How to learn lore?

[ArcLight]

I recently did the event where you fight against the pyramid ships. I heard the name savathun but I didn't know who that was until I looked it up. Apparently it was the origin of the Hive? I did the legacy: Red war, which explained the Kabal. I still don't understand the Vex, Hive, or the fallen. How can I learn more about the lore in Destiny 2? Do I have to play the first game?

[AlastairKD]

You have to read lore cards that are not in the game itself, but on Bungie's website instead. The way Destiny goes about its storytelling is terrible and basically forces you to look outside the game for answers.

[Spaced out gal :3]

My name is byf has done a ton of videos on the lore of destiny, if you want to learn about the hive i would start by watching his videos on the books of sorrow, or read them on ishtar collective.

[SimranZenov]

This video is really good. I just started playing so I have been looking this up myself.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9mbDXvDNqTU

[Nibbie]

Originally posted by Tun-Tun:

You have to read lore cards that are not in the game itself, but on Bungie's website instead. The way Destiny goes about its storytelling is terrible and basically forces you to look outside the game for answers.

That was only on the original, D2's lorebooks are entirely in game, you barely even tried there.

Even outside of lorebooks, Savathun's name is mentioned a few times in the rest of the game (Savathun's Song strike, for example, and the Festering Core strike is about her as well). In very short, she is one of the three founding members of the Hive, and thus one of the most powerful.

As for your actual question, it is fairly hard, since the lore is scattered across two games and their 14 major updates/expansions, containing dozens of lorebooks you have to earn in each game, and that is besides all the regular missions and areas and their stories. There is also external information, like short stories in Bungie's website they've been doing recently, or actual book anthologies sold in their merch store. If you want to catch up to knowing at least *enough* in a reasonable time, video summaries are probably your best bet.

[ZeroKelvin]

The two best sources for lore are this guy on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQZFAQPTQtrFrTu6Hb4vwsw

...and Ishtar Collective: https://www.ishtar-collective.net/

The guy who recommended Byf's full-Destiny-story video, I'd highly recommend.

[ArcLight]

So basically it's outside the game or I have to collect lore books to read them? So the hive, fallen, and everything isn't explained? I don't plan on buying all of the expansions just to understand what is happening in the game.

[Zoomii]

A lot of stuff was explained in Destiny 1. If you have and Xbox One or a PS4 it's definitely worth playing through, not just for the lore, but also because it's just an amazing game in general. You could also watch the video that was linked by someone above. It's 4 hours, but it's great and explains literally EVERYTHING you need to know.