Gamelpar

"Gamelpar—the name of the old man no longer wanted in the village. The name sounded something like “old father.” How old was he?"

- Chakas

Gamelpar, meaning "Old Father", was a human and a member of the Tudejsa, a transplanted human population living on Installation 07 in approximately 100,000 BCE.

Biography
Gamelpar was among those born on Earth and brought on the Halo as an infant by Master Builder Faber's researchers. Due to his origin, he had an "old spirit", a personality impression of one of the human warriors who had been conquered by the Forerunners in the Human-Forerunner War, imprinted within his genetic material as part of the Librarian's geas. Becoming more prominent after Gamelpar had established a family, the warrior's consciousness revealed a great deal of information about humanity's past to him. The spirit would study the stars each time the Halo was moved to another system, trying to pinpoint their location.

Gamelpar's "best wife" also came from Earth and told him stories of it. At one point in his life on Installation 07, he lived with his family in a newly-constructed city, but the Tudejsa abandoned the city after the Forerunners started abducting more humans for their brutal experiments with the Flood in the "Palace of Pain". After fleeing the city to the nearby plains, Gamelpar witnessed the Primordial and Mendicant Bias observe them and decide who would be taken for experimentation. Gamelpar was once taken to the Palace of Pain himself, but he was not infected. He survived and was returned to his community; however, he would never speak of what he had experienced.

He was the grandfather of Vinnevra, raising her after her parents had been taken to the Palace of Pain and protecting her from unwanted attention by sexually mature male Tudejsa. Due to this, he was unpopular within the village, and was eventually banished, living in the forest outside of it. While they could have killed him, the other Tudejsa were afraid of Gamelpar, as he knew the ancient way of daowa-maadthu and feared that his "spirit" would come to haunt them.

After an Earth human known as Chakas crash-landed on the installation, Vinnevra took him to see Gamelpar, who proceeded to tell the story of his life on the Halo. Afterward, the three decided to follow Vinnevra's geas, which had been roused after Chakas' arrival and was now giving her directions. Observing their destination from a distance, they discovered to their horror that the geas had been leading them to a "Palace of Pain". They turned around and proceeded to move in the opposite direction, eventually arriving at the shores of a large lake, where they came across a human city. Gamelpar and Chakas went to explore the buildings, where they witnessed a proto-Gravemind locked in a Forerunner cage. They promptly left the city and proceeded to cross the lake on a small boat.

Shortly after arriving on the other side of the lake, the three were found by a Lifeworker named Genemender Folder of Fortune, accompanied by several Denisovans, and a large ape. At this point, Gamelpar was becoming ill due to a sore leg that had not been tended to, and the Denisovans proceeded to carry him on a litter. They eventually arrived in a human village, and were fed before being sent to sleep. The following night, Gamelpar's condition worsened. Genemender revealed that he and the humans in the village were actually holographic illusions, and that their minds had been archived to prevent their imprints from falling in the wrong hands. Genemender stated that he should extract Gamelpar's consciousness and his "spirit", lest they be lost forever. Gamelpar strongly refused, wanting to die "free" and asking Chakas to stave off the machines before he had passed away so they could not scan him. In his final moments, Gamelpar said his farewells to Vinnevra while asking Chakas to accompany him alone. Chakas recited ancient prayers to prepare the old man for his passage to the afterlife, while Gamelpar had him promise to take care of Vinnevra, also telling him her true name before dying.

Physical features
Gamelpar's physical features were said to most closely resemble those of Australian Aborigines, with him having a black skin and square face with a flat, broad nose. By the time Chakas encountered him, his old age was evident in his appearance; he was extremely thin, his limbs were shriveled and his skin wrinkled. He only had a few yellow teeth in his mouth and a fringe of white hair on the top of his head. Chakas described his voice as a "soft, rattling squawk".

Trivia

 * 'Gammel Par' is Danish and Norse for 'Old Couple', which is likely the origin of his name and a reference for Gamelpar and his 'old spirit. 'Gammel Far' literally means Old Father in the same languages.

List of appearances

 * Halo: Primordium