Reclaimer

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A "Reclaimer" (Latin: Homo Sapiens Augeous) is an individual who, whether by chance or by precedent, has been placed in charge of activating a Halo super-weapon. The individual must journey to retrieve a Halo's activation key (the Index) and then activate the Halo Array.

Qualifications and Use

The Forerunner glyph for a Reclaimer.

It is unclear what qualifications there are to being a Reclaimer. It may be that only Humans can become qualified to become a Reclaimer, most likely Spartans. The term is used many times throughout the Halo games and literature, with no clear-cut definition.

Chronologically, the title of Reclaimer is first used by Mendicant Bias, as described in Contact Harvest. While correcting the Covenant's misinterpretation of the Luminary's readings, Mendicant applies the term to a large portion, if not the entirety, of the human population on Harvest. Mendicant also claims that the humans are his makers, which corroborates what 343 Guilty Spark says to the Master Chief in Halo 3: "You are the child of my makers. Inheritor of all they left behind. You are Forerunner." After Mendicant, the next known bestowal of the title is when Guilty Spark addressed Sergeant Marvin Mobuto in Halo: The Flood. Following Mobuto's death and Spark's first meeting with SPARTAN-117, the title is laid upon the Master Chief. 2401 Penitent Tangent also instantly recognized the Master Chief as a Reclaimer. In addition to the Chief, both Commander Keyes and Sergeant Johnson are referred to as Reclaimers, and 343 Guilty Spark seems to show them the same respectful attitude that he shows the Chief.

It is also important to note when the term "Reclaimer" is not applied. All Covenant species are viewed as intruders or "meddlers" and are unable to access and fully utilize the Forerunner weapon systems found in the Halo Rings and on the Ark, which is why the Prophet of Truth had to force Sgt. Johnson to activate the rings in Halo 3. Additionally, in Halo: Ghosts of Onyx, the Sentinels do not identify the humans on Onyx as Reclaimers. It could be that Sentinels only possess limited intelligence while apart from a controlling Monitor. It is safe to speculate that the Monitors, as custodians of the Halo installations, play an important role in helping local Sentinels determine who is friendly and who is not. It should also be noted that the first human a Sentinel tried to identify on Onyx was Ash-G099, one of the SPARTAN-IIIs, all of whom possessed artificial augmentations, most notably an illegal drug cocktail designed to affect the brain's frontal lobe to enhance certain traits in combat. This cocktail was the only major difference between their augmentation program and that of the SPARTAN-IIs. This may have been reason enough for the Sentinel to identify him as something other than human or Reclaimer (After Ash spoke to it, the Sentinel said, "Reclassification of targets as non-Reclaimers. Aboriginal subspecies."), and after that the Sentinels may have simply assumed that all humans on Onyx were of the same classification.

It is possible that 343 Guilty Spark does not recognize Reclaimers as individuals, but instead believes that every Reclaimer is the same being. When talking to Master Chief in Installation 04's Control Room, Spark says, "Last time, you asked me, if it were my choice, would I do it? Having had considerable time to ponder your query, my answer has not changed." It seems that Guilty Spark was referring to a question posed to him by a Forerunner, possibly Didact, prior to the activation of Installation 04 100,000 years before.

The word "Reclaimer" is an extension of the word "reclaim" and can be defined as:

1. To bring (uncultivated areas or wasteland) into a condition for cultivation or other use.
2. To recover (substances) in a pure or usable form from refuse, discarded articles, etc.
3. To bring back to a preferable manner of living, sound principles, ideas, etc.
4. To tame.

From what 343-Guilty Spark reveals to the Master Chief, this is apparently the purpose of a Reclaimer; to activate the Halo array and "recover" the galaxy from the Flood, making it suitable to recultivate and repopulate.

Trivia

• The glyph for Reclaimer is another Marathon reference.
• In Halo: Combat Evolved and Halo 3, the Monitors have the same glyph imprinted on their "eye".
• Mendicant Bias refers to John-117 as the Reclaimer through the Terminals in Halo 3.
• In Halo 3, Elite Minors occasionally call the Master Chief "Reclaimer". The reason they call him this, while most other Elites call him "demon" is unknown.
• Halo Wars is the only halo game not to feature a reclaimer, or at least a human not named a reclaimer by a Monitor. Professor Anders would probably class as a reclaimer as she was forced to activate the Apex by Ripa 'Moramee.