Touch of Malice: The gun that looks like you took one of the best looking guns in the game, and threw a patchwork quilt made of potato sacks over it. It is probably the best gun to use for the Daughters of Oryx and Oryx himself, and is also one of the more elusive guns in the community. But like an iconic children's toy that was ruined by Michael Bay, there is more to this gun than meets the eye. Let's start off with this gun's model. While it may be the Destiny equivalent of taking a world class super model and dressing them in clothes taken from a dumpster diving session, there is a reason for this. Every part of the gun is made from components collected by your Guardian during the Raid or around the Dreadnaught. The first collected is the Blade of Famine, followed by the Shroud of Ir Anûk, the Ravenous Heart, and finally Wormspore and Hadium Flakes. Each of these parts hold a significant purpose to the gun. First, let's talk about the Shroud of Ir Anûk, the cloth which adorns this gun. While it may seem completely unnecessary for this component to be... well, necessary, it actually is what generates the extra round in this guns magazine. How? Because this is specifically the Shroud of [i]Ir Anûk[/i]. [quote]Behind The Unraveler comes Ir Anûk, The Weaver. She takes in hand the threads of her sister's work, weaves them into the tapestry of Oryx's realm.[/quote] ~Ir Anûk, Deathsinger Grimoire Card The piece of Ir Anûk in Touch of Malice is actually what brings the extra bullet into reality; as "the Weaver" she weaves the bullet into reality. But according to the law of conservaton of energy, she needs something to work with. Enter, Ravenous Heart. Now there has been some debate as to what the Ravenous Heart actually is in the Lore community and I am going to put that to rest right here: [spoiler]The Ravenous Heart is actually Oryx's Worm inside of a containment gyro sphere constructed of Hive Runes[/spoiler] While it may seem a bit of a stretch, hear me out. When you are fighting Oryx, there is a point where the feed will say "Oryx calls upon the Darkness" and he will open his chest. Once enough damage is done to his chest, a black orb will begin to appear inside. This is Oryx's worm. If you do not do enough damage to stagger him, the entire team will be killed by Doxology, which is a "liturgical formula of praise to God" according to Webster's. There is no coincidence between the Oryx opening his chest which contains this orb and him performing Doxology; Oryx is killing the Guardians so as to feed his worm (which resides in his chest) as a sort of praise. He opens his chest so as to gain better access to it, and we stagger him by breaking his defenses he has set around his worm and dealing damage to it directly. How does all of this information relate to the Touch of Malice? Well one, the name of the item is "The Ravenous Heart". Ravenous is defined as "extremely hungry", and we know at the "heart" of Oryx's chest is his Worm, which needs to be constantly fed according to the Books of Sorrow. The Touch of Malice is also representative of the bargain made between Oryx and his siblings and the Worm Gods (this is hinted at with the emblem for obtaining Touch of Malice being called "the Pitiless Bargain") where in exchange for eternal life, the siblings had to constantly tithe bloodshed to the offspring of the Worm Gods which they consumed or else be devoured by their worms. In a similar manner, the Worm contained inside the Touch of Malice grants you power at the cost of your life force. TL;DR for the Ravenous Heart [spoiler]The Ravenous Heart is Oryx's Worm and it eats at you when you use it's power to extend your magazine[/spoiler] Now, let's talk about The Blade of Famine. This weapon is taken from the Warpriest and is the blade that sticks out of the front of the gun. Besides adding a sick looking bayonet, this piece is actually what grants "Touch of Mercy". The Warpriest was in charge of controlling the tithe's of bloodshed from the lesser Hive to Oryx to prevent Oryx's Worm from eating away at him. In a similar fashion, the Blade of Famine comes with a medallion which hangs from the front of the the gun and is also the logo for Touch of Mercy. By killing enemies, you feed the Worm who in turn extends your life by giving you some more health. Finally I mentioned Hadium Flakes. You may have used these before to forge your sword, but there is a crucial difference between these two weapons: the swords had Motes of Light infused into them. Hadium Flakes are unique in the Destiny Universe in that they have the ability to benefit the Light and the Darkness. When Motes of Light were used on the swords, they were to change the weapon from the dark blade of Oryx titled "Willbreaker" to a weapon of Light. Touch of Malice didn't have Motes of Light infused into it's Hadium Flakes, but rather Wormspore, a dark substance found on the Dreadnaught. Touch of Malice isn't a weapon of Light, but a Weapon of Darkness. And it doesn't just stop with this gun's parts that make it Lore intensive; there are also many aesthetic and technical details. The gun has 11 rounds in the magazine. The life expectancy of Oryx before he took on the bargain was 10 years, which was prolonged indefinitely by his worm. In a similar fashion, Oryx's Worm extends the magazine's life expectancy beyond 10 rounds by adding in an additional 11th round indefinitely. When you are on the 11th round in the magazine, the containment shield around the Worm will disappear, and it will actually attack you to steal your life force when you fire the final round. Overall, I am extremely pleased with this gun and it's mechanics. [b]Thank you everyone who stuck through until the end![/b] I hoped you enjoyed this little nerding out session I had. Also, Thank You to everyone in my clan, "Collective of Knowledge", for providing feedback and support for this post. Couldn't have done it without them. If you liked this, and want to see more, tell me below what you would like me to analyze next! It can be guns, grimoire, bosses, anything! If you didn't like this, tell me what I can do to improve in my future posts!