Destiny 2’s Prestige Leviathan Raid gear has revealed an interesting new side to the Ghaul and Calus story

By Brenna Hillier

Destiny 2 gets an influx of new gear next week, and that means we get a bit more story. Spoilers ahead!

Destiny 2 is supposed to put all the story in the game, but it maintains series tradition in making most of it hard to get to – most of the more interesting bits are hidden away in disjointed fragments across scannables and equipment lore tabs.

Luckily, the Internet provides. Thanks to the imminent arrival of new loot with the Prestige difficulty Leviathan Raid next week, the Ishtar Collective database, which pulls from the Destiny 2 API, has a stack of new story details.

In one Reddit thread, ThatTyedyeNarwhal has gathered together some details from the new Prestige leviathan Raid Class items, which give us further insight into Ghaul’s history. In another Reddit thread, dobby_rams has put together what seems to be a letter from Calus to Ghaul, pieces of which are scattered through the various gear pieces.

You should click through and read the whole thing, of course, but the executive summary is that Calus has, or pretends to have, a very different perspective on Ghaul than you might have expected.

Calus, who arrives in our system and challenges us to prove ourselves worthy by facing him in the Leviathan Raid, is the Emperor of the Cabal. Ghaul, who was exposed at birth due to his albinism, was raised by the Exiled Consul to bring down the Emperor, and worked his way to a position of power by fighting as a gladiator, until he became Calus’s close friend and advisor. Then, of course, he rebelled with his fanatically loyal Red Legion and set off to usurp the Traveller’s power, while Calus floated about in space and eventually became fascinated with something mysterious we’re calling the Abyss for now.

The letter from Calus speaks of a deep friendship between the two Cabal leaders, and suggests that reconciliation between the two of them was possible, and indeed desirable. Whether this is actually true is debatable; Calus’s messages to Red Legion forces on Nessus paint a picture of a dictatorial leader, quick to judge and condemn. The Cabal Empire is heavily inspired by the historical Roman Empire, and deceitful, manipulative politics is part and parcel of that whole scene.

But as well as giving us a glimpse of how Calus and Ghaul worked together in the past, the letter also talks about an imminent threat to all existence – one that Calus believes must be countered by a united front. He talks about forging alliances with the “lesser species” in order to combat the threat together.

Is Calus’s ultimate aim to unite the Cabal, and humanity, against the Abyss – or in service of the Abyss, against something else? Could the threat on the horizon be Savathun, the sister of Oryx who commands a Vex Mind and is believed to have somehow assumed leadership of the Taken despite not defeating Oryx herself as the Hive’s Sword Logic dictates? Is this threat one and the same with the Abyss?

Will we get answers in the Destiny 2 Osiris DLC expected in December? Will we finally learn more about how Osiris, Eris Morn and Mara Sov worked together to combat Oryx and related threats? Will anybody who hasn’t spent hours in the original Destiny’s Grimoire or on community sites even notice or care if any of this pays off?

This has been your Friday Destiny nerdery. I’m your host, Still Tragically Obsessed To This Setting Despite Destiny 2’s Rubbish Campaign. This is a shameless plug for our Destiny 2 guide. Thanks for tuning in to us as we indulge our own personal obsessions on the boss’s time.