Destiny 2 Lore - Ahsa has been linked to Eris's Ritual. The consequences could be devastating! 

I like that Sloane and Ahsa are part of this season’s story, I’m glad these last two seasons feel a bit more connected

It’s a small thing but I appreciate them continuing Ahsa’s story, really shows she has more stake in the story, rather than it just being, “oh, Ahsa told us we need to revive the Witch Queen and now we never need to speak to her again.” Like we’ve seen a bit with previous seasons

The lore book actually tells us Ahsa's thoughts in the moments of Eris's ascension and how invoking the names of the proto-worms and worm gods dragged Ahsa into it, but above all it tells us that she took part in the ritual willingly and that deep down she felt some sort of responsibility to see the safeguarding of this universe through even if it meant her death.

I believe Ahsa is going to be a major reason why Eris resists corruption and resists becoming evil.

"Hope is a currency. It buys tomorrow. It gives us what we need to survive today." -Rezyl Azzir “When does hope cease to require risk?” -Osiris “Down where the seeds of ruin were planted. Down amongst the dark roots of the twisting blossoms. Down where things lurked beyond the light. Down amongst the shadows, there were no tomorrows. Down in the abyss, there was no hope.” -Descending Echo Armor [inverted/upended]

Crazy idea; Eris' final play against Xivu involves taking all the energy that Ahsa is holding onto at once and detonating it to take the War God with her. The ultimate rebuttal of Sword Logic by self sacrifice and, in a rather literal sense, Bomb Logic.

I think the biggest thing is Immaru seeming to not know what to do. He will take jabs at us, he will say “savathun had this plan all along” but he always seems worried at times especially when he talks about Eris. There’s something off about immaru because something doesn’t add up when he seems to be confident but at the same time not

I really, really like the fact that the last season is this tightly connected to the current season. We need more of that.

The new lore tab that came out talks about the ritual that Eris did, it's from Asha's perspective of what she felt when Eris invoked her and the other names

Vengeance sounds like a great idea until you realize other people shoulder your burden for you

The thing about Eris and the Sword Logic is that she specifically said she wants to subvert it - Ahsa knows this too which is why she agreed to help her. As we saw with Rasputin, sacrificing yourself is one way to subvert the logic, but I'm curious to see if there is another way that Eris has planned

Eris becoming a permanent hive god would make a perfect ending as us being her acolytes to keep xivu in a state of constant check. Her sacrifice into an immovable object to counter the unstoppable force is itself a noble deed. Furthermore, the past seasons have been about sacrifice turning to a tactical revenge with holidays death, not so much in season of the deep, but this this is on a grander scale.

You talking about the seasons reminded me of arrivals and the tree of silver wings. I remember climbing that thing and looking at its weaves. I wonder what happened to it

Weird, when I did this mission yesterday, Ahsa's eyes were closed.

Ahsa is doing it for her sisters as much as Eris is doing it for her old fireteam and ghost❤

I like how we're seeing a pushback to the idea that we must embrace the Darkness and other malefic powers like Hive magic. As if to say, yes, we need to understand these powers, but there's a good reason these powers were taboo for so long. You can't just rush into them expecting everything to turn out alright.

Desperate times call for desperate measures. I just hope Eris doesn't lose herself.

Really love these weekly story updates. It's like an aftershow for each week's drop.

This was a really good curveball. We knew the ritual was a risk, but this gives us tangible consequences beyond the "ooh, something bad is coming, stick around" that Byf mentioned in his critique

Ya know Speaking of the worm gods I wonder what the remaining ones have been up to?

Ahsa is my favorite Character along with Eris Morn, Drifter, and Crow. The growth in these Characters is awesome to see. I haven't played in awhile, but your lore videos help me catch up. A BIG Thanks!!🥰

I have to comment that THIS one hit me like a brick to the face. It also absolutely proves my continued trust in Eris. What strikes me is with Ahsa. She straight up took this upon herself. Eris merely invoked what Ahsa told her without directly asking. But Ahsa stepped in and answered anyway, against Eris' initial intentions(and clearly against Sloane's desires.) Eris didn't want this, And she doesn't want it to continue but does so out of necessity. At least with Ahsa, I don't think Eris is at fault. Eris did not directly ask. Eris clearly did not Want to ask. Ahsa stepped in on her own.

Is there any information on Ahsa from The Exostranger? It makes me wonder if Ahsa is the key to keeping Eris from being corrupted by the temptation of becoming a full-on hivegod. It's one thing to make that kind of choice when it effects only you but knowing you could drag another down with you may change her perspective on it in the end regardless of willingness.

During my cutsence at 8:30, Asha's eyes were closed the whole time as if she was resting. It's cool to see it could be different for other people.

I'm glad we're revisiting places from other seasons, makes them feel important. That being said, I don't think getting sent to do something a deep dive again in a later season would make the to-do list better. Interestingly tho, I thought Ahsa was still asleep during the convo because the eye was closed the whole time.

I missed it the first time around, but Asha straight steps into Sloane when she's being spoken for like "nah, I will not be spoken for..."

The way I see it is that this week’s story was meant as a warning like if we fuck this up we’re gonna have a whole new slew of messes to clean up outside of trying to do a deal with the devil and kill the devils sister

byf sounding more and more like my uncle, who had to babysit me when i was a kid, when hes critiquing bungo about the lore and narration.

Honestly their best move would be Xivu's biggest champion, the ammonite eater, getting in a fight with us and just utterly trashing us this time, with us barely making it out.

the lore book gives her motivations and how Eris contributed. Shes motivated to make up for her kins evil and sensed Eris’s intentions and plans in the summoning… its a huge part to fully understand this week… and thank you for actually turning me on to reading these!

Cayde gonna come back like "Get your worm, off my map" to Eris

Excited to see the two other videos of lore this “slow week” produced.

And at 10:00, if you take a look up above Ahsa's eye, I don't remember if this was there before but there's a teeny tiny little speck of Taken goop right there. I suspect as the weeks go on we'll see that speck growing as she gets further and further corrupted.

i was a bit disappointed it was so short until i realized it is double nightfall rewards. I am living on Europa to get those golfballs all week.

The story was a bit shorter this week, but we have gm nightfalls coming back and trials this weekend. I'd rather have a slower week and nightfall returning so the following weeks can have more stuff when gms are a few weeks old

It sounds like Byf is saying the story is paused cuz there wasn't a lot of activities to do, but I was amazed to discover this week's new reveal, & sure, it would be great if there was a major connection of activity & story, but its just pretty unrealistic to expect & demand that Bungie always be at their very best. There are real people working on this game, & who knows who had Covid, whose family member died, who had a new baby, & its always amazing to me that players somehow lose sight that this game is unlike almost any other game, that keeps going & keeps you playing. I was happy with this week & I think too many people get caught in the tidal ebb & flow of expectations, more people are complaining, & it starts to pull you into that.

We did get a lore book of Ahsa’ perspective and her direct comentary as to why she accepted eris’s ritual

As much as I liked this topic, I seriously can't wait for you to cover Eris' plan on how to defeat Xivu Arath. This week was amazing! I could listen to all pieces of dialogues over and over. And I've never witnessed Ikora to be so unsure about the methods used by Eris. Can't wait for week 5!

If we could kill another worm God and tithe it as Ahsa's vengeance for her fallen kin...

I really hate that they make the individual seasonal story missions so short and relatively inconsequential and then make you wait a week for the next one. That's why I so often just don't play for entire seasons at a time, so I can get most/all of the missions done at once.

I feel like we will get the answers we need to progress against Xivu Arath and get on the path to the portal. However I feel like this linking of Asha and Eris is setting up some consequences that we won’t see until Episode 3 Heresy in the third act after the Final Shape. It’s like they are tying it into what’s going on now but also setting something ip which we will have to deal with later on.

It took me until watching this to realise what was probably meant by Ahsa "becoming something terrible" lmao

Been playing since we were 10 (20 now). The writing in this game has come so far! And seeing such intimate hive rituals is making the 6th grade lore nerd in us go crazy.

It's cool that they are connecting the seasons together little more than just referencing them. Also, why would the worm God of Secrets want revenge on Oryx when it told Oryx to take my secrets? lol. Unless it realized it was being used at the end of its death.

Ahsa plushie confirmed?

In the new lore book, it's in the Ahsa Point of view, and she had some motives.

Weirdly enough, in my conversation between Ikora, Sloane and Ahsa, the latter kept her eye closed the entire time.

I think Ahsa chose to take part in the ritual because of the hope that she can redeem her brothers and sisters for everything that they have done to gain power. Using the power of the sword logic for good instead of their own dark purposes to essentially stomp on the idea that the sword logic is what it has previously always been used for by both the hive and the hive worm gods. Perhaps, in better terms, to prove that the sword logic doesn't have to be the embodying power of "only the strong should survive." I am guessing that she may also be doing it, even if only in part, out of revenge for her sisters who were killed by their family.

Don't know if it means anything but, when I saw the Ikora and Sloane cutscene Ahsa's eye was closed the entire time, a weird bug maybe?

Ahsa never opened her eyes when I was in the dive tank

I think, Asha is aware that the worst case, or best case scenario could happen. But she’s certain of one thing, Eris and her actions will be a chain of events that leads to the genocide of the Hive. From the smallest Thrall, to the Worm Gods themselves. She knows that, even if Eris is corrupted, she will being the end of the Hive, Asha knows that at that point, death will be the only thing to free her, and a corrupted Eris. She’s put her faith in the Guardians that, when her and Eris’ actions have slew the Hive gods, and the Worm Gods, the Guardians and our allies will kill the rest. She and Eris may not love to witness the end of the Hive, but they will have brought it about. And that’s all Asha wishes for in the end. She’s just committing to the sacrifice that’s needed to make that happen. Perhaps, after Final Shape, we will then exterminate the Hive, only for a new enemy race to take its place.

What would happen to Sloane, as Ahsa's bonded Guardian, if Eris were to perma shift into a Hive? Would she be pressed into service as an acolyte, or maybe become a knight?

Was Ahsa's eye supposed to be open for when Ikora and Sloane were talking? It wasn't for me. Edit: Byf hitting the brigg with the Parasite made a Fallen go flying in a t pose/cartwheel. Lmao

Something that wasn't mentioned in the critique is the new dialogue they add to the seasonal activities. Not that we got new dialogue this week, but sometimes they sneak in some good stuff

Eris: Invokes a bunch of hive worm gods in her ritual, including a few we've never heard of Also Eris: manages to accidentally tie herself to our proto-wormgod buddy, who she didn't even mention during the ritual

I like thinking that Ahsa did this out of a combination of revenge for her family and guilt because of the path she has put us on or perhaps because her family helped create the hive and feels guilt for all the death they have caused

I’m having more faith that the final fight in the FS is gonna be epic af.

The new "Rites of Passage" entry gives us a bit of insight into why Ahsa is helping Eris: "Waves of conflicting emotion cascaded through Ahsa as memories of her flight from Fundament resurfaced. After her escape, Ahsa had spent millennia in grief for her lost brethren. But always dormant beneath the surface of her despair was a faint gleam of hope, like buried treasure. A hope that one day, she might redeem their depravity. A hope which now rose to the surface wielding the very sword she had once fled." I personally see this as Ahsa feeling a hope to finally get vengeance, but she's unable to identify it as such.

I think we must not overlook Sloane’s threat; her comment about tearing the tower to the ground if anything were to happen to Ahsa. I hope we don’t see a world in which Sloane seeks revenge if something were to happen. Ahsa, I think, chose to bond in this way as a selfless act to help humanity: she is aware of the consequences that may come with that decision.

Over 10 years of non-stop mass murder by an entire army of immortal space wizards, mowing down Hive by the hundreds every single minute, each. I gotta ask, the Hive has to be running out of... Hive pretty soon, right?

What I'm wondering is whether this is a time limit restriction, like Ikora posits, or whether this is a "don't overfill the tank" situation. It wouldn't be the first time a Savathun plot exploited Guardian mentality. EDIT: As for the discussion question, I think Ahsa put herself on the line because that's what she's consistently done throughout her known history. She played Cassandra to the people of the Golden Age, she sheltered that ill-fated submarine of Kraken Mare survivors, she bonded herself to Sloane, all because she knew the wrongs that had been done and how to fix them. She might not have been compelled to join the ritual by Hive magic, but when she heard the call, it would have been out of character for her to refuse.

i feel like I wait a week to go stand and listen to new dialogue for 10 minutes

We've got Cabal allies, Elixni Allies, and if Eris succeeds in becoming a hive god, we might have hive allies. All we need next are Vex allies.

I'm honestly pretty alright with more direct story delivery with less busy work some weeks. I don't like being forced to do things I don't want to do just to get story content, but something more loose like this season has been is really enjoyable. The story itself, the content we're getting and the lore implications have been wonderful and I'm really happy with this season in general so far. I even commented while we were doing it this week that it's nice that each week hasn't just been identical go do the thing, come back and turn in the thing and that's it.

Ahsa connecting herself to this ritual says ultimately it is her choice. I feel like the writing is somewhat of the parent leaving the child to fend for themselves. In that Sloane is the child of Ahsa in the way that she tries to protect her blindly with her ideals and doesn't fully understand what Ahsa wants. I think that's really the big part of it too that we don't have a clue what Ahsa really wants other than being an enemy of the witness as well. From what you've said just in this video Ahsa sounds like she is a creature that could become a worm like the other gods before they were. I also think that this week shows us that Elisabeth needs to worry less. Eris keeps showing us that just because she exists in darkness she isn't evil.

Just think of the Hive Act (Heresy?) in the First Episode after The Final Shape! What if Eris and Ahsa now have to change the Hive from within (after taking a break over the course of the Final Shape Expansion and gather their strength again) which will be seen as heresy in the Hive's Eyes? Hence the Act's Name.

The plan is going to work, but not without a few caveats that "should" make us question why we're doing it. And that reason is to save the Universe from destruction. That goal in mind is the saving grace that is required for Eris and Ahsa to make this work.

In the lore book ahsa says she answered the offer only because eris’ will sought the protection of all reality, not just ones kin, nor any other selfish reason, but the protection of reality itself

Like many others are saying, I think Ahsa responded to the ritual because she understands this moment in time. I know the Hive chronology is uncertain to an extent, but its very plausible that if Ahsa is a billion years old or more, if she escaped the Witness's corruption of the proto-worm civil war. For untold eons she ran, through the seas of Fundament, through the Ascendent plane, landing and hiding on Titan for who knows how long. And in all that time, one recurring thought must have been that she does not know how to stop the Witness destroying everything. Then she meets humanity, then she meets Guardians, she meets Sloane. She finally sees in all of us her opportunity to stop the Witness. She sees a spark of hope, a possibility of victory. And when Eris reaches out and says "Avenge your fallen siblings," she says yes.

Ahsa wants to end the madness too. She wants to be there to help guide the guardians

Ahsa suffers survivor's guilt (PTSD in other words), and so does Eris. Eris chose correctly by naming Vengeance as her divine portfolio among the Hive. If/when Xivu Arath lashes out at Eris, Xivu Arath will be paying tribute to Eris, falling victim to Vengeance and Cunning... consequently ascending to the pantheon, and resurrecting Savathun in one misguided swipe of Xivu Arath's blade. We used bomb logic against Oryx, but practice the Sword Logic in the field, in Gambit, and in the Crucible. We understand the logics of both sky and deep; sword and bomb; expansion and regression (safe to say there may be a dev or two at Bungie that has played Eldin Ring).

i kind of feel like ahsa will be eris's patron god similar to how akka was with oryx

Something interesting I don't think anyone has pointed out yet, but Ahsa willingly volunteering for the ritual seemingly disobeys the sword logic. Her cooperation wasn't *TAKEN* it was *GIVEN*. Byf has discussed in a previous video that Xivu has disobeyed the sword logic by seeking revenge for Oryx's death, but now seemingly Eris has as well. We're in a state where we have two powerful hive gods both claiming to desire the sword logic, yet both have broken its core tenants. Granted it's not too much of a surprise for Eris. We know she ultimately wants to subvert it. But assuming Bungie follows up on the idea, we have this tug of war against Xivu where both sides claim to have a stronger tie to the sword logic while both aren't following it in different ways, and now we're at risk of losing both Eris and Ahsa in the process? Loving the tension, I hope bungie continues to nail it!

What are talking about? Week 4 of Season 19 was when Rasputin finally awoke and deleted the copy of the Clovis AI. How do you have that dialogue scene with Ahsa's eye open? I don't think Bungie will leave Eris trapped in her Hive God form. After all, she's still the destination vendor for the Moon.

In my game, Ahsa was still sleeping during the cutscene

Light and Dark. Again and again we're shown the power and importance of using both to achieve one's ends. I wonder what else we'll discover when the two paracausal forces are combined?

If Eris goes perma god mode, I am willing to follow goth mama to the ends of the universe as her little acolyte

Not every week is going to be an insane banger. The story was fine, you're still just bitter from Lightfall.

Anyone else notice that Ahsa has very small taken looking spots on her now?? Im going to keep checking back to see if that spreads throughout this season On the other hand, maybe those spots where there the whole time. I might just have noticed late.

Ahsa kept her eye closed when that in game cut scene between sloane and ikora so it didn’t hit the same for me.

I worry her motivation is simply the same as Eris'. Vengeance.

Ahsa only responded and voluntarily took part in Eris' ritual because she felt the reasons and motivation behind Eris undertaking it. She felt that Eris was reluctantly doing it to save the Universe, Ahsa knew Eris only intended to do so temporarily and is becoming a Hive God out of pure benevolence. Ahsa knows Eris isn't being selfish in seeking the power, so Ahsa is willingly helping Eris shoulder the burden of Tithes like the Worm Gods do. However, unlike the Worm Gods, Ahsa isn't feeding off the Tithes or Eris. She's merely using herself as a Tithe storage medium, which is why it's causing her pain and slowly corrupting her from the inside out. Savathûn seemingly still gains some form of power from Tithes despite lacking a Worm of her own anymore, there may be a way for other lightbearing Hive magic wielding individual's to do the same. However, Eris is no longer a Lightbearer. Sloane is a Titan, so her understanding of Hive magic extends to "Punch it until it stops" (Us Titans are good at that). I suspect that either; Savathûn's plan is to use the Stored Tithes herself, given we are using so much of her throne world to enact the ritual, to power her resurrection in her Throne World without us allowing Immaru near her corpse. Or As Eris originally only wanted to risk her own life in the ritual & not Ahsa's and Sloan would do anything to protect Ahsa, both may end up sacrificing their current selves to take in all of the Tithes Ahsa is storing to save her from becoming a Hive Worm God &/or to prevent Savathûn from claiming the Tithes for herself. To do so we may get Eris and Sloane doing the Destiny Equivalent of a DBZ Fusion and become The Taken Queen of Vengeance. I so want this to happen, even if its just Eris being summoned back by vengeance taking in all the Tithes and Sloanes Taken corruption through Ahsa, ultimately freeing Slone from the Taken Afliction and Ahsa from becoming a Hive Worm. Of the two the former is most likely, even if Savathûn's plan is simply syphoning off a portion of Tithes to power her Throne World resurrection while Eris and us are distracted by taking on Xivu. Eris dying in the process, only to be summoned back as the True Hive God of Vengeance by Xivu stiking Savathûn down in a fit of rage upon seeing her. Sounds like a Savathûn move, trick everyone involved and manipulate them in their moments of triumph to make them ultimately lose. Giving Xivu exactly what she wanted, but with Savathûn's twist of ensuring Xivu's undoing is giving her exactly what she wanted.

If Eris starts her own brood, the we get 1) Xivu as a darkness using against use, 2) Savy using Light against us. 3) Eris using hive darkness with us. 4) Then you have guardians using light. That covers all of the Light/Dark Ally/Enemy matrix. I'm still waiting for Mithrax or Eido to become Eliksni light-bearers with us so they fall into the light using ally category instead of just us, but my root statement stands that we need Eris to be our allied darkness hive.

Sloane really did choose a fish over the last city

Imagine ahsa was savathiccs worm god all along and just lied to get her rezzed.

I would imagine Asha will be dead by the time we enter the portal and maybe Eris too, then during Final Shape We'll definitely have a few major deaths as it's the end of the saga and saving the Universe will require some BIG sacrifices, character development standpoint Zavala would be a good bet as his dialogue suggests he is tired and ready to rest.

I’m not 100% sure about selfless motives for Ahsa. If Eris is channeling vengeance and is bonded to Ahsa then she could perhaps have a strong desire for vengeance against the witness as well.

I'm curious, does Ahsa have Anthem Anatheme too? What form does it take? It does seem like Anthem Anatheme was originally a power of their species, which caught the Witness' attention.

I enjoy your firm grip of the obvious.

How come my Ahsa’s eyes were closed? Interesting

Hi Byf I has question. Do we know if Zeta is alive after we killed Rulk? Because she seems linked to the Upended and we destroy that.

Lmao Sloane at the end of this week...shiver me timbers...😂

I didn't know asha was a daughter of mother xita

The Hive have always been my favorite faction. So much so that I’ve jokenly said “I wish I was fighting on their side.” Now with Eris becoming a hive god, that desire is even more powerful. I want Eris and Ahsa to ascend so that I can become hive as well. Will this probably happen, eh most likely not but a man can dream. Though there is Lore basis for this. Toland knew that a guardian could become a hive god. The hives rituals always contain both light and darkness. Eris is enacting the same pact but without needing a worm inside her to gain strength so she shouldn’t need tithes to live. Tithes for power yes but not necessarily for life.

Eris and asha making the ultimate sacrifice and becoming hive gods and worms. Me and the fellow warlocks who want to use hive magic: I see this as an absolute win

I hope we end up with a permanent Hive god and Worm god on our side. It would be fcking COOL

Really hoping we don't have to kill an evil Eris and Ahsa in the future.

Me chilling waiting for reset Realizes it's week 4 Pain

Wait, Eris already has a Hive Brood? Or was Byf referring to us, the Guardians tithing to Eris?

W-what's this...? Seasonal stories... connecting to each other? Building on each other? Like one big inter connected story.... what game is this?