The Witness

The Witness is an immensely powerful paracausal entity responsible for the mass genocide of an unknown number of species throughout the universe. The Witness is considered to be the avatar of the Darkness, demonstrating a complete mastery over it and its agenda of culling the universe in order to establish the Final Shape. At its disposal, the Witness commands a fleet of black pyramid-shaped starships, vast armies of species it had corrupted, and a fraternity of powerful Darkness-wielders from various species and backgrounds known as the Disciples.

History
Nothing is known about the personal history of the Witness. The only certainty is that it had been hunting the Traveler for eons across the universe, purging every civilization it had uplifted in its wake. The Witness' ultimate goal appears to be the fulfillment of the Final Shape, the presumed philosophy of the Darkness.

At some point in the distant past, the Witness arrived on the planet Lubrae, where it met a young Lubraean warrior named Rhulk, who had been betrayed and abandoned by his family and clan. The Witness saved Rhulk, empowered him with the Darkness and convinced him to destroy his own planet and civilisation. With the Lubraeans rendered effectively extinct, Rhulk pledged his allegiance to the Witness and became its first known Disciple. Sometime later, the Witness tasked Rhulk with the subjugation of the Worm Gods, imprisoning them within the core of the planet Fundament and severely wounding a servant of the Traveler known as the Leviathan.

Ages later, one of the Worm Gods' larvae washed up on the coast of the Osmium Court, which was kept by the Osmium King as a familiar. Through the larvae, the Witness warned the Osmium King of the god-wave, a cataclysmic tsunami that would wipe out all life on Fundament. In reality, the god-wave was pure fabrication, a lie the Witness invented to corrupt the Krill before the Traveler can uplift them. The Osmium King eventually went mad trying to find a solution to the god-wave and was assassinated by the Helium Drinkers, driving his daughters into exile. As they fled, one of them, Sathona recovered her father's worm familiar and was contacted by the Witness, claiming their salvation lay "in the deep", whilst death waited "in the sky." Using a salvaged submarine, the Osmium King's children delved into the oceans of Fundament to find their salvation. The Leviathan attempted to dissuade them, but was rebuked as they continued their trek to the depths of the planet. The three sisters discovered the Worm Gods, who offered them power and immortality in exchange for their release. They accepted and were implanted with larvae as the Worm Gods ascended, becoming the first Hive. Aurash became Auryx, Sathona became Savathun and Xi Ro became Xivu Arath. Upon reclaiming the Osmium Throne, the three siblings forced their transformation on the rest of their species, transforming the Krill into the Hive. They became the Witness' army against the rest of the universe.

During the war between the Hive and the Ecumene, Auryx sought greater power to secure victory before the stalemate broke against his forces. In accordance with the sword-logic of the Darkness, Auryx challenged and killed one of the Worm Gods, Akka, and was rewarded with the power of taking his enemies. This is believed to have been granted by the Witness itself, as it has demonstrated its capability to take entire planets rather than just individuals. Whilst Auryx, now rechristened as Oryx the Taken King, led the Hive in conquest over creation, whether or not he himself was a Disciple remains unclear.

The Witness pursued the Traveler across the universe as it uplifted numerous sapient species, all of which were exterminated by the Witness and its Disciples. The Eliksni are a rare case of a species who survived this extermination and fled the Witness in search of the Traveler. When the Traveler uplifted the Human race and brought them a new golden age, the Witness sent its fleet to destroy it. Under the command of the Disciple known as Nezarec, the Witness' forces devastated the Sol system, destroying colonies and killing billions. The Traveler was critically damaged as it intervened, but survived when Nezarec was betrated and killed by Savathun. Determined to free herself and her people from the Witness, Savathun falsified the Traveler's destruction, fooling the Witness and sparing humanity from extinction.

At some point following his exile, Calus, the deposed Emperor of the Cabal, encountered the Witness and became enamored with it. Calus declared himself its herald and fell into extreme hedonism as he awaited the end of everything.

For centuries, the Witness believed the Traveler had been destroyed, until the conclusion of the Red War. When the Cabal invaded Earth and attempted to claim the Traveler for themselves, it was forced to directly intervene to drive back the invasion. Although humanity was spared subjugation under the Cabal, the exertion of Traveler's power was noticed by the Witness, which began its long voyage back to Sol.

2 years after the Red War, the Guardians discovered a black pyramid buried within Earth's moon, the wreckage of Nezarec's ship after his death. From here, the Hive drew power for their profane rituals and summoned Nightmares across the moon's surface. A lone Guardian managed to gain entry into the pyramid, where they were contacted by the Witness, declaring itself to be humanity's "salvation." Several months later, the Black Fleet arrived in the Sol System, landing Pyramid Ships on Io, Titan, Europa, Mercury and Mars whilst disabling the Warmind AI, Rasputin. The Witness attempted to contact the Guardians once more, but was silenced by Savathun. Despite their misgivings, the Guardians countered this interference and received the message about power awaiting them on Europa. Shortly afterwards, each planet and moon occupied by the Pyramids vanished, save for Europa, and the Traveler successfully repelled the Black Fleet before any more could be lost.

On Europa, the Witness provided the dark power of Stasis to both the Guardians and the House of Salvation, a faction of Eliksni intent on harnessing the Darkness and destroying the Traveler in vengeance for the collapse of their homeworld. The Guardians defeated the House of Salvation, freezing their leader Eramis in Stasis, but became figures of controversy over their use of Darkness for good. Meanwhile, Savathun was forced into hiding when the Witness sought to punish her for her earlier interference, resulting in infighting among the Hive. Emperor Calus also sought out the Witness once more, disappointed by its underwhelming return. Using captured Scorn, paired with Savathun's crown of sorrows, Calus attempted to establish contact with the Witness at the anomaly where Mars used to be and promptly disappeared. The ship he used for this process, the Glykon Volatus, resurfaced months later, derelict and infested with Scorn and Egregore.

The Witness first became truly known to the Guardians through the testimony of the Awoken queen, Mara Sov. She described her encounter with the so-called "voice in the Darkness" during her absence following the Taken War. The influence of the Witness is further illustrated by the apparent alliance between the Hive, the Scorn and the Taken as they besieged the Dreaming City in search of Savathun. This siege was only broken when the Awoken successfully exorcised Savathun's Worm larvae, separating her link to the Darkness.

When Savathun was risen by the Traveler, she established the Lucent Brood, a faction of Hive rebelling against the Witness. Rhulk, who had been overseeing the production of Worm Larvae to fuel the Hive's population, found himself imprisoned in Savathun's Throne World when she sank his Black Pyramid into the swamp surrounding her domain. Despite his imprisonment, Rhulk successfully enabled the Scorn to enter the Throne World and fight the Lucent Brood. During their investigation of Savathun's plot, the Guardians discovered her intention to seal the Traveler within her Throne World, protecting it from the Witness but hoarding its Light. As the Guardians struggled to prevent this, they also learnt of the Witness as the one responsible for humanity's collapse and the true enemy they had been fighting all along. They also discovered the truth behind the god-wave of Fundament, which they revealed to Savathun. Enraged by this revelation, Savathun's resulting instability granted the Guardians their advantage and victory over her, but also with the knowledge of the Witness' approach. With Savathun eliminated, Rhulk had an opportunity to escape his prison. The Guardians followed the Scorn into the Sunken Pyramid to investigate, where they encountered Rhulk and learned about the Disciples of the Witness. In a bid to escape and end Savathun's treachery, Rhulk intended to destroy the Throne World using the Upended, the same superweapon he used to destroy Lubrae. The Guardians fought Rhulk, who proved an immense opponent even despite his lack of effort in fighting what he considered to be unworthy foes. However, Rhulk's arrogance led to his demise as the Guardians overcame his defences, finishing him off before he could unleash his full power.

Shortly after the establishment of the Coalition, Calus resurfaced when his ship was found orbiting Earth's moon. The Leviathan was in an identical state to the Glykon Volatus, derelict, Egregore-ridden and overrun with Scorn. Calus, intent on joining the ranks of the Disciples, had established a psychic link between his ship and Nezarec's Pyramid in order to empower himself. The Guardians and Cabal joined forces to prevent this and successfully broke the link, although Calus had escaped and given himself over to the Witness. He later issued a taunting message to the Guardians and the Last City of Earth, warning them of the impending oblivion the Witness would unleash. Not long afterwards, the Witness revived Eramis and tasked the House of Salvation with recovering Nezarec's remains, which had been scattered by the Eliksni shortly after their own arrival into the Sol System. Working with the House of Light, the Guardians successfully recovered Nezarec's remains first. As punishment for Eramis' failure, the Witness converted much of the House of Salvation's membership into Scorn, whilst Xivu Arath converted others into Wrathborn. At the Witness' command, Eramis and Xivu Arath sought to seize control of the warsat network, left vacant since Rasputin's deactivation. However, the Awoken discovered that using the Warmind's arsenal against the Witness would have been an act of war so great, it would have enabled Xivu Arath to launch an invasion of Earth, similar to how she conquered the Cabal homeworld over a year earlier. Between this and Eramis taking control of the network, Rasputin opted to self-destruct himself and the network, thus denying the Witness his power. During this time, the Traveller ascended into Earth's orbit to confront the Witness' fleet directly.

Upon its arrival above Earth, the Witness effortlessly decimated the Coalition's orbital forces. Upon reaching the Traveler, the Witness received a vision of the Veil, a paracausal artifact hidden on Neptune which was seemingly protecting the Traveler. At the Witness' command, Calus led the Shadow Legion, an army of Darkness-empowered Cabal clones, to Neptune to find the Veil. The Guardians intervened and discovered Neomuna, a secret Human colony which survived the collapse under the protection of the cyborg Cloud Striders. Despite the Guardians protecting Neomuna from the Shadow Legion and their ultimate victory over Calus, the Witness succeeded in establishing a link with the Veil. Upon this success, the Witness opened a portal on the Traveler's surface and led the Black Pyramids through it. Although its armies are presently besieging the Sol System, the location and status of the Witness remains unknown.