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10/4/2014 11:26:10 PM
9
The Darkness--A Hypothesis of Time and the Traveler's Origin
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.
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24 RepliesPART TWO 1. There exists a "base" possible future where Humanity builds the Traveler on Earth and the Black Garden on Mars. Why both? 1a. As evidenced in cards that symmetry is required for such things, the Traveler is the embodiment of knowledge and creation, tasked with creating life and exploring space-time for civilizations to share with and uplift. 1b. Too much of anything can be too much, resulting in the "Darkness", Future-Humanity's failsafe and flipside to the Traveler in case it is corrupted or one of the races it creates rebels. The Darkness is not evil by nature, but can counteract the Traveler, yet both should be able to counteract each other. 2. At some point, the Exo are created, perhaps as the original gardeners that are mentioned. As the gardeners and handlers of the Black Garden, they observe the Traveler interfering with space-time and interfering with other species' progress, and eventually come to embrace the Darkness. 3. Humanity embraces the Traveler and its ideal--to uplift and take care of young civilizations, while some of their children, the Exo, embrace the Darkness and it's ideal--to allow time to take its course and let life develop. 4. The Exo turn against their creators, use the power of the Darkness to undo the Traveler's progress, and reform themselves to reflect the Darkness and it's power, thus becoming the Vex. 5. The Exo-Vex abuse the power of the Black Garden, spreading through space, time, and the vast networks that were originally designed to allow the Traveler passage become the Vex networks.They spread through the Cosmos, eventually destroying Future-Humanity and beginning to hunt the Traveler through time. 6. Just before Future-Humanity's Collapse, they devise a last-minute plan for the Traveler. They send it back in time to a point where it can uplift an earlier, primitive version of Humanity. While the Traveler develops these "early" Humans, the Future-Humans and their allies will do their best to prevent the Darkness from realizing their plan. 7. The Traveler arrives at "our" Mars in the near future and begins the Golden Age as depicted in Destiny. It gives Golden Age Humans the designs for the Exo, which are altered to the point where they aren't supposed to be the gardeners, but specifically the protectors of Humanity. The Exo Stranger is either aware of this and originated in Destiny's time period, or is allied with Future-Humanity's resistance. She and her allies are tasked with the responsibility to observe this Destiny's possible futures and appear when help is needed to steer Humanity and the Guardians in the right direction. This is evidenced by the Exo Stranger card. 8. The Golden Age was a ploy from the future in order to give Humans a chance early on against the Darkness. While it was always a losing battle, the Traveler planned to create the resistance of the Guardians, Ghosts, and time-traveling Exo. [u][b]What does this mean for the other races?[/b][/u] The enemy races we fight in Destiny are species that the Traveler possibly began uplifting, but later was forced to abandon when it went back to uplift Humanity. The Darkness/Vex-Exo then convinced these species that the Traveler abandoned them and left them, and that it was the enemy, thus strengthening itself. The Awoken possibly are aware of this and reject the whole conflict. By not helping directly helping Humanity and evolving on their own, the Darkness leaves them alone, yet some (Queen) are slowly deciding to help. [u][b]Why doesn't the Traveler tell past-Humanity? In fact, how does this not just rewrite the future and prevent it all?[/b][/u] If the Traveler explained the situation, it would have to explain the Exo and their betrayal, but then it would insist that Humanity create the Exo anyway, which would undoubtedly be controversial and possibly detrimental to the plan, possibly resulting in early Humans losing reverence for this confusing entity. Sometimes ignorance is Bliss. As for the other part of the question, Destiny appears to operate on the many-worlds hypothesis, which says that you can't exactly "rewrite" the past, but that with each decision, a separate universe is created. It's possible that Future-Humanity seeks to create a universe where Golden Age Humanity returns and saves Future-Humanity, ultimately saving time itself from the out-of-control Darkness. [u][b]Why didn't the Darkness wipe out the Traveler and Humanity to prevent all this?[/b][/u] Don't forget their basic ideals. Once the Traveler is defeated and Humanity is almost destroyed in the Collapse, Humanity is left to redevelop themselves without being uplifted. They have to build up naturally. This is what the Darkness supports for all races, which is why they don't entirely wipe us out. That, and the Darkness isn't aware of the extent of this plan. [u][b]What does this mean for series[/b][/u] If true, this means that the plot of Destiny is ridiculously complex and that gameplay and story are going to get crazier and more unstable with each installment as these battles against the Darkness increasingly take place in "time-battles" like in the Black Garden. These will be the important battles that cripple either side. ----- I admit that a lot of this could basically be described as writing my own vision for Destiny in the absence of what we got. But there's evidence to support that something much more massive was planned for the series. What if this was it? What if this is still it? Tell me your thoughts, and thank you all so much for reading this and giving it thought. Please feel free to modify the framework of this theory, because as I said, there are many possible interpretations of the evidence we have.
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4 RepliesOkay here's my thoughts so far in regards to the story: The Vex share one mind(as stated in game) over millions of units. This would be similar to the (redacted:BioWare) in that an individual unit receives information that all units could process and interpret. Whether ALL G... I mean Vex, sorry. If all Vex are linked is unknown, but for simplicity let's say they are or at least for now they are. Now, via Grimiore, we know that they can run in depth simulations of upcoming events in order to predict the future. This is important. THEY CAN PREDICT THE FUTURE. Okay, so in essence, without any outside interference, they (because of a vast knowledge pool gathered by millions of units) can not be beaten. They have ran the simulations. They are ready for what comes. The secondary point to this is that the simulations it runs has substance. This is or is not important on how it is viewed by yourself, the reader. It's seriously it's own topic. I'll discuss this later. 3 scientist figure this out (post below) and determine that a Warmind would have the unpredictability to thwart the efforts of the Vex simulations. Hello Rasputin, whom bee tee dubs, is named after that one guy who was thought immortal and was said to have been poisoned, stabbed, drowned, drawn, quartered, and burned before truly dying. (Layman's term- tough -blam!-er to kill). So we have our "combatants" - Vex Collective with a rad 3 bar Super Move called "We See The Future" versus Rasputin (in fairness, probably a flock, herd, group, or a gaggle of Warminds) with the rather Dan Ibiki like one bar Super Move called "Unpredictability" Well shit. What am I getting at? I've had the patience to type this on a phone. You can have the patience to keep reading. So the Vex still can't be outsmarted. We're dumd and doomed. Rasputin knows how to win, however. YOU GO RUSSIAN INTELLIGENCE! If the vex can predict the future, then we gotta John Connor those mother-blam!-ers and shut down Skynet for good... This time... (God knows how many times Kyle Reese actually had to go back) For those born after the nineties, that's a time traveling marine sent to save the future of humanity in an epic fight against an Austrian cyborg. But in Destiny, to stay in line with my theory here, humanity doesn't have the technology. Not in this universe. Not yet. So Rasputin grows long nails, a beard, pees in jars and scribbles on walls. It's a plan. A plan for saving the future by going back in time. Meanwhile humanity falls. Eons pass. Humanity rises. Technological advancements are made. Rasputin discovered. The Vex reemerge to begin the cycle again as predicted. But aha, finally. We have our time machine. Our way of stopping those damn Reap...-blam!-...Vex for good this time. And the plan. The plan is brilliant. Send an advanced Warmind incapable of being predictable in its methods armed with knowledge and (unknown technology from some mystery origin) back in time to disrupt the Vex simulations thus rendering them vulnerable. Here my friends, I will stop to breathe. My theory has thus far reached to the beginning of the game (minus a millenia or so). I have yet to tell my theory on: Why didn't we win? Mysterious tech of mysterious origins VEX SIMULATIONS (...Morpheus!?) What about the here and now going forward.
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short theory.-
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4 RepliesThis makes a lot of sense, I am intrigued by the time idea, but it still doesn't explain why the plot right now is so threadbare.
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2 RepliesEdited by Ghost593835: 10/7/2014 1:52:43 AMWhat about the hive? What about crota and. Orxy ? Don't the vex hate other evil. The stranger " vex. So evil that they hate other evil". They worship a god, aka the black heart. Aren't the vex older than humanity ?
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The whole game is symbolism for Manifest Destiny. The Traveler is Conquest and The Darkness is greed. You cannot have one without the other.
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epicness
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Edited by TwoGZ: 10/7/2014 2:26:18 AMI agree the Vex are one of the more interesting aspects of Destiny's lore. A couple of points I noticed that may relate to your theory: 1. Dinklebot clearly says the Vex took over Mercury [i]during[/i] the Collapse. Compare this to the Fallen, who arrived [i]after[/i]. This suggests a couple of interesting possibilities--one being that Vex were here all along, and used the chaos as an opportunity to strike (supporting your theory of a solar origin for the Vex). 2. Vex move by way of their gates, but obviously you need someone to build the gate before you can use it. If all Vex gates are on colony worlds, this suggests we built the gates. 3. The Vex were not the original creators of the Black Garden. Consider the grimoire card: [quote]There are gardeners now. They came into the garden in vessels of bronze and they move through the groves in rivers of thought.[/quote] Gardener seems to refer to the Vex, whose bodies are described as being made of a bronze/like metal. This suggests the Vex arrived in the Garden, and may have been changed by what they found, since they worship it now. If the Vex are a human creation, maybe our exploration in the Golden Age uncovered something that triggered the change in the Vex and/or the Collapse?
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I have a few (pretty meaty) topics following similar thought lines here: http://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/70093383/0/0 http://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/70193746/0/0 I'd love to discuss some of this stuff further though. Have different thoughts about the exo and the stranger,.
