Bungie is going through a rough patch as of late (again), and it’s important to remember just how good Destiny 2: The Final Shape was. The introduction of Luzaku, the friendly Lucent Hive, stands out in particular, and the person responsible was caught by the latest round of layoffs.
Featured as part of the excellent Destined Heroes questline in The Final Shape, Luzaku was a Lucent Hive wizard who the Guardian comes across while exploring the Blooming Deep lost sector of the Pale Heart. Whereas Lucent Hive are usually extremely hostile towards Guardians and other aligned forces, Luzaku goes in the opposite direction, and we can thank Bungie’s former narrative designer Robert Brookes for this experience. Brookes joined forces with The Final Shape‘s activity designer Sang Kim to come up with something wholly original for a particular lost sector.
As per Brookes’ recent thread on Twitter – which was graciously posted in full on Reddit by Ryan_WXH – he “immediately realized [Luzaku] could be a Mithrax moment” for the DLC. Mithrax, too, first made an appearance in the original Red War campaign of Destiny 2 as a tenuous potential ally on Titan.
A former Destiny 2 narrative designer explains how Luzaku came to be
“First problem was Luzaku was an acolyte and not a wizard, but a wizard is what worked for the gameplay space. So being a good partner to design I found a way to make Sang’s idea work by revisiting the idea of hive morphs,” Brooks explains. “Having Luzaku be changed from an acolyte to a wizard after the ship she was infiltrating passed through the threshold into the Pale Heart felt like a further exploration of the concepts of identity and transformation we explore with the Traveler.”
In other words, Brookes quickly connected the dots between what was necessary for The Final Shape gameplay and lore-wise, and what was present in Destiny 2‘s prior, established canon. Extrapolating Luzaku’s presence from that point onwards was just a matter of scope, and Brooks almost had to stop at having a “Lucent Hive wizard with a nameplate” in the campaign.
Thankfully, Brooks saw an opportunity to incorporate some extra voice-work into the DLC almost by accident, and the only thing he had to figure out was who could voice Luzaku in the first place.
“So in came Kirstin Potter (Mara Sov) who we’ve never had play another character. She was THRILLED to take on a new role, especially a weird role! I created an identity for Luzaku, a unique manner of speech to differentiate her from other Hive and the rest is history,” explains Brookes.
Brooks also gave shout-outs to the original creator of Luzaku (via the Lucent Tales lore book from Witch Queen), Crystal Frasier, as well as audio designer Matt Vankleeck. The latter, as Brookes explains, was laid off alongside him during Bungie’s recent firing spree.
If you’re even remotely interested in learning more about Luzaku and, indeed, Lucent Hive and Destiny lore in general, it may be good to hit up Robert Brookes on Twitter, as he’s very personable and interested in engaging with the fans of the game. He’s been discussing the Season of the Seraph as well, and his responses are just an absolute treasure-trove for a fan of Destiny at large.
