I wasn't expecting a Playtest Preview to stealth-drop new lore, but here we are. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G_zUYhy6UnE This is part of a Nightfall Strike, and there are considerable implications for the presence of Ahamkara within the Pale Heart. They've had a tendency in the lore to appear wherever the Traveler has visited, since they popped up in Sol after the Traveler arrived, and the Ana Harmony, another race blessed by the Traveler, drew upon Ahamkara Wish Magic to fight against the Hive in the "Books of Sorrow". As to why they are in the Pale Heart, there are two possibilities I think are likely. One is that these are Ahamkara skulls the Witness has collected over the eons, and has set this Tormentor to guard over, including the truly massive one the Tormentor is standing on. The second is that the Ahamkara are native to the Pale Heart, and the Witness has had to exterminate them as it corrupts the Pale Heart. They might even be the in-game reason why the Dread were created - the Ahamkara can't use the desires of an enemy against them if they're an army with no will of their own. While "The Unveiling" is an allegorical work that reflects the Witness' ideology, the Ahamkara and Worms are both alluded to in the book, as the "insects" and "worms" that "feed on what was and what might be" in the Garden. If it turns out the Pale Heart and the "Garden" are the same thing, we're in for some major lore for Ahamkara within the Final Shape.