Destiny 2 Lore - The Origins of The Witness Revealed at last. The Traveler's Betrayal?

Something I found interesting is that it now make sense why the witness knows about stasis but never discovered strand. The progenitors always looked to control things, which is a main aspect of stasis, while strand is more of letting things happen, going with the flow and not trying to control it

I don't think the horror of the Witness sunk in until that reveal in the cutscene where all the fucked up statues we've seen in the pyramids are the remains of the civilization the Witness once was. The Black Fleet is an literal armada of gravestones and that is just beyond cool and horrifying.

The fact that the infinite forest could be an imperfect vex recreation of the supposed time warp inside the traveler is something I never would’ve guessed

The concept of the witness is actually so sick

Jesus this just makes the witness even more terrifying now we know why Mara said it has enough rage to destroy entire stars.

I think the Predeccessors are what is depicted in the Veiled Statues. They are a memory of what the Witness once was, how it all started.

Isn’t it ironic/symbolic how we learned to use and wield strand from the Veil to bind and unravel the threads of the universe, while the Witness used the Veil to basically become a woven construct of the countless numbers of its own people? Like the Witnesses body is essentially a strand construct with the souls of its people being the threads that make up its entire being, each individual being a single stitch or thread in the tapestry of its being and yet having the will to be one together. Strangely it still keeps an aspect of its existence as individuals when it refers to itself as “We.”

I suddenly find myself looking at all those weird Pompeiian statues in the Pyramids with a newfound sense of dread. Are those actually the petrified remains of the Witness’ people?!

The Witness is my favorite villain right now. I love that the bad guy actually has a good reason for being the way they are.

What if the betrayal isn't from the perspective of the nomads but of the traveler? The traveler gave them the light and its gifts and then the nomads attempted to control it and exert their power over it, which in the traveler's eyes would be betrayal as control is the opposite of the light.

I like that theyre centering in on the theme of the traveler always being silent. To me it is part of what sets the traveler apart narratively: is the bravery to guide and not be fully understood. To let us actually have to work towards our goals rather than just being spoonfed

You want a bit of foreshadowing that's been in the game since vanilla D2? There's symbols around the Tower of a white circle that has a black triangle overlaid across it. The triangle has vertical lines on it. The symbol resembles the Traveler's current state. I feel like no one is talking about it.

I'm starting to believe the "deep" is a metaphor. It's not really something light or dark, the deep may actually be a thing that drives people towards the need of controlling everything. The deep constantly talks about taking, taking from others, taking OTHERS, taking the universe, taking time and space. It makes me think the deep is a threat that isn't light or dark related, but maybe instead it's an obsession, and obsession to control the universe, to control everything. The deep simply appears more related to the dark because the dark doesn't seem to really be bothered by it. But we've seen beings of the light seemingly falling into "the deep" in the form of the light bearrers who were warlords.

Now it makes mores sense as to why we got Stasis. Remember that we didn’t find or make Stasis, the Witness GAVE it to us saying, “You require more control”. The Witness sees parallels to us Lightbearers and maybe every species that served or benefited from the Traveler and gives them a measure of control to establish order beyond what the light can give. Also the “EGGSHELL” lore card from season of Arrivals makes more sense now too! THE LORE IS SO RICH!!

Byf coming in clutch during a waiting room boredom moment

A note on the similarity between the infinite forest and the Traveler portal: Usually, portals that are round transport you through space (gambit portals, those cannons on nessus, the portal in the boss room of glassway, the portal to the black garden), and portals that are triangular transport you through time (corridors of time, vault of glass, maybe infinite forest? kinda?). I always assumed it has to do with the nature of the light and dark (round=traveler, physical realm. Triangular=darkness, immaterial realm, memories are kinda like travelling through time). Maybe why the traveler portal is triangular, its not another place in space but in time.

I love how everyone and I do mean every single bad guy we have fought in this entire saga of destiny 2 has only ever wanted one thing and that is to have the traveler talk to them from gaul to the witness almost every major bad guy we have fought in destiny 2 has only wanted to talk to the traveler that's it 😂

The most interesting strand to tug on from this lore dump has got to be the untangling of light vs dark and the related "gardener" vs "winnower" in light of the reveal that the latter two are just cultural concepts of the witness being imposed on the light and dark by the witness.

The Traveler: Gifts us cosmic power The Veil: Memory of the Universe The Final Shape: Power to rewrite and control the Universe The Traveler flees to protect reality itself

I love that the witness basically has the same concept of the emperor of mankind but turned up to 100, instead of just every shaman of prehistoric earth it was every single member of it's race, wild stuff