Librarian

"Each one of these souls is finite and precious.
And I'm close.
Close to saving them all."

— The Librarian

The Librarian was a Forerunner Lifeworker, and one of the most powerful and influential Lifeworkers who ever lived. She was married to the Didact, the Promethean supreme commander of the Forerunner military.

Biography

The Librarian was a Lifeshaper, the highest rank a Lifeworker can achieve, and one of only three Forerunners ever to receive the title.

Research on Erde-Tyrene

"She comes to us when we're born. She watches over us as we grow, knows good and bad. She joys at our triumphs and sorrows at our passing. We all feel her presence."

— Chakas on the Librarian

Following the Human-Forerunner War, she was permitted by the Forerunner Council to set up a research station on Earth (then known as "Erde-Tyrene"). Over the span of ten thousand years, she helped the human species, which had been devolved to a primitive state following the war, to slowly work toward re-creating a primitive society. The early humans viewed the Librarian with reverence, believing her to watch over all of the humans and come to each one at birth and assign them a purpose. Bornstellar hypothesized that she may have imposed a Geas on certain humans.

At some point, the Librarian traveled to Installation 00, where she later met with Bornstellar Makes Eternal Lasting (now in possession of the Didact's memories and personality.)

Forerunner-Flood War

During the Forerunner-Flood War, the Librarian sought to document and index all sentient beings of the Milky Way galaxy, and protect them from being absorbed into the Flood by sending them to the shelter of the Ark. The Librarian removed herself from the Flood-Forerunner conflict by building, then deactivating and burying the portal leading to the Ark. The Librarian's destruction of the remaining Keyships left her isolated on Earth. The Librarian spent her last days on Mt. Kilimanjaro, overlooking the portal to the Ark.

The Librarian's lover was Didact, commander of the Forerunner military, with whom the Librarian corresponded frequently. It is possible that because of this love Didact delayed so long the firing of the Halos. In the end, The Librarian had to self-destruct her own ships and strand herself on Earth to let Didact realize what he had to do.

The Librarian held a deep respect for humanity, whom she viewed as "special" among all of the sentient life she had seen, and felt that it was well-worth the sacrifice of her own life to save them. This was possibly due to the rare belief among Forerunners that Humans were also molded in a similar manner to the Forerunners by the Precursors.

Title

It is important to note that "Librarian" would not have been her actual name or title. The Forerunner records of her transmissions utilize translation software so advanced that it incorporates idioms from the reader's own experience. Thus words such as "Eden", "fairy tale" and "Librarian" became the default usage in Forerunner terminals and transmissions when read by Humans. This was likely because there is no direct translation for the original Forerunner words, thus the software utilizes human equivalents. These words appear in brackets in the Terminals. However, the same title is used in Halo: Cryptum, written from Forerunner perspective, though this is probably just so readers would be able to understand it was the same character.

Trivia

• The Librarian is also an emblem usable on Halo 3's Multiplayer, which is named after the character.
• The Librarian was mentioned in Halo 3 in the Terminals. In conversations, she is known as "L".
• On one of the Terminals in Halo 3, you can see the symbol of the Librarian.
• The Librarian referred to the part of Earth she resided on as "Eden". This is a reference to the garden of Eden in Abrahamic religions.
• The Proto-Gravemind was originally called "The Librarian".

List of appearances

• Halo 3 (First appearance)
• Halo: The Flood (2010)
• The Forerunner Saga
  • Halo: Cryptum