Tree of Silver Wings

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The tree of silver wings in the Cradle.

"In the Garden grows a tree of silver wings. The leaves are ruin, the bark disaster. Of the seeds we do not speak."

— Ruin Wings' flavor text

The Tree of Silver Wings is a mysterious entity referred to by multiple sources, typically in association with either the Black Garden or the metaphorical "garden" allegorically used to describe the state of reality predating the universe.

The Garden Before Time

"The day was longer than all of time, and the night was swifter than a glint of light on a falling sugar crystal. [...] A tree of silver wings bloomed yielded fruit shed feathers bloomed again."

— Unveiling: Gardener and Winnower

The tree once existed alongside the Gardener and Winnower. It leaves are described as "ruin", its peeling bark "disaster", and the oppressive air around it inspires violence in those who would breathe even a little in. Nothing grows within the Tree's shadow, and it scintillates faintly at dusk. The Tree achieves its entelechy, its potential, with every body falling, every civilisation laid to waste, every leaf forged into instruments of ruin. Its seeds are malleable and hungering, and so they are not spoken of, nor on what they would become. According to Eris, the Tree and its seeds are fluid in nature, but not physically; they act as an engine of integration, incorporating that which it contacts into its structure. It feeds from paracausal energy, both the Light and the Dark vying for dominance within its every particle.

It was later brought down by the two entities fighting with each other, and left to smoke amid the meadows.

Discovery on Io

Main article: Tree of Silver Wings (Io)

Another "tree of silver wings" was discovered by the Guardian and Eris Morn in the heart of the Cradle on Io. It was stated by Eris that the Traveler created it when it arrived on Io but the connection between this tree and the original is unclear; however, the flavor text for the Seed of Silver Wings recovered from the tree strongly implies that both share a similar nature. Moreover, Ruinous Effigy, a trace rifle created from a branch of the tree, shares the motif of ruin and disaster described by Ruin Wings' flavor text and Mk. 44 Stand Asides's loretab.

Discovery on Essence

Following an incursion inside a derelict Pyramid left by the Witness, a team of Guardians discovered that a Tree had begun growing inside the Pyramid, shattering its insides. Seemingly accelerated by the terraforming beam shot by the Traveler, the roots had rapidly grown all over the Pyramid, piercing the sarcophagus containing the remains of Nezarec. With the Guardians feeding Light and Dark energy throughout the Pyramid, Nezarec was fully rebirthed, and the Tree itself grew to form a mature Tree.

Trivia

• A Ghost projection in Eververse refers to the tree as the Sterling Arbor, a synonym for "Silver Tree".

List of appearances

• Destiny: The Dark Below (First mentioned)
• Destiny: The Taken King (Mentioned only)
• Destiny 2: Curse of Osiris (Mentioned only)
  • Shadowkeep (Mentioned only)
    • Season of Arrivals (First appearance)
  • Lightfall