Yeah, I made my other post with a bit of the positive stuff and what I am personally interested in, speculation wise. I definitely think this makes sense. If we’re dealing with history of the universe and memory of the dead then he would be there. However, I also agree with this. Cayde is such an iconically dead character that people have been clamoring for Bungie to return for so long and against all reason, that his mere presence is incredibly inflammatory and so big that it overshadows literally everything else that’s going on.
People will genuinely be out there thinking The Final Shape is about bringing Cayde back to life and not like. The plot of what’s actually going on in Destiny right now. To me, Cayde being there in the state he’s in shows me that I’m on the right track reading what Bungie has been trying to tell us lately. I see which points they’re making and which aspect they’re repeating and placing in important and revelatory lore entries.
So unless some truly baffling stuff happens in the next two seasons, he’s not coming back as a live character. He will likely have a presence because his memory is tied to Ikora and I think Ikora will be the bigger center piece here and I really want Ikora to have her spotlight instead of being overshadowed by Cayde. That’s honestly my biggest gripe with this. I want this to be about Ikora’s journey and exploration. If she’s in there, it means it’s super important for her to have gone there personally. I can’t wait to find out. But I don’t want the story or the community to make this solely about Cayde. We’re going into a portal that leads into another realm, possibly outside of regular spacetime. That’s what scifi is about. I want it to be about that.
Interestingly enough, now his memorial makes sense in the Tower. The memorial is there to remind and teach people about who he is so that in a year, there can be context about it when he shows up in a cutscene.
But yeah, I don’t think this is specifically a sign of bad writing. As a matter of fact, it makes perfect sense to me with what we know and what we’re dealing with with the current plot threads. But outside of that, any other dead character could’ve served the same purpose. Like let’s say Sagira? But they know that nothing will generate this much chatter and hype as Cayde, as well as draw people back to see the end. I don’t think it’s been decided on a whim, but unfortunately his presence in the marketing and whatever his presence is in the campaign… It will for sure put everything else in the background. And I don’t like that because literally everything else that’s going on right is a billion times more interesting and more important.
