Taniks: The Story of Destiny’s Most Infamous Eliksni

Aksor, Skolas, Aksis, Fikrul, Eramis; all of these Fallen have struck fear into the inhabitants of the Last City in many ways, but no single Eliksni has tore apart the guardians more than Taniks, the Scarred. So before I get to [REDACTED] I need to break down why Taniks is to be feared.

Taniks & The House of Scar

The House of Scar, now extinct, is rumored to have been the original house for a Dreg known as Taniks. Taniks was hated by his Kell, so much so that his Kell punished him by docking. Docking, in Eliksni culture, is when the Kell tears off the arms of a lesser Eliksni by brute force. Taniks, filled with hate, rebuilt himself by crafting arms from salvage to replace those he lost. Taniks was an outcast who was inspired by Sekris, Baron of Shanks (and a Shadow of Calus), and with his newly crafted arms he hunted down and killed his former Kell. Taniks rose to become a feared mercenary among Fallen ranks, even gaining the name of the Undying Huntsman, and with every successful exploit he would graft more onto his robotic limbs, infusing fallen, vex, and human technology to his own. Taniks was most well known for his cloak, believed to have been made from the banners of his former house.

The Vanguard Dare

Taniks, now a captain with a crew of his own, sought out a near impossible bounty. He wished to eliminate a crew of Hunters consisting of Andal Brasl, Nian Ruo, Lush, Shiro-4, and Cayde-6. During a mission he would claim the lives of Nian Ruo and Lush, which would catch the Speaker’s attention. The Speaker sent out Osiris and Saint-14 to investigate, but the duo of Phoenix & Pidgeon never encountered Taniks. Time would pass and the hunters would gain a vendetta against Taniks, going so far as to create the Vanguard Dare. Andal Brask and Cayde-6 devised a bet so that whichever of them failed to kill Taniks would be required to become the new hunter vanguard, seeing as the position had been vacant for nearly two years, Andal would lose this bet and assume his role as Vanguard after Cayde-6 hunted and killed Taniks, the Scarred twice. Taniks would rebuild and woth his wrath he would murder Andal Brask in cold blood, forcing Cayde-6 to become the new Hunter Vanguard.

Destiny 1’s Shadow Thief

During the story of Destiny (2014), Taniks would be hired by the House of Winter to free Aksor, Archon Priest from the Prison of Elders. Taniks would succeed, but Aksor would die at the hands of our guardian that same day. During the House of Wolves expansion, Skolas would pay Taniks to raid the Hellmouth in search of knowledge on Hive magic. Our guardian would come into contact with Taniks, the Scarred and would seemingly avenge Andal Brask for Cayde-6. However, one year later the Devil Splicers would use SIVA to repair Taniks. Now Taniks, the Scarred would don the mantle of Taniks Perfected, now more machine then Eliksni.

Destiny 2’s Nightmare of Isolation

Throughout the Shadowkeep campaign, our guardians would encounter several past foes in the form of Nightmares as we investigated the Pyramids. One such Nightmare would come in the form of Taniks, the Scarred; after every bit of trauma Taniks put the Last City through, his nightmare was justifiable. Our guardians would put down the Nightmare in order to craft an armor set strong enough to enter the Pyramid with.

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This is a formal spoiler warning for those who are not in the datamining community and do not wish to receive any spoilers for the future of Destiny!

Prior to Beyond Light, during the Ace in the Hole mission Cayde brings up that if Taniks turned out to be his murderer that he would face justice at the hands of our guardian. Did Cayde know something we didn’t? Well, in the past week, several guardians have unearthed files in Beyond Light pertaining to the Deep Stone Crypt Raid releasing on Friday, November 20th, 2020. It seems exos weren’t the worst of our worries. A brief glimpse during a campaign cutscene showed us Eramis’ Generals, but one stood out. This general had not been mentioned to us prior and has yet to be seen alongside another general of Eramis. Thanks to the dataminers we now have confirmation Eramis has brought back Taniks, either using the Darkness or Exoscience. How will raid Taniks differ from his strike counterpart? Will we finally put him down once and for all? Guess we’ll have to wait for Friday to see.

Image Source: Destinypedia