Oryx was born Aurash, eldest daughter of the Osmium King on the Fundament. She discovered that her ancestors were not originally from the Fundament, but went there to hide.¹ After Taox betrayed and killed the Osmium King, Aurash and her sisters swore vengeance upon Taox and fled in Aurash’s ship to build armies.² Aurash became consumed by her father’s final words — that the moons of Fundament would align and create a giant wave that would annihilate their entire race.³

Aurash and her sisters traveled to the depths of the Fundament and met the Worm Gods. The Worm Gods offered their larvae to the three sisters, which would grant the sisters incredible power, but in exchange they would have to promise to “obey [their] nature forever.”⁴ In the case of Aurash, she must never stop exploring. Aurash and her sisters consumed the larvae and Aurash transformed into the king morph of their species, renaming herself to Auryx.⁵

While Auryx and his sisters were warring with Taox, the Worms discovered the cause of the giant wave that the Osmium King had feared — an extra ‘moon,’ which turned out to be "a Traveler".⁶

Auryx discovered the sword space when he died and decided to establish his throne world there.⁷ Then, for twenty thousand years, Auryx and his sisters fought and killed each other over and over to practice dying.⁸ This also helped them become better fighters as they exposed each others’ weaknesses.⁹ As they grew stronger, their worms grew hungrier until all three feared they would be consumed by their own worms. While they were in the sword world, Auryx killed his sisters to gain their knowledge.¹⁰ He then went to Akka, the Worm of Secrets, and used the knowledge he had gained from his sisters to kill Akka and take from him the secrets of communicating with the Deep. Upon doing so, he created the Tablets of Ruin, gained the power to take life, and became Oryx, the Taken King.¹¹

Oryx warred with the Ecumene, and through war and trickery with them, he conjured his sisters back, along with a plan to keep their worms fed. He established a pyramid of power among the Hive that each caste would pay tribute to the one above until a huge tribute flowed to Oryx and his sisters, which allowed them to keep their worms fed.¹²

Eventually, he had a son, Crota, and two daughters, Ir Anûk and Ir Halak. His daughters came up with the idea of an Oversoul as a way to separate themselves from their deaths. Crota tried to copy them, and opened a portal that let Vex into Oryx’s throne world.¹³ Oryx banished Crota into the Vex network as punishment. Though Oryx was able to remove the Vex, he knew his throne realm was no longer safe, and decided to move it into a dreadnaught.¹⁴

Oryx arrived in the Solar System and was met by the fleet of the Reef. While the Hive fleet suffered heavy losses at the hands of the Queen's Harbingers, Oryx was ultimately victorious.

A fireteam of Guardians killed Oryx and all his echoes in reality, and drove him back into his throne realm. They then fought through his court, ultimately defeating him within his throne realm as well.