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The Monitors are highly advanced Artificial Intelligence constructs created by the Forerunners one hundred thousand years ago to service and maintain the Halo installations, and to make sure that The Flood stays imprisoned. The body of a Monitor consists of a rounded box shape with one glowing eye on a side. In case of a catastrophic outbreak, the Monitor would seek out a "Reclaimer" to activate the installations and stop the spread of the Flood by eliminating all sentient life in the galaxy. They are extremely intelligent yet completely devoted to their original purpose. The Covenant refer to the Monitors as Oracles.
Monitors were placed on the Fortress Worlds by the Forerunners to service and maintain their systems, and to make sure that the Flood stayed imprisoned. In case of a catastrophic outbreak, the Monitors will seek out a "Reclaimer" to activate the installions and wipe the galaxy clean of all sentient life.
It seems that there is exactly one monitor per Halo Installation, making seven total. (However it has been suggested that The Ark may have a Monitor as well.)
Features
Monitors are protected by advanced Forerunner shields that make them impervious to any small arms in the UNSC or Covenant arsenal. They have no offensive capability whatsoever, however, the Sentinel and Enforcer constructs are programmed to serve the Monitors only.
They have the ability to teleport themselves and others around their Halo. It is unclear how this grid works, but it seems that a Monitor on an Installation other than its own has no access to its transportation grid.
- note* from AmazonSamurai: In the book, Ghosts of Onyx the spartans use the planets
teleportation matrix to jump between/around the planets surface. Also, Dr. Haley makes note that the teleportation matrix is powered by a slipspace generator of some sort. We can therefore speculate the Halo Constructs have a similar device for transportation.*
They also have the ability to store the Index in a Library so that the Flood could not access it.
Monitors also have cognitive capability, and speak English. They keep daily logs of all things that occour on their Installation. As with UNSC AIs, the Monitors have been speculated to be in stages of Rampancy due to their isolation for literally hundreds of thousands of years.
Known Monitors
There appears to be little differentiation between monitors in the way of programming, but they do have slight differences. Each Monitor appears to have a unique voice, though they are similar in their artificial quality. Each monitor also appears to glow a different color; 343 Guilty Spark is blue, 2401 Penitent Tangent is red, and the mysterious monitor on the Bungie.net Halo 3 page appears to be grey or white.
Trivia
| Installation | Monitor | Name |
|---|---|---|
| 01 | 1 | Unknown |
| 02 | 7 | Unknown |
| 03 | 49 | Unknown |
| 04 | 343 | Guilty Spark |
| 05 | 2401 | Penitent Tangent |
| 06 | 16807 | Unknown |
| 07 | 117649 | Unknown |
- The number 343 is seven to the third power, seven being a number seen frequently in Bungie games and mythology. The number "2401" is seven to the fourth power.
- When the numbers of each Monitor are examined, a pattern emerges: each seems to be seven raised to the power of the installation number minus one; therefore this grid can be established.
:Note that the first three digits of the monitor of Installation 07 are 117, Master Chief's service number.
- The word Guilty suggests that perhaps 343 Guilty Spark was in some way responsible for an action - most likely the firing of the Halos - and therefore has the 'guilt' of causing potentially trillions of deaths. Likewise, Penitent (meaning feeling or expressing sorrow, regret or remorse for committing a sin) suggests that 2401 Penitent Tangent was unconnected with the decision to fire the Halo Installations. (Tangent also meaning unconnected; a tangent in a circle diverges from the shape).
- This naming convention, if continued in Halo 3, may provide more background information relating to the Halos activation.
- The 'eye' of the monitor is actually the Marathon symbol - only one of many references to this series that Bungie have sneaked into the Halo series.