Destiny 2’s Newest NPC Is Its Most Brilliant Yet

Destiny 2‘s newest DLC, Edge of Fate, introduces a handful of new characters, but none are so well done as Lodi, the mysterious stranger players meet when they first set foot on Kepler. Lodi is the main DLC vendor and the player’s guide to the harrowing cliffs of Kepler, but as a newcomer to the planet himself, there’s a lot he needs to learn. As a new player in the cosmic power game of Destiny 2, Lodi is the perfect character to guide Guardians, new and old, through the story of the Edge of Fate.

****This article contains minor spoilers for the Edge of Fate campaign and Lodi’s backstory, read at your own risk.

Lodi Is an Extra-temporal, Terrestrial Being That Feels Incredibly Human

What’s so interesting about Lodi is that, perhaps more so than any of the characters in D2‘s current story, he’s human. Guardians lose memory of their past life when they’re resurrected, so Ikora, Shaxx, Zavala, and the other iconic characters that accompany them are all solely Guardians, defenders of Earth and the Sol system. Lodi, on the other hand, is an office worker pulled straight from Chicago in the 1960s, human through and through. This defines the way he interacts with the world, and offers a fresh perspective on lore events that veteran Guardians take for granted.

For the entirety of Destiny’s history, the story has been told from the point of view of those who have experienced it, dropping new Guardians into the middle of a cosmic war with existential consequences, where players have to take what they’re told as truth in order to catch up. Even from the very beginning of Destiny 2, its human characters have still been super-human Guardians, beings that defy reality through the power of the Light. With the introduction of Lodi, the most regular guy in the world, Destiny‘s story finally gets a “modern” human’s perspective.

What’s most interesting is that, despite his lack of knowledge, Lodi never feels bumbling or naive. Instead, his ability to digest and integrate new information as it appears belies his competence—though he doesn’t know much about the world he’s found himself in, he has the ability to adapt quickly thanks to his rich and studied background. He’s smart, curious, and oh so very human, making him the perfect character for New Lights to relate to.

Lodi’s Experience Mirrors New Lights’

As players, new Guardians only have as much knowledge of Destiny 2 as what they’ve heard or seen online; going into the game, they’re lost and confused. Lodi is introduced into the game in much the same way. He’s brought from the 1960s all the way to the present time of the Edge of Fate DLC, some centuries later. Just like new players, Lodi is lost, disoriented, and finds himself responsible for the fate of an entire civilization that he’s just arrived in. He asks questions that veteran players might not, allowing the writers to introduce information to new players in a way that seems natural and organic rather than a shoehorned info dump.

On top of being naturally curious and, understandably, overwhelmed by this new world he’s found himself dropped into, Lodi is highly competent. He’s intelligent enough to learn the Aionian language on his own and make a place for himself in a society he doesn’t understand, lending him a sort of groundedness that previous new characters to the D2 world have lacked. His lack of knowledge could come across as silly and naive, but his intelligence helps players understand that he’s not asking questions because he can’t understand, but rather as a search for information that he uses to inform his conclusions about the new and terrifying world of Destiny. Lodi’s exploration of everything veteran players have taken for granted for so long is a beautiful and masterful way to gently ease new players into Destiny‘s wild story.

Lodi’s Humanity Makes Him Special

In a world full of aliens, space magic, and extradimensional gods, it’s difficult to feel like the small details are important, but Lodi allows players to do just that. In an interview with YouTuber and Lore Daddy MyNameIsByf, Destiny Narrative Director Alison Lührs discussed just what makes Lodi so special. She explained that, “Destiny is so full of scientists…but what we were lacking is someone from the humanities, and Lodi is the king of the humanities.”

At his heart, Lodi is a person who cares about humanity—not just in an abstract, numbers way, but in a way that values culture and art, lending him a sort of richness that some other characters lack. The Vanguard cares about saving people, but players don’t get to see Zavala enjoying new music composed by the City’s residents, or Ikora learning how to paint from a local artist. Conversely, Lodi is constantly thrilled by the new things he learns from the Aionians and truly values how unique they are.

Much of what makes humanity unique gets lost thanks to the truly massive scale of the conflict, and Lührs explained that, “What I love about him as a character is he’s kind of this breath of fresh air who gets to reintroduce all of these elements that are insanely human to the rest of the world.” Lodi’s character allows the writers at Bungie to burrow into what makes humanity special, and remind new and old players alike what matters most, what they’re saving the universe for.

Now Is the Best Time in the Last Decade to Get Into Destiny 2