Destiny 2: The Witch Queen releases today, Feb 22. It looks to be a major inflection bespeak in the story, equally Savathun will at long last be taking a more than direct role in the activity. To make sure you're prepared for what'southward to come up, nosotros're recapping the last year-plus of Destiny ii's story. Can't remember who The Stranger is? Or what Xivu Arath has been up to? Or even what Savathun has been doing to ready the stage for The Witch Queen? We've got you covered.

Destiny 2 and its predecessor have always included a huge amount of story, with expansive histories and extremely deep lore. The trouble was, ofttimes the tales told in-game were thinner than those hinted at in grimoire cards and weapon flavor text. In the last few years, all the same, the game has gone through a dramatic shift in storytelling, with the seasonal model putting a huge new focus on Destiny ii's characters and world. In the year-plus since the release of the Beyond Light expansion, we've seen the best, most interesting storytelling Destiny ii has ever offered--only that also means that a whole lot has happened in the last fourteen months, and it can exist tough to keep up.

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Now Playing: Destiny 2 Savathun Blithe Cutscene (SPOILERS)

If you lot've missed that story, either because y'all haven't played extensively through the four seasons since Beyond Light's launch or because y'all lapsed with the game because of decisions to vault content or sunset certain weapons, you lot might feel a little lost. New characters have popped upward along the mode, villains have executed advisedly laid plans, and internal conflicts amid mainstays of the Destiny universe are at an all-time high. At that place's a lot to know well-nigh leading into The Witch Queen expansion.

Below, you'll find an extensive rundown of Destiny 2's story beats from Beyond Lite and, well, beyond. From Clovis Bray's exploits on Europa, to the introduction of The Crow, to the diplomatic talks with the Cabal and the nascent alliance with the Fallen, to the exorcism of Savathun's worm, there'south a whole lot of ground to cover. Here's everything that has happened since Destiny 2 terminal expansion to become y'all set up for The Witch Queen.

As a note: Nosotros're going to assume you're pretty familiar with Destiny ii's story up until Across Lite. If you lot demand even more of a catch-up, check out our even longer Destiny story summary, going all the fashion back to Destiny i.

Across Light

A whole lot changes in the Beyond Light campaign. After the Darkness'due south inflow and the disappearance of Mars, Mercury, Titan, and Io in the Season of Arrivals, Guardians are summoned to Europa by a distress point. There, we come across Variks of Firm Judgment--a Fallen who was formerly a servant of Queen Mara Sov of the Reef simply has been missing since the events of Forsaken. He was being hunted by other Fallen, simply thanks to our intervention, Variks escapes death at the hands of people we soon observe were his onetime comrades.

We get a sense here of what Variks has been up to for two years. Back in Forsaken, he helped a Fallen leader named Eramis escape the Prison of Elders. He'd come up to believe that Eramis held the cardinal to leading the Fallen to freedom and conservancy in the solar system, and threw in his lot with her. That prison intermission likewise allowed Uldren Sov and the Scorn Barrons to escape way dorsum in Forsaken--and so in no small way, Variks, a one-time marry of Guardians and the Awoken, was responsible for the expiry of Cayde-6 and made the expletive on the Dreaming City possible.

Eramis was a powerful and charismatic leader, but when she started using Stasis, her goals became less about safety and more about conquest.
Eramis was a powerful and charismatic leader, simply when she started using Stasis, her goals became less well-nigh condom and more most conquest.

Eramis and her group previously tried to gather Golden Age engineering science to aid their cause--they were backside the set on on the Tower Vault in the Nil 60 minutes mission, which Guardians foiled with the assist of Mithrax, a Fallen captain who has become something of an ally to humanity. (More than on Mithrax afterward). After that, she led her group of Fallen to Europa, where the band created a new settlement for the Fallen to live.

However, after establishing the metropolis of Riis-Reborn, named after the home planet of the Fallen (or, as they call themselves, the Eliksni), Eramis and her allies make a series of discoveries driven by the arrival of the Darkness in the solar system. They uncover the research facilities of Golden Age industrialist Clovis Bray. That's the guy whose facilities are scattered around the solar system, including on Mars, and it was Bray's company that created the Warmind Rasputin, forth with a whole lot of other things. Bray and his scientists too set up facilities on the moon to study the pyramid ship at that place, which nosotros uncovered in the Shadowkeep expansion.

After his research on the moon (which, not so coincidentally, drove Bray's enquiry team out of their minds), Bray's discoveries drew him to Europa. There, he uncovered something he called Clarity Control: a giant Darkness statue hidden under the ice, very similar to the one seen in the pyramid ship beneath the Shadowkeep on the moon and in the Black Garden at the end of the Garden of Conservancy raid. The main difference betwixt the statues was that Clarity Command is huge, and obviously extremely powerful.

Clarity Command is, seemingly, a conduit direct to the intelligence behind the force that is the Darkness, likewise as a source of an "anti-entropy" field (this, it appears, is whatever the Darkness energy really is, a like physics-defying forcefulness to the Traveler's Light). Bray began researching Clarity Control and built an entire colony around it, called Eventide. Thank you to the arrival of the Black Fleet in the solar system and what was left in those research facilities, Eramis discovers artifacts called Splinters of Darkness that allow her to control Darkness free energy, now known equally Stasis. Essentially, she gains superpowers that requite her control of ice and cold. She names herself Kell of her ring of Fallen, the newly formed House Salvation, and plans to use Stasis non to complimentary the Fallen, but to create a new empire. The power seemingly corrupts Eramis and her council of advisoers. Variks, seeing the leader he in one case believed in falling to the dark side, flees and calls the Guardians for aid. Once again, he betrays his leaders, merely tells usa he did then for the adept of his people.

Variks might not seem especially trustworthy after everything that's happened in the last few years, but he does seem to have the Fallen's best interests at heart.
Variks might not seem especially trustworthy after everything that's happened in the last few years, just he does seem to accept the Fallen's best interests at heart.

Despite lingering animosity between the Vanguard and Variks for his function in Cayde'southward expiry, Guardians join him on Europa against the growing threat of Eramis and her Stasis powers. Information technology quickly becomes apparent, still, that Guardians' usual Light abilities might not be plenty to terminate the Kell of House Conservancy. The player Guardian escapes Eramis and her abilities, presently after meeting upwardly with a band of characters who take been researching the Darkness on behalf of humanity--Eris Morn, the Drifter, and the Exo Stranger from way back in Destiny 1. The group explains that they believe the only manner to defeat the Darkness and the Black Fleet is by using the enemy's own power against it, and so you set out nether the Stranger's guidance to gain Stasis powers yourself.

The power proves to be incredibly useful in fighting Eramis and her forces, but the Vanguard, and Zavala in particular, are not happy most the idea of Guardians wielding Darkness powers. Afterwards all, there are more than than a few stories of Guardians who were corrupted past their quests for forbidden power, and all became devastatingly dangerous.

Guardians slowly take down Eramis'southward advisers i by one, while likewise aiding Variks equally he guides Eliskni refugees out of Riis-Reborn so they tin escape the fighting. Somewhen, the Guardians defeat Eramis herself, although it seems the Darkness turns confronting her when she proves as well weak to stand against the Traveler's warriors. Of course, the whole situation has the feel of a manipulation by the intelligence backside the Darkness, in an effort to seduce Guardians to its side with the power of Stasis.

The Deep Rock Crypt

With Eramis out of the pic, the Vanguard goes on to mop up the concluding of her followers, and you work closely with the Exo Stranger to uncover Clovis Bray's secrets. The Stranger reveals her real identity: Elsie Bray, granddaughter of Clovis and sister to Ana Bray, the Guardian who you lot formerly worked with on Mars before it disappeared in the Season of Arrivals. Elsie helps you lot to further aggrandize your Stasis powers, while also asking your assistance in uncovering what Clovis was up to on Europa.

Beyond Light is as much about uncovering the secrets of the Exos, Clovis Bray, and the Stranger as it is about the Darkness.
Beyond Lite is equally much nearly uncovering the secrets of the Exos, Clovis Bray, and the Stranger as it is nigh the Darkness.

And Clovis was upwards to quite a fleck, as it turns out. His research on Europa included the Darkness, but information technology had a specific goal in mind: the creation of the Exos, i of Destiny's iii character races. Exos are robots into whom human minds have been transferred--they're people, only without living bodies. The Bray family suffered from a built disease that caused them to slowly deteriorate, and toward the terminate of his life, Clovis was obsessed with staving off his ain death by transferring his consciousness into an Exo. With what he learned about the Darkness--besides every bit the guidance (or manipulations) of the intelligent "entity" behind it--he was able to finally crack the lawmaking of putting human minds into Exo bodies. His Exo enquiry plan was located in a Europan facility called the Deep Rock Crypt.

The Deep Stone Catacomb is likewise the site of Across Calorie-free'southward raid; a team of Guardians are sent there to cease Eramis'southward last remaining lieutenant, Atraks, from using its technology to create an army of Fallen Exos. It turns out that at to the lowest degree two Exos have already been created using the facility: Atraks herself, and Taniks, a Fallen mercenary you've been hunting (and killing, though he never seems to stay dead) since all the manner dorsum in Destiny i. As you invade the Catacomb, you fight Atraks and Taniks in its attached orbital facility, which Clovis created partially as insurance. He knew Clarity Command, his conduit to the Darkness that made the Exo plan possible, could potentially be manipulating him, and the orbital facility served equally both a inquiry station and a giant nuclear bomb he could drop on the Crypt if things got out of control. Taniks attempts to drop the facility on Europa, destroying the entire moon, during the raid. The Guardians eventually stop him, saving Europa and the DSC, and putting a concluding end to the threat of Eramis and the Fallen Exos.

There's a lot more to the story of the Brays, however. Your raid on the DSC isn't the get-go fourth dimension Elsie tried to shut downwards the Exo program. She did the aforementioned back during the Gilded Age, non long after she was commencement transferred into an Exo body herself in club to save her from the Bray line's degenerative disease. The magic bullet that Clovis discovered to make the Exo programme work was, it turned out, the Vex. Clarity Control imparted the wisdom he needed to build a portal to a Vex colony, and Clovis and his researchers opened it to capture Vex constructs and use them in horrific human experiments equally they perfected Exo bodies. Elsie tried to cease Clovis's experiments and seal the portal to the Vex by dropping the orbital facility on the DSC--but she failed, and Clovis killed her.

When Clovis Bray transferred himself into his Exo body, his memories were wiped. Faced with the choice of who he wanted to be, the newborn Exo fought to save the people of Eventide and became Banshee-44.
When Clovis Bray transferred himself into his Exo torso, his memories were wiped. Faced with the choice of who he wanted to be, the newborn Exo fought to save the people of Eventide and became Banshee-44.

But while one version of Elsie was killed, thanks to the Exo creation procedure, a re-create of her mind remained. Clovis rebooted Elsie in a new trunk without the memories of her death or expose. In fact, wiping memories is a key function of the respond to getting human minds to accept Exo bodies; regular memory wipes are essential to keep the hardware and software in sync. (That's why Exos all accept a number after their names; it refers to the number of times that Exo has been rebooted with a mind wipe, which makes each iteration a slightly dissimilar person.)

Just as Clovis was finally virtually to transfer himself into an Exo, the Vex used the portal he'd opened to invade Europa, simply as Elsie had feared. When Clovis awoke in his new Exo body, he didn't recall the arrogant, self-centered man he had been, and with the threat of the Vex bearing down on the Braytech researchers and colonists, he joined the fight. With this new Exo'south assistance, the Vex were repelled and the people living on Europa were saved. The Exo abased the identity of Clovis Bray and the villainous man he had been, instead taking on a new identity: Banshee. Yup, the Tower's gunsmith was formerly Clovis Bray himself. In fact, Banshee'southward full proper noun is Banshee-44, a testament to his ferocity and resolve in battle. He went through those 44 iterations during his war with the Vex, falling and rebooting over again and again, and the deposition those reboots take had on his heed is why the character has ever been so forgetful when players have interacted with him in the Tower. A copy of the original Clovis's mind still exists, though, in the form of the artificial intelligence that runs Deep Rock Crypt. It'south still there, preserved in the facilities beneath the Europan surface.

The Night Timeline

We learn one concluding thing during the battles on Europa to secure the Deep Stone Crypt and terminate Eramis. During our fourth dimension with Elsie, she reveals why she had appeared in Destiny 1 and guided player Guardians to the Black Garden. Elsie, information technology turns out, is a fourth dimension traveler, seemingly using some combination of Bray and Vex technology from the Golden Age to leap between timelines. When she appeared in Destiny i and interacted with players, she did and then to alter the course of history. Sending players to destroy the Heart of the Blackness Garden plainly turned the course of events away from devastation. When she appears on Europa to guide Guardians in using Stasis, Elsie is messing with the timeline withal again.

In the other timelines Elsie has seen, the Darkness eventually corrupted many of the Guardians in the solar system, turning them against one another. That corruption found Eris Morn, turning her into a threat worse than even the Hive gods, Savathun and Xivu Arath. The Vanguard was destroyed, Guardians were killed, and eventually, the Darkness won. Most importantly, though, in the futures Elsie had seen, Ana Bray was too corrupted. Elsie has killed the dark version of her sister many times; her interference in the timeline is, first and foremost, virtually saving Ana.

The Bray family relationship is an important part of Elsie's attempts to fix the timeline.
The Bray family relationship is an important part of Elsie's attempts to prepare the timeline.

Convincing Guardians to understand and use the Darkness, Elsie believes, could exist the thing that saves humanity. The idea is that guidance in using Stasis against the Darkness can protect Guardians from existence seduced by it; in the futures when Guardians have discovered the ability on their ain or been lured to information technology past the Darkness, they've inevitably fallen. Elsie also reveals her identity to Ana for the first time in our current timeline, hoping that her presence as a positive force in Ana'south life will assist foreclose her from turning to the Darkness.

Chiefly, though, we've at present entered a present that Elsie has never experienced before, because she has altered the flow of events through her interference, and she doesn't know how things will play out. Her large gamble has been to encourage Guardians to use the power of Stasis as a weapon, and that puts her at odds with some characters, including Zavala. And though it has by and large been an undercurrent chemical element of the story this year, appearing mostly in lore text, Stasis has corrupted some Guardians along the way. The threat of the Darkness taking hold of Guardians remains.

The Season of the Hunt

While the crisis on Europa was unfolding, other threats were appearing in the solar system. After the Flavor of Arrivals, exiled Guardian Osiris traveled the solar system, gathering data about the places where Mars, Io, Mercury, and Titan had once been. During his investigations, he is attacked by the High Celebrant, a powerful minion of Xivu Arath, the Hive god of war and sister of Oryx.

Osiris sends a message to the Vanguard alert of Xivu Arath and imparting that the High Celebrant has killed his Ghost, Sagira. Seeking vengeance, Osiris goes subsequently the High Celebrant with the goal of killing information technology, but with no Ghost to resurrect him, the Warlock is vulnerable to dying 1 last time. In response, player Guardians speed to the moon to rescue Osiris, but we arrive merely in time to see him saved past a "freelance" Lightbearer who calls himself The Crow.

The Crow, nosotros quickly discover, is a resurrected Guardian who had once been Uldren Sov, Cayde-six's murderer and brother to Awoken Queen Mara Sov. Uldren was also the human being nosotros, the players, executed during the Forsaken expansion in revenge for Cayde. However, Guardians don't recall their past lives subsequently they've been resurrected--but with Uldren's face, a confused Crow repeatedly institute himself attacked past Guardians enraged at seeing the killer of Cayde-6. Eventually, Crow was taken in by the Spider, the offense lord in residence on the Taken Shore, and employed as an enforcer. Simply the Spider isn't especially chivalrous: He places explosives inside the shell of Crow'southward Ghost, essentially turning him into a slave. If Crow e'er does something Spider doesn't like, the offense lord volition impale Crow'due south Ghost, severing him from the Light and making him mortal.

In the Crow's early life as a Guardian, he was hounded by other Lightbearers who thought they'd found the hated Uldren Sov.
In the Crow's early life every bit a Guardian, he was hounded by other Lightbearers who thought they'd found the hated Uldren Sov.

Spider agrees to allow Crow to help the Guardians and Osiris deal with the threat of Xivu Arath, which is spreading through a portion of the solar system. When the Darkness arrived in the season before Beyond Low-cal, Savathun attempted to interfere with the signals it sent to Eris Forenoon and the other Guardians. Failing in her attempt to keep us from interacting with the Darkness, Savathun went into hiding. That gave Xivu Arath an opening to consolidate her ain power. She dispatches Hive totems called Cryptoliths beyond the Tangled Shore, the Dreaming City, and the moon. The powerful artifacts decadent the minds of nearby creatures, turning them into an ground forces called the Wrathborn. Under Osiris's guidance and with Crow's aid, we set out to hunt the Wrathborn and destroy them, with the ultimate goal of tracking down and killing the High Celebrant.

Though we and Spider both know Crow'southward original identity, that information is withheld from Crow himself, as is our role in Uldren's death. But Crow is not Uldren, and while we hide our connectedness to him, we soon become friends as we piece of work to chase down the Wrathborn. It is ultimately Crow'southward plan, likewise as his willingness to risk himself, that allows usa to trap and destroy the High Celebrant and avenge Sagira.

Along the way, Crow begins experiencing strange dreams, much like those players had during the Red War, which seem to be direct messages from the Traveler. They lead him, and united states of america, to the EDZ on Earth in a mission called Harbinger, where nosotros battle Hive and Taken enemies attacking a Shard of the Traveler. It seems that Crow's connexion to the Traveler is a powerful i, and that'southward likely going to come up once again in the future.

The defeat of the Wrathborn means that, for once, the Spider owes united states something. We utilize our leverage with the crime boss to buy Crow's freedom. Osiris takes intendance of him, finding a mask Crow tin article of clothing that hides his identity. When Zavala calls on Osiris for aid with a growing diplomatic consequence, Crow accompanies him and finds a place in the Last City--while hiding his quondam identity as Uldren Sov.

The Flavor of the Called

Xivu Arath isn't just attacking our solar system. The Hive god of war sacked the Cabal homeworld, forcing the empire to flee to the Sol system.
Xivu Arath isn't only attacking our solar system. The Hive god of war sacked the Cabal homeworld, forcing the empire to abscond to the Sol system.

Xivu Arath isn't but at work in our solar system, making trouble with her Wrathborn. While we were messing around on Europa, the Hive god of war tried to deal a deathblow to the Conduce on their home planet, Torobotl. The Cabal at that place resisted the Hive as best they could, but ultimately, the planet was lost. The remaining Cabal fled the planet, led by Empress Caiatl, the daughter of the exiled Calus and successor to Dominus Ghaul, the leader of the Cabal's Ruddy Legion from back in vanilla Destiny 2.

Things are desperate for Caiatl, and so she brings the concluding of the Cabal empire to join up with the remnants of the Ruby Legion. She's as well seeking other allies: Guardians. That's a hard sell for people like Commander Zavala, given a long history of animosity with the Cabal and the devastation of the Cherry-red War. Diplomatic tension increases when Cabal culture demands that Caiatl suggest Guardians bring together the empire and go subservient to her. An alliance against the Hive betwixt the Vanguard and the Cabal would mean Zavala kneeling earlier Caiatl and surrendering to her leadership. Equally one might expect, that's a large "no sale" from the Vanguard commander.

Zavala isn't happy near the idea of another major leader growing a military in the solar organization, though. Together with Osiris, Lord Saladin, and Crow, he looks to disrupt Caiatl's plans of gathering a war council from the Cabal in the solar system. As part of ancient tradition, Caiatl institutes a ritual called the Proving Grounds, where Cabal warriors tin boxing to prove themselves worthy of serving on her war council. But with the correct Cabal artifacts, tradition dictates that anyone can take part in these rituals--and then the Vanguard starts dispatching Guardians to fight in the rituals and mess up Caiatl's plans and kill her champions.

Even while it's interfering with Caiatl's plans, the Vanguard is open to talks of some kind of peace accordance with the Conduce, but Crow starts to suspect that a plot is afoot against Zavala. Osiris thinks Crow'southward worries are overblown, but Crow starts following Zavala without his knowledge, though keeping his distance--Osiris and Ikora have hidden from Zavala the fact that Crow used to exist Uldren. Despite Osiris'due south doubts, Crow turns out to be correct: Conduce Psions endeavor to assassinate Zavala in the Last Urban center, but Crow is there to cease it. Zavala catches sight of him during the bump-off endeavor, and while he doesn't realize the person he saw was Crow, he does get the impression that he saw Uldren before the other human being disappeared. Crow learns more well-nigh the Psions' plans to assassinate Zavala, including their apply of a miniaturized version of Ghaul'south Traveler net, which they're going to use to disable Zavala'due south Ghost and sever his connectedness to the Light.

Zavala finally learned Crow's former identity after the young Guardian saved the Vanguard commander from an assassination attempt.
Zavala finally learned Crow'due south former identity later on the immature Guardian saved the Vanguard commander from an assassination attempt.

The second assassination attempt goes downwardly at a coming together with Caiatl, only Crow again steps in to finish it. This fourth dimension, Crow's mask slips, revealing his true identity to Zavala. Instead of reacting harshly against Uldren, the man who killed his friend Cayde, Zavala responds to the state of affairs past offering Crow his hand in friendship.

At the aforementioned fourth dimension, Caiatl maintains that she had goose egg to do with the Psions' attempts on Zavala's life (and in fact, the Psions are members of the Cabal who were formerly slaves but are now gaining ability as an private faction). Caiatl executes the Psions responsible and Zavala manages to maintain tenuous diplomacy with the Cabal going forward. There are no outright hostilities betwixt the two groups, but they're not quite allies, either.

Equally for Crow, Zavala isn't happy that he was deceived by people close to him, only he decides to keep the freelance Lightbearer close--and that Crow should continue to hibernate his identity from the public.\

Eventually, the crew of the Glykon was killed by the things they experimented on.
Eventually, the crew of the Glykon was killed by the things they experimented on.

Presage: A Glimpse of the Future

While the Vanguard executes its plans to disrupt the Conduce, a strange discovery is made. A Guardian distress call leads to the discovery of a Cabal ship called the Glykon floating derelict in infinite, and Osiris dispatches united states to check it out. Logs discovered on the send reveal that information technology was captained by Katabasis, a Guardian who worked for the exiled Calus. The Glykon'due south mission was to endeavour to district with the "entity," the intelligence seemingly behind the Darkness (which essentially seems to exist the Darkness version of the Traveler, although we know nothing about information technology all the same). To practice that, Calus ordered his soldiers to capture Scorn--former Fallen who were resurrected through the power of the Darkness--and tried to use their Darkness-addled minds in combination with the Crown of Sorrow to brand contact with the Entity.

The Crown of Sorrow is an artifact with its own history with the Darkness. Calus discovered the detail some time ago and hoped it would requite him the power to control the Hive, simply he suspected a trap and refused to wear the crown himself. Instead, he used the Leviathan to genetically engineer a soldier named Gahlran expressly to use the Crown of Sorrow. As it turned out, Calus was right to be cautious: The Crown was created by Savathun, and she hoped to use it to gain command of the Cabal emperor. Instead, the crown corrupted Gahlran and he took over a portion of the Leviathan with the Hive Calus kept there. All that served equally backstory for the at present-vaulted Crown of Sorrow raid, in which Guardians killed Gahlran, leaving the artifact in Calus's possession. In Presage, we see how he tried to experiment with it.

Aboard the Glykon, the result of using the crown on the Contemptuousness became pretty horrific. Osiris analyzes the Glykon'southward data logs as you explore it, and is later joined in the endeavour by Caiatl, who insists on observing your investigation into the ship because she's searching for the whereabouts of Calus, her father. The pair larn that, after failed attempts to make contact with the Darkness, the Glykon flew into the foreign spacial bibelot left in Mars's place when the planet disappeared at the end of the Season of Arrivals. That immune Calus, finally, to connect with the Entity--before he vanished equally well. Trapped in the anomaly, the Glykon and its crew underwent strange changes, losing their grips on reality, and the ship seemed to rearrange itself in impossible means. Eventually, the Contemptuousness went mad, overran the send, and killed everyone. Katabasis'south Ghost was corrupted by the dark power, and you eventually observe the Guardian himself dead on the bridge of the ship, covered in strange vines that seem to abound from (or feed on) Darkness.

What are these weird plants and what did they do this this Guardian?
What are these weird plants and what did they do this this Guardian?

What happened to Calus is unknown, and the information gleaned from the Glykon suggests that the emperor did manage to commune with the Entity, although it's unclear to what end. Afterwards the ship is fully investigated, Osiris suggests the Crown of Sorrow be returned to the Tower for Vanguard study, although there's a fair amount of pushback against that idea because of worries about Savathun's potential influence exerted through the artifact. At this point, the ultimate fate of the Crown of Sorrow is unknown.

The Flavour of the Splicer

While diplomatic relations of a blazon are at least open up betwixt the Vanguard and the Cabal, another threat moves against the Last City soon after the failed assassination attempt against Zavala. The Vex, using some sort of simulation engineering, manage to coating the Last Metropolis in an endless night. Though the mechanics of that Endless Night are a little unclear, its effects are immediate--the perpetual darkness drains the city's power and helps to spread sickness.

At the same time, the Vanguard receives a distress signal from Europa through Variks. The Eliksni refugees who left Eramis's ranks have come under assail past Vex. Guardians, forth with Ikora Rey, are dispatched to help, escorting the Eliksni and their leader, Mithrax, back to the Last City.

Mithrax is a Fallen captain who appeared in a mission way back at the beginning of Destiny 2. He leads y'all on a chase through the quondam facilities of Titan, and when you lot come to the end of that chase, you find him locked in boxing confronting a Hive Knight. If you shoot the knight only let the helm live, he is surprised, seemingly thanks you, and disappears. (Y'all can kill the Mithrax or both enemies instead, just that's the non-canon conclusion to the mission.) Your mercy changed Mithrax'due south listen about humanity and the Fallen's situation, and he later helps the Vanguard, most notably aiding Guardians confronting Eramis'due south crew when they tried to steal Outbreak Perfected. He besides traveled with a fireteam of Guardians for a time, before he started a new Eliksni firm to protect those who do non wish to fight: the Business firm of Calorie-free.

The internal politics of the Tower were at the forefront of the Season of the Splicer, and it was great.
The internal politics of the Tower were at the forefront of the Season of the Splicer, and information technology was great.

As well as beingness a new Kell (the Eliksni word for leader or king), Mithrax is also a sacred splicer, resurrecting ancient Eliksni practices for communing with machines. He believes he can help y'all hack into the Vex network and terminate the Endless Night--that's why the Vex are trying to kill him in the first place. So Mithrax joins the Vanguard and, with his help, yous work to hack and enter the Vex network to uncover how the Endless Nighttime was created and put a stop to it.

Not everyone is excited about this Eliksni brotherhood, even so. Many of the people living in the city meet them as enemies who accept terrorized humanity for centuries, and at present, suddenly, humans are forced to share space with the Eliksni and live beside them. Some are welcoming--Ikora sees the benefits of the brotherhood and Crow, who spent time living with the Eliksni on the Tangled Shore, sees them as friends--but others are unwilling to look beyond the past.

The loudest voice among those who don't trust the Eliksni is Lakshmi-2, the leader of the Future War Cult. The FWC is 1 of three factions that stand for the civilian population of the Last City, and forth with the Vanguard, serve to govern it. The faction's whole deal is using strange technology to look into the time to come and preparing for the conflicts that await there. Lakshmi sees several futures this mode and believes that the Eliksni will turn on the humans. She wants to finish them, simply she also believes she can use this state of affairs to her advantage to gain political power.

While Mithrax and the Vanguard make moves to try to stop the Vex, Lakshmi uses radio broadcasts to drum up civil unrest and hatred of the Eliksni among the people. She also gathers the other factions, New Monarchy and Dead Orbit, with the plan of attempting to overthrow Zavala and the Vanguard, seeing them as having abandoned their duties past bringing the Eliksni inside the city walls. She tries to gain the support of Osiris and Saint-14, the latter of which went on a famous ane-man crusade against the Fallen. But Saint-xiv's mind is changed when Mithrax tells him that, amongst his people, "The Saint" is considered a legendary monster, much like the Fallen are to humanity. That softens Saint's heart, and as he spends more time with the Eliksni, he becomes a friend to Mithrax and an ally to the House of Calorie-free.

Mithrax and Saint-14 defended the Eliksni refugees together, despite the fact that Saint's campaign against the Fallen had turned him to a monster of legend in their eyes.
Mithrax and Saint-14 defended the Eliksni refugees together, despite the fact that Saint's entrada against the Fallen had turned him to a monster of legend in their optics.

Things are made worse as Lakshmi continues her anti-Eliksni propaganda, which results in vandalism and attacks against the Eliksni. Simply as the unrest seems like information technology could go out of control, though, Mithrax, Ikora, Osiris, and the Guardian discover that the forcefulness behind the Vex's assail on the Last City is Quria, Blade Transform--a Vex heed Taken by Oryx some time in the distant by. Oryx gifted Quria to Savathun, and then we discover that it'south the Hive god of deceit who is truly backside the Countless Nighttime, and who is using the Vex every bit pawns to execute that attack. With Mithrax'south assist, you're able to track downwards Quria in the Vex network. Osiris suggests that capturing Quria might exist a good idea, but in the end, the Vanguard decides information technology'south better to destroy the mind, and by killing it, you lot stop the Endless Night.

Nonetheless, Quria is not the only enemy y'all nonetheless have to face. Lakshmi tries to execute her insurrection plans and opens a Vex gate in the Eliksni quarter of the City, allowing the robot aliens to stream in and attack. She claims Osiris helps her, merely Lakshmi is killed during the assail and Osiris disappears. Meanwhile, Saint, Ikora, and the Guardians manage to defeat the Vex and save the Eliksni refugees, solidifying the alliance between the Vanguard and House Lite.

The Season of the Lost

Immediately subsequently the Vex incursion is stopped, however, you're called to the Dreaming City. At long last, after years away, Queen Mara Sov has returned. As you arrive, she is meeting with Osiris--who suddenly reveals that he was, in fact, Savathun in some kind of shape-shifted disguise. You haven't been interacting with Osiris at all since Beyond Light, in fact. Since the moment Crow saved the Warlock on the moon, the person you've been confiding in was the Hive god of deception.

Savathun encases herself in some kind of huge magic crystal, and claims that she wants the help of the Guardians and Mara Sov to destroy the parasitic worm within her. The worms are the source of the Hive'southward dark powers, but they also demand constant feeding, which is why the Hive never finish murdering, conquering, and growing their forcefulness. Savathun wants to interruption that cycle, and she claims that she has been working with you, in the guise of Osiris, to aid you then that yous might help her gain her liberty. She makes a bargain with the Vanguard: She'll reveal the location of the real Osiris in return for our assist. Stricken by the revelation that Osiris was actually Savathun, Saint-14, the Warlock's partner, begins to search the solar system for the missing Guardian.

Savathun essentially turns herself in and is encased in a crystal, but that doesn't stop her from continuing to sew dissension.
Savathun substantially turns herself in and is encased in a crystal, but that doesn't stop her from continuing to stitch dissension.

Mara agrees to help Savathun destroy her worm, although this besides is a ruse. The existent plan for Mara is to kill the worm, and so put an end to Savathun, too--destroying the worm will sever Savathun's connection to the Darkness and make her vulnerable. Savathun has been a major threat for years in Destiny 2--it was Savathun who used Riven (with the aid of Quria) to curse the Dreaming City, locking it into a 3-week timeloop. Mara also blames the Hive god for Uldren'southward death, since Savathun and Riven together used him to gain access to the Dreaming Urban center in the first place.

Just to go rid of Savathun's worm in the first place, Mara needs the assist of her Techeuns, a grouping of powerful Awoken witches. The Techeuns were scattered throughout the Ascendant Realm when they ventured there to help Mara, who had been hiding out in the foreign dimension after her decease at the hands of Oryx. Dying and resurrecting on the Ascendant Plane was all part of Mara'due south elaborate plan, but she didn't anticipate the wrinkle of Xivu Arath when the queen finally was ready to come out of hiding. The Techeuns found Mara and managed to save her from the Dominant Plane, bringing her back to our world, but they were lost in the endeavor and some were even Taken. And so the Vanguard decides to send Guardians to help Mara rescue the Techeuns, which is done by reawakening pathways through the Dominant Realm called "leylines." Each fourth dimension leylines are restored, still, Xivu Arath gains more pathways to attack the Dreaming Metropolis, and it quickly becomes apparent that she has consolidated all the forces of Darkness into her ground forces to practise so: the Hive, the Taken, and the Contemptuousness.

At the aforementioned time, Savathun seems to be running a game of her own. In wanting to destroy her worm and escape her covenant from it, she's turned confronting the Darkness--that's why she was trying to stop Guardians from receiving its signals back in the Season of Arrivals. Turning against her former patrons, the worm gods, has fabricated Savathun an enemy to Xivu Arath, and the Hive god of war is hunting her sister. Hiding out as Osiris, manipulating the Guardians, and moving pawns around the board all year are actions in service of Savathun's greater programme.

She discusses the situation with you at a number of intervals, explaining that there is much y'all don't know almost what is happening, and a much larger threat looming just out of sight--presumably the Entity Calus tried to contact. Savathun claims that she is a friend and was interim in humanity's interests when impersonating Osiris. That last bespeak is particularly difficult for Crow, who did consider Osiris a friend and is struggling with his feelings about Savathun. What'southward more, Crow knows there'south much that everyone is keeping from him, especially Mara Sov, who doesn't reveal that Crow used to be her brother Uldren. Eventually, it's Savathun who reveals Crow's past to him, restoring his memories. Haunted by who he was and what he did as Uldren, Crow leaves the Dreaming City and requests a new assignment. Ikora sends him to act as a liaison with Caiatl and introduces him to Mithrax's former fireteam, providing him a new potential role with the Vanguard. Information technology'south an open question of how Crow might react to Mara'southward plans for Savathun--and Mara, it appears, has plans for Crow likewise, hoping to gain his loyalty and control him the way she did her brother.

The Season of the Lost shows how the two queens--Mara Sov and Savathun--are both trying to use their cunning for their unknown agendas.
The Flavor of the Lost shows how the two queens--Mara Sov and Savathun--are both trying to use their cunning for their unknown agendas.

After months of preparation, Mara and her Techeuns are finally able to brainstorm their exorcism of Savathun'south worm, simply the piece of work we did to reconnect the leylines as well opens the door for Xivu Arath. She launches an set on on Mara's spire where the exorcism takes place, and Guardians are forced to fight their way through the attack to get to Mara, the coven, and Saint-14 to protect the ritual. Despite Xivu Arath'south efforts, however, the Guardians concur off the assault and the exorcism is a success, removing Savathun'southward worm.

With the ritual complete, Mara prepares to conclude her plan and destroy the now-vulnerable Savathun. Much to her chagrin, however, Savathun is one pace ahead somehow. When the crystal encasing the Witch Queen shatters, she's (somehow) already gone, presumably through some combination of infinite magic and Dominant Airplane trickery. Perhaps she was never present to begin with.

Someone is there, however: Osiris. He has survived the ordeal and is free of Savathun'due south possession. Saint-fourteen returns Osiris to the Belfry to care for him, and Mara notes that while her disability to kill Savathun was a setback, information technology's non a total loss. Savathun held upwardly her end of the deal, and Mara was able to extract her living worm. From the sounds of things, Mara intends to interrogate or otherwise gain intelligence from the brute, which could exist useful in the war against the Darkness.

And that brings u.s.a. upward to the nowadays. The Witch Queen launches on February 22, and promises to upend Destiny 2's story yet again as nosotros work to uncover Savathun's secrets. There are still some lingering questions from the Season of the Lost that could encounter answers in the expansion. And still, while Savathun appears to be our enemy, information technology's not clear what her current motivations and plans are.