Destiny 2 Lore - My first impressions of the Lore and Story in the Root of Nightmares Raid!

Destiny 2's Lore and Story tells us about the Root of Nightmares raid. I completed the raid on day 1 and now I have some impressions to share with you. Overall this raid and its boss Nezarec have made for a really strong narrative. The lore of the raid talks more about the Light and Dark, Nezarec's Cult and how Nezarec first died and is now restored.
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[@Astrapionte]

Ever notice on Conditional Finality that when you shoot the *stasis* (darkness power), the reticle and spread is triangular; when you shoot the *solar* (light power), the reticle and spread is circular (akin the traveler)? Really cool

[@theogknight2292]

Never even thought of that. Nice observation

[@draidchan7385]

I probably would have... if I got one. :')

[@Sonicring123Dubs]

That did not click till now good catch my friend~!

[@dinojunior]

I noticed this from a video from Wallah lol

[@alexstavinoha7923]

the firing spread of the pellets also matches the reticle. when it's the stasis shot, it's triangular spread, and solar pellets are circular spread.

[@hithere5553]

They should’ve incorporated Tormentor grabs into the raid mechanics. Imagine the only way to get to dps wast to have a buff from both light and dark and then GET GRABBED BY NEZAREC AND YOU EXPLODE WITH POWER. That would’ve been incredible.

[@afett001]

Or imagine if you had to "sacrifice" a fire team member in order to do DPS lol.

[@clayless8701]

@@afett001 i mean flawless tho

[@Ahnock]

​@@clayless8701 couldve been like, a mechanic that doesnt damage, like luring nezarec out and tempting him with a fireteam member while the other 5 attack him or something.

[@harrisonlewis6093]

I will say one thing, Bungie did say they weren't confident players would like the tormentor grab, so that's probably why it isn't a mechanic

[@Kamasillvia]

Imagine Nezarec pulling our ghosts, and crushing them, just like we crush lucent hive ghosts. And you need to parry it to prevent wipe. Would be so dope, with reference to witch queen as well.

[@mr.god.complex]

I find it absolutely fascinating how Nezarec is one of the only entities in Destiny who is truly, indisputably evil. Even the Witness genuinely believes what it’s doing is just, but Nezarec? No. Nezarec only cares for his own appetite, and will use whatever force is necessary in order to satiate it. I believe this is why both Powers rejected him in the end. One of if not the only thing the Gardener and the Winnower can both agree on is that the senseless pain and violence Nezarec craves has no place in the universe. To me, Nezarec’s story in part serves to illustrate just how similar the Powers really are. They only have differing opinions on the best way to achieve their goal, and Nezarec was thoroughly against that goal. He makes the Witness’ philosophy seem civil and even valid when compared to his own, and that’s something I have to applaud Bungie for doing. There are worse evils than the Witness, and Nezarec is one of them.

[@Emrirwastaken]

Witness is lawful evil, nezarec is chaotic evil

[@junnKhya]

This is exactly what I’ve been thinking. The light is focused on growth, the dark on subdivision, and Nezarec lies outside of both goals. He wants to inflict pain, not exact final deaths. We as guardians are an example of a fusion of dark and light that works, and us killing nez is proof that we are a better fusion than him.

[@BlankReality0103]

@mr.god.complex Very well said 👏.

[@kutlumzrak2689]

I'm curious how deeply Rhulk must've hated nezarec. It's almost an entire 180 from rhulks ideals.

[@yourewrong9028]

Nope. “Now, I could not possibly communicate with you unless I could emulate your mind, and with that mind, I acquire the moralities that govern you. By your laws, I and all my followers are evil. Evil. Since that first molecule coiled in the primordial sea, not one Earthborn thing has known a monster like me.” -The Winnower (who is most likely the same entity as the Witness)

[@Fitchy-ke3wz]

This is what we've all been waiting for At least they actually mention the veil and savathun

[@hot_chocolate7626]

This is what it’s all about.

[@nevolence]

Woooo

[@PhaeronServinus]

Wdym

[@nunyabizniss462]

​@@PhaeronServinus Nezarec mentions that she imprisoned him and stole the Veil. It's some kind of tool, but he doesn't tell us how it works.

[@hue_lord_4208]

@@nunyabizniss462 Nah, he wasn't just imprisoned. Savathun straight up merked Nezarec, and the Witness kept his corpse in a pyramid.

[@1sosluke770]

I think its important to note that the Nezarec body in the final encounter is probably not what he really looks like, more just a reborn version. The statue at the start is probably what he did look like before Savathun killed him.

[@babyyoda6567]

It’s literally the same body except he has wings from being resurrected, also without the cloak.

[@Adultfeetman]

@@babyyoda6567 his new body was formed from just his head it is not his original body

[@robert2german]

It is still funny that our goal was essentially to help resurrect Nezerac just so that we can properly kill him.

[@robert2german]

Also, I think his animations during the fight are meant to convey his visceral joy at having a physical body again.

[@cyberostrich3460]

I really like how there are some rainbows on the ground and walls in the raid from the Travelers white light hitting the pyramid ship. Its basically light hitting a prism and dispersing the white light into different colors. The final shape is Pink Floyd confirmed lol.

[@NakulKrishna]

Wouldn’t even be mad lol.

[@talion4033]

Commune was the first sign

[@RekttalofBlades]

The witness opened a portal to a Pink Floyd concert. The whole plot of destiny is just the witness trying to get to meet Roger Waters

[@-a-s-a-s-]

@@RekttalofBlades Hope he opened a portal to The Wall - Live in Berlin 1989. That would be my go to pick.

[@jhustmyles275]

The fact that, as just a head-in-a-jar, Nezarec was terrorizing Neomuna is terrifying simply due to the range. He's operating at between 2.7-2.9 BILLION miles (or 4.3-4.7 BILLION km).

[@3ndlessL00p]

I think that was more because his conciousness was trapped in the VexNet and infiltrated the CloudArk from there. Not broadcast from the pyramid.

[@WhenToastersAttack]

Makes me wonder how strong he would be if he was at full power.

[@dumbsterdives]

Yeah, judging by the lore of the acolytes, he was so psychically powerful that he was torturing and manipulating people across the galaxy even while he was dead.

[@big-byrd3821]

​@@WhenToastersAttack Strong enough to nearly wipe out humanity

[@Ahnock]

i mean, just think about how dangerous the relics were and they were just tiny fragments of his body

[@TheValorious]

When he mentioned night terror, I kept thinking I heard that before. I looked it up: Night terror is the sword from the nightmare essence lunar loot pool. It has a small hook on the the end with the caption "become their nightmare".

[@Wormy_fren]

Wasn't the hook literally an ice pick?

[@TheValorious]

@@Wormy_fren i mean sure it wasn't exactly the same, but it's cool to see the design traced back.

[@justsomerandomguy6562]

Nezarec’s final line of always being because he will continue to haunt our nightmares and thoughts reminds me of something a certain silver haired, long sword wielding boy once said: “I will never be a memory.” What if Nezarec can’t truly “die” due to the imprint he has made on everyone. How wild would it be to have someone like Osiris just casually chuckle like Nezarec or just make some slightly weird change in his voice pattern when talking to us. Almost like Nezarec quietly reminding us that he’s not actually gone.

[@TheNukaColaMan10]

I WOULD LIKE OUR ENEMIES TO STOP FUCKING GOING THROUGH THE 4TH WALL TO FUCK WITH US PLEASE

[@thegothicslime2982]

Taniks nezarec reborn

[@branchygiraffe]

The coolest part of the planet encounter is just the scale of us to the planets vs the witness to the planets, they are absolutely gigantic

[@HelloMyNameIsZON3]

It seems that the witness can change its size, the cutscene with calus shows calus looking up to the witness after the witness freaks out on him also in the lore book it shows that the witness is much much bigger than calus

[@branchygiraffe]

@@HelloMyNameIsZON3 is assume so, they can probably manipulate reality like we saw in the calus dream sequence

[@holloworeo2233]

​@@HelloMyNameIsZON3 I thought that his transformation after the Outburst was him showing us evidence of him being the Winnower as Osiris describes the Traveler as the Gardener, the two being opposites.

[@Cavalier100]

I really love the environment and the way you see the travelers plants slowly tearing the pyramid apart. I didn’t realize that the first and last encounter were in the same area, because it was so torn up.

[@aresdelfante1001]

Wtf i didn't realize it at all

[@dynojackal1911]

Wait, really?

[@InsertSomethingStupid2002]

​@DynoJackal19 yes bungie just couldn't handle a way of properly conveying the fact that the ship was being ripped apart to the player and that it's just a giant circle

[@draconicdusk5911]

I have a theory. In the opening cutscene of the campaign, we saw the traveler attack the Witness with a beam of light. Except it didn't even harm him. It just grew life in the pyramid and resurrected Nezerac. We've seen time and time again that the traveler creates life, not destroy it. (Gaul is an exception he was a being of pure light when the traveler obliterated him, so no improbable the Traveler could have 86'd him with control over the light.) The traveler surely knows it can't kill with it's light. So why did it attack the Witness with it. My theory? it didn't. It meant to resurrect Nezerac. Why? Obviously Nezerac knew something we needed to know. Like the fact Savathun killed Nezerac and hid the Veil. Which means Savathun Knows what the Veil is and what it does. The traveler is telling us we need Savathun

[@rudolfambrozenvtuber]

I think you can infer the Traveler beam rendered the two pyramids it hit largely out of operation

[@connerwittig9288]

We already knew Savathun hid the veil wayyyy before the raid. It’s literally what Osiris’s visions are about that led us there.

[@Luckydave123]

​@@connerwittig9288 nope we didnt know it.. it was obvious to us gamers but not ingame to the characters

[@Aj-py8en]

The beam of light definitely stopped the flagship pyramid from working ever again.

[@yamz1156]

This could make sense. Because why would the Traveler revive Nezarec on purpose, or shoot the pyramid knowing it will do nothing

[@Aj-py8en]

Surprised you didn't mention the fact that you can see Nezarec's body growing throughout the raid. The giant totem that wipes you in the first encounter and 2nd jumping section is the same one Nezarec breaks out of for his fight. He starts off as just a head, then gets shoulders and chest, then in the final encounter he finally has his legs.

[@drosdraven9]

He has shoulders and a chest in the first encounter aswell, at the end of the raid he gets his legs, I don’t believe it changes in the jumping puzzle

[@DuskMarksmen]

Regarding Byf's wish to see more of the Night Terror scythe in game, didn't we already get to use a scythe in Season of the Haunted? "Light and Dark, forged together into a physical manifestation of terror. Go forth and be the reaper!" It's also in the same season where we got the Nezarec's Whisper glaive.

[@galactosidase2587]

Or the fact that Night Terror is already in the game as a sword - one you can get from Eris on the moon, ironically (or prophetically) with the tagline “become their nightmare.”

[@hithere5553]

I hope we get some more out of the Acolytes of Nezarec. Destiny is overdue for human antagonists. The closest we got was the Dredgens but we never really got to interact with them, they were mostly just killed off by Drifter and Shin Malphur.

[@iponce2]

Honestly, I'd be ok if we never got dedicated human antagonists. I can kill people in plenty of games, and I quite like the themes of unity destiny puts out. I like the idea of humanity being like "we had our warlords, lets be cool now." It be nice to see us grow, even in fiction.

[@JoshB_TheTower]

Pretty sure the reason all the enemies and such are all these weird aliens is to keep the ESRB T rating

[@lorentzdriver4048]

Probably clovis becoming a disciple and him finishing the giant robot

[@BlankReality0103]

@hithere5553 Isn’t Drifter a Dredgen?

[@jacob-2271]

​@@lorentzdriver4048 finishing?

[@jyapp4489]

After an extremely toxic weekend, I'm glad to be here for some positive Destiny stuff. This is basically all I'm going to be touching of Destiny for the next several weeks, so hats off to you byf.

[@DoClain]

I like the design of Nezerec. He has the scythe of a reaper, dancing with a weapon of death. But he has wings that push forth the color spectrum. Colors are the showing of light, and the wings are a sign of life, a butterfly from his cocoon…

[@MW2proification]

I feel my only critique of the final boss encounter is that I feel that they could have did a phase where Nezarec pulls you into his Nightmare Realm or something, give him some sort of tendril, eldritch form there

[@juanramirez7522]

While I expected a more warlock-like appearance for Nezarec I think his design really complements his character. He’s pain, terror, he feeds on chaos, so it kind of makes sense that his figure would be aggressive and chaotic, his movements and attacks too. I really like that, and it makes him fundamentally different from Rhulk.

[@nyalan8385]

Yeah especially considering that this is a newly revived and probably quite frenzied and hungry nezarec with a brand new body that just spontaneously grew from his severed head

[@nightsregalia8641]

He looks like Larry the lobster.

[@The5lacker]

One of the details I like is how the Light Roots are wild, natural shapes... up until they rip through Nezarec's prison, where they suddenly shape into the branching symbology of the disciples, reaching out for the Traveler. Paracausal force, quite literally shaped by will and doctrine.

[@joshdavis4661]

I actually think Nezarec would've made one hell of a phase 1 to phase 2 boss design wise. I think most of us assumed he would be much more slender, considering the helmet and robes and his association with the psions. What if he started kinda looking more like a psion in the warlock gear, posing as if he has this amalgamation of light and dark from his resurrection under control, only to reform into the grotesque body he has now, showing the rejection of both sides.

[@xavierrogers6918]

this isn't his true body but I agree with what your saying

[@tiran7908]

@@xavierrogers6918 more like not his original body, i dont think the concept of body or having a true one is applied to him

[@acgearsandarms1343]

To be honest, from his appearance alone I got a feeling this body was incomplete. He was that impatient to fight us because he could not pass up the chance. It looked too fleshy and underdeveloped. Like a botched cloning.

[@voltus20]

@@acgearsandarms1343 fun fact, you can actually see his body reform as you progress through the raid, so i think you're pretty much on point. At 1st encounter, if you look at the place he's encased, he only has his head, by the time you reach the jumping puzzle, his body and arms are already grown, and by the time we reach him, he gets his legs, but definitely doesn't look like he was fully finished yet.

[@xavierrogers6918]

@@tiran7908 I mean your right, it is also obvious that this body is not able to fully encompass his true power I guess, I feel like there's more of nezerec to come past the raid

[@ubermario]

Imagine for the Nezarac wipe mechanic, if you don’t have a refuge up, he grabs a guardian and makes the pulse come from them

[@kylemccormack1785]

Okay, that's a cool idea.

[@jessewyatt5941]

I am obsessed with Nezarec. And I hope he wasn’t killed off in the raid. I hope he returns someday. There’s a lot of potential for The Final God of Pain.

[@S3Cs4uN8]

Considering he's shrugged off death once already I think it is quite likely his whispers will return in the future.

[@that_duck_man]

Remember, Neomuna Civil News said that we engaged Nezarec, not that we killed Nezarec. He is likely to return again.

[@jessewyatt5941]

@@that_duck_man He better, I changed my bungie name to Nezarec, Final God of Pain. He is my favorite character in the franchise now that Rasputin’s gone.

[@dannyk7624]

pretty sure he can jump bodies through nightmares... maybe we'll see him in a more "collected" form instead of the chaos abomination we got in RON

[@aljazslemc9569]

​@@jessewyatt5941honestly i love the idea of evolving villains we get to fight multiple times. Kind of like how we had the callus robot and then actual callus or multiple versions of Taniks. The idea of maybe getting a strike further down the line. Followed by a raid completely different from this is exciting

[@phenominal13]

Hopefully we haven't seen the last of Nezarec. There was a lot of lore in the Root of Nightmares and there's plenty to explore after Final Shape.

[@requiemlul3140]

And that the lore in the helmet just didn’t sound like how he was portrayed.

[@RaspyCh]

@@requiemlul3140 most likely cause it’s a different writer

[@thisgoddamusernamestoodamnlong]

@@requiemlul3140 that was written by a member of his cult. they worshipped him and he lied to them

[@Kazuhira2249]

​@@Mechkami44 well id rather the villain stay dead when i kill him we definitely dont need another eramis beyond light situation or savathun atleast they saved eramis character in plunder and seraph so idk maybe they could bring nezarec back and make him relevant again

[@josephpolitano8091]

@@thisgoddamusernamestoodamnlong he meant a different lore writer 😭

[@ahmedalmuhairi81]

The biggest question I came away with after reading about Savathun's murder of Nezarec in the Conditional Finality lore tab was this: Why in the world was the veil located on Nezarec's pyramid?!

[@Kazuhira2249]

he was leading the collapse and since the veil is needed for the witness objective makes sense it left on his ship then savathun killed him and hid it in neptune so the witness could not complete the collapse

[@ahmedalmuhairi81]

@@Kazuhira2249 Ijs, if the Veil is the last piece of the puzzle that the Witness needed to establish the link and bring about the Final Shape...why in the world was it in Nezarec's care aboard the "soon to be crashed" Lunar pyramid ship? That mf'er should've been on the flagship with the Witness under watch of Oryx, Xivu, Savvy (even though she was disloyal, the rest of the crew wouldn't have known it), Rhulk and Nezarec.

[@eotwkdp]

Basically holding a key a very large key

[@dredgensolis]

He probably managed to steal it before Savathun sniped him off spawn at his home base

[@vatanak8146]

Something that this raid tells us is that the veil is likely an extrasolar artifact the witness stole from some other race in his early conquest

[@Alassandros]

Speaking of Osiris being corrupted by the Nezcafe, I thought it was super surprising that Misraax wasn't involved considering he channeled Nezarec's power (and was corrupted by it before). I really thought that was why we heard Nezarec in the Vex Network, because Misraax is a splicer. I thought that would've finally attached someone who has a voice to the Vex (something the Vex desperately need). But no Vex, no corrupting, no terrorizing, no nightmares. It's too bad we didn't deal with Nezarec's psychic abilities. I wish there was a mechanic where half the team were put to sleep and drawn into a dream world where they had to fight nightmares and phantoms until the outside team could wake them up. I just they designed the final conflicts with their characters in mind more.

[@Laeshen]

yeah, the mechanics echoed Spire of the Watcher (linking) but I wish they also leaned into Duality's (Parallel dream realms).

[@equestrianmidnight5619]

Agreed. It could've been a combination of Duality and the very final encounter of Last Wish where players are running and carrying Riven's heart. Said players were teleported "inside" the heart as the encounter went on. That, plus an extra creepy grab move as Byf suggested, (the grab could've been the way you'd "fall asleep") and some more health to reduce just how much of a push-over he was, and I think people would've loved Nezarec as a final boss. In my opinion, he's kind of "meh". Good voice-acting, awesome weapon, beautiful arena... but underwhelming gameplay, mechanically and in difficulty.

[@DualEquinox]

My money, if Asher Mir doesn't take on the role as he is the obvious choice, is that Soteira will eventually become the "voice" of the Vex considering she was created by Ishtar Collective researchers using Vex technology.

[@I-Civil]

As soon as I finished the raid this is the first thing I was looking forward to. Thank you so much for the work you and your team put in!

[@fishnutz5196]

Savathun told us we will have the power to bring planets back and well we did just that. The worlds have been returned as said in the final cutscene and in the coming seasons we will use them to follow the Witness. Ties in with Winterbite lore about Titan. The thing thats cool aswell is the final arena is also the arena of the first encounter as the root grows and terraforms the Pyramid.

[@Silver19897]

I’m glad I wasn’t the only one who was thinking that when we arrived to fight Nezarec. It kinda feels like we went through 3 copies of the same landscape.

[@fishnutz5196]

@@Silver19897 yeah the roots and tree grow the whole time if you look at the Tree of Silver Wings it grows throughout. And in the first encounter on the left hand side you can see Nezarecs tomb and its the thing that wipes you. Also after 2nd encounter you can see the platform slowly being taken over by the root and ripped apart. Cool little details like that make the raid more enjoyable, just feel the encounters are all far too easy.

[@ugorizzoli5830]

One super cool tidbit about Nezarec: it's well known at this point that the first and last encounter of the raid are in the same place, in DSC fashion. If you go look at nezarec's crystal during the first encounter you'll see that he's just a head with the body in the process of being regenerated.

[@yauma1098]

This raid aesthetically is awesome because it shows both sides really weel, the light is chaotic as is life, full of color and without patterns and the side of the darkness, or more correctly the Witness is monochrome and geometric. The traveler represents the side of the universe that is related to life and thus free will, chaotic and beutiful in its own way, the witness represents complete order, symmetry and everything under control. It is eternal and there is no death, but it is not living. The witness doesnt understand it because he fails to see the good parts of the chaotic nature of life, he cannot understand it.

[@NakulKrishna]

Could the final shape under your perspective be controlled chaos.

[@rod99ttett90]

Nezerak! God of Pain! Discipline of the Witness! Came back from the dead just to get his ass kicked back the the grave

[@Progamer1013]

20:00 I think a really cool final stand would have been Nezarec grabbing all SIX raid players and slowing draining your health while you try and pepper him with weapons (or supers if you can). That would have been legendary.

[@praxisgonemad]

For people looking for a visual similarity between Nezarec and Rhulk, look back to Season of the Plunder. The cutscene towards the end of that season where Mithrax's mother is cutting their body into artifacts, it shows they have a Rhulk-esque design at the time. With their rebirth and new body, as well as the context of everything we've learned about them throughout this expansion, it kinda makes since they're just a bloated tormentor.

[@onlineakari]

Imagine in a later DLC that Nezarec shows up. He would be an absolute terror, something like early Attack On Titan when the colossal titan appears and everything’s thrown into chaos in an instant

[@alejandrocarralero2826]

I feel Nezarec running around, screaming and chasing you fits his character quite well, an unhinged psychopath who enjoys pain.

[@zz1426]

When the work for hard mechanics went all into Raid aesthetics pretty much sums up this contest mode experience

[@koldraxonofthefirstseven5718]

Something else to note - the civilians Nezarec speaks of, when telling us that if he were more powerful he'd teleport us to him by sacrificing "two or three" thereof, are the captured people we're freeing. It speaks volumes as to his capabilities and odd willingness to accommodate us, just to fight us. Sure, his current form was that of a Tormentor, but he probably didn't have many options for willing subjects to possess. His last form though, was more like Rhulk in stature. Other previous forms may have been 'Disciple' -themed after a point. In future I can imagine him doing as the likes of Warden Eternal or Harbinger does - recur as a field presence or surprise us with appearances via literally field-mutating a Tormentor using his new powers and then driving it, a la a Tenno and their Warframe. If we need a reason to revisit this Pyramid as a recurring mission, it'd be a simplified version of the raid to stop Nezarec from leaving with yet another body, with the raid's recurrability canonically being that Nezarec manages to get/make another excellent Tormentor form to inhabit. As for his weapon, it is a scythe/hammer, and Guardians never use either outside of supers or transient pickup weapons, like the Iron Axe or Nightmare Containment Scythe. I would agree it would be nice to have more mighty weapons but I'd rather want a second super option for Stasis across the classes. At a push I'd propose a Lubrae's Ruin style ornament for his Whisper which runs a Light/Dark theme through it.

[@Vampirequeenstudio]

So, playing through as I was listening, and while Byf was talking about Night Terror it sounded familiar. The legendary sword from Shadowkeep, the one we get from the Lectern, that had some mildly scythe like qualities, is named Night Terror. It has the flavor text, "'Become the nightmare'-Eris Morn."

[@smalls1342]

Nezarac not having a grab like the tormentors is actually really weird, would of loved to see some sort of wipe mechanic or dps phase transition involving that!

[@blueangels111]

Holy shit, a detain phase like VoG. Damage starts by nez grabbing someone and slowly draining their light and torturing them, and then everyone has to shoot him akin to gahlran hands. The combined light force (and dark) then causes enough of an imbalance that the light and dark strike down on him. You could also make whoever got grabbed have a little bit of a buff due to something like their energies being intertwined.

[@loganthekrogan2182]

Hope you feel better Byf. And congratulations on wining contest mode.

[@wonderman149]

I actually thought he did embodie hate in his moveset. How he jumped around slashing and smashing in a blind rage. Also, when he would fixate on the player who got his attention, it was like he hated them so much that he just had tunnel vision, and he had to kill them. I just thought it was done well.

[@Juschiilll]

i feel like RON is very very very good at showing you how the light and darkness live with each other throughout the raid it’s truly beautiful

[@blueangels111]

And they also show it by *literally* making it beautiful. They make the dark beautiful too. I love how much this raid progressed in how the dark isn't inherently evil, it just abides by a different philosophical ideology than us.

[@talialevi2723]

Very happy to see your coverage, and hopefully you have some information about the exotic other than the information on its lore card. Especially since I got super lucky and got Conditional Finality on my first clear!!!

[@jamesrichardson9355]

I love how nezerec works in the fight. The guy is on you for the whole fight, he's great at putting the pressure on. Also I love how far we've come from a story point of view. We killed nezerec, who brought about the collapse. We in a way killed the boogeyman.

[@dumbsterdives]

I do like that they've subtly made a point for us not to truly outmatch a disciple. (aside from Calus, who was clearly not exactly as high on the totem pole as he thought.) In Rhulk's case, he was so arrogant that he didn't unleash his full power against us until he was moments from death, and he demonstrated that if he had done that from the start we would've had no chance. And now Nezarec openly states that he isn't at his full strength, then gets rejected by both darkness and light as he tries to wield them. We've beaten two disciples and yet the storytelling has managed to make it so we don't feel like the disciples are no big deal.

[@KASTAWORON]

My main gripe with Nezarec and the boss fight itself, is that he was presented as this nightmare inducing, tormenting god of pain, but the fight had nothing to do with nightmares or anything “tormenting”. He was just a big bulky grunt, leaping around and pummelling his adversaries.

[@NobleVI_343]

yep.

[@mehmentum2626]

my son (11yrs) started watching you last year, quiet often your on the big screen as we go about our day or like right now playing destiny together screen sharing your content. Its really great you do what you do in the way that you do it. Cheers

[@epicponedge1177]

The only downside I have with the raid is that the final boss's screams and grunts don't sound like they belong and are instead remixed Caiatl scream and grunts from Duality.

[@ehoffart529]

Honestly if all the nightmare death sounds were just Nez's scream pitched differently that would have been a good touch.

[@SyntheticHuman01]

The one thing I took away from playing the raid and watching your video. Is how the Travelers beam that terraforming the interior of the ship was so violent and destructive. As we make our way theres nothing but beautie in this destructive force. It looks like a huge upheaval took place as life spring up.

[@talialevi2723]

Imagine if Nezarec was a slender and arrogant force up until he targets you with his hatred, then he becomes completely unleashed and beastly.

[@InterstellarBountyHunter521]

That would be awesome

[@Lightna]

Add on top of it that when you have the Nezarec's Hatred debuff, you can see him for what he truly is and it is revealed for all when he gets zapped by the light and dark.

[@darthbane5676]

Hope you feel better soon. Your health and well-being come first.

[@Accarius0_0]

I think they should have made his wipe mechanic at the fourth encounter like when the tormentors grab you if you don’t get refuge. I think it would be cool if he floated into the air and grabbed everyone that didn’t have refuge with his “mind”, it’d be the same thing as the tormentor where you float up into the air with the purple around you. Maybe since he’s the god of pain and nightmares they could add like a flashing “nightmarish” effect and maybe like background screams

[@uwotm-kn6ic]

Encounter 3 is absolute eye-candy and was huge fun in contest mode. I'm loving this raid!

[@SgtShultzTO]

Congrats to you and your team for a contest completion!

[@GlowDarkBat]

The planet room, looks like and very well may be the room the Witness was first shown at the end of Witch Queen, and that was super cool!

[@Great_Triton]

I’m a simple guardian; I see a byf video I click it.

[@inquisitorichijou883]

I'm thankful for people who do this kind of content. Since I don't do raids myself

[@blueveil3277]

Nezarec's Dark Harvest could be a gimmick in the fight. He should simply grab a guardian, and it activates a gimmick. Something must be done to save the restrained guardian. In this state, attacking Nezarec causes damage to the Guardian, as if the terror transfer all damage to the Guardian and empowers this eldritch abomination as he wanted. But, thankfully, if shooting the guardian, causes damage to Nezarec and so, Nezarecs drops him, as if the Guardian grabbed has chosen to be sacrificed instead of feeding the demon, in this way, showing no fear at all, only courage (courage inspires sacrifice).

[@Lightna]

And sacrifice leads to death (and a lost rez token)

[@J4zz35]

the second i finished my day one clear, I have been hitting refresh for that raid lore vid, cannot wait!

[@goldenyak629]

I wish Nezarec had outlived this raid. He would have been great as an expansion-spanning villain tying the seasons together. The architect of the First Collapse becoming the overseer of the Second. Then we finish him off ine final season's story conclusion to lead into Final Shape.

[@justinmcneely2645]

It is very much hinted that he cannot truly die and that he has multiple bodies and tombs. I do hope we get to explore some tombs to find ancient weapons wielded by different version of nezarec or his force.

[@peanut93able]

i loved when u first approach him that he has this mad laugh. he really is enjoying every last peace of it

[@nathin157]

One thing that I hope gets expanded upon more tho is the interactions between the disciples of the Witness. I don't think we've ever had either Rhulk, Calus or Nezarec talk about the other 2 etc. Would've been nice if the player has beaten VoTD before RoN, Nezarec has a voiceline about us beating Rhulk (since I think Rhulk was the one who introduced Nezarec to the Witness)

[@marygoround1292]

Thank you for mentioning the aesthetic! I was so in love with the scenery.

[@akusoul30]

First off let me say. I’ll forever love your content I’ve been subscribed to this channel since forsaken dropped. Your videos are what I usually just let play in the background as I listen on my ear pods while I’m at work. Thank you for the stories. But also. There IS a sword called night terror. It was in the scarlet keep campaign and can be seen in the collections page for legendary swords.

[@ak-1832]

byf saying he has a buffet of content in the works is like coming home from school and your mom is making your favorite food for dinner, music to my ears

[@phelan8385]

Yes! I haven't played this game in years but I still closely keep up with it via your channel. Been waiting on this!

[@thegreatoffendo4532]

I really find it in Interesting how much of the raid had a oceanic theme. What with the raid armor and guns looking like shells and underwater sea slugs. Neat linking metaphors to previously themes of "the deep" and drowning. Also find it cool that weaponary featured an irridescent glowing effect similar to deep sea life that needs to make their own light in the darkness of the abyss.

[@thewaffle4049]

Yeah I've gotta agree with the design critiques. When I saw rhulk in the plunder cutscene and heard his voice and lore, I had always assumed he would be more of a kniving villain in the shadows. More amorphous, somewhat incomprehensible I guess. But here he kinda just looks like a brute I guess. The tormentors were scarier than the real deal

[@SapphireTempestCandleOfStories]

I agree wholeheartedly. Nezarec's design was....Interesting...But it would have been cooler if it wasn't just a giant Tormentor with a Nezarec helmet and butterfly wings.

[@Thoric_]

Hats off to Zinck, the MVP of Day One! Your team was actually really fun to watch

[@FireStorm5713]

When Savathun told us that the power to move worlds would soon be in our hands, she may have just been talking about the third encounter’s mechanic of moving planets.

[@ATSVRuss]

He kinda said that in the video

[@sichigojd]

I hope we get to see more of Nezarec in the final shape and beyond It would be nice to see his original form and his some of his void and nightmare powers

[@whiteevropean]

Nezarec i think will probably be present in future seasons and his cult too, we might deal with his cult in later seasons. Where they try to bring him back through pain

[@piranha_lol]

note that during the first encounter you can see the remains of nezarec inside the darkness crystal. Whats left of his body looks different from his new body that we fight against in the final encounter. Some of the traveler/trees life-creating powers reached nezarec through the root that has grown through his crystal, and as we progress through the raid and help the seed grow into a tree this power gets stronger. The combination of the light from the roots of the tree of silver wings and the darkness from the pyramid structure that holds his body end up bringing him back to life. However, it seem that his outer form has changed from what it was when he was originally killed by savathun.

[@xinfr4z893]

I was literally just waiting for this video to drop. Thx Byf!

[@KGARRETT0802]

You're the first person I have ever cared to subscribe to and also turn the bell on. Thanks for the lore, and here's to the Final Shape guardian!

[@nelson_rebel3907]

It is a really cool looking raid. Aesthetically speaking its probably the best ever with the Traveler in space and all the Pure Dark and Pure light powers everywhere. The only problems are why the raid is really important? And I guess what even really made it a priority over the Traveler. I guess you could say the ship is in Earth space territory and needed to be secured since it could be a potentially useful landing zone for the portal on the Traveler.

[@nelson_rebel3907]

Also it was hard to feel that Nezarac was a threat since Savaathun killed him and we already beat her in a 1v1

[@WebofHope]

Nice thing about the raid lore book, you get an entry unlocked for every Nez kill as well as from the little tablets

[@pascalwolf5663]

A shot every time Byf says „and you know what?“ 😂 And you know what? Again a great video, keep up the good stuff! Really looking forward to you presenting all the raid lore

[@robert2german]

One detail of the environment that stood out to me was during the return to Nezerac, the platforms with green grass resemble, to me, cysts opening up, which brings to mind that one lore page from the Unveiling lore book when the Winnower argues against the Gardener’s idea for complexity.

[@am-180]

it's also worth noting, you can see nezarec reforming within the crystal in the first encounter. what remained was just his head, and his body is entirely new

[@noabsolutelynot3660]

The pattern of the Portal on the Traveler closely matches the pulsating windows in the Throne World.

[@mr.summer3085]

>"I'll try to make it shorter" >33 Minute Video Love your content Byf, hope you get to feeling back to your old self here soon.

[@Rockalanche]

I've so exited. Love to hear about and learn the lore. These videos make me appreciate the game and the Raids even more.

[@OfficialRedTeamReview]

There's 2 missed opportunities with the lore for Nezerac and this raid: Osiris drinking the Nezerac tea and then traveling to Neomuna could've resulted in him unknowingly releasing Nezerac/his essence on the planet by being there or interacting with the darkness power. I'm sure you could throw the veil in there somewhere. The other is that we unleashed Nezerac accidentally when we went to the lunar pyramid and took that sphere which could've contained his essence and then delivered it to the Garden of Salvation thereby linking Nezerac to the Vex network which would explain that strike we have on Noemuna.

[@chilliewhk]

Encounter 3 is by far one of my favorite raid encounters in Destiny. Visually and audibly it's just awesome.

[@God-of-all-monsters]

This raid holds a very special place in my heart , after 13 hours and 35 mins are clan finally got are 1st day emblem inside the 24 hours , it's even more special cause members of are clan have waited so long to get the Big w , the clan has waited 7 long years to finally achieve this feat and others have done multiple day 1s and failed so when we finally got the kill it was such an emotional moment for all of us that we will never forget ever

[@OuTLaWon3]

I hope this place becomes like the leviathan, going through different sections of the Pyramid, with different things to discover

[@orangesoda51414]

I have a feeling this isn't the last we'll see of Nezarec. This raid already confirms that he had at least two bodies, and there are multiple tombs of Nezarec that have been mentioned before. Dying and resurrecting is kinda his whole schtick and it seems that as long as he's remembered, he can never truly die. On top of that, the tormentors are clones of the body we see in the raid.

[@firenzarfrenzy4985]

My first reaction to the Planets encounter immediately made me think of Savathun’s altar of reflection “The power to move worlds will soon be yours” It all reveals so much

[@peterdelisle7083]

What I really want to know is why the Starhorse was watching us throughout the raid. My team could hear it neighing throughout the first two encounters whenever we completed a light connection circuit, with the exact same audio bite as when we complete a phase of Dares. I really hope it's a prelude to the divines taking a further interest in the guardians' journey, so that they could be fleshed out throughout the saga sequeling the light/darkness saga

[@RyuRaeArashi]

Nez was annoying enough with his corner/obstacle bending void missiles lol, the idea of adding in a mechanic you have to counter would have just been so much going on at once. Absolutely adore this raid though, it was one of the best experiences I've had overall in a raid day 1, despite taking way too long for us to get him to behave. He was spazzing out for us in a way we didn't see other groups having, and had confirmed from other friends who completed it that he was acting up in ways they hadn't seen at all lol. But once we got it down, the fight is a lot of fun. Third encounter is just so damned good too. I ended up with the idea that the witness used nez's body as a blueprint for creating the tormenters, but I know there's probably lore out there properly explaining all that. I haven't gathered all the lore and read all the gear tabs yet, but it's a fun little idea I think. Side note, also very very sad they gave him an excellent weapon that we can't obtain. I would give so much to get a scythe styled glaive.

[@paragonflash8937]

Man this day 1 was crazy. Seeing nez finally after him being hyped and shadowed to him being turned into a cup of tea in plunder. To finally getting to see him and fight him man it felt so cool. Id say this raid puts lightfall in a B+ tier for me for now. I mean were at a point now where were getting bosses that are no longer standing at the front or back and just shoots you until dps. Now were in a point where our final boss are actively fighting and have unique moves and attacks.

[@SavageLu]

The dreambane legendary sword from Shadowkeep is called Night Terror. If I remember correctly, it has a little pick at the end of the blade, somewhat resembling a scythe.

[@belial3716]

I haven’t seen anyone else bring this up but I thought about it as I completed this raid with my clan. Nezarec goes through a kind of butterfly’s metamorphosis. We see him initially through warlock gear as something slender. Then we hear about his tombs, not too different from a chrysalis. Finally in his arena, he bursts from his cocoon as a large figure with wings sprouted from his back. This is not a perfect analogy however as we see his statue earlier in the raid but I will point out that the statue does not have those wings. (Edit: also this transformation caused by the Light which is associated with life and progression affecting a being of darkness is interesting.)

[@SETHBENTON09]

Going a little off topic here, but in Destiny 2 (opposed to something like the lore in Star Wars) I love the fact that by wielding both the light and dark makes us stronger. In Star Wars, anyone who practices both light and dark will never master either one, whereas in D2 when we wield both we can do things like survive a wipe mechanic and all sorts of other cool stuff.

[@likwid_smoke]

That's not entirely true as revan was able to wield both light side & dark side abilities .. however those using the dark side there are a few with very unique ability sets.. nihilus is literally a planet Eater, star wars resident galactus, darth sions hatred literally kept his body together even though it was pretty much destroyed. But than you have the light side where those that have mastered the light side transcend the physical plane

[@SETHBENTON09]

@@likwid_smoke yeah Revan was able to wield both, but he did it at separate times in his life. He couldn’t master both at the same point in his life, he just balanced them.

[@grimmurrough]

Heh, interestingly when you mentioned the weapon that whispers to you, and then WotLK, I was around the same book, 'cause I was like "hmm, sort of like the corrupted Ashbringer", small info on that, it was an obtainable 2 handed sword in the game, that in lore was corrupted by betrayal and dark magics, leaving it in a twisted form, and in the actual game, when you wielded it, it whispered to you from time to time. Regarding the raid, I really like the unchecked chaotic theme of the light and the flora still growing as we go through the place, people even pointed out that the first and last encounters are at the same place, but on the latter it is overgrown, not to even mentione the Tree in the background. It is also interesting that in a certain way, the Traveler created a small Cradle on that ship, or at least, the formation of the damage on it from afar resembles that of the Cradles on Mars and Io, maybe the Traveler used that beam on those planets as well, and not just passively generated terraforming. As for nez, I'm on the same opinion as others, that his form in the raid, is not his original one, but a new body, with grafted on parts of his old one (we did kinda saw nez's body in the backflash cutscene in season of the plunder after all), and "quick-developed" further by the Travelers beam. Kinda makes one wonder if the Witness baited out the Travelers attack on purpose.

[@urticantspoon9960]

Speaking of the 20:00 mark I think it would’ve been awesome if he would target one person if the runner fails tormentor grab them and crush them leaving them un revivable. The sheer shock and terror that would incite in the fireteam when they first find out about that mechanic would’ve been awesome, and since at minimum you only need one runner punishing failing that mechanic heavily makes sense.

[@greeneons]

Oh man, can't tell you how excited I am for all your videos covering the raid and Nezarec's lore. I absolutely adored your videos about Rhulk. Really enjoyed this one with your first impressions! I agree with most of what you said, and I share the sentiment your expressed at the end about this not being the last we've seen (and heard) of Nezarec. I really hope he comes back, or at the very least we keep hearing his whispers. It would be so cool if now new voicelines could be heard by us anywhere, not only in Neomuna, proving that he's now tormenting *us*, and it would be so cool if they happened rarely and unexpectedly. So excited for what is to come and what is uncovered from the raid.

[@space9658]

Nezarec running and jumpuing after me like an absolute maniac with an incredibly oversized scythe and massive energy projectiles is scary enough I think his behaviour perfectly fits his character, he indulges himself fully in hunting you down (which is scary, thus brings fear and he devours fear) and he does not hold back with his frenzy of attacks which can literally inflict quite a bit of pain. I like how he's a complete opposite to Rhulk, the stoic, composed First Disciple that diligently follows the Witness Meanwhile Nezarec is just out going all out to push the pain and fear he and the Darkness can inflict until the Final Shape is achieved

[@schnemo6735]

Also, the song for the final boss is called Oneirophobia, which is the fear of dreams

[@YeahhDan]

Okay, completely off topic, but can we talk about that save at 22:19? What a gamer