PART ONE Guardians, What I'm about to propose is mostly speculation, with possible support from the Grimoire and in-game references. I'll keep it short, but I encourage you all to listen and, if interested, help me to flesh this idea out by looking around in the game and Grimoire. We know that the Traveler uplifted Humanity. What we don't know is why, and why the Darkness is after it. So let's look into that... Looking at the the Darkness Grimoire card, several theories are given by different sources to explain exactly what it could be. Perhaps the Darkness is just a physical and moral corruption that poisoned the Golden Age. Perhaps it was a vastly more advanced foe or a coalition of species rejected by the Traveler. Perhaps it is a post-Singularity intelligence and perhaps we shouldn't care about what it is, just focus on fighting it. Worse yet, perhaps the Traveler knew the Darkness would come? I propose that all of these things are true. SPOILER: From what we were told us about the Black Garden allowing Darkness to poison the Traveler and bringing the Darkness itself closer, and cross-referencing this with the Legend of the Black Garden card, it seems that the Black Garden "The Garden grows in both directions. It grows into tomorrow and yesterday." This is echoed by our Ghost who says that it doesn't exist on any known map of space and time, yet still the game tells us that is exists in Meridian Bay. This is a clear reference that the Black Garden is a nexus of sorts; a place where one can reach into the past or the future. There's also a line about red flowers blooming forever, but I'm not sure about that one--maybe that's a metaphor for the red lights on the Vex, who exist in the past and present? More on that later. Continuing our analysis of Pujari's vision in this card, the second paragraph states, "The Traveler moved across the face of the iron world. It opened the earth and stitched shut the sky. It made life possible. In these things there is always symmetry. Do you understand? This is not the beginning but it is the reason." This quote is critical. The iron world is Mars, not only because that's where the Garden is "located" but also because iron is what actually makes it the red planet. It seems that this is saying the Traveler is terraforming Mars. With that, we could guess that Pujari is witnessing the beginning of the Golden Age when it terraforms Mars in the opening cutscene. This may well be, BUT I believe there is more to it. [b]I suggest that the Black Garden was built in the future, possibly by the Traveler itself[/b], as it would take immensely advanced technology to anchor such a place outside of time. I also suggest that the [b]Vex are not only critical to the Darkness but were in fact created in the future as well.[/b] Looking through the Grimoire cards (Vex Precursors/Descendants), the way they're written highly suggests time travel, saying not only that there are Vex in the Vault of Glass who pre-date the Golden Age, but they make a point to say that with the Vex, things are never that simple. It also says that the proof of Vex in the future does not prove Humanity's defeat, and is perhaps only [u]one possible future[/u]. It also says somewhere in the cards that the Vex have vast networks in most worlds, but somebody will have to fact check me on the statement. I realize I'm still just laying out evidence and not bringing it all together, but bear with me. We weren't given very much directly so I don't want to lose anybody by jumping around. Now, the Exo Stranger and her people. First off, it's clear that the Exo Stranger was meant to intrigue and make us wonder "Where did she come from?" but it's even more clear that she is undeniable proof of the importance of time travel in Destiny. The rifle given to us by her says in the description that it's technology doesn't exist yet, and much of her dialogue suggests that she is very involved in time travel. The infamous line "I don't even have time to explain why I don't have time to explain," comes to mind. This is because to her, time is of the essence, and if I'm right then it definitely should be her priority. Moving on to her people, the Exo were said to have been created by Humanity for war, but that at this point, nothing short of a Ghost can make sense of their inner workings. This is another critical clue. The Ghosts--children of the Travel who themselves are artificial intelligences--are more advanced than those in the Last City. Exo are only understood by them, as their technology ascends what those in the Last City currently know. Were they really created by Humanity? I'm willing to say that they were merely [i]manufactured[/i] by Humans. In fact, I'm willing to speculate that one of the ways the Traveler uplifted Humanity was by giving them blueprints for the Exo. Back to the Legend of the Black Garden card, it mentions that later in Pujari's vision, gardeners appear in rivers of thought. Cross-referencing this between the Vex cards and the game, the gardeners are clearly the Vex, facilitating the true purpose of the garden, but a point is made in their cards that they discovered it and remade themelves in it's image (Sol Progeny card). Now you ask the obvious question... [b][u]What the hell does all of this mean?[/u][/b] Actually, it can be interpreted in a few different ways, and I'll post each possibility in a reply to this post if it survives long enough, but brought together, here is the full narrative I'm proposing. This narrative also functions as the [b]TL;DR[/b] some of you will be so keen to find.