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With the Traveler contending with the Darkness, multiple planets seemingly vanish overnight. Their spirit is unsettled but their resolve rebounding, they sudden get a distress signal from Variks on Europa telling of an extremist Fallen leader Eramis tapping into fragments of the Pyramid ships and giving them darkness powers they call Stasis. Unable to properly contend with Stasis with their own light, your Guardian is contacted by the Exo Stranger and given tutoring on how to utilize Stasis for yourself and fight against Eramis' new House of Salvation.
Beyond Light contains examples of:
- Alternate Timeline: The Exo Stranger is revealed to hail from one. In her timeline, the Darkness won and managed to make most Guardians fall to its temptations, including Ana (who she had to Mercy Kill when she started to emulate Clovis Bray I) and the Young Wolf.
- An Ice Person: Stasis powers in a nutshell, which can freeze any and all opponents caught in its grasp. It's also the power of the Darkness.
- Bittersweet Ending: The Guardian defeats Eramis and her Barons in the campaign and the Deep Stone Crypt. However, the Crypt has been destroyed, meaning there will never be new Exos, and breaking open the Crypt also allowed Clovis Bray I's AI form to reactivate. There are also still hundreds of Fallen pledged to the House of Salvation's banner, many of whom still wield Stasis. Finally, the Guardians have begun using the Darkness, and there is no putting that genie back in its bottle, so time will tell if the Guardians can resist the temptations of the Darkness or fall like they did in the Stranger's timeline.
- Blood Knight: Phylaks, one of Eramis' lieutenants, is this, having made quite a name for herself in Twilight Gap. She only reveals herself to the Guardian if they killed a good deal of her soldiers, thinking them worthy of a fight.
- The Bus Came Back: The Exo Stranger was an especially enigmatic character in the Base Campaign of the original game. While some lore did surround her and players speculated about her true origins, she had not been seen for over six years.
- Central Theme: Two.
- How we handle our past and define our futures - the Exo Stranger and Eramis are both defined by tragedy (the Whirlwind for Eramis, the Exo project for the Stranger), but while Eramis allowed her anger and grief to consume her, the Stranger strives on toward a better future.
- What motivates you, how strong is this conviction, and how far will you go to achieve it? Both Eramis and the Guardians seek to use the Darkness to bring about their goals, as did Clovis Bray I in the past. Their motives all vary, though, with Eramis and Clovis having selfish ones (revenge on the Traveler for Eramis and immortality for Clovis), while the Guardians have the relatively selfless notice of protecting the city. The greatest difference, though, is how strong those convictions are - Eramis is just lashing out in anger over the Whirlwind, and is eventually consumed by her own power and frozen solid. Clovis broke down when it turned out his beliefs were wrong and died a broken man. The Guardians, however, are determined to see their vigil through, and because of this are also able to keep themselves from going over the line.
- Continuity Nod: Variks leaving the Prison of Elders is what caused the Riot that occurred in Forsaken, and thereby was partially responsible for the death of Cayde.
- Continuity Snarl: The return of the Cosmodrome is a big one. Despite the massive changes to it and the connecting Plaguelands in Rise of Iron, here it's played out like the rise of SIVA never happened at all, with the massive hole in the wall not being there and all the snow and Devil Splicers are gone. Yet the game still insists that expansion still happened previously.
- Evil Is Not a Toy: Both the Exo Stranger and Zavala both caution the Young Wolf and other Guardians about using Stasis wisely. Their concerns are well deserved, given that almost every Guardian in the Exo Stranger's timeline succumbed to the Darkness' temptations.
- Fallen Hero: The Exo Stranger tells the Player Guardian that this was the case for them in her timeline, having succumbed to the Darkness' temptations. This also applies to the Young Wolf if the player completed Rise of Iron in the first game.
- Heroic Second Wind: In the climax of the campaign, Eramis manages to trap the Guardian in Stasis, freeze their Ghost solid, and destroys their Splinter. For a moment, it seems like she's rendered them as powerless as when they fought Ghaul in the Red War. Then they recall the Exo Stranger's words to focus their power, and frees themselves from Eramis' Stasis with their own.
- He Who Fights Monsters: The ultimate concern given by everyone as your Guardian taps into the powers of Stasis in that they will turn against an ally if it suits them. The Exo Stranger is optimistic, though, as she feels it is merely a tool and can be controlled.
- Karma Houdini: Played with. While not entirely responsible, Variks is one of the reasons behind Cayde-6's death. As much as Zavala and presumably others want to bring him to justice, the Vanguard Commander agrees with the Reef to give Variks temporary immunity until the House of Salvation is dealt with.
- Nothing Is the Same Anymore: Beyond Light marks some of the most drastic changes in Destiny in that not only is the Darkness attempting to sway Guardians with Stasis, but half of the destinations previously available have disappeared.
- We Used to Be Friends:
- Variks and Eramis were close long ago, but Variks recognized the futility of trying to reclaim the Great Machine and instead tried to befriend humanity for the survival of the Eliksni, while Eramis decided all that mattered was revenge even if the Eliksni are destroyed forever in the process. They were on semi-decent terms before the current events.
- Variks and the Young Wolf had a good relationship in the first game. Up until his unwitting role in the death of Cayde-6, which he realizes has earned him the well-deserved hate and anger of many other Guardians.
- Wham Shot: Three after arriving in Clarity Control during the Deep Stone Crypt:
- The first is The Reveal of what Clarity Control actually is: a statue of the veiled woman found in the Pyramids.
- The second is seeing the "unregistered Exo" the Crypt's AI mentioned, which is revealed to be Eramis' lieutenant Atraks, who has made herself Atraks-1, Fallen-Exo.
- Finally, the reveal of the identity of "the body" Emaris had told Atraks to ready. A cryo-pod Atraks is working on rises, vents gas...and out jumps Taniks, the Scarred, resurrected again.
- You Have Failed Me/You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Possibly. After being defeated by the Guardian, Eramis finds herself being frozen solid by her own Stasis powers, possibly due to either the Darkness believing she was no longer of use to its plans or she was merely a "push" to give the Guardian into using Stasis to its fullest.
