The new Season of Arrivals in Destiny 2 launched in early June, and with it delivered the mysterious Tree of Silver Wings on Io, a part of the weekly Interference quest. While Eris is the main storyteller of these quests, it seems from recent screenshots that the tree is making some interesting changes.
Reddit user u/CassinJnr posted some comparison images of how the environment has changed, revealing that the tree has started to turn black. While Destiny 2 fans are still in the dark as to what this means for the story of this season, it seems as though the Darkness is extending its influence on Io, with a Pyramid ship looming ominously over the playspace.
Going all the way back to the lore of Destiny 1, the tree has been mentioned with some serious repercussions for future story beats. The flavor text of the 'Ruin Wings' exotic armor piece for Titans states: "In the Garden grows a tree of silver wings. The leaves are ruin, the bark disaster. Of the seeds we do not speak." The mention of 'seeds' refers to the seasonal artifact from Season of Arrivals, the Seed of Silver Wings. These implications of this artifact having unspoken, disastrous effects could see some massive changes to the way Guardians play the game.
Bungie recently revealed its new expansion, Destiny 2: Beyond Light, that will give fans the ability to "wield the darkness" through the new Stasis ability. This ability will offer both a new subclass with customizable skill trees, and add a new damage type to weapons on top of the pre-existing Solar, Arc, and Void. Whether the interaction players have with their artifact will lead to these abilities is unknown, but it is clear that the Darkness will extend its gift to Guardians soon.
Season 11 has also introduced Savathun's influence into the game, a long-awaited character in the series. While players won't see her full impact on the game until 2021 with The Witch Queen expansion, it will be interesting to see her interplay with the Darkness, and how storylines she is involved in (such as the curse on the Dreaming City) will all lead to a conclusion, including the Tree of Silver Wings.
Destiny 2: Beyond Light was recently delayed, pushed all the way back to November 10. Whether this will extend the story of Season of Arrivals, or cut it short mid-season is unclear, and Bungie has not explained how this will affect future seasons either. With so many new games launching in November, it will want to ensure that Beyond Light is a hit, otherwise, it may get lost in the sea of AAA titles.
Destiny 2 is available now on PC, PS4, Xbox One, and Google Stadia, with PS5 and Xbox Series X versions in development.
Source: u/CassinJnr on Reddit