TL;DR at the bottom (SPOILERS IN THE TL;DR).

Introduction (Warning: Major Spoilers)

Hello everyone! This post covers Callum Sol, a diseased Shadow of Yor. The Thorn Quest granted us access to the Book: For Every Rose, A Thorn which displays what has been going on with the Shadows of Yor. Also, and this is publicly displayed on Ishtar Collective in full, we learn from the Book: Ecdysis about a particular Shadow of Yor. I will only redact names and entities when sharing spoilers from Ecdysis since the series of Quests just went live last weekend, but information in that book is relevant to this Story. I made sure to only include quotes pertaining to this story though as to not spoil any more than I have to.

Where It All Began

Before getting into the purpose of Callum, we only have one actual in-game recording of Callum and it is his fateful showdown with The Renegade or The Man With The Golden Gun: Shin Malphur a.k.a. "Unknown Guardian".

Ghost: "Drifter... if I'm reading this right, your friend Callum was killed... by another Guardian."

Drifter: "Nothin' kills you quicker."

Ghost: "I'm pulling final audio from his Ghost. Hang on."

Recording begins - Unknown Guardian: "I gave you a chance. Gave all of you a chance. I told you not to follow him."

Callum: "You and I are the same. Sometimes we do the wrong thing for the right reasons."

Unknown Guardian: "Spoken like a true disciple. If you have any last words, now is the time."

Callum: "You'll never kill us all".

Unknown Guardian: "I don't have to. You're killing yourselves."

[Golden Gun charge and fire] - recording ends.

Ghost: I think you have some explaining to do.

Drifter: "Give me a minute, would ya?! I'm thinking."

Ghost: "You owe us a little more than Glimmer for this."

Drifter: "Shut up and bring me everything you found at that grave. You'll get paid."

While we don't have a ton of information on Callum Sol, but the second half of the 7th Book of Sorrows revealed with the Thorn Quest begins tells us more about a Dredgen falling further, "forever into the abyss," as Teben Grey puts it.

The Prelude to Callum's Sacrifice

If you haven't read the lore Book: For Every Rose, A Thorn, then I highly recommend you read the final entry "Revelations and Invitations" in order to better understand how all of this is connected (I won't spoil it until the end). We knew him as Callum Sol, but his new identity under the Shadows of Yor was "Dredgen Cull" and we learn this from "EVOLUTION".

Orsa is now and ever Dredgen Vale.

Xana Maas, Dredgen Scarr.

Jonah Pavic, Dredgen Mire.

Callum Sol, Dredgen Cull.

Braga Yasuul, Dredgen Totalus.

And I, Dredgen Bane.

In the lore entry "ANGER", Teben's notes speak of Callum's decision and willingness to draw out Shin.

"I thought it would take some convincing, but Cull has agreed to splinter from the group. Not in actuality, but as bait for the Renegade. Our rival has given us rope with which to hang ourselves but the further we embark down our path, the more that rope begins to tighten. What we must do next—the next steps in our continued evolution—will surely be seen as a bridge too far. A confrontation seems inevitable. Unless we can make plays that shift our hunter's focus.**"

Vale proposed this idea to Callum specifically because Callum is drifting further towards the darkness more than the any other Shadow (more on this in the next 2 sections) and the Shadows recognize both the danger and power of staying together. Teben mentions that the next steps will be seen as a "bridge too far" because up until this point, the Shadows of Yor have not murdered a Guardian like Yor did and they are prepping to traverse down that darker road in order to hone their dark powers while risking corruption.

The Bait and Switch

Teben mentions how a showdown with Shin seems inevitable unless they "can make plays that shift our hunter's focus" and Teben is referring to this shift within "Shadow on a Wall", a lore entry from the Book: A Drifter's Gambit.

"Maybe the bait set when the Drifter first came to the Tower was for me and mine."

"The Drifter had run with Callum's crew for some time... Drifter told me Callum had a spot—a hold he used all his own. Said his crew been runnin' separate jobs to keep me off their trail. Said they knew one-to-one they'd have a hard time walking away, but rolling together only increased their footprint, made 'em easier to trail."

"Made sense. With the six of 'em—Callum's crew, I mean—spread out, each runnin' their own search for whatever it is they're searching for, gave me crossed signals. I'd hear conflicting stories of their deeds from one end of the system to the next, and I had a hard time keepin' up."

Drifter's appearence in the Last City's Tower and the creation of Gambit was maybe not an intentional distraction, but it interferred with Shin's hunt. Splitting up allowed the Shadows to cross their trails and further "throw off Shin".

Even with the distractions, Drifter tipped off Shin about Callum's most recent location and Shin followed the bait:

"Drifter told me Callum had a spot—a hold he used all his own... But this info—Callum's safe space—it was a lead worth a look."

"Two weeks into a living hell, I thought Drifter'd fed me a line, maybe tryin' to kill two birds, one stone. There were signs of a Shadow's presence, but they were cold—old. I waited anyway. Shot me some Taken to kill the time."

"The wait paid off. Callum Entered."

How did Drifter know where Callum was?

There is a simple explanation for Drifter knowing where Callum was: he was a member of Callum's splinter group. Drifter was a Dredgen, a Shadow of Yor, before leaving the Shadows for his own survival and there are two major lore pieces that support this:

First, from "Into The Unknown" (1st Invitation of the Nine Quest from last Friday (3/15/2019), "Experience a Vision" Cutscene:

The Emissary approaches Drifter calling him a "Dredgen" and the Drifter has a conversation previously with a Shadow of Yor (notable because he was wielding a Thorn replica crafted by Dredgen Vale) who claims that the Drifter was "strayin'.

As it is being discussed amongst the community, it is currently assumed that UH was part of Callum's splinter group and the fate of UH is most likely diseased. However, there are a few possibilities:

(1) the sheer power of the Taken Captain killed him on impact (thinking about "Blackout")

(2) Drifter may have just killed UH himself to tie up any loose ends

(3) Drifter may have brought UH into the Haul and let the Taken feast on him.

Now, the most interesting on here would be if Drifter killed UH himself.

Second, Major Spoilers here, but I will redact the names: from the Book: Ecdysis in the section "Synesthesia":

[Redacted] has a meeting with [Redacted] where [Redacted] reveals Drifter was actually "Dredgen [Redacted]**". Drifter proceeds to say the following to [Redacted] in a moment of vulnerability: "He talks of himself. Of his fear. Of his loneliness. How he feels he is one fingernail away from plummeting into an abyss."

Drifter was close to plummeting further into darkness and may have chose not to, but to find another means of controlling the Dark. The other 5 Shadows mentioned by Teben were the only ones to not follow Callum's influence, but it we may have a hint that Drifter was - more on this under "The Truth".

Callum's Growing Darkness & Shin's Intervention

Continuing from "Shadow on a Wall":

"Could hear him before I saw him—he was arguing' with his Ghost. I waited on the hope they'd spill goods I could use to track the others. No such luck. Their words were heated. Callum had gone too far. His Ghost was angry. I don't blame her."

"It caught me that she always used his proper name—Callum—and not his other. She still cared. Still hoped. Then she screamed. I drew and stepped into the light."

"Callum had his Ghost in his left hand. It was silent. With his right, he had stabbed her through the optics with a sickly dagger—a tool carved from the jagged spikes fired from a weapon I shall not name. The Ghost was dead, and Callum just laughed. I think because he knew what came next."

"He and I had words. Told me I'd never kill 'em all. Then he dropped the shell and went for his shooter."

"I lit my fire and painted him on the wall without another word."

Callum was falling further in the abyss and growing darker, and the killing of his Ghost is symbolic for his transformation. Vale could see that Callum wasn't like the others and the fact that he stepped up to baiting Shin proves Callum's defiance of the Light: he was not afraid of Shin just as Yor was not afraid of Shin.

While reading the lore entry "EMPTINESS" from the Book: For Every Rose, A Thorn, Teben notes Callum's corruption and weakness:

"Cull's radical speech gathered the weaker among our number—a splinter group of radical Shadows hellbent on worshiping Darkness and bending to its will. He preached a doctrine of hate empowered by total corruption, and the lesser minds who flocked to our purpose were drawn in like flies to filth."

Callum was weak because he was a Shadow or Yor that walked too far down sorrow's road and towards a darker path: Callum was leading other weak-willed Shadows towards corruption purposefully on the promise of a greater power and Teben calls those who subscribed to Callum's doctrine as 'the weaker' because they did not understand how to balance the Light and Dark, and gave into the Dark.

Side note for reference: Shin acknowledges The Guardian as being the first Guardian able to balance the Light and Dark in "A Gift and a Touch of Gray" from the Book: Letters from a Renegade.

"To me, there was only ever white and black—good and evil. In you, I see blinding Light. I see a hero among heroes. I see the hope you inspire shining through."

"But I also see, for the first time—maybe, just maybe—a little bit of gray.**"

​

Dredgen Vale's Plan: the Impact of Callum's Death

Callum was a necessary component in Vale's Plan: sacrificing all of their members that plummeted too far and using them as an example of the consequence of accepting the darkness while they rally the new recruits under their original purpose of being able to control powers of the dark without being corruption.

Going back to Teben's notes from "EMPTINESS", we learn that Callum's death is actually meant to have a positive impact on the Shadows of Yor:

"More important—the Renegade took the bait, turned many to ash. Turned Cull to ash. A failing on two fronts."

"First, Cull's sacrifice bought us time and distance. Second, it rallied many of our newest recruits against the Renegade. Sides are being chosen, and Vale's recording of Cull's death will draw those most eager to tempt Darkness."

"All is proceeding as we envision."

Callum's death is an example of why the Shadows are not meant to worship the darkness, but to only wield their powers and not adhere the whispers: this is why they one of the Shadows' understandings is to stay focused.

As we learned previously from the Book: The Book of Unmaking, Dredgens Vale and Bane (Orsa and Teben) were the first Shadows of Yor that hunted down the remnants of Yor, discovered his ship, began to walk down sorrow's road, and formed the Shadows of Yor under the ideology that they can wield the darkness without becoming corrupted: this helps support why Teben/Bane says "all is proceeding as we envision".

Callum's death was impactful and his sacrifice to the Dark and willingness to face the Renegade is why Vale called Callum "noble":

"And Callum, the truest hero who made the purest sacrifice. His death was noble, and by my hand."

"But not a hateful thing. His part was—and remains—key to sealing the temptation of any who would give themselves to sorrow's road. All who take up arms in his name will be enemies of all he held dear, and they will be punished. You have my word."

"I am burdening you with the full reality of the gambit at play because I believe in you."

​

The Truth of Callum's Death: A Dredgen's Deception

I saved this for last just in case people haven't read up on Revelations and Invitations from Book: For Every Rose, A Thorn.

To understand why Callum was killed in the way he was, we need to understand Dredgen Vale's deception.

So, now… the truth. You've earned it.

My name is Shin Malphur.

My name is Zyre Orsa.

My name is Dredgen Vale.

And all who fall to Darkness will answer to my steel. The Shadows. The Drifter's Gambit. The seeding of fear ... A necessary deception. Offering two paths in order to draw out those eager for power beyond their means.

Malfeasance was a gift, a sample to gauge the true hearts of those who reveled in the Drifter's games. Those sated by its wicked power were kin enough to know their limits. Those hungry for more? A danger worth tracking. In some cases, a danger in need of confrontation.

The Shadows are a danger. We are guided by the evolved and controlled methods of Dredgen Yor, except instead of death and destruction, I am offering the mysteries and powers of the Darkness as bait for those who would otherwise go freely into the abyss.

I have built the perfect trap with which to cull the weak-willed. And it is working.

It is unknown to us if Teben/Bane knows that Vale is Shin, but he understands Vale's expectations and purposes, and was in full support of allowing the corrupted Shadows to proceed and face the consequences. Vale/Shin used deception against his own Shadows, because he wanted to see who among their group was strong enough to gain the favor of the darkness without becoming corrupted unlike Callum.

Going back to Drifter, there are multiple reasons why Vale has not killed Drifter:

• A Matter of Trust (last paragraph): Drifter does not know Vale/Shin's face - his true identity
• Drifter being an ex-Dredgen, Drifter has established multiple reasons to prevent Vale from ending him:
  • Synesthesia (Spoiler): Drifter realized the fate of those that fully embraced the darkness and did not cast himself forever into the abyss
    • Drifter understands "the full reality of the gambit at play"
  • Drifter understand the Shadow's purpose: he's building his own group with a similar purpose
    • Vale understands this: this is not a political game of groups for Vale, he only seeks the endgame of finding a Guardian that can balance the Light and Dark, but will also defend humanity
  • Drifter is not here to kill Guardians, like Yor or Vale, but his intentions with Gambit will result in many deaths in order to find a trustworthy Guardian that can balance the Light and Dark, just as Drifter has

​

The State of the Shadows of Yor

Once Callum was corrupted, it is unknown how many recruited Guardians/Lightbearers joined his splinter group, but we understand that Vale continued the hunt for those aligned under Callum's corruption after he killed Callum. However, we do have the names of all of those who were not corrupted and are trusted by Vale:

From Revelation and Invitations within the Book: For Every Rose, A Thorn: "But others, the Guardians who have joined me—Teben, Braga, Jonah, Xana—they are all believers in our cause."

5 of the 6 original or 'old' Shadows of Yor remain: those able to balance the Light and Dark along with The Guardian. Teben spoke before about how the Shadows of Yor are recruiting those looking to gain the power of something other than the Light within "EMPTINESS". This process will continue once more and others will find the balance or become corrupted under their watch.

However, there is one person specifically interfering with the Shadows' process: Aunor from the Praxic Order of Warlocks. From the Book: The Warlock Aunor, here are references of her interference with Dredgen Vale's ruination of corrupted Shadows and the securing of Dredgens' or "Renegades" Ghosts.

The Salt Mines: "You're interrupting important work," he said. "Stole the words right out of my mouth," she replied. "These Ghosts are coming with us. No more killing. Your reputation won't protect you."

District 125: "We take their Ghosts. Alert the Vanguard. We have five renegades in custody."

​

Conclusion: Summary

Callum's death was not a coincidence: it was purposeful and exemplary. Callum Sol - Dredgen Cull - was a Shadow of Yor that went beyond the Shadows' purpose and understanding, and as a result, Callum started to become corrupted. Callum was worshiping the Darkness and preached a hate-empowered doctrine to other like-minded Shadows, those of which Teben refers to as "weak" because they had given into the Darkness instead of trying to balance the Light and Dark.

Dredgen Vale, the leader of the Shadows and the Man with the Golden Gun, notices their failure and suggests that the Shadows split up in order to throw Shin Malphur off of their trail. Vale ultimately does this to separate the Shadows so that Vale/Shin can kill off those corrupted starting with Callum and then recruit new Guardians/Lightbearers to see if they can walk amongst the gray.

Drifter tips off Shin (it is heavily suggested that Drifter does not know that Shin is Vale) about a place Callum visits frequently in an ascendant realm and Shin scouts it for two weeks until Callum shows up. Callum is found killing his Ghost and this moment acts as a symbol for Callum's corruption: Shin appears and a dialogue ensues.

I'll leave it up for debate in the comments if the conversation implies that Callum knew that Shin was Vale, but when re-reading the dialogue with Vale as the Leader of the Shadows and not as The Renegade speaking to Callum, it carries more weight: you can hear the disappointment and frustration in Vale's voice. Vale continues hunting the other corrupted Shadows as Drifter's gambit is creating new Dredgens, who will seek refuge in the Shadows of Yor or face the consequences of Aunor and the Praxic Order.

TL;DR

Callum was a Dredgen that became corrupted and influenced other Shadows to become corrupted. Vale and Bane decided to separate the Shadows to throw the Renegade off of their trail, but Vale also did it to get the corrupted Shadows alone so that he could kill them individually and record their encounter under the identity of The Renegade in order to rally any new recruits under their cause and show them the consequences of worshiping the Darkness.