Editing Ur-Didact

{{Status|Canon|Featured}}
{{Center|''This article is about the original Didact, encountered in Halo 4. For the secondary Didact responsible for activating the Halo Array, see [[IsoDidact]].''}}
{{Pageimage|HTMCC-H4 Didact Composer 1.png}}
{{Character infobox
|variant=Forerunner
|name=
|image=[[File:Epitaph DarthDidact.png|300px]]
|homeworld=[[Taram|Rijaal Suluhu]]{{Ref/Book|Id=Enc22|Enc22|Page=364}}
|birth=[[110,225 BCE]]{{Ref/Site|Id=waypoint didact|URL=https://www.halowaypoint.com/en-us/universe/characters/didact|Site=Halo Waypoint|Page=Didact|D=13|M=04|Y=2016}}{{Ref/Reuse|Enc22}}
|death=[[2557#July|July 26, 2557]]
|causeofdeath=[[Composer|Composed]] by [[John-117]] and [[859 Static Carillon]]{{Ref/Reuse|HE10}}{{Ref/Reuse|Epi5}}
|parents=*[[Didact's father|Unidentified father]]{{Ref/Reuse|Epi11}}
*[[Didact's mother|Unidentified mother]]{{Ref/Reuse|Epi11}}
|siblings=
|spouses=[[Librarian]]
|children=
|species=[[Forerunner]]
|gender=Male
|height={{Convert|345.4|cm|ftin|sp=us}}{{Ref/Book|Id=H4EVG|H4EVG|Page=16}}{{Ref/Reuse|waypoint didact}}{{Ref/Book|Id=OSFM164|OSFM|Page=164}}{{Ref/Reuse|Enc22}}
|mass={{Convert|794.9|lb|kg|disp=flip}}{{Ref/Reuse|H4EVG}}{{Ref/Reuse|waypoint didact}}{{Ref/Reuse|OSFM164}}{{Ref/Reuse|Enc22}}
|hair=*Dark brown, quill-like fur{{Ref/Game|Id=h4|H4|Didact in-game model}}
**Formerly pale, bluish white fur<ref name="p179">'''Halo: Cryptum''', ''page 179''</ref>
|eyes=*Red-orange
**Formerly gray{{Ref/Reuse|p79}}
|affiliation=*[[Ecumene]]
*[[Jul 'Mdama's Covenant]] {{C|formerly}}
|rate=[[Warrior-Servant]] ([[Promethean]])
|rank=[[Protector of the ecumene]] ([[Rate|R]]: [[Warrior-Servant]])
|sn=
|notable=Commander of Forerunner military
}}
{{Quote|The Mantle of Responsibility for all things belongs to Forerunners alone.{{Ref/Level|H4|H4:Epilogue|Epilogue}}}}
The '''Didact''', true name unknown,{{Ref/Reuse|Epi11}} renamed '''Shadow-of-Sundered-Star'''{{Ref/Reuse|H4EVG}} at a young age,{{Ref/Reuse|Epi11}} was a [[Forerunner]] [[Promethean]] who held an extremely high status in the [[Ecumene|Forerunner society]] as [[protector of the ecumene]],<ref name="protector">'''Halo: Cryptum''', ''page 233''</ref> head of the [[Warrior-Servant]] [[rate]] and supreme commander of the entire Forerunner military.{{Ref/Game|Id=h3terminals|H3|H3:Terminals|Terminals}} He wholeheartedly believed in the [[Mantle]] the Forerunners held to protect life, and fervently opposed the [[Halo Array]] as a sin beyond measure. He was also the lover and husband of the [[Librarian]]. Although a Warrior-Servant by birth, the Didact was also a descendant of the long-lost [[Interpreter]] rate through [[Didact's father|his father]]'s family.{{Ref/Reuse|Epi11}}

Originally thought to have been killed by the [[Master Builder]], [[Faber]],<ref name="c339">'''Halo: Cryptum''', ''page 339''</ref> the Didact effectively existed as two individuals during the final days of the [[Forerunner-Flood war]]; his original self, as well as his implanted consciousness within a young Forerunner known as Bornstellar Makes Eternal Lasting. To differentiate these two incarnations, the original Didact was referred to as the '''Ur-Didact''', while his other incarnation was known as the [[IsoDidact]].<ref name="amazon">[http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0765323982/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=heaprcom05-20&linkCode=as2&camp=217145&creativeASIN=0765323982 '''Amazon.com''': ''Halo: Silentium official description'']</ref> The Ur-Didact was eventually exiled on [[Requiem]], not to be awakened until [[2557]];<ref name="true Didact">[http://www.gregbear.com/blog/display.cfm?id=6897 '''Gregbear.com:''' ''HALO 4 DIDACT'']</ref> meanwhile, the IsoDidact served until the final days of the Flood conflict and was responsible for activating the Halo Array,{{Ref/Novel|Sil|Chapter=String 38}} later living out the rest of his life on a world in a galaxy far away from the Milky Way and shedding his identity as the IsoDidact to become Bornstellar again.{{Ref/Anthology|Fra|[[Untitled story (Halo: Fractures)|Epilogue]]}}

After being released from his [[Cryptum]] many millennia later, the Didact resumed his war against humanity. [[SPARTAN-II program|Spartan]] [[John-117]] and [[Cortana]] fought him on [[Mantle's Approach|his ship]], and sent him falling into [[Slipstream space|slipspace]], seemingly defeating him. After surviving slipspace, John-117 faced him again, this time with the rest of [[Blue Team]]. After a long and perilous battle, the Didact's biological form was destroyed under the combined power of several [[Composer]]s{{Ref/Reuse|HE10}} which was too much for even the resistance that the Didact's mutations gave him to their power.{{Ref/Reuse|Epi5}}

Subsequently, the Didact's digitized consciousness was uploaded to the outer boundaries of the [[Domain]].{{Ref/Novel|Id=Epi5|Epi|5}} Freed of the Gravemind's corruption by the Composer's power,{{Ref/Novel|Id=Epi20|Epi|20}} the Didact regained his sanity and set out to free the Domain from [[Cortana]]'s influence, ultimately destroying the [[Warden Eternal]],{{Ref/Novel|Id=Epi25|Epi|25}} welcoming millions of Forerunner and human essences into the repository, evicting the [[Created]], and sealing it off from the physical world so that none could ever misuse the Domain again as Cortana had. At last at peace, the Didact reunited with his wife in the Domain to spend eternity together.{{Ref/Novel|Id=Epi26|Epi|26}}{{Ref/Novel|Id=Epi27|Epi|27}}

==Biography==
===Early life===
The Forerunner that would become known as the Didact was born to [[Didact's father|a father]] who was a [[Warrior-Servant]] by rate, but was also a descendant of the lost and forgotten [[Interpreter]] rate, while [[Didact's mother|his mother]] was one of the greatest Warrior-Servants in existence, from a family with a long lineage of greatness and strength. Interpreters had been assimilated by the [[Builder]]s in their rise to power, but they had been experts in the study and interpretation of the [[Mantle]], acting in conjunction with the [[Juridical]]s in cases of crimes against the Mantle with Interpreters' judgments often taking precedence.{{Ref/Novel|Id=Epi11|Epi|11}}

The Didact's father, as a descendant of the Interpreters, had the need to uphold the Mantle and bring to light the misuse and misinterpretation and corruption of its laws imprinted on his very essence. The Didact's father became outspoken and passionate about his lost history, his innate ability to stir a crowd on par with the [[Speaker]]s of old and the best silver-tongued Builders of the Capital. His eloquence appealed to the true heart of the Forerunners, namely their desire for glory, their joy in the diversity of rates and the tremendous loss felt to Forerunner culture when identities and rituals were forgotten. The Didact's father evoked the [[Twelve Laws of Making and Moving]], its Upper and Lower Tenets of Authority, and the Rules of Virtue. As a result, millions of Forerunners began to believe that reparation was in order, calling for the restoration of the lost rates and bringing back the immense knowledge and rituals that had been confiscated and hidden away by the Builders. The Builders saw [[Reparation movement|this movement]] as a threat, but couldn't silence him thanks to the Didact's mother and together, they united half of the occupied worlds to their cause, leading to the [[Kradal conflicts]] when the Didact was just a [[Manipular]].{{Ref/Reuse|Epi11}}

However, the Didact's parents lost the conflict and their homeworld, reduced to asteroids as an ultimatum against the rest of [[Pen-Amathea]], and were executed with a special variant of the [[Z-130 Suppressor]] which left nothing behind of them, not even an essence for the [[Domain]]. According to [[Unidentified Haruspis|the]] [[Haruspis]], to make reparations, satisfy the [[Ecumene Council]] and waylay any chance of revival, the Didact's parents and four others "volunteered" to pay the ultimate price as a cautionary tale - a lesson to those who might have had similar notions to shed light on the Builders' misdeeds. In reality, the Builders cornered them and held the lives of many, many others over their heads, including that of their son, to get them to agree.{{Ref/Reuse|Epi11}}

As part of the punishment, the Didact, who was just a few domestic years beyond a decade at the time, had his memories of his early life erased and he was renamed Shadow-of-Sundered-Star, his true name and history left forgotten. Shadow would only know about this because the tale had been revealed to him in his later life by those seeking to cause Shadow pain and humiliation. However, Shadow had never wanted to believe that it was true. He was subsequently raised by [[Silence-in-the-End]] who honed Shadow's skills while [[Bitterness-of-the-Vanquished]] oversaw his training, both of whom were present and prevented the young Shadow from interfering in his parents' execution.{{Ref/Reuse|Epi11}}

===Early career===
[[File:HTMCC-H4 Terminals DidactArmor.png|thumb|250px|The Didact's form for the majority of his career.]]
Later in life, Shadow became a [[Promethean]], a member of the highest and most powerful class of [[Warrior-Servant]]s. He was trained by [[Bitterness-of-the-Vanquished]], a legendary Promethean far older than Shadow himself.{{Ref/Novel|Sil|Page=246}} As a cadet, he apprenticed on ''[[Deep Reverence]]''.{{Ref/Novel|Cry|Page=145}} Early in his career, the [[Confirmer]] provided Shadow a [[Forerunner mutation|brevet mutation]] to his second [[form]]. This occurred on the ''Deep Reverence'' in the chaos of battle. Without that quick and immensely painful mutation, the young cadet might not have survived.{{Ref/Novel|Cry|Page=178}}{{Ref/Reuse|Epi9}} He gained the name "Didact" while teaching at the [[College of Strategic Defense of the Mantle]]; his students gave him the name because they found him to be a strict and demanding teacher.{{Ref/Novel|Cry|Page=227-228}}

The Didact was elevated to the rank of [[protector of the ecumene]] around 2,000 years before the war with the humans.{{Ref/Reuse|protector}} He had a romantic relationship with another Promethean commander, known as [[Endurance-of-Will]], and would most likely have married her had he not met the [[Librarian]], a [[Lifeworker]]. Despite the unconventional practice of marrying outside one's own rate, the Didact ultimately married the Librarian.{{Ref/Novel|Sil|Page=284, 290-291}} They lived on [[Nomdagro]], a world populated mainly by Warrior-Servants, in a mansion designed by the Didact himself in a grandiose style traditional of Warrior-Servants.{{Ref/Novel|Sil|Page=49-50}} They had several children, all of whom followed in their father's footsteps and became Warrior-Servants.{{Ref/Novel|Sil|Page=219}}

===War against humanity===
{{Quote|My finest opponent, the Mantle accepts all who live fiercely, who defend their young, who build and struggle and grow, and even those who dominate — as humans have dominated, cruelly and without wisdom. But for all of us there is a time like this, when the [[Domain]] seeks to confirm our essences, and for you, that time is now. Know this, relentless enemy, killer of our children, Lord of Admirals: soon we will face the enemy you have faced and defeated. I can see that challenge coming to the Forerunners, and so do many others... And we are afraid.|The Didact to [[Forthencho|Forthencho, Lord of Admirals]], in the aftermath of the [[Battle of Charum Hakkor]]{{Ref/Game|H4|H4:Terminals|Terminal 4}}}}
[[File:H4 Concept DidactAndLibrarianVictory1.jpg|thumb|left|250px|The Ur-Didact and Librarian on Charum Hakkor after the Ancestors' defeat.]]
During the [[Plague War]], the Didact led the Forerunner military against [[prehistoric human civilization|humanity]]. His personal command vessel, ''[[Mantle's Approach]]'', was also built during these conflicts.{{Ref/Book|H4EVG|Page=193}} His method of carrying out campaigns in interstellar war involved a strategy referred to as "[[star-hopping]]", isolating and besieging points of strategic importance while ignoring any less significant targets.<ref name="pri187">'''Halo: Primordium''', ''page 187-188''</ref> He was also known for favoring the [[fleet spiral]] formation in space engagements.<ref>'''Halo: Silentium''', ''page 267''</ref> As they pushed back human forces in the galactic margins in the later phases of the war, the Didact's fleets came across thousands of worlds infested by the [[Flood]], which was already retreating from the galaxy. Though some Forerunner fleets were lost in the first encounters with the parasite, the Didact's forces eventually managed to sterilize all of the remaining infestations.<ref>'''Halo: Silentium''', ''page 36''</ref>

Though all of the Didact's children died in the war, the Forerunners were victorious; humanity was devolved and quarantined on their home planet of Erde-Tyrene, a fate which the Didact found to be just and fitting. After the [[Battle of Charum Hakkor|final battle of Charum Hakkor]], he and a group of Prometheans, including the [[Confirmer]], discovered a [[stasis capsule]] on Charum Hakkor which contained the [[Primordial]], the last of the [[Precursor]]s. After a brief exchange with the Primordial, the Didact sealed its [[timelock]] for nearly the next ten thousand years. He revealed what the Primordial had spoken to none, not even the Librarian.{{Ref/Novel|Sil|Chapter=String 3}} After the war, the Didact issued the construction of [[Monolith|several monuments]] near [[Sothra Hakkor]] to honor the fallen warriors that died during the war.<ref>'''[[Making Halo 4]]:''' ''[[Making Halo 4: Majestic Map Pack|Majestic Map Pack]]''</ref>

Following the end of the war and the first discovery of the Flood, he advocated a policy of vigilance and research in the event of a Flood resurgence. He also proposed the construction of significant numbers of [[shield world]]s across the galaxy in order to monitor the galaxy for Flood outbreaks and provide military support should they occur; this strategy was to involve the characteristic star-hopping tactics he had utilized in the war with humankind.{{Ref/Reuse|pri187}} However, a faction of Builders led by [[Master Builder]] [[Faber-of-Will-and-Might]] proposed the construction of a series of [[Halo Array|superweapons]] to deal with the Flood instead; the Didact viewed these weapons as an affront to the Mantle. Although the Didact and his Promethean allies managed to delay the construction of the Halos for several thousands of years, the Master Builder was eventually successful in convincing the [[Ecumene Council|Council]] to sanction their plans. The Didact's defeat was finalized around [[98,445 BCE]], when the [[Juridical]]s ruled against him. He was forced to stop his ongoing construction of shield worlds and was ordered to turn over all his records and submit to the authority of the Master Builder. He refused, and was stripped of his power and forced into exile as a result.<ref>'''Halo: Silentium''', ''page 47''</ref>

The Didact last met his wife in their family residence on [[Nomdagro]]. Forced to enter a [[Cryptum]], he was led into [[Xankara|meditative hibernation]] in a ritual overseen by an associate of [[Haruspis]]. During his last meal with the Librarian, the Didact expressed hope in her abilities of foresight and hoped the humans under her care would not disappoint her.{{Ref/Novel|Sil|Chapter=String 4}}

===Revival and capture===
{{Quote|All we have tried to do as inheritors of the Mantle — all that will be violated, and the galaxy will be murdered... because [[Builder|they]] do not understand. Worse, [[Flood|it]] may already be loose. Join your human friends and sing sad songs, Manipular. There is judgment, and just doom is upon us all.|The Didact to Bornstellar after his awakening.{{Ref/Novel|Cry|Chapter=7}}}}
[[File:Djamonkin.png|300px|thumb|Djamonkin Crater, the resting place of the Didact's Cryptum on Earth.]]
The Didact's Cryptum was later placed by the Librarian in [[Djamonkin Crater]] on [[Earth]] to hide it from the Master Builder and his allies and allowing her to carry out her own plans unobstructed. The [[war sphinx]]es containing the last essences of the Didact's children were placed to guard the Cryptum. Over one thousand years later, he was discovered and revived by a young Forerunner [[Manipular]], [[Bornstellar Makes Eternal Lasting]], who had come to Earth in search of Precursor relics. The Didact, while greatly displeased by his revival, deduced that it had to be the work of his wife. The Didact's awakening summoned a fleet of Forerunner ships in the area, but they were unable to pinpoint his precise location due to a [[baffler]] that cloaked the crater's central region. Instead of turning himself in, the Didact made a timely escape using [[Didact's ship|a ship]] constructed from a [[design seed]] planted in the crater's central mountain by the Librarian, taking Bornstellar and the Manipular's human guides, [[Chakas]] and [[Riser]], as well as his war sphinxes, with him.

Seeking to find out what had happened in his absence, the Didact set course for Charum Hakkor, where he discovered that [[Installation 07|one]] of the Master Builder's Halos had already been tested, eradicating all sentient life, as well as Precursor structures, in the system. Upon landing on Charum Hakkor, the Didact discovered that the Primordial had escaped from its timelock and was nowhere to be found. For Chakas and Riser, visiting Charum Hakkor stirred ancient memories which had been [[Geas|imprinted]] in their genetic material by the Librarian. Intending to trigger more of these memories, they traveled to the system where the [[San'Shyuum]], once humanity's allies, had been quarantined after their defeat by the Forerunners.

Before arriving in the [[San'Shyuum home system]], the Didact performed a [[Forerunner mutation|brevet mutation]] on the young Manipular to allow him access to the [[Domain]]. With the mutation, the Didact [[Mind transfer|transferred]] his imprint—containing his consciousness, along with all of his memories and knowledge—to Bornstellar, although they would not awaken within the Manipular until later on. Shortly afterward, they arrived in the San'Shyuum system and met with the Confirmer, one of the Didact's Promethean comrades, on the {{Class|Fortress|vessel}} ''[[Deep Reverence]]'', in order to gain access to the quarantined region of the system.

However, in orbit over [[Janjur Qom]], the primary San'Shyuum world, the Didact's ship was intercepted and dismantled by the Master Builder's forces who had been present in the system quelling a [[Battle of Janjur Qom|San'Shyuum rebellion]]. The Didact and the others were taken prisoner; in the subsequent interrogations, the Didact refused to divulge information on the shield worlds or the control codes for the Contender-class ancillas.{{Ref/Reuse|c339}} Although other Forerunners, including the Librarian, believed that the Didact had been executed, the Master Builder had in fact left him, along with a number of other Forerunners, to die, confined in [[stasis bubble]]s in a derelict ship within a Flood-controlled system.{{Ref/Reuse|amazon}}

Meanwhile, the Didact's personality imprint in Bornstellar's body took full control of the Manipular, effectively making him a copy of the Didact.<ref>'''Halo: Primordium''', ''page 348''</ref> After surviving the [[Fate of Maethrillian|assault]] by [[Mendicant Bias]] on the [[Capital]], Bornstellar reunited with the Librarian on the [[greater Ark]]. In the absence of the Didact, Bornstellar—now known as the [[IsoDidact]]—resumed the Didact's duties as supreme commander of Forerunner military due to the present threat of the Flood.{{Ref/Reuse|c339}}

===Stranded in a Burn===
An unknown period of time (which the Didact suspected to be at least a year) after his capture, the Didact was released from his stasis bubble due to a power failure. Assessing his situation, the Didact soon found that he was aboard a barely functioning hulk, without armor or weapons. Soon, he encountered [[Sharp-by-Striking]], one of his Prometheans who, like many other Warrior-Servants, had chosen to join [[Builder Security]] since the Didact's exile. Sharp explained that they were deep within a [[Burn]], a region of space controlled by the Flood. As they explored the hulk, the two Prometheans discovered stasis bubbles holding two more Forerunners. Destroying the fields with their brute strength, they released the other prisoners, which turned out to include a high-ranking Builder named [[Maker-of-Moons]] and [[Catalog]], both of whom had been found problematic by the Master Builder who had disposed of them as a result. After Maker told him that she had helped design the Halos, the Didact erupted in a maniacal burst of laughter while pounding his fist on the bulkhead; the other Forerunners regarded this with bewildered revulsion, as laughter was considered barbaric per Forerunner social standards.<ref name="string5-7">'''Halo: Silentium''', ''Strings 5-7''</ref>

Making their way to the bridge, the Didact and the others managed to gain minimal control of the ship and assess their surroundings. They were approaching a planet recognized by the Didact as [[Uthera Midgeerrd]], which was revealed to be infested by the Flood, while a Flood-controlled fleet was bearing on their ship. Additionally, the ship's sensors detected an unknown object approaching them at a high velocity. As it moved closer, the object was identified as a strange bundle of reactivated Precursor [[star road]]s, no longer inert and unresponsive as they had been for millions of years. As the Precursor artifact approached, the Didact decided to stay aboard the ship, determined to gain answers with the knowledge that even if he perished, his duplicate would continue his work. Catalog chose to accompany him while the other two Forerunners would attempt to escape the ship as it self-destructed. Before leaving, Maker-of-Moons gave the Didact her [[Forerunner personal armor|armor]] as a sign of respect.{{Ref/Reuse|string5-7}}

===Fall from grace===
{{Quote|This quest to fulfill the Mantle has haunted me my entire life. And for countless millennia, we have failed to realize the one truth that could have saved us from the beginning. The Mantle isn't to be inherited by the noble, it is to be taken by the strong.|The Ur-Didact announces his new beliefs to the IsoDidact.<ref name="ReferenceA">'''Halo: Silentium''', ''page ???''</ref>}}
The Didact and Catalog were swiftly taken prisoner by the Flood fleet converging on the ship. The Didact, completely immobilized in stasis by a powerful grappler field, was taken to a Flood-controlled ship and confronted by the [[Gravemind]], recognized by the Didact as the same intelligence as the [[Primordial]], which he had interrogated ten thousand years prior. The Gravemind invaded the Didact's mind and inflicted upon him unspeakable mental torment in a process described by the Didact as more of a malediction than a conversation. The Didact's sanity and morality was severely shaken by this encounter. However, the Gravemind did not intend to kill or infect the Didact, instead turning the Forerunners' greatest warrior into [[logic plague|an unwitting pawn]] to sow chaos in the remains of the ecumene.{{Ref/Novel|Id=string12|Sil|Chapter=String 12}}

Thus the Gravemind released the Didact and left him aboard an empty spacecraft, intentionally sending the ship where the Master Builder—who had been salvaging any ships he found in his own operation to combat the Flood—would find it. Meeting with Faber, the Didact delivered him a painful message from the Gravemind, taunting the Master Builder with the suffering of his family who had been absorbed into the Flood collective. Seemingly taking pleasure in conveying the news to his old enemy, the Didact stated that Faber and his Halos were to blame for their predicament.{{Ref/Novel|Id=string29|Sil|Chapter=String 29}} Faber delivered the Didact to the core of the ecumene, where both were deposed by the Juridicals. Against his strongest objections, the Didact (now differentiated from the IsoDidact with the title "Ur-Didact") was forced to recall his encounter with the Gravemind—which he had managed to partially shunt away from his memory—as part of the interrogation, dealing further damage to his sanity.{{Ref/Reuse|string12}}

[[File:HTMCC-H4 Terminals DidactProcedure.png|thumb|250px|The Ur-Didact, accompanied by a fellow Promethean, after undergoing a failed procedure to gain an immunity to the Flood.]]
The Ur-Didact's privileges were subsequently restored, although the IsoDidact remained in command of the ecumene's military.<ref>'''Halo: Silentium''', ''page 216''</ref> Cast aside by the ecumene at large, the Ur-Didact returned to [[Requiem]], where he continued his own mission against the Flood's onslaught. Convinced that his old strategies were no longer workable now that the Gravemind had learned everything, he desperately began to devise new methods of combating the Flood—going so far as applying the philosophy of the enemy. Failing to decipher Flood immunity via other means—including an experimental procedure which left him disfigured—he acquired a [[Composer]], a machine once designed to rid Forerunners of Flood infection via [[mind transfer|converting their essences]] to digital form, but abandoned long since due to several functional defects. In full agreement, the Ur-Didact's fellow Prometheans all pledged to be composed, relieving them of biological form; the Didact did not subject himself to Composer processing, as his new form was i