Destiny 2: The Witch Queen Finally Let Us See Xivu Arath, But It Was Easy To Miss

The Osmium siblings, Oryx, Savathun, and Xivu Arath--introduced in the Books of Sorrow lore--are a core part of Destiny's story. Players slew Oryx back in the original Destiny expansion The Taken King and halted Savathun's plans in Destiny 2: The Witch Queen, but the Hive God of War Xivu Arath's importance has grown over the past few seasons. Players have been hearing her name more often since the Season of the Hunt back in fall 2020, and finally, a cutscene from The Witch Queen campaign gave a first look at her character design.

While Ikora's narration set up the story for The Witch Queen, an image showed the siblings before they were the Hive, as the young Krill who went by the names Xi Ro, Sathona, and Aurash. But that image quickly changed to show the three standing tall as the villainous Hive gods players would come to know. The only unfamiliar character was Xivu Arath--whose head changed from a Hive Knight design to look more like the Jade Rabbit insignia, setting her apart from the Hive enemies players usually see.

In The Ghosts mission of The Witch Queen campaign, a statue in Savathun's Temple of the Wrathful--dedicated to Xivu Arath--had only the legs on display, and the rest of it looked broken. With Savathun's design, Bungie mentioned that Savathun's character model wasn't complete when developing Season of the Lost, which is why players only saw Savathun in her crystal cocoon. This may be why players didn't get to see a complete statue for the Hive God of War, so for now, this glimpse of Xivu Arath is all players have.

With players completing The Witch Queen campaign and working on endgame content, preparations are being made for the new raid, called Vow of the Disciple, which starts on March 5.