Ur-Didact/Quotes

Halo 3 Terminals

• "You know I oppose your mission, but you're exceeding its parameters anyway. You've put yourself in jeopardy. You've done enough. If you will not come to me, I will find my way to you." - One of the Didact's messages to the Librarian.

• "No. Activation is murder. A genocide larger than [this galaxy] has ever known. We are sworn to protect life not destroy it! That is the Mantle we were given to carry." - A response to the Librarian's plea to activate the Halo Array.

• "The Mantle has not failed! I've already razed scores of worlds - sterilized systems, routed and [disintegrated] the parasite! We're learning its tricks and strategies. We can halt this thing! And we can follow in Their footsteps! There are no unstoppable forces in this universe. There are no immovable objects. Everything gives if you push hard enough." - The Didact insists that the Flood can be defeated in another message to the Librarian.

• "We've confirmed your observations. Infected supraluminal ships are arrowing inward from several clusters. No more spiral growth. The thing is counterattacking. Suppression, Security and Emergency Circumstance fleets are all being recalled. Systems are evacuating. Mendicant Bias is no longer communicating with us. But now I can guess where you are." - The Didact responding to one of the Librarian's final transmissions as the Flood's collective forces, led by a rampant Mendicant Bias, bear on the Maginot Sphere.

• "Proud? When I have failed you utterly, how can I feel anything but sorrow?

Bias has come undone. He crossed the line this morning - brought the abomination with him - and destroyed your waiting rescue party.

It's over. We're activating the [destructive arrayed matrix], our shameful last resort. I can picture you in your garden, surveying all you have created - surveying all you have preserved. And I curse the circumstance that keeps my finger on the trigger.

Of all the fates to befall us, this is the cruelest of all. My inaction and hesitation and foolishness kept me here, on the wrong side of the line. And [300 years[?]] of our society's failure and miscalculation makes me your executioner. It's too much to bear.

Mendicant Bias is trying to prevent us from firing the Array. He speeds back to the Ark, but he won't succeed. Offensive Bias will stop him, and I will burn this stinking menace in your name.

And then?

I will begin our Great Journey without you, carrying this bitter record. Those who came after will know what we bought with this [false transcendence] - what you bought, and the price you paid." - The Didact's final transmission to the Librarian before activating the Halo Array.

Halo: Cryptum

• "Aya." - A recurring expression of acknowledgment or affirmation, similar to "aye", prominently used by the Didact and the other Prometheans.

• "You are what you dare." - a proverb reflecting the Didact's philosophy in life.

• "I had hoped to rise in triumph and recognition of my judgment—but instead, I find myself facing young fools and the offspring of ancient enemies. This is worse than disgrace. Only one other reason... one other provocation would make the Librarian revive me under these humiliating circumstances." - The Didact shortly after being revived from his Cryptum.

• "All we have tried to do as inheritors of the Mantle—all that will be violated, and the galaxy will be murdered... because they do not understand. Worse, it may already be loose. Join your human friends and sing sad songs, Manipular. There is judgment, and just doom is upon us all." - to Bornstellar Makes Eternal Lasting, upon realizing why the Librarian had him revived.

• "You're being kidnapped, young Manipular. The humans have to come as well. Apologies to all." - to Bornstellar as he prepares to leave Earth on his newly-constructed ship.

• "We fight for the grace of the Mantle." - to Bornstellar, referring to himself and the Librarian.

• "The fools... And they claim that Warriors violate the Mantle." - upon seeing the destruction visited on Charum Hakkor by a Halo.

• "Humans are naturally purists. They resent having to live with other species. In fact, they're among the most contentious, bigoted, self-centered... I never understood how my wife tolerated them." - the Didact sharing his view on humanity.

• "They understood the universe in ways we never will. We can't unlock their secrets—but now, apparently, we can destroy all they ever made. That's what I call progress." - on the Precursors.

• "In the name of the Mantle and all I honor—I hope it is dead, I fear it is not. They have unleashed it." - after seeing the empty cage of the Primordial.

• "You wonder what forced me to enter the Cryptum. It was my refusal to agree to this plan even in its early stages. With all my being, I fought against the design of these infamous devices, and for thousands of years forestalled their construction. But my opponents finally won. I was reprimanded by the Council, bringing shame upon my rate, my guild, my family. Then I became the infamous one—the conqueror and savior who refused to listen to reason. And so, I vanished." - explaining his fate to Bornstellar.

• "The humans will be sequestered in their cabin. I don't think they like me." - to Bornstellar before traveling to the San 'Shyuum quarantine system.

• "I've never been naïve enough to believe following duty led to glory, or experience elevated one to wisdom among Forerunners. My young ones, I wish you were truly still here to counsel me. I feel weak and isolated. I fear what I will find when I walk among Builders again. Their rule brought us to this impasse." - while conversing with his war sphinxes holding the impressions of his children.

• "You'll never know her the way I did. She possesses a sense of humor rare in all Forerunners and impossible to find in Warrior-Servants... or in most Builders. It would be like her to summon me from my peace and set me this challenge." - on the Librarian.

• "Allegiance to duty is the Forerunner's highest instinct and purpose. It is what empowers us to defend the Mantle."

• "Mutation to a higher rate requires acceptance of the Mantle. The Mantle is in part awareness of what all life has sacrificed to allow you to be. That arouses a deep kind of personal guilt. You do not feel that guilt." - to Bornstellar before his mutation.

• "To dare is to risk selflessly, not to waste your life because you see no other purpose to your existence." - arguing that Bornstellar may not be ready for his mutation.

• "I spent thousands of years mourning and found no virtue in it." - on his time in his Cryptum.

• "Touched by your blade, Manipular." - to Bornstellar after he correctly guesses that the circumstances of the Didact's mutation were similar to his own.

• "So be it, aya-and aya again." - to Bornstellar after he assures to be ready for his mutation.

• "From my life let the best be taken. Let the growth inherent in this youth be examined and maximized. Let all that is potential and beloved of the Mantle be nurtured and encouraged. Let all that was past be put away, and all that is future brought forward, made real and physical..." - reciting a ritual prayer during Bornstellar's mutation.

• "No warrior should allow his weapons to rust." - on the state of the Confirmer and the Deep Reverence.

• "You've picked and preserved... in error." - to Faber, who had failed to preserve the right San 'Shyuum to interrogate.

• "Didact. They called me that when I taught at the college of Strategic Defense of the Mantle—the War College. Some of my students seemed to think I was overly demanding and too precise in my definitions..." - the Didact's imprint explaining the origin of his name to Bornstellar.

• "Greatness and power are often allied with defeat. It is how civilizations are shaped—some ideas prosper, others die. The quality of the ideas has little to do with the outcome. It is personalities that matter. Pay attention to those around you." - the Didact's imprint instructing Bornstellar.

• "It spoke in a Forerunner dialect, one I could barely understand—archaic Digon. I remembered clearly what it said, but it took time for the context to become clear. Context is everything, across all those centuries. It spoke to me of the greatest of Forerunner betrayals, the greatest of our many sins." - the Didact's imprint recalling his conversation with the Primordial.

Halo: Primordium

• "My finest opponent, the Mantle accepts all who live fiercely, who defend their young, who build and struggle and grow, and even those who dominate—as humans have dominated, cruelly and without wisdom.

But to all of us there is a time like this, when the Domain seeks to confirm our essences, and for you, that time is now.

Know this, relentless enemy, killer of our children, Lord of Admirals: soon we will face the enemy you have faced and defeated. I can see that challenge coming to the Forerunners, and so do many others.... And we are afraid.

That is why you, and many thousands of your people who may contain knowledge of how humans defended themselves against the Flood, will not pass cleanly and forever, as I would wish for a fellow warrior, but will be extracted and steeped down into the genetic code of many new humans.

This is not my wish nor my will. It arises from the skill and the will of my life-mate, my wife, the Librarian, who sees much farther than I do down the twining streams of Living Time.

So this additional indignity will be inflicted upon you. It means, I believe, that humans will not end here, but may rise again—fight again. Humans are always warriors.

But what and whom they will fight, I do not know. For I fear the time of the Forerunners is drawing to a close. In this, the Librarian and I find agreement. Take satisfaction, warrior, in that possibility." - when meeting with a defeated Forthencho on Charum Hakkor.

• "Beggar after knowledge. Mendicant Bias. That is the name I gave you when last we met. Do you remember the moment of your inception? The moment I connected you to the Domain and you were ceded control of all Forerunner defenses?" - Bornstellar-Didact as he prepares to deactivate Mendicant Bias.

• "Poor machine. Poor, poor machine. Your time here is done." - Bornstellar-Didact before shutting down Mendicant Bias.

• "Sickness, slavery, lingering death! We will analyze everything here, and we will learn. The Flood will be defeated." - Bornstellar-Didact, defying the Primordial's assertions that the Forerunners will eventually submit to the Flood.

• "Let your life race ahead. You were made to survive deep time, but now it will arrive all at once. No sweetness, no more lies! Let a billion years pass in endless silence and isolation..." - Bornstellar-Didact as he executes the Primordial by activating its stasis chamber.

• "No answer! Again and yet again—never an answer!" - after killing the Primordial.

• "Nothing is decided. This isn't over. It will never be over." - refusing to give up after the Primordial renders judgment on the Forerunners.

Halo 4

• "So fades the great harvest of my betrayal. Even these beasts recognized what you were oblivious to, human. Your nobility has blinded you, as ever. The Librarian left little to chance, didn't she? Turning my own guardians... my own world... against me. But what hubris to believe she could protect her pets from me forever. If you haven't mastered even these primitives, then man has not attained the Mantle. Your ascendance may yet be prevented. Time was your ally, human, but now it has abandoned you. The Forerunners... have returned." - Introductory speech to John-117 upon waking up from his Cryptum on Requiem.

• "Even in death, her meddling continues." - When discovering the Librarian's archived personality conversing with John-117.

• "Relinquish your contact, essence!" - As the Librarian's personality imprint continues to instruct John.

• "The others scatter like embers over sand. And yet the Librarian's champion is unmoved."

• "The mantle of responsability for the galaxy shelters all, human. But only the Forerunners arv its masters."

• "Your actions tread between honor and foolishness."

• "You are a fool. Even now, your kind tinkers with the Composer in the shadow of the third ring. Children and fire, who disregard the welfare of the galaxy."

• "Do you truly believe these theatrics can prevent my departure? Embrace your sad fate and retain your nobility. I am already beyond you."

• "You will relent, Human or you will perish. All in life is choice. And your day to choose has come."

• "You impress me, Human. Your singular valor will be preserved and studied, once your Composition has been completed." - To John-117 in Ivanoff Station

• "You have not been Composed. Such inoculation should not have been possible." - When discovering Master Chief survive to the Composer's firing.

• "Is this the secret you've kept from me? This... evolved ancilla?" - The Didact about Cortana.

• "I sense your malfunctioning companion, Human. And yet, she eludes me." - The Didact about Cortana's rampancy.

• "And so... you come at last." - To John-117 after he gets to the Composer.

• "And yet, still you fail."

• "You persist too long after your own defeat. Come then, warrior. Have your resolution." - When facing John-117 aboard his ship.

• "So misguided. Humanity's imprisonment... is a kindness." - As he prepares to kill John-117.

• "Your compassion for mankind is misplaced." - To Cortana before she restrains the Didact.

• "In this hour of victory, we taste only defeat. I ask, why? We are Forerunners, guardians of all that exists. The roots of the galaxy have grown deep under our careful tending. Where there is life, the wisdom of our countless generations has saturated the soil. Our strength is a luminous sun, towards which all intelligence blossoms... And the impervious shelter beneath which it has prospered. I stand before you, accused of the sin of ensuring Forerunner ascendancy. Of attempting to save us from this fate where we are forced to... recede. Humanity stands as the greatest threat in the galaxy. Refusing to eradicate them is a fool's gambit. We squander eons in the darkness, while they seize our triumphs for their own. The Mantle of responsibility for all things belongs to Forerunners alone. Think of my acts as you will. But do not doubt the reality: the Reclamation... has already begun. And we are hopeless to stop it." - Epilogue speech.

Terminals

• "I have lead you, my Prometheans, for thousands of years, and I shall continue to lead you. Rise! Rise, and protect the Forerunners! Rise and protect the Galaxy!" - To his newly created Promethean Knights