It abandons every race it “helps” eventually. It’ll abandon us. It already tried once and Rasputin stopped it.

If you have access to TV shows from the 1990s, consider watching the Sci-fi TV series "Babylon 5". The relationship between the Darkness, The Traveller and the various races in Destiny remind be a great deal of that between The Shadows, The Vorlons and the "younger races" (including humans) in Babylon 5. Without giving away too much of the plot, its the 23rd Century and we've mastered interstellar flight and have joined a community of sentient races are all at similar levels of technology. Babylon 5 is this massive space station and diplomatic outpost that was built in the wake of a war that broke out over a cultural misunderstanding between Humans and a race called the Minbari, that nearly led to the complete destruction of the human race. The station's goal was to prevent another such unfortunate war. But these "younger races" aren't the only power in the galaxy, there is this initially mysterious race that is millions of years older and and more advanced: The Vorlons. They're technology is almost miraculous in what it can do by comparison...but for unknown reasons they (appear) to keep their distance from the younger races and conceal their true identity in encounter suits. As the show wears on we start to hear rumors of another, darker race that was an ancient evil, that nearly conquered the galaxy a 1000 years ago. They only failed because the Minbari and the Vorlons joined forces to defeat them. We hear rumors of their returning...and evidence of them working in secret. This race only comes to be known as "The Shadows". We eventually come to know that the Shadows are coming back and plan another war of galactic conquest...and that the Minbari and Humans forces associate with Babylon 5 (with the guidance of the Vorlon ambassador) start to lay the groundwork for a system of alliances to combat the Shadows. Meanwhile another power, The Centauri...and a dictatorial Earth government that has seized power start to collaborate with the agents of these shadows. War eventually breaks out. The flashpoint is this ancient rivalry between the Centauri and the Na'arn (modeled after the conflict between Colonial Europe and the indigenous peoples that were exploited under Colonialism). The Shadows come to the aid of the Centuari, allowing them to win this war and devastate the Na'arn home world This sets off whole series of smaller wars as the Centauri aggressively expand...and smaller nations either try to defend themselves or try to grab their own empires in the chaos. In the middle of this the Alliance that the Mimbari-Human alliance through B5 is trying build is hanging by a thread. Because the Shadows move from clandestinely assting others, to striking openly. The Vorlons refuse to act...and the races that would have aligned against the Shadows start to lose hope of any victory. This provokes a confrontation between the Human leader of the alliance and the Vorlon ambassador who had actively recruited him. Sheridan (the human) calls Khosh (the Vorlon) out on their inaction, and the hopelessness of the situation as long as the Vorlons refuse to act. Sheridan pleads for the Vorlons to join the war. That even a single victory would help the alliance hold...but Khosh refuses. Even attacks Sheridan physically, until Khosh finally gets his temper under control. He finally agrees to give Sheridan the victory he wants. But he tells him that it will come at a price. Sheridan in his desperation agrees. Khosh tells him, cryptically, "When the time comes for you to go to Za' ha'dum (the Shadow homeworld) I will not be there. You will be alone..and you will die." Sheridan being a soldier and just thinking that Khosh is vindictively refusing to help him in the future, isn't deterred and agrees. The Vorlons then strike openly at the Shadows. Defeat them easily in a skirmish. The alliance holds. But several Shadow soldiers that had been hiding on the station break into Khosn's quarters and murder him. This getting long....so let me get to the point. This all lead to a series of events that creates an anvil that eventually leads to the truth of the situation coming out. That the Shadows aren't really evil...and the Vorlons aren't really good. THEY ARE LOCKED IN AN IDEOLOGICAL STRUGGLE ABOUT HOW THEY 'YOUNGER RACES' THEY ARE TO LOOK AFTER SHOULD BEST DEVELOP. The Shadows believe in Evolution through Conflict , CHAOS and Creative Desttruction (essentially Sword Logic). You provoke wars. The conflict eliminates the weak....forces the strong to get stronger. Then you take a break, le the survivors consolidate their gains. Then start the conflicts all over again. When ever someone who is an Agent of the Shadows encounters you, they always ask you the same question" [b]"What do you want?" [/b] The Vorlons, OTOH, believe in Evolution through Order, Knowledge and Discipline. (Because these features allow you to create things, they appear to be a force for Good). BUT THEY WERE NOT THE PASSIVE OBSERVERS THAT THEY PRETENDED TO BE. Instead they manipulated the "younger races' to be look upon them favorably (to us, a Vorlon outside of its encounter suit looks like an angel), wove themselves into our religions. Even gave bred into us telepathic powers that allowed us to combat the shadows. Of course, these same traits if taken too far, can be the basis for Totalitarianism. So then another series of events take place that make it clear that BOTH the Vorlons AND the Shadows don't have anyone's interests at heart...and the various races have to align themselves in an effort to bring the cycle of violence to an end. [b]TLDR: I believe that while the Darkness is truly Evil, that the Traveller will likely NOT prove to be truly Good. That BOTH of them represent fundamental forces that are out of balance....and represent ideological extremes that are locked in an eternal conflict that they are dragging other species into. I believe that we'll eventually realize that it isn't in Humanity's best interests for EITHER of these two to "win" this war....and that we'll likely have to align with the other races affected. (Most likely Human/Awoken/Eliksni) to do battle with BOTH the Darkness AND The Traveller in an effort to find a BALANCE that works for us...and allows us to determine our own [i]Destiny. [/i] Instead of it being manipulated and controlled by outside forces.[/b]

In Joe staten’s original version of destiny1 the traveler was evil.

<Not really good or evil. The Darkness didn't consider itself evil. It's all perspective. I think it's a dick for leaving an untold amount of civilizations, but I think it even realized this and is quite possibly why it stayed and fought for us. Considering the Darkness upends entire civilizations so that nothing can challenge it in the end (what makes you think it won't turn on the Hive when they start failing/dying out?) I'll say that it's the antagonist here, not the Traveler. That being said, the Traveler cares about life, but doesn't go into specifics.>

It’s literally a giant ball of cheese In the midst of our solar system... What’s the worst that could happen?

Bungie is the traveler. It does nothing but just sit there... well maybe it did something once or twice but nothing more.

It would be pretty cliche if the Traveler ended up being evil and we were its puppets the entire time. That trope has been played out so many times.