The Traveler
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| The Traveler | |
|---|---|
| |
| Biographical information | |
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Born: |
Unknown; billions of years old |
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Species: |
Paracasual entity |
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Gender: |
Unknown |
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Affiliation: |
The Light |
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Notable info: |
Source of Light |
| “ | They call it the Traveler. We watch as it hangs above. The mysterious sphere, silently protecting us. | ” |
The Traveler is a mysterious spherical entity floating above Earth. Massive in scale, it hangs motionless in the skies above the Last City built in its shadow. The Traveler protects the remnants of humanity from the continuous onslaught of the Darkness bent on humanity's eradication by projecting a shield around the City,[1] and gifts the Guardians with ancient and mysterious powers.[2]
Throughout the events of Destiny the Traveler remained comatose despite the Guardians' efforts at reviving it. During the Age of Triumph it seemed to get stronger as Guardians were noted to be more powerful than before. Nonetheless it was captured at the start of Destiny 2 by the Cabal Red Legion and taken from humanity, weakening Guardians severely, only to have reawaken after countless millennia to smite its leader Dominus Ghaul and putting an end to the Red War.
Overview
The Traveler's outer surface is made of Neutronium and "Electroweak matter", both hypothetical materials;[3] the former is believed to make up Neutron Stars, and the latter is based on a fundamental force that hasn't existed since the dawn of time.
History
The origins or nature of the Traveler is not clear to anyone. However, some information can be gleaned from the poem known as Dreams of Alpha Lupi. Based on this work, it appears that the Traveler chose Earth and humanity for a reason; it detected a "face" emerging from the Sun, later hearing a roar that contained something that it described as "a lucid melody". The Traveler felt joy, as it felt "the first hope in ages tr
Trivia
- The Traveler first appeared in another Bungie game, Halo 3: ODST, where a hidden poster made it appear innocuously like the Moon.
- The Traveler's size has changed over the course of development. Early concept art depicts a Traveler the size of a small moon orbiting Earth, while its finalized appearance in the game shows it hovering much closer to Earth's surface, within the atmosphere, and roughly the size of the Last City. According to a reddit post made on /r/DestinytheGame, players were able to determine the Traveler's in-game size (as seen from the Tower and Bannerfall) as 1.2 kilometers.[4]
- According to Xûr, there is a dark mirror of the Traveler.
- The terms "Retrograde", "Zenith", "Epicycle" "Theta State" and "Valence" are used in tracking the Traveler's Light output.
- "Retrograde", "Zenith", "Epicycle" are astronomical terms. In astronomy, the zenith. This led to the concept of an epicycle: or a smaller rotation of a planet around a barycenter in the course of its larger rotation around the Earth itself. The period in which a planet appeared to slow and descend into a loop, just prior to appearing to move backwards, was known as the declining or descending phase. The period during which the planet traced the bottom half of the loop, appearing to move in the opposite direction from its orbital path is known as the retrograde phase. "Equilibrium" denotes the point at which the planet ceases to move backwards and begins to ascend out of the loop and into its normal orbital path once again, denoting the end of that particular epicycle. This particular astronomical theory was eventually proven to be an optical illusion after Copernicus introduced the then-radical notion that the Earth was not the center of existence & that all planetary bodies within the solar system, including Earth, revolved around the Sun. Johannes Kepler later proved that the so-called "epicycles" were the result of the Earth's orbital position relative to that of the planet being observed.
- The term "Theta State" refers to a Theta Rhythm, which is an oscillatory pattern of brainwave activity in electroencephalography (EEG). This rhythm occurs within the human brain's hippocampal and neocortical regions at between 4 Hz. and 7 Hz. In both regions, these signals have been associated with transitioning from a dream-state to wakefulness, as well as a state of deep meditation.
- In chemistry, the "Valence" of an element is a measure of its ability to bond with other atoms when it forms chemical compounds or molecules.
- These terms are drawn from three different fields of science and the exact manner in which they apply to the Traveler's Light output is unclear at this time, save that they are used to indicate a repeating pattern.
- The Festival of the Lost features a mask of the Traveler that can be obtained by players, and which is worn by the Speaker for the duration of the event. The back of the mask is marked by the tricorn symbol worn by the Speaker and included in Destiny's logo.
- According to Fenchurch Everis, the inside of the Traveler "smells faintly of vanilla".[5]
Gallery
A reference to the Traveler in Halo 3: ODST
Early designs for the Traveler's sphere. Originally an early concept of the City.
A pre-Golden Age article on the Traveler
The Traveler floating above the Earth
The city below the Traveler
The Last City below the Traveler
The Traveler's shard within the European Dead Zone in Destiny 2
The Traveler, captured by the Red Legion.
List of appearances
- Law of the Jungle (First appearance)
- Destiny
- Destiny 2
References
- ^ Bungie: Destiny story: The City
- ^ Bungie (2014-9-9), Destiny, PlayStation 4, Activision Blizzard, Grimoire: The Traveler
- ^ Bungie (2014-9-9), Destiny, PlayStation 4, Activision Blizzard, Grimoire: Ghost Fragment: The Traveler
- ^ reddit: We found the traveler's size! (using parallax on bannerfall) ("Used parallax and private matches to try to figure out the size of the traveler.")
- ^ Destiny Tracker: Traveler Mask
