Destiny 2 Lore - The Leviathan Raid Lore & Story! (Vaulted Raid Lore) 

Best Calus lore: According to the wiki, at some point in time he called drifter peasant man.

The tldr version: Leviathan: Calus got bored so he sent an invitation to Guardians to go through his rendition of Takeshi's Castle Eater of Worlds: Calus' toilet needs plumbing Spire of Stars: Despite being exiled onto the Leviathan ship by the Cabal, the Cabal wants it back now Crown of Sorrow: *Haha Savathun experiment go brr*

Im going to miss calus...and his massive planetoid eating party boat

"Become abnormally overweight with power" - Calus, the Cabal emperor of the Cabal

Ah the Leviathan Raid. AKA Assault on Takeshi's Castle as designed by a complete psychopath...

I remember Ghaul for one thing and one thing only: Getting burned alive by the Speaker's speech

I love the leviathan and Emperor Calus, I'm gonna miss them when they go. Hope to see them again if they make a return.

The darkness has finally arrived, Calus is off getting popcorn ready. Said popcorn will take approximately 3 dlcs to finish for every single person on the leviathan. *edit* I forgot that an additional few months required for the giant void heads share of popcorn.

So basically Calus' story of his rise to power is just the reverse of Julius Caesar's: Instead of the Senate stabbing him, he kills the Senate.

I really wanted to see a pyramid smash into the leviathan. Calus and his weird dreams would be shattered.

Damn, Byf was already on Leviathan when we were still finding SIVA Fragments in 2016

Weekend, school break, and some Byf. Very nice.

Drinking game: take a shot every time you hear the name of a raid weapon

Love this raid it was my clans “Army of Twelve Monkeys” first raid but we still run it and it saddens us to see it vaulted but hopefully Bungie will do it justice by vaulting it and move the story forward in a good way

I'm gonna miss this raid so much along with the raid lairs,the esthetic and just calus himself is sooo goood

On a normal visit to the Leviathan he would traverse his Tribute Hall, or perhaps plunge into the Menagerie, but today, Savos Uthrien had a different target. He walked past the Colossi without so much as a glance, floating beyond stairs and through golden doors, past gardens and pleasure rooms, none stopped him for he had a unique audience with an emperor. He approached Emperor Calus’ doppelganger with a respectful bow of the head and a close eye on every shadow for he never knew whether those shadows had Shadows of their own. It was only the two of them. Calus’ machine watched the Awoken with indecipherable eyes, for as much as he found the Cabal emperor to wastefully extravagant, he was cleverer than most of Savos’ average foes as he did not meet him face-to-face. Only a certain Snake or Spider may match the emperor before him in subtlety. Savos waited for the machine to speak. “So, my friend, what brings you today? I am flattered that you would speak with me when those gaudy things float so close to home.” It chuckled, making light of the Dark that Savos had seen with his own eyes. Though Calus too had seen it, had he not? “I come with two questions. If you would be willing?” “Hahaha, yes, you warlocks are always so inquisitive. It is not normal for me to allow these audiences without first a trial, but I have allowed it due to my own curiosity. So I shall sate your desire for knowledge, if you will then sate mine.” He was hesitant to freely give knowledge to this machine but he had little choice. “Very well.” “I first ask you, Emperor, if you have seen the Darkness’ face, then what can you tell me of its nature?” Calus’ machine made a face as if he were disappointed in the question. “Hmm, if that is what you desire to know then why not seek out the peasant man? Surely he knows. You ask me something that you could find elsewhere. So I ask you in turn, why did you seek me out?” “If I am being perfectly honest, you are the only one I believed was liable to give me an answer. At least one I could trust.” It laughed. “So you trust me then? I did not take you for the trusting sort.” “I am not, not generally. But you and I have shared many common enemies. Ghaul, the Red Legion, now the Darkness threatens us all. Though you have accepted your fate, we Guardians are a little more stubborn, and we wish to live. When surrounded by foes on all sides, we could use some friends. Even if other Guardians deny it.” “This brings me to my second question, Calus,” Arc sparked in Savos’ body as he warped upward to stand directly before Calus, he could feel eyes trained onto him. “Are you friend or foe?” There was silence for a moment, then Calus released a great bellowing laugh that echoed in the halls of the Leviathan. “To you? I am always a friend. Never doubt that, Guardian.” Calus pat Savos on the shoulder. “You amuse me, but now that I have answered a second question you must answer another of mine.” Savos saw something in Calus’ eyes. Something…past the machine’s empty gaze, something, or someone, powerful. “What would you be willing to offer to defeat your foe?” Savos opened his mouth to answer. ..

I never knew that the Consul had been castrated. Clearly, all the balls on his armor are his form of overcompensating.

Calus is the cool grand-uncle to us and he has accepted his fate I’m gonna miss that glorious golden cabal

Sorry byf I got distracted by the cutscenes when you were going on about politics

Fun fact: Some of the Royal Beasts in the Pleasure Gardens are named after Cabal bosses we've faced. Ta'aurc, Aru'un, Tho'ourg, Gra'ask (Grask), Za'ahn (Zahn)

Poor Ghaul, he is raised to be used and die for nothing..

I have a theory on how the vaulting of the Leviathan mixes in with the story: Pyramids wanted to go and do their thing with Nessus, but accidentally gets sucked up by the Leviathan, sending it to the engine. This causes the Pyramid to not be exactly happy with the situation, initiating a self-destruct, blowing up the Leviathan. If this theory could be true, I’d like to see a crashed leviathan in pieces as a destination on another planet in an upcoming DLC

Glory be to the Emperor, Calus, last and future sovereign.

Calus has decided to go get some milk while the Darkness arrives

Honestly, criticize year 1 for its systems all you like, but the story arc was probably one of the best and deepest that Destiny has ever had in game.

After four years, I still need to do the Leviathan raids. Is it worth getting into, this late into its life cycle?

“These warriors are some of the best gladiators designed from the Cabal baths” *as a Warlock 3 taps said warrior in the background*

Long read ahead. Apologies. I feel like the Leviathan is emblematic of the overall feeling I've had towards Destiny ever since I started playing back in vanilla D1. I am talking about the feeling of potential. In this particular case, potential for the Leviathan, its story, as well as the activities on it. I was excited right off the bat with its premise. We were lured to this ship with promises of "strength" and we were made to undergo a variety of trials and challenges not unlike the type you would see in a game show. This was already interesting. When you look back at prior raids in Destiny history, most of them have very clear-cut "storm this place and [insert objective here]." While the Leviathan did have an objective, its whole narrative backbone was the idea that there was something mysterious here... and you would be coming back in the future to find out more. The next time we went back to the Leviathan was to unclog some giant-ass vex. The time after that, it was to mop up some Red Legion remnants. The time after THAT, it was to deal with some Savathun-addled cabal. It was... not interesting. These, to me, appeared to be just... random things that happened to take place on the Leviathan but did not really offer much in terms of advancing its narrative. See, I didn't give a flying fuck about the raid not being "in-theme" with the DLC. I wasn't going to be one of those idiots who whined about the raid not being on Mercury or more heavily vex-themed just cause that's what the DLC was about. I just wanted MORE on the Leviathan story. As for Calus, I lost interest in him as time went on. Part of what made his character intriguing to me was that 1) we've yet to see the real deal (to my knowledge), and 2) I was very curious as to what he saw the edge of the universe. Was it really the darkness? If not, what was it? It made my mind race with ideas... But now that we have pyramids at our doorstep, I... kinda don't care about what he saw? The forces that are interacting with us have been FAR more interesting than some jovial cabal who likes to live large. I feel that, although the raid lairs and the Crown of Sorrow raid didn't contribute much to the overall Leviathan narrative, they at least let us explore the ship's innards more, which I certainly appreciated. Shout-out to the Crown of Sorrow raid taking place in some dirty-ass, abandoned part of the ship. Mechanically, the raids were alright. I had absolutely no problem with there being only one boss in the base Leviathan raid although at this point I was really starting to get sick of the "stand on a panel and shoot at shit" design. The twist with the Calus robot there at the end was pretty neat, and of course, going down further to see all those other robots made me wonder about the future of this raid's story. As for Eater of Worlds... well, didn't much care for the jumping puzzle, but I DID enjoy being shot out of a cannon and fighting a giant vex while wielding vex heads. Spire of Stars could fuck right off. That is one I can never bring myself to enjoy and the less I say about it, the better. Overall, I feel like the Leviathan could have been so much more. Prior to Curse of Osiris' release, I had thought that the raid lairs would build upon its story the way FFXIV builds upon its story with each raid tier. For anyone who doesn't know, FFXIV has a series of quests: you have your main story quest, your 8-man-raid quests, your 24-man-raid quests, your trials-quests, etc... Each of these quests tell a story. The Binding Coil of Bahamut, for example, was FFXIV's first 8-man raid and the one most apt to compare to the Leviathan. The Binding Coil of Bahamut is divided into three tiers, and each of those tiers advanced the story of "what the hell happened to Bahamut? What is the truth?" It genuinely felt like you were exploring a place in search of answers, and I believe it had a satisfying conclusion. I figured something LIKE that would happen with the Leviathan. Of course, with the way Bungie works, I didn't expect a solid resolution to the Leviathan story... but I also expected... Idk, *fucking something*, you know?

Emperor Calus: I AM THE SENATE Pulls out lightsaber & kills everyone

I'm sure it's no coincidence that Ghaul has such a name, and undermined the empire of the Cabal. Cabal, and their roman sounding names for positions undermined by Ghaul, one letter more than the Gauls of our ancient past. I don't know why that never occurred to me before now.

I love the idea of the Leviathan so much. It's just so FUCKING HUGE

1:35 Notice how the guardians no1 priority is to drag the ghost shell to safety. While Gaul is babbling about how we no longer fear death. It's a thing that hit me while playing the Red War story mission again, our guardian KNOWS that if we loose the Ghost, we're gonna die our final deaths, and that's why, our guardian looks so distressed when the shell falls. Am I the only one seeing that Gaul never really understood us? Wonderfull telling of the lore Byf :) as always.

Byf coming in with a new video when I’m in my lowest point of the weekend, I love that and thank you for this amazing content Byf.

The Cabal: [have a Senate] Palpatine: Allow me to introduce myself...

Grow fat from strength and thiccc from lore. Well done Byf

The best part of my day was hearing Byf say Taura Batt’le

I do wonder what role Calus' will play in the future of the Destiny story.

I'm more concerned about the bath encounter. Those cabals didn't even have time to wear nappies

Plot twist: Calus is the final boss of the raid of Light Fall's expansion. Fully corrupted (or fused) with the darkness, threatening to end the last lights of the guardians

I like that the names of the weapons you get from Leviathan reference things in the lore behind it

I'm going to miss this raid. I have so many memories going through this raid with my clan and I will never forget my time on The Leviathan. Thank you, o chronicler mine, for keeping the memory of this fantastic raid alive!

Byf should make all his lore videos into a podcast

I love how Leviathan plays out and how it's like a game show, it adds so much more personality to it and makes it a lot more fun

The way they told the story, via item descriptions on the raid items, was amazing.

This is the earliest I've been to a byf video

Perfect rainy day to watch byf videos

The camera work on this video was great, that scene of the guardians getting lost on the underbelly was awesome

Hell yeah. Thank you for doing this. My favorite raid by far. I probably have over 600 runs of it over 2 accounts. When I was part of a clan my main job was running newbies through it.

I wish i had done this raid when it first came out. Calus was a man of great taste, would of had some amazing shaders

One of my biggest wishes is to have a Destiny TV show that focuses on giving visuals to various events only explained in the lore. The Midnight Coup; the rise of the hive on fundament; Shaxx as a Warlord: the showdown between Dredgen Yor and Shin Malphur,; The battle at the Twilight Gap. I wish all of these and more could be adapted as short episodes in a series so that we are not just left to our imaginations as to what happened (some may favor this approach but it almost seems like a tease for me)

I've been playing since year one and I've only done the VOG raid and Crota raid. I wish I would've gotten to kill Oryx and also try the raids in D2 but It's hard to find cool people to raid with.

Hey Byf, I think you should start a series where you go over armor, weapons, and other stuff with lore tabs and if their connected, narrate them out like a mini lorebook, or if they have present day events that tie together like lore for holiday gear. I can then throw them into the playlist project I’m working on to organize the lore and story material for new players joining in during Beyond Light and later on. Really sucks their vaulting the first 3 D2 campaigns, we need to catalogue everything for new players to easily digest the story we have been experiencing, otherwise I fear Destiny may just seem like just another random game to new players. I want to foster more lore fans, but that can’t easily happen if we don’t give them a mostly solid story to follow.

Ghaul was basically the Master Chief of his world.

Wonderful video! I feel like you get better and better at sounding sure of yourself, when you speak, and that makes these lore videos, about grand events so much more entertaining!

I like the style of Calus. Pure of Gold, purple, is nice. Is sad to me to not be able to play D2 or play the Leviathan raid anymore. If one day i get a good PC. I hope i be able to get some sets and shaders like this. Maybe Calus will return in Lighfall or in a season

Man, that video brought back a lot of great memories. Thanks for making such great content.

this guy just motivates me to play destiny

Sitting here in a thunder and lightning storm, is really adding to this video haha

Am I the only one who forgot that the speaker was character. I love byf’s videos

More! Full coverage lore of all lev sectors -please!

I would love one of these videos for Kings Fall as well!

I'm lost within the first 30 seconds, it was 3 years ago this raid launched, not 4 Or has the 'rona taken a year from us

I'm sure you've made lore vids on the menagerie. Although my question is, is the menagerie located the leviathan? If not where is it located. Keep up the amazing lore videos Byf, your the only reason I understand the destiny universe.

I completed this raid yesterday it was my first raid that I had completed.

The lore in destiny has hooked me more than most games can’t wait to see what will happen in the future

3 years since this raid Byf, making me older then i already am

The only raid I ever beat in Destiny 2. Never got to do the others before I eventually dropped out of the game entirely. I can't even remember the last time I played it.

This had one of THE best raid ost. BET

Leviathan, Eater of Worlds, and Spire of stars could all just be encounters in another menagerie-style event. I understand that the raid layers are small (I enjoy EoW), but leviathan specifically is just menagerie before menagerie.

Man, the guardians and cabal should team up. The sheer military might of the cabal alone would be a major help.

Byf's version of leviathan raid guide

"Grow dummy thicc through strength." - Calus 2016

Calus' story is by far my favorite! Is Calus on our side? Or is his gifts to us a front for him to use us to his gain? I love it!!! I hate that he'll be going away for awhile but I will gladly accept his return!

"Oooh, i could use some opulence right now." - Cayde-6

This was my first proper raid. I had nightmares of running the Gauntlet endlessly.

Thank you for this series as I am not going to be able to play all the vaulted raids

My favorite raid.... I'll miss her dearly

Pretty hyped for that completed lore thing that’s coming soon

I love these lore videos they're my favorite

*I have waited three years for this!!*

Love the work man. Keep it up 👍🏻

Do we know anything about the massive escape pod in the High Plains of the Tangled Shore? Or the giant drone looking thing rusting nearby? I discovered those today and wondered if there was any lore about it.

Sometimes I wonder why I watch videos on lore I already know, but in the end it's always the same reason. Because his name is My name is Byf

I know you said in a previous video about possibly doing an update on the Deep Stone Crypt and the Exos. Just want to let you know that I would love to see that explained further

Calus is the most interesting character in the game imo. I really really like him.

Calus is thiccc though man, big boy came down with a thickness

I've always wondered if Calus has become something similar to Oryx and his sisters. Not in the way he has a worm but obviously has evolved beyond a normal Cabal. It will also be interesting to see how he reacts to the arrival of the Pyramids. It would be crazy if he reveals they are not what he encountered out in space.

Your video’s are amazing as usual keep up the good work

Great content as always keep up good work

Good job you spelled the title correctly!

This was my first Destiny raid was thought it was cool. My theory about Calus is he's either put his brain inside the Leviathan itself or he's become a horribly large/fat monster.

I was somewhat zoned out at the start and when I saw the warlock spawn in I thought I was playing for a second since like I said I was zoned out and my warlock has the exact same look

Remember when this raid was hard? When we didn’t have weapons that could cheese most of the challenges and beat Calus in one turn? Many friendships were made and broken with this raid.

13:48 _note to self: never ask byf to a levi raid_

Calus is Savathun. He died when he saw the Nothing at the edge of the universe. All that survived was his robots and clones. There are many similarities between Oryx and the Dreadnought and Calus and the Leviathan

Cabal: can create perfect warriors Perfect warrior: 10:34 get deleted in 4 seceonds

That's four years I have never finished the raid, or any raid for that matter.

10:32 Perfect soldiers... riiight

"What, oh what..." I see what you've done there, oh one of the favorite youtubers of mine.

thanks for this video, all the best