Canon

Harbinger

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This article is about the character introduced in Halo Infinite. For the Halo 5: Guardians achievement, see Harbinger (achievement).
Harbinger
The Harbinger after her defeat by John-117. From the closing cutscene of the level Silent Auditorium.
Render of The Harbinger. Included as part of the magazine kit linked to in this tweet.
Biographical information

Died:

May 31, 2560

Cause of death:

Died from injuries inflicted by John-117

Personal details

Species:

Xalanyn[1][2]

Gender:

Female[3]

Eye color:

Reddish purple[3]

Political and military information

Affiliation:

Notable info:

Allied with the Banished during the Battle for Zeta Halo.

 

"Hear this, Forerunners! Your Auditorium has fallen. The Endless found. Your sins undone. Today WE return!"
— The Harbinger during the Battle for Zeta Halo[4]

The Harbinger, or the Harbinger of the truth, was a female Xalanyn who was active in the year 2560 during the Battle for Zeta Halo.[2] The Harbinger was awoken from a Cylix by the Banished as they both sought to repair Zeta Halo in order to unleash the Endless.[5]

Biography[edit]

Early life and imprisonment on Zeta Halo[edit]

The Harbinger was a member of the Xalanyn's ruling class.[6] She, along with the rest of her species, unexpectedly survived the firing of the Halo Array - a feat which alarmed the remaining Forerunners.[7] In 97,368 BCE, the Harbinger and several other Xalanyn delegates traveled to Zeta Halo to parlay with the Forerunners.[6] The parlay, however, was in fact a ruse devised by the Forerunners in order to judge the Xalanyn, whom the Forerunners viewed as a threat to their plan to pass the Mantle to Humanity.[8] The Harbinger and most of her species were subsequently imprisoned on Installation 07 by order of the Grand Edict,[9] with only a small handful of Xalanyn managing to escape this fate.[10]

Battle for Zeta Halo[edit]

Main article: Battle for Zeta Halo

Freed by the Banished[edit]

Capture depicting the Harbinger
The Harbinger after being released from her Cylix.

Thousands of years later in 2559, the Jiralhanae Atriox, the leader of a group of mercenary raiders known as the Banished, discovered the existence of the Xalanyn.[2] Seeking to uncover this secret hidden by the Forerunners, Atriox prepared his Banished forces to travel to Installation 07.[11] He sought out the Harbinger, [12] believing her to be the key to unlocking Zeta Halo's secrets.[13] Following Atriox's apparent demise when Cortana sacrificed herself to destroy the Silent Auditorium and disable the Ring,[14] his second-in-command and old mentor, War Chief Escharum, assumed his place as leader of the Banished and set out to fulfill Atriox's goal of releasing the Harbinger in order to seize control of the Ring.[12]

After driving the UNSC away from the UNSC Mortal Reverie's crash site on February 2, 2560,[15] the Banished established Outpost Tremonius,[16] which they used as an excavation site and storage facility for Forerunner artifacts.[17] Eventually, in April, the Jiralhanae Warlord Tremonius located and recovered the Harbinger's Cylix from beneath the Outpost.[12] Escharum then forced a UNSC POW, Lucas Browning, to release the Harbinger from the Cylix.[18] Upon being released, she introduced herself as the Harbinger of the truth. While the surrounding Sangheili, Kig-Yar, and even Jiralhanae were terrified of her, Escharum expressed delight over the Harbinger's declaration.[19]

Alliance with the Banished[edit]

After her release, the Harbinger told Escharum of the Reformation,[20