Light
From Destinypedia, the Destiny wiki
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| Light | |
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| Biographical information | |
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Other name(s): |
The Sky |
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Species: |
Paracausal Force |
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Affiliation: |
Leviathan (Traveler) |
- "The Light lives in all places, in all things. You can block it, even try to trap it, but the Light will find its way."
- — The Speaker
The Light, also known as the Sky,[1] is a paracausal force[2] that is associated with the Traveler. It is the direct and opposing counterpart of the Darkness.
Overview[edit]
Like the Darkness, the Light is a paracausal force that has existed since before the beginning of time. It is fundamentally driven to increase the complexity and diversity of entities within the universe, particularly encouraging the growth of new life forms.[citation needed] The Traveler serves as an abundant source of Light, although it is not the sole source of Light in the universe.[3] The Speaker described the Light as being present in all places and all things.[citation needed] According to Dredgen Yor, Light is present in living beings as a "spark of life".[4]
Ulan-Tan, a renowned Warlock, viewed the Traveler and its Light as a necessary symmetry to the Darkness to maintain a cosmic balance, and hypothesized that all Light was connected across space and time.[5] This latter hypothesis was later confirmed by Guardians upon discovering members of the Hive siphoning Light from the Traveler using a piece that had broken off of the Traveler during the Collapse.[6] Orbs of Light could also be generated by various uses of Light, which give power to a Guardian's Super. Light as used by the Guardians comes in three different varieties; these are the Elemental damage modifiers, and are used in both a Guardian's chosen Subclass and in certain Weapons.
The Traveler created the Ghosts to seek out and revive fallen warriors as Lightbearers with the intent of protecting Humanity. Each Ghost intuitively seeks out the remains of a deceased human, which it then resurrects and permanently bonds with.[7] Guardians are human Lightbearers that have sworn an oath to defend the Last City, and can wield the Light both as an offensive and defensive force.[8]
The Light can be corrupted, as the shard of the Traveler within the European Dead Zone is corrupting an area of the surrounding forest.[9] In addition, the Light Dominus Ghaul wielded was corrupted due to him taking Light from the Traveler,[10] which was an act tied to the Darkness.[citation needed] The Hive both revile and feed upon the Light, at times even sacrificing Light to their deities.[11]
History[edit]
Origins[edit]
- "Once upon a time,* a gardener and a winnower lived** together in a garden.***
* It was once before a time, because time had not yet begun.
** We did not live. We existed as principles of ontological dynamics that emerged from mathematical structures, as bodiless and inevitable as the primes.
*** It was the field of possibility that prefigured existence."
According to the Lore Book Unveiling, both the Light and the Darkness predate the birth of the universe. Being unbound by the laws of causality, neither the Light nor Darkness can be said to have a beginning; rather, they are emergent properties of even more fundamental "mathematical structures" that in turn underlay reality itself.[12]
In the allegorical story recounted in Unveiling, the Darkness and Light occupied themselves by engaging one another in a game, analogous to a vastly more complex version of the "Game of Life" devised by Earth mathematician John Conway. This game would consistently arrive at an end-state dominated by a single, self-perpetuating pattern, which subsumed all others in the game. The Darkness found this to be a pleasing outcome,[13] but the Light felt the pattern to be boring and desired that the game endlessly produce novel patterns instead.[14] To promote this novelty, the Light transformed itself into a new "rule" within the game; the Darkness did the same, to counteract the Light's efforts. These new rules were "set aside" from the other rules of the game, so that they could not be limited or influenced by them, but could manipulate the other rules to bring about their intended outcomes.[15]
While the story is laden with metaphor and open to interpretation, it appears to suggest that the universe is the "game" which the Light and Darkness played in the garden, that the rules of the game are the laws of physics as they are commonly understood, and that the "new rules" that the Light and Darkness became are the basis of paracausality. It also suggests that the Light is a sentient force, which aims to promote and preserve complexity and diversity.
The Witness[edit]
According to the creature known as Ahsa, the Traveler was discovered by an ancient humanoid species billions of years ago, when they found it dormant and half-buried on their homeworld. The Traveler subsequently awakened, terraforming the planet and uplifting the species into a golden age that lasted for millions of years. In the course of their relationship with the Traveler, the civilization came to a deep understanding of the Light, and after having seen both its beneficial and destructive aspects, came to view it as a fundamentally chaotic and capricious force, equally capable of bringing life or death with no ultimate justification for either.[16]
Later, after discovering the Darkness through the entity known as Veil, the civilization attempted to use the Traveler's Light and the Veil's Darkness to reshape the universe into an eternal, perfected form they called the "Final Shape". When the Traveler rejected their attempt and fled into the depths of space, the species used the Darkness to merge themselves into a single, unfathomably powerful Darkness-wielding entity, which became known as the Witness.[16]
The Witness then left its homeworld behind in pursuit of the Traveler, seeking to unite it with the Veil by force and bring about the Final Shape.[citation needed] Although the Witness itself was a wielder of the Darkness, several devices of the Black Fleet emit or otherwise interact with the Light, such as the Radial Mast and Suppressors.[17][18] These artifacts presumably are a product of the eons-long experience of the Witness's people with the Light.
The Eurhythmia[edit]
At some point following the Traveler's departure from the Witness's homeworld, it visited a species known as the Eurhythmia and blessed them with its Light. The Eurhythmia were subsequently destroyed by the Witness, which flew into a rage upon discovering that the Traveler had chosen to stay with another species.[19]
Lubrae[edit]
Billions of years ago, the Traveler visited the Lubraeans and uplifted their civilization using the Light.[20]
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Fundament and the Rise of the Hive[edit]
In the Hive's Books of Sorrow, the Light is referred to as "The Sky," and is described as being associated with a philosophy that upholds collaboration and gentleness to create a thriving, harmonious society and universe. Its counterpart, "The Deep," is also described, being associated with a philosophy of competition and survival-of-the-fittest. Several disciples of the Light, including the Leviathan and the Traveler, also feature in these texts.
Before the rise of the Hive, the Traveler had visited several civilizations and bestowed the blessings of the Light. These civilizations included the Ammonite and the Harmony, both of which were later exterminated by the Hive.
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The Eliksni[edit]
At an unknown time in the past, the Traveler came to Riis, the homeworld of the Eliksni and uplifted their civilization using the Light.
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The Golden Age[edit]
When the Traveler came to the Sol System, it used the Light to terraform several planets and moons to render them suitable for human habitation.
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The Collapse[edit]
When the Black Fleet pursued the Traveler to the Sol System, a cataclysmic battle ensued during which the Traveler used the Light to push back the Black Fleet, at the cost of rendering itself largely inert. Fragments of the Traveler were thrown far from the site of the battle, with one of the largest landing in Europe. The corrupted Light emanating from this shard interacted with the surrounding landscape, creating the European Dead Zone.[citation needed]
While it battled the Black Fleet on Earth, the Traveler also extended a ray of Light to protect the distant colony ship Yang Liwei from the Black Fleet. This ray pushed back the Fleet's Darkness, but could not repel it entirely; the energy of the resulting struggle was so great that a kugelblitz formed, which swallowed the Yang Liwei and its crew.[21]
After its sacrificial last stand, the Traveler created the Ghosts, small machines infused with Light, to seek out long-dead individuals and resurrect them as warriors with Light-based abilities. These warriors, first called Risen and later known as Guardians, can manifest weapons and defenses made of Arc, Solar or Void Light, and can return from death with the assistance of their Ghost.[citation needed]
Dark Ages[edit]
During the Dark Ages, some Lightbearers chose to become Warlords and used their Light to subjugate others and amass power and wealth for themselves.
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City Age[edit]
Following their resurrection, the Guardian thwarted a Hive plot to siphon Light from the Traveler, using a fragment of the Traveler held in the Chamber of Night. They later went on to destroy the Black Heart, a Darkness-aligned entity that was preventing Light from returning to the dormant Traveler.
During the events of Destiny 2, the Cabal Red Legion invaded the Solar System and attacked the Last City. Forces under Dominus Ghaul successfully captured the Traveler and placed a cage around it, thus cutting all Guardians and Ghosts off from the Light.[22] At least one Guardian subsequently managed to reclaim their Light from a corrupted Shard of the Traveler in the European Dead Zone.[9] Meanwhile, Ghaul attempted to repeatedly gain the Traveler's favor to grant his Red Legion the ability to wield the Light.[23][24] However, the Traveler refused, and Ghaul resorted to outright stealing the Light by siphoning it from the Traveler via its cage. Light was only restored to all Guardians after the Traveler broke free of its cage and destroyed, once and for all, a power-hungry Ghaul.[10]
In Forsaken, it was revealed that the Traveler had been "speaking" to the Guardians through visions of crowns, roses, silver trees, and torches turning into bonfires since its awakening. Ikora Rey tells the Guardians to follow these visions, which led them to Io. The remnant Light on Io then granted the Guardians new powers.[25]
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The Lucent Hive[edit]
Following her release from the crystalline prison created by Mara Sov, Savathûn, the Witch Queen was resurrected by Immaru and made into a Lightbearer. She went on to found the Lucent Brood, a new faction of Hive with Light-bearing members.
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Lightfall[edit]
Following the Black Fleet's final assault on the Traveler and the Shadow Legion's invasion of Neomuna, the Witness used the Radial Mast, an artifact of the Black Fleet radiating with Light, to link the Traveler to the Veil and open a portal into the Traveler's Pale Heart.
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The Final Shape[edit]
Upon entering the Traveler's Pale Heart, the Witness attempted to use the Traveler's Light in combination with the Veil's Darkness to reshape all of reality into a calcified, timeless state, free of choice or suffering - its vision of the Final Shape.
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Destruction of the Witness[edit]
- "The Light forgets. The Light forgives. In memory, we remain, but in Light, we are freed.
The Light will tear us. The Light will rend, mind from mind, split what has become the vile one into the repentant many.
Destroy us." - — A Dissenter, asking the Guardian to destroy their statue using the Light and release them from the Witness.
In the Pale Heart of the Traveler, the Guardian used a sword made of Light to shatter the statues containing the imprisoned consciousnesses of the Dissenters within the Witness, wounding it and rendering it vulnerable to further attack.[26] During a climactic final battle with the Witness, the Guardian channeled the Light of the Traveler through their Ghost, destroying the Witness once and for all.[27]
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Valence and the Echoes[edit]
When the Witness was destroyed, its Darkness combined with the Traveler's Light, creating an aurora-like phenomenon known as the Valence which radiated from the portal to the Pale Heart. The combination of Light and Darkness also resulted in the creation of several paracausal objects known as Echoes, which issued from the portal and traveled to various locations throughout the Sol System.[27][28]
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Nature of the Light[edit]
Relation to Complexity, Physicality, Choice, and Loss[edit]
- "Sky is the breath taken between actions. It permits speculation. It invites doubt. It slips from sight and grasp, and yet persists."
- — Luzaku[29]
The Light is described as being associated with the "growth and preservation of complexity", whereas the Darkness is portrayed as being associated with simplification and the reduction of diversity.[30] The philosophy of the Light is also referenced in the Marasenna as Mara Sov's "way of the bomb," meaning that it encourages a complex world with many interrelated parts that rely on each other to achieve greater goals. In contrast, the philosophy of the Darkness is described as the "way of the sword", which seeks to reduce everything in the universe to a final, simplified, self-same state.[31]
As hypothesized by Osiris, the Light also seems to be connected to the physical universe, whereas the Darkness appears to be more strongly related to thought, emotion and consciousness more broadly.[citation needed]his may explain why resurrection via the Light wipes away memories, as well as why the Darkness seems more acutely concerned by the pain and suffering of conscious beings than the Light: both memory and pain are within the realm of conscious experience, and therefore outside of the Light's domain of interest.[citation needed] The relationship between the Light and forgetting is further speculated on by Sen-Aret, who came to the belief that the Light can actually allow beings to remember, but instead chooses not to do so, to allow one to forget past pain to make peace with one's enemies and enable the possibility of grace. Meanwhile, the Darkness allows one to remember what hurt them in the past, so that they may avoid or overcome it in the future.[32] One of the Dissenters within the Witness also referenced the Light's association with forgetting as the Guardian worked to free them from the Witness.[citation needed]
Powers originating from the Light are stated to embody a theme of "creation", whereas powers from the Darkness have a theme of "consciousness".[33] This dichotomy can be seen like the elemental manifestations of Light and Darkness: Arc, Solar and Void all grant control over physical forces (electricity, heat and gravity, respectively), whereas Strand allows one to manipulate the psychic "threads" connecting all conscious beings, and Stasis may be seen as embodying the abstract concepts of will and control. Interestingly, whereas Arc, Solar and Void all manifest primarily as energy (electric bolts, flames, and gravitational fields, respectively), Stasis and Strand manifest as matter (crystals and strings, respectively). The aspect of Darkness known as Resonance also manifests physically, creating spiraling helices of black, angular segments.[citation needed]
The Gardener[edit]
- "The Gardener is hard to bother; she is constantly amidst her weeds, kneeling in the tangent dust, gloves covered in a mix of distant soils and metallic saps. She is listening to the music of the insects amidst the flowers, the unguent as it begins to drip from the ferns, the slight scratch of the Worm beneath, and not to you, and certainly not to your cries for help."
- — Mk. 44 Stand Asides Lore Tab
Several Lore entries describe an entity referred to as the "gardener," which appears to be a personification of the Light; this name is also used by various entities, most notably Rasputin,[34] the Witness and its precursors[16] to refer to the Traveler.
In Unveiling, the gardener is described to be one of two primordial entities who predated the universe, the other being the winnower.[note 1] The winnower is presented as embodying the reduction of complexity, whereas the gardener embodies the growth and preservation of complexity.[12] In the allegorical story recounted in the Lore Book, these two entities struggled with one another in the state which preceded the multiverse, and upon inadvertently creating the multiverse as a by-product of this struggle, each became a paracausal force which would serve to further their respective goals within its many universes.[15] This story not only appears to provide an origin for the Light and Darkness as they are presently known, but also seems to imply that the Light is itself sentient and has its own motivations, namely to increase complexity and diversity within the universe.
Aspects and Manifestations[edit]
Arc[edit]
- Main article: Arc
Arc is an elemental manifestation of the Light, which grants the wielder control over electricity.
Solar[edit]
- Main article: Solar
Solar is an elemental manifestation of the Light, which allows the wielder to harness the power of fire and heat.
Void[edit]
- Main article: Void
Void is an elemental manifestation of the Light, which allows the wielder to manipulate spacetime to generate black holes and other space-warping phenomena.
Terraforming[edit]
The Light can be used by the Traveler to terraform entire worlds, making them more habitable to life-forms and causing new flora and fauna to spontaneously appear on their surface.
Resurrection[edit]
Ghosts use the Light to resurrect their Guardians if they are killed. If their connection to the Light emanating from the Traveler is severed, they lose the ability to resurrect their Guardians.
Influences[edit]
Guardians[edit]
Guardians are the most prolific wielders of the Light, with humanity being the current chosen of the Traveler.
Fallen[edit]
The Eliksni appear to have understood and utilized the Light to some degree during their golden age; Prime Servitors have been said to be sources of Light,[35] and Splicer Gauntlets are designed to utilize trace amounts of Light present in their environment.[36] When Skolas died at the hands of the Guardians, Variks wondered if the