The Guardian

"All of the after-action reports I've shown you about the Taken War, the calm state of the system... we have this Guardian to thank. I've attached more details, if you want to read evaluations from the Vanguard. Just skim Cayde's. He's... not very biased, here."

- Grimoire description

The Guardian is a protector of the Last City and a new-generation Iron Lord, who has participated in numerous legendary battles to retake humanity's past from various malevolent forces.

A Guardian Rises
Centuries after The Collapse, the Guardian was found and resurrected by a lone Ghost searching the Cosmodrome, but before Ghost could explain what had happened, he was interrupted by the roars of a Fallen Captain who had been tracking him. Ghost then led the Guardian into The Wall and helped them find their first weapon—a battered, ancient Khvostov 7G-02. After foraging for more gear, the Guardian kills a Fallen Devil Captain named Rahn, and escapes in an Arcadia-class jumpship revived by Ghost just as Riksis emerges. As the Guardian departs, the Fallen vainly attempt to shoot it down, and a mysterious stranger looks on as the Guardian departs.

After flying through a storm over many leagues of land, the Guardian arrives at the The City, a place Ghost describes as the "last safe city on Earth" and "the only place The Traveler can still protect".

Defending Earth
The Guardian gets acquainted with the various Tower residents including the three Vanguard leaders, the Gunsmith, Master Rahool and the Bounty Tracker, as well as the Postmaster and the Tower Shipwright who helps repair their ship. Along the way they visit other Tower residents of lesser importance, including the three Faction leaders and Tess Everis.

Afterward the Guardian returns to the Cosmodrome to find a Warp Drive. They locate a downed Guardian's ship and learn the location of where an existing drive might be found. After battling and killing Riksis, they acquire the drive and return to the Tower to have it installed. Later that night as the Guardian looks up at the Traveler, they meet with the Speaker, an old Warlock who had been with the City since its foundation. The Speaker answers some the Guardian's unasked questions, namely what the Ghosts are, and a brief summary of the Traveler's history with humanity. He then confides in the Guardian his deepest fears: that the Darkness is returning and humanity won't be able to survive it this time.

The Guardian asks what they can do to help, and the Speaker encourages them to join those already fighting to defend Earth until a cure for the Traveler could be found; adding wryly that he hoped Ghost chose his Guardian prudently, to which the robot reaffirms emphatically it did.

Returning to the Cosmodrome at the request of the Speaker, the Guardian heads to the old Skywatch—a complex that once maintained communications with Earth's former colonies—and find the Fallen in an uproar. Pressing deeper into the Lunar Complex, the Guardian discovers another enemy: the Hive. After eliminating all of the Hive enemies they encounter including a Wizard named Gotra, Ghost recalls the Hive have not been seen on Earth for centuries, surmising that their presence here may herald another invasion.

Locating Rasputin
Shortly thereafter the Vanguard reports an upsurge in Fallen activity all over the Cosmodrome. Connecting to the vehicle grid, the Guardian makes their way to the Forgotten Shore via their Sparrow and find a Fallen amplifier. After searching out a second one, Ghost discovers both are linked to the Skywatch as they make their way to the next. Finding a Fallen encampment inside the Terrestrial Complex, they defeat the aliens and hack into one of their machines. In doing so, Ghost encounters resistance from an unknown entity and investigates further while the Guardian defends him against Fallen forces.

After Ghost retrieves the necessary data they destroy the machine. Ghost reports the existence of an ancient Warmind, Rasputin, who somehow survived the Collapse and is defending something later revealed to be the Terrestrial Aray in the Cosmodrome.

In an effort to raise this Array, the Guardian finds a lost Dead Orbit team and extracts the codes from their dead Ghosts. Beating off the Hive, who have established a large presence there and are in conflict with the local Fallen, the Guardian enters the Terrestrial Complex once more. Sensing the increased presence of Darkness, Ghost quickly gets to work opening up the Array just as Hive Tombships arrive.

As the Guardians battles the oncoming Hive, including a Hallowed Knight, a satellite dish awakens in the distance and pivots skyward. Once the battle is over, Ghost reports that Rasputin took control of the array and is expanding his reach throughout constructs across the solar system.

Shortly thereafter, at the request of Commander Zavala, the Guardian partakes in a Strike to eliminate Sepiks Prime, Prime Servitor of the House of Devils. Locating the Lair beneath a colony ship the Guardian kills a Baron named Naksis and destroy a Fallen Walker barring their way, and battle Sepiks. After a fierce battle the machine is destroyed, ending the Devils' threat.

Awakening the Hive
On Earth's Moon, the Guardian picks up the trail of another Guardian who went dark searching for a way into the Hive fortress. After hacking a Golden Age colony base, the Guardian travels to the Temple of Crota where they fight off members of a shattered fallen house as well as Hive forces led by Wizard Vurok. Unable to save the Guardian, Ghost recovers his Ghost's memories and learns that the Hive are raising an army to invade Earth. Just moments before engaging the Hive, the Guardian hears the Stranger and catches a glimpse of her just before the Temple doors open.

In an attempt to uncover further information on what the Hive are planning, the Guardian infiltrates the The World's Grave and kills its keeper, Kranox. The Guardian's Ghost then steals as much data as possible before the two return to warn the City. After looking through Cryptarch records on the Temple, the Guardian infiltrates the Hellmouth once more and claims the Sword of Crota, killing its guards and shattering it in the process. While inside the Hellmouth, the Guardian also follows a lead from the vanished Warlock Osiris, seeking the fabled Shrine of Oryx - a tribute altar. After killing Frigoris and his Fallen crew, the Guardian defeats the shrine's priest, Sardok, and destroys the Shrine.

After successfully decrypting the information from the World's Grave alongside the Cryptarchs, the Speaker broadcasts an urgent transmission to all Guardians claiming that a Hive ritual is draining the Traveler's Light and that nothing else is more important. The Guardian then returns to the Hive Temple and after receiving a message from the Exo Stranger inviting them to come find her if they are successful, kills the Siphon Witches, effectively preventing them from stealing any more of the Light.

Uncovering the Vex
Following the Stranger's coordinates, the Guardian travels to the Ishtar Sink on Venus, where they are ambushed by alien cyborgs known as the Vex, described by Ghost as "war machines". After reactivating an extensive series of sensors established by other Guardians to track these machines, the Guardian meets with the Exo Stranger in the Ishtar Academy. There, she informs them of the Black Garden, the birthplace of the Vex, and a powerful entity responsible for keeping the Traveler in a state of catatonia.

Before the Guardian could ask any more questions however, the Stranger suddenly vanishes following a mysterious conversation with an unknown individual. Ghost suggests they go to the Awoken in order to find the Garden's location, an option he had brought up during the discussion. Wistfully he wonders if they could stay with the Vex, as the idea of traveling far into danger was not something he liked, and the Guardian jokingly calls him "little light" after the Stranger's remark. Ghost firmly objects.

The Awoken
The Guardian travels to the distant Reef and is intercepted by two Awoken Guard Galiots who demand an explanation as to the Guardian's intrusion into Reef space. The Guardian states their mission and the Guardian is escorted to the Vestian Outpost. After gaining an audience with the Queen, the Guardian meets with the Prince, Uldren Sov. Sov mockingly reveals he had been the one to let them in, and attempts to deny them an audience with his sister the Queen.

Two Fallen guards armed with spears emerge from behind the Queen's throne, however; alarmed, the Guardian seizes a weapon from one of the Awoken Guards and prepares to shoot just as Uldren puts a knife to the Guardian's throat; Mara's subsequent appearance defuses the hostilities and the prince apologizes. The Guardian reiterates their request for the location of the Black Garden. Despite this, Uldren denigrates them until his sister requests his council. After a moment of conferring, Uldren offers them a deal: they bring the head of a Vex Gate Lord and the Awoken would give them location of the Garden. In spite of the Guardian's skepticism and Ghost's stammering, the two set off for Venus once more, determined to succeed.

Finding a Gate Lord
In order to find a Gate Lord, the Guardian travels to an old research station of the Ishtar Collective, defeating a Cyclops and analyzing its mind core. Armed with vital intel on the nature of the Vex as well as the means with which to summon the Gate Lord, the Guardian sets off. While at the Ishtar Academy, the Guardian kills Graliks, a Baron of House Winter, a High Servitor named Simiks-3, and secures an ancient Golden Age Archive for the Cryptarchs.

During their mission, the Guardian takes a detour to hunt down Draksis, the Kell of House Winter, as reports place him in a nearby group of caves. Battling their way aboard the Ketch, they find and kill the Fallen leader as well as his guards. Back on track with the Fallen threat dealt with momentarily, the Guardian reaches the Endless Steps. After summoning and slaying Zydron, the Guardian returns to the Reef.

A Bargain Made
The Guardian brings the Gate Lord's head before the Queen, to their astonishment. Reafirming their request for the location of the Black Garden a reluctant Uldren cuts out the now dead eye from the Gate Lord and gives the Guardian coordinates for the Garden's location. The Queen then addresses the Guardian directly, telling them they owe her. Courteously, the Guardian thanks her for her help and leaves, politely ignoring Uldren's mocking well-wishes.

Crossing the Exclusion Zone
The Guardian flies to Mars, stronghold of the enigmatic Cabal, and infiltrate a scout bunker. There they learn that the heavyset, militaristic aliens are locked in a massive attrition war with the native Vex with neither side gaining much ground. Venturing into Giants' Pass they break into a local computer and trigger a response from the Cabal; after a brief battle they kill a Bracus named Tho'ourg and retrieve his Access Key. Moving to the Valley of the Kings they spot a mountain Cabal outpost standing guard before a vast Vex Gate seething with dark energies. Using the Access Key, the Guardian has Ghost hack into the Cabal network, learning that the aliens have made significant progress in cracking Vex defenses. The Gate then starts surging with activity and they break off to defeat an onslaught of Vex, with Ghost remarking they would have to fight the Cabal after all.

Journeying through the Scablands, they discover a Vex Spire deep within the Rubicon Wastes. Within the Legion's Keep they encounter an army of Cabal intent on stopping the intruders, their Primus, Sha'aul, leading them. As Ghost repowers the Gate Lord's eye - the Vex Conflux forming - the Guardian obliterates the enemies and kills the Primus without much effort.

Upon a request from Master Rahool they venture to a buried city nearby and flush out the Cabal there. Atop an old Clovis Bray facility inside the Hollows they find the Cabal and Vex battling over a computer terminal. Killing Bracus Tha'aurn they clear out the opposing forces and secure the computer only to find that Rasputin has taken control of the old Martian Warmind's systems and locked it down.

The Black Garden
Somehow aware of the Guardian's effort to breach the Garden, the Vex suddenly surge across Freehold, overwhelming the Cabal and forcing a response from the Guardian as well. Delving into the Tharsis Junction the Guardian destroys several active Transfer Gates, destroying a Vex Minotaur called the Prohibitive Mind in the process.

The Guardian heads for the Vex Gate leading to the Black Garden, entering the Valley of the Kings before fighting off waves of Vex. Finally teleporting through the Gate as it reacts to the charged eye, the Guardian cautiously passes through a graveyard of frozen Vex, their immense age indicated by the plant life growing on them. Some activate and attack the Guardian but are subsequently destroyed.

Battling their way across the Garden, they pass a cliff overlooking the Vex realm, Ghost remarking that "something dark" lay beneath, and eventually come upon a barrier blocking their way. After destroying the Divisive Mind Cyclops protecting it, the Guardian reaches the entrance to the Heart of the Garden. They activate another Spire directly before the Entrance itself. Ghost inputs the charged Gate Lord eye, and the Vex gate opens.

Inside the chamber they encounter a curious sight: dozens of ancient Vex kneeling with their arms apart before a large writhing mass of Dark energy within a large coliseum. Three large statues of Gate Lords ring the worship ceremony. As they look on, the Vex begin to react to their presence sluggishly, as if the arrival of an alien intruder was unfathomable to them. Ghost sarcastically inquires if the Guardian could kill a god, to which the Guardian replies they didn't "have much of a choice". The Heart pulses with energy, animating a nearby statue and commencing the battle.

As each statue is brought to life, one by one—revealed to be the Eschaton Mind, the Imminent Mind, and the Primeval Mind—the Guardian destroys them. With the death of its protectors, the Heart grew visibly weaker; Ghost encourages the Guardian to keep fighting as the Vex bring in tens of reinforcements, until at last the final Mind is destroyed. The Heart contracts upon itself and the coliseum shakes violently as it explodes in a blinding flash. The Heart had been destroyed and, as Ghost said in surprise, they were back on Mars. The Darkness was retreating and the Light, ostensibly captured by the Heart, was returning back to the Traveler.

Summoned back to the City by the Speaker, who then gives a congratulatory speech thanking all of the Guardians for their work, the Guardian responsible wanders into the Hanger where the Exo Stranger stood looking at the Traveler. She remarks that even though it is a time for celebration, the fight was far from finished. Giving the Guardian her Rifle she turned and departed, warping away in a disintegrating cloud of bluish-white energy. The Guardian then repowers their ship and takes off into orbit, preparing for their next mission.

Return of Crota, Son of Oryx
After an unspecified number of years, Eris Morn returns to the Tower, warning of an impending Hive invasion led by a soon-to-be-resurrected Crota. Under Eris' direction, the Guardian travels to the Cosmodrome and seeks out Sardon, Fist of Crota, slaying the Hive general within the waterlogged caves of the Grottos. Traveling to the Moon, the Guardian halts a Hive ritual intended to resurrect Crota. However knowing Crota's soul survived their initial assault, the Guardian, alongside five others, infiltrates the Hellmouth and enters Crota's realm, the Oversoul Throne, where he is slain permanently.

Subsequently, the Hive lay siege to one of Rasputin's bunkers in an attempt to corrupt him. The Guardian repels them successfully, securing the old Warmind within its vault once more. The Guardian also leads a fireteam on a mission to track down and kill Crota's last remaining general, Omnigul, ending the Hive invasion of Earth.

Upon learning that The Undying Mind has begun to summon back the Black Heart, the Guardian ventures to a previously unexplored part of the Black Garden and destroys it.

House of Wolves
The Reef is embroiled in civil war as the House of Wolves, a Fallen house whom the Queen had conquered during the Reef Wars, are now in open rebellion. Their leader, Skolas, has declared himself the Kell of Kells and wishes to unite the Fallen under his banner. The Queen has summoned the Guardians to aid her in ending the rebellion, in return for the Reef's treasures. The player is aided by Petra Venj and Variks, The Loyal, with whom they search for Skolas and put a stop to his plans. After failing to seize control of the House of Devils and House of Kings, Skolas instead attempts to seize control of the Vault of Glass and the Vex technology within. The player finally captures him atop the Citadel, stopping him from summoning his entire House through time from the Vex's time portals. Skolas is sent back to the Prison of Elders, where he's finished off once and for all.

The Taken King
Oryx, the father of Crota, has come with his Hive fleet to avenge his fallen son. Using his terrible power, Oryx creates a new army called the Taken, and lays siege to the entire solar system. The Awoken fleet lead by Queen Mara Sov attempt to stop him before he can enter the Inner System, but they are utterly destroyed. He then starts Taking the Cabal stationed on Phobos who send out a distress signal, which catches the Vanguard's attention. Responding to the distress signal, the player is sent to investigate. Upon seeing the devastation, the player is confronted by a vision of Oryx, who tells the player that he is there to pay back humanity for his son's death. Realizing the threat that laid before them, Cayde-6 crafts a plan with the player to sneak aboard Oryx's Dreadnaught. Though they are successful, they cannot enter Oryx's inner sanctum until the player becomes Ascendant; Eris helps the player recover the last fragments of Crota's Soul, allowing entry into Oryx's chambers, where they duel. Though Oryx's physical form was defeated, he retreated even further into the ship, recovering his strength. Meanwhile, the Guardians work towards pushing the Taken out of the system. Once Oryx's lieutenants, the Court of Oryx, have been defeated, the Guardians push deeper into the Dreadnaught to seek out Oryx within his Ascendant Realm. There, he confronted the Fireteam of Guardians sent to kill him once and for all with his full might, even pulling them into a Darkness dimension. But in the end, using Light stolen from his pawns, Oryx was slain permanently.

Rise of Iron
The Fallen House of Devils, while looting ancient tombs from the Golden Age, accidentally unearth a self replicating nano-technology plague known as SIVA within the depths of the Old Cosmodrome. This plague mutates the Devils into powerful machine gods which collapsed The Wall in Old Russia, prompting Lord Saladin, the last of the Iron Lords, to leave his post as the Handler of the Iron Banner and personally lead the Guardians in a final stand against the plague, raising a new generation of Iron Lords to guard the Last City.

Onset of the War
The Guardian attempted to disorganize the enemy by disabling the Cabal command ship and though they succeeded in infiltrating the ship and in destroying the Shield generators, no reinforcements could make it, and they were confronted by Dominus Ghaul himself. There the Cabal Emperor activated the Light-restraining device upon the Traveler, encasing it in a force field. This act cut the Guardians off from the Traveler's Light, effectively crippling them. Ghaul savagely beat the weakened Guardian, even sending them off of his command ship along with their Ghost, plummeting to the devastated city below. Barely surviving the fall, the Guardian linked up with others, and with little choice, they evacuated the Last City.

Despite Ghaul's success in attacking the City, the Guardian refused to give up the fight, and after setting up a camp in the European Dead Zone, they sought out to gain new powers and began developing a counterattack against the Red Legion.

Personality and Traits
"You know it's starting to concern me how seldom you talk. We've been through a lot together, the neural symbiosis is pretty far progressed, but you'd be surprised how little I understand what you're thinking."

- Ghost

The Guardian is shown to be extremely humble, often fighting the Solar System's enemies without question nor hesitation. Like other Guardians, The Guardian is very silent, only speaking when the situation deems it necessary.

Gallery
 File:Lone.jpg|The Guardian looks over the landscape of Titan. File:Destiny-GuardianClasses-CharacterChart.jpg 

List of appearances

 * Destiny Alpha
 * Destiny Beta
 * Destiny
 * The Dark Below
 * House of Wolves
 * The Taken King
 * April Update
 * Rise of Iron
 * The Dawning
 * Age of Triumph
 * Destiny 2 Beta
 * Destiny 2