The Witness: Difference between revisions

According to the creature known as [[Ahsa]], the Witness' origins lie with an ancient humanoid species that lived billions of years ago on a desolate world. This species discovered the [[The Traveler|Traveler]] on their home world half-buried in the ground, which activated and began to transform their planet into a paradise. The species worshipped the Traveler as a deity, calling it "the Gardener". With the aid of the Traveler, they developed a massive spacefaring civilization, and in the process they learned to harness the Traveler's gifts, even using them to create entire worlds.<ref>'''[[Entelechy]]''', ''12''</ref>  

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, the 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 two other races had been blessed by the Traveler, but had used its gifts for nefarious purposes: the [[Swarm]], who erroneously used their gifts to destroy themselves, and the [[Sovereign]], who used their gifts for subjugation.  

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 is the only existing "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.<ref>'''[[Entelechy]]''', ''8-12''</ref>

In order to achieve their goal, the civilization determined that they needed to bring the Traveler and the Veil into close proximity, strengthening their connection and in so doing granting them the ability to alter reality itself. And so, they brought it back to their homeworld so that they could form a link between it and the Traveler.  

However, the Traveler was apparently unwilling to allow this outcome, and responded by leaving the planet and fleeing into the distant reaches of space. Unwilling to abandon their quest, 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 whole species' collective consciousnesses together, resulting in the creation of an unfathomably powerful paracausal entity: The Witness.<ref>'''[[Entelechy]]''', ''32-35''</ref> 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.

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.<ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0CKckjryVI</ref>

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<ref>'''Bungie (2022/2/22)''', ''[[Destiny 2]]: [[The Witch Queen]] - [[Lore]]: [[Lore:Shattered Suns#Provoked|Shattered Suns: Provoked]]''</ref>. There, it encountered a warrior named [[Rhulk, Disciple of the Witness|Rhulk]], who had fallen into a chasm after being betrayed by his family and clan<ref name="Lamented">'''Bungie (2022/2/22)''', ''[[Destiny 2]]: [[The Witch Queen]] - [[Lore]]: [[Lore:Shattered Suns#Lamented|Shattered Suns: Lamented]]''</ref>. The Witness healed Rhulk's injuries and gifted him a remade and empowered version of his Glaive, and told him that his destiny was to bring ruin to Lubrae<ref name="Lamented"/>. Rhulk went on to massacre the people of the city above the chasm, and eventually destroyed his entire planet by using the [[The Upended|Upended]] to destroy Lubrae's [[Sapphiric Sun]]<ref>'''Bungie (2022/2/22)''', ''[[Destiny 2]]: [[The Witch Queen]] - [[Lore]]: [[Lore:Shattered Suns#Liberated|Shattered Suns: Liberated]]''</ref>. As Rhulk fell once more into the chasm, 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.  

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 (Fundament)|Leviathan]]. To that end, Rhulk offer 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.<ref>'''Bungie (2022/2/22)''', ''[[Destiny 2]]: [[The Witch Queen]] - [[Armor|Armor lore]]: [[Resonant Fury Suit (Titan)#Resonant Fury Helm|Resonant Fury Helm]]''</ref> Despite his earlier claims, however, it is later revealed that Rhulk only subjugated the worms out of his own personal desire to be recognized as an equal by the Witness; a sentiment that was swiftly rejected by his master after constantly stepping out of line.<ref>'''Bungie (2022/2/22)''', ''[[Destiny 2]]: [[The Witch Queen]] - [[Armor|Armor lore]]: [[Resonant Fury Suit (Titan)#Resonant Fury Greaves|Resonant Fury Greaves]]''</ref>

When [[Eris Morn]] awakened the [[The Lunar Pyramid|Pyramid]] beneath the [[Moon]], the Darkness emanating from it reached out to the [[The Guardian|Guardian]] investigating her whereabouts and began to invade their [[Ghost]]<ref>'''Bungie (2019/10/11)''', ''[[Destiny 2]]: [[Shadowkeep]], [[A Mysterious Disturbance]]''</ref>. 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 [[Darkness#Veiled Figures|statue]] at the center of the Pyramid, they are offered the [[Unknown Artifact]] as "respite", granting them a vision of the [[Black Garden]]. It is there that 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".<ref name="Beyond">'''Bungie (2019/10/11)''', ''[[Destiny 2]]: [[Shadowkeep]], [[Beyond]]''</ref>

Several days after the Almighty's destruction, the Witness would assert its fleet of mysterious Pyramid Ships and [[Arrival of the Black Fleet|push into the solar system]], with one ship accompanied by [[Pyramid Scale|Pyramid Scales]] going to [[Io]]. Detecting the oncoming threat, Rasputin uses his Warsat network around the moon of Jupiter in an effort 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.

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 are 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 bout 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 above [[Saturn|Saturn's]] [[Titan (moon)|moon of Titan]] overseeing the [[New Pacific Arcology]], near the [[BrayTech Futurescape]] on [[Mars]], and above the [[Fields of Glass|Caloris Basin]] in [[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 back to the [[Last City]]. However, after completing a series of tasks, Commander Sloane, Brother Vance, and Asher Mir would opt 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.

It is revealed that [[Clovis Bray I]] had been in contact with the Witness in some form during the Golden Age. After discovery of an 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 [[The Glassway|Vex gate]] built using a stolen Vex unit belonging to the Ishtar Collective. Using this gate, he was able to travel to a [[2082 Volantis|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 [[Clarity Control|statue]] he had discovered on Europa, leading to revolutions in Exo production.

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]].

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 [[Praksis, the Technocrat|personally served]] under Eramis as new 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 Eramis's efforts and that of 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.

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.

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<ref>https://www.ishtar-collective.net/entries/akashic-revelation</ref>.

The Witness would later become aware of the Coalition's continued resistance, their efforts to pass through the portal and of 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's learn of it's 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 however, 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 it's 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 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 [[Hunt for Riven's Clutch|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 destroyed the Heart just like last time. Resulting in their failure.

With the Witness almost fully in control of the [[The Pale Heart|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 in order for the [[The Coalition|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 [[Uldren Sov|Crow]], it offered him the Awoken throne and to erase his troubled past, but Crow rejected 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 [[Safiyah|Wife]] and [[Hakim|Son]], but Zavala's [[Ghost]], [[Targe]] stood up for his Guardian and told it that Zavala refused its offer as well. 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, Tormentor of the Ahamkara|the Tormentor guarding the pass]], Zavala was willing to heed the dissenter's words and give himself over to darkness in order 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 can 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 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. Targe still remained defiant, however, 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.

===Downfall===

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. It turned out however,  that the Monolith was actually the Witness itself, having taken it's true gargantuan form. The Witness 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 it's 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 conciseness 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.