Light: Difference between revisions

Later, after discovering the [[Darkness]] through the entity known as [[the Veil|Veil]], the civilization attempted to use the Traveler's Light and the Veil's Darkness to reshape the universe into an eternal, perfected form they called the "Final Shape". When the Traveler rejected their attempt and fled into the depths of space, the species used the Darkness to merge themselves into a single, unfathomably powerful Darkness-wielding entity, which became known as the Witness.  

 

The Witness then left its homeworld behind in pursuit of the Traveler, seeking to unite it with the Veil by force and bring about the Final Shape. Although the Witness itself is a wielder of the Darkness, several devices of the [[Black Fleet]] emit or otherwise interact with the Light, such as the [[Radial Mast]] and [[Suppressor]]s. These artifacts presumably are a product of the eons-long experience of the Witness' people with the Light.

 

Billions of years ago, the Traveler visited the [[Lubraeans]] and uplifted their civilization using the Light.

One of the earliest recorded mentions of the Light known to the Guardians comes from the Books of Sorrow, a collection of ancient Hive texts chronicling the origin of the Hive and their history of interstellar conquest. In these accounts, the Light is referred to as "The Sky," and is described as being associated with a philosophy that upholds collaboration and gentleness with the goal of creating a thriving, harmonious society and universe. Its counterpart, "[[The Darkness|The Deep]]," is also described, being associated with a philosophy of competition and survival-of-the-fittest. Several disciples of the Light, including the Leviathan and the [[Traveler]], also feature in these texts.

 

Before the rise of the Hive, the Traveler had visited several civilizations and bestowed the blessings of the Light. These civilizations included the [[Ammonite]] and the [[Harmony]], both of which were later exterminated by the Hive.  

At an unknown time in the past, the Traveler came to [[Riis]], the homeworld of the [[Eliksni]] and uplifted their civilization using the Light. It is unclear to what degree the Eliksni understood or were able to use the Light during their golden age; at least one piece of Eliksni technology, the [[Splicer Gauntlet]], is designed to utilize trace amounts of Light present in its environment.<ref>https://www.ishtar-collective.net/entries/legacy-splicer-gauntlet?highlight=splicer+gauntlet</ref>

When the [[Black Fleet]] pursued the Traveler to the Sol System, a cataclysmic battle ensued in which the Traveler used the Light to push back the Darkness, at the cost of rendering itself largely inert. Fragments of the Traveler were thrown far from the site of the battle, with one of the largest landing in Europe. The corrupted Light emanating from this shard interacted with the surrounding landscape, creating the [[European Dead Zone]].

While it battled the Darkness on Earth, the Traveler also extended a ray of Light to protect the distant colony ship ''[[Yang Liwei]]'' from the Black Fleet. This ray pushed back the Fleet's Darkness, but could not repel it entirely; the energy of the resulting struggle was so great that a kugelblitz formed, which swallowed the Yang Liwei and its crew.

===City Age===

During the events of Destiny 2, the [[Cabal]] [[Red Legion]] invaded the [[Solar System]] and attacked the Last City. Forces under [[Dominus Ghaul]] successfully captured the Traveler, and placed a [[Traveler Cage|cage]] around it, thus cutting all Guardians and Ghosts off from the Light. At least one Guardian subsequently managed to reclaim their Light from a [[Shard of the Traveler|corrupted Shard of the Traveler]] in the [[European Dead Zone]]. Meanwhile, Ghaul attempted to repeatedly gain the Traveler's favor so as to grant his Red Legion the ability to wield the Light. However, the Traveler refused, and Ghaul resorted to outright stealing the Light by siphoning it from the Traveler via its cage. Light was only restored to all Guardians after the Traveler broke free of its cage and destroyed once and for all a power-hungry Ghaul.

In [[Forsaken]], it is revealed that the Traveler had been "speaking" to the Guardians through visions of crowns, roses, silver trees, and torches turning into bonfires since its awakening. [[Ikora Rey]] tells the Guardians to follow these visions, which leads them to [[Io]]. The remnant Light on Io then granted the Guardians new powers.

In addition to being a paracausal force, the Light is also synonymous with a certain existential philosophy, as detailed in several Lore entries. The way of the Light emphasizes cooperation between intelligent beings, with the goal of creating "a gentle world" where all entities may harmoniously coexist. Its antithesis is the philosophy of the Darkness, which claims that "existence is the struggle to exist" and that all intelligent life must compete to survive at the expense of other beings. The philosophy of the Light is also referenced in the Marasenna as "the way of the bomb," meaning that it encourages a complex world with many interrelated parts that rely on each other to achieve greater goals. In contrast, the philosophy of the Darkness is described as "[[The Sword Logic|the way of the sword]]", which seeks to reduce everything in the universe to a final, simplified, self-same state.

 

The [[Speaker]] described the Light as being present in all places and all things.

[[Toland, the Shattered]] describes [[Lightbearer]]s as gifted and armed with the "secret physics of a lost age," capable of tearing reality apart, presumably referring to the Light.

[[Ulan-Tan]], a renowned Warlock, viewed the Traveler and its Light as a necessary symmetry to the Darkness to maintain a cosmic balance, and hypothesized that all Light was connected across space and time.<ref name="TD">'''Bungie (2015-5-13)''', ''Destiny, Activision Blizzard, [[Grimoire]]: [[Grimoire:Enemies#The Darkness|The Darkness]]''</ref>