Prophet of Truth: Difference between revisions

Contrary to his name, Truth was very deceptive, frequently lying or covering up certain events to accomplish his goals; he was well aware of the irony of his title, reflecting upon choosing his name that he would be forced to lie for the sake of the Covenant. In an attempt to boost the Jiralhanae's popularity within the Covenant, he announced to the Covenant that it was the Brutes who found the Sacred Icon instead of the Arbiter Thel 'Vadamee. Truth also secretly ordered the killing of Thel 'Vadamee by the Brute Chieftain Tartarus, as well as the assassination of the Elite council members, knowing of the Brutes' own rivalry with the Sangheili and manipulating that rivalry to suit him. Truth also lied that the Prophet of Mercy was by his side during the Flood's assault on High Charity, when in fact, Mercy had died in an attack by the Flood minutes earlier. Truth had mercilessly denied him help, claiming "the Great Journey waits for no one". Prior to the Human-Covenant War, he had acknowledged that he would have to be deceitful in order to "maintain the Covenant" by claiming that the humans were trying to steal and destroy Forerunner relics, when, in fact, the Forerunner glyphs were mistranslated as "Reclamation" instead of "[[Reclaimer]]."

Despite his manipulation and deception, Truth proved caring at times. Before his rise to power, in his early years he cared enough about the [[Unggoy]] to demand their justice when several [[Kig Yar]] sterilized many Unggoy at the onset of the [[Unggoy Rebellion]]. He argued his case to the [[Minister of Concert]] despite it being turned down.<ref name="ch150">'''[[Halo: Contact Harvest]]''', ''pages 150-152''</ref> Once Truth came to power and was given his title ''Prophet of Truth'', he waged war on humanity to prevent the Covenant from learning the truth that the [[Covenant Religion|Great Journey]] was false. This may be seen as a selfless act as a means to preserve the Covenant and keep it from falling apart.

Although inspiring and charismatic, it is likely that Truth was at least partially insane. Despite being aware that humanity, not the Covenant, were the Forerunners' chosen successors, he was still fixated upon achieving godhood through the use of the Halos. He seems to have rationalized this by claiming that humanity was "weak," and that the Forerunners had left them behind intentionally. Truth thus became obsessed with gaining more power for himself, to the point where he began to see himself as a god, ready to join the Forerunners that he worshipped despite knowing full well what the rings were actually capable of.

Another possibility was that Truth was secretly aware of the Halos' purpose, and wished to fire them himself; then, having been shielded on the Halo he fired (or, alternatively, the Ark), he could have started a new age in which he ruled as one supreme god over all who survived on this Halo installation, leading him to be immortalized in the time afterwards. If this is the case, Truth lied to the entire Covenant, using the promise of the Great Journey to manipulate them into doing his bidding.

As evidenced by his desire to achieve divinity at the expense of the entire galaxy, Truth was a callous individual who disregarded the lives of his enemies. Truth was responsible for the Human-Covenant War and the 23 billion human lives lost in it, as well as the Great Schism, and the frequent betrayal of his allies. Truth also compromised the holy city of High Charity at a key moment during the Flood assault on the city, due to the civil war that he caused.

As Truth allowed both the Prophet of Mercy and Prophet of Regret to die, it would seem that he wanted supreme power over the entire Covenant, not content to share among his fellow rulers. Contrary to preserving the Covenant, this would ultimately fracture it as they lacked a clear leadership after his death due to there being no other Hierarch to follow.

After the death of the Prophet of Regret, the Prophet of Truth charged the Sangheili with no longer being able to guarantee their safety, and despite arguments that they could have stopped John-117 if they had not been withdrawn due to his order, the Prophet began to set in motion a plan that was preconceived: the shifting of power within the Covenant from the Elites to the Brutes. In a sense, he "killed two birds with one stone" - one, giving himself greater power after Regret's death, and two, passing power to the more loyal Brutes before the Schism.

Truth referred to the Ark as "this shelter from Halo's fire" in one of his sermons to his followers. Although the Covenant's exact beliefs regarding the Great Journey are not entirely clear, this appears to contradict the notion of the Halos propelling the faithful into godhood and indicates Truth was aware of the Halos' destructive purpose. It is apparent that he sought to activate the rings while safe in the Ark to clear all of his nemeses, both Sangheili and humans alike. It is possible that after learning about the true purpose of the Halos, Truth construed the Great Journey as a means to eliminate the Covenant's enemies; with himself and his followers saved on the Ark and the rest of the galaxy purged, they would wield the so-called "godly" power promised by the Prophets for ages.

However, when Sergeant Major Johnson asked Truth, "Can't start your own party?", Truth replied, "I admit. I need your help. But that secret dies with all the rest." This indicates that he ordered the Brutes to capture a human, but did not tell them why, supporting the idea that the Covenant at large remained oblivious to the [[Halo Array]]'s true function. He likely took advantage of the fact that the Jiralhanae were not as questioning as the Sangheili and that the promise of the Great Journey would reach them if they obeyed.

Some part of Truth's animosity towards the Sangheili may stem from the fact that both races competed in [[War of Beginnings|a bloody war]] thousands upon thousands of years ago, many decades before the forming of the Covenant. Nevertheless, the Hierarch said the Elites never really "believed in the promise of the sacred ring".

Although Truth has been described as "deluded, possibly insane" as well as a true believer,{{Citation needed}} hewas not very stringent in his views, even while still the Minister of Fortitude, accepting the dogma but not usually acting in particular reverence toward it.<ref>''Halo: Contact Harvest'', page 148: "Fortitude was not as devout as other Prophets. He believed in the Great Journey, to be sure, but by vocation he was more technocrat than theologian. And yet, as the Minister rose through a pocket of less-crowded air, he couldn't help but feel a rush of spiritual invigoration as the Dreadnought's grand tripodal frame began to glimmer in the morning light."</ref> This continued later in his career as a Hierarch, most likely because he was partially disillusioned to the Covenant religion by Mendicant Bias' revelations aboard the Forerunner Dreadnought, though not to the extent, unfortunately, that he knew that the Great Journey was a myth and that activating the Halos would destroy all sentient life in the galaxy.

All of Truth's actions can be seen as means to preserve the Covenant. He declared war on humanity in order to keep the Covenant from learning that the Great Journey was a lie, which would tear it apart.<ref>'''Halo: Contact Harvest''', ''page 384''</ref> When Sangheili came closer to finding out that the Great Journey was a lie, as with [[Sesa 'Refumee's heretic faction]], he viewed them as a threat. Seeing the Sangheili as a threat to uncovering the truth, he made plans to [[Great Schism|eject them from the Covenant]] in order to stop the truth behind the Great Journey from spreading. As a leader, keeping the Covenant alive was one of his main goals if not the highest. Unfortunately for him, while he succeeded in his other aim of securing power for himself, it came at the cost of the Covenant's collapse after his death.