Has Destiny's Story Peaked? | Season of the Chosen Reaction 

All peak seasons contain crow imo

Caiatl was the most important (though not most prominent) member of the Midnight Coup, which ousted Calus. She blocked his escape route and prevented him from using his emergency measure. With the Red War, Calus listed a number of targets he wanted dead, and she was at the top of his list.

One of the best shots in the series is Zavala reaching out to Crow. It mirrors the Uldren aiming down at Cayde shot. I remember a piece of art that showed up on reddit around this time that was kinda of like a Japanese style ink painting that had them mirrored in the center, but I've never been able to find it again.

Ooh also, fun fact: Caitl and Amanda have the same voice actress.

As a professional Cabal enjoyer and a lover of irony, this storyline lays a lot of the groundwork for stuff that happens in future seasons and expansions. The wording of a lot of the interactions this season gets so much juicier once know. It’s obvious in hindsight. Great vid! Can’t wait to see the next one!!

The mission on the “GLYKON” ship explains of how calus was desperately looking to commune to the darkness, using the crown of sorrow as a catalyst, and the scorn as the voice. This terrible ritual grew the infestation of plant like things that naturally connect consciousness’, which is why you hear voices of the dead like Cayde-6, and Sagira. Everyone on the ship except for one died of “brain death”, killed by their own insanity. The one who remained was the big scorn guy named “The locus of communion”. I know you were struggling a little with how it was being explained, so i thought a explanation could help- i loved ur vid btw :D

I'd like to echo comments I've seen in other videos. I highly recommend you watch Byfs "Dynasty" video before starting Witch Queen. You don't need to make a reaction video or anything but I really do think that video enhances the experience of the Witch Queen expansion as a whole. Aside from that, I'm excited to see these videos keep coming!

“Uldran’s rotted tykes” is referring to the scorn

The shot of zavala helping crow up mirrors the shot from forsaken with uldren aiming at cayde on the ground. Just a neat detail.

Season's with Caiatl tend to have Amanda in them because they have the same VA

7:32 some of the lore on the weapons(I think) go over this, iirc she has to do it this way to show force since to keep her Cabal from thinking she is weak and revolting

Wow, the edits in this video are really well done! The problem with Caiatl's deal is that she would be conquering us and ruling us. We wouldn't be able to choose our own battles or opt out of encounters that could be certain death. We wouldn't truly be allies, just another weapon in her arsenal. Also, as a heads up, not too long before this season, the Cabal lost their homeworld, Torobatl, to Xivu Arath. Due to Cabal tradition, which says that Cabal are exiled until they win their conquest, this means Caiatl and her empire are now permanently exiled until they can conquer their own homeworld again. It also means that the shreds of the Red Legion left over can't go home until they have conquered something in Sol. Like I said in another comment, keep an eye on Osiris in the next few seasons :)

FInally, my favourite Season is here. This is also the season a good friend of mine started to play and we have been playing ever since. It's also his fav season THe Midnight Coup (also a gun lol) was the event were Caiatly, Ghaul and co got Calus to resign. Caiatl wanted for her father to live with his failure, while Ghaul wanted him dead. His greatest fear is now his own daughter, as you will see a lot later on As context, I like this season with how integrated the player was and how much it was an actual war on the cabal. Not just the missions themselves, but briefings, meetings and all that And the "Bow" at the beginning implied that Caiatle wanted to rule over the humans and guardians. Zavala didn't really like that idea, as that would mean being a slave (or when considering Caiatl is very nice to Psions, just subordinates) to the ones who took our light the first time But the best thing is that this ain't just "We made new allies". This evolved from a war to a mutual respect and then even companionship. Caiatl will appear more often and I will foretell that you will actually really like her The Zavala holding his hands out shot is a parallel to Caydes death. Crow has been forgiven in that very scene The Psion execution at the end though?! One more thing. In presage we hear dead voices. Sagira, Cayde, Katabasys (The dead Guardian in the Glycon, who shot his own Ghost) and Calus. This implies Calus is already dead. Though You will learn more about that later on (Dw this ain't no spoiler) Many of Destinys Story is further fleshed out in the Lore of the games. My Name Is Byf, Myelin and Evaze maka alot of lore videos. Maybe check out Byf if you have time to spare, he explains specifically the Glycon lore very well AND OH BOY, will I have a lot to say once you are at Season of the Lost

Caitl is absolute "step on me mommy" energy. You cannot change my mind. Also, I miss Lance Reddick

Season of the Chosen is among my favorites, story wise. In regard to the Presage mission, there is lore that explains some things, but as you figured, a lot of it is meant to be a mystery. Also I like this mission as a good example that Bungie can still absolutely do cosmic/space horror, as they did with the Flood in Halo.

Those Psion assassins were apart of a rogue group of Psion’s and some Cabal known as the Conclave. It was founded by Amtec (the Psion who orchestrated for the Almighty to crash into the Last City), and is led by Yirix.

i was just watching your season of the hunt video! I've been loving this series and cant wait for you to get to the witch queen!

I remember when this came out and I made it to that mission where crow completely murdered saladin with "remind me, what were you doing during the red war?" i GAAAAAAAAAASPED for days

So for context: Season of the Chosen was the brand new model for seasonal content. It had: a weekly episodic story, shetchbook/inkblot cutscenes, farmable weapon system, a vendor upgrade system, a tonal shift from being too overly serious to being a mix of both comedic and serious like Destiny was before, a new mainstay character in Caiatl, and Presage, the eerie cosmic horror exotic mission that expanded on Calus. It was by far, in retrospect, the best season, which is sad because it was the first of its kind. Every season has iterated on the same model and became stale until very recently with Season of the Deep, which was more akin to Season of the Chosen with its structure and story beats. Also, the Zavala failed assassination scene where he helps Crow off his feet is a direct parallel to when we shoot Uldren. You can overlap the scene from Forsaken AND you can here the Forsaken prince leitmotif before it happens. Also to give more context: The Glykon experiment was done by Calus to commune with the voice in the darkness he heard at the edge of space that told him of the forecoming end of the universe. What this also confirmed, like you said, Darkness is much more common in those who would use it to do evil, NOT because the peoples themselves were evil, but because Darkness is much more easily accessible compared to Light. Eramis could use the Darkness by using a splinter attached to her Eliksni tech, the guardian can use the Darkness without a splinter, the Crown of Sorrow could channel Darkness without its user being attuned to Darkness, the Dark Ether forced Eliksni to transform into Scorn by mere contact. Darkness is literally everywhere, it's a matter of manifesting it; whereas the Light permeates through the entire world but SO FAR is only accesible to those who have been chosen. Season of the Chosen is double entendre... it bears the meaning of both Caiatl's Chosen army but also leads to a distinction of those who can wield paracausal energy, as Caiatl poses the question "Does the difference matter" in reference to her previous comment about the Darkness and "the entity" being entwined... to which Osiris responds "That there is a difference makes our understanding of the Darkness a facade". The fact that you have to even delineate the two to encompass a whole as being entwined means that they weren't whole to begin with, thus Caiatl's assertion of it being negligible and that it should be taken at face value, that the Darkness is this big bad that should be taken down, is wrong. She then later iterates on Osiris' question to which she comes to the conclusion that the Darkness is a primal force, something that seemingly has always existed prior to the Entity, and those who would use it and step into the Darkness (like her friend Umun'Arath and Eramis) are merely vectors/vehicles for its proliferation. This is the parallel you get from the spores and fungal network in the ship. The fungi lets those who are its carrier commune with the darkness and then are allowed passage through the ship. The experimentation was to tether enough minds to even make a blip on the radar for the Entity to see and thus respond in kind to Calus's attempt to be noticed... As to what happens thereafter... you, much like everyone who was sitting at the edge of their seats, will have to wait. Just keep in MIND what is happening here. Don't worry about proper nouns for this one.

Everytime I see your video come up I get excited and immediately click on them

NEXT SEASON IS ACTUALLY PEAK

It hasn't peaked just yet :), I mentioned it on one of your earlier videos. Around the time of Arrivals forward, Bungie gets a MUCH firmer grasp on the story. Not that it was bad before, but you can tell they have really sharpened how they are writing the narrative, setting up seeds for future plot points, and pulling on old ones. Especially the characters, everyone is way deeper and more complexly written, Caiatl is a big one, she first gets name dropped all the way back in I think Dawn? and slowly built up to now. I'm so glad you take the time to read the extra material and really listen to what the characters say, Destiny's story is really good, but starting now and all the way to final shape, you get to have so many "holy shit" moments, with reveals, and realizing where all the pieces line up, its gonna be fun. Also, I have to give Bungie all the points for mirroring the shot with Crow and Zavala to your character shooting Uldren. Such good visual storytelling, so much so they literally flashed between the 2 shots in a few trailers.

Haven’t watched the vid yet but season of the Chosen is definitely when bungie starts popping off on story. Plus they introduce my 2nd favorite character Caitle. Cant wait for you to meet my favorite character down the line though😉 .You’ll definitely love the next few seasons as they got some of the best narrative imo.

I started to play Destiny during this season, I couldn't understand what was going on but I was living for the DRAMA lol. Oh boy, I really want to see your reactions in the next couple of seasons. It's going to get CRAZY.

22:42 I think Crow’s actor flubbed a line, hesitated, and then rolled with it lol. It sounds like “ards are good” instead of “odds are good”, like he was thinking ahead to the ‘are’ sound and spoke too fast, because that pause as he noticed didn’t sound intentional either

One step closer to Witch Queen!

What you mentioned towards the end of the video about the darkness, the pyramids, the traveler... interesting stuff to hold onto

ur so real for that mild crow crush loll

Saving Zavala Saved Caiatl. Yeah Zavala is out of the way, but then she'd be left with Ikora. She nor the Cabal would survive that lol.

Okay, so, late to this video. My apologies. But, to add some context to the "Uldren's Rotted Tykes" phrase, they're talking about the scorn. They're called Uldren's, because the first, Fikrul, was caused due to Uldren's sadness over a dead Eliksni, that was twisted by Riven, bringing the Eliksni back in Undeath, as Scorn. He dies and just always resurrects. Fikrul had the capability to use the darkness to create more Scorn. So it kind of originates from Uldren.

The Crown of Sorrow was a raid on the Leviathan during the Season of Opulence I'm sure you can find the lore behind all of that.

15:31 Crow absolutely roasted Lord Saladin!

If you remember back in the Season of Opulence. That the raid was called Crown of Sorrow . The crown was a trap set for Calus by non other then the Witch Queen Savathun herself. That crown is a artifact of Savathuan

You should go over the raids at some point. The crown of sorrow is from the raid of the same name. You will also learn a lot of lore if you start from year one and go from there.

Ok lol now im definitely looking forward to your reaction to season of the haunted. Lmfao

You are gonna love the next seasons story

Ah, one more thing to add. Sadly, there are little pieces of dialogue you're going to miss when reacting, cause these pieces played only when launching the season activity. Some pieces were casual and not important, but some were really interesting, especially in the coming seasons. I don't know if you have time, but you can recover them in the channel "Destiny lore vault" here on youtube, you'll find everything 😊😊

A Destiny reaction early? Why thank you. I shall accept gladly.

I just know you're going to loose your marbles with The Witch Queen and its best season: Seraph. I cannot wait.

"Uldren's rotted tykes" = the Scorn

Legendary intro to the video

1:10:18 yea don't worry this is something people didn't quite understand at 1st & had to peice it over time, there's also a lore book called "Captains Log" that goes over the events of what happened on the Glykon ship

Presage was such a phenomenal mission, even now

One of my favorite things about this season is that it's heavily implied that because of the proud nature of the Cabal, Caiatl couldn't simply offer us an equal alliance with the Cabal without possibly starting another civil war in he ranks. So instead, she incited a small scale conflict with us she fully expected the Vanguard to win, in order to appease her people by having them surrender to a force that bested them in combat. Limited losses for Caiatl, and she gets the alliance she wanted.

You still can play Presage exotic mission, hope you will try it! Old Exotic missions weekly rotating in Legends tab

1:13:00 Remember Uldren created the Scorn.

The Season of the Chosen might be one of my favorites. Caiatl’s character is awesome and it’s really cool to see all the different intercharacter dynamics play out. If you go back and look at Cayde’s death in Forsaken, you may notice the blocking of Uldren and Cayde is a mirror of Zavala reaching a hand to Crow. But my favorite thing about this season is the Presage mission and how it continues the Calus storyline. Since some important details originate from sources outside the game, I wanted to give a little extra context. When Calus was overthrown, Caiatl requested his life spared, so he was put on a prison barge and sentenced to eternal exile in space. Eventually he turned it into a pleasure barge, the Leviathan. Somehow Calus supposedly managed to reach the very edge of the universe itself, and when he stared into that abyss, he was given a vision of the end of everything. One interesting thing is that the abyss is described very similarly to the Orisis expedition that you read before Season of Arrivals. He says it declared him a Herald of the end and he claimed the “right to be last,” that is the last living thing in existence as it all ends. Of course that’s not what happened. The Darkness arrived in the system and the world didn’t end. Calus’ experiments on the Glykon are him seeking answers from the Voice in the Darkness on why it seemingly ignored him. Also I think Destin may have missed a cutscene in Beyond Light. It explains that Io, Titan, Mercury, and Mars all vanished from existence, alone with Sloane and Asher Mir. However weird gravitational anomalies still exist where the celestial bodies once were. The Glykon was flown into Mars’. Also, the plant infestation (Egregore) is not necessarily Hive in origin but just seems to manifest in places where the presence of the Darkness is strong. Looking forward to the next installment! I’m glad you’re enjoying the story so much. It’s definitely my favorite thing about Destiny.

I just binged your whole destiny series uploads! Even as a day 1 destiny 1 guardian, the lore is... a lot. I'd wager 80% of it is told through grimoire cards in both games. Destiny 2 was a huge upgrade in its **actual** in game in character story telling but there's so much they don't outright dedicate narrative or voicelines for. For example we knew of the fallen being the previous civilization the traveler graced back in d1 through grimoire cards, but it was never brought up. Similarly, we've had SO MUCH Calus lore in grimoire cards either told objectively or through the lens of unreliable narrators (Scribes of calus, clearly opinionated). So don't feel bad if things are going over your head, a lot of the lore is through word of mouth or by reading the journals yourself. The story is really spread through the community which is why so many of these videos exist, we've had a lot of resident lore-keepers over the years making videos on youtube for a reason haha. Would you believe we have very detailed backstories on all of Mara Sov's techuens for example? It's fascinating stuff

Fun fact when xavala helps up crow it mirrors uldren killing Cayde. (Visually)

Fun Fact: The Voice Actress for Caiatl is the same as Amanda Holliday.

Don't know if the things you have read went into how the cabals homeworld Torobatl was destroyed but essentially Caitals mentor Umun Arath went kinda crazy. Xivu moved her entire army from the ascendant plane to Torobatl, a feat which was only really possible because the Cabal were unintentionally empowering her due to her being the god of war and the cabal being a species that do alot of war(im pretty sure this is it anyway, haven't brushed up on my cabal lore)

Second best season imo, and definitely the start of the best in-game storytelling (as you found out with the lack of background reading you had to do going into it lol) Enjoy the twisting mystery brooding with all that glykon mission info, and keep that crown in mind, it’s been around all the way back in shadowkeep in one of the raid bosses you watched in your previous videos!

This the start of the seasonal stories becoming really good.

As I said in your previous video, take an eye on Osiris during these seasons👀👀

TLDR, Calus was the Emperor until Ghaul (plus Caiatl and others) staged a coup at midnight (hence the Midnight Coup) and exiled him into deep space on the Leviathan. Although the seaosn is long gone, the Presage mission is available on weekly rotation - its an exotic mission that rewards the Dead Man's Tale. It's a story about Katabasis, a hunter in service of Calus, and watched in horror at his grotesque experiments to commune with the darkness using scorn brains. Starting in BL, the seasonal stories become more and more cohesive and interconnected. I'm sure if you asked nicely, Byf would be happy for you to react to his lore videos.

Strongly recommend reading the lore books from Presage.

The tower and its guardians are pretty blind to themselves. Especially Zavala; being so devote to the force of light even tho it has not done anything but prove that when things get spicy (the traveler will run the fuck away)

Hey, I don't know if this is of your interest, but there is a very very known lore-focused content creator called My Name Is Byf. You could watch some of his videos from back then and maybe they'd clear some doubts. One video that you should most definitely watch before playing the Witch Queen DLC is either Dynasty or the Complete Destiny Story (4 hour vid lol). They contain crucial info about the hive that comes into play on WQ. Dynasty is more focused on the former, but if you want to get more things clear about the Destiny lore you can watch the long vid which covers everything from Origins up to Shadowkeep.

You need to watch the unscripted Lance reddick (Zavala) speech retort to “bow” it’s magnificent

I don't quite know if this is THE peak, but Chosen was definitely a good season storywise - especially that bit at the end with Zavala reaching out to offer Crow a hand, *directly paralleling* that one shot from Forsaken where Uldren shoots Cayde while he's down. It also gave us the Dead Man's Tale, which (while it has fallen from its original glory) is still a wonderful exotic to use - as of this season, they've actually brought it and its mission back via the exotic mission rotator, so if you want to you can also experience the horrors of the Glykon! P.S: as far as I'm aware (could be wrong on this, though), Caiatl did want to ally with humanity from the start - but because the Cabal are the Cabal, she ended up having to take a traditional route to please the people and not end up like her dad. As we see by the attempt on Zavala's life, that still doesn't completely stop any resistance to the human-Cabal alliance, but it did work long enough to get it to happen.

This season was very well received by the community

1:13:01 he means the Scorn

Ah, Season of the Chosen. The Season where I started playing Destiny for the first time

ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-KqF_MHV5KtI.htmlsi=CVFQMjyWOrmxx_i4&t=1467 this moment they said "you wont tell the commander?" wasn't referring to us, the commander is Zavala :P

you have no bloody idea how Caitul is great addition for us even that one house we allied ourself to

Caiatl is the best character in Destiny and is official Titan Mom.

"To be Witnessed" huh?

If zavala died ikora would probably take over and god help caital if that happens 😂

On a thursday? :O

might be time you talk to BYF guardian