WARNING: Massive Destiny 2 Spoilers ahead, proceed at your own risk.
Destiny 2is ushering in a new era thanks to the recent story developments in the Light and Darkness saga and the upcoming The Final Shape expansion, which is going to bring Cayde-6 back and allow Guardians to traverse the portal that The Witness created on The Traveler. With the saga soon coming to an end, Lightfall’s lackluster story didn’t land well when it comes to player reception, as it was supposed to answer some questions more than creating additional doubts. However, Bungie promised thatDestiny2’s seasonal storieswould do that, and it seems that the most recent leaks are proving just as much.
While there were massive leaks beforeDestiny 2’s Lightfalllaunched, they didn’t prove to be reliable until recently, and they didn’t even explain many of the lingering questions that players have had. However, soon after the launch ofDestiny 2’s Season of the Deep, players were able to datamine one of the most meaningful cutscenes in the game’s entire history - one that explains the origins of The Traveler’s arch-enemy. The Witness' story is not only important to the lore of the game, but it seems to be retconning the contents of one ofDestiny 2’s most relevant lore books - Unveiling.
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Destiny 2’s Leaked Season 21 Cutscene Puts a Dent into The Unveiling Lore Books
The leaked cutscene was likely meant to be shown in the game at the end ofDestiny 2’s Season of the Deep, and it appears to be narrated from Ahsa’s perspective - the sea creature on Titan for which Sloane called for help. As Season 21’s prologue explains, Ahsa is an ancient enemy of The Witness, and she appears to be the one who finally tells players who and what exactly the being is. Based on the leaked cutscene, The Witness was never just one entity, but rather an entire race that once worshipped The Traveler, calling it “The Gardener.”
The Gardener is not something new toDestiny 2players, and its first mention dates back to a lore book, or rather a series of lore books, called Unveiling. Within this collection is a lore book called “Gardener and Winnower,” which seemingly describes the origins of the universe and time itself as a game played by the titular entities, but from the perspective of The Winnower - the being that players always associated with Darkness, as it was the counterpart to The Gardener.
According to the cutscene, however, the Darkness is actuallyDestiny 2’s Veil, which has a connection with The Traveler. This was discovered early on by the alien race that eventually became The Witness as it traveled through the universe to find its purpose after being aided by the terraforming and well-wishing powers of The Traveler. This race began to think of the Light and The Traveler, The Gardener, as dangerous under the assumption that life is chaotic and can lead to destruction. The Traveler eventually fled, and the alien race merged into a single entity powerful enough to hunt down and end The Traveler.
This is an incredible source of lore forDestiny 2’s worldbuilding, and it answers many questions, but it also poses new ones. Unveiling describes The Winnower as an equal to The Gardener, but this is proved wrong by the cutscene, revealing that even if The Witness considers itself The Winnower, it was not an entity before space and time existed alongside The Traveler. Instead, The Witness' original race existed and thrived solely thanks to The Traveler, and the two entities never really fought in the so-called garden, which ultimately begs the question of what exactly is true from Unveiling and what isn’t. As such, this is something thatDestiny 2’s The Final Shapeshould put to rest if it is to end the Light and Darkness saga.
Destiny 2is available for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
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