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"The day we've been dreading has finally arrived. The Darkness is here."
—Commander Zavala on the arrival of the Pyramids.
The Black Fleet finally makes contact in the Solar system, setting down Pyramids on multiple locations where the Vanguard have a foothold. Uncertain of their intentions, the Guardians are given invitations to learn more about what they want, which is being blocked by Savathun, the trickster Hive Queen.
Season of Arrivals contains examples of:
- Bittersweet Ending: Very heavy on the "Bitter" part: Mars, Mercury, Titan, and Io all vanish from the Solar system, while Deputy-Commander Sloane, Asher Mir, and Brother Vance were still on their respective worlds. The Darkness successfully communicates with the Guardians, telling them that "Ancient power awaits you on Europa". The only thing that stops it from being a straight up Downer Ending is that Nokris is permanently killed in the Ascendant Realm, Ana Bray evacuated Mars with what was left of Rasputin, and the Traveler repaired itself, showing it is still active and deterring the Black Fleet from moving toward Earth.
- And Lightfall reveals that Asher Mir has survived in the Vex network and is incredibly annoyed.
- Bonus Dungeon: The Dungeon Prophecy was unique in that it was released on the same day as the season started, and didn't have any in-game development that actually lead into it.
- Dark Is Not Evil: The "Prophecy" Dungeon is one long trip into the domain of the Nine, where numerous trials test the Guardians' power, all to hopefully help them along towards the answer to the question: "What is the nature of the Darkness?" And that answer is... it is simply a force of nature, like the Light. A destructive force, yes, but a force of nature nonetheless.
- Happy Ending Override: After the Almighty's destruction, the future looks bright... but only days later, the Black Fleet appears, and then a ton of territory and allies disappear to the Darkness. All the Guardians can do is retrieve data from the four destinations and bring it back to the Last City.
- Nothing Is the Same Anymore: The Status Quo has been irrevocably broken again once the season concludes. Four worlds (their vendors included) disappear into the Darkness, as does a good deal of other content like all the Leviathan raids. And though the Traveler reawakens to halt the tide of Darkness from going any further, it's still a crippling blow to humanity, as they've suffered one of the biggest losses yet in the City Age.
- Out of the Frying Pan: Mere days after the Almighty has been shot down, the Black Fleet arrives in Sol to cause trouble.
- Sequel Hook: On the last day of the season before the launch of Beyond Light, an interactive environment allowed players to see something strange happen with the Traveler culminating in a massive energy build up. A voice over says "Great Power Awaits You on Europa" and the Traveler unleashes a massive energy pulse that pushes away the darkness.
- Starfish Aliens: The Pyramids are the closest thing to the Darkness as possible, and (much like the Traveler) no one is entirely sure of their intentions. No physical alien species represents them at this point, only communicating through your Ghost.
- Story And Gameplay Integration: Due to various technical reasons, the entire game needed to be revamped and old content cycled out. The locations and associated materials with them scheduled to be removed were tied in with the arrival of the Pyramids, giving an In-Universe reason why the characters lose contact with them once Beyond Light came out.
- Wham Episode: This is basically the finale to the story started with Shadowkeep, the Black Fleet enters Sol and four planets/destinations are removed entirely. The Traveler fully "wakes up" and manages to push away the Black Fleet, creating a new stalemate but one with uncertain terms.
- Wham Shot: As the Guardian reaches the center of the Cradle, they find what drew the Pyramids to Io: a Tree of Silver Wings that the Traveler left when it terraformed Io.
- The Worf Effect: Less than two weeks after Rasputin blew the pinnacle of the Red Legion's military might out of the sky, he uses the Warsats against the Black Fleet. Not only does it fail to stop the Pyramid approaching Io, but it responds by deactivating his core on Mars. The Darkness turned Rasputin off like it was no more than flipping a switch.
- World-Healing Wave: An event on the last day of the season (coinciding with Bungie shutting down the servers for maintenance and upgrade for Beyond Light) reveals the Traveler is emitting an immense amount of power. Guardians were directed to a unique social area of the Last City to see this up front and would randomly get supercharge buffs. A line is said as the energy reaches critical "This is a beginning. Ancient power awaits you on Europa." You are then kicked back to orbit, but in an Interface Screw it is actually a cutscene designed like your navigation map, where the Traveler erupts with power and pushes the encroaching darkness of the Pyramids away. This presumably protects the Last City from the Black Fleet, and at the start of Beyond Light it's shown that the Traveler has repaired much of the damage it has sustained to where it looks more pristine than it did in Destiny 1.
—-Ancient power awaits you on Europa.—-
