[ [b]DISCLAIMER[/b] ] I am not a physicist. There's a reason we aren't going around shooting aliens and flying spaceships: it's not possible yet. This series is meant for entertainment only, and I have taken some literary freedoms where I deemed necessary. Content on this page is not final. I am open to civilised discussion, and am more than happy to correct my mistakes. I will also answer questions to the best of my knowledge. [ END OF DISCLAIMER ] * * * [b]On Revival : Hypothesis[/b] Contrary to physics and astrophysics questions, there aren't many documents of real-world sources I can find to support any kind of claim regarding how revival works. As such, I will first establish the current gatherable knowledge about resurrection in Destiny, and then present some hypothesis to support that. 1. Principle of exclusivity We know from Ghost dialogue that each Ghost is exclusive to a Guardian. That is, from the moment it is created by the Traveler, a Ghost has one and only Guardian they must find. Likewise, no Guardian has more than one Ghost. 2. Principle of efficiency We have reasons to believe that Light is an essential fuel in the resurrection process. Guardian's whose Light is completely extinguished can no longer be revived. Similarly, if we assume Ghosts act as a conduit for this, if all Light is gone, resurrection is not possible. This leads us to two conclusions: a) Revival requires the channeling of Light. This is why Ghosts need to charge before being able to respawn (and is also why it takes longer in Darkness Zones). It's important to note that this channeling can be assisted by other Guardians, by donating their Light, even in Darkness Zones. As a side note, this also fits in with Warlock's ability "Fireborn", in which one is able to store this Light in the form of a Super and then release it all at once for revival assistance. b) Proximity to the Traveler is not as important as Light density is. This can be trivially inferred by observing Darkness Zones on Earth where revival is difficult, and Crucible arenas as distant as the Dreadnought (Saturn) where Guardians can resurrect effortlessly. 3. Principle of integrity There are no known cases of poorly resurrected Guardians, or any experience of trauma, dismemberment or genetic anomaly related to resurrection. I believe it is safe to assume that revival is a very robust process, one that may even be atomic in the sense that once activated, it always succeeds. These should be enough to make educated hypothesis regarding revival methods. I will add entries to this list should very pressing theories arise. And now, from least likely to most likely (and awesome): Hypothesis 1: Parallel Universe switcheroo Feasibility: D Awesomeness: B Efficiency: F We know parallel universes play a significant role in Destiny. For any given Universe, there are infinite perfect copies of it. This hypothesis suggests that it is possible to fetch a live copy of the dead Guardian from a different Universe and bring it back to the current one. The implications of this hypothesis are massive: for each death, one random Universe is left with one less Guardian - something that could get entire fireteams killed, and potentially doom our Solar System irreversibly. This would likely also break down a Guardian, mentally. No matter how strong you are, nothing can prepare you for being yanked from your reality, only to replace a dead version of yourself in another, putting yourself in great danger, and leaving your previous task at risk. However macabre, this hypothesis is included for completeness. Hypothesis 2: Vex timeframe-rearrangement technology Feasibility: A Awesomeness: C+ Efficiency: B For the Vex, time is not so much relative as it is mutable. An instant exists separately from physical space. We've seen it before: Vex bring back ancient Minds, and even Skolas was able to bring former - and formerly dead - House of Wolves bannermen through time back into our timeframe. It's possible that the Traveler gifted Ghosts with this kind of technology. This hypothesis suggests that when a Guardian dies, their Ghost is able to bring an older version of themselves back. This older version can be the Guardian from a few seconds before, right before he died. This would explain why Guardians' cooldowns and ammunition are unaltered as well. Hypothesis 3: Traveler's Ark, a genetic bank Feasibility: A+ Awesomeness: S Efficiency: A+ The fact that the Traveler created the Ghosts and that each Ghost assists only one Guardian suggest that the Traveler may have some [i]a priori[/i] knowledge about any specific Guardian's abilities. More so, it is believed that prior to the City Age Guardians did not exist - and that may go for Guardian class abilities as well. Is it such a wild guess that these powers were genetically encoded in Guardians? What if the Traveler is really just a massive genetic bank? One that holds inside it thousands of millions of modified DNA and tissue samples, enough to fully re-encode a corpse into a living body? Suppose now that each Ghost keeps a copy of their Guardian's genetic code sequence, and is able to reconstruct them from nothing by rearranging elements in this precise, pre-defined structure. Revival becomes a surgical process in which damaged areas are restored, rather than full-body replacements. This preserves the cooldown and ammunition restrictions, as well as providing a basis for consciousness. That is, the Guardian can be aware that they died, everytime they die. Remarks Note that these assumptions are based on the principles described in the beginning of the post. If any of them breaks, additional theories may be needed to fill the gaps. I do not believe that, for example, a corrupted Ghost can mangle a Guardian's body on revival. If this is the case however, heavier restrictions must be imposed, namely regarding efficiency, Light consumption, proximity to the Traveler, etc., by analysing the corner cases where such situations happen. [spoiler]Moderator edit: This thread has been moved to the #Destiny forum. See [url=https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/140391030/0/0]Cozmo's thread[/url] for more information about the #Destiny tag and its uses. Feel free to private message the moderator who moved your post, link to topic, for further clarification about why this topic was moved.[/spoiler]