Cayde-6

"Hurry, come on! I don't know how long this portal is going to stick!"

- Cayde-6

Cayde-6 is an Exo and the Vanguard for the Hunter class, located on Nessus and the Guardian Camp. Cayde-6 sells Hunter armor and emblems.

Biography
"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. 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.

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.

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.

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 a dodgeball. Embarrassed that he was taken by surprise, Cayde offered Shaxx a ride back to the Tower.

During the invasion of Dominus Ghaul, Cayde assists the Guardians in fending off the invading Red Legion soldiers but ultimately after the Traveler's Light is sealed away, crippling the Guardians, he and the rest of the survivors evacuated the Last City. He eventually fled Earth and somehow became trapped within a peculiar Vex construct on Nessus, apparently after attempting to steal from the Vex.

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!"

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?"

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.

List of appearances

 * Destiny
 * The Taken King
 * Destiny 2