Saint-14 is Destiny 2’s next main character. Who the heck is he?

Destiny 2: Season of Dawn resurrects a fan favorite character: the legendary Titan Saint-14. Despite how beloved Saint-14 is by the community, players have never actually interacted with or seen him in game — outside of his corpse. Instead, Saint has existed as an Exotic helmet, a shotgun, and in lore tabs.

With Saint-14 finally showing up in-game during Season of Dawn, you may be wondering who the hell he is, and why all your Destiny friends are so excited about his resurrection. Here’s why he matters, what happened to him, and where he’s going.

Hero of the Last City

Saint-14’s accolades began far before players became Guardians in the Destiny timeline. He was the first captain of the Vanguard — the role Commander Zavala currently occupies — and helped found the Last City.

But before humanity gathered under the Traveler in search of hope, Saint-14 acted as a kind of superhero for the people. He rescued them from Fallen attacks and protected those who couldn’t protect themselves. After he helped finish the Last City, he gathered as many people as he could inside.

Saint-14 was good friends with Osiris — the famous Warlock Vanguard who was eventually exiled from the Tower. Saint also served his adopted father, The Speaker, by completing dangerous missions to protect the Last City.

One of Saint’s famous victories was his fight against Solkis, leader of the House of Devils Fallen faction, whom he headbutted to death using his famous helmet. After saving the Last City from Solkis, he went looking for Osiris on Mercury, and nobody ever saw Saint-14 alive again.

Before he disappeared, Saint-14 was so beloved that grateful citizens would hang their scarves or strips of their clothing on his armor. He roamed around the world with all kinds of cloth tied to his ship and around his arms and chest. The citizens knew and loved him for his loud personality, and his willingness to help anyway he could.

Technically dead ... for now

On Mercury, Saint-14 discovered that his old friend Osiris was somewhere in the Infinite Forest — a Vex machine that allows someone to experience multiple timelines. Saint entered the Infinite Forest, but never came back out.

During the quest for the Perfect Paradox shotgun in Destiny 2: Curse of Osiris, players find Saint-14’s dead body hidden deep inside the forest. It seems that after killing legions of Vex over years in the Infinite Forest, the time-traveling robots built a machine designed specifically to kill Saint. He took it down, but lost his Light in the process, dying his final death. Out of respect, the Vex repaired his armor, and buried him among thousands of Vex units he defeated.

It’s in Saint’s burial chambers that players find the pieces of his shotgun and take them back to Mercury’s forge to be rebuilt. Bungie named Saint’s shotgun Perfect Paradox, because Saint-14 claims he received the weapon from a Guardian out of time — the player Guardian, also known as the Young Wolf. But the first time players ever get the weapon is from Saint-14’s dead body. So how is that possible?

The loop isn’t closed yet. We have the weapon now, and we still have to give it to a living Saint-14, somewhere in time, so he can someday die and leave it to us. It’s a paradox — hence the shotgun’s name.

Fixing the timeline

Players have always known Saint-14’s story wasn’t over. Without his death, the player would never be able to get Perfect Paradox from Saint’s tomb. And without his resurrection, players could never give the shotgun to him so he’d have it when he died.

Because of players’ recent encounters with the Undying Mind in Season of the Undying, they accidentally broke time. Using this to his advantage, Osiris has created a machine to allow players to correct time, and save Saint-14 from his Curse of Osiris fate.

In the launch trailer for Season of Dawn, you can hear Saint-14 speak, see him battle Vex units, and finally grasp the Perfect Paradox shotgun in his hands. Saint-14 will rise — almost certainly during the Save a Legend quest on Dec. 17 — in Season of Dawn. How exactly it will all happen is still up in the air. We are sure to learn more about Saint-14’s resurrection during the Season of Dawn.