Fantastic video, loved that poetic ending, Zavala embracing Darkness was one of the highlights of the expansion for me. Everything you've said is much of what I suspected after examining everything we've been given, particularly after Nacre was released...there was one aspect of the whole Witness/First Knife/Winnower subject that always nagged at me before I had made my own realization. It bugged me that the Witness, during the raid, declared itself "but the [First Knife] clutched in [the Winnowers] hand"...and then declared that that "the hand cannot tell the Knife what to carve." What a bizarre thing to say. This is not only a practical falsehood, but it speaks to something deeper about the nature of the Witnesses blurred perspective on it's own patron deity. First of all, it's hilarious to think that it made a clean "choice" of its own, as instead of a clean deliberation, it cut off the parts of its own conglomerate who dissented...removing them from the choice...was it even a real choice at that point? This comes as no surprise, as we foiled the Witness's inability to handle the denial of another it could not persuade or overwhelm. "I WILL CUT YOU OUT" is a reference to removing us from the collective will of all, which seemed necessary to complete the Final Shape, as per the opening cutscene. Secondly, and more importantly, it is logical to assume it would be the HAND (Winnower) would wield the knife and make the decisions. There is something here. The Traveler/Gardener is all about the naked truth of our own desires for what we TRULY want and wants to grant us the infinite ability to make our choice a reality, and thus cannot speak, for that would be interference and violate the ethics of our silent contract with it. The Winnower SEEMS to want to be portrayed in a similar, faceless hands-off manner, but appears to be anything but. To it, there IS NO CHOICE but one to make, there is only one shape/pattern to carve, and will do anything to persuade us and others to carve it. It is willing to speak to us and others in the most casual, friendly, and seductive way that it can to convince us to take, to let it in and wield us, and make the choice for us It and those in league with it will even lie to achieve this, as we've seen how the Witness was willing to lie to the Krill about the existence of a god wave. I think the Veil/Winnower either found the Witness precursor race or vice versa and told them what the wanted to hear, truth or not, making them into the First Knife... To do what, carve the Final Shape? At the end of the line, this is all about winning an argument between the Gardener and Winnower, not about winning in specifically conquest or dominion. And what better way to win an argument but to reveal hypocrisy in the others statements to tear their thesis apart from within? It seems to me that the Witness was indeed being wielded by the Winnower, and it hasn't been to carve the Final Shape...but to carve us. To shape us and turn us into a final dominant survivor in the universe to triumph over all others, and reveal that despite the Gardeners best efforts to change the game and make something different and unique, its gifts did nothing to change the ultimate outcome other than fast tracking the resurgence of the pattern, with us as the tip of his spear, making us his ultimate answer to refute the Gardeners entire philosophy. The only thing I still don't know is the Winnowers argument and winning condition seem crystal clear. We still don't know what the Travelers winning condition of the argument is or if it is not concerned with that, if it simply wants to influence the game to run forever, and differently every time...? Now that the Witness is dead, this is the first time in a long while (maybe ever) that it has not been being chased by one of its runaway experiments for eons...and now has a litter of juiced up little manlets (and space crabs) with guns...it will be VERY interesting to see what it decides to do now, if it still can after the events of the expansion. Just wanted to share this expanded theory with you and know if you have some of the same suspicions, despite it being absolutely too soon to speak on ANY of it. The future of this franchise is still so interesting and cant wait to see how it unfolds!
Thank you so much for the tip man! That's so kind of you! I agree with everything you've said and I think you laid it out very well. I could definitely see the Witness being the pressure that forges the diamonds (us). Another thing I'll say is that the more I've learned of the Witness and it's race, the more I believe they made themselves the First Knife. They were always obsessed with being "the chosen ones", attempting to act as Gardeners in the beginning, and later on as a Winnower of their own making. If I had to guess, the Winnower gave the race the story of the Garden before time, and they took the concept of the knife and ran with it, turning it into a title. I honestly really liked your breakdown of the hypocrisy of the Witness when it said that the gods couldn't tell the knife what shape to carve. The Witness was clearly speaking with bias and to a certain extent delusion, and I think that overall the Witness really represented the race's damning need for validation and purpose (from a higher power) well.
I kinda hope that The Winnower isn’t so much a “character” as much as they are a formless “force” that simply has the ability to communicate with us somehow. Similar to The Greater Will from Elden Ring or Formless Oeden from Bloodborne.
If we are to take the teachings of Ulan-Tan into account (which he and his Symmetry faction have shown up in recent lore), we cannot have Light without the Darkness and we cannot have the Darkness without the Light. If the Winnower is the Darkness itself then we cannot get rid of it without getting rid of the Gardener. If we do that then we loose both our ability to weild the Light and the Darkness. I wonder how many Guardians would be willing to make that sacrifice 🤔
if we were to take both forces out of the universe entirely, we might as well hand a trophy and a boquet of flowers to the nearest Vex construct. congrats on winning the flower game again to the reining champs!
That depends on whether or not the Gardener or Winnower CAN be killed. They aren't JUST people, JUST rules, JUST ideas, or JUST anything. They are all of those at once. Even if we were to face off against the Winnower physically, and we either choose to let the Winnower live in defiance of its rules, or accept its truth and cleave its heart beating from its nest, it doesn't matter. So long as we have the capacity to give and take, and so long as there are those who are WILLING to take, the Winnower will never be truly gone.
After TFS and reviewing Unveiling, The Gardener, and The Winnower; I really appreciate the Witness’ plan for Finality. Not only does the Winnower not care about the Witness, I’d say he was pissed at it and is glad it’s gone because the Witness’ Finality is the bastardization of the natural process the Winnower loves. It’s a speedrun to the end result. Whatever existed will exist forever locked in reality, technically winning by the Winnower’s standards but whatever was locked never worked for that ending. Not only pissing off the Winnower but the Witness also bastardized the Gardener’s plan because whatever new thing was born will never be threatened to destroy because it is locked in sameness for eternity. Though I wouldn’t WHOLLY go along with Finality, the Witness was truly a rebel for taking the worst parts of Light and Darkness and putting them together, effectively cheating the system.
The word Necrolite is another instance of bungie taking parts of words, such as prefixes and suffixes that have individual meetings, and putting them together to make new words. A great example being a staple of the series; “paracausal”. And in both instances each word has been used before, but never to such a main stream extent to where the definition had been well cemented. Necrolite is just the prefix “Necro” meaning of or related to death and/or decay, and the the suffix “lite” meaning lesser, sort of, or almost. So all together it means “kinda-dead thing”. And the Witness is definitely a mashed together bunch of kinda-dead things.
This is a great breakdown! I didn’t consider the necrolite line referring to the Witness, but after watching this it’s 100% speaking about that. Really excited for the future! And I always enjoy your insights, thank you for them :) Great video!
When I first came across your videos and your theory, I was skeptical. Not because I thought it was a bad theory, just the opposite. But because at the time I didn't have enough faith in the writing staff after Beyond Light and Lightfall. I hoped that you were right, because the Winnower to me was so much more interesting than the Witness. The Sword Logic was always far more interesting to me than the Witness' idea of the Final Shape. And the way the Winnower is written is much more interesting than the Witness imo. I hoped that it would turn out the winnower was real, but I didn't think it would actually happen. Congrats on being right.
I wonder how they’re going to move forward with this series now that the “Light vs Dark” saga is supposedly over, but it's also now confirmed that the Darkness has a mind of its own and it speaks to us and it does want simplicity in the universe.
same here, they could have used another term for the name of the saga, cause we know for a fact Destiny will always be abt Light and Dark as either powers or entitites, a change would be upmost surprising.
Saying we have to end the winnower or he will end us, implying we are bound to his game. The way he said to oryx “I have to ask, else someone ask it of me.” The way oryx also thought of one more ruthless than him, and how to become a part of that greater ruthlessness even in true death, and how Oryx held the longest thought about the deep, even in defiance to the witness’ idea of a final shape. The synapses are firing and the pattern is revealing.
Thank you for this, a lot of people have been misconstruing the character and how it contrasts from the Witness. I will say however that I don't think he has to go, but maybe by continuing to show that violence isn't just a tool to usurp, by continuing to show the value in creating our "gentle kingdom, ringed in spears" we can twist the Winnower logic to work in our favor. I'm not sure a universe without the Winnower is one we can exist in, depending on how tied it is to Darkness and the consciousnesses that rely on it. An uncomfortable co-existence might be necessary, or as Savathun points out, changing the rules of the game and playing by our own rules regardless of what either the Gardener or Winnower believe.
Point of fact: Nacre is NOT a part of the mollusk. It is the SUBSTANCE (technically an organic-inorganic composite material) that the mollusk secretes to line it's shell with and makes pearls out of. It begins as a liquid and hardens. The mollusk secretes this substance to smooth over any sharp edges and grit that may damage it. Otherwise... great video! Nice to see something that shows that the Winnower isn't evil any more than the Gardener is. Both are necessary and neither have any particular attachment to the good/evil dichotomy that has reigned so far in the Destiny universe... at least in the minds of many of the people of that universe.
I hope the Winnower as a villain becomes the Calus we never got. In terms of this grandiose cosmic force that sees us as little more than a game, a pawn to manipulate. Over time, feeding us bits of information and teasing us, playing with us. Giving us gifts in the form of abilities and weapons. They have an opportunity to give us a long term villain who lives up to the hype mastermind tyrant they set up Calus to be before turning him into a bumbling idiot.
Honestly the Winnower being real makes me believe they truly did write at least the broad strokes 10 years ago of the story, I doubt they knew some of the finner details but damn
It's basically like Darksiders, both Light and Dark are equal but opposing forces, also from an ideological standpoint. However one point remains, Prismatic. Never has a uniom been seen or observed and that could be a problem for masters of Light who oppose all Darkness and Darkness who hates other Darkness.
I wouldn't call Winnie at this point in time as "enemy". Maybe...antagonist. An adversarial force beyond our reckoning. Parsecs distant but also very intimately close. A literal little devil sitting on our shoulder, constantly making his pitch. The Witness was just one of His princes. One of His Knives. But a blade that was ultimately deluded into thinking it could raise to the level of its maker by subjugating the Gardener. And ultimately Winnie felt indifference or even a small amount of interest in our ability to shatter that knife. I guess we'll see what happens next....
I consider the "sedimentary necrolite" to reference the witness indeed but sedimentary meaning more stagnant, which ultimately was the witnesses goal. As many have pointed out the word necrolite doesn't really have a definition, so I take it to be a general nod to the seeming death worshiping nature of the witness.
I think this video in combination with Byf's on this topic add a more complete picture, the only question I have is what would happen if we do end up killing the Winnower? With an imbalance of the cosmic entities that are the source of light and dark, what would happen to us? I certainly see the Winnower as an antagonist, but I'm not sure we'll ever meet as enemies. After all, the Winnower has all the time in the world, there's no rush for him. So what if he fails or is set back for now, he can always try again after we finally bite the dust. Not to mention, in a way, we're his champion as well as the Gardner's.
Regarding the word "necrolyte," and specifically the way it's spelled, it makes me think the Winnower is referring to a dead (necro) follower/acolyte (lyte). Still probably the Witness, but that's what I think that word really means
We already live by the winnowers logic, the only way it becomes our enemies is if we share the unending life with all living things. We either share the light with all living things OR we decide to stop all the killing. I think it would more or less be option one
So the winnower was waiting for the witness to die so it could pop us a DM like "you know maybe this isn't so bad 🤷🏻♀️ sure, I hated it here, hated this entire universe and everything to do with it, but you know what? It's not so bad around here, and you're not so bad yourself, kid. Keep up the good work! Be seeing you." 😂
It was argued because Bungie spoke out against the lorebook. And the Winnower doesn’t like death, it likes those who survive. That’s why it liked the vex pattern in the flower game
I thought Graviton Forfeit was written by Tevis gray and because he’s a Nightstalker cayde asked us to check up on he’s a little Depresso lol, little too much might not enough stalker as cayde put it, I think he’s also the guy who’s now gave hunters their first Shadow shot. I could be wrong ofc and I’m just commenting To comment but it’s definitely an interesting view to see it be from the Winnowers perspective. Your awsome Ven keep making content pls 👍🏻🤙🏻👏🏻
I remember arguing with my friend about the Winnower vs the Witness. Glad to know they’re separate characters again. Thank You Bungie for this ship lore. My friend can choke on the Winnower’s probable paracausal spheres 😏 if you know what I mean. Either way, can’t wait for this character to make a future appearance. The deep lore community is at peace once again.
While I understand that the winnower is real, there are a couple of pieces of evidence from the first knife ship, final shape collectors edition, and witch queen collectors edition that strongly imply that the witness was responsible for unveiling and talking to oryx in the books of sorrow. First I think it is important to acknowledge the way authors use questions and speculation from fictional characters to guide the reader to the correct answers. In my view, if a piece of speculation is given in writing with no contrasting speculation given at any other time, that to me is the author tying previous works into their current one and establishing a line of continuity. Page 30 of the witch queen collectors edition, witch was written by Seth Dickinson, the same person who wrote the books of sorrow, features the following quote. “The documents found aboard the glykon volatus attest to callus’s belief in a presence on the far side of his contact ritual. An observer. Is there a weirder of darkness, as we are workers of light? One, or many? When oryx called the darkness down into an ogre to speak with him, was this the voice that answered?” This section of the witch queen collectors edition obviously was setting up the reveal of the witness and it connected its communications with Calus directly to the communications it had with oryx. Unveiling being written by the witness is implied to be it emulating the winnower and seeing itself as the embodiment of its ideology in the universe, despite the winnower itself finding that to be a perversion of its ideals. The bungie narrative directors referred to unveiling as a religious text and to not trust whatever the witness says, witch implies that the witness wrote it and sent it to us. The first knife ship has Ikora quoted as saying “the allegorical fantasy told to us by the witness paints itself as a monolithic cosmic force” confirming to me that the witness wrote unveiling even further as they refer to unveiling as dogmatic propaganda from the witness. Finally, the final shape collectors edition on page 30 has eido quoted as saying “it does not even need to tempt you to use the darkness, which it has claimed to be, though we know, from your experiences on Neptune, that the witness does not hold as complete a dominion as it wishes us to believe”. This shows to me that the witness is acting as the winnower itself, adopting the same mannerisms and patterns of speech to communicate with us as it sees itself in its egotistical nature as the salvation they craved, a winnower to shape the garden, a continuation of the winnower that created existence, brought into the physical world as a cosmic inevitability. It sees itself as a part of the winnowers will, it’s king in the game of chess it is playing with the gardener. The modern extension of a primordial being. Sorry this comment was so long, but I have seen no other lore creator acknowledging the evidence that I have referred to and so I figured it would be useful to further the conversation. Would always be happy to chat with you more about this as I find the lore so fascinating.
You raise great points and I'll try to respond as best I can. 1. Not only did every other piece of lore that we had go against the Witness being what spoke to Oryx, but for what it's worth Seth Dickinson himself wondered recently before FS's launch if Bungie knew who it was who spoke to Oryx. Imo I think the fact that with FS they have confirmed the Winnower's existence, and that the character in Unveiling, Nacre AND Books of Sorrow all have the same personality makes it clear that they are in fact one and the same. Also I find it interesting that this character who spoke to Oryx was "The Deep" and as far as I remember Savvie never spoke to it, as Oryx guarded the Tablets of Ruin jealously. 2. I won't go into this too much, as I'm still figuring it out honestly but I'll say this. I have always been suspicious of what happened on the Glycon. My gut has been telling me that the reason Calus received such a violent reaction (one we've never seen any other time from someone speaking to the Witness) was because he actually ended up contacting the Winnower. Considering that I said previously, I do wonder if that line from the WQ CE actually isn't about the Witness, but the Winnower. Considering again that Seth himself wasn't a fan of the direction the story was going, and that he was a big advocate for the Winnower (makes sense tbf) I could see this being the case. Not saying it is for a fact, but it's worth mentioning. 3. The second half of the Narrative Team member's quote also said that truths about Unveiling would come with FS, and none of those truths were a definitive "the Witness wrote Unveiling." 4. The quote from the FK ship lore is one I do not take at face value. Remember, these are the same characters who called the Black Fleet the Darkness. The Witness is all they know when it comes to the Darkness, and so it makes sense that they would assume that it gave us Unveiling. They are unreliable narrators, and the purpose of that lore was them questioning how much they actually knew. 5. Finally, your interpretation of the quote from the FS CE lore imo doesn't hold up as if the Witness saw itself as the Winnower, it would have accepted the title instead of openly denying it and claiming to be the First Knife instead. At the same time, if the Witness wanted to act as the Winnower and speak as it, would it not have spoken in the singular through our Ghost in Shadowkeep? You are more than welcome to interpreting the quote this way, but based off previous events and the events of FS itself I do not believe that the Witness saw itself as the Winnower, or ever chose to mimic it.
I was not aware that Seth was at odds with the narrative direction so that would explain the contradictions. I would personally find it surprising if Seth wrote the glycon lore in a way that was knowingly pushing back at the narrative bungie set up in season of the chosen. I wonder if maybe he was trying to tie in his old lore with the new direction bungie was going in with a tangible big bad mastermind who was always behind it all.
I really can't imagine the Winnower ever being an antagonist we fight directly. I think imagining we need to "defeat" it is really underestimating how metaphorical the Winnower is That's not to say it's not ALSO a character, it is But it's a metaphor at the same time
I don’t think we’ll end up fighting the Winnower as much as we’ll just continue to fight those that tap into it’s darkness to try to wipe out existence. The Winnower itself doesn’t seem to be interested in annihilating everything as much as observing those it deems capable.
After Lightfall we really lost our faith and agreed it could go either way. I am more than happy to see that Lightfall was indeed a fluke and the story is moving forward stronger than ever after TFS. Also good to see bro was right ;)
The goal of the winner is the final shape the the goal we and our Allies are working towards is strength through unity and peace. A space for all to grow regardless of strength
I may be stupid here how do we know that the traveler and the veil are not just vehicles the gardener and the winnower live in but living enities that follow the two's will because it makes it seem like the traveler is just a car or plane for the gardener
I wish narrative team, be it D2 or D3, wouldn't have handcuffs placed on their creativity and freedom in Winnower's lore and execution. Let them go wild.
"Sedimentary necrolite, fossilized in time." I think the Winnower is actually referencing the Final Shape as enacted by the Witness. Sedimentary -- many things, together, with organic origins; Necrolite - a noxious, often volcanic form of feldspar; fossilized in time - forever frozen in time; "you've already seen that" -- when the Witness temporarily froze everything in the beginning of the campaign.
The fact that this wasn’t written by Seth Dickinson is simultaneously great and disappointing to me lmao It was written well enough that I genuinely started to wonder if Seth Dickinson was back at work on Destiny lore. Hurts to hear that he isn’t. But whoever wrote this lore was good enough that it made me wonder if it might be him. That’s fantastic.
I feel like the Winnower is destiny’s Mendicant Bias: responsible for so much of the lore and a powerful figure manipulating events behind the veil of shadow, yet hardly mentioned in main story/campaign. I feel Vex will be next big bad but Winnower still the puppeteer.
I still hope we get some clarification in the future as to how/why the witness vision AND Unveiling came from the same strange artifact. I know I’ve said this a couple times now but that’s kind of the only inconsistency I can see at this point.
All it really takes for this to be cleared up by the narrative team is the lore tab equivalent of them waving their hand and saying “eh, it just kinda happened *because reasons* , but whatever 🤷♂️
I have a theory that this was similar to how the Precursor race learned about the Gardener, Winnower, and “truth” of the universe. They were driven into nihilism by the “realization” that the whole purpose of the universe was the destruction of life until one man is left standing - they became the Winnower to stop that cycle. I think the Witness introduced us to the sphere through which the Winnower spoke to us specifically because it would show us the “truth”, and it assumed we would just come to the same conclusion it had, which was that the game had to be stopped. I don’t think it’s an accident that right after we discover the ball in the pyramid, the Witness reveals itself to us and tells us it is our salvation - it thinks it is saving us from the truth revealed by the Winnower.
@@nicholascazmay2126I kinda share this thought. They at the very least knew of the Winnower or learned about it after becoming the Witness and yet they still chose their Final Shape over that of the Winnower’s perspective. And if they came to that conclusion with those facts, it’s fair to believe others would as well and help enact it or stand aside.
I wonder tho what capacity they would bring the winnower in, because technically we are basically doing the 1 pattern that it wants to see with us always killing stuff, but that's what the game is about and will always have that happening because it's a fps game 😅 so that's not gonna change, which makes me wonder wtf they got planned for this story down the road lol I'm very excited either way
One thing that irks me about this reveal is that in the DLC where we literally go into the traveler, there is no gardener around, not even a reference to it.
The Winnower “takes” away what it sees as unnecessary to dominate existence - it “perfects” the subject and carves them down to what essentials they need most to win. It leaves behind only what is needed, even necessary, to be strong.
We know that we will lose to the Winnower for two reasons. One, he is literally a being that existed prior to and outside of this universe meaning that he does not play by the rules of the universe making him not bound to them. The second and most direct reason for my claim, we’ve already seen our death. We received the sword Ergo Sum as a weapon and we’ve already seen the Vex make a gravesite of us with that sword on top of it. This event occurred well before we even got the Final Shape expansion. We will die and the Winnower will continue to exist. If either the Gardener or Winnower (or even both) cease to exist, the universe will follow suite.
i strongly disagree that the universe naturally follows the rules of the winnower. Like of course it does, partially, but it also follows the rules of the gardener. like you can see it in real life, and assuming there isn't some great differences in destiny's current world, it also works that way there. there's constant change and evolution, co existing with the ecosystem. life hunt each other but generally not to extinction, and yes life adapts to its environment but that doesn't make its stronger in any objective sense, its just more efficient (or not) for where it lives. new possibilities arise constantly from extinction events, new adaptations, from co operation and behaviour that doesn't prioritize the self above the community. now humans spesifically have been more winnower aligned, taking control of the world, driving other creatures to extinction, that stuff. but then even in destiny you see the golden age doing things differently. they appreciate the worlds more, and create gardens, they study life and want it to live. in the current age there's self defense, a creature intending to destroy all life cannot be allowed to live, but as long as they live by the same rules as us, being open to co existence and cooperation we can live alongside them.
Light and Darkness are two sides of the same cosmic coin. They are not heroes or villains. They are facts of existence, they ARE existence, and you can never truly have one without the other. Death needs Life to winnow, and Life needs Death to garden. The Gardener and Winnower aren't just another face to punch. They aren't heroes or villains. They are simply facts of life, and willingly or not, we'll always be picking one, the other, or both. The two are more of a foundation than anything. They are not just players. They are the board and the pieces at play. They are the rules that can be followed or broken. They are both the rewards for victory and the penalty of defeat. They do not control our destiny, but they are what make it possible, whether others choose it for us or we choose it for ourselves.
The Winnower only has to go if you keep playing their game. Stop being a puppet. Be indifferent to these puppet masters, then many choices open up... Unfortunately, I've seen this story retold too many times.
Fantastic video, loved that poetic ending, Zavala embracing Darkness was one of the highlights of the expansion for me.
Everything you've said is much of what I suspected after examining everything we've been given, particularly after Nacre was released...there was one aspect of the whole Witness/First Knife/Winnower subject that always nagged at me before I had made my own realization.
It bugged me that the Witness, during the raid, declared itself "but the [First Knife] clutched in [the Winnowers] hand"...and then declared that that "the hand cannot tell the Knife what to carve."
What a bizarre thing to say. This is not only a practical falsehood, but it speaks to something deeper about the nature of the Witnesses blurred perspective on it's own patron deity.
First of all, it's hilarious to think that it made a clean "choice" of its own, as instead of a clean deliberation, it cut off the parts of its own conglomerate who dissented...removing them from the choice...was it even a real choice at that point? This comes as no surprise, as we foiled the Witness's inability to handle the denial of another it could not persuade or overwhelm. "I WILL CUT YOU OUT" is a reference to removing us from the collective will of all, which seemed necessary to complete the Final Shape, as per the opening cutscene.
Secondly, and more importantly, it is logical to assume it would be the HAND (Winnower) would wield the knife and make the decisions.
There is something here.
The Traveler/Gardener is all about the naked truth of our own desires for what we TRULY want and wants to grant us the infinite ability to make our choice a reality, and thus cannot speak, for that would be interference and violate the ethics of our silent contract with it.
The Winnower SEEMS to want to be portrayed in a similar, faceless hands-off manner, but appears to be anything but. To it, there IS NO CHOICE but one to make, there is only one shape/pattern to carve, and will do anything to persuade us and others to carve it. It is willing to speak to us and others in the most casual, friendly, and seductive way that it can to convince us to take, to let it in and wield us, and make the choice for us
It and those in league with it will even lie to achieve this, as we've seen how the Witness was willing to lie to the Krill about the existence of a god wave.
I think the Veil/Winnower either found the Witness precursor race or vice versa and told them what the wanted to hear, truth or not, making them into the First Knife...
To do what, carve the Final Shape?
At the end of the line, this is all about winning an argument between the Gardener and Winnower, not about winning in specifically conquest or dominion. And what better way to win an argument but to reveal hypocrisy in the others statements to tear their thesis apart from within?
It seems to me that the Witness was indeed being wielded by the Winnower, and it hasn't been to carve the Final Shape...but to carve us.
To shape us and turn us into a final dominant survivor in the universe to triumph over all others, and reveal that despite the Gardeners best efforts to change the game and make something different and unique, its gifts did nothing to change the ultimate outcome other than fast tracking the resurgence of the pattern, with us as the tip of his spear, making us his ultimate answer to refute the Gardeners entire philosophy.
The only thing I still don't know is the Winnowers argument and winning condition seem crystal clear. We still don't know what the Travelers winning condition of the argument is or if it is not concerned with that, if it simply wants to influence the game to run forever, and differently every time...?
Now that the Witness is dead, this is the first time in a long while (maybe ever) that it has not been being chased by one of its runaway experiments for eons...and now has a litter of juiced up little manlets (and space crabs) with guns...it will be VERY interesting to see what it decides to do now, if it still can after the events of the expansion.
Just wanted to share this expanded theory with you and know if you have some of the same suspicions, despite it being absolutely too soon to speak on ANY of it. The future of this franchise is still so interesting and cant wait to see how it unfolds!
Thank you so much for the tip man! That's so kind of you!
I agree with everything you've said and I think you laid it out very well. I could definitely see the Witness being the pressure that forges the diamonds (us). Another thing I'll say is that the more I've learned of the Witness and it's race, the more I believe they made themselves the First Knife. They were always obsessed with being "the chosen ones", attempting to act as Gardeners in the beginning, and later on as a Winnower of their own making. If I had to guess, the Winnower gave the race the story of the Garden before time, and they took the concept of the knife and ran with it, turning it into a title.
I honestly really liked your breakdown of the hypocrisy of the Witness when it said that the gods couldn't tell the knife what shape to carve. The Witness was clearly speaking with bias and to a certain extent delusion, and I think that overall the Witness really represented the race's damning need for validation and purpose (from a higher power) well.
I kinda hope that The Winnower isn’t so much a “character” as much as they are a formless “force” that simply has the ability to communicate with us somehow. Similar to The Greater Will from Elden Ring or Formless Oeden from Bloodborne.
If we are to take the teachings of Ulan-Tan into account (which he and his Symmetry faction have shown up in recent lore), we cannot have Light without the Darkness and we cannot have the Darkness without the Light. If the Winnower is the Darkness itself then we cannot get rid of it without getting rid of the Gardener. If we do that then we loose both our ability to weild the Light and the Darkness. I wonder how many Guardians would be willing to make that sacrifice 🤔
if we were to take both forces out of the universe entirely, we might as well hand a trophy and a boquet of flowers to the nearest Vex construct. congrats on winning the flower game again to the reining champs!
It would be a great segue into a destiny game without light powers in a diffrent genre than mmo
That depends on whether or not the Gardener or Winnower CAN be killed. They aren't JUST people, JUST rules, JUST ideas, or JUST anything. They are all of those at once. Even if we were to face off against the Winnower physically, and we either choose to let the Winnower live in defiance of its rules, or accept its truth and cleave its heart beating from its nest, it doesn't matter. So long as we have the capacity to give and take, and so long as there are those who are WILLING to take, the Winnower will never be truly gone.
After TFS and reviewing Unveiling, The Gardener, and The Winnower; I really appreciate the Witness’ plan for Finality.
Not only does the Winnower not care about the Witness, I’d say he was pissed at it and is glad it’s gone because the Witness’ Finality is the bastardization of the natural process the Winnower loves.
It’s a speedrun to the end result. Whatever existed will exist forever locked in reality, technically winning by the Winnower’s standards but whatever was locked never worked for that ending.
Not only pissing off the Winnower but the Witness also bastardized the Gardener’s plan because whatever new thing was born will never be threatened to destroy because it is locked in sameness for eternity.
Though I wouldn’t WHOLLY go along with Finality, the Witness was truly a rebel for taking the worst parts of Light and Darkness and putting them together, effectively cheating the system.
And Us as the Guardians are the ones who take the best parts of light and darkness to forge our own fete and path.
0:16 SAME!!!! After all this time, all the arguments, and all the headaches. Finally we get answers, and I WAS RIGHT!
The word Necrolite is another instance of bungie taking parts of words, such as prefixes and suffixes that have individual meetings, and putting them together to make new words. A great example being a staple of the series; “paracausal”. And in both instances each word has been used before, but never to such a main stream extent to where the definition had been well cemented. Necrolite is just the prefix “Necro” meaning of or related to death and/or decay, and the the suffix “lite” meaning lesser, sort of, or almost. So all together it means “kinda-dead thing”. And the Witness is definitely a mashed together bunch of kinda-dead things.
-lite is also often a suffix added to denote something it is made of stone, usually for words implying a fossil.
This is a great breakdown! I didn’t consider the necrolite line referring to the Witness, but after watching this it’s 100% speaking about that. Really excited for the future! And I always enjoy your insights, thank you for them :) Great video!
The Winnower is such a fascinating figure.
Can’t wait to see more from it going forward.
When I first came across your videos and your theory, I was skeptical. Not because I thought it was a bad theory, just the opposite. But because at the time I didn't have enough faith in the writing staff after Beyond Light and Lightfall. I hoped that you were right, because the Winnower to me was so much more interesting than the Witness. The Sword Logic was always far more interesting to me than the Witness' idea of the Final Shape. And the way the Winnower is written is much more interesting than the Witness imo. I hoped that it would turn out the winnower was real, but I didn't think it would actually happen. Congrats on being right.
I wonder how they’re going to move forward with this series now that the “Light vs Dark” saga is supposedly over, but it's also now confirmed that the Darkness has a mind of its own and it speaks to us and it does want simplicity in the universe.
same here, they could have used another term for the name of the saga, cause we know for a fact Destiny will always be abt Light and Dark as either powers or entitites, a change would be upmost surprising.
Saying we have to end the winnower or he will end us, implying we are bound to his game. The way he said to oryx “I have to ask, else someone ask it of me.” The way oryx also thought of one more ruthless than him, and how to become a part of that greater ruthlessness even in true death, and how Oryx held the longest thought about the deep, even in defiance to the witness’ idea of a final shape. The synapses are firing and the pattern is revealing.
Thank you for this, a lot of people have been misconstruing the character and how it contrasts from the Witness. I will say however that I don't think he has to go, but maybe by continuing to show that violence isn't just a tool to usurp, by continuing to show the value in creating our "gentle kingdom, ringed in spears" we can twist the Winnower logic to work in our favor. I'm not sure a universe without the Winnower is one we can exist in, depending on how tied it is to Darkness and the consciousnesses that rely on it. An uncomfortable co-existence might be necessary, or as Savathun points out, changing the rules of the game and playing by our own rules regardless of what either the Gardener or Winnower believe.
Point of fact: Nacre is NOT a part of the mollusk. It is the SUBSTANCE (technically an organic-inorganic composite material) that the mollusk secretes to line it's shell with and makes pearls out of. It begins as a liquid and hardens. The mollusk secretes this substance to smooth over any sharp edges and grit that may damage it.
Otherwise... great video! Nice to see something that shows that the Winnower isn't evil any more than the Gardener is. Both are necessary and neither have any particular attachment to the good/evil dichotomy that has reigned so far in the Destiny universe... at least in the minds of many of the people of that universe.
Thank you for the clarification!
literally just searched your name because I thought of you, so I guess I am rather lucky to be so early, King 👑
I hope the Winnower as a villain becomes the Calus we never got. In terms of this grandiose cosmic force that sees us as little more than a game, a pawn to manipulate. Over time, feeding us bits of information and teasing us, playing with us. Giving us gifts in the form of abilities and weapons. They have an opportunity to give us a long term villain who lives up to the hype mastermind tyrant they set up Calus to be before turning him into a bumbling idiot.
Honestly the Winnower being real makes me believe they truly did write at least the broad strokes 10 years ago of the story, I doubt they knew some of the finner details but damn
It's basically like Darksiders, both Light and Dark are equal but opposing forces, also from an ideological standpoint.
However one point remains, Prismatic. Never has a uniom been seen or observed and that could be a problem for masters of Light who oppose all Darkness and Darkness who hates other Darkness.
"They called me a madman."
True and real.
I wouldn't call Winnie at this point in time as "enemy". Maybe...antagonist. An adversarial force beyond our reckoning. Parsecs distant but also very intimately close. A literal little devil sitting on our shoulder, constantly making his pitch.
The Witness was just one of His princes. One of His Knives. But a blade that was ultimately deluded into thinking it could raise to the level of its maker by subjugating the Gardener. And ultimately Winnie felt indifference or even a small amount of interest in our ability to shatter that knife.
I guess we'll see what happens next....
I consider the "sedimentary necrolite" to reference the witness indeed but sedimentary meaning more stagnant, which ultimately was the witnesses goal. As many have pointed out the word necrolite doesn't really have a definition, so I take it to be a general nod to the seeming death worshiping nature of the witness.
I think this video in combination with Byf's on this topic add a more complete picture, the only question I have is what would happen if we do end up killing the Winnower? With an imbalance of the cosmic entities that are the source of light and dark, what would happen to us? I certainly see the Winnower as an antagonist, but I'm not sure we'll ever meet as enemies. After all, the Winnower has all the time in the world, there's no rush for him. So what if he fails or is set back for now, he can always try again after we finally bite the dust. Not to mention, in a way, we're his champion as well as the Gardner's.
Regarding the word "necrolyte," and specifically the way it's spelled, it makes me think the Winnower is referring to a dead (necro) follower/acolyte (lyte). Still probably the Witness, but that's what I think that word really means
We already live by the winnowers logic, the only way it becomes our enemies is if we share the unending life with all living things. We either share the light with all living things OR we decide to stop all the killing. I think it would more or less be option one
This truly is, majestic, majestic
So the winnower was waiting for the witness to die so it could pop us a DM like "you know maybe this isn't so bad 🤷🏻♀️ sure, I hated it here, hated this entire universe and everything to do with it, but you know what? It's not so bad around here, and you're not so bad yourself, kid. Keep up the good work! Be seeing you." 😂
Honestly this is one of my favorite pieces of lore ever
It was argued because Bungie spoke out against the lorebook. And the Winnower doesn’t like death, it likes those who survive.
That’s why it liked the vex pattern in the flower game
I thought Graviton Forfeit was written by Tevis gray and because he’s a Nightstalker cayde asked us to check up on he’s a little Depresso lol, little too much might not enough stalker as cayde put it, I think he’s also the guy who’s now gave hunters their first Shadow shot. I could be wrong ofc and I’m just commenting To comment but it’s definitely an interesting view to see it be from the Winnowers perspective. Your awsome Ven keep making content pls 👍🏻🤙🏻👏🏻
I remember arguing with my friend about the Winnower vs the Witness. Glad to know they’re separate characters again. Thank You Bungie for this ship lore. My friend can choke on the Winnower’s probable paracausal spheres 😏 if you know what I mean. Either way, can’t wait for this character to make a future appearance. The deep lore community is at peace once again.
While I understand that the winnower is real, there are a couple of pieces of evidence from the first knife ship, final shape collectors edition, and witch queen collectors edition that strongly imply that the witness was responsible for unveiling and talking to oryx in the books of sorrow. First I think it is important to acknowledge the way authors use questions and speculation from fictional characters to guide the reader to the correct answers. In my view, if a piece of speculation is given in writing with no contrasting speculation given at any other time, that to me is the author tying previous works into their current one and establishing a line of continuity. Page 30 of the witch queen collectors edition, witch was written by Seth Dickinson, the same person who wrote the books of sorrow, features the following quote. “The documents found aboard the glykon volatus attest to callus’s belief in a presence on the far side of his contact ritual. An observer. Is there a weirder of darkness, as we are workers of light? One, or many? When oryx called the darkness down into an ogre to speak with him, was this the voice that answered?” This section of the witch queen collectors edition obviously was setting up the reveal of the witness and it connected its communications with Calus directly to the communications it had with oryx. Unveiling being written by the witness is implied to be it emulating the winnower and seeing itself as the embodiment of its ideology in the universe, despite the winnower itself finding that to be a perversion of its ideals. The bungie narrative directors referred to unveiling as a religious text and to not trust whatever the witness says, witch implies that the witness wrote it and sent it to us. The first knife ship has Ikora quoted as saying “the allegorical fantasy told to us by the witness paints itself as a monolithic cosmic force” confirming to me that the witness wrote unveiling even further as they refer to unveiling as dogmatic propaganda from the witness. Finally, the final shape collectors edition on page 30 has eido quoted as saying “it does not even need to tempt you to use the darkness, which it has claimed to be, though we know, from your experiences on Neptune, that the witness does not hold as complete a dominion as it wishes us to believe”. This shows to me that the witness is acting as the winnower itself, adopting the same mannerisms and patterns of speech to communicate with us as it sees itself in its egotistical nature as the salvation they craved, a winnower to shape the garden, a continuation of the winnower that created existence, brought into the physical world as a cosmic inevitability. It sees itself as a part of the winnowers will, it’s king in the game of chess it is playing with the gardener. The modern extension of a primordial being.
Sorry this comment was so long, but I have seen no other lore creator acknowledging the evidence that I have referred to and so I figured it would be useful to further the conversation. Would always be happy to chat with you more about this as I find the lore so fascinating.
You raise great points and I'll try to respond as best I can.
1. Not only did every other piece of lore that we had go against the Witness being what spoke to Oryx, but for what it's worth Seth Dickinson himself wondered recently before FS's launch if Bungie knew who it was who spoke to Oryx. Imo I think the fact that with FS they have confirmed the Winnower's existence, and that the character in Unveiling, Nacre AND Books of Sorrow all have the same personality makes it clear that they are in fact one and the same. Also I find it interesting that this character who spoke to Oryx was "The Deep" and as far as I remember Savvie never spoke to it, as Oryx guarded the Tablets of Ruin jealously.
2. I won't go into this too much, as I'm still figuring it out honestly but I'll say this. I have always been suspicious of what happened on the Glycon. My gut has been telling me that the reason Calus received such a violent reaction (one we've never seen any other time from someone speaking to the Witness) was because he actually ended up contacting the Winnower. Considering that I said previously, I do wonder if that line from the WQ CE actually isn't about the Witness, but the Winnower. Considering again that Seth himself wasn't a fan of the direction the story was going, and that he was a big advocate for the Winnower (makes sense tbf) I could see this being the case. Not saying it is for a fact, but it's worth mentioning.
3. The second half of the Narrative Team member's quote also said that truths about Unveiling would come with FS, and none of those truths were a definitive "the Witness wrote Unveiling."
4. The quote from the FK ship lore is one I do not take at face value. Remember, these are the same characters who called the Black Fleet the Darkness. The Witness is all they know when it comes to the Darkness, and so it makes sense that they would assume that it gave us Unveiling. They are unreliable narrators, and the purpose of that lore was them questioning how much they actually knew.
5. Finally, your interpretation of the quote from the FS CE lore imo doesn't hold up as if the Witness saw itself as the Winnower, it would have accepted the title instead of openly denying it and claiming to be the First Knife instead. At the same time, if the Witness wanted to act as the Winnower and speak as it, would it not have spoken in the singular through our Ghost in Shadowkeep? You are more than welcome to interpreting the quote this way, but based off previous events and the events of FS itself I do not believe that the Witness saw itself as the Winnower, or ever chose to mimic it.
I was not aware that Seth was at odds with the narrative direction so that would explain the contradictions. I would personally find it surprising if Seth wrote the glycon lore in a way that was knowingly pushing back at the narrative bungie set up in season of the chosen. I wonder if maybe he was trying to tie in his old lore with the new direction bungie was going in with a tangible big bad mastermind who was always behind it all.
I really can't imagine the Winnower ever being an antagonist we fight directly. I think imagining we need to "defeat" it is really underestimating how metaphorical the Winnower is
That's not to say it's not ALSO a character, it is
But it's a metaphor at the same time
Can't wait for a Raid with the Winnower talks to us in a casual tone even when we both reach his arena and during the fight.
I don’t think we’ll end up fighting the Winnower as much as we’ll just continue to fight those that tap into it’s darkness to try to wipe out existence. The Winnower itself doesn’t seem to be interested in annihilating everything as much as observing those it deems capable.
After Lightfall we really lost our faith and agreed it could go either way. I am more than happy to see that Lightfall was indeed a fluke and the story is moving forward stronger than ever after TFS. Also good to see bro was right ;)
The goal of the winner is the final shape the the goal we and our Allies are working towards is strength through unity and peace. A space for all to grow regardless of strength
"Close your 5 tabs". Me: Hah I got 17
15:03 Real Subtle
I may be stupid here how do we know that the traveler and the veil are not just vehicles the gardener and the winnower live in but living enities that follow the two's will because it makes it seem like the traveler is just a car or plane for the gardener
I wish narrative team, be it D2 or D3, wouldn't have handcuffs placed on their creativity and freedom in Winnower's lore and execution. Let them go wild.
"Sedimentary necrolite, fossilized in time."
I think the Winnower is actually referencing the Final Shape as enacted by the Witness. Sedimentary -- many things, together, with organic origins; Necrolite - a noxious, often volcanic form of feldspar; fossilized in time - forever frozen in time; "you've already seen that" -- when the Witness temporarily froze everything in the beginning of the campaign.
Yah the Winnower is mocking the Witness's final shape.
The fact that this wasn’t written by Seth Dickinson is simultaneously great and disappointing to me lmao
It was written well enough that I genuinely started to wonder if Seth Dickinson was back at work on Destiny lore. Hurts to hear that he isn’t. But whoever wrote this lore was good enough that it made me wonder if it might be him. That’s fantastic.
I feel like the Winnower is destiny’s Mendicant Bias: responsible for so much of the lore and a powerful figure manipulating events behind the veil of shadow, yet hardly mentioned in main story/campaign. I feel Vex will be next big bad but Winnower still the puppeteer.
I still hope we get some clarification in the future as to how/why the witness vision AND Unveiling came from the same strange artifact. I know I’ve said this a couple times now but that’s kind of the only inconsistency I can see at this point.
All it really takes for this to be cleared up by the narrative team is the lore tab equivalent of them waving their hand and saying “eh, it just kinda happened *because reasons* , but whatever 🤷♂️
I have a theory that this was similar to how the Precursor race learned about the Gardener, Winnower, and “truth” of the universe. They were driven into nihilism by the “realization” that the whole purpose of the universe was the destruction of life until one man is left standing - they became the Winnower to stop that cycle. I think the Witness introduced us to the sphere through which the Winnower spoke to us specifically because it would show us the “truth”, and it assumed we would just come to the same conclusion it had, which was that the game had to be stopped. I don’t think it’s an accident that right after we discover the ball in the pyramid, the Witness reveals itself to us and tells us it is our salvation - it thinks it is saving us from the truth revealed by the Winnower.
@@nicholascazmay2126I kinda share this thought. They at the very least knew of the Winnower or learned about it after becoming the Witness and yet they still chose their Final Shape over that of the Winnower’s perspective. And if they came to that conclusion with those facts, it’s fair to believe others would as well and help enact it or stand aside.
I wonder tho what capacity they would bring the winnower in, because technically we are basically doing the 1 pattern that it wants to see with us always killing stuff, but that's what the game is about and will always have that happening because it's a fps game 😅 so that's not gonna change, which makes me wonder wtf they got planned for this story down the road lol I'm very excited either way
I was waiting for your video.
One thing that irks me about this reveal is that in the DLC where we literally go into the traveler, there is no gardener around, not even a reference to it.
So if the winnowers logic is based on life taking from other life - could that give more reason as to why the taken are called taken?
The Winnower “takes” away what it sees as unnecessary to dominate existence - it “perfects” the subject and carves them down to what essentials they need most to win. It leaves behind only what is needed, even necessary, to be strong.
so final shapes story was for the semi casual lore ppl and bungie dropped this for us REAL lore nerds. nice
I cant wait to become the new winnower, the rules will change! You know why they will change? Cause I’ll be the winnower! The Gardener better be cool.
U and ur lil crew got me addicted to the lore again 😮💨
Great video.
We are so back
We know that we will lose to the Winnower for two reasons. One, he is literally a being that existed prior to and outside of this universe meaning that he does not play by the rules of the universe making him not bound to them. The second and most direct reason for my claim, we’ve already seen our death. We received the sword Ergo Sum as a weapon and we’ve already seen the Vex make a gravesite of us with that sword on top of it. This event occurred well before we even got the Final Shape expansion.
We will die and the Winnower will continue to exist. If either the Gardener or Winnower (or even both) cease to exist, the universe will follow suite.
Um, what does it say about a person who says their favorite character in Destiny is the Winnower? Asking for a friend...
i strongly disagree that the universe naturally follows the rules of the winnower. Like of course it does, partially, but it also follows the rules of the gardener. like you can see it in real life, and assuming there isn't some great differences in destiny's current world, it also works that way there. there's constant change and evolution, co existing with the ecosystem. life hunt each other but generally not to extinction, and yes life adapts to its environment but that doesn't make its stronger in any objective sense, its just more efficient (or not) for where it lives. new possibilities arise constantly from extinction events, new adaptations, from co operation and behaviour that doesn't prioritize the self above the community.
now humans spesifically have been more winnower aligned, taking control of the world, driving other creatures to extinction, that stuff. but then even in destiny you see the golden age doing things differently. they appreciate the worlds more, and create gardens, they study life and want it to live. in the current age there's self defense, a creature intending to destroy all life cannot be allowed to live, but as long as they live by the same rules as us, being open to co existence and cooperation we can live alongside them.
🙌
Light and Darkness are two sides of the same cosmic coin. They are not heroes or villains. They are facts of existence, they ARE existence, and you can never truly have one without the other. Death needs Life to winnow, and Life needs Death to garden. The Gardener and Winnower aren't just another face to punch. They aren't heroes or villains. They are simply facts of life, and willingly or not, we'll always be picking one, the other, or both. The two are more of a foundation than anything. They are not just players. They are the board and the pieces at play. They are the rules that can be followed or broken. They are both the rewards for victory and the penalty of defeat.
They do not control our destiny, but they are what make it possible, whether others choose it for us or we choose it for ourselves.
The Winnower only has to go if you keep playing their game. Stop being a puppet. Be indifferent to these puppet masters, then many choices open up... Unfortunately, I've seen this story retold too many times.
Does this guy have like a crush on the winnower
Putaquepariu, que vídeo bom!!!!
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