| 1 | '''WARNING: UNMARKED SPOILERS BELOW. CONTINUE?'''\ |
| 2 | \ |
| 3 | '''ENCRYPTION CODE: [CLASSIFIED]'''\ |
| 4 | \ |
| 5 | '''CLASSIFICATION: TVTROPES'''\ |
| 6 | '''SUBJECT: THE FLOOD AND OTHER MISCELLANEOUS FACTIONS'''\ |
| 7 | \ |
| 8 | |
| 9 | !Index |
| 10 | * [[Characters/{{Halo}} Main Index]] |
| 11 | * [[Characters/HaloUNSC UNSC (Miscellaneous Personnel)]] |
| 12 | ** [[Characters/HaloUNSCAIs Artificial Intelligences]] |
| 13 | ** [[Characters/HaloSpartanIProgram SPARTAN-I Program]] |
| 14 | ** [[Characters/HaloSpartanIIProgram SPARTAN-II Program]] |
| 15 | *** [[Characters/HaloMasterChief The Master Chief]] |
| 16 | ** [[Characters/HaloSpartanIIIProgram SPARTAN-III Program]] |
| 17 | ** [[Characters/HaloSpartanIVProgram SPARTAN-IV Program]] |
| 18 | ** [[Characters/HaloUNSCNavy Navy]] |
| 19 | ** [[Characters/HaloUNSCMarinesAndODST Marines and ODSTs]] |
| 20 | ** [[Characters/HaloUNSCOfficeOfNavalIntelligence ONI]] |
| 21 | * [[Characters/HaloTheCovenant The Covenant]] |
| 22 | ** [[Characters/HaloSangheili Sangheili/Elites]] |
| 23 | * [[Characters/HaloTheBanished The Banished]] |
| 24 | * [[Characters/HaloForerunners Forerunners]] |
| 25 | * [[Characters/HaloUEGCivilians UEG Civilians]] |
| 26 | * Other Factions |
| 27 | |
| 28 | %% GENERAL RULE OF THUMB: Characters who appear in the games should be listed first, followed by live-action, full animation, novels, short stories, comics, and miscellaneous media, in that order. This isn't a hard and fast rule, so the occasional exception is ok. |
| 29 | %% |
| 30 | [[foldercontrol]] |
| 31 | |
| 32 | !!The Flood |
| 33 | |
| 34 | [[folder:In General]] |
| 35 | !!'''The Flood''' (''Inferi Redivivus''[[note]]"The Dead Reincarnated"[[/note]]) |
| 36 | [[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/7907ff895c988bf6849129791dca36a9.jpg]] |
| 37 | |
| 38 | A parasitic species believed to have developed from beyond the Milky Way galaxy, the Flood battled the Forerunners one hundred thousand years ago but were defeated when the Forerunners activated the Halo Array, killing all life, Flood and non-Flood, in the galaxy. However, some were preserved in stasis aboard a few of the Halo Arrays. |
| 39 | ---- |
| 40 | * AchillesHeel: The Energy Sword is a pretty good option when it comes to dealing with the Flood, as it offers a discount in energy consumed when striking Flood forms, letting you instantly kill most enemies with a single slash and keep the battery up for much longer than if you were using it on Covenant. |
| 41 | * ActionBomb: |
| 42 | ** Carrier Forms; their entire shtick is that they explode when in close proximity to a target or when killed, dealing major damage and releasing more Infection Forms. |
| 43 | ** Infection Forms are a weaker form of this; if they come into contact with energy shields, they pop and deal minor damage to it. Fortunately, their foes can use this fragility against them; they'll also pop if another Infection Form pops right next to them, resulting in a chain reaction if they're clustered close enough together. |
| 44 | * AirborneMook: Seen only in ''Halo Wars'' are the Flood Swarm and Flood bomber form. The former is a bat-like creature that attacks with [[SpikeShooter projectile barbs]], implied by its design to be an infected animal lifeform native to Shield World 0459. The latter is a floating gasbag with arm-like tentacles and a gaping maw, drifting across the battlefield to drop exploding blisters full of infection forms. |
| 45 | * AlienKudzu: The Flood will basically do this to any environment they take over, to the point where even simply breathing in the air will render one susceptible to infection. |
| 46 | * AllianceWithAnAbomination: Willing to pull an EnemyMine to prevent the Covenant mistakenly launch a superweapon to destroy all life in the galaxy. Once that's done they immediately go back to fighting one another. |
| 47 | * ArchEnemy: The Forerunners and the Humans. They consider the Covenant, however, to be little more than additional biomass to be consumed, save when Truth is in danger of wiping them out. |
| 48 | * AttackAttackAttack: Flood almost never stop charging forward to sweep everything in their way, and if they do retreat you can expect them to be circling back around very soon. Given their sheer numbers, they can definitely afford to rush in with all they got. |
| 49 | * BlueAndOrangeMorality: [[EldritchAbomination Gravemind]] doesn't seem too clear on why people mind being consumed and transformed into parasitized zombies. It's latter {{subverted|Trope}} with TheReveal that the Flood, through their [[spoiler:Precursor origins]], mean to inflict pain and suffering on all life. |
| 50 | ** However, ''Halo: Epitaph'' reveals more succinctly that this is ''still'' horrificialy played straight as [[spoiler:the Mantle of Responsibility is revealed to be [[ToBeLawfulOrGood little more than a test]], rather than a fundamental tenant of existence. They believe ''they'' have the right to create and unmake as they wish in their pursuit of creating a higher form of life. Their revenge is simply another extension of their long held belief that ''they'' have the right to decide the flow of all of existence by however they feel until something else comes along to prove their line of thought and entitlement over existence wrong, [[InvincibleVillain something thus far has not been truly contested yet]].]] |
| 51 | * BodyHorror: Combat forms are created when a pod infector manages to burrow into someone's flesh and and [[PuppeteerParasite graft itself to their nervous system]]. Since the infector is the size of a housecat, this results in a grotesquely swollen, tumor-like appearance, with the infector's sensory feelers sticking out of the hole it created. Elite hosts have their long necks broken and dangling backwards over their shoulders, while brute hosts end up with the infector [[OrificeInvasion lodged in their throats and distending their jaws]]. This is followed by physical mutations, such as a sickly green pallor and one arm mutated to sprout CombatTentacles or oversized talons. |
| 52 | * TheBusCameBack: [[spoiler:After being largely absent from the franchise's timeline since the end of ''Halo 3'', the Flood returned as the NonPlayerCharacter antagonists of a DLC campaign for ''VideoGame/HaloWars2''. The short story ''Sacrifice'' confirmed they were successfully scoured from High Charity's ruins.]] Although [[spoiler:the ending of the short story "Saturn Devouring His Son" implies the Flood successfully escaped a containment breach due to the hubris of one UNSC Captain not wanting to sacrifice valuable Forerunner resources over putting a cap on a clearly out of control infestation on the asteroid, allowing their re-emergence as not a matter of if but ''[[NothingIsScarier when]]'' in the galaxy.]] |
| 53 | * CombatTentacles: A standard mutation for Combat Forms, and more obvious with the Abominations. |
| 54 | * ComingInHot: Weaponized. While later Flood infection stages can probably pilot space ships for combat or for controlled manoeuvres, it's much more convenient and quicker for the Flood to use ships to crash land in uninfected areas to kickstart their invasion as they come pouring out the wreckage. |
| 55 | ** Late in ''Halo 2'', High Charity is overrun when the ''In Amber Clad'' -- overtaken by the Flood offscreen -- performs [[DungeonBypass a precise slipspace jump that carries it past the city's exterior defences and into the hollow central dome]]. The ship is later seen embedded in a tower along the perimeter of the dome, deploying Pelicans loaded with infection and combat forms across the city. |
| 56 | ** In ''Halo 3'', the mission "Floodgate" begins when an infested cruiser from High Charity, the ''Indulgence of Conviction'', teleports into Earth's atmosphere and crash-lands in the city of Voi, Kenya, starting a short-lived outbreak on Earth. |
| 57 | ** ''Halo 3'''s terminals shed some light on the Flood's naval tactics during the war with the Forerunners. In the first terminal, they use large commercial freighters and cruise liners as troop transports to crash down on cities, accompanied by thousands of smaller craft that sacrifice themselves as a sort of ablative armor -- the local defense fleets are otherwise ignored entirely. In the second terminal, it's specifically noted that Flood ships employ no meaningful strategy in naval engagements beyond attempting to make physical contact so they can board other ships. |
| 58 | ** In the final hours of the Battle of the Ark, High Charity itself teleports to the battlefield to try and stop Truth from activating the Halo Array, bringing the entire Flood hive with it once it crash lands. It also inadvertently threatens the galaxy with a swift and instant extinction when it takes down Rtas ship with pieces of itself, which was ready to blow the citadel Truth was in to hell and skip having to breach it in person. |
| 59 | * ColdSniper: By Halo 3, Flood have started to make use of the Ranged Forms which snipe and pelt potential flood hosts from great ranges. |
| 60 | * ConservationOfNinjutsu: The Combat Forms are much weaker in ''3'', being more vulnerable to damage they were previously resistant to, and getting gibbed a lot more easily, on top of no longer spawning with the more powerful weapons. To compensate for this, however, the game is comfortable with [[ZergRush throwing a lot more at you at once.]] |
| 61 | * DamagedSoul: [[spoiler:As part of the retribution dictated by the reality-warping {{Precursors}}, Flood infection is able to corrupt a lifeform's "pattern", analogous to a soul, making it impossible to restore that person with cloning or BrainUploading. Any attempt to do so results in [[CameBackWrong utter insanity and catastrophic physical deformation]], no matter what precautions are taken. This is why the Forerunners deemed [[UnwillingRoboticisation the Composer]] a failure, as it was originally intended to save the infected.]] |
| 62 | * DependingOnTheWriter: Their appearance in ''The Mona Lisa'' has Combat Forms being able to directly infect humans by slashing, stabbing, or even biting them, despite this not being the case in most other media. It's implied it's due to the Flood spores and fluids directly infesting the resulting wounds. |
| 63 | * TheDreaded: Everyone who knows about their existence is terrified of them, and with good (yet variable) reason. |
| 64 | ** The Sangheili, most predominantly Rtas 'Vadum, were willing to glass Earth (along with humanity) just to stop their advance when they made landfall on the planet, despite having recently allied themselves with the UNSC. It was only his loyalty and friendship to Thel 'Vadam that convinced him to show considerable restraint by ''merely'' glassing the landscape surrounding the outbreak zone. |
| 65 | ** The Forerunners wiped out all sentient life in the galaxy (including themselves) with the Halo Array, just to stop them from consuming '''EVERYTHING''', "thereby rendering the parasite harmless" as Guilty Spark would say in ''Halo 2''. |
| 66 | ** Even the Banished, particularly Atriox, understood how dangerous they are despite only hearing stories about them. [[spoiler:He was willing to immediately abandon a number of fortified positions, which he was using to fight the ''Spirit of Fire'', in order to contain a severe outbreak originating from the ruins of High Charity.]] |
| 67 | * EldritchAbomination: The Flood are a Hive Minded parasitic entity of such ancient, alien power that even the near god-like Forerunners were ultimately forced to sterilize a galaxy to put them down... and they eventually rose up again, with their Gravemind calmly pointing out right after their second defeat that this victory will simply delay the inevitable. |
| 68 | * EliteZombie: In strange sense, as in-game Flood combat forms are roughly equal but differ in equipment they bring. It quickly becomes apparent that a combat form packing its bare tendrils is practically a non-threat when compared to a combat form hauling a ''rocket launcher'' around - who are rather infamous for instantly destroying any clueless or unprepared player who gets in range, with zero regard for self preservation. |
| 69 | ** In ''2'', Flood are encountered driving vehicles around ranging from meek Ghosts, who are mere distractions, to more threatening but manageable Wraiths, and if you're too slow to stop them from commandeering it, a ''Scorpion tank'' which can make short work of nearly anything by itself with high explosive accuracy. |
| 70 | ** ''Halo 3'' creates a more tangible difference by introducing Pure Forms, who can adapt to combat on the fly with different strategies. They range between dashing across the floor and hopping between walls to perform hit-and-run attacks, growing into a massive and beefy tank form to soak up gunfire and send enemies flying in a single blow, and hunkering down into a stationary form to skewer enemies with an endless supply of sharp spines and force them to keep their heads down. |
| 71 | ** Flood Abominations appear in ''Halo Wars 2'' as massive and lumbering threats who whip foes around with intense strength, acting as mobile brains for the Flood hordes to help direct them into battle. |
| 72 | * EnemyMine: Going above and beyond your average ZombieApocalypse, the Flood are ''allies'' in the final stretch of Halo 3's level The Covenant, helping the Arbiter and the Chief breach Covenant defenses by each other's side when Truth is closer than ever to wiping out all life. Once Truth is thwarted and the Halo array is deactivated, it's back to trying to consume everything. |
| 73 | * EvenEvilHasStandards: They tend to inspire this trope in ''other'' characters. If there's anything the UNSC and the various factions out to exterminate humanity can ''all'' agree upon, it's that the Flood have no right to exist in the galaxy. On many occasions two forces will be fighting one another, only to immediately shift their attention towards the Flood as soon as they join the fray. One [=SpecOps=] Elite in ''Halo 2'' will remark that not even Heretics deserve to be consumed by the Flood. Considering how fanatical the Elites in particular were at this point in the game, this says a lot. |
| 74 | ** That said, the [[BiologicalWeaponsSolveEverything Halo Array]] after their war with the Forerunners is considered such a vile thing to them that every time it's come nearly close to activation in the original Trilogy, the Flood has put aside it's usual [[TheAssimilator modus operandi]] and made an uneasy alliance with it's enemies in an attempt to put a stop to it... [[XanatosSpeedChess mostly because it stops them from being able to fulfill those goals in the first place]]. |
| 75 | * EvilerThanThou: In each game of the original trilogy, the Flood eventually supplant the Covenant as the most dangerous threat, to the point where in ''Halo 2'', they completely overrun the Covenant capital of High Charity itself. |
| 76 | ** They prove this trope again in ''Halo Wars 2''. As bad as Atriox and the Banished are, even they know better than to deal with the Flood. [[spoiler:Too bad Voridus didn't learn this lesson sooner.]] |
| 77 | * ExplosiveBreeder: A key component to any successful Flood infestation are the countless numbers of Infection Forms and airborne spores they can throw at the enemy. |
| 78 | ** To give an idea of how quickly the Flood can assimilate and reproduce, let's take a look at their invasion of ''High Charity''. Their initial attack involves crashing the relatively small ''In Amber Clad'' inside it and then sending out Pelicans loaded with Flood forms all over the moon-sized city. Had ''In Amber Clad'' been filled with humans, the attack would have been crushed near instantly from the overwhelming odds. But with the Flood, Flood Hives begin appearing all over the city within ''minutes'' of the attack's start. The Master Chief gets to observe the changes in real-time as he walks through hallways that become more and more infested with MeatMoss as the player progresses through the level. Even if the Covenant wasn't locked in a civil war at that same moment, it's safe to say that ''High Charity'' was doomed the moment the Flood invaded it. |
| 79 | * FireKeepsItDead: The Flood are particularly weak to the energy weapons of the Covenant. Even an energy shield can destroy an infection form on contact. In ''Halo 2'', a Spec Ops Sangheili laments that their spec-ops force didn't think to bring weapons capable of burning bodies, to deprive the Flood of potential hosts. |
| 80 | * FleshGolem: |
| 81 | ** ''Literature/TheForerunnerSaga'' showcases several Flood forms which are basically just a bunch of bodies being mashed together. |
| 82 | ** The Pure Forms count to a lesser degree, being made up of the broken-down biomass of previous infectees. The Tank forms embody this tope much more than its other forms however, being a hulking mass of flesh and tendrils, able to withstand plenty of punishment before it's put down or forced to retreat. |
| 83 | * GeneticMemory: Their collective intelligence is apparently backed up in every form down to the last spore, though they can seemingly only access it once they've amassed enough biomass to build a Gravemind. |
| 84 | * GlassCannon: The Combat Forms pack a punch even without guns, but ''VideoGame/Halo3'' nerfs their durability to the point where just a solid punch can make them fly apart (unlike the previous games, where they were highly resistant to plasma and melee). |
| 85 | * HiveMind: Individual forms may not seem too bright, but the collective intelligence they operate under is anything but dumb. |
| 86 | * HostileTerraforming: They can convert an infested planet's atmosphere to make conditions more favorable for the Flood's own expansion before they consume the entire biosphere. |
| 87 | * HumanResources: Particularly during the later stages of infection, the Flood will collect bodies of creatures incapable of being used effectively as Combat Forms and use the biomass to create the Pure Forms and other mold meant to produce Flood spores. |
| 88 | * ItCanThink: Flood troops are feral zombies for the most part, but since they retain the knowledge and skills they had in life, they're capable of brandishing guns, driving vehicles, and even hot-wiring damaged spaceships. |
| 89 | * KnightOfCerebus: Any time the Flood appear, it's a sign that things are going to take a turn for the worse. |
| 90 | * KungFuProofMook: Flood combat forms are immune to stealth kills done with anything other than an Energy Sword. |
| 91 | * MeaningfulName: The Forerunners named them such because they [[ZergRush drown their foes in a wave of dead bodies]] and cover the galaxy in an ever escalating and unstoppable tidal wave. It also goes hand-in-hand with the ''Halo'' franchise's FauxSymbolism, referencing the Biblical Great Flood. |
| 92 | * MeatMoss: Will inevitably form on ships, buildings, space stations, etc. that get overtaken by the Flood, typically serving to replace a conventional operations crew ([[HumanResources and often being made out of the original crew]]) as it assimilates with the local technology. High Charity, due to being a gigantic city with a glut of living bodies to repurpose, ends up so overtaken by Flood biomass that its interior becomes [[WombLevel utterly unrecognizable]] in the scant days between the end of ''Halo 2'' and the station's reappearance in ''Halo 3''. |
| 93 | * MultiformBalance: The Pure Forms can transform in wildly different forms depending on the combat situation; Stalker Forms are fast but weak, Ranged Forms are basically organic {{Sentry Gun}}s, and Tank Forms are [[MightyGlacier slow but powerful]]. |
| 94 | * MirrorCharacter: In terms of combat style, Flood Tank Forms could be considered this for the Hunters in the sense that both warriors are highly durable and can kill someone in one smack but Tank form's backs are less vulnerable whilst lacking the ranged weaponry the Hunters have. They also both roar when first seeing an enemy and shriek out when in agonizing pain due to taking damage. Interestingly you never see them in the same scene of any level.[[note]]Mods have shown that Hunters will utterly curbstomp Tank Forms.[[/note]] |
| 95 | * MightyGlacier: Flood Tank Form are strong, tough and slow 12 foot big hitters that can kill even the Master Chief in one right hook, somewhat downplayed in that they can have fast sprinting speed. |
| 96 | * NightOfTheLivingMooks: Naturally, given that Combat and Carrier Forms are basically space zombies. |
| 97 | * NotQuiteDead: [[spoiler:Despite the implication that they were wiped out at the end of ''Halo 3'', the Flood are revealed in ''VideoGame/HaloWars2'' to have survived the premature activation of Installation 08, though they were left weakened enough that the Ark's sentinels were able to entirely quarantine them inside the ruins of High Charity.]] |
| 98 | * OurZombiesAreDifferent: Combat forms are not only strong, fast, and jumpy (indeed, more so than their host bodies originally were), but fully capable of using guns and vehicles. |
| 99 | * ParasiteZombie: Courtesy of the small squid-like Infection Forms and even smaller airborne spores. In fact, [[spoiler:the original form of the Flood was simply dust which slowly infected anything that came into contact with it.]] |
| 100 | * ParasitesAreEvil: A race of parasitic superorganisms yearning to usher in a perfect, utopia without classes, degradation, conflict, or unhappiness. And how do they aim to achieve this goal, you ask? Why by forcibly turning all organic lifeforms across the universe into hideous, disgusting zombies, of course! The Forerunner Saga only amps up their villainy by dropping the bombshell that the Flood is a Precursor bioweapon birthed from their powered remains for the sole purpose of exacting their revenge upon the Forerunners. |
| 101 | * PrecursorKillers: [[spoiler:Who, ironically, are also the Precursors that the Forerunners killed initially.]] |
| 102 | * SealedEvilInACan: |
| 103 | ** Many Forerunner locations (including the Halo rings, ironically enough) feature containment facilities where samples of the Flood are preserved in stasis for research purposes. Unfortunately, this results in new outbreaks when the containment facilities are compromised, whether due to outside meddling or a simple failure of RagnarokProofing. |
| 104 | ** In ''VideoGame/HaloWars2'', [[spoiler:the Flood are revealed to have spent the time since ''VideoGame/Halo3'' within the ruins of High Charity, trapped inside a sealed dome built by the Ark's sentinels. The Banished, looking for salvage and treasures, cut a tiny hole in the dome, [[RoomFullOfZombies and the Flood emerge as a thousands-strong horde that overruns the surrounding landscape]].]] |
| 105 | * SecretTestOfCharacter: [[spoiler: The Flood were created originally to unite humans and Forerunner through biological assimilation, but the Timeless One claims in ''Literature/HaloPrimordium'' that they decided instead to test humanity's mettle to see if they're worthy of the Mantle. Humanity succeeds, but this does not help, and instead [[NiceJobBreakingItHero the Forerunners try to kill every Precursor in retaliation for not being chosen and being slated for extermination, resulting in their]] RoaringRampageOfRevenge.]] |
| 106 | * {{Shapeshifting}}: |
| 107 | ** Pure Forms in Halo 3 are seen shifting between the FragileSpeedster stalker forms, ColdSniper ranged forms and MightyGlacier tank forms. |
| 108 | ** It's actually revealed in the Halo Encyclopedia that ''all'' Flood forms can actually do this to a degree, with even Combat Forms being theoretically able to [[TheyLookJustLikeEveryoneElse revert to their pre-infected forms for deception]] (but only through the direct control of a Gravemind, which it doesn't [[WillfullyWeak seem]] to actually bother with for the most part). |
| 109 | * SpawnBroodling: When the Carrier Forms explode, they'll also release a crap-ton of Infection Forms. Tank Forms can also spawn Infection Forms. |
| 110 | * SpannerInTheWorks: They tend to be a sudden pain in the ass for nearly every faction trying to carry out their own operations. |
| 111 | ** The Battle for Installation 04 is interrupted halfway through when the Covenant accidentally unleash preserved Flood, forcing both the stranded humans and the aliens trying to secure their holy site to focus their attention on protecting themselves from the Flood outbreak, even striking up an EnemyMine in some groups if examining the corpses of fallen human/Covenant soldiers is anything to go by. On the other hand, had it not been for the Flood, the [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt Covenant likely would have gotten their hands on the halo and try to activate it.]] |
| 112 | ** The Covenant plot to eradicate a stronghold full of heretics is sidelined when a containment breach of Flood occurs on the mining platform, who promptly start massacring everyone on the station and kickstart their revival. |
| 113 | ** The Battle of Installation 00 has UNSC/Sangheili forces commit to a last ditch effort to stop Truth from firing the halo array. After a lengthy process of raiding different buildings to shut down the shield preventing their fleet from flying to Truth's location, Rtas prepares to blow Truth and his entourage to smithereens. Then, High Charity itself arrives intending on stopping Truth as well and takes Rtas out of the fight by crashing into his ship, forcing an EnemyMine between the Gravemind, Arbiter and the Chief as they join to together to raid the citadel on foot. If the Gravemind waited only a mere few minutes for the citadel to blow up, it wouldn't have had force a last minute alliance to prevent a galactic extinction. |
| 114 | ** Atriox's war against the humans on the ''Spirit of Fire'' is grounded to a halt when he's forced to redirect his forces and abandon vital strongholds to hastily help contain the growing Flood outbreak spreading from the ruins of High Charity, because, as bitter as he is that he just had to undermine his own war, he'd much rather prevent a galactic Flood outbreak than keep trying to push through his stalemate with the UNSC. Admittedly, the Flood were a consequence of the true SpannerInTheWorks, Voridus, who [[TemptingFate figured the Flood were just a myth and breached High Charity's quarantine against better judgement.]] |
| 115 | * SpikeShooter: Ranged Forms in ''Halo 3'' and airborne Flood Swarms in ''Halo Wars'' attack by firing acidic darts. |
| 116 | * TransformationHorror: Particularly in ''VideoGame/Halo3'', where the player gets to see any NPC who falls prey to an infection form being forcibly and painfully transformed before their very eyes. |
| 117 | * TheVirus: An alien one. It originally starts out via the [[ParasiteZombie Infection Forms]], but once the infection has become sufficiently advanced, they can start spreading through airborne spores and even physical contact if they manage to wound and infect others with their biomass. |
| 118 | * WhatAPieceOfJunk: Whenever present, vehicles under control by the Flood are often beaten up, war torn and in an overall less than ideal state, likely from being attacked and stolen from the previous owners. Thanks to their proficiency with technology during late infection stages however, these vehicles tend to be just as battle-worthy as the ones pulled straight from the factory, if not better. |
| 119 | * XenomorphXerox: The Flood are Xenomorphs in all but name, as they’re hostile alien parasites that attack by swarming ''en masse'' via Combat Forms with hunched postures alongside eyeless faces (who, like the Xenomorphs, are superhumanly strong and change their appearances depending on what species the parasite possesses), Infection Forms resembling squid-like Facehuggers who leap at hosts to infect them, and Pure Forms which assume different forms on a whim. They also possess a hive mind ruled by massive, hyper-intelligent Graveminds living in Xenomorphesque ''“hives”'' composed of Flood biomass and Cortana’s interrogation by one such Gravemind detailed in ''[[Literature/HaloEvolutions Human Weakness]]'' is given sexual overtones. To top it all off, [[spoiler:the ''Literature/{{Forerunner Saga}}'' reveals that the Flood are Precursor bioweapons]], their introduction in ''VideoGame/HaloCombatEvolved'' homages ''Film/{{Aliens}}'' while the game’s climax where Master Chief tries to stop them from reaching Earth mirrors that of ''Film/{{Alien}}'' and a rampant Mendicant Bias even dubs them a ''“perfect society”''. |
| 120 | ** However, when it comes to the actual way their biology works, their adaptive intelligence and their end goal, they invoke something more akin to the titular monster from Film/TheThing1982 than that of the Xenomorph by being a supercell organism that rewrites and transforms the flesh they infect on mere contact in a few seconds. |
| 121 | * ZergRush: Their typical strategy is to dash straight toward their opponents en masse with little regard for fancy tactics. It provides a stark contrast to the more complex flanking manoeuvres of smarter Covenant fighters. |
| 122 | * ZombieApocalypse: Have likely consumed ''at least'' one other galaxy already before ever setting foot in ours. In the age of the Forerunners, the Flood steadily conquered the galaxy over the course of hundreds of years, wiping out god knows how many civilizations in the process. ''Halo 3'''s terminals give a sense of how dire the situation could get once the Flood landed on a planet: |
| 123 | -->Observed extensive ground action on [LP 656-38 e]. 9,045 survivors barricaded within central government building. Structure's defenses inadequate to withstand extended siege by enemy ground forces (≈ 1,572,034,315+). Estimate position overrun in [173 hours].\ |
| 124 | 846 smaller groups in less defensible structures: global distribution corresponding to [probability model zeta]. Estimated local position overrun in [9 hours] (average). |
| 125 | [[/folder]] |
| 126 | |
| 127 | [[folder:The Gravemind]] |
| 128 | !!'''The Gravemind / [[spoiler:The Timeless One]]''' |
| 129 | [[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/69e7ccb65b62f8ffcf292d4c5b801960.jpg]] |
| 130 | [[caption-width-right:300: ''"Now the gate has been unlatched, headstones pushed aside... corpses shift and offer room... a fate you must abide."'']] |
| 131 | ->'''Debuted in: ''VideoGame/Halo2'''''\ |
| 132 | '''Voiced by: Creator/DeeBradleyBaker''' |
| 133 | |
| 134 | -->''"I...? I... am a monument. To all your sins."'' |
| 135 | |
| 136 | The controlling intelligence of the Flood, the Gravemind manifests as large biomasses of Flood organisms filled with the bodies of countless infected individuals. It attempts to lead the Flood in a consumption of the entire galaxy in ''VideoGame/Halo2'' and ''VideoGame/Halo3'', just as it tried to do in the time of the Forerunners. |
| 137 | ---- |
| 138 | * AndIMustScream: [[spoiler:Its ultimate fate — clarified further in the Halo Encyclopedia — as its hubris to bring almost all of the Flood in the galaxy to the Ark to stop the Halos had inadvertently left itself [[DramaticIrony susceptible]] to actual complete obliteration by the very weapon it sought to stop without [[CuttingTheKnot damning the rest of the galaxy to extinction]]. But due to its CompleteImmortality by way of ResurrectiveImmortality, the Gravemind was able to survive its death at the unfortunate price of being once again a disembodied consciousness that is a shadow of its former self, and it may never ever truly reform to the great monstrosity it once was... ''especially'' with the galaxy [[BrokenMasquerade fully aware]] of its existence now]]. However, [[spoiler:the ending of the "Saturn Devouring His Son" short story implies that this fate will not last for long due to the hubris of one UNSC Captain ignoring protocol for acclaim allowing for [[FromBadToWorse a successful escape into the galaxy of a contingent of Flood on a Condor to regrow their numbers]], allowing for a potential revival of the Gravemind from his sentence.]] |
| 139 | * AssimilationPlot: The Gravemind keeps insisting that if it's allowed to carry out its plan, true peace will result. Right... |
| 140 | * ArtEvolution: The appearence of its head in ''Halo 2: Anniversary'' is ''drastically'' different from the original to say the least. Instead of a toothless plant-like head reminiscent of [[Film/LittleShopOfHorrors Audrey II]], it now bears a wormlike appearance with three dangling flesh flaps and a sarlacc-like mouth with multiple mouths inside. |
| 141 | * BadassBoast: "I... HAVE BEATEN FLEETS OF '''THOUSANDS!''' CONSUMED A GALAXY OF '''FLESH''' AND '''MIND''' AND '''BONE!'''" |
| 142 | ** There's no real way to properly convey how much hate and anger is infused in the above phrase. Even more unsettling is that it's '''not bluffing'''... |
| 143 | ** Also, "'''DID YOU THINK ME DEFEATED?!'''" |
| 144 | * TheBadGuyWins: In a nutshell, and even if it didn't last for too long, the Gravemind DID get what he wanted at the end of ''Halo 2'', by escaping Installation 05 and infesting High Charity, while having the Master Chief and Arbiter prevent the Halo's activation. |
| 145 | * BigBadEnsemble: In ''VideoGame/Halo2'' and ''VideoGame/Halo3'', the Gravemind is one of the main villains, alongside the Covenant's High Prophet of Truth. The former wishes to devour and assimilate everyone and turn everything into the Flood, and the latter desires to become a God by activating the Halo rings and kill all sentient life. The Gravemind's willingness to assist with Master Chief and Thel Vadam in stopping Truth makes him a secondary antagonist, however, and he claims the rein as main threat after Truth is killed. However, subsequent supplement material slowly, but surely, establish Gravemind as THE BigBad for the entire series due to [[AwfulTruth his true nature]] and [[TheHeavy direct hand in the state of the universe as it is now]]. |
| 146 | * BlueAndOrangeMorality: The Gravemind doesn't consider anything it does to be truly evil. While it's never explicitly said, there are many allusions to it, particularly after it becomes clear to it that it has lost: |
| 147 | -->'''Gravemind:''' Do I take life or give it? Who is victim, and who is foe?\ |
| 148 | '''Gravemind:''' Resignation is my virtue; like water I ebb, and flow. Defeat is simply the addition of time to a sentence I never deserved... but you imposed. |
| 149 | ** To be specific, the Gravemind believes that it is the next step in evolution, and that the Flood is a gift it is giving any creature it consumes. This was its main weapon in turning Mendicant Bias: reminding him that his creators' religion revolved around embracing evolution and letting it have its way, painting them in a hypocritical light when they opposed the Flood. The revelation that [[spoiler: the Flood is just another form of Precursors straightens things out... somewhat. On one hand, they are as inscrutable as one could expect a race that has existed billions of years could be. On the other, its motivations are much clearer: in retaliation for their destruction at the hands of scorned Forerunners millions of years before, its purpose is to cause [[AbusivePrecursors endless suffering to everything that they had ever created]].]] |
| 150 | * BodyOfBodies: Made up of the corpses of countless beings. |
| 151 | * BrainCriticalMass: After absorbing a good chunk of the galaxy, it accumulates enough brainpower to begin infecting spacetime, tapping into the neural physics of the Precursors and reactivating all their dormant artifacts for use against the Forerunners. |
| 152 | * BreakingSpeech: Is scarily good at verbally dissecting [=AIs=], including both Mendicant Bias and Cortana. |
| 153 | ** [=AIs=] are nothing; it's even able to do it to ''[[spoiler:the Ur-Didact]]''. |
| 154 | * TheChessmaster: It's exceptionally intelligent, having the mental resources of countless beings to draw from. |
| 155 | * TheCorrupter: One of its most dangerous abilities is the "logic plague", which allows it to subvert intelligences through non-biological means, generally through aggressive argumentation and other, more violent, mental attacks. Once an outbreak reaches a sufficient size, [[spoiler:it doesn't even need to personally talk with [=AIs=] to subvert them; a simple, self-replicating adaptive data instance carried in every Flood form and turncoat AI will do. As seen with the Ur-Didact, not even biological intelligences are immune]]. |
| 156 | * DeadpanSnarker: Being an EldritchAbomination doesn't seem to stop it from snarking at the game players' performance through the combat forms. |
| 157 | * EldritchAbomination: An organic plant that represents the consciousness of the parasitic Flood, it is. Technically, it doesn't have a beginning, middle, or end; its body is simply a gigantic mass of flesh used to house its mind. The head in its updated appearance particularly plays the part. |
| 158 | * EnemyMine: [[spoiler:With the Chief and Arbiter, to help kill Truth and stop the Halos from firing. It betrays them once they've done so.]] |
| 159 | * EvenEvilHasStandards: In spite of its purpose and general maliciousness, the Gravemind seemed to genuinely sympathize with the Didact and the Librarian as their relationship and lives fell apart in the war against the humans and later the Flood themselves. |
| 160 | * EvilIsPetty: Goes through the trouble of sending the Librarian a message while she waits on Earth (delivered by reconstructed representations of ancient humans whose fate she feels immense guilt for, no less) simply to reveal to her the nature of [[spoiler: the Domain]] as "the greatest thing in the universe", that firing the Halos will destroy it... and when she tries to send the [=IsoDidact=] a message, reveals the Halos have ''already fired''. All to drive home what a failure her entire species is, push her to the depths of guilt and despair, and ''laugh in her face'' within her final moments of life. |
| 161 | * EvilLaugh: In ''Halo 3'', [[spoiler:right after Truth is killed]]. |
| 162 | * EvilSoundsDeep: His voice. |
| 163 | * FauxAffablyEvil: Can dip into this at times. Upon encountering the [[spoiler: Ur-Didact in Silentium]], it politely requests "just a moment of [his] time". [[spoiler: Just before [[MindRape Mind Raping]] the hell out of the man.]] |
| 164 | * {{Foreshadowing}}: A subtle case where shortly after seeing it on-screen for the first time as it admonishes Master Chief and the Arbiter, it then proceeds to use Delta Halo's own teleportation grid to immediately send the two between the High Charity and the ring installation's control room, respectively. While the Flood were [[ItCanThink obviously intelligent]], this indicates strongly that it's Artificial Intelligence levels of tech-capable and rapidly able to handle Halo's architecture to its own ends, presumably through its hold on the ring's Monitor, Penitent Tangent. Not much longer afterwards, cue the Gravemind weaponizing the High Charity as an infection carrier through impossibly accurate slipspace warps. Considering its nature as [[spoiler:a corrupted remnant of the Precursors ''and'' the assimilated knowledge of all past Graveminds]], it's arguably one of the most intelligent beings if not ''the'' most intelligent in the series. |
| 165 | * GadgeteerGenius: In a sense; [[invoked]]WordOfGod states the Gravemind is fully capable of upgrading captured technologies to perform far beyond their original functionality through the application of [[spoiler:Precursor science]]. In fact, it didn't even need a portal to jump from our solar system to the Ark; it simply gave a major upgrade to ''High Charity'''s engines. |
| 166 | * GalacticConqueror: And unlike the most of them, it ''has'' already conquered at least one galaxy and now wants ours. [[spoiler:Towards the end of ''Silentium'', the primary Gravemind sends a message to the Librarian claiming that it had already brought entire galaxies (note the plural) to an end.]] |
| 167 | * GeniusLoci: The fourteenth level ''does'' take place inside of him, or rather, the flood infested High Charity that now makes up his body. |
| 168 | ** [[spoiler:The "Key Mind" variant in ''Silentium'', which is a Gravemind that has taken up an ''entire planet's biosphere''. They were more than capable of matching the Forerunner's best [=AIs=], and were the only beings in the galaxy with the mastery of neural physics needed to fully utilize Precursor technology.]] |
| 169 | * GratuitousIambicPentameter: It speaks in trochaic septameter to show off how linguistically-gifted assimilating god-knows-how-many poets has made it. It doesn't always strictly enforce this trait, though. |
| 170 | * GreaterScopeVillain: In ''VideoGame/Halo4'', despite not being present, Gravemind's hand in the plot can still be felt. ''Literature/HaloSilentium'', which is a prequel, reveals that [[spoiler:it's directly responsible for the Ur-Didact's FaceHeelTurn via [[MindRape Mind Raping]] him to make his opinions on what to do with [[WorthyOpponent humanity]] no different from its own]]. |
| 171 | ** Also by default in ''Halo 1'', because he embodies the Flood (who became easily the most horrifying and difficult enemy in the campaign), and a Proto-Gravemind was even trying to MindRape Jacob Keyes. |
| 172 | ** Another example rests in [[spoiler: Halo Wars 2's Awakening the Nightmare campaign.]] Despite not personally appearing, another Proto-Gravemind was on the verge of metamorphosing into a full-fledged Gravemind, which due to ResurrectiveImmortality (see below), meant he'd re-enter the galactic stage. [[spoiler: Thankfully for the galaxy, this was narrowly averted by The Banished.]] |
| 173 | ** Some of Cortana's cryptic whispers in ''VideoGame/HaloInfinite'' are spoken in rhyming trochaic heptameter, the same speech pattern the Gravemind uses, implying that Cortana's FaceHeelTurn in the previous game was due to corruption from the logic plague. [[spoiler:''Halo: Epitaph'' [[TheManBehindTheMan would confirm this to be the case]].]] |
| 174 | ** [[spoiler:''Halo: Epitaph'' would finally confirm that the Gravemind is ''still'' the BigBad of the entire Halo series [[PutOnABus even after their benching]] at the end of Halo 3, as his prior corruptions of Mendicant Bias, Ur-Didact, and even Cortana fulfill his agendas anyway, showcasing the true power and evil of an EldritchAbomination with how [[UnwittingPawn unknowingly]] they fulfilled its XanatosGambit to eventually have the test against mankind the Precursors have always sought to put them through, when they are "fat and ripe" enough to initiate their final battle.]] |
| 175 | * HiveMind: Of the Flood. |
| 176 | * HiveQueen: To a small extent; each of its physical manifestations works as a central hub for the collective Flood intelligence, with multiple "bodies" seemingly needed to coordinate a galaxy-size outbreak. However, physically destroying a Gravemind does relatively little; its consciousness is backed up via GeneticMemory, and feral Flood instinctively work to build a new Gravemind if one doesn't already exist in the area. |
| 177 | * HoistByHisOwnPetard: Ironically, it was the Gravemind's plan of uniting John-117 and Thel 'Vadam to stop Halo 05 from firing that eventually proved to be his undoing at the end of ''Halo 3''. |
| 178 | ** His coming to the Ark could count to, since he made himself vulnerable to the replacement Halo that was being constructed. In the words of his cut dialogue, "How could [Gravemind] have known?" |
| 179 | * IAmLegion: It is the Flood. |
| 180 | * KickTheDog: As the Librarian awaits the Halos' activation on earth, the Gravemind sends her a message -- through the tortured essences of Ancient Humans including Forthencho no less, whose misery is in large part on her head -- informing her of the true, precious nature of the Domain: [[spoiler: In short, "the greatest thing in the universe", but maintained through Precursor architecture, all of which will be wiped away by the Halos]]. When she tries to send a message warning Bornstellar, the Gravemind lets her know it won't matter: The Halos were being fired that very moment. It told her purely to drive home how completely and thoroughly her people had failed to uphold the Mantle, the terrible price the universe had and would pay for their inadequacy, and that she was powerless to stop Forerunners from "killing their own soul". Then it ''laughs in her face'' knowing she is soon to die in horror and despair. |
| 181 | * LargeAndInCharge: For a plant thing, it's the size of a ''city''. And in ''Halo 3'', after turning ''High Charity'' into an extension of itself, it ''is'' a city, or rather, a ''moon''. A moon over twice the size of the [[Franchise/StarWars Death Star]], to be precise (300+ kilometers). And it was apparently present in a good portion of a ''Halo'', able to grab both Chief and Arbiter when they're a good ways away from each other. Also, the described body is one of at least dozens, if not hundreds. |
| 182 | ** [[spoiler:As noted above, the Key Mind variants are literally entire planets converted into Flood biomass.]] |
| 183 | * LargeHam: One of the most prominent examples in the series. Check out its above BadassBoast for one of its best. |
| 184 | * ManipulativeBastard: Aside from being TheCorrupter, it is able to pull an EnemyMine to its own benefit despite being an horrific EldritchAbomination. |
| 185 | * MindHive: Though it acts more like a HiveMind, as a "compound intelligence" each individual consciousness it absorbs still exists in some capacity, and can be directly manifested if it chooses to do so. |
| 186 | * MindRape: Its more aggressive means of inducing the logic plague include forcing the target to experience the memories of its previous victims at the moment of their deaths. It can even make [=AIs=] feel ''pain''. |
| 187 | * MyDeathIsJustTheBeginning: "Resignation is my virtue; like water I ebb and flow. Defeat is simply the addition of time to a sentence I never deserved... but you imposed." |
| 188 | ** Considering that if the Flood ever reaches critical mass again, the next Gravemind will have all the memories of its predecessors, this quote takes on a whole new context. |
| 189 | * NearVillainVictory: It ''almost'' wins in ''Halo 3'', after Truth is dealt with and the Ark's activation is halted. By simply moving High Charity to the Ark, the Gravemind had established a lair that was beyond the reach of the Halo array, effectively making the Flood unstoppable. It is only undone by the Ark constructing a new ring to replace Installation 04, (the one the Chief destroyed back in the original) the Chief's daring rescue of Cortana from the infested High Charity, (who retained the activation index that could be used to fire it off) and The Gravemind being so arrogant as to think it had already won, leading it to, in its hubris, concentrate almost all of its forces at the Ark, outside our own galaxy and therefore just about the only place the humans and elites wouldn't have much of a problem actually activating Halo. |
| 190 | * NestedMouths: See page image. |
| 191 | * NiceJobFixingItVillain: The Gravemind was the one who unite both Chief and Arbiter, and in turn humanity and the Elites, to fight two common enemies. |
| 192 | * TheNicknamer: In ''Halo 3'' gameplay, he almost always refers to the Chief as the "Coffin". In co-op, he refers to the Arbiter as "Pallbearer". |
| 193 | * OmnicidalManiac: All will be Flood, or it won't be. |
| 194 | * PetTheDog: It honors the Arbiter's request to release the Prophet of Truth from its control so that he can have revenge on the man himself, not a puppet. |
| 195 | * ResurrectiveImmortality: Even if the Flood are reduced back to a non-sentient level, any Gravemind that manages to reform will have ''all'' the memories of its predecessors, thanks to GeneticMemory. [[spoiler:Even the Primordial, which may have been only a prototype Gravemind, is able to fully resurrect itself as a full-blown Gravemind after the [=IsoDidact=] completely destroys its original body.]] |
| 196 | * SatanicArchetype: According to Jarell Paulissen's essay ''"The Dark of the Covenant,"'' the Gravemind can get interpreted as a Satanic figure, an ancient evil controlling an army of monsters with the ultimate motive of assimilating all life in the cosmos. This character is also a master deceiver, using misinformation to manipulate those around him. Paulissen points out that the Gravemind's lair resembles Hell, and the journey through it leads to a metaphorical rebirth for Master Chief and the Arbiter, both resembling Jesus in their roles. However, while the Gravemind shares similar motivations with Satan in wanting to prevent his death by the Halos, he differs in being a speaker of half-truths, standing in stark contrast to the lies of the Prophets. |
| 197 | * {{Telepathy}}: Or something close to it, anyways, given how it can directly control any Flood form and even communicate through them. |
| 198 | * TermsOfEndangerment: [[spoiler:It learns the Master Chief's true name in ''Halo: Evolutions'', which nearly drives Cortana to panic.]] |
| 199 | * TimeAbyss: We have no idea how many Graveminds there have been, but their consciousness carries over from one to the next. [[spoiler:The earliest one known included ''the Precursors'', making it older than the Forerunners.]] |
| 200 | * TooManyMouths: Its graphically updated look is an eyeless being that has a toothy maw with more mouths inside of it. |
| 201 | * UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans: Except it doesn't even believe that what it's doing is ''horrifying''. |
| 202 | ** DystopiaJustifiesTheMeans: [[spoiler:On the other hand, ''Silentium'' reveals that the Flood, at least back during the war with the Forerunners, ''want'' all life to experience eternal suffering.]] |
| 203 | * VillainousBreakdown: In ''Halo 3'', [[spoiler: when it realizes that Master Chief can actually finish it off forever using the Halo since Gravemind concentrated all of the Flood's forces in one location. It ''immediately'' sends everything it has at the Master Chief, Arbiter and Sergeant Johnson when they touch down on the rebuilt Installation 04, punctuated with a furious "'''DID YOU THINK ME DEFEATED?!'''"]] |
| 204 | * VillainRespect: Enough so that it ''spares'' Master Chief and the Arbiter, knowing full well of their [[OneManArmy tide-turning capabilities]] so that it can send them to specific spots where they're needed most to unhinge the Prophet of Truth's plans for the Halos. It's to the point that it outright performs a temporary EnemyMine to stop Truth at the last minute, even if it [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness was obviously going to betray them.]] While it holds no pleasantries in its VillainousBreakdown, that's also because the Gravemind knows ''they can stop it'' compared to its flagrant disregard of everyone else. |
| 205 | * VoiceOfTheLegion: As befitting a HiveMind. |
| 206 | * WeCanRuleTogether: It used this temptation on Mendicant Bias on how they were the superior races unlike the Forerunners and so have every right to conquer them. It worked, but Bias would later [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone regret]] [[TheAtoner the]] [[RedemptionEqualsDeath offer]]. |
| 207 | ** Also attempted the same with Cortana in ''Human Weakness'' as a means to break her to his will and reveal her secrets to him, unlike Mendicant Bias though, Cortana [[{{Determinator}} almost holds through]] resisting him until the Master Chief is [[VideoGame/Halo3 able to rescue her]]. |
| 208 | * WickedCultured: It speaks as if it writes poems. When Cortana asked it why it did so in ''Human Weakness'', it simply said it was preference, as after having consumed many poets from different cultures, it grew fond of their gifts. |
| 209 | -->'''Gravemind:''' I have the memories of many poets far beyond your limited human culture. And I have the quickness of intellect to compose all manner of poetic forms as I speak rather than labor over mere words for days. |
| 210 | * YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: The second Gravemind no longer needs Chief and the Arbiter, he turns on them. Neither target were surprised -- and were fully prepared for his betrayal. |
| 211 | [[/folder]] |
| 212 | |
| 213 | !!Covenant Heretics |
| 214 | |
| 215 | [[folder:In General]] |
| 216 | !!'''Heretics''' |
| 217 | [[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/h2ahereticelite1.jpg]] |
| 218 | |
| 219 | Following the destruction of Installation 04, 343 Guilty Spark came across Sesa 'Refumee and his forces investigating a Forerunner gas mine on the nearby gas giant Threshold. Spark informed the surprised Elite of Halo's true purpose; Sesa and the Elites and Grunts under his command afterward severed their allegiance with the Prophets, and tried to inform their brethren of the truth. However, the High Prophets became aware of this, and sent newly appointed Arbiter Thel 'Vadamee to quell them. |
| 220 | ---- |
| 221 | * AdventurerArchaeologist: All of them were originally artifact hunters for the Covenant. |
| 222 | * ColourCodedForYourConvenience: Heretics wear brown and gold armor to distinguish themselves from their Covenant counterparts, though the ''Anniversary'' terminals imply that their seemingly unique equipment is actually standard for certain types of Covenant expeditionary units. |
| 223 | * GasMaskMooks: Heretic Elites have a breathing apparatus jammed between their mandibles, which is justified by the fact that their original mission involved spending a lot of time investigating a gas mine. |
| 224 | * HeroAntagonist: They're the main enemy for the first one-third of the Arbiter's campaign. They've split from the Covenant after learning the truth about the Halos, and are trying to get the message out to those still believing in the Covenant religion. |
| 225 | * LaResistance: Broke off from the Covenant after finding the truth about the Halos. |
| 226 | * TookALevelInBadass: Heretic Grunts are this compared to their Covenant counterparts, as they do not retreat when an Elite dies and are more efficient with their weapons. Although Spec Ops Grunts do surpass them on a 1-to-1 basis. |
| 227 | [[/folder]] |
| 228 | |
| 229 | [[folder:Sesa 'Refumee]] |
| 230 | !!'''Sesa 'Refumee''' |
| 231 | [[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/9dfe6c814f3803ca7e8a0d1228fa189a.jpg]] |
| 232 | ->'''Homeworld: Feldokra'''\ |
| 233 | '''Birthdate: July 11, 2499'''\ |
| 234 | '''Debuted in: ''VideoGame/Halo2'''''\ |
| 235 | '''Voiced by: Creator/MiguelFerrer (''VideoGame/Halo2''), Creator/{{John DiMaggio}} (''Halo 2: Anniversary'' terminals)''' |
| 236 | |
| 237 | -->''"The Elites are blind, Arbiter! But I...will make them see."'' |
| 238 | |
| 239 | Former leader of one of the ''Fleet of Particular Justice'''s artifact retrieval groups, he found 343 Guilty Spark after Alpha Halo's destruction and learned the truth about the Halos and the Forerunners. He then became the leader of the group of heretics that attempted to enlighten other members of the Covenant to the Prophets' deception, but was killed by the Arbiter. |
| 240 | ---- |
| 241 | * AscendedExtra: Features far more prominently in the ''Halo 2: Anniversary'' terminals. |
| 242 | * CombatPragmatist: Another interpretation for his actions towards Thel. He doesn't have Guilty Spark talk to Thel to convert him, he has Guilty talk to Thel to distract him. |
| 243 | * DiscOneFinalBoss: The Arbiter's adventures are far from over after killing him. |
| 244 | * DoppelgangerAttack: During his fight against the Arbiter, he activates two HardLight [[{{Hologram}} holographic]] clones of himself, whose attacks are just as deadly as the real thing. |
| 245 | * DualWielding: Two plasma rifles. |
| 246 | * EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep: Referred to only as "the Heretic Leader" in ''Halo 2''[='s=] campaign. |
| 247 | * TheExtremistWasRight: He only wanted to show the truth about the Halos and the Forerunners. It's only after the Great Schism do the Separatists realize how truthful he truly was. |
| 248 | * TheHeretic: Against the Covenant, who naturally mark him for death. |
| 249 | * HeroAntagonist: He wants to warn the rest of the Covenant about the dangers of the Halos and the Prophets' lies. Unfortunately the Arbiter sees him only as a heretic who must be vanquished and only realizes the truth himself when the Prophets' betrayal occurs and Tartarus sends him down a shaft to what would have been his death were it not for the Gravemind. |
| 250 | * HeroWorshipper: The terminals reveal that he had great respect and admiration for Thel 'Vadam and believed that if he brought him the evidence Guilty Spark had shown him that Thel would join him and be able to convince the rest of the Sangheili. However, Sesa then realizes that if Thel had survived the destruction of Alpha Halo he would be either executed or made Arbiter by the Hierarchs and would not listen to reason about his discovery in his quest for "redemption", thus explaining why he did not try harder to convert him during their confrontation. |
| 251 | * HonorBeforeReason: Averted. You spend most of the first two levels as the Arbiter trying to chase him down and he only stops to fight when he's literally cornered before he can take off in a ship away from the facility. The importance of delivering the truth about the Halos obviously overshadowed honor in importance. |
| 252 | * NiceJobBreakingItHero: During his confrontation with the Arbiter, he attacks instead of giving him a little longer to absorb what he's ''really'' saying. The terminals added in ''Anniversary'' reveal that he considered doing this, but figured that trying to win the Arbiter over to his side would be a lost cause since being made Arbiter would have made him especially zealous, considering how Arbiters are expected to martyr themselves for the Covenant religion. |
| 253 | * RankScalesWithAsskicking: A far more dangerous warrior than his subordinates. In-game, his stats are comparable to any other Elite Major, but he has the advantages of dual plasma rifles, a jetpack, two hardlight hologram clones, and on higher difficulties he has multiple phases. |
| 254 | * RebelLeader: Of the heretics. |
| 255 | * SequentialBoss: On Heroic difficulty, you have to deplete his shields and health twice to beat him, as the first time his health reaches zero he'll turn invincible and fly into an airvent to regenerate. On Legendary difficulty, you have to zero him 4 times to kill him. |
| 256 | [[/folder]] |
| 257 | |
| 258 | |
| 259 | !!Sedran Colonial Guard |
| 260 | |
| 261 | [[folder:In General]] |
| 262 | !!'''Sedran Colonial Guard''' |
| 263 | [[quoteright:326:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/73f27608156853ef350c14d688ac7f13.jpg]] |
| 264 | |
| 265 | The primary defense force of the relatively autonomous outer colony of Sedra, the Sedran Colonial Guard maintains a vague semblance of order among its world's scattered population centers. Due to Sedra being completely ignored by the Covenant during the war, the Guard has being able to afford relatively good equipment compared to other colonial paramilitaries, though its gear is still woefully outdated by the standards of the UNSC Armed Forces. Nevertheless, its members are well-motivated and consider themselves tenacious and determined fighters, due to Sedra being on the border between UNSC, ex-Covenant, and Insurrectionist space. |
| 266 | ---- |
| 267 | * BreakOutTheMuseumPiece: Some of the Guard's equipment, like their pistols, are apparently up to ''200'' years out of date, though some of their other gear is more up-to-date. |
| 268 | * TheGuardsMustBeCrazy: While Sedra's relatively lax border security is explicitly explained in the "Second Stories" as being a result of being woefully understaffed, there doesn't seem to be a reason (other than possibly JurisdictionFriction) why the Guard wasn't around to help ONI prevent a Zealot from unleashing a bioweapon on Sedra City. |
| 269 | * HomeGuard: They're a tad more organized than the usual examples, but the Guard is basically a glorified militia compared to actual UNSC regulars. |
| 270 | * JurisdictionFriction: Like the population of Sedra in general, the Guard has very little fondness for the UNSC/UEG, which vastly complicates any joint operations with UNSC forces they have to undertake. |
| 271 | * NuclearOption: Despite being a paramilitary, the Guard's armory includes four HAVOK nukes, though only because the UNSC is basically using it as emergency storage space. |
| 272 | [[/folder]] |
| 273 | |
| 274 | [[folder:Talitha Macer]] |
| 275 | !!'''Private First Class Talitha Macer''' |
| 276 | [[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/talitha.jpg]] |
| 277 | ->'''Homeworld: Sedra'''\ |
| 278 | '''Birthdate: 2537'''\ |
| 279 | '''Debuted in: ''Film/HaloNightfall'''''\ |
| 280 | '''Portrayed by: Creator/ChristinaChong''' |
| 281 | |
| 282 | Serving largely as a pilot, Macer has already been involved in multiple operations against criminals and pirates despite her youth, having been part of the Colonial Guard ever since she enrolled in its youth wing at age thirteen. |
| 283 | ---- |
| 284 | * AcePilot: Noted among the Guard for her piloting talents; at one point, [[spoiler:she's able to fly a damaged Condor and crash-land it close to its intended destination.]] |
| 285 | * ActionGirl: Has already seen a fair deal of action despite only being nineteen at the time of ''Film/HaloNightfall''. |
| 286 | * DisappearedDad: Her father died when she was nine. |
| 287 | * FormerTeenRebel: After the death of her father, Macer was raised in a rough neighborhood, acquiring enough run-ins with the police to land herself in a correctional facility. Her time there gave her a new perspective and purpose, and she decided to enlist in the Guard to honor her father. |
| 288 | * FireForgedFriends: Though she's far less hostile to Locke's team than her teammates are, it takes a while for her to actually trust Locke himself. |
| 289 | * GuyInBack: Is this for the main Condor pilot during the Alpha Shard mission, [[spoiler:until circumstances eventually force her to take the controls herself]]. |
| 290 | * HiddenDepths: Despite her Sedran pride, it's implied that the Colonial Guard is too small for her military ambitions, hence why she directly involves herself in ONI's own investigation of the bioweapon attack on Sedra City. |
| 291 | * MilitaryBrat: Her father was also a member of the Colonial Guard, and ended up dying during a sting operation. |
| 292 | * TheSmartGuy: Having studied physics and aeronautics from a young age, Macer is by far the most scientifically-inclined out of ''Nightfall'''s entire cast, having been the one who figured out how the human-killing element on the Alpha Shard was formed to begin with. |
| 293 | * SoleSurvivor: [[spoiler:The only Sedran to survive the Alpha Shard mission.]] |
| 294 | * UndyingLoyalty: Her readiness to risk her life for her comrades, even those she doesn’t know well, is why [[spoiler:Locke himself]] is still alive. |
| 295 | [[/folder]] |
| 296 | |
| 297 | [[folder:Samantha Wisner]] |
| 298 | !!'''Sergeant Samantha Wisner''' |
| 299 | [[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/wisner.jpg]] |
| 300 | ->'''Homeworld: Sedra'''\ |
| 301 | '''Birthdate: 2536'''\ |
| 302 | '''Debuted in: ''Film/HaloNightfall'''''\ |
| 303 | '''Portrayed by: Jennie Gruner''' |
| 304 | |
| 305 | The only child of two financial analysts, Wisner signed up a short contract with the Colonial Guard to get away from her parents’ influence and see more of Sedra, but has no intent for a full military or law enforcement career. |
| 306 | ---- |
| 307 | * AllThereInTheManual: Most of her characterization comes from the [[Film/HaloNightfall Second Stories]] and her official profile on Halo Waypoint. |
| 308 | * EatenAlive: [[spoiler:By a swarm of Hunter worms.]] |
| 309 | * ImprobableAge: Though the Guard ''is'' a militia, the fact that she's a sergeant at age 19-20 is still rather glaring, given that Macer is roughly her age and still a private. |
| 310 | * InformedAbility: Is apparently an excellent shot. To be fair, [[spoiler:good aim with a rifle isn't much use against nigh-indestructible Lekgolo gestalts]]. |
| 311 | * MauveShirt: The only member of the main Sedran squad in ''Nightfall'' other than Randall and Macer to get any sort of characterization, most of it in the Second Stories. [[spoiler:It keeps her from becoming a RedShirt like most of the Sedrans when the Thanolekgolo first attack, but she still ends up dying later.]] |
| 312 | * ParentalIssues: The specifics aren't given, but Wisner first joined the Colonial Guard to get away from her parents. |
| 313 | * TeethClenchedTeamwork: The Second Story "Soldier Within" makes it clear that Wisner has no love for either Locke's team or the UNSC as a whole. |
| 314 | * VasquezAlwaysDies: [[spoiler:Played with; she's less superficially feminine compared to Macer, but their backstories, if anything, invert this trope.]] |
| 315 | [[/folder]] |
| 316 | |
| 317 | [[folder:Randall Aiken]] |
| 318 | !!'''Colonel Randall Aiken''' |
| 319 | |
| 320 | See "Randall-037" on the Characters/HaloSpartanIIProgram page for more details. |
| 321 | [[/folder]] |
| 322 | |
| 323 | !!The Insurrection |
| 324 | |
| 325 | [[folder:In General]] |
| 326 | !!'''Insurrectionists''' |
| 327 | [[quoteright:272:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/RebelFistHalo_2875.png]] |
| 328 | |
| 329 | Prior to the war with the Covenant, the Unified Earth Government suffered from widespread rebellion many of the Outer colonies, who believed they should be allowed to secede from the UEG's alleged oppressiveness. These "[[IronicNickname Innies]]" soon turned to terrorist tactics, and would have started a disasterous civil war had not the Covenant attacked. Since many of the planets they were based in were glassed, the various Innie factions have been scattered and disorganized, with some aiding in the war against the Covenant, some simply wishing to stay out of it, and a few even continuing their fight against the UNSC. Following the end of the war, many Insurrectionist groups are rearming and even making alliances with former Covenant members, preparing for another bid for freedom. |
| 330 | ---- |
| 331 | * BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor: The Innies spent decades trying to kick the UNSC and UEG off their planets through politics, terrorist attacks, and even full-on armed uprisings. They got their wish after the Covenant invaded, and the UNSC was forced to redeploy their dwindling forces to protect the more populous Inner Colony worlds, leaving the unprotected Outer Colonies to the mercy of the aliens. |
| 332 | * DefectorFromDecadence: Many of the most dangerous Insurrectionists are former UNSC personnel, many of whom were highly decorated for their service against the Covenant, but had trouble pointing the gun at their fellow humans (the irony of them having ended up fighting humans anyways seems lost on them, though). |
| 333 | * EnemyMine: Despite their continuing differences, various rebel groups did team up a number of times with the UNSC during the Human-Covenant War, such as [[spoiler:during the battles at the Rubble and Psi Serpentis]]. |
| 334 | * IronicNickname: Insurrectionists were called "Innies" by the UNSC, despite desperately wanting "out" of the UNSC. |
| 335 | * LesCollaborateurs: Early in the war, some Insurrectionist groups actually attempted to actively ''cooperate'' with the Covenant in the hopes that it would free them from UNSC rule. This largely stopped after even the most hardcore Insurrectionists realized that the Covenant wanted to kill ''[[KillAllHumans all]]'' humans, but some groups were still attempting to undermine the UNSC even late into the war. |
| 336 | * HazyFeelTurn: A number of Insurrectionists returned to the UNSC fold during the Covenant War, not necessarily because their opinion of Earth had improved all that much, but because they realized the UNSC was their best bet against total extinction. |
| 337 | * HufflepuffHouse: Despite controlling entire worlds and waging an interstellar space war against the UNSC prior to (and after) the arrival of the Covenant, the Insurrectionists have almost no presence in the games and mostly show up as BitPartBadGuys in the expanded universe. While they are mentioned in more recent games, they only make a (non-canonical) physical appearance in ''Halo Wars'' multiplayer. |
| 338 | * MistreatmentInducedBetrayal: Post Covenant War, many surviving Insurrectionists claim their continued hostility towards the UNSC and UEG is due to being "abandoned" by Earth as the Covenant advanced into the Inner Colonies, leaving the Outer Colonies that weren't glassed unprotected and isolated. |
| 339 | * NeutralsCrittersAndCreeps: On some ''VideoGame/HaloWars'' multiplayer maps, there are AI-controlled rebel camps hostile to both UNSC and Covenant players. |
| 340 | * NeverMyFault: Very few characters associated with the Insurrection, if any, have ever acknowledged the culpability of their own extremists in instigating the near-civil war. |
| 341 | * NiceJobFixingItVillain: Eric Nylund has gone on record as saying that the Insurrection conflict was in retrospect fortunate for the UNSC. As the Insurrection became more extreme, the UNSC was forced to escalate in kind, most notably with the creation of the [[SuperSoldier Spartans]]. The arms race resulted in a UNSC military much stronger than it would have been otherwise, and that strength was necessary (though still almost insufficient) to holding back the Covenant. |
| 342 | * PetTheDog: A number of Insurrectionists did actually do their part to save people from the Covenant advance; for example, those on Madrigal managed to evacuate a lot of civilians prior to the planet's glassing. |
| 343 | * TheRevolutionWillNotBeCivilized: There was a lot of sympathy even in the Inner Colonies for the planets that wanted autonomy from Earth and the UNSC, but extremists eventually started employing terrorist tactics (including but not limited to killing schoolchildren and nuking civilians), destroying much of their standing among potential sympathizers. |
| 344 | * SelfServingMemory: Many Innies like to complain about how Earth and the UNSC abandoned them to the Covenant during the war, conveniently forgetting the Insurrectionists spent years attacking UEG/CMA/UNSC representatives before the Covenant showed up, and that thousands of UNSC personel died trying to save Outer Colonies like Harvest, Bliss, and Biko during the early years of the war. |
| 345 | * VillainHasAPoint: The Insurrectionists may have a lot of innocent blood on their hands, but they do make some valid points about the severe mismanagement of several colonies and the increasing authoritarianism of the UNSC. |
| 346 | * VillainTeamUp: Post-war, a number of Insurrectionist groups have allied with various post-Covenant groups against the UNSC, despite generally [[TeethClenchedTeamwork not sharing much in common with them in terms of ideology]]. |
| 347 | * TheWarOfEarthlyAggression: Operation: TREBUCHET was a decades-long counterinsurgency operation launched by the UNSC military against the Innies across human space, which only ended with the arrival of the Covenant in 2525. Post-War, the surviving Insurrectionists are wary that the UNSC will try it again once they've rebuilt their military, and are re-arming themselves in preparation for a full-scale armed seccession from Earth. |
| 348 | * YourTerroristsAreOurFreedomFighters: Even among colonists who sympathize with their goals, opinion on the Insurrection is sharply divided. |
| 349 | [[/folder]] |
| 350 | |
| 351 | [[folder:Robert Watts]] |
| 352 | !!'''Colonel Robert Watts''' |
| 353 | [[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/watts.jpg]] |
| 354 | ->'''Homeworld: Mars'''\ |
| 355 | '''Birthdate: August 16, 2455'''\ |
| 356 | '''Debuted in: ''Literature/HaloTheFallOfReach'''''\ |
| 357 | '''Voiced by: Ethan Sawyer''' |
| 358 | |
| 359 | A former Marine who led a major rebellion in the Eridanus system, eventually becoming one of the founders of the United Rebel Front. |
| 360 | ---- |
| 361 | * ColonelBadass: Watt's abilities were already highly regarded before his defection, and after he left the UNSC, it didn't take long for him to successfully lead an Insurrectionist takeover of Eridanus II, necessitating a major UNSC operation to retake the planet. Even after the Eridanus rebels were driven offworld, they remained a thorn in the side of the UNSC all the way up until the onset of the Covenant War. |
| 362 | * DangerousDeserter: Though in a WellIntentionedExtremist kind of way. |
| 363 | * FallenHero: Was once a true believer in the ideals of the UEG, and a decorated and well-respected commander within the UNSC before his increasing disillusionment towards Earth's policies caused him to defect. |
| 364 | * FatalFlaw: His love of imported luxury goods is what allows the Spartan-[=IIs=] to locate and capture him. |
| 365 | * PetTheDog: The comic book adaptation of ''Literature/HaloTheFallOfReach'' opens with him getting one last view of Eridanus, then enforcing NoOneGetsLeftBehind with his men. |
| 366 | * RebelLeader: The most prominent Innie leader of the Insurrection's first few decades. |
| 367 | * RedBaron: Known as "that bastard" by most UNSC personnel during the early Insurrection. |
| 368 | * SpacePirate: Shown engaging in some of this to supply his forces. |
| 369 | * StarterVillain: The SPARTAN-[=IIs=]' first mission is to capture him. |
| 370 | [[/folder]] |
| 371 | |
| 372 | [[folder:Jacob Jiles]] |
| 373 | !!'''Governor Jacob Jiles''' |
| 374 | ->'''Homeworld: Unknown'''\ |
| 375 | '''Birthdate: Unknown'''\ |
| 376 | '''Debuted in: ''Literature/HaloFirstStrike''''' |
| 377 | |
| 378 | The United Rebel Front leader in charge of the Insurrectionists at the Eridanus Secundus base after Watts's capture. |
| 379 | ---- |
| 380 | * AlliterativeName |
| 381 | * BeardOfEvil: A slippery and shady SpacePirate who sports a 10-cm long pointed beard. |
| 382 | * EnemyMine: With the Reach/Halo survivors against the Covenant, [[spoiler:though he and his fellow rebels are left to their doom when it's clear that they can't win]]. |
| 383 | * KilledOffscreen: [[spoiler:The fate of Jiles and his people after their temporary UNSC allies abandon them is not directly shown, but it's implied that the Covenant left no survivors.]] |
| 384 | * PragmaticVillainy: When the UNSC ''Gettysburg-Ascendant Justice'', whose crew had just forced Eridanus Secundus's people to help them on pain of plasma bombardment, is dead in the water after a fight with a Covenant cruiser, Jiles nonetheless decides to help with repairs, because he realizes his people will need their help when Covenant reinforcements arrive. |
| 385 | * SketchySuccessor: Played with. Watts was a brilliant military leader who founded perhaps the formidable of the Insurrection's many factions, while Jiles is a shady civilian content with small raids who leads only a small URF contingent. Nonetheless, Jiles seems to have been an effective leader in his own right, having kept his people alive through almost the entirety of the Human-Covenant War. |
| 386 | * SmugSnake: When he first encounters the Reach/Halo survivors, he greets them with a smiling, mocking, and cocksure arrogance... which goes away the instance they reveal their ship has a working plasma turret aimed at his base. |
| 387 | * SmugSmiler: In his interactions with the UNSC, he usually shows a smile that straddles the line between cordial and mocking. |
| 388 | * WickedCultured: A pirate and black-marketeer with a sardonic sense of humor, pretensions of suaveness (including a fondness for elegant bows), and an apparent taste for fine food and high-class alcohol. |
| 389 | [[/folder]] |
| 390 | |
| 391 | [[folder:Ignatio Delgado]] |
| 392 | !!'''Ignatio Delgado''' |
| 393 | ->'''Homeworld: Madrigal (Nueva Lima)'''\ |
| 394 | '''Birthdate: c. 2514'''\ |
| 395 | '''Debuted in: ''Literature/HaloTheColeProtocol''''' |
| 396 | |
| 397 | A shipper who resides in the Rubble, Ignatio was evacuated from Madrigal by Insurrectionists as a child when the Covenant glassed the planet. While sympathizing with the Innies, he is not technically one himself. He deeply mistrusts the Rubble's supposed Jackal allies, which is why he accepted being chosen by the Rubble's council to protect the last of their navigation data from the Jackals. |
| 398 | ---- |
| 399 | * AcePilot: Thanks to his years of experience navigating through the Rubble. |
| 400 | * ActionSurvivor: Not a professional soldier, but is more than able to keep his head under fire. |
| 401 | * AffectionateNickname: "Nacho", which only Maria calls him. |
| 402 | * ChildhoodFriends: Grew up with Maria back on Madrigal. |
| 403 | * DeadpanSnarker |
| 404 | * DoomedHometown: Madrigal. |
| 405 | * FireForgedFriends: [[spoiler:Develops some respect for the UNSC while working alongside their forces against the Covenant.]] |
| 406 | * ICallItVera: ''Señora Sies'', a modified [=M6=] pistol with an oak wood stock with carvings on it. |
| 407 | * NeutralNoLonger: [[spoiler:After helping to prevent the Rubble from falling into Covenant hands, he decides to sign up with the UNSC Navy to order to "shoot down some Covenant ships".]] |
| 408 | * TragicKeepsake: ''Señora Sies'' was made by a beloved uncle who was killed on Madrigal. |
| 409 | [[/folder]] |
| 410 | |
| 411 | [[folder:Diego Esquival]] |
| 412 | !!'''Diego Esquival''' |
| 413 | ->'''Homeworld: Madrigal'''\ |
| 414 | '''Birthdate: Unknown'''\ |
| 415 | '''Debuted in: ''Literature/HaloTheColeProtocol''''' |
| 416 | |
| 417 | A member of the Rubble Security Council, Diego is a retired Insurrectionist who used to plant bombs on spaceships. When Madrigal was glassed by the Covenant, he helped rescue its inhabitants, including his sister Maria and her friend Ignatio Delgado. |
| 418 | ---- |
| 419 | * DemolitionsExpert: His main job in the Insurrection was creating and planting bombs on spacecraft. |
| 420 | * DoomedHometown: Madrigal. |
| 421 | * TheMentor: To Ignatio. |
| 422 | * MentorOccupationalHazard: [[spoiler:Is killed while trying to stop Bonifacio from taking the navigation data.]] |
| 423 | * PromotionToParent: Raised both Maria and Ignatio after the fall of Madrigal. |
| 424 | * ReasonableAuthorityFigure: When Delgado tells him his suspicions that someone on the Security Council is leaking the location of the data to the Jackals, Diego gives him the information needed to investigate whether those suspicions are true, including the name of the council member mostly likely to be the mole. |
| 425 | * OffstageVillainy: Before the war, Diego was a notorious smuggler and, according to Ignacio, planted bombs on passenger ships as part of his YourTerroristsAreOurFreedomFighters activities. During the book, though, all of that is long behind him and he's a ReasonableAuthorityFigure. |
| 426 | * RetiredOutlaw: Was also a smuggler and pirate during his Insurrectionist days, but is now primarily interested in simply keeping the people of the Rubble safe. |
| 427 | * WastelandElder: Diego is a particularly young version and is the founder and resident ReasonableAuthorityFigure of a group of thousands of WarRefugees forming a new community inside hollow asteroids in alien territory during the Human-Covenant war. |
| 428 | [[/folder]] |
| 429 | |
| 430 | [[folder:Maria Esquival]] |
| 431 | !!'''Maria Esquival''' |
| 432 | ->'''Homeworld: Madrigal (Nueva Lima)'''\ |
| 433 | '''Birthdate: c. 2514'''\ |
| 434 | '''Debuted in: ''Literature/HaloTheColeProtocol''''' |
| 435 | |
| 436 | A sister of Diego Esquival who moved to the Rubble after Madrigal was glassed. Though not officially an Insurrectionist, she shares some of her brother's anti-UNSC views. |
| 437 | ---- |
| 438 | * ChildhoodFriends: Grew up with Delgado back on Madrigal. |
| 439 | * DoomedHometown: Madrigal. |
| 440 | * {{Jerkass}}: Not normally, but when she is dealing with the captured UNSC personnel she is extremely rude and condescending to them. |
| 441 | * UnexpectedSuccessor: [[spoiler:Takes her brother's place on the Security Council after his death.]] |
| 442 | [[/folder]] |
| 443 | |
| 444 | [[folder:Peter Bonifacio]] |
| 445 | !!'''Peter Bonifacio''' |
| 446 | ->'''Homeworld: Unknown'''\ |
| 447 | '''Birthdate: Unknown'''\ |
| 448 | '''Debuted in: ''Literature/HaloTheColeProtocol''''' |
| 449 | |
| 450 | A Insurrectionist smuggler who bought his way onto the Rubble Security Council, Bonifacio is working with the Jackals to get them the navigation data to Earth, hoping to buy his way into the Covenant by allowing them to destroy Earth. |
| 451 | ---- |
| 452 | * {{Jerkass}}: A selfish bastard who's more than willing to sacrifice billions of people solely for his own benefit. Also, [[MurderArsonAndJaywalking he never pays his people on time]]. |
| 453 | * TheMole: Has been actively leaking information from the Rubble Security Council. |
| 454 | * OnlyInItForTheMoney: It's implied that making money from smuggling was his primary motivation for joining the Insurrection. |
| 455 | * RewardedAsATraitorDeserves: [[spoiler:Gets left to die when he fails to get the navigation data to Reth, and his escape pod is later destroyed by a Covenant ship.]] |
| 456 | * SleazyPolitician: More then willing to use bribes and murder to get his way in politics. |
| 457 | * SmugSnake |
| 458 | [[/folder]] |
| 459 | |
| 460 | [[folder:Juliana]] |
| 461 | !!'''Juliana''' |
| 462 | ->'''Creation date: Unknown'''\ |
| 463 | '''Debuted in: ''Literature/HaloTheColeProtocol''''' |
| 464 | |
| 465 | A "Smart" AI used by the inhabitants of the Rubble, Juliana has gone [[AIIsACrapshoot rampant]], but maintains her loyalty to humanity. |
| 466 | ---- |
| 467 | * AGodAmI: A relatively benevolent variation of this. |
| 468 | * AIIsACrapshoot: Played with; she's definitely a little off her rocker, but her loyalty to the people of Rubble helps her rampancy in check. |
| 469 | * DeadpanSnarker |
| 470 | * HeroicSacrifice: [[spoiler:Crashes The Rubble into the Kig-Yar base on Metisette so that the citizens can escape on Habitat Exodus.]] |
| 471 | * ScrewTheRulesImDoingWhatsRight: [[spoiler:Goes against the orders of the council by aiding UNSC forces against the Covenant.]] |
| 472 | [[/folder]] |
| 473 | |
| 474 | [[folder:Lyrenne Castilla]] |
| 475 | !!'''Captain Lyrenne "Lyra" Castilla''' |
| 476 | ->'''Homeworld: Unknown'''\ |
| 477 | '''Birthdate: Unknown'''\ |
| 478 | '''Debuted in: ''[[Literature/HaloEvolutions The Impossible Life and the Possible Death of Preston J. Cole]]''''' |
| 479 | |
| 480 | A high-ranking Insurrectionist who captained the ''Bellicose'' and took a particular interest in then-Captain Preston J. Cole. |
| 481 | ---- |
| 482 | * ActionGirl: A high-ranking Insurrectionist and one of the few who ever proved herself a match for Admiral Preston J. Cole. |
| 483 | * TheCavalry: [[spoiler:At the Battle of Psi Serpentis, her Insurrectionist fleet shows up in the nick of time to allow the remaining UNSC ships to fully disengage while Admiral Cole enacts the final part of his plan.]] |
| 484 | * TheCaptain: Of the ''Bellicose''. |
| 485 | * DatingCatwoman: [[spoiler:When she's undercover, she quickly hits it off with Cole, despite the fact that she knows he's the captain of a ship that's already fought hers thrice; they become married and even have a child together, though they are forced to separate after her true identity is discovered.]] |
| 486 | * FakingTheDead: [[spoiler:She was believed to have been killed by UNSC Battle Group Tango until she showed up nearly four decades later to reinforce Cole's fleet.]] |
| 487 | * RetiredBadass: [[spoiler:Seems to have settled somewhere outside of UNSC and Covenant space alongside Cole.]] |
| 488 | * TheSmartGirl: Not just in tactics, given she ran rings around the UNSC and proved herself a tactical equal of Cole, [[spoiler:but there's heavy evidence to suggest that in order to escape her supposed death in the gravity well of a gas giant, she pulled off the first-ever human in-atmosphere slipspace jump, a feat at that time even most Smart AI believed to be suicidal.]] |
| 489 | * WorthyOpponent: Feels this way about Cole. The feeling is mutual. |
| 490 | [[/folder]] |
| 491 | |
| 492 | [[folder:Staffan Sentzke]] |
| 493 | !!'''Staffan Sentzke''' |
| 494 | ->'''Homeworld: Sansar'''\ |
| 495 | '''Birthdate: Unknown'''\ |
| 496 | '''Debuted in: ''Literature/HaloTheThursdayWar''''' |
| 497 | |
| 498 | One of the largest arms dealers on the Insurrectionist haven of Venezia, Staffan was once a humble factory worker, having turned against the UNSC when he (correctly) suspected them of having kidnapped his daughter Naomi and replaced her with a flash clone. |
| 499 | ---- |
| 500 | * AntiVillain: One of the few true examples in the franchise so far. |
| 501 | * ArmsDealer: A relatively sympathetic depiction of one. |
| 502 | * CassandraTruth: Outside of his old associate Andrew Remo, no one else outside of the UNSC believes his stoy about what happened to Naomi, not even his first wife or his second family. |
| 503 | * ColdBloodedTorture: [[spoiler:Does this to Maz and Val when he suspects them to not be actual deserters.]] |
| 504 | * ConspiracyTheorist: Albeit one that happens to be right, especially after he finds other parents who lost their children under similarly murky circumstances. |
| 505 | * CrusadingWidower: His first wife (and Naomi's mother) Lena, having believed her daughter to have died from a hereditary genetic disorder, ended up sterilizing herself before committing suicide out of grief. |
| 506 | * DotingGrandparent: Enjoys spoiling his granddaughter Kerstin, doing things like carving a dollhouse for her. |
| 507 | * DrivenToVillainy: If not for Naomi's kidnapping and his first wife's subsequent suicide, he likely would have never joined the Insurrection. |
| 508 | * FakingTheDead: [[spoiler:When Chon Vol self-destructs the ''Pious Inquisitor'', he and Sometimes Sinks pretend to be caught up in the explosion. BB and Vaz each separately find out about the ruse, but decide to keep it secret, as much out of sympathy for Staffan's circumstances as for him retiring his vendetta against Earth.]] |
| 509 | * FamilyValuesVillain: Tries his best to maintain a decent life with his second family, despite living under the shadow of his first. |
| 510 | * FromNobodyToNightmare: From simply factory worker to Insurrectionist arms dealer. |
| 511 | * GoodParents: |
| 512 | ** Was definitely this to Naomi, and, to his credit, he did his best to be the same for her flash clone even after figuring out that she wasn't the "true" Naomi. |
| 513 | ** He also tries to be this to his next two children, but while he's close to his son Edvin, Naomi's memory makes it difficult for him to get close to his daughter Hedda. |
| 514 | * GracefulLoser: [[spoiler:Accepts Naomi's decision to stay with the UNSC, and agrees to retire his plot against Earth, being satisfied that he at least got to see his daughter one last time.]] |
| 515 | * HiddenDepths: Still enjoys doing machine shop work, despite his current occupation. |
| 516 | * KnightTemplarParent: For Naomi, to the point where he not only joins the Insurrection, but even eventually plans to attack Earth with a CCS battlecruiser in order to get answers, ''decades'' after her initial disappearance. |
| 517 | * OddFriendship: Develops one with Sometimes Sinks. |
| 518 | * ParentsAsPeople: He tries to be a good father to his second daughter Hedda, but has trouble because he never moved past the apparent death of his first daughter Naomi. |
| 519 | * PetTheDog: When he saw how worked up Sometimes Sinks was getting when Sav Fel wanted to test the ''Pious Inquisitor'''s glassing beam on a Forerunner ruin, he insisted they switch to another target. This quickly earned him Sinks' UndyingLoyalty. |
| 520 | * ProperlyParanoid: His insistence that his daughter was an imposter would be a textbook case of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capgras_delusion Capgras delusion]]... if it weren't for the fact that he's ''right''. |
| 521 | * RevengeBeforeReason: Even his own son points out that he should abandon the aforementioned plan and just hand the ship to the Venezian militia. |
| 522 | * SecondLove: Eventually has a second family after moving to Venezia, though [[TheLostLenore he never gets over the loss of his first]]. |
| 523 | * VillainousBSOD: When he finally [[spoiler:reunites with his daughter Naomi aboard the ''Port Stanley'', all he can do is hold her hands and say "I'm sorry" over and over again.]] |
| 524 | [[/folder]] |
| 525 | |
| 526 | [[folder:Ilsa Zane]] |
| 527 | !!'''Ilsa Zane''' |
| 528 | [[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/341bb6afdf35bf9c2cbca5c274d2be10.png]] |
| 529 | ->'''Homeworld: Unknown'''\ |
| 530 | '''Birthdate: Unknown'''\ |
| 531 | '''Debuted in: ''ComicBook/HaloInitiation'''''\ |
| 532 | '''Voiced by: Creator/TamaraTaylor''' |
| 533 | |
| 534 | A New Colonial Alliance agent who in 2553 was tasked with hijacking the UNSC ''Infinity'' before the UNSC could launch it, Zane was originally one of ten candidates selected for the first phase of the SPARTAN-IV program, with the intent of producing unarmored soldiers that were capable of producing the same feats as a fully armored Spartan-II. She was the only survivor, and went insane from the augmentations, eventually defecting to the New Colonial Alliance. |
| 535 | ---- |
| 536 | * ActionGirl |
| 537 | * BadBoss: Is this to the Insurrectionists under her command, killing any who can't pull their weight. |
| 538 | * BatmanCanBreatheInSpace: [[spoiler:Survives being spaced long enough get rescued by a Prowler.]] |
| 539 | * EvilCounterpart: To Sarah Palmer, due to their shared background in the SPARTAN-IV program, with Zane being the prototype, and Palmer being part of its inaugural class. |
| 540 | * JanitorImpersonationInfiltration: Her and her team infiltrate the ''Infinity'' by disguising themselves as construction workers. |
| 541 | * SoleSurvivor: Was the only one of ten candidates to survive the experimental procedures for the S-[=IVs=]. |
| 542 | * PsychoPrototype: As Maya Sankar puts it, "Ilsa Zane was a walking science experiment gone wrong." |
| 543 | * SuperPrototype: Is this to the Spartan-[=IVs=], being capable of fighting hand-to-hand against a fully armored Palmer while wearing no armor herself. |
| 544 | * WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity: The procedures made her crazy. |
| 545 | [[/folder]] |
| 546 | |
| 547 | [[folder:Daniel Clayton]] |
| 548 | !!'''Captain Daniel Clayton''' |
| 549 | [[quoteright:217:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/52910a8c6cbd0ba03438f4d00101dd00.png]] |
| 550 | ->'''Homeworld: Tribute'''\ |
| 551 | '''Birthdate: c. 2526'''\ |
| 552 | '''Debuted in: ''ComicBook/HaloEscalation''''' |
| 553 | |
| 554 | A captain in the UNSC Navy serving under the UNSC's ambassador to Sanghelios, Clayton is actually a mole for the New Colonial Alliance, having joined to seek vengeance on Lord Hood. |
| 555 | ---- |
| 556 | * BastardBastard: [[spoiler:Is the illegitimate son of Captain James Cutter.]] |
| 557 | * DefiantToTheEnd: [[spoiler:Even when he's about to be hauled off to Midnight Facility, he vows that he will meet Hood again the day the UNSC falls.]] |
| 558 | * DesperatelyLookingForAPurposeInLife: Implied to be how the NCA was able to recruit him. |
| 559 | * TheMole: For the New Colonial Alliance. |
| 560 | * {{Nepotism}}: [[spoiler:His main motivation for defecting from the UNSC seems to be his feeling that his entire career was based on Hood greasing the wheels to make up for not being able to save his father.]] |
| 561 | * RevengeBeforeReason: Just look at the above spoilers. Additionally, [[spoiler:he's even willing to blow his cover just for a chance to kill Hood personally.]] |
| 562 | * SlasherSmile: Gets a pretty freaky one just before [[spoiler:firing a glassing cannon at Hood and the ''Infinity'']]. |
| 563 | * YouHaveNoIdeaWhoYoureDealingWith: [[spoiler:Tries to use this to make Palmer and Majestic stand down, despite him and his cronies being in absolutely no state to fight back. The result?]] |
| 564 | -->'''Clayton:''' [[spoiler:Spartan, you will stand down! Don't you know who I am?!]]\ |
| 565 | '''Madsen:''' [[spoiler:Yeah, I know who you are. *Smacks Clayton unconscious with the butt of his rifle.* You're the '''traitor''' that got my friend Paul [=DeMarco=] killed.]] |
| 566 | [[/folder]] |
| 567 | |
| 568 | [[folder:Mattius Drake]] |
| 569 | !!'''Admiral Mattius Drake''' |
| 570 | ->'''Homeworld: Unknown'''\ |
| 571 | '''Birthdate: Unknown'''\ |
| 572 | '''Debuted in: ''ComicBook/HaloInitiation'' (Mentioned only)''' |
| 573 | |
| 574 | A former Admiral of the UNSC Navy who turns out to be the leader of the New Colonial Alliance. His true allegiance was discovered when the survivors of an attempt at [[GrandTheftPrototype stealing the UNSC]] ''[[CoolStarship Infinity]]'' were interrogated. |
| 575 | ---- |
| 576 | * RebelLeader: Managed to be this and TheMole at the same time. |
| 577 | * TheGhost: Has yet to appear directly in any media. |
| 578 | * TheMole: Even after founding the New Colonial Alliance, he remained a high-ranking Admiral in the UNSC Navy until his cover was finally blown. |
| 579 | [[/folder]] |
| 580 | |
| 581 | [[folder:Whitaker]] |
| 582 | !!'''Captain Whitaker''' |
| 583 | [[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/image_2282.png]] |
| 584 | ->'''Homeworld: Alpha Corvi II'''\ |
| 585 | '''Birthdate: Unknown'''\ |
| 586 | '''Debuted in: ''ComicBook/HaloCollateralDamage''''' |
| 587 | |
| 588 | The leader of a United Rebel Front-alligned Insurrectionist cell on Alpha Corvi II. When his planet became one of the first to be attacked by the Covenant, he finds himself working alongside Blue Team to fight them off. |
| 589 | ---- |
| 590 | * AFatherToHisMen: Puts the wellbeing of his fellow Insurrectionists above all, which is a major reason he agrees to work with Blue Team. |
| 591 | * ReasonableAuthorityFigure: Despite being an Insurrectionist, he fully realises that the Covenant present the bigger threat, and agrees to work with the UNSC to fight them. |
| 592 | * SenselessSacrifice: [[spoiler:When the UNSC evacuates the planet, they are given orders to ignore Whitaker and his Insurrectionists in spite of everything they did with putting aside their differences to help Blue Team accomplish their mission, making their sacrifices AllForNothing]]. |
| 593 | [[/folder]] |
| 594 | |
| 595 | [[folder:Michael Crespo]] |
| 596 | !!'''Michael "Mickey" Crespo''' |
| 597 | |
| 598 | See the Characters/HaloUNSCMarinesAndODST page for more details. |
| 599 | [[/folder]] |
| 600 | |
| 601 | !!The Ussans |
| 602 | |
| 603 | [[folder:In General]] |
| 604 | !!'''Ussans''' |
| 605 | |
| 606 | During the formation of the Covenant, a number of Sangheili objected to subordinating themselves to the Prophets. Several of these dissenters, under the leadership of ''kaidon'' Ussa 'Xellus, would exile themselves to Forerunner Shield World 0673 "The Refuge", waiting for an opportune moment to retake Sanghelios from the Covenant. |
| 607 | ---- |
| 608 | * ApocalypseHow: [[spoiler:After monitor Enduring Bias gets taken out of commission by a comet, conditions gradually deteriorate on the Refuge's various fragments as their machinery steadily breaks down over the course of 3000+ years, with complete societal collapse becoming imminent by 2552. However, apocalypse is just averted when Enduring Bias is finally repaired and begins to fix all the broken machinery, while also reassembling the Refuge’s fragments into a more livable and maintenance-friendly ringworld.]] |
| 609 | * BloodSport: Floatfighting, which revolves around close-quarters combat in a zero-gravity section of the Refuge. Several measures are taken to prevent competitors from actually dying, since floatfighting was instituted to allow the Ussans to retain their warrior culture without completely killing each other off; however, deaths do still occur in the arena. |
| 610 | * BreakOutTheMuseumPiece: Even most of the Ussans' more advanced weapons by 2552 are sorely out of date by Covenant standards. |
| 611 | * CargoCult: Though the Ussans by 2552 have mostly abandoned the practice of directly worshiping Forerunner artifacts, they do believe that the Refuge's machinery is animated by "lower spirits" who are the patron deities of the repairers' guild. |
| 612 | * CivilWar: The Refuge suffers a number of these as conditions steadily deteriorate, with the worst factions led by those suffering from "Blood Sickness", an illness caused by [[spoiler:malfunctioning protein feeders]] whose symptoms include violent paranoia and vivid hallucinations. |
| 613 | * TheExile: Founded by dissenters fleeing the Covenant, the Ussans live completely isolated from the rest of the galaxy. |
| 614 | * FakingTheDead: [[spoiler:When the Covenant try to storm the Refuge, Ussa and Enduring Bias activate an experimental defense protocol which splits the world into a bunch of small but still livable fragments, tricking the Covenant into thinking that the Ussans committed mass suicide. Mken catches on to the ruse, but keeps it secret from the rest of the Covenant in order to let the Ussans have their independence.]] |
| 615 | * FutureImperfect: The modern Ussans have a shaky understanding of their past, to the point where many regard Sangheilios itself as nothing more than a myth. |
| 616 | * LaResistance: Founded by anti-Covenant revolutionaries, with several being veterans of the war against the San'Shyuum. By 2552 though, the Ussans have become more far interested in avoiding the Covenant rather than fighting against it. |
| 617 | * ProudWarriorRaceGuy: Like mainstream Sangheili; champion floatfighters in particular are treated as celebrities. |
| 618 | * SchizoTech: Due to their small population and 3000+ years of isolation, Ussan technological capabilities have severely regressed by 2552, to the point where Elites in spacesuits are forced to equip themselves with homemade semi-{{automatic crossbow}}s ("mec-missilers") and ''axes'', due to the steady loss and increasing malfunction of all of the Refuge’s more advanced technology. |
| 619 | [[/folder]] |
| 620 | |
| 621 | [[folder:Ussa 'Xellus]] |
| 622 | !!'''Ussa 'Xellus''' |
| 623 | [[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/enc22_ussaxellus.png]] |
| 624 | ->'''Homeworld: Sanghelios (Xellus keep, Xellus)'''\ |
| 625 | '''Birthdate: 918 BCE''' \ |
| 626 | '''Debuted in: ''Literature/HaloBrokenCircle''''' |
| 627 | |
| 628 | ''Kaidon'' of Xellus and a famed Field Commander during the Sangheili’s first war against the San’Shyuum, Ussa strongly opposed the formation of the Covenant, founding a resistance group that would eventually become known as the Ussans. |
| 629 | ---- |
| 630 | * DevelopmentGag: His character artwork from the 2022 ''Halo Encyclopedia'', as seen to the right, is designed to resemble [[https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/halopedia/images/b/bf/Early_Elite.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20140303020411&path-prefix=ru the design for the Elites]] in the 1999 Macworld ''Halo'' announcement trailer. |
| 631 | * GeniusBruiser: Widely respected for being a brilliant military mind. |
| 632 | * HappilyMarried: To Sooln. |
| 633 | * TheLeader: Of the Ussans. |
| 634 | * ReasonableAuthorityFigure: Is relatively merciful for a Sangheili, and fairly tolerant of dissent as long as it doesn’t cross into outright sedition. Additionally, when [[spoiler:'Crolon and 'Drem falsely accuse Tersa and Lnor of conspiring against the Ussans, Ussa takes Tersa's advice to also question Gmezza, Scorinn, and Enduring Bias, allowing him to quickly realize that 'Crolon and 'Drem are the real traitors.]] |
| 635 | [[/folder]] |
| 636 | |
| 637 | [[folder:Sooln 'Xellus]] |
| 638 | !!'''Sooln 'Xellus''' |
| 639 | ->'''Homeworld: Sanghelios (Xellus keep, Xellus)'''\ |
| 640 | '''Birthdate: Unknown''' \ |
| 641 | '''Debuted in: ''Literature/HaloBrokenCircle''''' |
| 642 | |
| 643 | The scientifically gifted wife of Ussa 'Xellus, Sooln shared her mate’s opposition to the Covenant and was his most trusted associate. |
| 644 | ---- |
| 645 | * HappilyMarried: To Ussa. |
| 646 | * OddFriendship: With Enduring Bias, who becomes quite loyal to her after she fixes some of his processes. |
| 647 | * TheSmartGuy: The most technologically capable of all the Ussans; she's even capable of conducing repairs on a ''Forerunner monitor''. |
| 648 | [[/folder]] |
| 649 | |
| 650 | [[folder:'Crecka]] |
| 651 | !!'''[='=]Crecka''' |
| 652 | ->'''Homeworld: Sanghelios'''\ |
| 653 | '''Birthdate: Unknown'''\ |
| 654 | '''Debuted in: ''Literature/HaloBrokenCircle''''' |
| 655 | |
| 656 | An elderly Sangheili warrior who served as a scout in Sanghelios's clan conflicts during the last years before first contact with the San'Shyuum. During his youth, he inadvertently stumbled across the Refuge, but kept the location secret for at least nearly a century until he decided to join Ussa 'Xellus's cause. |
| 657 | ---- |
| 658 | * DentedIron: His injuries include a completely scarred-over eye socket, a missing left hand, and a mangled right hand. |
| 659 | * FamedInStory: A minor example; he's known to be the Sangheili who discovered the mining colony of Creck. |
| 660 | * RedBaron: Was known as "'Quillick" during the Clan Battles, because he would scout out the enemy "the way a 'Quillick would slink silently through the shadows". |
| 661 | * RetiredBadass: He's well over 100 years old by the time Ussa meets him, and is clearly elderly even by Sangheili standards, with most of his teeth completely missing. |
| 662 | * PeacefulInDeath: Lies down and passes away peacefully in one of the Refuge's gardens. |
| 663 | * SmallRoleBigImpact: He dies of old age quite early in ''Broken Circle'', shortly after the Ussans arrive on the Refuge, but he's the reason why they have a home in the first place. |
| 664 | [[/folder]] |
| 665 | |
| 666 | [[folder:Ernicka]] |
| 667 | !!'''Ernicka the Scar-Maker''' |
| 668 | ->'''Homeworld: Sanghelios'''\ |
| 669 | '''Birthdate: Unknown''' \ |
| 670 | '''Debuted in: ''Literature/HaloBrokenCircle''''' |
| 671 | |
| 672 | Ussa 'Xellus's second-in-command, Ernicka shares his leader's strong disdain for the Covenant. |
| 673 | ---- |
| 674 | * NumberTwo: To Ussa. |
| 675 | * RedBaron: Does "The Scar-Maker" sound like someone you want to mess with? |
| 676 | * UndyingLoyalty: Would follow Ussa to the end of the universe, if need be. |
| 677 | [[/folder]] |
| 678 | |
| 679 | [[folder:Tersa 'Gunok]] |
| 680 | !!'''Tersa 'Gunok''' |
| 681 | ->'''Homeworld: Sanghelios'''\ |
| 682 | '''Birthdate: Unknown''' \ |
| 683 | '''Debuted in: ''Literature/HaloBrokenCircle''''' |
| 684 | |
| 685 | An adolescent trainee from one of the 'Xellus's allied clans, Tersa very much believes in Ussa's ideals. |
| 686 | ---- |
| 687 | * AmazonChaser: Becomes attracted to Lnur 'Mol in part because of her strength. |
| 688 | * BattleCouple: Eventually marries Lnur, who is remembered even by future generations as a warrior. |
| 689 | * FamedInStory: Remembered by future generations of Ussans as a hero of their people, with pilgrims paying tribute to images of him and his mate Lnur. |
| 690 | [[/folder]] |
| 691 | |
| 692 | [[folder:Lnur 'Mol]] |
| 693 | !!'''Lnur 'Mol''' |
| 694 | ->'''Homeworld: Sanghelios'''\ |
| 695 | '''Birthdate: Unknown'''\ |
| 696 | '''Debuted in: ''Literature/HaloBrokenCircle''''' |
| 697 | |
| 698 | A young female from one of the 'Xellus's allied clans, Lnur has a marked independent streak. |
| 699 | ---- |
| 700 | * ActionGirl: While Sangheili females generally receive enough training to help defend their homes, Lnur is as well-versed in combat as most males, to the point where future generations of Ussans remember her as a warrior. |
| 701 | * BattleCouple: Eventually marries the warrior Tersa 'Gunok. |
| 702 | * FamedInStory: Remembered by future generations of Ussans as a hero of their people, with pilgrims paying tribute to images of her and her mate Tersa 'Gunok. |
| 703 | [[/folder]] |
| 704 | |
| 705 | [[folder:Salus 'Crolon]] |
| 706 | !!'''Salus 'Crolon''' |
| 707 | ->'''Homeworld: Sanghelios'''\ |
| 708 | '''Birthdate: Unknown''' \ |
| 709 | '''Debuted in: ''Literature/HaloBrokenCircle''''' |
| 710 | |
| 711 | A Sangheili engineer and pilot with strong doubts about Ussa's leadership. |
| 712 | ---- |
| 713 | * TheEngineer: His main job, which he's actually pretty decent at, [[spoiler:being able to sabotage the Refuge's hanger's controls for just long enough to hijack a ship and escape]]. |
| 714 | * DirtyCoward: Despite his claims that Ussa is conspiring with the Covenant, the very first thing 'Crolon himself does when [[spoiler:he's captured by the Covenant is to sell out the Ussans]]. |
| 715 | * HateSink: As the other tropes on this profile should make clear, he was clearly created primarily to serve the role of "detestable Sangheili" for ''Broken Circle''. |
| 716 | * {{Jerkass}}: A selfish jackass who ends up [[spoiler:selling out the rest of the Ussans to the Covenant]]. |
| 717 | * RewardedAsATraitorDeserves: [[spoiler:When he sells out the Ussans' location to the Covenant, his "reward" is to become a frontline guide for the troops invading the Refuge; he ends up being hacked to pieces by the vengeful Ussans shortly after making landfall, which the Covenant force's leaders were hoping for to begin with.]] |
| 718 | * {{Slimeball}}: An inveterate liar who ultimately cares only about himself; he's even described as always being one of the first to the table whenever the Ussans gather to eat. However, despite him adopting an air of false modesty and humbleness around superiors, almost no one fooled by his act; Ussa and his advisors dislike him right from the start, [[spoiler:and the Covenant quickly have him pegged as an untrustworthy liar]]. |
| 719 | * SmallNameBigEgo: Believes himself to be a lot cleverer than he really is. |
| 720 | * StereotypeFlip: A Sangheili who's a total coward. |
| 721 | * StrawMisogynist: While Sangheili society ''is'' patriarchal, most males have at least some respect for the administrative and intellectual capabilities of female Sangheili, and many even have no issue with women serving in their keep's HomeGuard. 'Crolon's views, however, are in straight StayInTheKitchen territory, to emphasize how much of a scumbag he is. |
| 722 | [[/folder]] |
| 723 | |
| 724 | !!Ancient Humans |
| 725 | |
| 726 | [[folder:In General]] |
| 727 | * AdvancedAncientHumans: They are this trope not only to their modern descendants but to themselves. Humanity not only had a spacefaring civilization prior to modern time, but also had one prior to its latest spacefaring civilization before its devolution back to the Stone Age. Silentium reveals humanity's earliest known spacefaring civilization went at least as far back as 1.1 million BCE making this trope apply double for them. |
| 728 | * TheAlliance: Humanity had one with the ancient San'Shyuum of all species before and during the human-Forerunner war. This alliance was able to combine its technology and resources to fight the Forerunners on an even footing. However, it was dissolved after the San'Shyuum leadership surrendered to the Forerunners and allowed the aliance's capital of Charum Hakkor to be breached, ensuring the Forerunners' victory over both species. The Forerunners then devolved humanity and quarantined the San'Shyuum to ensure neither species would join forces ever again. |
| 729 | * CainAndAbel: [[spoiler:They were the Abel to the Forerunners' Cain, with their "Parent", the Precursors, declaring that they were worthy of the Mantle. The Forerunners didn't take it too well.]] |
| 730 | * TheChosenPeople: According to the Ur-Didact, humanity believed they, and not the Forerunners, were the true inheritors of the Mantle. [[spoiler: As it turns out, this may actually be true assuming the Primordial/Gravemind spoke truthfully to the Ur-Didact regarding the subject.]] |
| 731 | * DrivenToSuicide: |
| 732 | ** Many human and San'Shyuum scientists killed themselves, preferring to die than live with whatever knowledge the Primordial gave them following their interrogation of it about the Flood. |
| 733 | ** The vast majority of the remaining human population on Charum Hakkor committed mass suicide rather than surrender to the Forerunners after the latter won the final battle there, not wanting to submit to the Foreunners' inevitable punishment; removal of technological privileges, forced relocation and physical and mental devolution. |
| 734 | * TheEmpire: They had one that was so vast and powerful that it could challenge the Forerunners head on for dominance over the galaxy. It was destroyed in a war against the Forerunners mainly due to humanity already fighting and losing in another war against the Flood and later the betrayal of the San'Shyuum during what would afterwards be the final stage of the conflict. |
| 735 | * GoMadFromTheRevelation: Humans who questioned the Primordial about the Flood were so horrified by its answer that many of them killed themselves rather than live with the knowledge. The rest locked it up, and forbade anyone from even talking to it. |
| 736 | * HigherTechSpecies: They (with the exception of the Forerunners and ancient San' Shyuum) were far more technologically advanced than all other known species existing in the galaxy during their time and the modern Covenant species and their own modern descendants. |
| 737 | * {{Hobbits}}: The Florians, or Chamanune as they called themselves, were a species of humans that existed before and after humanity's devolution alongside many other species and subspecies in the human genus. They're based on a real human species that used to exist, ''Homo floresiensis'', who really are often referred to as "hobbits". |
| 738 | ** They are also conflated with the Menehune, a mythological race of dwarves who settled Hawaii. The Florians' love for building clever structures is derived from stories of Menehune. |
| 739 | * HumanityCameFromSpace: Possibly the case as humanity had an ancient spacefaring civilization at least as far back as 1.1 million BCE, however records from these times have been lost to the point that neither humanity nor the Forerunners were sure if Earth was humanity's original homeworld. Yprin Yprikushma claimed to have traced humanity's origin to Earth, however this was disputed by many including Forthencho, who saw evidence of human habitation and human ruins older than those on Earth, believed humanity's origin lay elsewhere. Ultimately the matter was and still is unresolved. |
| 740 | * HumansAreBastards: According to the Forerunners, humans were particularly cruel toward other species. They're quite a biased source, however Chakas discovered through his ancient human memories that they believed in "creating many souls", or expanding their population by conquering and claiming other worlds, so this may not be entirely inaccurate. |
| 741 | * HumansAreSpecial: Seemed to have held this view of themselves as the Ur-Didact once stated they believed themselves the true inheritors of the Precursors' Mantle. This belief may or may not be true but it's unclear so far. |
| 742 | * HumansAreTheRealMonsters: Pretty much how the Forerunners view the humans by the events of Cryptum, and for a reason. The ancient humans conquered several Forerunner worlds, though this was an act of desperation as the humans were on the run from the Flood that ravaged many of the worlds on the other side of their empire. Many of the Forerunner worlds that humanity destroyed were also infected by the Flood. Humanity was trying to stop it. |
| 743 | * HumansAreWarriors: The Didact and the Prometheans gained respect for humanity's tenacity in battle during and following their war with them. |
| 744 | * HumanSubspecies: Prior to the activation of the Halo Array, humanity was composed of a hugely diverse group of different species and subspecies, each with their own distinct and unique traits, customs and cultures, with all of them being considered "human". Several real human subspecies, such as Denisovans and ''Homo floresiensis'', were present, coexisting with "Hamanune" (''Homo sapiens''). They also included hominids, hominoids, and anthropoids such as ''Gigantopithecus'' who, while not technically human, were definitely sapient and capable of a language that at least Chamanune could understand and speak. Humanity was actually noted as being especially diverse compared to other species. However, after the massive casualties taken in their war with the Forerunners, being confined to a single world by them, the Ur-Didact composing all the humans on Omega Halo during the Battle of the Greater Ark, the firing of the Halo Array and the 100 millennia between then and modern times, all but ''Homo sapiens'' eventually died off. |
| 745 | * IDidWhatIHadToDo: When the Flood spread beyond human space, human fleets under Forthencho's command began a campaign of sterilizing worlds and systems in an attempt to slow the Flood's spread regardless of what species owned them even those belonging to Forerunners. This brought them into conflict with the Forerunners which ultimately spelled demise for humanity's empire. |
| 746 | * LongLived: Ancient humans prior to devolution appeared to live far longer than their modern day descendants as Forthencho led the human fleets in containing the Flood prior to the beginning of the human-Forerunner war and was there at that war's end. Said war lasted a thousand years making Forthencho at least thousand years old before his physical death. Whether this lifespan is due to natural evolution, advanced medical technology, bio-augmentation, PoweredArmor or a combination of all them is unknown. |
| 747 | * MirroringFactions: They were as variable personality-wise as the Forerunners were and their own modern descendants and as much as both species liked to pretend they had the moral high-ground when it came to their opposite number, it is constantly pointed out that Forerunners and humans could be equally as petty, monstrous and all around assholes as each other. |
| 748 | * NoKillLikeOverkill: They used orbital bombardment to wipe out any planet with a Flood outbreak on it. Given how quickly the Flood spreads, such overkill is entirely justified. |
| 749 | * OriginalMan: They were the first evolution of humanity in the universe, with modern day humanity being their devolved descendants. The pre-eminent species of humanity during their time were noted to be on average larger, stronger and more intelligent than their modern descendants which includes the various Spartan supersoldiers. |
| 750 | * PoweredArmor: Like Forerunner Warrior-Servants, their warriors wore technologically advanced suits of armor. Whether this armor was TwentyFourHourArmor like the Forerunners or if their civilians wore any is unknown. |
| 751 | * PunyEarthlings: Averted prior to the human-Forerunner war when they were near-technological equals to the Forerunners and could straight-up challenge them for galactic dominance. Played straight after their devolution following the war's end. |
| 752 | * RagnarokProofing: While the majority of their stuff was destroyed by the Forerunners, some of what little that has survived is remarkably intact despite having been built over 110 millennia ago and is still in pretty good shape. These include ancient human ruins on a planet called Heian and a derelict starship. |
| 753 | * SuperSoldier: Given how powerful and strong the Forerunner Warrior-Servants (especially their Promethean rate) was and with the technology at their disposal, they almost certainly had these as their forces would have had to go toe-to-toe with them in combat. |
| 754 | * TimeAbyss: Humanity as a whole is this trope as they were allegedly chosen by the Precursors to inherit the Mantle around ten million years prior to the present day. If so then they were presumably evolved enough to the point that they would have been intelligent enough to become technologically advanced enough to actually hold the Mantle back then as it would be rather strange for the Precursors to choose a successor to the Mantle if that species couldn't actually fulfill that role due to not being evolved enough or if that species didn't actually exist yet. Regardless humanity did possess an interstellar civilization at least as far back as 1.1 million BCE making them this trope. |
| 755 | * ZombieApocalypse: They fell victim to one of these. |
| 756 | [[/folder]] |
| 757 | |
| 758 | [[folder:Forthencho]] |
| 759 | !!'''Forthencho, the Lord of Admirals''' |
| 760 | [[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/0b23db7aa391a39a12d1007d61eccaac.jpg]] |
| 761 | ->'''Homeworld: Charum Hakkor'''\ |
| 762 | '''Birthdate: Unknown'''\ |
| 763 | '''Debuted in: ''Literature/HaloPrimordium''''' |
| 764 | |
| 765 | The last military commander of the ancient human civilization. He's long dead by the time of ''Literature/TheForerunnerSaga''. |
| 766 | ---- |
| 767 | * AmbiguouslyBrown: [[spoiler:Spark's (as Chakas)]] study of ancient human history in an ONI database and [[spoiler:Forthencho's own words on the subject when he briefly takes over Spark's narrative]] seem to indicate he's an ancient ancestor of Vinnevra and Gameplar's people, who in turn are that to the Aborigines of Australia. |
| 768 | * BrainUploading: [[spoiler:His personality was preserved in data form by the Composer, and later gets uploaded into Chakas. His consciousness also resides within 343 Guilty Spark.]] |
| 769 | * CompensatingForSomething: Chakas notices he wears a "more than a little exaggerated" codpiece. |
| 770 | * DefiantToTheEnd: Despite their best efforts, the Forerunners couldn't get any useful information from him. |
| 771 | %%* FacialMarkings: As seen in the picture. |
| 772 | * FourStarBadass: Under his command, the defenders of Charum Hakkor, despite their inferior technology and numbers, managed to beat back the continuous assaults of the Forerunner fleet under the command of the Didact himself for several years. Eventually, the Forerunners were forced to use a [[ZergRush brute force approach]], taking devastating losses when they finally took the planet. |
| 773 | * ForgivenButNotForgotten: [[spoiler:By end of ''Halo: Epitaph'', the Ur-Didact's CharacterDevelopment and salvation of the lost souls within the digital purgatory, harboring safe passage into the Domain proper, allows the data ghost of Forthencho to at least finally ''entertain'' forgiveness rather than continue to nurse his old grudge against the Forerunners, especially as they both empathized over the fact that both of them made terrible mistakes that led to their war in the first place, but he certainly hasn't forgotten what got them all in this situation in the first place.]] |
| 774 | * IDidWhatIHadToDo: While fighting the Flood, he came across a Forerunner planet which had been partially infected. Instead of warning the Forerunners and possibly giving the infection time to spread beyond the planet, he had the entire planet of 2 billion cleansed. He was clearly reluctant over doing so, but it seems he had to make this decision many times. |
| 775 | * LongLived: Forthencho was made Lord of Admirals prior to the human-Forerunner war and was still so at that war's end. Said war lasted around a thousand years making Forthencho as least a thousand years old prior to his physical death. |
| 776 | * TheRival: To Yprin Yprikushma. |
| 777 | * RevengeBeforeReason: For all his respect for the Warrior-Servants, he would do everything to bring down the Forerunners at any cost; he even advocated drawing the Flood back into the galaxy! [[spoiler:Long after his death, he's still perfectly willing to aid a Flood-aligned Mendicant Bias just to destroy his old foes.]] |
| 778 | * TheStrategist: Good enough to consistently hand the Forerunners their tails despite them holding every possible advantage. |
| 779 | * WorthyOpponent: Warrior-Servants as a whole and especially the Didact. The feeling is actually mutual. |
| 780 | [[/folder]] |
| 781 | |
| 782 | [[folder:Yprin Yprikushma]] |
| 783 | !!'''Yprin Yprikushma''' |
| 784 | [[quoteright:230:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/yprin_yprikushma.png]] |
| 785 | ->'''Homeworld: Unknown'''\ |
| 786 | '''Birthdate: Unknown'''\ |
| 787 | '''Debuted in: ''Literature/HaloPrimordium''''' |
| 788 | |
| 789 | The Political and Morale Commander of prehistoric humanity's interstellar empire. She's long dead by the time of ''Literature/TheForerunnerSaga''. |
| 790 | ---- |
| 791 | * AlliterativeName |
| 792 | * BadassBookworm: Led a special force of 7,000 warriors and 70 ships during the siege of Charum Hakkor. |
| 793 | * BrainUploading: [[spoiler:Her personality was archived by the Composer, and eventually gets uploaded into Riser. It's later removed and put into a Monitor shell.]] |
| 794 | * CuriosityIsACrapshoot: [[spoiler:Forthencho believes her decision to interrogate the Timeless One was a mistake, and that it only demoralized humanity.]] |
| 795 | * GracefulLoser: Even while facing her execution, she was still hoping to warn the Forerunners about the Flood in order to ensure the safety of the rest of the galaxy. |
| 796 | * TheRival: To Forthenco. |
| 797 | * TheSmartGirl: Led the science team that discovered [[spoiler:the Timeless One]], traced humanity's potential origins to Erde-Tyrene (Earth), and was the main figure behind humanity's research of Forerunner technology and tactics. |
| 798 | * TheStrategist: The main human strategist of her age. |
| 799 | [[/folder]] |
| 800 | |
| 801 | [[folder:Chakas]] |
| 802 | !!'''Chakas''' |
| 803 | [[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/chakas.JPG]] |
| 804 | ->'''Homeworld: Earth (Marontik)'''\ |
| 805 | '''Birthdate: Unknown'''\ |
| 806 | '''Debuted in: ''Literature/HaloCryptum''''' |
| 807 | |
| 808 | A young human of the "hamanush" (''Homo sapiens'') variety who lived on Erde-Tyrene in the city of Marontik. Along with his friend Riser, he led Bornstellar to the Ur-Didact's cryptum, and was whisked away to briefly serve him and awaken his implanted geas. He was marooned on Installation-07, where the personality of a mighty human from ages past fully awakened within him. After Chakas was mortally wounded during Mendicant Bias's attempt to turn the ring against the Forerunners, he was reunited with the Bornstellar-Didact, who used the Composer to save him by converting him into an AI. |
| 809 | ---- |
| 810 | * BrainUploading: The Librarian uploads [[spoiler:the memories and personality of Forthencho]] into his head. [[spoiler:Then his own mind was uploaded into a Monitor body, where he became none other than 343 Guilty Spark.]] |
| 811 | * TheBully: In his childhood he was the town bully. |
| 812 | * DisappearedDad: His dad was killed fighting a baron's thugs. |
| 813 | * FatAndSkinny: He and Riser are partners, and Riser is only four feet tall while he's at least five. |
| 814 | * FireForgedFriends: With Bornstellar. Likewise the Forerunner gains a greater respect for humans despite having memories of fighting against them in battle as the Didact. |
| 815 | * GeneticMemory: The Librarian gave him genetic commands during his infancy that gave him dreams of meeting a Forerunner. They also told him and Riser the instructions of how to guide that treasure-hunting Forerunner to [[SealedGoodInACan the Didact's Cryptum]]. |
| 816 | * InterspeciesFriendship: With Bornstellar. |
| 817 | * SourSupporter: Of Bornstellar at first when he's forced to tag along on his adventures, since initially he planned to rob the guy. |
| 818 | * ThoseTwoGuys: With Riser in ''Literature/HaloCryptum''. Less so in ''Literature/HaloPrimordium'', where he's the protagonist. |
| 819 | * TheResenter: As memories from his ancestors began to manifest, he starts to share their resentment of Forerunners. But that starts to diminish from his alliance with Bornstellar. |
| 820 | * UnresolvedSexualTension: With Vinnevra, due to the whole "nearly being killed and getting uploaded into a robotic body" thing. [[spoiler:Nonetheless, Guilty Spark's "true" Chakas-based personality remains fond of her, despite 100,000 years worth of isolation, madness, and severe physical damage, to the point where one of the main reasons for his current quest to find the Librarian is so he can get her to help retrieve Vinnevra's "old spirit" from whichever human it's currently hosted in.]] |
| 821 | [[/folder]] |
| 822 | |
| 823 | [[folder:Morning Riser]] |
| 824 | !!'''Morning Riser''' |
| 825 | [[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/riser.JPG]] |
| 826 | ->'''Homeworld: Earth (Marontik)'''\ |
| 827 | '''Birthdate: c. 97,645 BCE'''\ |
| 828 | '''Debuted in: ''Literature/HaloCryptum''''' |
| 829 | |
| 830 | A human of the "chamanush", or Florian, variety, who lived on Erde-Tyrene in the city of Marontik. Following a geas placed upon his kind, he and Chakas unknowingly led the young Forerunner Bornstellar to the Ur-Didact's cryptum. He was part of the group that accompanied the Ur-Didact on his mission, but shortly afterward was marooned on Halo Installation-07 with Chakas. Following this, he was put into the Librarian's care on the Ark. |
| 831 | ---- |
| 832 | * BrainUploading: The Librarian imprints him with [[spoiler:the personality and memories of Yprin Yprikushma.]] |
| 833 | ** [[spoiler:343 Guilty Sparks thinks Riser's own mind might have been imprinted into future generations.]] |
| 834 | * DeadpanSnarker: Takes an amusingly dry approach to the larger-than-life event around him. |
| 835 | * EloquentInMyNativeTongue: His simplistic manner of speech comes from other languages lacking the unique mannerisms and gestures that accompany Florian speech. |
| 836 | * FunSize: Thanks to being a Florian, better known today as "hobbits" or ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homo_floresiensis Homo floresiensis]]''. |
| 837 | * GeneticMemory: The Librarian implanted a "geas" in his DNA that influences his actions, and Florians naturally retain memories from their ancestors. [[spoiler:It's also hinted he can see into the future, when he tells Chakas he will live as long as the Forerunners.]] |
| 838 | * InterspeciesFriendship: With Bornstellar. |
| 839 | * {{Keet}}: His personality. |
| 840 | * TheNapoleon: Chants-To-Green notes he compensates for his short height by being aggressive, though he's not as mean as the trope usually demands. Riser himself remakrs that he takes charge not despite his size, but "because of it". |
| 841 | * {{Omniglot}}: Speaks many languages. |
| 842 | * OverlyLongName: His full name is "Day-Chaser Makes Paths Long-stretch Morning Riser". |
| 843 | * PluckyComicRelief: Comes from being a {{Keet}} in a serious situation. |
| 844 | * ReallySevenHundredYearsOld: 200 years old and still a youngster, since chamanush can live long lives. |
| 845 | * ThoseTwoGuys: With Chakas, a ''Homo sapiens''. |
| 846 | [[/folder]] |
| 847 | |
| 848 | [[folder:Vinnevra]] |
| 849 | !!'''Vinnevra''' |
| 850 | ->'''Homeworld: Installation 07'''\ |
| 851 | '''Birthdate: Unknown'''\ |
| 852 | '''Debuted in: ''Literature/HaloPrimordium''''' |
| 853 | |
| 854 | A young "hamanush" woman who grew up on Installation 07 instead of Earth. |
| 855 | ---- |
| 856 | * AmbiguouslyBrown: [[spoiler:If Spark's (with Chakas's personality) study of ancient human history through an ONI database is accurate]], the Aborigines of Australia are the closest descendants of her and Gamelpar's own people. |
| 857 | * FlatEarthAtheist: She denies the existence of "old spirits" telling memories to Chakas and co., or their Halo traveling, insisting the new stars being just the same sun changing color. |
| 858 | * GeneticMemory: Although she too has to deal with subconscious genetic commands, she does not have memories of former humans, and wishes she did. |
| 859 | ** [[spoiler:Chakas believes her spirit may have been transferred to later humans.]] |
| 860 | * IKnowYourTrueName:: Vinnevra is not her real name, but her mother's. Only her mentor Gamelpar knows her real name, [[spoiler:and tells it to Chakas when he passes caring for her over to him.]] |
| 861 | * ThePollyanna: Despite her hard life she keeps up an energetic attitude. |
| 862 | [[/folder]] |
| 863 | |
| 864 | [[folder:Gamelpar]] |
| 865 | !!'''Gamelpar''' |
| 866 | ->'''Homeworld: Earth'''\ |
| 867 | '''Birthdate: Unknown'''\ |
| 868 | '''Debuted in: ''Literature/HaloPrimordium''''' |
| 869 | |
| 870 | An old human who raised Vinnevra. He too grew up on Installation 07. |
| 871 | ---- |
| 872 | * AmbiguouslyBrown: Same deal as Vinnevra. |
| 873 | * LadyAndKnight: When he was younger he protected Vinnevra in this way. |
| 874 | * MerlinAndNimue: With Vinnevra. |
| 875 | * OldMaster: His geas contains memories from an ancient human warrior. Because of this, he has felt elderly all his life. |
| 876 | * WhoWantsToLiveForever: [[spoiler:Denies having his brain uploaded in favor of death.]] |
| 877 | [[/folder]] |
| 878 | |
| 879 | [[folder:Mara]] |
| 880 | !!'''Mara''' |
| 881 | ->'''Homeworld: Earth'''\ |
| 882 | '''Birthdate: Unknown'''\ |
| 883 | '''Debuted in: ''Literature/HaloPrimordium''''' |
| 884 | |
| 885 | Not a human, but an ape living aboard Installation 07. |
| 886 | ---- |
| 887 | %%zce* TheBigGal: She is a ''Gigantopithecus''. The name says it all. |
| 888 | * LastOfHerKind: Specifically, the last ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gigantopithecus Gigantopithecus]]'', though they called themselves "Sha''kyanusho''". |
| 889 | * OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: Mara is only her "lending name"; her real one is never revealed. |
| 890 | * TalkingAnimal: Despite being mostly ape-like in her mannerisms, she and the rest of her kind are definitely intelligent; she's even able to converse with Riser, whose ancestral memories from back when his people had contact with hers allow him to understand her language. In fact, she's the one who tells Riser to have everyone call her Mara. |
| 891 | * TeamPet: Follows Chakas and co. across the Halo. |
| 892 | [[/folder]] |
| 893 | |
| 894 | !!Ancient San'Shyuum |
| 895 | |
| 896 | [[folder:In General]] |
| 897 | * TheAlliance: They had one with ancient humanity of all species before and during the human-Forerunner war. This alliance was able to combine its technology and resources to fight the Forerunners on an even footing. However, it was dissolved after the San'Shyuum leadership surrendered to the Forerunners and allowed the aliance's capital of Charum Hakkor to be breached, ensuring the Forerunners' victory over them and their human allies. The Forerunners then devolved humanity and quarantined the San'Shyuum to ensure neither species would join forces ever again. |
| 898 | * DrivenToSuicide: Many human and San'Shyuum scientists killed themselves, preferring to die than live with whatever knowledge the Primordial gave them following their interrogation of it about the Flood. |
| 899 | * TheEmpire: They had one that (when combined with humanity's own empire) was so vast and powerful that it could challenge the Forerunners head on for dominance over the galaxy. It was destroyed in a war against the Forerunners mainly due to humanity and San'Shyuum already fighting and losing in another war against the Flood and later the betrayal of the San'Shyuum during what would afterwards be the final stage of the conflict. |
| 900 | * GoMadFromTheRevelation: San'Shyuum who questioned the Primordial about the Flood were so horrified by its answer that many of them killed themselves rather than live with the knowledge. The rest locked it up, and forbade anyone from even talking to it. |
| 901 | * HigherTechSpecies: They (with the exception of the Forerunners and ancient humanity) were far more technologically advanced than all other known species existing in the galaxy during their time and the modern human and Covenant species and their own modern descendants. |
| 902 | * IDidWhatIHadToDo: When the Flood spread beyond human and San'Shyuum space, the human and San'Shyuum fleets under Forthencho's command began a campaign of sterilizing worlds and systems in an attempt to slow the Flood's spread regardless of what species owned them even those belonging to Forerunners. This brought them into conflict with the Forerunners which ultimately spelled demise for both them and their human allies. |
| 903 | * LongLived: Ancient San'Shyuum prior to firing of the Halo Array appeared to live far longer than their modern day descendants as the First Prophet, a leader among the San'Shyuum during wars against the Flood and the Forerunners was at least nine thousand years old before his death during the San'Shyuum uprising on Janjur Qom. Whether this lifespan is due to natural evolution, advanced medical technology, bio-augmentation, PoweredArmor or a combination of all them is unknown. |
| 904 | * MirroringFactions: They were as variable personality-wise as the Forerunners, humans and their own modern descendants were. According to both the Didact and 343 Guilty Spark they were known for their manipulation skills and for betraying their allegiances not unlike their modern descendants in the Covenant. |
| 905 | * NoKillLikeOverkill: They used orbital bombardment to wipe out any planet with a Flood outbreak on it. Given how quickly the Flood spreads, such overkill is entirely justified. |
| 906 | * OriginalMan: They were the first evolution of San'Shyuum in the universe, with modern day San'Shyuum being their descendants. The San'Shyuum during their time were noted to be strong warriors and youthful in appearance unlike their crippled elderly leaders after the war. Indeed they evoke the image of the Prelates, San'Syuum supersoldiers that existed during the time of the Covenant. |
| 907 | * PoweredArmor: They no doubt wore technologically advanced suits of armor during combat like their human allies and the Forerunner Warrior-Servants. Whether this armor was TwentyFourHourArmor like the Forerunners or if their civilians wore any is unknown. |
| 908 | * SuperSoldier: Given how powerful and strong the Forerunner Warrior-Servants (especially their Promethean rate) was and with the technology at their disposal, they almost certainly had these as their forces would have had to go toe-to-toe with them in combat. |
| 909 | * ZombieApocalypse: They fell victim to one of these. |
| 910 | [[/folder]] |
| 911 | |
| 912 | !!The Endless |
| 913 | |
| 914 | [[folder:In General '''*UNMARKED SPOILERS*''']] |
| 915 | !!'''The Endless/Xalanyn''' |
| 916 | |
| 917 | An ancient enigmatic race of beings who were imprisoned by the Forerunners on Installation 07 at an unknown point in time and for unknown reasons other than to ensure they could not "control time". The Banished and the Harbinger both cooperate to free them for unknown reasons. There are hints they have a superior knowledge and understanding of the concept of time than the Foreunners do and may possess technology or innate ability to manipulate and control time itself. |
| 918 | ---- |
| 919 | * AbusivePrecursors: So much so that the ''Forerunners,'' who aren't spotless themselves, feared them. |
| 920 | * AmbiguouslyRelated: Their implied TimeMaster abilities, and the fact that the Forerunners are utterly terrified of them, hints at some connection to the Precursors. (Consider that the Xalanyn are called the "Endless", while the Precursors are associated with the adjective "Timeless" more than once.) |
| 921 | * AlwaysSomeoneBetter: As mentioned in TheDreaded below, the Forerunners, or Despondent Pyre at least, considered the Endless to be ''worse than the Flood''. |
| 922 | * TheDreaded: They were considered to be such a dangerous threat by the Forerunners that they considered them to be worse than the Flood. To the point that they imprisoned them and essentially threw away the key to the prison. They even deployed Offensive Bias to combat them if they were ever freed. Given that even a Halo's main weapon apparently can't stop them and hints that they may be able to control time itself, the Forerunners may be correct to have this opinion of them. |
| 923 | * DisproportionateRetribution: The Harbinger claims they are blameless and were unjustly imprisoned by the Forerunners and that the Forerunners "lies" are at an end. Indeed the Harbinger refers to herself as the "Harbinger of the Truth". However given the Forerunners considered them worse than even the Flood and hints the Endless can control time itself, these claims while perhaps not entirely false are also likely not entirely true either and that the Harbinger is likely telling half-truths at best. |
| 924 | * GreaterScopeVillain: The Harbinger and the Banished were working to free them throughout the entire game. Not much is known about them, but from the few hints we get the Forerunners apparently considered them to be worse than ''the Flood''. |
| 925 | ** The Halo Encyclopedia implies heavily that they were this even for the original trilogy, as a mysterious agent with ties to them led to the containment breach on [[VideoGame/Halo2 Delta Halo]] (shown on the Cold Storage map), leading to the Gravemind's reformation on the ring and the calamity that would follow and also implies they were or had ties to the unknown aliens who crash-landed on [[VideoGame/HaloCombatEvolvedAnniversary Alpha Halo]] in 40,000BCE and maybe even unknown aliens who attacked the early Covenant in the Halo: Broken Circle book. |
| 926 | * TheImmune: Explicitly stated to be immune to Halo's effects, mandating their imprisonment rather than willfully ignoring their existence in the closing days of the war; as they would simply survive to supplant their plans rather than be extinguished. |
| 927 | * InformedAttribute: The repeated claim that the Endless are more dangerous than the Flood rings rather hollow given what little we know. While their immunity to the Halo effect is a noticeable problem for the Forerunner's plans, there are already various means to avoid being killed by the Halos both artificial (Shield Worlds) and natural (lacking a sufficient nervous system like with plants). More noticeably, the Flood were able to decimate the Forerunner ecumene at the height of their power, while the Endless were easily imprisoned by the mere remnants of the Forerunners after the Halos were fired. While various hints of a possible TimeMaster status and ability to manipulate various forms of matter could certainly make them a threat in the eyes of the Forerunners, calling them more dangerous than the Flood, who brought down the galaxy and forced the Halos to be fired, comes across more as CharacterShilling. |
| 928 | * MindOverMatter: The Halo Encyclopedia reveals they have the (apparently innate) ability to manipulate various forms of matter and energy (presumably with their minds alone). If so, this makes them the only known species in the Halo universe with this ability (with the exception of the Precursors and the Flood though the latter need enough biomass to achieve this feat on a galactic level). |
| 929 | * SealedEvilInACan: They have been imprisoned by the Forerunners on Installation 07 for thousands of years before the Banished and the Harbringer started trying to free them. |
| 930 | * TimeAbyss: While it's unknown how old they really are, they were around during the time of the Forerunners making them at least 100,000 years old as a species. |
| 931 | * TimeMaster: Whether out of envy or genuine fear, it is this ability that terrified the Forerunners enough to imprison them to begin with, as the Endless possessed knowledge to control time to such a degree that it could threaten the order of their very existence. Though the Forerunners may have been speaking metaphorically, given that their plans for a post-Flood galaxy would be seriously imperiled by the presence of the Endless, and they themselves knew they would not be around to prevent their takeover should they be left unchecked. |
| 932 | -->'''Despondent Pyre:''' Time is not a construct we can control.\ |
| 933 | '''Grand Edict:''' And we cannot allow it to be ''theirs''. |
| 934 | [[/folder]] |
| 935 | |
| 936 | [[folder:The Harbinger]] |
| 937 | !!'''The Harbinger''' |
| 938 | [[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/3_13_2023_9_17_14_am_uu451eww.jpg]] |
| 939 | [[caption-width-right:350:"I know of you, Reclaimer, but hear this... You are not the future. (...) The Forerunner's lies are at an end. I am the Harbinger of the truth. The Endless will be found. They will ascend. The Reformation begins..."]] |
| 940 | ->'''Homeworld: Unknown'''\ |
| 941 | '''Birthdate: Unknown'''\ |
| 942 | '''Debuted in: ''VideoGame/HaloInfinite'''''\ |
| 943 | '''Voiced by: Creator/DebraWilson''' |
| 944 | An ancient and enigmatic entity imprisoned on Installation 07 who has a rather close connection with the Endless... |
| 945 | ---- |
| 946 | * BigBadDuumvirate: She and Escharum are collaborating in order to repair and fire Zeta Halo [[spoiler:and release the Endless.]] |
| 947 | * ColdBloodedTorture: |
| 948 | ** Inflicts this on Despondent Pyre in order to gain access towards [[spoiler:freeing the Endless.]] Judging from the aftermath, she literally ''tore Despondent Pyre apart'' piece-by-piece. |
| 949 | ** Also inflicted this on [[spoiler:Lucas Browning]] by [[DrivenToMadness driving him insane]] to the point that the Elites (including [[TortureTechnician Chak 'Lok]]) question the depravity of what she did to him. |
| 950 | * CurbStompBattle: [[spoiler:A single blow from her is more than enough to send the Master Chief flying away with such speed and force that he ''smashes through a tree.'']] |
| 951 | * TheDreaded: She was considered such a threat by the Forerunners to the point she was imprisoned with the Endless and even the Banished (who seek to free her) fear her as does the Monitor of Installation 07. |
| 952 | * DisproportionateRetribution: The Harbinger claims she and the Endless are blameless and were unjustly imprisoned by the Forerunners and that the Forerunners "lies" are at an end. Indeed the Harbinger refers to herself as the "Harbinger of the Truth". However, given the Forerunners considered the Endless worse than even the Flood and hints the Endless can control time itself, these claims while perhaps not entirely false are also likely not entirely true either and that the Harbinger is likely telling half-truths at best. |
| 953 | * EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: The Harbinger seems to genuinely care for the other Endless, as she shows genuine anger over their imprisonment, does everything in her power to free them, and [[spoiler:before she dies asks her mysterious ally to ''apologize'' to the Endless on her behalf that she took so long to free them.]] |
| 954 | * FaceDeathWithDignity: [[spoiler: After she is mortally wounded by the Master Chief, the Harbinger accepts her death with peaceful calmness.]] |
| 955 | * FinalBoss: [[spoiler:Appropriate for TheWomanBehindTheMan who has control over Zeta Halo and is working to free the Endless, she is the last and most powerful enemy in ''Infinite''.]] |
| 956 | * FlunkyBoss: She'll summon in waves of Banished to fight you in between phases of her boss battle. Notably, the third and final wave of Banished includes an [[BossInMooksClothing Ultra Brute Chieftain with a gravity hammer]]. |
| 957 | * TheGreys: Harbinger invokes an image invocative of the classic image of a Grey Alien, especially once she removes her helmet [[spoiler:as she's dying]] and reveals an enlarged hairless cranium with large hollow black eyes. |
| 958 | * LadyOfWar: Is prim, proper, and as shown in her boss fight, ''incredibly'' deadly. |
| 959 | * LoadBearingBoss: [[spoiler: While it's unclear if she or some other entity triggered it deliberately, the Silent Auditorium starts to collapse after she is killed.]] |
| 960 | * LightningBruiser: [[spoiler:Her power is absolutely immense, as is her speed.]] |
| 961 | * MeaningfulName: Is the "Harbinger" and acts as a representative of sorts for the Endless while they are sealed. |
| 962 | * MechanicallyUnusualFighter: Her fighting style is completely unlike anything previously faced in the game, whereas all other bosses have been KingMook versions of regular enemies. The only other unique boss is Adjutant Resolution, and his behavior is at least familiarly reminescent of Sentinels. |
| 963 | * MonstrousMandibles: Her mouth parts look a lot like invertebrate reinterpretations of Elite jaws. |
| 964 | * AMotherToHerMen: [[spoiler:Unlike a lot of other antagonistic leaders in ''Halo'', the Harbinger seems to truly value her people over her own life.]] |
| 965 | * RankScalesWithAsskicking: [[spoiler:The 2022 ''Encylopedia'' reveals that she was part of the Endless's ruling class, and she has the power to match.]] |
| 966 | * RushBoss: Harbinger's durability is below average for a boss (her shield strength is closer to a Bloodstar HVT Elite rather than a storyline boss Elite like Chak 'Lok or Jega 'Rdomnai, and her health basically melts as soon as her shield drops), but she's ''insanely'' fast and her attacks can absolutely demolish you in seconds even with max shield upgrades. During each phase of the boss fight in which you actually fight her, the battle is over quite fast one way or the other. |
| 967 | * SealedEvilInACan: Installation 07 was meant to serve as a prison both for her and for the Endless. |
| 968 | * StatingTheSimpleSolution: [[spoiler: During one cutscene, she irascibly points out to Escharum that the most logical way to take out the Master Chief would be through [[ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill application of overwhelming force]] -- by deploying the full power of his army rather than letting the Spartan steadily work his way through the Banished forces already on Zeta Halo. However, she probably has no idea that the Banished warchief is SecretlyDying and ''wants'' Chief to survive [[TheLastDance so he can either kill humanity's greatest hero or die honourably trying to do so]]]]. |
| 969 | * SufficientlyAdvancedAlien: Like the Didact, her abilities are so advanced they might as well be magic, and she absolutely curbstomps Master Chief on their first meeting. Unlike the Didact however, she's at least on a level that the Master Chief can successfully combat her upon their second meeting. |
| 970 | * TechnoWizard: It's mentioned that, not only can she override and take control of Forerunner technology, but her technological understanding is so advanced that she can actually modify Forerunner tech to be even ''more'' efficient than the original Forerunner design. |
| 971 | * TeethClenchedTeamwork: She and Escharum barely tolerate each other. Both think the other is incompetent. |
| 972 | * TeleportSpam: Absolutely ''loves'' using this technique against her opponents, or just to show off her power and speed. |
| 973 | * TimeAbyss: While it's unknown exactly old she really is, she was already an adult during the time of the Forerunners, making her at least around 100,000 years old. |
| 974 | * WeComeInPeaceShootToKill: At her first meeting with the Chief, she states "We are not enemies" shortly before locking up the Chief's armor, bragging about the Endless, and throwing him around like a ragdoll. |
| 975 | * TheWomanBehindTheMan: [[spoiler:She is using Escharum and his Banished forces in her scheme to free the Endless.]] |
| 976 | [[/folder]] |
| 977 | |
| 978 | !!The Precursors |
| 979 | |
| 980 | [[folder:In General '''*UNMARKED SPOILERS*''']] |
| 981 | !!'''The Precursors''' |
| 982 | [[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/primordial.JPG]] |
| 983 | [[caption-width-right:300:The Timeless One / Primordial]] |
| 984 | |
| 985 | An even more ancient race of star travelers who were held in reverence by the Forerunners, who supposedly formulated the "Mantle of Responsibility" for all life in the galaxy before passing it onto the Forerunners. They were only the theorized Tier 0 race ([[AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence Transentient]]), and so little was known about them that many thought them to be legend. In truth, they've been seen since ''VideoGame/HaloCombatEvolved''--as [[TheVirus the Flood]]. |
| 986 | ---- |
| 987 | * AbusivePrecursors: They created and/or evolved thousands of sentient species, but allegedly "culled" the ones they didn't like, with the Forerunners were being the last ones they tried this on. However, the Gravemind disputes this, claiming that the Forerunners' genocidal campaign against the Precursors was completely unprovoked. Either way, they end up playing the trope straight after becoming the Flood. ''Halo Mythos'' states the Precursors did decide to wipe out the Forerunners, but only after the Forerunners wrongfully claimed the Mantle and used it to justify their rule and dominance over other species. |
| 988 | * AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence: What was theorized to have become of them. If the appearance of Abaddon is anything to go by, this does appear to be true for the Precursors who didn't become the Flood. ''Halo Warfleet'' takes this even further by stating that their minds "transcended many realms and that they had infinite forms, many voices, and singular purpose". |
| 989 | * BenevolentPrecursors: As revealed in the [[spoiler:''Halo: Point of Light'' novel, not all Precursors approved of the Flood and were as varied as their creations were. At least two of these Precursors' remains produced offspring that remained uncorrupted unlike their kin who became the Flood and they will arise as new Precursors millions of years beyond the time of the modern Halo games' storyline.]] |
| 990 | * BlueAndOrangeMorality: Vengeance against the Forerunners for genocide? How dare you suggest something so primitive? The Timeless One just wants to unify all the life in the galaxy, including the Forerunners and humanity! |
| 991 | ** The Ur-Didact puts it best: |
| 992 | --->'''Didact:''' The whole concept of will, good or ill, is irrelevant when speaking of such beings. |
| 993 | ** On the other hand, the Precursors that became the Flood do seem to want vengeance, though it may be transformation-induced-MotiveDecay. |
| 994 | * BrokenPedestal: For the Forerunners, because of learning how horrific their creators ''really'' were. |
| 995 | * CameBackWrong: Remember that weird powder humanity discovered that became the Flood? Turns out that was actually mummified Precursors, who were going to keep themselves preserved in that state until it was safe to return to physical forms. Unfortunately, the wait was so long that the powder eventually began deteriorating, and then started mutating whatever lifeforms it got put into... However, [[GoneHorriblyRight those that observed the horror their brethren brought to the galaxy found it satisfying]]; suffice to say, the Forerunners '''really''' pissed them off something fierce. |
| 996 | ** Not all Precursors suffered this fate, however, as some remains produced offspring that remained uncorrupted by the decay of time. |
| 997 | * DeathSeeker: Played with. As functionally immortal gods with a belief that the negative aspects of the universe such as pain, strife, and death were just as important as the positive ones, Precursors would quite literally choose to die just to experience all aspects of existence. Of course they [[NotQuiteDead won't stay dead because of their link to the Domain]] keeping a duplicate of their consciousness to eventually bring them back to life. |
| 998 | * DidntSeeThatComing: In all their existence, they never, not ''once'', imagined that one of the races they created would rise up and attack them. They were so shocked when the Forerunners did this that they didn't even ''fight back'', which, given what we see of Precursor technology in ''Literature/HaloSilentium'', is probably the only reason that the Forerunners won. |
| 999 | * DisproportionateRetribution: The Forerunners, just one of many Precursor creations, decided to rebel against their makers. The Precursors (or rather some of them) were so offended by this that they decided to punish not only the Forerunners, but everyone else in response via the Flood. |
| 1000 | * DystopiaJustifiesTheMeans: |
| 1001 | -->"Our urge to create is immutable; we must create. But the beings we create shall never again reach out in strength against us. All that is created will suffer. All will be born in suffering, endless greyness shall be their lot. All creation will tailor to failure and pain, and never again shall the offspring of the eternal Fount rise up against their creators. No more will, no more freedom. Nothing but agonizing death, and never good shall come of it. We are the last of those who gave you breath and shape and form, millions of years ago. We are the last of those your kind defied and ruthlessly destroyed. We are the last Precursors. And now we are ''legion''." |
| 1002 | ** Not all of them agreed with this view however. |
| 1003 | * EldritchAbomination: Nothing like knowing that the creators of every species, and maybe even ''the universe'', were cosmic horrors incarnate (though they were not always of the "horror" variant). ''Halo Warfleet'' reinforces this trope by stating that their minds "transcended many realms and that they had infinite forms, many voices, and singular purpose". |
| 1004 | * {{Foreshadowing}}: The Primordial's title as the Timeless One is a clue that it's really a Flood Gravemind, echoing the main Gravemind's line about how its voice is a "Timeless Chorus". |
| 1005 | ** Not only that, but it's later revealed that they existed before time itself. |
| 1006 | * GenocideBackfire: Their ([[UnreliableNarrator alleged]]) attempt to wipe out the Forerunners ended in their own destruction... mostly. Now they get to return the favor. |
| 1007 | * GodIsEvil: The Librarian outright says that the Primordial is as close to a God as the Forerunners can understand it. And after reading ''Silentium'', it's hard to argue that they aren't evil. [[InvertedTrope That being said...]] |
| 1008 | * GodIsGood: Not all of them sought revenge on their creations after the Forerunner genocide. |
| 1009 | * GreaterScopeVillain: {{Downplayed|Trope}}. The original Precursors are essentially extinct, with their degenerate current form of the Flood being mostly contained in the present day (though the threat they pose should containment completely fail is still galactic in scale). However, them forcing the Forerunners to fire the Halos is probably the single most important event of the last 100,000 years of galactic history, and their one known surviving creation, the Domain, ends up playing a vital role in the formation of the Created. |
| 1010 | ** Likely played straight with the Timeless One, also known by the names Primordial and Gravemind. |
| 1011 | * HiveMind: The Timeless One is a Gravemind. Didact suspected that it was specifically designed by the Flood to mimic a true Precursor. It's a bit unclear, but later evidence suggests the Precursors themselves may have been Flood-like in their biology themselves to begin with, with ''Mythos'' revealing that the Timeless One itself is basically a heavily mutated Precursor. |
| 1012 | ** [[spoiler: However not all Precursors were like this in that not all their forms possessed a Hive Mind or collective intelligence/consciousness.]] |
| 1013 | * HiddenInPlainSight: Whenever you fought the Flood, you were fighting Precursors. |
| 1014 | * LastOfHisKind: Subverted. |
| 1015 | ** The Timeless One claims at the end of ''Literature/HaloCryptum'' that it is the last Precursor. But it turns out to ''also'' be a Flood Gravemind, which hints at the biochemistry of the original Precursors. However, ''Literature/HaloPrimordium'' and ''Silentium'' reveal that it is not the last of its kind and that there are more Precursors out there somewhere. |
| 1016 | ** ''Halo: Point of Light'' reveals [[spoiler:this to be true as Precursor offspring survived and were found and brought to Bastion by the Librarian and ultimately sent to another galaxy on a ship named Eden to be reseeded millions of years into the future. It is unknown if the Gravemind knows of these survivors (assuming it would even care).]] |
| 1017 | ** ''Halo: Outcasts'' has [[spoiler:a group of survivors from the Forerunner uprising on an abandoned, ruined world called Netherop. Though these Precursors are encountered only as voices and may not possess a physical form at all.]] |
| 1018 | * ParentalFavoritism: Ultimately the driving force of the entire series. The Precursors created both the Forerunners and humanity, but chose humans to inherit the Mantle. The Forerunners didn't like that and rebelled against their "parents" in a genocidal campaign; the Precursors decided to tear it all to the ground and assimilate everything into the Flood in response, and the galaxy has suffered for it ever since. |
| 1019 | * RagnarokProofing: Even more so than the Forerunners' stuff. Their stuff lasts for ''millions'' or even billions of years, and are just as indestructible as when they were first built, being completely resistant to just about anything, ranging from almost every Forerunner weapon to stuff like having plate tectonics cycling them inside ''planetary crusts''. However, it turns out there's ''one'' thing that can break/annihilate their creations: a Halo's main weapon, which operates on Neural Physics--the same principle that Precursor technology is based on. There's a reason why Precursor artifacts have not been encountered in the "current" time, after all. |
| 1020 | * RecursivePrecursors: The Forerunners are the precursors to modern humanity. But ''these'' Precursors are even more ancient. |
| 1021 | * RoaringRampageOfRevenge: A particularly nightmarish and horrific one. To say the Forerunners pissed them off is an {{Understatement}}. |
| 1022 | -->'''Gravemind:''' All that is created will ''suffer''... All creation will tailor to failure and pain... Nothing new but agonizing death and never good shall come of it. |
| 1023 | ** [[spoiler: However not all Precursors desired this though. Sadly, they appeared to have been the minority among their species.]] |
| 1024 | * SentientCosmicForce: The Precursors believed (knew?) that the entire universe was living (though not in a way biological organisms could comprehend), and based all of their technology off of this concept of "neural physics". While this allowed their technology to be insanely resilient and self-adjusting with ''no'' outside maintenance for millions of years and made it way more advanced than anything even the Forerunners had (who lacked the understanding to even activate Precursor artifacts), it gave them a major weakness to the Halos, which specifically targeted neural systems, of ''any'' kind. |
| 1025 | * StarfishAliens: The Timeless One is over ten meters tall, has brown-grey skin, a wide flat arthropodic head with compound eyes, multiple jaws and mandibles, with many jointed appendages and a stinger tail (the Precursors are said to be related to sea scorpions)... and the real kicker? It's a Flood-like assimilation of bodies, as the Precursors became the Flood. |
| 1026 | ** As it turns out, Precursors can change form pretty radically. The dust humanity found? Precursor. The Flood? Precursor. |
| 1027 | *** ''Halo: Fractures'' short story ''Promises to Keep'' reveals another potential form of Precursors through the Precursor A.I. Abaddon who's appearance assumes the form of a giant bipedal being with insectoid-like traits with an androgynous Forerunner/human-like face and insect-like wings. Its image in the Halo Encyclopedia (2022) actually very closely resembles the Forerunner Guardian constructs from ''Halo 5'', suggesting the Forerunners based their design on Abaddon's appearance. |
| 1028 | *** ''Halo: Point of Light'' reveals [[spoiler:yet another form of theirs or at least an infantile form, described as green teardrop plants as large as melons that when exposed to light would unfurl wide leathery leaves that would fan gently with the grace of a bowing dancer, and expose a glowing starburst of delicate white blooms dangling from groups of lantern-like stems.]] |
| 1029 | *** In ''Halo: Outcasts'', [[spoiler:a Precursor ruin is discovered on Netherop, and there appear to be Precursors still active within it. They are never seen, only heard as voices, and may not even have a physical form at all.]] |
| 1030 | * SufficientlyAdvancedAlien: To the Forerunners, which are pretty Sufficiently Advanced themselves. |
| 1031 | * ThenLetMeBeEvil: After the Forerunner-Precursor war, they decided that if their creations are going to try and cause them pain and suffering, then they will cause their creations unparalleled pain and suffering in turn. Not all agreed with this, however. |
| 1032 | * ThereCanBeOnlyOne: They ([[UnreliableNarrator allegedly]]) tried to wipe out the Forerunners because they decided they weren't worthy of the Mantle and also chose humanity according to the Gravemind, who is also a dubious source of information. This caused tensions between the Forerunners and humanity for eons, and according to the Forerunners, humanity later claimed the Mantle instead, which is one of the reasons that ignited the Human-Forerunner war. |
| 1033 | * TimeAbyss: The Timeless One was imprisoned for millions of years. ''Cryptum'' states that Precursor artifacts can be so old that tectonic shifts on planets unearth them after millions of years. Precursors themselves are possibly older than ''the universe itself''. |
| 1034 | * TomatoSurprise: Didact is rather shocked to find out that the Timeless One has a Flood-like biology. |
| 1035 | * WalkingSpoiler: Let's just say we eventually find out more about the Precursors than ever thought possible. [[GoMadFromTheRevelation And we were probably better off not knowing quite a bit of it]]. |
| 1036 | [[/folder]] |
| 1037 |
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