The views of Clovis Bray on his own family seem to be shaky at best. Referring to some of them as useless or even calling them obsessed. Ironic I know. This is just a small look into some of the things I’ve found via flavor text of Deep Stone Crypt raid items and how I feel it relates to Clovis Bray’s views on his family and relatives. Starting at the easiest and working my way to the harder and more questionable ones. Note: these are my thoughts about these objects and not necessarily correct.
Table of Contents
Weapons Found in the Deep Stone Crypt Raid
Starting with the weapons, there are 6 different legendary quality weapons you can obtain throughout the Deep Stone Crypt raid. All of the weapons are simple when it comes to the flavor text.
All of the flavor text is as follows “A single word is etched inside the barrel/on the guard… (Name)-1” All of these names are as follows:
- Succession (Kinetic Sniper) = Sylvie-1
- Heritage (Kinetic Shotgun) = Wilhelmina-1
- Posterity (Energy Hand Cannon) = Anastasia-1
- Trustee (Energy Scout Rifle) = Alton-1
- Bequest (Power/Heavy Sword) = Lusia-1
- Commemoration (Power/Heavy Machine Gun) = Clovis Bray-II-1
Armor Found in the Deep Stone Crypt Raid
The main notes come in when viewing the armor, there are 15 pieces of armor, 5 for each class. Now I feel that the Titan and Hunter are not important for this, those 10 pieces seem to just be quotes from notable Exo characters ranging from Ada-1 and Lakshmi-2 to Cayde-6, Banshee-44, and Saint-14. So, as I said not exactly what I am looking into at the moment.
The Warlock set flavor text from the Deep Stone Crypt seems to be unique. Instead of quotes from notable exos, they are all from Clovis Bray. All of these go even further to reference people related to him in some way.
- Legacy’s Oath Cowl reads “Sylvie is a stain on this family, turning my son against me every chance she gets. His death is on her hands too.” – Clovis Bray.
- Legacy’s Oath Arms read “Wilhelmina’s more like me than she admits. Immortality at any cost. Even Family.” – Clovis Bray.
- Legacy’s Oath Robes read “Useless, that boy is. Nothing I altered in Alton’s genetics paid off. Oh well. That’s why I have three other grandchildren.” – Clovis Bray.
- Legacy’s Oath Boots read “My dear, sweet Lusia. You were meant to be me in this life, and the next. There’s time yet for me to make it so.” Clovis Bray
- Legacy’s Oath Bond reads “Anastasia’s obsession with Rasputin is holding back our work. Exos are our future. In time- and with a little push- She’ll see.” Clovis Bray
The Connections Between the Lore and Clovis Bray
Here is where we can draw some links between the weapons and the warlock armor set. The basic framework in the order I will be covering it is as follows:
- Bequest + Boots = Lusia
- Heritage + Arms = Wilhelmina
- Succession + Cowl = Sylvie
- Posterity + Bond = Anastasia
- Trustee + Robes = Alton
- (Commemoration doesn’t quite fit the mold see below for further explanation)
So here are my thoughts about all of this…
Bequest
A bequest is a legacy, something given in a basic sense, viewing the flavor text of boots it is clear that Clovis was trying to pass himself down as a form of legacy. Clovis views Lusia as just another part of his own legacy, not as her own person.
Heritage
Heritage can be seen as a form of inheritance, thus Wilhelmina “inheriting” Clovis’ lust and want of immortality at any cost, even family.
Succession
Succession meaning a shared characteristic or even the process of passing a characteristic to another, in the sense of Sylvie’s attempts at turning Clovis Bray II against his father, Clovis Bray.
Posterity
Posterity is used to describe future generations, I feel it was likely that after Ana’s first death before being revived as a guardian Clovis used this and took a record of her for posterity, to tell the future generations. He ostracized her for her genetics making her feel unwanted, this likely being the “Push” he references in the text for the bond.
Trustee
Trustee is arguably the weirdest, in my opinion. A trustee is one to withhold and be responsible for assets. However, Clovis blatantly refers to Alton as useless making it seem questionable he would label him a trustee. When you translate Trustee into Latin however you get a completely different word: Sequester; to seclude, isolate. I feel this is more so Clovis’s feelings towards Alton, he wants to hide him away from his siblings because he views him as useless towards his work and research even after the genetic alteration.
Commemoration
In the list above, I didn’t include 1 very specific gun on purpose when referring to the general framework of these theories. Commemoration, a ceremony or celebration in which a person or event is remembered. This was in reference to Clovis Bray I’s son, Clovis Bray II. Whom after his father, altered his genetic code to make it so he was no longer required to sleep leading to a neurodegenerative disorder dubbed the “Clovis Curse”.
History Lesson: Clovis Bray II: After his body rejecting treatment due to another of his father’s alterations it was deemed by Clovis Bray that his son’s only chance of survival was to be uploaded into an Exo body. It would all prove for naught however when an unresolved issue with the early Exos led to a quickened degeneration of his mind to where his own strained, involuntary movements tore his own chassis apart.
Final Thoughts
Clovis Bray commemorates his son who had died due to his controlling actions. He views his daughter-in-law with contempt because she knew his actions were wrong and sees his own wife with not love but as a backup copy of himself. As for his granddaughter, he pushes her away in hopes of using her to make himself look better. He otherwise views his other granddaughter as what is essentially a clone of his views. And his grandson he pushes away, insults, and isolates due to poor genetics.
Honestly many hate Clovis Bray for his views on perfection, and how it broke apart this otherwise rather intelligent family. I however can only feel pity as I view his story. Full of tragedy and death, all preventable. Ultimately, he chose the path he took, sadly others are the ones who faced the consequences.
Clovis Bray caused a lot of harm and tore apart his own family with the lengths he went and never seemed to reflect or consider their feelings. And even when his own son died due to his actions he pushed the blame. When his own granddaughter left he used her story to benefit himself once more.
You can go so far as to call him a narcissist with the way he views his wife and ultimately, it’s pitiful how he is portrayed to view his own family and how poorly he treated them. All the while talking as though he was meant to be their savior. I feel these views all stem from a narcissistic view, he sees himself as the one meant to save humanity whilst he can’t even save his own family from himself.
