[url=https://www.bungie.net/en/Forums/Post/264950479]In a post I made a while ago[/url], I commented on something Orin said about the Nine and their relationship to paracausality: "The relationship between the Light and the Nine may speak to why Maya is here. Vex interact with the fourth dimension, but can't exist in it. The Nine can't create or use paracausality, but they are the rules that enable and regulate it. The Vex are intrigued by this." Alongside the events of Renegades and the effects of III's death, [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLYg39IxyMk]we also got an interview between My Name is Byf and narrative director Alison Luhrs[/url] and, in one section of the interview, she explains the nature of Eclipse and of the Nine. She affirms that the Nine can't wield paracausality and are not paracausal, but they are the rules and laws of reality, including the rules that enable and regulate paracausality. She even mentions that they can turn those conditions all the way down (Eclipse negating the Light), but also that they can turn the conditions of paracausality [i][b]all the way up[/b][/i]. We haven't seen an example of it being turned "all the way up" yet, but it could be why Bael's connection to Stasis is so potent. I very much enjoy this explanation. It helps set the Nine apart from previous antagonists, including the Witness, because of the way they interact with the world. We spent the Light and Darkness learning more about the Light and Darkness, how each interacted with the world. The Light's domain is physical law and matter; the Darkness' domain is thought and consciousness. Meanwhile, the Nine are tied to time, the fourth dimension, and the laws of reality. They have the power to adjust the laws of reality as they choose, from time dilation to the conditions that enable paracausality. Because of the way they interact with the world, a new approach will need to be taken to deal with them in the story, which I am very interested in seeing. ------------------------------------------- On another note, when Orin encountered Maya's Collective, she described the nature of the Echo of Command as "fundamentally rule-breaking". Keep in mind that the Echoes were formed from a collision of Light and Darkness after the Witness was unmade, so they are similar in nature to our Prismatic power, a result of the boundary between Light and Darkness disappearing. The Nine can negate the conditions that enable Light and Darkness, as seen with Eclipse, but Prismatic power and the Echoes could be another matter. After all, Maya used the Echo of Command to force III into the third dimension, killing them. That might be the reason why the Weapon is the only one who can "bind the Nine". III said, "it cannot be done. the weapon will do it". If Prismatic is "rule-breaking" in a similar manner to the Echoes, then it means "binding the Nine" is something that normally isn't possible under the normal laws of reality, even for Light and Darkness on their own. -------------------------------------------- Finally, the Nine's ability to enable and regulate paracausality might be why Human Guardians can wield both Light and Darkness. All the way back in the Witch Queen, in [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_oO_bWEakKM]Altars of Reflection: Catalyst[/url], Savathun explains she concentrated the psychic energy of Darkness in her Throne World to build the Altar as part of her plans. She also said she would be sad to lose that gift, since she needed to give up the Darkness fully to be chosen as a Lightbearer. At the end, she asks, "Do you ever wonder why you can wield both Light and Dark, while the rest of us are constrained to one?" Given what we know of the Nine's capabilities, it is possible that members of the Nine adjusted the rules around Humankind so we are capable of wielding both Light and Darkness.