IsoDidact

This article is about the Didact responsible for activating the Halo Array. For the Didact encountered in Halo 4, see Ur-Didact.

The Bornstellar-Didact, often only referred to as the 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, his family and ancestors came from a long line of Builders, the highest and most powerful rate in Forerunner society. He was transformed into 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. At first, the Bornstellar-Didact intended to serve as a replacement for the Didact, who was at the time believed to have been executed by Master Builder Faber. After it turned out that the original Didact was still alive, the offshoot of the Didact's consciousness became known as the Bornstellar-Didact, while his original self was identified as the Ur-Didact.

Biography

Early life

"Bornstellar is marked to become a great Builder, just like his father — but this Manipular has other plans."

— Description

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.

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 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.

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.

Soon after, the Bornstellar-Didact 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. When Bornstellar-Didact found Chakas, the latter could still recognize him but the Bornstellar-Didact mentioned that he was Bornstellar "no more, except in [his] dreams".

After the Halo had been successfully transported to the greater Ark, the Bornstellar-Didact, 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 Bornstellar-Didact 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.

Following his temporary victory, the Bornstellar-Didact's power rose as he returned to the favor of the re-established Ecumene Council, 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.

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; the original Didact, identified as the Ur-Didact, and his active personality imprint within Bornstellar, now referred to as the Bornstellar-Didact.

Activating the Halo Array

"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 Bornstellar-Didact's final transmission.

Later on, during the war, the Bornstellar-Didact 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". 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 Bornstellar-Didact 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.

Over 100,000 years later, a record referred to as the "Bornstellar Relation", supposedly containing a testimony or archived personality of Bornstellar, was discovered by the UNSC on Onyx.

Physical description and personality

Presumably like all Manipulars, 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. Because of this, Bornstellar had become increasingly interested in the Precursors, an ancient race of sentient beings far predating his own people.

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. 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, and he eventually came to resemble the original Didact very closely, aside from being conspicuously younger.

Trivia

• Bornstellar is the main protagonist of the Greg Bear novel Halo: Cryptum, the first of three novels in The Forerunner Saga.

List of appearances

• Halo: Cryptum (First appearance)
• Halo 3
  • Terminals
• Halo Legends
  • Origins
• Halo: Primordium
• Halo: Silentium