Crota, Son of Oryx

"We fight a war against false hope, Crota. We chase a god called the Traveler, a huckster god who baits young life into building houses for it. These houses are unsafe, for they cannot stand against my Hive. And these houses are a trap — for they lead young life away from the blade and the tooth, which are the tools of survival and the means of ascension. [...] Thus I name you Crota, Eater of Hope."

- Oryx, the Taken King

Crota, Son of Oryx, also known as the "God-Knight", or "Light-Destroyer" and the "Eater of Hope", is an ancient and powerful Hive Prince who infamously wielded the Sword of Crota and killed countless Guardians during the City's ill-fated campaign to reclaim the Moon. Crota is the main antagonist in The Dark Below, in which the Hive seek to awaken him to lead their armies against humanity.

The Young Prince
"I too will experiment with a wound."

- Crota, seconds before opening a portal to a Vex realm that invaded Oryx's throne world

After Oryx fought his way out of the Deep after being trapped within by his sister Savathûn and Xivu Arath, he decided that he needed children to carry on his lineage and ensure his flow of tribute was always greater than that of his siblings. Crota was thus born, and his father explained to him why he had created him and granted him a sword and a name, stating those would be the only things that he gave his son and that Crota would have to earn his place upon his father's court, the High War. The newborn Crota continued to listen as his father explained the "trap" of the Traveler in giving species hope that there was a path in the universe that did not involve conflict, and thus gave Crota the name Eater of Hope in anticipation of the lives and dreams he would snuff out. Crota was then taken to be introduced to the rest of his family. Crota was soon joined by two sisters, Ir Halak and Ir Anûk, and a brother Nokris. However, Nokris was exiled and stricken from the Hive's histories for his heretical necromantic practices. Crota himself was made the heir to his father and the Osmium Throne.

At some point, Oryx set one of the Tablet of Ruins into Golgoroth; a creation of the traitorous Worm God Xol, as a rebuttal of Crota's demands to claim it. The Ogre, once with the purpose to devour Oryx and his family, would become one of the King's most powerful Hive Champions after the Worm God Eir intervened in its creation into a new shape.

One day, Crota was approached by Oryx and ordered to watch his sisters as they experimented with death, and cutting wounds into the universe in order to hide their deaths and become harder to kill in the hope that he would learn cunning. However, as Oryx departed to observe the destruction of an alien fortress world by the Darkness, Crota was influenced by Savathûn and arrogantly decided that he too could cut a wound in the universe to match his sister's power and learn new secret. The space he cut into was one unknown to his sisters, but desired by Savathûn, and from it poured the Vex, who proceeded to invade Oryx's throne world. Crota engaged the Vex in battle as they struggled to understand The Sword Logic, but they then manifested Quria, Blade Transform who grasped the logic and became determined to become the new god of Oryx's throne world. The Vex teleported away from Crota and slaughtered thousands of Hive throughout the dimension, granting them greater power. Crota and his sisters fought the Vex and created new weapons to defeat them, but Quria fled to the other side of the wound created by Crota and built gates to prevent him from closing it. After a century of stalemate, the war was ended when Oryx was summoned back by Eir, the Keeper of Order.

Although Oryx saved his throne world from the Vex and became intrigued by their fascination with geometry, he punished Crota for his reckless experiments. Grabbing him by one of his legs, the Taken King flung his progeny into the Vex gate network and ordered him to return home covered in glory or not at all. For centuries, Crota traversed the Vex's network and fought across space and time, becoming a demon in many cultures. As time passed, he adjusted his tactics as he gained a greater understanding of his father and ceased to spare some of his victims whom he complained about his father too, and instead built mighty temples and monuments to himself to increase his power through tribute, strengthening himself and his father.

Raising his Swarm
"You are great now, and you cannot love Me. For the parts of you that were Mine have been taken from you; the parts that were His remain."

- Crota to his daughter Hashladûn following her ritual of inundation

Eventually, Crota returned to his father's court and spawned his own brood devoted to him with his consort, Omnigul, Will of Crota. Crota shared with Oryx's Warpriest the secret of creating an Oversoul. When the Wizard, Lokaar, attempted to murder Omnigul to increase her own power, Crota attempted to slay her in return. However, Lokaar fled and avoided his wrath, frustrating the Hive prince. He went before Oryx and demanded his father kill Lokaar for her impudence. Oryx was instead amused and impressed by Lokaar's ability to escape Crota and raised her to his court before rebuking Crota for seeking him to kill a problem for him. Crota also had his four Swarm Princes, Banuk, Dakoor, Garok, and Merok, forge for him a great sword with which to destroy his foes.

Amongst the greatest of Crota's spawn was Hashladûn. Even as a young Thrall she came to Crota's attention, as she was able to contend with Knights in strength and size. Intrigued by Hashladûn, Crota ordered her inundated in the old way of floods to remove her excesses and leave her distilled down to her most powerful form through purification. Hashladûn fought the forces Crota sent against her, slaying them all, but Crota himself then came for her, even more deeply impressed by her love for him expressed by her strong display of will in defying him. Dragging his daughter to the floodplain, he impaled her to its base in six places and began the ritual of inundation. Hashladûn survived the ritual and emerged weakened by the ritual but stronger for it, murdering the first living thing she encountered to regain her strength. Crota came before her proud and impressed, but in sorrow informed her that in her newfound greatness she could not love him, as most of what had been his in her had washed away and left behind only what was of her grandfather, Oryx. With a cry of joy and grief he cut a hole in his realm and cast her out of his court to join the ranks of his father's.

The Great Disaster


Crota was eventually tasked by Oryx to conquer Earth in the Sol System and destroy the Traveler. Long before the Golden Age, Crota and his spawn became interested in Luna, which held an inactive Pyramid buried beneath the surface. His spawn hollowed out the planetoid into a war moon where they laid dormant until they launched an invasion of Earth during the early City Age. In addition to Luna, Crota became interested in the space station Cocytus, which contained experimental gates from the Golden Age of Humanity. He established his hold over those gates and made them lead to his realm for an unknown purpose.

The Guardians barely repealed the Hive offense at the Battle of Burning Lake; not realizing the true threat the Hive posed, they launched a counterattack on the moon, which was later called the Great Disaster. The Sword-Logic proved to be too much for the Guardians, as countless heroes fell before Crota's Blades. He was first challenged by Gunnvor, the Dawncaller and her companions from the First Pillar Order, but they proved no match for him and he slew the Dawncaller. Soon he was faced by the legendary Titan Wei Ning. She proved no more of a challenge to him than his previous foes, and he impaled her upon his sword. As a further show of dominance over his foes and their Light, Crota took one of the Guardian's Ghosts and forged it into a dagger with which he proceeded to murder the Guardian. His leadership and the power of his sword led the Hive's hordes to victory during the battle, slaying thousands of Guardians and driving them away from the moon for more than a century out of fear of Crota's power.

Despite this great victory for the Hive, Crota's plans for further conquest of humanity were put on hold due a series of unforeseen circumstances. Within the Ascendant Plane, two Knights of Oryx and Xivu Arath engaged in a duel in honor of their respective masters. The duel ended in a draw, but both flung themselves into the depths of an abyss, and so the Knight of Oryx failed to make his tribute to a champion of Crota. This setback cost Crota’s champion a significant tribute at the necessary time and thus led to his defeat in a duel against a sergeant of the God of War. Having suffered a major loss of his temples and tributaries, Crota judged it best to sleep upon his throne world and recover his debts while his soul remained tethered to an Ascendant crystal, giving him a quick means of return to the real universe once his strength was restored. He entrusted his sword to his four Swarm Princes to guard within the depths of the Hellmouth until his return to the physical world.

The Dark Below
"Crota's soul is banished. You have given me the gift of vengeance. I thank you... and even if they don't know it yet... The City thanks you."

- Eris Morn, after the banishment of Crota's soul

Seeking revenge for the Great Disaster and the death of Wei Ning, Eriana-3 led five other Guardians in an attempt to assassinate Crota within his throne world, but the hordes of Hive dwelling within the Hellmouth managed to overwhelm the fireteam, picking them off one by one. Only one of the Guardians, Eris Morn, survived, forever changed by her harrowing experiences trapped in the Hellmouth and obsessed with ending Crota before he awoke.

Decades later, Crota's court began preparing for his return to the physical realm by invading the Cosmodrome on Earth, with his consort Omnigul leading the effort to raise a Hive army for a full-scale invasion of the City upon his return. Having foreseen the imminent return of Crota, Eris called upon the aid of a newly risen Guardian to aid her in dismantling Crota's army. The Guardian successfully assassinated Crota's closest lieutenants, including the Swarm Princes and their commander Sardon, Crota's horde was thrown into further disarray when the Guardian assassinated his consort and will Omnigul in a strike operation against her. To prevent Crota's summoning, Eris guided the Guardian to the Moon, where the chamber housing Crota's soul was located. The crystal tethering his soul in the Chamber of Night would be sent back to the Ascendant realm, banishing his shadowy presence from the physical world and thereby preventing his corporeal return.

Crota's end would be met by the Guardian leading a newly formed Raid team upon the Oversoul Throne, entered from the deepest pit of the Hellmouth. The Guardians summoned Crota from his crystal to engage at his own throne world. When conventional means failed before the Hope-Eater, the Guardians turned Crota's own Sword-Logic against him with the Cleavers of his fallen Blades, permanently killing him.

Legacy
"Crota. Son of Oryx. He considered himself a god, and acted as such. His strength proved too much for my fireteam and I. He and his brood took their lives and left me nearly dead. Crota threatened all we had left. The Pyramid serves to do the same. It is no surprise that Crota haunts us once again."

- Eris Morn, speaking of Crota and his Nightmare.

Crota's demise ultimately caught the attention of his father, Oryx, the then God-King of the Hive and master of the Taken. Enraged by the death of his son, Oryx would bring his Dreadnaught into the Solar system and lead an army of Hive and Taken in revenge against the Guardians. Ironically, Crota's lingering Ascendant power was necessary for the Guardians to access the rupture gateway into Oryx's sanctum. Returning to the Chamber of Night that tended to the crystal that housed Crota's soul, the Guardians were able to gain a shard of the crystal but it did not hold of piece of his soul. The Guardians now had to disrupt Crota's death ceremony to gain a sliver of his soul. Entering Crota's fortress, the Guardians narrowly slipped past the Hive defending his tomb and were able to fill the shard with Crota's death essence. With the Ascendant Shard, the Guardians were successfully able to enter Oryx's throne and defeat him. Like his son, Oryx would later fall to the Guardians who killed Crota when he was slain by them in his own throne world within the Ascendant plane.

Crota's disowned, heretical and forgotten brother, Nokris, would make his own stand against the Guardians after arising from slumber in the icy depths of Mars' Hellas Basin with his master, the Worm God Xol, Will of the Thousands. The herald of Xol sought to conquer the red planet for his god but like his former family, Nokris would fall against the Warrior of Light.

As Crota was the first Hive God the Guardians ever faced and one of their most notorious of foes, he haunts the Risen in their memories. Following the Scorn Hunts and the continuous fight for The Dreaming City, Crota's form would manifest as a Nightmare blocking The Guardian's path to the derelict Pyramid beneath the Scarlet Keep. The newly spawned Nightmare of Crota would prove too much for the Guardian to face, who took an essence from it before they were saved by Eris Morn. The Guardian would later face the Crota Nightmare again as they were coaxed into the interior of the Pyramid, which they then succeeded in destroying.

Crota's immediate family would be survived by his daughters Besurith, Voshyr, Kinox, and the eldest Hashladûn. Atop the newly erected Scarlet Keep upon Luna in Sorrow's Harbor, the daughters laid plans for the Hive's future and to achieve vengeance by means of creating an deathless champion under their control through heretical means. Hashladûn and Besurith would both be killed by Guardians leaving Voshyr and Kinox to complete their work while hiding out.

Personality and traits
In his youth, Crota was a great warrior, although extremely brash and arrogant. His father Oryx believed he lacked the cunning of his sisters, which led to Crota being easily tricked by his aunt Savathûn into opening a portal into a Vex realm which taught the machines the Sword Logic and planted the seeds for the eventual Taking of Quria, Blade Transform. As the millennia wore on, Crota gained more respect for his father and greater understanding of the Sword Logic, increasing both of their power through mighty temples of tribute. By the time of The Great Disaster, Crota had reached the pinnacle of his strength and could easily wipe out hundreds of Light-empowered Guardians, including Wei Ning, one of The Last City's greatest champions.

Hive Pantheon

 * Oryx – Father
 * Ir Halak – Sister
 * Ir Anûk – Sister
 * Nokris – Brother
 * Alak-Hul – Foster Brother
 * Xivu Arath – Aunt
 * Xavan – Cousin
 * Tir Balok – Cousin
 * An Ragaar – Cousin
 * Savathûn – Aunt
 * Balwûr – Cousin
 * Malok – Cousin
 * Dûl Incaru – Cousin
 * Omnigul – Consort
 * Hashladûn – Daughter
 * Besurith – Daughter
 * Voshyr – Daughter
 * Yishra – Grandaughter
 * Ayriax – Grandaughter
 * Kinox – Daughter
 * Ulg'Urin – Grandson

Gameplay
Crota is only mentioned in the base game and is never fought, but players are tasked with finding and destroying the Sword of Crota.

The Wakening
The players are tasked with destroying a crystal housing Crota's soul in The Wakening, before the Wakers of Crota can revive his corporeal form. It fires powerful blasts at the player and is protected by many Hive, including four Wakers of Crota.

Crota's End
Crota himself appears as the final boss of the Crota's End Raid. He will spawn after all players stand near his summoning crystal. Once he enters the arena, all Guardians will be inflicted with a debuff called Presence of Crota, which disables regeneration of both health and shield alike. To counteract this, one can pick up the Chalice of Light that spawns in the middle of the room; it can be picked up by anyone that needs to regenerate. Crota will not be vulnerable to attack at the moment, as he will be protected by a resistant shield. This gives Crota the opportunity to pelt Guardians with Darkness Blasts from afar, similar to Wizards. Meanwhile, a Swordbearer will show up at the bottom level. It must be killed in order to pick up its Ascendant Sword, which is the only way to actually damage Crota. In order to make him vulnerable to attack, all other players must focus all their available firepower on Crota's shield to disable it. The player carrying the sword must rush in quickly, as the shield can regenerate in less than a second. Nothing else will be able to damage him at this time. Once his shield goes back up, everyone else should be ready to shoot it down again so that the sword carrier can get in as much damage as possible. It will take multiple sword runs to bring Crota down. After Crota recovers, he will summon his Oversoul. If not shot down, it will instantly kill the entire team.

Challenge Mode
Age of Triumph added a Challenge Mode for Crota. To complete it, nobody can hold the sword more than once. Even if a player drops it, if they pick it up again, the challenge will fail.

Trivia

 * It is mentioned in The Taken King that only Ascendant Hive could enter the Ascendant plane, those Hive which had killed enough to gain admittance. This meant that the means of how the Guardians accessed the Oversoul Throne on the Moon are unknown, as they did not follow the philosophy of the killing logic. A logical explanation is that Crota bled his Throne over into the Moon, becoming one and the same with the planetoid, meaning the same mechanics which allowed Guardians free roam on the Dreadnaught enabled them to enter Crota's realm, through the simple act of killing. The reason for Ascendance is because Guardians had not been killing long on the Dreadnaught, meaning it was necessary to steal Crota's soul.
 * Crota is the first Hive and main antagonist to speak in English in-game, as his demonic whispers can be heard during the Dark Below mission, The Wakening. His father, Oryx, being the second, and Ecthar being the third. Said whispers heard include: "Closer" and "I can't die".
 * The name "Crota" is also an uncommon surname in the USA.
 * Crota is the first Hive deity to appear in-game.
 * In Shadowkeep, instead of a holographic soul form in Dark Below, Crota's phantasm has a solid body which looks much like Thalnok, Fanatic of Crota.
 * This is because the form seen in Shadowkeep is Crota’s true, and complete appearance. This is what he would’ve looked like during the Great Disaster and quite possibly if the summoning ritual were to be completed.
 * Crota has possibly one of the highest kill counts of any enemy Humanity has fought, as he killed thousands of Guardians in The Great Disaster.
 * The Escalation Protocol boss, Kathok, Roar of Xol uses the exact opposite mechanic as Crota.

List of appearances

 * Destiny
 * The Dark Below
 * The Taken King
 * Destiny 2
 * Forsaken
 * Joker's Wild
 * Penumbra
 * Shadowkeep
 * Season of Dawn