This is like 2001: A Space Odyssey, which used occult symbols for a similar metaphor. The Monolith, which is like the Philosopher's Stone, turned apes into Man, and then Man, into the Starchild (the metaphor of lead into gold); but the Monolith represents the [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SiePtIMtr9c]movie screen[/url], and what this means is that intellectual rebirth and enlightenment is avalible to us NOW, if we are willing to do what it takes to seek out knowledge in the real world. I'm personally convinced Destiny, and Halo as well, are filled with esoteric symbolism, used in the refined and intellectual sense; so that the symbolism is used to represent the player's journey to finding knowledge and enlightenment. It's in interpreting occult symbolism literally that the occult can become dark; and there are indeed some DARK occult myths, just like in Bungie games there are some DARK mythological themes, like the Flood, the Covenant, the Halo, violent wars, the lengths humans will go to make a super soldier, the Gravemind, the Hive, the Fallen, the Vex, the Cabal, the Traveler, the Speaker, the Queen of the Reef, and (somewhat hilariously) the darkness itself. Who would be crazy enough to think that Halo represented something real, and that we really needed to make genetically enhanced super soldiers to stave off a cabal of religiously motivated alien races from the distant stars? Now that you've received some enlightenment on the Occult symbolism in Destiny, and hopefully had your consciousness expanded :), I'll share with you my speculation that the story of Destiny is based on the archetype presented in the Tarot's "Fool's Journey". Tarot cards are used for divination by psychics, but I didn't let that deter me from looking into the history of the Tarot, and the mythology behind it. As it turns out, the Tarot cards, when arranged in the proper order, depict a story about a fool reaching enlightenment; or "becoming the world" as the metaphor goes in the Tarot. The fool goes through a series of ordeals, both negative and positive, before reaching apotheosis and enlightenment; becoming the universe itself! Again, there's good reason not many people take these metaphor's literally; that would be ridiculous. These metaphors are taken literally in the process of Tarot divination by psychics, and I'll leave it to you to decide what you think that's a waste of money. I'm not going to describe the Fool's Journey here, I'll leave that to you to discover if you're motivated, but I've got a speculation about where Destiny's story is going, based on Destiny's first of three games, the Tarot's Fool's Journey, and the points at which they align. Don't read this if you're spoiler averse; not because I believe my speculation will turn out to be correct, but on the off chance that I am! I doubt Bungie would appreciate someone posting unusually accurate speculation about where their new franchise is going either! So that's why I'm posting this, because I think chances are Destiny WON'T follow this mythological archetype. The folks at Bungie are intelligent guys and I think Destiny has the potential to be something powerful and original, like we've never seen before if creative minds are applied to the job. So here's my speculation about where the story will go. We know the story of the new franchises first game, so I won't recap that; suffice to say it overlaps with the Fools Journey in interesting ways. In Destiny 2, I'll speculate that, in line with what we've been presented in the first game and in line with the Fools Journey, something catastrophic will happen! The Darkness will overtake the city and the Tower will fall! The Traveler will even be destroyed. However, the Traveler's light will mysteriously remain with us; almost as if our guardians have the ability to create light themselves. The New Monarchy, the Future War Cult, and Dead Orbit will temporarily put aside their differences and lead the surviving human population of the City. Per the will of Dead Orbit, humanity will flee to the stars; specifically the Reef. New Monarchy will submit to the Queen of the Reef who will become the new leader of humanity. The Queen and the Future War Cult will prepare the survivors for the coming battle against the darkness. With humanity defeated and exiled to the Reef, our only path will be towards the stars in one final effort to defeat the Hive, the Cabal, the Vex, the Fallen, and whatever new dark enemies will assail us. That's where the 2nd game will leave us. In Destiny 3, we'll begin our desperate final push against the Darkness. We'll defeat our enemies in a vicious final battle. We'll find the source of the Darkness in the center of the Galaxy (or some equally nebulous location) and there our guardians will defeat the darkness and, with the help of the stranger, return victorious to Earth to restore the City and rebuild the Tower. Our inner light will grow so strong and so powerful that our guardian's will use our magic to bring about a new Golden Age, and then finally our Guardians will become the new Traveler; we'll have the ability to use our light to affect reality itself, and we'll discover that it wasn't the Traveler's light within us that gave us magic ability, it was the light within ourselves. This would fit with the occult myth about initiation into knowledge; that to gain knowledge, you have to do it yourself. Again this whole metaphor would boil down to "intellectual enlightenment must be developed from within", if that's what Bungie were going for. Now that's just speculation based on the Tarot's Fool's Journey, but as I said, first parts of the journey myth align with the first act of Destiny. Don't take any of this too seriously. I think its fun to try and guess what Bungie is doing with their story; because there is so little that we have to work on. As I said, I don't think Bungie would want to sell a game with a story that would be predictable. Also if any of you are minimally well read, you'll know that second acts are dark, and third acts are bright. The Fool's Journey also closely relates to the Hero's Journey (Joseph Campbell), and practically every story mirrors that. So I could be absolutely wrong in my speculation. I could also be right! What I want you to take away from this is the feeling that whatever happens, Destiny is ultimately a good story; and I mean a rich, thick, satisfying story. Please argue about this speculation in the comments below. What if I could be right? Some of those speculations, like the player becoming the Traveler, I wouldn't have gotten from being familiar with Joseph Campbell; I had to know about the Tarot myth to come up with that theory. What do you think? Is there something to this? The Tower falling is also specifically a part of the Tarot myth; not the Hero's Journey. This is significant because in Destiny we have the symbol of the Tower. Anyway, hope you had fun reading this. Destiny, like Tarot, is a game in the end; and when it comes to having fun, its the gameplay that matters, not the story. I know talking about the occult can be scary, especially when you get into the darker myths, but thanks for reading! I hope you've gotten the enlightening message that Destiny is full of esoteric symbols; there's even more than I've described here, and I find a lot of enjoyment in trying to understand what the artists are saying by using them, even if I don't ever understand the work! I think Destiny really could be about intellectual rebirth and enlightenment; through the metaphor of the Traveler. TL:DR; If you're too lazy to read, you don't deserve to know what I'm saying.