Destiny 2 is one of the biggest video games out there, and rightfully so thanks to how much it has grown and improved over the years. While many players feel the narrative had a big jump in terms of quality and delivery with Destiny 2's Beyond Light expansion, another great aspect of the game and its predecessor has always been their soundtracks, which had an emotional impact on the events as they unfolded. There are many examples of how spot-on the soundtracks for Destiny and Destiny 2 have been, with peaks like The Taken King and Forsaken, as well as the music composed for the Red War in vanilla Destiny 2.
Many players might not be aware that Bungie got the legendary Paul McCartney to compose a song for Destiny, which was featured in the first game and in Destiny 2. The song, called "Hope for the Future," could be heard in the now-vaulted Zero Hour mission, and it is still in the game via The Empty Tank Lost Sector in the Tangled Shore. However, one of the most intriguing aspects is how Bungie pulled off the collaboration with McCartney while later tying it together with the characters of Destiny 2 thanks to the Exodus mission for Mercury and Brother Vance.
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Destiny 2: The Origins and Legacy of 'Hope for the Future'
Bungie has composers like Michael Salvatori and Martin O'Donnell work on the Destiny soundtracks, as well as other Bungie games including Myth and Halo. At some point, the composers started working on a project called Music of the Spheres, which was meant to act as a "musical prequel" that made Destiny's music accessible to its audience before the game officially released. At some point, O'Donnell and Salvatori started working with McCartney, who was intrigued by both Music of the Spheres and the soundtrack for Halo: Reach.
McCartney agreed to work with no paycheck involved. He participated in the creation of several movements of Music of the Spheres, but McCartney also wrote the iconic "Hope for the Future" for Destiny's launch. The song was always detached from Destiny's lore, but it was a fitting theme that, to a certain extent, foreshadowed the saga of Light and Dark, which will reach its climax in Destiny 2's The Final Shape expansion sometime in 2023.
However, in Destiny 2, "Hope for the Future" became an interesting lore point thanks to the Exodus Evacuation mission on Mercury where players discovered the truth about the song in-game. The song was canonically written and composed by Brother Vance, who at some point noticed that the Lighthouse on Mercury reacted to the temporary and permanent deaths of Guardians in the Trials of Osiris. The spire produced hums every time this happened, allowing Brother Vance to compose the instrumental part of "Hope for the Future."
Interestingly, the title and words are inspired by the legendary Warlock Osiris to a certain extent, as he told Brother Vance to make music and spread hope - hope for the future. Because the mission including this bit of lore is now inaccessible, there are only a handful of players who may still know about this. Still, it goes to show how much attention to detail Bungie put into Destiny 2, to the extent that even a single musical track - however notable thanks to it being performed by Paul McCartney - gets deep lore.
Destiny 2 is available on PC, PS4, PS5, Stadia, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
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