Destiny 2’s Lightfall expansion wasn’t met with the same amount of hype it had gathered from its pre-launch trailers and marketing, and the main complaint among players was that the story fell flat and failed to deliver. Season of Defiance was not immune from the same fate, either, as it was good for an accompanying release, but it did nothing to make up for Lightfall’s shortcomings outside of delivering an emotional death after that of Rohan in the main campaign. However,Destiny 2’s Season of the Deepfeatured a slow-burner of a storyline that instead delivered - so much so that its finale was obvious to some, although it’s breaking a massive tradition for the game.
Season of the Deep’s cutscene about The Witness single-handedly fixed everything that was wrong with the Lightfall expansion, to the point that many ended up asking why couldn’t Bungie include it in the campaign, instead. It would have likely saved the expansion on its own, but then again, it also works very well in the context of Season 21. The finale, however, also came with another impressive cutscene that not only revealed 2’s Xivu Arathand Sloane, but also made The Witch Queen campaign’s ending come full circle by addressing that Savathun needs to be revived.
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How Destiny 2’s Season of the Deep Breaks a Big Narrative Tradition
Given that Savathun has always been one of the biggest enemies of mankind in the game’s lore, the reveal that she had been blessed by the Traveler’s Light came as a shock to many NPCs and players alike. Her machinations in The Witch Queen made it difficult to see where she stood given her plans to take The Traveler to her Throne World and seal it there to protect it from The Witness, an act that would have also deprivedDestiny 2’s Guardians of their Light.
When Savathun was defeated at the end of The Witch Queen campaign, her Ghost Immaru fled, which was immediately seen as a plot thread that would eventually be reprised. Season of the Deep does exactly that, with Ahsa revealing that Savathun will have to be resurrected if players are to go through the portal The Witness opened on The Traveler withDestiny 2’s The Veilat the end of Lightfall. While this may be an obvious conclusion to The Witch Queen’s storyline, the fact that the game openly talks about upcoming events and the characters involved is a first.
The finalcutscene for Season of the Deepis basically confirming the main plot of Season 22, as well as the fact that Ikora and Eris Morn will be in it, which the game has never done before. There were hints that Bungie left behind at some given points, such as the Vox Obscura pinpointing major events for Year 5’s seasons and Lightfall itself, but they were never as explicit as the finale for Season of the Deep. This is a big tradition forDestiny 2to break, too, as many players are upset with the current state of the game, and big shake-ups like this can go a long way.
Since seasonal storylines typically culminate over the course of several weeks, and it’s stated by Zavala himself that the Vanguard will have to bargain with Immaru for him to resurrect Savathun, the cutscene does even more than explain the base plot. Players will likely report to Ikora and her Hiddens their findings, with Eris Morn probably playing a supporting role as the Drifter did in Season of the Deep, all while Guardians have to track down Immaru.Savathun’s resurrection inDestiny 2will likely happen at the tail end of Season 22, and the information she has to share will then spoil the main plot of Season 23 ahead of The Final Shape. Overall, breaking this tradition will probably do well forDestiny 2, and players won’t be left completely in the dark about the next two seasons before they start.
Destiny 2is available on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
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