Warmind comes out Tuesday, so to prepare, here’s some of the details we’ve learned and how aspects of them may have been mentioned within D1’s lore.
Quick warning: There will be DLC 2 spoilers ahead! Tread carefully if you want to go in blind next week.
Mars, Tharsis, & Hive Tunnels
We know that, during the late Golden Age / early Collapse, a large army of Hive (led by Nokris & Xol) entered Sol, and were soon after frozen on Mars:
Our only source is J54987F122S, and if it is to be believed, an invasion of unknown biological entities, including one of massive size, was detected in the region immediately before the event.
So we have Hive confirmed on Mars long before the events of Destiny 1, or even Mare Imbrium / Burning Lake. This is interesting, because in Mysteries 2, the narrator of the card says this:
A switchboard or a train station, empty, dead (waiting). The tunnels branch off into infinity. I stare down one for a long time and see a pale worm move in hungry coils around itself. I think this one is the most likely although I might have brought the worm.
This card is narrated similarly to cards such as Exo 2, i.e., it may very well be an Exo revisiting their past memories and dreams (hence the “Ingress via dreams alone”). More interesting is that we know of a large-scale station built during the GA, and that station was on Mars. From Tenebrous Tunnels:
Ghost: This rail system was endless. It connected colonies, dig sites. I’m even detecting a line that runs all the way up to the Cradle at the North Pole.
So, if the M2 narrator is talking about Tharsis, then they may have had some recollection of the Hive / Xol being within Mars. Of course, Exo have notoriously poor memory, something that is mentioned within M2 itself. However, the connection to a worm within such a station is something that, intentional or not, draws comparison to what we know of DLC 2.
Toland
We know that Toland knew about the Worm Gods in some capacity. He names them in GF: Hive 4, and speculates that they are “Beings the Hive perhaps owe their very existence to.”
Within the same card, he also says this:
Perhaps these are just Hive translations of worlds we call another name, but I believe above all things they call to some kind of being. Beings that once lived, or still live somewhere buried amongst us.
This is particularly alarming, particularly because of the fact that Xol was, in fact, “buried amongst us” for centuries. Toland had no concrete proof of Xol’s existence in Sol, or even that he was a Worm God in particular, but the speculation has existed.
Hive 4 is interesting in another aspect: Toland’s thoughts on Rasputin. He says this:
And though Rasputin offers some promise, one can only hope its silence is self-defense, that it seeks only to preserve itself. We have to prove to it that we are on its side, but I am starting to doubt that is absolutely true. That maybe the Hive or the Darkness itself now have a grasp on his systems.
Rasputin’s morals aren’t known, other than his desire to “win” against the Darkness. During TTK, his population protection protocols (“MIDNIGHT EXIGENT”) were still disabled, and we have no indication that they have been reactivated since then:
“COMPILING… Subroutine IKELOS: status=complete. MIDNIGHT EXIGENT: Status=still in progress.” —IKELOS Fusion Core
As far as we know, Rasputin has no regard for the City, including the Guardians and its mortal citizens. He is preoccupied with defeating the Darkness, and that means ignoring the people that he was made to protect, at least for now. We know he will kill Guardians, as he killed the Iron Lords as well as at least one strike team. How far he will go in order to win, however, is something we don’t know.
We do know that Rasputin is willing & able to arm Guardians to help protect himself, as he did with Sleeper Simulant. It’s likely that he is the one that guided us to Hellas to begin with during Arecibo:
Ghost (overridden): Red Sands! Mars! Ice caps! Ahhhhhh!
Zavala seems to be concerned with something that has been buried within Clovis Bray:
What is buried beneath that ice is too dangerous to allow back into our world. It doesn’t think like we do. It weighs and judges our existence in its ruthless calculations, and we don’t even know what the goal is. Once, long ago, it might have been created as a tool to save Humanity. It is far more than a mere machine now.
And it is broken.
We don’t know for sure, but this could be Rasputin. Zavala has been worried about Rasputin’s activities before.
Ana Bray & Rasputin
First, Ana Bray is, in fact, alive. It goes against what lore we do have on her (namely Laskhmi in the NTTE quest), but given that we had so little on her before D2, it’s not as surprising as someone like Eriana-3 coming back from the dead.
Second, there’s an old card that has a Hunter and Rasputin in it, and the Hunter could be Ana. From Rasputin 2:
A third song, a stealthy regard, something high above them not Vex nor Cabal narrowing its great eye to measure the battle with instruments of light and gravity. Does she—remember it? Does it remember her? It feels like she should…
This could be anyone, of course, but some lore from the comic makes this even more interesting. Rasputin says this at the beginning:
If she remembers me, she will not recognize me.
So Rasputin does know that Ana should recognize him, whether she does or not. This fits into R2, though the card is vague enough for many situations to apply.
Conclusion
Over the past few years, we’ve had some pieces of lore that could have been leading us to the events of DLC 2, from Toland to mysterious narrators. It’s important to note that drawing these connections is always easier in hindsight, and may not have been intentional or even connected at all. We’ll know more soon, however, and we may gain answers to some of these questions.