Escharum
From Halopedia, the Halo wiki
| Escharum | |
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Died: |
May 30, 2560[2][3] (aged 88) |
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Gender: |
Male[4] |
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Height: |
289.6 centimeters (9.50 ft)[1] |
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Weight: |
722.1 kilograms (1,592 lb)[1] |
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Hair color: |
Gray[4] |
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Eye color: |
Red (right eye blinded)[4] |
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- "I want you to know my name too. To know my legend. How else will you beg me for mercy? I am Escharum. War Chief of the Banished. This is my world now. And you have little time remaining in it."
- — Escharum revealing his name to John-117.[6]
Escharum was a prominent Jiralhanae War Chief within the Banished, inheriting the position of second-in-command following the death of Decimus.[7][8] Escharum rose to power within the Banished and would lead the faction in Atriox's absence, after the warmaster's victory on Zeta Halo against the UNSC in late 2559.[9][4] Escharum was eventually killed in battle by the Master Chief on May 30, 2560.[3]
Biography[edit]
Mentor to Atriox[edit]
During the Human-Covenant War Escharum served as Atriox's daskalo, or mentor.[10][11] Escharum described Atriox as his finest "recruit". While they were both in the Covenant, Escharum advised Atriox to rebel when he sought counsel.[12]
After meeting Blademaster Jega 'Rdomnai, Escharum suffered a wound to his face that left him triple scars that covered Escharum's right eye, part of his nose and the corner of his mouth. The wounds were inflicted by a beast, and the encounter marked the beginning of Escharum and 'Rdomnai's mutual respect and ultimately their unusual friendship.[13]
Leading the Banished[edit]
Around April 2558, Atriox and Decimus 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 Jiralhanae legionmasters; 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.[10]
Some time after the Guardian Custode on Laika III was activated on October 28, 2558, the Banished sent forces to the planet to investigate the crater left in the Guardian's wake. Escharum personally visited Laika III when Banished scientists began to inspect the ancient structure the Guardian rose from. Initially, Escharum was not pleased to find that Ilsa Zane—the sole survivor of the first phase of the SPARTAN-IV program and now an insurrectionist leader within the New Colonial Alliance—was alive. However, she offered the War Chief a chance to absorb the entirety of the NCA's resources into the Banished. Escharum accepted the offer; Zane later killed NCA's founder and leader Mattius Drake in front of Escharum, taking control of NCA and pledging its allegiance to the Banished. Escharum put the NCA to use almost immediately, sending Zane and his other newfound warriors on a mission to test them.[14]
Following the death of War Chief Decimus, Atriox's original second-in-command, War Chief Escharum had become the next second-in-command of the Banished.[8]
In the summer of 2559, Escharum received a transmission from Atriox informing the war chief of his possession 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.[10]
On October 12, 2559, Escharum arrived at Reach aboard his personal intrusion corvette to visit Castor and scold him in person for his inability to locate the portal. It had been roughly three months since the Keepers and the other legions had been assigned to the task, and none of them had anything to show for it other than some human towns and hardware that they had managed to capture. While Escharum approved of the dokab's plan to follow the recently-arrived team of Spartans to the hidden portal, he was dissatisfied with the lack of results. Landing at Figyelő Point, he confronted Castor and 'Gadogai, expressing his frustrations about both the still-missing portal and the fact that the UNSC was starting to gain a hold on Reach once again, putting pressure on their mission. However, the blademaster presented a plan—acting as if it had been the dokab's all along—that would buy them more time. If the Spartans did not lead them to the portal soon, they would use the human prisoners they had captured from the Viery Militia as hostages and force the rest off-world. This plan satiated the war chief's concerns until they were no longer relevant just moments later. The Keepers had detected a squadron of UNSC craft escorting a dropship into the Highland Mountains. Inspecting their path, Casto