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3/16/2025 12:40:02 AM
8
Heresy Act 2 - Who Controls the Taken?
As a preamble:
The release of Heresy Act 2 has been a bit...wonky, to say the least. The first two quest steps seem to be out of order; we got all the Willbreaker shard quests sooner than we were supposed to, I reckon; I also imagine we got our hands on the Writ: Path of Ambition quest sooner than intended.
This could be what happens when you lay off people who were likely in charge of testing things like this before you release it, and/or it could also be the result of switching gears on how Act content is meant to be released. I don't know, but it also resulted in the topic of this thread, because I think a lot of things meant to drop with week 2's story came early, both quests and dialogue.
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The Echo of Navigation has brought a version of Oryx back but, unlike what I've assumed up to this point, [i]the Echo is not the one producing these new Taken.[/i] The Echo doesn't know what it is, only calling it something that stands between the Winnower and the Taken; Xivu Arath also doesn't know what it is, and cannot find it. The Path of Ambition quest has Eris talk about a call she felt emanating from the Deep and pursuing its source takes us back to where we first found Barrow-Dyad.
If no one affiliated with the Hive Pantheon knows who or what is controlling the Dire Taken, then everything going on with them - the Eyes, the veins growing throughout the Ascendant Plane and the Dreadnaught - has to do with a third party. Something powerful enough to take control of the Taken and create new ones with new abilities distinct from the original Taken. Something the Hive Gods don't seem to know about, and they've been around for billions of years.
The name of the new Taken faction - the Dire Taken - and the eyes that give us Suffocating Terror scream Nezarec to me, as it fits his theme. He would be the most likely candidate, if not for the fact no one seems to recognize what is behind them. This points towards something new, or something from the lore that's finally taking the spotlight.
We'll just have to wait and see. While I suspect it isn't someone entirely divorced from the Hive, whoever the new entity is can imbue the Taken they create with Strand and Stasis abilities. The Taken had no access to Strand before, and their only access to Stasis was an update giving certain Taken new Howler weapons.
Stasis and Strand abilities intrinsic to the Taken's repertoire show the scope of the new threat.
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5 RepliesEdited by Shockwave 989: 3/20/2025 5:26:59 PMA thought has just occurred to me, which might be entirely off but it does explain some pieces of the puzzle. This entity has been described as a wound in the deep, full of grief and hatred. Something summoned by the Taken in their need for a controlling interest, the will without will. What if it’s Oryx’s Worm? We know from the Ghosts of the Deep lore that there was no sign of it with his body. It knows how to Take, an ability it could only learn from a few different sources. What better way to learn it than being present for the invention of this dark power? If the Worm was separated from Oryx before he left the borders of his Throne, it might explain why it’s located within the Ascendant Plane and having to reach out from there, as the Dreadnaught is the biggest crossover of the Ascendant and Material Planes. The Worm of the Taken King would be powerful, but it’s never had to be a commanding force. It could explain the hesitancy, only drawn in when the Taken are so desperate for a hand on their hilt. It would also explain why Eris was targeted, she was instrumental in the defeat of Oryx. And almost a decade adrift within the Ascendant Plane as the powers of Stasis and Strand were harnessed might explain how it came to bestow such power upon its troops. Not to mention how it has the knowledge necessary to launch the Eversion Anchors. But again, this is an undeveloped idea, could be nothing. Just thought I’d add another idea to the list. Edit: The grief idea also applies if this is a wholly new entity the Taken created from their need of a controlling will and explains why it would target Eris. Also it would be absolutely game changing if the Taken managed such a feat.
