Destiny 2 Raid Story Explained: What Happens In The Witch Queen’s Vow Of The Disciple?

Vow of the Disciple isn’t just about killing another many monsters. The Witch Queen’s raid fundamentally rewrites a considerable amount of Destiny 2’s story, providing new context about Savathun, the Hive, and the Darkness. Everything we thought we knew about the Hive gets rewritten thanks to what we learn in Vow of the Disciple. We also discover a new class of villains above the alien races we’ve been fighting for years and face down a new villain called Rhulk. As it turns out, this guy has had a massive influence on the world of Destiny 2–even though we’ve never even heard of him before.

There’s a considerable amount of story scattered throughout Vow of the Disciple, but you’ll have to seek it out to understand what’s happening in the Sunken Pyramid. Everything you need to know about the raid, its boss, the Hive, the worm gods, and Savathun’s plans.

Who is Rhulk?

The first thing we need to talk about is Rhulk, the raid’s final boss. Rhulk is the First Disciple of the Witness, the intelligent force behind the Darkness we’ve been hearing about for quite a while now. We’ve gotten hints about the Disciples from Mara Sov in The Witch Queen, but we have almost no information about them. However, we can glean so far that they seem to be the Witness’s lieutenants, the agents who carry out its will in the universe.

Rhulk commands and controls a Pyramid, and we might find other Disciples in other ships. (I think the term “Upended” may refer to this group of lieutenants, or maybe the forces of the Black Fleet altogether. But it’s not clear what precisely the “Upended” is.)

The Witness’s first-ever Disciple

Rhulk, however, is apparently the Witness’s first-ever Disciple. He’s worked as an agent for the Witness for eons. We don’t know much about what he’s been up to in that time, but unlocking the Shattered Suns lore book gives us a look at Rhulk’s background from before he was a raid boss.

Before becoming a Disciple, Rhulk lived on a planet called Library, which had two suns: one a bright blue and the other, somehow dark, referred to as the “Umbral Sun.” Life on Lubrae was deadly when either of the suns was at full brightness, it seems, but people who lived in the planet’s central city, under its governmentaRegimeme, were safe and comfortable. They’d been uplifted by the Traveler and used the technology they created during their Golden Age to suck power directly out of the blue sun. The result was a city that was always illuminated and always protected. But while Lubrae received the Traveler’s gifts, those gifts weren’t applied equally to everyone, and some–the city dwellers and thRegimeme–became very powerful.

Rhulk come to Lubrae

Those who weren’t willing to live in the city were persecuted by thRegimeme; known as Wanderers. They were pacifist nomadic people hunted by the city’s soldiers. Rhulk and his family were Wanderers, but while Rhulk wanted to fight these Stalkers who hunted the nomads, the rest of his people shunned him for his desire for violence and vengeance. His father, Rhelik, counseled against fighting back, but when their clan was attacked and his father taken by the Stalkers, Rhulk took up a Glaive–a weapon created by the people of Lubrae–and fought back. He was a powerful warrior and killed the Stalkers, but rather than show gratitude, the rest of his clan shunned him for his bloodlust and Rhulk was exiled.

Rhulk began hunting Stalkers, trying to find his father, even though he believed him dead. He searched and tracked Stalkers for two years before finally finding his father–alive, but having joined thRegimeme. The hypocrisy of Rhelik turning against his ideals and joining those who had oppressed them caused Rhulk to hate his father, but rather than go down fighting, Rhulk, too, turned coat and joined thRegimeme. The plan was that Rhulk would use the opportunity to get close to his father and kill him, along with thRegime’s’s leaders. But Rhulk found that he liked the comfortable life in the city and the fact that he was accepted, even celebrated, for his skills and bloodlust.

The Rest of Rhulk’s clan

Rhelik had developed a plan to get his Wanderer clan into the city through hidden tunnels, where they’d be protected. Still, Rhulk harbored massive resentment for his father and aimed to kill him, but when finally confronted, Rhelik told him that he also planned to betray thRegimeme–joining the Stalkers was a scheme for the father, just like it was for the son. But Rhulk didn’t believe him or couldn’t let go of his hate and anger. Rhelik escaped, and Rhulk pursued him, eventually finding him with the rest of Rhulk’s clan.

Rhulk still couldn’t let go of his hateful feelings; he seemingly attacked his father but wound up falling into the Abyss, a huge crack in Lubrae created by thRegimeme to separate the city from the wilds where the Wanderers lived.

Despite the fall, Rhulk survived–thanks to the Witness. The Witness was quick to heal Rhulk and repair his Glaive while giving him some Dark power. Hulk then returned to the city and murdered his father and mother, and the rest of the clan. His rampage caused the thRegimeme to turn against him, and Rhulk fought them, too, but was eventually imprisoned.

The new Glaives

The Witness intervened again, helping him escape and find his Glaive. Infused with the power of Darkness, Rhulk used his Glaive to reverse the flow of solar energy thRegimeme used to control the city, and in so doing, destroyed Lubrae’s blue sun. This act annihilated life on the planet. The last survivor of the planet, Rhulk fell into despair over what he’d done. The Witness forced him to revisit those memories, though, and in so doing, convinced Rhulk that what he’d done had helped him shed his weakness. Rhulk came to worship the Witness, becoming its Disciple and working to destroy what he saw as a weakness in the universe, to help it move toward its “final shape.”

The creation of the Hive

Rhulk was the Witness’s answer to the Traveler’s interference with civilizations. The Traveler uplifted species to fit its ideology, so to battle it, the Witness started doing the same with influential individuals. It dispatched Rhulk to create an army for the Witness–what you might consider a race of dark Guardians.

Rhulk went to the planet of a race called the Ahslid, but he didn’t make himself known there. Instead, he systematically and secretly killed members of the race, hiding his presence over the course of years. His goal was to shape the Ahslid’s ideology through fear and destruction, to force them to realize that survival is a matter of strength. He was hoping to create a race who worshiped the Witness’s ideals, and for a while, it seemed as though he’d be successful.

Ultimately, though, Rhulk’s attempt at building a Darkness army backfired. Driven by the Witness’s ideology, the Ahslid destroyed each other in a nuclear war. Rhulk moved on; the Witness next sent it to Fundament, the home planet of the Krill. The Traveler had already arrived, uplifting civilizations that lived on Fundament’s moons. Down on the surface, on continents floating in Fundament’s oceans, were the Osmium Court and Sathona, Aurash, and Xi Ro–the Krill who would become the Hive gods Savathun, Oryx, and Xivu Arath.

The Witch Queen’s story campaign

In The Witch Queen’s story campaign, we saw that the Witness manipulated events on Fundament to create the Hive, and Rhulk was the agent carrying out the orders. Rhulk began by finding the worm gods living in Fundament’s oceans and dealing with them. The worms were trapped in the sea by the Leviathan, a vast creature allied with the Traveler. Rhulk offered them the chance to live and spread, provided they served the Witness with their power. Despite the worms considering themselves gods, Rhulk struck fear in them with his immense capabilities. They called him Subjugator, and agreed to the deal.

It was Rhulk who set in motion the events that would lead to the worm-friendly washing up on the shores of the Osmium Court. So the Hive was manipulated into fighting for the Darkness. Still, they’re not the only victims–the worms were also coerced into doing the Witness’s bidding and seem to consider themselves prisoners of its will.

They Encountered the Leviathan

After fleeing the court following the assassination of their father, Sathona, Aurash, and Xi Ro used a ship they found to delve into the oceans, where they encountered the Leviathan. The Leviathan tried to convince the sisters not to trust the worms but to no avail. It also tried to turn Rhulk away from the path of Darkness, but Rhulk demonstrated his incredible power by killing the creature. He kept one of its ribs, which you can see in the first area of the Sunken Pyramid, called Acquisitions.

Hive lore tells us there were five worm gods the Hive served, but in Rhulk’s story, we find out about a sixth–Xita, the worm mother. The giant worm god you see lying in the middle of the Sunken Pyramid during Vow of the Disciple. With the Leviathan dead, Rhulk took Xita back to the Pyramid to facilitate the worms’ pact to create the Hive. As we see in the Birthplace of the Vile strike and the raid, Rhulk used Pyramid tech and worked for the Darkness, setting up a factory to produce all the worm larvae the Hive needed for their entire race. Rhulk was the one who turned the Hive into a Darkness-worshiping force for genocide. He was the real power behind the worm gods.

Babysitting Savathun

The Pyramid is in Savathun’s

The Hive ravaged Fundament and its moons and then went on their billion-year tear through the universe, conquering and murdering. We don’t know what Rhulk was up to during that time; he might have stayed in the shadows to manipulate the Hive’s progress more efficiently. Eventually, though, the Witness became interested in Savathun, apparently even planning to turn her into a Disciple potentially. Rhulk was not happy about that possibility, feeling jealous of the possibility that the Witness could favor someone else.

Still, the Witness also knew Savathun was a schemer, so it sent Rhulk to Savathun’s throne world to watch her; Fynch refers to it as “babysitting Savathun” in one of his dialogue lines. Rhulk did as he was told–the Sunken Pyramid in the throne world and the Pyramid-tech cities built there are Rhulk’s, as he’s been hanging out with Savathun for how long.

But that also made Rhulk resentful, wondering if he was being punished for his failure with the Ahslid; he found the worms disgusting and the Hive mostly unworthy.

Powerful Darkness Monster

Of course, we know Savathun eventually got disillusioned with her deal with the Darkness. She’s likely been planning to cut loose from the Darkness for a long time, but Rhulk would have been a big problem, hanging out right in her throne world. It seems like this is why Savathun needed the Light: She had a huge, powerful Darkness monster sitting in her bedroom and no way to deal with it.

When Immaru resurrected Savathun to become a Guardian, however, everything changed. Her throne world, a reflection of Savathun’s mind, physically rearranged itself, resculpted by Light power–Fynch says that mountains collapsed and cities fell and were replaced. Suddenly, when the Light flooded into the throne world, Savathun could deal with Rhulk. She couldn’t kill him, but she was able to imprison him within the Sunken Pyramid and contain him.

Darkness and Its Minions

Rhulk is the reason the Scorn are all over the place in the throne world. The world itself is covered in Light power, which should be enough to banish Darkness and its minions, such as the Scorn. But Rhulk and his Pyramid are like a giant Darkness battery right in the middle of things. That power allows the Scorn into the throne world and creates the environmental war we see between Light and Darkness.

The cutscene after the raid’s completion suggests that Savathun’s plan for bringing the Traveler into her throne world was at least in part about dealing with the First Disciple once and for all. Unfortunately, uh, we Guardians intervened. By killing Savathun, we stunted her power in the throne world, allowing Rhulk to rise. That meant that someone else had to stop him.

What’s happening in the raid

Vow of the Disciple takes Guardians into the Sunken Pyramid, seemingly by returning Rhulk’s powerful crystal thing to him to open the door. That spinning Pyramid tech cylinder you see on the sled? That seems to be a source of power that appears all through the raid. After bringing it into the Pyramid, you later see it with the Caretaker, who power it up or access it.

In the final fight with Rhulk, it hovers over him and is used to generate the giant forcefield that marks the first phase of that encounter. If that’s the case (it’s honestly hard to tell), then it seems that Savathun snagged some key component from the Sunken Pyramid to imprison Rhulk within it. To deal with him for good, you first have to allow him to regain his power.

Venturing into the Pyramid

Venturing into the Pyramid, you travel through what is essentially a museum to Rhulk’s exploits for the Witness. The Darkness is all about memory, reliving past glories, and understanding past sins and pain, and the Sunken Pyramid is a monument to all that. It contains the entire history of the Sol system’s wars in Destiny and Destiny 2, the Leviathan’s rib from when Rhulk killed it, and murals he’s created depicting his exploits and his relationship with the Witness. This is Rhulk’s palace, where he hangs out and enjoys thinking about being a Darkness badass.

Center of the Pyramid

The giant worm in the middle, Xita, seems to be powering a big generator in the center of the Pyramid, and it’s this location where we find Rhulk. Since this worm is responsible for all the larvae the Hive use to gain their power, I guess that we see the Hive’s “tithe” in action here. The Hive’s power through the worms comes from constantly feeding them through murder and conquest, but the Hive gods like Savathun, Oryx, and Xivu Arath became extra powerful through tithing.

Each Hive member kills, using that murder to feed its worm–but some of that murder energy gets passed up the chain of command, from thralls to acolytes, acolytes to knights, knights to wizards, and so on. So the Hive gods feed their worms and gain their power through their actions and the activities of the entire Hive race beneath them. It seems like that’s not the whole story, though.

Hive’s conquest

I’m guessing that all the Darkness energy created by the Hive’s conquest is transmitted through the worm larvae to Xita and, thus, to Rhulk and his Pyramid. The true nature of the Hive’s existence, the pact with the worms, and the bargain the worms struck with the Subjugator. The Hive and their worms feed power to Rhulk.

We also find out through the Evidence Board and the items we see in the Pyramid that Rhulk has been sitting around doing nothing. He’s been experimenting with the worms and the Scorn. The Evidence Board related to the REVERSE-LURE mission to get the Exotic Glaive suggests that Rhulk was trying to find other creatures to bind with the worm larvae, especially once Savathun turned on him.

The Caretaker boss you fight during the raid is a Scorn Abomination. The Scorn has been running around the throne world, trying to gather Hive runes and use their rituals; with Rhulk, the Scorn is attempting to gain the Hive’s Darkness powers. The Evidence Board mission speculates that the Caretaker might have been a successful version of this experiment–the Scorn bound and infused with the energy of the worm larvae.

Disciples of the Witness

Finally, though, you kill Rhulk and seemingly sunder his Pyramid. That’s a big deal since it establishes that, yes, Disciples of the Witness can be killed. These Upended folks are influential but not unbeatable.

Putting a stop to Rhulk’s worm larvae production operation seems like it should strike a big blow to the Witness because this seemingly should arrange a visit to create additional Hive for the likes of Xivu Arath. It also suggests some significant potential changes for the Destiny 2 universe. Whatever Hive forces are at the Witness’s command right now should be all of them, and every time we kill Hive forces, their numbers permanently dwindle.

We’ve also probably put an end to Rhulk’s experiments with joining the worms and the Scorn, stopping that threat before it could get off the ground.

Power of the Black Fleet

We don’t know who else is out there, though. The nature of the power of the Black Fleet isn’t precise, and some of what we think is going on with Rhulk is speculation. We still don’t know anything about the Upended, either. And overall, Savathun’s plans still seem to be unfolding, even after her death. Who knows what’s still waiting for us in the throne world or the Sunken Pyramid.