In Destiny 2, particularly diligent Guardians receive a mysterious item during the Festival of the Lost 2020 – the Ascendant Lens. However, currently, no one knows what to do with it. Players are now pondering its purpose. Some theories have emerged.
What is the mystery of the Ascendant Lens? Currently, Destiny 2’s Halloween event Festival of the Lost 2020 is the last notable content before the launch of Beyond Light.
During the festival, Guardians can collect new spooky armor ornaments, event weapons, or various themed event cosmetics. However, there is also an item related to the Festival of the Lost that many players are currently trying to figure out – the Ascendant Lens.
How does one obtain the Ascendant Lens? This item is awarded to particularly diligent players. The lens essentially represents a kind of grand prize for Guardians who complete a specific triumph during the ongoing Halloween event.
Among other things, it is required to open 45 event chests with cipher decoders. Once you have opened 45 chests in the Haunted Forest and snagged Eva’s new ship, you will learn that the Fallen vendor Spider wants to speak with you in the Tangled Shore. He will be marked with a blinking quest marker.
And when you visit him, he thanks you for your efforts and rewards you with the aforementioned item – the Ascendant Lens, which he got from the Dreaming City. This also simultaneously unlocks the secret triumph of this year’s festival.
What does the Ascendant Lens do? These are the theories
The problem with the Ascendant Lens: Once you have accepted the lens, it will remain in your inventory. However, no one currently knows what this new item does, what it can be used for, or where it goes from here. It cannot be used or applied anywhere so far. Officially, there is no further information regarding it.
In the item description, it simply states: “A focusing lens from the Dreaming City, through which one can sometimes see the Ascendant Realm.” Moreover, the lens can also be found in the collection. There, it is listed under Flair/Diverse/Collectibles, a new category, as the only item of its kind, provided you have already obtained it.
However, several ideas and theories already exist regarding what this item could entail. The theories are, after all, interconnected in essence.
Leftovers from the Future: Originally, the Halloween event was supposed to take place after the fall expansion Beyond Light was released. Some therefore assume that it could be something related to Beyond Light that simply wasn’t removed from the code during the extension of the ongoing Season 11. Hence, nothing can be done with it yet.
Timegated Content: Another theory suggests that the lens might be related to content hidden behind a time lock that will be revealed during the course of the Festival of the Lost or even after the release of Beyond Light.
After all, the Halloween event is the last substantial content meant to keep players engaged until the release of the fall expansion. If everything could already be uncovered and earned after a week, many would have nothing left to do. It is therefore quite plausible that potential content is being stretched out.
Just another item or new item category: Some players think it could simply be an unimportant collectible item. After all, not all players are likely to open the 45 chests needed for the lens, and items like the useless noodle soup coupon have appeared more than once.
However, the exact opposite is suspected by some: namely, that it could be an item from a larger, new system – for example, a kind of trophy showcase. A useless item would hardly appear in the collection.
New riddle or quest: What many fans and players also find plausible is that it could be a new quest or a new puzzle – whether timegated or simply not yet discovered. According to the description, the lens is connected to the homeland of the Awoken.
Thus, many Guardians are trying to find clues or uses for the lens in the Dreaming City, so far without success. However, some parallels and connections to this item have already been discovered in the Dreaming City.
Looks exactly like the lens in the inventory (Source: AgonistX on Reddit) 
Comparable lenses on a rail system (Source: AnOrdinarySquirrell on Reddit)
The lens obtained from Spider is identical to other lenses found throughout the Dreaming City. Some of the lenses appear to be set up on a kind of rail system, which raises the suspicion that they may need to be pushed into the correct position to trigger something. However, this also is currently not possible.
What do you think? What could the Ascendant Lens from the Halloween event be about? Much ado about nothing? Or could this possibly be the next big riddle of Destiny 2? By the way, with Beyond Light, at least 10 new Exotics are on the way. Which one are you looking forward to the most? Destiny 2: Which new Exotic from Beyond Light are you most looking forward to?
