Silentium & The Didact (Spoilers)

[medcsu]

I just finished reading Silentium and wow, so many revelations it's hard to keep track.

 

The big ones that will effect H5 (and beyond) would be:

 

1) The Didact we face(d) in H4 (Ur Didact) is basically beyond redemption because he is corrupted to the core by an ancient Gravemind (more on this later). I bring this up because he will be back, be sure of that.

 

2) The Iso Didact (Bornstellar) is certainly not dead and will be back.

 

3) The Flood are Precursors. We inked into this a bit in Primordium but not to the extent in Silentium. They are Precursors. Their form, while grotesque is an initial form that will end with the rebirth of the Precursors. That being said, they had and have one enemy and that is the Forerunners, in fact, they purposely backed off the Ancient humans and see them as the inheritors of their "Mantle". The only add with this is that they have become quite more than intended by the Precursors (I will explain if need be).

 

4) Halsey is the Librarian reincarnate. While it does not explicitly spell this out, they make it quite obvious that she (Librarian) passed her "gene song" on to a human legacy in totality.

 

5) Guilty Spark will have a part to play in future Halo games.

 

Sorry for being (kind of) vague but I am blown away by this recent book (excellent). If you would prefer I spell things out I will.

[Drizzy_Dan]

I haven't read the book so I wouldn't know but if it doesn't say that Halsey is the reincarnate of the Librarian then I wouldn't just assume it. HOWEVER I know that the Librarian implanted gei into the humans and I'm willing to bet that Halsey has the geas of the Librarian seeing as she can interpret Forerunner symbols with no idea how. I've also heard rumors going around that John the Master Chief has the geas of the Iso-Didact and although we haven't seen too much proof I think this is a very plausible idea. 343, whether people like to think so or not, have an awesome story to tell and are master story tellers. The Halo 4 campaign was the tip of the tip of the Mount Everest that is the Reclaimer Trilogy and with the books also coming out to give more information, everything ties together very well. I agree with you on Guilty Spark and I agree with you to a degree on the Flood being Precursors. I haven't read any of the Forerunner Saga but I know a lot about it other than Silentium, and so far it's sounded like the Flood was a product of the Precursors or the Precursors turned into the Flood, again not sure. Can you explain about how Bornstellar's still alive? And which Didact was executed by Faber in the previous books?

[medcsu]

I haven't read the book so I wouldn't know but if it doesn't say that Halsey is the reincarnate of the Librarian then I wouldn't just assume it. HOWEVER I know that the Librarian implanted gei into the humans and I'm willing to bet that Halsey has the geas of the Librarian seeing as she can interpret Forerunner symbols with no idea how. I've also heard rumors going around that John the Master Chief has the geas of the Iso-Didact and although we haven't seen too much proof I think this is a very plausible idea. 343, whether people like to think so or not, have an awesome story to tell and are master story tellers. The Halo 4 campaign was the tip of the tip of the Mount Everest that is the Reclaimer Trilogy and with the books also coming out to give more information, everything ties together very well. I agree with you on Guilty Spark and I agree with you to a degree on the Flood being Precursors. I haven't read any of the Forerunner Saga but I know a lot about it other than Silentium, and so far it's sounded like the Flood was a product of the Precursors or the Precursors turned into the Flood, again not sure. Can you explain about how Bornstellar's still alive? And which Didact was executed by Faber in the previous books?

 

Well first off, the Flood are Precursors in totality. The only hinge to that would be when they take over an organism. However, when the organism is taken over by the Flood (Precursor) it develops along a path that will inevitably become a Precursor. The highest level we see this as is a Gravemind. A Gravemind is the closest thing we have thus far seen to a Precursor, but given more time it will become one (Silentium). This is how the Precursors designed the Flood in that they would eventually devour all life to recreate their own species. It was really a brilliant read in how they explained the life cycle of the Flood. I will attempt to sum it up:

 

1) Flood spores - At the end of the Forerunner/Precursor war, the Precursors knew they would lose so they changed their own form into a fine powder, or dust. This dust was inadvertantly found by their inheritors (humans) and through the Pheru began the evolution back from flood spores to Precursors. However, at some point, the ancient Graveminds called off the Flood from the humans (which the humans believed was due to a found "cure") because the true enemy was the Forerunners. However, they did not anticipate the humans being battled by the Forerunners, as well.

 

2) Flood forms: The spores naturalize in whatever host they take over (we already know this so I wont go into it) but the end result is to create graveminds which will inevitably become Precursors (we didn't know this).

 

3) Gravemind: This is basically the final "Flood" form before a Precursor is again reborn.

 

In essence, the Precursors anticipated a loss to the Forerunners and used the Flood dust to eventually return.

 

Your question on Halsey. It is insinuated, but heavily insinuated as the Librarian herself claims she will pick a line and seed her own essence into it that will "eventually lead a human to lead the other humans to their destiny". She also states that this human would "have her understanding of evolution and how to evolve mankind to a level to compete with the Forerunners." You're right that I cannot say for sure it is Halsey but that sounds like Halsey to me.

 

No Didact was executed by Faber. He left one (Ur Didact) stranded in a Flood infested system and assumed this would kill him, it did not as the Gravemind let the Ur Didact go after turning him "mad". The Gravemind, being a Precursor, wanted the Didact to experience the loss of his species (Forerunners) as he experienced the loss of his. Thus this began the total loss of sanity by what we see in the Didact in H4. The Didact (Ur) that we have dealt with is totally corrupted and his line of thinking coincides with the Precursors in that he sees the humans as the Precursors saw the Forerunners. In other words, revenge is his motive now.

 

Bornstellar (IsoDidact) named Chakas Guilty Spark, had a great conversation with him, had a conversation with Offensive Bias, ignited the rings and then retreated to a shield world. The book explains that the Halo effect was not instantaneous. As in, there would be time before one rings overlapped to the other, thus he had time to go (alone by the way) to a cryptum in an unnamed shield world.

 

Faber actually became quite a hero of sorts (I will explain if you wish), but he is dead.

 

Few more things I forgot to add.

 

1) The Ur and Iso Didacts are not close in any manner. Ur resents the Iso and the Librarian picked Iso (which further led to his madness).

 

2) The Iso Didact elected to rings where as the Ur Didact wanted to use the composer (the events from H4 and the composer are gone over in Silentium).

[Drizzy_Dan]

Wow excellent explanations thank you I feel like I'm starting to understand this book without having to read it just like the other ones haha. One more question: It's stated here that the Gravemind the Ur-Didact was dealing with was not really a Precursor at all and that he was being transcended thoughts from the real Timeless One, the last Precursor who is in hiding. What's the story with that?

Also yes I'd love for you to explain on Faber becoming a hero of sorts.

[Guthred Wita]

Wow, I am absolutely mindblown.

 

That's a great twist for me, I always suspected the Flood and Precursors had a solid relation, but for the Flood to eventually evolve into a Precursor? That caught me completely off guard. Thanks for posting this! Completely enjoyed this read.

 

Also

 

Faber actually became quite a hero of sorts (I will explain if you wish), but he is dead.

 

 

Please elaborate!

[medcsu]

Like the Didact (Ur) there was a series of events that drove Faber to his madness. The most important was that the Gravemind (through Medicant Bias - Fabers creation with the Ur Didact) would use Fabers dead family to constantly torment him. Using ways, for example, his family "calling out for his help" and "using information only they knew" to torment Faber into knowing his family was devoured by the Flood. I will start with this because I think it is important to realize his mind set, he was tormented and wanted to do anything in his power to destroy the Flood and thus release his family from their own torment. We see this later when the Librarian is tormented (in similar manner) by the Lord of Admirals and other humans that she allowed to be composed (Remember, originally the Librarian was all for quelling the humans until she discovered why they were "expanding" - running from Flood).

 

Close to the end of the book, Faber is basically the council, the General, and the end all voice of the Forerunners. His word is law and he has a security force to back up whatever he says. In the final meeting on the initial Ark (there were two - the one we see in Halo is not the original) Faber allows both the Librarian and the Iso Didact to leave so he could stay and coordinate with Offensive Bias to face the Flood line. He realized this would sacrfice him but threw aside his arrogance and realized that the future of the galaxy was much more dependant on both the Librarian and the Iso Didact if it were to "exist" again. In his choice of staying behind, he cut off any transportation and single handedly (with the help of Offensive Bias - militarily) took on the Flood fleet which numbered in the tens of millions of ships. If he didn't do this, two things would have not been able to happen:

 

1) Iso Didact would not have been able to reach the Ark to begin the Halo sequence.

2) The Librarian would not have been able to secure the final humans so that they could be reseeded. This is important because at this point, the Ur Didact had composed nearly all humans except one pocket to which the Librarian was able to save because of Fabers sacrifice.

 

I believe this deed was heroic because he could have very easily took the final ship to a shield world and hybernated in a Cryptum. In essence, his choice allowed for both the Flood to be eradicated and humanity to be saved.

 

Drizzy_Dan, that poster was not 100 percent correct but he was a bit correct. The transcended thoughts is correct but all Graveminds share thoughts and the "Timeless One" was simply a Gravemind that was ready to transcend back into being a Precursor. In other words, the words spoke to the Didact from that Gravemind did indeed come from the Timeless One but only because the Timeless One had a conversation with the Ur Didact thousands of years before hand after the Precursors were turned on by the Forerunners. In fact, the meeting between the Gravemind and the Didact was crucial for the Flood because while he wasn't devoured into the Flood, his thoughts were and thus were his strategies which helped the Flood. So consider this, one Gravemind that died 1 billion years ago will have the same knowledge as a Gravemind that is born today, however, in this case, the Timeless One wanted to relay his words because he personally was the one that spoke to the Didact years before and he wanted to gloat per say. At the time of their first conversation, the Timeless One really was the "Last Precursor", then the Flood came and changed that as they were becoming more.

 

Further, as the Flood became more rampent, old Precursor technology (neural physics they call it) was again becoming operational through the galaxy in forms of Star Roads and such and this allowed them to bypass Forerunner portals to attack systems without that need.

 

My mind is really blown by this final book too, I really recommend you guys read it (them), they were well done and now I am positive the Flood will come back sooner or later (I thought that anyhow but now I am convinced). I've said it many times here and I'll say it again, humanity (in terms of where we are at the time of H4) is nowhere ready to deal with such a force as the Flood that the Forerunners dealt with.

 

Bornstellar vs Ur is without a doubt going to be a big part of a future Halo game and I agree and always have that H4 was expertly written and I cannot wait for the next one.

[тυcкєя]

So much words, I am lost In the universe.

Honestly, I know what your talking bout but at the same time..not really!

[Guthred Wita]

My mind is so blown, I'm not so sure what to write. Let me just gather some of my thoughts here...

 

So we know now, that the powder left behind from the Precursors, are in fact the Precursors themselves? Just an earlier form, we also know that the Precursors held many shapes and forms, and etc, so when and IF a Precursor is reborn from a Gravemind... It wont be the same as they looked all that time ago from the Precursor - Forerunner war? 

 

 

So Faber was blinded really, with self importance and selfishness? But finally realized he wasn't the 'answer' and made a heroic sacrifice, and doing so he passed the fate of the Galaxy onto the Librarian and Iso-Didact? Shame he died really, would have been a great character to meet in game. But hey, Iso-Didact vs Ur -Didact? Bring it on!

[medcsu]

My mind is so blown, I'm not so sure what to write. Let me just gather some of my thoughts here...

 

So we know now, that the powder left behind from the Precursors, are in fact the Precursors themselves? Just an earlier form, we also know that the Precursors held many shapes and forms, and etc, so when and IF a Precursor is reborn from a Gravemind... It wont be the same as they looked all that time ago from the Precursor - Forerunner war? 

 

 

So Faber was blinded really, with self importance and selfishness? But finally realized he wasn't the 'answer' and made a heroic sacrifice, and doing so he passed the fate of the Galaxy onto the Librarian and Iso-Didact? Shame he died really, would have been a great character to meet in game. But hey, Iso-Didact vs Ur -Didact? Bring it on!

 

 

The book doesn't outline what the Gravemind will eventually look like but it states they will become a Precursor as was "intended". So the way I took it is, yes you are right, the powder was the earliest form and the Gravemind would be the final form en route to a Precursor.

 

Yes you are right on what you said about Faber too. The big thing (game play wise) I took away from the book is that Ur Didact is totally insane but actually believes what he is doing is correct. At this point in his madness I don't think even the Librarian could bring him back from his madness. He see's humanity as responsible for the Forerunners losing their empire.

 

Oh and yes, the powder is 100 percent Precursors. They turned themselves into it to preserve themselves to eventually come back, it was brilliant. And the Flood simply allows them to gain the biomass to do so.

[Seeker of Truth]

I personally don't feel the Ur-Didact is completely evil. His fears about humanity abusing the Mantle is not unfounded, given what ONI is doing to the Elites, and the way they consistently have tried to destroy each other in the past. However, turning humans into mindless slaves with no self awareness or any sort of consciousness is not the right way to go about preventing them from abusing their power. Who knows, Halo has had enough plot twists that maybe the Ur-Didact will redeem himself somehow.

 

If not, then might be interesting to fight against the Bornstellar Didact in Halo 5, however.

[Victory Element]

its finally great to see that my evolution theory was correct! i thought that the precursors eventually evolved from the flood, and people have constantly told me that they are not the same species. I have not yet had the chance to read this book, but that is a great explanation.

 

And just so i can get some clarification, did Silentium give any origins to the forerunner-precursor war??

[Guthred Wita]

The book doesn't outline what the Gravemind will eventually look like but it states they will become a Precursor as was "intended". So the way I took it is, yes you are right, the powder was the earliest form and the Gravemind would be the final form en route to a Precursor.

 

Yes you are right on what you said about Faber too. The big thing (game play wise) I took away from the book is that Ur Didact is totally insane but actually believes what he is doing is correct. At this point in his madness I don't think even the Librarian could bring him back from his madness. He see's humanity as responsible for the Forerunners losing their empire.

 

Oh and yes, the powder is 100 percent Precursors. They turned themselves into it to preserve themselves to eventually come back, it was brilliant. And the Flood simply allows them to gain the biomass to do so.

 

 

Excellent stuff, so what Gravemind's currently exist? If any, because hopefully by Halo 6 we may get to see a Precursor. 

[medcsu]

its finally great to see that my evolution theory was correct! i thought that the precursors eventually evolved from the flood, and people have constantly told me that they are not the same species. I have not yet had the chance to read this book, but that is a great explanation.

 

And just so i can get some clarification, did Silentium give any origins to the forerunner-precursor war??

 

The war was started by the Forerunners when they discovered the Precursors had chosen humanity to take over the Mantle. They premptively attacked the Precursors with the goal of total destruction of every last one. That was the origin explained and that is why the Precursors resorted to the dust that will eventually become the Flood.

 

Seeker, Ur Didact is totally gone mentally, when/if you read the book you will see that. Bornstellar is his counterbalance and will be the one to side with humanity, that is all but certain. In fact, he wanted to not only kill of humanity but all the other civilizations to "prevent" another humanity type war and assure Forerunner dominance forever. This is the main reason that the Librarian picked Bornstellar (in the end).

 

The book also outlines how and why there is an "essence" of the Librarian on Requiem which was brilliantly done, as well. It really went over everything we were missing.

[Drizzy_Dan]

The book also outlines how and why there is an "essence" of the Librarian on Requiem which was brilliantly done, as well. It really went over everything we were missing.

 

Explain sir!

[EliteSniper]

Oh my... so much knowledge... so many unknown things...

Thank you for posting this, it cleared some things up about the mysterious Forerunners for me

[Sadly Just AL]

I'm glad I read this, a good 20 minutes spent.

[WonderWombat]

If you ask me the decision to make the flood precursors (I doubt that that was the intention in combat evolved) was a bad one.

 

That is just a total let down, the whole using them as a test was a better reason for their existence if you ask me, with the humans finding a "cure" and all that. But now it was just them deciding to stop attacking the whole time.

 

That also just makes the forerunner look like a bunch of chumps. They can beat the precursors in their best form, but not when getting there. Or is it the precursors that are a bunch of chumps?

 

I think they have begun to go to deep into everything. It just feels that we might get a Star Wars kind of incident where force=bacteria.

[Frankenzer]

The book is really awesome lots of info

[umirin]

Well first off, the Flood are Precursors in totality. The only hinge to that would be when they take over an organism. However, when the organism is taken over by the Flood (Precursor) it develops along a path that will inevitably become a Precursor. The highest level we see this as is a Gravemind. A Gravemind is the closest thing we have thus far seen to a Precursor, but given more time it will become one (Silentium). This is how the Precursors designed the Flood in that they would eventually devour all life to recreate their own species. It was really a brilliant read in how they explained the life cycle of the Flood. I will attempt to sum it up:

 

1) Flood spores - At the end of the Forerunner/Precursor war, the Precursors knew they would lose so they changed their own form into a fine powder, or dust. This dust was inadvertantly found by their inheritors (humans) and through the Pheru began the evolution back from flood spores to Precursors. However, at some point, the ancient Graveminds called off the Flood from the humans (which the humans believed was due to a found "cure") because the true enemy was the Forerunners. However, they did not anticipate the humans being battled by the Forerunners, as well.

 

2) Flood forms: The spores naturalize in whatever host they take over (we already know this so I wont go into it) but the end result is to create graveminds which will inevitably become Precursors (we didn't know this).

 

3) Gravemind: This is basically the final "Flood" form before a Precursor is again reborn.

 

In essence, the Precursors anticipated a loss to the Forerunners and used the Flood dust to eventually return.

 

Your question on Halsey. It is insinuated, but heavily insinuated as the Librarian herself claims she will pick a line and seed her own essence into it that will "eventually lead a human to lead the other humans to their destiny". She also states that this human would "have her understanding of evolution and how to evolve mankind to a level to compete with the Forerunners." You're right that I cannot say for sure it is Halsey but that sounds like Halsey to me.

 

No Didact was executed by Faber. He left one (Ur Didact) stranded in a Flood infested system and assumed this would kill him, it did not as the Gravemind let the Ur Didact go after turning him "mad". The Gravemind, being a Precursor, wanted the Didact to experience the loss of his species (Forerunners) as he experienced the loss of his. Thus this began the total loss of sanity by what we see in the Didact in H4. The Didact (Ur) that we have dealt with is totally corrupted and his line of thinking coincides with the Precursors in that he sees the humans as the Precursors saw the Forerunners. In other words, revenge is his motive now.

 

Bornstellar (IsoDidact) named Chakas Guilty Spark, had a great conversation with him, had a conversation with Offensive Bias, ignited the rings and then retreated to a shield world. The book explains that the Halo effect was not instantaneous. As in, there would be time before one rings overlapped to the other, thus he had time to go (alone by the way) to a cryptum in an unnamed shield world.

 

Faber actually became quite a hero of sorts (I will explain if you wish), but he is dead.

 

Few more things I forgot to add.

 

1) The Ur and Iso Didacts are not close in any manner. Ur resents the Iso and the Librarian picked Iso (which further led to his madness).

 

2) The Iso Didact elected to rings where as the Ur Didact wanted to use the composer (the events from H4 and the composer are gone over in Silentium).

and offtopic qusetion maybe you know?  How long have the gravemind we faced in the first halo series lived? and when did the covenant/humans first faced the flood? ( you see them in halo wars for an example) keep in mind i dont read or can read the books... cost way to much to ship the to my country and my english is not the best

[WonderWombat]

and offtopic qusetion maybe you know?  How long have the gravemind we faced in the first halo series lived? and when did the covenant/humans first faced the flood? ( you see them in halo wars for an example) keep in mind i dont read or can read the books... cost way to much to ship the to my country and my english is not the best

Didn't the ship in Halo Wars get lost in space? They were never able to inform anyone of anything.

 

The Covenant seem to know what the flood is in Combat Evolved.

[Victory Element]

Didn't the ship in Halo Wars get lost in space? They were never able to inform anyone of anything.

 

The Covenant seem to know what the flood is in Combat Evolved.

 

i thought the entire crew from halo wars was MIA, but i may be wrong. the covenant probably have studied the flood while under containment in the halo installations, until it was later released

[WonderWombat]

i thought the entire crew from halo wars was MIA, but i may be wrong. the covenant probably have studied the flood while under containment in the halo installations, until it was later released

MIA, lost in space, same thing. Captain Cutter puts everyone but himself into cryosleep, but I don't know how that would affect a person, being in that state for decades.

[medcsu]

and offtopic qusetion maybe you know?  How long have the gravemind we faced in the first halo series lived? and when did the covenant/humans first faced the flood? ( you see them in halo wars for an example) keep in mind i dont read or can read the books... cost way to much to ship the to my country and my english is not the best

 

The Gravemind in H2 would have lived since Penitent Tangent went rampent (probably due to the Flood) on Installation 5. If this were the case (and I think it is) then that Gravemind would be anywhere between 50 to 100 thousand years old, probably more towards 50-75 as I doubt there was an outbreak on Installation 5 so early as Guilty Spark was still receiving reports from Installation 5. I think it is entirely plausible that the Gravemind from H2/H3 was close to 100 thousand years old by the time he spoke with the MC and the Arbiter.

 

The Halo Wars Gravemind I really don't know because we don't have much history on it.

 

Graveminds are obviously (now we know) Timeless and do not seem to require much in terms of energy consumption to live for eons.

 

Installation 3 seems to be intact and that would mean Abject Testament is probably around somewhere so no Gravemind threat there (side note).

 

I find it interesting that the Forerunners decided to keep the Composer at Installation 3. As in, why there? So I'm sure we will delve into that in a coming game.

 

Explain sir!

 

I would be better if I just quoted it for you:

 

Librarian: I wish to leave something of myself here, the Didact in his right mind would not object

 

Endurance (female Forerunner warrior assisting the Didact on Requiem): What would you leave?

 

Librarian: If Lifeworkers succeed in repopulating the galaxy, after the Flood is gone....if you have visitors who seek to challenge the Didact, you can convey to them a message, and a Safeguard.

 

Endurance: What will the message be.

 

Librarian: That is for the visitors. If any. It won't take long to deliver an imprint of myself to you ancillary systems.

 

Endurance: Why would Requiem accept your imprint?

 

Librarian: You know what the Didact has become. He could emerge a danger both to himself and to others, even those who mean no harm. What I leave of myself will serve as much as to protect Requiem as to protect any visitors.

 

Endurance: Your loyalty to your husband has never been questioned.

 

Librarian: Never. All shall benefit. The Didact must not control the Prometheans.

 

Endurance: You believe he could endanger Forerunners?

 

Librarian: He will violate the Mantle, in order to seize it. Unless he is held back. Allowed to find himself again if that is to come to pass.

 

 

 

The book goes into depth about how this transfer occurs but it is over 20 pages to be honest. Basically she made a digital copy of herself and left it there because she knew humans would eventually come to Requiem.

 

Her brilliance really was amazing.

[umirin]

Didn't the ship in Halo Wars get lost in space? They were never able to inform anyone of anything.

 

The Covenant seem to know what the flood is in Combat Evolved.

yeah becuse the prophet in halo wars also was on the sheild world, and left it, but he most have been give  some information about the flood of his '' whats a good word... workers :/'' so they should have some info about it or atleast know that they existed.

[Equinox618]

Is there any other picture of the Forerunners? Because the evil Didact's head looks kind of like flood biomass (the pale gray with the red organ-thingies coming out). Anyways, back to the main main topic, so...much...knowledge...so...many...holes in the story filled! Great job!