Gjallarhorn

Submission 32,147

Part of a series on Destiny (Video Game). [View Related Entries]

About

Gjallarhorn is a fictional rocket launcher in the 2014 first-person shooter game Destiny. While initially only obtained as a random drop by completing multiplayer sessions and endgame missions, the item was later made available for vendor purchase for a limited time. It is considered one of the most powerful weapons in the game.

Origin

Gjallarhorn was first introduced as a playable weapon in Bungie's first-person-shooter game Destiny released on September 9th, 2014. Initially, players could only acquire the exotic rocket launcher as loot upon completing multiplayer sessions and endgame missions, though it was later made available for purchase from a vendor in the game for a limited time. The rocket launcher can only be used by players who have reached level 20 and can be further upgraded to increase its strength.

The weapon is named after a horn associated with the god Heimdallr and the figure Mimir in Norse mythology. Within Destiny lore, the Gjallahorn was crafted by weapons manufacturer Feizel Crux out of the armor of fallen Guardians as a gift for those who fought at the battle of Twilight Gap.

Spread

Since its release, the Gjallarhorn has been widely discussed on various community sites, including Tumblr,^[1] 4chan [2] and Reddit.^[3] On February 15th, 2015, the ZaziNombies LEGO Creations channel uploaded a video of a Gjallarhorn replica made out of 3500 LEGO bricks, which gathered upwards of 890,000 views and 4,100 comments in the next six months (shown below).

On May 14th, Urban Dictionary^[4] user Kirito x 78 submitted an entry for the rocket launcher, describing it as "The most bad-ass rocket launcher in any video game."
On June 20th, 2015, the Daily Destiny Videos YouTube channel posted a video of Destiny players reacting to seeing the Gjallarhorn drop, which received more than 518,000 views in the next month (shown below, left). On August 14th, 2015, YouTuber Mr. Fruit Gaming Channel posted a 60 second review of the rocket launcher (shown below, right).

Gjallarhorn Day

On August 14th, 2015, Destiny Gjallarhorn was discovered for purchase on the weapons vendor Xur for 17 strange coins for the next 48 hours (shown below). According to the game's developers, the vendor's inventory is randomly generated and not influenced by staff.

Shortly after, several news sites published articles about the discovery, including Gamespot,^[5] Kotaku,^[6] The Verge^[7] and VG24/7.^[8] That day, users on the Destiny subreddit began referring to August 14th as "Gjallarhorn Day."^[10] On August 15th, Redditor ghost posted stats regarding the subreddit's traffic the previous day.^[9] On August 17th, IGN Fireteam Chat discussed the sale of Gjallarhorn and the effect it will have on the game.