As such, The Game Awards 2021 was the perfect occasion for Bungie to share something new and exciting with fans. A new trailer aired during the event that hints at Destiny 2 bringing Mars back as a location, at least for the very first mission of The Witch Queen campaign. The trailer features a fight between Guardians and a Hive Knight using the powers of the Traveler’s Light, something Savathun has been working toward for a long time, even though players are still in the dark about the how. There are also hidden frames in The Witch Queen trailer, and some of them may very well detail some interesting facts about the expansion.
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The Red War and Caiatl’s “Blue Legion” of Cabal
Among said hidden frames there are some that seem to show how regular Cabal Psions, with their usual red color scheme, eventually have their armor turn blue when players kill them. This might not seem like much, but there is a lot of depth to this choice because the “red Cabal” are normally considered enemies because of their attire, which is what they wore during and after the events of the Red War campaign from Destiny 2’s Year 1. This was the only type of Cabal that Destiny 2 players knew for a long time.
That changed with Season of the Chosen, which was about the new Cabal leader - the fierce daughter of the former Emperor Calus, Caiatl. Caiatl leads a different type of Cabal, called “the Blue Legion,” and when she was introduced players didn’t know if she was going to be an ally or a troublesome enemy. This was all part of Destiny 2’s narrative in Season of the Chosen, which saw an attempt on Zavala’s life as he refused to bow to Caiatl and pursued a diplomatic approach to convince the Cabal leader to work for the greater good.
In Destiny 2, Cabal only know force and demonstrations of power, which creates an impenetrable language barrier between the two leaders. Eventually, this led to Zavala and Caiatl having a confrontation using their chosen champions, which for Zavala was a team of three Guardians meant to complete the Proving Grounds Strike. The Vanguard was victorious, and Caiatl became an invaluable ally of mankind in the fight against the forces of Darkness: the Scorn, the Hive, and the Taken.
Before the pact was made official, there was another attempt on Zavala’s life prevented with the help of Crow. The perpetrators were found to be Psions from Caiatl’s Blue Legion, and they were dealt with, leaving the Cabal leader to pledge her allegiance to the Last City. This alliance even comes into play in Season of the Chosen, with Caiatl battling Xivu Arath’s forces as they try to disrupt the Guardians’ activity to exorcise Savathun’s Worm with the help of Queen Mara Sov.
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How The Witch Queen Could Turn the Tides
In the new trailer for The Witch Queen, showing how Cabal Psions turn blue after being killed is not a coincidence. It could be a remaining faction of the Psions that tried to prevent Caiatl from pledging allegiance to the Vanguard, but that wouldn’t explain why they wear red armor before being killed and then switch colors after death. The explanation could be that Savathun is tricking everyone into seeing something different, making both Guardians and other forces - like Caiatl’s Blue Legion - perceive each other as enemies to create chaos.
This sort of manipulation is precisely what Savathun would do, and the live-action part of the trailer which shows a human Guardian talking to Eris Morn even mentions that the location felt surreal and there was something amiss. If Savathun is manipulating reality to turn Guardians against Caiatl’s Cabal, it proves that the Witch Queen is either buying herself some time or that she is the villain Destiny 2 players were always led to believe. This could be the outcome, considering Savathun is shown fighting Guardians in the trailer, which is not something she would do if she wanted to be an ally.
However, it’s also worth noting that the expansion’s slogan is “Survive the Truth,” which means maybe it’s not Savathun showing her true colors in the trailer, but rather Caiatl’s army. It’s possible that Savathun is not tricking Destiny 2 players into unknowingly killing their allies, but rather that she is trying to show them who they actually were in the first place. In that case, it would be a great turn of events that could reveal Caiatl as an enemy instead of Savathun. This remains speculation for the time being, but it’s interesting to ponder what the reason behind the Psions changing their armor’s color is in a franchise that has always been about seeing things from a different point of view.
Destiny 2 is now available on PC, PS4, PS5, Stadia, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
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