Black Garden

"A trillion timelines, and all at war. Like a thousand red flowers growing in a black garden."

- Lakshmi-2

The Black Garden is a mysterious realm located outside of space and time. Described as the birthplace of the Vex, It houses the Black Heart, an entity that is intrinsically linked to the Darkness, and is tended and guarded by the Vex collective known as the Sol Divisive. .

Overview
The nature, origin and purpose of the Black Garden remains shrouded in mystery. According to Pujari, the Garden is a reflection of the Traveler's actions: when it terraformed Mars, the Garden either came to be or changed in response. The mesa-like structure in the center of the Garden strongly resembles the Cradle left behind by the Traveler on Io, which was also seemingly a product of the Traveler's terraforming activities. However, it was not created by the Traveler. When the Sol Divisive Vex arrived, they attempted to control it and impose their own changes through rigorous engineering and earth-moving.

The Black Garden is a place where "everything grows" and where "abstract patterns war for survival, fighting to propagate themselves by preying on each other." Thoughts such as ideas and concepts are carried on the wind in the form of whispers, "sentences with just the beginnings of syntax". Introducing new ideas into its conceptual environment, such as through speech, causes those ideas to "take root" in the Garden. Uldren conversing to a Cabal Legionary in Ulurant led to the whispers taking on aspects of Ulurant grammar. Even the Vex there sing ("faint, wraithlike notes of inhuman clarity") to "see how the Garden changes their song." The Sol Divisive Vex are particularly interested in the Black Garden because its effects on them "[grow] them toward what they want to be."

Prolonged exposure to the Black Garden's environment can be dangerous. The concepts being whispered there are potentially a contagious "brainstain" hazard. The Legionary who Uldren spoke to had been exposed to the Garden for an unknown length of time, and ended up having its "secrets" grown into him in the form of thousands of tiny seeds pockmarking his skull, imparting him with knowledge of the Vex. It is even stated that everything that dwells in the Garden becomes symbiotic with it as an extension of its growth, whether it be shedding leaves that fertilize the soil, or the bones or unspoken thoughts of individuals.

The sky of the Martian Black Garden initially appeared as a thick green veil of mist but after the destruction of the Black Heart, it appeared more clear and centered in what appeared to be in a cavern within the Martian landscape. The Lunar Black Garden also appeared with a misty sky, but with three Suns along with a planet and its orbiting moon.

Accessibility
The Black Garden initially existed on a separate plane that the Vex kept locked outside of time; the only known way to access the Garden is through the gate network, requiring the authority of a Gate Lord. After the Black Heart was destroyed, however, the Garden became a part of contemporary time and space, accessible from a gateway at the Valley of the Kings on Mars. During the Taken War, an Echo of Oryx and a coven of Taken broke into the Garden by burrowing a new gate from Tharsis Junction, creating a new separate entrance that was closed sometime afterwards. Eventually, the gate at the Valley was destroyed upon the Red Legion's invasion of Mars.

Many years later, a Vex gate was uncovered hidden beneath the Lunar Battlegrounds on Luna. This gate may be the means by which Crota and his broods appeared on the moon after being thrown into the Vex gate network.

Origins
The origins of the Black Garden are largely unknown; however, it bears many similarities to an allegorical description of the primordial state of reality, itself described as a "garden", in which the Darkness and Light existed before the universe began. It is unclear whether the two locations are the same; however, Eris Morn writes of a Tree of Silver Wings that was felled in the Black Garden, which would seem to suggest that she believes the Black Garden to indeed be the same as the primordial garden that gave rise to the universe.

At some point, the Vex collective known as the Sol Divisive came to reside within the Black Garden, transforming it with their architecture and machinery.

Post-Collapse and City Age
Long before anyone from the Last City set foot in the Garden, tales of its existence were told throughout the system. The Warlock Pujari had a vision of the Garden when he drowned himself in the waters of the Shores of Time. Pujari's vision mentions that the Black Garden's existence is related to the Traveler's coming to Mars; the Traveler did not create the Garden, Pujari claims, but its actions may have allowed the Garden to come into existence. Pujari also stated that "The Garden grows in both directions. It grows into tomorrow and yesterday. The red flowers bloom forever. There are gardeners now. They came into the garden in vessels of bronze and they move through the groves in rivers of thought." The "gardeners" in question are most likely the Vex; Pujari's vision suggests that the Vex did not always inhabit the Black Garden, but came to existence after the life within the Garden called out a question, to which the Vex reached out as the answer.

The Cloud Strider Rohan of Neomuna stumbled upon the Black Garden early in his career, after being tasked with guarding the CloudArk-Nexus border by his mentor Tramontane. While trying to find a way out of the Garden, he witnessed the creation of the Black Heart by the Conceptual Mind, and deduced that it was an attempt by the Sol Divisive to replicate the Veil. He also overheard the voice of one of Maya Sundaresh's many Vex-simulated copies, presumably as she conversed with her fellow simulated Ishtar Collective members.

Some time later, a pair of Awoken from the Reef, Uldren Sov and Jolyon Till, explored the Black Garden. By then, the location of the Vex gate leading to it was common knowledge, as well as the fact that it could only be entered by tricking the Vex into opening it for them. To enter it, Uldren and Jolyon provoked a Cabal attack on the gate, forcing it to activate and produce a Gate Lord to defend it, and then slipped in while it was distracted. While in the Garden, they witnessed many bizarre sights: plants with roots of circuitry, vines with thorns shaped like letters, beetles that wrestled with each other despite being only hollow exoskeletons. They came across the site of a Cabal-Vex battle and interrogated one of the surviving legionaries, who claimed that he had been kidnapped by the Vex. They discovered that the Garden had been slowly assimilating him in the form of seeds growing into his flesh. After that point, Uldren's recollections grew surreal and dreamlike. His memories included a persistent heartbeat, fleeing through a thorny grove among fruits shaped like Ghosts, hiding with Jolyon from arguing voices, and putting his Crows through a dryer in an apartment block with a perfectly round hole in his hand. Uldren and Jolyon somehow found their way out, bringing some of the native red flowers back to the Reef.

The Garden is also where the famed Nightstalker Tevis Larsen died after being trapped without his Ghost.

Destruction of the Black Heart
After learning of the Black Garden's existence from the Exo Stranger, the Guardian traveled to the Reef to get information about the Garden's location. Queen Mara Sov and Prince Uldren Sov revealed that a Vex portal on Mars led to the Garden, but required the Eye of a Vex Gate Lord to access. After obtaining the Eye, the Guardian activated the Vex spire controlling the portal and then passed through the portal. Deep in the Garden, the Guardian discovered the Black Heart, guarded by the Sol Progeny as it drained the Traveler's Light and kept it dormant. The Guardian defeated the Progeny, which in turn caused the destruction of the Heart. As a result, Light returned to the Traveler and it began to heal. The Garden also ceased to drift between dimensions and was relocated to Mars, making it accessible to the rest of the Guardians.

Later, The Undying Mind arrived in the Garden and attempted to revive the Black Heart with assistance from the Sol Primeval. The Mind also attempted to separate the Garden from our timeline, but it was destroyed before it can do either.

During the Taken War, Oryx, the Taken King sent an expeditionary force of Taken into the garden to investigate and possibly restore the Black Heart. An Echo of Oryx and its Taken coven invaded the Garden through secret tunnels under Freehold. The Sol Divisive were overwhelmed by the Taken as the Garden became a war zone. Only through Guardian intervention were the Taken expelled.

Red War
"The Vex there are having a heck of a time with the Red Legion, it seems like. Garden Gate gone. Bay lost. Bastion fallen. Huh."

- Ghost, Conflux by Well of Flame

During the Red War, the Red Legion invaded Mars and broke the Vex stalemate with the Cabal invasion. In addition to occupying Mars, the Red Legion destroyed the main gate used to access the Black Garden, irrevocably sealing the Garden for the Vex. On Nessus, an access point reports of more than one garden similar to the Black Garden, it is unclear as to how many are being built or are destroyed, even the foliage on the access outside of the garden is somehow enhancing Vex firewall systems while still being organic and something else.

Kentarch-3
At some point before the death of Cayde-6, a trio of Guardians composed of the Titan Yardarm-4, the Hunter Lisbon-13, and led by the Warlock Rekkana, ventured into the Black Garden to find secrets about its origin. There they plundered an ancient relic long revered by the Vex of the garden. However, after repelling significant Vex resistance, the three Guardians lost their Light after hearing whispers that their Ghosts could not detect. Afterwards, they made a deal with an unknown force, granting them strange powers, and eventually causing Lisbon-13 to turn on Rekkana and Yardarm-4. However, the outcome of these events is unknown, as their bodies were never found by a Vanguard scouting team.

Years later, the Guardians encountered a Vex Minotaur named Zeteon, Redemptive Mind entering the Moon from the Black Garden. Upon its destruction, a Vex artifact containing a link to the aftermath of the Kentarch-3 incident and the "divinity" they found in the Garden was discovered in its remains, a lead which The Guardian followed into the depths of the Garden in conjunction with the Unknown Artifact's signal mentioned below. After the Sanctified Mind was shut down, the Guardian took the Divinity with them, providing closure to the story of the Kentarch-3.

Shadowkeep
When the Guardian ventures into the Lunar Pyramid, The Witness takes possession of their Ghost and leads them to a spherical, unknown artifact. Upon interacting with the artifact, they are subjected to a vision within the Black Garden, wherein the Witness, taking the form of the Guardian's doppelganger, speaks to them directly. Stating that they have "heard [their] cries for help" and would soon answer, the Witness identified themselves not as the Guardian's friend nor enemy, but rather their "salvation".

After bringing the artifact back to Eris Morn, it begins transmitting a signal that leads to the Black Garden. A fireteam of Guardians then enter the Black Garden via a newly-discovered portal on the moon, faced the Consecrated Mind in a labyrinth, and defeated the Sanctified Mind after it was found communing with a Pyramid Scale sighted at the garden. At the end of their journey, the fireteam traced their signal to a veiled statue identical to the one aboard the Luna Pyramid, which unlocked direct communication with the Darkness through the artifact.

However, the Vex would not take this incursion into the Black Garden lightly. The destruction of the Sol Inherent minds prompt the Pyramids to reawaken the Undying Mind. In turn, the Undying Mind copied itself across thousands of timelines after learning from its previous encounters; causing the Sol Divisive Vex to invade the Moon en masse to bar entry into the Black Garden.

After weeks of holding the Sol Divisive back, the Guardians follow Ikora's plan to use a beacon to pull one of the thousand copies of the Undying Mind from the timeways, allowing them to destroy the Axis Mind. The Guardian push forward against the latest Vex Offensive, breaching into the Black Garden once again and planting the beacon. As planned, the beacon draws a copy of the Undying Mind and after a perilous struggle, the Guardians succeed in destroying the Undying Mind. However, as thousands of copies of the Mind existed, the Guardians were forced to continually destroy the copies one by one using the same process. Eventually, every last copy of the Mind was destroyed. However, the destruction of the Undying Minds caused the Corridors of Time to fracture, which proved an opportunity for the Red Legion to split Mercury into alternate timelines with the hijacked Sundial.

Lightfall
When the Guardian, Osiris, and Nimbus learned about the Black Heart’s origins, they planned to enter the Garden to learn more. The Witness would order the Sol Divisive to destroy the Conceptual Mind due to the intel it held, but they would refuse. The Witness would send the Taken to destroy the Conceptual Mind instead, leading to the Vex and Taken engaging in conflict. The Guardian would enter the Garden, with Nimbus entering shortly after, both of them quickly discovering the Taken presence. After convincing Nimbus to return to Neomuna and to do his duty as a Cloud Strider, the Guardian would destroy the Conceptual Mind, receiving it’s memory core and the information it held.

Activities
Story Missions:
 * The Black Garden
 * A Ranger Found (Quest only)
 * Tenebrous Tunnels (Quest only)
 * What Remains (Quest Only)

Strikes:
 * The Undying Mind (strike)

Crucible:
 * Pantheon

Raid:
 * Garden of Salvation

Arena:
 * Vex Offensive

Trivia

 * Originally, Bungie planned the entrance of the Black Garden to be a hole in the wall of the subway tunnels below Freehold, but this was scrapped for being unimpressive. The entrance became a large Vex portal in the Valley of the Kings instead. The original entrance made a return in The Taken King, however, and is seen during the Story mission Tenebrous Tunnels.
 * In an article back in 2015 regarding a Bungie ride along video on Mars, it talks about a NASA Scientist Who studies Geology that found the rock formations of the Black Garden on Mars familiar, The person theorizes that the location of the Black Garden is somewhere in Olympus Mons, which makes sense as the Tenebrous Tunnels connects all around the planet.
 * Prior to Destiny's release, there was speculation that the Black Garden was located on Earth or elsewhere. Bungie clarified the Garden was found on Mars.
 * In the Lore Book "Unveiling," the state of existence which gave rise to the universe is described allegorically as a garden filled with flowers. The flowers in this metaphorical garden are the basis of a game analogous to Conway's Game of Life, which the Darkness seeks to win by bringing about an end-state dominated by a single self-perpetuating pattern that subsumes all others. This description of the primordial state of reality bears many parallels to the Black Garden; however, the significance of these parallels is yet unknown.

List of appearances

 * Destiny
 * The Dark Below
 * House of Wolves
 * The Taken King
 * Destiny 2
 * Forsaken
 * Shadowkeep
 * Lightfall