<Well, a ViDoc and a cinematic trailer, is this Christmas? I'm sure everyone's in some way excited for the Shadowkeep era of Destiny, whether it's the story, the destination(s), the raid, the PvP, New Light, or whatever else you fancy. That being said, there a few things I want to clear up before everyone gets their undergarments in a twist.
- At 9:29 of the ViDoc. The Black Garden has been physically removed from Mars and placed in space, within view of the Moon and Earth (I assume). Don't know why, I won't speculate here (bet your ass my mind's going crazy about it though) but just know that it's a thing.
- Monte Carlo IS coming back. I will finally be able to be good at Crucible again.
- Whenever Matt Zitterman and Shiek Wang are in frame in the ViDoc, you can see concept art in the background. It seems to be a heavily Vex based armor with plants on it. I believe this will be raid armor or at least destination armor if the Garden is going to be like the Dreaming City.
- The Nightmares have a "stas[i]i[/i]s mode" where they sit still, glowing red. They are transparent in this stage, and have MASSIVE red vein-like projections coming out of their body. Those projections are still present in their physical modes, but less exaggerated. This can be clearly seen throughout the ViDoc, mainly on Nightmare Ghaul (2:57-2:59).
- The Nightmares I've spotted and confirmed (somewhat) so far are Taniks, Skolas, Crota, Omnigul, Phogoth, Ghaul, and Zydron (Atheon has different armor, and has a blue frame with a glass chassis, Zydron has a black chassis and a black frame, matching the Nightmare Minotaur).
- The Hive that I'm naming the "Scarlet Brood" after the Hive group that was meant to appear in D1 are a mix of D1 and D2 art styles for the Hive. They utilize the base model of D2 Hive, as well as armor textures, but their armor is a hybrid of both games and their skin is grey like in D1. They appear similarly to the Hidden Swarm from D1, with their red armor and markings. The difference is that the HS didn't have spikes everywhere on their bodies. If this brood is called the Hidden Swarm, then it gives a whole new meaning to those Hive from D1. Praise our Witch Queen Savathun, may her schemes run deep.
- The Black Garden is where the raid is, but it's likely that it's a destination as well. Not only is it more accessible (being in -blam!-ing space in clear view of Earth), but Nightmare Zydron is seen there (3:20).
- The Sol Divisive have returned, more leafy than ever.
- You fight Nightmare Ghaul on the First Light Crucible Map, Omnigul in what appears to be the Chamber of Night, Taniks and Skolas on what seems to be the Wolfship Kaliks-syn, Zydron in the Black Garden, and Crota twice (once in the Chamber of Night where you fought his Soul Crystal and once more in a recreation of the Crota's End raid, possibly a strike as it was before).
- The Nightmares seem to be controlled by the Hive, but spawned from an artifact presumably somewhere beneath the Moon's surface. This artifact can be seen at 2:31, 2:49, and 13:55 of the ViDoc. It's architecture does not match any known races, and don't try to pull that "Savathun may be different" shit on me because her architecture is the same. My only explanation is something Darkness related, which leads to my next and final note.
- The shadows seen above Nightmare Crota in the image above (13:55 in the ViDoc) are NOT the Darkness. Let me refute your points. [b]One[/b], the Darkness (race) has only been described ONCE as shadowy, and that was in the Cayde book, and that's debatable because both entities look physical but with properties like the Taken (figure 1 does not share this with figure 2). [b]Two[/b], the ice creatures the Drifter found are not shadowy, they are gooey black with no head, NOT wispy. [b]Three[/b], shadowy things like that don't need lights to move about. Whatever race is in those pyramid ships, they need lights to move about, they're physical.
Those shadow beings are most likely Nightmares of Sai, Omar, Vell, and Eriana (the latter may be pushed back to -blam!- with Eris more), which would reinforce the psychological aspect Bungie's aiming for. That, and their proximity to Nightmare Crota and the plot point that Eris Morn was somehow responsible for unintentionally unleashing these.
The Darkness is closer than *you* think, but it is still a year away from arriving here in Sol. We won't face the second Collapse until D3. We may have an Aphelion here or there, but we aren't fighting an army until then.>
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[i]SPOILERS[/i]: Apparently, the Aphelion are ancient Cabal weapons, and are locked in a vault on the Icy Moon that the drifter was on. This is all according to Calus/His Psions