I had to do a little research on this, since I may have missed a memo, but it's detailed in lore from Season of the Worthy. Osiris found a seed when he dived into a Pyramid anomaly during their arrival in the Sol System (weblore: What Gives Me Pause), and Mara had Vance pass a word to Osiris to plant the seed (chapter 8, Idolatry, of Trials and Tribulations).
The seed itself was a child of the original tree in the Black Garden. It was contained by the Vex for study; however, on the cusp of the darkness' arrival. the interferrence made the simulations of the Infinite Forest go black. Osiris and Sagira were locked into a black expanse where they found a singular object, the Seed of Silver Wings. Osiris held on to it, was given word to plant the seed on Io by Mara relayed by Brother Vance. Further studies among Eris, Ikora, and Asher all revealed that the seed has a physical form, but it mutable in nature. It can be used to blossom into a being of light or darkness (as it should, as was the ecology of the Black Garden at dawn of creation). This is why when it was planted, it was suffused into the ground at Io where the Traveler first terraformed it with light so that the residual energies there would grow it into a light construct. This however would be folly because it attracted a direct connection to the Witness via the pyramid that rested above it, corrupting it with darkness. It was this that catalyzed the whole questline where the Witness would "gift" us Ruinous Effigy in order to convince us to step ever closer to the darkness. By the end of the season of Arrivals, Savathun was no longer able to run interferrence on the connection and the Witness gave us the hint to go to Europa before abducting planets, sort of like an ultimatum to get in contact with the darkness because it was our only hope for Salvation.
We all know Elsie re-lives the timeline when the universe ends so she knows the path, I wonder if certain other people are aware of the timelines as well? Mara maybe?
I think it is stated somewhere in the Awoken lore books that Mara possesses Foresight, just like her mother did in the Distributary. Hence her quip about Clairvoyance. Mara is one of the very few characters that has their eyes set on the bigger picture.
I still don’t get what that seed business was all about. Were Mara and Osiris hoping to use the Tree as a transmitter? A means for the Guardians to communicate with the Black Fleet without risking corruption and nudge them towards wielding the actual Darkness?
Kind of. The last thing Savathun wanted at the time was the Guardians communicating with the Darkness/The Witness. Eris, Mara, and Osiris all knew that the only way to prevent a second Collapse was to figure out what the Voice in the Darkness wanted. The Tree and a Seed (the season artifact that season) served as a means to circumvent Savathun, allowing us to do just that without her interference.
This. This is the line that shows the Ulan Tan and the truest truth that he spoke of.
For some reason, this reminds me of conversations between Varys and Baelish in Game of Thrones.
Wait Mara planted the Silver Tree on Io not the Traveler? Is that why the Pyramids came there in the first place besides Bungie’s DCV.
I had to do a little research on this, since I may have missed a memo, but it's detailed in lore from Season of the Worthy. Osiris found a seed when he dived into a Pyramid anomaly during their arrival in the Sol System (weblore: What Gives Me Pause), and Mara had Vance pass a word to Osiris to plant the seed (chapter 8, Idolatry, of Trials and Tribulations).
The seed itself was a child of the original tree in the Black Garden. It was contained by the Vex for study; however, on the cusp of the darkness' arrival. the interferrence made the simulations of the Infinite Forest go black. Osiris and Sagira were locked into a black expanse where they found a singular object, the Seed of Silver Wings. Osiris held on to it, was given word to plant the seed on Io by Mara relayed by Brother Vance. Further studies among Eris, Ikora, and Asher all revealed that the seed has a physical form, but it mutable in nature. It can be used to blossom into a being of light or darkness (as it should, as was the ecology of the Black Garden at dawn of creation). This is why when it was planted, it was suffused into the ground at Io where the Traveler first terraformed it with light so that the residual energies there would grow it into a light construct. This however would be folly because it attracted a direct connection to the Witness via the pyramid that rested above it, corrupting it with darkness. It was this that catalyzed the whole questline where the Witness would "gift" us Ruinous Effigy in order to convince us to step ever closer to the darkness. By the end of the season of Arrivals, Savathun was no longer able to run interferrence on the connection and the Witness gave us the hint to go to Europa before abducting planets, sort of like an ultimatum to get in contact with the darkness because it was our only hope for Salvation.
We all know Elsie re-lives the timeline when the universe ends so she knows the path, I wonder if certain other people are aware of the timelines as well? Mara maybe?
Mara, Eris and Ikora knew about Elsie, but she only got as far as the events of SoSeraph
I think it is stated somewhere in the Awoken lore books that Mara possesses Foresight, just like her mother did in the Distributary. Hence her quip about Clairvoyance. Mara is one of the very few characters that has their eyes set on the bigger picture.
I still don’t get what that seed business was all about.
Were Mara and Osiris hoping to use the Tree as a transmitter? A means for the Guardians to communicate with the Black Fleet without risking corruption and nudge them towards wielding the actual Darkness?
Kind of. The last thing Savathun wanted at the time was the Guardians communicating with the Darkness/The Witness. Eris, Mara, and Osiris all knew that the only way to prevent a second Collapse was to figure out what the Voice in the Darkness wanted. The Tree and a Seed (the season artifact that season) served as a means to circumvent Savathun, allowing us to do just that without her interference.
Osiris Savathun and Mara Sov would be amazing Xanatos Speed Chess Gambit Players in a world of 40K.