Anastasia Bray

"You want another story about the Twilight Gap? Ana Bray, the Hunter. We all dug deep that day. We all touched the Light in ways we never thought we could. Or should. Ana, though. When she fired the Gun, where her Golden blasts hit home, she left behind the pools of light. Like splashes of sunlight that burned and burned."

- Lord Shaxx

Dr. Anastasia "Ana" Bray is a Hunter Gunslinger and an adopted member of House Bray. Prior to her first death, she was a psycholinguist who helped develop the Warmind Rasputin by teaching it independent thought. After the Collapse, Ana was revived by a Ghost named Jinju. Unlike most Guardians, Ana had knowledge about her past life due to a Clovis Bray ID she was wearing upon her revival. She became a hero of the Last City, but disappeared after the Battle of Twilight Gap, with many believing her dead, in order to investigate her past. She recieved help from Owl Sector operative Camrin Dumuzi, who Ana eventually entered into a relationship with. Her search led her to a Clovis Bray facility in the Hellas Basin on Mars, where Ana hoped to recruit Rasputin in aiding humanity against its enemies. However, the presence of a Hive brood called the Grasp of Nokris complicated her efforts, and Ana teamed up with The Young Wolf and Commander Zavala to rescue the Warmind.

The Golden Age
As a child, Ana was adopted by the Bray family. For most of her life, she struggled to feel like a member of the family, due in part to her adoptive grandfather, Clovis Bray I, having a negative opinion of her "genetics".

Teaching Rasputin
During her life at Clovis Bray, Ana worked on Rasputin as a psycholinguist that sought to teach him independent thought; this was needed if he was going to solve problems without human supervision. Rather than provide him with rigid programming that could only solve specific problems, she provided access to works of humanities—including literature, philosophy, and music—in order to develop nuance in his language, morality, and emotion. He also made excellent progress in developing value judgments and intuition from her trial simulations. Once he had begun to create his own ideas through changing his voice and upgrading warsats, Ana found her work satisfactory. However, she realized that she never taught Rasputin the concept of trust, and that it will be difficult for humanity to trust in him.

Defender of the City
Sometime after Ana's death, she was found and revived by the Ghost Jinju. Unlike other Lightbearers, Ana learned of her past due to the Clovis Bray ID card and other materials that were on her person. She was mentored in how to be a Hunter by Andal Brask, although Ana was annoyed by his tendency to tell people that their fellow Hunter Cayde-6 was actually Rasputin. Early in her career as a Guardian, Ana worked with a fireteam called the Night Wolves, but the rest of her team perished.

Several weeks after the Last City was defended against a massive Fallen assault that came to be known as Six Fronts, Ana participated in a citywide memorial and festival for those who had perished defending the Last City throughout its history. Utilizing Solar Light to create lanterns for the revelers to follow along the City's streets, Ana encountered Saint-14 and handed him an unlit lantern while asking if there was anyone he wished to remember. The Titan instead asked her what she would do if they one day defeated the Darkness and there was peace. Ana admitted she was unsure, but then asked him if he ever wondered about his previous thirteen lives and what they had been like. He informed her he was happy with fourteen, and Ana sprinkled seeds on his shoulders to attract pigeons to him and told him she was as well. As she departed, Ana reminded him to walk the memorial row as it got dark, and corrected him when he called her Anastasia when he responded that he would.

Battle of Twilight Gap
"I still think of the Battle of Twilight Gap. I don’t remember much. There was smoke and ash. I heard Shaxx shouting, but I just kept firing my gun, over and over."

- Ana Bray

While Ana defended the City with the same valor as her comrades, she never felt that the City was her home. On top that, Ana had an unyielding desire to learn more about Clovis Bray, Rasputin, and by extension, her past life. Because her search for knowledge was deemed personal, she and Commander Zavala would often argue about her quest, since Guardians learning about their past is a taboo. One day while in the plaza of the Tower, Ana was confronted by Zavala about her research, but their argument was interrupted by Andal, who informed them that the Fallen were launching an assault on the Last City from Twilight Gap. Ana was placed in a Fireteam under the command of Lord Shaxx for the battle alongside Liu Feng, Nkechi-32, Idil Abdi, and Truce. As the Fallen threatened to overwhelm the City's walls, all Guardians were ordered to fall back by Lord Saladin Forge, who declared the City lost. However, Shaxx refused to accept this and rallied Ana and the rest of the fireteam to ignore the order and hold the wall, with Ana providing covering fire for her fellow Guardians. They held the Wall long enough for the rest of the Vanguard to regroup and launch a counterattack which drove the Fallen back into Twilight Gap.

Pursuing the Fallen, Ana found herself fighting side-by-side with Zavala and Sloane near the City's gun emplacements within the Gap. As they fought Ana thought about how she could convince Zavala that Rasputin could help the City and prevent slaughters like this battle and Six Fronts from happening again. After dispatching several Vandals with her Golden Gun and throwing knife, Ana turned to Zavala to continue their conversation from before, but Jinju warned her that a Captain was behind her. The Captain wounded Jinju with a swipe of its blade, and Ana realized that this was her chance to fake her death and gain the freedom she needed from the Vanguard to pursue her past and find information that could help save humanity. She allowed the Captain to knock her off the cliffside, leaving Zavala and the rest of her comrades to assume that she perished from the fall. The legacy of Ana's actions at Twilight Gap lingered for decades in pools of Light she left behind, along with a bracelet she lost during the fighting. The bracelet was later recovered by a Guardian investigating a time ripple on behalf of the Future War Cult. A cloak called Strength of the Pack was designed in her honor and sold by the Speaker to Hunters.

Search for the Warmind
While the Red War was taking place Ana was searching the polar ice caps of Mars for the facility containing Rasputin's core program. During her search, she encountered the Red Legion, who were searching the ice caps for anything of value. Around this time, The Traveler was caged, causing Ana to lose her light mid-battle and nearly get killed by a War Beast. Though Jinju was able to heal her, Ana was still down to one life. Though Jinju picked Zavala's call to rally on Saturn's moon Titan, Ana opted to fight by continuing her search for Rasputin. Some time later, Ana was caught in a dangerously heavy snowstorm. When a personal effect of hers is lost in the storm, Ana abandons self-preservation to find it, despite Jinju's warning that the storm would kill her permanently. At the same time Ana is buried alive by the storm, the Traveler awakens, returning Light to all Guardians and Ghosts. Miraculously, Jinju is able to revive her partner, and the duo find that they reached Hellas Basin, and press forward to Rasputin's core.

Ice and Shadow
Upon reaching Hellas Basin, Ana scanned the topography to find an entire armada of Hive Tombships buried beneath the glacier. What's worse were hundreds of Warsats dropping out of the atmosphere and into the glacier as a result of the Traveler's awakening, which in turn caused the dormant Hive to reawaken beneath her feet. Ana fought her way across the unstable terrain between the unburrowing Hive and Rasputin only to find something much worse unearth on the horizon: the living, giant Worm God Xol.

Reaching out for assistance on any secure Vanguard communications, Ana's help would come in the form of the Guardian; having rendevous clearing a path through the Hive and the Red Legion that they can rendezvous at the entrance of the Braytech facility. Ghost would suggest calling support from the Vanguard, only for Ana to deny it citing Zavala's stance against the Warmind and digging for her family roots. Ana would properly introduce herself to the Guardian by killing a Vanquisher from behind and clear the way foward to the facility's reception area.

After a moment to astound her family's ancient research facility, Ana could be able to access Rasputin's systems from a terminal using her old credentials. From there, she could aid the Guardian in accessing the security systems and keep the Hive from swarming the Warmind's Mindlab. Reaching out to Rasputin for aid, the Warmind would heed Ana's command by providing the Valkyrie to the Guardian, giving them firepower to clear out the frozen Hive and access the Mindlab from the inside. Ana and the Guardian were met with surprise to find Zavala inside the Mindlab, reprimanding them for defying the Vanguard and siding of the Warmind. Zavala would further chastise Ana for not standing alongside her Guardian siblings during the Red War only for her to stand her ground; reinforcing her faith in Rasputin protecting Humanity along with her personal connection to him, despite Zavala's bias to be a dangerous and unpredictable machine to wield.

The ECHO Project
Meanwhile exploring Mars she finds a Warmind bunker. Inside are a couple of dead Exos from the golden age. Trying to find out more information they trigger an alarm. After taking care of it in a base on Uranus.

Halting the Almighty
"What a time to be alive. I don't think anyone has ever thrown a spaceship at us before, so that's new."

- Ana

Ana was called upon by Zavala to investigate the Red Legion's activity on the Cabal superweapon known as The Almighty when it suddenly moved out of orbit of Mercury. Infilitrating the station, Ana made her way to the engine room while Zavala fought to the bridge. She discovered three Psions within the control room, and told Zavala to wait a moment as he tried to contact her. Drawing her knives, Ana engaged the Psions, swiftly breaking ones neck with a kick. Dodging their fire, she gutted the second Psion and flipped away from the third, finishing it off by throwing one of her knives into its neck as it raised its weapon. Ana retrieved her knife and mocked her dead foes, but then noticed the Cabal had destroyed the central manifold, crippling the Almighty's maneuvering thrusters. A explosion then rocked the station, and Ana quickly identified it as coming from the propulsion deck and that the Cabal had now destroyed the primary engine. She asked if Zavala had secured the bridge yet, and he told her to wait just a moment. Once he had taken it, Zavala informed Ana that the Cabal had also destroyed the Almighty's navigation system, leaving the ship hurtling through space with no way to change course. Ana was confused about why the Cabal had done all this and wondered what the Cabal's motive was, but Zavala then discovered that the Red Legion had set the station on a collision course for the Last City.

Realizing that the Last City does not have the ordnance to destroy or alter The Almighty's course, Ana suggests that their only hope was to gain the cooperation of the only entity that may have the power to save their home: Rasputin. Though Zavala remained adamant that the ancient Warmind cannot be trusted, noting its priorities have changed in the past, Ana believes they don't have a choice, which the Titan Vanguard reluctantly complies with. Relaying her plan to The Guardian, Ana suggests they speak with Rasputin directly at his core to plead their case with him. After driving back a Red Legion force with Rasputin's weaponized Frames and speaking with Rasputin, the Warmind agrees to help the Guardians to find a way to stop The Almighty. To begin, Rasputin directs the Guardians to a hidden bunker within the EDZ and connect it with his system mainframe. Ana Bray and Zavala arrive at the bunker first and encounter a House of Dusk raiding party. As Zavala holds off the Dusk Fallen, Ana works on a terminal to make a make a connection with Rasputin but fortune arrives in the Guardian who manages to slay the raiding party leader and drives the rest of the Fallen away. As Ana gets closer to making a connection between the bunker's mainframe with Rasputin's, Zavala once again voices his distrust in the Warmind. Ana defends Rasputin, stating they are on the same side and that Zavala needs only faith. Zavala remains unconvinced but says that between her and Ana, he would put his faith in her. Once their discussion is over, Ana is successful in establishing a connection with Rasputin, restoring power to the Seraph Bunker and allowing Rasputin to develop weapons for the Guardians and activate Seraph Towers in the region.

Later on, Ana travels to Luna to reactivate the Seraph Bunker there but encounters heavy Hive resistance. Fortunately, she holds the Hive off long enough for the Guardian to arrive and provide backup, allowing her to finish them off with a Blade Barrage. With the Hive eliminated, Ana works on connecting the bunker to Rasputin as the Guardian stood watch. As she worked, Ana discussed how she knew many other Guardians talked behind her back and accused her of selfishly being a Bray first and Guardian second. She revealed that the work she was doing away from the City with Rasputin was not just about uncovering her past, but searching for useful technologies from the Golden Age, including medicine, construction materials, disease-resistant crops, and even the Deep Stone Crypt, all for the benefit of humanity. However, Ana admitted that this was done under the assumption that Zavala and the Vanguard would not need her help and that she now realized there was more she could have done. As she finished connecting Rasputin the bunker, Ana transmatted out of the bunker and returned to Mars.

When The Fourth Horseman was stolen from the Vanguard vaults, the Guardian visited Ana to gain aid in tracking it down. She was shocked that someone had managed to break through the security of the vault, but based on the weapon she had one guess for who was responsible: the Cabal, as it was designed to be the ultimate Cabal slayer. She directed the Guardian to hunt down Cabal across Mars and gather data from them on recent Cabal activity. The data the Guardian collected worried Ana, as it pointed to the Shadows of Calus being involved in the theft. She suggested the Guardian hunt down Psions who were working as double agents for Emperor Calus within the Red Legion.

Following weeks of activating the Seraph Bunkers and rearming them, the Guardians are successful in stopping the Red Legion's plot to destroy the Last City using the Almighty. With Rasputin launching his countermeasure, the countless warsats destroy the Almighty, sending whats left the vessel crashing into the mountains outside the Last City. The Guardians inform Ana of their success and Ana responds with complete joy and disbelief. Further, Ana expresses her utter gratitude for the Guardians in trusting her and in Rasputin.

Rasputin's Defeat
"I froze. We still don't even know what—if we saved anything." "It's not so easy to act in the face of defeat. The prospect of a future is something we have to keep in mind." "Nothing we do is supposed to be easy. Isn't that the point? This was a stress test, and I buckled."

- Ana and Zavala discuss the defeat of Rasputin at the hands of the Pyramids

As the Pyramids move closer to Io, Ana activates the warsats near the moon to destroy the Pyramid. At first it's hologram disappears, but is brought back in as it sends out a shockwave that disables Rasputin, much to Ana's distraught and fear. As she stood in horror within the darkened room, Ana was assailed by doubt and terror at how easily the Pyramids had defeated Rasputin and could not even answer Zavala as he worriedly asked what had happened over the comms. She then saw Jinju quickly tying tethers of Light between Rasputin's consoles and was stunned as her Ghost declared that she had saved most of Rasputin, but was straining to hold onto him and requested the Pillory Engram. Ana protested that it was not ready and that it could drive Rasputin insane, but Jinju's tethers began snapping and she noted it was either this or nothing. Hurrying, Ana opened the secret compartment where she kept the engram and held it in front of Jinju, who released the data she had saved into it. Ana questioned if it had worked, and Jinju stated she had saved as much as she could as Warsats began impacting the Martian surface outside the facility, unable to remain in orbit without the guiding hand of the Warmind.

The Young Wolf eventually arrived on Mars to offer Ana assistance in the wake of the attack on Rasputin and the arrival of a Pyramid on Mars. She showed her friend one of her monitors that displayed harmonic oscillations prior to Rasputin being disabled by the Darkness, causing her to wonder if the Warmind initiated an emergency upload. However, her monitors suddenly emitted a loud scream of Hive interference, causing the computers to reboot. Angered by the interruption, Ana's Light flared and her hands burned the keypad. Turning to the Young Wolf, she asked for their support and smiled as they drew their weapon. After the Young Wolf disrupted Hive operations and returned, Ana informed them that Rasputin was cleverer than the Darkness believed and had cycled part of himself through a buffer, although she was unsure how to safely extract him. As she studied a piece of the Warmind's shattered shell, Cabal drop pods began hitting the ground outside of the building. Weary of the continued distractions, Ana asked for the Young Wolf to keep their enemies occupied and give her time to figure out how to safely extract Rasputin's data.

Shortly after the Young Wolf's visit, Ana travelled to the Last City and visited Zavala. As the Commander poured them drinks in his office, Ana dejectedly stated that she could not believe they had lost. Zavala countered they had not lost yet and encouraged her to think of the future, but Ana noted that she was not even sure if she had managed to save any of Rasputin and had failed in the City's moment of greatest peril despite Zavala's trust in her and Rasputin. She was not reassured by Zavala's statement that the Last City would be rubble without her previous victories and that she was still responsible for ensuring Rasputin's survival. When he noted that the loss of Cayde-6 and his viewpoint as Hunter Vanguard had caused his own doubts but that he had now come to see Cayde's viewpoint was just one of many possibilities that guided the City, Ana quickly protested that she did not want his still vacant position on the Vanguard but the Commander reassured her he was not offering unless she was the true murderer of Cayde. She questioned if he would forgive her if she was, and he smiled when stated that killing Cayde would be understandable. As their exchange began to lighten her mood, Ana questioned what had happened to Cayde's pet chicken, the Colonel. Zavala informed her that Saint-14 had adopted it and appointed it lord of the pigeons, which finally caused Ana herself to smile, and Zavala encouraged her to have her drink before they were summoned by the Colonel to attack the Pyramids.

Evacuation of Mars
"Let Zavala know I'll bring Rasputin to the Tower. Whatever happens next, we'll face it together."

- Ana commits to evacuating Mars and returning to the Tower

After returned to Mars, Ana spent several weeks working on finding Rasputin. She was glad when Zavala sent the Young Wolf to finish aiding her in preparation for the evacuation of Mars to the Tower. She explained that she had discovered Rasputin had sent part of himself disguised along comm relays as something benign and asked them to investigate. Ana also requested that they aid the Vanguard by disrupting Hive rituals that were aimed at strengthening Savathûn, the Witch Queen while also engaging Escalation Protocol to draw in and kill as many Hive as possible. The Young Wolf successfully halted the Hive rituals and recovered more of Rasputin. When they returned, Ana informs them she had been performing "brain surgery" with a smoldering iron before showing them a small viewscreen. She admitted it was less of the Warmind than she had hoped, a mere fraction of a percent, but it was still him. Ana then activated the device and asked if Rasputin was in there, which caused the viewscreen to flicker orange. Relieved and smiling, Ana asked the Young Wolf to return to Zavala and let him know that she and Rasputin would be evacuating Mars to join the Vanguard at the Tower so they could face the Darkness together.

As Ana watched the Young Wolf depart for the final time, she reflected on how they had become a trusted confidant who had believed in her when no one else had. Thinking back on Zavala's words to her in his office, Ana knew the bond between the Guardians was more powerful than any Warmind weapon and was the hope for the future that they had to build on and that she had plenty of experience in rebuilding things from a destroyed past. As she finished packing as much technology into a freighter as it could carry, Ana glanced out across the now quiet Martian surface, with the remaining Cabal having evacuated, the Hive defeated, and Rasputin's weapons inactive. Jinju reported to her that their jumpship, loaded with an experimental Exo chassis for Rasputin, was ready to depart after final system check, and Ana prepared to leave behind her past on Mars and join Zavala and the rest of the Vanguard in the Tower to fight for humanities' future against the Darkness.

Personality and Traits
Free-spirited and adventurous with a sarcastic sense of humor, Ana Bray is determined to seek the answers regarding her past and of her connection to the Warmind, Rasputin. Though regarded as a talented Hunter and a reliable teammate to her fellow Guardians, Ana Bray believed that the Last City never really felt like her home. When finding evidence of her connection to Clovis Bray, Ana grew more and more curious on the nature of her past, to the point where she was willing to defy orders and fake her death. This showcases her rebellious nature as her desire to learn about her past goes against Vanguard doctrine which discourages Guardians to look into their past and focus on ensuring humanity has a future. Even when her Light was suppressed during the Red War, Ana Bray remained steadfast in her mission to locate Rasputin and get the answers she desired, even with the risk of a final death. Though Ana felt alienated from the Last City, she showed a measure of shame after Zavala admonished her for faking her death to pursue her questions while leaving her fellow Guardians during the Red War, Ana Bray nonetheless felt that Rasputin could make a powerful ally.

Throughout the conflict with the Grasp of Nokris Hive faction and the Worm God Xol, Ana Bray continuously believed that the Last City needs Rasputin and his cooperation. As a result, she constantly brought her case of gaining the Warmind's support to a reluctant Zavala who believes that Rasputin will not heed to the priorities of the Vanguard or the safety of humanity. Though Ana proved that Rasputin listens to her, even she can't discern Rasputin's motives with complete clarity. Following the clash with Xol, Ana would struggle to maintain a partnership with Rasputin, both to protect the system and discover other secrets of the Collapse. Ana would feel vindicated that the Warmind aided the Guardians in saving the Last City from The Almighty. However, Ana would be left speechless and horrified after the Darkness silences Rasputin.

After encountering the Guardian, Ana Bray maintained a healthy partnership with them, grateful for their support during her investigations into Clovis Bray and saving Rasputin from Xol.

Quotes

 * "I know what you're thinking, she's with Clovis Bray, she must have all the answers! But I'm just in the dark as you are on the Deep Stone Crypt."
 * "I know what you're thinking. She's from Clovis Bray, she must have all the answers about my past and the Deep Stone Crypt. Despite all my digging, I'm still in the dark on a lot of things."
 * "Rasputin predicted you'd return. Just kidding!"
 * "You have any updates?"
 * "If I missed something, let me know."
 * "Anything I can help with?"
 * "I admit, Rasputin can be a little temperamental. Nothing to worry about though. He just wants to help us!"
 * "This place has definitely seen better days."
 * "Let's make it happen!"
 * "Let me know if you find any Golden Age tech out there."
 * "Stay sharp."
 * "Feels good to be back."
 * "See you later."
 * "Gimme one sec."
 * "Let's get the ball rolling."
 * "Are you adjusting to Mars yet?"
 * "I'm ready when you are."
 * "Still in one piece?"
 * "We could've used a Guardian like you at Twilight Gap."
 * "I don't bite. Let me know if you need something."
 * "Back so soon? How can I be of assistance?"
 * "I really believe Rasputin can do some good. We just need to trust him, and then he'll trust us."
 * "I hate how the Cabal think they can raid this place! They don't get to walk in here and take things from my family!"
 * "Take as much time as you need."
 * "I look busy but I can multitask. Need something?"
 * "How's Ikora doing? She was one tough Warlock. You remind me of her in a lot of ways."
 * "How are you liking Valkyrie? I wish we had weapons like that at Twilight Gap."
 * "The Tower wasn't my favorite place, but I had a lot of friends there. I belonged to it and it belonged to me."
 * "Things change so quickly these days. Can't even keep up anymore."
 * "What do you want, Rasputin? I see your sense of humor hasn't change."
 * "I don't have access to some of these files. What will I do..."
 * "Anomaly in the Reef... But I thought-- Nope! I don't have time for that right now."
 * "Why do you keep rewriting moral structures? This is why people have problems with you, you know."
 * "Rasputin recorded a substantial amount of Guardian traffic at some place on Earth called The Weep. The strange part is, not a lot of bullets were fired."
 * "Did you ever meet Andal? He taught me a lot about being a Hunter. He kept telling people that Cayde was Rasputin, though."

Fragmented

 * ""The Heph index is huge now! Rasputin has made some--"
 * "You should've seen Freehold in the old days. My grandfather put ??? on the map ????"

Trivia

 * Ana was originally voiced by Jamie Chung in Warmind, but was replaced by Erika Ishii in Season of the Worthy.
 * Despite this, Jamie Chung is still solely credited as the voice of Ana in the game's credits.
 * A heavily redacted diary belonging to Ana Bray could be found in a Daito office above the hangar in the Tower.
 * One of the scannable items in the Warmind vault on Io had been scrubbed clean of all data by a user named Bray; these could have been Ana herself, or one of the members of the Bray family during the Golden Age.

List of appearances

 * Destiny
 * The Taken King
 * Destiny: Warmind (comic)
 * Destiny 2
 * Warmind
 * Forsaken
 * Black Armory
 * Joker's Wild
 * Season of Opulence
 * Shadowkeep
 * Season of Dawn
 * Season of the Worthy
 * Season of Arrivals