Taken Knight

"I don't have time to explain why I don't have time to explain."
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"You are a Knight. Ancient warrior elite. Dreadful backbone of the Hive. You have scarred entire worlds. [...] You fear death. Even as you visit nothingness on your foes, even as you gather tribute from your acolytes, you know that one day your strength will be outmatched. And your centuries of slaughter will end. [...] You betray the sword logic. You compromise the totality of your violence. Why protect your ground when you could take the enemy’s? You need to make your guard into a weapon. There is a knife for you. It is shaped like [no more fear]. Take up the knife. Hide no more. Take your new shape."

— Grimoire description

Taken Knight
Biographical information
Species:	Taken
Rank:	Heavy Infantry
Class:	Knight
Height:	7 ft
Combat information
Weapon(s):	Void Boomer (common) Arc Shredder (rare) Taken Cleaver (rare)
Abilities:	Burn Projectiles Solar Shield (Epic) High Durability Rapid Movement Teleportation Hive Melee

The Taken Knight is a type of Taken Hive which fires explosive Solar jets in a wave to dissuade close combat and force players out of cover, and teleports short distances to evade attacks. They are armed with a Void damage Boomer, which, unlike the Hive version, does not suffer from gravitational drop and its projectiles travel much faster, making it harder to evade long-range fire.

There were no Taken Knights armed with Cleavers Until Forsaken, which introduced the Mights of Riven. These Knights retained their Solar ability, but otherwise acted no different from a normal Cleaver-armed Knight. Later on in Season of Arrivals, more Taken Cleaver Knights could be observed.

Known Taken Knights

• Aarta
• Adleg, Warden of Oryx
• Agra, the Stalwart
• Agrax, the Rotted
• An Ragaar, Son of Xivu Arath
• Ashorc, Temple Claimant
• Bab'dotek, the Abhorrent
• Bakken, the Relentless
• Balvog, Shield of Oryx
• Dakkadi
• Darnu, Horn of Oryx
• Dolos, the Datamine
• Dumuz-Nuna
• Dumuzod
• Gornith
• Gurroth
• Ir Arok, Tongue of Quria
• Kalboh, the Unclaimed
• Kilulu
• Krathoor
• Malok, Pride of Oryx
• Mengoor
• Mishkara
• Morgath, Lore-Keeper
• Orm Duluz, Bound to Sedia
• Orm Vashyx
• Pandrok, Pillar of Nothing
• Saturn Survivor
• Sorvox, Taken by the Voices
• Stirok, Banner of Oryx
• Sylok, the Defiled
• Syrok, Word of Oryx
• Tir Balok, Daughter of Xivu Arath
• Tsugoth, Gauntlet of Oryx
• Ur Haraak, Disciple of Quria
• Urlot, the Trampler
• Urzok, Aspect of Hate
• Varghul, Fragment of Oryx
• Whisper of Oryx
• Xarthra
• Xavan, Daughter of Xivu Arath
• Yamaat, Ascendant Sentinel

Trivia

• Unusually, they are not armed with Cleavers, modified or otherwise, like their non-Taken counterparts or Grimoire card (which features an "un-Taken" Cleaver). This could be a stylistic choice or for gameplay reasons. Lorewise, this ties into with the Ascendant Sword Grimoire card, which reads:
  • "A Shredder or a Boomer is a powerful weapon, but it kills acyclically. You see? It sends out harm and it takes nothing back. The bolt passes away into nothing. A sword, though, a sword is like a bridge, a crossing-point. The sword binds wielder to victim. It binds life to death. And when the binding is done—the sword remembers. When the Boomer's fire has burnt away into axion and neutrino scatter, the sword goes on, hungrier and sharper."
• According to The Sword Logic (also known as "The Killing Logic") the one who kills proves their right to survive over their defeated enemy, and gains power from that act. Upon being Taken the Knight loses the ability to feed their worm and grow that power; instead, all of that goes to the Taker, Oryx, who receives it directly instead of through the hierarchy of Thrall > Acolyte > Knight/Wizard > Ascendant Hive > Hive God.
  • This is both a punishment and an honor, as the Knight is forced to serve against his will, unable to think or act idependently from Oryx's will; on the other hand, it is a sort of apotheosis, the perfection of the Hive way of life: the perfect warrior, the Final True Shape.
• Taken Knights were formerly named Ripper during production of The Taken King.

Gallery

• 

  A Might of Riven seen in the The Other Side Quest.

• 

  A Taken Knight firing flames from its mouth in the Taken King ViDoc.

List of appearances

• Destiny
  • The Taken King (First appearance)
• Destiny 2