What is the truth behind "Headless Ones" in Destiny 2 Festival of the Lost?

Destiny 2 Festival of the Lost is filled with untold mysteries. While the entire activity might look pretty much like an average Halloween event from the outside, there are real reasons behind some of the things inside the Haunted Sectors.

The overall process of the event includes Guardians collecting pages, defeating enemies known as the "Headless Ones" and ultimately turning them into the "Book of the Forgotten".

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Crow's ghost, known as Glint, is at the center of this year's Festival of the Lost. While Crow himself is in the the safe hands of the Cabal Empress, Glint can now focus more on his project, which is to research the Headless Ones. The Guardian pairs up with Glint to hunt down the haunted, lost sector, which unveils mysteries unknown to many to this date.

The whole story behind the Headless Ones in Destiny 2 Festival of the Lost

1) Glint's involvement and opinions of others

Glint's current expedition to the Destiny 2 Festival can be referred to as a hunt of sorts. Much like every hunt for an unknown entity, it is only natural to ask some related questions to potential witnesses. Mithrax, Ikora, and even Failsafe have been mentioned within the lore pages of Book of Forgotten, where they share some of their experience with the mysterious Headless Ones.

There are 27 lore entries in the Book, with nine entries relating to Moon, nine to Nessus, and nine to Europa. Nessus vendor Failsafe, in a conversation with Glint, referred to the Headless Ones as her neighbors.

This is mainly because the Haunted Lost Sector is situated next to her location on Nessus. This particular entry can be found on page Nessus-1.

Distance between Failsafe and Haunted Lost Sector (Image via Destiny 2)

Upon asking Mythrax, he further connected Glint to another Eliksni named Klyfiks from House of Dusk. Their entire race thinks the Headless Ones are Guardians turned to Darkness. Hearing his stories, Mithrax calls Klyfiks an idiot and brushes off anything he says.

Klyfiks later recalled seeing a Headless One fighting the Vex on top of the Exodus Black crash site. Glint also discovered recordings of four Guardians on Nessus protecting the same place. These Guardians were later found dead with their heads cut off inside the lost sector on Nessus near Exodus Black.

Ikora also later confirmed that Cayde had seen and reported something similar during his time at Nessus. However, he was not taken seriously due to his sarcastic attitude.

2) Necromancy on severed Guardians

Nokris, the Hive necromancer (Image via Bungie)

Nessus-8 lore entry from the Destiny 2 Book of Forgotten reveals additional details on Nessus's lost sector findings. After the Guardians went missing inside the sector, an investigation was conducted, leading to findings of horrors.

Three human bodies were found with gunshot wounds, all with their heads removed. An additional body was found scattered due to explosives, with no sign of ghosts or their heads. The leading theory comes from these entries, implying that the Headless Ones inside the Haunted Lost Sector are dead Guardians from the past sent through Hive necromancy.

Headless One in Destiny 2 (Image via Bungie)

Glint also has some in-game dialogues while inside the Destiny 2 sector activity, telling players how Guardians have been killed and beheaded by the Fallen in the same place before. Failsafe ultimately adds to this theory by saying how Hive necromancy has ripped the concept of Headless Ones from the human subconscious.

Disclaimer: This article is subjective and solely reflects the opinion of the writer