[quote]Pahanin was a Hunter, satirist, travel-writer, and renowned cephalopod enthusiast. - Exotic Ship: Ego and Squid[/quote]
tl;dr: This Hunter is an eccentric cultured individual who is the whole reason Eris Morn went to the Moon and he made a semi-sentient machine gun from Golden Age tech so he and other Guardians wouldn't be lonely. Also likes cephalopods (i.e. Squids, Octopi, etc...).
Pahanin is a hunter that I have had curiosity of for quite sometime, and after reading the lore text from two of the Exotic Ships (Ego and Squid, and Eriana's Vengence), I believe I have a better idea of who this Guardian was.
The primarily thing that Pahanin is known for is the writing of "The Pahanin Errata" which is a collection of notes, quips, and sayings written by a Hunter for Hunters from Pahanin's experience as a Guardian. Quotes from the Errata in the 'advice' section include:
[quote]"Always look up when you enter a room. People will think you're strange, but I'd rather be strange than have my head bitten off." - Pahanin Errata
"Mission goal four, keep your boots clean. Five, keep your gun clean. Six, make friends with a Titan. Never know when one will come in handy." - Pahanin Errata
"The black gloves are tough, menacing and—I swear—make you unbeatable at Go." —Pahanin Errata[/quote]
These quotes display Pahanin as a rather practical individual, caring not so much for the 'right' way of doing things but the 'smart' way. Also shows that he knows how to play/cheat at Go, a game involving laying black and white stones (marbles) on a grid board in efforts to capture the most territory, with the black gloves being able to move black stones without an opponent noticing. Pahanin also has a certain respect for the other two classes (Titans and Warlocks) for different reasons:
[quote]"So I ask Wei Ning: what about the Darkness itself? What then? And she says: I'll punch it too." - Pahanin Errata
"Tell a Titan only a madman would go. Tell a Warlock it's too complex." - Pahanin Errata
"Your missions: protect the City. Look better than Warlocks. But don't look like you're trying." - Pahanin Errata
"I can't shake hands with Warlocks. I just get so nervous they're going to vaporize me." - Pahanin Errata
[/quote]
He tends to prefer the company of Titans rather than Warlocks for their 'usefulness' as he says in the 'advice' section. Whether it is their defensive abilities, mass destruction capabilities, or their survivability, Pahanin always valued the presence of a Titan. Warlocks, on the other hand, Pahanin felt a bit of rivalry and unease when it came to the space wizards, rivalry in the sense of attire (working hard and looking good while doing it) and unease as he doesn't fully understand or comprehend the power that Warlocks contain. But in his time around the two other Guardians, he did begin to understand how to get the two motivated: Titans are always looking for the next great challenge, great show of strength, and Warlocks are looking so solve whatever problems that no one else can solve. Thus, if you play with these aspirations, you might get another Guardian to do something that you wouldn't do or can't do (this is from the 'Cloak of Secret Agendas' after all).
Beyond all of his interactions and experiences, Pahanin had two defining features to his personality: his emphasis on helping people to be remembered and an abnormal appreciation for cepholapods:
[quote]
"If human extinction seems imminent, try to relax. You're just giving cephalopods a shot." - Pahanin Errata
"Yes, my love for cephalopods is well documented." —Pahanin Errata
[/quote]
It is without doubt to say that Pahanin was eccentric in this regard, but what he did for other guardians (unrelated to squids) is admirable in the highest. Pahanin is actually a more important figure within the Destiny Universe than most expect. He was part of the original Strike Team that went into the Vault of Glass, along with Kabr, the Legionless, and Praedyth, the Warlock lost in time. Kabr was infected with the Vex, poisoning his mind and body while wearing their bronze plating as armor, and Praedyth was trapped in an infinite time loop never able to return to this timeline. Only Pahanin was able to escape the Vault, and upon doing so he realized that the absolute worst fate that a Guardian would be able to face is to die alone and forgotten. He began to forge a weapon that would not allow such a fate to happen, which would become known as Super Good Advice, an Exotic heavy machine gun with an AI that could display personality, memory, awareness, and a bit of sass. Pahanin would carry this machine gun with him so he would never truly be alone. A companion for a Guardian who may have none. A witness to show that he is never truly forgotten.
Sometime following the Fall of Kabr, Pahanin met a Praxic (an order) Warlock, Eriana-3, and a Titan, Wei Ning, and introduced the two to each other. The two became fast friends, but soon to come would be The Great Disaster, the thousands strong guardian offensive to take back the Moon from the Hive. Wei Ning would be on the front lines of Mare Imbrium, with Eriana-3 performing interrogation on a Hive Wizard at a one of the Vanguard's footholds. The Wizard would give Eriana a vision of Wei Ning, dead and without Light, slain by the Hive God-Prince Crota. This vision would come to pass as a massacre of Guardians ensued with Crota leading the charge. Thousands of Guardians now lay dead, among them Eriana's dear friend Wei Ning. Eriana would go on to form Eris Morn's Ill-fated fireteam out of vengence for her friend and die in vain. If Pahanin hadn't had these two meet, then there would've been no Ill-fated fireteam and no warning of Crota's return via Eris Morn.
Away from the battle, Pahanin would be travelling and be ambushed by Dregdon Yor, the infamous Guardian killer. Pahanin would die his last death by Thorn, but he still had his friend at his side remembering him for all time.
Thus concludes a general overview of Pahanin as a Guardian.
Collective information found here:
[url]http://www.ishtar-collective.net/categories/pahanin[/url]
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Freaking Dregen Yor.
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Wow, very well thought out and executed! Would love to see more of posts like these on the app. (I think most people agree)
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Amazing post, always good to see someone spreading some fun and accurate information You had me going at the beginning, thinking “where the heck is all the D1 info about Pahanin’s ACTUAL story?”, but u definitely had it all by the end. One thing: it might be nice to mention that he wrote the Pahanin Errata so that there would be something left of him after he died for people to find and remember him from
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I love the lore behind Pahanin great post man
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A) SGA should have talked to us B) Ghosts can talk and have a personality. I'm interested in knowing why he didn't think that was enough- unless it's an oversight on bungies end. Unless he realized ghosts are fragile things and easily taken/ killed
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since you mentioned Eris, do you by any chance know what class she was?
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I would like to point out that Wei Ning and Eriana's relationship could have been a bit more than frienship, judging from some new items in D2.
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Well done for not being toxic or moaning ! Good post
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My favorite character in the lore. Really good to get a refresher
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Nice man, one of my favorite Guardians for sure, really want Ego and Squid just for the lore and all
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Fantastically written set of lore. Love the fact that you've managed to piece together some lore to make the character fleshed out in one place for us all. Thank you. I'd love a graphic novel based on Pahanin.
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Good stuff, here's a bump!
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Marking to read later. Fellow lore geek here.
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Wait a second... [b][i][u]PARAGRAPHS?![/u][/i][/b] THATS LIKE A UNICORN
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I did a bad thing.
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How was he killed permanently by thorn?
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Very informative thank you for putting this together!
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SGA was (actually kind of still is) my favourite weapon and Pahanin is probably my favourite character in all of destiny. I believe you can see Pahanin in destiny 1 (or at least it looks like it, I like to think it's not just a coincidence) the first time you visit the tower and there's a brief cutscene where you can see a hunter talking to another guardian while holding a machine gun that looks identical to SGA. However I'm not too sure if this would fit in properly with the lore timeline, as he died to Yor.
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This was fantastic! Thanks!
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Good lore bump
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Whatever happened to Kabr? Did they ever explicitly say he’s dead?
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I kind of liked the hunter cloak: The Highest Squidder
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Wait, there's lore in d2 ? You do learn something new every day
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A very good read, and nicely written at that. Thanks!
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I like the fact you made so moluch time for yourself just to complain about lore
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Thank you for the read, sir.