Who Is The Witness In Destiny 2?

The overarching antagonist that’s been hinted at since the ending of Shadowkeep (and possibly before), Destiny 2‘s The Final Shape finally catapults The Witness to the fore. It’s certainly been a long time coming, with the eternal battle between Light and Darkness brought to its inevitable conclusion.

Notwithstanding its exceptional character design, the Witness has been a figure of mystery and dawning dread since its first reveal in The Witch Queen expansion. But how did this embodiment of Darkness come to be, what is its ultimate goal, and what has it done to influence the story thus far?

The Origin Of The Witness

The birth of the Witness could be traced back to the very first civilisation whose homeworld was nurtured by the Traveler, known as the Precursors. This civilisation grew to be extremely advanced, mastering the Traveler’s powers to the point they learned how to create other worlds. They worshipped the Traveler as their god, recognising it under the name ‘the Gardener‘.

Despite reaching its zenith due to the Traveler, the Precursors gradually craved more in their lives, something more meaningful to work towards. This is likely because the Traveler rarely interacts with the races that reside in the worlds it terraforms. Moreover, they began to perceive that the Traveler and its Light were more chaotic than purely a force for good, with some factions within their civilisation misusing the Light without suffering consequences from the Traveler.

At this point, different factions begin to spring up from the Precursors, each having their own ideas on what they consider to be the ideal of how the world would be in its ‘Final Shape’ but never agreeing on a singular one. However, they somehow discover another force opposite to the Traveler, naming it the Veil, and discovering the force of the Darkness as a result.

Believing they had found what they needed to bring forth the ‘Final Shape’, they put their plan into motion and attempted to merge the Traveler with the Veil. Before they could do so, however, the Traveler didn’t seem too keen on this plan and fled their world. Infuriated and betrayed, the Precursors never give up on their idea of the ‘Final Shape’, and are determined to find the Traveler again.

They used the Veil and the Darkness to merge all the people of their civilisation into one being, thus birthing the Witness, who hunts the Traveler with its Black Feet to finally manifest the ‘Final Shape’ into being.

The Witness’ Ultimate Goal

Naturally, the Witness’ ultimate goal is to find the Traveler to enact the long-awaited ‘Final Shape’. But what exactly is the Final Shape? As outlined above, multiple factions couldn’t agree on what the Final Shape of the universe would be. Ultimately, an extremist faction – known as the Penitent – won out and became the central ideology the Witness operates on, of a universe cleansed completely of suffering.

Interestingly, despite the merging of all the Precursors into one being, certain parts of the Witness’s collective consciousness are against its atrocious actions of wiping out other worlds and races, but any opposition is unfortunately silenced by the Witness. The Witness is single-minded in its quest to rid the world of pain and aims to, in effect, be the god of the new world.

In its mind, this painless world will be achievable because nothing could happen without the Witness’s say-so, to prevent unnecessary pain from occurring. After the fusing of the forces of Darkness and Light from the Veil and the Traveler respectively, the universe will be a reality where all sentient races are effectively in stasis, unable to move past the highest or lowest points of their existence.

In this way, the Witness believes that no further action taken will stop the endless cycle of sin and suffering.

The Creation 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 birth of the Hive first started with the taking over of the Worm Gods, with the former and the latter falling prey to the Witness’s deception. While on the chase for the Traveler, the Witness came upon the planet known as the Fundament, which had not been terraformed by the Traveler. This suited the Witness’ purposes just fine.

The Fundament was home to a species known as the Krill, who could barely survive its harsh conditions. The Witness arrives, and begins spreading a philosophy known as the Sword Logic to the Krill; however, this was simply a brainwashing tactic to indoctrinate the Krill to be more favourable towards the Darkness.

The Krill were, in fact, hosts meant for the recently enslaved Worms. The Witness spread these Worms among the Krill populace, and the Krill not only became subservient to the Witness, but also their Worms’ perpetual hunger for destruction. Among these infected Krill rose three siblings who served as the Hive’s leaders; once known as Sathona, Xi Ro and Aurash, they were reborn with new names of Savathun, Xivu Arath and Oryx respectively.

Soon after, the Hive began journeying to new worlds and annihilating various races to feed their parasitic Worms, wreaking havoc wherever they went.

Humanity’s Collapse

“There is no hope anymore. Only the screams of humanity.”

The Witness continues in its hunt for the Traveler, with the latter repeatedly being forced to flee each planet it terraforms for another solar system. At some point, the Traveler comes upon humanity in the Sol System and begins terraforming Earth, bringing about their Golden Age. However, all that comes to an end when the Witness and his Black Fleet inevitably trace the Traveler to Earth.

The arrival of the Witness to the Sol System wrought havoc on all its planets, resulting in natural disasters and causing untold amounts of casualties. The attack was led by one of the Witness’s Disciples, Nezarec, who had the Veil in his possession, but he was deceived and killed by Savathun. In turn, Savathun somehow was able to trick the Witness, persuading it to pull back its entire Black Fleet and leave the Sol System entirely. The Witch Queen furthered her deception by taking the Veil from Nezarec and hiding it from the Witness in Neptune.

Savathun’s actions contributed to this failed attempt to reach the Traveler, but for the first time, the Traveler directly takes action against the Darkness. Instead of fleeing like it did in the past, the Traveler successfully repels the Black Fleet by releasing a massive shockwave, but as a result, falls dormant.

However, this attack on the Sol System was what led to the Traveler releasing hordes of Ghosts to help humanity fight against the Darkness, an action that ultimately led to the Witness’s doom.

Actions Preceding The Final Shape

After the Collapse, the Witness lingers outside the Sol System, manipulating its Disciples and the situation around Earth to weaken the Guardians and leave the Traveler ripe for the taking. Furthermore, without the knowledge of the Veil’s location, it may have factored in as to why it took so long for the Witness to mount another invasion.

During the final battle against Dominus Ghaul, the Traveler awakens briefly to release another shockwave to kill him, but the shockwave was powerful enough to reverberate throughout the system. Mere days later, the Witness attempted to enter the Sol System again with its Black Fleet. Several of its Pyramids manage to land on planets like Mercury and Mars, with the Witness establishing communication with the Guardian, possessing their Ghost and leading them to Europa.

The Witness claims that there is an untapped power hidden in Europa for the Guardians to find. It turns out that it is Stasis, which is part of the Darkness. It’s highly likely it wanted the Guardian to claim Stasis to corrupt them with the Darkness, while encouraging the Fallen Kell Eramis to use Stasis as well, only to fail after the Guardian defeated her.

The Witness also gained new followers in the ex-Emperor Calus (though he would continuously fail it), and transferred command of his army of Taken to Xivu Arath after Savathun’s clear break from its cause. At some point, Savathun makes her move, aiming to bring the Traveler into her throne world to stop it from fleeing and to protect it from the Witness’ clutches.

It was after she was defeated by the Guardian that the Witness decided to act against the Traveler and made preparations to enter the Sol System to deliver the Final Shape.

The Final Act

The Witness invades, moving its Black Fleet towards the Traveler. It easily destroyed the Vanguard ships sent to stop it with a mere flick of a finger, and even shrugged off a beam of energy from the Traveler.

With nothing to stand in its way, the Witness finally stands face-to-face with the Traveler after eons of chasing it. But before it can begin cutting into the Traveler, the Witness receives a vision of the Veil’s location and sends Calus to retrieve it.

The Guardian and its allies set out to stop Calus from obtaining the Veil. Although the Witness displays its anger at Calus’ repeated failures to secure the Veil, it may be that the Witness never needed Calus to actually bring the Veil to him. With the Guardian present, the Witness could possess their Ghost and use it to connect the Veil to the Traveler. It could also be a way for the Witness to get rid of Calus.

However, with the Veil linked to the Traveler, the Witness begins to cut into the Traveler, successfully creating a doorway to enter into the Pale Heart. The Witness also transported the Black Fleet into the Pale Heart with it. The Guardian and their allies aren’t able to find a way into the Pale Heart, and the Traveler lies inactive, not even responding to the Ghosts.

A Weakness Found

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

With the help of Queen Mara Sov and, eventually, Savathun herself, the Guardian manages to enter the Pale Heart. At this point, the Witness is mostly bereft of allies, as Xivu Arath has been defanged by Eris Morn using a Hive spell. The Witness itself has made great strides in nearly taking full control of the Pale Heart, but the Guardian arrives with their allies to stop it.

Out of desperation, the Witness attempts to sway all of them to its side, and is rejected. However, dissenters from within the Witness’ collective consciousness reached out to Zavala and, with its help, discovered the Witness’ weakness. The Guardian, gifted a Sword of Light by the Traveler, destroys three of the Veiled Statues, and wounds the Witness.

Enraged at its weakness being discovered, the Witness loses its composure and attempts to destroy the Guardians there and then, only for them to escape.

Downfall And Destruction

The Witness desperately tries to enact the Final Shape by tapping into the power of the monolith, but the Coalition (everyone allied militarily against the Witness) mounts a final attack during the Salvation’s Edge raid. Although the Witness sends its army — known as the Dread — against them, the Guardians manage to prevail and push on to face the Witness.

At this point, the Witness is severely weakened, its link to the Traveler shorn and causing it to retreat. The Guardian and their allies access the Witness’s collective consciousness and begin destroying the Veiled Statues inside. Unable to do much, the Witness is ultimately destroyed when the Guardians use their Ghosts to launch the Traveler’s Light at it, thus ending the Witness’s reign of terror.