The Guardian Games are here once again in Destiny 2, and in addition to some friendly competition between classes, a new SMG, and a confusing playlist, they bring us some new lore. In particular, the class items tied to the Guardian Games each contain a little bit of lore about Prak’kesh, the ex-Guardian bookie we first met during the second incarnation of the event last year, and his bodyguard Tulnik. Whereas last year they seemed to be the only game in town when it came to betting on the competition, this year they have a little competition of their own.
In the lore for the Hunter Medal Mantle, Prak’kesh has a group of Hunters tell him they’ve found better odds elsewhere. Prak’kesh, understandably, is a little ticked off at the loss of business, and sets out to discover who’s horning in on his racket. In the Mark of Medal Titan class item lore, Prak’kesh appears wearing the Felwinter’s Helm he won in a bet from a Voidwalker during last year’s games. He approaches a group of Titans, who have called off their bets with him in favor of a “really big guy” with “a deep voice and a weird helmet,” who has “four arms and no legs” in the Botza District. They assume the guy is some kind of Guardian, strangely, but then Prak’kesh points out that he was a Fallen, and the Titans realize there were “weird porcupine dudes” present.
A huge Fallen who likes gambling and is flanked by guys wearing spiky armor. Sound like anyone we know? Yeah, it’s The Spider, the former big daddy of the Tangled Shore who got the Drifter to smuggle him out after things went south for him last season. Turns out that enslaving Crow got him some bad press, and he hit the bricks to start up his operation elsewhere. In-game, Spider’s main duties — exchanging planetary materials for Glimmer and selling upgrade items — was taken over by Rahool in the Tower. As if that wasn’t confirmation enough, Prak’kesh finds a calling card with the image of a spider in the lore for the Warlock Medal Bond. (There’s a cute throwaway line about Warlocks “meditating on the nature of un-being” before getting drunk in there, too.)
What does this mean? Well, it could indicate that Bungie is ramping up to do something with the Botza District in future seasons. Originally the site of the final battle in the Scourge of the Past Raid, the area was later used in Season of the Splicer as the temporary home of the Eliksni refugees. Past lore has indicated that Spider was infiltrating the area through his agents, but the new Guardian Games lore implies that he’s physically in the area somewhere, and he’s probably not up to any good. His motivations have been mostly mercenary in the past, so it’s possible he’d accept a deal from the Witness’s forces to try and undermine the Tower from inside. Whatever the case, it’s likely that the next time we meet the Spider, it won’t be on friendly terms.
