Destiny 2 Renegades’ ending explained: All we learned about Dredgen Bael, The Nine, and more

Destiny 2: Renegades is here, and since there are only six main missions interspersed with trips to The Lawless Frontier, there’s a good chance you’ve finished it already – hence why you need the ending explained.

If that’s not the case, turn back! There’s a fun twist in the final act that’s genuinely very intriguing for how it sets up the rest of the Fates Saga, which kicked off with Edge of Fate.

Here’s the current state of play post-Renegades.

The Escapist Recaps:

• Destiny 2’s Star Wars-themed expansion, Renegades, is here and features six main story missions and interstitial chances to visit the new Lawless Frontier activity.
• It follows on from July’s Edge of Fate expansion, which switched the focus to the mysterious Nine and their intentions.
• Naturally, there are plenty of spoilers abound here, so only check out the below if you’ve finished the expansion.

The ending of Destiny 2: Renegades explained

Let’s start at the beginning of Renegades: The Nine, Destiny 2’s god-like beings that watch over the galaxy and move everyone and everything around like pawns, are down a member.

Three, the member of the Nine that essentially presides over Earth, was murdered by Maya Sundaresh (also known as The Conductor), but his final words were a prophecy: “Bind the Nine” or humanity will face extinction.

In order to keep the masses from hysteria, the Vanguard disavowed knowledge of the events of Edge of Fate on Kepler, and instead redacted Three’s prophecy, but The Drifter (formerly Dredgen Hope) sees the Nine’s influence on the rise of a new Cabal faction in the Barant Imperium and heads to investigate.

For those new to the idea of Dredgens, think of them as the Sith to the Guardians’ Jedi – they’re powerful, corrupted Guardians who wield the Darkness.

Dredgen Bael, however, is something of an anomaly. He’s got the Dredgen title, but has seemingly appeared out of nowhere, looking to bring Drifter back into the fold as per instruction from Six, of the Nine.

You may remember that in Edge of Fate, a vote took place to decide on a new Emissary of the Nine (Lodi), but that Six abstained. As it turns out, he was busy riling up Dredgen Bael and telling him he should be the Weapon of the Nine – the title bestowed upon you in July’s expansion.

Bael, therefore, has an axe to grind – Six’s power has corrupted him, and there are some particularly nasty lore entries about his nose literally falling off and his skin being covered in blisters, but he’s also desperate to impress his master.

His plan is to work with the Barant Imperium to unleash a weapon that removes Paracausal energy (think of this as the ‘space magic’ that powers your Guardian and their Ghost), essentially removing Guardians from the Destiny universe.

A test-firing sequence at Tharsis Outpost confirms that the weapon, based on Nightfall base, works. In fact, it kills a bunch of Guardians while our Guardian is trying to keep up with Drifter, who decides to hand himself over to Bael and Six.

As is often the case with Drifter, though, it’s all a long con – a way to draw out Bael’s Ghost, to destroy it and make Bael mortal, and then defeat him once and for all. Sadly, it doesn’t quite work out, and Bael stabs Drifter with his Praxic blade, but Drifter shoots his arm off with Thorn, an infamous Dredgen weapon that causes poison.

The big twist? Dredgen Bael doesn’t have a Ghost, suggesting his powers come from Six, and not from the Traveler, as other Guardians and Dredgens would. He flees, but crucially doesn’t heal.

After that, the Guardian destroys Nightfall Station and escapes via Drifter’s ship. While Bael gives chase, he’s blown away and seemingly thrown into space by the explosion that destroys Nightfall base.

In the aftermath, Aunor, Eido, and the Guardian broadcast a message explaining Three’s Prophecy, and reports emerge of Dark Guardians across the system being emboldened by Bael’s actions.

The questions we need answers to

There’s a lot to take in from the Renegades campaign, and some of it might be answered in the new dungeon, Equilibrium, which launches next week.

For now, though, we have a lot of questions. For one, where did Dredgen Bael come from? He’s seemingly the son of Tex Mechanica’s boss, one of the game’s weapon manufacturers, but grew disillusioned with life in the Tower. A lore book suggests he witnessed his late mother resurrected by a Ghost as a Guardian, only to be rejected by her because she’d lost her memories from her previous life (which happens to all Guardians).

That explains his resentment toward the Light, but how did he become a Dredgen? Why can he wield Stasis like a Guardian? How is he still alive having been infected with Thorn’s poison?

Similarly, if Six convinced Bael he was a ‘chosen one’, could there be other Dredgens out there infused with the power of The Nine? And that’s to say nothing of the Dark Guardians referenced in the expansion’s closing moments.

It also seems like Drifter is heading AWOL for a while to help hunt down these Dredgens and Dark Guardians, but Eris will remain with the Vanguard. There will surely be repercussions for the broadcasting of the prophecy, too, potentially teeing up some internal division, especially with the next major update dubbed Shadow & Order.

What did you think of the Renegades ending? Let us know!