- "Tell me, Chakas, if this was your choice, after all we have seen and survived … would you fire the rings?"
- — The IsoDidact's final words to Chakas.[1]
The IsoDidact,[2] also known simply as the Didact or more specifically as the Bornstellar Didact, was an alternate incarnation of the Forerunner Promethean supreme commander known as the Didact. Originally a young Manipular known as Bornstellar Makes Eternal Lasting or simply Bornstellar, he was transformed into a "copy" of the Didact after being imprinted with the latter's consciousness and memories, taking on the original Didact's identity and role of supreme commander of Forerunner war efforts against the Flood in the ongoing Forerunner-Flood war. The IsoDidact intended to serve as a replacement for the Didact, who was at the time believed to have been executed by Master Builder Faber. The "IsoDidact" moniker was adopted to differentiate the copy from the original Didact, who was subsequently identified as the Ur-Didact.[2] The Ur-Didact's madness-induced actions near the end of the war led to his imprisonment for the next 100,000 years, leaving the IsoDidact to lead the Warrior-Servants for the final days of the war. He was also the individual responsible for activating the Halo Array at the close of the Flood conflict.[3]
Biography
Early life
- "Bornstellar is marked to become a great Builder, just like his father — but this Manipular has other plans."
- — Description[4]
Bornstellar's family and ancestors came from a long line of Builders, the highest and most powerful rate in Forerunner society. Of all his father's children, Bornstellar was the most rebellious, refusing to follow in his footsteps and become a Builder. As a result of this, his father sent him to learn discipline in a step family of Miners on Edom in the distant Sol system. There, his ancilla taught him of the near-mythical Precursors. Three years later, Bornstellar sneaked aboard a supply transport and traveled to Erde-Tyrene to hunt for Precursor relics. In the city of Marontik, he met two humans, Chakas and Morning Riser, who would serve as guides in his search for Precursor artifacts.[5]
His guides led him to Djamonkin Crater, where he found and opened a Cryptum belonging to the Didact. The Didact took Bornstellar and the two humans with him on a ship grown on-site from a design seed planted by the Librarian. During his subsequent travels with Bornstellar, the Didact performed a brevet mutation on him to allow him access to the Domain. Through the mutation, the Didact's consciousness, along with all of his memories and knowledge, were transferred to Bornstellar.
After being captured by the Master Builder on the San 'Shyuum world Janjur Qom, Bornstellar was shipped back to his family. Not long after, his presence was requested at the trial of the Master Builder in the capital. The trial was interrupted by an attack by the rampant Mendicant Bias. During the battle, the Didact's personality took control of Bornstellar, allowing him to escape the AI's control and maneuver an escape pod amidst the chaos and successfully escape to the greater Ark[note 1] along with Glory of a Far Dawn and Splendid Dust of Ancient Suns.
Becoming the Didact
- Bornstellar Didact: "The Didact provided the template for my maturity. I am now all that remains of him, and so I serve in his place."
- Chakas: "Bornstellar?"
- Bornstellar Didact: "No more, except in my dreams."
- — As Chakas recognizes Bornstellar during their reunion on Installation 07.[6]
After surviving the assault on the capital, Bornstellar arrived on the greater Ark, where he met with the Librarian, who revealed that Didact had been executed at the hands of the Master Builder. As the Didact's expertise was necessary to combat the increasing threat of the Flood, the Promethean's personality completely overtook Bornstellar's physical body, making him a reincarnation of the Didact; he stated that he would return control to Bornstellar when his mission was finished.[7]
Soon after, the IsoDidact tracked down the Halo installation carrying Mendicant Bias and the Captive from Charum Hakkor, as well as the humans who had accompanied him after his revival. His fleet intercepted the Halo ring, on a pre-determined collision course with a planet in a distant system. He proceeded to deactivate Mendicant Bias using his control codes and save the Halo and its research data on the Flood.[8] When the IsoDidact found Chakas, the latter could still recognize him but the IsoDidact mentioned that he was Bornstellar "no more, except in [his] dreams".[6]
After the Halo had been successfully transported to the greater Ark, the IsoDidact, accompanied by a wounded Chakas, interrogated the Captive, now imprisoned once again. Over the course of the exchange, the entity revealed the true nature of the relationship between the Precursors, the Flood as well as the Forerunners and humans, stating that the Forerunners were never meant to inherit the Mantle and that there was no cure for the Flood. Furious, the IsoDidact then executed the creature by fully activating its slipspace stasis chamber, forcing it to live through a billion years in complete sensory isolation and causing it to decay to a state of total physical entropy.[9]
Following his temporary victory, the IsoDidact's power rose as he returned to the favor of the New Council,[10] also elevating the status of his wife. The debate on the Didact's plans for strategic solutions against the Flood was restored and the use of the Halos was delayed for a time.[11]
However, it was later learned that the original Didact had in fact survived, having been abandoned in a Flood-infested system by the Master Builder's forces, effectively causing two Didacts to be in existence; this later led to conflict between the two.[12]
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Activating the Halo Array
- "Now, old friend, we have the most important job in history–perhaps in all time. You may very well outlast all of us here. You may see the new galaxy emerge. Tell me, Chakas, if this was your choice, after all we have seen and survived... would you fire the rings?"
- — The IsoDidact queries 343 Guilty Spark about the Halo Array before the activation, only to be met by silence.[13]
Later on, during the war, the IsoDidact was constantly trying to convince the Librarian to give up on her mission to save other sentient life from the Halo Array's inevitable activation, and return to him to safety inside the Maginot Line. His pleas, however, were unsuccessful and the Librarian ended up destroying her own fleet, stranding herself on Earth to live out the rest of her days in a place she referred to as "Eden".[14] After the Bornstellar Didact learned the Librarian's location, he prepared a rescue party to retrieve her. However, before they could depart, Mendicant Bias' fleet breached the Maginot Line and destroyed the rescue party. Stricken by grief, the IsoDidact then activated the Halo Array, wiping out all sentient life in the galaxy and stating that he would begin "[their] Great Journey" without his wife.[15][3]
The IsoDidact survived the activation of the Halo Array. He presided over the trial of Mendicant Bias for the AI's betrayal of the ecumene. The IsoDidact decided to keep Bias alive as he had intimate knowledge of the Flood and could be called upon in case of their return. He had Bias entombed in Installation 00 with only one thought allowed to the AI, atonement.[16] Sometime later he watched along with the new Lifeshaper Chant-to-Green the reintroduction of humanity, where he shared a few last words with Riser.[17]
Over 100,000 years later, a record referred to as the "Bornstellar Relation", containing an archived testimony of the IsoDidact recorded by Catalog, was discovered by the UNSC on Onyx and served as one of the core documents in ONI's research into the Forerunners.[18]
Personality and traits
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Bornstellar was young, inexperienced, and was close to the age of becoming an independent member of society. However, despite his noble class, he was quite rebellious in nature, even to the point of defying the history and trade of his family as Builders.[4] Because of this, Bornstellar had become increasingly interested in the Precursors, an ancient race of sentient beings far predating his own people.[5]
After being transformed into the IsoDidact, Bornstellar's personality changed almost completely to reflect that of the Promethean commander, although traces of his original personality influenced some of his attitudes; for example, he was more tolerant of humans than the Ur-Didact, perhaps as a result of his experiences with Chakas and Riser. By the point the Bornstellar Didact reunited with the two, he clearly showed sympathy and compassion for them; he trusted Chakas enough to connect with him to Installation 07's control interface and enlist his aid in saving the ring,[19] and later treated Chakas and the other humans gently, expressing condolence for everything they had been forced to go through.[20]
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Physical description and appearance
Physically, like other Manipulars, Bornstellar bore a moderate but noticeable resemblance to humanity than he did to other Forerunner forms, such as a Second or Third-Form.[21] He possessed a thin, pale fuzz over much of his body, such as his arms, along with the partially-furred body and hair that was a notable feature of his kind.
After his brevet mutation at the hands of the Didact, he began to resemble those of the Warrior-Servant caste than he did of the Builders, with grayish-white skin, thicker, a more muscular physique, harsher facial features. Even with these characteristics, he still bore traces of the Builder caste, resulting in him possessing a blend of physical features of both; however, his physique continued to mutate further over time,[22] and he eventually came to resemble the original Didact very closely, aside from being conspicuously younger.[6] After adopting the role of the Didact, he also donned the mottled blue-gray armor of a fully mature Promethean.[19]
Trivia
- Bornstellar is the main protagonist of the Greg Bear novel Halo: Cryptum, the first of three novels in The Forerunner Saga.
- The Greek prefix "iso-" means "equal"; for example, isotopes are variants of an element that have the same number of protons and electrons but vary in their neutron counts. In a similar manner, the IsoDidact's title directly alludes to the Didact's simultaneous existence in two separate bodies: they share the Didact's essence, yet they eventually diverge into drastically different individuals.
List of appearances
- Halo: Combat Evolved (Indirect mention)
- Anniversary (Indirect mention)
- Halo 3 (First appearance as Didact)
- Halo Legends
- The Forerunner Saga
- Halo: Cryptum (First appearance as Bornstellar)
- Halo: Primordium
- Halo: Silentium
Notes
- ^ See Greater Ark#Notes
- ^ Since the pictured Forerunner individual is shown activating the Halo Array in Origins, it can be inferred that this is Cortana's imagination of the IsoDidact. However, as stated by Frank O'Connor in the episode commentary, the visuals shown in Origins are not entirely accurate as a result of Cortana's incomplete data stores and her progressing rampancy. The Didact's depiction in Origins has only five fingers per hand; canonically, both Didacts had six fingers on each hand. His armor most closely resembles the first set of armor the Ur-Didact is shown wearing in the Halo 4 terminals. As an additional discrepancy, the individual in Origins is seen activating the Array from a Halo installation's control room, accompanied by two other Forerunners, whereas the IsoDidact fired the rings from Installation 00's citadel.
Sources
- ^ Halo: Cryptum, pages 60, 85
- ^ a b Halo: Silentium, String Two
- ^ a b Halo: Silentium, page 328
- ^ a b Halo: Cryptum, forward jacket description
- ^ a b Halo: Cryptum, Chapter 1
- ^ a b c Halo: Primordium, page 348
- ^ Halo: Cryptum, page 337
- ^ Halo: Primordium, page 336-339
- ^ Halo: Primordium, page 362-367
- ^ Halo: Silentium, String One
- ^ Halo: Primordium, page 374-375
- ^ Halo: Silentium
- ^ Halo: Silentium, page 314
- ^ Halo 3 - Terminal 6
- ^ Halo 3 - Terminal 7
- ^ Halo Waypoint - The Trial of Mendicant Bias
- ^ Halo Waypoint - Rebirth video
- ^ Halo: Primordium, page 230
- ^ a b Halo: Primordium, page 339
- ^ Halo: Primordium, page 347-348
- ^ Halo: Cryptum, page 28
- ^ Halo: Cryptum, page 242
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