Destiny 2: The Witch Queen trailer unravels Savathun's Throne World

The latest Destiny 2: Witch Queen trailer takes us to Savathun's Throne World, the new destination coming in the February expansion, and teases new puzzles and secrets within. 

Described as "a twisted wonderland of corruption and splendor," Savathun's Throne World seems to feature a few familiar exploration mechanics, namely the portals and vanishing platforms that the Dreaming City is known for. The throne world's lavish decor, with its reverent Hive statues and towering cathedrals, would even give Calus a run for his money. But there's a uniquely hallowed air to it all, and the marshland surrounding the throne world is unlike anything we've seen in Destiny 2. 

Just to reinforce the layered mystique at play here, the trailer repeatedly flashes the electronic configuration of osmium, the atomic number and weight of mercury, and the atomic number and weight of sulfur – that's what all those seemingly random numbers are. It's entirely possible these are just set dressing or even trace elements present in Savathun's throne world, but there could be more to it than that.  

Osmium may be a reference to the Hive's Osmium King, who's better known as Savathun's father. Mercury's appearance could be related to the planet Mercury, which in actuality is highly sulfuric, and in the Destiny universe, was colonized by humans. Mercury was only recently shuffled into the Destiny Content Vault (that is, disappeared by the Pyramid ships) after being introduced in the Curse of Osiris DLC back in Year One. This is all hovering perilously close to the lore around the Osmium Court and the Hive home world of Fundament, and that's probably not a coincidence knowing Bungie

"We're in the domain of the god of cunning. Things are never what they seem," Ikora says in the trailer. Meanwhile, the god of cunning herself is busy taunting players: "This throne world is indistinguishable from my own mind, Guardian," Savathun says. "Every step taken, every bullet fired, I keep and count them all. It's not too late to turn around." 

One thing's for sure: Savathun is going to have a lot of bullets to count, and many of them will be fired from all-new guns. The Guardians in this trailer brandish (what appear to be) new fusion rifles, sidearms, pulse rifles, auto rifles, the Exotic SMG Osteo Striga, and one of the glaive melee weapons in their fights against the Hive, Savathun's Light-infused Lucent Brood, as well as some Scorn who presumably took a wrong turn Albuquerque. 

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Austin Wood

Austin freelanced for the likes of PC Gamer, Eurogamer, IGN, Sports Illustrated, and more while finishing his journalism degree, and he's been with GamesRadar+ since 2019. They've yet to realize that his position as a senior writer is just a cover up for his career-spanning Destiny column, and he's kept the ruse going with a focus on news and the occasional feature, all while playing as many roguelikes as possible.