The Final Shape is the next major expansion due to release sometime in 2024, and this is going to be the culmination of the light vs darkness saga in Destiny 2. While it’s the end of this story, there’s plenty more to come from Destiny 2, and we’re not short of open story threads to explore. Today I want to look ahead to after The Final Shape and speculate to where the story might go in Destiny 2.
Before we get into things today, let me know in the comments where you want the story to take us after The Final Shape, and what are the open story threads you’d like to see Bungie expand upon?
The Final Shape is the final destination for the story in the light vs darkness saga, or the culmination of ten years of storytelling inside Destiny 2. This will likely end in a hige battle against The Witness in the raid, and perhaps even outside of the raid too with Guardians from all over the planet teaming up to finish off the commander of a pyramid fleet.
But what comes after The Final Shape? Is this going to be the end of Destiny 2? The game isn’t in a great place right now from a PR perspective, but it’s in good shape from a gameplay perspective and if Bungie can nail the story, then I am confident Bungie can turn things around, release a great expansion with The Final Shape and then set up the next few years of story telling.
While we don’t know a great detail about the next stories, we do have some clues. For example, in Bungie’s latest showcase they announced Episodes. We have 3 episodes coming after The Final Shape; Echoes, Revenant and Heresey. Each Episode was accompanied by an image, so we have a rough idea for where the story may go.
First of all we have Echoes, and this is coupled with an image of The Vex. While the story telling throughout the year of Lightfall hasn’t been up to the high standards Bungie can hit, the Vex story hints have been good. In the Veil Containment weekly lore, we’ve heard of Chioma Esi and Maya Sundaresh, Neomuna’s founders as they are studying the Veil and The Vex. Maya lost herself to her work, through experiments with the Exos, and created Lakshmi-2, who would eventually return to earth.
Bungie have been fairly explicit with their intention to tell more Vex stories once The Final Shape is done, by saying in a recent roundtable with the press.
“I think once Final Shape concludes, the Vex might be in a position to do some more stuff.” Nikko Stevens, Senior Narrative Designer
“We’re trying to bring the Vex in a little bit more of a personalized way right now and in a way that connects with the Witness’ story via the Sol Divisive. These were Vex that went all the way back to Destiny 1 with the Black Heart. They’ve kind of been expanded through piecemeal drops here and there up until Spire of the Watcher which was a really big insight into the Sol Divisive and how closely aligned they actually are with the Witness.”
In the second episode we’re going to get The Scorn. On the Episodes design it looks like Fikrul, which could indicate some storyline with Crow. Crow, as Uldren Sov, helped bring the Scorn to life, and it would be interesting to see if Fikrul had any allegiences left. Scorn by their very nature are undead Eliksni, and are generally puppets at the command of their leader. This could be a good chance to create a new story with Crow, Mithrax, Eramis and tell something new with the Scorn and Eliksni.
The final episode we know about is called Heresey, and this is focused on the Hive. This season has been all about the Hive, and they are one of the most compelling enemy races to tell stories about in the world of Destiny 2. Just look back at the past in Destiny history and you’ll find incredible storytelling including The Taken King with Oryx, Witch Queen with Savathun, and Season of the Witch focused on Eris. We still have one Hive sister out there in the wild with Xivu Arath, and Eris removed her Throne World, so she’s in her most vulnerable position she’s been in for a long time. My hope is Heresey will be the season where we hunt down Xivu Arath and have that final showdown this story deserves.
That’s it for the episodes, but we also have some other open story threads in Destiny 2, and there are plenty to choose from.
Vacant Hunter Vanguard – When Uldren Sov killed Cayde-6 he stepped into the Vanguard Dare, which states the killer must fill the vacant position. Since then Uldren Sov was ressurected in the Light as Crow, and went on a redemption arc, highlighted by that mirrored cutscene in Season of the Chosen with Zavala reaching out his hand in friendship, rather than in fury. Crow is also a Hunter and would fit the position, however, whether this would be a popular decision is still yet to be seen. We also have Cayde-6 coming back in some form in The Final Shape, and while we don’t yet know the details, it looks like Cayde will be confined to The Traveller.
The Nine – The Nine are a mysterious bunch, and are ripe for expanding future stories. They are beings made of Dark Matter, and their primary mission is to sustain their own existance which seems intrinsically linked to our solar system in some way. At present, the Nine are divided into two factions. One faction, consisting of five members, seeks to study the Light and use it for their own purposes, and is responsible for sending Xur, Agent of the Nine and The Emissary to interact with the Guardians. The other four seek to free themselves from their dependence on matter-based life and the Light. The Nine appear to have some ability to predict or see the future; the Prophecy Dungeon includes symbolic representations of future events such as the rise of Eramis, the disappearance of Io, Mars, Mercury and Titan following the arrival of the Black Fleet and later arrival of Empress Caiatl in the Sol System.
Variks – What happened to Variks?
Variks, the Loyal is a Fallen Scribe and former Warden of the Prison of Elders. He is the last known surviving member of the House of Judgment. He is one of the few Eliksni who remained loyal after the Wolf Rebellion to the Queen of the Reef, acting as one of her advisors. In Destiny Variks sold Fallen-themed items to Guardians. Variks uses a modified servitor called The Warden to guard the Prison and communicate to Guardians. Variks later fled the Prison after the dissolution of his faith in the Reef. This was partly due to the loss of his Queen, Uldren’s insanity, alienation from the Vanguard and a demoralizing discussion with Fikrul, the Fanatic, leading him to attempt to rally the Fallen as a new Kell of Kells representing House Judgment.
His bid for Kell of Kells ultimately failed and Variks briefly joined Eramis and her House of Salvation on Europa. After she gained the powers of Stasis, Variks feared Eramis’s loss of mercy, their original vision and inevitably her sanity. Eventually he defected after learning of her affiliation with the Darkness that caused the Whirlwind. He now cooperates with the Vanguard helping to coordinate the dismantling of Eramis’ Fallen empire and evacuate like-minded Eliksni to the House of Light, in exchange for amnesty from the Reef.
Let me know what you think, and let me know what stories you want to see explored in the future of Destiny 2.