Highlights
- A group Destiny 2 players have mapped The Witness’ body in the Salvation’s Edge raid, revealing hidden design details.
- The Witness’ physical form spans the entire raid, with different encounters showcasing various parts.
- Players laud the group’s efforts in mapping out The Witness’ body, shedding new light on the iconic villain.
A group of Destiny 2 players has been mapping The Witness’ body, and has uncovered some potentially surprising results. The players thoroughly explored the playable areas in the Destiny 2 Salvation’s Edge raid, and returned with detailed images of what looks to be the massive physical body of The Witness itself.
The Witness is without a doubt the most iconic Destiny 2 villain to date, and is the driving force behind the age-old conflict lying at the heart of the game’s universe. The Salvation’s Edge raid is also a culmination of that conflict, when Guardians, having entered the Pale Heart of the Traveler, finally confront The Witness face-to-face, in order to end its plan to twist the universe into its final shape. What might not be immediately evident to players in the raid, though, is the fact that The Witness doesn’t merely reside at the very top of the Salvation’s Edge playable area. Rather, the entire raid takes place on, around, and even within The Witness’ body.
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In truth, the final boss encounter of Salvation’s Edge is merely the most recognizable portion of the boss’ body. Other raid encounters and phases take place lower down along The Witness’ form, as illustrated by Destiny 2 player Zoeygirly, who shared their expedition to map out The Witness’ raid body on Reddit. Their post consisted of a series of image galleries, and video supercuts showing off key areas, such as The Witness’ tendrils starting at the beginning of the raid.
Destiny 2 Players Create Visual Map of The Witness’ Physical Form From Salvation’s Edge
Zoeygirly and their collaborators gathered material by exploring the Salvation’s Edge raid areas like Dissipation, taking screenshots and recording video when they encountered parts of the level design that appeared to correspond with parts of The Witness’ physical form. That form, for the most part, resembles the roots, tendrils, and trunk of a huge, Darkness-empowered tree infiltrating the megastructures within The Traveler. As such, players just trying to survive the raid can miss out on the fact that they’re crawling around and fighting on and around the body of a single massive being.
After the marathon Verity encounter, The Witness’ body takes on even more monolithic proportions, resembling a huge, twisting tower covered in building-sized hands and arms. By the time players reach the final encounter at Zenith, The Witness is visible in a more familiar form, with its identifiable head, primary arms, and humanoid torso.
Players praised Zoeygirly for their work, and many expressed greater appreciation for Bungie’s design, with one commenter calling the design “truly horrifying and ethereal.” Another commenter said that they had originally been disappointed with The Witness’ design in the final encounter, but viewed it in a new light after comprehending its truly massive scale. Some longtime Bungie fans even likened The Witness’ form to that of the Halo series’ Gravemind, which “rooted” itself in the Covenant’s High Charity in a similar manner.