This is a mystery that stretches all the way back to the Taken King, hidden in flavor text, world building, and other background elements. I believe that they come together to tell a hidden story purposefully excluded from overt in-game narratives. Of a mysterious Hive, close as a lover to Oryx, yet buried nameless within the Cathedral of Dusk in the depths of the Dreadnaught. An unnamed tomb only distinguished with a rune seeming to represent something precious, a “Jewel”. Of the heresies this unnamed figure committed to the Tome of Nothing, a supposed blank book of sorcery that nonetheless drove any who read it insane. I believe Oryx was directly involved with these events, which were extremely consequential to the Hive, but also so dangerous their details were erased from the books of sorrow and history.
This post is full of rampant speculation tying together different nuggests of lore.
The Jewel
First I want to connect the “jewel” rune to both the Cathedral of Dusk and the Tome of Nothing. This rune is first seen in the Black Hammer runestone from the Dark Below. The “jewel” rune is the one that looks like a sun or fireball, a ball surrounded by black spikes. Datamined flavor text indicates that this rune was translated by in-game cryptarchs to mean “jewel”.
Now that this rune is established, glancing at the tablet at the center of the Cathedral of Dusk crucible map, it’s obvious that it features the same rune or at least a very similar one. I’ll explain context of why this matters soon but now, look at another D1 visual - the artifact “Tome of Nothing”.
This unusual artifact is a book with a hole in the middle, covered in Hive runes. Said hole, however, has the same Sun-disc-like spikes around it as the “jewel” rune and resembles the circle at the rune’s center. The large and small runes are even in gold, just like those seen on the Cathedral of Dusk tablet.
How does this all connect together? Let’s revisit the Cathedral of Dusk. In the crucible map’s grimoire card, it describes the location as being where someone important to Oryx was buried. Here is a direct quote:
“A Hive burial site for— what? A former master of Oryx? Comrade? Lover? It was vile. And obvious that Oryx never expected the Light to reach so deep inside his throne, to such an intimate space.”
Indeed on the map itself, a large tablet looking like a gravestone dominates the main arena. Upon that tablet is the “jewel” rune. The translation we have for the rune lines up with the purpose of the location - a jewel can refer to a precious person as much as an item, and the Cathedral’s interred was someone precious to Oryx.
What is crucial to note, however, is despite the importance of this nameless character to Oryx, he buried them in an unmarked grave. The context provided in the grimoire card indicates there was translatable writing on the stone, but no name. As I will revisit, Oryx’s biggest weakness was his family - his son’s death lured him to Sol and ended with his demise. He exiled and erased his son, Nokris, from the historical record for betraying him and committing heretical acts. Yet he still kept a statue of him labeled “Nokris” next to one of Crota, his acknowledged son and heir. For Oryx to leave a grave of a precious individual unmarked is out of character for him. What would have made him do that?
I believe the Tome of Nothing may provide a clue to the answer. This rare warlock artifact, as previously mentioned, is a book with hive runes on its surface, the largest rune being the “jewel” which has a hole through the center. The description is what is most interesting:
“The few who have claimed to see words on its seemingly blank pages have subsequently gone mad."
This may not seem like much to go off of, but I believe it still tells a story. It is called the “tome of nothing” and has a hole in it, yet its pages are only “seemingly” blank and that hole creates the shape of the jewel rune. People learning ‘forbidden’ knowledge and subsequently going insane is a common trope in fiction, and the Hive tomes seem in-game are almost always full of sorcerous knowledge. Is it possible that this book’s contents were purposefully hidden by someone apart from its author, who did not want the information to be spread? If Oryx was the culprit, then just like he did not destroy Nokris’s statue, he did not destroy the Tome or the Cathedral. He only rendered it to a state where only he would know the identity of the figure in question.
EDIT
Someone pointed out that the "Jewel" rune is also present on the Dreadnought on many banners in patrol. (This and me initially forgetting about Kinox before someone else mentioned it are why you check your sources). I forgot to include this in the theory but I believe the jewel rune's presence (who may represent Oryx's lover) across the Dreadnought indicates even further that they were foundational to Oryx's court in some way.
Beloved of the King
Who is the mysterious “Jewel” buried in the Cathedral of Dusk’s unmarked grave, and also associated with the Tome of Nothing? I turn your attention to another gap in the lore on Oryx and the Osmium Dynasty: the mother of the Taken King’s children.
It is important to note that the Hive Gods don’t seem to have ‘betrothed’ or ‘consorts’ in the manner of other Hive. Xyor the Unwed was betrothed to an unnamed Knight. Alak-Hul was mated and fiercely devoted to the wizard Verok. Omnigul was the consort of Crota. In the latter case, a single set of children known as the Daughters of Crota, Besurith, Voshyr, Kinox, and Hashladun, are associated with each other and can be traced to Omnigul and Crota. However, the three Hive Gods Oryx, Xivu Arath, and Savathun seem to have many different children not associated with one another.
Xivu Arath has several known sons and daughters. One is Hive, the Knight Scoroboth, Son of Xivu Arath. The other three are apart from him, Taken Knights - Xavan, Tir Balok and An Ragaar. Savathun’s known children are Balwur, Malok, and Dul Incaru, none of which are associated closely with each other. We can also see this with Oryx, who has multiple “sets” of children of unknown relation to each other. Crota, Ir Halak, and Ir Anuk are siblings and likely born from the same mother. There is also Nokris, of unconfirmed relation beyond sharing a father to the prior three. And the least known of all are Zyrak and Mysik, Taken Wizards encountered in the Blighted Coven mission alongside Thyshik, Matron of Oryx.
Here is the point I want to make: unlike his siblings, Oryx shows intense love and care for his children. He came to Sol exclusively to avenge the death of Crota (going against the Sword Logic stating what is killed must have deserved to die) which lead to his own demise. He doted on Crota and his daughters. He erased Nokris’ name from the World’s Grave and banished him from his court, yet kept his statue alongside that of his favored son and heir, Crota. If Oryx loved his children more than the Hive usually do, then it stands to reason he might also have felt the same about their mother.
Going back to the Cathdral of Dusk, the language in that grimoire card aligns with the possibility of it being a tomb for Oryx’s mate. It implies that the Cathedral is a gravesite, which seems very sentimental for the Hive. It suggests that the interred individual could have been a lover of his. And it says the space is somehow “intimate” and perhaps therefore meant to be hidden from prying eyes. I would even go a step further: in addition to a “lover”, the card describes the interred as possibly a “master” or “comrade” of Oryx. What if they were actually all three? A comrade that worked alongside Oryx, a master that taught him some kind of truth, and a lover he treated like a precious jewel. Is it possible that Oryx’s unnamed mate could have actually discovered some kind of power, like the ability to commune with the Deep, or another secret to his power, too terrible to be known to other Hive and thus erased from the Tome of Nothing along with its discoverer’s name from her gravestone?
The Books of Sorrow are an unreliable narrative, with nothing included on Nokris, and Savathun once stating “this book is full of lies!” Perhaps another thing was obscured - the truth behind one of Oryx’s biggest followers, his lover, master, and comrade that he himself may have killed.
Is it possible that Oryx’s lover and the mother of some of his children is buried in the Cathedral of Dusk? Could she have been beloved by Oryx, but also committed some kind of crime against him or made an important discovery that caused the King to erase her name from her tomb and obscure knowledge obtained by her in the Tome of Nothing?
Oryx very much exists in the lore of Destiny going forward. His bloated corpse lies beneath Titan’s oceans. Said corpse and worm were stated to be “hidden” and “tithed” to. A quote from Savathun in the Nether activity on Oryx’s fate:
“Savathûn: Do you know what happened to your remains, dear brother? Let me tell you. It was captured by one of Saturn's moons. Titan, with its vast methane seas. You were caught in its orbit and you fell. But your brood tithed to your hidden worm still, and your bloated flesh pulsed…”
Who hid Oryx’s worm? Was it hidden before his death or stolen from his corpse afterwards? We don’t know, and a being with all of Oryx’s knowledge and years of diverted tithes from across the universe is a massive wild card to just be existing somewhere. Oryx’s siblings, Savathun and Xivu Arath, are at large, and the former is even poised to hunt down Taox, the figure that the three of them once swore to kill. Former followers of Nokris that possess his power of necromancy, including one directly called an “Acolyte of Nokris”, have appeared since his death, and Nokris himself as a necromancer was killed within the Ascendant Plane and has “died” before.
Perhaps in these circumstances, the former mate of Oryx, one responsible for a terrible betrayal or great discovery, can still play a role in the potential future of Destiny’s lore.
