Destiny 2: The Witch QueenThe new raid is packed with interesting backstory, but one section in particular is making the community nervous.
A wall in the Vow of the Disciple raid shows a list of potential symbols, only one or two of which will light up per run. But the symbols are always in the same places when they appear and they never deviate. Through community sourcing, players assembled the symbols to spell out a secret message.
[Ed. note: This article contains spoilers for the Destiny 2: The Witch Queen campaign and the Vow of the Disciple raid.]
prophecy
“swarm contempt love darkness worship witness pyramid fleet enter earth stop guard witness commune traveler drink light kill witness ?”
The last symbol is unknown.
2/2
— Matt (@myelingames) March 8, 2022
The prophecy has to do with The Witness (Destiny’s newly introduced Great Evil) invading and potentially killing Earth some or someone important.
Using the in-game callouts from the raid, as mentioned in the tweet above, the prophecy can be a bit difficult to read. But translated somewhat more liberally into a sentence format, the symbols read:
The Hive and Scorn love the dark and adore The Witness. The Pyramid Fleet enters Earth and stops the Guardians. The witness communicates with the traveler and drinks the light. The witness kills…
The final section of a seemingly clear prophecy is missing, and no player has come forward with this icon appearing on their raid wall. That appears to be intentional, and Bungie is leaving players in the dark as to what that final icon might be.
If you’re just using the symbols from the heist, there are some unnerving possibilities. “Traveler”, the mysterious and god-like orb that grants players their power, is the first thing that springs to mind as a victim of The Witness. “The Guardian” as a player character is also unnerving.
However, a Lore video by YouTuber My Name Is Byf noted that when an icon appears for players, all instances of that icon also appear. So when players see The Witness icon, it will appear in all three places. While there are no guarantees, it seems like symbols already on the wall won’t appear in the last slot.
Even without Traveler, Guardian, Earth and Light in play, this leads to some interesting possibilities. Byf pointed out that Savathun – who is currently technically dead in the game but her spirit lives on and she’s only a brief resurrection away from life – could be the victim of The Witness. But if Savathun were ever to rise again, it would be foolish of her to die again so soon. If Bungie intended to kill Savathun, players would have just ended up doing it The Witch Queen Campaign.
The probably missing symbol here seems to be the Tower, the social hub where Guardians reside and conduct their business. When the Witness shows up to “communicate with the Traveler and drink the Light,” he will be directly over the Last City, giving him ample opportunity to destroy the Warden’s home base.
While this prophecy could flow into the end of The Witch Queen‘s storyline in a few weeks, or next year’s seasons, it seems more likely that Bungie will be teasing destiny 2‘s next expansion, which isn’t quite as subtle’incidence of light.” If that scheme of The Witness materializes (and that’s still a big “if”), players will have to wait until 2023 to see it for themselves.
