The Nine at a Glance

The Nine · 4 entries

What this book is about

This book is an overview of the Nine, thinking beings of dark matter that formed when the life of the solar system disturbed streams caught in orbit around the Sun and planets. You learn how each is bound to one body, from IX, the Sun, through the Inner and Outer Orbits, and you hear of Theia, a stillborn sister. It points to Destiny 1's Ghost Fragment: Legends 2 for the old theories Guardians held about them.

It then covers where they dwell, in Unknown Space, with their Jovian agents beyond the Reef and the pocket dimension of Eternity. You meet their agents: Xûr, Orin, Lodi and Starhorse, along with the Drifter, who refused them.

The last section traces your encounters with the Nine across the years, from the Third Spire and the Haul to Eternity, The Edge of Fate, and an alternate timeline in Destiny: Rising.

What the Nine Are

The Nine are thinking beings made of dark matter. In the lore, streams of dark matter were caught in looping orbits around the Sun and the planets, and the life of the solar system disturbed those loops until they began to think. They depend on those bodies and on the life around them, and they see past, present and future at once. They're also called the IX, or the Ennead.

Each of them is tied to one body. The Inner Orbits are IX, the Sun; I, Mercury; II, Venus; III, Earth, now dead; and IV, Mars. The Outer Orbits are V, Jupiter; VI, Saturn; VII, Uranus; and VIII, Neptune. The lore also speaks of Theia, a stillborn sister. The Edge of Fate's lore book Epochs & Orbits gives each of them an entry.

For centuries Guardians only guessed at them. Destiny 1's Ghost Fragment: Legends 2 lists nine competing explanations of who the Nine might be.