The scourge of The Dreaming City, Riven, was a monster of unprecedented proportions. She was a massive, monstrous and creepy monster. But that wasn’t always what she looked like. Canonically, Riven changes her appearance at will, for starters, meaning even in-universe, what we saw was purely for show. She’s been described as having flowing feathers, fur or scales, in various states.
But Bungie concept art shows that the Riven we saw in the Raid could have been greatly different. The sinister creature was portrayed in a variety of styles while being created. Notably, a few of these show her Taken infection a bit further along in the process than seen in game. Artist Dorje Bellbrook showed off a few of them on his artstation.com page. Check them out here, along with some of his concept artwork for The Dreaming City.
