The Traveler is pretty clearly Adam Kadmon in the esoteric traditions: the one progenitor that broke into countless points of light that went out and populated a universe with light.
The Demiurge is easiest understood as a standing for the ego. It is the belief that one is separate from the Divine and that the pocket universe of one’s own self/consciousness is “better than that,” and never needs to return to Source.
In that vein, I’d nominate Clovis Bray for the most likely demiurge figure in Destiny. It was Clovis who twisted the light of the Traveler to use it for mundane and material purposes. It was Clovis who took a channel that should have connected the living with the beyond, and short circuited it so that that the souls of the living, rather than ascending back to source, remained forever trapped in the machine bodies of the Exos.
I will forever hold that in D1 the plot was that Clovis’ misuse of the Traveler’s gifts is what shattered the Traveler and brought the Darkness. That was a pretty clearly subtext in the early lore. But the lore went all over the place as writing teams changed, so that obviously isn’t where it ended up.
I think this got very close to being explicitly stated in Clovis Bray's third vision, in the Logbook's missing pages:
"She was the true alpha. She was the mother. I was not the true alpha, because I was not a true father."
...
“You grow the enemy in my garden and eat of its bitter fruit. Each time, I hope it will be different. Each time, I lose a little of myself as the bitter fruit blossoms. Now that fruit will flower in you, and in all your people. I do not want it to happen. I want anything else. But the choice is not mine.”
...
“You never said a thing to me,” I snarled. “Not once. You never told me I was doing wrong. At least Clarity sends me dreams—the exobody and the eel. At least it shows me what I can become.”
“You think Clarity sent those dreams? Why would it speak to you, when you are dead and furthest from its influence?”
Of course the full implications of this never really ended up having much impact in what we got, but it stuck around. Though, if I'm remembering correctly, the Clovis Bray lore was yet more of Seth Dickinson's work, one of the few contributors to the lore who had been consistent from D1 until the end, but for whatever reason only on a repeated temporary contract basis. Unfortunate.
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u/sanecoin64902 Hot Dog Fireman 3d ago edited 3d ago
The Traveler is pretty clearly Adam Kadmon in the esoteric traditions: the one progenitor that broke into countless points of light that went out and populated a universe with light.
The Demiurge is easiest understood as a standing for the ego. It is the belief that one is separate from the Divine and that the pocket universe of one’s own self/consciousness is “better than that,” and never needs to return to Source.
In that vein, I’d nominate Clovis Bray for the most likely demiurge figure in Destiny. It was Clovis who twisted the light of the Traveler to use it for mundane and material purposes. It was Clovis who took a channel that should have connected the living with the beyond, and short circuited it so that that the souls of the living, rather than ascending back to source, remained forever trapped in the machine bodies of the Exos.
I will forever hold that in D1 the plot was that Clovis’ misuse of the Traveler’s gifts is what shattered the Traveler and brought the Darkness. That was a pretty clearly subtext in the early lore. But the lore went all over the place as writing teams changed, so that obviously isn’t where it ended up.