Who is the Witness?

Who is the Witness?

Spoiler Alert!

fanart by vividestined

We have been kept guessing on the true identify of the Witness, and each season it has seemed as though it might be someone new.

So far the potential candidates for plague masked time-cult deity have been:

In Season 1 it seems that Jose Ramse was the witness, as he is taken into the cult, and as Ethan Seki aids them in funding the virus development. Or possibly Aaron Marker could be the Witness, after he is appears to Cassie after death in Season 2 with horrible burns on his face.

Or was it Cole… who purchases the House of Cedar and Pine in 1957, which was destined to become the home of the Witness.

Finally the truth is revealed. Cassie and Cole’s union in 1959, which is erased out of time, results in a child   Athan who the Monkey Army have been patiently waiting for. It seems that it has all been leading to this.

But finally, at the conclusion to season 3 the revelation that the true Witness was Olivia, a fact that she herself was unaware of. The leader she had rebelled against was in fact her future self. Athan ‘witnessed’, but was never the Witness.

Until the last moment of Season 4 though – do we really know?

The final word from Showrunner Terry Matalas (**Spoilers season 4 finale**)

Was Olivia truly The Witness?
If you are referring to the true Witness being that which causes the Red Forest, then that depends on how you view the end of the series. The Alpha Primary in medieval times said to Olivia that they’ve “always known the true Witness would bring about the Red Forest because she fears loneliness. Nothingness.” If you believe that Cassie did not turn off Titan’s central spire, then you could argue Cassie is the true Witness by that definition. If you believe Cassie and Cole saved the world and lived to see that result, then your answer is it was Olivia. (TVLine interview 6 July, 2018)

Thoughts from The Workprint (2016)