Destiny has always had a seriously convoluted plot with wizards who came from the moon and
mysterious strangers with no time to explain why they don't have time to explain, not to
mention the fact that half the games lore isn’t even in the game!
So if you’re looking to fully enjoy Destiny 2 but don't want to drag yourself through
the first game's story or read all the lore to understand what's going on, we have a super
simplified breakdown of Destiny’s plot line and all of its expansions to bring you up
to date!
The story begins with the arrival of the Traveler sometime in the late 21st century.
No one knew where it came from but as it made its way through our solar system it began
to terraform nearby planets making them habitable for humans.
Its arrival ushered in a Golden Age for humanity granting huge advances in technology and allowing
for the colonisation of other planets.
Humanity flourished and life was good.
During this time another of the games playable races were created, the Exo, machines with
an incredibly advanced AI similar to a human mind.
However this Golden Age wouldn’t last forever as unbeknown to humanity the Traveler was
pursued by an ancient enemy known as the Darkness.
What exactly the Darkness is remains up for debate, but when it arrived it destroyed much
of what humanity had built.
This era is known as the Collapse and most of the knowledge and technology from before
this event has been lost.
Around this time a group of humans attempted to flee from the Darkness, however while out
in the black of space something mysterious happened to them and they were changed forever,
today they are known as the Awoken, Destiny’s third playable race.
Back on Earth all seemed lost until the Traveler sacrificed itself to save humanity and push
back the Darkness, then with its final breath it created the ghosts, and in turn the ghosts
would create the Guardians.
Ghosts seek out guardians amongst long dead Humans, Exo’s and Awoken that litter the
planet, looking for those capable of controlling the travelers light, once they find their
Guardian the Ghosts will bring them back to life.
Many of the first Guardians believed they had been chosen to rule over others and a
select few became warlords, however when they grew too powerful another group of Guardians
stood up against them, tore them down and began to build a city in the shadow of the
Traveler, a place for humanity to unite once more.
These Guardians became known as the Iron Lords and they along with other new Guardians would
stand up as protectors for the Last City forevermore.
Its many years later that your story in Destiny begins as your ghost revives you in Old Russia.
Your early adventures see you push back the Fallen, a nomadic pirate like race who have
attacked Earth along with other planets.
However they aren't the only threat in our solar system.
The Hive are another alien race who have been attacking Earth and already control the moon
having dug deep cave systems across its face.
They worship the Darkness and believe that by destroying the Travelers light the Darkness
can reclaim its domination.
While thwarting one of the Hive’s attempts to destroy the light you are approached by
a strange female Exo who talks about a far greater threat waiting on Venus.
Once on Venus you meet the Vex, an ancient cyborg race hell bent on expanding their species
throughout the Galaxy and just like the Hive they have close ties to our old enemy the
Darkness.
The Vex already have complete control of Mercury and also have a presence on Mars, in fact
the only thing that's really stopped them from taking over the red planet is another
alien race known as the Cabal.
The Cabal are a heavily militarised empire who have conquered entire galaxies.
Centuries ago they sent a small portion of their army to scout out our solar system.
However on Mars they ran into the Vex and have been locked in an unwinnable war ever
since.
You battle both the Vex and Cabal on Mars and do a lot of damage to each side before
finally entering the Black Garden, a separate dimension which the Vex keep locked out of
space and time, which houses a being known as the Black Heart.
Worshiped like a god by the Vex this being is closely linked with the Darkness and as
a Guardian it's your duty to destroy it, this is your final act in the vanilla story of
Destiny.
Your journey continued with the game's first expansion, ‘The Dark Below’.
Here you meet Eris Morn, the last survivor of a fireteam who attempted to destroy a Hive
god known as Crota.
Crota currently sleeps in a realm known as the Netherworld but the Hive are looking to
bring him back to our reality.
Of course we can't allow this to happen and so with Eris’s guidance you manage to destroy
him.
In the Second expansion ‘House of Wolves’ we learn more about the Awoken.
Although some of the Awoken have become Guardians of Earth but many still remain on the edge
of our solar system in an area known as the Reef.
Leading the Awoken is their Queen ‘Mara Sov’.
Long ago her people conquered and enslaved a group of Fallen, however they are now fighting
back and their leader Skolas is causing an uprising looking to unite all the Fallen under
him.
To stop him the Awoken Queen summons the Guardians to aid her and together you defeat Skolas
locking him away in the Awoken’s Prison of Elders.
The next expansion was the Taken King and this was the most important update to the
story.
Oryx, the father of Crota who we killed in the first expansion has sent his Hive fleet
to avenge his son.
But Oryx’s powers go far beyond those of the average Hive as he can enslave other races
into his own army known as the Taken.
As they entered our Solar system the Awoken from the Reef attempted to stop them but Oryx
hardly had to lift a finger to wipe out their entire armada.
The same thing happened when he attacked a Cabal base on one of Mars’ moons and now
the Guardians knew they had to do something before he could complete his quest for vengeance.
We sneak aboard the Dreadnought and begin to fight back, eventually destroying Oryx
although some of his Taken soldiers are still around.
The final expansion is Rise of Iron.
The Fallen have been raiding ancient tombs left over from humanity's Golden Age and in
one they unearthed a self replicating nano-technology known as SIVA which turned the Fallen who
found it into powerful machine Gods.
Lord Saladin, the last of the Iron Lords lead the Guardians in a final stand against this
new threat and in turn he created a new generation of Iron Lords to guard the City once more.
In Destiny 1 we defeated Vex and Hive gods and stopped the Fallen from becoming more
powerful, but the one race we interacted with the least was the Cabal.
On Mars they were a threat but unlike the other races they only occupied the one planet
and for the most part they were tied up in their war with the Vex, but in Destiny 2 they
are the main antagonists.
The Cabal have suffered numerous losses to the Guardians of Earth thanks to their connection
to the Traveler and their Ghosts.
But word of this has reached the Cabal emperor Dominus Ghaul and he is now bringing the full
force of the empire down on our heads.
They brought with them a powerful weapon which can sever a guardians connection to their
ghost making them not only weak, but also able to defeated as without the ghost they
cannot be revived.
The Cabal strike at the Last City and in minutes have complete control and the remaining Guardian
forces have been forced towards the European Dead Zone where they must regroup and begin
to find a way to regain their powers and defeat the Cabal.
This brings you up to date with the opening mission of Destiny 2, but there is a lot more
Destiny Lore out there so if there are any aspects you would like to know more about
please let me know in the comments below!
As always this is James for Curse saying thanks for watching, and enjoy the game!