Secrets Of The Nine – The Mystery Of Destiny 2’s Trials Weapons

As far back as the first weeks of Destiny’s launch in 2014, a seed was planted regarding a mysterious organization, group, or individual called the Nine. On a weekly basis, the Nine sent their agent, named Xûr, to offer exotic gear and other loot to enterprising Guardians, in exchange for a strange currency of coins. Xûr is back in the new game, now accepting a different currency, but still shelling out exotic weapons and armor. 

We also had a few Grimoire cards from Destiny that hinted at the importance of the Nine, most importantly a set of entries that guessed at the Nine’s identities. Guesses ranged widely, including deep-orbit warmind A.I.s, the firstborn of the Awoken, aspects of The Darkness broken by the Traveler, lost Guardian Ghosts who traveled off into deep space beyond our solar system's heliopause, and even a viral language of pure meaning. Independent of that card, Destiny’s players commonly circulated a theory that the Nine were the final remnants of an ancient race of space dragons called the Ahamkara, gathering Strange Coins for their hordes. In a dialogue occasionally heard from Xûr, he states that he "cannot explain what the Nine are. They are very large."

Xûr, as he appeared in the first Destiny game

After all of that guessing, Destiny 2 offers a much broader perspective on the lore, through the new competitive game type called Trials of the Nine, even if it doesn’t offer the complete answers some might have been hoping for. While much of Destiny 2's story is more straightforward and coherent than what was seen in the prior game, the Trials story content is an exception, and an intriguing mystery for folks drawn to Destiny's sci-fi fiction.

Note that from here on out in the article, expect spoilers for elements of the Destiny 2 story. 

As an evolution of the Trials of Osiris, the Trials of the Nine once again demand flawless competitive play in order to access the best and largest number of rewards from a mysterious locale. Instead of a Lighthouse on Mercury, the new discoverable location is called The Third Spire. “You have no idea where it is, but somehow you know exactly how to get there…,” explains the pop-up tooltip when flying in. 

The bizarre destination features odd geometries and striking white backdrops. Sand falls, as if through an hourglass, from a tiny object that couldn’t possibly hold so much. A weird, swirling sequence of geometric patterns circles a slim tower. And at the tower’s base waits another figure seemingly in service to the Nine – a figure called the Emissary, who speaks for the Nine. Like Xûr, her spoken statements feel disconnected from normal perceptions of reality. “But what is death to the undying – except, perhaps, a catalyst for change?” the Emissary intones. “Do you remember every death, Guardian? I know you’ve forgotten at least one.”

The Third Spire offers a mysterious landscape of geometric shapes and concepts that defy human understanding

The full meaning and purpose of The Third Spire remains unexplained, but that’s no surprise. Bungie teased the enigma of Osiris with the previous incarnation of Trials, and now we know that The Curse of Osiris will be the next dedicated expansion for Destiny 2. Likewise, it’s a safe bet that The Third Spire, the Nine, and their intent and goals are likely to become clear in some distant future Destiny installment. 

Even so, the weapons gained through success in the Trials of the Nine begin to paint a picture with their lore tabs, albeit a strange one. Each of the weapons bears a name themed around law, order, and conclusions, but every one offers a slight twist on the theme.

Seemingly, the most significant weapon for folks hoping to piece together the mystery of the Nine is the sniper rifle called The Long Walk, which relays a conversation between what appears to be a Guardian named Orin and nine Ghosts. Eight of them encircle Orin, while the ninth is dimmer, and floats in the corner. The entry offers significant support to the theory that the Nine are Ghosts who have lost their Guardians, and subsequently floated out into deep space, where they claim to not have discovered anything of importance. On the other hand, it may only be a coincidence that there are nine Ghosts in this tale snippet, and the Nine could be something else entirely.

The submachine gun called the Adjudicator offers another piece of the puzzle, in what appears to be a dialogue from some unknown entity to the nine Ghosts referenced in The Long Walk entry. The speaker encourages that they “Go and touch the hissing silence,” a direct reference to the Grimoire card from Destiny 1 about Ghosts who went out into the Deep Black. The speaker implies that the nine Ghosts encountered something devilish that poses as god out there, and they turned around and fled. 

The lore entry for the shotgun called A Sudden Death suggests that the nine Ghosts (if that really is who the speaker is addressing) talked to the Warminds, looking for answers to some question, but found no solutions.

The auto rifle Prosecutor seems to allude to adventures our Guardians have already surmounted – like the Vault of Glass, the Court of Oryx, the Ascendant Realm – and connects those locales with other less understandable mysteries related to stars and the Nine. 

The Relentless pulse rifle brings up the idea of three keys that are required for some great purpose, and may indicate a conversation between the Nine and their Emissary. In one of her dialogues at the Third Spire, the Emissary speaks of these three keys, naming them as judgment, death, and perfection, and suggests that these three keys are part of the purpose of the Third Spire.  

The Judgment hand cannon seems to demand that Guardians continue to develop their power through confrontation with other Guardians, and that they must seek judgment – one of the keys mentioned by the Emissary in her dialogue.

The End scout rifle may reference the Red War against Ghaul, and the triggering of the Traveler’s rebirth, perhaps implying that the Guardians’ actions (or the Traveler’s) have gotten the attention of the Nine.

A Swift Verdict is a sidearm, but it defies easy interpretation, speaking of going mad trying to understand. Perhaps this last is a subtle fourth-wall breaking jibe at players who are trying to figure out the puzzle of the Nine? 

The eight new weapons are gathered across different tiers as you float up along the Third Spire, until at last, Flawless Trials players are allowed to enter what appears to be a small singularity, where they encounter the Emissary one last time, now represented as a giant head, floating in a starfield at what she claims is the "end of all things."

Bungie is certainly interested in maintaining the mystery of the Nine for a good while longer, as the weapon lore descriptions seem to paint only a very small part of a much bigger picture. Suffice to say, the new Trials of the Nine offers plenty of slippery clues for lore-minded Guardians to consider, but we’ll all have to wait a little longer for complete answers. Are we missing something about the fiction suggested in the Trials of the Nine gear? Let us know in the comments below. 

[Special thanks to Destiny 2 players Josh Stewart and Chase Viche, who helped supplement missing weapon pictures. Also, special thanks are due to the dedicated community at Destiny Reddit, who muse on these sorts of topics regularly, especially recent posts from users echof0xtrot and DoctorDoomDoom, who explored these same ideas in relevant research.]