Yesterday we had the Season Finale for Season of the Wish, and Bungie certainly delivered the hype in the build up to The Final Shape. We have our answers on how we’re going to get through the portal to the Pale Heart of the Traveler, plus we got to see a long awaited showdown between two star characters. Today I’m going to go through the season finale for Season of the Wish in Destiny 2.
If you enjoy this video, then consider subscribing for more Destiny 2 content and hit the notifications to never miss an update. Also, this contains spoilers for the season finale of Season of the Wish, so if you haven’t yet played the mission and seen THAT cutscene, then definitely go and do that now, and consider this your spoiler warning.
The season finale included a showdown between Crow and Cayde-6, plus we got some interesting details related to how Cayde has returned.
The rivalry between Uldren Sov (Crow’s identity before turning into a Guardian named Crow) and Cayde-6 stems from the Forsaken days. Cayde-6 was the Hunter Vanguard, the leader of all Hunters and throughout Destiny 1 was one of the stand out characters that everyone loved.
In the events of Forsaken, The Guardian and Cayde went to The Reef because there was a jailbreak from the Prison of Elders. They meet Petra Venj on the Reef to investigate and battle their way through the Prison, finding out Uldren Sov and The Scorn Barons had escaped.
Cayde-6 runs into The Scorn Barons and Uldren Sov, with a sniper taking out Cayde’s ghost making him vulnerable. Cayde is overwhelmed by the Barons, and is helpless on the floor. Uldren Sov makes his entrance and kills Cayde-6, although not before Cayde utters the provocative words “How’s your sister?” in reference to Mara Sov, Queen of the Awoken.
Throughout the Forsaken campaign we take out the Scorn Barons one-by-one and finally Uldren Sov, although we hear the gunshot that kills Uldren, but we don’t know who pulled the trigger, was it The Guardian or was it Petra Venj?
Either way, Uldren is dead, until he’s brought back by a Ghost called Glint, and Uldren is reborn as Crow. While Crow doesn’t remember who he was, other Guardians remind him of his actions by beating him, killing him over and over and generally treating him very badly, leading to Crow leading a very solitary life, not understanding why this is happening.
This leads to Crow’s initial redemption, and being welcomed into The Last City. Osiris takes Crow under his wing, given Osiris himself was once ostracised from The Last City and knows how he feels. Osiris keeps Crow’s identity hidden with a mask and slowly introduces him back into The Last City, even though Crow is very cautious, which is understandable considering his treatment.
Crow does make it to the Last City and spies Zavala from a distance. Zavala isn’t likely to welcome Crow into The Last City because he killed Cayde, another member of the Vanguard alongside Ikora. Zavala sanctioned The Guardian hunting down The Scorn Barons and Uldren Sov in the first place. Zavala then finds himself in a precarious position at a meeting with Caital, who is betrayed by her Cabal, and Zavala finds himself in the scope of a Sniper. Crow runs in and pushes Zavala out of harms way. We see a similar image of Crow standing over Zavala, which mirrors the scene of Uldren Sov standing over a dying Cayde-6. Crow is then welcomed into The Last City, and Zavala sees this is not the same man that killed Cayde-6.
Crow then becomes a pivotal character in the story to help us get through the portal in the Traveler. Uldren and Mara have a strong connection, given they are brother and sister. Mara can sense where Uldren, now Crow, is at all times, and the Vanguard want to harness this ability to help get through the Portal to the Pale Heart of the Traveler. Back in Season of the Deep we saw Guardians trying to get through the portal and ending up dead and mangled trying to get through.
The final mission of the season provides some story context for getting through the portal. Crow has been sent through as a test subject, and tests appear to have been successful. Through a combination of The Veil and Riven’s wish we’ve managed to successfully get through the portal, however, now we have to follow Cayde and that relies on Mara knowing where Cayde is. There’s some interferece in Cayde’s ‘signal’, which leads us back to The Black Garden, and we see a Black Heart in a mirror to the end of Destiny 1, where we had to fight 3 similar Vex. Once we defeat the Vex, then we see the cutscene of when Crow arrives in the Pale Heart of the Traveler.
As soon as Crow lands on the ground, Cayde is there firing shots from Ace of Spades at him. Crow returns fire from Hawkmoon, and these two are engaging in a 1v1, something we’ve been waiting for since Uldren killed Cayde nearly 6 years ago. Ulden takes cover, Cayde flushes him out with a grenade, and then we see that image once again, although this time it’s in reverse. This time Cayde is standing above Crow in a similar position to Uldren standing over Cayde. Cayde looks to pull the trigger, when Crow’s ghost Glint appears and then Cayde thinks twice. Seeing his ghost, he knows this isn’t the same man who killed him and he holsters his weapon, and instead offer him a hand and helps him up. Together they stand and look at the Tower in the background, where The Witness resides. “I don’t have to call you Prince, do I?” says Cayde… and this tells Cayde is back. Not just a copy of Cayde, this Cayde remembers.
The lore on the Exotic ship, the reward for the final mission, offers up clues as to why Cayde has returned.
Unforeseen Consequences
Be careful what you wish for.
He remembers his sister’s throne differently: an amalgam of Eliksni flotsam built from the spoils of war, its great weight suspended from the rafters.
A throne Uldren set ablaze in the wake of losing her. His first step down a forsaken path.
Crow lays a hand on the throne before him. It is empty and ponderous, silhouetted by distant nebulae and cosmic dust. It feels smooth. Too smooth.
“It was here that I first heard the news of your death,” calls a familiar voice behind him.
He turns to see his sister striding down the hall. Mara takes her place beside him and gazes out into the far reaches of space.
“Did you mourn for me?” Crow asks.
“I did,” his sister replies. She is silent for a moment. “And I regret what I did to you. The manipulation, the subtle coercion. None of it went the way I intended.”
Crow follows her gaze out into the endless void. “I know what that’s like.”
“Remorse and recriminations,” Mara says absently. She turns her eyes toward him. “If you could go back, alter the course of your history, what would you change?”
He can’t help but laugh. “Where to begin?” Crow muses with a smirk. It fades soon enough. “Cayde,” he whispers.
Mara raises an eyebrow. “Oh?”
“Before then, I could have taken a different road. But once I pulled that trigger…” He shakes his head. “Everything else, I can set right. But not that. I just wish I could tell him I shouldn’t have done it.”
“I see,” Mara murmurs. Her eyes shine in the starlight.
Crow sighs and rolls his shoulders back. “I should get going. Vanguard’s waiting on my report.”
“We all have our obligations, I suppose.”
“Don’t I know it.” Crow nods as he heads down the hall.
He pauses at the portal to the Dreaming City and glances back at Mara. Ringed by the distant nebulae, she shimmers like a mirage on desert sands. And then Crow is gone.
“See you soon.” Mara’s voice echoes across the empty chamber as the illusion fades. “O brother mine.”
Cayde has returned because Crow wished it. Riven took the appearence of Mara Sov and spoke to Crow, and when Crow uttered these words “I just wish I could tell him I shouldn’t have done it”. We thought the final wish was to get through the portal and into the Traveler, but the final wish is bringing Cayde back to us all.
Let me know what you think about the Season of the Wish Finale in the comments.