Canon

Graham Alban

From Halopedia, the Halo wiki

Graham Alban
Biographical information

Died:

March, 2532[Note 1]

Personal details

Species:

Human

Gender:

Male

Political and military information

Affiliation:

Office of Naval Intelligence

Notable info:

 

"I have taken my own life because the SPARTAN-II program is a crime against humanity, and I should have had the moral courage to refuse to work on it. I did not. I complied."
— Graham Alban on his reason for committing suicide.[1]

Graham J. Alban, MD, MCNS, MCPP was a neuroscientist and psychologist who worked in the Office of Naval Intelligence's Special Projects division. He became disillusioned with the perceived injustices he found himself willingly committing through the SPARTAN-II program, leading to his suicide sometime after the year 2525 in the month of March. His brain was later used in the creation of the AI Black-Box.[2]

Biography[edit]

Suicide and brain donation[edit]

Dr. Alban expressed severe remorse for his actions in the SPARTAN-II program, calling the entire project "morally indefensible". He considered his actions (or rather, inaction) to be more reprehensible than Dr. Catherine Halsey's, on the basis of his insistence that unlike himself, Halsey was devoid of a sense of morality and that the guilt she displayed was only a facade. In March, 2532 Alban committed suicide in a way that he was confident would cause little damage to his brain. He asked Vice Admiral Margaret Parangosky to preserve his brain and use it to create an artificial intelligence that would be used to support and protect SPARTAN-IIs.[3]

Parangosky granted Alban's wish. In August 2552, over 20 years after his death, Alban's brain was used as the template for an AI: Black-Box (BBX-8995-1).[4] Black-Box would retain elements of his donor's personality, such as his hatred of Catherine Halsey and a deferential, apologetic demeanor toward Staffan Sentzke, the father of one of the abductees.

Personality and traits[edit]

Dr. Alban and then-Vice Admiral Parangosky regarded each other as friends, a sympathy the latter extended toward Black-Box. Alban was an atheist or agnostic, and believed that if God did exist, then He was an extremely neglectful father to have allowed humanity to behave in the way it does. He expressed in his suicide note that if he were surprised by the existence of either Heaven or Hell, then he would put in a good word for Parangosky at whichever gate he arrived in front of.[4]

Gallery[edit]

List of appearances[edit]

Notes[edit]

  1. ^ According to Halo: Mortal Dictata, Dr. Alban's suicide occurred in 2523. However, the 2019 edition of the novel corrected this to 2532.

Sources[edit]

  1. ^ Halo: Mortal Dictata, page 489
  2. ^ Halo: Mortal Dictata, page 490
  3. ^ Halo: Mortal Dictata, page 491
  4. ^ a b Halo: Mortal Dictata, page 492