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[[File:FinalShapeThumb.png|thumb|350px|Civilians of the City being calcified as Earth is reshaped.]]
[[File:FinalShapeThumb.png|thumb|350px|Civilians of the City being calcified as Earth is reshaped.]]


The '''Final Shape''' was the name used to describe the ultimate end goal of [[The Witness|the Witness]] and its precursor species. It referred to a potential end-state of the universe in which the Witness intended to winnow, carve and calcify the universe into a frozen state of eternal perfection. In this hypothetical state of reality, only items and entities with a purpose or structure that The Witness deemed fit for existence will remain. Had this state been achieved, The Witness would've accomplished its eons-long quest to impose its form of salvation to a meaningless, chaotic, and open-ended universe.
{{Quote|You fight and build and live and die, and always you struggle against your opposition. The predator, the parasite, the illness, the chance storm, the slow collective forgetting of your art and history, the death of a star, the heat death of the universe. You must live longer, be stronger, think quicker, and still there is something waiting to take everything from you, always. Always.<br> <br>So you have to keep getting better, and better, until you are perfect. Until you are, and cannot be anything else, because there never was anything else. Until you, inevitably, are the final shape.|The Witness<ref>'''Bungie (2024/6/4)''', ''[[Destiny 2]]: [[The Final Shape]] - [[Lore:The Rubicon|The Rubicon]]: [[Lore:The Rubicon#Acheron I|Acheron I]]''</ref>}}
 
The '''Final Shape''' is a term used to describe a potential end-state of the universe that has been sought after by multiple entities related to the [[Darkness]]. While the exact nature of the Final Shape is open to interpretation, it broadly seems to involve the universe being reduced to a simplified, eternal, self-sustaining state of existence.


==Possible Forms==
==Possible Forms==
The idea of a "Final Shape" has been described by several different entities associated with the Darkness. According to the [[Hive]], the Final Shape is the natural end state of violent winnowing; what remains when everything that can possibly be destroyed has been obliterated, leaving only that which has proven its ability to defeat all obstacles to its continued existence. This conception is later echoed by [[Oryx, the Taken King]], who describes the Final Shape as "a fire without fuel, burning forever, killing death, asking a question that is its own answer, entirely itself".<ref>'''Bungie (2015/9/15)''', ''[[Destiny]]: [[The Taken King]], [[Grimoire]]: [[Grimoire:Enemies/Books_of_Sorrow#xxiii:_fire_without_fuel|XXIII: fire without fuel]]''</ref>
===The Witness's Final Shape===
[[The Witness]]'s [[Precursors (Species)|Precursors]] became fixated on the idea of a "Final Shape" out of a desire for meaning and purpose, as they found none in the universe, the [[Light]], or the [[The Traveler|Traveler]]. Various factions within the civilization's governing body, the Consensus, arose with differing conceptions of the Final Shape, but all were eventually supplanted by the Penitent faction, who believed that the Final Shape was to be a universe free from suffering. After the Traveler fled the Precursors' home world, the Precursors used the [[The Veil|Veil]] to merge themselves into the Witness, a single being with a composite consciousness containing all of their minds and memories, driven by their collective fury at the Traveler and obsessed with realizing their vision of the Final Shape.<ref name="Origin">[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0CKckjryVI'''YouTube''' - ''Destiny 2: Season of the Deep - The Witness's Origins Cinematic'']</ref><ref name="6-11">'''[[Entelechy]]''', ''[[Entelechy#Scribe Archive XI-9-2C|6-11]]''</ref><ref name="Origin"/><ref name="32-25">'''[[Entelechy]]''', ''[[Entelechy#Scribe Archive XI-23-1C|32-35]]''</ref> However, the Witness would become deaf to members within its collective that opposed the atrocities it committed, choosing instead to cut out any dissenters from its mind and sequester them away until they could be re-integrated during the creation of the Final Shape.<ref>'''Bungie (2024/6/4)''', ''[[Destiny 2]]: [[The Final Shape]] - [[Lore:The Rubicon|The Rubicon]]: [[Lore:The Rubicon#Phlegethon II|Phlegethon II]]''</ref><ref>'''Bungie (2024/6/4)''', ''[[Destiny 2]]: [[The Final Shape]] - Item Description: [[Turmoil Engine#Lore|Turmoil Engine]]''</ref>
 
The Witness' vision of the Final Shape entailed reshaping the universe into a more orderly state in which nothing could exist without its consent and no actions could be taken by any other sentient being, thus halting what it perceived to be the "meaningless cycle of action and reaction" that inevitably led all beings to experience suffering.<ref name="Transmit">'''Bungie (2024/6/4)''', ''[[Destiny 2]]: [[The Final Shape]] - [[Transmigration]]''</ref><ref name="Dissent"/><ref name="Exe-Ghost"/> The Witness sought to achieve this by using the Veil's Darkness in combination with the Traveler's Light, using the former's ability to project possibilities contained within thoughts and memories and the latter's ability to grant those possibilities physical form.<ref name="Transmit"/><ref name="Tempt"/><ref name="Exegesis">'''Bungie (2024/6/4)''', ''[[Destiny 2]]: [[The Final Shape]] - [[Exegesis]]''</ref> The end result of this would be a calcified, frozen, timeless version of reality, in which all sentient beings would be immortalized at the moment of their greatest triumph or most profound regret, unable to perpetuate the cycle of suffering which the Witness viewed to be the supreme injustice of existence.<ref name="Exegesis"/><ref name="Icon"/> The Witness itself would not be part of the Final Shape, but would instead effectively become a god presiding over a perfected universe for all eternity.<ref name="Exegesis"/><ref name="Exe-Ghost">'''Bungie (2024/6/4)''', ''[[Destiny 2]]: [[The Final Shape]] - [[Exegesis]] - [[Ghost]]: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HGlfYMeYYAU "That's why the Witness is here. It wants to weaponize the Traveler and transform the universe into a fixed state based on what it believes we deserve. The Witness thinks "purpose" is a static idea. Its promised salvation is a perfect ending it chooses for us. That sounds more like obsession to me."]''</ref>
 
As the Witness attempted to enact its Final Shape from within the Pale Heart, Earth began to be transformed per the Witness' vision, with all matter being converted into the same colored stone-like material seen throughout the Pyramids of the Black Fleet, the surface of the planet being divided into massive blocks that began shifting and rearranging, and the inhabitants of the Last City being transformed into warped, bisected statues. However, the Traveler managed to resist the Witness' efforts and undid all of these changes moments after they began.<ref name="Transmit"/>
 
As the Guardian and the Vanguard approached the Witness' Monolith, the Witness drew upon the memories of its enemies using the Darkness to offer them a more personalized Final Shape. It showed [[Uldren Sov|Crow]] a future where he would rule the Reef and beyond and be looked at with pride, trust and love by his friends and [[Mara Sov|sister]], and offered to erase his past mistake with the [[Dreaming City]].<ref name="Tempt">'''Bungie (2024/6/4)''', ''[[Destiny 2]]: [[The Final Shape]] - [[Temptation]]''</ref> It also offered to bring him out of the shadow of his sister, and hinted that it would let him see [[Amanda Holliday|"[his] sunrise"]] again.<ref>'''Bungie (2024/6/4)''', ''[[Destiny 2]]: [[The Final Shape]] - Item Description: [[Promised Reign Suit#Promised Reign Cloak|Promised Reign Cloak]]''</ref> For [[Zavala]], it offered to bring back [[Safiyah]] and [[Hakim]], allowing him to spend eternity with them at their old homestead,<ref>'''Bungie (2024/6/4)''', ''[[Destiny 2]]: [[The Final Shape]] - [[Requiem]]''</ref><ref>''[[Destiny 2]]: [[The Final Shape]] - Item Description: [[Promised Reunion Suit#Promised Reunion Mark|Promised Reunion Mark]]''</ref> and later offered to remove any doubts or fears he had in his lack of purpose and join the Witness's amalgam mind.<ref name="Dissent">'''Bungie (2024/6/4)''', ''[[Destiny 2]]: [[The Final Shape]] - [[Dissent]]''</ref> For [[Ikora]], it offered to remove her from the endless cycle of death and rebirth that it believed she had grown weary of, and instead have her friends returned and let her only experience eternal victory in battle forever.<ref>'''Bungie (2024/6/4)''', ''[[Destiny 2]]: [[The Final Shape]] - Item Description: [[Promised Victory Suit#Promised Victory Bond|Promised Victory Bond]]''</ref>
 
To the [[The Guardian|Guardian]], the Witness initially offered freedom from their unending life in "enslavement" to the Traveler,<ref name="Tempt"/> but later, believing they desired endless challenge, offered to make them into that which destroys all that can be destroyed, to make them a [[Disciples of the Witness|Disciple]] and be regarded as being above all other Guardians. It then offered to grant them an escape from their eternal cycle of battle for rewards and commendations, and instead promised all the vast riches the Guardian's strength was "owed". Finally, claiming that the Guardian's potential was being limited by the Vanguard leading them, the Witness offered to help them achieve the power they deserved, raising them up instead to stand alongside the Witness, apart from the Final Shape, as a god ruling over all of existence. Their Ghost, however, saw that the Witness was only making these offers because it was desperate and terrified of what the Guardian could do, and sought to prevent its own destruction.<ref name="Icon">'''Bungie (2024/6/4)''', ''[[Destiny 2]]: [[The Final Shape]] - [[Iconoclasm]]''</ref>
 
===As Understood by the Disciples of the Witness===
The Witness never revealed the full extent and nature of its vision of the Final Shape to its [[Disciples of the Witness|Disciples]], and as a result each Disciple appears to have developed their own conception of what the Final Shape entailed. According to an unnamed and long-dead potential Disciple whose thoughts are recorded in the ''Inspiral'' Lore book entry "The Cave," [[Nezarec, Final God of Pain|Nezarec]] believed the Final Shape to involve becoming one with all of existence, whereas [[Rhulk, Disciple of the Witness|Rhulk]] believed it to be a universe free of disparity and differentiation, and [[Savathûn, the Witch Queen|Savathûn]] and her Hive believed it to be a universe in which the Sword Logic was triumphant. An unnamed potential Disciple subsequently concluded that none of the Witness' followers could fully grasp the true nature of the Final Shape, and that the Witness was allowing each of its Disciples and other servants to act according to a greater plan that would ultimately realize all of their seemingly disparate visions of the Final Shape.<ref>'''(2023/3/10)''','' [[Destiny 2]]: [[Lightfall]] - [[Lore:Inspiral|Inspiral]]: [[Lore:Inspiral#The Cave|The Cave]]''</ref>
 
After receiving a vision of the Final Shape from the Witness, Calus concluded that it represented the end of all things, and resolved to be the last being standing as the rest of the universe was consumed.{{Citation needed}}
 
===As Understood by the Worms and Hive===
{{Quote|If a civilization cannot defend itself, it must be annihilated. If a King cannot hold his power, he must be betrayed. The worth of a thing can be determined only by one beautiful arbiter — that thing’s ability to exist, to go on existing, to remake existence to suit its survival.|Yul, the Honest Worm<ref>'''Bungie (2015/9/15)''', ''[[Destiny]]: [[The Taken King]] - [[Grimoire:Enemies/Books_of_Sorrow|Books of Sorrow]]: [[Grimoire:Enemies/Books_of_Sorrow#xvii:_The_Weakness_Verse|XVII: The Weakness Verse]]''</ref>}}
The Worms received their understanding of the Sword Logic from the Witness and later passed on their conception of the Final Shape to the [[Hive]]. According to the Worms, the Final Shape is what remains when everything that can possibly be destroyed has been destroyed, leaving only that which has proven its ability to defeat all obstacles to its continued existence. [[Oryx, the Taken King]] described the Final Shape as "a fire without fuel, burning forever, killing death, asking a question that is its own answer, entirely itself".<ref>'''Bungie (2015/9/15)''', ''[[Destiny]]: [[The Taken King]] - [[Grimoire:Enemies/Books_of_Sorrow|Books of Sorrow]]: [[Grimoire:Enemies/Books_of_Sorrow#xxiii:_fire_without_fuel|XXIII: fire without fuel]]''</ref>
 
The Witness itself stated that the Hive had misunderstood its vision of the Final Shape, becoming too fixated on the idea of destroying all "unnecessary" entities in the universe and extrapolating the Final Shape to be a single being or entity which had destroyed all other things in the cosmos. In contrast, the Witness' Final Shape entailed the creation of a simplified, "perfected" version of reality in which all sentient beings would continue to exist, albeit in a frozen, timeless form.{{Citation needed}}
 
Having extensively studied the Hive and their beliefs, [[Toland, the Shattered]] seems to have come to a similar conclusion as the Hive regarding the nature of the Final Shape. In his writings, Toland describes the universe as being ruled by conquest and domination even at its most fundamental level, and claims that the universe will inevitably come to be ruled by those which have defeated all opposition to their rule, eventually achieving a level of absolute dominance such that nothing can exist except by their consent<ref>'''Bungie (2014/9/9)''', ''[[Destiny]] - [[Grimoire:Enemies/Darkness|Darkness]]: [[Grimoire:Enemies/Darkness#Ghost Fragment: Darkness 3|Ghost Fragment: Darkness 3]]''</ref>. 


As described by [[Ahsa]], the species that would eventually become the Witness also sought to bring about a "Final Shape", which they sought to achieve by uniting [[The Traveler|the Traveler]] and [[The Veil|the Veil]] and using their combined powers to reshape reality as they desired. The details of this goal are unknown, other than it involved converting the universe into a perfected, eternal state.<ref>'''Bungie (2023/6/20)''', ''[[Destiny 2]]: [[Season of the Deep]], Dialogue: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GN7QkdWMV18&t=626s Zavala and Drifter Radio Message]''</ref>
===The Winnower's Final Shape===
As described in ''Unveiling'', the Winnower promotes a philosophy of might-makes-right and "survival of the fittest," claiming that only those things which must exist should exist and that any entity which cannot defend its own existence is morally equivalent to that which has never existed in the first place. As a result, it encourages its followers and those that have read Unveiling to destroy their enemies, reject the ideals of peace and cooperation, and pursue ever-greater power, so that they might eventually become the Final Shape.{{citation needed}}


The Witness seeks to bring about the Final Shape, but the exact nature of this goal remains unclear even to its [[Disciples of the Witness|Disciples]]. Each Disciple seems to have developed their own conception of what the Final Shape entails, and is seemingly permitted by the Witness to act accordingly. According to an unnamed and long-dead Disciple whose thoughts are recorded in the Inspiral lore book entry "The Cave," [[Nezarec, Final God of Pain|Nezarec]] believed the Final Shape to involve becoming one with all of existence, whereas [[Rhulk, Disciple of the Witness|Rhulk]] believed it to be a universe free of disparity and differentiation, and [[Savathûn, the Witch Queen|Savathûn]] and her Hive believed it to be a universe in which the Sword Logic was triumphant. This unnamed Disciple subsequently concluded that none of the Witness' followers could fully grasp the true nature of the Final Shape, and that the Witness was allowing each of its Disciples and other servants to act according to a greater plan that would ultimately realize all of their seemingly disparate visions of the Final Shape.<ref>'''(2023/3/10)''',''[[Destiny 2]]: [[Lightfall]], [[Lore:Inspiral|Inspiral]]''</ref>
===The Vex's Final Shape===
==The Witness's Truth==
As described in ''Unveiling'', the Vex are the descendants of the "Final Shape" that repeatedly arose in the state which preceded the universe, referred to as the "flower game". In their current incarnation, they seek to become the Final Shape once more by weaving themselves into reality at its most fundamental level, thus becoming the only entities in existence - a goal described as the "pattern" by [[Praedyth]]<ref>'''Bungie (2015/9/15)''', ''[[Destiny]]: [[The Taken King]] - [[Praedyth]]: [[Paradox#Transcript|"They think this is the end of them: A path with no escape. And yet, here they are, there they were, and there they will be... and there they will have been. (pauses) For them, there is no paradox. There is only the pattern. And the pattern needs the Vex to see it to completion. And so the Vex must be. For the mind of the Vex... is that faith?"]]''</ref> and the "convergence" by [[Osiris]].<ref> '''Bungie (2017/12/5)''', ''[[Destiny 2]]: [[Curse of Osiris]] - Item Description: [[Kairos Function (Titan)#Lore|Kairos Function Suit]]''</ref>
It would later be revealed that the Final Shape is what will happen when the Witness freezes and calcifies reality into one perfect moment forever, where all are calcified into a marbleized reality, much akin to the frozen forms glimpsed within the [[Pyramid]]s. The Witness believes that the Traveler wastes its power by not responding to tragedy and requests for guidance, and instead remaining still and silent in seeming uncaring indifference and ambivalent inaction, all while sprouting more life that live to suffer without purpose. The Witness desires to usurp the Traveler's power in order to prevent life from having unfair "suffering". An end to anguish and bliss, to the cycle of action and reaction, the chaos of life untangled, its complexity made known and contained, and given a static "purpose". With the Darkness projecting possibilities from thought and memory, and the Light to give them form and make the imagined structures real, the Witness plans to reshape reality into a "perfect stillness" that never changes and never dies, where all lives are immortalised in the universe at the time of their greatest triumph or most profound regret. To carve the universe into something that cannot be destroyed, and thus will surpass infinity and triumph over entropy, but yet would never create more life which the Witness believes only leads to chaos and suffering. The Witness will not be part of the Final Shape itself, but will instead become the god that chooses what each person's eternity would be that they are imprisoned in; to transform the universe into a fixed state based on what the Witness believes we deserve, a perfect ending it chooses for us, and where nothing exists without the Witness's consent.<ref name="TFS">''[[Destiny 2]]: [[The Final Shape]]''</ref>


Due to being able to see into being's memories using the Darkness, the Witness is able to use this knowledge to tempt its enemies to surrender to or join the Witness in return for a more personalised Final Shape, either as a version that cures them of past pain or suffering they've experienced or by offering what it thinks they want. For [[Crow]], it offered him to be looked at with pride, trust and love by his friends and [[Mara Sov|sister]], as well as to erase his past mistake with the [[Dreaming City]] and make him into a version that rules the Awoken and the stars.<ref>''[[Destiny 2]]: [[The Final Shape]] - [[Temptation]]''</ref> It also offered to bring him out of the shadow of his sister by doing so, as well as hinted that it would let him see [[Amanda Holliday|"[his] sunrise"]] again.<ref>[https://www.ishtar-collective.net/entries/promised-reign-cloak Promised Reign Cloak]</ref> For [[Zavala]], it offered to bring back [[Safiyah]] and [[Hakim]] where he can be spend eternity with them at their home,<ref>''[[Destiny 2]]: [[The Final Shape]] - [[Requiem]]''</ref> <ref>[https://www.ishtar-collective.net/entries/promised-reunion-mark Promised Reunion Mark]</ref> and later to remove any doubts or fears he had in his lack of purpose and join the Witness's amalgam mind.<ref>''[[Destiny 2]]: [[The Final Shape]] - [[Dissent]]''</ref> For [[Ikora]], it offered to remove her from the endless cycle of death and rebirth that it believes she's grown weary of, and instead have her friends returned and let her only experience eternal victory in battle forever.<ref>[https://www.ishtar-collective.net/entries/promised-victory-bond Promised Victory Bond]</ref> With [[The Guardian]], it initially offered freedom from their unending life in "enslavement" to the Traveler, but later, believing they desired endless challenge, offered to ascend them to as that which destroys all that can be destroyed, to make them "[[Disciples of the Witness|chosen]]" and be regarded by all other Guardians as above them. It then offered to give them an escape from the eternal cycle of battle for rewards and commendations, and instead promised all the vast riches the Guardian's strength was "owed". Finally, the Witness, claiming that the Guardian's potential was being limited by the Vanguard leading them, offered to help them achieve the power they deserved beyond what the Traveler would give; to not become part of the Final Shape, but instead to join the Witness as a god controlling all. Their Ghost, however, believes that the Witness is only making these offers of becoming a disciple or even a god because the Witness is desperate and terrified of what the Guardian can do to it.<ref>''[[Destiny 2]]: [[The Final Shape]] - [[Iconoclasm]]''</ref>  
==Trivia==
*While it was never confirmed, the Vex's predicted future following the destruction of the [[The Undying Mind|Undying Mind]] revealed a simulation of a monolith situated above the Last City, which may have been the Vex's attempt to simulate the Witness' successful realization of its Final Shape. <ref>'''Bungie (2019/12/4)''', ''[[Weblore:Season of Dawn]] - [[Weblore:Season of Dawn#Actions of Mutual Friends|Actions of Mutual Friends]]''</ref>


==List of appearances==
==List of appearances==
*''[[Destiny]]''
*''[[Destiny]]: [[The Taken King]]'' {{Fm}}
**''[[The Taken King]]'' {{Fm}}
*''[[Destiny 2]]: [[Forsaken]]'' {{Mo}}
*''[[Destiny 2]]''
**''[[Forsaken]]'' {{Mo}}
**''[[Season of Opulence]]'' {{Mo}}
**''[[Season of Opulence]]'' {{Mo}}
**''[[Shadowkeep]]'' {{mo}}
**''[[Shadowkeep]]'' {{mo}}
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**''[[Season of the Wish]]'' {{Mo}}
**''[[Season of the Wish]]'' {{Mo}}
**''[[The Final Shape]]'' {{1st}}
**''[[The Final Shape]]'' {{1st}}
**''[[Episode: Revenant]]'' {{Im}}
*''[[Entelechy]]'' {{Mo}}
*''[[Entelechy]]'' {{Mo}}


Latest revision as of 19:51, December 10, 2024

Destiny-GhostConstruct.png
"Vex encryption. Unbreakable? Ha, so they say."
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This article is about the goal of The Witness. For the conclusion of The Light and Darkness Saga, see The Final Shape.
Civilians of the City being calcified as Earth is reshaped.

"You fight and build and live and die, and always you struggle against your opposition. The predator, the parasite, the illness, the chance storm, the slow collective forgetting of your art and history, the death of a star, the heat death of the universe. You must live longer, be stronger, think quicker, and still there is something waiting to take everything from you, always. Always.

So you have to keep getting better, and better, until you are perfect. Until you are, and cannot be anything else, because there never was anything else. Until you, inevitably, are the final shape."
— The Witness[1]

The Final Shape is a term used to describe a potential end-state of the universe that has been sought after by multiple entities related to the Darkness. While the exact nature of the Final Shape is open to interpretation, it broadly seems to involve the universe being reduced to a simplified, eternal, self-sustaining state of existence.

Possible Forms[edit]

The Witness's Final Shape[edit]

The Witness's Precursors became fixated on the idea of a "Final Shape" out of a desire for meaning and purpose, as they found none in the universe, the Light, or the Traveler. Various factions within the civilization's governing body, the Consensus, arose with differing conceptions of the Final Shape, but all were eventually supplanted by the Penitent faction, who believed that the Final Shape was to be a universe free from suffering. After the Traveler fled the Precursors' home world, the Precursors used the Veil to merge themselves into the Witness, a single being with a composite consciousness containing all of their minds and memories, driven by their collective fury at the Traveler and obsessed with realizing their vision of the Final Shape.[2][3][2][4] However, the Witness would become deaf to members within its collective that opposed the atrocities it committed, choosing instead to cut out any dissenters from its mind and sequester them away until they could be re-integrated during the creation of the Final Shape.[5][6]

The Witness' vision of the Final Shape entailed reshaping the universe into a more orderly state in which nothing could exist without its consent and no actions could be taken by any other sentient being, thus halting what it perceived to be the "meaningless cycle of action and reaction" that inevitably led all beings to experience suffering.[7][8][9] The Witness sought to achieve this by using the Veil's Darkness in combination with the Traveler's Light, using the former's ability to project possibilities contained within thoughts and memories and the latter's ability to grant those possibilities physical form.[7][10][11] The end result of this would be a calcified, frozen, timeless version of reality, in which all sentient beings would be immortalized at the moment of their greatest triumph or most profound regret, unable to perpetuate the cycle of suffering which the Witness viewed to be the supreme injustice of existence.[11][12] The Witness itself would not be part of the Final Shape, but would instead effectively become a god presiding over a perfected universe for all eternity.[11][9]

As the Witness attempted to enact its Final Shape from within the Pale Heart, Earth began to be transformed per the Witness' vision, with all matter being converted into the same colored stone-like material seen throughout the Pyramids of the Black Fleet, the surface of the planet being divided into massive blocks that began shifting and rearranging, and the inhabitants of the Last City being transformed into warped, bisected statues. However, the Traveler managed to resist the Witness' efforts and undid all of these changes moments after they began.[7]

As the Guardian and the Vanguard approached the Witness' Monolith, the Witness drew upon the memories of its enemies using the Darkness to offer them a more personalized Final Shape. It showed Crow a future where he would rule the Reef and beyond and be looked at with pride, trust and love by his friends and sister, and offered to erase his past mistake with the Dreaming City.[10] It also offered to bring him out of the shadow of his sister, and hinted that it would let him see "[his] sunrise" again.[13] For Zavala, it offered to bring back Safiyah and Hakim, allowing him to spend eternity with them at their old homestead,[14][15] and later offered to remove any doubts or fears he had in his lack of purpose and join the Witness's amalgam mind.[8] For Ikora, it offered to remove her from the endless cycle of death and rebirth that it believed she had grown weary of, and instead have her friends returned and let her only experience eternal victory in battle forever.[16]

To the Guardian, the Witness initially offered freedom from their unending life in "enslavement" to the Traveler,[10] but later, believing they desired endless challenge, offered to make them into that which destroys all that can be destroyed, to make them a Disciple and be regarded as being above all other Guardians. It then offered to grant them an escape from their eternal cycle of battle for rewards and commendations, and instead promised all the vast riches the Guardian's strength was "owed". Finally, claiming that the Guardian's potential was being limited by the Vanguard leading them, the Witness offered to help them achieve the power they deserved, raising them up instead to stand alongside the Witness, apart from the Final Shape, as a god ruling over all of existence. Their Ghost, however, saw that the Witness was only making these offers because it was desperate and terrified of what the Guardian could do, and sought to prevent its own destruction.[12]

As Understood by the Disciples of the Witness[edit]

The Witness never revealed the full extent and nature of its vision of the Final Shape to its Disciples, and as a result each Disciple appears to have developed their own conception of what the Final Shape entailed. According to an unnamed and long-dead potential Disciple whose thoughts are recorded in the Inspiral Lore book entry "The Cave," Nezarec believed the Final Shape to involve becoming one with all of existence, whereas Rhulk believed it to be a universe free of disparity and differentiation, and Savathûn and her Hive believed it to be a universe in which the Sword Logic was triumphant. An unnamed potential Disciple subsequently concluded that none of the Witness' followers could fully grasp the true nature of the Final Shape, and that the Witness was allowing each of its Disciples and other servants to act according to a greater plan that would ultimately realize all of their seemingly disparate visions of the Final Shape.[17]

After receiving a vision of the Final Shape from the Witness, Calus concluded that it represented the end of all things, and resolved to be the last being standing as the rest of the universe was consumed.[citation needed]

As Understood by the Worms and Hive[edit]

"If a civilization cannot defend itself, it must be annihilated. If a King cannot hold his power, he must be betrayed. The worth of a thing can be determined only by one beautiful arbiter — that thing’s ability to exist, to go on existing, to remake existence to suit its survival."
— Yul, the Honest Worm[18]

The Worms received their understanding of the Sword Logic from the Witness and later passed on their conception of the Final Shape to the Hive. According to the Worms, the Final Shape is what remains when everything that can possibly be destroyed has been destroyed, leaving only that which has proven its ability to defeat all obstacles to its continued existence. Oryx, the Taken King described the Final Shape as "a fire without fuel, burning forever, killing death, asking a question that is its own answer, entirely itself".[19]

The Witness itself stated that the Hive had misunderstood its vision of the Final Shape, becoming too fixated on the idea of destroying all "unnecessary" entities in the universe and extrapolating the Final Shape to be a single being or entity which had destroyed all other things in the cosmos. In contrast, the Witness' Final Shape entailed the creation of a simplified, "perfected" version of reality in which all sentient beings would continue to exist, albeit in a frozen, timeless form.[citation needed]

Having extensively studied the Hive and their beliefs, Toland, the Shattered seems to have come to a similar conclusion as the Hive regarding the nature of the Final Shape. In his writings, Toland describes the universe as being ruled by conquest and domination even at its most fundamental level, and claims that the universe will inevitably come to be ruled by those which have defeated all opposition to their rule, eventually achieving a level of absolute dominance such that nothing can exist except by their consent[20].

The Winnower's Final Shape[edit]

As described in Unveiling, the Winnower promotes a philosophy of might-makes-right and "survival of the fittest," claiming that only those things which must exist should exist and that any entity which cannot defend its own existence is morally equivalent to that which has never existed in the first place. As a result, it encourages its followers and those that have read Unveiling to destroy their enemies, reject the ideals of peace and cooperation, and pursue ever-greater power, so that they might eventually become the Final Shape.[citation needed]

The Vex's Final Shape[edit]

As described in Unveiling, the Vex are the descendants of the "Final Shape" that repeatedly arose in the state which preceded the universe, referred to as the "flower game". In their current incarnation, they seek to become the Final Shape once more by weaving themselves into reality at its most fundamental level, thus becoming the only entities in existence - a goal described as the "pattern" by Praedyth[21] and the "convergence" by Osiris.[22]

Trivia[edit]

  • While it was never confirmed, the Vex's predicted future following the destruction of the Undying Mind revealed a simulation of a monolith situated above the Last City, which may have been the Vex's attempt to simulate the Witness' successful realization of its Final Shape. [23]

List of appearances[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Bungie (2024/6/4), Destiny 2: The Final Shape - The Rubicon: Acheron I
  2. ^ a b YouTube - Destiny 2: Season of the Deep - The Witness's Origins Cinematic
  3. ^ Entelechy, 6-11
  4. ^ Entelechy, 32-35
  5. ^ Bungie (2024/6/4), Destiny 2: The Final Shape - The Rubicon: Phlegethon II
  6. ^ Bungie (2024/6/4), Destiny 2: The Final Shape - Item Description: Turmoil Engine
  7. ^ a b c Bungie (2024/6/4), Destiny 2: The Final Shape - Transmigration
  8. ^ a b Bungie (2024/6/4), Destiny 2: The Final Shape - Dissent
  9. ^ a b Bungie (2024/6/4), Destiny 2: The Final Shape - Exegesis - Ghost: "That's why the Witness is here. It wants to weaponize the Traveler and transform the universe into a fixed state based on what it believes we deserve. The Witness thinks "purpose" is a static idea. Its promised salvation is a perfect ending it chooses for us. That sounds more like obsession to me."
  10. ^ a b c Bungie (2024/6/4), Destiny 2: The Final Shape - Temptation
  11. ^ a b c Bungie (2024/6/4), Destiny 2: The Final Shape - Exegesis
  12. ^ a b Bungie (2024/6/4), Destiny 2: The Final Shape - Iconoclasm
  13. ^ Bungie (2024/6/4), Destiny 2: The Final Shape - Item Description: Promised Reign Cloak
  14. ^ Bungie (2024/6/4), Destiny 2: The Final Shape - Requiem
  15. ^ Destiny 2: The Final Shape - Item Description: Promised Reunion Mark
  16. ^ Bungie (2024/6/4), Destiny 2: The Final Shape - Item Description: Promised Victory Bond
  17. ^ (2023/3/10), Destiny 2: Lightfall - Inspiral: The Cave
  18. ^ Bungie (2015/9/15), Destiny: The Taken King - Books of Sorrow: XVII: The Weakness Verse
  19. ^ Bungie (2015/9/15), Destiny: The Taken King - Books of Sorrow: XXIII: fire without fuel
  20. ^ Bungie (2014/9/9), Destiny - Darkness: Ghost Fragment: Darkness 3
  21. ^ Bungie (2015/9/15), Destiny: The Taken King - Praedyth: "They think this is the end of them: A path with no escape. And yet, here they are, there they were, and there they will be... and there they will have been. (pauses) For them, there is no paradox. There is only the pattern. And the pattern needs the Vex to see it to completion. And so the Vex must be. For the mind of the Vex... is that faith?"
  22. ^ Bungie (2017/12/5), Destiny 2: Curse of Osiris - Item Description: Kairos Function Suit
  23. ^ Bungie (2019/12/4), Weblore:Season of Dawn - Actions of Mutual Friends
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