#dreams of alpha lupi and constellations

[thefirstknife]

Yeah! The Traveler = Gardener = Light has been the working theory for a long time. Here's a post from a while ago detailing the lore references that point to it. Obviously the Unveiling ones are more suspect, but these include actual words from the Traveler itself, most notably to me:

It feels like lead and neutronium and electroweak matter fashioned into a moon-sized ball that you must carry as you move.

This is from Dreams of Alpha Lupi which is direct messages from the Traveler. That's the Traveler speaking about "fashioning" a body in the shape of a "moon-sized ball." The Traveler referring to itself as a body happens again in Constellations lore book which also features the Traveler speaking, this time at the time of the Collapse (the "silver-blood" would be most likely the Light):

You are bleeding silver into the air like the air is water, and you watch your silver-blood float away from your body.

This also seems the most logical to me; the Gardener or whatever is to us being described as the Gardener, created the Traveler as a way to physically interact with the universe, as the Light itself is physical. This might explain why the Unveiling depicts this event as the Gardener "inserting itself into the game" aka into the universe as a rule. Since the Unveiling is now confirmed to largely be a mythological retelling with unknown amount of facts, someone trying to explain the origin of the universe could possibly come up with this personified story to explain the Traveler/Gardener. The Witness cutscene really gave me the vibe of the Traveler being created, more so than "discovered." The Witness' planet was possibly a place where the body was "fashioned" in order to help one of the first life in the universe. Maybe!

Meanwhile, the Darkness is psychic, mental, based in consciousness, so it doesn't have to do that. It doesn't have to be physical. The Winnower would then technically both exist and not exist; it exists because the act of thinking about it proves that it exists. If nobody in the universe developed consciousness, then nobody would be able to conceive of the Winnower. The Winnower would then basically be an egregore (as an original meaning of the term: an entity created by a collective consciousness thinking about a concept) created by the Witness' people as they gained higher knowledge and consciousness about the universe. That doesn't meant that it's not real, just that it's real in the same way any thought is real.

Or not! We may yet get some super wild new information about this stuff in the future that could potentially completely shatter everything we know now. I do believe that the stuff about the Traveler is pretty solid though, given that it was told by the Traveler, so unless there's a massive plot twist, for now I think that's fair to assume as correct.

i've been ruminating on it since the witness cutscene, and it just makes sense that the Traveler is the Gardener is the Light because the Light is all about physicality. of course it has taken a physical shape in our universe. of course of course of course. and conversely the Witness is not the Winnower is not the Darkness, but it thinks it is. it is trying to make the immaterial into something tangible, something with form when that's not how it works. and i think that speaks to how the Final Shape is not something that exists. that the Witness is doomed to fail because that's simply not how the universe operates, there is no meaning, there is no way you can rewrite the entirety of it into something without chaos, without entropy, without pain because those things are also the Darkness, the immaterial. maybe i'm just talking out of my ass because i don't have anything to back this up with, but it makes sense to me and i am anxiously awaiting what will come at the end of this saga

[flowers-of-io]

D'ya know what lore I should read that pertains to the Light? As in how it works and stuff like that

Oh boy.

The difficult thing about the Light in lore is that it's very elusive, and there aren't many places that deal with *just* describing how it works and/or what it is. Funnily enough I've found myself discovering the most interesting insights concerning it in some bounty or quest step descriptions scattered all over Ishtar, that I sometimes stumble upon completely at random and go oh! But there is definitely no Light 101, and many things about it are inferred rather than stated plainly.

There are some main qualities of the Light I could name off the top of my head and try to find some sources about it, though, so maybe I'll just list them and link interesting lore passages that deal with it? Idk.

The Light affecting time - Tevis' rambles in Aspect; Paradox Daily

The Light as used by non-Guardians (here Splicers), it's malleability, ability to use it to break into the Vex network, and other things I don't understand - Legacy: Splicer Gauntlet; Zeroneiro Shell; Null Composure; Illuminus Grasps (Majestic); probably more Season of the Splicer lore

The Light used for data transferring(?) - Ana: Frayed

The Light purging corruption (particularly from Hive and Darkness-affiliated weapons) - Lumina quest: Bearer of Evils Past (and basically the entire quest); A Sword Reforged quest;

The Light is about community, selflessness, hope, and sacrifice - Lumina quest: Strength in Numbers; Fireteam Leader; you know which cutscene this is

The Light is unable to be produced or captured - Adventure: Postmodern Prometheus; Chosen

The Light doesn't let things die - Flowing Vest (CODA); The First Knife; p53; Prophecy (highlighted passage)

The Light leaving an impact (terraformation, extending human lifespan, affecting its environment, leaving traces, etc.) - Lumina; Dreams of Alpha Lupi; LETTER 4; Contact - Io; Ruinous Effigy quest: Pendulum

The Light finds its way - Lumina quest: Bloom; Season of Arrivals finale

The Light doesn't force its will on Guardians / Guardians make their own fate / Blank slate and second chances - PURITY

The Light and giving - Lumina quest: Rose, Revealed and much other stuff I can't think of rn but it's there

Stuff about the Gardener/Traveler - again, Lumina and Dreams of Alpha Lupi; A Guardian Rises (D1 intro cutscene)

The entire Hawkmoon quest (step 1 here) and the mission

Visions, dreams, the Traveler communicating softly, etc. - Hawkmoon quest; Visions of Light; Ghost Fragment: Moon; the Guardian's vision; Clovis' dream; The Ritual

The whole Ulan-Tan category - the guy's got some interesting thoughts not only about the symmetry theory but also things like the Light spanning across all time and space and other stuff

Constellations lorebook

I'm not even gonna attempt to remember all the Cool Bounties Texts because there's so many of them and Ishtar's search function isn't necessarily the greatest. I hope what I linked makes any sense to you; I didn't even touch the aspect of how Ghosts work/navigate/find their Guardians, the Traveler's intents, or how subclasses work (I don't think it's ever explained why the Light channels into three particular elemental powers...), but if you'd like me to go into deeper research on those fronts, feel free to ask.

I hope these rambles make any sense to you! Ty for the ask c: