Riven

"I don't have time to explain why I don't have time to explain."
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Riven of a Thousand Voices
Biographical information
Species:	Ahamkara
Faction:	Taken
Rank:	Taken Commander
Class:	Taken Ahamkara
Gender:	Female
Height:	Inconceivable
Combat information
Mission:	Last Wish Nothing Left to Say
Abilities:	Blistering Soulfire Void Axion Darts Solar Tentacle Quake Riven's Gaze Corrosive Aura Creeping Darkness Ascendant Atrophy Metaphysical Bleed High Durability Summon Taken

"Ah, I've waited so long to fulfill one last wish..."

— Siren of Riven

Riven of a Thousand Voices is a powerful Taken Ahamkara that formerly served Mara Sov within the Dreaming City. She now corrupts the city from its heart, the Keep of Voices, and worked her way into Uldren Sov's mind like a parasite, warping his will in an attempt to open the gate to the Dreaming City and enable herself to enter the material world. She will use what ever is needed to get what she wants and does it without compromise. She is the true main antagonist of Forsaken, and the final boss of the Last Wish raid.

Biography

Accompanying the Queen

Riven was born as one of the last remaining Ahamkara in the Solar System around the time of the Great Ahamkara Hunt. She was found by Uldren Sov and presented to Mara Sov. Through the years, she grew and accompanied Mara Sov in her ventures, becoming one of the most significant members of her entourage. Riven's wish-granting faculty aided in the construction of the Dreaming City. However, Mara remained wary of Riven's fundamental untrustworthiness and appetite as an Ahamkara. Mara constructed a Wall of Wishes to make bargaining with Riven safer, and made sure to keep her away from Uldren and other potential sources of trouble. Indeed, Riven's work on the Dreaming City included small but deliberate flaws that would make it vulnerable to attack.

Becoming Taken

Shortly after the Battle of Saturn, Oryx, the Taken King raided the Dreaming City alongside his Taken forces, where he quickly took Riven as part of his army. She remained within the Dreaming City, having become an incredibly powerful weapon of Oryx at the time - to the extent where her mere status as a Taken drove the Nine into a complete frenzy.

A New Master

Following Oryx's death, Savathûn assumed control over the Taken, which included Riven. Riven quickly became one of the most prominent leaders of Savathun's Taken army, and she somehow retained her will, using it to corrupt the Dreaming City from deep within, along with the mind of Uldren Sov, who had ironically been the one to originally discover her as an infant many years prior.

Forsaken

Ultimately, thanks to the actions of Uldren Sov, the gates to the Dreaming City would be open, allowing Riven the chance to break free of the Dreaming City. Though the Guardians and Reef agents ended Uldren and destroyed Riven's agent, the Voice of Riven, Riven herself remained a threat that the Awoken knew had to be dealt with immediately, especially since she was now Taken. Pleading the Vanguard and Guardians for aid, the Awoken succeed in gaining the support they need to launch an assault upon the corrupted Dreaming City and end the Taken Ahamkara.

A Guardian Raid team was formed and breaching past the Awoken Watchtower into the City, the Guardians battle two of the Taken-corrupted Techeuns: Kalli and Shuro Chi. Not only were they successful in defeating the Taken Techeuns but were able to actually free them from the Taken's influence. Gaining their aid, the Guardians finally confront and battle with Riven. The battle takes them throughout the Dreaming City and Ascendant Plane but they were able to severely wound Riven. Ensuring that the Ahamkara never becomes a threat again, the Guardians enter the Ahamkara herself and steal her heart, taking the relic back to the center of the City and cleansing it of the Taken corruption with the help of Queen's Techeuns.

This was, however, exactly what Riven wanted. As an Ahamkara, Riven was able transcend death in order to grant one last wish that caused the Dreaming City to be Taken.

Traits

As an Ahamkara, Riven is a calculating figure and a master of manipulation. She sadistically enjoys driving one into complete madness, as she did with Uldren Sov through speaking to him in his head under the guise of Mara Sov. Additionally, Riven possesses disturbing abilities and a terrifying level of cunning that is only rivaled by her master, Savathûn, the Witch-Queen. Her mastery of corruption directly led to the death of Cayde-6, and the events of the entirety of Forsaken as a result.

Riven has retained her free will even after being Taken.

Like the rest of her kind, Riven is a shapeshifter and typically adopts reptilian or dragon-like forms. After becoming Taken and corrupting the Dreaming City, she confronted the Guardian as a gigantic clawed and tentacled serpentine beast, with a head covered in numerous eyes, protected by bony folding-plates.

Trivia

• Though she is Taken, Riven is the first Ahamkara ever observed in the Destiny series.
• Riven is the third known Taken entity that retains a sense of free-will and independent thought. The first two being Quria, Blade Transform and Malok, Pride of Oryx.
• She is the first female final Raid boss.
• Riven's epithet, "of a Thousand Voices," is reminiscent of that of the Worm God Xol, the "Will of the Thousands". It is unknown what significance this similarity has, if there are any.
• Riven is by far the largest Raid boss in Destiny history, surpassing Argos, Planetary Core and Oryx, the Taken King.

Gallery

• 

  Riven during phase 1 of her encounter.

• 

  Riven facing Guardians in a cutscene.

List of appearances

• Destiny 2
  • Forsaken (First appearance)