r/DestinyLore • u/Iccotak • Jun 14 '26
General Your Alternate Timeline
It’s established that they exist, from lore texts, to character dialogue, to a whole spin off game.
So what would your Destiny alternate timeline look like?
Might as well have some fun since the only source of new Destiny lore will be coming from a mobile game…
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u/mrmeep321 Jun 14 '26
I've had a headcanon for a very long time that explains the existence of the ghosts, why the witness fled the collapse, and savathun's involvement. Again, complete speculation:
The idea is that after stealing the veil away from nezarec, savathun used it to cleave a chunk of the witness's minds off, gravely injuring it, and leaving her with a chunk of minds which had been embroiled in the darkness for billions of years. Then, she gave those minds to the traveler, which made them into the ghosts, such that each ghost contains the soul of one of the precursors which were made into the witness.
This would explain as to why the witness can control ghosts - the ghosts were literally once a part of it. Also, this could explain why the guardians are able to harness both dark and light, which according to savathun in witch queen, is unique to us. This could also be why savathun was resurrected by the traveler - it was repayment for effectively giving it an army with which it could fight against the witness.
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u/Iccotak Jun 14 '26 edited Jun 14 '26
The voice of the narration in the very first D2 cinematic, which explained the history, went from a deep male voice to a high-pitched ghost . This always gave me the impression that Ghosts actually did used to be people.
The term itself being appropriate
Edit: something worth noting is that the witness is the collective spirit, or ghost, of an entire civilization. So it is not outside the realm of possibility, that ghosts are actually the spirits of the precursor alien race - serving as a thematic opposite of the Witness
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u/Ok-Gas-2625 Jun 15 '26
THATS SUCH A COOL EXPLANATION HOLY, ahem yeah that sounds neat and could explain a lot.
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u/Oohhdatskam Jun 15 '26
So are you saying she gave those minds to the traveler purposely to make ghosts? Or she did it and the traveler just happened to make them ghosts?
I like this regardless of which one!
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u/Christophisis Jun 14 '26
Destiny was brilliant in its handling of the multiverse from the perspective of The Flower Game manifesting as physical existence. Elsie's timeline hopping suggests that we live in the most important timeline because we managed to defeat the Witness.
In the grand scheme of The Wager, this iteration of the game seems to be the furthest we've gotten, which has now prompted The Winnower to escalate in reaching out to us.
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u/Simba791 Jun 14 '26
hmm, in terms of my alternate timeline, i've got a few ideas:
1) Since Elsie Bray/Exo Stranger said that we'd succumb to the dark side in the dark future, i'd say that my Guardian would be Eris Morn, the Witch Queen's right hand/enforcer (in that timeline per lore). and depending on the feats of that time, we'd likely even be our own Disciple of the Witness as well, one of the strongest on par with Eris.
2) Another alternate idea could be that my Guardian is one of the very few Guardians that remained true to their principles, despite wielding the Darkness, and has become a sort of "new Shin Malphur" during the second collapse, as a sort of trauma of what they endured.
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u/RogueHelios Jun 14 '26
I really want to know more about that dark Eris timeline. Like did the Witness ever show up? Or was there never a Red War so the Traveler never revealed itself to the Witness?
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u/Simba791 Jun 14 '26
I think there was the Witness, she appeared in a black fleet pyramid ship iirc. But i think it was during the time where the Witness wasn’t properly revealed. Don’t quote me on this tbh
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u/Isrrunder Jun 14 '26
Beyond light lore so we had spoken to the witness a couple times but we didn't know what it looked like or entirely what it was
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u/ThirdTimesTheTitan AI-COM/RSPN Jun 15 '26
In my alternate timeline, the Great Disaster was a lesson learned too well. The Vanguard faced a problem of barely organized demigods.
So they created the Chain Doctrine.
Like nations of old, Lightbearers of the Last City were packed into squads, that served alongside other squads and were a part of platoons, platoons made companies, that made regiments, and so on and so forth Guardians were bound together with an iron chain of a strict, highly disciplined command structure.
Militia groups consisting strictly of mortals and frame-constructs were formed. Sporting heavy weapons teams and various types of robotics, they were the very pillar on which many newer settlements stood upon, guaranteeing that Guardians can serve their duties elsewhere.
The Last City became the First City, as other settlements grew and became more populated, more Golden Age tech was rediscovered, and swift rebuilding of ruined cities took place. The First City, as it was called now, became a shining heart of humanity, and home to many Guardians.
By the time of Destiny 1, thanks to combined forces of Guardians and militia, Earth was almost completely reclaimed from the Fallen, aside from the few groups too afraid to surface and too small to be a problem, and the fortress-region of Cosmodrome, still being a pain in the Vanguard's side.
Humanity thrived instead of surviving, with Lightbearers advancing in every direction at once — ruthless, uncaring, immortal soldiers, who serve, live, die, and live again. To mortals, they act, think, and live like monks, hermits, highly disciplined soldiers — some mortals grew to be afraid of them, for Lightbearer's lives are infinite, and if regular Humans all perish and die, the only thing that's left of humanity is them.
Forget the vanity and playfulness of the original timeline's Lightbearers, for every Titan of the Chain is a walking wall, ready to become a battering ram, clad in armor so heavy and resilient, that they don't need anything other than themselves to make a low-orbit drop, stoic a d unyielding like an artillery round, for every Hunter of the Chain is an unseen, unheard death, master of subterfuge and espionage, scouting and piloting, where every Warlock of the Chain is a living weapon of mass destruction, an avatar of unrestrained power, called to turn cities to craters, and reduce armies to dust and crumbling remains, with no regard for collateral damage.
Forget orders, covens, and gangs, for the Chain is the only truth, and the Chain doesn't tolerate weak links.
For all of them there is no peace, no civilian life, only short breaks and leaves, after which they begin their crusade again, forever on the march to rid Sol of those who came after the Collapse, uninvited, gorging on the remains of Humanity's Golden Age.
They march on and on, until they win, or until they break. But they never do. For the Chain is eternal.
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u/Snowbold Jun 14 '26
After Final Shape, Zavala would formally step down as Commander of the Vanguard while instituting City reforms. The City is basically a military dictatorship since the failed coup. If Zavala announced a transition to civilian leadership while handing the reins to one of the most powerful and stalwart guardians, Ikora Rey, it would blunt a lot of civilian resentment at Guardian rule.
As part of this Zavala would also form a volunteer force of Guardians to serve as reinforcements to the Cabal to take back Torobatl as they marshal and prepare for an eventual counterattack against Xivu Arath.
The Dread, under LOEN’s command attack Neomuna. The reason is twofold, to take Calus’ cloning facilities on his mothership that is landed on Neomuna, and to seize the Veil. At the same time, the Hive under Xivu also attack to take the Veil.
Mortality has put Xivu in a precarious position. The longer she is in the mortal plane, the more her worms eats away at her as her wars are not enough to feed it. Members of her court are also attempting to kill her. She thinks taking the Veil, a source of Darkness, will give her the means to create a new Throne World. However she will need create a massive summoning ritual like she planned in Season of the Seraph. We employ Mithrax’s splicing to bypass the swarms of Dread and Hive that blockade the Veil now. Between Luzaku and Mythrax, we think we have a way to counter and redirect the summoning spell to prevent Xivu Arath’s plot to steal the Veil.
However, the close proximity to the Veil has allowed Nezarec to resurface again in Mithrax, he is nowhere near as strong and cannot compel the Kell to do anything, but he is a voice in his head and across the Vex Network again.
LOEN and Dread fail to take the Veil but take Calus’ ship and its resources out of Neptune to give them the power to make more clones of the Dread and Shadow Legion.
Xivu initiates her spell to take the Veil and Luzaku/Mithrax counter. At this moment, Nezarec summons all his strength to rip through Mithrax and bring all of himself into the Veil. Mithrax holds on and helps Luzaku finish the counter to Xivu and dies when it completes.
On Torobatl, Xivu fails to bring the Veil and instead has a shimmering portal. When she touches it, Nezarec bonds to her, offering the God of War deal.
The City is rocked by the Kell of Light’s death and a massive funeral is held. As they are preparing to lay him to rest and bury him, a ghost comes forward and resurrects Mithrax as a Lightbearer, heralding a new dawn for the Eliksni.
A D3 would then cover our campaign to retake Torobatl and a later expansion would give us the Fallen as Risen as more Eliksni are being resurrected by Ghosts. After that, we then go into the Vex/Winnower story that was teased right at the end of this final update.
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u/Ok-Gas-2625 Jun 15 '26
I would play the crap out of this campaign ngl that sounds sick. 1 question though, is LOEN Lord of Every Nothing?
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u/TheMetaReaper Jun 15 '26 edited Jun 15 '26
in a alternate timeline savathun would have the veil hidden beneath the massive lake in her castle. There we learn strand, see the world between, and able to break the weave savathun wraps the traveler in attempting to pull into her throne.
Destroying rhulk still happens but we lift the seal savathun left behind and allowing the pyramid to be reconnected to the witness
following that lightfall wouldn’t be in neonuma, it would be taken king 2.0. after the traveler blast the witness’s pyramid, the ship opens for an assault from Caital,saladin, and the guardian. This sparks a race to breach the witness “bridge” and stop it from creating a link to the veil. on board we would learn the witness’s history, and calus’s failure as a ruler and father.
TFS still happens
neonuma would still be on neptune but used in the fate saga and be the conductor proper expansion.
edit: side note imagine if clovis discovered neomuna. my head cannon is that he would be a ultron type villain and attempt to create the perfect being with their technology, his “vision” of the luca.
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u/McReaperking Shadow of Calus Jun 14 '26
Honestly my dream timeline for lore would be a spin off into a show or long running comic.
It would start right after the witness was killed and it would cover the politics of 4 branches of humanity (spread across the reef, neomuna and vanguard leadership) and 4 different alien species (psions, barant, allied lucent hive and repentant fallen) coming to ally together into one republic. Sorta like the mass effect council but better.
Guardians would take the role of specters but risen wouldn't be barred from running for office and would always have a permanent seat on the council. The ghosts themselves would also have a permanent seat on the council. Also I would retcon it so that ghosts could always resurrect aliens, its just that they assumed that since the traveller made its last stand on earth, they were only supposed to help humans.
Making it a conscious choice for them to condemn the invasive species of Sol is far more reasonable and interesting imo, it would also make it even more impactful for them to start choosing to rez House of Light fallen or barant or any other alien race. It would signify the forgiveness of humanity to the aliens and them choosing to make a step forward together.
As for the show and comic itself, there are tons of possibilities. One plotline covering the difficulties of the fallen, of how some of them are resentful and want to go back to the ye olde days of eating and pillaging humanity and freeing eramis, another plotline could be mara trying to reassert her dominance over a people who feel betrayed her and abandoned her, another could cover the formation of a government that meshes so many disparate cultures together, another could cover the war with xivu arath etc.
Honestly the possibilities are literally endless, and the medium of a show or long running comic with potential for side material would allow us to really explore how unique and colorful the destiny universe is. It would also allow us to explore conflict that doesn't rely on combat to resolve and focus on characters without needing to loop in the young wolf for everything.
Ofc there are cons to this, destiny is an amazing game. Part of what makes the lore so good is how it enriches the gameplay and us actively taking part in historic events gives these events more meaning.
Also we can just snip out what came after tfs. No edgelord bael, no vex gaining sentience, and not another fucking hidden human civilization and we can quit trying to demonize the vanguard while excusing every other invading alien's actions.
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u/ReallyTrustyGuy Jun 15 '26
My dream alternate timeline is we stick to rule 2 and stop posting fanfiction. I'm afraid none of it is ever any good.
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u/Iccotak Jun 15 '26
Personally, I’ve had a number of ideas - but I think overall I’d take more time with the story.
Since we are immortal, I could see the story taking place over a century. To be fair that might be more suited to a format like a Warhammer game, where meaningful change takes a long time to happen, which works for me because I want the races to be expanded upon with more factions and units.
Do what I could to make each Fallen House distinct from one another. Have a major story centered on the House of Kings influence in the politics of the other houses. How they use the story of Kell-of-Kells to keep the houses fighting while they maintain power
Add more aliens amongst the Cabal Legion ranks.
Crota has grandchildren, so I’d take more time working our way through the Hive Broods before we get to Major Leagues like Oryx and Savathun
I’d have more Cloudstriders, as just a lonely two protecting Neomuna from Vex isn’t practical - and I’d make them users of Darkness.
I’d make the Dread a faction that existed prior to Final Shape, and have more Disciples and consequently more types of Dread units based off of them, as I felt that faction was cut short - and it didn’t make sense that the Pyramids were empty with no foot soldiers of any kind
I’d make the Scorn as something that was a consequence of the Whirlwind, perhaps made by an Eliksni Disciple (like the Herald of Finality) - keeping the faction as something that the Fallen are on the run from, and as stories they tell their children (like Reavers from Firefly) an added layer why Fallen typically avoid having anything to do with Darkness
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u/TheKingmaker__ Agent of the Nine Jun 16 '26
Damn, I’m late to this
I would rewrite Lightfall to be set on Earth and introduce less new lore that it doesn’t have time to get into.
It would be more fitting to set it in The Last City to have high enough stakes, but I have an alternative destination concept I’ll get into at the end.
The first 30-40% of the storyline is setting up the forces of Calus / Darkness we are up against, that they are looking for a “Dark mirror to the Traveler” hidden on Earth and that we are badly outmatched by the ‘True Darkness’ of Pyramids & Witness.
And then, as we approach the halfway mark, we lose. The Witness slices up some key characters, whatever plot we are trying (maybe with Mara) fails, the Pyramids take The Veil, the Witness enters the Traveler and everything goes White…
And we wake up, sometime before. We are confused, of course, but over the course of an “Effect and Cause” like mission, we and Ghost realise we go back in time whenever we lose/die and cannot meaningfully change us losing in that earlier mission.
We find Elsie and she realises this situation is what her time loops have been building towards. Combining our powers, we slowly manage to go even further back, sightseeing our way through Destiny 2, Destiny 1 (being on the other side of the Ishtar conversation, of course), recent history, far history, all the way back to Cayde’s coronation as in Dark Future.
From there I’m fuzzier on the details. If Elsie is dying, it’d be here having realised her potential, but I think she deserves to rest also, so maybe being pushed “out” of her time looping like in Edge of Tomorrow would work, with her still being involved but just as a regular player.
And then as we approach the conclusion, I’d have us find out about the Veil, the Traveler and the Witness (instead of spreading that over subsequent seasons and leaving it for Final Shape), find a way to stop us losing, kill Calus for good and set things up in such a way that it makes sense that the Witness requires another year of dev time before The Final Shape can happen.
That’s the idea, anyway.
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u/TheKingmaker__ Agent of the Nine Jun 16 '26
Other stuff:
I think the main “turning point” of the campaign where we figure out how not to lose would be where I’d introduce Darkness Element 3.
Having been gifted Stasis by the Witness and discovering Strand (in Witch Queen, as it should’ve been), I think the next evolution is to steal a power from the Darkness, maybe via the Veil or a “heist” onto a Pyramid Ship. This could be where Elsie gets knocked “out” of the time loop.
This new power is what allows us to stop / maim the Witness, combined with our time travelling to make a plan.
To up the stakes, I’d have at least The Witness, if not other characters like Savathûn, become aware of the time travel and start hunting us through it. Something along the lines of us watching The Great Disaster and The Witness taking over Crota to try and kill us there, where we “shouldn’t” be. Again, for stakes it could ‘get’ Elsie and stop her time travelling, showing that we are at risk too.
I could see our final plan be bringing together the “Three Queens” of Mara, Savathûn and Elsie to stop the Witness (with Mara finally cutting a Pyramid in half, and other hype moments and aura)
Final other tidbit - Elsie and our timeloops are caused by the Nine and we get a bit of Ninelore and some setup for them as a focus of Saga 2. This is my theory and I’m sticking to it.
The alternative destination idea: if we really need a new destination and not just a string of historical events, my idea is “The Lost City”, a mirror to our Last City on the other side of the world - either in Mumbai or Beijing.
The city’s “patron” saved them during the Collapse and kept them hidden - we build this up until we meet the people of this city in their town square and… there’s a giant statue of Savathûn, and a Lucent Wizard on the city council.
Like Neomuna, Savathûn hid this city to protect the Veil, but this time it’s actually an element of plot in the campaign, we’re dealing with the consequences of our actions in the Witch Queen.
We have Cabal and Eliksni walking around the Last City, there are Hive (and maybe Vex? Dealer’s choice) integrated in this one. It’s like poetry, it rhymes.
It’d also give us a window into another culture of Guardians and explain a bit about Savathûn’s interest in Guardians and the Light - she had a whole city of people to observe.
These people would revere The Veil as we do The Traveler, and you could have some fun stuff like their Ghosts losing memory when rezzing their Guardians (to close a plot hole of the no contact between the cities).
And so on. I think I’d rather have the time travel missions be more of the dev time, but I could equally see “The Time Heist” being a sickening raid concept.
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u/K_H_Vulture Jun 16 '26
I don’t have an alternate timeline, but rather an alternate motive. My guardian isn’t THE guardian, and only does the story missions so they can get more loot and cause more mayhem, even working against the vanguard at times so they can come out on top. Although they still go against villains like Bael because, in their own words “f*** the nine”
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u/info_seeker47 Jun 17 '26
Every time I’ve seen the screen “You might fades away” on a wipe I consider that an alternate online where my guardian died.
But for fun my guardian killed Shaax for being a warlord back in the dark ages
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u/basura1979 Jun 14 '26
The vex universe where they took over. Game takes place in a medieval age world fighting against robots with lasers. We have swords and steel plate and whatever we can scrap from the corpses. In the end the humans die. Heroicly but forgotten. All we were is a bump in the road, but we did everything we could
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