In Destiny 2 fights the Light against the Darkness. Witch Queen marks a turning point in the story and everything that comes after it will likely be crucial for this epic battle. We take you on a little story journey and tell you what the biggest enemy in Destiny 2 has been planning for a long time.
In Destiny 2, the Light and Darkness battle with two paracausal forces that could not be more different. Both wage their conflict across the multiverse to determine the ultimate fate. And the Guardians are at the center of this event.
Witch Queen brings the antagonists into position: For the first time in the history of Destiny 2, the greatest antagonist of the Traveler has revealed himself and even raised his voice. Players now know the face of their greatest enemy and he has a clear message. Both to the Traveler and to the Guardians.
But not everything is revealed yet: In the raid “The Oath of the Student”, which starts tonight at 7 PM, players will enter the mysterious pyramid for the first time and unveil the plans of a student of the Witness.
What is the new raid about? As it seems, the Scorn has stolen resonant runes from the Shining Brood and combined them with worm larvae. The latest public event in the open world already hints at this. Apparently also on behalf of the mysterious Witness, who controls the Darkness.
This enemy whispered to you Guardians in the Black Garden, he gave you Stasis, a power of Darkness, made entire planets/moons (Titan, Io, Mercury, and Mars) disappear, and he is the one playing a very special game with the Traveler.
Destiny 2 is just a cosmic game with flowers
In Witch Queen, the greatest antagonist of the Light has actively entered the scene and the story: the Witness. In this context, I would like to tell you about a garden and a flower game played by the Light and the Darkness.
This game began when there was no time and is played repeatedly by the Gardener, the Traveler, and the “Winnower”. In this article, we assume that the Winnower is the Witness, who is cloaked in Darkness.
Even now, Destiny 2 players are in the midst of this flower game. But many Guardians do not even know that it exists.
What is the flower game? The name “flower game” sounds simple. However, it is a complex game from which viable universes arise. It is played by two unimaginably powerful beings, the Light and the Darkness, in a garden.
The garden, as the Darkness calls it, is just a metaphor for the probability space, something that existed before time, space, and existence in general.
- The Gardener (the Traveler), presses flower seeds into the clay of the garden during this game to see what becomes of them.
- In the evening, the Winnower (the Witness), i.e. the Darkness, harvests the seed of the day and separates what would thrive from what is spoiled.
- The game is undecidable. For no one can predict exactly how it will end, except by playing it.
This game with the cosmos, however, has a problem: While an arbitrary number of universes are simulated in the patterns of the flower game, inevitably the same thing happens over and over. A “final form” repeats endlessly and gradually dominates all other patterns. The Witness has always admired this dominant pattern. It frustrated the Traveler.
Over time, the Traveler became increasingly irritated by this. He felt that the nature of this final form prevented all other possibilities and restricted the game, calling it boring and a “plague”.
In every game we play, this one pattern devours all others. Nullifies every interesting development. A stupid, boring exploit that prevents entire realms of possibility from ever emerging. There is so much that we will never get to see because of it… plague.
Lore “Book: Revelation” from the expansion “Shadowkeep”
He wanted to end that, and to achieve this, the Traveler made himself a rule within the flower game. That was supposed to promote the diversity and complexity of the game. However, the Darkness did the same and also became a rule, enforcing simplicity. Again, they became opposites, as it must be.
The Traveler only postponed the final form: The Witness, his greatest enemy, was not pleased with this rule change and was even angry to the point of panic about this undertaking. So he warned the Traveler. Everything that the Light intended to achieve with this new rule would only delay the dominant pattern. It would come one way or another because it is inevitable. It is just the final form.
Destiny 2 is preparing for a grand finale: This “final form” awaits Destiny 2 players in the next DLC. Bungie has stated that both “Lightfall, the next DLC, and “Final Shape” will continue the saga of Light and Darkness. And from what is known so far, this could be one of the biggest stories ever told in a first-person shooter.
Until now, the Darkness has always been just the ominous enigma, nothing tangible. There was no one who knew exactly what it was and certainly not what it wanted. It was only in Season 15 and the current Season 16 that more and more was revealed about the Darkness and the ominous Witness.
Savathun is an important part of this story, her past as well as her future. Bungie needs her to complete the story of the saga of Light and Darkness.
Savathun plays a key role as the last chess piece
With Witch Queen, the Guardians have for the first time got an exciting and very direct look at the grand game and the rift between Light and Darkness.
In the Witch Queen campaign, the Guardians aim to find out how Savathun stole the Light from the Traveler. Instead, they discover that the Witch Queen received the Light voluntarily from the Traveler.
Story-wise, Bungie detonated a first bomb in Destiny 2, leaving the Guardians incredulous and questioning. But that was far from the end.
The Guardians continue to investigate eagerly because they want to know: why? Every tiny memory of Savathun is uncovered. When we reveal Savathun’s last memory, Destiny 2 detonates the next bomb: it was all planned by the Witch Queen.
- Savathun experimented with Void-Light on Titan to transfer it to the Hive.
- She used Crow as a “case study”. He was once heavily corrupted by the Darkness through Riven and she used him to find out if the Traveler would choose such a person for the Light.
- In the next step, she restored his memories because she wanted to know what effect that would have.
- She knew that as a Lightbearer she would lose all her memories. So she had to find a way to retain them. For this purpose, she cleverly uses the curious Guardians, who serve her all their memories on a silver platter.
During the campaign, I wondered: “Why does the Witch Queen invest so much in the Light?” Has she perhaps long realized that her path in Darkness was the wrong one?
The Witch Queen is cunning and clever: However, before the last story mission, we learn through the Worm Acolyte that the Witness actively deceived Savathun. He invented the Cataclysm, causing young Sathona to choose Darkness. The Witness spoke to her through the Worm Acolyte and led her to ally not with the Light, but with the Darkness. He did this because he knew that the Traveler had already arrived and planned to bestow the Light upon the Hive.
Afterward, he used the Hive for centuries for his own benefit and manipulated them. Was Savathun’s desire to distance herself from her evil, the Worm, and therefore from the Darkness, a conscious choice? Did she already realize that a long time ago and start searching for a way to rescue the Traveler as well?
When Ghaul imprisoned the Traveler in the Red War, the connection of the Guardians to the Light was severed. When Savathun pulls the Traveler into her Throne World, nothing happens. The Guardians remained blessed with the Light and could use it freely. Did the Traveler perhaps want this? Did he voluntarily go to Savathun so that she would shield him?
This idea became more concrete when I listened to the lyrics in the Launch Trailer again. Bungie used the song “Cruel World” by Phantogram to tease the Witch Queen. It includes:
Goodbye to my good side, it has only ever hurt me and I finally learned.
Excerpt from the lyrics of “Cruel World” by Phantogram
I believe Savathun has consciously opposed her greatest enemy in Destiny 2, the Witness, and outsmarted him. She was tired of the Darkness and wanted to turn towards the Light, her true destiny.
All revelations from her memories had faded from her, but she devised the perfect plan to retrieve them again. The last memory that she was deceived by the Witness was apparently nothing new to her. Instead, she mockingly asks us at the end: “Do you know who I am?”
“Yes, we know. You are the goddess of trickery and your tricks are never random or fate.”
The Witch Queen deceived the Witness for us: Savathun has lived long enough to know that the Witness has attacked countless life forms across the universe in his quest for the Traveler. Humanity barely survived the first assault of Darkness, and the Traveler was severely wounded, the Light nearly extinguished.
During this attack, Savathun was also present. It was she who deceived the Witness with a trick back then and thus prevented the downfall of humanity. Savathun seems to have helped in the background with her song that the Traveler comes to the people and blesses them with the Light next.
This realization comes from the Lore of the Fundament Ghost Shell. It was only afterward that the Traveler created the Guardians. The “devil,” as the Rigby family calls it, bears a striking resemblance to the Witch Queen.
The devil opened his eyes – one, two, three – and pointed to the last star in the sky, far to the south. She said: “That is your star, Sean Rigby. Follow it every night when it is the last low-hanging star, and sing to it. You sing: ‘Al Eck Ruk Nam, Shu Nam Eck Ur’ until you have called this star down to the earth. If you do this, your family will survive. […] The Rigbys did as directed and headed south. Every night they sang and every night the star sank lower and lower. And when it finally fell, they were safe beneath the Traveler.”
Excerpt from the Lore of the Fundament Ghost Shell
The Vanguard does not want to lose the Light: Even now the Witness is near, and Savathun knew this. Zavala and Ikora, however, have never seen the actions of the Witch Queen as a rescue attempt, but rather as an attack on the Traveler. Ikora did not further question the motives of the Traveler to give the Light to Savathun. Zavala, unable to decide, ultimately relied on Ikora’s judgment.
Subsequently, the Vanguard sent us Guardians with blazing cannons against Savathun to finally eliminate her. It is unthinkable for them that anyone other than us Guardians and the Last City can use or be chosen for the Light.
However, it was the Traveler himself who established Savathun as the “White Queen”. A role that was actually already long meant for her and was only prevented by the Witness.
This is where I started to doubt the Vanguard: Savathun was indeed eager to use the Light and even dragged the Traveler into her Throne World. But why? She would not have destroyed him. By her own admission, she even wanted to protect him. Only the Vanguard’s eagerness to recover the Traveler has resulted in the last chess piece of the game, the White Queen, no longer being on the board.
Now nothing stands between us and the Witness, who has a clear message for us.
This time there is no escape!
“The Witness” in the Witch Queen campaign
The Witness has declared the game over
At the end of the “Witch Queen” campaign, Darkness itself reveals itself and thus Destiny 2 finally unveils the greatest enemy. The so-called “Witness” has observed everything. After the death of Savathun, he declares the game over and, along with the Traveler, us as his next target.
I have seen enough. The children of Sol plead for salvation. You promise them life, but bring only death. As so many times before. Enough. Enough death. Enough life. You have no game pieces left. The game is over. *[He then turns to the Guardian]* Do not be afraid. Your pale heart holds the key.
“The Witness” in the “Witch Queen” campaign
It sounds like an announcement for the impending end. All the game pieces of the Traveler have fallen. Xivu Arath, the Black Queen, stands on the side of Darkness, and we Guardians have obviously never been an active part of the game. The Traveler has no options left.
In the story, players get a first glimpse of “the Witness”. However, we have marked the image as a spoiler so you can decide for yourself if you want to look at it.
SPOILER: This is what the greatest enemy of the Traveler looks like.
However, there is the matter of the key: I believe the Witness admires us Guardians. He sees us, although we are not part of the actual game, as the last argument of the Traveler and wants to pull us to his side. Whispers to us that we Guardians are merely means to an end for the Traveler. But also full of the only thing that is worth anything.
It was the Gardener who chose you [Guardians] from the dead. I [the Witness] would not have done that. It’s simply not in me. But now, since he has invested in you, you are incredible, unique, and special. You are the last argument of the Gardener [the Traveler]. It would mean everything if I could convince you that I am the right and only way. I truly value you. For the Gardener [the Traveler], you are just a means to an end. For me, you are majestic. You are full of the only thing that is worth anything.
The Witness in the Lore book “Revelation” from the expansion “Shadowkeep”
But we should not rush. He will come to us Guardians himself and retrieve the answer to the question of whether we want to be part of the winning team. He is, after all, the only measure that truly matters in this universe.
Lord Saladin, a lone wolf and experienced Lightbearer, gave the Guardians a piece of advice in the recent cutscene “No Mercy” of Season 16:
The right way is sometimes hard to find. And once you have found it, the only question left is whether you are strong enough to walk it.
A statement by Lord Saladin in Season 16
I’m not sure if this was really the last time Savathun appeared on the field. Her Ghost Immaru is still alive. Normally, we would have smashed him with our new finisher but the Traveler spared him and took him away. The Vanguard only secured Savathun’s dead body. We have no trace of her Ghost.
As an experienced Guardian knows, as long as your Ghost lives, you can be resurrected too. Therefore, a return of the White Queen is not completely ruled out and perhaps we can at least place one game piece back on the board. Perhaps, thanks to the Traveler’s intervention, there’s still an option to bring Savathun back.
Did you also have this thought during the campaign, whether what we did at the behest of the Vanguard was really the right thing?
What do you think about the Witness? Does he mean our doom? Have we, through the death of Savathun, sealed the fate of the Traveler in “Lightfall”? I would be interested in your opinions on the course of the story. Would you like to read more of such background stories from Destiny 2 or is that too much lore for a first-person shooter? Please feel free to write your thoughts in the comments.
