Lore is just as essential as gaming mechanics in video games these days, and fully fleshing out backstories can make all the difference for franchises. Destiny 2's vast universe satisfies these requirements, equipped with a ton of lore through its Expansions and Raids, and some pieces to the overarching puzzle of Bungie's flagship have evolved to represent the bigger picture. The Gardener and Winnower are at the heart of Destiny 2's tale, and while their creation myth isn't documented in a playable mission or cutscene, a look at the Unveiling book gives players a glimpse into the universe's history.

Destiny 2's lore hasn't been as easily accessible as most would have wanted, as Bungie has a habit of obscuring its lore updates in remote locations a large percentage of gamers wouldn't think to look. The Veil's mystery, for instance, was meant to be the defining theme of the Lightfall expansion, but players got very little information until Season of the Deep. However, these remedial updates weren't easy to find, hidden away in the Veil Containment mission found on the outskirts of Neomuna. As a result, the creation myth behind the Gardener and Winnower isn't as widespread as it should be, but players are finally getting more insight into these beings through newer cutscenes and questlines.

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The Gardener and Winnower's Imprints On Destiny 2

According to the Unveiling book, before the existence of time, the Gardener and the Winnower lived in a garden. These two entities had no forebears or offspring, and there's no logical explanation as to how they came to be -- they existed because they had to. The Gardener and Winnower played a somewhat symbiotic role in the garden, as the Gardener planted seeds during the day, and the Winnower reaped the crop in the evening, separating what would flourish from what wouldn't. The Gardener's planting actions represent the Light, while that of the Winnower represents Darkness - and both beings played a game of possibilities called the Flower Game.

As the entities played, a final self-sustaining shape emerged and consumed all others. The Winnower saw this shape as the natural outcome of the game of possibilities, but The Gardener found it lacking in complexity and thus became a new rule in the game as Destiny 2's Light. To counter The Gardener's complex patterns, The Winnower also became a rule to execute simplicity as The Darkness. Old rules were cast aside to accommodate new ones, and the game's Light and Darkness started to become what they are today.

Players have wondered how the creation myth ties into the overarching Destiny 2 plot, and a cutscene from the Season of the Deep shed some much-needed light on the phenomenon. The cutscene begins with a group of people hailing from the same race as The Witness, and Sloane narrates the suffering of its ancestors on their home planet - which was also the location of The Traveler. The Traveler blessed The Witness' people with a Golden Age after gaining its freedom, and they named it The Gardener. This detail shows that The Traveler and The Gardener are the same entity. After an extended period of prosperity, The Witness' people searched for another being connected to The Traveler for guidance - The Veil.

This entity is revealed to be a web of consciousness in one of Chioma Esi's logs on Neomuna, but it's unclear what this means for The Traveler. The Witness' people labeled The Light a force of chaos and sought to use The Darkness to tame it in the quest for a perfect universe. Every individual member of the species merged to form The Witness to achieve this goal, and that is to give the world meaning. The cutscene explains one of the oldest mysteries in the Destiny 2 universe succinctly, and players are looking forward to a showdown in The Final Shape.

Destiny 2 is available on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.

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