The story of Destiny 2 ends with an impressive cutscene that raises questions. What significance does it have for the future of the Guardians?
Warning: Major story spoilers ahead! If you haven’t completed the story yourself, you should not continue reading!
After you defeat the final boss Ghaul in the Destiny 2 campaign, the credits roll. However, the story is not completely over yet. A post-credits video follows, teasing a potential future danger.
In this video, you see the awakening of the Traveler, as it sends its light out into the universe. The light reaches the sun, it reaches the asteroid belt, Saturn, it spreads across our solar system and even across the entire galaxy. As it leaves the Milky Way, it suddenly encounters black pyramidal ships. These become activated and head for the source of the light – the Traveler and Earth.
Here you can watch the post-credits teaser:
There is likely no doubt that we will encounter these pyramidal ships in the future. Presumably, this will be the new major threat that the Guardians will have to face. The only question is: What kind of enemies are they?
What is this about?
Since the first Guardians completed the story, there have been speculations in the forums about who or what this could be. Two theories are particularly frequently mentioned: It could be the Nine – or even the Darkness.
It’s likely not the Nine
Some suspect that it could be the Nine who play an important role in Destiny 2 with the “Trials of the Nine.” This scene could show that the Nine are hostile and are planning an attack in the near future, possibly in the context of a DLC.
However, there are many arguments against this theory:
- On the one hand, the Nine are said to be the rulers of the worlds beyond the asteroid belt – these worlds begin around Jupiter. It makes little sense that the Nine would be, as shown in the video, far from the Milky Way.
- On the other hand, they already know where the Guardians are, as Xur’s weekly visits or the “Trials of the Nine” show. They wouldn’t need to be “activated” if they wanted to come to us.
Still, it is possible that we will soon get to know the Nine better. The first DLC revolves around Osiris. We know that Osiris once met with the Nine on the Jupiter moon Europa. Presumably, we will receive some new information about “The Nine.”
Everything points to: The new enemy is the Darkness
In fact, Bungie shows the pyramidal spaceships from the post-credits video for the first time. These ships were already seen in earlier concept art, before the launch of Destiny 1, along with the Traveler. You can see this concept art in our title image. Thus far, these black ships have not made it into the game, but were sometimes seen on the installation screen of Destiny 1:
In 2013, Bungie’s director Chris Barrett presented further concept art showing five enemy alien races. However, Destiny launched with only four enemy races. The fifth race depicted here has pyramidal symbols:
During the development process of Destiny 1, much changed and was re-planned, which led to the assumption that this fifth race was simply dropped. However, as the video now shows, it is indeed coming back – and it is likely the Darkness.
The Darkness is a powerful, mysterious force that represents an ancient enemy of the Traveler. It hunted the Traveler through the universe and led to its collapse when it arrived in our solar system. The Traveler sacrificed itself to protect humanity, falling into a slumber. This scene may be depicted in the concept art (our title image).
Now the Traveler has awakened again – and presumably, the Darkness, the pyramidal ships, has noticed. This theory at least seems logical.
There is another indication that the enemies in the video could be the Darkness. In the intro cutscene of Destiny 2, there is talk of an ancient enemy that chased the Traveler – that is, the Darkness. In the footage, you see a pyramidal shadow casting over the Traveler and humanity. We have marked the spot:
The pyramidal symbol and the Darkness seem to belong together.
Who is aboard these pyramidal ships or what “form” the Darkness actually takes remains uncertain. In the Grimoire card “Darkness” from Destiny 1, several instances attempt to define the Darkness. It is said to be:
- a force of both physical and moral presence, a manifestation of evil
- a marauding army, an alien power with incredible yet tangible strength
- a necessary symmetry to the Traveler to maintain cosmic balance
- a technologically superior force, perhaps a post-singularity intelligence.
Furthermore:
- Some positions, often referred to as heretical, claim that the Traveler itself caused the downfall or that it knew of the coming of the Darkness and intended to sacrifice our solar system or use it as a proxy army.
When these pyramidal ships will arrive among the Guardians is also unknown. For the Osiris DLC, that would probably be too early. They might only come with “Destiny 3” or with a major expansion similar to “The Taken King.”
We will see.
What do you think? Is this the Darkness?
If you want to learn more about the story and lore of Destiny, you can read our Destiny story guide here.
