Was watching a video by Evaze on the topic of the Pale Heart being the antithesis of the Black Heart, and it got me thinking about Collective Obligation. To preface this, I am completely spitballing ideas here, so take it as you will. Also for simplicity sake, I will be referring to Collective Obligation as “CO” hereafter. CO’s visual appearance doesn’t match the raid in which it is obtained whatsoever, in fact, it contrasts it. Whereas the Pyramid, the raid weapons and the bosses (Caretaker and Rhulk) have very rigid, jagged edges, rough textures and simplistic shapes, with little to no lustre to them. Meanwhile, CO is sleek, smooth, extremely lustrous/visually appealing and most importantly, it is bright. The only thing it vaguely resembles is Rhulk. The most defining detail of CO is the appearance of what appears to be a human heart integrated into its design, wherein the valves and general shape of a human heart can be seen just underneath the scope and in the general shape of the weapon itself. This on its own is unique in and of itself, but it’s the ornament that gets the gears in my head going. “In Finality” is CO’s only current ornament in the game, and it is ever so conveniently a shard of the Traveler. If the Black Heart was corrupting the Traveler and preventing it from healing, I would argue it’s a fair assumption that CO is essentially a clue towards whatever this “Pale Heart” of the Traveler is, especially when you consider these three factors: 1. CO doesn’t fit the theme of its own raid, at least visually. The ornament further supports this claim. 2. It having a human heart (or just heart in general) could suggest a connection between the Darkness and the Light (Black Heart/Pale Heart), especially with how the exotic perk of the weapon works (siphons ailments which corrupt the weapon visually, then expels them thus “purifying” the weapon). 3. CO’s lore. While the first and second points are important, the third point I mentioned is crucial. The last paragraph in CO’s lore is, and I quote: [i]“Annihilation of your kind was never the goal. But filling you with the right kind of ideological purpose, the kind that serves the finality of shape—well, that's the point of corrupting a beating heart, is it not?”[/i] “Annihilation of your kind was never the goal” Rhulk could be referring to the Traveler, but he is more than likely referring to us: humanity and by extension, the Guardians. “Filling you with the right kind of ideological purpose” Our belief that we, as wielders of the Light, must use it to protect (at least now) humanity as Guardians is exactly the kind of ideological purpose Rhulk is referring to. The Darkness gives us an ideology to oppose, and the Light provides us the power act upon this opposition. “Serves the finality of shape” Ideology can be a deadly and powerful tool, as is shown by the general attitude towards the Darkness and anything pertaining a la Stasis. This strength of steadfast commitment to this belief is only bringing us closer to the return of the Witness and our second extinction; finality. The connection to the Black Heart is also apparent here, as in D1 Elsie ordered us to destroy the Black Heart in hopes it would allow the Traveler to heal and potentially delay or outright stop the Darkness. Evidently, that failed. This belief that expunging the Darkness and having only the Light is precisely what has led us to the predicament we currently find ourselves in. In essence, we are no better than the Witness wanting only Darkness to remain. There needs to be balance, otherwise things begin to go awry. “That’s the point of corrupting a beating heart, is it not?” Herein lies the most important point with what I’ve mentioned. If our ideologies are flawed despite our own belief that it is flawless, and that we are correct, then our Guardians and the whole of humanity is susceptible of having those dogmas shattered, and thus leaving us vulnerable to influence from other sources which coax us with false promises. We’ve seen this already in Destiny 2: Zavala being in denial of Savathûn receiving the Traveler’s greatest gift (resurrection), Shayura murdering Guardians who use Stasis regardless of innocence or not, Elsie’s time loop ad infinitum of a corrupt Eris and Ana, etc., etc. Rhulk is another prime example of this as the first Disciple: he destroyed his entire civilization after perceiving them as corrupt and irredeemable, even though he still had a part of him that lamented this decision afterwards for a time. Now I’m terms of actual details regarding the “Pale Heart”, we’ve pretty much gotten nothing. But I do legitimately think that CO is a hint towards the greater story of what will become of humanity, the Darkness (Witness) and the Light (Traveler). If CO is all about corrupting and subsequently “purifying” itself in terms of gameplay and lore, then I should like to think that the Witness has the exact same plan for the Traveler and humanity: end the Traveler’s tyranny (from the perspective of the Witness), recruit a new Disciple and continue its overarching goal of the Final Shape, wherein only Darkness remains. The fact that we took out the Black Heart, and that only the Pale Heart remains, would suggest there is an imbalance as one thing lacks its opposite. Us wanting only Light leads to Darkness, and vice versa. Thanks for coming to my TED talk.