Henriette Meyrin

Henriette Meyrin was one of the founders of the Black Armory. She was the mother of Adelaide Meyrin, who later became the Exo Ada-1.

Biography
Henriette was a member of the House of Meyrin, a powerful French family during the Golden Age. During that time, she had a daughter named Adelaide, whom she loved with all her heart.

By the late Golden Age, Henriette found herself concerned for her daughter's safety, feeling that humanity had been lulled into a false sense of security by the Traveler uplifting them. Thanks to her connections, she became aware of an "anomaly," and believed that it was time to help humanity defend itself. With the help of Helga Rasmussen and Yuki Satou, she became one of the three co-founders of the Black Armory.

As their organization grew, however, Henriette found herself apprehensive over how business was conducted within the Black Armory. At first, she got into arguments with Helga and Yuki over how the weapons were being distributed, fearing that giving the weapons to the masses would do more harm than good. Later on, she argued with Helga over Project Niobe, believing that fusing Exos with Black Armory technology was unethical. However, as the Traveler moved to Earth during the Collapse, she decided to press forward with Project Niobe.

The Collapse & Dark Age
Despite their efforts, the Black Armory was no match against the Black Fleet when they invaded Sol. Henriette and her fellow co-founders were forced to hide inside Niobe Labs as the Collapse descended upon humanity. After some time, the labs would be attacked by an unknown creature, killing Helga and fatally injuring Adelaide. In desperation, Henriette reluctantly agreed with Yuki to implant her daughter's consciousness into an experimental Exo frame, becoming Ada-1.

After burying Helga, Henriette along with the remainder of the Black Armory members (including Yuki and Ada-1) left Niobe Labs in hopes to find some safe harbor. After some time, Ada-1 would practice creating and upgrading Black Armory weapons with her. Unfortunately, her ability attracted bandits, including some Risen warlords. The warlords would kill Yuki and other members of the Black Armory, leaving Henriette and her daughter as the only survivors.

Henriette and Ada would reach towards a small refugee camp, finding community with its people, including the children who were fond of Ada and played with her. However, this peace would not last as a battle would ensue between Risen warlords.

Facing death with dignity
After escaping the Refugee camp from the battle between the Risen, Henriette caught sight of the same Warlord that killed Yuki. Knowing that he and his companions would come for the Obsidian Accelerator, she removed it from Ada and sent her far away from them. When two of the Risen came to kill her, Ada shot them dead and killed their Ghosts. Henriette ran far inland to distract the warlords.

Knowing that she was at great risk of death, Henriette made a final entry in her journal as a letter addressed to her daughter. The letter told Ada about herself; how she became an Exo, encouraging her to learn from the founders' successes and missteps, and to continue fulfilling the Black Armory. Her final words in the letter were about how lucky she was able to love her daughter twice.

Not long after, Henriette died at the hands of the warlords pursuing her.

Legacy
Henriette's legacy lives on through her daughter, Ada-1, who is the current leader of the Black Armory. For centuries, Ada was distrustful of Guardians due to how cruel and violent Lightbearers were in the past. However, due to losing the Forges and the Kell's Scourge using the Black Armory's wares to unleash chaos across the system, Ada-1 was forced to put feelings aside and allow the Guardians in recovering the Forges, allowing her the means to create Black Armory weapons for them.

Henriette's journal, the Black Armory Papers, was also highly sought by the Kell's Scourge, hoping to learn more of Black Armory's secrets from Vault Ebisu in the Last City. Unfortunately, Siviks tore out many pages of the Black Armory Papers, forcing Guardians to recover them in order to learn Siviks's plans. After much help from the Guardians in recovering the pages, Ada learned that Henriette was also her mother. Realizing the second chance at life she was given, she vowed to not waste it and was grateful to the Guardians for their part in saving the Black Armory.

Henriette is still remembered by her daughter as she sometimes sings "Le Temps Des Cerises", a French song she learned from her mother. After finding renewed purpose with the Loom, Ada desires to continue the Black Armory's legacy, believing it is more than just the Forges and that its spirit must live on, even telling her mother in spirit that she's doing everything she can to preserve it.

Personality and traits
Henriette Meyrin would've been described as someone who values life. Her whole reasoning for creating the Black Armory was to create a safer place for humanity and her daughter. She was among the few who didn't trust the Traveler during the Golden Age.

Even during the arguments she had with them, she loved Helga and Yuki like sisters as they all shared a common goal of preserving a safe and better future for their children.

Despite being prepared, the experiences that Henriette went through during the Collapse and the Dark Age were quite harrowing. Not only in losing her fellow co-founders but also reluctantly trying to save her daughter from the brink of death by uploading her conscience to an exo frame. For a time, she harbored guilt and sorrow for forcing her daughter to be reborn as an exo rather than allowing her a dignified human death. Despite that, she bonded with her daughter, even sharing some personal moments together.

Even as an Exo, Henriette loved her daughter more than anything, and she wasn't willing to let the Risen Warlords take her. That love even extended to writing a letter in her journal to Ada, admitting how lucky she was to love her daughter twice.

List of appearances

 * Destiny 2: Black Armory
 * Season of the Splicer