Destiny 2: Revealing the Vex's Evolution in Echoes Act 2 and Maya Sundaresh's Mysteries
The first Episode of Destiny 2, "Echoes," has added a fresh and fascinating component to the mysterious character of the Vex. Their actions have changed; a mystery person called "the Conductor" has seized control and begs the questions of who this person is and how they are impacting the Vex. Evidence quite strongly points to Maya Sundaresh, a scholar from Ishtar, as the Conductor. This paper explores the intriguing relationship among Maya Sundaresh, the Ishtar Collective, and the Vex's new actions in the "Echoes" expansion of Destiny 2.
Knowing the Vex's Change: The Conductor's Effect of Light
The Vex has seen a knock-on effect after the Guardians defeated the Witness in Destiny 2. The death of the Witness left a power vacuum to be filled by the Vex. Comprising the combined energies of Light and Dark, a weird object called an Echo has surfaced and changed the behavior of the Vex.
The Echo's presence has caused the Vex on Nessus to stray from their hive-mind structure, so enabling individual Vex to make decisions. Still, this change is not without direction. The Conductor, as they are known, has been arranging these modifications with hints of a relationship to the Ishtar Collective and Maya Sundaresh.
The Ishtar Collective: Deciphering the Conductor's Puzzle
Understanding the Ishtar Collective—a group of Golden Age scientists committed to Vex research—helps one to grasp the Conductor's relationship to Maya Sundaresh. Common in the "Enigma Protocol" exercise, the Collective's emblem emphasizes their major contribution to Vex understanding.
The Ishtar Collective sent Exodus ships during the Collapse to guarantee species survival. Once the Exodus Indigo arrived at Neptune, Maya Sundaresh and Chioma Esi founded the city of Neomuna. Inspired by their logic and structure, Maya studied their hive-mind while their Vex research continued in Neomuna.
Maya Sundaresh and the Veil: Clarifying the Conductor's Authority
Research by the Ishtar Collective brought them to the Veil, a counterpart of Traveler's Light wielding darkness. Maya and her group explored the Veil's power using a technique known as "The Chorus" in an effort at communication with it. Inspired by the Vex's hive-mind architecture, the Chorus was intended as a network of minds.
Chioma Esi sadly found Maya Sundaresh dead in the conductor chair of the Chorus, implying she tried to contact the Veil just by herself. This incident has a terrible bearing on the activities of the Conductor. Reminiscent of the Chorus' conductor chair where Maya was discovered dead, the Conductor's name suggests a possible connection between Maya's last moments and the rise of the Conductor.
Saint-14's Meeting with the Conductor: Notes from Maya's Research
A Guardian renowned for his bravery, Saint-14 came under the Conductor's control. Showing an interest in knowing what it means to be "real," the Conductor questioned him on his humanity and validity. This reflects Maya Sundaresh's tests filtering the Veil's data for human understanding using braindead Exo frames. The Exo nature of Saint-14 fascinates the Conductor and points to a possible link to Maya's work on Exos.
The way Saint-14 describes the Conductor's relationship to his mind and his original method of challenging reinforces the link to Maya Sundaresh even more. Particularly their obsession with "realness" and their questioning of Saint-14's Exo sources, the Conductor's actions mirror Maya's knowledge of both Exos and the Vex.
The Conductor's aim is a new golden age?
Driven by a "new Golden Age free from "falsities," the Conductor's actions and aspirations are This suggests a conviction that Saint-14 is only a copy of the "true" Saint-14 and that the Conductor—who might be a Veil-empowered version of Maya Sundaresh—will bring in this next age. This begs the interesting prospect that the Conductor, acting as a copy of Maya Sundaresh, might also be a "falsification." Whether this is a straightforward error or a more complicated aspect of the Conductor's personality is yet unknown.
The Response of the Vex and the Guardians: Future
The Conductor's development and the changed behavior of the Vex pose a great threat to humanity. Complicating matters even more, the Cabal and Fallen have also entered the race to dominate the Echo. Guardians are left to challenge this new enemy and untangle the Conductor's schemes.
It is evident from Guardians' research of the Conductor's motivations and the Vex's fresh actions that the Conductor wants to cover the void left by the death of the Witness. The Conductor seriously threatens the solar system's stability with their power coming from the Veil and the Echo.
The "Echoes" expansion of Destiny 2 is still under development and promises more disclosures on the Conductor's actual identity and the consequences of their acts for the Vex and Guardian future. Stay tuned for more updates and analysis of this exciting chapter in the always growing Destiny 2 story.