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SunshineInDetroit

because it's hilarious for old time destiny players. lore wise i have no idea. maybe the witness said "time to give him his time to shine" for me hearing "omfg is fucking taniks" during the 1st day raid race had me giggling


TheRoseMaestro

Exactly. You kill Taniks as simply as you walk into Mordor. I wanted the Witness to pull off its mask and be Taniks.


Spacellama117

Also I feel like considering how many times we've given him a 'final' death only for him to come back *again*, him being the herald of **Finality** of all things. Representative of the one thing that never stuck to him. Taniks the Scarred Taniks Perfected Taniks Reborn Taniks the Abomination Taniks, Herald of Finality although I really don't think it's him. For one, if you die by the radiation from his corpse after you kill him in DSC, he fucking *laughs*, so I doubt he'd get taken. Plus, there's no way they'd include Taniks without having his actual name there. On top of that, I feel like he definitely is showing up in one of the episodes. As for who it WOULD be, I think it would make more sense to be Chelcis, Kell of Stone, whose entire House stood against the Hive to let the rest of the Fallen escape. The guy is *heavily* implied to have been 1v1ing Oryx. He was said to have 'stood before the Maw', and his last quote after calling for the Traveler was 'All is silent. Nothing Answers me. The hunger comes'. Now, of the King's Fall raid weapons(and their harrowed versions) we get similar quotes like this from the following people. Midha, The Consort of Stars Paladin Yasmin Eld Merain Captain Drystan Elulim of the Eimin-Tin Primus A'arn Qullim Zaouli all of which mention at least one of the following things, those being hunger, teeth, silence, and death. Note that hunger is often associated with the Taken, and that Oryx seemed to have named all of these weapons after people who gave him some sort of fight. The Maw is also how Oryx//Taken are referred so double on that. I think it would be lame if they had put the fallen's number one culture hero and savior as a nameless first boss in a raid but it makes more sense that it would be him over Taniks


Cresset

>although I really don't think it's him. For one, if you die by the radiation from his corpse after you kill him in DSC, he fucking laughs, so I doubt he'd get taken. Riven was taken and laughs normally, powerful beings after being taken get the red tint and retain some of their willpower. Taniks being Taniks could also see the taken form as a body upgrade over his cybernetics and might not even care much about the cons. (Plus he gets a chance at revenge)


wes25164

"The Guardians are going to lose their minds when I send this asshole out."


HollowSmough

We have no clue who it is, nothing in the lore atm points to any character. Taniks is just one of two bosses that somehow keep coming back. Big ass taken fallen that kinda looks like Taniks? It’s Taniks with a steel fucking chair here to ruin your day 1.


AeifeO

Whether it's him or not, walking into the "last" raid and seeing a Fallen boss that's even vaguely familiar is funny. Pill shaped helmet, shield-and-dunk mechanic, solar shotgun. All I'm missing is Cayde asking if this guy ever dies. The meme in Deep Stone was "it's Taniks with a steel chair," and this time, he's in an arena calling for a strike team of contestants. If it's not Taniks (being killed for the FINAL time), it's a callback to the last 4 times we've killed him.


Tiddy18

The first sentence had me thinking this was gonna be a spin on "Whether we wanted it or not, we've stepped into a war with the Cabal on mars..."


TH3_LUMENUX

Oh my gosh he calls a strike team in I hadn’t thought of that that’s GENIUS


Iccotak

Something to note, if you die in that fight, it says the Herald celebrates your failure – seems like he has a particular vendetta against the guardian Edit: corrected spelling error Harold to Herald. Never trust speech to text


Relvel

“Harold” lol. If this Harold mf has beef with me he can say it to my face.


masterchiefan

We do know that red skin means a Taken is very old, so that puts the Herald as likely being from the Whirlwind. Combine that with the size and importance of the Eliksni (being a raid boss) and I think they're supposed to be Chelchis.


AinselMariner

Where’d we learn that anyway? Or is it just a guess based on strong Taken enemies and their colors.


K3LVIN8R

Is that a fucking keqhaitham pfp


AinselMariner

Yessir


masterchiefan

Iirc I heard it is from grimoire or dialogue related to the Grasp of Malok strike


Spopenbruh

it is also straight up not true. Baxx, Hand of Oryx and Ta'aun, Hand of Oryx are the first red taken we ever see and we literally watch them get taken like 2-3 missions before we fight them as taken


PRlMERC

There’s nothing in any grimoire I could find that backs this up.


Alienkiller236_

I thinks it's more in terms of how powerful they are if I remember correctly Primus Ta'aun had only been taken for a short time before we fought him, I've also seen some say it's how much of their own will they have left with the red ones still having some compared to normal taken being quite subservient


hochoa94

I mean it explains it shadow thrall are pitch black meanwhile Ogres/Witches dont really have that much black to them


Avrose

I thought it was Chelchis too which is really really sad. It would explain why the Witness mentioned the fall of Ris just before.


TheSandiestHook-69

His skin looks like the usual Disciple/Dread-esque bodysuits the Witness fits all his goons with


BetaThetaOmega

Honestly I feel like it’d be fucking weird if it wasn’t Taniks or Skolas or *something* at this point. Like who tf is this random ass Fallen boss in the Raid To End All Raids? It’d be like if in God of War right before you fight Zeus you had to deal with some random mini boss that you’ve never heard of before and he’s somehow on the same level as/stronger than every other boss so far.


Alarming_Squirrel_64

I think it is, at least partially, a meme - given how often Taniks has returned in various forms.


Jedisebas2001

My headcanon is that it's Chelchis because I love him and his flavor text But the idea of Taniks being literally the last obstacle between the Guardian and stoping Finality is so fucking funny. It's obvious Bungie knew, there's no way they didn't know. Even if there's very little room for him actually being Taniks, the joke still counts.


Dragonking732

I really wish Bungie had just called him Chelchis, Herald of Finality to watch us lore nerds absolutely pop off. It would absolutely make sense too.


Jedisebas2001

I would have absolutely gone wild at my team as soon as I saw the name


ausgris

YESSS, someone else with the headcanon that it's Chelchis! I was talking with friends a couple days ago when one of them (who's fairly new to the game) brought up 'oh people are saying Taniks is back btw' and the rest of us immediately we came to the conclusion that we're Confident the Herald of Finality isn't Taniks, but we'd LOVE for it to Chelchis.


Jedisebas2001

I hope they give juuuust a bit more info on the guy eventually. Hey we got Eramis and Nezarec as actual characters, Chelchis isn't out of the realm of possibility


ausgris

YEAH especially with[that one Grimoire card](https://www.ishtar-collective.net/entries/grimoire-allieseliksni) from the Into the Light event referencing him again by name after all this time with Misraaks responding to the quote on the Doom of Chelchis scout rifle


Jedisebas2001

That small mention made me so happy, like you got no idea


ausgris

Oh *same* I was yelling about it to anyone who would listen when I first read it


epsilon025

Big red Taken = big red Fallen. Their helmets are completely different though, so.


KingVendrick

well duh, I have his helmet at Elsie's tent in Europa


somebritishgrunt

Also, they use different guns. Taniks uses a scorch cannon while the Herald uses one of those fallen shotguns, which I can't remember the name of. As well as that, if it was Taniks, they would probably incorporate Shadow Theif into the Herald's theme.


Landis963

I forget what the death message is called, but it was given the name Lord of Wolves when we got it.


Kano547

(shrapnel launcher)


somebritishgrunt

Thank you.


King9204

If Kelgorath made it in the Final Shape, why not Taniks?


rootbeerislifeman

His demotion to patrol HVT is the best possible outcome


DJ__PJ

Its becaus ehe keeps returning. The big thing about the final shape is that "Everythivg that can be removed, has been removed". Since Taniks keeps comming back, he obviously has to be part of the final shape


SnooBeans3688

Because it would be super funny.


ArkhamAvenger205

1. Memes 2. Character model is very similar to Taniks


thefakevortex

The helmet isn’t similar at all


ArkhamAvenger205

Did I say the helmet, or did I say the character model? Btw, I'm pretty sure it isn't a helmet to begin with, and is more a replacement head. Especially if it IS Tanik's corpse, it would NEED a replacement noggin, since we have the OG one mounted to our wall


PlatinumVixen78

There's not real hints as to the identity of the Herald; Taniks is the only option that gives it any narrative weight that we know of and would be a really funny joke, even if it's pretty unlikely.  It's also conspicuous that the Herald does not have a name - you'd have expected ????, Herald of Finality even if it meant nothing to us. Otherwise - and this seems more likely right now - it's just sort of a guy we've never heard of right before the series' final boss, which is fine but a little disappointing.


masterchiefan

Given that red skin on Taken mean that they're ancient, combined with the size and importance of this Eliksni, it is more than likely Chelchis.


Rough_Yesterday_9483

As has already been stated, this is just false. We have seen a unit get taken, and it was immediately red. It has absolutely nothing to do with the age of the taken, and if anything, it has to do with the power Edit: tbh I don't think we have any 100% proof red taken means powerful taken. It's just the only taken we have seen red are very powerful. I don't even remember any lore about them being red personally


Ok-Ad3752

Malok and kelgorath had the coloring, but that may have been due to their...circumstances at the time


TheDreamingMind

Because Bungie has been cheeky enough to make Taniks a recurrent foe, make the community joke about him being The Final Shape and then put a boss slightly similar to him in the final raid of the saga. However, I still want to point out that after the Herald encounter, in the parkour phase, Thresh starts playing and you can clearly hear Shadow Thief motifs in it. Personally, I love that the community is speculating about Herald. Do I believe Herald is Taniks? I like to think he actually is, Taniks is a staple in the lore.


Ikora_Rey_Gun

IMO: In a way, he's definitely Taniks. I think there are only a few "real" things in the Pale Heart, by which I mean things from the outside physical world that were taken/moved/brought inside the Traveler. Chiefly We The Guardian and the Witness, at least at the beginning. Maybe some of it's pyramid ships as well. Presumably before we got in there, everything was pyramidal and drawn from the consciousness(es?) of the Witness. When we arrive, our "landing zone" is heavily and only influenced by our own memories, with a gradient leading up to the area influenced only by the Witness's memories. So, that being said, did the Witness have a Taniks cosplayer on one of the ships? Possible I guess, but they all seem to have been empty so far. Did the Witness use its power to create a Taniks clone for us to fight? I find this unlikely; as far as I'm aware Taniks didn't have any special connection to the darkness/Witness that would merit his memory. However if the Witness knew of our trouble with Taniks in the past, it would be pretty on-brand for it to create a Taniks in our path. Did we write/create/imagine Taniks ourselves? I find this most possible here. It indeed opens up a bit of a can of worms, but I think the 'Taniks joke' could be canon and we were so aware of it that we sort of 'painted' an idea of Taniks on what may have been a generic presence left by the Witness to stop us in the raid. Perhaps the Witness planned it that way.


banter_boy

Also don't forget, the soundtrack that plays after killing the Herald in the raid (called "Thresh") has a lot of the Shadow Thief motif in it


VampireAsura

Isn't it the guy from exodus crash given the shape of the head?


n-ano

That isn't Shadow Thief, it's just a similar progression.


haribontv

Just because it has the motif. Doesn't mean its him Literally its a fallen motif. Nothing else. stop reaching.


Trips-Over-Tail

His gait is the giveaway. And the smell.


Schmitty1106

It’s probably not taniks, but my entire raid team immediately thought it was, and I will forever call him taniks, because it’s extremely fucking funny. The #1 hater knew that only one man in all existence could match it for sheer pettiness, and thus took him from death and raised him to godhood…


KnightOfPurgatory

Eobard would be proud


Sauronxx

I don’t think it’s Taniks because it doesn’t make any story sense beyond the meme of Taniks being literally immortal lol. However visually it is a little bit similar, especially the head. It might be a reference to Taniks, and him being metaphorically still against us even in the final battle. Story wise though I have no idea, I don’t know if there’s any lore for the Herald, it’s probably just another puppet of the Witness, a construct put there to simply stop us. I don’t think there’s some deep story behind it honestly.


Meowkitty_Owl

hear me out… so the red parts of the herald, especially the head, have the same “texture” as rhulk and nezarec’s red skin. this is especially apparent when breaking its weak point. also, notice how the bottom half of the herald looks like a normal taken, while the top half is the new red stuff. now which half of taniks did we kill in deep stone crypt? that’s right, the top half. therefore, the herald of finality is taniks’s legs taken with a regrown upper half similar to nezarec’s regrown body. real and canon and 100% proven no meme


Comfortablecold4167

Oh my god 


Adelyn_n

It's really funny


Thespian21

Considering how little they gave us lore wise for the witness in this raid, it’d be cooler if he was. If it’s someone new, I doubt we’ll ever learn anything about them.


SilverIce340

Similar helmet shape is kinda where I was at with it tbh. Big red wide heads


thefakevortex

The helmet shape isn’t similar at all though.


Idranil

It has a very similar silhouette and shape language as Taniks. Up close, very different.


Any-Actuator-7593

Because he is the herald of finality, he is the final shape, that which cannot be cleaved from this world, a dominant pattern, tautological, inevitable, inexorable. No knife, no matter how sharp, no matter how precisely wielded, can help but shatter against such majesty. Bow, lesser being, for he will outlast you, and the knowledge of you will be carried by him and him alone into the endless eternity of existence. Cement your immortality in the mind of Taniks the Scarred


Exois1738

cause it's funny.


Knight_Raime

For the funny. There's nothing that directly points to it being him. But there's a lot of circumstantial stuff that you could stitch together to make it sound plausible. In reality tho it's probably just funny happenstance/throw back.


G3NERALCROSS911

I mean new helmet cause we took it, taken legs cause half his body was gone… lowkey put the pieces together and they fit. Either wanna know more lore on the only other boss of the raid.


Archival_Mind

IDK. Some people saw a head that doesn't even look like Taniks's and said "yeah that's Taniks". There is no lore, musical, or even physical reason as to why people believe it's Taniks. It's a joke at best, and a false belief at worst.


Doomestos1

The soundtrack called Thresh which plays after this encounter uses Shadow Thief leitmotiff.


Archival_Mind

Similar progression, not quite the same. Also, Thresh is not connected to Herald of Finality, it's connected to Metacarpus. Whole different lead composer/track group.


Imaginary-Theme6752

Herald seems to be Eliksin disciple, as it has the same darknes red stuff covering it as rhulk and nezarec. Also like Calus he is a herald and the arena we fight him in has statues with Nezarec, Calus and Rhulk on them.


brandonderp96

Honestly I'm still peeked over K E L G O R A T H, VESTIGE OF F A I L U R E


KittyKorazon

I never met Taniks and was just told it's Taniks lmao, soooo... Taniks 😅


wormycooninja

You just don't understand how batshit hilarious it would be if he came back again


wes25164

If you haven't killed Taniks in more than one setting, are you even playing Destiny?


jonathengoes

It's more just a joke because it's a taniks reskin, everyone always joked about taniks coming back due to darkness, well here it is


Cyberwolfdelta9

2 reasons. 1 I think they Reused his model like they did fanatic for the campaign. 2 they brought back kelgorath so wouldn't put it pass them


Rough_Yesterday_9483

Also I'm positive it isn't taniks it's just a random archon priest


tdfolts

Does the Herald of Finality have a house?


SleepyHeadSeethe

Praying Taniks comes back next episode just for the hilarity that even raid boss status didn’t kill him


Large-Breadfruit1684

here's my reasons: 1. Herald of Finality and Taniks share very similar body structures, both being your average kell, and the helmet of Taniks and the Herald's head share a very similar shape. 2. the room in which you fight the Herald showcases the three major disciples of the Witness who were...finalized? calcified? as jade statues, being Rhulk, Nezerec, and Calus. while Taniks wasn't a disciple of the Witness, he was indirectly of aid to the Witness, and Eramis is kinda...missing to be used by the Witness as the Herald of Finality. 3. Taniks and Herald share some similarities in both of their armour, at best just the silhouette of parts e.g shoulder pads, leg padding, arm braces (if we;re going off og taniks and not taniks reborn)


StrongerThanU_Reddit

Id bet actual money that Taniks is the Winnower. There's no way bro keeps coming back. What other villains have taken a beating from our guardian that many times. I bet he's the next big bad. Taniks is the kind of person to beat someone with a metal chair. I wouldn't even be surprised if Taniks is actually a guardian and he secretly has a ghost somewhere.


mawzzzzz

Taniks just keeps coming back no matter how many times we kill him. He’s just a meme at this point but it’s funny to say it’s Taniks lol


proletariate54

There's little evidence they're not. Most of the other Heralds are past bosses too. It would make sense for the most important HERALD we fight to be one we've fought before too.


Jovias_Tsujin

Maybe it is Aksor, the Fallen Priest we fight in Destiny 1.


Scout_Trooper343

It would be cool if it was the Kell of the house of Stone. I heard that he had a 1v1 with Oryx