Prophet of Truth

"I. Am. Truth. The voice of the Covenant!"

- Prophet of Truth

The Prophet of Truth was the leader of three Hierarchs that lead the Covenant High Council. Since the Prophets of Mercy and Regrets death, he became the de facto leader of the entire Covenant.

The Reach Campaign and The Arbiter
Truth was much younger than the High Prophet of Mercy, but only slightly older than the High Prophet of Regret.

Justification of the belief that he is the most powerful of the three high prophets comes from scenes such as the opening cinematic sequences in 'Heretic', and scenes during the opening of 'The Arbiter'. His authority is also clearly exhibited in other ways, for example, it is he who airs the transmission informing the Covenant that the Great Journey is about to begin (before being interrupted by Master Chief at the start of 'Gravemind').

Truth was the first Prophet ever mentioned by name, at the end of Halo: First Strike. He waited in High Charity on the Step of Silence for Tartarus to come and report on the status of the teams searching for the Forerunner Crystal. He then ordered the teams that searched for them to be executed.

Truth did not think highly of the Prophet of Regret's inexperience. It is not clear just how much younger Regret is than Truth, but neither of them were born when the Prophet of Mercy was elected to the council. He wrote letters to Mercy complaining of Regret's rashness, one of which appeared, albeit in code, in the Conversations from the Universe.

The Heretics
Truth was first seen in Halo 2, during the trial of the Supreme Commander of the Fleet of Particular Justice. With a nod, he ignored the requests of Regret and the council to execute the Commander, and instead chose to make him an Arbiter. He then sent his new Arbiter against the Heretic rebellion forming on the nearby Gas Mine.

Punishing Regret
While on Installation 05, Regret transmitted an apology to Truth, apologizing for his reckless attack on Earth. Truth responded angrily, saying that it was only Mercy who had stopped Truth from publicly condemning Regret. Nevertheless, High Charity and its fleet rushed to Installation 05 and released a fleet of Phantom dropships full of forces to save Regret from the humans who had overwhelmed Regret's own army. His sermons were interrupted when the Chief burst in, and managed to attack and kill him. The rescue Phantoms were called back by Truth, and instead a Covenant ship had quickly destroyed the temple with an unknown gravity based weapon.

Locating the Sacred Icon
After Regret was killed by the Master Chief, Truth began replacing the Elites with the Brutes as the Prophets' protectors. This ultimately led to a civil war throughout the Covenant. Shortly thereafter, while Truth was addressing the Covenant about the Flood, The Index, and The Great Journey, the Chief, who was teleported to High Charity by Gravemind, attempted to assassinate him and the High Prophet of Mercy, but their Brute bodyguards covered their escape.

Schism
He, Mercy, Tartarus, and the captured Commander Miranda Keyes and Sergeant Johnson were about to take Phantom dropships to the surface of Installation 05 when they were attacked by Flood infection forms. Truth allowed Mercy to die when he was infected, and instead, as it looked as though High Charity would fall to the Flood, he fled in the Forerunner Ship. When the Chief questioned dying Mercy, he said that Truth was going to Earth "to finish what we started". This implies that Truth might be trying to activate the Ark or finish off all the humans.

As of Halo 2, Truth is the only High Prophet alive.

Assault on Earth
Truth would be stationed on the Forerunner Dreadnought ship until the Ark is uncovered, but he needs to find the Key to activate the Ark.

Activating the Ark
Shortly after, a Brute Chieftain is attempting to make Johnson activate the Ark. Truth tells him what he thinks of the Human race becoming. A Pelican piloted by Miranda Keyes crashes through the large exterior facing window. After she killed several brutes and decided to go down fighting the rest with Johnson, Truth pulls out a Brute Spiker. Truth then fires five spikes into her back killing the Commander practically instantaneously.



At an an unknown point, presumably after he landed on the Ark and High Charity crashed there he became infected with the Flood. Instead of a usual Flood infection, he remained alive. Whilst the Arbiter was preparing to kill him with an energy sword, Truth revealed that he never thought the Elites truly believed in the Covenant Religion. The Flood in his body caused horrific mutations, with his body quickly changing. Even while infected, he believed he was a true god. The Arbiter finally skewered the leader of the Covenant through the chest with the Sangheili's sword.

With his death, the Covenant is defeated and dissolved.

Personality
Seeing that during the Arbiter's trial he expressed little emotion whatsoever despite the fact that Halo was destroyed, it would seem like Truth has a very calm and stoic nature. However, he is quick to become impatient and angsty towards those like his fellow Hierarch Regret whenever they do something utterly foolish. An example of this is when Truth sends a transmission to Regret scolding him on how rash he was to attack the humans' homeworld. Interestingly, contrary to his name, Truth is very deceptive, often lying to accomplish his goals. However, the reason he is harsh on him is probably because he worries that Regret will end up dead or worse according to a letter he wrote to Mercy saying that he is "perhaps worrying too much".

Motives
The motives for Truth's actions have been called into question as one of the biggest mysteries of the Halo universe. His choices in allowing both Mercy and Regret die seem to suggest that he wants supreme power over the entire Covenant, yet he demonstrates throughout the storyline that he already has supreme power, even over the other High Prophets.

Another action of his that was the replacing of the Elites with the Brutes in Covenant society. Truth's reason for why Brutes replaced Elites was that Elites "could no longer guarantee the safety" of the Prophets due to the death of Regret, but it is already clear that Regret's death was allowed by Truth's recalling of the phantom dropships that were on the way to save Regret. It should be noted that Truth's "reason" for changing the guard was merely an excuse for upgrading the troublesome elites with a stronger and more loyal force of brutes. Letting Regret die was part of his plan to wield stronger power, as well as doing away with the elites. Truth's belief in the Covenant religion is also in question. He appears to have had ample time to scrutinize 343 Guilty Spark after it was captured from the Gas Mine, and it is likely that Spark "edified" Truth in the same way as Sesa 'Refumee, who led a rebellion against the religion. If this is the case, it is also unclear then exactly why Truth wishes to activate the Halos and kill all life, including himself and his own empire, if he knows there is no Great Journey. Although perhaps Truth already knew of the purpose of the rings, as the Prophets were the original discoverers of the information regarding the Halos and of the Forerunners that built them. They then used this to stop their war with the Elites and form the Covenant with them at the top. This may have been part of a plot to use the Halos and the Ark/Shield world, as a means of destroying all their enemies in a single blow, while they survived. Obviously such a plot would have been kept very secret, within the higher ranks of the Prophet Hierarchs. Regret was confirmed to be a newer Hierarch and may not have known of the truth yet. This explains why Truth and Mercy were so focused on stopping him, thinking he may have interfered with their plan, and thus called of any rescue and had him killed when he refused to stop and return to High Charity.

One such speculation is that perhaps the prophets want the elites eliminated after their recent questioning as to why the Prophets do not consider humans fit to join the Covenant. The prophets know that the humans are the ones that are supposed to interpret and discover the Forerunner's creations. This is because humans can better utilize their own technology and Forerunner objects. For example, some Spartans can read ancient Forerunner writings in the Ghosts of Onyx. Another possibility for wanting the Elites killed could be a deeper animosity towards the Elites from the beginning of the Covenant; before the Covenant formed, after all, the Elites and Prophets were at war with each other.

His reasons for leaving in the Forerunner ship bound toward Earth, the location of the Ark, also suggests that he may know something else about the rings, something he is hiding. Why would a zealot, focused on beginning the "Great Journey", head to Earth right as Tartarus was about to begin it. And why to the Ark, of all places? It is a structure speculated to counter the rings. Mercy's explanation left it wide open to much speculation, as he said to the Chief, "Earth, to finish what we've started, and this time none of you will be left behind." Now this can be interpreted as simply the Covenant finishing off humanity, but why right when the Great Journey is about to begin. Perhaps Mercy is referring to something else involving the Prophet Hierarchs, and possibly their true motives. And his statement "this time, none of you will be left behind" refers to the Halos firing and the fate of humanity.

But his description on Halo3.com (an official information site by Bungie on Halo 3) described him as "Deluded, possibly insane" as well as a true believer. It could also be possible that if he knows the true purpose of the Rings he is in denial.

According to Halo 3, part of Truth's motives stem from the fact that the human race is indeed the Forerunner's 'legacy' (either physically or metaphorically due to the efforts made to preserve Earth) making them by extension the gods of the Covenant. He has an odd view of the human race as seen by his conversation with Johnson, secretly admiring their traits, yet seeing them as mere shadows of the Forerunners and unworthy of the Covenant's worship. That, is reserved solely for himself it would seem.

Quotes

 * "You were right to focus your attention on the Flood. But this demon, this 'Master Chief'..." -To the future Arbiter (note that the Covenant refers to the Master Chief as the "Demon" but Truth was the first Covenant who referred to the Master Chief by his rank)
 * "The Council decided to have you hung by your entrails and your corpse paraded through the city. But ultimately...the terms of your execution are up to me." -To the future Arbiter
 * "Politics. How tiresome."
 * "The Great Journey waits for no-one, brother. Not even you." -To the Prophet of Mercy, as the Flood infects him.
 * "There are those who said this day (the beginning of The Great Journey) would never come. What have they to say now?" -Addressing the Covenant
 * "No enemy has ever withstood our might."
 * "The Dreadnaught. The vessel that has been long replaced by relics. Now rest as my true vessel, for the ancients spark greater than below.  Relics had long fallen into our power, ready to fulfill their divine purposes back in traditions uncovering themselves with holy fire."
 * "You are, all of you, vermin. Cowering in the dirt, thinking... what, I wonder? that you might escape the coming fire? No, your world will burn until its surface is but glass! Not even your Demon will live to creep, blackened, from its hole to marvel at the flashing of our passage; the culmination of our Journey, for your destruction is the will of the gods! And I? I am their instrument!" - Truth in a transmission to Crow's Nest, part of this quote is similar to the first Covenant transmission to the UNSC: "Your destruction is the will of the Gods... and we are their instrument."
 * "I - am - Truth...! The voice of the Covenant!" - Just before being killed by the Arbiter

Trivia

 * The Prophet of Truth is voiced by Michael Wincott in Halo 2 and by Terrence Stamp in Halo 3.
 * Interestingly enough, Iscariot literally means red. There may be a connection between the Prophet of Truth and Judas Iscariot, the one who betrays Jesus in the Gospel accounts, as Truth literally wears red and he betrayed the Elites at the end of Halo 2.

Related Links

 * Prophet of Mercy
 * Prophet of Regret