> Previous Dossiers:
> The Storm Covenant
Hey guys, seeing as how the Didact is a confirmed presence in Halo 4, I figured I’d give him the same treatment I did the Storm Covenant in my previous assessment of who they are. So if you want to know more about the Didact, here you go. Forerunner Saga spoilers below.
Dossier: RE: The Didact
Overview
Over 100,000 years ago, the Forerunner Empire spanned the farthest regions of the Milky Way galaxy. The Forerunners were a highly advanced technological race that acted as the self-appointed protectors of the galaxy. Though they looked down upon violence to resolve conflicts, a caste of soldiers called Warrior-Servants existed to protect the interests of the Forerunners. Within the Warrior-Servants was a group of extremely lethal, well-disciplined warriors known as the Prometheans. Their greatest general was the Didact.
Early History
The Didact, whose actual name remains unknown as the Didact was an earned nickname in his War College days, earned fame and glory during the Human-Forerunner war. At that time in the galaxy’s history, humanity had achieved an interstellar empire that bordered on the Forerunners. The humans had begun to entrench on Forerunner colonies and claiming them as their own, starting the conflict. Even with the aid of their allies, the San 'Shyuum, a race of beings who would eventually become the Prophets of the Covenant 100,000 years later, humanity was defeated by the Didact’s brilliant military strategies.
Humanity made their last stand on the world of Charum Hakkor, a planet that contained untold relics of the long-vanished Precursor civilization. The humans who weren’t de-evolved and relegated to the world of Erde-Tyrene, later known as Earth, were turned into genetic memories and placed in the minds of their de-evolved brethren. The reason for this was due to the discovery of the Flood parasite and the conflict the humans had had with it. The Didact had learned the Flood was the reason the humans had encroached on Forerunner space as they scrambled to gather resources to fight this threat. Humans also allegdily found a cure for the Flood, so at the behest of his wife the Librarian, the Didact used a device called the Composer to save the memories of his defeated foes.
Exile
With the cure yet to be recovered, the Didact pleaded with Forerunner leadership to advance his plans for an array of Shield Worlds in an effort to protect his people from the Flood. The council had other plans as a Forerunner named the Master Builder, actual name Faber, had suggested the use of super-weapons known as Halos. The Halos would destroy sentient life in the galaxy and cleanse the Flood and it’s food source.
Humiliated by the Master Builder, the Didact went through self-imposed exile on Erde-Tyrene in a Cryptum, a structure that acted as a tomb that would keep the Didact alive as he acted out the terms of his exile for a thousand years.
Discovery
A thousand years later a young Forerunner named Bornsteller Makes Eternal Lasting ventured to Erde-Tyrene in search of Precursor artifacts. Instead, he and his human companions Chakas and Riser found the Didact’s cryptum and awakened him. Once restored to full strength, the Didact, Bornsteller and the two humans fled to several worlds to uncover the events that had transpired in the Didact’s absence. It was at Charum Hakkor that the Didact was shocked to see the devastation of the Halos on CHarum Hakkor’s Precursor ruins. The Didact eventually journeyed to the San 'Shyuum homneworld when he learned of a rebellion by the species that had once aided humanity. It was there that he was captured by the Master Builder and separated from Bornsteller and his humans.
Two Didacts
Before he was captured, the Didact performed a brevet mutation on Bornsteller. The Forerunners undergo several mutations in their lifetimes and develop features that fit their caste in society. With a brevet mutation, Bornsteller was essentially turned into an avatar for the Didact with all of his knowledge and expertise placed in Bornsteller. This event would create two Didact’s, the Ur-Didact being the original and the Bornsteller-Didact being Bornsteller with the Didact’s knowledge.
Betrayal
The Master Builder, with the Ur-Didact now his prisoner, cast the Ur-Didact into a Flood-infested star system where he was eventually recovered by Forerunner forces years later. However, he would learn of a grand betrayal. The Contender-class ancilla Mendicant Bias, made to combat the Flood, defected to the Flood after 43 years of communication with the Primordial, a mysterious entity that claimed to be a Precursor. The Master Builder had released it when he fired on Charum Hakkor and brought it aboard the Halo ring known as Installation 07. Bias, with his rings in tow, attacked the Forerunner Capital and destroyed it. The AI then fled with Installation 07 to the far reaches of the galaxy before it and it’s rouge Halo were recovered by the Bornsteller-Didact who recovered his two lost human friends aboard the ring and destroyed the Primordial.
Firing The Array
At this point in the records, the Didact is referred to as a single individual and any distinction between the Ur-Didact and Bornsteller-Didact is absent. All that is known is that one Didact fired the Halo Array, wiping out the Flood and all sentient life in the galaxy. A group of Forerunners left the galaxy afterward and the Didact now resides on the world of Requiem.
Conclusion
The present role of the Didact, whichever one he may be, proves to be a mystery. His Promethean Knights are hostile forces on Requiem, yet this conflicts with his honorable and noble past. Is the Didact suffering from insanity? Is the Didact under the control of another being? Has the Didact simply become evil over the subsequent 100,000 years? No conclusion can be drawn at this time, but what is certain is that he will be a pivotal character in the conflict on Requiem and beyond.
//End Transmission