We are less than two weeks away from Season of the Deep and Bungie has given us the first bits of teasers for what we can expect for next season including the return of a long-lost character from Vanilla Destiny 2.
In this Destiny 2 Sloane article, we’ll tell who Sloane is, what she did during the Red War against the Cabal, and what happened to her before she disappeared.
Season of the Deep Release Date Destiny 2
Destiny 2 Season 21 Season of the Deep is set to release after the weekly reset on May 23, 2023. The time of which players will have to check in their respective time zones.
Who is Sloane in Destiny 2?
Some of you Destiny veterans may remember this but to those who don’t know, Sloane was actually part of the base game of Destiny 2. It was with her help that Zavala managed to set up an emergency base of operations on Titan after the Red Legion took over the Last City and captured the Traveler.
Deputy Commander Sloane is an integral member of the Vanguard with achievements going as far back as the Dark Ages post-Golden Age. According to lore in and outside of the game, she was there when the camps were the only means of protecting survivors, alongside Commander Zavala and Lord Saladin. She was there when the foundations of the Last City were laid and the walls were raised.
She stood her ground against the Fallen and many Hive invasions of Earth. Her bravery did not go unnoticed and she was promoted to Deputy Commander of the Vanguard.
During the Red War, she and Commander Zavala rallied what remained of the Guardians in a last-ditch effort to defeat Ghaul and end the Cabal occupation of the Last City. While the Guardian was trying to convince Ikora and Cayde to rejoin the fight, Shoan and her team explored the Golden Age settlements floating above the methane oceans of Titan.
Setting up a base of operations would prove to be extremely challenging. Not soon after arriving at the rally point did Sloan’s team discover that the old settlement had been infested with Hive. Conditions did not improve when the Fallen arrived shortly after. And without their Ghosts, the Vanguard was not too keen on rushing into the teeth of the enemy. But Sloan did all that she get away with while the Guardian restored power to the platform.
After the events of the Red War, Deputy Commander Sloane decided to remain on Titan. She would become that location’s vendor for some time. For our part, we would return to Titan for various activities. That would change, however, in Season of Arrivals when one of the malicious Pyramid Ships hovered over the oceans close to Sloane’s hideout.
What happened to Destiny 2 Sloane?
Throughout the Season of Arrivals, we helped Sloane recover Golden Age tech from our enemies, most notably a power source. Sloane then used the relic to power up a Golden Age set of power armor. This essentially turned her into a more permanent version of Fallout 4’s iconic power armor.
All of this has been chronicled in-game from the Duress and Egress lore book. The page in question is pictured below.
The last we heard of Sloane is her holding off an onslaught of the enemy while wearing the suit before Titan disappeared from the material plane. We would not hear from her again until Bungie sent out the teasers for Season of the Deep.
Why did Sloane stay on Titan? It’s probably got something to do with the Leviathan. The current theory going around is the giant eye in the background of the promotional material belongs to the Leviathan. We don’t know that to be fact just yet.
The promotional image also suggests that Sloane may have been partially taken. But as far as we know, there are no records of a Guardian being successfully taken. Not even Oryx himself was capable of turning us away from the Light. Whatever the case may be, all we know for certain is that Sloane and Titan are back. And she needs our help.
Destiny 2 Titan Destination
As a destination, Titan is considered to be one of the smaller sandboxes in Destiny 2. The missions were often inside wrecks above the methane ocean. But Bungie’s teasers previewed locations under the waves. We don’t know yet if we can move around in the fashion of Bioshock 2. It seems very unlikely, however. Most likely, we’ll be transmatting into the strike locations. That would be closer to what we can expect from Destiny 2.
A popular theory making the rounds is that we will be using the Planets room from the Root of Nightmares Raid to bring back Titan. This actually works on many levels considering we’ve been asked to return there so often to complete challenges and it would provide an answer as to how the Witness used the Darkness to remove whole planets from existence.
If Season of Defiance has taught us anything it’s that Bungie will bring back locations exactly how they originally are. So expect the above water complexes to be exactly the same as we had left them after the Season of Arrivals. (It’s Bungie. It’s what they do.)
Still, we have plenty of reason to be excited for Season of the Deep. We will have word soon about the seasonal weapons that are going to be added to the game. Additionally, we have word that we will be getting a new quest in connection with Osiris’s research on Strand with a new weapon at the end. We’ll also know more about the elusive Veil that’s so important that everyone brushed it off after Lightfall’s campaign.
That’s everything we’ve got on Deputy Commander Sloane. See you all soon when Season of the Deep launches in less than two weeks.
Check out this Destiny 2 lore video from YouTuber My name is Byf speculating about the lore implications for Season of the Deep.