The Season of the Seraph wrapped up in Destiny 2 today, with an ending mission typical of the game’s seasonal structure. A lot happened, though — in addition to the mission itself, we got a full-on cutscene of a kind of haven’t seen in a while, not to mention dialogue, transmissions, and more. Let’s review everything that happened, talk about where we’re at headed into Lightfall, and get into some of the issues with Destiny 2‘s ongoing narrative. Needless to say, spoilers ahead for the ending of Season of the Seraph.
When the season finale mission begins, we’re told that Eramis and House Salvation have attacked Seraph Station and are attempting to use the Warsats to attack the Earth and the Traveler. The Guardian re-infiltrates the Station, fights their way through the Fallen and Hive, and engages Eramis, who flees. Finally, the Guardian defeats the Hive Wizard leading the attack — but it’s too late, Eramis has taken control of the Warsats.
The cast of Destiny 2 watch as the Traveler seemingly begins to flee from the Earth. Eramis, on a Zoom call with the Witness, powers up the Warsats in a bid to destroy the Traveler as Rasputin was originally meant to do back before the Collapse. Rather than allow this to happen, Rasputin has Ana erase him, which disables the Warsats. The Traveler stops in its tracks, now apparently in Earth’s orbit. And the Witness and his forces are here, content that the Traveler has nowhere to run.
After the dust settles, the Guardian receives a pre-recorded message from Rasputin. He explains that Osiris’s visions of a city on Neptune were correct, and that he’s decrypted some of the data referencing it in his records.
What Season of the Seraph Means for Lightfall
The Witness is here — but then, he’s been here for a while. Eramis is still alive, so it seems like she’ll continue to be an antagonist for the time being. The Traveler has moved into space. More importantly, everyone saw it attempt to flee. That will likely have an impact on some of Destiny‘s characters like Ikora and Zavala. Perhaps it’s what encourages Osiris to develop Strand powers in Lightfall.
Rasputin is apparently dead and gone, but recall that a fragment of one of Soteria, the Augurmind from the Spire of the Watcher dungeon fled to Neptune (as described in the lore for Hierarchy of Needs), so it’s possible he’ll somehow return through that. Or, more likely, he’ll come back as a Guardian at some point.
As it is, we don’t seem to have any real reason to be headed to Neptune in Lightfall, other than Osiris’s vague visions. The buildup to the next major Destiny 2 expansion was, in our opinion, not nearly as well executed as it was in Season of the Lost before Witch Queen. So let’s talk about the issues with this season and its finale.
The Issues With the Season of the Seraph Finale
One major problem with the Season of the Seraph ending is a broader issue with Destiny 2‘s narrative: it seems like the Guardian is the only capable person on the side of the Light. Eramis and House Salvation were easily able to infiltrate Seraph Station simply because the Guardian wasn’t there at the time. Why wasn’t the station defended in any way after we retook it?
That leads into another issue — Eramis herself. We’ve defeated the leader of House Salvation twice now, once in Beyond Light and then again in Season of the Plunder. Our battle with her on Seraph Station was a joke, since seasonal content isn’t meant to be as challenging as, say, a Raid or Nightfall. After being trounced, Eramis runs away laughing at our weakness — but we clearly won. Then, we totally lose track of her after her plot to use the Warsats fails. She’s clearly still on the station, as is the Guardian. But for some reason, we simply let her go. Again.
Let’s talk about the bigger problem, though, which is Season of the Seraph’s handling of Rasputin. Previously a complex character more alien than human, Rasputin got a body and a voice through the Guardian’s efforts during this season. And then, after ten weeks, he kills himself to save humanity. It felt forced and cheap for a number of reasons. We’d barely gotten to know him, first of all, so his death was never going to be as meaningful as that of, say, Cayde. But more than that, why would Rasputin need to destroy himself to disable the Warsats? Why would turning him off make the Warsats fall apart?
The obvious answer is that Rasputin was a dangling thread, a powerful ally that could easily solve many of Destiny 2‘s problems. The Season of the Seraph finale had to get him and the Warsats out of the picture. The narrative had previously established that using the Warsats would actually empower Xivu Arath due to her status as a God of War, but apparently that wasn’t enough. Rasputin had to go.
The Move Away From Lore
More generally, it seems like Bungie is clearing house with regards to many of the plot threads that have existed mainly in Destiny 2‘s lore as they recalibrate the game to be about the conflict between the Witness and the Traveler. That’s kind of a bummer for those of us who have been invested in that lore for a long time, but it’s not terribly surprising.
Lore has always been a bit of a sticking point in Destiny 2. How many times has a great story played out only in a lore book or in a short story outside of the game? Those formats are fantastic for writers in that they get to explore characters, settings, and ideas that would be impractical to include in the game itself. However, as Destiny‘s narrative has expanded over time, it presents a problem for the franchise.
Short of simply ignoring the existence of these lore elements, and without the capability and/or interest to bring them all into the game proper, the best solution for Bungie is to eliminate them. Winnowing away the problematic elements of the Destiny story that might impinge on the direction the game is headed in allows the team to focus on what’s coming, rather than all of the little side stories that have been developed in the past.
On the one hand, this is great for new players getting into the game, who don’t necessarily know about older characters or concepts. On the other, it’s disappointing for longtime fans who are invested in the world Bungie has built, obscure mysteries and all. But that’s the reality of a live game with a massive team behind it — things are always changing. As it is, we’ll have to wait to see if Lightfall can deliver the same kinds of narrative payoffs that Witch Queen did.
