#destiny lore stuff

I was reading the lore, and first I checked if we had any new Chalco Yong lore. Which yay!! One more of Ikora and Chalco being gay (I'm writing a whole separate post about that).

But then I looked up Eido cause I wanted to see how our eliksni scribe friend is doing. And then I noticed a few were about Sjur. And omg, you're telling me SJUR EIDO IS NOT DEAD AND SHE IS SOMEWHERE IN SPACE/TIME like Mara had thought??? And VI sent Xur to basically use Sjur as bait to get Mara to work with the Nine??? And she said, hell no!! And then immediately I was like, we need a lore entry about Crow and Mara talking about this. This is major. And then immediately the next lore entry is them discussing this????? And Crow says he's a better person now than he was as a prince???? And how he'll definitely help his sister find her partner.

I'm sorry, Destiny 2 is ending and Bungie gives us this lore????? We haven't had much awoken lore since Season of the Wish and it was really sad the Reef had been put on such a back burner. But now???? Now you give us this lore??? When the game is ending???? While there are parts of the Fate Saga I'm not happy about (mainly the Star Wars insertion and what they are doing with scribe Eido), I'm very much enjoying it! Lodi is an interesting character. Ikora is getting a lot of love and possibly could become Commander. We were about to go to Old Chicago. And now we got that Sjur Eido is definitely not dead and that would've been a fun possible awoken themed dlc (possibly also maybe lifting the curse from the Dreaming City at the same time?). I'm so sad the game is ending. Reading the latest lore is making me hope even more that we get a Destiny 3.

For those who want to read the lore, here are the links:

Ikora/Chalco: Fantastic Filigree

Mara finding out about Sjur from Xur: Pantheos Resplendent Boots

Ikora's personal library is her haven from the world. Only a few people know it exists; even fewer can come and go as they please.

A gloved hand sets a paper bag on the desk next to her. Ikora looks up. "How was lunch?"

Chalco pulls up a chair and slumps into it, knocking their shoulders together. She looks wearier than she does after some field missions. "Lunch was his idea, so I'd say you already know."

Ikora reaches out, fingertips finding the knots of tension in Chalco's back. There's more every year.

"He's intelligent. Personable. He has a sense of humor. He's adjusting." All compliments, but Chalco looks unhappy. "Talking to Orin, you couldn't forget that you were conversing with something really, truly alien. But he's so… Human.

"You think he was chosen to lower our guards. Because he could get close to us."

"Not just us. You. You have to remember he's got a bit of the Nine in him."

Ikora has explored this line of thinking many times. "I do. I also believe that the connection is mutual."

Chalco raises a brow. "You think there's a bit of Lodi in the Nine now? That's not necessarily a good thing."

"I know." Ikora smiles when she opens the paper bag—dumplings, still hot, if a little squashed in transit. The simplest food in the City is its most luxurious. "That's why I'm counting on you."

Chalco sighs, but her lips finally curve up. "Always."

_________________

Chalco and Lodi have lunch together! Chalco of course sees Lodi has a pawn of the Nine to make Ikora let down her guard. Which is a very valid feeling about Lodi. When I saw him in the tower, I was like, “Is this a good idea…like clearly he is very nice, but he’s also the Emissary?" I think it is interesting to see Ikora speculate there the opposite is true too, there is part of Lodi in the Nine. The part I hated about reading this lore entry was that it is written like the story is continuing. While reading this I honestly just felt bad for the devs who wrote it, especially when we know Bungie didn’t tell most of their staff development on Destiny 2 was ending until the public announcement. 

But, that aside, I just love the little bits of their relationship in the little details in between. Once again telling us how Ikora doesn’t let a lot of people into her personal library and Chalco is one of a handful that is allowed to come and go whenever she wants. Chalco clearly being a bit stressed by Lodi and the Nine, that she ends up sitting close to Ikora. Ikora rubs Chalco's back a bit, seeing how stressed she is. And Ikora smiling, something she does so infrequently. And then this lore entry ends with Ikora saying, “That’s why I’m counting on you.” And Chalco responded with, “Always.” 

I love when we get little bits about Ikora's past that aren't crucible and her being Osiris's student. Another one of Ikora's comfort books! I love the mental image of Ikora reading it after a bad crucible match and Ophiuchus acting as a light so she could read. It sounds like a time where they were closer, long before the 61 years of them not talking.

And then the other detail, "And [Ikora] thought of other moments, of a warm hand covering her own as she read the text out loud for the thousandth time." I love how it's open ended, so you can insert any ship with Ikora (sorry Eris x Ikora shippers, but I'm totally reading this as Ikora on a date with Chalco Yong). I kinda wish bungie would give us her romantic/sexual orientation.

Okay, so shout-out to Destiny Lore Vault on YouTube for uploading videos on Osiris' Interpretation. They are from the Lightfall campaign. I'm not sure if you get them from completing the last mission, but that is when I listened to them all. If you haven't listened to them, basically they are the five elements we can now use in containers around Osiris in the Hall of Heroes and he briefly explains a bit about each. It's a nice touch for New Lights or returning players, as it describes what Void, Solar, Arc, and Stasis are. Osiris also explains his current understanding of Strand as the fifth.

(TLDR at the end!)

Here is the dialogue from each of them:

Strand is our newest foray into Darkness. As I understand it now, it is the elemental manifestation of psychic connection. All minds are connected in a web of consciousness, which we can now see and feel. To wield Strand is to pull on the hidden connecting threads, and to use them to create, manipulate, and unravel. I had assumed this element would behave similar to our other Darkness ability. But unlike Stasis, mastering Strand seems to require one to relinquish control. To embrace the connecting threads, and perhaps flow WITH them. I look forward to experimenting more with this new element.

Stasis is the element of will and control. It slows, detains, and shatters. It was our first step into Darkness, and taught us the universe is not as black and white as it first seemed. Elsie Bray and Eris Morn have slightly different interpretations of how one masters this element. Fitting, as Stasis thrives on individual will, but merging their thoughts gives me this... Control over the self can foster control over others, but without power over the self, destruction runs wild. When we wield Stasis, we must exercise the ultimate authority over both self and others.

Void is the element of cosmic distortion. It is the pull of gravity and the promise of entropy. The vacuum of space, and the gravitational forces that shape it, teach us that emptiness is not nothingness. In Ikora's words... "To wield Void is to draw strength from both the immeasurably small and the unfathomably massive." With it, we bend the very fabric of space-time.

Arc is the element of motion and conduction, and is created when the electromagnetic forces of our universe struggle to achieve balance. According to Ikora, Arc teaches us that change is a fundamental aspect of the universe. "To wield it is to ride the storm of the unguessable."

Solar requires us to both exploit and rely on the power of our sun. But to master it is to understand the star's duality. The nuclear force that scorches anything foolish enough to draw near... is the same force we harness to heal. It feeds the flora of our galaxy, just as it begets drought and famine. Destruction and re-creation are a necessary cycle.

One thing is really interesting--who Osiris decides to quote for each. Obviously, it's only really him and the young wolf who know about strand at this point, so he just gives his own thoughts on it. And well, he is known as the Phoenix, so obviously he is also just giving his own interpretations there. Mentioning Elsie and Eris makes sense for Stasis, since they are part of the "Darkness Vanguard" of Beyond Light (and would be the types to have more academic thoughts on it then say Drifter).

But then we get to Void and Arc, and interestingly, he quotes Ikora for both. Obviously the two most well-known/prominent lightbearers of Void are Ikora and Saint. I assume Ikora has done a lot more academic work than Saint on Void, thus Osiris doesn't quote his husband.

But why Arc? This really makes me wonder if Ikora was a Stormcaller before becoming a Voidwalker. But at the same time, this made me realize we don't really have an arc users well-known enough in the game currently (and I mean well-known enough for them to quote it to possibly people who don't read the lore/new to d2/returning players). We have so many solar users, a few void users, and lots of people who either use different elements or their preference isn't specified. But arc? Saladin used it in the one lore entry where Lady Efrideet yeeted him, but that is about it.

So yeah. Just something that made me rant to my boyfriend while we listened to these together. Even he was kinda surprised Ikora was quoted for arc. Idk, is this back up in lore that I haven't read? Or is this new lore that perhaps Ikora was a Stormcaller? I've always assumed she was a Dawnblade before becoming a Voidwalker.