Reclaimer

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A "Reclaimer" (Latin: Homo Sapiens Augeous) is an individual who, whether by chance or by precedent, has been placed in charge of activating a Halo super-weapon. The individual must journey to retrieve a Halo's activation key (the Index) from the ring's Library and then use it to activate the Halo Array.

The qualifications of a Reclaimer are in unclear, however, it appears that only a Human or Forerunner can be a Reclaimer. This term is used many times throughout the Halo games and literature, with no clear-cut definition.

Term Use


Chronologically, the title of Reclaimer is first used by Mendicant Bias, as described in Contact Harvest. While correcting the Covenant's misinterpretation of the Luminary's readings, Mendicant applies the term to a large portion, if not the entirety, of the human population on Harvest. This is later put to use by the Prophet of Truth, in realization that the Luminary's reading of the humans as reclaimers would help him scour the galaxy for any other human colonies. This explains why covenant forces are so often quick to converge on the position of the Chief in an otherwise vast and barren network of tunnels as found in the Halo constructs. Mendicant also claims that the humans are his makers, which corroborates what 343 Guilty Spark says to the Master Chief in Halo 3: "You are the child of my makers. Inheritor of all they left behind. You are Forerunner." After Mendicant, the next known bestowal of the title is when Guilty Spark addressed Sergeant Marvin Mobuto in Halo: The Flood. Following Mobuto's death and Spark's first meeting with SPARTAN-117, the title is laid upon the Master Chief. 2401 Penitent Tangent also instantly recognized the Master Chief as a Reclaimer. In addition to the Chief, both Commander Keyes and Sergeant Johnson are referred to as Reclaimers, and 343 Guilty Spark seems to show them the same respectful attitude that he shows the Chief. Professor Anders seemed to be able to access Forerunner artifacts better than Regret and was likely considered a Reclaimer.

It is also important to note when the term "Reclaimer" is not applied. All Covenant species are referred to as "intruders" or "meddlers" by 343-Guilty Spark. In addition, non-Reclaimers are unable to access or fully utilize Forerunner weapon systems on the Halo Rings and the Ark. Because of this, the Prophet of Truth had to force Sgt. Johnson to activate the rings in Halo 3.

Additionally, in Halo: Ghosts of Onyx, the Sentinels do not identify the humans on Onyx as Reclaimers. It could be that Sentinels only possess limited intelligence while apart from a controlling Monitor. It is safe to speculate that the Monitors, as custodians of the Halo installations, play an important role in helping local Sentinels determine who is friendly and who is not. This is noted by the behaviors of the Sentinels on the first Halo construct that Spartan 117 visits, their general ignorance of the Chief until the Monitor demanded that they attack. It should also be noted that the first human a Sentinel tried to identify on Onyx was Ash-G099, one of the SPARTAN-IIIs, all of whom possessed artificial augmentations, most notably an illegal drug cocktail designed to affect the brain's frontal lobe to enhance certain traits in combat. This may have been reason enough for the Sentinel to identify him as something other than human or Reclaimer (After Ash spoke to it, the Sentinel said, "Reclassification of targets as non-Reclaimers. Aboriginal subspecies." ), and after that the Sentinels may have simply assumed that all humans on Onyx were of the same classification. Logically, by the term "Subspecies", and by the aboriginal notation therein, the Sentinels could easily, by conjecture, be making the notice that the chemical changes in the brain caused by their augmentations cause the Spartan-IIIs to represent an earlier more animalistic breed of humanity, to their scanners. Though, this reclassification could have been caused by Ash not exchanging the proper response to the sentinel as it had asked him. When it reclassified him it also said he was a possible infection vector, whereupon the Sentinels' increased hostility may have to do with a directive about preventing any way for the Flood to infiltrate the Shield World.

Trivia

 * The glyph for the Reclaimer is the Marathon logo symbol, a reference to Bungies earlier game.
 * Mendicant Bias refers to the Chief as the Reclaimer through the Terminals in Halo 3.
 * Halo Wars is the only Halo game (apart from Halo 3: ODST, which featured no interaction with Forerunner technology) in which no characters are identified as Reclaimers. However, it is possible that Ellen Anders could be classified as a Reclaimer as she was forced to activate Forerunner technology on the Shield World.
 * It is possible that 343 Guilty Spark does not recognize Reclaimers as individuals, but instead believes that every Reclaimer is the same being. When talking to Master Chief in Installation 04's Control Room, Spark says, "Last time, you asked me, if it were my choice, would I do it? Having had considerable time to ponder your query, my answer has not changed." It seems that Guilty Spark was referring to a question posed to him by a Forerunner, possibly Didact, prior to the activation of Installation 04 100,000 years before. This might be false however because in the cutscene before you fight Tartarus in Halo 2 Spark says "Be careful this Reclaimer is delicate."