Gravemind (Form)

The Gravemind (Inferi Sententia, meaning "Thinking Dead") (voiced by Dee Bradley Baker) is the final stage in the life cycle of the Flood, and one of the main antagonists of the Halo series. When it reaches a certain critical mass, it develops a centralized intelligence. It is the Flood personality, controlling all other Flood forms and often speaking through them and even its hosts. It carries with it the genetic memory garnered from millennium of feasting and slumber, making it virtually omniscient. Since the intent of a Gravemind is to consume and absorb every sentient creature in the Galaxy, it is the collection of fallen Flood and other lifeforms. The Gravemind has complete control over other forms of Flood and can even speak through the Pure Forms and some Combat Forms, using this ability to taunt its enemies. The Gravemind produces quadrillions of Flood spores.

Only one Gravemind is known to have infested our galaxy before the Gravemind that appeared in Halo 2. The first was stopped by the first activation of the Halo rings, by the Forerunners. There may be more Graveminds on the other Installations, but it is highly unlikely due to the fact that no known Covenant or Human forces have reached any Installation other than the ones seen in the series.

Halo: Combat Evolved
In Halo: Combat Evolved, a Proto-Gravemind was shown and disclosed on the level Keyes and could have very well become a fully-grown Gravemind, had it not been injured by the Master Chief and then later destroyed by the Covenant Special Ops stationed on the ring.

Halo 2
"Relax. I'd rather not piss this thing off."

- Master Chief's view on Gravemind

Due to the brevity of its mysterious appearances in Halo 2, only a small amount of data about it and the nature of the Flood parasite can be inferred. In short, he appears something like a very large Venus Fly Trap, as his 'mouth' looks like the head of the plant while its tentacles look like the roots. The Gravemind is made of countless bodies that were unsuitable for the work of Combat forms or Carrier forms. The Art of Halo states that Gravemind is “literally built from the bodies of its enemies and its own fallen warriors reassembled into a massive, tentacled, and intelligent entity." This can also be assumed, because when he speaks he refers to the place he inhabits as an empty grave. A grave being a burial ground, where the dead are "stored", but since he is 'alive' he simply implies that where there should be many graves, there is just the Gravemind. Even his name, "Gravemind" suggests this, as he is the "mind" of the "grave".

Gravemind is the controlling intelligence behind the parasitic Flood hive. In this way, he appears similar to a puppet master. Gravemind is located far beneath the Library of Installation 05 and has tentacles that reach for miles. Gravemind also seems to harbor an intelligence approaching omniscience, since he appears to be capable of absorbing the knowledge of all Flood hosts.

The Gravemind we see in this game appears to be capable of utilizing Halo's teleportation grid to transport anything, and indeed himself (or at least a part of himself), anywhere on the ring and beyond to a limited distance. Being a Flood organism, how he uses the grid has been speculated on. The most common theory is that since he holds 2401 Penitent Tangent, Monitor of Installation 05 captive, he can probably use it to access the teleportation field on Delta Halo. However, 2401 Penitent Tangent is not an organic life form and so Gravemind must have assimilated someone who had knowledge of the grid and used it to manipulate the grid, also if he had assimilated someone with the knowledge of the transporter ring. This could also suggest that the Gravemind had assimilated a Forerunner to have that kind of knowledge. Gravemind boards High Charity, the Covenant Holy City, by means of boarding In Amber Clad. Once Gravemind crashes In Amber Clad into a wall in High Charity, he uses UNSC Pelicans that were aboard the ship to spread the infection throughout the city, as seen on the level High Charity during the opening cut scene. Still, there is a lot more about this enigmatic character that we do not know. It can be seen that he somewhat has two "mouths"; an outer mouth like an Elite and an inner mouth like a Human.

Gravemind more than once speaks in rhyme, specifically in Trochaic Heptameter In the post-credits end cinematic of Halo 2, Gravemind recites this verse to Cortana:


 * Silence fills the empty grave now that I have gone,
 * But my mind is not at rest, for questions linger on.
 * I will ask and you will answer.

Strangely enough, in Gravemind, the level named after him, there is no contact at all with him, apart from the cutscene in which he is introduced, or his Flood minions. The name of the level is "Gravemind" possibly because the Master Chief is following an assignment given by the Gravemind. It could also be because at the level's opening cutscene, for the first time in Halo an intelligent Flood form is formally recognized and its name is Gravemind.

Halo 3
""I am a timeless chorus; join your voice with mine, and sing victory everlasting.""

- Gravemind.

""Do not be afraid...I am peace...I am salvation.""

- Gravemind to Master Chief. The Gravemind is one of the two primary antagonists in Halo 3, the other deferentially being the Prophet of Truth. His presence can be felt earlier in the game, as he speaks through Cortana in periodic visions to John-117 (damaged visions of Cortana). The Gravemind himself turns up later on in the game when first, a Covenant battle cruiser taken over by the Flood crash-lands on Earth and promptly begins to infect the city of Voi. After John-117 and the Thel 'Vadam clean up the mess, High Charity (along with the Gravemind) arrive at the Ark via a Slipspace jump. Gravemind allied with Master Chief and the Arbiter to stop the Prophet of Truth from activating the Halo array. Once they reached the Citadel's control terminal, Truth's infection is initiated and Gravemind informs him that his "transition" to godhood, is nothing more than a delusion and he is food for the Flood and nothing more. Thel warns Gravemind not to infect Truth, as he will have his revenge and allow him to see the "Demon" crush his plans. However, once the rings were deactivated and Truth was killed, Gravemind, again, turns against them. Master Chief and the Arbiter managed to escape from their foe and discover Cortana's solution to the Flood -- a replacement Halo ring made by the Ark. To activate it, the Chief infiltrates High Charity to retrieve Cortana, who has the Activation Index from the first Installation (Installation 04).

As the Chief traveled deep into High Charity, he faced multiple Flood forms and heard the Gravemind taunt him, showing demonic visions of the UNSC AI being tortured. The Gravemind became increasingly frustrated at the Spartan's progress, becoming suspicious of what Cortana is hiding from him, threatening to "feast upon [the Chief's] bones". After rescuing Cortana, he learned of her possession of the Index from Installation 04 and sent numerous Flood forms to kill them, but the Chief succeeded in destroying the city, presumably killing the Gravemind; however, it's discovered that he is attempting to rebuild himself on the replacement Halo built by the Ark. Too late, he was unable to stop Chief and Cortana from inserting the Index into the Control Room to fire the premature replacement Halo. But before he resigns to his eventual fate, he warns the Chief and the Arbiter that this defeat will only slow, not stop, the Flood's progress. In the end, the Gravemind is thought to be destroyed once and for all as Halo's activation destroys the Halo itself, and the Flood.

It should be noted that the Gravemind never appears in-game in his physical form, as he did in Halo 2. The most that is ever seen of Gravemind are a number of tentacles in the control room of the Ark. Despite it having a good amount of dialogue spoken directly to the Chief (and by extension, the gamer, through moments), Gravemind's head is never seen. It is possible that Gravemind had changed a great deal, since the first time he met the Arbiter and the Chief, since the tentacles seen are different from those he used in Halo 2, being a lot thicker in appearance and resembling the tentacles of an octopus rather than the roots of a Venus Fly trap. In the level Cortana, it was shown that he tried to stop the Arbiter and the Chief from escaping with Cortana in their possession, but failed when one of his tentacles were scorched by the escaping Pelican's engines. The game's instruction manual however, shows it to be the same form as it was seen in Halo 2. In the locations where his tentacles appears, the locations were mostly cramped, leaving no room for his head to appear. However, he reaches up a second time, as the Pelican's wing is trapped in flood biomass.

Halo Wars
The Flood on the Apex Shield World were well on their way to building a Proto-Gravemind, which acted as the primary base of the Flood in each battle that involved them. If Sergeant Forge and SPARTAN Red-Team had not destroyed it, it might have developed into a complete Gravemind like the one from Installation 05.

Personality
"Now the gate has been unlatched, headstones pushed aside. Corpses shift and offer room, a fate you must abide!"

- The Gravemind after Truth's death.

The Gravemind has an obscure and complex personality. At first, when it is seen by the Master Chief and the Arbiter, it is calm and collected, if not seemingly sad or mournful, and speaks with a sullen tone in his voice. He is also seen to be logical here, as he analyzes the Chief and the Arbiter, and tries to convince the Arbiter of what the Halo Rings actually are, to which the Arbiter retorts with stubborn pride. The Gravemind shows no irritation to this, or to the bickering of 2401 Penitent Tangent and the former Prophet of Regret.

Later in Halo 2, however, the Gravemind shows a more emotional side as he basks in his victory in High Charity, and displays a sinister air of anger when surrounding Cortana with his tentacles, demanding answers from her.

In Halo 3, his personality is expressed greatly, although ironically, he is never seen, only a number of his tentacles, which gives him a sinister edge. He is shown to have a calm and collected personality, especially towards the beginning, however, as soon as the Prophet of Truth and his forces are destroyed, the Gravemind immediately bursts into a victorious, maniacal laugh, giving a short monologue in iambic heptameter, an analogy of his coming.

In the level Cortana, a broader spectrum of his personality is asserted. He begins with his calm and collected voice, as well as a slightly confident tone. As the Chief finds his way deeper into High Charity, however, the Gravemind becomes more irritated by his progress, and begins to shout at him. Once Cortana is rescued, the Gravemind begins to emit a series of mangled, animal-like roars and speaks in an infuriated tone.

In the final level of Halo 3, Flood Dispersal Pods crash onto the newly built second Installation 04, and the Gravemind begins to speak again, this time in an angry, yet confident tone.

By the end of the game, the Gravemind gives a short monologue in a disheartened tone, cryptically admitting that he knows he can do nothing to stop the fate, which he believes was unjustly forced upon him.

The mostly collected and impassive tone that is frequently heard from it can be justified by his implied near omniscience; often knowing what is happening, and having a clear picture of what will occur later, gives it little reason to worry about matters, and it only becomes truly irritated or angry when something occurs that he has not foreseen, or is close to defeating him. Such examples are what Cortana keeps hidden from him, the knowledge of the Ark and of the Activation Index, and the Chief and Arbiter's mission to activate the Halo Array.

He is also known to be quite manipulative: in Halo 2, Gravemind tricks the Chief into being a decoy to distract the High Prophets as he attempts to take over High Charity, and in Halo 3, he helps the Master Chief and the Arbiter to help them kill the Prophet of Truth, but is hostile again immediately after the firing of the Halo array is stopped.

It is also notable that the original Gravemind was able to convince the Forerunner AI Mendicant Bias to join his cause and turn his fleet upon the Forerunners by telling him that the Flood are the next step of evolution and that the Forerunners are denying it.

The Gravemind is not violent until it is absolutely necessary; this is what makes a Gravemind a key point in Flood evolution. Ironically, this is unlike the previous Flood stages. He is able to put aside differences when it is necessary. The end of the Halo 3 level, The Covenant, is an example of this, as the only choice he has is to make a short alliance with the Chief and the Arbiter so they can kill their common enemy, the Prophet of Truth, to prevent him from activating the ring.

The Gravemind later tells the Master Chief and Thel 'Vadam that by activating the Ark, the only thing that will be accomplished is adding time to a sentence he did not deserve. This seems to suggest that the Gravemind, does not understand why the living races hate the Flood, and that he believes that the Flood is just the next step in galactic evolution.

Trivia

 * In several Forerunner data logs, the controlling intelligence of the Flood is referred to as a Compound Mind.
 * The Gravemind resembles Audrey 2 from Little Shop of Horrors. He is a plant-like alien with tentacles who is fed (or in Gravemind's case absorbs) Humans to grow and is bent on world (galactic with Gravemind) domination. This also draws parallel to Audrey 2 and his buds, which are similar to Infection Forms. Also, Audrey 2 uses his caretaker to get him "food" so he can grow, Gravemind uses Master Chief and the Arbiter on High Charity to distract the Covenant while he spreads his minions essentially getting more "food" to eat/absorb. The Gravemind is also parallel to the character of the monster, in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, as he starts off calm and collected, (Halo 2) but starts to become more sinister throughout the game, just like the monster. In addition, the Gravemind has an identical function to the The Overmind from the StarCraft franchise, both bent on galactic conquest and also controlling their respective species. Similarly, the Hive Mind creature from the survival-horror game Dead Space is very similar in appearance and function to the Gravemind as it telepathically controls it's Necromorph underlings to bring about the slaughter of humanity. He is also similar to Sauron, from Lord of the Rings. Sauron's goal is to use his army to destroy the inhabitants of Middle Earth. Gravemind's is to use his army of flood to infect all life in the galaxy. Gravemind's and Sauron's voices are also the same, being low and menacing. Their deaths were also the same. In Lord of the Rings, Sauron was destroyed when the one ring was destroyed. In Halo, Gravemind was destroyed when the ring was activated and destroyed.
 * Originally, the Gravemind was meant to have skulls as teeth, this was cut from Halo 2 and Halo 3 due to issues with speaking for the character.
 * Jason Jones of the Bungie staff initially didn't want the Gravemind to speak in an iambic rhyme but was persuaded by Joseph Staten.
 * Bungie staff and fans jokingly call it the "Little Shop of Horrors Reject", after the story in which a man creates a blood drinking plant batch and ends up having the plants grow so large as to kill and eat him.
 * He was initially going to be a much bigger presence in Halo 2 and would have his big introduction in the level Forerunner Tank, but due to time constraints, Bungie removed the level and instead made a long cinematic for his introduction.
 * According to a quote made by Bungie developer Jason Keith, found in and, it is implied that the Flood Hive of High Charity and the Gravemind were one and the same during Halo 3, thus making the level Cortana a boss fight, in a sense.
 * The Gravemind seems to speak almost as if he is writing a morbid poem. For example, he says, "The gate has been unlatched, headstones pushed aside, corpses shift and offer room, a fate you must abide."