With the next Destiny 2 expansion being announced a few weeks ago I feel this is the best time to discuss my feelings towards the three “episodes” The Final Shape had and their respective stories. For context, Bungie changed their seasonal model for The Final Shape. Instead of having the expansion and then four micro stories, with one of them being released alongside the expansion, they went for three ‘episodes’ with slightly longer stories that were designed to introduce new plot points, end others or do both. The episodes themselves all focused on a series of mcguffins called ‘Echoes’. Echoes are memory fragments from The Witness that were made manifest by the Travelers light following The Witness’ death at the end of The Final Shapes story. Each episode focuses on one Echo. These Echos are called, The Echo of Command, The Echo of Riis and The Echo of Navigation. Over time we learn that these echos are not memories of The Witness per say, but the ideal memories of certain individuals The Witness encountered. Ideal memories that would be preserved in The Final Shape. I will cover more on this when I cover Episode 3: Heresy. The Echos would end up on Nessus, the Tangled Reef (a section of the Asteroid Belt) and a derelict ship within the Rings of Saturn respectively.
The first episode, called “Echoes” began a week after TFS’s release. This episode sees us return to Nessus to try and claim the echo before anyone else does. Unfortunately someone claimed it before us and it seems it was the Vex. The Vex are a series of microscopic bio mechanical lifeforms that function as a hive mind. These lifeforms live in a liquid of sorts called Radiolaria that powers up their Exoskeletons. And yes, the bolding is intentional as it is a plot point. We work with our old pal AI Failsafe (whom has a split personality) alongside Osiris (whom is an expert on all things Vex) and his boyfriend, the Exo Saint 14. Very quickly, both Failsafe (whom we send a copy of to the H.E.L.M) and Osiris are confused by the Vex’s behaviour on Nessus. They seem… compelled maybe even mind controlled. To make matters worse, new Vex frames are being deployed that seem to be independent thinkers. They can show emotion through their body language, such as the one a guardian found that was just waving at them and one even gives themselves a name. They are called Tym, Guardian Slayer.
However things get even more complex. Saint 14 begins to act unwell and goes missing. When we find him, he seems to be under the spell of an individual that calls themselves, The Conductor. For context, Braytech Exo’s, of which Saint 14 is one of them have Radiolaria inside them. Therefore this Conductor is somehow able to command Radiolaria and thus can possess Exo’s such as Saint 14. It appears that The Conductor was trying to convince Saint 14 that he is not the “real Saint 14”. Just a simulated and therefore inferior copy from when he was trapped in the Infinite Forest prior to the events of Season of the Dawn. Osiris manages to get Saint of out this trance and reinforces that he is the real Saint 14, not some inferior copy.
After this, we learn that the Conductor has begun to drain Nessus of its Radiolaria, directing it to the planetoids Core. For whatever reason, we need to find out why. After doing a series of events called “Battlegrounds” we each the core to find out that the Conductor not only has the Echo of Command but is none other than Maya Sundaresh. Maya was a leading researcher at the Ishtar Collective and was one of the founding members of Neomuna following the Collapse. The same city on Neptune that the former Cabal Emperor Calus and his Shadow Legion invaded back in Lightfall on behalf of The Witness to claim a paracasual entity called “The Veil”. The Conductor is a simulated copy of Maya that previously went by as “MSand12”. We had also encountered Maya before. In Lightfall we learn that the Lakshmi 2 that was in the Last City and leader of the Future War Cult was in truth a copy of Maya or a partial one. When Maya and co found the Veil on Neptune, it brain wiped any Exo that was present. Meaning the Exo now became an empty shell. Maya, in her research on the Veil found out a way that she could implant memories into an Exo and did so on herself, using Lakshmi’s exo body. Her wife, Chioma Esi was disturbed by this and tasks a Cloudstrider, whom was heading back to Earth and Mars to delete any reference of Neomuna in Rasputins (the warminds) databanks to also dump “Lakshmi-2” on Earth. “Lakshmi-2” was ultimately killed by the Vex after they unintentionally unleashed them upon the Last City at the end of Season of the Splicer.
Maya monologues about how she wishes to use the echo to bring about a new golden age for humanity. By converting everyone into Radiolaria and raising them as Vex. Unable to defeat Maya at this point, we flee. A few weeks later we return back to the planetiods core. We chase down Maya in the exotic mission “Encore”. Where we fight our way through Maya’s forces but also remnants of the Shadow Legion, now backed by members of the Dread. We end up reaching Maya’s research lab to find a series of exo bodies with fragments of simulated copies of Chioma. We conclude that Maya is trying to find “her” copy of Chioma and is willing to purge any copy that fails to meet the series of boxes she has presented. We head back to The Veil on Neomuna to see if the Veil has retained a copy of our Chioma. Using Maya’s notes (how ironic) we end up finding our Chioma and ‘download it’. We head back to Maya’s lab only to find out that Maya had already found her “Chioma” (aka the one that we took from the Veil) and purged it. This explains why she was trying to convince Saint that he was an inferior copy. Maya was envious that Osiris had found his soulmate amongst an infinite crowd while she had yet to find a Chioma that ticks all of her boxes. We confront Maya once more and in a rage she uses the Echo to not only compel Saint again, but also us. Saint however breaks free of her control and throws a super at her. Maya however survives and retreats into the Vex Net with the Echo. Also Failsafe gets a pet Nessusian frog.
Overall Echo’s story is decent. Being forced to run Encore 3 times for the story was not needed. Could’ve done it with two imo. As I presented it here. In the end I will give it a solid 7/10. I don’t have anything major to say that is positive or even negative. The lore books also give us an answer to who exactly the Echo of Command is a memory of. A Qugu warden called Te’Qal. The Qugu were one of the first races to be purged from the universe at the hands of the Hive and the Black Fleet. The Qugu were Darkness users. So not even those who followed the same path as The Witness were safe from their wrath.
Moving on we have Episode 2: Revenant. This episode focuses on the Eliksni (Fallen) and the Scorn. We begin the episode with something unexpected. The Kell of Darkness, Eramis wishes to turn herself over to the Vanguard on the promise that the Vanguard will protect House of Salvation from Fikrul, The Fanatic. Who has gained the ability to convert living Eliksni into Scorn. For a history lesson, Fikrul was the former Archon Priest of the House of Wolves. He was cast out after insulting The Great Machine. He would later lead a band of other exiled Eliksni and called themselves the Scorned Barons. After the Taken War, the Forsaken Prince, Uldren Sov found Fikrul, whom was mortally wounded. Uldren, fresh from “losing” his sister, did not want Fikrul to die and wished he could save him. A totally not revenge seeking Dragon who wants to burn down the world she created for her kind being victims of genocide while she was locked away in a tower under the guise of “protection”, granted this wish. Infusing Fikruls ether with the essence of Darkness hidden within Uldren, the fallen was reborn as the first Scorn. Fikrul would then go and raise his dead friends as Scorn. Fikrul also has the ability to resurrect himself should he die due to how corrupted his ether is.
Fast forward to now, Uldren is now a Guardian called Crow. After some much needed therapy seen in Season of the Haunted (confronting his past as Uldren), Season of the Wish (rebuilding his relationship with his sister, Queen Mara), and The Final Shape (confronting Cayde 6, the man he killed as Uldren), Crow is now one of the leaders of the Vanguard. Replacing Cayde 6 as Hunter Vanguard. But there was always one loose end. Fikrul. And now he is back, more powerful than ever thanks to the Echo he now has. Fikrul unleashed his newfound power by converting all Eliksni abroad Eramis’ flagship into Scorn and causing the H.E.L.M to crash. Poor Failsafe, now she is part of two crashing space craft. Eramis is taken to a makeshift cell while we work alongside Misraaks, the Kell of House Light (a group of Eliksni whom helped us against the “endless night” back in Season of the Splicer in exchange for safety under The Great Machine) and his adopted daughter Eido. Eido suspects that the key to stopping Fikrul and his Revenant Scorn is buried in old Eliksni alchemy. In the meantime, Misraaks names us his slayer baron. However Misraaks is not well. He seems to be more aggressive and angry as of late. First signs were present in The Final Shape where he dropped a giant brig on top of his mothers murderer. After they were already fatally wounded.
We continue to help rescue members of House Salvation from the Scorn but also other threats. Such as the Shadow Legion. We end up getting a location on Fikrul in the Tangled Shore and Crow goes to confront his old friend. As Fikrul is not aware that Uldren is now a “dead thing”. Given that he referred to Crow as “father” back on the H.E.L.M. Unfortunately, Crow rolled a 1 for a charisma check and Fikrul now realizes that his ‘father’ is now dead. We barely manage to escape. Fikrul is now calling himself the ‘Kell of Kells’ and plans to unite all Eliksni as Scorn. To that end, Fikrul returns to the Prison of Elders to raise the slain Eliksni as Scorn. Such as his old Scorn Barons and even Skolas, the first Eliksni to claim themselves as “Kell of Kells”. During our attempt to stop Skolas from being raised, we, alongside Variks, the former Warden of the Prison hear a song coming from the Echo. Varriks notes that it is a song from Old Riis, the homeworld of the Eliksni before The Whirlwind. When Oryx, the Taken King slaughtered the Eliksni on behalf of The Witness. What remained of their people fled the planet, chasing The Great Machine before it arrived in Sol (our solar system). Variks believes that the Echo is seeking a worthy user and Fikrul is abusing its power. We continue to go laps in the Prison, defeating Scorn, including The Riflemen and the Machinist but also other inmates who seek to claim the treasures within. Such as the Lucent Hive and the Dread. It also seems that members of The Dread have sided with Fikrul, no doubt because he holds a fragment of their “father”. I will cover the Dread in more detail when I cover Heresy. Which is soon.
We ultimately track down Fikrul to his base of operations. The Awoken Watchtower overlooking the Tangled Shore. Now abandoned following the events of Forsaken. We assault the base only to reach a dead end after causing the Trickstar to flee. It turns out that Fikruls mastery over the Echo has strengthened and he has created a pocket dimension for himself called the Revenant Plane. Using a series of mirrors scattered throughout the watchtower we reach a location called the Fighting Pits where we confront the Mad Bomber. However when we kill him, Fikrul arrives and brings him back and they retreat. Later we confront the Mindbender once more, who has once again got a brood of Hive under his control. We ultimately kill him again but just as before, The Fanatic arrives to bring him back and they retreat. We go up a series of stairs where we confront the Trickstar once more and this time we kill her. We arrive in the throne room where we don’t confront Fikrul, not yet but instead the Hangman. We kill the Hangman but Fikrul is gone.
Going back to the Last City, Eido has an idea. She has heard rumors of an old Eliksni alchemist who might be the key to create a potion that will purge the Darkness from Fikrul’s ether for a short time. Giving us a window to kill him for good. The problem is… said alchemist was a member of House Salvation and they have gone missing. Eido believes Eramis might know where. Believing that Eramis might help us if we break her out of prison, we do just that. After Crow stops us at first anyway. Eramis upholds her end of the bargain and finds that the alchemist we are after has been captured by the Scorn. We rush back into their base to find her and we do. Turns out that Fikrul has kept her alive and she gives Eido tips needed to finish off the potion. With the potion in hand we once again assault the Revenant Base, confront Fikrul and while he is stunned, we smack the potion into him. Purging the Darkness from his ether and killing him for good. Soon after both Eramis and Misraaks arrive to claim the Echo. Misraaks however has succumbed to his illness. It turns out that a copy of Nezarac, the final god of pain and one of the Witnesses disciples was growing inside Misraaks and has now taken over. Just as Nezarac rushes over to claim the Echo, a bright light occurs, sending us and Eramis into a vision of old Riis. Eramis realizes what her destiny is. It is not to build a new home for her people, but to reclaim their old one. We return to find Eramis in possession of the Echo and she uses it to purge Nezzy from Misraaks. Misraaks is grateful for this and offers Eramis the title of Kell of Kells. Eramis rejects this however. She takes the echo and what followers she has remaining to reclaim Old Riis. Afterwards we do one final round of the Tomb of Elders and put Skolas to rest for good this time.
My main problem with Revenant is the ending. Ever since Season of the Haunted, Bungie was heading towards a final confrontation between Crow and Fikrul. Where Crow would end up putting his friend to rest to not only end his suffering but to also fully redeem himself for the sins Uldren did. But when it came time to do that, they didn’t. It should’ve been Crow stabbing Fikrul with the needle and it should’ve been a sad moment. Just like the episode of Justice League unlimited where Hawkgirl puts the mindless Soloman Gundry to rest. It would’ve hit harder if Crow was on the receiving end of Fikruls dying words. “What will happen to my Children”. Just change ‘my’ to ‘our’. I’m fine with Eramis claiming the Echo, leaving Sol behind to reclaim her homeworld. After Season of Plunder, Eramis has been going on a somewhat positive character arc. Nezzy coming back via Misraaks was a nice callback to the ending of Season of Plunder. Where Misraaks purged the Darkness from a number of Nerazac’s body parts to make a tea to bring Osiris back from his coma. That Darkness had to go somewhere after all. But the way the episode handles Eido rubbed me the wrong way. It felt out of character that she would break Eramis out of prison. Eramis has been shown to be quite protective of Eido so I’m sure she would’ve helped her regardless. Skolas coming back and only dying as an epilogue was a disappointment. The fates of the Scorn Barons Fikrul brought back during the Exotic mission “Kells Fall” (where we assault his base) is left unanswered. Also how did Fikrul bring back the Mindbender when he died in the Ascended Plane? The Mindbender is killed in their own Throne World that shortly collapsed upon itself. So how did Fikrul recover the body?
Because of this Revenant gets a 2/10. The story is all over the place, doesn’t give the main antagonist the proper closure they deserve and leaves more questions than answers. Which is a bad thing to do when it was meant to be the final chapter of the Eliksni’s story for now. Anyway, enough of all this negatively, time to commit some good old Hersey with ya pals The Drifter and Eris Morn. Let us see what the light filled rat and the lightless moon has installed for us.
For context, Eris Morn was a Guardian who lost the light after a failed attempt to kill Corta. She wished to escape the Hellmouth and her eyes were replaced by those of the Hive as a result. Damn monkey paw wish dragons. Since then Eris has become an expert of the Hive and was key to not only Corta’s death, but also Oryx’s soon after. Eris also found the Pyramid buried under the moons surface in Shadowkeep and had recently become a Hive God (Season of the Witch). She gave up that power to banish Xivu Arath from her throne world. Leaving the God of War mortal. Eris was also helpful in uncovering the truth behind the Lucent Brood and how Savathun got her hands on the light.
Meanwhile the Drifter as the name suggests is a wanderer. He has gone by many names over the years and mostly keeps to himself. That is until he met an Awoken Lightbearer named Orin. The two shared an interest in a group of Paracasual beings called The Nine. Drifter believed he had found a kindred spirit in Orin but it was not to last. She found out that he was lying about his identity and in the wake of the Red War, left to get answers from The Nine. Never to be seen again until a year later. Where she has become one of the Nines messengers. What was left of Orin is now lost, just an empty shell that Gods speak from. During the Season of Arrivals, Drifter used his connection to the Nine via “Orin” to learn the true nature of the Darkness alongside Eris. The two would later form a trio with the Exo Stranger in Beyond Light. While the two were not friends at first, they would later form a friendship that would blossom into romance. Not wanting to repeat the same mistakes, he was there during the time Eris was a Hive God. Finally he is not alone anymore…
Episode 3: Heresy begins with us going to the EDZ to investigate some unusual Taken activity. When we arrive we encounter a new breed of Taken. These Taken have tendrils coming out of their bodies and seem to have swapped enhanced abilities. For anyone unaware, the Taken are an enemy faction introduced in Destiny 1: The Taken King. They are the result of violently forcing someone into the Ascendant Plane and spitting them back out again. The result is you shatter their mind and bend them to your will. However strong willed individuals can break free, such was the case for Malok, one of Savathuns sons. So far the only individuals we know that had the power to take are, Oryx (killed in The Taken King expansion), The Witness (killed in The Final Shape expansion), Quiria (killed in Season of the Splicer) and Riven (killed in the Forsaken Expansion). So whoever is behind these “Dire Taken” is unknown to us. Anyway we fight our way through to discover an Eversion Anchor. Devices Oryx used to pull his Throne World into our reality. We manage to stop the anchor and go through a portal. We end up on the Dreadnaught. The derelict ship I mentioned previously. The Dreadnaught is what remains of Akka. Akka is the Worm God Auryx killed in order to learn the secrets of the Deep. Renaming themselves Oryx afterwards. The Dreadnaught seems to be peeling, almost like it is shedding its skin. Meanwhile Eris and the Drifter are inside. We attempt to reach them but we are too late to stop something bad from happening. Rather than explain what happens, watch this instead. `https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bGfjO9li4xo. Seriously, watch it.
Following that… we work alongside Deputy Commander Sloane, whom is partially Taken following the events of Titan being taken by the Witness only to return shortly before the events of Lightfall. Sloane willingly allowed herself to be taken to stay one step ahead of Xivu Arath. Who was after someone important under Titans oceans. With only her Light keeping the Darkness at bay. Sloane suggests we undergo a similar ritual to better understand the Dire Taken. Thus we begin to walk down the path of resolve. We continue to explore the Dreadnaught to undermine the Dreads efforts.
The Dread are creations of The Witness using the Travelers Light. We first encountered The Dread via Tormentors in Lightfall but inside the Pale Heart the Witness made more. The most important ones are the Subjugators. The one featured in the video is Keit’Ehr, the first Subjugator. She was cast aside by The Witness for being deemed a “failure” however was given the task to prove them wrong. Following their death, Keit’Ehr did exactly that. Now it seems that she has been taken and we need to know why she did what she did. But more importantly, who gave the order. Keit’Ehr now calls themselves The Resonant Knife, First of the Reshaped.
We learn from our spy in Savathuns Throne World that an Eversion Anchor has appeared within the temple Savathun built in honour of her past self. However when we arrive, Savathun tells us to piss off and to stay away from the Dreadnaught. Whatever is happening there is a family issue and we are not family. She also says sorry for Eris’ death, in her own way of course.
We ignore Savathun and return to the Dreadnaught. When we do we begin to hear a familiar voice. And on the trip where we shut down the Dreadnaughts weapon systems we encounter… HIM. The Echo we have been looking for, the Echo known as the Echo of Navigation is none other than… ORYX THE TAKEN KING! However not the Oryx we know. This is an Oryx from shortly after he created the Dreadnaught from Akka’s corpse. Before he had Nokris and Corta, before he invaded Sol to get revenge for Corta’s death etc. Xivu Arath via a Hive Knight called the Voice of Xixu Arath (ironic given the issue this season had with voiced lines) and Savathun herself arrive. They inform their brother that he was killed. Xivu wants to use us as tribute to bring him back but Oryx declines. Instead he asks us to become his successor as the Sword Logic degrees. Savathun is insulted that both her siblings are acting like children. Unfortunately, Keit’Ehr soon arrives and we have to flee.
Oryx being impressed by us gives us a unique opportunity. As long as we continue to be worthy of his legacy, his throne, we could learn a lot from him concerning the Dire Taken. In fact this actually happens. Oryx presents us with a banquet of challenges, a revision of his Court. He is told about the events leading up to his death and that of the Witness’ as well. Oryx notes that if the Witness is dead, then the taken should now be under control of their original master. The Winnower. The being that taught him how to Take in the first place. However something is wrong. Someone else has filled in that power gap and is now blocking the Winnower from controlling the Taken. Meanwhile we begin to hear another familiar voice. We put together a series of fragments that turns into a message. It is from Eris and she is still alive. Turns out that when she killed Savathun at the end of Season of the Witch, which in doing so gave her the power to cut Xivu from her throne world, she formed her own throne world. However Eris no longer has the strength to tear a hole through reality and thus she is trapped. Eris believes the only way to bring her back is to find a weapon capable of doing such as a feat. Sloane knows exactly which weapon we need. The problem is… it is shattered into tiny pieces. Fortunately we know where some of them are and we can use the hilt of a different weapon as the base. Time to reforge Willbreaker, Oryx’s sword.
Using the hilt from Corta’s Sword and gathering several pieces of Willbreaker, we head to the Founts on the Dreadnaught to reforge what we can of the blade. The Dire Taken try to stop us but we use them as tribute to repair the blade. Using what we can, we head to the Hall of Souls and cut through the ascendant plane. Reuniting us with Eris. During this time the Drifter fled Sol. Unable to accept that Eris was killed. However a part of him knew better. There was no way Eris would go out like that. There has to be hope that she could be brought back. So he returns just in time to see us to exactly that. The two reunite and share a kiss. Watch `https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MCK0UHoXnSY.
Sloane on the other hand wants to destroy the Echo. Not wanting to give either Hive sibling the chance to use the Echo for their own ends. But also stop whatever force is behind the Dire Taken and Keit’Ehr from claiming it. In the meantime Eris informs us that it is time we walk down a different Taken path. The path of ambition. We continue to undermine Keit’Ehr and her forces while also proving ourselves to Oryx. All the while gathering we materials we would need to preform the ritual to bind Oryx to Eris’ Throne World. Which we successfully do. However Eris knows that she can’t imprison Oryx forever, nor does she want to. So for what short time we do have she hopes to gain knowledge from the Echo of the Taken King. We also learn that another Eversion Anchor has appeared on the moon. We arrive to defeat the Dire Taken and shut off the Anchor. Afterwards we interact with a memory echo that informs us that Savathun had tried to convince Oryx to abandon the Sword Logic. Even presenting Immaru, her ghost as proof that the Hive were always meant to be chosen by the Light. Oryx however unleashes an outburst, denouncing Savathun as his sister and calling her a heretic. Believing that his cunning sister is now dead. All that is front of him is a fraud puppeteering her body.
Soon Oryx informs us that both Xivu Arath and Savathun are making moves to break him out of prison. Oryx however wants to do that himself to prove that he is no echo, but the actual Taken King. As such we journey into the sunless cell. Upon reaching the end we encounter one of Xivu’s champions, who is using the hilt of Willbreaker to preform a ritual to free Oryx. But just as we are about to kill Xivu’s champion, they are taken. Oryx denies that he did this, after all it is counterproductive to his own ambitions. But we have seen this before. A hidden exotic mission this season has us journey to a previously unknown area of the Dreadnaught, the Invasion Bay. A signal that has both taken and non-taken elements to it brought us here. Sloane says that whoever is giving off this signal is like her. Only partially taken. When we arrive at the end, we open up the door that has us fighting a Hive Knight… and a Taken Hive Knight. Who both share the same name. After killing the Hive Knight, we are about to begin to finish off the Taken half but something happens. A taken blight engulfs the Taken Knight fragment and spits out a fully taken version. Soon many eyes appear that begin to wear us down. We flee and seal the door behind us. When we return here as part of our journey down the path of ambition, the taken knight is gone.
The eyes we see have appeared elsewhere. From when we worked with Sloane to work down the path of resolve to when Keit’Ehr appeared after we learned about who the Echo is. Another instance is earlier in the mentioned exotic mission. A subjugator commands a group of Dread forces against the Dire Taken and these eye balls appeared during one of their skirmishes. An important thing to note is that the subjugator later turned on their own forces, favouring the Dire Taken instead. Did she do that willingly or was she forced to do so? Who knows. Anyway, back to the story.
We defeat the taken champion of Xivu and recover Willbreakers hilt. Oryx then tells us that Savathun has made her move. Bringing several Eversion Anchors to her throne world. We cut through the Dire Taken and the Lucent Hive to discover that Savathun had recovered the head of her son Malok and placed it inside the Temple of the Navigator. When we attempt to claim it we are dropped into a pit where the full might of the Lucent Hive assaults us. Beforehand Savathun was merely playing games with us, even during the events of Witch Queen (for the most part). But now she is pissed. No more games, no more pretending that we are friends. We sought to rob her of her sons head and we must be punished for doing so. But even that was not enough. Using the short window we had, we recover the head and escape. Using the head of Malok and the Hilt of Willbreaker we return to the Founts to reforge Willbreaker completely. Sloane even comes to help us. With Willbreaker fully reforged it is time to take the fight to Keit’Ehr and kill her once and for all.
Unfortuntely the Dreadnaught has erupted into a full on battleground. Xivu Arath and Savathun once again try to claim possession of Oryx meanwhile Oryx manages to break free from his prison and flees to the Treachway. Using Willbreaker we stop Xivu and Savathuns plans once again and skirmish Keit’Ehr along the way. We catch up to Oryx who has just stopped. Xivu sends her voice to battle us but we kill it. Savathun sends several projections to stop us but we remove those too. Eventually Keit’Ehr arrives and we do battle. During the small gaps between these battles, Oryx pulls us into a taken blight where we do battle against his shades. As we are about to kill Keit’Ehr we are both dragged into a taken blight with eyes everywhere. But in the end we are victorious and we kill the first Subjugator. Oryx, nowhere left to go, concedes defeat and allows us to kill him once again. The Hive has lost their King, their navigator once again. Oryx closes with the following as his last line.
“At least the stars will remember the shape I gave them”.
Before I give my score and final thoughts I feel I need to do explain Oryx in greater detail. Oryx was a stronger believer in the Sword Logic. The logic that life can only justify its existence by removing the life of others. Kill or be killed basically. If you are killed, you never deserved to exist in the first place. But something happened in the eons since. Oryx killed his sisters to gain the power to defeat Akka and by the logic of the sword, they should stay dead. But they didn’t. Oryx would bring ruin upon two worlds. The first using crushing brute force to overwhelm them, invoking the will of his sister Xivu Arath. Then he would use cunning and deceit to do the same to the other world. As Savathun would’ve done. He used these tributes to bring them back to life. Throne worlds and all. Afterwards he would have several children. Although the most important are Nokris and Corta. Nokris was a disappointment in his eyes. Nokris was not the warrior Oryx wanted him to be. Instead Nokris became a powerful Wizard and felt more at home with his aunt Savathun. Nokris however would bring shame to his family by practicing necromancy without tribute. Oryx disowned Nokris and banished him from his court. Meanwhile Corta became the son Oryx always wanted… in time anyway. However he was killed. If Oryx was a true devotee to the Sword Logic he would feel nothing about Corta’s death. After all, he died, therefore he did not deserve existence. But instead he came to Sol not to reward his sons killers or issue us a challenge out of curiosity, but to kill us out of petty revenge. This led to his own death.
Cut back to the Echo of Oryx. This is Oryx before he brought back his sisters and before he had children. The events that would have him question the Sword Logic and even break it on occasion never happened. As such the Echo views the Oryx we fought as a heretic. But towards the end of the story, the Echo comments that he too is a heretic. He died, therefore he was unworthy of existence but here he is. How can he claim to be a follower of the Sword Logic if his existence as an Echo spits in the face of it? Trying to escape Eris’ prison and to return home to Fundament were attempts to justify his existence. But in the end he surrendered to his logic and asked us to do again what was done previously. The Echo of Oryx stuck true to his logic, the logic of the sword and died to to the sword… his own sword. In the end all three of the Hive God siblings were heretics of their own logic. Xivu Arath mourned her brothers death and sought us out for petty revenge. The result? She is cut off from her Throne World and is now in hiding. Savathun rejected the Sword Logic outright. Had her worm removed, died and was risen as a lightbearer. Creating a new brood that worships the Traveler and aided in the death of The Witness. As for Oryx, see above.
The episode ends with Savathun stating we are now at war. Taking her sons head and killing her brother once again was the final straw. Some people view this moment as an out of character moment for Savathun given her comments in the past about Xivu acting like a child following Oryx’s first true death but I don’t agree because of an important factor. Savathun died. And not only that, was brought back as a lightbearer, which I will repeat, wipes your memories the first time it happens. Therefore any memories she has of Oryx were gone. Any she “claimed” back were most likely from third party sources. Such as Immaru, her own brood etc. And now an opportunity presented itself where she could rebuild those memories and forge new ones with her brother. Also if she did manage to convince him to abandon the sword logic and embrace the light, that would give the Lucent Hive legitimacy. After all, the Lucent Brood had already tried to bring Oryx back in Season of the Deep. The dungeon, “Ghosts of the Deep” has us investigate a crashed Lucent Hive tombship under Titans ocean. Our investigation uncovered that they were attempting to combine hive necromancy a ghost to revive Oryx in the light. We put a stop to that and take Oryx’s remains back to the Last City for safe keeping. But we took that away from her, not once but now twice. Oryx may have surrendered but we swung the sword.
There is another aspect to this episode that I will not cover as I have not experienced it. As most of my friends have stopped playing Destiny 2 at various points. So no coverage of the dungeon that came out with Heresy. Likewise for the dungeon that came out in Revenant lol. I won’t want to form my opinions solely on third party experiences.
The Drifter imo is the stand out character this episode alongside the King himself. His voice actor did a fantastic job of expressing the centuries of pain he went through. To finally feel like he had a future with someone, even more so after that happened with Orin only for that to be taken away from him. Even if for a moment. Eris is delightful as always. I wish the voice actor strike didn’t impact the episode as much as it did. Not having majority of Xivu Araths and Sloanes lines being voiced really breaks the immersion. But I won’t hold that against the episode.
While Heresy does leave us with some questions, such as who was really behind the Dire Taken, Heresy was designed to close the book on the Hive for now but also lead us into the future. It is a segue episode after all.
Overall I’m giving Heresy a 10/10 for its story. It is flawless. I would dare to say it is the best story Destiny has ever had. Better than Taken King, better than Forsaken, Witch Queen and even Final Shape. Which I gave high praise for around this time last year. Hopefully the next expansion, which will focus on Orin breaking free from the Nines control meets the standards set by Heresy and the above mentioned expansions. There better be Orin & Drifter interactions. I leave you with this joke, taken from one of the Drifters line when you load into Gambit.
“Alright, alright, alright, let’s see what we got… My ex on the field?!”
TLDR: Echoes was fine, Revenant sucked, Heresy is the GOAT.
Also someone at Bungie must have a feet fetish. The promotional material for the upcoming expansion focused a lot on Orin’s feet.
