The Witness and Winnower have been a long-running rumor and topic of discussion in the Destiny community for many years now. However, Bungie has finally confirmed that the Winnower is canon, and here’s all we know about it.
The latest raid(which is not finished yet) provides us with some dialogue lines from Witness itself as well as some important information through lore books. We finally get to see the relationship between the Gardener, Winnower, and Witness, and how they affect the Universe.
In a lore book from The Final Shape, it is suggested that the Witness and the Winnower are separate entities. This is a major reveal regarding the lore of the Winnower as it gives us a chicken-and-egg situation regarding who the original was. Did the Winnower choose to forget its origin as the Witness or did the Witness emerge from the cold rationale of the Winnower?
The Winnower is characterized by its deterministic mindset where it believes in the survival of the fittest and that the rules of the universe are fixed. It acts as a separative force upon the Universe and ensures that only the strongest patterns survive. The Winnower is only concerned with spreading its own philosophy as the truth.
On the other hand, the Witness is an entity dedicated to destroying all that the light has created. It employs tactics of fear, cruelty, and despair upon those it encounters.
The key difference between these two entities seems to be that Winnower wants to let the cycle of nature repeat until it reaches its final shape. Meanwhile, the Witness wants to force the shape it desires onto the Universe.
However, this is where things get interesting as the dialogue in the game suggests “You call us “Winnower”. We are not.. But the first knife clutched in its hand. “Gods forged us both. But they cannot tell the knife what shape to carve.”. This implies that the relationship between the Winnower and Witness is one of tool and master. The Winnower cannot carve without the Witness and employs it to achieve its own goals, but the Witness itself is its own unique entity that isn’t directly under the Witness’ control.
As the raid makes more progress and more bits of lore are discovered, we’re excited to see what Bungie will reveal about this otherworldly trio that rules the game from their N-th dimension.
