In the game we are led to believe that the Darkness, the ancient enemy of the Traveler, is evil. By its very nature, the Darkness would personify evil. We often associate darkness with evil....BUT... [i]...perhaps the Darkness is NOT evil[/i] [b][u]Theory[/b][/u] Yes, the Darkness is the ancient enemy of the Traveler. And yes we are fighting to push it back. It may very well be evil. But consider this.... [b]Darkness is also just the absence of Light[/b]. Think about it this way. Before the Traveler arrived on Mars, humans had no "Light". Yet we were not evil (at least, most of us). The fact that we had no light did not make us evil. Then the Traveler shows up and we experience a Golden Age, and Guardians are later created and infused with the Traveler's Light. The presence of Light did not make us good. Goodness is a quality that cannot be imbued into someone. Now, if we follow this idea that Darkness is not evil, and it is just the absence of Light, we can explain a few things in the story. [b][u]The Stranger[/b][/u] Throughout the game, a character known only as "The Stranger" arrives intermittently in order to seemingly guide you down a certain path. We know that she is presumably from the future, as her rifle has parts that should not exist yet. After meeting the Stranger on Venus, you discover that the Stranger is not a Guardian, she was not "made from the Light". Now we can't say or not say for certain that she is good or evil; we don't have enough information. But it is clear that she is there to help you in some way. If our enemies are those who don't possess the Light, why don't we immediately just take her down? Food for thought, maybe our enemies are just the Traveler's enemies, and not necessarily humanity's enemy or evil. [b][u]The Traveler[/b][/u] My theory on the Traveler is this: perhaps it is not good, perhaps it is not evil. I think it may merely be selfish in its intent. The game is titled "Destiny" and yet our characters are commanded at the whim of the Speaker, and by extension the Traveler. We are not following any sort of Destiny, as we cannot go our own way. I believe that the Traveler is some sort of parasitic god that uses civilizations for its own purposes, whose end is not yet clear. Its ancient enemy, could be many things, but I would narrow it down to this: the Darkness, may not be evil, it is just without the Traveler's Light. Perhaps it is some sort of god type being that wishes to end the abuses of the Traveler and break its cycle of control over civilizations. I think the reason it is called the Traveler is not merely because it went from planet to planet in our solar system spreading its gift, but rather it goes from solar system to solar system gifting civilizations with its Light, and then abandoning them once they are of no further use. [b]The Nine[/b] Here is what we know about the Nine: [quote] --The Nine are survivors of the cis-Jovian colonies who made a compact with an alien force to ensure their own survival. -- The Nine are deep-orbit warminds who weathered the Collapse in hardened stealth platforms. --The Nine are ancient leviathan intelligences from the seas of Europa or the hydrocarbon pits of Titan. --The Nine arrived in a mysterious transmission from the direction of the Corona-Borealis supercluster. --The Nine are the firstborn Awoken and their minds now race down the field lines of the Jupiter-Io flux tube. --The Nine are Ghosts who pierced the Deep Black without a ship and meditated on the hissing silence of the heliopause. --The Nine are the aspects of the Darkness, broken by the Traveler's rebuke, working to destroy us from within. --The Nine is a viral language of pure meaning. --The Nine are the shadows left by the annihilation of a transcendent shape, burned into the weft of what is.[2][/quote] Now there are seemingly Nine descriptions of the Nine. All could be true, maybe just some, or only one. I think it is more likely that the Nine are one of each of the nine descriptions. This would support the notion of a multiverse. It is possible that all of these descriptions are true. Nonetheless I think we should focus on the one relating to the alien compact. Perhaps the survivors of the cis-Jovian colonies made a compact with the Darkness, the Traveler's enemy, and ensured their own survival after learning the truth about the Traveler. This would explain why the inner planets were decimated, but seemingly the outer worlds were left untouched by the Darkness. Remember, the Darkness is not evil in my theory. [b]In Sum[/b] The Darkness may not be evil, just as the Light may not be good. Darkness is just the absence of Light, and humans were not evil before the Traveler's arrival just because we had no Light. I believe the Light is a way for the Traveler to control our destiny and bend it to its own selfish purposes, yet to be defined. The Darkness, the absence of Light, is indeed its enemy, but may be merely seeking to end the Traveler's cycle of abuse. The Jovians made a compact with an alien force (the Darkness, in this theory) according to the grimoire relating to the Nine, and perhaps it was a force that knew the Truth about the Traveler, and that brought about the Collapse. That is why the Nine send Xur to help Guardians. We are being armed so that we may in the future fight for our own Destiny. The Stranger is from the future, who is not of the Light, but not evil. She is there to ensure we make the "correct" choices. Thanks for taking the time to read this. If you have thoughts please post them below.