It's a lot easier to defend a position that says Maya is a human than to say somewhere between the start of vex 5 (record 0) and the end of the card she turned into an exo with nothing indicating she did. Cayde saw her doing the researcher as a human. Her ID badge, human. No indication she ever turned exo. Same with the device functionality, it doesn't do time travel. Even now, 7,000 plus entries later with the FWC, it's never shown the ability to allow time travel, so to just assume someone could figure it out, is a further stretch. And last the scientist were well versed with the warminds before Maya's device research. Chioma, shim, Duane, all know what the warminds were all about back on Venus. And Chioma had all Maya's research logs, so she knew as much as Maya did. That said, I could easily be wrong on this one, but it makes sense to me

No, it isn't. - Cayde was an Exo, pre-collapse. - Cayde knew Maya, as an Exo, pre-collaspe. - Cayde can remember Maya, post-collaspe. - Ergo, Cayde cannot have experienced the collapse, (Re: Exo lore.) - Supposition: Cayde was in the machine during the collapse. - Cayde was with Maya at the machine facility with Maya, pre-collapse. - Maya was part of the team that could operate the machine. - Cayde does not mention anyone else from the team, post-collapse. - Supposition: Maya was the one who took Cayde, (and whoever else,) into the machine during the collapse. - Ergo, Maya had to be an Exo by then. - Maya worked with Rasputin, pre-collapse. - Organic material was used in a retina scan in Rasputin's bunker, following the collapse, to wake the facility up. - Supposition: anyone not in the machine during the collapse with military/scientific clearance is likely dead. - Ergo, Maya woke Rasputin. - Cayde has access codes to Rasputin's bunker, post-collapse. - Supposition: the above is correct, and Cayde was with Maya in the machine. - Ergo, Cayde was with Maya in Rasputin's bunker. or - Supposition: the above is incorrect, and Cayde experienced the collapse. - Cayde can remember his pre-collapse sweetheart, post-collapse. - Ergo, Cayde had to be with Maya, post-collapse. - Ergo, Cayde couldn't have experienced the collapse. - Ergo, the above cannot be incorrect. Perhaps Cayde crushed on lots of women? Perhaps Shim was at the facility and Exo'ed himself instead, (and fancied being a woman, after?) Perhaps Chioma built a second machine in Hyperion, and randomly opted to pop into it before the Hyperion facility was obliterated? Perhaps Exo lore is wrong, and they can remember pre-collapse events? Perhaps this is just one big red herring, and Bungie has written it all out already in the rush to fix SuperCut, and forgot to stop mentioning it in later grimoire entries? Realistically, the tidy solution is that Maya is the Stranger. (Also, if you're going to critique someone else's theory as incorrect relative to your own, at least be polite enough to read it :p You're posting questions that are clearly answered in the original text I linked you.)

I read your post, I suppose I just didn't make all the connections. I see what your saying, but I've always chalked up the exos having no memory of the collapse either due to rasputin assuming control of them or just the traumatic events of the collapse. As far as the retinal scans, the ghost says "or something kept them preserved". It's not to say they are the eyes of the one who actually awoke him. And we don't even know that Maya had golden age access to Rasputin. She calls it their supervisory warmind, like it is overseeing them. And based on the golden age card, it seems like bray is the one with the passcodes, not Maya. That said, you could very well be right. One day we will see I hope.

[quote]As far as the retinal scans, the ghost says "or something kept them preserved". It's not to say they are the eyes of the one who actually awoke him.[/quote] That's the point, tho. To have had access to Rasputin's bunker, they would've had to have been military or scientific staff. If they survived the collapse, they'd be wandering around with accounts and evidence of what happened during the collapse, almost certainly trying to restructure Earth's defence within the structure that they were used to. No records like that exist. Along with Ghost's line, it's pretty obvious the retina scan was completed with bits of a preserved corpse. You're not going to find preserved corpses lying around a warzone :p Ergo, it's not unreasonable to consider Maya having held onto important parts of her physical heritage when opting to Exo herself.

You act as if a time traveler can't go back to the golden age. The exo stranger could be Joe blow and go back and get whomevers eyes it needed to wake rasputin. I've never considered that as an indicator of identity. Maybe I should have but the time travel aspect just make the possibilities endless

Very development meta, but you've also got to remember just how much money Bungie will have spent on Nathan Fillon. It's extremely unlikely that they'll have invested so much into Cayde's character without him being integral to the overarching plot, (and extremely out-of-typecast for Nathan to have a character, without it being central to the good guys winning - that's what he does, right?) The early Exo grimoire, TTK, his journal, etc, etc. Anything that connects Cayde to beating the bad guys is likely a sure bet. Chioma probably isn't anywhere near to the Sol system when the shit hits the fan during the collapse. Maya's a much safer bet. Wouldn't surprise me if Lakshmi turned out to be Chioma, tho.

Now I like that argument better. It makes a ton more sense to me lol. Grimoire doesn't invalidate Chioma, but yes, bungie made much more effort to tie Maya to a Major in game character than Chioma. Must be for some purpose. I still like Chioma better, better story and back drop. And funny, I started out thinking Chioma was Lakshmi. I still have a suspicion bungie will pull the rug and she is neither though

But in caydes journal, his "relationship" with Maya appeared to be nothing more than an infatuation on his part with her, as he stood in the corner unnoticed by her (seemingly in some sort of security role). Nothing about their connection seems to increase or decrease the chance of her being the exo stranger in my mind. There were lots of exos in the golden age. The issue with Maya is what I stated, she wasn't exo and the device didn't allow time travel.

No one's ever suggested anything more than an infatuation? By connection, I meant the fact that he was there when she turned Rasputin back on? And there's no reason to believe that she wasn't an Exo by then. Edit: I've linked you the last forum topic I made on the subject of Cayde/Maya's history pre/post-collapse. Have a read.