Nightmare of Crota, Son of Oryx

"One by one, Crota slaughtered many Guardians. The Light stood by and did nothing. And a Great Disaster ensued. In Light, there is only death."

- The Darkness to the Guardian, upon banishing the Nightmare of Crota

Nightmare of Crota, Son of Oryx is a Nightmare of Crota, Son of Oryx that appears in Shadowkeep. It appears as one of the three major Nightmares, along with Ghaul and Fikrul, that appeared three times in the Expansion. With it having a more prominent central appearance in the activity, Nightmare Hunt: Despair, on the Moon.

Biography
The Nightmare of Crota serves as the final boss of the Shadowkeep story campaign after the Guardians are coaxed into entering the Pyramid beneath the Hive Scarlet Keep. After the Guardian succeeds in destroying the Nightmares of Dominus Ghaul and Fikrul, the Fanatic, the Guardian finally confronts the final Nightmare of one of their most dangerous foes. The Guardian repeats history as they defeat the Hope Eater Nightmare in a manner similar to his final defeat, allowing the Guardian to reach the center of the Pyramid, gaining an audience with the Darkness itself.

Following this encounter, the Guardians, under Eris Morn's instructions, conduct Nightmare Hunts to keep the Pyramid's influence at bay. The Pyramids power continually brings back the Nightmare of Crota, representing the Essence of Despair, forcing the Guardians to battle with the Hive Prince again. After a daring struggle, the Guardians use Crota's blades again to weaken and then finally banish the Nightmare.

Appearance
The Nightmare of Crota looks much different than his original appearance in Crota's End, with a far more physical look with chitin and armor, instead of the ethereal and unique appearance he last appeared with. Along with that, his color scheme was changed from light green with some yellow hue on his horns, to a pure green armor with a dark green skin color underneath. Along with this, he is slimmer and slightly smaller compared to his original appearance, with his proportions being more in line with other Ultra rank Knights. Crota's head also was slimmed down and the horns were adjusted upwards with added chin guards around his mouth, with his mouth proper looking more in line of most Hive.

Trivia

 * In the promotional trailer for Shadowkeep, the Nightmare of Crota had a brownish skin color like most Hive instead of the solid dark green skin color his gameplay model has.
 * The Nightmare of Crota in the game has a solid body that looks much more physical than Crota’s “ghostly”-like original form in The Dark Below.
 * A possible reason for this is that it is Crota’s form in the material realm, while the appearance he had in his Throne World was his ascendant form.

List of appearances

 * Destiny 2: Shadowkeep