The Didact (or Shadow of the Sundered Star) is a Forerunner Promethean of the highest order, bringing himself to be the leader of the entire Forerunner military forces. A fanatic for the ways described in the Mantle of Responsibility he is directly responsible for the ending on the Human-Forerunner war many thousands of years ago, resulting in the banishment and devolving of humanity back to a primitive state.
The Flood – Forerunner War
The Didact was the among the first of his kind to encounter the Timeless One, a being known as a ‘Precursor’ – The race before all other races – being held on a former Human stronghold. This powerful being was the last of its kind, but also the very first of a new threat known as the Flood. The Timeless One, also known as the Gravemind was actually being researched by the humans and was the direct cause of the aggression humanity showed towards the Forerunners (a critical piece of information the Didact wish he knew before almost annihilating the humans). This new threat – a biological infestation of anything that lives would be the undoing of the Forerunners who now had to face this horror alone in the galaxy.
He resisted the creation of the Halo Rings (a massive super weapon that would destroy all life within the galaxy), instead wanting the less lethal creation of Shield Worlds (Super defensive planet sized bomb-shelters that can even resist even the Halo Array’s blast) to protect the galaxy. He was beaten down by the highest in political power and stripped of his rank for his audacity.
The now derelict Didact found himself stranded on an ancient Earth to sleep for one thousand years. He was awoken by a young Forerunner called Bornstellar-Makes-Eternal-Lasting, a being the Didact took advantage of by taking over his mind – essentially now leaving two Didact’s: Bornstellar Didact and Ur-Didact.
The original body was supposedly destroyed in a flood attack orchestrated by a rogue AI called 032 Medicant Bias by the orders of The Master Builder. Bornstellar lived on seemingly oblivious to the Didact’s machinations, returning back to his wife – the Librarian and continuing on the fight against the flood.
In his quest to dispatch the impending Flood legions, Ur-Didact took to genetically modifying his own body to give himself immunity from the infection. In his new mutated state he could not undergo the transformation made by the Composer – a machine made to merge organic and digital life. In response his army (known as the Promethean’s) underwent the transformation themselves, turning into the incredibly powerful but moral-less Promethean Knights. Tinged with madness he then forced many of the now primitive human race through the Composer to bolster his army, much to the dismay of the Librarian who managed to steal away the composer from him and seal him and his knight’s within the Shield World Requiem. The activation of the Halo Array soon after quickly annihilated nearly all life from the galaxy including the Flood and the Forerunners, but the mighty defences of the Shield World protected Ur-Didact and his army letting them sleep for countless millennia until certain radio transmissions woke them long in the future…
Ur-Didact’s Return
The Ur-Didact plays the role of the antagonist within Halo 4 where his nefarious scheming leads to John-117 and Cortana releasing him and his deadly Promethean army. Leading a remnant of the Covenant forces, they seek out a new Composer and with it’s overwhelming power try and create a new army for himself using Earth as his target. Only the Master Chief and his trusty AI partner stand in his way.
You can find out the fate of Ur-Didact and humanity itself in Halo 4, available now in the jam packed Masterchief Collection! Also keep up to date with XBLGamerhub as we have Halo competitions, tournaments and more Halo Month content to come!
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