<Welcome to another post by the not-a-professional-artist-stop-judging-me guy. So I recently had a thought... and a discussion that provoked it. Let's start with some background, shall we? I made a [url=https://www.bungie.net/en/Forums/Post/241802145?sort=0&page=0]post[/url] a while ago. This post combined every major theory on what the Darkness was and smashed them all together. What I ended up with was another primordial entity that is the actual opposite of the Traveler... accompanied by whatever this fifth race was, which built it a body (largest ship). I've had another thought... What if it has always had that body? And what IS the fifth race? How do I match the Darkness? What kind of Primordial Entity is the Darkness? Let's start with that. My first theory on the Darkness is the [b]Shard Theory[/b]. This is based off the look of the Heart of the Black Garden. One of the two leading theories on what the Heart is is that it's a Shard of the Darkness. So... put 'em together. My next one is the [b]Ship Theory[/b], where it is literally just a giant ship. This is the one I don't really like but I don't want to leave out of the realm of possibility. After all, the Traveler could still be just a Giant Light-Producing Machine. The final one is the [b]God Incubator Theory[/b]... which is also based off an old story board for the Prologue of D1. This one showed the 3 Astronauts coming across a blue eyed woman in a crashed ship... on Mars. You can combine this with the possibility that the Traveler houses a deity. I already explained how that would work in another post. https://www.bungie.net/en/Forums/Post/241790126?sort=0&page=0 This theory could also fit with Garden Progeny 1's flavor text. [quote]Two siblings cleaved by time and space, reflections never found alone, The ending of the eldritch race—a path long seen but never known.[/quote] And could apply to a number of theories suggesting that the Darkness is the antithetical force to the Light and could give a pilot to one of those ships. Now that we have that down, let's move to the other side of the paper. What is the 5th Race? I also explained this briefly in my Darkness post (first link above in case you didn't see it). But I never went into detail about their looks or their architecture. So I did more things. The first was the [b]Collection Theory[/b]. This is the cheap, easy way out. It's basically just the Taken and Hive and then whatever the Darkness God is. Despite recent events, I do not think Bungie will be taking this route. The next is the [b]Cayde's Shadow Theory[/b]. This is based off two things. The title "Eldritch" in the GP1's text (above, means ghostly or sinister) and Cayde-6's vision about the Collapse. It's just shadow creatures, basically. The final one, and the reason for me making this post, is the [b]Human/Humanoid/Jovian Theory[/b]. This stems from a number of things. The most important one will be this Reddit post. https://www.reddit.com/r/DestinyLore/comments/7raupp/the_nine_the_traveler_the_flower_eater_pt2/?st=jcnz58zl&sh=88a50564 Specifically the line: [quote]The other group of humanity that left the sol system first and I believe joined with Sophia; I believe eventually we will get to see them. I believe what they became are in the Tetrahedron ships.[/quote] Just hold on I'll get to this shit later. The next is this Concept Art by Mark Kolobaev https://cdna.artstation.com/p/assets/images/images/007/415/032/large/mark-kolobaev-bungie-concept-artstation.jpg?1505983337 And... that might be it... no wait. Whatever let's dive into the first third. Humanoid - This is just a simple, oh they just look like people. This could hold a number of things, like copies so that we think about what side we're on, illusions, or actual legitimate human-like beings similar to how Humans and Humans from Star Wars (a galaxy far, far away mind you) are similar. Human - This combines a lot with the Jovian third of this so I'll do both. Jovians were like the Awoken (so says Xur), only more transformed. This suggests the Darkness got to them... but... Xur says otherwise. Xur says the Nine did this... but the Darkness and Light created the Awoken. So that's a thing. However, the identity of the Nine is for another day, though I would love to discuss it now. In the Reddit post, that quote suggests that another group of humans left the system during the Collapse, like the Awoken tried, and joined the Darkness (post context refers to the Deep as Sophia). Now, there's a lot in there I don't personally agree with but we won't know until whenever IT arrives. We know the Jovians were... well... around the Jovian planets and moons. But we've been to Io and Titan and the Dreadnaught is RIGHT THERE. Where is everyone? Where are the Jovians. Where are the Nine that we once thought were there? WHERE IS EVERYONE?! Well... maybe they were once there, but now they're outside the Galaxy. So... this means that the 5th race would be people. This DOES mean that we might have a conflict about what side we're on. But since the original story is no longer with us, the Darkness is the bad guy. So let's throw it all together again... shall we? My ultimate theory is this: The Darkness (an ancient entity/god) moved around in its own vessel, like the Traveler. IT has done this for ages. IT has assisted the Hive (destruction of the Fallen homeworld) occasionally and has followed the Traveler to Earth. The Traveler sacrifices itself and the Darkness attempts to retaliate. What follows are 3 versions of human; normal, Awoken, and Jovian. Feeling the pull of the Darkness more so than any other, the Jovians follow the defeated Darkness out of the galaxy. They build ships to resemble the Darkness they follow (the Tetrahedral Fleet). They have centuries to prepare to extinguish the Light, following the Darkness and the fact that Light hurts them (source: Xur). Now they're on their way to kill us all. So there you go. There's some shit to think about. For the person who I had a chat with through PMs (you know who you are), thanks. Imgur pic https://imgur.com/a/qi8UO I really need to work on drawing people... to be fair though I did just learn how to Fallen. One at a time I guess.>