex mechanica, make way omolon, hakkee and surros there's a new weaponsmith
Eris
I wish I could go back to the day I could play destiny everyday, or at least once per week
I’d like to float a theory that the Aphelion and The Darkness are analogous to Aliens and the Engineers. Aphelion sound like the perfectly engineered weapon to snuff out the light by how they were described by The Drifter. Listening to all the accounts of encountering them sound like how encountering an Alien would sound in that world. Just a thought.
I remember way back from before the time Shadowkeep was even announced, there was a leak for an idea of Destiny 3. This obviously never came to pass but some of the ideas were kept around that were seen in the leak. Two of the ideas that were included in it were two new enemy factions, the Veil and the Aphelion. The Aphelion weren’t elaborated on much but were vaguely to the Darkness and were able to take our light based abilities away (i.e. resurrection and subclass abilities). And then the Veil were said to be minions of the Darkness (said to be almost lizard-like and matched a baseline description of a Darkness encounter in the Black Armory Papers) and even acted similarly to how they’ve been seen in the story (particularly Season of Arrivals and Beyond Light). The Aphelion, I think, are a potential enemy in another DLC or maybe a raid boss in the future (probably sometime in Lightfall if Bungie didn’t forget).
A year later, I find the idea of the Aphelion as either a seasonal story of the next "villain" of the next "saga" to be very captivating
The Aphelion seem like they will be a post Light vs Darkness threat that we don’t see until Destiny 3. No room for them in the story now but things will massively change soon.
Destiny 3, that game thats not happening lmao
@@Lynch2507 I mean I wouldn’t care much, I’m happy with this current story ending the way it seems like it will. But they’ve repeatedly used the term “Light and Darkness saga”. They’ll eventually need a new game for whatever comes next, after we have left the Sol System and the Pyramids/Traveler are destroyed, so yeah
For sure post light, aphelion is the point of orbit which is furthest from the sun.
@@frankmigliore9240 but with no light or darkness there is no destiny
@@bonk8668 that’s what I said lol
One other lore that ties in here is from “Imponent I” where the awoken mention “the core that stalked” and describes a bunch of techeun type people being killed in the context of developing nuclear power. the aphelion also seems to leave radiation in its wake. Did the aphelion come first and the awoken made this story to warn people away from it, or did the early awoken create it originally in the distributary?
The Star Eater Scales lore (postulated to possibly be about an/the Aphelion) includes something being wrong with the ship's core/engine. Perhaps the Aphelion manifest in nuclear cores? Or are called/attracted by them.
I've always been really interested in the Aphelion and I've had similar view points when it comes to the drifter connection. The only thing that confuses me is that, correct me if I'm wrong, the creatures drifter and co. ran into were just wandering around rarely coming close to them. And while we saw those creatures nullifying paracausal activity and that would line up with our knowledge of the Aphelion. I don't really see the Aphelion simply wandering around. If they are supposed to be an apex pretador of sorts it seems not intune with their nature.
Either way cool to see you make a video on probably my favorite topic in destiny lore, besides The Nine.
I completely agree. Drifter and his crew were dying left and right from the cold, and while their light was snuffed out by the creatures, the creatures themselves didn't really ever attack. The behavior is not at all consistent with what little we know about the Aphelions. Besides, according to the Chronicon, that world that Drifter visited was in fact Athaneum World X, which contained information on the Aphelions- but it doesn't say that it contained the Aphelions themselves.
Correct. The only thing linking the Aphelion with Drifter's creatures is that they were both mentioned in the Chronicon---and that said entry describes them distinctly from each other.
The Aphelion sound more like animals then an actual new faction. That would make them cooler
FINALLY! I’m so glad you covered this! I’ve been curious about the aphelion for at least a year! :)
The Aphelion were also mentioned in a grimoire card or two back around the era of Taken King or earlier. It has been so long, so I dont remember much, but i think it was one of the grayscale cards with a gold hue? Legends?
Perhaps the aphelion was/were a species that had their own “golden age” but not with the light, but darkness.
Seeing these kinds of creatures in the Destiny universe makes it feel much more alive. I’d like to see more of them, whether they’re in a boss fight like Riven or in a destination like the worm on Titan, the pterodactyls on Venus and the alien frogs on Nessus.
Maybe this has some connection to what happened on the Glykon, what with the scorn "screaming with a thousand dead voices" or something like that and the ship not appearing to be physically damaged but abandoned.
Well not technically abandoned as the Glykon had cabal there and katabasis on a macabre display so there were remains lol and if it was highly contaminated I doubt the vanguard would have allowed repeated returns to the ship
Could the aphelion potentially be the entities mentioned in the black armory papers?
only mentioned in forsaken dlc and opulence sadly
My mind took a similar path, but the Aphelion leave radiation where they tread. I don't remember radiation being mentioned in the papers.
Man ever since I read the lore about the Aphelion, I've been so damn fascinated by it. It gives off serious Xenomorph vibes in terms of mystery and horrifying lethality. I cant wait to test the sharpness of our claws against one.
When you quoted the entry that described the Aphelion like crawling and then screaming, I immediately thought of the Drifters unnamed creatures
Maybe an Aphelion will intefere in Savathun's exorcism? If they prey on Techeuns, the coven we rescued would surely be too tempting a target to ignore. Seeing as how the Techeuns are paracausal, perhaps they may be Darkness related? Maybe Savathun might even summon one as soon as her worm is removed?
I've given this some thought since the beginning of the season and my hypothesis is that the Aphelion is a lifeform endemic to the ascendant realms, and the spaces in between.
So after Vow of the Disciple, I think it's prudent to point out that the Aphelion is referred to in singular (it) and it plagued the Awoken.
Another tale is told by Mithrax, of Skira the Watcher, which plagued the Eliksni.
Rhulk, the First Disciple, plagued the Worm Gods and Hive and a number of other beings, supposedly. (He also killed his own people)
The next likeliest Disciples, are Calus/Xivu Arath who could be said to have plagued the Cabal.
The Black Heart (???) could be said to have plagued the Sol Divisive Vex.
And Savathûn, who at one point was almost made a Disciple, was enamored with Humanity, and if not actively trying to undermine the Witness, would likely have plagued Humanity, especially after all we know that she was here in the Sol system since the Traveler came.
This leads me to the assumption that both the Aphelion and Skira are Disciples
Interestingly enough, I recently learned about the aphelion in my Spacecraft Dynamics class. The aphelion refers to the point in an orbit around the sun which is furthest from the sun. So if we take the sun as a symbol of the light, the aphelion is the furthest from the light, aka the dark.
I was literally searing the grimore for mentions of this this yesterday.
I’m so glad you’ve covered this, ever since Evade made his video on strange Destiny creatures I was super interested.
An important thing that isnt often brought up when talking about the Aphelion is the name. In astronomy, it refers to the point on a body's orbital trajectory where it is the furthest from the sun. These beings are the furthest thing from the light. Food for thought~
It'll be interesting to see how the Aphelion relate to whatever monsters the Drifter found outside the solar system, the Harbingers, & the monsters described from the collapse. There isn't too much similarity between them apart from what we don't know about, but it'll be cool to figure out how they're related someday, if at all.
I think the Aphelion would make awesome antagonists for the next saga of Destiny after "The Final Shape". They don't seem to be aligned with the light or the darkness so perhaps they represent some kind of other power in the galaxy.
Fun fact: it's interesting you bring up the SKYSHOCK thing because I don't think many notice. The Aphelion is the third entity to have a SKYSHOCK event announced when they arrive. The second entity was the Taken when they arrived on Io after the Cabal mined the Light from the moon. The first entity... The Pyramids and their God when they arrived during the Collapse.
Aphelion is also a reference to a point in a celestial body's orbit where it's the furthest from its star. Call this speculation but its name may very well mean "furthest from light or Light". Further reinforced by Shuro Chi likening them to the Taken.
The creatures on the ice world are not the Aphelion according to Calus's scribes. I agree that everything there is suspect, but it's a note nonetheless. Regardless I believe both are related to the Dark. I mean, black goo creatures who were only stopped by a freezing ability accessed only after Drifter's Ghost was modified to use abilities "beyond the Light" and a creature likened to the Taken through at least two factors?
There are a lot of things Dark, O Creator Mine...
I feel like all these extremely interesting but obscure pieces of lore, factions and paracausal beasts/races like the Aphelion are things Bungie is setting up for after the Light and Dark saga.
Perhaps it could be associated due to some original gameplan to have Destiny done in multiple sequels, but it is kind of absurd how Season of The Drifter was an absolute feast for future lore happenings that we did see delivered upon("blade and the hourglass") or are still very much up in the air and worth finding out.
And of course that was the season that had people checked out the most during Year 2.
Fantastic. Glad you came back around to this one.
"There's a Triumph for it, but MORE IMPORTANTLY..." Easy there, Satan.
Sjur Eido didn't survive the encounter with the aphelion. It was the aphelion that survived the encounter with Sjur Eido
It saw her and noped its self right outta there
the next saga has to have Aphelions or something similar as one of the main enemy race
The transmissions on the Amestris claiming there was a hull breach and then the SAR claiming there were none is one of the most interesting revelations to me. Almost convinces me the aphelion make some sort of psychic attack on the mind that heavily distorts the victim's perception of reality.
I've always had a theory that the aphelion, the creatures drifters crew discovered and what we call the darkness are one and the same
With the sound file that came out a while ago called "The sounds of darkness" this seems to be the type of sounds or screams that these creatures make very alien like and almost gross sounding if that makes sense
My best guess as to what kind of texturing these creatures might have would be similar to the form of the black gardens dark heart a formless kind of substance
When drifter and his crew discovered these creatures and was attacked by them it was described as them simply moving over one of the members and them just dying without a noise or anything and them not being able to be revived by their ghost we don't know how big these creatures are but they definitely seem to have some kind of shapeshift ability that could allow them to get into pretty much any area should an opening be present this would allow them to also sweep through an area and kill anything it touched if it could change form or size to suit the situation
There's a pyramid ship in savathuns throne world so who knows maybe an aphelion or multiple are lurking inside or maybe even something that could possibly control them or explain what they are
Actually, this may hold a little water. The term "aphelion" in astronomy is used to denote the point during it's orbit at which a celestial body like a planet is the farthest from it's star. That would make it the point furthest from the "light" and closest to the "dark", poetically speaking. The name could be used here to denote creatures furthest from the Light and closest to the Dark.
I thought the way those crew members died was that the creature passed close by and the guardians’ light was suppressed long enough for him to die of exposure and not be able to be revived
This also makes sense from the Amestris log calling it "the core" a amorphous being that can kill just by proximity.
If this means my guardian is about to die to a gelatinous cube... well that was a nat-1
If i remember correctly, Ahamkara technically utilized light in their paracausal bargains.
Perhaps these aphelion are the darkness equivalent of the dragons?
Hmm... I dunno... Not to knock Bungie, but there is an awful lot of parallel between Destiny and Halo once you go looking for it, so maybe there's something in their prior works that allude to what they might do with these?
Aphelion gonna catch these hands! New enemy!? SIGN ME UP!!!
I tried to look into it during season of the chosen, and although it might seem like a stretch, I found interesting similarities with the glykon.
The weird fauna, the same one that's aboard the derelict, actually makes screaming/humming noises, as well as the pollen things. Also they do all emit a blue glow, just like is mentioned in the bamberga lorepage. Idk the connection might be a bit of a stretch, but considering what they were doing on glykon, with semiparacausal things having to do with psychic powers it might be possible.
Man that small thing about Orin and the Drifter made me want an updated video series on everything we know about the drifter so far
Frankly I think we need more alien enemies in this game and I hope these Apehlion make into the game soon!
Might be a bit of a stretch, but the description of these creatures makes me think back to a piece of lore from back in season of the worthy, a survivor recount from the collapse. As they sat, waiting in a bunker, they described a scraping coming from just outside the bunker, followed by a screeching. Might be early aphelion presence in the sol system, might not, just thought it was interesting.
You know I feel like that whole line about Aphelion being more fearsome than the gods we've slain is Awoken arrogance more than anything else. After all how would the Awoken know,what gods have the Awoken slain?
I agree
They may have seen greater power than oryx or Riven who knows what they have been through during the dark age and golden age
I mean, Sjur Eido hunted ahamkara like they were white tails during deer season. Granted, that may be just one cracked awoken lady but still, you never know with the Awoken.
@@pasta1549 very true but do you think she would survive an encounter with Oryx? I dont know. I do think alot of people forget Oryx is still by far the strongest we have faced its just it happened so long ago. I honestly dont even think Savathun could match him (until she gets the light that is)
Topic idea for a future video: a video all about Sjur Eido, her time with Mara, her murder and theories of how she might return. Should be lots to dig into, if it's not on your list already, Byf.
From the description of their attacks, I'm getting a feeling that the Aphelion may not even be "real" in the sense that they exist on our plane. It sounds more like the attack the mind of their prey, which is why Techeuns would be especially susceptible to their assaults. Shuro Chi, who had the incredible mental fortitude both to hit shaxx and to face off against the ahamkara, may have had the power to mentally overcome the Aphelion, allowing her to escape. THe radiation may be it's means of acquiring its prey, by not necessarily breaching the ship but breaching the reality that separated it from it's intended target. Because one thing to note was that the distress call only lasted for 2 minutes, and it seems like no one escaped which reminds me of the Glykon and how no one seemed to be able to escape there either. It might assault the mind, and only those with **immense** strength of both mind and soul can escape.
Good ideas, I think I agree. I interpreted the statement about Techeun's being particularly susceptible because they have such instinctive trust and following orders (since just before saying that, Shuro Chi said they obey their queen and fear only what she fears, perhaps implying the instinctive obedience was part of how they could be corrupted/Taken/taken advantage of
@@MayanScientist Same thoughts. It's also why I think there is no sign of the attack after it's all done. They couldn't even find the hull breach that was mentioned in the distress call. Which says to make me think it twisted reality to let itself in. similar to how the darkness would move around pieces of the Glykon.
Having followed the lore as closely as I have over the years, I can confidently say there is no greater fear inspired than that of the word "Skyshock"
So some people have been speculating about a new Darkness subclass that we might be getting sometime in the future. Since it looks like we aren't getting one with Witch Queen, I'm thinking we might get a Radioactive kind of subclass and that the story around it will have to do with the Aphelion. Maybe during either Lightfall (although that seems like it might be more of a Guardian vs. Guardian civil war) or during the Final Shape
The report from the doomed ship saying "Everything is blue" makes me think of the growths and barriers on the Gleikon
I feel like the unique mechanic with these things (if we ever face one) would basically be a complete shutdown of any light/dark based attacks and ghost revivals (you couldn't revive or self revive if one was in the area),the only way to kill one would be with kinetic weaponry
Finally a vid about this! My clan mates and I had a huge argument about these things a few months ago!
Might the radioactive surface contamination have been the remains of the aphelion's victims? If they were digested so completely that only particles and energy were left-- and if they are somehow related to the creature that killed one of the Drifter's crewmates such that their Ghost couldn't revive them-- then the Aphelion might feed on souls or something.
I think in the old Chicago lore it mentions a creature that are able to hunt guardians, so maybe that could be a aphelion but then we don't know exactly what's there in old Chicago
I mentioned this as well and got dismantled since there was no strong evidence to prove a true link. I figured since there isn't much known about the rest of the Earth lore wise that it could be a possibility, or perhaps maybe because the disaster of the collapse that some animals might have been mutated because of radiation, or perhaps it's probably actual animals that have been forgotten. I mean in Destiny we see birds you can see fish rabbits and cats in some crucible maps. Perhaps a stretch there, bit we also get to see wolves at the Iron Temple. The lore for the rest of Earth is very little
A potential clue as to the nature of these beings is in their name and what it means. "Aphelion: The point in the orbit of a celestial body at which it is futhest from its star."
If the Aphelion truly rest in that Lost Sector, then it would be hiding somewhere in plain sight. Now that I think about it, why is there a random pile of Glimmer that cannot be collected at the end of the lost sector? Also, the Drifter’s interest in the Aphelion is what leads me to believe there’s a connection to the Nine and to SIVA (through that scrap ship found from the Zero Hour puzzle that has Twin Snakes logo). In addition, with the other factions out of the way and the Vanguard distracted, it’s a prime time for Lysander to make a move again, unless he hasn’t already set his plans in motion…..
All this stuff with the Aphelion is recent history as well, sometime in between Rise of Iron and D2 Vanilla and/or during the Red War.
]]]Orin would do anything for her love; she would even give up her Ghost.[[[
I love that someone remembers Lysander.
Maybe the Creatures that the Drifter found were Pawns of the Aphelions. Some kind of mindless creatures made out of the darkness just to obey when needed.
Sooo, what are the possibilities that the Aphelion tie in with the lore of the Star-Eater Scales, and, even more mysteriously, with Skira?
You know, the thing Misraaks causally mentioned a bit back.
Something overpowering that hunts? Its a bit of a stretch, but its worth noting!
while they do sound cool, the comments acting like they're gonna be the next big bads are a bit... over reactionary. Like, ok, not every single dangerous thing in the lore is hinting at the TRUE nature of the darkness or a REAL enemy thats been behind everything all along. Sometimes shit is just to flesh out the dangers in the universe. Like, if we ever get a story of exploring the universe outside the solar system, Aphelions might just be the equivalent of like, the Tyranids from 40k, just big mindless killing machines. Not like, the true antagonists that planned everything
Doubt they are "mindless" but i concurr with u
@@gabrielpineirogarcia2078 they're described the exact same way as Tyranids usually are. hell, even down to the audio log from a doomed vessel. a force of nature antagonist would be a nice change of pace for Destiny i think
I think they will be the darkness equivalent of the ahamkara
@@Autipsy would make sense because, if I remember correctly, the ahamkara would follow the traveler around before the collapse
You say not the big bad then compare them to tyranids who are surmised to have eaten the entirety of several galaxies and even the void fears to a point that even undead machines rushed back home to get the big guns just to fight off the first few shock waves of them.
I was thinking about the creatures the drifter mentioned before you made the comparison. Plus since characters that are related to the drifter have been included with some of the lore. It only makes sense.
words cannot describe how much i want to see/experience an aphelion simply due to how enigmatic they are. bungo plz, either Witch Queen or Lightfall.
It intrigues me that they appear either in deep space or within the mind/ascendant plane?? It reminds me of a monster in the old Star Wars cannon about creatures whom were were ghosts stuck within hyperspace and lived by sucking the life out of crew ships albeit the descriptions are different with one appearing as a woman with a large gaping mouth full of teeth to an entity that flashes and glows as it stalks you while emitting a viscous scream
Oh wow. Haven't had such chills since Blindsight.
An Aphelion would seriously make an incredible raid/dungeon boss in the future
Great video! Always love hearing/ reading about potential other races we may face or see on the future!
I'm betting that the creatures on that ice planet are the Aphelion, or at least that the "beyond the system" idea is correct.
Also, about those darkness creatures, ice cages? Sound familiar, maybe a little like the Crucible post-Beyond Light?
One thing I noticed is that apparently their attacks are accompanied by a huge radiation spike - and one victim noting how "everything is blue". Certain forms of lethal, ionizing radiation involve a blinding, blue glow (most iconically the infamous Demon Core). This, combined with one victim describing it "shimmering" before attacking, makes me wonder if these beings hunt by basically emitting incredible amounts of radiation. It would be an effective strategy if you were immune yourself - simply start glowing and watch as everything is cooked to well-done around you. Considering that the ever-hyperbolic Calus remarks on them "being able to destroy entire worlds in the blink of an eye", it may be that these beings perhaps even rival atomic weapons in terms of how much energy they output when hunting. While I'm also speculating here, the idea of a creature that is basically a living, walking atom bomb, minus the actual explosion, is quite daunting to imagine!
Whatever they may be they are clearly multidimensional. The crew talked about a breach in the hull of the ship where the Aphelion were entering yet when rescue arrived there was no breach. So based on that it seems they must've entered through a portal. Also the unified screaming they do sounds a lot like when the multiple scorn had their minds connected to the crown of sorrow to commune with the dark. Dark either is also blue is it not? And the swollen bodies of the screebs glisten or shimmer. The small connections are interesting at the very least.
Love your content Byf! Would you be willing to do a video about the origins of the different subclasses the early Risen used and perhaps what some early Risen felt about the different powers their class had access to or even a Guardian that did not like the class it rose with. Anyways love your content!! Keep up the great work!!!
Oryx:my army is unstoppable
Darkness:say hello to your new senior,aphelion
When I first played Presage, I was almost praying for the ship to have been ravaged by an Aphelion. They are my favourite unknown in the Destiny universe.
Anyone else think of the Black Armory lore entry that described a creature from the attack. It screamed too, also no one has encountered anything like it since the fall.
Nice to get something not so main stream again, lol. Thank you Byf
Definitely interesting connection to the drifter for sure. Could also be that its the "voice" in the darkness that has been mentioned recently. It does sound like it is something in the power of darkness or death , if they are so powerful to wipe out planets in the blink of an eye. Something similar but opposite can be said about the traveler. Really makes you wonder what's inside the statues of the darkness and even more , what's inside the traveler. Because if something so potent too kill exists then something potent of life must also.
"No matter what gods you have killed, you will not survive it" chills
Byf: **Uploads**
Me: "Suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuup!!"
this just a quick thing i noticed but the aphelion are described as “shimmering” and “glowing”. also when the aphelion entered the ship they say “everything thing is blue” and on top of that there was “radioactive surface contamination”. Ionization radiation in large concentrations gives off a blue glow or “shimmer”; additionally ionizing radiation oftentimes interferes with technology especially any sort of transmission which would also explain the raids cutting off as soon a the aphelion reach its target. according to the chronicon the aphelion come from a athenaeum world , which are know to be hostile places. We also now that at some point in time the awoken most likely had nuclear power and nuclear power CORES emit ionizing radiation. plus from what we can tell the aphelion stalk there pray. SO it is my hypothesis that the aphelion are a species of predatory beings that emit very high amounts of concentrated Ionizing radiation, that are incredibly strong, can survive the vacuum of space, can make 300 people just poof while only leaving radioactive surface contamination and from everything we’re told can kill techeuns and make look like a playground game.
Some sort of energy being maybe? It would explain how they entered the ship without leaving any sign of a hull breach, why they 'shimmered', why 'everything (was) blue', and why the ship was filled with radiation afterwards.
Random thought: Cayde's message [it's on Enceladus] to Petra was to be told to Paladin Orin. What if that was code instead to tell Petra what was on Enceladus, and that thing is the Aphelion?
Paladin Oran was a codename cayde would use to communicate with her in code. The message "Uldren found" on the prodigal set was sent by "Paladin Oran"
So, maybe, but I feel like that was more just him indicating that the next part of the recording was code
They're Radioactive, Invisible, Scream, and seemingly cause hallucinations....
Sounds like the Anomalies from Stalker....
*readies a bolt*
- ... no matter what gods you've killed... you will not survive it.
- You underrated my abilities!
Jokes aside, I had the same theory, that the creatures the Drifter and crew found on the frozen planet were aphelion.
Some more theories:
Them being partially in those prisons can either mean that someone long before Drifter, have found them too, and imprisoned them, or they were "made", either some scientific experiment, that have gone wrong, or by some other powers (for example a tweaked "taking").
Also, for whatever they might be, it is possible that they have some innate radioactivity, and "phase walking", or maybe the radioactive contamination is a side effect of them moving around dimensions/space-time.
"Everything is blue." Sounds like things are blue-shifting. Blue-shifting happens when light approaches a gravitational field. As you approach a black hole the light from the stars becomes blue. Perhaps the Aphelion has the ability to activate localized gravity snare to keep prey from running with the Aphelion being the center of this field. It would also potentially explain the radiation.
Maybe that's why they hunt awoken, they escaped which is supposed to be inescapable, a black hole. Also adds up to the gravity stuff.
@@Asturjgm Which may also explain a potential tie to the Darkness. Maybe these predators aren't really predators in the sense of an animal, but assassins. Taking out high value targets that could assist us.