One of the more confusing bits of Destiny development history to unpack comes in the form of two different icy moons that often get pointed to as “cut content.”

Before I begin, huge shoutout to u/cptenn94’s Reddit post from several years ago on this topic, particularly for being well-sourced - I was having trouble putting all the pieces together until I ran into it. This page will cover the same ground, minus some of the speculation.

First, early concept art from Destiny 1 showed Europa, an icy moon in the shadow of Jupiter, with a city buried in snow on it (see it on ArtStation). This dates from way back to the 2013 Destiny reveal art deck.

According to Jason Schreier, Europa was originally planned for “Comet,” the major expansion for Destiny 1, which later become The Taken King. This was, of course, cut.

At some point, Bungie started thinking about using Enceladus, an icy moon of Saturn, either in place of or alongside Europa.

We know this from two main sources. First, concept art: the Destiny 2 installer included concept art of an icy moon of Saturn. A later concept art post confirmed Enceladus was considered for Destiny at one point.

The biggest smoking gun, though: the post-credits cutscene of Destiny 2, which shows the Light spreading to a number of planets before settling on the ominous Black Fleet outside the galaxy.

The first three locations shown - Mercury, Venus, and the Reef - are the first three releases of Destiny 2’s DLC. The fifth is Saturn, with the Dreadnaught floating in its rings, and an unknown moon visible. Notably, said moon doesn’t look much like Titan, which was also in base Destiny 2. It’s pretty clear that Enceladus was meant to be the destination of this fourth DLC.

u/cptenn94 details various theories about Destiny’s expansion plans getting thrown into disarray with Bungie leaving Activision, which seem totally valid, but they still don’t really explain why Bungie would pivot from Enceladus to Europa - after all, there’s no reason Beyond Light couldn’t have been set on Enceladus!

This might be a certified Bungie Mystery. Maybe Europa just markets better. It’s easier to say, and, considering how many times I’ve reviewed this document for typos of “Enceladus”, certainly easier to type.

Cayde & the Deep Stone Crypt

Lore nerds will know there’s an elephant in the room involving Deep Stone Crypt and with Cayde-6. Namely: was the Deep Stone Crypt planned to be on Europa or Enceladus?

The closest thing we have to proof that the DSC was ever planned for Europa or Enceladus from an early point is Cayde’s Treasure Island Book from The Taken King Collector’s Edition, in which Cayde has a vision:

Saturn. No, someplace else. Someplace colder.

This moon has been almost completely converted, a sarcophagus of ice and iron.

Stone towers rung round with glaciers, rooted deep within a heart of snow.

I came here flesh and bone. Gave everything to the ice.

Started over.

Rebooted.

This was interpreted at the time as a reference to Europa, since it was a known possible location from the released concept art. This is kind of funny because, well, Europa is Jupiter’s moon, and the first line here mentions Saturn. One poster appears to have guessed that it might be referencing Enceladus, shoutout for knowing your solar system!

The book also includes a map that certainly looks like the Europa we know today, albeit without the fine details of the Braytech facility or Riis Reborn, or the Glassway. I don’t believe it’s adjacent to the page on the Deep Stone Crypt, though I don’t have a copy of the book myself to confirm.

At this point in Destiny, the Deep Stone Crypt was known from a Ghost Fragment as a “tower in a dream on a black plain” where “[Exos] were born.” It was also a common theory at this point that Clovis Bray had created the Exos. Finally, a Titan Mark in Destiny 1 depicted the Deep Stone Crypt’s tower..

Now, fast forward to Forsaken. Enceladus is mentioned in the Ace in the Hole exotic mission that serves as an epilogue for - and lore dump from - the deceased Cayde-6’s secret stash. The full transcript of this mission is on Destinypedia, and Cayde left an encoded message for Petra Venj:

Oh, and, uh, tell “Paladin Oran”: If the sun over Nessus escapes nebula cycle, evac labor after dawn, under solstice.

The first letter of each word - “it’s on Enceladus.” Not much of a code, but nonetheless. Paladin Oran, it should be noted, is not a real character, just a name the Reef uses for encoded messages. So this is something that was supposedly of interest to Venj.

Lots of people seem to think the Deep Stone Crypt is what Cayde was referring to here, but there’s nothing stating anything of the sort, nor is there any indication Petra would be interested in the DSC. It’s also worth noting that Telesto, as early as Destiny 1, had the lore text “Vestiges of the Queen’s Harbingers yet linger among Saturn’s moons.”

The only other evidence that the Deep Stone Crypt might have been planned for Enceladus comes from concept art showing a black tower on an icy moon, but, well, that certainly appears to be Jupiter and not Saturn in the background. This would also assume that the tower - which bears a striking resemblance to the Scarlett Keep - was intended to be the Deep Stone Crypt. It looks just Hive-y enough to me that I don’t think this could be the case - there doesn’t seem to be any reason the DSC would have been connected to the Hive, and if this was meant to be the DSC, it would have been designed to be, well, less Hive-y.

So what is on Enceladus?

This is the fun dangling question we’re left with, and Bungie has been pretty big on following up dangling questions lately. Hell, even Cocytus got a shoutout in Edge of Fate; everything is on the table.

One thing I’ll say - I don’t think it will just be a Harbinger. They’ve actually come in lore quite a lot lately, but in use, so just finding one wouldn’t really be that special. Mara used them against the Black Fleet, while in Season of the Wish, Mara used a Harbinger to gather Riven’s clutch from the Ascendant Plane.

My guess, if we ever get a reference to Enceladus again: we won’t visit it, but we’ll read or hear about something being retrieved from it by Petra. Maybe it was where the known last Harbinger was hidden after the Taken War, and then offscreen Petra retrieved it. But I like to think it’s something more interesting.