Theories: On Didacts and Genesongs

Games Halo 5: Guardians
#1

EDIT: I’ll post down below in a later thought-train on some of my theories about the states of certain genesongs (aka, Geas) lying dormant, or perhaps not so dormant, in current mainstay characters. But to start, I have some theories on the states of the dual Didacts. END EDIT

PART ONE: On Didacts

There are two very real (and obstinate) possibilities of Didact returning in Halo 5 (or in subsequent titles):

Ur-Didact: He wasn’t killed by MC at the end of Halo 4- he even speaks in the epilogue, most likely to his army of Prometheans at an undisclosed location and time. He fell backwards into the slipspace portal, the same portal that was being used as a conduit for the data stream of composed humans from New Phoenix. He ended up going to wherever that stream was being fed to, more than likely. Where might be that “wherever” be?

  • The Lesser Ark*
  • Halo Installation 03, or perhaps one of the other “undiscovered” ones.
  • Another shield world (we know there were many constructed. We’ve only known about 3 different ones so far, I believe?**)
  • Somewhere new and unknown as of yet.

Either way, he most likely ended up somewhere quiet far away from the solar system, so he’ll need to regroup and find new means of travel.

IsoDidact: He vowed to never return and meddle with the affairs of this universe, but I definitely could see him returning somehow/for some reason. Perhaps he finds greater truth (or danger) out beyond our spiral arms, and has no choice but to come back. Or perhaps he finds Precursors or like-Precursors out there. Who knows. That’s so very open-ended at this point, and he’ll either come back, or it’ll be forever a “loose end” of sorts. Nothing wrong with a bit of mystery. :]

*Also, keep in mind that Ur-Didact more than likely has no idea that 032 Mendicant Bias is still alive, albeit, in shards. Perhaps he and MC will have a “race to find MB” in Halo 5, of sorts, perhaps not. But it would definitely be interesting to see MB and Ur-D square off or exchange words, after all of this time.

**Just looked this up. Yep, 3 known shield worlds so far.

  • Shield World 0001: Requiem
  • Shield World 006: Trevelyan
  • Shield World 0459
#2

I’m pretty sure Iso-Didact is dead. The rings kill all the life, even the one that activate them.

#3

> I’m pretty sure Iso-Didact is dead. The rings kill all the life, even the one that activate them.

Iso-Didact was confirmed alive in the Rebirth audio book video. He returned to the Ark after activating the Halos and then held a trial for Mendicant-Bias. Later, he oversaw the re-seeding of Humans on Earth and spoke to Riser about a future in which Humans and Forerunner live together in peace.

#4

> I’m pretty sure Iso-Didact is dead. The rings kill all the life, even the one that activate them.

Have you read the extended epilogue of Silentium, titled Rebirth? In it, we learn that Riser and many other humans survive the firing of the Halos by the IsoDidact, because they were kept safe on the Lesser Ark. IsoDidact, Chant-to-Green and a handful of other remaining Forerunners also wait out the firing of the Halos, and then repopulate Erde-Tyrene, and other worlds, with sentient and cataloged life forms.

I pulled the text from the ending of Rebirth:

“We will do what we can with what we are given,” Riser said. “But what of you? Where will the Forerunners live?”
“I do not know,” Bornstellar said, “Not yet. All I know for certain is that we cannot return to these places. We have already meddled too much in the affairs of others.”
Riser grimaced. “Forerunners refusing to meddle? Is that a promise?”
“A promise,” Trial said.
“Truly this will be a different place,” Riser said.
“The portal will stay,” said Bornstellar.
“Ah, then you have lied,” Riser said, but with no anger or surprise.
“It will be buried to be found when needed. Perhaps one day your children will make their way back, and, I hope, meet our children.”
“I doubt even I will long enough to see that day,” said Riser.
“But it is good to think our young will rise to another challenge, as brothers should, making trouble, finding strength.”
Bornstellar felt this deeply, and even with his armor to protect him, the emotion was almost too much. “Hope,” was all he could say. Then they returned to the fish-ship and left the humans alone to find their way.
From his place in the trees, Riser watched the Forerunner ships depart over the ocean, over the horizon, and into the final red glow of the sunset. Then he climbed down and gathered up his people to begin exploring. It didn’t take Riser long to realize that they had all lived through a long, and very strange dream. In their dream, humans, Forerunners, everyone in the galaxy, had been stripped of their worldly might and bluster, and made to come together as one. Could that have truly happened? He chuffed and walked ahead of the small group. The small, lovely men and women whispered like passing breezes, and sang like little birds, showing how delighted they were to be free, to be alive. Soon enough they would lie down and make young ones. This was a very good place for young ones.

#5

> I’m pretty sure Iso-Didact is dead. The rings kill all the life, even the one that activate them.

The entire Halo array can be remotely fired from the Lesser Ark, and since the Ark is outside the reaches of the galaxy itself, the chain-reaction of energies as each Halo’s “shockwave” mash into each other (thus spreading further), it is safe from the destruction.

Hence the moniker, “The Ark”- a parallel to the Biblical narrative in which Noah is tasked by God to save a copy of each species of animal on earth, in order to repopulate the globe after… The Flood wipes out all living things.

:]

#6

> I’m pretty sure Iso-Didact is dead. The rings kill all the life, even the one that activate them.

Given that the Lesser Ark is well outside of the firing range for the Halo’s, and that the epilogue of Silentium says so, the IsoDidact didn’t die.

However, I doubt that he’d live for a hundred thousand years without a Cryptum (which if he did use, would be disastrous given that the Domain was destroyed and he’d literately be stuck with his own greif for firing the Halo’s and killing his wife for a hundred thousand years; which would make him just as mad as his original) and in Rebirth (Silentium’s epilogue), he did say many lines that foreshadow him dying of old age.

But then again, there are other things aside from Cryptums that can be used to ignore time.

#7

> But then again, there are other things aside from Cryptums that can be used to ignore time.

Like a shield world, or some other Forerunner construct/technology. Or perhaps some new/alien type device discovered during their travels outside the known galaxy.

EDIT: Future novel subject: the travels of IsoDidact and the remaining Forerunners. That would be a fantastic read.

#8

I don’t think I should need to say this, but… THERE ARE A LOT OF SPOILERS ABOUT TO BE DROPPED if you haven’t read the books or played Halo 4. So. Be ye warned!

PART TWO: On Genesongs

First off, what the heck is a Geas/genesong? A genesong is a genetic compound imposed on an organism or species. The term itself, “Geas (ge-ah-sh)”, was a Forerunner term, describing the essence of life that the genesong encompassed.

A geas could range from monuments of wisdom and knowledge all the way up the literal mental copy of a particular being’s mind and soul. A geas could be immediately activated, once passed to its new “host”, or it could be locked away within the host or its descendants until certain mental or physical queues, either internal or external, triggered its awakening. Under the influence of a geas, an organism could be given a set of subconscious instructions, details, or orders that would be specific to that organism, or passed on to their offspring, sometimes for a single generation or even down through several generations or more. The procedure of imposing a geas on a life form was conducted (see also: composed) by the skilled hands of Lifeworkers, a Forerunner rate that was tasked with the keeping and preservation of all life throughout the Galaxy, as a most-direct means to uphold the Mantle.

At the closing of the Human-Forerunner war, the Didact ordered many of the strongest and finest human warriors be composed and kept alive as a library of geas testimonials, in the hopes that they could learn how to stop the advance of the Flood. It wasn’t until near the end of the Human-Forerunner war that the Didact realized that the humans weren’t on a march of imperialism- they were trying to eradicate the Flood by “glassing” whole planets where they found the infection. But upon their capture, these human warriors refused to give up their secrets to fighting to the Flood, so, they were composed and transformed into genesongs to be used as a geas in selected humans for later review and revelation.

One of these humans was named Chakas. Another named Riser. (You can read about their story in Halo: Cryptum), but tl;tr- Chakas had been imprinted with the geas of the Lord of Admirals, the most supreme arch enemy to the Didact himself, and harborer of the secrets to the Flood’s defeat, or so the Forerunners assumed. Riser was also imprinted, but his geas is where the fun truly beings…More on that later.

Along with a young rebellious Forerunner named Bornstellar, Chakas and Riser happen across the Cryptum of an old Warrior-Servant, who happens to be the Didact himself. Knowing that his judgment will arrive swiftly, the Didact imprints himself onto Bornstellar, and Bornstellar immediately begins to feel the effects. What the Didact basically does here is make a copy of himself, via his geas, that eventually transforms Bornstellar into Didact #2, aka, the IsoDidact.

**So now we have: **
Ur-Didact -> IsoDidact[/li]
Lord of Admirals -> Chakas[/li]
I won’t go into the novels too much because tl;tr here- seriously, go read them! They’re fantastic!- but what eventually happens is that Chakas ends up being composed and turned into a monitor, the same Forerunner monitor we know as 343 Guilty Spark. The IsoDidact gives a geas to Riser, but it isn’t clear whose it belongs to or whom it originally came from.

My speculation:

Riser was given a long-germination type geas of the IsoDidact himself, a geas that wasn’t meant for Riser directly, but for a human descendant a few generations later, the same human descendant we know as Spartan John-117.

Woah, wait, what??

In Halo: Combat Evolved, 343GS says to Master Chief, “Last time, you asked me, if it were my choice, would I do it? Having had considerable time to ponder your query, my answer has not changed.”[/li]
In Halo: Primordium, IsoDidact says to 343GS, “Tell me, Chakas, if this was your choice, after all we have seen and survived… would you fire the rings?”[/li]
It’s been long speculated that 343GS was going rampant, given his seemingly random and unmoored comments during the time you are escorted by him through HCE. I challenge that, and offer the possibility that 343GS was seeing something within Master Chief, via 343GS’s geas of Chakas, and through the still 99% dormant geas of IsoDidact-aka-Bornstellar within John-117.

So- as Master Chief continues to evolve and become the Reclaimer he was destined to become through his geas, we might indirectly see the return of IsoDidact-aka-Bornstellar, but not in the most physically obvious way.

**So now we have: **
Ur-Didact -> IsoDidact -> Riser -> John 117[/li]
Lord of Admirals -> Chakas -> 343 Guilty Spark[/li]
And! Bonus round:
Librarian -> Chant-to-Green -> Vinnevra -> Catherine Halsey -> Cortana[/li]

#9

Reserved

There are many inaccuracies and assumptions in your original posts Wesley (one of which has been pointed out already). I can’t address them all now, but I will do at a later date unless someone else gets there in the meantime.

~ Duck.