Game Theory: Exposing Destiny's LOST PLOT! 

Make like a tree and leaf...A LIKE! Long live the Brotherhood ;)

You’re wrong, we don’t just fight mindlessly, we fight for *L O O T*

I think Activision is the real villain...

And we now know, with Shadowkeep, that the "Ghost Flower" was indeed manipulation. And that the reason the wound never healed, well, it's the Black Garden.

Destiny 2 is out, cayde is dead, and more destiny theories must be made.

ah, the good ol, days. *joins fireteam "you got gjallarhorn?" "no.." *kicked

Who is also here when beyond light is out

Destiny 2 and we've killed multiple gods, learned the exos are actually of Vex origin, wield the so called Darkness as ice powers, and have now stepped into another war with the Cabal. Did I mention the Darkness wiped out a portion of the solar system again? Time for more theories MatPat

Fun fact: The Warmind (basically a super AI made for war) Rasputin was one of the first beings to discover about the coming darkness so it made plans to cripple the Traveler in case it would leave and so would force it to protect humanity if it didn't want to get killed.

i now see the traveler as the moon from majora's mask...

Go 5 years into future where you actually CAN wield darkness.

The Guardians don't just kill. They also dance.

This isn't a theory, it's canon. The grimoire says the Darkness is mainly brought forth by the Hive, so the collapse must have been Crota and his armies invading. The Hive were hunting the Traveller across the galaxy, and the only reason it stayed on Earth during the collapse was because of Rasputin, the warmind beneath the cosmodrome. Calcified Fragment XIX says the Traveler has uplifted and abandoned races before. Ghost Fragment: Rasputin 5 says that it was Rasputin the prevented the Traveler's departure this time. It's been mentioned in the game dialogue that the Vex have been on Mars and Venus long before humans got there, we were the invading army, the occupiers. Yes, canonically, we're not exactly the good guys.

I just learned more in 15 minutes than I did playing Destiny all year.

Matpat: *Destiny Rant* Me: Wot?? “Checks release date* “Oh...”

So technically, the Traveller is the Death Star but with a white coating so no one suspects Darth Vader

These are the games i'd like to see in Game Theory -Prototype (like can a virus like this exist ?) -Plague Inc Evolved (like can those viruses can exist ?) -LEGO Marvel superheroes (like you did with DC) -Metro 2033 (like can you survive in the subway in a post apocaliptic world / bullets : crap or cash ^^) -Broforce (like how can the Terminator and Rambo can meet)

The thing is that the Traveler is a completely neutral "Machine"... It just wants to survive the Darkness, that is hunting it. The Traveler fled the Fallen, because the Hive were assaulting them. The Fallen had to leave their solar system and found out, that their Great Machine is now in Sol. The Cabal only want to capture the Traveler and destroy the human race, because for the sake of victory. (Also Gary/Ghaul wanted to use its "Light"). The Hive is a complete other Story: They were told by the Wyrm-Gods (Worm Gods), that they HAVE to snuff out all of the Light and the Traveler is the "biggest source". The Vex are a bit more complicated: They just want to understand the Light, for it is the only thing they can't simulate..... (I love the Destiny Lore and everything involving this universe... and I hope this clears something up) by the way: I am not english, so excuse me, if my grammer or vocabulary is not the best.

"The line between Light and Dark grows ever thin. Do you know which side you're on?" Uldren Sov from one of the last cutscenes from Forsaken. Edit: Rewatching this theory, i'm prety sure the ghost fragment "Legend" is about Exo dreams, not specifically guardians.

Guess u could say I see it in a whole new "light"

Can we have a mathematical/physics theory next time, Mat? It's been a while...

Coming back to this now...I don't know how to feel. He gets so much wrong, yet almost all of his predictions are right.

Don't you find it interesting no one has gone inside the traveler, or, at least scanned it?

Also, in addition to the traveler having a past of going to planets, destroying them and leaving, somewhere in the grimore it mentions the traveler attempting to leave and then we used a weapon from the golden age to wound it so it stayed with us.

That epic gamer moment when the traveler wakes up

How epic would it be for the final expansion to be about how the traveler betrays mankind and the raid is to destroy it

I didn't know Destiny even had a plot...

I found a fusion rifle with the description: All that is dark is not Darkness. Strange right?

there should be a change.org petition to make matpat the new ghost

So does this theory prove that Dead Orbit is right to say we should leave the Traveler? It all makes sense now....

So Dead Orbit's intentions on leaving Earth is actually a good call since Earth was doomed anyways

Just more food for thought but if you dig deep enough you learn that rasputin after seeing that the traveler was going to leave the planet decided in a last ditch attempt to Shoot him down.. Yes you read that right! Rasputin forced the traveler to stay by shooting him down thats why theres huge damage at the bottom of the traveler but nowhere else! Also rasputin was shut down during this event in an attempt by the traveler to wipe out all past knowledge on how the collapse was brought about BUT rasputin already realised this was going to happen and set up safety measures. He knew this because when they were researching the vex he saw every possible outcome of the future and in this future he saw the traveler betray earth and its people. So what Rasputin did was implant himself subconsciously into exos that he specifically built in order to live forever and got them to come back and re-animate him after the collapse but which exo you ask? easy its Cayde because in one of the cards it says only 4 eyes have ever been able to gain access to rasputins lair and cayde was human at one time before he was turned into an exo by rasputin and had his memory wiped during the collaps. Basically the 4 eyes belong to him, 2 when he was human and 2 now that he is an exo. Subconsciously cayde re-activated rasputin and basically now rasputin and the traveler are at war. Basically Rasputin outsmarted the traveler and started a huge death game and he knows the outcome of it all. The traveler realising it got fucked over was forced to create ghosts in a last ditch attempt to gain an army before the other races it fucked over tracked its whereabouts down and tried to seek revenge. Also just an interesting thing to go take a look at is when you go to the tower quickly go look at the traveler, you will notice that its actually healing! some spots that looked battle damaged are actually gone now and its getting more vibrant and less dirty looking.

Seeing that thing floating up there just makes me think of The Moon from Majora's Mask.

Rip Cade-6 2014-2018

5:38, absolutely! There was whole lot of them! In Destiny 2 we call them "Shatterdive Hunters"

I think the biggest reveal here is that someone actually got an Exotic...

Me: *Finishes quest* My Ghost: "Congratulations! You-" Me: "Yeah, yeah, yeah, just give me that juicy exotic helmet!"

So many of the comments are "You're wrong because of (insert story here)" This video is over 4 years old. Most of you are taking about stuff that came after this video was made. Chill. No need to take it so seriously. He did call it a crackpot theory, after all.

Even in Destiny 2 I hear Fallen saying, “The Darkness!”. I myself think that they call the guardians the darkness, because will they think what they are doing, is the right thing to do, that’s how I always thought of it.

*nearly 7 years later after seeing the traveler try to piece out on us for Savathun* Me: huh, this guy was on to something.

Anyone else feel that the enemies in destiny represent the 4 horsemen of the apocalypse? War - The Cabal Famine - The Fallen Pestilence - The Vex Death - The Hive

With this theory, I can now sleep like a baby knowing I'm doing the right thing by not playing Destiny.

I'm appalled that he got this close to breaking down the story of destiny. I wish he still did videos on this game.

The origin of the traveler begins with the hive. They were light powered creatures until these "worm" or "maggot" gods consumed their light and plagued them with darkness. They had a great civilization powered by the travelers light until the darkness took over and their civilization collapsed. He then bailed on them and ran like a bitch to escape the darkness. For context sake this is how the races work: The Fallen follow "Prime Servitors" those ball things that you see flosting around (you kill one in the first strike). They feed them eather seeds and basically they just boss evryone around and pilot ships. The races are obsessed with the number of arms they have. Dregs are low tier with 2 arms. Theyre dumb and hostile. The vandals are also low tier with 2 to 4 arms. Slightly less dumb. Then there are captains and priests. Each having four arms and command the grunts based on the servitors orders. Variks is an Ex-House Fallen. A fallen house follows a specific servitor and Variks has abandoned his house to join the traveler (essentially the largest servitor in the universe because thats all they are). The Great Machine HE reffers to is likely a servitor. First, the servitors are built and separate the fallen into the seperate houses (devil, wolf, kings, winters, etc.) their history and memories wiped away by the servitors, fight for system. That last part is obvious. Go to he reef. What house was there? The wolves. Go to earth. What house resides there? The house of kings and devils, but they are both on seperate sides of the cosmodrome. Almost like they were opposing each other. We keep our bases here you keep your bases ther and the middle area is a no mans land. We see you, we kill you.Venus is mainly comprised of the house of winters if my memory sefves me correct. Thing is, Skolas is a bad guy. He may reffer to the traveles as a great machine because that is what it translates to from their natural tongue. It literally translates as the great machine. Variks speaks half broken english and still calls the traveler by its name. The great machine he is talking about is a generalization of all lf the houses servitors. The Hive are ex-light warriors. They oppose you because the infection from the maggot and worm gods causes them to be drained of light. When they see a powerful source of light like a guardian they kill it so they can try and be ome it again. They are zombies. Just like how zombies eat flesh to become human again, Hive devour light to become Guardians again. The vex are war machines. They worship the darkness. It is their god. All with the exception of one Vex Champion, and his army of followers. Atheon is, as you can see from the name, a athiest. He doesn't worship the darkness because he is against it. I think it says on his grimoire card that he rejects the darkness as a diety and thus why he stays sheltered in the vault of glass, so he can avoid the hive mind of the brainwashed vex that worship the darkness. So, he is on your side, right? WRONG. The second you launch vault of glass he is trying to straight up murder you and yo crew. If the darkness is good and the traveler is evil and he opposes the good, naturally he would be evil and start walking around with a dink. . . Er, I mean, Nolan bot. Right? The enemy of my enemy is my friend? No? Alright. The cabal are war loving beasts hell bent on turning the traveler into a weapon. Or, at least thats what ive gathered from them. Not much is known about the cabal. All we do know is that they want the traveler and followed the darkness towards it. Maybe my counter arguement is not as solid as your theory, but I got one more trick up my sleeve: Allow me to introduce to you, Dredgen Yor. The inventor ofthe exotic hand cannon, the Thorn. And yes. I'm going there. See, his whole deal was a rose. A rose he held while his light was strong, and as he became corrupted by the darkness, the rose pedals became nothing but thorns. See, Pujari is in a place of flowers and peace. When he reaches down to pick a flower, he is cut by the thorns. He bleeds light. This is obvious to me that the thorn that cut him was from Dredgen. See, as he became more corrupt, he seeked the hive for inspiration. He consumed light. He is stealing Pujari's light. He is feeding himself with a dead guardians power. The vision was entirely due to Dredgen feasting on him. He woke up with a wound in his hand, caused by Dredgen drinking his light. See? Guardians aren't evil. But that's just a theory. Now don't bother me. I'm gonna go farm for legends.

Obviously the traveler is a bad guy....only because thats no moon... #starwarsreference

there is a theory that the black garden is inside of the traveler which you can make a comparison by looking at the edge of the garden. it looking like it is inside a white sphere the size of a planet.

I have to be honest...the real evil involved in this game is the rng loot. This is exacerbated by the lack of trading. There are no specific ways or "above and beyond" achievements that get you gear. They just make you hurl yourself at the same crap over and over. Then it gets even worse once "light levels" get involved. You should be able to add light to gear so you can keep the gear you like and still level up. NOTHING in the game can be said to have been earned other than Rep with the factions and the items that they sell. It's no more earned than if you win on a slot machine. This is why I hate rng. There are tons of vids where people who literally did more than the rest if the team (proof was in the stats on the mission complete screen) got some crap items while the guy who afked for 3/4 of the run gets a legendary. I've had that happen multiple times. This pissed me off every time and so I've stopped playing. I've moved on to more well thought out and better executed games. I used to love bungie and I know not all of this is their fault (a lot of the issues reek of Activition ) but this failed to even come close to the standards that I hold for them. This game is a disaster. I hope that their reputation recovers from this but it will always have this scar. They need to get away from Activition. A company like that is not one you want your name attached to. Not unless you want to be associated with dishonesty, greed, contempt, poor business practice, and mediocrity.

Here's a cool little theory too, So, The Traveller is referred to as The Great Machine ,right? But a machine has to be built by someone in the first place, the question is WHO built The Traveller!?

We are in the BEAM

Interesting enough, Pujari's story kinda happens to you when you reach a certain point in Shadowkeep.

Who else is watching this when destiny 2 is out?

How did you leave out the grimoir card about the Guardian whos Ghost didn't revive him after he started too heavily questioning the idea of the Traveler?

With the lore that’s been released since this episode aired, I think we might be able to take this theory one step further. The Light and Dark might actually use the same energies, but for different purposes. Eris, in one of her cards, describes finding an Throne World made for the Light. Not made *of* the Light, but *for* the Light. Why would that exist? The Throne Worlds are created by the Hive’s magic, fueled by Dark energies, so how and/or why would the Light have one? To push from the Hive’s magic tangling with the Light, I’d like to propose my own theory. I think that the Guardians and the Hive both follow the Sword Logic, and we just don’t know it. Let’s take a look at how the Sword Logic works. Killing under the Sword Logic establishes your dominance over whatever you killed, and proves its unworthiness to exist in the “final universe”. The Hive also grow more powerful from killing, since killing feeds their worm symbiotes within them. The Guardians use this in almost the exact same way. We kill relentlessly, establishing our place in the universe over them, and we grow in power from killing them. How? Well, it’s no wonder the most powerful loot comes from killing the most powerful enemies. Atheon, Crota, Skolas, Oryx, Aksis, Calus (as a robot but whatever), Argos, Val Ca’Our, Riven, and Insurrection Prime all count as very, very powerful, since they’ve all killed many things for themselves. Strike bosses give strong loot as well, but not as strong, since they haven’t killed as much as their raid boss counterparts. When we kill them and equip that loot, it’s no wonder our “Light” level increases. Our Light is fueled by the same powers as the Dark, just used for a different purpose. So what do you all think? Is it a nonsense theory, or could this play into Destiny 3’s plot with Darkness abilities (at least, the one we think is going to exist)?

The fact that this can’t be proven wrong and it’s year 5 of destiny 2 and year 7 of destiny is insane

honestly The Traveler kinda reminds me of the American government

Wait Gary wants to save us?

I Fight Just Because It's Fun Not For That Big Ball Of Light

Watching this after the release of beyond light blows my mind

Sorry Matt this theory is kinda old. We already know the beta story, and the Fallen POV. But things have changed especially with the Taken King. But to be fare...Destinys lore is cryptic as hell. But i think you should have given the Taken King Grimwore a look.

COME ON PEOPLE!!! #GhostPat ! just a side note, destiny makes it way to easy to get the ultra rare drops

This is the exact video my friends needed. Me, my friends, and probably a lot of other people have all been extremely suspicious of the Speaker and the Traveler. I mean just from what we heard in the intro we were suspicious. The "Light" came in the form known as the Traveler and soon "Darkness" came. So instead of the Traveler leaving and *traveling* somewhere else, it stayed and let the humans fight off everything that came at it.

It still baffles me how mat pat doesn't do more theory's on destiny, its a game theory GOLD MINE of lore

I got an artefact that said something along the lines of "We should never have trusted the machine-god. It has brought upon us the darkness and collapse."

Traveler appears Scp foundation: I want every gun to fire on that moon

"I think it requires a living host"-ghost. when you step in the taken membrane, nothing happens but a weird screen affect.

Before the release of halo 5 could we have an episode on the master chief

"why did we do it" to turn them into a gun

I thought Timmy Turner defeated the Darkness -.-

Hmmm interesting. I knew Bungie was still capable of decent storytelling, Activision must have gotten to them. Shame we never got to see this game, I might have kept playing.

I suspected the traveler to be evil when the time traveler that helped you said she was from a future without light. Why would a being from a future without light help you, wouldn't she be evil, she warns you about your ghost saying it's evil then tries to destroy it but helps you destroy the darkness anyways.

This aged very well

With the release of Witch queen and seeing everything that has happened so far. Mat Patt was on to something

The Grimoire card you refer to at 10:20 is actually about the Exo race. By stating that they kill people they don't know and people they used to know they are referring to their own consciousnesses. Every time an Exo goes crazy, hates the things they've done, or become corrupted, then the Exo erases their own memory and another number is added to their name. One of the things the gunsmith says is this, "How many times has my system been wiped. 41, 42, 43?" He is actually Banshee - 44 meaning that he was wiped 43 other times and is now on his 44 "life." This is also mentioned somewhere about Cayde- 6 and that he would get addicted to gambling but then Ikora would wipe his system to keep focused and to make sure he stays at the tower. Also the Deep stone crypt is a "dream" that all Exos have about the creation of the Exos.

I already had been pretty much convinced that the Traveler was supposed to be evil, but let's be real here: who was the real villain? I'd say it was/is just greed in general. Blatant greed spawning a subterfuge so powerful that, no matter what party was behind it, it spoiled the plot and foiled even the interstellar villainous sphere.

5:43 with the new expansion for d2, this is more probable

MatPat: Destiny players why do you so mindlessly kill vex at the end? Me: Because killing enemies is so darn satisfying in Bungie games

So this thing is tricking the masses into thinking its good while all the while just using them for its own ends? Sounds like Destiny's business model in a nutshell.

watching this after the reveal of Beyond Light, The Witch King, and (where I believe this theory might come into play), Lightfall makes this theory even better

Just gonna put that out there, that Card that you referenced around 10:25 is expanded upon in another card, labeled Exo: Dreams. You see the Exo are one of the playable races in destiny, but they are robots. It is said that they were made for an ancient conflict long forgotten, and were brought sentience after the collapse after being shut down for awhile. Something to do with the Traveler, but moving on. In Exo: Dreams a Warlock is interviewing an Exo on the phenomenon of Exo's "Dreams". And how all Exo's have had the same dream. In the dream they say that they are alone, un armed. They then say that there is a tower, but The Tower. Then they see people, people who mean them harm. But most fascinating is this pice. "The people, I know them. Or I did. Sometimes they are people I have passed on the street. Or friends. Others are familiar, but I do not know them. I kill them all until nothing is in between the tower and I. Then it ends.". Perhaps this is the Exos minds. (Part 1)

The Traveler was running from the Hive. It was always running from the hive, and more specifically, Oryx. It was creating proxy armies in the hope that one of them would defeat Oryx. The fallen was one of those proxies. They failed and it led to their ruin, which is why they are fighting the travelers new army, which is humanity. Humanity also fell to the hive after Crota, Oryx's son, found the traveler and tried to destroy it along with the travelers new proxy (humanity). The traveler actually tried to run away from the fight and leave humanity to be destroyed, but the Russian war mind injured it and forced the traveler to fight. With TTK DLC, Oryx is dead, and so is destinies plot. All of this can be verified if you read the book of sorrows online. You're welcome.

We might need to update this Theory

This all makes sense except one thing. Why the collapse at all. One thing. Maybe it drains all life from the planet, and takes a while to recharge, but when it does it also wipes the memories of the host species, except some of these species find out? And then the darkness is a haven for creation that has been harmed by the traveler? ??? It's also named the traveler, which, why does it travel? Meh, I don't know. The collapse is the great question in all of this.... why is it necessary?

It’s wild how every theory mention in the card at 7:30 are all completely true, the Witness and Veil are all of those things.

I greatly respect this theory. But just saying... There's meaning under all that poetry. And... *SPOILER* Oryx says "what you call the darkness is really the end of your evolution" Think about it

Please make more Destiny lore videos!

Now that Light fall is out, we learn like matt predicted that we are LITERALLY a proxy army for the traveler and so is everyone else it helped

(Made 19 days before lightfall) The magic in destiny is known as Paracausal magic, or Paracausality, which allows you to create an effect without a cause. None of the subclasses in destiny are basic elements like from ATLA, but rather, the name of the subclass is what we as humans would closest associate the effect to. Solar isn't just fire or space fire, it is the increase in entropy. Void is dark matter and dark energy (this I'm not so sure on, all I know is that it tears matter apart), and Arc is the conduction of electricity, which is much more quantifiable. Notably, all 3 of the light subclasses are based on destruction and chaos. Contrast this to the darkness subclasses, Stasis, and very soon Strand. Stasis is not ice, it simply stops and slows the flow of entropy. Strand to is the energy that connects everything in the universe, and unlike void, we are only pulling on these strings rather than ripping them out. This doesn't outright confirm the theory, but it does show that light isn't purely about creation, and dark isn't purely about destruction. (the light also gives wielders of it amnesia, whereas the darkness restores lost memories)

Doesn't matter if the traveler is evil. The Darkness wanna kill us, we kill them first.

Destiny had a story?

I already figured this out, like, 2 weeks after the launch. I suggested it as a Game Theory a very long time ago. Glad to see that MattPat finally came around to it. Now that that's off my chest, I don't think "Good" and "Evil" apply very well here. The Traveller helped humanity, and very likely many races before humans. The Traveller is just doing what it was programmed to do, to help races ascend to space-faring civilizations, I don't think it has any sort of ulterior motive. I don't think the collapse was caused directly by the Traveller, I think that it was caused by the races the Traveller helped in it's past, who want the Traveller back, because they've basically formed a religion around it, very akin to Jerusalem. The Guardians are just the Traveller's defense mechanism against the civilizations who don't want to share it with the rest of the galaxy. Consequentially, it creates another cult that wants it all to themselves.

he predicted stasis 5 years ago

I have a theory: the traveler is the death star 3.0

Nice uploading of a year old theory that most people already knew about. A theory that's... incorrect. Your second piece of evidence was Fragment: Legends doesn't refer to Guardians, but to Exo. It talks about them visiting their birthplace, Deep Stone Crypt. The card says that Exos, not Guardians, were made to kill. There's also the counterpoint that can be presented in Dredgen Yor's tale, where he gets corrupted by the Darkness. Theoretically, he would be good then, if the Traveller's evil. Surprise! He burns down a village and murders some innocents. Definitely a bad guy. Finally, the Fallen aren't seeking to kill us because we're killing them, but because we're hoarding the Traveller. They want it back.

As a linguistics student I appreciate you mentioning cognates

I don't know what about you guys, but if a giant planet suddenly appeared on the sky, i'd grab whatever i can to shoot it down.

Since there was no plot in Destiny I will now consider this video the plot to the game.

While ay season 22 it’s crazy how close u were

actually, the traveller was trying to leave, but rasputin shot him down. He was all like "no bitch you aint leaving us like you left the ecumene or hive or whatever". the traveller was trying to leave so that he could survive (destiny history in 5 minutes or something like that)

Looking at this as of Beyond Light, this is an interesting rewatch.

Destiny 2: Shattered Suns - Plot (Speculation) The Traveler leaves Earth in a post-apocalyptic state. He moves onto another solar system, where he "enslaves" another race. You, as Guardians, follow the Traveler in hopes to destroy it. (Main enemies probably the Traveler's new "slaves") You fight your way through the hordes, until you finally get to the Speaker. He tries to explain to you that he didn't know of the Traveler's plot, and pleads your forgiveness. Ultimately, you are given a choice: Kill the Speaker, or let him live. You then move on and destroy the Traveler (in some way.) (BONUS SPECULATION: You may team up with the Darkness and/or your enemies in the original Destiny to help aid in the fight against the Traveler.)