Who Is Destiny 2’s Destiny 1 Villain Lysander And Why Did He Give Us The Skimmer?

It has been a long while since there was any real reason to talk about lore in Destiny 2 since uh, nothing is really happening ahead of The Final Shape during this extended season. However, something interesting did happen with the launch of Guardian Games, the arrive of the new hoverboard Skimmer. And more importantly, who gave it to us.

If you read the lore tab on the Allstar Vector, you will find it was not a neat little toy gifted to us by say, Nimbus, our Neomuna pal who uses a hoverboard in a similar fashion. Rather, the lore page says it was given to us by “Concordat,” which may ring a very distant bell. So, here’s what you need to know about Concordat, and why that may be important going forward:

Concordat was once a Guardian faction run by a man name Lysander. After the Battle of Twilight Gap, Lysander and the Concordat attempted a coup of city leadership, but were stopped by New Monarchy at Bannerfall. Yes, that Bannerfall. Here’s the Destiny 1-era Grimoire description:

“Lysander and the Concordat mark the most recent example of a City political factions rising in opposition to the Consensus. This site marks a legendary battle where New Monarchy’s Guardians rose to deliver the final blow to the Concordat, unraveling the war effort Lysander sought to bring against the Vanguard.

Lord Shaxx has commandeered the area not only to commemorate this last stand, but as a reminder of the City’s solidarity against those who seek to undermine the extreme efforts and sacrifice we make together to keep our peace.”

It was not in fact the “final blow,” as Lysander and the Concordat were not killed, but merely banished. Some of the old followers melted into other factions like the Future War Cult.

However, we have lore from the Lysander’s Cry sparrow (this is Destiny 1 content ages ago where you found the sparrow through a hidden Ghost in Bannerfall) where intel says he’s plotting his return:

“According to the Hidden, in the wilderness beyond the City, Lysander rallies his supporters and plots his return. Some whisper of sympathizers in the Tower and hidden gifts for Guardians who honor him.”

In Season of Arrivals lore, Eris says Zavala fears “the next Lysander, the next Toland, the next Rezyl Azzir.” But it appears the next Lysander might be the…old Lysander. In real life, Lysander was a Spartan military leader who wanted to overthrow the Athenian empire and replace it with Spartan hegemony, which could offer some insight into Lysander wanting a more brutal, battle-focused form of government than the Vanguard offers.

But the question remains, why would Lysander and the Concordat be shipping in Skimmers to the Guardian Games as a “donation”? My best guess is that he may be trying to curry favor with Guardians who enjoy their new hoverboards, buying them off with fun new toys once he returns to Make the Last City Great Again. It also may be important that the lore card for the Skimmer has none other than Spider examining these Skimmers, a figure who may be pretty open to trying to topple the Vanguard and take control of The Last City. So, maybe there is something significant going on here behind the scenes that will come into play in the longer term future. After all, we have close to no idea where Destiny is going after the Light and Darkness era ends…

Follow me on Twitter, Threads, YouTube, and Instagram.

Pick up my sci-fi novels the Herokiller series and The Earthborn Trilogy.