The Witness: Difference between revisions

|othernames=The Entity <br> The Voice in the Darkness <br> "The Black Edge"<ref>https://www.bungie.net/en/Explore/Detail/News/47849</ref> <br> "The Formless One" <ref>'''Bungie (2015/9/15)''', ''[[Destiny]]: [[The Taken King]] [[Grasp of Eir]]''</ref><ref>'''Bungie (2015/9/15)''', ''[[Destiny]]: [[The Taken King]] [[Worm God's Boon]]''</ref> <br> My Witness {{C|Its [[Disciples of the Witness|Disciples]]}}

{{Quote|We have seen enough. The children of [[Sol System|Sol]] cry out for salvation. [[The Traveler|You]] promised them life, but deliver only death, as you have for so many before. Enough. Enough death. Enough life. You have no pieces left to place. The game is over.<br>Do not be afraid. Your pale heart holds the key.<br>This time... There is no escape.|The Witness to the Traveler}}

According to the creature known as [[Ahsa]], the Witness' origins lie with an ancient humanoid species that lived billions of years ago on a desolate world. This species discovered the [[The Traveler|Traveler]] on their home world half-buried in the ground, which activated and began to transform their planet into a paradise. The species worshipped the Traveler as a deity, calling it "the Gardener". With the aid of the Traveler, they developed a massive spacefaring civilization, and in the process they learned to harness the Traveler's gifts, even using them to create entire worlds.<ref>'''[[Entelechy]]''', ''12''</ref>

Although the Traveler's gifts brought about a golden age for the civilization, it never communicated with its patrons or offered them any hint of guidance. As a result, the society began to crave meaning, and sought to find something that would bring order and purpose to an otherwise open-ended existence. In their studies of the Traveler, they also came to view the [[Light]] as a fundamentally capricious and chaotic force, equally capable of bringing life or death with no ultimate justification for either. They also noted that two other races had been blessed by the Traveler, but had used its gifts for nefarious purposes: the [[Swarm]], who erroneously used their gifts to destroy themselves, and the [[Sovereign]], who used their gifts for subjugation.

 

Faced with a lack of purpose and finding none in the Traveler and its Light, the civilization came to desire a "Winnower", something that would be capable of carving meaning and purpose out of the chaos of existence. They began to conceptualize the idea of a "final shape" toward which to strive, which would encompass the perfection of their society and the universe into an ideal end-state.

 

However, the Traveler was apparently unwilling to allow this outcome, and responded by leaving the planet and fleeing into the distant reaches of space. Unwilling to abandon their quest, the Consensus (now dominated by the Penitent faction, having eliminated the Solipsists and Nihilists) voted to use the Veil and its Darkness to bind their whole species' collective consciousnesses together, resulting in the creation of an unfathomably powerful paracausal entity: The Witness.<ref>'''[[Entelechy]]''', ''32-35''</ref> According to a vision imparted by Ahsa to the Guardian, this process involved what resembled a ritualistic mass sacrifice, in which the participants dismembered themselves and piled their bodies and body parts on an altar.

At an unknown point in time, The Witness's disciple Rhulk sought out the power of the Sword Logic for his master's behest by subjugating the six surviving Worm Gods; having evolved to master the Deep but were imprisoned within the gas giant's core by the [[Leviathan (Fundament)|Leviathan]]. To that end, Rhulk offer a deal to the mother worm [[Xita, the Nurturing Worm]], promising her offspring substance and safety in exchange for eternal servitude to him and his master.<ref>'''Bungie (2022/2/22)''', ''[[Destiny 2]]: [[The Witch Queen]] - [[Armor|Armor lore]]: [[Resonant Fury Suit (Titan)#Resonant Fury Helm|Resonant Fury Helm]]''</ref> Despite his earlier claims, however, it is later revealed that Rhulk only subjugated the worms out of his own personal desire to be recognized as an equal by the Witness; a sentiment that was swiftly rejected by his master after constantly stepping out of line.<ref>'''Bungie (2022/2/22)''', ''[[Destiny 2]]: [[The Witch Queen]] - [[Armor|Armor lore]]: [[Resonant Fury Suit (Titan)#Resonant Fury Greaves|Resonant Fury Greaves]]''</ref>

The Witness would also discretely introduce the concept of winnowing to the progenitor race of [[Worms]] on the gas giant of [[Fundament]], offering a [[Sword Logic|means]] to channel the forbidden magics of the Deep into apotheosis by death-fueled killing logic. The proto-worms that were tempted by the Witness' gift gave way to self-inflicted genocide as they killed each other and took power from their deaths, leaving only Ahsa to have rejected the logic and fled the carnage on Fundament into space.<ref>'''Bungie (2023/5/23)''', ''[[Destiny 2]]: [[Season of the Deep]] - [[Ghost shell]] lore:[[Síocháin's Scuba Shell]]''</ref>

When [[Eris Morn]] awakened the [[The Lunar Pyramid|Pyramid]] beneath the [[Moon]], the Darkness emanating from it reached out to the [[The Guardian|Guardian]] investigating her whereabouts and began to invade their [[Ghost]]<ref>'''Bungie (2019/10/11)''', ''[[Destiny 2]]: [[Shadowkeep]], [[A Mysterious Disturbance]]''</ref>. When they return equipped with [[Dreambane Armor]],  the Pyramid invites the Guardian inside where whispers of the Witness' presence could fully possess their Ghost. It is there the Voice in the Darkness coldly denounces the Light as a weakness which had brought only death to those it "blessed", citing the [[Great Disaster]], the [[Red War]], and the death of [[Cayde-6]] as examples of its numerous failures. Once the Guardian reached the [[Darkness#Veiled Figures|statue]] at the center of the Pyramid, they are offered the [[Unknown Artifact]] as "respite", granting them a vision of the [[Black Garden]]. It is there that the Witness reveals themselves to the Guardian having taken their form with the Black Fleet floating in the skies. The Witness addresses the Guardian having heard humanity's cries for help and that they would soon answer, claiming that they are neither friend nor enemy, but instead their "salvation".<ref name="Beyond">'''Bungie (2019/10/11)''', ''[[Destiny 2]]: [[Shadowkeep]], [[Beyond]]''</ref>

The Witness appears to be single-mindedly devoted to bringing about the [[Final Shape]], its ultimate end-goal of winnowing everything in the universe into a idealized state of existence. It is also extremely hostile towards the usage of the Darkness for any purpose outside of its control; the civilizations such as the [[Noesis]], the [[Ecumene]] and the [[Qugu]] had previously use the Darkness for peaceful purposes, but were ultimately driven extinct and were expunged from history either by the Witness or its pawns. It also holds a profound hatred for the [[Light]], especially for the [[Traveler]] and all the races it uplifted with its gifts, given its view as an instigator for suffering and chaos.

*''[[Destiny 2]]: [[Shadowkeep]] ''{{1st}}