Forsaken is dropping in a few days, and we’ll finally be able to hunt down Prince Uldren to avenge the death of Cayde-6. But who are these characters, and how does the story of Forsaken fit into the world of Destiny? Let’s take a journey back to Destiny 1.
(Caution: Destiny 1 story spoilers ahead.)
Welcome to the Reef
The Reef is a destination in our solar system located inside of the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. In Destiny 1, it was established that the Reef was the home of the Awoken. They’re a sub-race of humans that encountered a mysterious force at the edge of the solar system, transforming their appearance. They keep themselves secluded from Earth, and are ruled by Mara Sov, their Queen. Mara has a brother, Uldren Sov, Prince of the Reef. We have limited interaction with them inside of Destiny 1.
In the vanilla campaign, the Queen and Prince help us in defeating the main baddie, The Black Heart. In the first expansion for Destiny 2, we investigate the Hive (an ancient alien race that has set up shop on Earth’s moon). We hunted down and prevented the return of the Hive god Crota. Then, in Destiny’s second raid Crota’s End, we entered his thrown realm and kill him with his own sword.
In the second expansion, House of Wolves, we assisted the Reef in hunting down a Fallen House (a sect of yet another alien race), that had betrayed the Queen. This opened up a part of the Reef for the first time, and introduced us to an important Destiny character, Petra Venj, the queen’s emissary.
The Taken King
Later that year, we got Destiny’s first major expansion, The Taken King. This expansion was credited with revamping the game’s core systems, and for the first time, introduced a cohesive and engaging story narrative. The story started with the arrival of Oryx, a Hive god and king of.. well.. the Taken. They are a race comprised of all alien races who Oryx has possessed by taking their will away, forcing them under his command. He has arrived in our solar system in a massive ancient ship called The Dreadnaught. His mission is to exact his revenge on humanity for killing his son Crota. Mara Sov mounts a resistance against Oryx in the opening cinematic for the expansion.
Things don’t go well.
It is initially believed that both Mara Sov and her brother Uldren are killed in the battle. However, the game’s extended lore slowly began to suggest otherwise.
We enter the story as he is actively “taking” a Cabal base on Phobos, one of Mars’ moons. The Cabal are one of the 4 invading alien races in our system. Representing a much more militaristic culture, they mount a last stand against Oryx by crashing one of their command vessels into the Dreadnaught. Their standoff against the Taken is ultimately futile (partially due to our involvement). In a final effort, they beam a distress signal back to the Cabal home world.
Cliffhangers
As you may have gathered, Destiny 1 left two stories with fairly open endings. The fate of Mara Sov and the Prince in one hand, and the Cabal distress signal in the other. Enter Destiny 2.
The story presented with the launch of Destiny 2 was The Red War campaign. The story begins with a massive surprise Cabal attack of The Last City, the only remaining human civilization on Earth. Identified as the Red Legion, they quickly decimate our forces, strip us of our powers, and leave us for dead.
Broken and weak, we then embark us on a journey to reclaim what is rightfully ours. It is largely believed that the invading force arrived in response to the distress signal sent at the end of The Taken King story line. Needless to say, we defeat the Red Legion and reclaim our Light.
Pulling the Threads
With Forsaken, we begin to pull the thread on the story of what happened to the Queen and her brother. Enter Cayde-6 (Vanguard leader and beloved comic relief voiced by Nathan Fillion), Petra, and our character. We all investigate a prison break in the Reef, and things go sideways pretty fast. Among the escapees are 8 barons, the leaders of a new race of enemies called The Scorn.
Through a series of events in the first mission, Cayde gets separated from us and Petra. He is quickly overwhelmed, and all but killed by the escapees. A cloaked figure hovers over Cayde and deals the final fatal shot. It is revealed that the killer is none other than Price Uldren Sov, who had been absent from the Destiny landscape for 2 years. It is also confirmed that Uldren is indeed responsible for the prison break.
Why did Uldren break out the barons? Why did he decide to kill Cayde? Where is the Queen? And are the Taken returning with a new ruler? These are the questions that the story of Forsaken present us with. We are sent on a brand new path to avenge the death of our mentor, and uncover the secrets of the Awoken. It will be quite the journey.
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