Destiny Grimoire Anthology, Volume IV — The Royal Will (2021)
This page is an alternate ending cutscene script from Volume IV, depicting a face-to-face Guardian/Mara meeting at the end of Forsaken that did not ship in the final game. Key lore: Mara cradles Uldren's body (mirroring the Guardian cradling Cayde's), accepts responsibility for the events, signals her intent to "set this right" (foreshadowing the Curse-of-the-Dreaming-City arc), and the Guardian alludes to seeing "something that looked like you" — a reference to Riven's deception. A shadowy apparition of Cayde-6 watches from the cliffs.
Alternate Ending Cutscene
NARRATIVE IN
The player followed the whispers of Cayde-6 into the Dreaming City, a surreal shrine world that the Awoken claim to own.
EXT. SHORES OF THE DREAMING CITY — DAWN
Silver waves TOSS the GUARDIAN onto a spit of wet sand. They lay there, half-drowned, GHOST clutched in their fist.
Nearby, an ancient SALT-CRUSTED HIVE WARSHIP hangs suspended inexplicably in the air, blasted into dozens of plasma-charred pieces.
The shoreline wraps around a rocky coast. An elegant AMETHYST TOWER juts defiantly from the cliffside, a feat of gravity-defying engineering. EDDIES OF MIST obscure the horizon, but the ALIEN SKY of this place is undeniable: above, FOREIGN MOONS orbit the accretion disc of a BLACK HOLE.
Where are we…?
THE GUARDIAN STANDS, allowing GHOST to float out of their hand. They give their gun a quick once-over.
MARA SOV (O.S.) (grieving) Hundreds of my subjects died for this plan.
THE GUARDIAN SNAPS TO ATTENTION, readying their gun.
Just up the beach, partially obscured by mist —
MARA SOV sits, hunched, KNEELING in the sand.
MARA SOV "Subjects." Hmph. My friends. My family…
Drawing closer, we see MARA is cradling ULDREN'S BODY in her lap, a mirror of the Guardian cradling Cayde's body.
In death, ULDREN looks frail.
MARA blazes with bitter grief. She loved her brother. She loved her people, too.
MARA SOV Hundreds of the Awoken are dead because of me. Hundreds, gone forever, or resurrected as a war drone for your Traveler. And you don't even realize we've done it all to help save humanity. (beat) You think we're enemies.
MARA GLARES up at the Guardian, unflinching. She's faced far worse than this since we last saw her. She's conquered death.
So has the Guardian. Still, THEY LOWER THEIR GUN.
THE GUARDIAN I saw something that looked like you. Some kind of illusion.
MARA SOFTENS. She looks down at Uldren.
MARA SOV I know.
SHE STROKES HIS HAIR.
MARA SOV (CONT'D) This — (beat; a difficult truth) — was not part of the plan… (forgetting her audience) It's my fault he went into the Garden… My fault he killed your friend…
GHOST (O.S.) (with compassion) That's not true.
MARA LOOKS UP. She SHIFTS ULDREN TO THE SAND, sister-tender, then rises, composed and imperious. The Queen of the Awoken.
MARA SOV I will set this right.
She STEPS CLOSER to the Guardian, chin tipped upward.
MARA SOV And you, the Chosen Dead, will help me.
The Guardian glances at GHOST, then NODS.
None of them notice the SHADOWY APPARITION OF CAYDE-6, watching from the clifftops…
NARRATIVE OUT
The player will learn about the monster that lured them into the Dreaming City and drove Uldren to madness.