James 'My Name is Byf' Byford is one of Destiny's foremost historians, trying to untangle a game infamous for having a story that's hard to make sense of.
In the days leading up to
Destiny 2: Shadowkeep last fall, I was determined to get back into Destiny in a big way. This time, it would be different.
This time, I'd finally understand the notoriously convoluted lore, the bits of inscrutable storytelling many Destiny fans swear by. Things have changed since Destiny once locked critical parts of its world building inside collectible cards, but Bungie's never provided an easy path for newcomers to catch up on the past. The answer, most told me,
was to watch the intricate videos by My Name is Byf.
Around this time, My Name is Byf had released their magnum opus, a four-hour epic that promised to walk through the entire confusing story of Destiny, including events that predate the timeline of the games by theoretically millions of years. The video isn't just rambling commentary layered over footage of someone shooting up monsters in Destiny, but a moody walkthrough of Destiny's layered history, complete with original artwork bringing things to life.
It nonetheless remains incredibly hard to follow, but that probably has less to do with the work of My Name is Byf than it does with the often rickety foundation he's working with from Bungie. But I've watched a lot of lore videos, and most are nonsense. There's a reason My Name is Byf, otherwise known as James Byford, has become a household name for the most dedicated fans of Destiny. It's how one ends up affectionately called "Lore Daddy."
