The Didact: A History | Lore and Theory

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In this episode: We give the Didact, in both his Incarnations, a deep dive and a full exploration of their history. Didact is due to make a return in an upcoming novel by Kelly Gay, and we’re days away from the 10th anniversary of Halo 4, so what better time to dive into the Lore or the Didact.

For Katie.

Music: ALYXGMUSIC
117 MJOLNIR MIX
MARCH OF THE COLOSSUS
LOST AND FOUND

Primordial Artwork
Rythase: https://www.artstation.com/rythaze

#halo4 #haloanniversary #10yearsanniversary #Didact #lore #halo

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24 thoughts on “The Didact: A History | Lore and Theory”

  8. Oh ! I thought it was an old video, as I am consistently now going through your channel's content.
    But it's a new one, right on time 😀
    Outstanding work, I love these long lore videos.
    This channel and a few others are keeping the Halo flame alive and well, thanks for everything you do here.

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  14. Fans of the Didact? Really? The man was a monster, enslaved Humans via the composer, and to use an anachronistic term was quite Fascistic (not to say the UNSC isn't full blown Fascist, but two bad things can be bad at the same time).

    That all being said, very good video on a VILLAIN who is honestly quite compelling despite his evilness, which is the sgn of a good antagonist.

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  18. I hope at some point 343 leans into the ancient humans part of the lore, like maybe have an armour core in infinite based off their armour designs, or have chief encounter a settlement/ship of ancient human design.

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  19. Ideas of mine in addition to what you said about the Didact's future potential in the story:

    – The Didact does go through a redemption arc as you suggest.

    – The Didact does save Master Chief from Offensive Bias.

    – The Didact and Master Chief do work together against the Endless.

    – The situation with the Endless is at least temporarily 'resolved' though not necessarily with a complete victory or resolution over them.

    – The Didact and Master Chief continue to talk after this and the Didact tells him some information concerning the Forerunner-Flood War.

    – The Didact then parts ways with Master Chief, expressing a desire to find the Forerunners thought to be in exile beyond the galactic plane.

    Bonus round:

    – The Didact does find them though their civilisation has become more monastic and unrecognisable to the Didact, albeit still technological.

    – It takes the Didact years to find the colony because they are deliberately masking their presence from discovery, in a way which is clever enough to make them practically invisible even to the best efforts of the Forerunner and Covenant-tech ascended capabilities UNSC and the initial attempts by the Didact.

    – Eventually the Didact realises the tell-tale signs of the use of bafflers and cloaking technology on a massive scale, and methodically works to understand and interpret the sources of the cloaking devices, scouring areas of space in the intergalactic void to try and pinpoint a main source.

    – After finding a few sub-nodes and eventually landing on an asteroid with a large, hyper-advanced baffler (which had in itself been cloaked and made largely invisible) the Didact begins to predict and plot a map of such outposts and, while doing so, lets out a constant beacon signal in the language of the Forerunners and signals the presence of a Forerunner ship (that which he is using to travel the Void) The process takes several years though he does eventually find a likely source of the Forerunners.

    – Strategic analysis through his own immense tactical and strategical intelligence, narrowed down the initial search area and saved him a lot of time, as he may well have known all along the likely sectors of space which the Forerunners may have fled into if they had to. The number of seemingly unrelated – but he'd know, were actually entirely interlinked – automated masking stations and bafflers, would then create a form of cordon around a small sector of space into which the Didact would exhaustively search for two further years. Then he would find the main source, in the darkness, after nearly crashing into it.

    – Hidden behind various cloaking fields and made to look like empty space dotted by a few random asteroids, the truth behind the illusion would be revealed as a large, shield-world-like megastructure spanning 24,000 km wide. Around it are positioned a number of smaller, 'satellite-megastructures', all over 1,000 km wide, which are cloaked on their outward appearance like the main structure, from the direction of the galactic plane, though aligned together in perfect unison around the main megastructure. There are 12 of these around the 'Equator' and 6 each around both of the 'Tropics' of the spherical megastructure, as well as even larger nodal defence megastructures for each of the polar approaches (so 26 spherical defence nodes in total) Note: the two polar moons are both over 2,000 km in diameter each.

    – Girdling the entire megastructure is a gigantic ring megastructure which is hundreds of kilometres thick and over 30,000 km wide. This, singular megastructure ringing the main 'planetary' megastructure', is a massive docking facility and defensive structure. It it's own right, it is a masterpiece and exhibits the terraforming wonders of the Forerunners. Each of the 24, moon-sized spheres stationed in fixed positions around the ring and the planetary megastructures, are themselves guard bastions protecting all approaches of the entirely Forerunner constructed system. They also act as listening posts and defensive nodes with massive ground-to-orbit cannons and vast fortifications. Together, they also emit gigantic defensive energy fields around the entire system, with energy barriers and shields going out way beyond the outer spheres, enveloping everything within for a hundred thousand kilometres in radius.

    – Seeing the scale and beauty of these structures, The Didact is brought to silent tears on the bridge of his starship, seeing the majesty and spectacle of the Forerunners in it's sincerity and tenacity once again. But he also recognises the significance of what structures of this scale, must mean, in terms of the potential Forerunner population within. A new class of Forerunner destroyer – based on the Sojourn-class – is docked in large numbers on each of the 24 nodal spheres/bastions, and a very great number are docked in the ring around the planetary megastructure. Keyships are found all over the planetary body.
    – Under dense defence layers on the exterior of the metallic looking megastructure, there is a heavily miniaturised 'star' providing light, and ample warmth, to the surface of a smaller spherical body locked in stasis within; permanently shrouded under massive energy fields and shields yet again. The paradise contained below these massive defences is veiled, though once seen, never forgotten. A masterpiece, even by the standards of the Forerunner Builders.

    – Numerous Forerunner Warrior-servant Legions guard the entire system, and Builder Security numbers are even greater. However, the sentinels here are very much more advanced than anything ever seen before, and they are designed to be more difficult to be controlled by any central AI; decentralised AI is the norm. The situation here is that there is a fear of AI since the Forerunner-Flood War, and a serious number of protocols exist in any sanctioned use of AI for literally anything. Automation and AI integration does exist, in a widespread form, even with that in mind; though it is used much more carefully and each AI sentinel is more of a 'bespoke' unit. There are still millions of them, all the same.
    – The majority of systems here are maintained by living Forerunners. Here, technological and spiritual advancement is seen as 'Returning to the Mantle'. The ruling elite of the defence-and-secrecy paranoid Forerunners here, are bound by various laws and protocols to uphold their solemn duties and to further the arts, sciences and technologies of the Forerunners. Here, they have continued to advance Forerunner technology.

    – The entire system is known to these Forerunner survivors as, 'Unyielding Spirit in the Darkness of the Sundering Void', or more functionally as 'Nexus'. Within the armoured shell of the defence sphere, the planetary body formed inside the energy shields, is itself often referred to by the Forerunners there, as 'Heart of the Mantle', or simply, 'Halcyon'. Some combine the terms, referring to the entire system as 'Nexus Halcyon'. More commonly, it is one or the other.

    – The beautiful oceans of the planetary structure, entirely Forerunner-made, are full of subaqueous cities and carefully tended to marine life, in perfect harmony. The land masses of the planetary structure are similarly well-tended to, and cities are built with a respect for 'nature' (as 'natural' as it can be here) The architecture is interwoven with the biological elements of the trees and other flora, and the architectural styles of the Forerunners merge with natural, flowing forms. They build tall, elegant spires and typically Forerunner, utilitarian buildings, yet structures which play host to waterfalls and gardens wherever they can excuse them being. The Lifeworkers work closely with both the Builders and the Warrior-servants, to make for a closer resonance with nature, in all things; not just the architectural. This manifests most obviously in their armour and suits, because these are even more elegant (think Tolkien's Elves)

    – Forerunner society here is more religious and obsessed with the Mantle of Responsibility, and the ruling elite is focused on purging dissenting voices. This has caused a number of tensions with the Warrior-servants and the Builders, though pacification campaigns and purgation phases have seen small civil insurrections ended here several times, with somewhat brutal oppression enforced by the ruling class. However, numerous Forerunners now argue they should return to the galaxy, in growing strength of voice and numbers.

    – The ruling elite, forming the Council of Elders, with representatives from all the sects and castes of their system, monitor the situation with growing concern as dissent continues to emerge over their self-imposed exile. Civil disobedience and elitist suppression of the lower orders, is common. Although the Didact does not know it, he has discovered a monastic, religious colony of the Forerunners in exile. The presence of a Forerunner starship of an ancient class, emerging from out of the galactic plane to hail the system, has caused a huge uproar amongst both the loyalists of the 'conservative traditionalist isolationists' and the 'radical exploratory reformists'. This division in the society of the several dozen million Forerunners present, is dangerous. However, plenty of Forerunners are excited at the news of a Forerunner vessel arriving after having found them. It was not supposed to be possible after all this time.
    [part 1/4]

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  20. The Didact, for having so little time in the actual games, has quite the impressive amount of great lore on him.
    All that backstory presents such a grand number of dynamics to his past present and possible future.
    I likewise hope to see him return to the mainline elements of Halo as there is still much potential for him as a character. Imagine what all the knowledge he possesses could do for Humanity in the Halo universe.

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  21. I've a hunch the Endless are a more recent, Halo-immune incarnation of the Precursors, as they share design motifs with Abaddon and the last Precursor known (Primordial) – something missing from this recollection of the history of Iso-Didact in paritcular is the Criterion – their brief governing group to oversee their galactic reseeding and restoration efforts.

    I imply simply, the Endless are a derivative backup form of the Precursors, seeking to right the wrongs they perceived and continue to see in how the Forerunners had handled matters before, since, and soon – should there be Shield Worlds out there that had succeded in their purpose (and thus were not logged in known history, due to the Didact still having the likes of Requiem unblemished by the Flood).

    Considering Bastion, mentioned in Halo 5, and the Forerunner colony in Path Kethona.

    Beyond this point is a wild ramble – a what-if that may lead to a Mass Effect or MMO style continuation of the Halo universe, with Infinite being the 'base game' used to build this on as a continuous expansion to Infinite rather than making more Halo titles – a harkening back to Halo 4's Spartan Ops campaigns. Which were a novel idea, but deserved more time.

    Unfiltered theoretics, guesswork, and hopefully lore-viable content/fanfiction/??? follow.

    Way I imagine Ur-Didact coming back is, as he has spent longer in the Domain looking about (sightseeing with echoes of his wife, friends, children, and others – perhaps even convening with the Knight-souls who uploaded themselves to the Domain before their forms failed them, which would explain the constant stream of Knights without need for further Compositions, not unlike how the Necrons can copy themselves to new bodies should their current ones be beyond restoration), he would inevitably liberate Warden Eternal, and also learn other Precursor secrets.

    To that end he would figure out how to return in organic form, but also remain in The Domain, and pass this on to his Prometheans – who'd do the same.

    He would have Warden block off Offensive Bias, who would be on the offensive against all parties until he meets Adjutant Resolution and – after a duel with Chief – accepts him as a worthy assistant against the Endless and on a campaign to incite a Great Schism (2) on the Banished to garner additional units to quarantine the Endless before they escape and start committing temporal warfare to cancel out currently accepted history with one where the Forerunners lost their war on the Precursors.

    That is to say, when Warden intervenes in the duel between Off-Bias and Chief, Didact and his Prometheans emerge and surround them, with a combination of Warrior-Servants proper, Cavalier Mimics controlled by Essences still in The Domain (basically smaller Warrior-Servant-shaped versions of Warden, devoid of face besides a Didact helmet like mask that would part for the face weapon to fire), and Knights.

    And then a bigger number of Armigers phasing in on command of Off-Bias, but instead of taking aim, they kneel, and Off-Bias dips its head after turning to the Ur-Didact after Warden T-posed in its way.

    A brief exchange ensues, Warden ambiently shrugs to Chief, very subtly, then whispers to him on comms about having work to do.
    Warden would be later seen fighting the Harbinger, despite us seeing her dead earlier, as to imply time isn't quite linear with the Endless, or that death isn't the same. She would shout cryptic orders at Warden which are ignored by him, as The Domain was restored by a Forerunner and thus does not possess the Precursor codes she remembers. She'd probably become increasingly frustrated and sloppy, before being restrained, and likely reimprisoned in a Cylix – still able to talk outside of it in a ghostly tone thanks to her Domain connection; this would be a good moment for her to go over a brief history of why she is screaming about Forerunners being wrong – giving Chief an in-depth allusion to the Precursor angle on things.

    She'd continue to haunt Chief in a ghostly holographic form akin to Abaddon, only to find herself wrapped up in chirpy discussions with Weapon (theory on her name: Durandal?) which leads her to get Domain-memories of why humanity is actually pretty adorable when you get to know them on better terms. This results in her giving a layman's-terms rundown of Neural Physics and how her kind are able to use it because they're a 'spare evolution' the Precursors had but 'got bored of', then 'got stuck in' because their equivalent of the Promethean Rate were at war with the Forerunners and went overboard on a vengeful crusade, resulting in what we know.

    Weapon in contrast would be giving Harbinger the Forerunner history she had a spare copy of thanks to Cortana's 'ghost' still doing things in the background.

    At this point the Endless/Precursor/Flood relation would be exposed and we'd be fighting Flood and fully fledged Precursor war engines, Banished, and wayward green-lit Prometheans that had been hijacked by the Precursor/Endless via Logic Plague, who have a more organic/zombie gait. During this, Harbinger would be leading Chief behind their lines and trying to get her kin to reevaluate the present tense.

    Didact, Warden, Off-Bias and their combined Promethean/Builder arsenal would overwhelm the Flood/Endless forces, but not kill the Endless themselves – instead restraining them as to show their adherence to the Mantle in action. The end of such a hypothetical(ly free) DLC campaign if taken in this way would introduce alerts that reward credits, with Flood, hijacked Sentinel swarms, and rogue Promethean forces, attacking your firebases – or trying to take and reestablish defeated enemy bases.

    Furthermore, the Spires would also be revealed to be repurposed partitions of the Palace of Pain, with 'forbidden' configurations implying that the Master Builder had tormented the Xalanyn for longer than the Forerunners-since had realised, or something to this end.

    DLC weapons in the campaign would include a classic Carbine, the entire Promethean arsenal with the ability to swap between 'combat models' (i.e: Halo 4 versions and Halo 5 versions), with some functional adjustments to give the arsenal a clear array of distinct uses. Things like the Brute Shot and armour abilities like the Hardlight Shield would return as pickups, with modes where you have loadouts, like in Reach.

    As for further content after on this narrative path, we would likely see the Precursors trying to reassert their position, and coming into political bouts with the Forerunners while rebuilding destroyed worlds and restoring life via The Domain – with, much to the Precursors' disgust, Forerunner help, because The Domain's functions are recoded to a Forerunner, not a Precursor. Chief would be still following with Harbinger and pursuing a major lead from Ur-Didact regarding Atriox and that he must be brought to judgement for trying to exterminate mankind, as well as other leads regarding pockets of noncompliant Created remnant forces (a gathering of Armigers and Covenant forces, with the occasional human acting as a commander with their Ancilla at their side being the norm, more a 'cult' worshipping the Mantle's ideologies and trying to enforce them without appripriate supervision, leading to needless hostilities and immunity to reason).

    Didact would continue to discover unregistered Shield Worlds, unleashing dense Forerunner civilian populations on the galaxy and resulting in further galactic political strangeness – with humans putting their things back together, the Covenant leftovers trying to figure out what to do with all these gods running around, and the galaxy at large reeling from the fact that the Precursors – as Xalanyn – are back in the picture.

    All the while, the Harbinger would continue to find herself fascinated with Chief and his relation to Cortana and humanity – and be 'trapped' in conversations with the Weapon which continue to reveal lore tidbits as they scour the other Halos or something else. Harbinger would still be locked in her Cylix due to trying to incite civil unrest as per neo-Ecumene law.

    Halsey would likely ask to be Composed, after becoming sufficiently aged, wanting to continue her own agenda which has Didact intrigued. After Composition, Halsey would probably have a form reminiscent of herself and Librarian in some respect, but with the back-parting of a Promethean Warrior-Servant's helmet. This would catch Didact's interest and have him send Chief after her for the sake of security… Only to find she reassembled Cortana into several 'sister' copies from her ghostly leftovers, and is exploring the galaxy, citing Star Trek references.

    This results in the Didact and Harbinger both being interested in human fiction, which does not help Chief as he continues to do what he enjoys – sightseeing, stopping serious galactic plots of villainous intent, blowing up ancient machinery, and making a friend or two.

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