Editing Gravemind

{{Status|Canon}}
{{Pageimage|HTMCC-H2A Gravemind&Thel.png}}
{{References}}
{{disambig header|the Flood intelligence|the [[Halo 2]] campaign level or other uses|H2:Gravemind|Gravemind (disambiguation)}}
{{Flood infobox
|name= Gravemind (''Inferi sententia'')
|image= [[File:HTMCC-H2A Gravemind.png|350px]]
|height=
|distinctions= Massive worm-like head with many tentacle appendages. Collective Flood consciousness; frequently speaks in trochaic heptameter
|species= [[Flood]]
|attacks= [[Neural physics]]
|notable=
}}
{{Quote|I am a monument to all your sins.|The Gravemind{{Ref/Level|Id=h2gm|H2|H2:Gravemind|Gravemind}}}}
The '''Gravemind'''{{Ref/Level|H2|H2:High Charity|High Charity|Quote=Flood controlled dropships are touching down all over the city! That creature beneath the Library, that 'Gravemind', used us. We were just a diversion.|Quotee=Cortana}} ('''''Inferi sententia''''', meaning ''"Thinking Dead"''),{{Ref/Game|Id=bestiarum|H3|Bestiarum}} infrequently referred to as the '''Ancient One''',{{Ref/Game|H4|War Games|Detail=[[Ancient One]]|Quote=Gravemind! The Ancient One...|Quotee=Announcer}} and formally known as a '''compound intelligence''',{{Ref/Game|H3|H3:Terminals|Terminal 5}}{{Ref/Game|CEA|CEA:Library|Library|Detail=Proto-Compound Intelligence}} is the shared consciousness of the entire [[Flood]] species which first emerges when the Flood reaches the [[Coordinated Stage]]. While this compound mind inhabits all Flood forms, it is distinctly embodied in processing nodes of agglomerated Flood biomatter known as [[key mind]]s. The Gravemind is the highest stage of the Flood's development, though its complexity and capabilities depend on the size and number of the key minds which can, at the height of a Flood outbreak, engulf entire worlds.{{Ref/Site|Id=deluge|URL=https://www.halowaypoint.com/en-us/news/deluge-delights|Site=Halo Waypoint|Page=Canon Fodder - Deluge Delights|D=09|M=09|Y=2018}}

==Biography==
===Origin===
[[File:H2A Gravemind Loadscreen.png|300px|thumb|left|The Gravemind's massive full figure.]]
Millions of years before the present, the ancient and powerful civilization known as the [[Precursor]]s held a position of stewardship over the galaxy, populating it with numerous lifeforms and watching over their evolution. However, one of their created races, the sapient species known as the [[Forerunner]]s, [[Forerunner-Precursor war|staged a massive rebellion]] against their creators and were successful in nearly wiping them out entirely. The remaining Precursors sought ways to render themselves dormant until such a time as they could safely roam the galaxy again.

Around a million years after the downfall of the Precursors,<ref>'''Halo: Silentium''', ''page 173''</ref> a being later known as the [[Primordial]]—a mutated Precursor—was confined to a Precursor [[stasis capsule]] and placed beneath the surface of a small planetoid at the edge of the [[Milky Way]] by an unknown group of beings, suspected to be ancient Forerunners. Meanwhile, most of the last surviving Precursors converted their bodies into an organic powder, and planned to regenerate back into their original forms at a later time. However, the millions of years that followed rendered the powder defective, and the resurrection process instead yielded malformed, parasitic lifeforms that could assimilate organic matter - the nascent stage of the Flood.

Prior to [[107,445 BCE]], a number of automated starships of unknown origin came from the [[Magellanic Clouds|Magellanic satellite galaxies]] and crashed upon numerous worlds at the galaxy's borders. These vessels were eventually discovered by the ancient humans and San'Shyuum, who found that they contained millions of glassy cylinders carrying a fine powder of non-living, moderately simple organic material. This powder was dispersed among the human and San'Shyuum worlds, eventually creating and unleashing the first known Flood outbreak in this galaxy.

During the course of their onslaught against the humans and San'Shyuum, the Flood would frequently capture, infect, and merge host organisms into unified masses with an encompassing intelligence; Graveminds. Soon after, the Flood collective made the decision to recede from the galaxy, halting the parasite's spread across human-controlled space. The Flood were driven out and retreated from the Milky Way, not to be seen again for another thousand years. While these early Flood were destroyed, and their Graveminds with them, the Flood would return in newer, more capable forms.

===Forerunner-Flood war===
[[File:Originsgravemind.jpg|thumb|250px|A Gravemind present during the Forerunner-Flood war.]]
During the [[Forerunner-Flood war]], the Flood created many Gravemind forms, which collectively coordinated the Flood's efforts against the Forerunners. Eventually, Forerunner naval tactics began to fail, and the Forerunners developed the [[Halo Array]] as a desperate countermeasure, which would destroy all sentient life in the galaxy, thus denying the Flood "food" for growth. This was only to be used as a last resort, and the Forerunners refused to use the system.

While the Flood would gain and lose individual Graveminds during the war, their numbers were still nevertheless sufficient to form and maintain a collective array to coordinate the parasite across the galaxy. The Flood would continue to be an unstoppable and persistent threat to the Forerunners, who, despite their best efforts, were unable to stop the parasite's spread across the galaxy, despite many lengthy naval engagements that lasted for nearly 300 years. As they continued to lose the war to the Flood, the Forerunners would reluctantly turn to other, more risky endeavors. In accordance with their existing plan, multiple installations, including [[Installation 00|the Ark]] and numerous [[Shield World]]s were constructed by the Forerunners as shelters for themselves and the sentient species of the galaxy, indexed as part of the [[Conservation Measure]], when the Halos fired.

====Mendicant and the Primordial====
Around 43 years before the Array's activation, the Forerunners, specifically the [[Faber|Master Builder]], deployed the first active [[Contender-class artificial intelligence]], [[Mendicant Bias]] who would be in command of one of the original twelve Halo rings, [[Installation 07]]. This installation's first assignment was a test firing at the former Precursor world of [[Charum Hakkor]]. The purpose of this assignment was to determine the effects of the Array against the Flood before it was deployed in earnest against the Flood's stronghold in the core.

This low-powered test firing destroyed every Precursor structure on the planet, and purged the [[Charum Hakkor system]] of all neurologically complex life, including the planet [[Faun Hakkor]]. An unexpected development of this test was the emancipation of the [[Primordial]], a surviving Precursor imprisoned on Charum Hakkor's surface. When the ancient entity was brought to Installation 07 for study, at the Master Builder's orders, it entered into an extended conversation with the AI. During the course of the conversation, which ran for 43 years, the being explained the truth about the Mantle and the fullness of the Precursors' plan of unity and peace through the galaxy-wide infection by the Flood.

The Primordial told Mendicant that the Forerunners were never meant to inherit the Mantle and that they had defied the Precursors. It also told the AI that if the sentient life in the Milky Way could not defy the Flood, especially the humans, then all life would be brought together and unified into the logical, advanced form of life; a collective, conglomerated entity without conflict and pain. It claimed that the Forerunners had forced the galaxy towards perpetual stagnation by stifling growth, conflict, and progress in their misuse and illegitimate claim to the Mantle. Eventually, Mendicant Bias became convinced by these arguments, and turned rampant, seeking to "correct" the flawed, misguided ways of the Forerunners.

To this end, Mendicant Bias began to cooperate with the Primordial on Installation 07, where they continued to infect humans and Forerunners alike in a series of brutal experiments.<ref>'''Halo: Primordium''', ''page 67''</ref> 43 years after the release of the Primordial, Mendicant Bias used the Halo ring to [[Fate of Maethrillian|attack]] [[Maethrillian|the Capital]] of the Forerunner [[ecumene]], and managed to inflict heavy casualties on the Forerunners, though it was soon forced to retreat. Eventually, the return of the Forerunners to the rogue installation and the shutdown of the facility and its custodian led to the recapture of the rogue Halo, resulting in a temporary setback for the Flood and Mendicant Bias. The [[IsoDidact]] interrogated the Primordial and eventually forced it to undergo a billion years of entropy in a reverse [[timelock]], disintegrating its physical form; however, the being had managed to transfer its consciousness into the Flood's neural network. Now effectively synonymous with the Gravemind, the Primordial assumed control of the Flood's efforts with a renewed purpose.<ref>'''Halo: Silentium''', ''page 167''</ref>{{Ref/Book|HM|Page=32}}

====Final years====
The Forerunner military continued to delay the use of the Halos for a time, instead continuing to deploy more conventional strategies against the Flood in the following years.<ref>'''Halo: Primordium''', ''page 374-375''</ref> However, these measures failed to halt the Flood's spread across the Forerunners' ecumene. Entire worlds were engulfed by the Flood and converted to [[key mind]]s, enabling the Flood to control the Precursors' [[neural physics]] constructs and dominate the Forerunners in naval engagements by using [[star road]]s as weapons.{{Ref/Reuse|silentium}}

During the last years of the war, the Gravemind captured the [[Ur-Didact]], who recognized it as the same intelligence as the Primordial, who he had interrogated ten thousand years earlier. The Gravemind tortured and corrupted the Didact's mind by informing him of not only the truth about the Precursors and the Flood, but also the Flood's true intentions: To bring eternal suffering to all life in the galaxy as punishment for the Forerunners' crimes against the Precursors. The Gravemind explained that like the Precursors, the Flood desired to create life. But this time, their creations would be made without free will or individuality, and would never be able to challenge their creators as the Forerunners had. The Gravemind then released the Ur-Didact, knowing his damaged psyche would bring further ruin to the Forerunners.{{Ref/Novel|Id=Sil13|Sil|Chapter=String 13}}

Although Mendicant Bias' disparate parts had been scattered across the ecumene for study, these facilities were overrun by the Flood in the coming years and eventually, a Gravemind successfully reactivated the AI. Later, the reconstituted Mendicant Bias assisted the Flood and the Graveminds in their assault on the [[greater Ark]] and [[Omega Halo]], resulting in the destruction of both installations.{{Ref/Novel|Sil|Chapter=String 33}} As the Forerunners were preparing to fire the Halo rings, all available Flood-controlled vessels were gathered into a vast fleet which attacked the [[Maginot Sphere]], intent on reaching [[Installation 00]] before the rings could fire. The Flood, led by Mendicant Bias, faced off against the remains of the Forerunner fleet coordinated by Mendicant Bias' replacement, [[Offensive Bias]] in a [[Battle of the Maginot Sphere|final, brutal battle]].

Just before the [[Halo Array]]'s activation, the primary Gravemind imprinted the [[Mind transfer|archived essences]] of [[Forthencho]] and three of his warriors on human bodies and sent them down to [[Earth]] to deliver a message to the [[Librarian]]. Forthencho informed her that the [[Domain]]—which was a Precursor creation—would be destroyed when the Halos were activated. The Gravemind expressed satisfaction in knowing that the Forerunners' history would be lost and viewed this as the Flood's final act of revenge against the Forerunners. Soon afterwards, the Graveminds were destroyed and the Flood collective consciousness was rendered inert by the activation of the Halo Array.{{Ref/Game|Id=terminal|H3|H3:Terminals|Terminals}} However, over a century later, [[IsoDidact|Bornstellar Makes Eternal Lasting]], formerly the IsoDidact, viewed a message from the Librarian which told of the Gravemind's final revelation and requested that he restore the Domain. Bornstellar led [[Mission to Maethrillian|a mission]] to [[Maethrillian]] that succeeded in beginning the regeneration of the Domain, depriving the Gravemind of its perceived final victory.{{Ref/Anthology|Fra|Story=Promises to Keep}}

===Human-Covenant War===
{{Quote|Relax. I'd rather not piss this thing off.|Master Chief to a struggling Arbiter, while both are being held prisoner.}}
[[File:Halo-2-Anniversary-Gravemind-2.png|thumb|250px|left|The Gravemind with John-117.]]
Through neglect shown by the Monitor of [[Installation 05]], [[2401 Penitent Tangent]], a [[Installation 05 Flood outbreak|Flood outbreak]] occurred a few thousand years after the firing of the Array, and the Gravemind was able to find enough biomass to rebuild itself deep under the [[Library]] of the installation. During the [[Battle of Installation 05]], it assimilated the dead [[Prophet of Regret]] into itself and also captured the [[Monitor]]; possibly as a result of this, the Gravemind was capable of utilizing Delta Halo's [[teleportation grid]]. The Flood intelligence later "rescued" and captured both [[John-117|Master Chief]] and the [[Thel 'Vadam|Arbiter]], when the former fell into a lake while trying to escape from a Covenant ship, and the latter was thrown into a chasm by a traitorous [[Tartarus]]. The Gravemind tried to convince the Arbiter of the true nature of the Halo Array, and proposed a truce to prevent the Covenant from activating the rings and killing them all. It then used the installation's [[teleportation grid]] to teleport them respectively to ''High Charity'' and Delta Halo's control room in order to find the [[Index]].
[[File:Evo Weakness Rookard.jpg|thumb|150px|The Gravemind torturing Cortana.]]
The Gravemind later captured the {{UNSCShip|In Amber Clad}} and after the bulk of the Gravemind was transported aboard{{Ref/Book|HWF|Page=38}}, used it to board the [[Covenant]] holy city ''[[High Charity]]'', crashing the frigate into a city wall and releasing numerous [[Pelican]]s full of the Flood plague, taking advantage of the distraction caused by both the [[Great Schism]] and the Master Chief. Within days it took over the entire city and all life within it. The UNSC AI [[Cortana]], who was left on ''High Charity'' by the Master Chief, was quickly contacted by the Gravemind, which started to psychologically torture her in order to subjugate her and obtain useful information from her. As The Gravemind tortured Cortana in search of information, the two would enter in a conversation about diverse themes, such as John-117 and the danger he posed to the Flood, which the Gravemind acknowledged as a fact.{{Ref/Anthology|Id=HFHW|Fra|Story=Human Weakness}} Meanwhile, the Gravemind slowly started to become ''High Charity'' itself after taking it over completely, converting the whole city into a Flood environment and as his base of operations.<ref>http://blog.ascendantjustice.com/halo-3/hindsight-halo-3/halo/</ref>

====Earth, The Ark and the Flood's destruction====
{{Quote|I am a timeless chorus; join your voice with mine, and sing victory everlasting!|The Gravemind to John-117.{{Ref/Level|Id=H3Halo|H3|H3:Halo|Halo}}}}
[[File:Gravemind Halo3.jpg|thumb|250px|left|The Gravemind telepathically contacting John-117 on Earth.]]
The Gravemind initially planned to attack and infest Earth; even though the Elites quarantined the area, it managed to send a [[Indulgence of Conviction|single Flood-infested ship]] to Earth; it even allowed Cortana to leave a message for the Master Chief on the ship, in order to lure him to his destruction (although the Gravemind did not know what was the content of the message). The infestation of Earth was contained; the Gravemind used High Charity to make a [[Slipstream space|slipspace]] jump to [[Mars]] and would have continued the attack, but after having assimilated the knowledge of the infected Regret (and possibly [[Prophet of Mercy|Mercy]] and Cortana), it learned about the [[Prophet of Truth]]'s plans to use the Ark to remotely activate the entire Halo Array. Realizing the extent of the danger it faced, the Gravemind did not attack Earth but instead once again used the Covenant Holy City to slipspace jump to the Ark. Despite the Gravemind's immense technological expertise—including its use of exotic [[Precursor]] science—the strain caused by this jump caused ''High Charity'' to crash into the Ark.{{Ref/Site|URL=https://www.halowaypoint.com/en-us/news/the-halo-bulletin-knowledge-drop|Site=Halo Waypoint|Page=Knowledge Drop|D=20|M=09|Y=2019}}
[[File:GravemindMainTentaclesHalo3.jpg|thumb|250px|The Gravemind betrays [[John-117]] and [[Thel 'Vadam]] once more as his main tentacles appear.]]
At the Ark, the Gravemind led a massive Flood attack on both the Covenant and the UNSC/[[Fleet of Retribution|Sangheili]] alliance at the [[Installation 00 Citadel|Citadel]]; after the Prophet of Truth managed to start the activation sequence of the Halo Array, the Gravemind contacted the Master Chief and the Arbiter through two of its [[Pure Forms]], once again forming an uneasy alliance with them to reach the Prophet and stop the firing of the rings. Together they were victorious, and the Gravemind even managed to infect Truth himself, gloating at his defeat before the Arbiter slew him. With the crisis averted, the Flood intelligence quickly betrayed its former allies; the duo managed to escape from their foe and discover [[Cortana]]'s solution to the Flood—a [[Installation 08|replacement Halo ring]] made by [[Installation 00|the Ark]]. To activate it, the Chief infiltrated High Charity to retrieve Cortana, who had the [[Activation Index]] from the first [[Installation 04]].

As the Chief traveled deep into High Charity, he faced multiple Flood forms and was taunted by the voice of the Gravemind which allowed Cortana to briefly send pained messages as it corrupted and tortured the UNSC AI. The Gravemind became increasingly frustrated at the Spartan's progress, becoming suspicious of what Cortana was hiding from him and threatening to "feast upon [the Chief's] bones" if she did not reveal the secret.

After the Chief rescued Cortana, the Gravemind became enraged, realizing that she planned to use the incomplete Halo to destroy him. It attempted to kill them both but failed as the Chief successfully destroyed ''High Charity'', presumably killing the Gravemind. But after traveling to Installation 08, the Chief discovered that the Gravemind had survived and was attempting to rebuild itself on the new Halo. Despite its best efforts, the Gravemind failed to stop the Chief. In the end, the Gravemind was destroyed as Halo's activation destroyed itself and the Flood that had escaped containment.{{Ref/Book|EVG|Page=14}} In its final moments, however, the Gravemind addressed the Master Chief telepathically one last time, with an ominous warning:
{{Article quote|Resignation is my virtue, like water I ebb and flow. Defeat is simply the addition of time to a sentence I never deserved, but you imposed.{{Ref/Reuse|H3Halo}}}}

===Legacy===
{{Main|Second Ark Conflict}}
The Gravemind's warning proved sound: in [[2556#October|October 2556]] the Flood were able to [[Outbreak at Site 22|escape containment]] from a buried [[Forerunner starship]] in the [[Marcey system]]. While the outbreak was initially contained,{{Ref/Novel|Halo: Saturn Devouring His Son}} remnants of the Flood were able to escape to [[Atropos]], where they were aided by the [[Governors of Contrition]] in spreading and creating a new kind of biological construct that was not a Gravemind but instead a transmitter broadcasting the Flood's psychic signals into deep space for reasons unknown.{{Ref/Novel|Halo: Ascension on Atropos}}

The Flood [[Outbreak on Installation 00|attempted to form]] a Gravemind later in [[2559#June|June 2559]], [[Banished]] forces on the Ark led by [[Jiralhanae]] brothers [[Pavium]] and [[Voridus]] were sent to scout the shell of [[High Charity]] and salvage the wrecks around it for weapons to use in the Banished's [[Second Ark Conflict|conflict]] with the {{UNSCShip|Spirit of Fire}}. However, defying orders to leave the former Covenant holy city untouched, Vordius deactivated the Ark's Sentinel defense network and burned a hole in the [[containment shield]] with a [[Barukaza Workshop Scarab]]. The Flood, having survived within the wreckage, were released upon the Ark once more.{{Ref/Level|HW2|Section=Halo Wars 2: Awakening the Nightmare|SectionLinkText=Awakening the Nightmare|HW2:What Could Go Wrong?|What Could Go Wrong?}} The Flood quickly formed a [[Proto-Gravemind]], causing the Flood to develop greater coordination and sophistication as time went on, in particular recognizing the threat posed by the controls to reactivate the Ark's Sentinel defense network.{{Ref/Level|Id=The Archive|HW2|Section=Halo Wars 2: Awakening the Nightmare|SectionLinkText=Awakening the Nightmare|HW2:The Archive|The Archive}} This Proto-Gravemind retained a measure of the deceased Gravemind's intellect, but the Gravemind's new vessel had to feed and spread in order for the Gravemind to fully manifest once again.{{Ref/Game|HW2|Phoenix Logs|Detail=Proto-Gravemind}}

After reactivating the Ark's Sentinel defense network,{{Ref/Reuse|The Archive}} the Proto-Gravemind was discovered by the Banished. By this point, it was close to becoming a full-fledged Gravemind which the Banished knew from the stories would be virtually unstoppable. Aided by the reactivated Sentinels, the Banished attacked the Proto-Gravemind in an effort to destroy the creature before a new Gravemind could be formed. With the help of a [[Retriever Sentinel]] summoned when the Banished cleaned out a nearby Sentinel lock, the Proto-Gravemind was slain, preventing the rise of a new Gravemind. The Banished and the Ark's Sentinels were then finally able to contain the Flood outbreak.{{Ref/Level|Id=Manifestation|HW2|Section=Halo Wars 2: Awakening the Nightmare|SectionLinkText=Awakening the Nightmare|HW2:Manifestation|Manifestation}}

In November 2559, Spartan [[Olympia Vale]] recalled the Gravemind's account of Forerunner treachery after she and [[Keely Iyuska]] realized that the fugitives on [[Netherop]] were surviving [[Precursor]]s. In Vale's opinion, the Gravemind had been rationalizing an act of vengeance so horrific that it would have been evil no matter how the Forerunners had betrayed their creators if it was even true. Vale's mind lingered on the words of the Gravemind which had been embedded in the intelligence summary as an audio file and which had been so powerful that they remained lodged in her memory to this day: ''"all that is created will suffer. All will be born in suffering, endless grayness will be their lot. All creation will tailor to failure and pain..."'' Considering the collective events that had come to define the galaxy's history up to that point, Vale couldn't help but wonder if this invocation by one of the Forerunners' creators had been woven into the structure of the universe itself.{{Ref/Novel|Id=Out17|HOut|Chapter=17}}

After being [[Mind transfer|Composed]] by [[John-117]], the [[Ur-Didact|Didact]] was forced to relive his confrontation with the Gravemind by [[Cortana]] who trapped the Promethean in his worst memories.{{Ref/Novel|Epi|Chapter=18}} The Didact subsequently learned from the [[Haruspis]] that his corruption by the Gravemind, aside from some echoes that he was holding onto, was burned away by the Composer's power, restoring the Didact's sanity.{{Ref/Novel|Epi|Chapter=20}}

==Overview==
The Gravemind is, as its name suggests, the "mind" of the Flood parasite. When a creature is assimilated into the Flood, its knowledge is transferred directly to the Gravemind. In addition, it appears each Gravemind also retains the memories and knowledge of previous Graveminds.{{Ref/Book|Enc09}} This has made the Gravemind virtually omniscient and ensures that should the Gravemind be destroyed, its consciousness will never truly die as long as some Flood forms are left. In an [[H3:Terminals|archived]] conversation with the Forerunner [[Artificial intelligence|AI]] known as [[Mendicant Bias]], it compared itself to the AI, describing Mendicant Bias as "''a single intelligence inhabiting multiple [[wikipedia:Class (computer science)|instances]]''" and calling the Gravemind "''a compound [intelligence] consisting of a thousand billion coordinated minds inhabiting as many bodies as circumstances require''". While it is not known how the Gravemind is able to communicate with subordinate Flood forms across the galaxy, its self-comparison to a computer network implies that similar