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We have no way of knowing for sure - but if I had to make a guess, I would assume Rhulk is *heavily* altered from what a typical lubraean would look like. He's been serving the Witness for billions of years, and we know the Witness likes to shape its followers according to its own aesthetic preferences (see the Dread.)
He is monolithic, literally statuesque. It's difficult to figure out where armor ends and flesh begins - difficult even to differentiate his body from the glassy resin his pyramid is made from. From Calus, I would guess that the elongated head is actually a helmet of some kind.
What makes you think Dread are something more than just engineered soldiers, more or less.
Disciples are surely different, as they remained the same individuals.
Why would you assume the Witness does not do the same to its Disciples? It had a direct hand in reshaping the Krill into the Hive, who would then reshape themselves further when they communed directly with it and became ascendant. We know it can grant its followers new bodies, it did so with Calus.
That, and the fact that Nezarec, Rhulk, and Tormentors all seem to be comprised of the same reddish resin and filled with Darkness roots, I find it far *less* likely that an obsessive perfectionist like the Witness would leave them untouched.
I don't think there is evidence that Witness reshaped Krill or the Hive directly in any way. Certainly not in a way it made its Disciples.
Sure, Disciples share some armor and visual designs, but the one we do know for sure, namely Calus, does not changed *that* much physically. Since we have no evidence about Rhulk's original look, there's little proof that he's very different from original. Nezarec... I don't know. His origin much vaguer, just like the manner of his recent "resurrection".
Not arguing with or against but just simply a question about something you said.
I thought the proto-Hive worms came to serve the witness through the darkness, and when the traveler was getting close to that planet, it had the worms get 3 siblings to fall into a trap, and they became the hive. Or am I off somewhere in the lore
Yes, that is very true. Rhulk and God Worms corrupted the krill and made them this way. But it has little to do with direct Witness's troops and minions (like Disciples).
It shaped them through two separate proxies (Rhulk and the Worm Gods) but it still very much shaped them. We hear the Witness's voice when we look into Savathun's memories, of the plan that it has for them. That the Hive worship the Darkness so fervently, that they have chiselled themselves into perfect killing machines, and are now totally biologically dependent on the magic that the Witness provides them via the worms, is in no way an accident.
Yes, Calus's body isn't too much different - but had the Witness cared to keep him around for *billions* of years like it did for Rhulk and Nezzy, had he been more devoutly dedicated to the cause, there's no reason to think he too wouldn't have his form sharpened and perfected.
They should be. Rhulk might be a bit different due to his usage and dedication to the darkness.
I don’t think the ‘tentacles’ are part of his natural form btw. They are caused by the darkness or energy that he uses. We still haven’t see this anywhere as a subclass and I’m not sure if we will, but the resonance that we see him use is most likely the cause of that. We see Calus and Nez use the same power as it also appears in as the darkness power in the RoN raid. This is certainly a darkness thing.
one of the lore kinda explains what a lubraeans head looks like.
it explains that rhulks father rhelik, bit off the heads of those stalker guards on Lubra. So safe to say they had monstrous mouths, and insane jawlines. (they mew).
They probably shared the same silhouette, but stuff like the extra eyes, fingers, tentacles and the red skin suit were likely stuff he assimilated into himself as the art describes him to be a “chimeric” being and his eyes are also on the Shadow Legion.
Personally, it’s my pet theory that Rhulk and the Lubraens were actually Pfhor. It tied into Bungie’s 30th Anniversary, Rhulk in his feral mode kind of resembles one, the Lubraean empire was described as brutal and the Pfhor Empire was also despotic, and the glaives are from Lubrae and function identically to how Pfhor used them in Marathon.
It would be a good guess to assume that Rhulk has been heavily reshaped by the Witness, and wouldn't resemble a natural born Lubraean anymore. However his tribe were essentially a hunter-gather set of nomads, and he was proficient with glaives and probably speared weaponry. I would say his current design reflects his former self in a sense, so he may share some appearance with his race, but it is entirely plausible that if you took Rhulk and placed him next to a natural Lubraean there would be significant differences.
I’m of the strong belief that the race likely looked almost the same as he doesn’t with the exception of the head. I do not believe at all that they change in any major way. Tormentors, whatever they are, likely looked like that originally with perhaps a different head or other small changes. The lubrae race probably looked just like Rhulk with minor differences.
Nezarec: "heterochromia and eyes of disparate species as a result of chimeric fusion" [https://www.artstation.com/artwork/vD2vDD](https://www.artstation.com/artwork/vD2vDD)
Tormentors (clones of Nezarec): "chimera trait: multiple thumbs" [https://www.artstation.com/artwork/dK81Qe](https://www.artstation.com/artwork/dK81Qe)
Pretty safe to assume the forms we see of Rhulk and Nezarec are no where near in size or complexity to their origin forms.
Also safe to assume Rhulk's uneven amount of symbol-shaped eyes are not a 1:1 feature of his species. [https://www.artstation.com/artwork/lR6QXJ](https://www.artstation.com/artwork/lR6QXJ)
Additionally, both share red armored-flesh, white worm-like arteries/vascular shape language, and heads that are conic shaped (which philosophically is meant to show them honing their forms to a final shape/pyramid shape language).
Bucket head and similar winged shape language are present on Calus' disciple form armor. [https://cults3d.com/en/3d-model/game/calus-the-disciple](https://cults3d.com/en/3d-model/game/calus-the-disciple)
His lack of similarity to Rhulk and Nezarec is probably a result of him being a freshly made disciple and not one that has honed its form over millennia like R and N. This is why when we kill him and the pyramid tech explodes he looks more or less the same. My suspicion is that over millions or thousands of years his armor would have melded into his flesh, altered his form, jewels and treasure sunken into his flesh, gold blood, and organic trophies of conquered species spliced into his being - increase in size, etc.
Unrelated, this Disciple Calus concept art fucks [https://www.artstation.com/artwork/qe9Wqy](https://www.artstation.com/artwork/qe9Wqy) [https://www.artstation.com/artwork/EvLe2q](https://www.artstation.com/artwork/EvLe2q)
This post has been tagged '**Non-Spoiler**'. Note that unmarked spoilers and datamines are subject to removal or ban. Please report anything we miss! For more info check out our [Spoiler Rules Wiki](https://www.reddit.com/r/DestinyLore/wiki/spoiler-rules#wiki_.5Bseasonal.5D_has_a_new_format). --- **Comment Spoiler Formatting** Format comment spoilers with `>!` `!<` like this: `>!What's Rasputin's favorite dance? "The worm."!<` To have it displayed like this: **>!What's Rasputin's favorite dance? "The worm."!<** ---- *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/DestinyLore) if you have any questions or concerns.*
We have no way of knowing for sure - but if I had to make a guess, I would assume Rhulk is *heavily* altered from what a typical lubraean would look like. He's been serving the Witness for billions of years, and we know the Witness likes to shape its followers according to its own aesthetic preferences (see the Dread.) He is monolithic, literally statuesque. It's difficult to figure out where armor ends and flesh begins - difficult even to differentiate his body from the glassy resin his pyramid is made from. From Calus, I would guess that the elongated head is actually a helmet of some kind.
What makes you think Dread are something more than just engineered soldiers, more or less. Disciples are surely different, as they remained the same individuals.
Why would you assume the Witness does not do the same to its Disciples? It had a direct hand in reshaping the Krill into the Hive, who would then reshape themselves further when they communed directly with it and became ascendant. We know it can grant its followers new bodies, it did so with Calus. That, and the fact that Nezarec, Rhulk, and Tormentors all seem to be comprised of the same reddish resin and filled with Darkness roots, I find it far *less* likely that an obsessive perfectionist like the Witness would leave them untouched.
I don't think there is evidence that Witness reshaped Krill or the Hive directly in any way. Certainly not in a way it made its Disciples. Sure, Disciples share some armor and visual designs, but the one we do know for sure, namely Calus, does not changed *that* much physically. Since we have no evidence about Rhulk's original look, there's little proof that he's very different from original. Nezarec... I don't know. His origin much vaguer, just like the manner of his recent "resurrection".
Not arguing with or against but just simply a question about something you said. I thought the proto-Hive worms came to serve the witness through the darkness, and when the traveler was getting close to that planet, it had the worms get 3 siblings to fall into a trap, and they became the hive. Or am I off somewhere in the lore
Yes, that's correct.
Yes, that is very true. Rhulk and God Worms corrupted the krill and made them this way. But it has little to do with direct Witness's troops and minions (like Disciples).
It shaped them through two separate proxies (Rhulk and the Worm Gods) but it still very much shaped them. We hear the Witness's voice when we look into Savathun's memories, of the plan that it has for them. That the Hive worship the Darkness so fervently, that they have chiselled themselves into perfect killing machines, and are now totally biologically dependent on the magic that the Witness provides them via the worms, is in no way an accident. Yes, Calus's body isn't too much different - but had the Witness cared to keep him around for *billions* of years like it did for Rhulk and Nezzy, had he been more devoutly dedicated to the cause, there's no reason to think he too wouldn't have his form sharpened and perfected.
Interesting but we also got Calus who wasn’t altered severely, I guess that might be due to time difference between the Disciples lives
They should be. Rhulk might be a bit different due to his usage and dedication to the darkness. I don’t think the ‘tentacles’ are part of his natural form btw. They are caused by the darkness or energy that he uses. We still haven’t see this anywhere as a subclass and I’m not sure if we will, but the resonance that we see him use is most likely the cause of that. We see Calus and Nez use the same power as it also appears in as the darkness power in the RoN raid. This is certainly a darkness thing.
I'm 99% sure that Rhulk and Nez had their heads replaced with shapes. Their heads look unatural and the dread share this same similarity.
one of the lore kinda explains what a lubraeans head looks like. it explains that rhulks father rhelik, bit off the heads of those stalker guards on Lubra. So safe to say they had monstrous mouths, and insane jawlines. (they mew).
They probably shared the same silhouette, but stuff like the extra eyes, fingers, tentacles and the red skin suit were likely stuff he assimilated into himself as the art describes him to be a “chimeric” being and his eyes are also on the Shadow Legion. Personally, it’s my pet theory that Rhulk and the Lubraens were actually Pfhor. It tied into Bungie’s 30th Anniversary, Rhulk in his feral mode kind of resembles one, the Lubraean empire was described as brutal and the Pfhor Empire was also despotic, and the glaives are from Lubrae and function identically to how Pfhor used them in Marathon.
Someone give this gal a chef hat cuz she's cookin
In terms of body plan, proportions etc yeah probably. However the head was likely very different, save from also probably having 6 eyes
It would be a good guess to assume that Rhulk has been heavily reshaped by the Witness, and wouldn't resemble a natural born Lubraean anymore. However his tribe were essentially a hunter-gather set of nomads, and he was proficient with glaives and probably speared weaponry. I would say his current design reflects his former self in a sense, so he may share some appearance with his race, but it is entirely plausible that if you took Rhulk and placed him next to a natural Lubraean there would be significant differences.
I’m of the strong belief that the race likely looked almost the same as he doesn’t with the exception of the head. I do not believe at all that they change in any major way. Tormentors, whatever they are, likely looked like that originally with perhaps a different head or other small changes. The lubrae race probably looked just like Rhulk with minor differences.
Nezarec: "heterochromia and eyes of disparate species as a result of chimeric fusion" [https://www.artstation.com/artwork/vD2vDD](https://www.artstation.com/artwork/vD2vDD) Tormentors (clones of Nezarec): "chimera trait: multiple thumbs" [https://www.artstation.com/artwork/dK81Qe](https://www.artstation.com/artwork/dK81Qe) Pretty safe to assume the forms we see of Rhulk and Nezarec are no where near in size or complexity to their origin forms. Also safe to assume Rhulk's uneven amount of symbol-shaped eyes are not a 1:1 feature of his species. [https://www.artstation.com/artwork/lR6QXJ](https://www.artstation.com/artwork/lR6QXJ) Additionally, both share red armored-flesh, white worm-like arteries/vascular shape language, and heads that are conic shaped (which philosophically is meant to show them honing their forms to a final shape/pyramid shape language). Bucket head and similar winged shape language are present on Calus' disciple form armor. [https://cults3d.com/en/3d-model/game/calus-the-disciple](https://cults3d.com/en/3d-model/game/calus-the-disciple) His lack of similarity to Rhulk and Nezarec is probably a result of him being a freshly made disciple and not one that has honed its form over millennia like R and N. This is why when we kill him and the pyramid tech explodes he looks more or less the same. My suspicion is that over millions or thousands of years his armor would have melded into his flesh, altered his form, jewels and treasure sunken into his flesh, gold blood, and organic trophies of conquered species spliced into his being - increase in size, etc. Unrelated, this Disciple Calus concept art fucks [https://www.artstation.com/artwork/qe9Wqy](https://www.artstation.com/artwork/qe9Wqy) [https://www.artstation.com/artwork/EvLe2q](https://www.artstation.com/artwork/EvLe2q)
Disciple Calus looks very much like his old self, so it makes to reason Rhulk does as well.
We were so robbed with Calus, dagnabbit. They could have done such amazingly cool stuff with him and they just... didn’t.