DESTINY 2: Story Recap – Exploring the Epic Universe from Beyond Light to Lightfall (Full Recap)
Get READY for the new Destiny’s DLC Lightfall! – Uncover the Secrets of the Destiny Universe with a Complete Recap of the Story from Beyond Light to Lightfall (All DLCs and Seasons)
First-person shooter video game Destiny 2 has captured fans’ attention since its release in 2017. Each expansion has included new characters, enemies, and plotlines, expanding the game’s realm and story. From the icy wastes of Europa to the depths of the Vex network, Destiny 2 has taken players on an exciting journey through time and space. The Destiny universe’s mysteries and secrets, as well as the game’s story from Beyond Light to Lightfall, will be discussed in this essay. As we explore the world of Destiny 2, grab your weapons and get ready for an amazing journey.
Destiny 2 is a popular massively multiplayer online first-person shooter game developed by Bungie. Since its release in 2017, the game has expanded its universe and story with each expansion, introducing new characters, enemies, and plotlines. In this article, we will provide a comprehensive recap of the game’s story from Beyond Light to Lightfall.
Beyond Light (DLC)
The disappearance of four planets has left the Guardians on edge, but their attention is drawn to Europa, the frozen moon of Jupiter, when a distress signal summons them to investigate. They discover that the message comes from an unexpected source: Variks of House Judgment, who had disappeared after the Battle of Saturn against Oryx. Variks had served as the warden of the Awoken’s prison, the Prison of Elders, where he found Eramis, the Ship-Stealer, an old Fallen leader whom he believed could unite the Fallen under a single banner and help them seek peace and prosperity. Variks helped Eramis and her allies escape the prison, inadvertently leading to the death of Cayde-6 at Uldren Sov’s hands.
Eramis and her followers established a safe haven for the Fallen on Europa, naming their new city Riis-Reborn. However, after communing with the Black Fleet’s pyramid, Eramis was gifted with Splinters of Darkness that allowed her to control Darkness, becoming too powerful for the Guardians to take down on their own. Variks sends out a distress signal to his former Guardian allies, recognizing the corruption of Eramis by her new power and the influence of Darkness.
The Vanguard works with Variks to deal with the threat posed by Eramis, but her new ice-based power, known as Stasis, makes her too formidable. The Drifter, Eris Morn, and an unexpected ally, the Exo Stranger, study Stasis to prepare for the arrival of the Black Fleet. The trio believes that the only way to defeat the Darkness is to use its own power against it, alongside the Light, and prepare humanity to stand against the Black Fleet and the Entity that controls it.
To defeat Eramis, the Guardians use intelligence from Variks and their new Darkness powers to eliminate her lieutenants. As they make their way through the ruins of Europa, they discover that it was once a city and research station that belonged to Clovis Bray during humanity’s Golden Age. It was here that Clovis Bray perfected the Exo project, creating robot bodies with human minds downloaded into them, with the goal of defying death and allowing humans to gain immortality.
The modern Exos have no idea where they came from or how they were created, but Europa holds the answers. As the Guardians eliminate Eramis’s supporters, they finally take the fight to Eramis herself, using the combined power of Light and Darkness to defeat her. In the end, the Darkness abandons Eramis, allowing her to be frozen solid by her Stasis powers.
As the Guardians reflect on their victory, they realize that there is much they still don’t know about the universe and the secrets it holds. The Exo Stranger urges them to continue exploring, to push beyond the limits of what they know and discover what lies beyond the light.
Season of the Hunt
The Season of the Hunt was a time of intense activity in the world of Destiny 2, with players taking on new challenges, facing off against powerful enemies, and uncovering mysterious artifacts that would aid them in their battle against the Darkness.
The season began with the story of Eramis, the Kell of Darkness, who was attempting to create her empire on Europa. As players explored the icy moon, they encountered exiled Warlock Osiris, who had been investigating the disappearance of four planets during the Season of Arrivals. Osiris discovered that although the planets had vanished, something remained in their place: a type of Darkness anomaly.
While investigating the anomaly, Osiris was attacked by Xivu Arath, the Hive god of war, and his Ghost, Sagira, was destroyed. Devastated by the loss, Osiris set out for revenge. Players found Osiris on the moon, under attack by a Hive Knight, where he was surprisingly saved by Uldren Sov, who had been resurrected as a Guardian and renamed himself “The Crow” after being killed for his role in Cayde’s death.
Spider, the Eliksni crimelord, took The Crow into his service, but he secretly placed explosives inside Glint’s shell, which was Crow’s Ghost. This allowed Spider to kill the Ghost and rob Crow of his Lightbearer powers if he disobeyed him. As players worked with Osiris and Crow, they discovered that Xivu Arath’s forces had left strange totems across the Tangled Shore that corrupted creatures that came near them, helping the Hive god raise an army from the species already present in the Solar System.
Under Osiris’s leadership and with Crow’s assistance, players went on a hunt to root out and destroy these “Wrathborn” creatures before Xivu Arath could consolidate her power. Ultimately, players defeated the High Celebrant, Xivu Arath’s lieutenant, who had killed Sagira. Through working together, Osiris and players came to respect Crow, and they demanded Spider’s payment for helping secure the Tangled Shore to be Crow’s freedom.
Throughout the season, Crow experienced strange dreams that seemed to be messages from the Traveler. These dreams guided him and players to a dam in the European Dead Zone, where they discovered a Shard of the Traveler that was under attack by Taken forces. After eliminating the Taken, players and Crow discovered what the Traveler wanted them to find: Hawkmoon, a Light-infused Exotic weapon that would help them combat the Darkness.
Season of the Chosen
The Solar System was in turmoil. Xivu Arath, the Hive God of War, was launching attacks left and right, trying to gain a foothold wherever she could. The High Celebrant, one of her commanders, was causing trouble in the system, and the Cabal homeworld, Torobatl, was the latest victim.
In the midst of this chaos, Empress Caiatl, daughter of the Cabal leader Calus, was forced to flee with her people to the Solar System. She hoped to gather the remnants of the Red Legion and make a stand against the Hive. But before that, she needed allies.
Caiatl met with Commander Zavala, leader of the Vanguard, to broker an alliance. But her demands were too high. She demanded that Zavala kneel before her and join the Cabal under her command. Zavala refused, and the two sides were at an impasse. Zavala, with the help of Lord Saladin and Osiris, hatched a plan to undermine Caiatl’s power. They targeted the Cabal soldiers vying for a place on her war council by using the Rite of Proving, an ancient Cabal tradition. Guardians challenged these soldiers in combat, eliminating them and weakening Caiatl’s hold on the Cabal.
Meanwhile, Crow, a resurrected Guardian who had taken on a new identity, was serving as Zavala’s adviser. He suspected that there were conspirators among the Cabal who were plotting against the Vanguard commander. His suspicions were confirmed when he stopped an assassination attempt on Zavala’s life.
As Crow worked to uncover the conspirators, a strange distress signal led him and the Guardian to investigate a derelict Cabal ship called the Glykon Volatis. The ship had been part of Calus’s research into the Darkness and had been experimenting with the Crown of Sorrow, a Hive artifact. The crew had been driven mad by the anomaly left behind when Mars disappeared, and the Scorn, undead creatures created through Darkness, had revolted, killing everyone aboard the ship.
Back in the Solar System, the battle against Caiatl’s forces came to a head. The Vanguard challenged the empress’s champion in the Rite of Proving and emerged victorious. Impressed, Caiatl met with Zavala to formalize a truce. But during the summit, Psion forces within Caiatl’s ranks attacked Zavala, trying to cut off his connection to his Ghost. Crow intervened and saved Zavala’s life, revealing his true identity in the process. Despite the revelations, Zavala welcomed Crow into the Vanguard.
The battle against the Hive and the Cabal was far from over, but the Vanguard had gained a valuable ally in Crow, a Guardian with a past that was both complicated and mysterious.
Season of the Splicer
As the Season of the Splicer begins, the City is under attack from the Vex, who have launched the Endless Night, a strange simulation that blankets the City in darkness and drains power, causing sickness among its citizens. On Europa, a group of Eliksni loyal to Mithrax calls for help as they are being hunted by the Vex. Mithrax has a long history with the Vanguard, and his act of mercy in sparing a Fallen captain years ago led him to start a new faction called House Light, which seeks peace for the Eliksni and is loyal to the Traveler and an ally to Guardians.
As a Guardian, you arrive on Europa and rescue Mithrax and the House Light refugees from the Vex. Mithrax reveals that he’s being hunted because of what he’s discovered about the Endless Night. Ikora and the Vanguard agree to give the Eliksni refugees safety in the Last City, allowing them to stay in the section that was previously part of the Scourge of the Past raid in exchange for Mithrax’s help in stopping the Vex and the Endless Night.
Mithrax is a Sacred Splicer, an Eliksni with a special command of technology that draws on the power of Light. With his help and an Eliksni Splicer gauntlet, and with Osiris leading the effort, you’re able to delve into the Vex network, a strange computer world that’s not unlike the Ascendant Realm. Within the network, Guardians search for the Vex mind responsible for the Endless Night, gaining more intelligence about the situation to put a stop to it.
However, dispelling the Endless Night takes time, and the Darkness is taking its toll on the citizens of the City. The presence of Eliksni refugees within the Last City’s borders leads to resentment and violence from the human inhabitants, especially from Lakshmi-2, the leader of the Future War Cult faction. Lakshmi uses anti-Eliksni radio addresses to foment resentment and grow her power through political machinations, eventually leading to a power grab that results in a Vex invasion of the Eliksni quarter of the City.
Saint-14, who has been changed by his interactions with Mithrax and the Eliksni, fights alongside them to protect their lives, and with the help of Ikora and Guardians, the Vex are defeated, and the Endless Night comes to an end. However, Osiris disappears from the City, leaving everyone wondering what has happened. The attack further unites humanity with House Light, and a respect is built between the Vanguard and Mithrax’s people. The Season of the Splicer comes to an end, but the repercussions of the events that unfolded will be felt for a long time to come.
Season of the Lost
As the Season of the Lost commences, Osiris reappears in the Dreaming City, seeking an audience with Mara Sov, who was last seen in the Ascendant Realm during the Forsaken campaign. Saint, Ikora, and Crow accompany you to uncover the truth behind Osiris’s return. To everyone’s shock, Osiris reveals that the person you have been interacting with for the past year was not him but Savathun, who used her Hive magic to possess Osiris’s body.
Osiris’s real self was trapped within his body and forced to watch everything unfold, unable to intervene. Savathun has now transformed into an indestructible crystal, pledging to return Osiris unharmed if Mara helps remove her worm parasite. Savathun, like other Hive gods, gains her power and immortality from the worms, which must be continually fed with death and conquest. She wants to be rid of the worm, and Mara agrees to help, but with her own ulterior motives.
Mara holds a grudge against Savathun, who was responsible for manipulating Uldren Sov and trapping the Dreaming City in a time loop. Mara intends to use this opportunity to take revenge on Savathun and kill her once the worm is removed. To achieve this, she requires the help of her Techeuns, a group of Awoken who combine technology with magic. The Techeuns had rescued Mara from the Ascendant Realm but were scattered throughout it, and you must track them down and rescue them.
Meanwhile, Savathun is trapped in her crystal, and she talks to you about her past deception. She claims that she was trying to help you all along and that her machinations led to the alliance with the Eliksni and Crow’s joining the Vanguard. However, her true intentions remain unclear, and she seems to be an enemy of the Darkness, as she is being pursued by Xivu Arath.
Throughout the season, Crow struggles to deal with Mara, who dislikes the Guardian version of her brother, Uldren, and is still grappling with her own role in his fate. Crow also struggles with the revelation that his friend Osiris was not who he seemed and that he was being controlled by Savathun. The two figures battle for influence over Crow, and he eventually spirals after Savathun restores Uldren’s memories.
With all the Techeuns rescued, Mara performs the worm-removal ritual, and Savathun’s worm is successfully removed. However, before Mara can kill Savathun, the crystal shatters, and Savathun disappears. Left behind is the comatose body of Osiris, who is returned to the City for care. The fate of Savathun and her future plans remain unknown.
The Witch Queen (DLC)
In “The Witch Queen,” Savathun disappears after fleeing the Dreaming City, and the planet Mars reappears, changed since its disappearance. Investigating the planet, you find Hive warriors who possess the power of Light, like Guardians. They also have their own Ghosts, and destroying their companions is necessary to kill them. Savathun’s ship is discovered to be a portal to her Throne World in the Ascendant Realm. Inside, you encounter more Hive Lightbearers and the Witch Queen herself, who wields the same powers as a Guardian.
Investigating the Throne World, you discover a strange artifact called the Enigma, which leads you to uncover the truth behind how Savathun took control of the Light. You also encounter a Hive Ghost named Fynch, who becomes an ally and provides information to help you figure out what is happening with Savathun.
Using a special altar hidden in the Throne World, you can unlock Savathun’s hidden memories, which reveals that the Entity behind the Darkness tricked Savathun and her siblings into embracing the worm gods and the Darkness to enslave them. You also discover that Savathun did not steal the Light but was resurrected by her Ghost, Immaru, after begging the Traveler for help.
However, Savathun’s memories were a trap to restore her memory and allowed her to enact the last phase of her plan: to capture the Traveler. To stop her, you take her on before she can trap the Traveler in her Throne World. Savathun is defeated, and she releases the Traveler before dying, but her Ghost, Immaru, manages to escape. The realization that Savathun and the Hive Lightbearers were chosen by the Traveler shakes Guardians to their core, as they had believed they were the only ones chosen.
Season of the Risen
Season of the Risen tells the story of Immaru, the commander of Savathun’s forces, known as the Lucent Hive. Immaru is not content to stay in her Throne World, so she’s been venturing out into the rest of the Solar System, attacking Guardians in places like the EDZ and the Cosmodrome. The Vanguard needs more information to stop the threat of the Lucent Hive.
Zavala turns to Caiatl for help, and the Vanguard and the Cabal decide to work together. Caiatl provides her Psions to help in the operation, which is led by Lord Saladin, with Crow serving under his command. The plan is to capture Lucent Hive lieutenants and break into their minds to discover Immaru’s overall plan, using Cabal-built machinery and a device called the Synaptic Spear.
As the seasonal story unfolds, several Hive lieutenants are captured and their operations on Earth are disrupted, where they are killing Guardians and harvesting their Light. After breaking into the minds of the lieutenants and severing them from their Light, they’re kept in a Cabal containment apparatus in the Vanguard’s special HELM command center. The containment system keeps the Hive lieutenants in a kind of limbo, allowing the lead Psion to plumb their minds for information. However, Crow is morally opposed to the methods, believing that the Hive still deserve mercy, especially as Lightbearers. Lord Saladin agrees, but believes the information gleaned from the Hive is so important that these methods are necessary.
After gathering enough lieutenants, Caiatl’s Psion gleans enough information to determine Immaru’s plan. The Lucent Hive are gathering and storing captured Light and intend to take over the Scarlet Keep on the moon, a Hive stronghold currently controlled by Xivu Arath’s forces and located overtop of a Black Fleet pyramid hidden beneath the lunar surface. With the Keep, Immaru can use the captured Light to summon Savathun’s Throne World to the moon, where he can launch a full-scale invasion against Earth. The idea is to depose the Guardians, with the Lucent Hive becoming the new, and only, protectors of the Traveler.
Saladin dispatches the Guardians to the moon, where they manage to stop the Lucent Hive. When they return to the HELM, however, they discover that Crow has accidentally killed the Psion helping with the operation by shutting down the containment system. While Crow regrets the Psion’s death, he also believes the Vanguard’s actions were torture for the Hive and were morally wrong.
When Caiatl finds out about the Psion’s death, Crow tries to take responsibility, but Saladin instead offers himself to Caiatl in Crow’s place. Instead of taking his life, Caiatl brings Saladin into her service, requiring him to serve on her war council. Saladin leaves the Vanguard and joins Caiatl, and soon climbs the ranks among her troops and becomes respected, but the loss is a major one to the Vanguard, the Guardians, and Crow himself.
During their collaboration with the Cabal, the Vanguard discovers activity on Mars. Investigating the location in the Vox Obscura mission, they find that old Cabal facilities from Destiny 1 have been rebuilt. They fight their way through them to discover that the deserters from Caiatl’s forces and rogue Psions have joined with Calus and are sending signals out to recruit more Cabal to their cause. They work with Caiatl to stop the signals and try to find out what Calus is up to, but ultimately only learn that the exiled emperor is still around and has a plan to enact of his own.
Season of the Haunted
The Leviathan, Calus’s massive ship, has resurfaced in orbit around the moon, covered in Darkness-saturated fungus and infested with Nightmares. Calus is attempting to commune with the pyramid buried beneath the lunar surface and strengthen the Nightmares it creates. Zavala, Crow, and Caiatl are particularly affected by the Nightmares, and Eris enlists their help in binding them to weaken Calus’s power. The ritual is completed, and the team heads into the Leviathan to use the Nightmare Harvester to counteract Calus. The plan is to overcome the Nightmares haunting each character and stop Calus from serving the Witness. The story explores intense character moments as each battles with their personal traumas and struggles.
Players also explore Calus’s psyche with the Duality dungeon and discover his greatest trauma: that his daughter betrayed him. Unable to reconcile with their relationship or his own narcissism, Calus has embraced the Witness, intending to become its “Herald” and help bring about a second Collapse.
After helping each character come to terms with their Nightmares, the team takes on Calus. He has seemingly become one with the Leviathan, using his connection to the pyramid below to try to transfer himself into the ship and gain the power of the Black Fleet. With the help of Caiatl and the transformed Nightmares of the other characters, Calus is stopped but manages to escape without gaining the full power of the pyramid or Nightmares.
In the aftermath, Crow, Zavala, and Caiatl still have personal baggage to sort out. Zavala takes the events of the season particularly hard, but he has friends he can lean on, including the Cabal empress, who has become a full-on ally of the Vanguard. The Season of the Haunted is not just about overcoming Nightmares and stopping Calus but also about helping each character come to terms with their pasts and their trauma.
Season of Plunder
The story of Season of Plunder begins with the release of Eramis from her Stasis prison by the Witness. The notorious Eliksni crime lord, Spider, contacts the Drifter to escape the wrath of Mara Sov, and enlists the help of the player to rescue him. In exchange, Spider provides access to his Eliksni spaceship, which enables the player to embark on a mission to take down the Fallen pirate crews who have united under Eramis’ banner.
As the player boards ships and defeats their commanders, they gather clues about hidden treasure caches and track down the Darkness-infused relics that Eramis has been tasked with finding. Alongside the Drifter, Spider, and Mithrax, the player begins to gather the relics, although the purpose behind their acquisition remains a mystery.
Mithrax, who is studying the relics, becomes increasingly concerned about what he has discovered and attempts to shield his daughter, Eido, from the truth about the relics and his past as a pirate leader. However, Eramis eventually reveals that the artifacts are reliquaries containing pieces of Nezarec, a dead Disciple of the Witness, and that the lunar pyramid was also Nezarec’s tomb.
The revelations about her father’s past have a profound impact on Eido, and their relationship is severely damaged. In the final cutscene of Season of Plunder, Mithrax successfully distills the energy of the Darkness relics into a cup of tea, which he uses to revive Osiris from his unconscious state, induced by Savathun during Season of the Lost. Osiris reveals that he can remember some of Savathun’s thoughts and fears and hints at the existence of a secret power on Neptune, which foreshadows the events of the upcoming expansion, Lightfall.
The Season of Plunder presents an intriguing story of treachery and deceit, with unexpected plot twists that keep the player engaged and invested in the fate of the characters. As the player delves deeper into the lore and mythology of the Destiny universe, they uncover hidden secrets and unravel the mysteries behind the relics and their connection to the dark forces that threaten the galaxy.
Season of the Seraph
In “Season of the Seraph,” Ana Bray, a Guardian, attempts to restore Rasputin, a powerful Warmind AI that was encrypted in an engram during the “Season of Arrivals.” She seeks the help of her grandfather Clovis Bray’s AI on Europa to fix Rasputin’s code. However, they soon discover that Clovis Bray’s intentions during the Golden Age were not as noble as previously thought, as he wanted to replace the Traveler and control humanity. With the help of Lord Felwinter’s Exo data, they successfully restore Rasputin, and he reveals the truth about Clovis’s intentions.
Meanwhile, Xivu Arath’s Wrathborn and the Fallen House Salvation invade the BrayTech facility, and Ana must move Clovis Bray’s AI into an Exo frame until they figure out what to do with Rasputin. You, the player, spend the season working to gain control of the Warsat network by retrieving data from the Warmind subminds, Malahayati and Charlemagne, and protecting the Seraph orbital station from Eramis’s Fallen.
As the season progresses, Mara Sov reveals that using the Warsats would only empower Xivu Arath and allow her to open the Ascendant Plane over Earth. Instead of aiming to win the fight against her, they aim for a stalemate by preventing Xivu Arath’s forces from gaining control of the Warsats. However, House Salvation and Eramis eventually breach the Warsat network at the Seraph orbital station, and Rasputin comes up with a plan to sacrifice himself and the Warsat network to prevent them from being used against the Traveler.
In the end, Rasputin’s plan is successful, but the Traveler suddenly rises into the upper atmosphere, which leaves everyone puzzled. The story concludes with the possibility of the Traveler’s awakening and the unknown consequences that may come with it.
Rasputin offers the Guardian one last message, introducing Neomuna and Lightfall, and describing a Neptunian city where the Veil, a paracausal artefact connected to the Traveler, is found. Rasputin makes the intriguing observation that someone had destroyed the city-related portions of his papers, indicating that they wanted to hide Neomuna or the Veil’s presence.
Lightfall – The Battle Against Shadow Legion (DLC)
The central plot of Lightfall centers around the Shadow Legion, a terrifying new army led by Calus, who is acting on behalf of the game’s main antagonist, The Witness. As players progress through the game, they will engage in fierce battles with this army, as they work towards their ultimate goal of taking down Calus and his forces.
But that’s not all – players will also be introduced to a brand new location: the city of Neomuna, located on the planet Neptune. Unfortunately, this city is under siege by the Shadow Legion, and it’s up to players to defend it. Upon arriving at the city, players will meet a group called the Cloud Striders. These do-gooders are essentially Guardians, but they lack the power of The Traveller in their back pockets. Players will team up with the Cloud Striders and learn from them, as they work towards taking down Calus and his army.
Destiny 2: Lightfall promises to be an exciting addition to the franchise. With its intense battles, new location, and engaging storyline, players are sure to be hooked from the very beginning. Are you ready to take on the Shadow Legion and save Neomuna? It’s time to gear up and get ready for battle.
Destiny 2: Lightfall arrives on February 28th for PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and PC.
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