Destiny 2 Season Of The Witch Ending, Explained

The 22nd Season of Destiny 2 has come to a middling conclusion. Sure, we were finally reunited with The Witch Queen herself, but only for Eris to drain her of eons and eons worth of Hive magic and do... something to the Hive God of War, Xivu Arath. But what does all of this mean? Did Savathun uphold her end of the bargain and show us how to follow the Witness into the Traveler? Let's break it down. 

Destiny 2 Season Of The Witch Ending Explained

All season long, Guardians have been killing Hive in Savathun's throneworld as a means to an end: use Hive magics and rituals to Tithe the powers earned from slaying enemies via the Sword Logic, the Hive's pseudo-religion. Doing this has, in essence, grown Eris' own power, similar to the ever-present Xivu Arath, with whom we have been in a bit of a stalemate since Season of the Hunt back in Year 4. 

The reason for this is Xivu Arath. The Hive God of War is the one who embodies the Sword Logic the most and it was thus revealed that she derives her power from war. The reason that the Hive were able to defeat the Cabal at their homeworld of Torobatl was because of this ever-growing strength that Xivu gains from consuming the energies of those she and her brood defeat in battle. 

As this season comes to an end, Eris uses our six weeks of Tithing to her and those powers she captures by slaying a recently-revived Savathun in the final cutscene to banish Xivu Arath from her own Throne World. This makes Xivu Arath just as mortal as any other member of her brood, providing us the opportunity to hunt her down and take her out for good. 

Unfortunately, another major part of this story is concluded off-screen. After this ritual, Immaru brings Savathun back to life again, as she still wields the light as we do. Savathun then gives Immaru to the Vanguard as a peace offering, letting Ikora, Eris, and our own Guardian that we have a common enemy in the Witness. That if we want to succeed, it's imperative that she's left alive. After this, she flees, promising to return eventually.

Oh, and that we will know how to enter the portal to the Traveler "when we have it."

This leads to a frustrating conclusion to one of Destiny's better seasons and asks more questions than it answers. Players and lore enthusiasts are sure that Savathun wants us to use an Ahamkara - Destiny's version of Dragons that can shapeshift and grant (rather cursed) wishes - but the narrative that felt like it was building toward that satisfying conclusion never landed. There are still a few more weeks of HELM radio messages left to listen to and another lore page waiting to be uncovered, so we're forced to wait for those answers for a few more weeks.

At least for now, we know that we can kill Xixu Arath permanently and, according to Savathun, we have a way to follow the Witness into the Traveler, setting up The Final Shape. As for what that thing granting us passage might be, we'll have to wait and see. 

Destiny 2's Season 23 is a ways off yet, but we now have some interesting theories and fun things to speculate over in the meantime. While you're waiting, make sure to check out how to get the final Opaque Card in Season of the Witch and how to spend your Legendary Shards before they're deleted forever!