Prophet of Truth

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The High Prophet of Truth, formerly the Minister of Fortitude, was the leader of the three Hierarchs that led the Covenant High Council during the Age of Reclamation, and was one of the main instigators of the war against Humanity. In 2552, he plotted the ousting of the Sangheili from the Covenant, and replaced them with the Brutes after the death of the Prophet of Regret on Installation 05. After the demise of the Prophet of Mercy at High Charity, he became the de facto leader of the entire Covenant, from which position he lead their forces to the Artifact in Africa and eventually to the Ark, where he was later killed by the Arbiter.

Biography

23rd Age of Doubt

During the Age of Doubt, 2525 by the UNSC calendar, Truth was known as the Minister of Fortitude. He had gained his standing during a stint as junior staffer in the Ministry of Concert. At that time, he unearthed a conspiracy by several Kig-Yar ship captains to poison several recreational narcotics often enjoyed by Unggoy, rendering them infertile, and serving as petty revenge for the displacement of Kig-Yar nests caused by a recent Unggoy overpopulation. Despite Fortitude's warnings, the matter was ignored and soon escalated into a bloody skirmish known as the Grunt Rebellion.

Fortitude found himself involved in a conspiracy when the Vice Minister of Tranquility, later known as the Prophet of Regret, informed him of the massive amounts of "Forerunner artifacts" which, was actually the human population of Harvest, a Luminary had discovered on that planet. Tranquility planned to use these artifacts to spring himself into a position of high power, as a Hierarch of the Covenant, and offered the same for Fortitude. This marked the first alliance between the Prophets and the Jiralhanae, as Tranquility wisely decided to use them to retrieve these artifacts, rather than upset the fine balance of power by allowing Sangheili to gain the treasures.

In order to push the three current Hierarchs, Tolerance, Obligation and Restraint from their positions, Fortitude utilized blackmail against the Prophet of Restraint. Tranquility had shown himself as a sympathizer for those blacklisted from reproducing due to inborn genes, after being urged to do so by Fortitude who was aware that Restraint had illegitimately fathered two children. The Prophet of Restraint offered Tranquility a high position if he would adopt the children, but the scheming Prophets instead used this to their advantage, blackmailing him and forcing the Prophet to step down or have his scandalous affair made public.

Before their coup, the Prophets visited an "Oracle" within the Forerunner Dreadnought, an ancient AI known as 032 Mendicant Bias, that had stored itself in the ship and had not spoken for several hundred years. When the Luminations of Harvest were inserted into its matrix, it suddenly came to life and revealed the symbols had been misinterpreted - that Humans stood as equals to the Forerunners, and the Covenant had been mistaken in their beliefs. When Fortitude realized that "reclamation" was really "reclaimer", he, and the Hierarchs-to-be agreed not to tell the masses, as they knew that the Covenant would shatter should the masses find out. As the Oracle tried to launch the Dreadnought from High Charity to find and bring the humans to The Ark, the two co-conspirators, along with the Philologist, leader of the ascetic priests and later the Prophet of Mercy, disconnected the Oracle from the ship and decided that the Humans must be eradicated once and for all, before any of the Covenant could learn of this and shatter their society as well as their religion. Fortitude chose the name "Truth" as a reminder to himself of the truths he must never tell and the lies he would have to in order to prevent the Covenant from fragmenting.^[1]

The three Prophets successfully implemented their plan and became the new rulers of the Covenant which heralded the beginning of the Ninth Age Of Reclamation.

Battle of the Rubble

Almost ten years later, Truth was behind a plot to have a group of Kig-Yar "ally" themselves with Humans, in an attempt to find Earth. It was going well until Regret (who was not informed of the the plan) sent Thel 'Vadamee to investigate a series of modified Covenant weapons used by Humans, believed to have come from the Kig-Yar. Due to a failure of the Humans providing Earth's location, the Kig-Yar in command, Reth, ordered an attack on the Rubble and Exodus asteroids, which soon failed along with Truth's plan. With the failure of the plan Truth called it's aftermath "a mess"^[2], and he was about to have Thel and his soldiers killed, until Thel saved him from a disillusioned Elite, and for that he spared Thel on the basis that he "never say anything of what happened here". After returning to High Charity, Truth looked on the positive side, saying they had purged possible human-sympathizing Kig-Yar and Unggoy, and because of the modified weapons, found two more Human worlds.

Divisive Mandate

Obsessed with the Great Journey and his personal ascension into godhood, Truth would not allow anyone to meddle in his plans or slow him down in his path to ascension, which was always his ultimate motivation. He would use any means necessary to eventually begin the Great Journey.

Even well before the removal of the Sangheili from the Honor Guard and the Covenant's Great Schism, Truth had begun to doubt the loyalty and reliability of the Sangheili, viewing them as a species splintered by heresy and derision, even amongst their own ranks. The Sangheili had exhausted their usefulness to him, and he would not allow them to meddle in his affairs any longer, and he would not want to place the Great Journey into the hands of those he saw as incompetents.

On the other hand, he admired the Jiralhanae, for their eagerness to prove that their loyalty and battle prowess had earned them a seat at the side of the Hierarchs, as the protectors of the Covenant. Such blind faith and eagerness marked them as near perfect pawns for Truth to sacrifice.

This led Truth to put his "divisive mandate" in motion. Secretly, he laid a complex scheme to eventually replace the Sangheili with the Jiralhanae as his personal guardians, as well as the primary warrior race of the Covenant. This started with subtle gestures, culminating in the beginning of the Great Schism. His plans were never made in haste. They were well laid.^[3]

The Reach Campaign and The Arbiter

"The council decided to have you hung by your entrails, and your corpse paraded through the city, but ultimately the terms of your execution are up to me."

— Truth speaking to the new Arbiter, Thel 'Vadamee.

The Prophet of Truth became the deciding factor in all issues for the three Prophets, representing an inequality in power that put him at the top of the other two.^[4]^[5]

Some time before the Prophet of Regret's mission to Earth, Truth had managed to discover the location of Humanity's homeworld, Earth. For him, this was an opportunity to crush his enemy once and for all. Instead of informing the rest of the Covenant or his fellow hierarchs of this discovery, he secretly assembled a fleet of over five hundred warships, to a a command-and-control station called Unyielding Hierophant. All of these forces were commanded exclusively by the Jiralhanae, the species Truth personally favored over the Sangheili, and planned to use in his later machinations. When the time came for Truth to return his attention to Earth, his expendable regiments needed to be led by Jiralhanae, not Sangheili. Leaving the Elites to scour Earth in search of the most sacred Forerunner artifact in existence, the portal generator which would lead to the Ark itself, would have placed all Truth's aspirations upon the shoulders of a species he had already decided to cast aside.^[6]

However, the UNSC forces discovered the Unyielding Hierophant and its purpose, and a small team of SPARTAN-IIs led by John-117 destroyed the station, along with most of the ships in its charge. The station's ultimate goal and its eventual destruction were suppressed by the Prophet of Truth - the Unyielding Hierophant's original purpose has since remained a closely guarded secret, even from the rest of the Hierarchs.^[6]

After the destruction of the Unyielding Hierophant, Truth waited in High Charity on the Step of Silence for Tartarus, Chieftain of the Jiralhanae, to arrive, with what remained of an ancient Forerunner Crystal that could manipulate time and space. He ordered the reward and secret execution of the remaining survivors from Operation: FIRST STRIKE, as not to cause any disruption in the Covenant by stories of how the Demons destroyed an entire fleet.^[7]

Occupation of Earth

While Truth had kept the discovery of the human homeworld a secret from everyone else, the Prophet of Regret managed to independently discover the location of the Artifact. Eager to exploit its power, Regret quickly departed for Earth with a fleet of fifteen ships, yet uninformed of the human presence on the planet.

Soon after this, Truth learned of the Prophet of Regret's brash and foolhardy move, and sent a massive fleet commanded by the Jiralhanae, to Earth to pick up where Regret had left off. Upon arrival to Earth, Regret's forces were outnumbered and outgunned. In mere hours, Regret was forced to retreat. Just after Regret's retreat, Truth's fleet arrived.

Several remaining ships from Regret's fleet were still under command of the Sangheili. Once Truth gave the word, the Jiralhanae in Truth's fleet forcefully overtook the Sangheili and assumed near-complete control over the battle not only above Earth, but also on the ground, slaying any remaining Sangheili stationed on the planet at will, with the Pious Inquisitor being the only remaining ship from Regret's original fleet^[8]. Upon further orders from Truth, they aggressively deployed significant infantry directly into New Mombasa and picked up where Regret had left off while holding the human forces at bay until Truth's reinforcements arrived. Once the UNSC forces had been defeated in the city of New Mombasa, Truth's fleet would start uncovering the Artifact, preparing it for his arrival nearly a month later.^[6]^[9]

The Heretics

"This Heretic, and those who follow him, must be silenced."

— Truth

Thel 'Vadamee, the former Supreme Commander of the Fleet of Particular Justice, was brought before the High Council to answer for his failure in protecting Halo from its destruction at the hands of the Demon. The Council called 'Vadamee a heretic for such a failure, and with a nod, Truth dismissed 'Vadamee from the Council Chamber and allowed the eager Tartarus and his Brutes to take the prisoner away, stating that when the Great Journey began, the disgraced Sangheili would be left behind for his heresy. 'Vadamee was later branded with the Mark of Shame by Tartarus. However, instead of executing Vadamee as the Council decided, Truth, backed by the High Prophets of Regret and Mercy chose to make him an Arbiter, knowing full well that the Council would have their corpse since the Arbiter's missions were suicidal and he would most likely die. He then sent his new Arbiter against the Heretic rebellion forming on the nearby Gas Mine on Threshold. This mission was considered the Elite's death sentence, but against the odds, the Arbiter survived to take on another mission.

The sparing of Vadamee's life was most likely due to the fact that Truth didn't wish to waste such a great warrior, preferring Vadamee to serve a purpose, even in death. However, Truth may have felt indebted to or biased towards the Arbiter, due to their previous encounters.

The Great Journey

Punishing Regret

Truth and Mercy.

"Your haste has jeopardized the fulfillment of our Covenant, threatened our grand design."

— Cortana quoting Truth's words to Regret.

While on Installation 05, Regret transmitted an apology to Truth, apologizing for his reckless attack on Earth, who hadn't anticipated a human presence there. Truth responded angrily, saying that it was only Mercy who had stopped Truth from publicly condemning Regret. Nevertheless, High Charity and its fleet rushed to Installation 05 and released a fleet of Phantoms full of forces to save Regret from the Humans who had overwhelmed Regret's soldiers. His sermons were interrupted when the Master Chief gained entry, fighting and killing him. The rescue Phantoms were called back by Truth, and instead had a Covenant Cruiser destroy the ancient building with its weapons. It is likely that Truth allowed Regret to be killed as part of his plan to remove the Elites from power, as Rtas 'Vadumee remarks they had called back his ships before the Prophet had been killed and the Elites would later be blamed, then taken out of power by Truth, citing their supposed failure to protect the Prophets.

Locating the "Sacred Icon"

"We are, all of us, gravely concerned. The release of the parasite was unexpected, unfortunate. But, there is no need to panic. In truth, this is a time to rejoice. A moment that all the Covenant should savor. For the Sacred Icon has been found. With it, our path is clear, our entry into the Divine Beyond guaranteed! The Great Journey is nigh! And nothing, not even the Flood, can stop it."

— Truth to all of High Charity

The main reason why 'Vadamee was still standing was because he had found an Oracle, calling itself 343 Guilty Spark, who had escaped the destruction of Halo. Carefully applying questions to the Oracle, the Prophets learned of the Activation Index, which they call the the Sacred Icon, to activate the remaining Halos.

Truth and Mercy then dispatched the Arbiter and most high-ranking Elites, including Rtas 'Vadumee, to collect the Index from the Library of Installation 05. While they were absent from High Charity, Truth instigated an overthrowing of the Sangheili, removing their Honour Guard status and replacing them with Jiralhanae. This culminated in the attempted assassination of the Arbiter by Tartarus and resulted in the Covenant civil war, "The Great Schism".

The Great Schism

"They ask for your allegiance and you shall give it!"

— Truth when escaping High Charity

After Regret was killed by the Master Chief, Truth's duplicitous scheming came to full fruition. The Elite Honor Guard's failure to protect the Prophet of Regret afforded him with the final leverage needed to appoint the Brutes to the lofty position. Truth began replacing the Elites with the Brutes as the Prophets' protectors, as the Elites had failed to protect Regret from his demise. This ultimately led to the start of the Covenant Civil War. Shortly thereafter, while Truth was addressing the Covenant about the Flood, "Sacred Icon”, and Great Journey, SPARTAN-117 was teleported into Truth's chamber and pursued him as he tried to escape to the Forerunner Dreadnought. Thel 'Vadamee reached the Icon, only to have it taken by Tartarus, who then attempted to kill him by knocking him into the depths of the Library.

As the two remaining Prophets tried to escape with their Human captives, a mass of Flood Infection Forms attacked them. Most were destroyed by Tartarus and his Brutes, but one managed to get past the Brutes and leaped towards Mercy, knocking the frail Prophet off his chair, and started to bite his throat. Tartarus attempted to save the old Prophet, but Truth ordered him to be left behind, one of his final moves to take full control of the Covenant, despite that it seemed like that Mercy was more of a supporter to Truth rather than part of the triumvirate ruled Covenant. Truth's mad quest for power would not be dissuaded, or threatened, even by his fellow Prophets.

Truth sent Tartarus to Installation 05 to activate the rings while he escaped into the Forerunner Dreadnought. When the Master Chief questioned a dying Mercy, he told the Chief that the Prophet was going to Earth, "to finish what we started". This implies that Regret's attack on Earth might have been an attempt to activate The Ark, the massive Forerunner monument which could activate all the Halo rings.

Assault on Earth

A hologram of Truth in Voi.

"You are, all of you, vermin. Cowering in the dirt, thinking...what, I wonder? That you might escape the coming fire? No! Your world will burn until its surface is but glass! And not even your Demon will live to creep - blackened - from its hole to mar the reflection of our passage, the culmination of our journey. For your destruction is the will of the gods. And I? I am their instrument!"

— Truth to the personnel of Crow's Nest.

After the assault on his Dreadnought by SPARTAN-117, Truth managed to defeat the Orbital defenses of Earth. He landed the Dreadnought on the Artifact, which his troops had nearly excavated during the four weeks since their arrival. While the digging was still in process, Truth broadcasted to a UNSC base, declaring that extinction is inevitable and not even their "Demon" could stop him.

Once the Artifact was fully uncovered, Truth landed his Dreadnought directly on it, while his troops set up air defenses around the perimeter. Nonetheless, the UNSC managed to break through the defenses and assaulted the Dreadnought. However, Truth successfully activated the Artifact, opening a portal to the Ark. After getting through this portal and traveling to an activation room on the installation, he shielded himself from attack and captured Sergeant Major Johnson to activate the rings for him. Despite his efforts, the UNSC and Elite forces broke through, as well as the newly Flood-controlled High Charity, who proceeded to assault the Citadel Truth was in from the opposite side.

Activating The Ark

File:End Truth.jpg

The death of Truth.

"I...am...Truth...the voice of the Covenant!"

— Truth's last words

In the Ark's main Control Room, Truth's Brute Chieftain proceeded to beat Johnson, who goaded him on. Truth ordered the Chieftain to stop as Johnson wanted him to kill him. As the High Prophet tried to force Johnson to activate the ring, Miranda Keyes crashed a Pelican into the control platform, in hopes of rescuing Johnson, but found herself surrounded by Truth's Brute Bodyguards.

As the Brutes flanked her, she held them off with her Shotgun, to no avail. Truth, hiding behind her, told her she was only delaying the inevitable. She attempted to kill both herself and Sergeant Johnson before either could be forced to activate the installations, but Truth managed to stop her himself by fatally severing her spine with seven shots of a Brute Spiker. He then comments to Johnson that he understands why the Forerunner left humanity "behind". He states that they are weak and that gods must be strong. As he began to activate the system, the Master Chief and Thel 'Vadam found themselves allied with the Flood in a final, desperate attempt to stop him from firing the rings.

After his guards were finished off by the Flood, Truth found himself being overtaken by the Gravemind's infection. Thel 'Vadam warned Gravemind to not take over the Prophet, desiring to have his revenge before his consciousness was expunged saying "I will have my revenge. On a Prophet, not a plague!". Truth in his last moments still found himself deluded, believing he would transcend as a god, while Gravemind spoke through him and stated that he would be food and nothing more.

Before his very last words, the Arbiter held him up by his throat so he could watch the "Demon" halt all of his plans by shutting down the Ark and thereby all the Halo rings. He yelled his last words, referring to himself as the voice of the Covenant, before impaled by Thel 'Vadam's Energy Sword. With his death, the Covenant collapsed, finally bringing the Human-Covenant War and Covenant Civil War to an end.

Personality

Seeing that during Thel Vadamee's trial he expressed little or no emotion whatsoever despite the fact that Installation 04 was destroyed, it seemed at first that Truth had a very calm and stoic nature, giving him a hardy, stone-faced personality. However, he was quick to become impatient and angry towards those, like his fellow Hierarch, Regret, who angered him, or did something foolish or reckless. An example of this was when Truth sent a transmission to Regret, scolding him on how rash he was to attack Earth.

However, the reason he is harsh on him is probably because he worries that Regret will end up dead or worse according to a letter he wrote to Mercy saying that he is "perhaps worrying too much". This is probably not the case because the Prophet has been very cold to his other allies, Tarturus, Mercy and Thel 'Vadam, possibly because he wanted to gain more power over the Covenant by eliminating all possible limitations. After arriving on Earth, Truth appears noticeably more aggressive and impatient, possibly having grown more annoyed by the "Demon" interfering in his plans. Ironically, contrary to his name, Truth is very deceptive, often lying to accomplish his goals. He tells the Covenant that it was the Brutes who found the Sacred Icon instead of 'Vadamee, who truly discovered it in an attempt to boost the Brute's popularity among the lower races of the Covenant, although alienating the Elites. Truth also secretly orders the killing of Thel 'Vadamee by the Brute Chieftain Tartarus after he has finished using him, as well as the assassination of the Elite council members, knowing the Brutes' own rivalry to the Sangheili and manipulating them to follow along with his plans. Another example is the fact that he stated that the Prophet of Mercy was by his side in the level "High Charity", when in fact, Mercy had died in an attack by the Flood moments earlier. Truth mercilessly denied him help, stating that "the Great Journey waits for no one". During the events of Contact Harvest, however, he had acknowledged that he would have to be deceitful in order to "maintain the Covenant" by claiming that the humans were trying to destroy the Forerunner relics, when, in fact, it was mistranslated from "Reclaimer" to "Reclamation".

Another interesting thing to note is that throughout Halo 3 (and parts of Halo 2), Truth exhibits many psychopathic traits and even shows a slight sadistic side. It would seem that he loses his cool, calm behavior when face-to-face with a formidable enemy, such as Thel 'Vadam or the Master Chief, or that he enjoys the torture or death of his foes.

Although inspiring and charismatic, he is most likely insane considering how fanatical and manipulative he is. He essentially caused the Covenant Civil War, along with Mercy's and Regret's easily preventable deaths. This however, may not be considered insanity, as he only did these things to ensure his complete rule of the Covenant.

Motivation

Choices in allowing both the Prophet of Mercy and Prophet of Regret to die seem to suggest that he wanted supreme power over the entire Covenant, yet he already seemed to possess a high amount of power over the other Hierarchs.

After the death of the Prophet of Regret, the Prophet of Truth charged the Elites with no longer being able to guarantee their safety, and despite arguments that they could have stopped SPARTAN-117 if they had not been withdrawn due to his order, the Prophet began to set in motion a plan that seemed to be preconceived, the shifting of power within the Covenant that elevated the Brutes into the former Elite position of protector. He killed two birds with one stone, one giving himself greater power after Regret's death, and two, to pass power to the Brutes before the Schism.

Though the Prophet has questioned and learned from 343 Guilty Spark, it is not truly known if he believes in and desires to transcend on the "Great Journey". As the Minister of Fortitude he learned from the AI stationed on the Forerunner Dreadnought, Mendicant Bias, that the Humans were the true heirs of the Forerunners. Despite this knowledge, he had the AI's connections to the Dreadnought severed as much as possible and initiated the bloodbath that would become the Human-Covenant War. Although it is only speculation, it seems likely that Truth always intended to journey to the Ark, explaining why he was so eager to allow both Regret and Mercy to perish, clearing his path. He may have sought to activate the rings while safe in the Ark to clear all of his nemeses, both Elites and Humans alike. This theory is supported by the fact that on the Halo 3 level, The Ark, in which he states that all the Covenant races will be saved from the rings, which also may lead to the fact that he told the Covenant the truth and what power the whole empire would wield during the beginning of the Covenant Civil War. An interesting note is that when Johnson asks Truth, "Can't start your own party?", Truth replies: "I admit. I need your help. But that secret dies with all the rest." This indicates that he ordered the Brutes to capture a human, but did not tell them why. Possibly he takes advantage of the fact that the Jiralhanae aren't as questioning as the Sangheili, and that the promise of the Great Journey would reach them if they obeyed.

Truth's animosity towards the Elites may stem toward the fact that both races competed in a bloody war many decades before the forming of the Covenant, forcing a resignation for the race in Truth. He did have a higher regard for the Brutes as they were able to move quickly through the ranks, the real reason they had the Elites as their guards.

Although a description for the Prophet describes him as "deluded, possibly insane" as well as a true believer, it is noted that he has always been far less ascetic in his views, accepting the dogma but not acting in reverence toward it.

Evidence for Truth's knowledge of the Rings exists in his confidential conversation with Sergeant Avery Johnson. He still strives to become "A god", but it is possible that the power he would gain from wiping out every contending race would garner him the kind of "godliness" he imagines.

Trivia

Oddly enough, in First Strike both Truth and Tartarus are referred to as "it." While this could be a nod to the fact that Truth is truth personified, both he and Tartarus are confirmed as being males. Prophet, his title, is also a masculine word.
The Prophet of Truth is voiced by Michael Wincott in Halo 2 and by Terence Stamp in Halo 3. There is no official explanation at the moment stating why the voice actor changed, but it was probably done to make him seem more like a villain than a priest.
Like other Prophets, his title is ironic. For Truth, it is that he lied constantly: the Human-Covenant War was started directly due to one of his lies. However, he himself acknowledges this as a necessity, as do the other two Prophets. ^[10]
Like the Prophet of Regret, the Gravemind comes to speak through Truth at some point. He took control of Regret in the Halo 2 level Gravemind (Level), and Truth in the Halo 3 level The Covenant (Level).
The Prophet of Truth is the only Covenant who referred to John-117 as the "Master Chief". It is unknown as to how he knows this alternate name for John-117.
Truth has one of the three remaining shards of the Forerunner Slipspace crystal, and it may have been used when he escaped High Charity to Earth in the Dreadnought.
It was stated that Truth (when he was known as Fortitude) occasionally smoked too much, yet he rarely used the hookah tobaccos favored by his senior staff. ^[11]
Truth makes a brief cameo after the epilogue in Halo 3: ODST after completing the game on Legendary. He confidently oversees a group of Engineers, as they move towards a Forerunner artifact, most likely the Artifact.
A large monument to Truth can be seen in the central chamber of the Halo 2 multiplayer map, Gemini.
Ironically, while Truth started the Human-Covenant War to make sure the Covenant survived, the war itself would become the catalyst of the Covenant's demise as a galactic and united superpower.