The Pale Heart

"Vex encryption. Unbreakable? Ha, so they say."This article does not have enough inline references. You can help Destinypedia by adding citations.
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“

A surreal domain of memory within the Traveler, corrupted by the Witness.

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The Pale Heart
Overview
Location:	The Traveler
Enemy factions:	The Dread Shadow Legion Xivu Arath's Horde House of Salvation Lucent Brood Sol Divisive
Hostile races:	Taken Cabal Hive Fallen Vex Scorn
Gameplay
Accessibility:	Complete Transmigration
Landing zones:	The Lost City The Landing The Blooming The Impasse

The Pale Heart of the Traveler is a destination in The Final Shape located within the Traveler.

Overview

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"I ever tell you about the Hunter Vanguard before me? His name was Andal Brask; he was my mentor.
Great shot. TERRIBLE gambler. Still, we had this friendly little wager about what was inside the Traveler.
I told him, "There's nothing." So of coarse, Andal says, "Well, then I'm betting on everything."
[chuckles] "Everything." Ah, lucky guess."

— Cayde-6 to the Guardian

The Pale Heart itself serves as a world crafted by the Traveler's consciousness and those within it. When first entered by the Guardian, it appears as a vast space lit by diffuse white light, with organic-looking structures visible in the distance; a series of platforms with aesthetics similar to the Tree of Silver Wings manifests to allow the Guardian to walk through the space. As the Guardian continued on, the surroundings gradually transformed into a lush green wilderness dotted with locales and structures mirroring or resembling various places and things seen by the Guardian in the past.

History

Origins

The origins and full nature of the Pale Heart remain as mysterious as those of the Traveler itself; it presumably has existed within the Traveler since the time of its creation.

Witch Queen Epilogue

"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

The first known reference to the Pale Heart was when the Witness declared to the Traveler that it would take action following the defeat of Savathûn by The Guardian. Shortly afterward, it used the Veil to form a link with the Traveler and forge a portal between the Sol System and the Pale Heart.

The Final Shape

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Around a year after the Witness entered the Pale Heart, Crow was able to successfully follow it through the portal using a wish granted by the Ahamkara Riven. In the process, however, he also wished for Cayde-6's return, resulting in the deceased Hunter Vanguard returning to life within the Pale Heart as a construct made of Light. The two Hunters found themselves in a surreal wilderness, surrounded by landscapes that seemed partly to be drawn from their own memories of the world outside the Traveler, and encountered one another shortly after Crow's arrival. Cayde initially reacted with hostility upon recognizing Crow as his murderer, but the two quickly came to an understanding and agreed to work together.

At this time, the Witness had created a vast monolith at the center of the landscape within the Pale Heart, from which it sought to use the Traveler's Light to reshape the universe outside of the Traveler in accordance with its vision of the Final Shape. Shortly after Crow entered the portal, the Witness began transforming Earth and the Last City, but the Traveler managed to resist its efforts and undo the changes moments after they began.

The Guardian proceeded to advance through the Pale Heart toward the Witness' monolith, accompanied by Cayde, Crow, Zavala and Ikora. After discovering that the Witness could be weakened by destroying the dissenting minds within its collective, the Guardian confronted the Witness at a recreation of the ritual site where the Witness was created, and managed to wound it by destroying three of its dissenters using the Light. Afterwards, a fireteam of Guardians stormed the monolith and severed the Witness' connection to the Traveler, wounding it further and forcing it to flee to another location in the Pale Heart. There, the Witness was destroyed through the combined efforts of twelve Guardians supported by the Vanguard and Coalition forces.

After the Witness' defeat, traces of its corruption lingered throughout the Pale Heart, which the Guardian worked to remove with the guidance of Micah-10.

Locations

• The Blooming (Landing Zone)
  • The Blooming Deep (Lost Sector)
  • The Divide
  • The Seclusion
• The Landing (Landing Zone)
  • The Forgotten Deep (Lost Sector)
  • The Refraction
    • The Intrusion
• The Lost City (Landing Zone)
  • The Lost City, Outskirts
  • The Threshold
• The Impasse (Landing Zone)
  • The Abscess
  • The Broken Deep (Lost Sector)
  • The Transgression
    • The Maelstrom
    • The Sacrarium
• Substratum
  • Dissipation
  • Warren
  • Repository
  • Verity
  • Zenith
• The End

Memories

"And my vanquisher will read that book, seeking the weapon, and they will come to understand me, where I have been and where I was going."The following is a verbatim transcription of an official document for archival reasons. As the original content is transcribed word-for-word, any possible discrepancies and/or errors are included.

Hakim's grave

• Zavala: He's asleep. Just got him down.

• Safiyah: After all that running around you two did today? I'm surprised it took this long.

• Zavala: I'll admit, uh... I did stay and watch him a few minutes longer. Heh. Just to be sure.

• Safiyah: [chuckles warmly] That smile he has right as sleep makes his eyes too heavy to keep open... I could watch him for hours.

• Zavala: Hours and hours...

• Safiyah: [chuckles] What?

• Zavala: Your eyes. [laughs softly] He has them. Perhaps not by birth, but... in spirit. They shine so brightly. YOU shine so brightly.

• Safiyah: And I pray he does not inherit his father's honeyed words, or you and I will be in very deep trouble.

• Zavala: [chuckles warmly]

Zavala and Targe statues

• Zavala: Bring him back. Bring him back!

• Targe: I can't.

• Zavala: Take my Light!

• Targe: You know I can't.

• Zavala: Would you? Would you bring him back if you could? Find a way, Targe! PLEASE! Bring back my son.

Uldren and Mara statues

• Uldren Sov: Behold, sister. The lie that makes itself true: an Ahamkara.

• Mara Sov: Do you know what power you hold within your hands?

• Uldren Sov: I know it with my very soul. This is the way we safeguard our people.

• Mara Sov: You gave chase to my words without hesitation! I hoped you might at least refuse!

• Uldren Sov: Never! [laughs nervously] Tell me you are pleased.

• Mara Sov: I am, Uldren... but more for your return than for a gift I never thought possible.

• Uldren Sov: I voyaged worlds for you, Mara. I brought you a wish-dragon! Are you not proud of your brother?

• Mara Sov: Mostly I missed him.

Resonant splinter

• Mithrax: [hums softly]

• Eido: [fusses and chitters]

• Mithrax: Ah, Eido, why do you not sleep? You are tired. I— I am tired. Do you wish to hear a story, hm? Beloved daughter, I will tell you a story of Riis. As my mother told me. Before the Long Drift, before the Great Machine left our people, we lived in heart-joy. We built great cities that reached the sky. We built great ships that brought us to distant stars. We were kind, and gentle. It was our sky, they were our stars. Many hands held us aloft, together. This was Riis. It sheltered us, and we tended it, as we tended our people.

• Eido: [chitters happily]

• Mithrax: You will never know Riis, my hatchling. My Light. You will never know it as my mother did. But… but also… you will never know my hardship. I will be sure of that.

Savathûn's crystalline prison

• The Witness: Your brother's conquest cut a path towards the final shape. When you have finished pouring your poison in his ear...

• Savathûn: Not MY poison.

• The Witness: We see your doubts. You speak them to Oryx.

• Savathûn: Doubts? After all this time, you think I have doubts?

• The Witness: Remember your sisters, little Sathona. Remember the syzygy.

• Savathûn: What changed the motion of our moons, my Witness?

• The Witness: You cried out... as your brother did, as your sister did. Into the Darkness. Now the children of Sol do the same.

• Savathûn: You aren't the answer they want.

• The Witness: We are the answer you received.

Cayde's remains

• Zavala: We're done here.

• Ikora Rey: We're done here when I say we're done here. How dare you dismiss my command like that!

• Zavala: That was not a command! It was vengeance, pure and simple, and you know it. You're better than that!

• Ikora Rey: Call it what it is! At least I have the spine to take action. Meanwhile, you sit back here at your pathetic War Table, sulking!

• Zavala: I'm grieving our fireteam.

• Ikora Rey: And I am grieving our friend, Zavala! Cayde's killer walks free, and you're too high and mighty to give the order yourself, so you sit back and let the Guardian do your dirty work for you! You disgust me.

Iron War Axe

• The Crow: Devotion to my potential... [scoffs] I don't know what you think that potential is, or... why you left me this.

• Lord Saladin: What do you see when you hold that weapon in your hands?

• The Crow: Lessons... stained into the blade.

• Lord Saladin: Wrong. You're spending too much time looking at blemishes. Devote yourself to them, and you miss the edge's sharpness, the sturdiness of the haft. All things have potential, if they are properly cared for. If not... they rust, they chip, and eventually... they shatter. People are no different. I was in command. There was an alliance to protect, and you were chipping away at yourself. You were a new Light with a future; it was my responsibility to care for you. Now... it's time you figured out what that future is.

Reverse waterfall

• Caiatl: Father... if that person is still within this twisted flesh of a disciple... It's over, and my blade rests over your throat. I cannot forgive you. But were it possible for us to walk a different path, side by side... I would. The Cabal are dead. Heritage and tradition smolder with Torobatl... Your golden vision melted down and recast into a new age. We have paid our dues. It is time for the empire to rise again. Not as Cabal, not as a revival of what was. We will redeem what was lost.

Veiled Statues

• Caiatl: On the eve before battle, we once carved messages on the inside of the ornamentation we wore upon our tusks... "Last words", you might say. Bodies were left to rot where they fell, but these bands were returned to the families of the dead, and passed down across generations. I will wear my ancestors' for this Operation Ahamkara.

• Zavala: No. I need you here in the City. You and Saladin must ring it with your spears. In all my years... I have faced certain death countless times. And yet, never have I felt closer to it than in this moment.

• Caiatl: Unlike my ancestors, your people count on a triumphant return.

• Zavala: Empress... I don't think I return from this mission.

• Caiatl: Is it that you expect not to return? Or perhaps, Commander, is it that you hope not to?

Activities

Vendors

• Ghost
• Micah's Conduit

Patrol

• Overthrow

Story missions

• Transmigration
• Temptation
• Exegesis
• Requiem
• Ascent
• Dissent
• Iconoclasm
• Excision

Cysts

• Alone in the Dark
  • Aerial Ace: Cyst
  • Moth-Infested: Cyst
  • Searing Light: Cyst
  • Slayer: Cyst
  • Smoldering Darkness: Cyst
  • Sword Dance: Cyst

Adventures

• The Hollow, Part I
• The Hollow, Part II
• Home, Part I
• Home, Part II
• Queens, Part I
• Queens, Part II

Strikes

• Liminality

Raid

• Salvation's Edge

Exotic quests

• Convalesence
  • Convalescence: Rootbound
  • Convalescence: Underbrush
  • Convalescence: Greenery
  • Convalescence: Budding
• Destined Heroes
  • Hope
• Dual Destiny
• Wild Card

Trivia

• The Pale Heart is the first and only destination, currently, to contain each of the existing enemy species.

Gallery

• 

  Cayde-6 is seen in an overgrown replication of the Tower.

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List of appearances

• Destiny 2: The Witch Queen (First mentioned)
  • Lightfall (Mentioned only)
  • Season of the Wish (First appearance)
  • The Final Shape
  • Episode: Echoes (Mentioned only)
  • Episode: Revenant (Mentioned only)
  • 10th Anniversary