Who has or has not fought this fella?

"It is not the fear of death that drives you, but the fear of your loved ones suffering that gives you power. A power I failed to recognize until it bested me. May Calus make the same mistake!" And he sure did Ghaul, you magnificent villain you.

I'm just gonna say it: Ghaul was actually a good villain. Sure, he wasn't executed perfectly, and is often thought of as just a baddie of the week that we stomped and moved on from. But I think he actually had a lot of clever parallels to the Guardian, and was essentially a dark mirror of us. Both the Guardian and Ghaul had humble beginnings - the Guardian woke up with no memories, hunted by bloodthirsty alien pirates, with only their Ghost, armor made out of scrap, and an old rifle to help them. Ghaul was a sickly orphan left out in the desert to die due to his albinism. They also both overcame their own humble beginnings and the obstacles that stood in their way, and defied all odds by going on to be foremost in their kind, but also going undefeated against countless enemies, starting from the bottom and ending at the top. Both Ghaul and the Guardian had guiding voices from the very beginning, with Ghost reviving us and being our constant, faithful companion amidst strife and overwhelming challenge. Meanwhile, Ghaul met the Consul as a child, who taught and guided him into becoming a cunning, fearsome warrior and tactician. At a certain point, in some ways both Guardian and Ghost, and Ghaul and the Consul, were outcasts who latched onto each other from the beginning, as canonically Ghost is one of few of his kind to not have a name, and he spent centuries looking for us, while the Consul after being castrated and exiled by Calus, was driven into the desert to die, just like Ghaul. You could also argue that both the Red Legion and the guardians are both immensely formidable forces, that came to greater power thanks to Ghaul and the Guardian respectively. Ghaul also used similar tactics to us in that he was willing to do anything and everything to win, and used our own powers against us by caging the Traveler and taking the Light - something we have done many times, like when we used Crota and Oryx's own captured Light and Sword Logic against them, exploited Atheon's weakness to paracausality, and used Aksis' own SIVA to empower our Light and defeat him. Hell, when we faced Ghaul on top of his flagship, he used the same powers as us. He believed that we were unworthy of our own powers, and that he deserved. But he was the villain for the reason, and the differences between us and him are important. While the Guardian had Ghost as a trusting, faithful friend that understood them, and was accepted into the Tower and had mentors and comrades that encouraged them to strive forward, the Consul used and manipulated Ghaul from the very beginning, and even when Ghaul did gain power in Cabal society, he was still "the Ghost Primus," essentially a trophy to gawk at, and still in many ways alone, and becoming the leader of the empire and being forced to wear a breathing mask after an attempt on his life crippled him likely only made him more alone. When Ghaul reached his breaking point, he even killed his former mentor when their beliefs no longer agreed. Meanwhile the Guardian, despite reaching their lowest point yet after losing the Light, never once turned on the Ghost, and kept moving forward - they were and are partners, "Light or Dark." While the Guardian has always been pretty much selfless, throwing themselves into danger with minimal chance of success, all for humanity (go back to the D1 Black Garden mission cutscene and listen to what Guardian says after Ghost asks them "think you can kill a god?" It does not sound confident.) The guardian creed is all about selflessness, self-sacrifice and duty. Meanwhile, Ghaul was taught from the very beginning that he was entitled to power purely because of his own suffering, and crippled his own legion's progress purely because he wanted to find out how to be chosen from the Speaker, rather than fulfilling his supposed desire for revenge on the Traveler and taking the Light - in other words, he was taught to be and ended up being entirely selfish. It's worth pointing out that Ghaul did have to work hard to go from being a sickly orphan on death's door, to one of the strongest and most accomplished Cabal in history, while the Guardian was from the get-go given the power to wield the Light and return from the dead, though it did take time for their abilities to mature to full potential. But ultimately, while the Guardian was chosen by the Traveler to have power, Ghaul had to take the Light by force. When we faced Ghaul atop his command ship in the Red War, we reversed roles with him when he faced us in the very first mission. We faced an enemy who was confident that they couldn't lose because they never had before, wielded the power of the Light, and was at the apex of their power. If circumstances were different - if our Ghost was as selfish as the Consul, and we were taught that our power was somethign we deserved rather than used for the greater good, we could have ended up like Ghaul - but because of the circumstances of his birth, his upbringing, and his own decisions, he was cast down and destroyed by the very Traveler he'd wanted to be chosen by. Him “becoming Legend” is a very obvious parallel to us, and the tagline of the original game. This is why I think Ghaul was a very underrated villain, and I desperately wish the Red War had never been sunset. If you bothered to read this, I really appreciate it haha. Thanks for something cool to workout to, and a reminder of simpler times.

After Ghaul died, some Val promoted himself to commander rank, gave a motivational speech and led the remains of the Legion

One of the things I love most from these boss themes with dialogue is when you do the campaign bosses, you always add Ghost saying “Eyes up, Guardian…” It always gives me a motivational push while I’m at work.

To this DAY the only villain who actually had us on the edge of defeat besides The Witness. Is Dominus Ghaul’ he was very close to actually destroying the last city, killing all the guardians, and taking the travelers light to become the first lightbearing Cabal Guardian’ he was able to use sentinel shield, dawn blade, storm caller and a golden gun like nade launcher and of course his masterpiece of a ship The Almighty which was able to siphon upon suns to the point they go supernova and destroy a system with little effort. While I do think as well Oryx left his legacy on the system including the taken’ Ghaul himself actually part took in the final battle against us on our home and used the light on us. But in the end we prevail over him and the Traveler destroyed him after it woke up. To this day I wish he was a raid boss and when we saw him in season of the haunted as a nightmare turned Guide and wisdom hero to Caital it was great to see him again’ and HELL if Caital showed up when Ghaul was still alive he could’ve (maybe) been a ally as well. Sure he’s memed on nowadays and we beat him easy looking back on it but he was the first villain to keep us on edge and almost defeated us And in some way he did become Legend. And as a warrior of the city’ he also has my respect even in death. “You aren’t Brave. You mearly forgotten the fear of death. Allow me to reacquaint you.” - Dominus Ghaul

Ghaul was way more badass than anyone gives him credit for.

"You won't escape me again!" always gives me chills

I remember dps’ing this guy with sunshot 6 years ago, what I’d give to be able to play that mission and fight him again on legendary

The sound of Well, Apex Predator, and Witherhoard crack me up when I remember DPSing Ghaul with Vanilla weapons.

0:34 Hunter: I encountered you before you took my fireteam’s and my light! Now, I’m ready for a rematch.

I don't care what people say, Ghaul was so underrated. Sure, the fight was meh, but his design, dialogue, and soundtrack were fucking amazing.

Cayde-6: "SOMETHING WITH A G!" Traveler: "G-get got loser" 💀

Listening to DPS sections on 1.15 or 1.2 makes you think budgie said f*ck it, make ghaul *THAT GUY* and see how the guardians survive.

Damn the DPS theme is actually pretty damn triumphant, and wouldn't seem at all out of place in our final battle against the Witness to end the saga. I wonder if Salvatori has considered reusing anything like this or if we'll get something completely new - I know he has made good use of recurring motif's throughout Destiny's lifetime. Whatever we get, I'm sure it will be stellar! Such a shame they let him go but I hear he finished TFS soundtrack beforehand.

Imagine the DPS theme plays while we fight the witness

It has been so long since I’ve heard this

These soundtrack vids with dialogue are an awesome idea! I could listen to Ghaul's voice lines all day. Bad-ass.

Whats up guys houndish here-

The Dps theme is what I hear when Gail Lewis stops another thief. What could we ever do without him.

Ghaul pulled up and accomplished what the hive gods couldnt do, what house salvation couldnt do, and what the witness cant do, I seriously think that Ghaul was one of the biggest threats humanity had ever faced. There is no one who exudes raw might and power like he did, even Rhulk to an extent doesnt match up because if you think about it hes a delusional psychopath, following the witness, Ghaul just wanted the smoke, pulled up and basically caged the same god that the witness has been chasing forever, absolutely wild to me bro this man should have been a raid boss

To this day I wonder why we don’t get his gun

Now this is great! 🔥 Listening to it after work!

Dad what does any of this have to do with you going to school?

11:28 that’s where it gets intense I wish crazy shit happened during the fight where more guardians joined in and Ghaul did more crazy things that caught all of us off guard and went crazy like rhulk did or the traveler began shooting a beam at ghaul or it glows extremely bright

Feels illegal to be this early

Now, _this_ sounds like Final Boss material. B)

0:19 bro rlly thinks hes him

Wish I could get the chance to actually fight Ghaul himself he looks so cool and he sounds badass.

Man the memories...

Oh ho how this bring back memories. Poping golden gun trying to drop him one of my fav destiny moments

You know I hope Final Shape will have Cutscenes mid-mission or at least before the Witness boss fight

I miss Gary

Aaand this one is 100% Megatron and Darth Vader fused together. It's such a shame the way his aggressive arrogance cut his existence short, he'd made the most interesting progress with the light of amy enemy prior, and was ever the intelligent antagonist up until then. Wonder what Savathuns opinions on the red war are, I do vaguely remember the satelites disappearing being her doing.

Better call ghaul

Aaaah the ligth.. aaaah im a gooood hahahaha

Ghaul deserved to be a raid boss, man. He was the first to actually beat the guardians since Crota. Shame really.

fact cabal still have not been chosen by ghosts lol

I honestly wished we had a raid where we fought Ghaul or a dungeon with him being the final boss. The campaign boss doesn’t do him Justice from reading his lore. The raid could take place on Earth, we defeat a lieutenant, travel to the Almighty and shut it down then face Ghaul. If you think about it Ghaul actually is (was) a threat to humanit and actually claimed the light for himself for a time.

ITS GARY

Can you post the voice lines alone? I can't find them isolated and how clean they sound in these videos is amazing.

I miss Gary