'Destiny 2' Season of the Dawn trailer: Saint 14 returns as time breaks

Cayde-6 is still dead in Destiny 2: Shadowkeep, but a new trailer for the upcoming Season of the Dawn resurrects one of the greatest heroes from Destiny lore, following the destruction of the Undying Mind in November:

We’re finally going to meet “the greatest Titan that ever lived,” Saint-XIV, in the flesh.

Bungie released the official trailer for Season of the Dawn Tuesday afternoon and it includes a mix of cinematic moments and new gameplay from the upcoming season.

As the trailer opens, Osiris emerges from the Infinite Forest, commenting on the Guardian’s defeat of the Vex Undying Mind. “When you slew the Undying Mind, you changed the course of history,” he explains. “Now time is broken on Mercury, fractured by the Legion.” Per usual, the bad guys want to rewrite history, so the player will have to “fight through time” to “save a legend” and avoid disaster. By using Osiris’ massive sundial, players will be able to help Saint-XIV cheat death.

Legends about this character go back to the very beginning of the first game, when Saint-XIV’s helmet was an exotic piece of armor for Titans. Through various tiny pieces of lore contained in the Destiny grimoire and items in the game, his story emerged: He was an important hero considered the most powerful Titans ever who was key to winning with the Battle of Six Fronts, and he founded the Vanguard that protects the Last City.

He also famously headbutted a Fallen leader to death and claimed to have visions of the future, so he was kind of a controversial figure. But he died perhaps hundreds of years before the first game begins.

In the first Destiny 2 DLC, “Curse of Osiris,” an optional side mission led the player through time and space via the Infinite Forest to find Saint-XIV’s grave. He wandered for centuries through the Forest, destroying thousands of Vex before the A.I. hivemind created a being specifically designed to drain his power. Now, more than two years later, we’re finally getting even more of a payoff in Season of the Dawn with his full resurrection.

All the bizarre time-travel shenanigans throughout Destiny and Destiny 2 and the lore’s strange relationship with bodily resurrections through the use of magical alien Light allow the franchise to constantly reinvent itself in exciting ways like this.

All of this makes for an incredibly fun sci-fi storytelling experience, even more so with the glorious ridiculousness that is the new headbutt Finisher be added to the game as part of the new season. So not only will players be able to fight alongside one of the greatest heroes in Destiny history, but you’ll also be able to headbutt things to death just like he did at his peak.

His resurrection also presents some interesting implications for long-term Destiny. Now that he’s alive again, will he rejoin the Vanguard? Will he become a mainstay at the Tower once again? Or will he remain on Mercury with Osiris plunging deeper and deeper into the Infinite Forest to fight the Vex? Exciting things are in store for Destiny 2 in the new season now that time is totally broken — just don’t break your forehead headbutting any Fallen Kells.

Destiny 2’s Season of the Dawn runs from December 10, 2019 to March 9, 2020.