The Witness

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“

We know pain. Our purpose… is its end.

”

Main

The Witness
Biographical information
Other name(s):	The Entity The Voice in the Darkness The Black Edge My Witness (Its Disciples) The First Knife
Eye color:	Black
Political and military information
Affiliation:	The Black Fleet The Dread
Notable info:	Billions of minds collectively merged in Darkness into a singular paracausal entity Commanded the Black Fleet Sought the Final Shape in the form of all reality being converted to a simplified, orderly, timeless state Pursued the Traveler and gained entry into its Pale Heart by linking with the Veil Attempted to subvert the Guardians and other beings uplifted by the Traveler to its cause Responsible for the destruction of countless civilizations uplifted by the Traveler

Icon

The Witness
Biographical information
Rank:	Ultra
Combat information
Mission:	Iconoclasm
Abilities:	Witness's Shatter Resonant Whirlwind Cast Out Summon Dread Teleportation Immunity

Edge

The Witness
Biographical information
Rank:	Ultra
Combat information
Mission:	Salvation's Edge Excision
Abilities:	The Final Shape Wrathful Disarray Resonant Gaze Resonant Seekers Resonant Outburst Resonant Miasma Degenerate Enmity Primordial Enmity Somatic Retribution Stelliferous Enmity Summon Scorn Summon Dread Summon Cabal (Excision) Summon Vex (Excision) Summon Resonant Splinters Witness's Test Pyramidal Resonance Unstable Resonance Triangular Resonance Spherical Resonance Hexahedron Resonance Immunity Immunity Shield (Excision) Unending Darkness (Excision)

The Witness, also known as the Entity, the Voice in the Darkness, was an immensely powerful Darkness-wielding being who commanded the Black Fleet.

Originating from the first known civilization uplifted by the Traveler, the Witness was the product of an entire species having merged into one entity using their mastery of the Darkness, their minds bound together into a single gestalt consciousness. It spent eons chasing the Traveler as part of its pursuit to impose "salvation" upon all reality through its vision of the Final Shape; along the way, it was responsible for the destruction of countless civilizations across the universe, either by its own hand or through the actions of its Disciples, its Dread army, and other servants such as the Hive, the Taken and the Scorn. It is the overarching main antagonist of the first saga in the Destiny franchise.

Following its entry into the Pale Heart, the Witness would be pursued by the Coalition, and was wounded by the Guardian when they destroyed several veiled statues that contained the minds of dissenters that had been sequestered from its collective. The Witness managed to repel their efforts, however, and returned to its monolith to begin enacting its Final Shape after strengthening its grasp on the Light of the Traveler. This would be thwarted by a raid fireteam that breached the monolith and severed its hold on the Traveler's Light, forcing the Witness to flee.

After retreating from the monolith, the Witness was finally destroyed by the Guardian in a massive counterattack mounted by the Coalition, ending its eons-long quest to enact the Final Shape, avenging humanity and the countless civilizations victimized in its ancient war against the Traveler.

Biography

The Ancient Past

"I stand before a being with a thousand names. It whispers one: The Witness. Remember it. Remember that name."

— Savathûn, the Witch Queen

The Witness' precursors

The Witness' origins lie with an ancient humanoid species that lived billions of years ago on a desolate world. This species discovered the Traveler on their homeworld half-buried in the ground, where it had seemingly been laying inert for an unknown span of time. Upon discovery, the Traveler activated and transformed their planet into a paradise. With the the Traveler's aid, the species developed a massive spacefaring civilization, and in the process they learned to harness the Traveler's gifts, even using them to create entire worlds. The species worshipped the Traveler as a deity, calling it "the Gardener".

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, their 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 some among their own species had abused the Light, such as the Swarm, who erroneously used the Traveler's 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 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.

Over time, the civilization's governing body, the Consensus, was plagued by tensions between different ideological parties struggling with their own interpretations of the Final Shape. The main parties were the Solipsists, who maintained that the self was the only meaningful "final shape" in this reality and that of all other realities; the Nihilists, who were labeled as "self-flagellating pessimists" that believed the Final Shape would be brought about by their own destruction; and the Penitent, the most radical group, which sought to rid the universe of all suffering by any means necessary, and who believed that any who did not act to do so were complicit in its perpetual cycle.

At some point, the species discovered that the Traveler had a counterpart entity, located in a distant star system. They named this entity the Veil, and through studying it, they understood it was the source of a new power, one linked to the mind and consciousness rather than the physical world: the Darkness. In studying the Darkness, they discovered that it could provide the means to guide the universe into a perfected, eternal form, a "Final Shape" that would last to the end of time and beyond. In this, they found the purpose they had sought for so long.

To achieve this goal, the civilization determined that they needed to bring the Traveler and the Veil into close proximity, which would strengthen the two entities' connection and allow the species to use their combined Light and Darkness to reshape reality itself. However, the Traveler was evidently unwilling to allow this outcome, and when the species brought the Veil back to their homeworld it responded by leaving the planet and fleeing into the distant reaches of space.

Unwilling to abandon their quest, and infuriated by the Traveler's denial, 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 entire species' collective consciousnesses together, resulting in the creation of an unfathomably powerful paracausal entity: The Witness. 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. Another vision shown to Zavala by the Witness itself showed a different ritual involving numerous members of the precursor species standing and chanting in a circle, wearing cloth veils and emitting smoke-like vapor from their heads; this smoke collected into a massive orb in the center of the circle, and as the participants' consciousnesses left their bodies to merge into the collective, their lifeless bodies fell to the ground.

Having become one with the Darkness and commanding a paracausal armada of pyramidal ships, the Witness left its world behind and began a crusade to locate the Traveler and link it with the Veil, and in doing so bring about the Final Shape.

The Witness encountered other spacefaring races early in its journey, eventually meeting the species known as the Eurhythmia, who warmly welcomed it into their midst. Upon discovering that the Eurhythmia had been blessed by the Traveler (something the Witness had thought was unique to its species) and that the Traveler remained in their solar system, the Witness flew into a rage that destroyed the Eurhythmia and forced the Traveler to flee once again. At this point, at least one of the Witness' component minds became horrified at what they had become a part of and became a Dissenter.

The Recruitment of a Disciple

"—-Love for them made you weak. Power over them made you strong. Upon reflection, you are filled with regret. Believing yourself to be under the spell of the Regime. Believing your actions in their tenure to be wrong. But morality, oh dear Rhulk, is subjective. And now that you are all that remains of Lubrae, isn't it time you made the rules? Isn't it time you looked back upon your life with pride? After all, your actions brought you to us. And only we can help you emerge from your cocoon.—-

"We…? What even are you?"

—-We are your salvation. We are your judgment. And soon we will be… your Witness.—-"

— The Witness and Rhulk.

Billions of years ago, the Witness visited a dying world called Lubrae, which had degenerated into a military dictatorship after the Traveler had blessed and left their civilization. There, it encountered a warrior named Rhulk, who had fallen into a chasm after being betrayed by his family and clan. The Witness healed Rhulk's injuries, gifted him a remade and empowered version of his Glaive, and told him that his destiny was to bring ruin to Lubrae. Rhulk went on to massacre the people of the city above the chasm, and eventually destroyed his entire planet by using the Upended to destroy Lubrae's Sapphiric Sun. As Rhulk fell into the chasm again, the Witness saved him again by bringing him aboard its Pyramid. There, it converted Rhulk to worship of the Darkness by showing how, from the perspective of the Darkness, the lives that had been lost on Lubrae were never worth anything to begin with, and that he had proven his worth by destroying them and surviving the extinction of his species by his own hand. This caused Rhulk to swear himself to the Witness as one of its Disciples.

Subjugation of the Worms

"You desire life. My Witness desires your power. A trade is in the stars: your servitude for their lives."

— Rhulk's offer to Xita.

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. To that end, Rhulk offered 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. Despite his earlier claims, however, it is later revealed that Rhulk only subjugated the worms out of his own desire to be recognized as an equal by the Witness; a sentiment that his master swiftly rejected after constantly stepping out of line.

The Witness would also discretely introduce the concept of winnowing to the progenitor race of Worms on the gas giant of Fundament, offering a 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.

The Birth of the Hive

"These frail siblings will soon be claimed by the Light... Unless we claim them first. We will tell the most cunning sibling of cataclysm. A prophecy... of a great loss."

— The Witness observing the Krill.

Desiring a host race for the subjugated Worms, the Witness and Rhulk both play key roles in the ascension of the Hive on Fundament, the latter creating parasitic larvae from Xita's body and distributed them across the oceans to reach the Krill of the Osmium Kingdom. Eventually a dead white worm became the familiar of the Osmium King himself, the Witness fed through the worm whispers of an apocalyptic syzygy brought on by an unknown moon to the King. The king's mind proved too feeble to its whispers due to his age and senility, gradually driving him to madness in fear of the Traveler. His demented paranoia would escalate upon the actual sighting of the Traveler itself, which had reached a point that Taox and the other Krill conspired against his family for the sake of their kingdom. Taox brought the Helium Drinkers to invade the Osmium Court and usurp the throne, killing the king and leaving his three surviving heirs to flee for their lives. The Witness and Rhulk both watched the Traveler's movements as carnage unfolded from afar; the former having scouted the trio as potential candidates to be claimed by the Light. Instead, the Witness desired to claim the three and their young, unsullied minds to hear their whispers. By telepathically communicating with the young Sathona via her father's Worm familiar, it guided the three daughters into seeking out the remaining Worm Gods and became reborn as the first Hive; exacting their revenge upon the Helium Drinkers and becoming sworn servants to the Sword Logic itself.

Sometime after the Witness created the Hive, the Darkness-wielding Ecumene and Qugu were rendered extinct by them. Their use of the Darkness is not reported in the Books of Sorrow, suggesting that either Oryx or the Witness itself excised this fact, presumably due to its seeming contradiction with the Witness' ideology.

The Noesis

At an unknown point in its pursuit of the Traveler, the Witness encountered and destroyed the civilization known as the Noesis. According to a record left behind by the last surviving member of the species, the Witness appeared to have been less aggressive and violent in its treatment of the Noesis, which the Eliksni Scribe Eido of the House of Light speculated may have been due to the Noesis having never been visited by the Traveler.

The Collapse

The Witness had a direct role in the Collapse, alongside its Disciples and Savathûn. According to Savathûn's Worm, the Witness intended to destroy the Traveler but was somehow tricked by Savathûn into sparing it instead. As a result of this deception, humanity survived while the Witness and its Black Fleet were driven back to intergalactic space, where they would remain for centuries before the Traveler revealed its continued existence at the end of the Red War.

Meeting with Calus

"We have come upon the end of the world, and I've stared into its expanse. It has whispered into my ear, and I am enlightened. Death is coming, and It has made me Its herald. The end will eat everything."

— Calus to his Loyalists

During his exile aboard the Leviathan, the deposed Cabal Emperor Calus and his Loyalists encountered an anomalous void in deep space, described as a total absence of "light, dark, life, death (...) anything, even of absence itself". Donning a pressure gel suit, Calus went out to the exterior of the Leviathan to inspect his surroundings. He received a vision from the void, showing a fleet of unknown ships and a coming cataclysm that would annihilate all life in the universe. The void then told Calus that he would be its herald, to spread the news of the coming end.

Shadowkeep

"You made it…we have heard your cries for help. And soon, we will answer."

"Who are you?"

"Don't you recognize us? We are not your friend. We are not your enemy. We are your… salvation. "

— The Witness and The Guardian

When Eris Morn awakened the Pyramid beneath the Moon, the Darkness emanating from it reached out to the Guardian investigating her whereabouts and began to invade their Ghost. 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 statue at the center of the Pyramid, they are offered the Unknown Artifact as "respite", granting them a vision of the Black Garden. There, 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".

Season of Arrivals

Rasputin shuts down.

"You bring weapons. You will not need them. We offer only truth."

— The Witness

Several days after the Almighty's destruction, the Witness would assert its fleet of mysterious Pyramid Ships and push into the solar system, with one ship accompanied by Pyramid Scales going to Io. Detecting the oncoming threat, Rasputin uses his Warsat network around the moon of Jupiter to shoot down the vessel. Sadly, his countermeasures have no effect, and the Pyramid responds by completely disabling the Warmind and his systems, leaving the Guardians to fend for themselves.

The Pyramids would be drawn to Io as it is the last place to be touched by the Traveler and station itself over a strange tree that has grown in the center of the collection of raised rocks. Both Eris Morn and the Young Wolf are also attracted to the moon, with Eris arriving in an attempt to commune with the Pyramids once again and the Young Wolf being sent by Commander Zavala to retrieve the lightless Hunter.

A Pyramid stationed on Mercury

Upon arrival, the Guardian is drawn to a small disturbance on the edge of the cliff overlooking the largest of the Pyramids, where they are once again ensnared by the vessel, with the Witness communicating through their Ghost. However, before the Witness could do anything else, they would be saved by an intervention from Savathûn who transports them to the Ascendant Realm where they are forced to fight both Taken and Hive. They fight the Witch Queen's forces back and forth through realities until Eris brings them to the Tree of Silver Wings directly under the Pyramid. Here, after another battle with the Taken, the Guardian retrieves an artifact called the Seed of Silver Wings that, once charged, will allow Eris to listen to the Witness' messages without the Witch Queen's interference.

Soon, the Pyramid ships would spread further beyond Io, with three more ships now near the New Pacific Arcology on Titan, near the BrayTech Futurescape on Mars and above the Caloris Basin on Mercury. Pyramids also began rapidly deploying Pyramid Scales, which began infecting the environments with Darkness. In response, Zavala had deployed the Young Wolf to their allies on the four planets and moons with the presence of the Pyramids to begin preparations for a mass exodus and retreat to the Last City. However, after completing a series of tasks, Commander Sloane, Brother Vance, and Asher Mir chose to stay, with Ana Bray being the only V.I.P. to return to the City, but not after saving what remained of Rasputin with the help of the Young Wolf.

In the following weeks, Guardians were pulled into the Ascendant Realm, reminiscent of the Court of Oryx on the Dreadnaught, this time encountering Nokris, Supplicant to Savathûn, Savathun's supplicant. Upon defeating him, the Witness was able to begin cleanly communicating, while forcibly transporting the Guardians aboard a room within the Io Pyramid, telling Guardians there is an ancient power deep beneath the surface of Europa and that it must be embraced, displaying statues of each race approaching a central Pyramid, with a lone shadow lingering over the Fallen.

Almost half a year after the Pyramids returned, the worlds of Mercury, Mars, Io, and Titan had all disappeared from the system, hidden by the Witness. The status of the rest of the Pyramid Fleet was unknown, but it was presumed that they were holding position along the outer reaches of the system after being driven back by the Traveler healing itself.

Beyond Light

"We beckoned. You answered. We've kept you waiting long enough. Come to us; salvation awaits."

— The Witness

During Beyond Light, the Guardian follows the guidance of the Witness and travels to Europa. Here, they acquire the power of Stasis. Alongside empowering the Guardian, the Witness also appears to be working up an army of Fallen, by tempting Eramis and her followers into embracing Stasis so that they can destroy the Traveler. However, Eramis appears to fall short of the Witness' expectations, with her becoming encased in Stasis after failing to defeat the Guardian.

It is revealed that Clovis Bray I had been in contact with the Witness in some form during the Golden Age. After discovering artifact on Luna, he was guided to come to Europa by it, disguising his mission as simple corporate research and exploration. Under the influence of what he came to call "Clarity", he had a Vex gate built using a stolen Vex unit belonging to the Ishtar Collective. Using this gate, he was able to travel to a blue giant star system, which the Vex appeared to have under control. Kidnapping more Vex units from this system, he experimented with the radiolarian fluid inside the Vex, exposing it to the statue he had discovered on Europa, leading to revolutions in Exo production.

Ultimately, the Vex would invade Europa through the constructed gate and begin wiping out all life they could find, as well as begin transforming the moon into another Machine World. Clovis Bray's fledgling colony would be destroyed in an all-out war against the invading machines, eventually leading to its abandonment. Whether this was a test by the Witness to see if Clovis Bray had what it took to be a Disciple or not is currently unknown, though going by what is known about the Witness and how it selects for Disciples, it seems likely.

Season of the Chosen

As the object of Calus' nihilistic fascinations, the Witness was contacted again by the exiled former Emperor. Calus felt like the Witness' actions did not meet up to his expectations, and sought an audience with it to receive an explanation. Utilizing the Scorn and the Crown of Sorrow, Calus focused their minds to allow conversation with the Witness. This led to the disappearance of Calus, as he was whisked away during a communion, leaving behind his Loyalists to die at the hands of rampaging Scorn and an Egregore infestation.

Season of the Lost

Though not making any direct appearances or communications itself, it is apparent that the Witness has declared the capture of Savathûn to be an imperative, transferring ownership of the Taken from the Witch Queen to her sister, Xivu Arath, God of War.

The Witch Queen

"We have seen enough. The children of Sol cry out for salvation. 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.
Do not be afraid. Your pale heart holds the key.
This time... There is no escape."

— The Witness to the Traveler

Mars would later return under mysterious circumstances, but with regions of its surface having been temporally displaced, displaying what appears to be the Golden Age. It is claimed by Savathûn, after her revival as a Lightbearer, that she used the Witness' power to take worlds to bring Mars back from its anomalous state.

As told by her during the Parasitic Pilgrimage mission, the Awoken Queen Mara Sov encountered the Witness beyond the heliopause of the Sol system. There, it showed her a vision of the impending future upon its arrival and subsequently offered the Awoken Queen the opportunity to become one of its Disciples. The Queen refused and fought the Witness and its armies throughout the ascendant plane before returning to the Dreaming City.

After Savathûn was reborn in the Light, only to have her plan to steal the Traveler thwarted by the Guardians, the Witness addressed the Traveler, declaring that it had "seen enough" and would take action to "save" the denizens of Sol.

Season of the Haunted

Within the events of the Leviathan's return, it becomes clear that Calus had been selected as a Disciple in all but name. The Witness has encouraged Calus further in understanding the goal of the "final shape", and appears to have directed him to join his consciousness with the Pyramid upon Earth's moon. Though he is stopped from completing this action, it is made clear to all involved that the Witness is seriously returning, taking steps to cement its position in a coming war.

Season of Plunder and the Seraph

"Why? Why does it not flee?”
”Because it has nowhere else to run."

— The Witness and Eramis

Following Calus becoming its latest Disciple, the Witness released Eramis from her Stasis prison. Whispering to the Fallen Kell, the Witness demanded Eramis gather relics of Darkness that were lost during the Dark Ages or be lost to oblivion in her frozen prison. Bitter, enraged, and casting aside her original calls for Eliksni unity, Eramis agreed, was set free, and began searching for the relics by rallying the Old Crews. In truth, the relics Eramis sought contained pieces of one of The Witness's Disciples, Nezarec, whose body was left calcified and rotting within the Lunar Pyramid before the first Fallen crews arrived in the Sol System.

Ultimately, despite Eramis's best efforts, the Shipstealer failed to gather the relics as tasked before the Guardians could. As punishment for the one-time Kell of Darkness' failure, The Witness allowed Xivu Arath to corrupt the majority of her House of Salvation into the War God's Wrathborn and raised those who personally served under Eramis as Scorn to aid Xivu Arath in her efforts to prepare the system for The Witness's arrival.

Yet, The Witness would gain a mixed victory through the efforts of Eramis and the Wrathborn. Though Eramis managed to gain access to the Warsat network, even personally encouraging her to let the Traveler feel her pain, the Witness failed to subdue the Traveler thanks to Rasputin's sacrifice. During these moments, the Traveler looked as if it were leaving Earth. However, instead of fleeing, it hung in Earth's lower orbit. Eramis, incredulous that the Traveler wasn't abandoning humanity as it had done to the Eliksni, asked why it was doing so. The Witness responded, stating that it simply had no place left to run to. The Witness and its Pyramid fleet, along with a vessel containing its latest Disciple, Calus, had arrived in the Sol System, passing Jupiter.

Lightfall

"The universe makes us all victim, and perpetrator, of its infinite cruelty. You, more than any, suffer both fates. Be free."

— The Witness to the Traveler

As the Black Fleet moved on the Traveler, the Vanguard attempted to engage the Pyramids and Calus' Shadow Legion vessels. In response, the Witness commanded several Pyramids to eject a pulse of Resonant energy, obliterating several Vanguard ships. Immediately after this, the Traveler responded by emitting a beam of Light, which struck the Witness' personal Pyramid, Essence, and ruptured its outer hull while causing paracausal flora to bloom over its surface. Despite standing directly within the beam, the Witness was utterly unaffected and left the confines of its ship to move through the beam toward the Traveler. As Shayura, Aisha, and Reed-7 attempted to intercept it, the Witness responded with a gesture that reduced the approaching ships and Reed specifically to neatly sliced segments.

As the Witness moved closer to the Traveler, eight Pyramids took up formation around the Traveler and emitted a concerted pulse of Resonance, shutting down the firing of the paracausal beam, damaging the H.E.L.M and destroying more Vanguard ships in orbit. Upon finishing its approach, the Witness reached out to the Traveler and was granted a vision of the Sol system which revealed the location of the Veil. The Witness then commanded Calus to travel to Neptune to claim the artifact.

Throughout the conflict between Calus and the Guardian, the Witness requests progress reports from its Disciple, appearing to Calus in what appears to be visions of shattered glass. Its frustration increases as Calus makes excuses with each report, as the Guardian continues to frustrate efforts to claim the Veil. Upon Calus himself boiling over with annoyance at the Witness' appraisal of him as a failure, the Witness snaps and shows its wrath, towering over Calus and causing blood to seep from beneath his helmet. However, this is revealed to occur within a daydream of Calus, showing the Witness has full dominion over even the private thoughts of its minions.

However, it appears that sending Calus to secure the Veil may have been a ruse. Upon the defeat of Calus in the chamber containing the Veil, the Witness remotely possessed the Guardian's Ghost, using it as a medium to create a link between the Veil and the Traveler. The Guardian's presence at the Veil may have been intended all along, as previously the Ghost had been possessed by the Witness and projected an image of Calus giving a progress report to the Witness, divulging the objectives of the Shadow Legion on Neptune to the Guardian. Such information would spur them on to confront Calus in the end.

With the link created between the Veil and the Traveler, the Witness was able to create a triangular incision upon the Traveler's surface, creating a triangular portal in front of the incision. The Pyramid ships surrounding the Traveler were then pulled into this portal, with the Witness following shortly afterwards. With this action, the Traveler appears to be completely inert, Ghosts unable to feel its presence, and no instruments or devices owned by the Coalition forces have been able to penetrate the portal successfully.

Defiance Continues

"You're still trying to get through the Witness's portal, eh? That ain't a door you can just kick open."

— Immaru to the Guardian

The Witness would later become aware of the Coalition's continued resistance, their efforts to pass through the portal and their recent incursions on Titan after the moon had returned, where they made contact with the renegade Worm Ahsa, who knew of the Witness's origins. Xivu Arath attempted to halt their efforts but to the Witness's displeasure, not only did the Guardian learn of its origins and its intentions, but also identified one who might know how to pass through the portal: the Witch Queen herself. Making contact with Xivu Arath upon the Dreadnaught, The Witness made its disappointment known to the Hive God of War, informing her that they must now make preparations should the Guardians decide to allow Savathûn to be revived.

Unfortunately for the Witness, the Vanguard reluctantly agreed to revive Savathûn under a bargain made with her Ghost Immaru to deal with Xivu Arath first. This would ultimately end with the Witness losing its best general as Eris Morn weaved a powerful Hive spell that banished Xivu Arath from her own throne world, rendering her mortal and out of commission. Savathûn would then give the Coalition the answer they needed to pursue the Witness in the form of The 15th Wish, which could only be granted by Riven. Realizing this, the Witness called upon the Vex of the Sol Divisive to stop the Coalition's efforts to follow it at all costs. However, although the Ahamkara Spirit made things difficult with a bargain of her own, the Guardian persevered through the challenges and completed Riven's bargain. The Sol Divisive made one last attempt to stop this by creating a second Black Heart to weaken the Veil. But, it would ultimately be for nothing as the Guardian infiltrated the Black Garden and destroyed the Heart again.

The Final Shape

"You live without purpose. Anguish. Bliss. A meaningless cycle... of action and reaction. Let us bring an end... to your futile exertions. A final shape is coming. Chaos untangled... made knowable... with immaculate intent. Let us know you... and be reborn into perfection."

— The Witness speaking to humanity as it finalizes earth

With the Witness almost fully in control of the Pale Heart, it would begin to enact its Final Shape. For a moment, it briefly achieved this on Earth, but the Traveler would repeatedly fight back against its efforts and undo its work, stalling for time for the Coalition to interfere and stop the Witness. Mara Sov could sense that the Witness was getting closer to its end goal, prompting the Vanguard to initiate "Operation Ahamkara." As Zavala, Ikora, and The Guardian took their ships and began to cross the Threshold, the Witness took notice of this and attempted to sever Mara's connection. While it was successful in doing so, the Awoken Queen held the connection long enough for the Guardian and The Vanguard to make it across. After every member arrived within the Pale Heart, The Witness repeatedly attempted to sway each of the forces against it to its side. Starting with Crow, it offered him the Awoken throne and to erase his troubled past. To be adored and trusted by everyone, it even offered to bring his sunrise back for him. But despite all these temptations, Crow rejected its offer. During the Guardian's journey to find Crow, The Witness used its powers to once again take possession of the Guardian's Ghost and attempted to destroy him. This time, however, Ghost was able to resist and fight off its influence, although doing so severely damaged his shell. The Witness, then tried to tempt Ikora, by offering her an eternal moment of neverending victory. But the Warlock Vanguard also refused its offer. The Witness then turned its attention towards Zavala and tormented him with memories of his past, offering an eternity of peace with his Wife and Son, but Zavala's Ghost, Targe stood up for his Guardian and told it that Zavala said no. However, as the Commander said his final goodbyes to a statue of Safiyah, a dissenter within the Witness called out to Zavala for help. Later on, the Guardian was sent to clear a path to The Witness, where they would encounter a memory from its past; a small town built from the civilization that made up the Witness. There, another dissenter spoke with the Guardian through a Veiled Statue, asking them to "Give themselves to Darkness", giving Zavala a reckless idea. After the Guardian slayed Kataxiia, the Tormentor guarding the pass, Zavala was willing to heed the dissenter's words and give himself over to darkness for a chance to find the Witness's weakness. He left the camp and Targe behind as the commander made his way towards a monument where he could commune with darkness. As the Guardian and Targe searched for Zavala, Targe spoke with more of the Veiled Statues. The Dissenters within them warned the duo that the Witness would absorb Zavala into its collective without Targe's help, while also trying to convince them to give themselves over to darkness as well. But the Guardian, Crow, Cayde, Ikora and Targe were too late as they arrived in time to watch Zavala step through the monument to commune with darkness. During this time, the Witness spoke with Zavala in a vision of its origins, trying to sway him to join its collective. But as the Witness relayed its origins to Zavala, a dissenter within the collective whispered in secret, telling Zavala "What was made can be unmade" and to go to "The place where they destroyed themselves". At that moment, the Witness manifested itself before Zavala and tried to take him into its collective. However, Targe suddenly appeared out of nowhere, putting himself before his Guardian. He stated that he saw the Witness for what it truly was, afraid. Angered by the Ghost's claims, the Witness snatched Targe in its hand and claimed that it was not afraid and that it had done away with fear altogether. But Targe remained defiant, prompting the Witness to crush and destroy him releasing a surge of light, saving Zavala and ending his communion with darkness. Though he was rendered lightless, Zavala's communion with the darkness gave the Vanguard the edge they needed to fight back against the Witness - by going to where the Witness was created and finding out how to unmake it.

Upon receiving this information, the strike team made their way to the location within the Pale Heart which was the memory of the place where the Witness was formed. During the trek there, the Witness turned its attention towards the Guardian and repeatedly tried to convince them to join with it by offering power, not by becoming a part of the Final Shape, but by becoming a Disciple. But the Guardian stayed stoic as ever with their Ghost mocking the Witness as he realized its true weakness was that it was scared of loss, of not being in control and of the Guardian's ability to use both light and darkness. Enraged by this, the Witness roared at the Guardian and their Ghost, telling the pair to go to where they wished to go, where it would destroy them. Upon arriving at the ritual sight where The Witness was made, It suddenly manifested itself and attacked the Guardian alongside two Subjugators, the Taken, and its Dread forces. However, after slaying one Subjugator at a time, The Traveler would gift the Guardian with a special Sword of light. The Guardian would heed the words of the Dissenters and give themselves to Darkness, allowing them to gain access to the Witness's collective consciousness. Inside, they saw the many beings of the Witness calcified into statues. At that moment, the dissenter's voices called out for the Guardian to destroy them. Using the sword, the Guardian obliged and successfully destroyed three of the statues, which in turn had a painful effect on the Witness, weakening and wounding it. After destroying the third statue, the Witness had enough and, in a fit of rage and terror, forcefully cut the Guardian out of its collective and sent a large force of its minions to destroy the weakened Guardian. But, they were able to barely escape its wrath with the help of Mara Sov, who successfully arrived within the Pale Heart and extracted them to the H.E.L.M.. Meanwhile, the Witness appeared before the Vanguard strike team and voiced its disappointment on how it had such hope that they would understand, but they instead chose entropy. Furious at their resistance, The Witness used its powers to briefly hold the H.E.L.M in place before changing into its true form, prompting the strike team to retreat. It shouted at the Vanguard, stating that they revelled in chaos and were not worthy of its salvation before chasing them down; its many arms bursting through reality trying to grab them. Luckily, Mara would successfully extract them before the Witness could catch them. Although the Witness did win the battle, the Coalition gained valuable information. They now knew how to fully destroy the Witness, and Mara brought the entirety of the Coalition's might with her, including Empress Caiatl's Imperial Cabal, Mithrax's House of Light and many more Guardians of humanity, including the Guardian Micah-10. Even Savathûn, the Witch Queen and her Lucent Brood arrived to assist (albeit for their own agendas). With the arrival of the Coalition's full might, they began rallying their forces together as they prepared for the final battle to come.

Downfall

"We—I—I don't understand."

— The Witness's final words.

As the Coalition prepared themselves for the final battle, the Witness would retreat to its Monolith to try and speed up and enact the Final Shape, but would once again be repeatedly stalled by the Traveler. After the Coalition finished preparing their forces, a team of six Guardians infiltrated and stormed the Monolith. The Witness, having taken its true gargantuan form, would once again try to convince the Guardians to join its side but to no avail. As the Guardians climbed the monolith, the Witness was forced to send its most powerful remaining forces to destroy them. However, the Guardians persevered through all of its challenges, which even included slaying the Witness's most powerful Taken champion, the Herald of Finality. Eventually, the fireteam would end up confronting The Witness at the top of the monolith. It would fight viciously, using everything in its power to both rend the Guardians apart and enact the Final Shape, but would fail yet again. The Witness would be wounded even further and its connection to the Traveler and its Light would be severed entirely, leaving the Final Shape incompletable and causing it to retreat to an unknown location within the Pale Heart to lick its wounds and regather its strength. The Coalition quickly tracked it down, bringing all their might upon the Witness and its forces, with twelve Guardians, including the Guardian themselves, fighting their way through to the Witness, as Savathûn and Mara Sov briefly worked together to block off any chances of it escaping again.

As the Guardians arrived at the Witness's location, It would desperately attempt to destroy its attackers, but with its connection to the Traveler severed, structural integrity falling apart, forces depleted and no way to truly destroy its attackers for good, its writhing merely delayed the inevitable. Harnessing the powers of both light and dark together, the Guardian and their allies entered into the Witness's collective consciousness again and began destroying more of the Statues holding its collective together. The Dissenters made their voices known to the Witness and begged the Guardians for freedom, not wanting to suffer anymore within its collective. The Witness repeatedly tried to cut the Guardians out of its collective numerous times but could do nothing to stop them from damaging it even further. In a last-ditch effort, it erected a powerful barrier to protect itself as it prepared for one final attack. At that moment, the Guardian's Ghost along with all the other Ghosts knew what to do. At their Ghost's request, the Guardians channeled the Traveler's Light through their Ghosts, each one firing a powerful beam of light at the barrier. The combined force of every beam was strong enough to shatter the barrier and rend the Witness apart, finally destroying it for good. In its final moments before diffusing entirely, it pondered how it could not understand why beings would not accept its salvation and find purpose in such chaos within the universe, unable to grasp such a thing. As it perished, the Witness used the singular pronoun 'I' instead of the plural 'We' for the first time.

Legacy

"To put it simply... in the wake of the Witness, a power vacuum has been created in the universe. Who knows what will try to fill it?"

— Crow

The Witness' death would send shockwaves throughout the system and beyond as many of its forces would scatter at the loss of their master, with the Scorn and Taken becoming directionless. In addition, the House of Salvation would turn upon itself with Eramis nowhere to be found, having finally abandoned the Witness's cause and left for Riis. Some, however, would continue to endeavor to fulfil the Final Shape in the Witness's stead, such as Xivu Arath, albeit to her own interpretations. Adding onto this, the Darkness within the Witness fused with the Traveler's Light upon its death, which led to the creation of several paracausal artifacts known as Echoes, which also contained the memories of the Witness's past victims. These Echoes would break off from the Traveler and travel through the solar system with each one landing in different locations, leading to the emergence of powerful new threats. As Crow would summarize, the Witness's death left a power vacuum, one that various forces are looking to fill. Though the Coalition celebrated the fall of their greatest enemy, the Guardians nonetheless knew that there was still a lot of work to be done.

Gameplay

Iconoclasm

The Witness serves as a dangerous obstacle in the final encounter of Iconoclasm to aid its two most powerful Subjugator warriors, Lenurae, Subjugator of Fluxion and Molak'al, Subjugator of the Traveler. While not the main target of the fight, It still should not be ignored as it can quickly tear the fireteam apart. The Witness begins the encounter by beginning a casting of The Witness' Shatter, a powerful projectile attack that can kill a Guardian in a single volley, but has a long cast time and is announced with the text "The Witness unleashes an attack!" This shatter attack has uncanny tracking abilities and is best survived by simply finding cover. The Witness attacks once every fifteen seconds.

After Its current active Subjugator (Lenurae being the first and Molak'al being the second) reaches half health, the Witness casts a damaging mist of Darkness. The fireteam must wisely use Darkness seeds to grant the "Shielded from Darkness" buff to protect from it for thirty seconds and use this time to grab The Aegis to bring down the Subjugator's shield. After the shield is brought down, the Witness will appear in the front middle of the arena and begin to cast Resonate Whirlwind, an arena-wide attack that guarantees death if one is not within the Aegis' shield, which can be kept up for as long as needed if one stays on the fracture of Light that appears near the entrance of the encounter.

After Lenurae dies and the Guardian wounds the Witness by killing a Dissenter, It will cast a permanent mist of Darkness, requiring on-the-fly plans and good management of the Darkness seeds as they take nearly two minutes to respawn while the buff only lasts thirty seconds and there are only five seeds. The Witness' attack does not change. The same strategy to avoid it can be used, just with the extra caution of wasting time on the 'Shielded From Darkness' buff.

Salvation's Edge

For more info, see Salvation's Edge#The Witness.

Excision

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Personality and Traits

"Despair. Doubt. Sentimentality. Weakness.
We are above such… aberrations.
We are the Witness. We are the first knife who cuts free the final shape. We have found the only answer to the only question. We are all that we were, are, and will ever be. We alone understand the meaning of eternity."

— The Witness

The Witness was a tall, pale-skinned humanoid being. Most of its features were obscured by its metallic robe-like clothing, which constantly rippled and shifted seemingly of its own accord. Its long black cloak emanated Resonance, similar to many other artifacts of the Black Fleet. Among its most notable features was a column of white "smoke" that continually billowed from the top of its head, which formed a multitude of humanoid faces as it spread and dissipated. Its true face was partially concealed, but it could be seen to have large, dark eyes and a rectangular pattern of grey lines on its brow and forehead. At times the Witness left a series of "afterimages" of itself while in motion; for example, when moving its arms, multiple ghostly silhouettes of its arms would repeat the gesture after a delay.

The Witness nearly always referred to itself in the plural, in keeping with its status as a being with a gestalt or collective consciousness.

The Witness appeared to possess a very calm and stoic personality, rarely expressing any perceptible emotion even in the face of setbacks to its plans. It spoke in a flattering, almost mentor-like tone when speaking directly to the Guardians or its Disciples. However, according to Mara Sov, beneath its seemingly emotionless facade, the Witness harbored a constant, burning rage that its Disciples and other followers all feared incurring. Savathûn, herself a god who had the power of the Light and resurrection, would rather have sequestered the Traveler and herself than attempt to confront the Witness directly. Eramis, once freed from her Stasis cocoon, was explicitly motivated by fear of what the Witness would do to her and her House after failing to gather the pieces of Nezarec and failing to activate ABHORRENT IMPERATIVE. The Witness would follow through on punishing Eramis by allowing her House and followers to be absorbed into Xivu Arath's Wrathborn, leaving the Kell to silently wallow in misery as her people deteriorate under The Witness. Rhulk, although much more subtle about it, was quick to beg the Witness for forgiveness upon his final defeat. Calus, normally unflappable and full of braggadocio, was quickly cowed by the wrath of the Witness, who loomed large over Calus in anger at his commentary.

The Witness was also extremely hostile towards the usage of the Darkness for any purpose outside of its control; civilizations such as the Noesis, the Ecumene and the Qugu had previously used the Darkness for peaceful purposes but were ultimately driven extinct and were expunged from history either by the Witness or its pawns. It also held 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 of suffering and chaos.

The Witness was shown to be a very pragmatic entity, willing to make use of any resources at its disposal to achieve its goals. When it detected that the Traveler was planning to uplift the Krill on Fundament, it saw an opportunity to use them to its advantage and whispered a lie to Sathona through her Worm familiar that led her and her siblings to discover the Worm Gods and eventually become the Hive. It also seemingly freed Eramis from her Stasis prison after her defeat at the hands of the Guardian to make use of her talents in plundering artifacts, and later on, her skills upon infiltrating bases and hijacking other species technology. At the end of Lightfall, the Witness possessed the Guardian's Ghost to form a link between the Veil and the Traveler after Calus failed to acquire it himself yet provided a large enough distraction for it to complete the deed itself.

Another example of the Witness' pragmatism can be seen in the way it withheld the full nature and extent of its plans for the Final Shape from its own Disciples, instead allowing each of them to develop their own conceptions of the Final Shape and derive their own purpose and motivation from them. An unnamed and long-dead Disciple once bemoaned this seeming tolerance for ignorance and misunderstanding, before coming to the conclusion that all of the Disciples' disparate visions of the Final Shape would be realized when the Witness achieved its goal. As a standard, the Witness appears to have explained to most of its Disciples and minions that there is meaning to be had in paring down the Universe to only the strongest, and that some form of relief or salvation awaits at the end of this process. Although the narrator is not explicitly identified, the entry "Meaning" from the Lore Book Inspiral may shed further light on this approach, as it contains an allegorical story conveying the lesson that "[it is] easier to accept the guidance of a stranger when the path ahead is unknown". Another, simpler reason for the Witness' refusal to reveal its plans may be that its Disciples and other minions would rebel if they knew the whole truth, as the Witness' conception of the Final Shape essentially entailed a permanent stasis for all life in the universe, removing the possibility of suffering by also removing the possibility of choice.

As the Vanguard and the Guardian endeavored to thwart the Witness's efforts, it attempted to sway them to its side with promises of peace and power but grew frustrated at their refusal and defiance. When the Ghost, Targe, stated that he saw for the Witness truly was, that it was afraid, The Witness responded with anger, claiming that it had done away with fear altogether but as the Commander's Ghost remained steadfast, the Witness destroyed him in a fit of spiteful anger. When the Guardian's Ghost denounced the Witness in the same way, but more so on fearing that its Final Shape would fail and lose its control, the Witness responded with greater anger. When the Guardian managed to successfully wound the Witness for the first time, the Witness was claimed by a combination of terror, agony and fury, leading it to shed any of its former savior pretences and assume its true dreadful form.

Only after the Guardians succeeded in severing the Witness's control over the Pale Heart and fighting it directly, the Witness began to grow desperate, refusing to accept that the defenders of Sol would thwart its Final Shape. Even within its final moments, the Witness couldn't understand the denizens of Sol would be able to find meaning and purpose within a chaotic universe; that they would choose more painful lives over its supposed salvation.

Abilities

The Witness was an extremely powerful wielder of the Darkness, perhaps more so than any other being in the universe. It was capable of using the Darkness to move entire planets between realities, causing them to disappear from the physical plane to a realm under the Witness's complete control; this was suggested to be a more refined application of the same powers that enable the creation of Taken. When Mars reappeared in the Sol System after having vanished following the arrival of the Pyramids, the surface of the world was covered with patches of terrain that appeared to have been temporally displaced, showing Mars as it had been at various points in the past; this may have been related to the Darkness' association with memory.

The Witness also displayed several other terrifyingly powerful abilities, presumably also stemming from its mastery of the Darkness. During the Black Fleet's final assault on the Traveler, the Witness was able to effortlessly withstand a blast of pure Light emitted by the Traveler and neutralized incoming Guardians in Jumpships with a mere gesture that reduced the vessels and their occupants to neatly-sliced segments. It also demonstrated the ability to take command of Ghosts, using them as proxies to speak to Guardians or other beings. Additionally, it could manifest visions of itself from a great distance to communicate with its servants, with its image being projected through what resembled a plane of shattered glass appearing in midair.

When the Witness confronted the Guardian for the first time within the Pale Heart, it appeared as a similar shattered-glass projection as it had to Calus, and manifested shards of Resonance-edged "glass" that it telekinetically hurled at the Guardian. It also was able to conjure a whirlwind of Darkness fragments, which the Guardian was only able to survive with the protection of a shield made of Light. Later on, the Witness took on a massive, multi-armed form integrated with the Monolith it had constructed at the center of the Pale Heart, which effectively served as its lower body. In this state, it was able to open portals through which additional flexible, tentacle-like arms could emerge and attack its enemies.

Motivation, Philosophy and Goals

"We may think of it as crude butchery now, but there are still times when a bone sets improperly and must be broken again to heal. This is as true for the universe as it is for a body, and the suppuration of the Gardener's Light has spread unchecked for far too long.

You needn't be afraid. The creation of the final shape will not hurt at all.

And then you'll be all better."

— The Witness

The Witness appeared to be single-mindedly devoted to bringing about its vision of the Final Shape. This mission was born out of a desire to find meaning in a meaningless universe; the species that became the Witness desired a guiding purpose for their existence, and when the Traveler refused to give them one, they decided to seek their own. After much debate as to what this "Final Shape" should entail, the faction known as the Penitent became ascendant, which sought to eliminate all suffering from the universe. After the Penitent merged themselves into the Witness using the Darkness of the Veil, the Witness sought to achieve this goal by converting the entire universe into a perfected, eternal, timeless state, within which no beings could suffer and nothing could exist without its consent.

In seeming conflict with this goal, the Witness inflicted immeasurable suffering on countless civilizations in the course of its crusade to find and subdue the Traveler, especially those that had previously been blessed by the Traveler; the Witness justified these acts as being akin to re-breaking a broken bone that has set improperly, so that it may heal correctly the second time around. As indicated in its lessons to Rhulk during the latter's induction as the First Disciple, the Witness also seemed to regard morality as subjective and therefore irrelevant, and claimed that Rhulk's love for his family was a source of weakness. Despite this, its desire to impose the Final Shape appeared to be driven by a twisted, warped form of compassion for the suffering experienced by beings throughout time and space.

However, the collective that made up The Witness was not as unified as it claimed, as dissenters within the collective gradually came to realize the horrors they helped to inflict upon the universe in the pursuit of the Final Shape. Only in brief yet pivotal moments were these dissenters able to pass on valuable information to the Guardians that would allow them to find a way to destroy The Witness.

The Witness' philosophy appears to be at least partly inspired by that of the Winnower, a mysterious entity which seemingly purports to be the Darkness itself; shortly before its destruction, the Witness referred to itself as "the first knife clutched in [the Winnower's] hand." According to the Winnower, beings which cannot defend their own existence have the same moral value as those which have never existed at all, and in order to minimize or eliminate suffering in the universe, only those beings which must necessarily exist can be allowed to exist. This is seemingly in keeping with the Witness' actions in destroying what it viewed as "unnecessary" life throughout the universe, especially life whose proliferation had been encouraged by the Traveler and its Light; a former Disciple of the Witness referenced this attitude in their recorded musings on the nature of the Final Shape, referring to the Witness promoting the idea of a "kindness" in the act of "winnowing". However, while the Witness was dismissive of the Hive's Sword Logic, referring to it as a "childish game" born of a shallow and crude understanding of its own conception of the Final Shape, the Winnower actually seems to uphold the Sword Logic as part of its core philosophy as described to Oryx, the Taken King, whom it described as being "utterly devoted to the practice of my principle". The Witness' stated motivations of compassion and mercy toward other beings are also somewhat at odds with the philosophy of the Winnower, which prioritizes self-interest above all else.

Quotes

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Shadowkeep

"Violence. Beauty. Truth. These things await inside. There's no turning back now."

"Welcome. We've been waiting."

"You're so close now. Just a little further."

"The Red War saw so many lives lost. Saw the Light taken away so easily. In Light, there is only weakness."

"The Light abandoned Cayde. Left him for dead. And kept him from being saved (And kept you from saving him). In Light, there is only failure."

"One by one, Crota slaughtered many Guardians. The Light stood by and did nothing. And a great disaster ensued. In Light, there is only death."

"Come to us. Do not be afraid. Respite lies ahead."

"You made it. We have heard your cries for help. And soon, we will answer."

"Don't you recognize us? We are not your friend. We are not your enemy. We are your...salvation."

Season Of Arrivals

"You bring weapons. You will not need them. We offer only truth. We will ha- [Static]."

"Don't you see? This is as we once said. In Light, there is only weakness, Only failure. Only death. But where the Light takes, the Dark gives. No longer will you be a pawn. No longer will you watch the lives of those you care for be lost. Remember, in Darkness, there is only strength. Only victory. Only life. Ancient power awaits you on Europa."

Beyond Light

"We beckoned. You answered. We've kept you waiting long enough. Come to us; salvation awaits."

"The Light believes you thankless. Nothing more than a soldier asked again and again to do its bidding. So we want to thank you. With a gift. To help you finally take control."

The Witch Queen

"These frail siblings will soon be claimed by the Light. Unless we claim them first. We will tell the most cunning sibling of a cataclysm. A prophecy… of great loss. We will feed her fear. Her pride. We will say… Young Sathona. The end is coming. A great cataclysm. A God-Wave. In the Sky, there is only death. But salvation… lies in the Deep. Lead your sisters down. Your cunning will spare their short lives. And you… will be reborn. The Witch Queen, Savathûn."

"We have seen enough. The children of Sol cry out for salvation. 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. Do not be afraid. Your pale heart holds the key. This time… there is no escape."

Season of the Seraph

"Make it know your pain."

"Because… it has nowhere else to run."

Lightfall

First Contact

"Disciple. You know what must be done."

"Progress?"

"Yet still outside your grasp."

"The final shape awaits. The Veil is but the next step."

"You have all you wanted… Emperor."

Under Siege

"Progress."

"Yes. We know they are here. A few of Sol's protectors cannot prevent fate. You will link the Radial Mast and see the Veil destroyed. The final shape rests upon it."

No Time Left

"You fear loss, Emperor. Your fear… brings you pain. We know pain. Our purpose… is its end. You have no purpose… because you fear to seek one. That fear… is your failure."

"ENOUGH! Secure the Veil. We will create the link."

Desperate Measures

"We've finally found you."

"Finality takes shape."

"At long last."

"The universe makes us all victim… and perpetrator… of its infinite cruelty. You, more than any… suffer both fates. Be free."

The Final Shape

Transmigration

"You live without purpose. Anguish. Bliss. A meaningless cycle... of action and reaction. Let us bring an end... to your futile exertions. A final shape is coming. Chaos untangled... made knowable... with immaculate intent. Let us know you... and be reborn into perfection"

"You're still... resisting."

"You cling so desperately to your pain and your failures. You have lost. Let go."

Temptation

"An incision. Guardian. You were thrust into an unending life... of servitude."

"Let us free you from this architect of your enslavement."

"No matter. Our voice will suffice."

"It is but a facsimile. A testament to loyalty. An expression of longing."

"Within the final shape, we offered a vision of her pride. Of yours. Friends, looking to him with trust. But, like you… he chose pain."

"And the Light… to give them form. Don't you see how beautiful it all could be?"

"We offered to erase Prince Uldren's stain from the Dreaming City… To grant Crow dominion of the Reef, the Awoken, and all the stars beyond. But he chose pain."

"Crow believes he is resisting temptation, as do you. That material, is immaterial. Only purpose can cure his heart, and he believes that his capacity for pain is that purpose. It is why he subjects himself so completely to your Traveler. This belief was taught. Conditioned into you. It can be unlearned."

Requiem

"Not grief. Shame."

"You look to your commander for leadership. But he is made fragile by his doubts. Push him to fight the inevitable… and he will break. Let us lift the weight of suffering from his shoulders."

"Zavala cultivates a life in the shape of loss. Costs rendered in service to your Traveler. His reward is silence. His God has nothing to give."

"When the Fallen took his son's life… the Traveler would not return it. But we can. With its Light, we can do anything. And we ask for nothing in exchange."

"Ah. At last, his Ghost speaks."

Dissent

"Commander. You come to us for answers. We, too, once looked to the silent god for purpose. But all it could offer was… more life… void of meaning."

"So we sought its opposite… And in it, found means to bring order… to an unruly universe. Your Traveler had no tolerance for such vision. And we had no tolerance for its ambivalence. We would force purpose from it… driven by a single, immutable will. So we culled our doubts… fears… anything that separated us, that clouded our intent. Thus becoming one, in Darkness."

"And now… we would have you join us… Commander."

"What do you see?"

"We have done away with fear. We are not afraid."

Iconoclasm

"Your search for purpose continues. Once more, it leads you to us. What is it you seek? Your endless pursuit of us yields you nothing."

"You persist. You wish to aid your Traveler with reckless abandon. To spread the futile poison of life. Chaos disguised as freedom. We deny this pain. Let us enlighten you."

"Forsake the architect of your enslavement. Cast aside your squandered loyalties. You are no longer a pawn of the Light. Be free-"

"A gift, for the Lightbearers of Sol."

"In truth, you seek not hope, but endless challenge. This ambition is known to us. "That what can be destroyed, must be destroyed.""

"Ascend to your potential. Find your purpose. Be chosen-"

"The sword logic teaches that what cannot be destroyed will surpass infinity. The Hive were lost to this childish game. Too obsessed by the violence of the first knife to see the final carving. Are you not also a prisoner of this eternal chase? For all your power, you destroy to retrieve glittering rewards. The commendations of your peers. Triumphant accolades… for all to see. We offer you an escape. Embrace this truth. Be uplifted… triumphant against entropy."

"Accept all that you are owed. Be adorned-"

"Lightbearer… These meager pawns you allow to lead you… their strength pales in comparison to your own. They hold you back from all that you could become. We judged humanity before you made your greatness known. Your worth. Your might. You deserve power. More than your Traveler would ever grace you with. Join us. Not as part of the final shape, but as a god."

"Silence, you insolent speck!"

"You seek the place we destroyed ourselves? Come… And be destroyed!"

"We. Cut. You. Out!"

"We had such hope… you would understand. But you choose… entropy."

"You revel in chaos… and in your wake, there is only suffering!"

"You are unworthy of salvation!"

Salvation's Edge

"Still here. Struggling against the cosmic tides, compared to which you are so... small."

"We sought an end to suffering—the tyranny of a universe that doesn't feel. The audacity of that frightens you."

"So confused... to find meaning in this pain. Fall upon our knife. Accept stillness... As Riis, as Fundament, as so many before you were ALLOWED to do. We are not bound by logic. We define its shape. We offer salvation from this... futile struggle."

"Illogical obstinance. Pain can be fleeting. It can also be eternal."

"You fear answers. Fear the truth you claim to seek. Look beyond this dying garden... or rot in entropy. Each child we save from the game, you again force to play. You call us "Winnower." We are not... but the first knife clutched in its hand. Gods forged us both. But they cannot tell the knife what shape to carve."

"Is this the chaos you so cherish?"

"One final act of entropy!"

"You are insignificant."

"Why won't you yield?"

"Is that all?"

"You made your choice!"

"This will be DONE!"

"Eons of progress will not be stalled by you."

"We are so close to perfection!"

"The Traveler's Light... wanes."

"See how your Traveler gifted you only violence!"

"The Final Shape still has a place for you."

"There are no alternatives!"

"A Gardener's trough? Traded for a blade?"

"What... what... what is this..."

"Impossible. We are... We are in control!"

Excision

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Trivia

• A seemingly abstract tree-like symbol is often seen in association with the Witness; this symbol or ones closely resembling it can be seen in the symbol for the Witness used in the Vow of the Disciple Raid, on the side of the Upended, and on the floor of the "planetarium" room within the Witness' personal Pyramid. A "sculpture" resembling the symbol can also be seen piercing the sarcophagus of Nezarec in the Root of Nightmares Raid. The same symbol can be seen carried by the Witness's species in the distant past. Sometimes, it ends in a knife-like shape.
• Although the only listed voice actor for The Witness is Brett Dalton, it often speaks with multiple voices simultaneously. The speculated, non-exhaustive list of other voice actors for The Witness includes: Debra Wilson (Savathûn), Brandon O’Neill (Crow), and Mara Junot (Ikora Rey).
  • As of The Final Shape, The Witness' voice was changed into just Brandon O'Neill's voice with intense voice filtering.
• In its final form, the Witness is by far the largest enemy ever encountered in Destiny, being the entire monolith featured within Salvation's Edge.
• During its conversation with Zavala in The Final Shape, the Witness says what seem to be three untranslated words from its species' native language; these have not been transcribed as of yet.
• The many-armed form taken on by the Witness following the mission Iconoclasm and during the Salvation's Edge Raid is reminiscent of Shiva, the Hindu deity of creation and destruction.

Gallery

Initial Form

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  Witness Reference Kit

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  The Witness as revealed at the end of The Witch Queen's campaign

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  The Witness revealing its face

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  The creation of The Witness

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  The Witness withstanding The Traveler's attack

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  The Witness preparing to open the portal to the Pale Heart

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  The Witness opening the portal

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  A closeup of The Witness during Iconoclasm

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  The Witness preparing its Witness' Shatter attack

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  The Witness after being wounded by the Guardian

Final Form

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  The Witness' final form

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  The Witness' final form in battle

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  The Witness preparing to slam its attackers

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  The Witness being injured

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  The Witness fighting a fireteam of Guardians during Excision

List of appearances

• Kuang Xuan's Logbook (First mentioned)
• Destiny 2: Shadowkeep (First appearance)
  • Season of the Worthy (Mentioned only)
  • Season of Arrivals (Mentioned only)
  • Beyond Light (Mentioned only)
  • Season of the Chosen (Mentioned only)
  • Season of the Lost (Mentioned only)
  • The Witch Queen (First identified as The Witness)
  • Season of the Haunted (Mentioned only)
  • Season of Plunder (Mentioned only)
  • Season of the Seraph
  • Lightfall
  • Season of Defiance (Mentioned only)
  • Season of the Deep
  • Season of the Witch (Mentioned only)
  • Season of the Wish (Mentioned only)
  • Into the Light (Mentioned only)
  • The Final Shape
  • Episode: Echoes (Mentioned only)
  • Episode: Revenant (Mentioned only)
• The Hidden Dossier (Mentioned only)
• Breakdown (Mentioned only)
• Entelechy (Mentioned only)
• Destiny Grimoire Anthology, Volume VII (Mentioned only)