Halo 4 Epilog: Didact’s Speech

Community Halo Universe
1

I have noticed that the opinions differ when it comes to the Didact’s speech in the epilog of Halo 4.
One side thinks that his speech was held in the past during the war between the Forerunners and the Flood, while the other side thinks he holds this speech in the present.

I count myself to the fraction that thinks the speech was held in the past.
Personally, it seems to me that in this speech the Didact is justifying himself for his acts and intentions on humanity in front of the Librarian in the past. But even though the speech was held in the past, I think you can relate it or it is relating to the present now as well because history has repeated itself in some way and Didact’s opinion about humanity has not changed over the time.
To support and explain my thoughts and opinion about that topic I will pick out some lines from the epilog and give you my interpretations on them:
The order is: “quote”, interpretation, relation to the present

"In this hour of victory, we taste only defeat.”
Firing the Halos will defend the Flood and save the galaxy but it will also mean that the Forerunners are going to lose and have to give up their role as the guardians.
I think that sentence is relating to the Didact and to John as well. The Didact (the Forerunners) has returned but the first attempt to reclaim the Mantle of Responsibility has failed. John ‘defeated’ the Didact and saved humanity (again) but he has lost Cortana.

“I stand before you, accused of the sin of ensuring Forerunner ascendancy”
The composing of humans to raise the numbers of his Prometheans as a last attempt to stop and defeat the Flood without firing the Halos but also to still his hatred against humanity, strongly displeased the Librarian and she ‘accused’ him for that. But the Didact cannot follow her displeasure because he was convinced that he will only help the galaxy with his decision.
The Didact is still convinced that his chosen path is the right one and his goals and intentions are nobel.

“Humanity stands as the greatest threat in the galaxy. Refusing to eradicate them is a fool’s gambit”
Here I think the Didact tried to convince the Librarian that humanity should not exist. Even though humanity was put back into Stone Age, the Didact was convinced that sooner or later it will become the former reckless threat it once was. As a result, composing humanity will not only finally eliminate this threat but will force it to defeat the evil (the Flood) it has brought and spread over the galaxy as well.
His opinion has simply not changed over the time and he still sees humanity as the greatest threat in the galaxy, probably because it achieved great power but lack in wisdom in his eyes and because of personal aversion against it.

“We squander eons in the darkness, while they seize our triumphs for their own.”
I have to admit that sentence was tricky and I am still not quite sure how to interpret it properly. However, I think he meant that while the Forerunners are going to fade with the past after the Halos fire, humanity will rise again and will think it achieved its knowledge and advance all by itself and will claim a high and powerful position in the galaxy, even though the only reason why they exist and achieved all that is because of the Forerunners.
Nowadays, the Forerunners are faded, while humanity used Forerunner technology to speed up its evolution and increase its power in the galaxy.

“But do not doubt the reality: The Reclamation… has already begun. And we are hopeless to stop it.”
I wondered why he would say: “and we are hopeless to stop it”. That’s why I think he was probably relating to humanity’s reclamation of its former self and strength and the Forerunners are hopeless to stop it because they will ‘vanish’ and the galaxy will lose its guardians after the Halos fired.
Currently, humanity quickly evolves into an unmatched power in the galaxy and nothing has prevented that just like the Didact had foreseen it. Even the Didact himself was not able to stop humanity’s ‘reclamation’ with his attempt.

In conclusion, I interpret his speech more as a relation or a comparison between the past and the present, than as a hint that the Didact is still alive or what happened with him after he fell into slip space.
Nonetheless I believe he survived.

Now I would like to hear your interpretations of the Didact’s speech and why do you think his speech was held in the past or in the present.
Please respect other people’s interpretations and opinions.

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I completely agree with what you are saying. This speech was made at the end of the forerunner-flood war.

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> I completely agree with what you are saying. This speech was made at the end of the Human-forerunner war.

Except that’s not what Swift is saying, because the halos hadn’t been invented yet, nor had humans been chosen to survive while the forerunners would fade yet.

The problem is the didact doesn’t really face a jury at all for his later acts against humanity. The librarian handles it pretty much by herself (with alittle aid in the book) in both the terminal and novel versions, both without him knowing what she was about to do.

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It only makes sense in the context of the present all the way through.

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> It only makes sense in the context of the present all the way through.

And what exactly led you to your conclusion?

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> > It only makes sense in the context of the present all the way through.
>
> And what exactly led you to your conclusion?

I agree with Cobra on this one. While some of the passages make sense in both the present and the past, if it’s in the present the whole speech makes sense. “We squander eons in the darkness, while they seize our triumphs for their own…” makes no sense in the past, but fits perfectly into the present. “Humanity stands as the greatest threat in the galaxy…” I get that the Didact was totally insane by that point, but even he couldn’t call Humanity the greatest threat while the Flood had literally overrun the entire galaxy. “In our hour of victory, we taste only defeat.” I admit this could work in the past, but it makes more sense in the present; the Forerunners had defeated the Flood and saved the galaxy, but they had lost their principal position in the galaxy to the humans.

Also, at no point between the Didact’s composing of the Humans on Installation 07 and his imprisonment is there time to put him on trial. I could see him maybe leaving a recording of himself, but my other points still stand.

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"In this hour of victory, we taste only defeat.”
Like you said, the Forerunner defeated the Flood but also gave the Mantle to Humanity. They were victorious, but taste only defeat.

“I stand before you, accused of the sin of ensuring Forerunner ascendancy”
One problem, the Didact never faces trial or says a speech regarding his Composing of Humanity before the Halos. It only makes sense in past tense if they were to take a bunch of things he said from different time periods and mash them together.

“Humanity stands as the greatest threat in the galaxy. Refusing to eradicate them is a fool’s gambit”
Whether the Didact was convinced that Humanity would eventual become what they once were is irrelevant, he’s talking about how they are now. Humanity didn’t pose a threat at all before the Halos were fired, except for during the war. However, in the present day, they pose a significant threat to the galaxy, with ONI taking over Halo rings and all that other stuff they’re doing. He doesn’t think Humanity can protect the galaxy, therefor they’re a threat.

“We squander eons in the darkness, while they seize our triumphs for their own.”
If he’s referring to things that will happen in the future, he should learn his verb tenses. He says that the Forerunners have squandered eons in the darkness, and Humanity is taking their triumphs for their own by reverse engineering Forerunner technology. Neither make any sense before the Halos fired.

Honestly, I have yet to see a convincing argument for the speech being in the past, but I’ve seen quite a few good arguments for the speech being in the present. You may want to try looking up the past thread on this topic, you’ll find some there.

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> “I stand before you, accused of the sin of ensuring Forerunner ascendancy”
> One problem, the Didact never faces trial or says a speech regarding his Composing of Humanity before the Halos. It only makes sense in past tense if they were to take a bunch of things he said from different time periods and mash them together.

That’s right but that does not mean that there couldn’t have been one, does it?
As I watched the Terminals, it seemed to me as if the Didact had to justify himself in front of the Librarian for his acts at some point.

> “Humanity stands as the greatest threat in the galaxy. Refusing to eradicate them is a fool’s gambit”
> Whether the Didact was convinced that Humanity would eventual become what they once were is irrelevant, he’s talking about how they are now. Humanity didn’t pose a threat at all before the Halos were fired, except for during the war. However, in the present day, they pose a significant threat to the galaxy, with ONI taking over Halo rings and all that other stuff they’re doing. He doesn’t think Humanity can protect the galaxy, therefor they’re a threat.

Well, humanity was a great threat, then in their current state they are not but with time they can become again. So even though humanity isen’t a danger currently, it can still stand as the greatest threat in the galaxy.

> “We squander eons in the darkness, while they seize our triumphs for their own.”
> If he’s referring to things that will happen in the future, he should learn his verb tenses. He says that the Forerunners have squandered eons in the darkness, and Humanity is taking their triumphs for their own by reverse engineering Forerunner technology. Neither make any sense before the Halos fired.

Like I said, that is the only sentence that let me doubt.

A counterquestion before I go to bed. :wink:
Who is the Didact addressing or who puts him on trial in case his speech is in the past?
The possible answer are the remaining Forerunners but haven’t they all exiled?

In addition, my intention is not to convince anyone, I just wanted to state how I interpreted it and hear what other people think about it or how other people interpreted it.

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> That’s right but that does not mean that there couldn’t have been one, does it?
> As I watched the Terminals, it seemed to me as if the Didact had to justify himself in front of the Librarian for his acts at some point.

Have you read Silentium? It goes into the events leading up to the Librarian putting him in his cryptum in more detail.

> A counter question before I go to bed. :wink:
> Who is the Didact addressing or who puts him on trial in case his speech is in the past?
> The possible answer are the remaining Forerunners but haven’t they all exiled?

Exiled from who? They’re just sitting back and letting the galaxy handle itself now, probably monitoring everything as well, just in case. It’s not beyond belief that they saw what the Didact was doing and arrested him.

If it is indeed in the past, the only person who he could really be talking to is the Librarian. But that neither fits in the context of his speech, nor makes a ton of sense with the detail that Silentium gives us.

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> > “I stand before you, accused of the sin of ensuring Forerunner ascendancy”
> > One problem, the Didact never faces trial or says a speech regarding his Composing of Humanity before the Halos. It only makes sense in past tense if they were to take a bunch of things he said from different time periods and mash them together.
>
> That’s right but that does not mean that there couldn’t have been one, does it?
> As I watched the Terminals, it seemed to me as if the Didact had to justify himself in front of the Librarian for his acts at some point.
>
> Silentium would disagree. Librarian wasted no time imprisoning him after he Composed the humans, there was no trial, just a shot to the chest and being stuck in isolation.
>
>
>
>
> > “Humanity stands as the greatest threat in the galaxy. Refusing to eradicate them is a fool’s gambit”
> > Whether the Didact was convinced that Humanity would eventual become what they once were is irrelevant, he’s talking about how they are now. Humanity didn’t pose a threat at all before the Halos were fired, except for during the war. However, in the present day, they pose a significant threat to the galaxy, with ONI taking over Halo rings and all that other stuff they’re doing. He doesn’t think Humanity can protect the galaxy, therefor they’re a threat.
>
> Well, humanity was a great threat, then in their current state they are not but with time they can become again. So even though humanity isen’t a danger currently, it can still stand as the greatest threat in the galaxy.
>
> Before the Halos fired, the Precursors were objectively the greatest threat not only of the galaxy, but of the entire universe. The only way that makes sense in the past is not if the Didact is insane, but if he’s also incredibly stupid.
>
>
>
>
> > “We squander eons in the darkness, while they seize our triumphs for their own.”
> > If he’s referring to things that will happen in the future, he should learn his verb tenses. He says that the Forerunners have squandered eons in the darkness, and Humanity is taking their triumphs for their own by reverse engineering Forerunner technology. Neither make any sense before the Halos fired.
>
> Like I said, that is the only sentence that let me doubt.
>
> A lot of these lend to doubt, but the entire speech works in the present, where only certain parts make sense in the past. Simply math at that point, which sounds most likely? The speech being in the present (makes 100% sense) or the speech being in the past (only about 50%, at most 60% sense)?
>
>
> A counterquestion before I go to bed. :wink:
> Who is the Didact addressing or who puts him on trial in case his speech is in the past?
> The possible answer are the remaining Forerunners but haven’t they all exiled?
>
> You mean in the present? If so, Bornsteallar, or his descendants. Yes they were exiled, but all that means is that they’re still alive. All we know is that the Didact’s speech can’t have been made in the past, that says nothing about it being made in the present or, possibly, the future. Perhaps the Didact was located and arrested for crimes against humanity. I highly doubt they would just ignore the rest of the universe all together, they’re probably waiting and watching for signs of the Precursors’ inevitable return, and keeping an unobtrusive eye on humanity’s progress.
>
> Given that Didact’s entire purpose was to uplift humanity, not destroy them, the Forerunners would naturally arrest him and try him for his crimes. He literally had one job and he blew it.
>
>
> In addition, my intention is not to convince anyone, I just wanted to state how I interpreted it and hear what other people think about it or how other people interpreted it.

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I agree with Cobra in that I believe he is speaking to a council of Forerunners AFTER the New Phoenix incident. “We squander eons in the darkness” only makes sense in the present.

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> > I completely agree with what you are saying. This speech was made at the end of the Human-forerunner war.
>
> Except that’s not what Swift is saying, because the halos hadn’t been invented yet, nor had humans been chosen to survive while the forerunners would fade yet.
>
> The problem is the didact doesn’t really face a jury at all for his later acts against humanity. The librarian handles it pretty much by herself (with alittle aid in the book) in both the terminal and novel versions, both without him knowing what she was about to do.

my bad fixed

13

“Humanity STANDS…”

“We SQUANDER…”

“They CLAIM…”

Present tense. The Didact isn’t looking foward at what he thinks WILL happen, he adresses what IS happening. And the Reclaimation had certainly not begun before re-seeding.

14

> Before the Halos fired, the Precursors were objectively the greatest threat not only of the galaxy, but of the entire universe. The only way that makes sense in the past is not if the Didact is insane, but if he’s also incredibly stupid.

His blind hatred against humanity, what you can count as stupidity, could have been a reason as well why he thought or tried to justify that it stands as the greatest threat in the galaxy.

> A counterquestion before I go to bed. :wink:
> Who is the Didact addressing or who puts him on trial in case his speech is in the past?
> The possible answer are the remaining Forerunners but haven’t they all exiled?
>
> You mean in the present? If so, Bornsteallar, or his descendants. Yes they were exiled, but all that means is that they’re still alive. All we know is that the Didact’s speech can’t have been made in the past, that says nothing about it being made in the present or, possibly, the future. Perhaps the Didact was located and arrested for crimes against humanity. I highly doubt they would just ignore the rest of the universe all together, they’re probably waiting and watching for signs of the Precursors’ inevitable return, and keeping an unobtrusive eye on humanity’s progress.
>
> Given that Didact’s entire purpose was to uplift humanity, not destroy them, the Forerunners would naturally arrest him and try him for his crimes. He literally had one job and he blew it.

Ups, yes I meant in the present of course. Sorry, it was kind of late.
However, I have thought after the Forerunners reseed the galaxy they decided to free themselves from their task to watch over it because they have been convinced that they were done meddling into the affairs of others. They decided to exile and put the fate of the galaxy in the hands of its beings and I have thought they possibly put themselves into a meditative state.
Though it seems plausible that they would still keep an unobtrusive eye on the galaxy, so in case something like the Didact happens they can interfere.

I would like to ask you another question (of course other people are invited to reply to it as well):
In his last sentence “But do not doubt the reality: The Reclamation… has already begun. And we are hopeless to stop it”, who’s reclamation or what kind of reclamation do you think he is addressing and why does he think it is inevitable?

15

^ I wouldn’t quite claim that the Didact’s aggressions and emotions towards humanity is “Blind” Hatred.

He’s a few good reasons to dis-like us;

  • Ancient Humanity destroyed Forerunner worlds, killing millions of his own.
  • His wife ( Librarian ) betrayed him, locking him in a cryptum, she’s also a big fan of his worst enemy, ( Humans ).
  • She died on Earth, ( I believe? ). A Human world.
  • And now we’re using Forerunner technology to better ourselves, and we’re also now attacking the Didact.

Edit; - I mean… if I were the Didact, I wouldn’t like Humanity either.

16

I think present/past for the didact means nothing. He was in a cryptum, and forerunner live a lot. So his concept of present probably is from the firing of halos to the actual 2558 situation.
I think it’s a discourse he said now, because only now humanity uses “forerunner triumphs” and forerunner “squander eons in the darkness”, the fact he calls it an “hour of victory” is explained above. The “we” is only because he is speaking generically for all forerunners.

The only strange thing is the “i stand before you, accused of the sin of ensuring forerunner ascendency”
Who is you? probably a singular because in foreign languages it is translated with the singular pronoun.

17

> ^ I wouldn’t quite claim that the Didact’s aggressions and emotions towards humanity is “Blind” Hatred.
>
> He’s a few good reasons to dis-like us;
>
> - Ancient Humanity destroyed Forerunner worlds, killing millions of his own.
> - His wife ( Librarian ) betrayed him, locking him in a cryptum, she’s also a big fan of his worst enemy, ( Humans ).
> - She died on Earth, ( I believe? ). A Human world.
> - And now we’re using Forerunner technology to better ourselves, and we’re also now attacking the Didact.
>
> Edit; - I mean… if I were the Didact, I wouldn’t like Humanity either.

But humanity destroyed Forerunner worlds because of the Flood. They even considered to warn the Forerunners or ask them for help but that would have taken too long and before they risk that the Flood can spread they simply cleansed the planets. It was simply a questionable but nonetheless undesired decision that humanity had to make.

The Didact considered the Forerunners as wise beings and humanity not.
But a truthfully wisely being would understand humanity’s acts and would forgive them like the Librarian did.
That’s why I think you can say that Didact’s hatred against humanity is ‘blind’.
Besides, I think he refuses to believe that humanity could become worthy to obtain the Mantle because he claims on it so tight that he fears to lose it and that’s why he possibly sees humanity as his personal greatest threat.

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> I think present/past for the didact means nothing. He was in a cryptum, and forerunner live a lot. So his concept of present probably is from the firing of halos to the actual 2558 situation.
> I think it’s a discourse he said now, because only now humanity uses “forerunner triumphs” and forerunner “squander eons in the darkness”, the fact he calls it an “hour of victory” is explained above. The “we” is only because he is speaking generically for all forerunners.
>
> The only strange thing is the “i stand before you, accused of the sin of ensuring forerunner ascendency”
> Who is you? probably a singular because in foreign languages it is translated with the singular pronoun.

Sounds plausible to me as well.
Perhaps he is not even addressing an actual individual or a specific group of individuals. Perhaps he is addressing the entire galaxy or simply his conscience, while the latter would make sense to me.
Though that could be a farfetched thought.

19

Halo 4 Epilogue:

> "Humanity stands as the greatest threat in the galaxy, refusing to eradicate them is a fool’s gambit.

Halo 4 Terminal #2:

> "Shall we take revenge? Abandon the Mantle and all that its philosophy has given us these thousand generations? […] The enemy must be sent home and taught to stand with the galaxy rather than rail against us and take what they desire. The Mantle shelters all.

This makes it crystal clear that the Didact’s Epilogue speech did not take place in the past. During the Human-Forerunner war, he was entirely level-headed about humanity, admiring them as warriors for their skill and valor, and wanted to preserve them - he states in Halo: Cryptum that he desired Riser’s people to be preserved as teachers for human young because the chamanush showed the positive nature of humanity.

There is a complete contrast between this statement with what he’s saying in the Epilogue - that they need to be WIPED OUT. It’s clear to the Ur-Didact at this point that attempting to preserve and contain humanity (through devolution, through composition etc) has been a complete folly and the time has come to remove them from the equation entirely.

We were not a danger to the Forerunners during the Forerunner-Flood war, we were barely a threat to them in the final decades of the Human-Forerunner war since humanity was sheltering under the Precursor artefacts of Charum Hakkor for 50 years.

Humanity is a threat now that the Forerunners have “squander[ed] eons in the darkness” and “seized [their] triumphs for their own”. Forerunner technology is what’s building humanity up to being top-dog in the galaxy post-2552, it’s a reflection of the Primordial’s statement that “humans will rise again in arrogance and defiance” - the same way that everything the Ur-Didact says in the Epilogue is a reflection of his character’s transformation after the Precursors drove him insane.

The final line as well, “the Reclamation has already begun, and we are hopeless to stop it”, can only make sense in the present. Humanity was definitely not reclaiming anything back in the days of their old empire, nor were they when they were living out their lives with bronze spears on various Forerunner installations and Earth. The Reclamation is a current event that has begun, there has been absolutely no mention of it in prior fiction about events in the past and if it were a past event then there would be absolutely no sense in making that the final line of Halo 4 since it obviously wouldn’t be applicable.

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ajw summed it up well, I think it only makes sense for the speech to take place post-Halo 4