Destiny 2 has moved into a phase where they don’t want to tell us essentially anything about upcoming content until the day it launches, something that I would deem a lackluster marketing strategy, but hey, Bungie can do what it wants.

In the past week or so, we have been told that we will not hear anything significant about season 18 until the day it launches, August 23, where there will be a big Destiny showcase that also focuses on Lightfall, next year’s expansion. We were also told we wouldn’t be hearing which Destiny 1 raid was coming back until that day either, even though it launches just three days later. It seems increasingly likely we’re not going to be learning details of Arc 3.0 until it’s live in the game either, which is what happened with Solar 3.0.

Why? Why is this such a mystery? As I said in a video I made yesterday, I believe this is not the same category of silence as Bungie taking a step back from social media due to recent threats, as it’s more of a marketing decision. And one idea is that all these things are linked together in a way where if you reveal one, you in effect would reveal them all, which is why they’re all being grouped together and debuted at once.

So, you want a grand theory? Here’s a grand theory. I’m not saying I necessarily believe this theory, but it’s one explanation. There are many pieces here:

1. Destiny players have been requesting a SIVA season for many, many years now, given that they enjoyed both the storyline in Rise of Iron, and Warmind was a well-received early D2 DLC.

2. Over the years, I have seen Bungie specifically say they have absorbed feedback about the community’s desire to return to SIVA, though so far, that’s only manifested in some exotic ornaments, and the return of Outbreak Prime itself.

3. While Rasputin was a major part of the storyline in the seasons before Beyond Light, he was “shut down” when the Darkness showed up. We know that Ana Bray took him off of Mars in an Engram, and is currently building him a special exo body to try and restore him in some capacity. Further lore hints he may return under the name “Archangel.”

4. The Witch Queen had a tease about a place called Nefele Stronghold, a secret human outpost Rasputin was keeping hidden from everyone.

So, SIVA and Rasputin are the grand unifying force for everything that comes next:

SIVA ornament for Prometheus Lens

I suppose I could even weave Arc 3.0 in there, as it could be part of the story in season 18 given that Rasputin is a machine and Arc is Light-infused electricity, but since Solar 3.0 didn’t have a story component, who knows.

Again, all of this could be a massive swing and a miss, which is why I’m not actually putting eggs in this basket. I’m just saying it could explain why nothing is being teased and everything is being saved for one specific reveal on August 23. Maybe it’s all unlinked, I don’t know, but it would make more sense if the answer was something like this. We’ll see.

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