Forthencho
From Halopedia, the Halo wiki
| Forthencho Oborune | |
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Died: |
c. 106,445 BCE |
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Gender: |
Male |
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Hair color: |
Brown |
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Eye color: |
Brown |
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Title: |
Lord of Admirals |
Forthencho Oborune, the Lord of Admirals,[3] was an ancient human senior naval officer who served during the human-Forerunner wars over nine thousand years before the Forerunner-Flood war.[4] During the later years of the Forerunner-Flood war, he was reborn in the form of a personality imprint inside of the young human Chakas,[5] an imprint that would last for over a hundred thousand years until Chakas as 343 Guilty Spark got rid of it.[2] The real Forthencho would end up in the outer boundaries of the Domain along with the rest of the Ancestors who were composed where he formed an alliance with the Didact a hundred thousand years later.[6]
Biography[edit]
Human-Forerunner war[edit]
- "Once, we were one great race, united in power and concerted in our goals..."
- — Forthencho reminiscing humanity's age of flourish.[7]
During the height of humanity's war with the Flood, the human and San'Shyuum brought their military forces under Forthencho's leadership and he was given the title Lord of Admirals. Although both species fought bravely for years, the Flood's spread seemed unstoppable, and Forthencho spearheaded desperate efforts to contain the parasite. Knowing that the Flood could not expand without sentient beings to infect, Forthencho ordered the destruction of neighboring worlds including those held by Forerunners, despite also knowing this firebreak strategy was ethically dubious and risky as it would eventually rouse the Forerunner war machine from its slumber.[8]
As a high-ranking officer in the prehistoric human empire, Forthencho often found himself at odds with Yprin Yprikushma, humanity's Political and Morale Commander. He disputed Yprikushma's conclusion that Earth was humanity's original homeworld, having visited many worlds with ruins of a yet earlier human civilization preceding a technological dark age and believing that humanity's origins would be elsewhere. He also viewed Yprikushma's decision to bring the Primordial to Charum Hakkor as a grave mistake, arguing that the truths revealed by the Primordial in the subsequent interrogations demoralized humanity, contributing to their ultimate defeat against the Forerunners.[9] During humanity's conflict with the Flood and their simultaneous war with the Forerunners, he attempted in vain to convince the human government to draw the Flood back into the galaxy as a weapon against the Forerunners. Ultimately, he was overruled by Yprin Yprikushma and remained bitter about the decision seeing the Flood could have been humanity's best hope of prolonging the war.
As humanity fell back to their capital world Charum Hakkor, Forthencho commanded the forces protecting the planet, gaining an intimate understanding of the Didact's tactics and strategy in the process of countering his constant assaults over the course of the final battle;[10] he ironically stated that "no lover ever felt [his] attentions so fiercely."[11] He later noted that despite his animosity toward Forerunners, he felt a deep respect for his main opponent. Eventually, he and the other surviving human forces were pushed back to the Precursor ruin known as Citadel Charum where they made their final stand.[Note 1] As the final planetary defenses collapsed and their defeat became certain, the survivors stripped their uniforms in an effort to conceal their ranks from the Forerunners in the face of inevitable capture. This failed, as the Didact was able to locate him immediately from amongst the thousands of the human survivors that had been rounded up in the citadel.[12]
Meeting his defeated opponent in person, the Didact addressed Forthencho as a fellow warrior, showing respect at his tenacity and reassuring him about the future, explaining that the Librarian had laid plans for Forthencho and his human fellows for thousands of years to come and that their impending death would not mean the end of humankind.[12] The Forerunners' Old Council believed that humanity possessed a "cure" to the Flood, and the Librarian intended to use this belief to preserve what she could of the human survivors. First analyzed both physically and mentally in the most thorough ways possible, Forthencho and the other humans on Charum Hakkor were scanned by Composers, killing their physical selves but storing their patterns in virtual form. As mandated by the Old Council, the essences of Forthencho and the other humans processed by the Composer were splintered into many copies which were cycled through incessant virtual interrogation for thousands of years; the Council believed this would finally unlock humanity's supposed cure to the Flood thus making the Forerunners better prepared against the parasite when it reappeared.[13]
Reawakening[edit]
- "Now that the Forerunners have succumbed, either in battle or from the Shaping Sickness, they have left behind just a few confused servants — and many, many humans, awaiting a new time, a new mandate. And that mandate is: avenge the fallen. Rise from defeat, rise from the dead! The promise is simple. Freedom. Support. Weapons unimagined in all our previous wars. Humans will fight Forerunners again—and defeat them!"
- — Forthencho's essence addresses his fellow humans after being extracted from Chakas.
Over nine thousand years after his death, Forthencho's archived personality was implanted in the genetic material of a human known as Chakas via the Librarian's special geas. His memories began to surface in Chakas' mind after the young human witnessed the destruction of Charum Hakkor's Precursor artifacts and learned of the relocation of the Primordial and saw the plight of the San'Shyuum.[14] While Chakas originally had the memories of multiple ancient humans unspooling in his mind,[15] Forthencho's consciousness fully awakened after Chakas had crash-landed on Installation 07 and emerged as the dominant old spirit within Chakas.[16] The other personalities subsequently appeared to go dormant as Chakas later stated that he could no longer feel them.[17] Slowly becoming aware of his predicament and gaining strength within Chakas' mind, Forthencho would occasionally comment on the events around him, using his knowledge to enlighten Chakas on things beyond his understanding and often showing disappointment at how far humanity had fallen from their former glory. At one point, Chakas allowed Forthencho to take control of his body in order to converse with Yprin Yprikushma, whose consciousness was carried by Chakas' friend Riser.[18]
After being captured by Mendicant Bias, the rampant ancilla in control of the Halo, Forthencho's imprint was removed from Chakas and placed into a monitor shell; the same procedure was done to many other humans who also carried archived human memories. Mendicant Bias promised the ancient humans revenge on the Forerunners, if their former carriers cooperated with it in saving the Halo from an impending collision with a planet. Due to his hatred of the Forerunners and his desire for revenge, Forthencho was enthusiastic to accept Mendicant's offer; however, it is evident he was never truly in control and Mendicant Bias was only using him as a puppet to manipulate the humans into saving the ring.[19] He gave a rousing speech to his resurrected comrades and planning that after saving the Halo, they could use it and Mendicant's vast resources