Recap / Destiny 2 Lightfall

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Ever since the confrontation with Savathun, The Witness has been expanding their influence across the Sol System. As long held mysteries start to unravel, it is discovered that there is a human colony on Neptune called Neomuna that has remained hidden from the outside world ever since the Collapse. Within this city holds an artifact key to understanding the rivalry between the Traveler and the Black Fleet, and The Witness tasks the new disciple Calus to claim the city for themselves with his new Shadow Legion bolstered by the Black Fleets' powers. The Vanguard races in to thwart their goals and the Guardians meet the Cloudstriders, protectors of Neomuna. In this clash the Guardians discover a new power rooted in the Darkness, Strand, which lets them manipulate threads of reality itself.

Lightfall Contains Examples Of:

• All There in the Manual: Veil Containment was a series of audio logs that could be accessed week to week that revealed more details surrounding the formation of Neomuna, experiments with the Veil and the collaboration with between Bray and Ishtar regarding the Darkness. While this is technically accessible in-game it is not a normal mission and wasn't available until late in "Season of the Deep" (about 5 months after launch). The information explains much of the unanswered questions in this campaign:
  • Neomuna was immediately targeted by the Vex due to them having the Veil, but because of the Veil they had to manually come into the city and not teleport inside or even rewrite history to put themselves on top of it. To keep it from becoming another MacGuffin for other factions the Vex placed a screen around the city that kept it hidden, which let the people focus on defense against the Vex alone.
  • Maya Sundaresh was a noted Ishtar scientist from Venus who lead the formation of Neomuna and the study of the Veil. It's discovered that she created an Exo based on her memory patterns and created a device from the study of the Veil, who turned out to be Lakshmi-2 and her exile became the secret origins of the Future War Cult.
  • The Veil was acknowledged to be extremely dangerous, with studies of its ability to impact and warp consciousness and experiments to utilize it turns out to mirror origins of the Witness revealed in "Season of the Deep." Other studies and experiments creates a connection between SIVA and Vex Radiolaria, and Cloud Striders appear to be related to Vex technology.
  • The Vex have never been able to simulate paracausal power, with their interest in the Veil stemming from their desire properly simulate paracausality through its power. The Cryptic Background Reference from the Insight Terminus strike regarding file MSUND12 turns out to be the Vex simulating Maya Sundaresh experiments, hoping to recreate the Veil. This instead turned into the Black Heart (the MacGuffin from the first Destiny campaign), which caused immense noise and static between the Traveler and the Veil because they operate in tandem. Osiris speculated this means the Traveler and Veil were once a single entity.
• Ambiguous Ending: Upon receiving power from the Veil, The Witness seemingly carves a portal into the Traveler that they and much of the Black Fleet disappear into. Everyone wonders why they are still alive.
• Back for the Dead: The launch trailer shows the Titan from the original Destiny 1 box art returning to fight the Black Fleet, only to have him and his Ghost sliced to ribbons by an attack from the Witness. The next shot is of three Arcadia-class jumpships meeting the same fate, implying the entire original fireteam was stripped of their Light and maimed right then and there.
• The Bad Guy Wins: A truly bleak example here - despite the Guardians managing to slay Calus, the Witness is able to access the Veil (implicitly because its chosen interface for it was not Calus, but your Ghost), and use it to open a portal on the surface of the Traveler. While previous Seasons have had the villains achieve their goals, this is the first time to Guardians totally fail their objectives, and it's made plain that the Witness' victory likely heralds the end of the universe.
• Building Swing: Strand focuses a lot on mobility with one ability allowing you to tether even open air and being able to swing yourself around, culminating in being able to tether a Titan using their Thundercrash super and fling yourself across a large chasm.
• The Bus Came Back: Asher Mir is revealed to have survived in the Vex network, with the Harpy from Season of the Splicer merely being a drone. He can occasionally be seen as a Freeze-Frame Bonus in Partition. Season of Defiance explores this further with its season pass Sparrow transmitting a Morse code message that reads "STILL ALIVE INSIDE NETWORK, IDIOT KIDS" when translated.
• Call-Back: After not using the ability since Beyond Light, the Witness once again possesses control of your Ghost. This time, though, they use him for more than just talking to you.
• Chekhov's Gun: The Night Terror is the only Moon weapon whose unblemished model is not used for the Neomuna arsenal. This is because Night Terror's model is not a sanctioned Ishtar/Exodus creation; it's actually a crude approximation of Nezarec's Sinister Scythe. Once he revives aboard the Essence, he quickly recreates the original from a branch of the Tree of Silver Wings and a haft resembling Lubrae's Ruin; its silhouette and weight distribution clearly resemble the K1 crew's cheap knockoff, but it is much larger, far more ornate, and infinitely stronger.
• Contrasting Sequel Main Character: The Cloud Striders serve as the vanguard of Neomuna, contrasting the lightbearer Vanguard in the rest of the system. While Guardians have the Light and are capable of Resurrective Immortality as long as they have a Ghost, Cloud Striders are said to be heavily augmented by cybernetics that border on magic at the cost of capping their lifespan to ten years post procedure.
• Crippling Overspecialization: Characters always talk of the Traveler using the light in the sense of how the guardians use the light as Reality Warper warriors, but what is often overlooked is the Traveler for untold eons would move across the universe to Terraform other worlds and THAT is what caused the Golden Age when it came to the Sol System and gave life to planets and moons. When confronted by the Black Fleet the Traveler unleashed an impressive display of power via what looks like a Wave-Motion Gun, but was actually a form of Hostile Terraforming and several pyramid ships were compromised by explosive vegetation. This was not enough to deter the fleet and the Traveler is soon overwhelmed and neutralized by the Witness. This reinforces what has been considered a fundamental truth for the Destiny setting: however powerful the Traveler may be, its offensive capabilities are limited, and that is why it has always moved on.
• Cryptic Background Reference: The story makes a concerted effort to avoid explaining anything, ranging from what the Witness is actually trying to do once the Traveler is captured (which at least forms a Sequel Hook) to not actually explaining what the Veil actually is, only that bad things will happen if the Witness gains control of it. It is only after the main campaign story is concluded that other characters suggest actually trying to understand it, which is still largely buried in the lore books.
• Cyberpunk: Neomuna is a major contrast to the Used Future of the rest of the setting, especially the Last City on Earth. It is a massive metropolis with neon billboards and extravagant architecture. That being said, the atmosphere of Neomuna leans toward Post-Cyberpunk, as it is a pristine city that survived the Collapse and mostly emphasizes the best parts of Pre-Collapse humanity, with even the more negative elements of the city being on the lighter end of the Dystopia scale.
• Cyborg: Cloud Striders are this, being humans augmented with tons of modifications and enhancements to make them incredibly powerful, and charged with protecting Neomuna. Though this comes at the cost of capping their following lifespan at ten years.
• Dramatic Irony: When they first meet and discuss the arrival of the Shadow Legion on Neptune, Rohan assures Osiris that he knows the stakes, noting that "not all of us have lives to spare". Again, he says this to Osiris, who has lost his Ghost Sagira and is Out of Continues. Ikora even notes in the first mission of the expansion that Osiris doesn't have anymore lives to spare.
• The Dog Bites Back: The launch trailer shows the Traveler firing a massive laser at the Witness and the Black Fleet shortly after it is heavily implied to kill off the original fireteam from the Destiny 1 box art.
• Downer Ending: Despite defeating Calus once and for all, the Guardians fail. The Witness claims the Veil despite all the effort to stop it, and with it, the Witness opens a portal inside the Traveler to enact the Final Shape. All the Young Wolf and the Vanguard can do is watch helplessly as the Black Fleet enter the portal, powerless to do anything to stop it. Moreover, Nezarec is actively plotting his return within Neomuna's computer systems independent of the Witness's original agenda, effectively rendering its net losses exactly zero.
• Dragon Ascendant:
  • Calus is an interesting example. He first appeared after Ghaul was defeated, while potentially a threat with the Leviathan he presented himself more as a Friendly Enemy offering the Guardians prizes for completing challenges rather than being a threat to humanity himself. His interests in artifacts of Darkness did hint at a deeper problem underneath, and his reappearance in "Season of the Haunted" affirmed that he was allying himself to The Witness in return for being granted powers of Darkness. He steps forward in Lightfall as The Dragon to The Witness, which is quite an interesting turn of events given he was more of a neutral party before.
  • Following Calus's death, Nezarec reclaims the seat that Calus had previously replaced and reveals himself as the one tampering with Neomuna's computer systems.
• Evil vs. Evil: While the Cloudstriders and Vanguard are battling Calus and the Witness's Taken, Nezarec is off in the background plotting his return by fighting the Vex for dominion over the Nexus. The Black Garden is also later besieged by the Witness once they prove themselves no longer useful to it.
• Foreshadowing: During the mission On The Verge, just as the Guardian is about to be overwhelmed by Vex while undergoing a Heroic RRoD, they get a Heroic Second Wind after Nimbus tells them to let go and focus on what's in front of them. It turns out that Strand embodies open mindedness and peaceful thoughts, so you need to go with the flow to use it properly.
• Gameplay and Story Segregation: As with most of the Destiny saga key cutscenes are rendered in real time showing the players personal guardian within the setting, including your weaponry. After the defeat of Calus and the players ghost is controlled by the Witness to link to the Veil, regardless of whatever gun that is equipped it will show them using a Khvostov 7G-OX rifle and taking aim at Ghost to stop the Witness. Rule of Symbolism is at play, as the Khvostov is the first gun any player is given when first revived by Ghost in Destiny 1.
• Gondor Calls for Aid: The previous two years has shown the Vanguard making alliances with Cabal and Eliksni factions who seek peace and cooperation, but with a sense of Teeth-Clenched Teamwork throughout based on their pre-existing hostilities. Even friendly factions like the Awoken have agreed that they can't afford to stay separated like this. This story is where those factions are all called upon in an "All hands on deck" emergency. When the campaign is over the player Guardian will be transported to the Tower and instead of the Traveler in the sky there is Awoken, Cabal and Eliksni ships circling about. For the first time too Cabal are in the Tower standing guard. This all leads into "Season of Defiance."
• Hidden Elf Village: Neomuna is a human colony that has remained hidden for centuries, and it's only when the Witness discovers its location via the Traveler that it gets involved in the conflict between the Guardians and the Black Fleet.
• Hopeless Boss Fight: The first attempt to destroy the Radial Mast involves the Guardian making a brute force attack on the Capital Ship. While they are able to wear down some defenses, Calus is personally involved and the attempt to use Strand results in the Guardian losing strength at a key moment. Luckily Caitl is able to punch a hole through and give them a chance to escape.
• King Mook: The new enemy type employed by Calus called Tormentors are revealed to have been created by Nezarec, the Disciple of the Lunar pyramid who perished long ago. In a first for the franchise, Tormentors served as foreshadowing that Nezarec, Final God of Pain would be the final boss of the Root of Nightmares raid, with his appearance and move set basically that of an extra-large Tormentor.
• Knows the Ropes: A new subclass element comes in the form of Strand, deriving power from the Weave and manifesting as thin strings and strands in the environment. One application involves stringing enemies up and stopping them cold, leaving them wide open to attack while they can't do anything.
• MacGuffin: Similar to the Relics from Season of Plunder, both the Radial Mast and the Veil are treated like this. It's even more blatant here, as there is nearly nothing explaining what they are or why they're so important beyond Calus trying to secure them for the Witness.
• Never Trust a Trailer: One moment in the expansion's trailer has a Cloud Strider (likely Nimbus) manifesting a large cannon from their arm and firing upon a Pyramid ship, causing an explosion. It's notable for being the only time a weapon is actually shown hitting a Pyramid and causing an effect, instead of simply disappearing when it gets close enough. This scene is never once displayed in the actual campaign.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: The Traveler's beam fired at the Witness accidentally strikes a Pyramid, which does wear it down enough for the Light to begin terraforming the impact site. Flash forward a couple weeks later, and it turns out that it's since grown into a chaotic, splintered mess that has also revived Nezarec, who then becomes the antagonist of the Root of Nightmares raid. Oops.
• Non Human Nonbinary: Downplayed for Nimbus, who started as a regular human, but the process of becoming a Cloud Strider has made them so much more as a result.
• Oddly Small Organization: The Cloud Striders are built up to be an elite militia with advanced cybernetic enhancements who protect Neoluma. While we see a memorial for hundreds of previous Cloud Striders only two are seen and interacted with in the story, Rohan and Nimbus. Dialogue implies that this is a limit related to the nanotechnology that creates the Cloud Striders, with only two able to exist at one time.
• Offscreen Inertia: Curiously, the campaign starts with a cutscene showing the Vanguard trying to engage the Black Fleet but being quickly outmatched by the Witness even when the Traveler tries to engage. A pulse that neutralizes the Traveler also shuts down power in the HELM with most of the supporting cast including Zavala and Mara Sov. Calus' Cabal fleet then leaves to Neomuna to acquire the Veil with the player character and Osiris alone catching a ride. While there is some communications passed around that the Vanguard is operating a counter-offensive, in reference to "Season of Defiance," quite a bit happens on Neomuna including a couple of training sequences. Yet the ending campaign cutscene shows the HELM rebooting with each character in the exact same spot to see the Witness create a portal through the Traveler.
• Power Nullifier: The Black Fleet approach the Traveler and position itself in a radial orbit around it, which appears to place the Traveler into a submissive state but without cutting off access to the Light like what Ghaul did.
  • Later in the campaign, the Shadow Legion deploy pieces of Pyramid tech that shut off access to your Supers, including the Stasis ones. While your other abilities are usable, it's still a handicap. However, they don't do anything to Strand, as they're calibrated only to recognize the known subclass powers before the events of Lightfall. With Strand manifesting for them as soon as Guardians arrive, the Shadow Legion's otherwise foolproof tech is circumvented entirely.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: An example where a Blue has two Reds. Rohan is the Blue, being stoic and focused on the task at hand. Nimbus is the more obvious Red, being far more expressive and laidback, and is a natural go-getter compared to Rohan preferring to assess the situation before acting. Osiris is a more subtle Red, having a short temper and being combative and agitated on a regular basis while Rohan's more straightlaced and able to see the bigger picture.
• The Reveal:
  • The Light and Darkness are not forces representing Good and Evil, or some other set of diametrically opposed forces. Each is a Background Magic Field, with the Light governing physical forces while the Darkness embodies abstract and emotional ones.
  • The Darkness does not fully understand the nature of the Vex, even though it is directly responsible for creating them. In the Thrilladrome, Nezarec can be overheard pointedly wondering to himself if they have individuality, even though it would seem like the Witness and the Disciples could easily find out the answer.
  • Humanity is not the first to use Darkness for good, with the Ecumene and Qugu having communed with it and gained complete control over the powers granted. However, the Witness and its forces were so diametrically opposed to the idea that they removed all references to such a thing happening even in their own texts.
• Rule of Symbolism: When talking to Calus on Neomuna, The Witness pointedly looks at his goblet when telling its Disciple that "you have everything you want". Seeing as said goblet is empty, the implication is two-fold: that Calus may appear opulent but is empty on the inside, and that he will never be able to fill that void with anything - he will always want more. It's also a representation of how he needs the submission of others to feel satisfied - he does try to drink from the goblet when he first arrives at Neomuna, but only after proposing a toast to the Witness, implicitly wanting them to fill the cup. He never tries to use his powers to fill it himself because doing so would be beneath him.
• Scenery Porn: While Destiny locations tend to have this by default, Neomuna stands out for being a thriving, unblemished city hidden away for centuries, so it looks pristine and pretty compared to the more ruined or dilapidated areas of the past.
• Sequel Hook:
  • The Witness creates a triangular portal into the Traveler that they disappear into along with most of the Black Fleet. No one really understands what happened, but the fact they are still alive gives them a chance to understand what just happened and possibly follow the Witness to wherever they went.
  • The main post-campaign quest, which rewards Winterbite, reveals the Occlusion has discovered an enemy of the Witness on "Saturn VI," another name for Titan. It is seemingly trying to secure them to help prevent the Final Shape.
• Sickly Green Glow: Downplayed for Strand. While it's a subclass with a base in Darkness, the actual element lacks anything involving traditional poison or otherwise "sickly" elements, being more focused on ensnaring enemies and plucking at strings of consciousness to fight.
• Sky Surfing: Cloud Striders carry a piece of metal with them that can quickly form into a board for them to ride around, allowing for quick travel around their city.
• A Taste of Power: Like Stasis, players can come across Strand empowering nodes with near-instant recharge and allow you to clear enemies while getting accustomed to the new powers and the actual subclass will be unlocked after the campaign, which equalizes recharge times but offers more options in fragment and aspect customization. Unlike Stasis, though, the campaign spends a little more time on tutoring the Guardian (and by extension the player) on the key facets of Strand powers so you can get familiar with the more nuanced mechanics.
• Thriving Ghost Town: Played with - Neomuna does actually have a lot of people living there, but when the Shadow Legion arrived, all the citizens who weren't Cloud Striders quickly hid themselves away on the Cloudark. They can still interact with the world outside, by utilizing holographic projections scattered around the city.
• Took a Level in Jerkass: Osiris is still reeling from the loss of his Light and isn't coping will with the feeling of helplessness. This manifests as him being incredibly short-tempered and prone to outbursts whenever things don't go according to plan.
• Xanatos Gambit: Much of the main campaign is spent trying to prevent Calus from gaining access to the Veil and using the Radial Mast, both artifacts of the light, to link to the Witness so it can do something to the Traveler. Rohan sacrifices himself to destroy the Radial Mast, but if Calus gains direct access anyway he could manually transport it to the Witness. As it so happens, once Calus is defeated and the guardian gets closer to the Veil the players' Ghost is also an artifact of the light and the Witness was able to create a link to the Veil through it.
• Virtual Ghost: The CloudArk's Brain Uploading system works by temporarily converting its users into these. More importantly to the plot, however, is that this is also how Nezarec returns to the physical realm, corrupting the adjacent Vex network in the same manner that Quria did when it backed up the Oppressive Minds from their deletions in Season of the Splicer.
• We Hardly Knew Ye: Rohan commits a Heroic Sacrifice to destroy the Radial Mast and upset the plans of Calus about 2/3rds of the way through the campaign. Thing is he was first met about 1/3rd of the way through the campaign, there is a handful of dialogue interactions and some character-building moments but he doesn't join much in the fighting and mostly serves as a Voice with an Internet Connection up until his death. Nimbus, his protege, is oddly casual about his death until after the main story, with the post campaign material doing a lot more to flesh out his character and Nimbus' feelings of loss.
• Yin-Yang Bomb: The raid exotic weapon, Conditional Finality, is a two-shot shotgun that fires stasis damage for the first attack that will freeze an enemy and the second attack will trigger solar ignition damage. Paired together against one enemy the damage pattern goes slug, freeze, slug, shatter, ignition and makes for top tier special weapon DPS potential. The premise of the raid involved Nezarec being revived and empowered by the light while retaining powers of darkness at the same time, so this feeds into that story. Stasis and Solar are also considered to be opposing powers.
• You Have Failed Me: In the fight against Calus he has an overshield that will recharge if he doesn't take damage for a long enough time. Once you break his Darkness empowered armor he will attempt to recharge that overshield at specific health gates, only for it to quickly diminish allowing you direct damage to his health bar. His dialogue indicates he is trying to call on the Witness for help but is being denied.