A little on why Uldren went mad. *Spoilers* (Destiny)

by Ragashingo , Official DBO Cryptarch, Monday, September 10, 2018, 12:53 (2058 days ago) @ breitzen
edited by Ragashingo, Monday, September 10, 2018, 13:07

Not having dug into anything but stuff heard/exposed to while play: Uldren was put in the prison because he started conflict with the Reefborn Awoken prior to the events of Forsaken and Petra has been acting Regent for. Like. Ever now. Or something.

So she had the power to imprison the Prince (King?) of the Awoken?

Much of the Lore cards on the Awoken talk about how much Mara distrusts Uldren. If he allies himself with Fallen, you bet Petra's going to jail him up.

This is a very big question. Here is the very beginning of an answer:

• When the Awoken returned to our solar system (yes, returned. From where? From when? That's another question with its own full blown answer) they found the Earth in ruins and the Traveler hovering low over one single city in the making. Many of the 40,000ish Awoken wanted to immediately head to earth and help.
  
• However, Mara wisely sent Uldren on a scouting mission across the system. He found Fallen on Earth and beyond. They also detected the Cabal on Mars and maybe even the Vex. Mara decided they needed to build their numbers and their forces before revealing themselves to a dangerous, hostile solar system.
  
• In order to do that, the Awoken secretly took up residence in our asteroid belt near the Golden Age wrecks near Vesta, Ceres, etc. They stated building factories and habitats and began growing their numbers.
  
• Unfortunately, a sizable group of Awoken still wanted to go help earth. Things became tense and that group broke away. Mara was forced to let them go or risk a full riot. That group's "betrayal" did indeed begin helping the earth with their superior techonolgy and resources... but they also led the Fallen back to the reef. Which lead to the deaths of many Awoken. That's one of the reason Uldren is no fan of the Earth.
  
• Later-ish, the Awoken started encountering Guardians. Probably Human and Exo Guardians at first, but eventually Awoken Guardians! Meaning, some of those Awoken that went to help earth were killed and then found by Ghosts. Mara isn't a fan, but Uldren sees this as a travesty! His focus is on figuring out how to kill Guardians. Later as the City becomes established Uldren covertly and sometimes overly opposes Guardians... sometimes killing them a few times in a row... sometimes doing mean things like moving or burying their Patrol Beacons to make them harder to access, etc.
  
• Uldren's hatred of Guardians and even his own people (such as Petra) intensifies and grows out of control when his sister sacrifices herself for earth in the battle against Oryx.
  
• After that, Uldren takes over the Eliksni House of Kings and also starts being influenced by *something* that poses as his sister, as seen in game.
  
• Uldren leads the House of Kings in attacks upon the Reef thinking Petra a fool for allowing Guardians to help bring order back after the death of Mara Sov. He allows his hatred of Guardians to translate to Petra and even the rest of his people. For those attacks, Petra and Cayde-6 bring Uldren in and lock him in the Prison of Elders... Ya'll know a lot of what happens next...

But once again, I cannot emphasize this enough: There are layers upon layers upon layers bound up in those few bullet points. Including everything from the Traveler's battle with the Darkness, to the creation of the Scorn, to what happened to Variks are all tied up in Uldren's story. It's some of the best writing in all of Destiny, surpassing or equaling even things like the story of The Last Word or the story of the Hive as told in the Book of Sorrows. My abbreviated answers doesn't do all of this justice...