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10/17/2020 6:55:29 PM
39
Witch Queen Will Be Massive, Moreso than Beyond Light
<So we all know that Beyond Light's a... BIT BIGGER than we expected. Initially we saw that the Pyramids were trying to direct us into using their powers, something we'll undoubtedly turn against them. Not only that, but Eramis and her House of Darkness are ready to use Stasis against humanity and the Traveler. THEN, the Europa trailer came out and officially revealed Variks to us, who'll definitely be working against Eramis while the Stranger, Eris, and Drifter focus on the Darkness business.
This seems like a crossroad, a massive point in the history of Destiny that will ultimately culminate in the climax of the franchise in Lightfall, which I'm calling the "Revenge of the Sith" of this new Age of Darkness starting in November.
Witch Queen, however, is interesting. We've spent years building up to this point in time where we fight Oryx's uncaring sister. Between siccing the Taken on Io, controlling Quria and directing it to Take new enemies in the system, ultimately causing the Dreaming City curse and reinforcing it with Quria's time loop, as well as causing the Interference between the Io Pyramid and us, Savathun has given us a lot of bullshit to wade through. So I'm going to try and predict the unpredictable using things we know and what vibes I'm getting.
[b]The Witch Queen's Motivations and Known Resources[/b]
To put it bluntly, Savathun wishes to ascend beyond Light and Dark. Just like the Vex, just like we should. To do this, she's inflicted a curse on the Dreaming City in order to find the Distributary, a realm beyond that houses a singularity. Using this, she'll exploit the Worm's appetite until she grows beyond the need to kill. In this state of Godhood, she'll change her "food" to the lack of understanding of her, which will keep her satisfied for all eternity.
In her thrall is Quria, a Taken Vex Mind with some of its will left intact that was gifted to her by Oryx. The reason she left him was to detach the Mind from its master in order to exploit it for her own self. Over time, specifically by the time Oryx died, Quria managed to simulate Oryx as he was, something it couldn't do before it was Taken. However, despite being able to simulate Oryx, it cannot properly Take on its own, and requires power. Savathun is that battery, and also is what controls whatever Quria takes. Quria is currently working around the Dreaming City, reversing Dul Incaru's death via a time loop, confirmed by the Techeuns and Osiris. It has yet to properly be found.
Savathun has also recently employed Nokris, and this was after sending envoys to the Grasp of Nokris years before. Using the ill-fated brood and their leader, she's learned necromancy, which is arguably the most heretical thing a Hive could do. The fact that we've fought Nokris and killed him means that the Witch Queen has probably learned this ability and perfected it, meaning Nokris will not be among those revived as she no longer has use for him.
Despite the hints pointing out that she's only recently used necromancy, there are crystals capable of resurrection in the Dreaming City. Particularly the one in the Dul Incaru fight that resurrects her Fatesmiths instantly as well as the one in Dark Monastery that has an unknown target. The fact that Dul Incaru's name is "Eternal Return" may also hint at the fact that the time loop wouldn't have stopped her from coming back, and that she will make more attempts to fulfill her mother's wishes.
She also likely has her sister, Xivu Arath, at her side. Numerous Hive in the Dreaming City have Xivu's name on them, and the war for the Dreaming City is perfect for her, as war gives her strength. Xivu Arath herself also has an army that we haven't seen yet, a fleet of war moons and ships alike. She may have come to this system to avenge Oryx, who she cared about. Savathun could've exploited this motivation for her own gain.
There may be a small chance that the Worm God, Ur, is tailing the Witch Queen. Though this part of Truth to Power remains unconfirmed.
[b]The Witch Queen - Crossroad 2[/b]
Something both Beyond Light and Witch Queen will have in common is that they will have multiple characters dragged into the same boat. With Beyond Light, it's the Stranger, Variks, Eris, and Drifter. With Witch Queen, it'll likely be Eris, Mara, Petra, Drifter (maybe), Calus (possibly), and maybe even the Pyramids. That's just the people that could/would be on our side. Not to mention, Witch Queen will likely have a bigger number of enemies to throw at us. The Hive from Savathun and Xivu Arath undoubtedly, the Taken, and the Vex. I separated the Taken in the event that things change during S15.
I mentioned earlier that Savathun wants to ascend beyond Light or Dark, and that we should be trying to do the same. This could end up being one of the bigger twists in Witch Queen, where the villain is ultimately right, but we don't see it until they're already dead. Regardless of whether she's right, she's still committed atrocities beyond even Calus and she's pissed off nearly everyone in the system. Her death is necessary.
Here, I'm expecting the Dreaming City curse to have ended. This would end in Dul Incaru's permanent death, the disabling of Quria's time loop, and Savathun having to rely on a backup plan. This is where things get tricky, because these plans could be innumerable. However, the goal then becomes limiting her options. Given that we don't really know them, it'll be difficult, but we have to try. I'll give out four basic options below and move on.>
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24 Replies<Cont. [b]Option 1 - Quria Transcends[/b] My personal favorite is, knowing that Savathun has the Taken at her disposal, removing her access to the one actually capable of Taking. If we were to capture Quria, we could even free it. Perhaps the little bit of its will left intact could lead to it allowing itself to be suppressed, captured, or even killed. Let's focus on its capture. If it were to be given the power of an Ascendant Hive, a risky move, it'll immediately turn on the Hive. The Taken were the Hive's only crutch against the innumerable waves of Vex, and with the Taken at their backs, the Hive would be demolished. If Xivu Arath were to pull out her fleet to attack Sol, the Taken turning on them would lead to mass destruction, annihilating a fleet of that scale and stranding the entire Hive species in this system. It would also force Savathun to come up with a way to usurp Quria's power, which could lead to us finding and killing her. If she manages to kill Quria or force us to do it, then we can only hope it drew her out long enough for us to kill her as well. If she doesn't kill Quria, then after we deal with her it'll be much easier to destroy the empowered Vex Mind. [b]Option 2 - Let the Pyramids do it[/b] The Pyramids aren't really happy with Savathun right now. She's not only attempting to go beyond the Sword Logic it upholds but she's also interrupting a millennia-long plan to goad the Traveler's only Guardians against the orb. Combine that with its desire to tempt us and it may turn on her simply to convince us to join her. After all, an impressive display of offensive force against a common foe would more easily tempt us than the most suspicious offers in history that we've been getting in SoA and will be getting in Beyond Light. This could go a couple different ways. Either the Pyramids rip the Taken out of Savathun's control, something they could totally do, or they just attack the Hive. Either would result in the mass death and destruction I mentioned in Option 1. Also like Option 1, this would force Savathun to find ways to around this, ways that would likely draw her out into the open enough to get us to her. [b]Option 3 - Trust Mara (somehow)[/b] Mara Sov, a massive -blam!-, had a plan to go into Oryx's Throne World and take something. We don't know what this is. We also don't know if she succeeded. If she did, and assuming her plans aren't something dumb like "how to beat the Pyramids", then we could see her being a decent asset against the Witch Queen. However, this is risky because even Mara admits that Savathun is cleverer than she is. [b]Option 4 - Fight Tooth and Nail[/b] Option 4 is to "Taken King" it. However, this is based around the assumption that Savathun's key locations, assets, and commanders are brought out into the open following the end of the Dreaming City curse, something that... might not happen naturally. [b]How Do We Get Here? - Potential Hints[/b] Year 4's overarching story should logically pull us from the Darkness-Fallen thread introduced in Beyond Light to the Hive and Taken in Witch Queen. However, I said the Vex earlier, why? Since the Edge Magazine interview with Bungie about Beyond Light and the DCV, we've had confirmation that returning content will (unfortunately) have modern relevance. This includes the Vault of Glass, a notable Vex installation. VoG is set to return around Season 14, which is right before the "Arrivals" of next year's season pass. In order for VoG to have relevance, there needs to be something Vex-y going on around S14, be it a quest or the actual seasonal story. That means the current seasonal out look is: Darkness/Fallen -> Fallen -> ??? -> Vex -> ??? (but likely Hive/Taken) -> Hive/Taken In this, we can assume that the Vex have a hand in Season 15, and (assuming) the Dreaming City curse, which would logically lead up to Witch Queen. This is why I think the Vex will be the ones bringing us to Savathun's doorstep. [b]The Aftermath[/b] The likelihood that a character will die during Witch Queen is actually pretty high, and I'm not just talking about Hive leaders. There's a decent chance that Mara could die. However, that's more wishful thinking. Then again, there is a Telesto ornament that says "Long Live the Queen". If Telesto really does predict the future with every new ornament, then Mara's fate doesn't look good. Quria would also have to be silenced, regardless of whether it initially helps us draw Savathun out. The Taken would be broken as well. Ur, if it does make an appearance during Witch Queen, will probably perish in the raid. Xivu Arath is a mystery. While it's likely that Savathun would just use her to face us instead, I'd rather we save the last Hive Goddess for later in order to learn more about her. Otherwise, we'd be throwing an important Hive under the bus in a colossal "subverting expectations" move. I expect her to survive (though we might actually fight her, but only rebuke), broken due to the loss of her army. This would effectively bring down all enemy races in Sol so that it'll make Lightfall easier to handle. The Hive will be hit hard as a whole. Whether the Pyramids shred them or the Taken turn on them or Mara actually does something and blows their fleets to hell, the Hive will not come out of Witch Queen happy. All of Savathun's remaining schemes will probably continue without her overseeing. The largest one probably will end up being the continuing decline of the Hidden Swarm. If we focused our efforts on finding the remaining Daughters of Crota, we'd end them, too. Point is, the Hive will be broken. Anyway, that's about all I got. I know I am basing a -blam!- load of this off of assumption, but that's really all I can do until the story starts turning toward the Dreaming City and Savathun again.>
