The Scorn Are Coming Back In Destiny 2's Season Of The Chosen

We've finally gotten a look at Destiny 2's next story development, kicking off on February 9 with the release of the Season of the Chosen. The story is going to bring in Caiatl, the new Cabal empress, and reinvigorates the Cabal threat after Vanguard leader Zavala refuses to ally with Caiatl and bow to the Cabal.

The trailer shows off a lot of new stuff, including a new matchmade seasonal activity, new armor and weapons, and new Strikes--well, new to some players, but refashioned for those of us who spent a lot of time in the Cosmodrome in the original Destiny. But the trailer ends on an interesting, spooky note, with the shot of a drifting Cabal ship, voice-over from Osiris that says "There's no Light here," and a brief flash of some creepy-looking creature.

The creature only appears in a couple of frames, but slow down the video and you can get a good look at it:

Though it looks like that creature might be of Hive origin--which would fit some of the story and lore going on in Destiny 2 right now with the conclusion of the Season of the Hunt--but closer inspection reveals that the creature is actually a screeb. That's the blue exploding variety of the Scorn, the enemies that were introduced in the Forsaken expansion.

That gives some clues about what we might be seeing in those final moments of the trailer. There are Cabal forces on the Tangled Shore, one of the two locations where the Scorn hang out (the other being the Dreaming City). And it looks like the ship is adrift near the Asteroid Belt (otherwise known as the Reef), where the Tangled Shore is located. There's some lore that suggests Emperor Calus has dispatched a Cabal ship to capture Scorn on the Reef, and this tease would fit with that idea.

There's also the line Osiris speaks to consider. "There's no Light here" sounds suspiciously like a line of dialogue from The Whisper, the secret mission necessary to unlock the Whisper of the Worm sniper rifle. During that mission, you can hear Xol, the Hive God, say, "There is no Light here."

The Hive connection could suggest some additional events spawning from the current Season of the Hunt that involve the Scorn, as well as the Cabal. During this season, a new Hive villain, Xivu Arath, has been using her powers to corrupt various aliens and force them to join her armies as Wrathborn. That's been taking place on the Tangled Shore and the Dreaming City, where the Scorn hang out. And some of the lore on the Season of the Hunt armor suggests Caiatl and her forces are showing up now in response to some kind of Hive disease they're suffering back in their civilization--which also seems to be spreading from the Dreaming City. The lore about Calus sending Cabal to capture Scorn also suggests the Cabal are just as vulnerable as Fallen to becoming Wrathborn, so it's possible the Scorn in question from the trailer have also been corrupted.

In addition to hanging around in Scorn territory, the Season of the Hunt finally gave us the appearance of the Crow. This character is a Guardian version of Uldren Sov, the Awoken prince and former leader of the Scorn back during Forsaken. Since he's been resurrected as a Guardian, the Crow doesn't remember his former life, but other people remember who he was--and that includes the Scorn, who considered him their father and followed him without question. Now that the Crow fights for the other side, they're probably pretty bitter.

We also know that Bungie is making the Moon and the Dreaming City worth visiting again by re-releasing some of the armor and weapons from those areas. Since the release of Beyond Light, there's been pretty much zero reason to return to those destinations, since all the gear from the Forsaken and Shadowkeep expansions has been rendered obsolete by the new Power level cap system. That changes in the Season of the Chosen, so we'll have more reasons to return to areas where the Scorn gather.

All that to say, the Scorn seem like they're coming back. It seems like they're involved with the Cabal in this season's story, but we might see them being pulled into the Hive's overall plan. The next Destiny 2 expansion, The Witch Queen, is due out in November, and that name refers to Savathun, a Hive villain who's been operating in the shadows of Destiny 2 for years. We're probably about to see the next step in the ongoing plans of Savathun and Xivu Arath, and it seems like it involves the Scorn.

Of course, we'll have to wait until we're into the Season of the Chosen to find out. It kicks off on February 9 and runs until May 11.