Fortnite players open Pandora's Box bringing despair to the island

Snake looking at a giant Pandora's Box in Fortnite
Credit: Epic Games

Snake looking at a giant Pandora's Box in Fortnite
Credit: Epic Games

As Fortnite Chapter 5 Season 2 fast approaches, players have found a way to open the mysterious giant Pandora's Box that surfaced in the middle of the island, kicking off a mini-live event to end Season 1.

After a few days of teases, with the Fortnite island ground starting to crack product of several earthquakes, a giant Titan hand emerged from the ground, with Pandora's Box attached to it.

The box was sealed and wrapped in chains, with players needing to do a whopping 5 billion damage as a community to break them - as big as that number sounds, Fortnite players did it on March 3.

If you weren't in-game when the festivities happened, you didn't miss much - once the chains were broken and Pandora's Box fell into the ground it opened to reveal a giant tornado, which sprung right out. Check it out below:

In Greek mythology, Pandora's Box is an artifact that was first mentioned by the poet Hesiod in his poem "Work and Days." The story goes that Pandora received a jar (not a box) from Zeus with specific instructions not to open it. However, curiosity got the better of her, and she opened the jar, unleashing sickness and despair into the human world.

A giant chest held by chains in Fortnite
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Credit: Epic Games
Pandora's Box was finally opened

It seems like a fitting way to start a new season, as Fortnite players fell right into the same trap Pandora did and will have to deal with the consequences in Chapter 5 Season 2.

A Greek-mythology Fortnite season had been rumoured for months, with the first concrete rumblings happening this past December.

If you're a fan of the battle royale, you'll know that Epic Games doesn't shy away from paying tribute to Greek culture, you'd have to look no further than the island names, with most named after Greek gods like Athena, Artemis, or Apollo. The current island is named Helios.

Fortnite Chapter 5 Season 2 is set to start on March 8. We recommend you pay attention to the upcoming downtime hours to see when you'll be able to jump back into the battle royale once the new season starts.