Escharum

"But... here you now stand. This is my last fight. A true test of legends! Our story will outlive us both. Set a fire in your heart, Spartan! Bare your fangs! Fight hard! Die well."

- Escharum's declaration of war against John-117.

Escharum is a prominent Jiralhanae War Chief within the Banished. In the absence of the faction's founder and leader Atriox, Escharum rose to power within the Banished and would lead the faction to victory against the UNSC in late 2559, managing to seize control of Zeta Halo. He is also Atriox's former mentor, or daskalo.

Leading the Banished
Around April 2558, Atriox departed for the Ark aboard the Enduring Conviction, leaving Escharum in charge of all the Banished forces that remained in the galaxy. Shortly after Atriox left, Escharum assigned Blademaster Inslaan 'Gadogai to Castor as an advisor so that the dokab could thrive amongst the other Chieftains; Castor's faction, the Keepers of the One Freedom, had joined the Banished just before the warmaster left for his mission to the Ark. The Sangheili consultant would also serve two other purposes: to act as a representative for Escharum and to punish Castor if he ever attempted to betray him.

In the summer of 2559, Escharum received a transmission from Atriox informing the War Chief of his posession of a Forerunner slipspace flake and his intention of using it to return to the galaxy via a slipspace portal facility hidden on Reach. He instructed Escharum to find and activate this portal as soon as possible. Escharum sent the Keepers to Reach, along with the Legion of the Corpse-Moon and the Ravaged Tusks—two Jiralhanae clans that had been absorbed into the Banished and reorganized into legions under the direction of Legionmasters Deukalion and Ballas, respectively. Their mission was locate the portal facility and report its location back to Escharum before activating it so that they all might be there together to witness the return of Atriox.

Production notes
Escharum is played by the voice actor Darin de Paul in Halo Infinite.

Trivia
The name Escharum may derive from the Latin word Eschara meaning "scar, scab". This would be fitting as early concept art shows Escharum with a more prominent facial disfigurement and his present model showing scars across his blinded eye and on the right side of his lip.

List of appearances

 * Halo: Shadows of Reach
 * Halo Infinite