Hive Language Project

My attempt to compile the known information about the Hive Language from the Destiny in-game universe. I list all know glyphs and try to give meaning or context where possible. Inevitably I have missed something, and I'll try to update this whenever possible. At the end I list my opinions on meanings, which means they are subject to change as more information becomes available.

Up-to-date as of 5/23/18

1. Hive Language
Project
Compiled by Certainpersonio
Based on Prior work in D1
and new findings in D2

2. Acknowledgements
•IdonotownD1,soallimagesofD1glyphsarefrom
membersofthecommunity(mostlyr/raidsecrets)
•Asacorollary tothis,I might be off with some of my D1
references, so please feel free to correct me
•Specific mention to the hard work of u/daeimos,
u/the5w4n, and u/KFC_justwhich I borrow heavily
from

3. Housekeeping
•My primary purpose is to gather together the information the community has generated from D1, and add in new information from D2
•I’mfirst attempting topresentinformationandcategorize it
•AttheendI’lladdsomeof my thoughts about the meaning
•Also, I tried to make everything look visually interesting (font, page layout), but I can only do so much in my free time. So yeah, sorry (not sorry) if that gets annoying by the end!

4. Prior Rune Compendium From D1

5. Abcde
fghij
lkmno
pqr
1234
“Alphabet” from D2
1.18 character
glyphs (A-R)
2.5 linear glyphs
(1-5)
NOTE: The letters
selected are
placeholders to aid
identification and do
not represent the
actual meaning of the
symbols
Source: Hive Seal from
“Deathless” Adventure
on Titan. 5?

6. Prior Rune Compendium From D1
A
bc
d
e
f
g
hi
j
l
k
m
n
o
p
q
r
12345
vw
STU
xY

7. Court of Oryx Glyphs+
•Reciprocal Rune
•Stolen Rune
•Antiquated Rune
Demonstrates potential
additive nature of
glyphs, however this is
only time ithasbeen
documented.
These are Glyphs that do
not appear in D2
“alphabet”
STUS
U
v
Xw
Y

8. k
f
Z K = Haste, Lies
F = Door
Z = Jewel
*Meaning comes from
From D1 Cryptarchfiles

9. A
F
B
M
C
L
L
M
K
K
O
O
D
E
N
N
G
H
I
J
•Contains glyphs in same order as alphabet grid
•Did not include “P, Q, R” or “1,2, 3, 4, 5”. Probably due to desired shape of circle

10. Shriekers
Outside Runes:
Outside Runes are
repeated and flipped on
bottom (not shown)
Inside Runes:
B –C –K –M

11. Tablet of Ruin
H
F
K
O
L
A
First
LastAs Golgorothkills
guardians, their deaths
are marked on the
Tablet of Ruin. When 6
guardians die, the
Tablet is “full” and the
team wipes.
Potentially these
glyphs could double as
the numbers 1-6 or
”empty àfull”

12. Secret Transept Room
(Basketball-Court of Oryx)
•Same 6 Glyphs as Tablet
of Ruin
•All 6 light up in same
order as Tablet of Ruin
H
F
K
O
L
A

13. WarpriestTrial
(Doorway to Warpriest)
•Found this on reddit, super helpful demonstration of inter-
relatedness of glyphs throughout Kings Fall
•Also the only documentation of doorway to WarpriestI could find
A
E
G
J
H
C
B
F
D
I
K
N
L
D
G
Q
M
P
O
R
•You must charge this doorway to access
Warpriestand Pillar Room
•20 glyphs total; D & G are repeated in both
columns
•Left column contains first 10 character
glyphs (A-J)
•Right column contains Last 8 character
glyphs (K-R) plus D & G
•I could not identify a specific pattern within
each column/row

14. War Priest Pillars
Top changes, but bottom remains the same
A O L
A
P
F
BI
JM
C

15. Left
Right
LeftRight
3rd
from
Left
2nd
from
Right
2nd
from
Left
3rd
from
Right
Chests from Dreadnaught
(Chest of Spawn)
Glyphsare the same on both sides but inverted
N –R –K –A –G –D

16. Door in Sunless Cell Strike
•Door Symbols (A –F –K) present along
with others
•Presented as 5 pairs in 2 vertical lines
•they are the 1stand 3rdcolumns of
the “alphabet”
A
P
F
K
H
R
M
C
31

17. Control Console
•Each dial is a column of “alphabet”
•This thematicallymakessenseif this acts as a
keyboard of sorts
•Further demonstrates alphabet grid
was already created in D1

18. Hive Lego Bricks
D F B H
C P G G
Y ßMaybe ”D”Instead?
HR H K
•With the exception of P, these are the
characters B-H (minus E)
•Possibly chose these to emphasize
sawtooth pattern

19. Grotto Graffiti
•Generally appear to be splattered around
•Tendencytowards “Column” effects from Alphabet
•Ex:E-J andD-I
H
I
DB
HA
?
H
E
E
J
“Column” Effect
E
J
I
D

20. Heart of CrotaSpawn Door
H
O
L
•Hivepreforma summoning ritual for
the Heart of Crotain front of these
Glyphs
•Logicaltoassumethey could important
for summoning

21. Destiny 2
•Is meaning conserved across games?
•Unclear, but probably
•Do new Hive Glyphs appear?
•Not really

22. Hive Faction Glyphs
•instead of power-level, health bars now display race for similarly leveled enemies
•There are currently 2 Hive factions designated with two separate Glyphs:
Savathun’sBrood on Titan and Infinite ForestGrasp of Nokrison Mars
Pardon my really
crappy recreation

23. •Symbols for the doors remain the same between
D1 and D2
•K—F—A
•represents a “column” effect
•Likely means that symbol meaning is conserved
SavathunStrike
Door similar to 3rddoor of “Lost to Light”
mission (this is actually concept art)
K
F
A

24. Maybe not so consistent?
•D1 Cryptarchfiles suggested this
symbol meant “haste” or “lies”
•Now it might mean “doorway”,
“treasure”, or “chamber”.
•3 Options:
1.Accidentally forgot they already
gave a meaning to this rune
2.Recon
3.It’s actually just a reference to
the “Black Hammer Runestone”,
which this symbol is a part of.

25. D2 Shriekers
Bottom of Inside Runes:
Outside Glyphs from D1
remain consistent in
content and location
Top of Inside Runes:
B –C –K –M
•These remain the same as D1
ShriekerEye:
O —P —R •This appears to be new to D2
•although the order appeared on
Warpriest’sdoor
•Possibly chosen for aesthetic
value (personal opinion)
J—B—N—P
•Unclear if new to D2 or simply
unnoticed in D1

26. Savathun’sSong
(Giant Shrieker)
X
Text from normal Shrieker
is inverted and repeated
R
1O
G
M
D
J
C
Note: Does not have shrieker“eye”
Glyphs appear to be copied/duplicated from normal shrieker

27. Hive Eggs/Pods
4 Types of Hive eggs: 2 damageable, 2 non-damageable
•When takes damage it catches fire and burns
•Looks very dry and shriveled
•When takes damage it loosens from its anchor
point. Does not disapear
•Pulses/inhales with time
•Scanableobject (Festering Hall 2)
•Moving veins underneath surface
•Lit with yellow light
•Moving veins underneath surface
•Hive glyphs flash across surface

28. Turns out the 4thpod isn’t that special, and is covered in a
“living texture” that is on many Hive Objects:
Because this is a moving texture, it’s easiest to view in a video format, which this clearly is not. Thus I am showing
representative stills here, and I recommend viewing clips I’ve made on my Twitter, or just check it out in game.

29. “Living Texture” Glyphs
•Due to the overlapping placement of the glyphs, it is hard to distinguish many of them
•Thus I can only definitively identify a small number of them, but I suspect most of the alphabet is present
•I can identify: C, D, H, J, K, P, N, O, P, R, 2, 4
•Furthermore, it is possible that there are actually a few very similar textures that are hard to distinguish
due glyph overlap

30. Hive Ritual Public Event
WarpriestTablets
Door Glyphs
Bottom glyph obscured but
likely is H symbol for the
Hive
•Sameglyphs on both Titan and Mars
•Glyphs are nearly identical to Tablet of Ruin
H
F
K
O
L
A
First
Last
A—O—L—K—F—H
RitualGlyphs

31. Keystone
•4th Side of keystone
contains most of “L”
pillar from Warpriest
1st2nd3rd4th
G
1
L
R
2
B
N
2 2
A I
M J
E
F
2 2
B O
K
G
2 1
C N
4 5
A
G
1
L
R
2
B
N
2 2
A I
M J
E
F
2 2
B O
K
G
2 1
C N
4 5
A
L
F
B I
M J
C
1st2nd3rd4th
Two Identical pillars across from each
other in a doorway on Titan

32. M
A D
G G
5 5
C H A J
5 2
J N
K L
O
Q
Top Half
N
3 1 B
H G E C 5
2 F J
U 4
1R L
P N K
3
B
B 4 K B B
Bottom Half

33. Summoning Stones: Savathun’sSong Strike/Nightfall
•10 pillars: 5 outer ring, 5 inner ring
§Outer Ring is dark
§Inner Ring is lit
•All have 2 sides: Front and Back
§All backs are Identical
•Chains connect inner and outer rings
FYI: The Keystones are over here

34. Simplified Schematic of Summoning Ritual Stones
Pillars
Outer Ring
Inner Ring
Chains

35. FrontBack
K
4
Q
P
F
A
E
L
I D

36. Consecutive Pictures of the Innermost 5 Pillars while
moving in counterclockwise around the inner ring

37. Central Pillar: 1
Back
K
4
Q
P
Front
F
A
E
L
I D
This pillar is a lit-up version of the pillars in the outer ring

38. Central Pillar: 2
Back
K
4
Q
P
Front
C
J H
P

39. Central Pillar: 3
Back
K
4
Q
P
Front
E
F
G
R

40. Central Pillar: 4
Back
K
4
Q
P
J
M Q
F R
Front

41. Central Pillar: 5
FrontBack
K
4
Q
P
E
F
B
O G
R

42. First Void PedestalLast Void Pedestal in boss
fight
Void Pedestals
(those things you dunk the void ball into)
They are identical
throughout the
entire strike.
Once Void energy is
spiked into them, the
symbols turn black
and the pedestal is
powered down.

43. 123All three pillars that make a complete pedestal are identical

44. M
A D
G G
5 5
C H A J
5 2
J N
K L
O
Q
Top Half
N
3 1 B
H G E C 5
2 F J
U 4
1R L
P N K
3
B
B 4 K B B
M
Bottom Half

45. Hive“Alphabet” Seals
•23glyphsarepresent on seals
•Firstseenon Titan (deathless adventure, but also present
on Mars (patrol zone, blocks off Nokrisstrike zone)
Titan Glyphs
MarsGlyphs

46. Nokris
•New glyphs, possibly demonstrating a
new family of glyphs
•TheylightupwhenNokrisis launching
an attack

47. Conclusions
•I’mdoingtodividemythoughtsinto3sections:
•In game lore consequences
•Game development consequences
•Potentialfor hidden secrets
•Thesearea brief collection of my clearest opinions.
I’m certainly I’m open to being wrong about them!

48. Lore Focused-
assuming all the glyphs have a meaning
•“Hive runes draw their power from a different dimension, where there’s no difference between a word and its meaning. When the Hive erode the barrier between our dimension and theirs, the rune for “death” brings literal death”
•Theglyphslikely haveanideaorconceptthattheyrepresent
•Themajorityoftheglyphs appear on objects used in rituals. Thus they appear to act as spells (not groundbreaking)
•Itappearsyoucancreateatleast5familiesofglyphs
•Dreadnaught-Uses the base glyphs but is generally very rigid in structure and layout (ex: warpriesttotems). I feel this is a reflection of Oryx
•Court of Oryx-Have unique glyphs that represent additive quality
•Titan-Uses the base glyphs but is generally fluid in layout (ex: void pedestals). Could be a reflection of Savathun
•Nokris–Uniqueglyphs,potentiallyrepresentingthathe’stappingintonewnecromancy powers
•Graffiti-Seems to use the base glyphs but does not have a specificpurpose
•While a few specific glyphs are named in D1 and D2, I don’t think there are enough contextual clues to elucidate the meaning of a glyph beyond what is directly told to us

49. GameDevelopment
•Honestly this is probably why most of the glyphs
appear where they do
•Theyeitherarerepresentingamechanic or adding
flavor to the environment
•Ex:Doorwaylightinguptodemonstrateprogressinan event
or encounter
•WarpriestEncounter or Hive Ritual
•Ex:GottoGrafiti

50. Are the glyphs hiding secrets?
•I don’t think so
•Currentlythereisno clear meaning to most glyphs, and the
glyphs do not appear to represent geographic areas on a map
•Therefor it seems hard to hide a secret in them as they
currently stand
•However, there is a lot of potential here!
•Theycreatedaclearsystem, and have used the glyphs in the
past
•Idobelievethatweshouldbewaryoffuturedevelopments
withinthisspace