The Light and the Darkness

There's always been a lot of controversy about the Traveler and the forces of Darkness in this community, supporting or putting down either side. There are also a lot of questions concerning what exactly these two sides are and what they want. Today I plan to clear these subjects up as much as possible. I will be using actual philosophical views in this post, so if you're not used to challenging concepts or using your brain in general, this will be good for you. Let's begin. As far as we've been able to determine, the Light and Darkness (or the Sky and the Deep) are each entities of single minds. Both behave as a single powerful being working towards a specific goal, and can actually be defined by the philosophies that they demonstrate upon others. The Light is a being that wholeheartedly tries to embody the belief that peace can be obtained through prosperity and the sharing of kindness and knowledge. The Darkness embodies the belief that peace can only be obtained once all weakness is eliminated. Neither can be defined as good or evil. Period. This is because both of these terms are based on what you as an individual have grown to believe is right and wrong. The Hive have been taught that prosperity is composed of lies and weakness and that the only true meaning in life is death, while many other species in the history of Destiny believe that killing is wrong and prosperity is beneficial. You cannot convince either side to see things the other way around, and the same goes for every single individual in this community; it is all based on how you were taught and how you learned. Good and bad are relative, so the Hive see what they do as right why we see it as wrong, and vice versa. Thus this ongoing debate of the Traveler being good or evil is pointless. What matters is: do you think a being that wants you to prosper is good, or do you think that this caring of others is a weakness? Back to the entities themselves. We know that the Light crossed over into our realm/dimension though the Void/Veil and took on the form of what we call the Travaler. This moon-sized machine is suspected to contain a system of hundreds or even thousands of planets that orbit six stars that in turn orbit one larger star (the Dyson cube theory. Two grimoires describe this as true, one from the memory of a Ghost and the other from the vision of a Guardian, yet we still cannot be certain). But all of the worlds orbiting these stars had their surfaces carved off and all placed together in an inward-facing sphere surrounding the massive system (imagine a spherical Halo Ring or the Forerunner planet from Halo Wars, only WAAAAAAAY bigger). No gravity, sound, or energy of any kind escapes this orb. In contrast, the Darkness does not seem to have crossed over into our realm. This could be because it would become vulnerable upon entering our realm (the same way Brother Vance says "The Nine are vulnerable every moment they touch our world". I theorize that the Nine are Ahamkara because the Ahamkara had a mastery of the Void that suggests they also crossed over from the other side of the Veil. I hav other posts on both the Ahamkara and the Nine) or because it does not want to give up whatever it has gained on the other side. Whatever the cause, the Darkness still shows the ability to influence our realm even without a physical presence in it. The Darkness is able to communicate with beings that have the power to thin the Veil (the Worms and Oryx) and uses these puppets to enact its will. It also gives the species it uses ways to use its power to fight and improve themselves. Yet it is also able to concentrate its presence in some areas, allowing it to lead Oryx across the stars and to create Darkness Zones, where it's presence diminishes the power of the Light. Through these tactics, the Darkness has tirelessly chased the Traveler through countless star systems, spreading death in its quest to eliminate weakness, while the Traveler has been forced to teach the species it visits technologies of war and self-defense. The Traveler roamed of its own accord back before the Hive came to be, and constantly moved from world to world even then. But none of these worlds fell to collapses, and instead continued to prosper even after their caretaker left. This is how the Harmony had become so advanced and built the Gift Mast before the Traveler even came to Fundament and the Ammonites. But after the Hive began their chase after the Light, the Traveler's movement from system to system became forced, and it looked back in regret as the species it had loved and brought technology to were killed off one by one. Why did the Hive come to hate the Light? This question already has an answer. It is because of the Syzygy and the way of life on Fundament. The Worms told Aurash (Oryx) that the Traveler was the reason that the Syzygy was happening. The Syzygy was the aligning of Fundament's moons that would cause a giant tidal wave, known as the God-Wave, to wash over the world and kill most life occupying it. The Traveler was currently floating amongst the moons of Fundament with the Ammonites, but I do not believe it is the reason for this disaster. The Traveler has no gravity, so could not have specifically been the reason for the wave, BUT the Traveler could have altered the gravity of these moons to where the Syzygy was made more powerful. Even if this was so, the Syzygy would have occurred even if the Traveler hadn't arrived, and the God-Wave just would've been a bit smaller without the added gravity. As for the way of life, the Hive lived in a world of constant death where everything wanted to kill them, so when they looked up at the moons and saw a species unplagued by predators and harsh conditions, they felt cheated that the Traveler had gifted one species and not the others. Another hot subject is how the Traveler has abandoned countless worlds to fight the Darkness alone. Look, if you were being chased by the one thing that could kill you, wouldn't you want to preserve yourself and make sure the people you encounter along the way are geared up to defend themselves? That's exactly what the Traveler did, except it wasn't only visiting worlds to prepare them, it still wanted to do everything it could to give some live and peace to the universe for a time, even if now those moments would each be cut short by the sword of the Hive. Humanity got lucky. The Traveler could have stopped at some previous world to make its last stand, or it could have fled and made its stand with a later species. The Eliksni could be in our place now, while we went on undisturbed, or we could be extinct. And we know that the Traveler didn't try to leave us because Rasputin says it himself in the Mysteries grimoire. There are also a few grimoires where Rasputin said he prepared weapons for IF the Traveler tried to leave, because he sensed the Darkness coming and knew we would perish without it. The Dreams of Alpha Lupi and Mysteries let us know that the Traveler decided not to leave us, so Rasputin most certainly did not attack the one thing that was helping humanity fight. So now, before you judge a side or accuse the Traveler of being "evil", consider what we know. We know that the Worms told Oryx that the Traveler brings peace and life, but that the Darkness considers these things weak. We also know that the Darkness itself has said it only seeks to riddle down the universe into a final, perfect shape where only the strong are left alive. Do you believe in the the Sky, the Light, the Traveler, the Gardener? Or do you believe in the Deep, the Darkness, the Queen of Final Shapes? _______________________________________ I hope u all enjoyed this post and learned something about how the mind works. Also that you like the title. I've been told several times that my post titles sound theatrical, and as far as I can tell, this one was no exception ;) For more of my work, please check out my Archive: https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/217384398/0/0