Caution: spoilers and general nerdiness related to the game Destiny 2.

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Everyone likes a story with good characters. There needs to be a level of psychology behind each character that makes sense. The most important characters that make or break a story are the hero and antagonist. Everything else is irrelevant if these two are set up badly. Since the hero of Destiny 2 is the player, this makes the antagonist all the more important. To this end, I will put forward my conclusion that the ultimate antagonist of both Destiny games, The Witness, may not be quite the villain he seems to be at first glance but a doomed tragic hero for an entire race.

What is The Witness? It is a strange entity that seems to bend the laws of nature around it. Obviously alien and powerful. Beginning to understand it however starts with the history of its race. Originally, The Witness was not a single entity but only became as such after an entire race combined themselves to be more powerful. They were an ancient alien race that created a utopia under the guidance of the god of Destiny: The Traveler. They then stagnated since they had never had purpose in their lives beyond survival. They asked The Traveler for purpose but it was silent as usual. Upset about The Traveler seemingly refusing to fill a need, they sought to create their own purpose through power. In the end, their purpose turned them to a ritual that granted them power and ability by combining into one being. Though The Witness had been created, it was still mad at The Traveler. It sought to destroy The Traveler for good and use its stolen power to enforce its own will on the whole of reality. The Witness is only brought down when every single other race of intelligent being remaining in the universe unites against it. A charge led by the player of course.

At first The Witness might seem like a simple villain. A greedy powerful enemy seeking to enforce his power over others. Where it gets interesting is when you look at intentions. The Witness is seeking to grant purpose to all life. A need that the the original collective felt was not met. It is simply seeking to help others in the only way it can comprehend: through power.  Their utopia was built by The Traveler and they were used to being given what they needed in life. When The Traveler did not immediately grant them purpose as well, they felt betrayed. This seemed like neglect because they did not have a history of working towards things on their own.

But why did The Witness not learn? He encountered resistance from every race and found those that did not want his gift at every turn. He was granted abilities and high levels of intelligence when formed. He demonstrated his planning and leadership by turning factions of multiple different races against the rest. He was so successful in fact that the player did not know about his true existence until tensions had already hit maximum. He had forces everywhere he needed them and seemed to know exactly what the next strategic move should be used next. Therefore, the lack of understanding is not tied to intelligence but the nature of The Witness itself. It was a bound collective and not actually a true individual. A being made manifest from an untold multitude and granted power accordingly. It held the power of a collective but none of the individual. It had no chance to grow because it was bound by the will of many. At one point The Witness isolated members from itself that it found it did not like. The severed but still linked members were very different in nature. They cried for freedom from The Witness through destruction by the player. They learned through their reemergence of individual self how wrong they had been to create The Witness. They learned something that The Witness had failed to learn even after eons. They learned that they set their own purpose and did not have to be part of a collective. They learned that the wants of others were to be respected. The Witness was instead left in confusion every time another being with promise rejected him. He was doomed to repeat the same pattern that he was formed from no matter how much he wanted to help.

So is The Witness a villain or doomed tragic hero? Of course it is completely up to your perspective but all the points I have put forth as evidence proves he is a doomed tragic hero. A conclusion of history, nature and an unfulfilled need. Constantly trying to help but in the completely wrong way. Set to repeat until stopped by a greater force. Every possible fate ended in destruction for The Witness. He would either destroy the universe or die trying.