Understanding the に in 「に待つ」


> 「……それはそれ、これはこれですわ。どうあれ、わたくしの指示に反して勝手な行動を取ったのは事実。秩序を欠いた群体 **に**
> 待つのは破滅のみ。———その罪は、死を以て贖っていただきますわよ」

What would be the function of the bold に? Can we also use を待つ?




I think it is kind of similar to the に in a sentence such as ここにビルが建つ, which
refers to the future existence of something: a building will exist in this
place (as a result of being built). In the future, you would be saying
ここにビルがある, in which the function of に should be clearer.

Similarly, 秩序を欠いた群体に **ある** のは破滅のみ should sound natural as a sentence to
describe the (sole) existence of destruction (破滅) in a group that lacks order
(秩序を欠いた群体).

待つ in your sentence is used as an intransitive verb and could be understood as
“is expected to be” or “will be (as naturally or logically expected).” So, the
whole sentence could be translated as “What is expected to be in a group that
lacks order is nothing but destruction.”

秩序を欠いた群体 **を** 待つのは破滅のみ also makes sense. 待つ in this sentence is a transitive
verb and 秩序を欠いた群体 is the direct object of it. It sounds a bit like destruction
is actively waiting for such a group to come, but the meaning remains
basically the same. Either way, only destruction awaits a group that lacks
order.

