The trailers for Destiny 2’s upcoming Witch Queen expansion have been some of the best in the series, teasing ancient mysteries and new loot in a way that has me truly excited for what could lie in store in the next story campaign. The latest is no exception, and it’s forcing fans to dig deep to unravel some of its more arcane references.
First, the new trailer:
The Witch Queen will be all about Savathûn, a Hive god who is Destiny 2’s Loki-like master of trickery and deception, and in this latest video we get a bigger glimpse of her Throne World, a pocket dimension ruled by her will. “This Throne World is indistinguishable from my own mind,” she says during the trailer, suggesting some extremely cool illusion-based raid possibilities and giving me extreme flashbacks to the 2000 sci-fi psychological thriller, The Cell.
But watch closely and you’ll briefly catch a stray barrage of numbers and symbols at around 25 seconds in. While it would have gone right over the average viewer’s head, Destiny players are anything but average, and quickly started piecing them together on the RaidSecrets subreddit and elsewhere. Here’s what they found:
- 16 is the Atomic number for mercury and 32.006 is its weight.
- 18 is the Atomic number for sulfur and 200.59 is its weight.
- [Xe]4f145d106s2 is the electron configuration for osmium.
What does it mean? Well, Mercury is also a planet that was added to Destiny 2 during the Warmind DLC but was later vaulted after Beyond Light released. Perhaps it’s coming back in some form, or at least players will be able to visit some Mercury-like destination as part of Savathûn’s trickery. And what about sulfur? Well Mercury’s surface is full of it, so it’s potentially another nod to the planet recently consumed by the mysterious black pyramid ships. All the allusions to Mercury could also be an indirect nod to the eventual fait of the Warlock Osiris, who previously called the planet home.
Osmium is the most interesting of them all since it directly references Savathûn’s past. The Osmium Court was a continent on her home planet of Fundament that was once ruled by Savathûn’s father. He was assassinated, however, which sent Savathûn and her siblings fleeing for their lives but vowing vengeance. Savathûn also made off with her father’s dead Worm—godly parasites aligned with the Darkness—during the chaos, a choice which sent her down a long, winding, and lore-drenched road to her current confrontation with Destiny 2’s players.
The reference to osmium in the trailer could mean we’ll get to visit the ancient court in some way, or just learn more about it. And of course, all of this could just be lore Easter eggs for the sake of it, though Bungie usually doesn’t lead players down random rabbit holes just for fun. Plus there are other strange symbols players are still trying to decipher.
In more tangible terms, the new trailer also showed off upcoming weapons, including a new Exotic Hive-based submachine gun called Osteo Striga which means “bone scream” in Latin. An what’s this? Baby Pyramids?! The Witch Queen expansion goes live February 22.