Destiny 2 Witch Queen ending explained: Savathun, the Witness, & more

Destiny 2’s latest campaign, The Witch Queen, has an ending that has left many players in the dark. Here’s what the ending of Destiny 2 Witch Queen means for the franchise’s future.

Destiny 2’s Witch Queen expansion is a wild ride for longtime fans of the franchise. Savathun, the titular antagonist, has gained the power of the Light, and it’s up to the Vanguard to find out how that’s possible.

What follows is a meaty campaign, full of twists and turns, and a pretty unforgettable ending that may leave newcomers scratching their heads.

It seems pretty obvious, but we’re going to put a big ol’ spoiler warning here — if you’ve not finished Destiny 2’s Witch Queen’s campaign, we’d recommend coming back when you have.

Here’s a full explainer for the Destiny 2 Witch Queen ending.

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Contents

• The truth about Savathun
• What happened to Savathun in the Witch Queen ending?
• Who is The Witness?
• What does this mean for Destiny’s future?

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The truth about Savathun

Savathun and her siblings are part of the Hive, but the race was once known as the Krill — and they weren’t particularly deadly. In fact, on their home planet of Fundament, there’s a good chance they would’ve just been killed off by larger predators.

The Osmium King, Savathun’s father, was driven mad by a prophecy that told of an apocalypse. After he was assassinated, Savathun (at this point known as Sathona), took her father’s creepy dead worm pet and fled with her sisters.

Thing was, the worm is actually a “familiar”, and it was the worm itself that had been telling of the upcoming cataclysm. Promising Sathona and her siblings refuge underground, the trio made a pact with the Worm Gods to become the Hive — giving them immeasurable power in exchange for constant bloodshed.

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Towards the end of the Witch Queen campaign, however, it’s revealed that the Worm was, surprise surprise, lying. In fact, the siblings were to be claimed by the Light (potentially even as Guardians), but The Witness spoke through the Worm to convince them to become the Hive instead, essentially siding with the Darkness.

What happened to Savathun in the Witch Queen ending?

Throughout the Witch Queen’s campaign, we’re led to believe that Savathun worked out how to steal the Light thanks to her impersonation of Osiris and knowledge afforded by the Vanguard, particularly Ikora.

Ikora is, understandably, devastated to know that she may have had a hand in giving our greatest power to our most feared foe, but as it turns out that’s not entirely the case.

In actuality, Savathun was mortally wounded as part of the ritual to remove her Worm familiar in the Season of the Lost epilogue, and died not far from the Last City. It was then that a Ghost called Immaru resurrected her with the Light — no tricks, no deceptions, Savathun was chosen by the Traveler, just as all Guardians are.

• Read more: How to get the Season of the Risen title

This grants her the power of resurrection, but it also removes her memories. By allowing the Guardians onto her Throne World, which is essentially her own mind in physical form, and allowing them to track down elements of her past to piece together the mystery of her gaining the Light, she was able to restore her memories.

Essentially, Savathun was able to shed her worm to become “eligible” for the Light, and was chosen, but then recovered her memories through our hard work — they don’t call her the God of Cunning and Lies for nothing.

While the Guardians are able to kill Savathun after untangling the Traveler from her spell, the Traveler appears to drag Immaru (her Ghost) with it when it returns to Earth. That means that Savathun could be resurrected if/when Immaru appears, but her body will seemingly be kept by the Vanguard.

Who is The Witness in Destiny 2?

So, that begs the question — if Savathun was being manipulated for the last few thousand years, then who is the mysterious Witness pulling the strings?

That’s a question we may be asking for some time, but the final cutscenes of the Witch Queen expansion give us a better glimpse than we’ve ever had before.

Bungie has always referred to the “big bad” of Destiny as The Darkness, and we’ve been seeing huge pyramid ships for some time (the game’s next raid will be set in one). It appears The Witness is the leader of the black fleet, and certainly looks like the statues we’ve seen whenever we’ve been inside said ships, since all the way back in Shadowkeep, but whether the Black Fleet is an agent of The Darkness or not is hard to say at present.

Read more: All we know about Lightfall, Destiny 2’s next expansion

The Witness’ voice appears to be the one that deceived Savathun (when speaking through the Worm), and it appears that the character, who has smoke resembling faces coming out of its head, is preparing to make its presence felt in our Solar system.

What’s interesting is that the Witness appears to be playing both sides. Its pyramids actually helped us in the Witch Queen campaign, while it was from the pyramids that we got Stasis in Beyond Light. It’ll be interesting to see if it continues to try and woo the Guardians in upcoming expansions. Interestingly, The Witness says “enough death, enough life” and that the Traveler has caused plenty of death, suggesting we may be imprinting our own ideas of good and evil on something that, in many ways, is focused solely on self-preservation.

The Parasite exotic quest also gives some more indication of how the Witness was able to manipulate the Worm familiar in the first place.

What does the Witch Queen ending mean for Destiny’s future?

In the immediate aftermath of the campaign, Mara Sov is determined to learn from Savathun’s former worm (as part of an exotic quest), while the Vanguard is pondering the ramifications of the Traveler’s Light being given to Savathun willingly.

The Vanguard may be shaken, but they all acknowledge that another Collapse (what happened when the Traveler has previously fled from the Darkness) must be avoided, seemingly setting up a final stand against The Witness and its forces.

Season of the Risen has begun, too, and we’re teaming up with Caiatl to tackle more Hive lieutenants that are wielding the Light. We expect more story content throughout Seasons 17, 18, and 19, which is likely to lead into Lightfall, the game’s next big expansion, and The Final Shape, which is expected to end the current saga.

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That’s all we’ve pieced together about the Destiny 2 Witch Queen ending so far, but for more on the game be sure to check out the following guides.

All Witch Queen exotics | Gambit rework explained | All Season of the Risen challenges | All Season of the Risen season pass rewards | How to get the Parasite exotic | Xur location