Cayde-6

"Get up close and personal with Ghaul. Put a bullet in his head. Then maybe eat a sandwich."

- Cayde-6

Cayde-6 is an Exo and the Vanguard for the Hunter class. In Destiny Cayde-6 sold Hunter armor and emblems. In Destiny 2 Cayde-6 sells Scout Reports and maps to chests scattered around the universe he left during this early travels.

Early Career as a Guardian
"Cayde is a cunning hunter, with years of experience in staying alive in the wilds. But, um, fighting a war isn't his strong suit. I'm not sure the 'shoot them all to death' strategy is going to be enough."

- Ghost

Like most Exo, Cayde remembers little about his past before the Collapse. However, he remembers enough to provide substantial information, albeit he admits the order is out of sync. Cayde used to be a human soldier with a large debt over his head, when he was approached by Clovis Bray to have his debt removed. The job offer itself isn't explicitly stated, but what Cayde remembers next is coming to Europa where he was converted into an Exo. Cayde's Letter Fragments in Destiny 2 reveal that Cayde had a wife and a son whom he nicknamed "Ace", he threw his life away gambling, and that his only means of escape was to sell himself to Clovis Bray's Exo program. Next he remembers being assigned as a security officer to the Ishtar Collective, where his job was to look after Dr. Maya Sundaresh. Though he wished to get to know her better, she barely noticed him. Afterwards, he remembers being restrained by a shadowy creature on a destroyed world, followed by another memory which he describes as not his own. He was found with a journal containing Ace's name on his person after being revived by his Ghost, and that Cayde kept writing to him despite not remembering him and that his son was long dead.

Cayde-6 was once a daring and adventurous Guardian, so of course he couldn't say no to a challenge - not even the notorious Vanguard Dare. He lost the bet, to his immense regret. What the bet was over is unknown but Cayde took over as the Hunter Vanguard when his predecessor and close friend, Andal Brask, was murdered by the Fallen mercenary Taniks, the Scarred. Though Cayde serves dutifully, he yearns to return to the field, in particular having his eyes set on the mythical Vault of Glass.

Cayde-6's role in the Vanguard is to track and assign bounties to high-value targets. He tasks guardians with eliminating the escaped Aksor, Archon Priest as well as the Psion Flayers.

The Rising Darkness
While talking with Lord Shaxx, Cayde-6 disputed the Crucible handler's assertion that former Titan Vanguard Saint-14 was dead. He praised the Exo's ability to kill Fallen Kells, but noted that Saint was also crazy. Shaxx took exception to that, claiming that eccentricity was one of Saint's strengths, causing Cayde to point out that Saint had claimed to see the future of a Guardian savior which inspired him during the Battle of Six Fronts. He proceeded to mock the idea that one Guardian could turn things around for humanity's struggle against their enemies. Shaxx then left to watch the Crucible debut of a new Guardian from Old Russia, who Cayde joked could be the savior Saint had forseen and that they could call them "Crota's End".

The Taken War
Cayde-6 plays an important role in The Taken King, aiding the Guardians by forming a plan to infiltrate the Dreadnaught. He worked behind Zavala and Ikora's backs to help the Guardian recover a stealth drive he stole from Rasputin, and then sneak aboard the Dreadnaught using a ship he "borrowed" from Eris Morn. For the remainder of the war he worked with Eris, much to their mutual distaste but nonetheless cooperated to bring down Oryx. By the next Festival of the Lost, Eris still holds a grudge against Cayde for losing her ship, for which he tries to make it up to her. However, she won't accept his apology unless Cayde finds her a new ship.

Age of Triumph
During the Dawning holiday, Cayde "volunteers" his aid and support to Ikora Ray and the Guardians when they are called to defeat old foes that returned, Omnigul and Sekrion, Nexus Mind. Though he did support the Guardians, Ikora knew that Cayde was only volunteering his support to get out of directing a team of Hunters that didn't like him. Even so, he congratulates the Guardians for ridding the system of old foes.

Recently Cayde made a bet with Lord Shaxx regarding the outcome of a Crucible match. Having won, he forced Shaxx to train some of the City's children to play dodgeball. Though Shaxx tried to pay him off, he chose the idea of annoying him over Glimmer. When Cayde returned to tell Shaxx his debt was paid, Shaxx immediately bet against him again. Confident he would win again, he was distracted enough for one of Shaxx's charges to show off their stealth training by sneaking up on him and hitting him with a dodgeball. Embarrassed that he was taken by surprise, Cayde offered Shaxx a ride back to the Tower.

The Red War
During the invasion of Dominus Ghaul, Cayde assists the Guardians in fending off the invading Red Legion soldiers but ultimately he and the rest of the survivors are forced to evacuate the Last City after its light is sealed away from the guardians. He eventually fled Earth and somehow became trapped within a peculiar Vex construct on Nessus, apparently after attempting to steal it from the Vex to utilize in a plan he had devised to infiltrate Ghaul’s ship and reclaim the Last City. Before getting trapped, Cayde encountered a damaged Golden Age AI, Failsafe, who aided him in finding what he needed. Cayde hoped to steal a Vex teleporter for the purpose of getting close enough to Ghaul to kill him but the Vex captured him in a continuous loop. The Guardian traveled to Nessus to find Cayde to reunite the Vanguard on Zavala's orders, and discover Cayde trapped within a continuous loop caused by the Vex teleporter that he had been tinkering with and worked with Failsafe to free him. Succeeded in doing so, Cayde ended up on Exodus Black with the device he was after but a large Fallen force was nearing their position. Thankfully, the Guardian arrived and routed the Fallen. Meeting up with Cayde, he was at first only interested in doing his solo mission on killing Ghaul but quickly changes his mind after hearing the Zavala "needed" him. Before departing, Cayde gives the Guardian a lead on where to find Ikora Ray, he states that they should head to Io, as he believes she would travel there for answers.

Meeting up with his comrades on Earth at The Farm, they discuss a strategy in liberating their home and taking down The Almighty warship that will destroy their system's sun if not stopped. Zavala plans to have the Guardian infiltrate the Almighty to permanently disable the warship while the Vanguards forces sneak into the Last City as Cayde mentions the Vex teleporter. They would use the device to quickly travel to the Cage to free the Traveler. Despite the appearance that an all-out attack is doomed to fail, Cayde states that its worth it no matter what. Suraya Hawthorne enters and provides both the means to get into the City undetected and how to get the Guardian to the Almighty. The Guardian would steal the security pass and ship of Thumos, the Unbroken. Cayde and Zavala guide the Guardian in breaching Thumos' defenses but gets a little jealous that the Guardian gets to use a Drake Tank. Regardless, the Guardian succeeds in breaching the Cabal's defenses and takes down Thumos. With his ship, the Guardian reaches the Almighty and disables it for good. On that cue, the Vanguard initiates their attack to liberate the Last City. Cayde uses a pet chicken to stage seven ambushes and later travels past a Cabal checkpoint to set up the Vex teleporter. Cayde encounters trouble while he sets up the device. As the Guardian returns and races to the Vanguards position, Cayde successfully sets up the device but loses an arm in the process. The Guardian succeeds in using the device to reach Ghaul's command ship, the Immortal, near the Cage and battles with the Dominus. The Guardian defeats the Cabal dictator and in the chaos, the Traveler awakens who destroys Ghaul forever. In a massive flash, the Light is restored to all Guardians, driving the leaderless Red Legion from the City. With their home reclaimed and the Traveler awake, the Vanguard regroup near the ruins of the Tower. Congratulating the Guardian, Cayde and his comrades begin their work in rebuilding the City and dealing with the present threats that continue to linger in the System.

Taking residence at the new Vanguard hanger, Cayde provides patrol and Flashpoint missions to the Guardians while offering treasure maps to some of his stashes. At times, Cayde grows increasingly bored with the paperwork he's been given and even some of the adventure and Strike missions, often attempting to delegate such tasks to Hawthorne or Devrim Kay, annoying them.

Personality and Traits
"That's a good job, Colonel."

- Cayde-6

Laid back, carefree, down-to-earth and adventurous are among the best words to describe Cayde-6. Though Cayde can appear to be lazy and bored with his duties as Hunter Vanguard, he actually takes his role seriously, more so than he would admit. Originally, Cayde wanted to continue his solo Guardian career but after his friend, Andal Brask, was murdered did he put that aside and assumed his place to honor his friend. Despite this, he longs to get back into the field. Regardless, while he may appear to put Guardians on dangerous paths, deep down he cares about their safety and even calls them his "greatest success story". In addition, he was saddened at the loss of another one of his friends, the Nightstalker Tevis Larsen. As Hunter Vanguard, his carefree attitude and playing loose with the rules annoys if not aggravates his fellow teammates, Zavala and Ikora, but he is loyal to them and would support them no matter what. Though Zavala finds Cayde to be unorthodox, he respects him and admits that if there was anything he learned from Cayde is that one should make a grand entrance. With Ikora, she at times retaliates against Cayde's jokes with witty jests of her own. In the rare moments when Cayde is serious, the situation really is dire.

Others in the Vanguard are aware of his attitude and while some can take it like Amanda Holliday, Suraya and Devrim, others like Eris Morn scorn him. In particular, Eris states that Cayde is arrogant and not as funny as he believes. Despite his dislike for Eris, he made numerous attempts to apologize for using her ship to board the Dreadnaught which got it destroyed, none of which she accepts.

Even in the most tense and harrowing of situations, whether in a warzone or on an adventure, Cayde maintains his light-heartened, jokster attitude but that doesn't stop him from preforming his best in a battle. Ghost notes that after Cayde got stuck in a Vex time-loop after attempting to steal a Vex device, the reason why the Vanguard doesn't want him to leave the Tower is that he simply gets into trouble.

Quotes

 * "So is the Cosmodrome as nasty as they say?"
 * "Yeah, that was a Wolf's Blade from the Reef. So what's their game?"
 * "I've got to get out of this Tower and back out there."
 * "Ugh, should be out there myself."
 * "I need to know what happened on that moon."
 * "Plenty of those."
 * "Evenin'"
 * "Hey how about you stand here and do my job? I'll go out there and do yours. Which is stand around."
 * "Not a library. Move along."
 * "Ok stop, wait... go back... go back... ok."
 * "Yeah you're real sweet and all, but get out of here."
 * "Hey you wanna pull up a chair? Get a drink? ...I'm being sarcastic."
 * "Psst. Hey, Guardian. Wake Up." - if idling too long nearby
 * "Alright, I'll be right here...like it or not." - When the Guardian exits Cayde-6's inventory.
 * "Hey, uh..." *whispers* "Take me with you."
 * "Okay, creepy sidekick, check. Roguish commander, check. And then we have the Guardian, my greatest success story. I'd say we're ready to get this done!"
 * "I don't have time to explain what I don't have time to understand!"
 * "Oh my cotton socks! Did you not hear what I just said?!"
 * "The Cabal are bad guys who do bad things. Yes I get it."
 * "This is great. Anyone want a hug? Hugs? No? No hugs."
 * ''"What? And the Flux Grenades didn't activate? Man, I gotta get out of this Tower."
 * ''"Ah who needs the Light when you've got a favorite Feathered Friend by your side?"
 * ''"Eh? Am I right? Am I right or am I right?"

Cayde's Secret Stash
This conversation can be accessed by finding the secret room near the end of Cayde's Stash. Scanning playing card:
 * Cayde-6: "Hey, you found one of my secret rooms. Good times. Help yourself to some glimmer, but leave the exotics for me. When I get out of this Tower..."
 * Ghost: "There's nothing in here but Fallen caches."
 * Cayde-6: "They took my loot? It's like there's no rules."
 * Ghost: "A Jack of Spades?"
 * Cayde-6: "Yeah, I had a whole system to keep track of things. The royal cards stood for weapons, spades meant Häkke, clubs for Crux/Lomar, diamonds for Omolon, and hearts... well, hearts were for this girl I knew."
 * Ghost: "What was her name?"
 * Cayde-6: "Uh, don't you have a stealth drive to find?"

Destiny 2

 * "Amanda's a rapscallion and a liar. Don't listen to a thing she says. Especially if it's about me and a... certain Queen of Hearts."
 * "Shaxx buddy, a little betting never hurt anybody."
 * "If we paired up a voidlock and one of my Nightstalkers, yeah, I'll bet Ikora'll go for that."

Trivia

 * Cayde-6 is voiced by Nathan Fillion. He has previously voiced characters from Bungie's Halo series, as well as appearing in Firefly.
 * Cayde's role in The Taken King was originally possessed by Uldren Sov in the original story of Destiny. Cayde's personality is how Sov (known then as "the Crow") would have been portrayed.
 * Cayde appears to not given up his gambling ways, even after he lost the Vanguard Dare, as he kept his own custom gambling cards and he was impressed with Eva Levante's Dawning gift of gambling dice that rolled the same numbers after every roll.
 * In Destiny 2, it is revealed that Cayde is a Gunslinger, a proficient user of the Golden Gun in battle, and his choice of weapon is the exotic Hand Cannon Ace of Spades.
 * Strangely, while Cayde's Grimoire card has him appear with red eyes, his in-game appearance has him with blue eyes. This may be a development oversight.
 * Cayde-6 is particularly fond of Chickens.
 * He has even named his "pet" chicken, Colonel, and used it to distract Cabal Soldiers during the liberation of the Last City.
 * During the mission Looped when you meet Cayde for the first time he says "I don't have time to explain what I don't have time to understand!" as a reference to the Stranger in Destiny's mission A Stranger's Call were she said, "I don't even have time to explain why I don't have time to explain."
 * According to Cayde-6, the tank that crashed into the wall before entering the Solarium on Titan was not his fault.

List of appearances

 * Destiny
 * The Taken King
 * Destiny 2
 * Forsaken (expansion