Canon

Ur-Didact

From Halopedia, the Halo wiki

This article is about the original Didact, encountered in Halo 4. For the secondary Didact responsible for activating the Halo Array, see IsoDidact.
The Ur-Didact inside the Composer aboard the Mantle's Approach. From Halo 4 campaign level Midnight.
Ur-Didact
The Ur-Didact doing his best impression of a Sith Lord.
Biographical information

Homeworld:

Rijaal Suluhu[1]

Born:

110,225 BCE[2][1]

Died:

July 26, 2557

Cause of death:

Composed by John-117 and 859 Static Carillon[3][4]

Parents:

Spouse(s):

Librarian

Personal details

Species:

Forerunner

Gender:

Male

Height:

345.4 centimeters (11 ft 4.0 in)[6][2][7][1]

Weight:

360.6 kilograms (794.9 lb)[6][2][7][1]

Hair color:

  • Dark brown, quill-like fur[8]
    • Formerly pale, bluish white fur[9]

Eye color:

  • Red-orange
Political and military information

Affiliation:

Rank:

Protector of the ecumene (R: Warrior-Servant)

Notable info:

Commander of Forerunner military

 

"The Mantle of Responsibility for all things belongs to Forerunners alone.[11]"

The Didact, true name unknown,[5] renamed Shadow-of-Sundered-Star[6] at a young age,[5] was a Forerunner Promethean who held an extremely high status in the Forerunner society as protector of the ecumene,[12] head of the Warrior-Servant rate and supreme commander of the entire Forerunner military.[13] He wholeheartedly believed in the Mantle the Forerunners held to protect life, and fervently opposed the Halo Array as a sin beyond measure. He was also the lover and husband of the Librarian. Although a Warrior-Servant by birth, the Didact was also a descendant of the long-lost Interpreter rate through his father's family.[5]

Originally thought to have been killed by the Master Builder, Faber,[14] the Didact effectively existed as two individuals during the final days of the Forerunner-Flood war; his original self, as well as his implanted consciousness within a young Forerunner known as Bornstellar Makes Eternal Lasting. To differentiate these two incarnations, the original Didact was referred to as the Ur-Didact, while his other incarnation was known as the IsoDidact.[15] The Ur-Didact was eventually exiled on Requiem, not to be awakened until 2557;[16] meanwhile, the IsoDidact served until the final days of the Flood conflict and was responsible for activating the Halo Array,[17] later living out the rest of his life on a world in a galaxy far away from the Milky Way and shedding his identity as the IsoDidact to become Bornstellar again.[18]

After being released from his Cryptum many millennia later, the Didact resumed his war against humanity. Spartan John-117 and Cortana fought him on his ship, and sent him falling into slipspace, seemingly defeating him. After surviving slipspace, John-117 faced him again, this time with the rest of Blue Team. After a long and perilous battle, the Didact's biological form was destroyed under the combined power of several Composers[3] which was too much for even the resistance that the Didact's mutations gave him to their power.[4]

Subsequently, the Didact's digitized consciousness was uploaded to the outer boundaries of the Domain.[4] Freed of the Gravemind's corruption by the Composer's power,[19] the Didact regained his sanity and set out to free the Domain from Cortana's influence, ultimately destroying the Warden Eternal,[20] welcoming millions of Forerunner and human essences into the repository, evicting the Created, and sealing it off from the physical world so that none could ever misuse the Domain again as Cortana had. At last at peace, the Didact reunited with his wife in the Domain to spend eternity together.[21][22]