A new Destiny 2 expansion is upon us, building up already expansive lore. If you lost track of all that’s happened across the series, we took up the daunting task of summarizing the story so far, just in time for the release of Destiny 2: The Edge of Fate.
The upcoming expansion is set to begin what is known as the Year of Prophecy, which is the eight year of extended content for the game. This also includes the next expansion, Renegades, set for a December 2025 release.
Eight years. Man. Add the first Destiny and its expansions to the mix and you get, like, 11 years of content to chew on. If you’re a newcomer to the series willing to brush up on your knowledge of Destiny’s lore, this is definitely A LOT to take in at once. Our summary might help. Let’s begin, shall we?
NOTICE: Spoilers are about follow, so if you’re interested in learning about the lore of the games from the games themselves, feel free to cease reading and dive into the Destiny franchise. But before you do so, be sure to check out G2A.COM for awesome deals on The Edge of Fate and other excellent expansions to Destiny 2!
How it all began
Destiny takes place in the far future. A mysterious floating sphere known as the Traveler appeared out of nowhere and ushered humanity into its Golden Age, enabling space travel and fostering rapid evolution of the species.
Good things and time of peace are an anomaly and not a normal, so naturally, conflict followed. As it turned out, the Traveler had its own arch-nemesis, a malevolent force known as the Darkness (no, not the one played by Tim Curry, though that’d be awesome). To fend off that evil power, the Traveler sacrificed itself to protect what was left of humanity as a result of the so-called Collapse. Dispensing its life energies, the Traveler created Ghosts – aides to the Guardians, the greatest warriors of humanity reanimated to protect mankind once more. Now was the time for payback.
Destiny and its expansions
The first game was all about humanity regaining their foothold on Earth and other celestial bodies, reclaiming lost colonies and fighting back against the Darkness and evil aliens such as the Fallen, the Hive, the Cabal, and the Vex. The final battle of that stage took place on Venus during the Vault of Glass raid. The Guardians defeated Atheon and put an end to the Vex’ time-space continuum machinations.
But, as it turns out, it was just the beginning of a far grander saga.
The Dark Below expansion had Guardians face the resurgence of the Hive, including battling their deity: Crota, Son of Oryx. Then, House of Wolves pitted them against Skolas and his Fallen rebels, the titular House of Wolves and their allies, mercs known as the Silent Fang. The Taken King saw the above-mentioned Oryx, the Taken King, return to exact his revenge for the death of his son. His defeat once again brought a temporary period of peace to the solar system, ended with the Rise of Iron, the final Destiny expansion. The Fallen took control over a self-replicating nanotech known as the SIVA and so the Guardians once again vanquished this threat by defeating a monstrous Fallen Archon, Aksis, finally putting an end to SIVA and honoring the legacy of the Iron Lords.
The Red War – enter Destiny 2
This was probably the most destructive event in the Destiny storyline so far. Dominus Ghaul, the leader of the Cabal Red Legion, wanted to take the power of the Traveler for himself, leading to the Guardians getting stripped of their power. Destiny 2 was all about them regaining their powers, rebuilding their ranks, and ultimately defeating Ghaul, ending the Red War.
Naturally, this only led to more and more threats arising one after another for the Guardians to put an end to, all this a part of a greater…
Light and Darkness Saga
This one began with the first Destiny game, of course, but it’s been fleshed out over the course of several Destiny 2 expansions.
In Curse of Osiris, the Guardians went to Mercury to investigate the disappearance of a legendary Warlock by the name of – you guessed it – Osiris. It turned out he was trapped in a simulated future where the Vex have been successful in rewriting reality to their advantage. In the end, the Guardians once again won and put an end to this Vex threat.
Warmind, the second expansion, took the Guardians to Mars where the enigmatic Warmind Rasputin reawakened an ancient Hive, leading to a climactic battle with Xol, Will of the Thousands, preventing the resurgence of the Hive threat.
Forsaken started Year 2 with a bang: Cayde-6, a fan-favorite character, was murdered by Uldren Sov, a traitorous Awoken prince, setting the Guardians on a path to revenge. This took them to the Tangled Shore and the Dreaming City where they put an end to Uldren Sov’s evil alliance with the Scorn (a Fallen faction) and the forces of the Taken, and a bullet to the prince’s head.
Shadowkeep (Year 3) took players back to the Moon to find out what was causing the nightmares that were plaguing the Guardians. As it turned out, Crota somehow returned. The fight against him, aided by Eris Morn, took the Guardians to the Scarlet Keep and then the Garden of Salvation. This expansion foreshadowed the epic confrontation between the Light and the Darkness.
Year 4 – Beyond Light – pitted the Guardians against the Fallen Kel Eramis, who sought to control the power of Darkness through Stasis. So, the Guardians embraced Stasis as their new elemental power, gradually tore Eramis’ operation apart, and defeated her in the final battle. This expansion further set the stage for the Light vs. Darkness conflict.
Year 5 brought the Witch Queen. Remember Oryx? She’s his sister. And she managed to harness the power of the Light to build her own army of Hive Guardians to battle the good guys. More, she actually wanted to seal away the Traveler on her throne world. The Guardians of course defeated her, but the void was quickly filled by a disciple of the Witness, Rhulk. The Guardians took him out, too.
Still, the Witness finally arrived, together with his new Disciple, Calus, and their shadow legion. Their plan was to attack the Traveler using a device referred to as the Veil. The city of Neomuna, located on Neptune, was attacked as well. While the Guardians defeated both Calus and another Disciple, Nezarec, the Witness entered the Traveler to reshape it – and the entire world – as he saw fit. And thus Year 6 – Lightfall – set the stage for the final battle of Year 7: The Final Shape.
In this expansion, the Guardians, together with the Traveler, faced the Witness, defeated their arch-nemesis and its three Echoes, and won against impossible odds to end the Light and Darkness saga with the final resolution of this destructive, universe-threatening conflict.
The Fate Saga
But this victory only left a power vacuum, with new threats rising to fill that void. In the Edge of Fate expansion, the Guardians will be yeeted via a 21st century subway to a planetoid named Kepler, located in the Oort cloud. The expansion will introduce new concepts and characters, including the Nine, a pantheon of dark matter-based entities residing in various celestial bodies in the solar system, the Aionians, humanoids inhabiting Kepler, and the Eliksni House of Exile, also native to Kepler and worshipping the Giver, a mysterious entity. The Vex will also return, all thanks to the Nine’s influence.
What’s the next major chapter in the storyline of Destiny 2? We’ll find out soon, on July 15, 2025. The Edge of Fate will be followed by a major update, Ash & Iron, in September 2025, and then the Renegades expansion in December 2025.
Now, you should be up to date with what happened across the last 11 years in the Destiny franchise. Ready to dive in the game? Great news is that Destiny 2 and major updates are free of charge. Expansions are paid content, but you can get great deals on these on G2A.COM.
Alright, Guardian. Time to buckle up and get isekai’d to Kepler. Who’s this Giver? Who are the Nine and what do they want? Why the Emissary of the Nine renounced her position? These and many more questions will be answered as the events of the Fate Saga unfold. Guess we’re in for another exciting era of the Destiny franchise!
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