343 Guilty Spark
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| 343 Guilty Spark | |
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Monitor
 Armiger
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| Biographical information | |
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Began service: |
c. 97,445 BCE |
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Physically destroyed: |
December 11, 2552[1] (Monitor body) |
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Gender: |
Male personality |
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Description: |
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Color(s): |
Blue illuminations with silver casing |
| Political and military information | |
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Affiliation: |
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Functionality: |
Monitor of Installation 04 and its replacement |
- "Last time, you asked me, if it was my choice, would I do it? Having had considerable time to ponder your query, my answer has not changed. There is no choice. We must activate the ring."
- — Guilty Spark to John-117.[2]
04-343 Guilty Spark,[3] initially known as Monitor Chakas[4] and known to the Covenant as "the Oracle," was a Forerunner monitor originally tasked with maintaining Installation 04.[5] He is often addressed by the United Nations Space Command as just "the Monitor" in reference to his title. Originally an ancient human known as Chakas before his mind was moved into an artificial monitor body, Guilty Spark played an important role in the ancient Forerunner-Flood war, as well as the modern-day Battle of Installation 04, the heretic uprising within the Covenant, and the events that transpired on the Ark during the Battle of Installation 00.
Though Guilty Spark was originally believed to have been destroyed in the Raid on Installation 08, smoldering pieces of him survived, badly damaged and recovered by the UNSC Rubicon. After taking over the ship,[6] he rebuilt himself as an armiger and began a search for the Librarian, a search that would lead him to seek out a new path for himself with the crew of the Ace of Spades and going simply by Spark.[7]
After locating Bastion, Spark decided to leave the Ace of Spades and become the caretaker of the shield world, feeling that he didn't belong in the past or present, but outside of time. As a final gift to his friends, Spark helped Lessa and Niko with their future endeavors and repaired Little Bit to be the new shipboard AI of the Ace of Spades. With Rion Forge and company gone, Spark departed with Bastion to an unknown location.[8]
Biography[edit]
Creation[edit]
Prior to the end of the Forerunner-Flood war, 343 Guilty Spark was created from the mind of a human named Chakas. Born on Erde-Tyrene, Chakas unwillingly became involved in the Forerunners' schemes, which eventually brought him to Installation 07, a Halo under the control of the rampant AI Mendicant Bias which had defected to the Flood. Chakas' traumatic experiences on Installation 07, specifically his encounters with Mendicant Bias and the Primordial, brought him to the point of mental breakdown and left his physical body mortally injured.
After retaking the Halo, the IsoDidact, in an apparent act of compassion, decided to salvage Chakas' mind by transferring his pattern—including his personality and the complete record of his physical body—into the shell of a monitor. Numerous archived human personalities retrieved by Composers after the Battle of Charum Hakkor as well as other data pertaining to the Librarian's work were also uploaded into his memory. The monitor known as Chakas was then assigned to serve as a record-keeper and aide for the Librarian.[9] He wished to look after the human populations on the greater Ark; this request was granted by the Librarian, who saw this as part of his recovery and a reward for his service.[10]
Forerunner-Flood war[edit]
At one point, Chakas oversaw the construction of the outbreak management systems of the Flood research facilities within a gas mine over Threshold.[11]
When the Flood attacked the greater Ark in the final days of the Forerunner-Flood war, the Librarian asked Chakas to save as many of her specimens as possible. He attempted to get help from other monitors but they were busy with the attack. The Librarian ordered him to take a Gargantua-class transport to Omega Halo. Here he witnessed the Ur-Didact use a Composer on the human population, composing hundreds of thousands of men, women, and children.[12] The Librarian was initially grief-stricken, but soon was able to tell Chakas he had to find the IsoDidact and go to the lesser Ark and hide the remaining specimens there. Following the Librarian's instructions, Chakas located the IsoDidact and saved him and Catalog from the disintegrating Omega Halo. Using coordinates provided by the IsoDidact, he took his ship through the Master Builder's secret slipspace portal to Installation 00. Amongst those rescued by Chakas were his old friends Riser and Vinnevra.[13]
Halo[edit]
- "My galaxy is dead. I am machine. I am Chakas. I am human. I am 343 Guilty Spark. I have never understood Forerunners. And they will never understand me. But for now... Silentium."
- — Guilty Spark reflects on his nature as the Halo Array fires.[14]
Preceding the Halo Array's distribution across the galaxy, Chakas was commanded by the Ecumene Council to abandon all connection with his former station. As the installation monitors were being given their new assignments aboard a Lifeworker vessel stationed over the lesser Ark, the IsoDidact met with Chakas for one final time and the two had a brief conversation before they parted ways. It was also here that the installation monitors received their final names, with Chakas being assigned the name 343 Guilty Spark by the IsoDidact. The IsoDidact asked Chakas if he would fire the rings, were it his decision; Chakas remained silent,[15] but would continue to ponder the Didact's question for the millennia to come. Over a hundred thousand years later, Spark would cite this query to