The highly anticipated release date for Destiny 2's Witch Queen expansion has been a topic of much speculation and excitement among fans of the popular game. The Witch Queen expansion, which is set to continue the game's captivating storyline, has been eagerly awaited by players since its announcement. Bungie, the developer of Destiny 2, has been tight-lipped about the exact release date of the Witch Queen expansion. However, they have confirmed that it is slated for release in 2022. This confirmation has only heightened the anticipation surrounding the expansion, as players eagerly await further details and updates about its release. The Witch Queen expansion is expected to introduce new content, including a new raid, weapons, and armor.
Windigo
A windigo (or wendigo) is a supernatural being belonging to the spiritual traditions of Algonquian-speaking First Nations in North America. Windigos are described as powerful monsters that have a desire to kill and eat their victims. In most legends, humans transform into windigos because of their greed or weakness. Various Indigenous traditions consider windigos dangerous because of their thirst for blood and their ability to infect otherwise healthy people or communities with evil. Windigo legends are essentially cautionary tales about isolation and selfishness, and the importance of community.
Norval Morrisseau, Windigo, tempera on brown paper, ca. 1963.Definition
According to most Algonquian oral traditions, a windigo is a cannibalistic monster that preys on the weak and socially disconnected. In most versions of the legend, a human becomes a windigo after his or her spirit is corrupted by greed or weakened by extreme conditions, such as hunger and cold. In other legends, humans become windigos when possessed by a prowling spirit during a moment of weakness.
Depending on the many First Nations that speak an Algonquian language, including the Abenaki, Siksika, Mi’kmaq, Algonquin, Ojibwe and Innu, the spelling and pronunciation of the word “windigo” differs. Wendigo, wheetigo, windikouk, wi’ntsigo, wi’tigo and wittikka are all alternative versions of the same term. Other names, such as atchen, chenoo and kewok, are also commonly used to refer to the windigo.
Appearance and Characteristics
Just as there are different versions of the word “windigo,” there are many variations on the creature’s appearance and powers. Sometimes, windigos are described as exceptionally thin, with the skull and skeleton pushing through its ash-coloured, mummy-like skin. Other stories describe the windigo as a well-fleshed giant who gets proportionately larger the more it eats. According to other legends, the windigo has pointed or animal-like ears with antlers or horns sprouting on its head. A windigo’s eyes have been described as sunken or glowing like hot coals. Sharp and pointy teeth, extremely bad breath and body odour are also often traits of a windigo.
The windigo is usually, but not always, endowed with powers, such as superhuman strength and stamina that allow it to stalk, overpower and devour its victims. Windigos are usually credited with exceptional eyesight, hearing and sense of smell. They are said to move with the speed of the wind and have the ability to walk across deep snow or even over open water without sinking.
According to some legends, windigos can be killed with a conventional weapon, such as a club or firearm. Other legends claim that the windigo has to be somehow subdued, its icy heart cut out and then melted in a roaring fire. Still other legends claim that only a knowledgeable First Nations spiritual leader, a shaman, can dispatch a windigo with a specific spell and ceremony.
Origin and History
The windigo legend existed in Algonquian oral history for many centuries, long before Europeans arrived in North America. However, the first European-written account of a windigo was by Paul Le Jeune, a Jesuit missionary who lived among the Algonquin people in the early-17th century in what is now Quebec. In a report to his superiors in Paris in 1636, Le Jeune wrote:
This devilish woman…added that [the windigo] had eaten some Attikamegoukin — these are the tribes that live north of the River that is called Three Rivers — and that he would eat a great many more of them if he were not called elsewhere. But that Atchen (sort of a werewolf) would come in his place to devour them… even up to the French Fort; that he would slaughter the French themselves.
Father Le Jeune’s report demonstrates that 17th-century Europeans believed in evil supernatural spirits just as strongly as their First Nations contemporaries. In fact, Father Le Jeune’s report predates the Salem Witch Trials by nearly 60 years. Missionaries in what became Canada continued to report legends of the windigo until well into the 20th century.
Stories could also be found on the Western frontier in the 1800s, among Plains Indigenous peoples and employees of the Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC). Some HBC traders’ records describe encounters with Indigenous spiritual leaders claiming to descend into “fits” of religious passion. Indigenous peoples often accused these people of being windigos; HBC traders sometimes described them as mad. In some cases, community members or relatives of the accused killed the suspected windigo as a precaution. In one example, three men killed Cree spiritual leader Abishabis after he became greedy and killed an Indigenous family — which led others to believe that he was a windigo.
Windigo Psychosis
In the early 20th century, the term “windigo” found its way into the Western medical vocabulary. It was used by early psychiatrists to refer to a mental condition in which patients felt possessed by cannibalistic desires. Oblate Missionary J. E. Saindon was the first to use the term in the 1920s while working in a Cree community in the western James Bay area. There he met a woman who claimed that she saw strangers who wanted to kill and devour her. Saindon referred to the woman’s mental condition as a “psychoneurosis” — a mental or behavioral disorder, characterized by depression and anxiety. Overtime, the condition came to be known as the Windigo Psychosis. However, whether this is a real affliction is still a highly disputed discussion among the medical community.
Symbolism and Meaning
Legends of the windigo reveal much about the beliefs, ways of life, social structures and traditions of the people who tell these stories. For some, windigo legends serve as reminders of the importance of community, and more importantly, about what can happen when individuals are left outside of the community. One recipe for creating a windigo — extreme hunger, cold and isolation — were ever-present and threatening facts of life for many First Nations people living in the northern boreal forests. In fact, most windigo stories begin with an individual or small group trapped in the wilderness without food, for an extended period, alone and in the cold. Windigos were said to kill lonely travellers or a member of a group and then take on their personality temporarily, before eventually killing other humans it encountered.
Similarly, a windigo’s legendary greed represented attitudes about sharing in many Indigenous cultures. In the wilderness, human survival often depended on communal cooperation and the sharing of food and possessions. Any individual who refused to share local resources, especially in times of great deprivation, was considered a “monster.” According to historian Shawn Smallman, the windigo is still seen as a symbol of greed in modern society, as manifested in capitalism and corporate consumerism.
The creature has also come to serve as a metaphor for the injustices that Indigenous peoples have faced in Canada, including residential schools, the restriction of rights in the Indian Act, the Sixties Scoop and similarly assimilative policies. Armand Ruffo’s film, A Windigo Tale (2010), for example, uses the monster to tell a story about the intergenerational trauma of residential schools. For some Indigenous persons, the windigo represents the forces of colonization. (See also Imperialism.)
In Popular Culture
Unlike the mythological creatures that have been popularized in European culture for centuries, such as vampires and werewolves, Western popular culture has only discovered the windigo relatively recently. However, there are now many films, graphic novels (Mathieu Missoffe’s Curse of the Wendigo, for example), television shows and comics (Marvel’s Wendigo) based on tales of the windigo. The creature has also inspired artworks by Norval Morrisseau and literary works by Basil H. Johnston, Margaret Atwood, Tomson Highway and Joseph Boyden. These new media add to the diversity of the legend and to the ways that it is interpreted by Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples alike.
Wendigo curse
As the tale goes, the wendigo was once a lost hunter. During a brutally cold winter, this man’s intense hunger drove him to cannibalism. After feasting on another human’s flesh, he transformed into a crazed man-beast, roaming the forest in search of more people to eat.
The story of the wendigo (sometimes spelled windigo or windago) comes from Algonquian Native American folklore, and the exact details vary depending on who you ask. Some people who have claimed to encounter the beast say it’s a relative of Bigfoot. But other reports compare the wendigo to a werewolf instead.
YouTube An illustration of the Wendigo, a fearsome creature from Native American lore.
Since the wendigo is said to be a cold-weather creature, most sightings have been reported in Canada, as well as colder northern states in the U.S. like Minnesota. At the turn of the 20th century, the Algonquian tribes blamed many unsolved disappearances of people on wendigo attacks.
The Witch Queen expansion is expected to introduce new content, including a new raid, weapons, and armor. It will also continue the story arc of the Guardians' battle against the darkness and its various threats. The expansion promises to captivate players with its intriguing narrative and challenging gameplay.
What Is A Wendigo?
For being an insatiable predator, the wendigo is definitely not the largest or most muscular beast out there. Though he is said to be almost 15 feet tall, his body is often described as emaciated.
Perhaps this can be attributed to the notion that he is never satisfied with his cannibalistic urges. Obsessed with hunting for new victims, he is forever hungry until he’s eating another person.
Flickr An oil painting of the wendigo.
According to Legends of the Nahanni Valley, a Native author and ethnographer named Basil H. Johnston once described the wendigo in his masterwork The Manitous as such:
“The Wendigo was gaunt to the point of emaciation, its desiccated skin pulled tightly over its bones. With its bones pushing out over its skin, its complexion the ash gray of death, and its eyes pushed back deep into the sockets, the Wendigo looked like a gaunt skeleton recently disinterred from the grave. What lips it had were tattered and bloody… Unclean and suffering from suppurations of the flesh, the Wendigo gave off a strange and eerie odor of decay and decomposition, of death and corruption.”
According to ethnohistorian Nathan Carlson, it’s also been said that the wendigo has large, sharp claws and massive eyes like an owl. However, some other people simply describe the wendigo as a skeleton-like figure with ash-toned skin.
But no matter which version sounds the most plausible, this is obviously not a creature you’d want to run into on a hike.
In addition to the expansion itself, Bungie has also announced that they will be implementing a new annual pass model for future content releases. This annual pass will include additional content beyond the Witch Queen expansion, ensuring that players have plenty of new experiences to look forward to in the coming years. As fans eagerly await the release of the Witch Queen expansion, Bungie has been providing regular updates and sneak peeks to keep the excitement levels high. These updates include reveals about new weapons, changes to existing systems, and insights into the new storylines and characters that players can expect to encounter. In conclusion, while the exact release date of Destiny 2's Witch Queen expansion is still shrouded in mystery, fans can rest assured that they will not have to wait much longer. With its promise of new content and captivating gameplay, the Witch Queen expansion is sure to be a hit among players and will no doubt continue to keep them engrossed in the world of Destiny 2..
Reviews for "The excitement builds: Destiny Witch Queen release date is fast approaching"
1. John - 2/5 stars - I was really excited for the release of Destiny: Witch Queen, but I was left disappointed. The release date kept getting pushed back, and when the game finally launched, it felt lackluster and unfinished. The storyline was not compelling, and the game was filled with bugs and glitches. I expected more from Bungie, and I hope they learn from their mistakes for future releases.
2. Sarah - 1/5 stars - I have been a fan of the Destiny franchise since the beginning, but the release of Witch Queen was a major letdown. The game felt repetitive and the new content did not live up to my expectations. The release date delays were frustrating, and it seemed like Bungie rushed to push out an unfinished product. The gaming community deserved better.
3. Michael - 2.5/5 stars - The release date saga of Destiny: Witch Queen was a rollercoaster of disappointment. The constant delays and lack of communication from Bungie left a sour taste in my mouth. When the game released, it lacked the freshness and innovation I had hoped for. While there were some enjoyable moments, they were overshadowed by technical issues and a lackluster narrative. Overall, I was left feeling underwhelmed by Witch Queen.
4. Emily - 2/5 stars - As a long-time Destiny player, I was really looking forward to the release of Witch Queen. Unfortunately, the delays and lack of transparency from Bungie made the anticipation turn into frustration. When the game finally launched, it didn't feel like a significant improvement from previous installments. The story was average at best, and the gameplay mechanics felt stale. I expected more from such a highly acclaimed franchise, and this release fell short of my expectations.