Destiny (video game)

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Video game fandom
NameDestiny
Developer(s)Bungie Entertainment
Release date2014 - 2024
External link(s)https://www.bungie.net/
Related articles on Fanlore.

Introduction

Destiny is a science-fiction massively-multiplayer online first-person shooter developed by Bungie, whose first release came out in 2014. It follows the immortal Guardians (mostly consisting of player characters) combatting the enemies of humanity to protect its remnants and their creator, the mysterious Traveller. It became noteworthy for its tight gunplay, shockingly rich lore, and memorable characters, developing a playerbase of millions and a dedicated fandom of several thousand.

Releases

  • Destiny (2014, Xbox 360, PS3, Xbox One, PS4)
  • Destiny: The Dark Below (Expansion pack, 2014)
  • Destiny: The House of Wolves (Expansion pack, 2015)
  • Destiny: The Taken King (Expansion pack, 2015)
  • Destiny: Rise of Iron (Expansion pack, 2016)
  • Destiny 2 (Xbox One, PS4, PC, 2017)
  • Destiny 2: Warmind (Expansion pack, 2017)
  • Destiny 2: Curse of Osiris (Expansion pack, 2017)
  • Destiny 2: Forsaken (Expansion pack, 2018)
    • Season of the Outlaw
    • Season of the Forge
    • Season of the Drifter
    • Season of Opulence
  • Destiny 2: Shadowkeep (Expansion pack, 2019)
    • Season of the Undying
    • Season of Dawn
    • Season of the Worthy
    • Season of Arrivals
  • Destiny 2: Beyond Light (Expansion pack, 2020)
    • Season of the Hunt
    • Season of the Chosen
    • Season of the Splicer
    • Season of the Lost
  • Destiny 2: The Witch Queen (Expansion pack, 2022)
    • Season of the Risen
    • Season of the Haunted
    • Season of Plunder
    • Season of the Seraph
  • Destiny 2: Lightfall (Expansion pack, 2023)
    • Season of Defiance
    • Season of the Deep
    • Season of the Witch
    • Season of the Wish
  • Destiny 2: The Final Shape (Expansion pack, 2024)
    • Episode Echoes
    • Episode Revenant
    • Episode Heresy

History

Destiny's fandom had several sources in its outset. Being a product of Bungie, many players came into Destiny as previous fans of the Halo series. In addition, high-profile fans from the Mass Effect community such as Relay314, Lintufrikki, MadBee and others found themselves involved with Destiny, bringing their followers along with them. Fans of Firefly even came onboard, as actor Nathan Fillion had been hired to voice-act fan favourite NPC Cayde-6. As a result, Destiny quickly garnered a group of mature, time-tested fans who would become sucked into the game's lore and enthusiastic about its characters' development.

Bungie, over time, have been very active with the community, responding to feedback, tightening their writing and story, and going as far as to break away from Activision (who funded the series' move to PC) to keep their creative vision unspoiled.

Characters

NPCs and Quest Givers/Vendors:

Destiny

  • Ghost
  • The Vanguard, Cayde-6, Commander Zavala, and Ikora Rey
  • The Speaker
  • Mara Sov
  • Uldren Sov
  • Amanda Holliday
  • Lord Shaxx
  • Banshee-44
  • Petra Venj
  • Rahool
  • Lakshmi-2
  • Executor Hideo
  • Arach Jalaal
  • The Exo Stranger/Elisabeth Bray
  • Rasputin
  • Xur
  • Lord Saladin Forge

Destiny: The Dark Below

  • Eris Morn

Destiny: The House of Wolves

  • Variks the Loyal
  • Brother Vance

Destiny: The Taken King

  • Tevis Larsen
  • Ouros

Destiny: Rise of Iron

  • Shiro-4
  • Lady Jolder
  • Lord Felwinter
  • Lord Gheleon
  • Tyra Karn

Destiny 2

  • Field Commander Sloane
  • Failsafe
  • Asher Mir
  • Suraya Hawthorne
  • Devrim Kay
  • Mithrax

Destiny 2: Curse of Osiris

  • Osiris
  • Sagira
  • Saint-14

Destiny 2: Warmind

  • Anastasia Bray

Destiny 2: Forsaken

  • The Drifter
  • The Spider
  • Shuro-Chi
  • Ada-1
  • Glint

Destiny 2: Shadowkeep

  • Toland the Shattered

Destiny 2: Beyond Light

  • Crow
  • Eido
  • Empress Caiatl

Destiny 2: The Witch Queen

  • Fynch
  • Archie

Destiny 2: Lightfall

  • Nimbus
  • Rohan
  • Quinn Laghari

Community Efforts and ARG

Bungie frequently addresses the fandom directly, setting up mysteries for the players to solve in-game.

  • The Fifteenth Wish / Curse of The Dreaming City

The Dreaming City is an endgame region in Destiny 2: Forsaken that has been cursed to a three-week time loop. Every three weeks, the curse resets, the inhabitants forced to redo the same battle over and over knowing there is no way to stop it. It has been this way since the Last Wish raid was first conquered after Forsaken 's release in 2018.

A lore book titled Truth to Power hinted at the solution to breaking the curse involved reaching Power Level 999 in the game and defeating the boss Dul Incaru, alone.

Player bagel4k achieved this feat, and instead of the curse being broken, Bungie made a blog post congratulating Bagel, wherein big-time antagonist Savathun breaks in and gives the following message: "I have set the snare and baited the trap. Is victory so easy, hero? I am the finality, the reward—I am the true ending."

Players believed that the solution to The Dreaming City lay in the raid The Last Wish, for which 14 out of 15 "wishes" (modifiers that change the raid and its rewards) had been obtained. The fifteenth has been out of reach, leading to megathreads on Reddit about what the solution could be.

During the finale of Season of the Witch in 2023, the code to enter the Fifteenth Wish was revealed in the patterns on Savathûn's wings. The following season, Season of the Wish, revealed that the Fifteenth Wish was Savathûn's wish to have a method to follow the Witness into the Traveler's Pale Heart. This wish was granted by the spirit of Riven, and led directly to the events of The Final Shape (2024).

Memes

The developers of Destiny have been very forthcoming towards memes in the community, often going as far as to spawn them themselves.

  • "Moon's Haunted"

Originating out-of-fandom from a tweet by @dustinkcouch, "Moon's Haunted" came to be associated with the Destiny fandom following the announcement of the Shadowkeep expansion for Destiny 2. A fan comic by seamachine riffing on this tweet featuring Ikora Rey and a nameless Guardian led to a wide-scale adoption of the meme by the Destiny fandom. Bungie responded by canonizing the meme with an advertisement featuring a camera pan to a Guardian dressed in astronaut gear, radio chatter requesting a situation report, only for the Guardian to meekly reply "Moon's haunted."

  • Valus Ta'aurc / Cabal on Mars

Valus Ta'aurc was a boss in 'Destiny: The Taken King'. During the days of 'The Taken King', players would be briefed of the mission they were going to take part in during the loading screen, but the spiel would never change. The Strike (a short, multiplayer PvE mission) Cerberus Vae III was a fairly common Strike to roll, and its briefing became notorious among players. 

Whether we wanted it or not, we've stepped into a war with the Cabal on Mars. So let's get to taking out their command, one by one. Valus Ta'aurc. From what I can gather, he commands the Siege Dancers from an Imperial Land Tank just outside of Rubicon. He's well protected, but with the right team, we can punch through those defenses, take this beast out, and break their grip on Freehold.

In Destiny 2 and beyond, Bungie opted to move briefings to the start of missions, and give them multiple sets of voice lines to keep any one set from going too stale. Currently, you can buy a T-shirt featuring the spiel on Bungie's website.


  • Vex Milk

The Vex are a race of antagonistic robots powered by a liquid known as radiolarian fluid that connects them all connected to the central Mind that they're connected to. In many places dominated by the Vex, radiolarian fluid flows like water. In the strike Inverted Spire in Destiny 2, the player's Ghost will point out what appears to be a Vex Milk waterfall. The name stuck, and a meme was born.


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