Cayde-6

"I'm coming home, Ace."

- Cayde-6

Cayde-6 was an Exo Guardian and the Vanguard for the Hunter class. In Destiny Cayde-6 sold Hunter armor and emblems. In Destiny 2, Cayde-6 sold Scout Reports and maps to chests scattered around the system, which were left during his 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.

While searching for a Hive Shrine on the Moon, Cayde found a Hive structure and entered it. Inside, he encountered a huge horde of Hive consisting of Thralls, Knights, and Wizards and promptly retreated. The Hive pursued him to the surface, and Cayde cut down many Thrall before running out of ammo for his machine gun. Taking cover behind a crashed Phaeton, Cayde spotted a Fallen Baron of the House of Exile fighting the Hive as well. The Hive pushed back both Cayde and the Baron onto a hill with an old interferometry array on top of it. Fighting together, the two killed most of the Hive, and Cayde eventually climbed the array to get an angle on the Wizards and saw the Baron kill a Knight but lose her blades in the process. From his perch, Cayde exhausted the rest of his ammo, but only one Wizard and a line of Thrall remained. After climbing back down, Cayde saw the Baron was badly wounded and he wondered how many people she had murdered. The Baron then tossed her last Shock Pistol to Cayde, but when he went to grab it she attempted to stab him. However, she was slow and Cayde easily dodged her, and he proceeded to break her arms and slit her throat. Cayde wondered if the Baron had truly wanted to kill him or if she did that to make his choice about ending her easier. Cayde proceeded to kill the last of the Hive, using the Shock Pistol to kill several of the Thrall.

Cayde attended the funeral of the Warlock Albios on the moon of Io. Although he liked Albios, Cayde quickly grew bored during the long service and made a bet with Banshee-44 that he could pull off several high-risk jumps on the nearby mesas. He won the bet, although he broke both his legs completing the jumps. Cayde hid his winnings in one of his hidden caches in the mesas.

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.

The Rising Darkness
"I sense a pattern here - a connection between this Vex outbreak, the Black Garden, and the Vault of Glass...I need to know more."

- Cayde-6

Cayde was approached by a newly risen Hunter from the Cosmodrome in Old Russia. He welcomed them to the Tower, provided them with Glimmer, basic provisions, and advice before suggesting that they get a new weapon from Banshee-44, although he was impressed that they had escaped from the Cosmodrome using the Khvostov 7G-02. When he learned that the new Guardian had found the Hive within the Cosmodrome, Cayde knew the only response would be to strike at their strongholds on the Moon. While speaking with the Guardian, he mused that most new Guardians never returned from the moon, before remembering that they were also new and quickly reassuring them he was sure they would be fine.

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 the new Guardian from Old Russia, who Cayde joked could be the savior Saint had forseen and that they could call them "Crota's End".

Cayde later learned that that Guardian had ventured into the Ishtar Collective on Venus and gathered information on Vex Gate Lord's as part of a deal with the Awoken in the Reef to gain access to the Black Garden. He admitted to the Guardian that he and the rest of the Vanguard were concerned about the Vex, but that the information they had recovered gave him hope they could be defeated. However, he also cautioned them about deals with the Awoken, noting that Queen Mara Sov always collected what she was owed.

When the House of Winter on Venus raided the Prison of Elders in the Reef, Cayde learned that they had rescued Aksor, a powerful Archon priest. Concerned about what Aksor could do if he recovered from his imprisonment, Cayde ordered the Guardian to lead a strike team and assassinate the Archon to claim the Queen's bounty on him. When they succeeded, Cayde contacted the Guardian and expressed concerns over the Fallen having located the Prison of Elders and feared that they could rescue more imprisoned Fallen. However, he put those concerns to the side and stated that now was a time to celebrate one more dead Archon.

Upon learning that the Guardian had breached the Cabal's exclusion zone and entered the Blind Legion's warbase, Cayde congratulated them and planned on telling everyone about their mission, knowing that no one would believe him and he could win a lot of bets. He also revealed that he was betting a thousand glimmer on the Guardian dying in their mission to destroy the heart of the Black Garden, but reassured them it was nothing personal. Before the Guardian entered the Black Garden, they shut down Vex time gates in the tunnels underneath Freehold. Cayde was intrigued by the reports from the mission, and believed there was a connection between the Vex invasion of Mars, the Vault of Glass, and the Black Garden. Cayde ended up losing his bet, and a thousand glimmer, when the Guardian was successful in destroying the Black Heart at the center of the Garden. Alongside Zavala, Ikora, and dozens of other Guardians, Cayde gathered in the Tower's plaza to hear the Speaker's address on this victory over the Darkness. Cayde later overheard Ikora and Zavala discussing a Vex known as The Undying Mind and its attempts to restore the Black Heart and lock the Black Garden out of time once more. He questioned if this information came from the Hidden, but Zavala told him it was an old Osiris riddle. Cayde commented that both seemed like the same thing now, and wondered what "undying" meant for a Vex mind. Zavala resolved that they should find out, and a strike was authorized to eliminate the axis mind.

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 Rey 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.

Fall of the Last City
"Zavala's doing the hero act in the Plaza. Me? I've got a date with whoever's behind this. It'll be a short date."

- Cayde

On the anniversary of the Battle of Six Fronts, the Last City and its Guardians were preparing to celebrate the unity of the City and foundation of the Vanguard. As the rest of the City prepared to celebrate, Cayde arrived at the Hall of Guardians to meet with Zavala and Ikora and inquired if he had been summoned for a practical joke. Zavala quickly got him to be serious, and after Ikora revealed that all of their Skyline Defense Systems had been sabotaged, Cayde reported that the communications system had also been malfunctioning. Ikora then stated that the Last City's satellites were reporting nothing, which Cayde believed was good, until she informed them that they were reporting nothing because they were no longer there. A massive Cabal fleet then emerged from the storm clouds surrounding the Last City and fired dozens of missiles at the Tower. Cayde used his Golden Gun to shot down several, but was then teleported by Ikora into Zavala Ward of Dawn just before falling debris crushed him.

Surviving the Red Legion's assault, Cayde began fighting their legionaries throughout the Tower. As he used his Golden Gun to kill three legionaries, he encountered the Young Wolf and happily greeted them. Cayde informed them that Zavala was rallying Guardians in the plaza, but that he would not be joining them and was planning on finding the Cabal commander and killing them. He then leapt through a hole in the ceiling and entered his ship. Later in the battle, Cayde was contacted for a status update by Zavala. He informed the Titan he was low on ammo and asked if there was any word from Ikora, and was told by Zavala that she had not been heard from since she went after the Cabal who captured the Speaker.

Cayde was fighting alongside Lord Shaxx in an unknown area of the City when the Cabal activated the Traveler Cage, despite the loss of the Light, Cayde continued to fight and remained in the city despite the Cabal occupation. Seeking to take down Ghaul and feeling like Zavala and Ikora would fail to take action against the Cabal, Cayde accessed a still-functioning Vanguard Terminal and asked the Terminal for advice on how to kill Ghaul, after a brief moment conversation with the Terminal, Cayde decided to seek a Vex teleporter to help him accomplish his goal.

Trapped on Nessus
He eventually fled Earth and crash landed on Nessus, where he met a Golden Age AI named Failsafe and found a Vex teleporter, despite Failsafe's warnings, Cayde activated the device, causing him to becoming trapped in an endless teleportation loop. The Guardian traveled to Nessus to find Cayde to reunite the Vanguard on Zavala's orders and discovered Cayde trapped within the continuous teleportation loop caused by the Vex teleporter, and worked with Failsafe to free him. Succeeding in doing so, Cayde ended up on Exodus Black with the device he was after, but a large Fallen force was enclosing on 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 of 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.

Retaking Earth
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.

A New Golden Age
Taking residence at the new Vanguard hangar, 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.

Shortly after the Last City was liberated, a meeting of the Consensus was called to reestablish its governance of the city. When Executor Hideo protested that only the Speaker could call the Consensus to order, Cayde attempted to use that as an excuse to leave the meeting, but he was stopped by Ikora. The rest of the Consensus agreed that until a new Speaker was chosen, they would govern the Last City together.

At a later meeting of the Consensus, Ariadne Gris was summoned before them to answer questions about why her Sparrow, the Dinas Emrys, had a dragon painted on it, as some suspected it was a sign of Ahamkara contact. Cayde advised Ariadne to play nice with Hideo after the New Monarchy representative grew angry with her sarcastic responses, causing her to insist that she just thought dragons were cool and that not all of them were Ahamkara. Cayde was amused when Ikora interjected that Ariadne obviously could not have come into contact with an Ahamkara due to her poor win/loss record in the Sparrow Racing League, and the meeting ended with the Consensus agreeing that the dragon symbol was indeed cool.

Cayde eventually grew bored in the Tower and ventured out into the Solar system to hunt enemies of the Vanguard. He captured many threats and put them into the Prison of Elders. Eventually he gathered six of his most trusted Guardians and aided Regent-Commander Petra Venj in restoring order to the Reef, which had fallen into chaos after the events of The Taken War and the Red Legion's invasion. This campaign culminated in a battle against the Scorn, a powerful faction of Fallen outlaws. During the battle, most of the Scorn's Barons were killed, but Cayde and his team captured seven of them and sent them to the Prison of Elders. Despite this victory, Cayde's efforts against the Scorn were incomplete due to the escape of their leader Fikrul, the Fanatic. Even after the campaign against the Scorn ended, a restless Cayde would occasionally ask Petra to call for his help to create an excuse to leave.

Forsaken
"You tell Zavala and Ikora...the Vanguard...is the best bet...I ever...lost..."

- Cayde-6 to The Guardian

Alongside The Guardian, Cayde traveled to the Reef in light of civil unrest and a breakout from the Prison of Elders. The two show up and aid Petra Venj in reactivating the security systems and putting down prisoners. The three split up and fight their way through the prison until they manage to get what's left of the Prison up and running. Once the deed is done, Petra alerts Cayde to the escape of the Scorn Barons. Driven to stop them first, Cayde knocks out the suspension of one of the control stations and rides the falling wreck down to the Baron's escape route.

In an unexpected turn of events, he encountered the eight Scorn barons, and after a fight with several members of the Scorn, The Rifleman destroyed his Ghost. Uldren then fatally shot Cayde with a shot from his signature hand cannon, the Ace of Spades. The Guardian arrives too late, unable to save him or stop Uldren. Cayde uses his last moments to make sure The Guardian does not blame his/herself, and asks them to relay his last words to Ikora and Zavala, before he dies his final death. Taking justice into their own hands, the Guardian set out to claim revenge.

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 Hawthorne and Devrim Kay, 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 tensest and harrowing of situations, whether in a war-zone or on an adventure, Cayde maintains his light-heartened, jokester attitude, but that doesn't stop him from performing 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.

When faced with the threat of death by the hand of Uldren Sov, Cayde showed no fear or regret, rather, he taunted Uldren. When asked if he had any last words, he gathered all of his remaining strength and simply replied "How's your sister?" Even facing death, Cayde couldn't shake his lighthearted manner. However, his joke only sealed his fate.

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!"
 * ''"What? And the Flux Grenades didn't activate? Man, I gotta get out of this Tower."

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."
 * " Worst case sceneario, you die... but who knows, maybe you wont."
 * "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."
 * ''"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?"
 * "Wait... Zavala said he needed me?"

Trivia

 * Cayde-6 is voiced by Nathan Fillion. He has previously voiced characters from Bungie's Halo series, as well as appearing in Firefly.
 * In Forsaken, Cayde-6 is voiced by Nolan North rather than Nathan Fillion. North has also voiced the Guardian's Ghost since shortly before the release of The Taken King.
 * 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.
 * In the Forsaken expansion trailer, Uldren kills Cayde with his own weapon, the Ace of Spades. Bungie had erased the original story of Prince Uldren and replaced him with Cayde, killing the character off in a way. Now, the opposite has happened.
 * 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.
 * Cayde-6's death at the hands of Prince Uldren in Forsaken was met with extreme surprise, hatred and controversy to the Destiny community.
 * Who will assume Cayde's position as Hunter Vanguard of the Last City remains to be seen.
 * In regards to Cayde's death at the hands of Uldren, it has been confirmed that he is "100% dead" by Bungie, and there won't be a "Cayde-7."

List of appearances

 * Destiny
 * The Dark Below
 * The Taken King
 * Rise of Iron
 * Destiny 2
 * Warmind
 * Solstice of Heroes
 * Forsaken