#ikoris

[drifterslittlemuffin]

destiny memes?? I guess

(Sorry if any are ooc/have been done already)

[antlerlad]

I spent quite a while waffling over a cool, professional, artistic caption for this but, let's face it, folks: it's yuri

[steel-peach]

ikoris <3

[flowers-of-io]

For the ship ask game: Ikora/Eris or Mara/Petra

Why not both!

Ikora/Eris - SHIP IT

1. What made you ship it?

@synnthamonsugar, and I’m not even joking

2. What are your favorite things about the ship?

I think they’re each other’s foils in an interesting way. Ikora keeps telling Eris to rest and to stop putting herself in danger, but she too is prone to ruining herself in the line of duty and would love to leave the Tower and go into action. I think Eris’ quest to regain her power and embrace that terrifying, awe-inspiring part of her can also be a mirror of Ikora’s self-restraint, her whole thing of leaving her powerful, chaotic youth in the past (the Crucible, the deal with the ahamkara). Eris is the image of what Ikora could be, but fears losing herself in it. A temptation, of sorts. Ikora is Eris’ peace, calm, serenity, but that is also a temptation, an alluring perspective of abandoning her duty – “You will pull me into the libraries. I cannot. I cannot. I cannot.”

3. Is there an unpopular opinion you have on your ship? I can’t see them ever… formalising it? Idk, in my head it is forever locked in the will-they-won’t-they / what could have been stage. Always pulling apart and coming back together, over and over.

Mara/Petra - NUANCE

So here’s the thing. I love this ship, but only if it’s one-sided on Petra’s part. It’s absolutely, delightfully destructive. It reminds me, to a terrifying degree, of a situationship I had many years ago (and which might’ve been my bi awakening, whoops), with all of this devotion and ruin and unintended emotional manipulation, and all Petra would give, and all Mara would never give her. Petra would put herself through a literal meat grinder for Mara. Mara is still grieving Sjur. Mara trusts and cherishes Petra, but they are on two completely different levels of reality, human and godlike. And I don’t think Mara even realises the depths of Petra’s devotion, or the nature of it; and there’s also the whole thing of Mara’s connection to all Awoken. Petra’s love being mixed with grief and fury because she realises how deeply her devotion to Mara has ruined her, but she keeps lying to herself about it; Variks calling that out and mirroring it at the same time. I wrote a bit about it in Orbits and more at length Failure, and it will be commented upon through Variks’ POV in Orbits 2, but that fic is still a long time coming. I’ve been working on it every day, but I don’t expect to have it done by the end of the year.

[billie-black]

Thread of odd connections between Ikora, Elsie and Eris

I was scrolling through concept art when I noticed that, despite not being so in-game, The Stranger's rifle is Branded as a Cassoid weapon. This wouldn't mean much, bungie tends to use decals at random, except-

The curse of osiris variant, The Machina Dei 4, is also branded with a slightly altered version of the Cassoid logo, which I think proves that it has been upgraded with components from the foundry.

But let's put a pin on that and talk about another Cassoid weapon, The Invective shotgun, Ikora's signature weapon. The Invective has an ornament called Iconoclast, a word which here means "Destroyer of images used in religious worship." This nomenclature is very similar to-

The Vex Mythoclast, a weapon which, thanks to its sister weapon, The Worldline Zero (which coincidentally also has a prophecy variant), we know to be made by Elsie Bray. Canonically, we earn the Mythoclast as part of-

the "Not forged in light" quest, which ends with Elsie gifting us the No time to explain. A weapon which eventually ends back up in her hands and she gifts to us again earlier in the timeline as-

The stranger's rifle, which hangs around until it becomes the Machina Dei 4 (later Adhortative). And the prophecy attached to the Machina Dei 4 desribes Eris Morn and the events of Shadowkeep, when Eris discovers stasis and starts using the darkness.

A charnel but effulgent orb.

beacon in a loathsome dark.

Fêted, fetid corpses rise.

a too-long-absent gibbous spark.

Now, it's generally accepted that No time to explain (and all it's variants by proxy) was created at some future point in a distant timeline, this is incorrect. Ghost specifically points out that "parts" of it shouldn't exist, because the rifle itself is a common suros frame.

Going back to The Invective, you're probably more familiar with its legendary sister, The Comedian, and its D2 counterpart, Deadpan Delivery. The Comedian's flavor text reads "A. A ha. A ha ha ha. A ha ha ha ha ha ha ha" In D1 the joke wasn't really clear, but with the addition of a lore tab in D2, the joke has become the vanguard's falling victim to a hive god's deceit. Now, let's take a little trip to The dark future.

In The dark future, Beyond light never happened, Eramis was allowed to grow her armies and master stasis, which led to a massive attack on the city by Cabal remnants, Savathûn, and the glorious House Salvation, all masterminded by Eris Morn, who up to that point was believed to be an ally, but had been corrupted by stasis and the darkness.

Coming back to our timeline, let's look at differences between our case exotics and their variants. Elsie's rifle has undergone many more modifications than Invective. Matter of fact, Invective has barely undergone any changes from its default. It's painted red, AND It has tape wrapped the handle and the grip, just like No time to explain. (I know I'm talking about grip tape right now but please don't go, it gets better, I promise)

It's a weak link, many weapons have grip tape, but I think many of these small details add up and point to The Iconoclast being one of Elsie's gifts. Let's review the similarities between Iconoclast and other gifts from Elsie.

>It's sourced from one of the city foundries and later received Cassoid upgrades (Invective and it's variants are nadir products)

>It has grip tape where the original does not.

>Mythoclast and Iconoclast are very similar terms and could point to a connection.

>It has a perpetual ammo function, like No time to explain and The Mythoclast.

But we should also look at Iconoclast within it's own context. Invective being her weapon, what does it mean for Ikora? She's never been been known to combat or really oppose any sort of religion, at least that I can find. And let's make it clear, the gun is not the Iconoclast. Just like the Mythoclast is not The Mythoclast. The weapons, in this case, are named for the wielder. You kill Atheon and so you become the Mythoclast, the gun is more of symbol. So, what religious figure is Ikora supposed to kill in order to become the Iconoclast?

Well, just this season, the hive have come out with a brand spanking new god, one very close to Ikora. Now I don't think Ikora is going to kill Eris. Eris would need to do something completely heinous for her to even consider that. Like, idk, bombarding the last city with House Salvation and the shadow legion... i. e., what happens in the dark timeline.

Look, I really don't believe Eris is going to turn evil all the sudden, that would be character assasination of the highest magnitude. But from Ikora's point of view? She has a supposed time traveller yelling at her that she's letting everything go sideways.

So my theory is that Elsie took Ikora's Invective from some other failed timeline (possibly the one where they smooch) and gave it to Ikora as the Iconoclast, along with the idea that alternate Ikora ruined everything because she failed to act and put Eris down when she could.

And this is where Deadpan Delivery comes in. You see, Ikora doesn't use invective anymore, and she doesn't use the Comedian. She exclusively wields Deadpan Delivery. Now, I know this was probably just the animators being faithful to her character, seeing how she prefers shotguns-

But the retroactive additions to the Comedian's lore, outside my crazed theories, implies a statement from Ikora. The Comedian's joke is the vanguard falling victim to a hive god's deceit, and in the dark timeline that god, the Savathûn figure, is Eris morn. And so-

By maining Deadpan delivery Ikora is subtextually saying "It's not funny. I'm not laughing. I don't subscribe to the narrative put forward by the comedian or Elsie. I trust Eris". And by rejecting the Comedian she's additionally disavowing it's older sister, The Invective, which is a symbol of the gung ho attitude which defined her in her youth. And wether my Iconoclast theory is correct or not, we can definitively say: Ikora is against what it represents , she is a guardian, and she will make a new fate no matter what.

[lizzieraindrops]

like oh my god. yes ikora is extremely aromantic. yes chalco is the love of her soul. yes it's entirely platonic and all-consuming. yes she's also demi for eris. yes it's incredibly lesbian/sapphic. yes that's equally important. yes this does incorporate them into the greater reef polycule. what's not clicking

[sepiksredux]

Genuinely. I for a long time thought Ikoris was gonna be canon. Like, Shadowkeep, Season of the Haunted, Season of the Witch, every time Eris struggled the most Ikora was there for her. And now I feel like their relationship is like ENTIRELY sidelined. It sucks. Don’t even talk to me about Taken King Ikora/Eris/Mara. You don’t understand yuri in your heart like I do.

[lyriumsings]

nah but what eris and ikora have going on is genuinely so gay like i like eris and drifters relationship more these last couple interactions but as friends. but ikora and eris?? bro what do you mean they haven’t been in a slow burn romance for the last like idk 500 years game time probably liiiiiike it’s rEALLY gay my guy kiss already