Rhulk, Disciple of the Witness: Difference between revisions

'''Rhulk, Disciple of the Witness''' is the first of the [[Disciples]], extraordinarily powerful paracausal entities who collectively follow the [[Witness]] and do its bidding. Hailing from the planet [[Lubrae]], he played a prominent role in the creation of the [[Hive]] by conscripting the [[Worm]]s into servitude to the Witness and then facilitating the production of Worm larvae in [[Savathûn's Throne World]], all while keeping tabs on the [[Savathûn, the Witch Queen|Witch Queen]] herself from his own [[Sunken Pyramid|Pyramid]].

After Rhulk's failure with the Ahslid, the Witness instead sought the [[Worm]]s of [[Fundament]]; Its progenitors had been previously uplifted by the Witness with the [[Sword Logic]] eons ago and the surviving [[Worm Gods]] now lived imprisoned far beneath the seas of the gas giant. Serving as its herald, Rhulk swam deep into the depths of the planet's ocean, to which he was met with the [[Leviathan (creature)|Leviathan]] acting as the warden of their prison. Despite its repeated warnings to the disciple to turn from Darkness, Rhulk defiantly rebukes the massive creature before proclaiming that he "''rise''" instead of "drowns" with the [[Darkness|Deep]]. Rhulk then grievously injures it within a millisecond as he held the Leviathan's rib in one hand and pushed aside its maimed body with the other. <ref name="Leviathan">'''Bungie (2022/2/22)''', ''[[Destiny 2]]: [[The Witch Queen]] - [[Rhulk]]: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Uy37eDdZdI "The Creature Known to Some as the Leviathan"]''</ref> The wounded Leviathan could only avert Rhulk's gaze as the disciple places the rib beneath the beast's skull and raises it's head to meet his eye level to address it directly: proclaiming that the Worms it kept beneath belonged to neither it nor the [[Traveler]], but to the Witness only. He drops the discarded rib into the Worm Gods' dwelling with force before announcing his presence, uplifting the sediment of the seabed into a dense cloud from which he emerged before his captive audience.<ref name="Resonant Fury Gauntlets">'''Bungie (2022/2/22)''', ''[[Destiny 2]]: [[The Witch Queen]] - [[Armor|Armor lore]]: [[Resonant Fury Suit (Titan)#Resonant Fury Gauntlets|Resonant Fury Gauntlets]]''</ref>

Despite Rhulk's prior claim of the Worms' power for the Witness, Xita knew well enough that Rhulk personally desired the [[Sword Logic]] they offered to elevate himself as his master's equal despite its objections. From her body, Rhulk created a strain of miniature Worms made of the Worm mother's living segments small enough to be implanted into a host. He would set these so called "larvae" adrift on Fundament's ocean, knowing full well they would reach the shores of the [[Osmium Court]] to find their respective sustenance.<ref name="Resonant Fury Greaves">'''Bungie (2022/2/22)''', ''[[Destiny 2]]: [[The Witch Queen]] - [[Armor|Armor lore]]: [[Resonant Fury Suit (Titan)#Resonant Fury Greaves|Resonant Fury Greaves]]''</ref> Soon as the Witness and Rhulk predicted, one of these larvae reached its intended target: the [[Osmium King|King]] of the [[Osmium Court]]. The dead white larvae spoke to the king of a cataclysm that would result from a Syzygy of Fundament's fifty-two moons (though no such danger actually exists). However, the King's mind would prove to be too feeble to the Witness' whispers and thus drove him to insanity and senility.<ref name="Syzygy">'''Bungie (2015/9/15)''', ''[[Destiny]]: [[The Taken King]] Playstation 4, Activision Blizzard, [[Grimoire]]: [[Grimoire:Enemies/Books_of_Sorrow#IV: Syzygy|IV: Syzygy]]''</ref>

With the Guardians having reached the Upended, Rhulk emerged from a sarcophagus to personally greet them. Stating that he had no use in them anymore, the Disciple commenced a climactic battle with his interlopers by dropping his [[Lubrae's Ruin|glaive]] and unleashing a massive resonant barrier of Darkness to push them back.<ref>'''Bungie (2022/2/22)''', ''[[Destiny 2]]: [[The Witch Queen]] - [[Vow of the Disciple]]: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-CIVBDKevk "All That Awaits You Now is the Gift of Death"]''</ref> The fireteam retaliated in turn by exploiting the resonance from his attacks to push back the barrier, all while Rhulk taunts the fireteam as they fight Scorn and Taken reinforcements. With the barrier having pushed inward and reached the disciple, Rhulk disables it before inviting the Guardians to the inner sanctum of the Upended. There Rhulk would challenge his opponents in person, to which he toys with the fireteam and even kick them to death on occasion. His composure was only short-lived as they found and then took advantage of four chinks in Rhulk's impervious defense, enraging the disciple as he became vulnerable to their attacks. In his final moments, Rhulk cried out to the Witness for forgiveness as his body was warped by his own out-of-control powers, transforming him into what appeared to be a petrified, lifeless tree with gnarled vein-like roots of Darkness growing from it.<ref>'''Bungie (2022/2/22)''', ''[[Destiny 2]]: [[The Witch Queen]] - [[Vow of the Disciple]]: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ftOWxGbDj98 "Witness... Forgive Me!"]''</ref>

*''[[Destiny 2]]''

**''[[The Witch Queen]]'' {{1st}}

***''[[Season of the Haunted]]'' {{Mo}}

***''[[Season of Defiance]]'' {{Mo}}

***''[[Season of the Witch]]'' {{Mo}}