The story of Destiny 2: Shadowkeep is not the deepest or most complicated that Bungie has ever done for the series, but there are some important beats that players should be aware of if they want to fully understand what is going on both in the Shadowkeep campaign and the overall story at large. Let’s go through a story summary of Destiny 2: Shadowkeep and explain the ending in case you aren’t sure what’s going on.
Story Summary – Destiny 2: Shadowkeep
Spoiler note for all you Kinderguardians: We’re going to assume you have played through all of the story content of Destiny 2 so far. There might be some small spoilers here, aside from the obvious spoiling of the entire Shadowkeep storyline, so this is your warning.
OK so, after minding your own business for the last year or so following the events of Forsaken; playing Gambit with the Drifter, helping Ada-1 make some cool weapons, and chilling with our bro Calus, something big happens finally.
Eris Morn and her rock go to investigate the Moon after reports of something “old” appearing there that is attracting the Hive. After not hearing from Eris for a bit, and seeing how the Hive are clustered there, around a mysterious Scarlet Keep fortress, the Vanguard launch an attack.
You participate in the attack but while taking part in the mission you are confronted by very real (real enough to kill you) Nightmares of your past foes such as Omnigul, Skolas, Phogoth, The Fanatic Ghaul, and Crota.
We get a hold of Eris Morn, and she explains how the Hive and these Nightmares are connected to an ancient vessel that has been discovered underneath the surface of the Moon: a Black Pyramid ship. We go into a little bit more detail about the ships here if you want to get some more story/lore details about that.
In essence though, these ships are bad, are connected to our enemies/darkness, and if one is here on the Moon, nothing good can come from it. Eris Morn wants to investigate it so we can try to figure out some kind of response in case something bad does happen.
In order to survive though, we’ll need the help of some powerful Hive artifacts and armor that will allow us safe entry into the ship. All the while, the Nightmare corruption continues to spread, and Eris Morn is impacted the most as she is constantly haunted by her fallen fireteam members.
These needs will take your Guardian back deep into the Hellmouth, to the top of the Scarlet Keep, and up against the Nightmare versions of Omnigul, Skolas, and Phogoth to gather everything you need to enter the ship.
Once the Guardian has amassed enough power, you approach the ship, and are sucked into it. Leading to the ending of Destiny 2: Shadowkeep.
Ending Explained – Destiny 2: Shadowkeep
Upon entering the ship, the Guardian’s Ghost is seemingly possessed by some unknown entity. As they progress through the corridors of the ship, more Nightmare visions attack the Guardian: Ghaul, the Fanatic, and Crota.
All the while, this unknown entity is trashing the Light, pointing out all the times the Light has failed humanity, and how it led to countless deaths, collapses, and tragedies. It appears like whatever this entity is, they are connected to the Darkness, and want to try and convince us, the most powerful Guardian, to give up supporting the Light and embrace whatever comes after that.
After reaching the end of the hallways of this particular area of the ship, the Guardian finds an unknown device. When they touch it, they are transported to the Black Garden, an area from Destiny 1 that will be featured once again in Destiny 2 with the Garden of Salvation raid.
A shadow version of the Guardian appears, and introduces themselves as not a friend, not a foe, but their salvation in an extremely ominous way. After this, the vision ends, and the Guardian returns to the Moon with the device.
Eris Morn, Commander Zavala and Ikora Ray all reassure the Guardian that yeah, whatever that shade was, they aren’t good and don’t have humanity’s best interest at heart. They all vow to help in their own way to ensure that we’re all ready when the time comes to defend ourselves.
That marks the conclusion of the campaign story and ending of Destiny 2: Shadowkeep. Hopefully, this story summary and ending explanation were helpful to you.
Given Bungie’s track record with leaving threads dangling, who knows when this story dead-end will pick back up. It’s likely we’ll get at least some answers when the raid is released. And if something significant does indeed happen plot wise, we’ll update this post.
In the meantime, check out our wiki guide for more helpful tips and tricks.
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