How is it that a song can kill? How then does the singer survive the song? In this thread, I will explore the theory and method behind the deathsingers of the Hive using information about the wizards Ir Halak, Ir Anuk, Ir Yut. I will also delve into their connections to other Hive techniques, and how these killing songs are related to the song of the sun known to the sunsinger warlocks. [b]DEATHSONGS AND OVERSOULS[/b] An interesting thing about deathsongs is that they can only be used in the throne worlds of Hive gods, and they have never been used in our reality. This is because only the throne worlds of the Hive have the physics to support abstract concepts like death being somehow made into concrete objects and forces. [url=https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/186644035/0/0]More on that here.[/url] Deathsinging, as we've seen in Crota's throne world, seem to make use of oversouls, which are also known as thanatospheres—the term is derived from the prefix "thanato" meaning death. Oversouls are used as a means of storing the soul of a user so that they can survive death; Ir Yut was reborn despite being killed in the events of Crota's End, and she could be seen in the Last Rites mission. This suggests that she had access to the oversoul, and she used it to hide her soul. [quote]“We propose a method by which [b]Ascendant souls can be detached and integrated into a tautological and autonomous thanatosphere[/b], which we tentatively term an oversoul. [b]Oversouls can be stored in a throne world as a mechanism of enhanced death resilience[/b]. As a side effect, new refinements to our Deathsong may be achieved, moving us closer to a generally effective paracausal death impulse.” Oryx brandished his sword. “Speak the Royal Tongue, or I’ll pin you up for Eir to eat.” “If we can separate our deaths from ourselves, and hide them, we will be hard to kill.” (Verse 4:8 — The partition of death)[/quote] This fits how Toland hypothesized that the deathsinger Ir Yut survives her song; he believed she made herself part of something "vast and burning," which sounds a lot like an oversoul. This further support the notion that oversouls are used by deathsingers to survive their own songs. [quote]Perhaps they know a way to make themselves part of the song, part of something vast and burning that rots and peels into ash but never ever ends. Perhaps She has engineered this for Him, and pinned His power up against the quiddity of death itself. (Ir Yût, the Deathsinger)[/quote] The oversoul is not only used for surviving the deathsong, but also charges the song itself with killing power, at least for some versions of the song. The above quote says they make themselves "part of the song", and part of the oversoul ("vast and burning"), and he speaks of these things as if they are one and the same. This is because the death invoked by the song actually comes from the oversoul. It's not surprising considering how we've seen oversouls used as killing tools when battling Crota and the Warpriest. If the oversoul is a storm of pure reified death, then the soul of the deathsinger is safely hidden in the calm eye of the storm. Other versions of the death songs can be performed without oversouls. The pioneers of deathsongs, Ir Anuk and Ir Halak, do not use oversouls for their morbid performance because the song itself is the reified death, or [url=https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/170958432/0/0]paracausal (beyond material physics)[/url] death impulse. How is it that they survive their own songs though? I assume it is because of the defensive brands the wield as impenetrable shields. [b]EDIT: [/b]The Warpriest's Oculus is an oversoul based on Crota's, so it's possible that Ir Halak and Ir Anuk use it to hide their souls as well. They might even tap into it's killing power for their song like Ir Yut did with Crota's oversoul. [quote]From mighty Crota, Son of Navigation, Sword of Pits, He learned to make his Oversoul (The Warpriest)[/quote] [b]THE SUNSINGER AND THE DEATHSINGER[/b] These two disciplines seem like polar opposites. One supports others and beings brings life to oneself from death, and the other brings death to all who hear it—this creates an interesting parallel. They also share a similarity; just like the voice of the deathsinger creates a song to exercise her power, so too does the sunsinger create a song using Light. Because there are such similarities, yet polar opposite applications, it's understandable that it would be a sunsinger most obsessed with learning the song of death. Toland the Shattered, the exiled master of Hive arcana, was a sunsinger (though that doesn't preclude that he was also a voidwalker). [quote]"I have left searing footprints on the dark side of the Moon. I have stood on the spires of Mercury, chilled by the solar wind. I have stretched my wings, and I have flown. That is what is possible when you understand the Sun's song." —Toland's Journal. (Complete the Path quest)[/quote] Are there more similarities beyond what'son the surface? Sort of. The deathsinger's powers works by tapping into the [url=http://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/186644035/0/0]universal laws governing the throne worlds (click for thread)[/url]. Similarly, the sunsinger's radiance allows the user to return to life by traversing dimensions and crossing [url=https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/183462595/0/0]the veil separating realities (click for thread)[/url]. Both of these disciplines make use of other universes or dimensions as a means of bending mortality. [quote]Any scholar can understand the theory, but only those who hear the music can make Light sing. (Sunsinger's Bond)[/quote] [quote]The Sunsinger is proof that the Light is everywhere. The wings of Radiance allow a Guardian to fly beyond the veil. What further proof do you need, Speaker?" —Ulan-Tan. (Path of the Sunsinger quest)[/quote] For those unaware, beyond the veil is the "place" where the true essences, or quiddity, of things exist, and it is also where thanatonauts go when they kill themselves to gain visions before being resurrected by ghosts. More on that in the linked thread, including the existence of futures and different timelines beyond the veil, the Vex, Future War Cult, and the Awoken. [quote]Your bullets reach beyond the veil to strike enemies at their purest essence. (Mos Morsus III description)[/quote] [quote]A thousand Thanatonauts on a thousand journeys have made only the tiniest of tears in death's veil. (Bond of Veils description)[/quote] Given that Hive throne worlds and the realm beyond the veil both can contain the essences, or quiddity, of things, I hypothesize that the Overworld, the space where the Hive throne worlds exist in, may actually be [i]somewhere[/i] beyond the veil. [quote]Now I fly between green-black suns in the labyrinth beyond Crota’s god-star. This is the Overworld, the Sea of Screams, where the throne-universes of the great Hive fester in eternal majesty. (Ghost Fragment: The Hellmouth)[/quote] [b]TO SUM UP[/b] - Oversouls are the essence of death, an abstract intangible thing, made real and tangible by exploiting the strange universal rules of throne worlds. Their primary purpose is to store the souls of powerful Hive to keep them from dying. This is how their are remains of Crota's soul for the death ceremony. - Deathsingers similarly exploit the rules of throne world to tangibly invoke the essence of death. - Deathsingers, at least Ir Yut, use oversouls as a means to survive their own songs, and at least partially charge their songs with killing power. - Ir Halak and Ir Anuk avoid being killed by their songs with their protective brands. - Deathsingers and sunsingers are similar in that they use other dimensions or universes as a means to manipulate mortality. - There [i]might[/i] be a link between the dimension beyond the veil traversed by sunsingers to return back to life, and the Overwold dimension housing the Hive throne worlds. [b]For more theories by me, I refer you to the [url=https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/183288968/0/0]Collected Treatises of The Warlock KAGEHOSHI[/url].[/b]