Cayde-6

Cayde-6 is introduced as a member of a triumvirate of leaders, alongside Commander Zavala and Ikora Rey, who head the three Guardian factions that protect the Last City. The character's role in the series narrative expanded by the events of The Taken King, where the Vanguard's leadership are struck by analysis paralysis while attempting to address the threat posed by a dreadnaught ship commanded by Oryx, the Taken King. After the Vanguard advisor Eris Morn explains the nature of the threat Oryx's ship poses, Cayde-6 is determined to end the threat posed by his Taken minions. He sends the player character to the dreadnaught using modified stealth technology and Morn's special ship, where the main weapon is destroyed to make way for the establishment of a beachhead. While Oryx is successfully assassinated as part of the Guardian operation, the other members of the Vanguard are displeased with Cayde-6's actions.

Cayde-6 is among the Guardians who survive the Cabal assault on the Last City led by Dominus Ghaul. Unlike his peers, Cayde-6 is determined to take the city back as soon as possible. He attempts to devise a plan to undermine the occupying forces but is caught and trapped by the Vex. After being rescued by other Guardians, he relocates to the artificial intelligence (AI) Failsafe's crashed ship on Nessus. He continues to play an active role within the war effort and often leads strike teams against the Guardians' enemies, although he is frequently depicted as a comic relief character who lacks competence.

Cayde-6 is killed off during the introductory story segment of Forsaken and could not be revived as his Ghost companion Sundance had been destroyed by his enemies. The story campaign of Forsaken is primarily driven by the desire to pursue Cayde-6's killers and avenge the character.[15]

Cayde-6 is shown again and seems to be alive in the trailer for the The Final Shape expansion, shown in the 2023 Playstation Showcase.[16]

Cayde-6 is the central character of a 2019 comic titled Cayde's Six.[17][18][19]

Cayde-6 is popular among video game enthusiasts, especially fans of the Destiny franchise, and is a popular subject for creative activities engaged in by Destiny fans, such as fan art.[31][32] The character has received an overall positive reception from critics. GamesRadar ranked included Cayde-6 in their list of the most iconic video game characters of all time, ranking him at 40th place; Rachel Weber said Cayde-6 had "one of the most satisfying character arcs", and ascribed his fan favorite status to Nathan Fillion's performance, noting thaat he is a good example of how the "right voice actor can completely make or break a character".[33] Jaz from US Gamer nominated Cayde-6 as the best video game character of 2015, praising Fillion's performance and the way he conveyed his character's personality without overplaying his dialogue.[34] Kotaku staff also praised Fillion's performances for its consistent quality.[35][36] Kirk Hamilton described Fillion's portrayal as an "amped-up robot version" of his character from the Firefly series, Malcolm Reynolds.[37] Nathan Grayson, also writing for Kotaku, said he did not initially appreciated Fillion's quip-driven performances, but conceded that his character " brought an undeniable charisma" to the Red War campaign of Destiny 2 which he found lacking in subsequent campaigns like Beyond Light.[38]

Tom Power from Games Revolution observed that while Cayde-6 had remained largely popular throughout his appearances as a source of comic relief, he reported that some players found some of his jokes in Destiny 2 "felt forced".[39] For Doc Burford from US Gamer, Cayde-6's story arc is a complex though fundamentally important aspect of the Destiny series. He liked the incorporation of his backstory into the lore of "Treasure Island", calling it "some of the coolest lore Destiny’s ever had", and that it gave an impression of Cayde-6 as an articulate character with a nuanced, multi-faceted personality. On the other hand, Burford was highly critical of what he perceived to be Cayde-6's flanderization from Destiny 2 onwards, and that his comic relief traits have been greatly exaggerated to a point where he is "a jester meant to take pratfalls for our amusement". Burford compared this iteration of Cayde-6 to Scrappy-Doo, a divisive character from the Scooby-Doo media franchise known for his obnoxious personality.[20]

Bungie's decision to permanently kill off Cayde-6 in Forsaken, announced ahead of the expansion pack's release date, received significant attention.[40][41] The character's demise during the events of Forsaken elicited a passionate response from players, with many posting to internet message boards and Reddit threads about the character shortly after the release of Forsaken.[3][42] In June 2018, a group of fans set up a makeshift memorial shrine for Cayde-6 outside of the Los Angeles Convention Center to commemorate the character's demise.[43][44][45] In response to Bungie's announcement that a number of in-game content such as coupons will be phased out with the launch of the Beyond Light expansion, fans began sharing homemade designs for spicy ramen shaders, emblems, and 3d printable seals across social media; Ethan Gach from Kotaku suggested that these efforts attempts to persuade Bungie to carry on the item's legacy in some way after it is permanently removed from the game.[46] In anticipation of community interest in the free emblem meant for Bungie Day 2021, dataminers leaked the imminent release of A Classy Order prior to its release. Bungie's senior community manager took to social media in response, and asked fans not to refrain from spoiling content as well as purchasing what is meant to be a free gift from resellers and dataminers.[29]

The handling of Cayde-6's death in Forsaken has been discussed at length by several critics.[47][48][49] GamesRadar staff described the character's permanent departure from the Tower hub area and subsequent death as a turning point for the narrative of Destiny 2 with its return to the first game's darker tone.[28][50] Collin MacGregor from PCGamesN welcomed the decision as one of the best Bungie has made for the series; he observed that the character's demise managed to unite the Destiny community and succeeded in generating interest in the narrative of Destiny 2 due to its intimacy.[51] Burford took a more negative stance and claimed the character has "died before Destiny 2 even shipped", and that his death was "sad because he was pathetic" instead of being genuinely tragic. He felt that there was no gravitas or purpose with the character's death as his likeability had been severely undermined by Bungie in his previous appearances, and that the extensive advertising which promoted the imminent demise of Cayde-6 had further reduced the dramatic impact.[20]

Bungie's decision to permanently remove, or "vault", earlier released content for Destiny 2 has generated discussions on how it affects Cayde-6's appearances in Destiny media. Writing for Forbes, Paul Tassi questioned whether Bungie's decision was a good one as it effectively erases the pivotal moments of the character's appearances to the detriment of new players and their experiences.[52] Conversely, Tyler Chancey from TechRaptor called it a bittersweet decision and felt that Bungie's decision to vault content due to technical constraints was justified. He argued that sentimentality must be met with the understanding that that part of Destiny's story has been told and that his murderer Uldren Sov is already undergoing a redemption arc.[53]