[quote]Back in the Taken King, Oryx shows up and causes havoc across the system,[u] we fight and defeat him in the campaign, and then we kill him for good in "The King's Fall" raid, with most of his character being given to us through the Books of Sorrow and other lore tabs.[/u] On the other hand, Destiny 2 showed that [b]Oryx's actions in his expansion had a long-lasting impact. His killing and "Taking" of Mara led to Uldren's descent into madness; his Taking of Riven is revealed to have prompted the Nine to kill the other remaining Ahamkara, and Taranis to use a Wish to hide away his and Riven's eggs, ending his own life in the process.[/b] While he didn't have much screen time the narrative made up for it by showing how far into the future his actions affected characters and the story, as well as how much the aftermath of his death affected the Hive.[/quote] What bothers me about this season... Is that oryx, an already established character with massive knock-on effects that have been felt for years (due to mostly good writing) ....At the end of it all. It feels like nothing really happened or went anywhere. Very little impact on the whole picture. like the echo just came & went. Xivu Arath has no conclusion this episode. She didn't even appear in the final fight (all we saw of her was a quick hello in act 3 week 1) Xivu Arath so devoted to her brother.... (enough to send her Voice to challenge the guardian at the end...despite the differences in ideology)....She should have thrown herself to the sword as she is the God of War and died for it as that would have been in character. [b]- Another tragic sibling, claimed by the shortcomings of their faith, dying for a specter barely mimicking the brother that she once loved.[/b] [u]But now Xivu Arath STILL sits around in the background continuing to be a loose thread.....As she was from the start of the Episode.[/u] (Her worm not starving, not having serious consequences as she bumps about in the most childish & abrasive way possible, makes her look weak. Not strong... Which should be the point, but there's no payoff to that!!) This episode should've been a ticking time bomb for her. She has been losing & failing ever since we banished her from her throne world....Her death is guaranteed at this point, the worm's hunger should be a legitimate threat by now & this would've been the perfect (tragic) way to kill her off. -She lies to herself, jumps from one false pariah (the witness) to another (falsely idolizing The Echo as one), she's in a corner of her own insecurities, continuing to double down on her failing sword logic. This loss of Xivu would affect Savathun deeper too... Savathun unable to save her siblings, something she vowed to do. Her new life & new logic unable to change the minds of her siblings stuck in the old ways. Savathun surely has to know that she cannot love a memory. The Echo is just a facade of how Oryx used to be in his Prime. There was no love from The Echo, just contempt. -so while she is justified for losing her Brother (resurfacing of old wounds and what not) [b]-What should've been the BIG DEAL was losing her brother AND her sister.[/b] it would've justified her crash-out even more. Because not only did we destroy The Echo, we actually killed off a real sibling .....again.......oops. The Echo barely did anything. The Deep has moved on without Oryx (as expected) [b]-other players in the universe (The Nine & other entities) are seeking paracausal power...It is guaranteed that eventually something/someone would claim that power for themselves successfully.[/b] So other than Eversion Anchors what was the threat of The Echo really? When there is a bigger bad off-screen overshadowing the whole plotline the entire time. -(the point here is that the Memory of Oryx here didn't add anything substantial, the universe moving on was inevitable...and while seeing oryx react to it is amazing. That's all he did...react....He gave up immediately when he learned that he died. All threats were off the table after Act 1 week 3.) To close this comment off.... Oryx had impacts that has carried on throughout this entire franchise. The memory of Oryx (the echo) didn't have that same effect. If anything The Witness is now the one with overarching Knock-on effects (rightfully so) -The Subjugator was probably the coolest side-plot of the episode that was never explored in-game. The lore around this character was awesome....(The Witness performing heretical acts of its own...) & it went nowhere. Overall there were good moments... but it has been deeply undercut by what could have been a better story. "The bar" from the start of the episode has barely moved at all & that's not what you want out of a story. In the end it fell flat. And felt more like nolstagia baiting instead of using that nostalgia as a narrative tool. It really does feel like Bungie holding out on us for "more content" later in the future. At the expense of good storytelling.