Just about every week brings something new to Destiny 2, whether it's story beats, new activities, or interesting new combinations of elements that let players devastate each other in the Crucible. Iron Banter is our weekly look at what's going on in the world of Destiny and a rundown of what's drawing our attention across the solar system.
A plot point Destiny 2 has been building toward for more than a year has finally happened--and there are some pretty big implications about what could happen next in the Season of the Lost and The Witch Queen. Here there be spoilers, so if you haven't finished this week's seasonal story point, go run some Astral Alignments and visit the Shattered Realm, and then get back to us.
Meanwhile, we had another fun and fascinating week with the Trials of Osiris, and it's been interesting to watch Bungie address community feedback and learn as it goes. We're getting a break from Trials this weekend in favor of the return of the Iron Banner, and Grandmaster Nightfall Strikes make their return next week.
Endgame activities and Crucible competitions are fun and all, but y'all, I'm worried about Crow, my big sensitive softy Hunter pal.
Revelations And Betrayals
The ongoing story since the release of the Beyond Light expansion this year has been about Crow--first, finding his way not just as a lone Lightbearer, but as a Guardian; then garnering the trust of the Vanguard; next, dealing with the troubling gray area between enemy and friend; and finally, coming to terms with Savathun's lies and what they mean for the person he wants to be.
But hanging over all of that has been the central piece of information of Crow's identity. Crow used to be Uldren Sov, the brother of queen Mara, manipulated by Riven (apparently on behalf of Savathun, although the ins and outs of that relationship are maybe a bit murky), murderer of Cayde-6, and finally killed by you.
Savathun gives Crow a quick psychic crash-course on his past in this week's seasonal story, and it's a beat we've been expecting, and dreading, since the Season of the Hunt. It couldn't have come at a worse time, honestly, because Crow's out here reeling from the fact that Osiris, basically the first person to be kind to him (outside of us players, although our relationship is more of a Thor-Hulk "friend from work" vibe), turned out to be Savathun, and was lying to Crow and possibly messing with his head. Now he finds out that everyone else, from us to Ikora to Zavala, has been lying to him as well.
Honestly, he took it better than I was expecting, but I think Crow's subdued emotional response (and admittances like "I don't think I would have told me, either") seem like they're hiding a deeper scarring. Crow doesn't know who to trust, and with what Savathun just revealed to him, that extends to himself. He was already in a whirlwind mindset as he grappled with seeing good in enemies and bad in friends, in dealing with the likes of Petra and Mara and the Guardians who've judged him because he wears the face of a man he can't remember being, and now he just found out that his past is a shitshow of lies, betrayal, and cruelty. Plus, we have no idea what Savathun actually imparted to Crow, or how complete the information was, or what bits might have been emphasized or held back.
This is a huge moment--expect this to be a turning point for the rest of the Season of the Lost and likely a major story hinge all the way up to and through The Witch Queen. We've been waiting for this shoe to drop all year, and it's no stretch to say that Crow is currently Destiny 2's main character. He could go anywhere from here, as well; he could throw himself into his role as a Guardian as a means of erasing his past, he could wind up falling back into the thrall of Mara Sov (a plan she's been slowly attempting to execute), or he could find himself drawn to the side of Savathun, a person who, for all her other manipulations and machinations, has genuinely helped him. Maybe it's not the hubris of a mistake by the Techeuns or a tactical maneuver by the Traveler that gives Savathun the power of the Light--maybe it's a betrayal by Crow as he chooses a side.
It's no stretch to say Crow is Destiny 2's Anakin Skywalker, and right now, he's teetering on the precipice, ready to fall.
Venutian Ventures
The story for this week ends on a lore tidbit that raises some interesting questions, as well. If you read the Ripples lore book entry that unlocks after listening to Crow's radio transmission with Ikora in the HELM, you find out that Crow is headed to Venus for unknown reasons. Crow previously suggested he might head to Venus to explore back in the Season of the Hunt, only to be turned away from the idea by Savathun-as-Osiris. With Osiris revealed, turning Crow away from Venus seems like a more pointed move now than it was at the time. So what's Crow hunting there?
I've got a lot of ideas, and members of the community on Reddit have suggested that Venus could be the actual location of Savathun's throne world, which would explain why she didn't want Crow going there. The ins and outs of Savathun's world aren't super clear yet, but if it's anything like Oryx's Dreadnaught, and it seems like it might be, she might have actually parked the Ascendant Realm location on the physical location of Venus.
I, for one, think Venus has more to do with the Vex, however. All year, we've been seeing connections build between us and factions that have always been enemies of humanity, and in some cases, we're even creating alliances. Crow is at the forefront of the "have we just tried talking to them" school of thought when it comes to interactions with the Eliksni and the Cabal, and I wonder if he's starting to think the same thing about the Vex.
This would all hinge on the events of the Season of the Splicer, in which Savathun used Quria to control the Vex network and attack the Last City. That whole situation seemed like Quria was using the Vex against their will, an important point of contention about their actions. The Vex have goals and try to kill humans when they see them, but their motivations are weird and alien and not necessarily evil. They're more about survival, evolution, and becoming the Final Shape; in fact, not even all the Vex seem to directly worship the Darkness, like the ones in the Black Garden do.
I've wondered for a while if we're building toward some kind of communication with the Vex, and at the end of the Season of the Splicer, there was a big hint in that direction. In the final Override mission, you could find a strange non-combatant Harpy that communicated in beeps and boops that turned out to be Morse code, spelling out the word "Assistant." Everyone immediately took that to mean that Asher Mir, the Warlock who'd been studying the Vex on Io before it was taken by the Darkness, had either been turned into a Harpy or was communicating through the Harpy. Either way, it seemed like a potential point of contact for interaction with the Vex collective.