Reclaimer: Difference between revisions

{{quote|The [[Mendicant Bias|Oracle]] calls them "Reclaimers". But what do they reclaim? These machines? These cities? These worlds? Or, as I fear, are they to reclaim the [[Mantle]] we so terribly squandered?|[[Minister of Discovery]]{{Ref/Novel|Id=Covie Mantle|Evo|Page=299}}}}

*[[Taylor Miles]] and [[Kojo Agu]] - The Forerunner construct called [[the Knowing]] identified them as Reclaimers and obeyed their order to [[self-destruct]].{{Ref/Comic|HHj|Issue=5]]}}

The Reclaimer glyph was one of the holiest icons in the [[Covenant religion]], as well as the source of one of its greatest flaws. For millennia, the Covenant's leadership misinterpreted the "Reclaimer" glyph (which they read upside down) as "Reclamation". The [[San'Shyuum|Prophets]] misconstrued this as the Covenant's divine mandate to procure "holy" Forerunner technology from areas of space known as [[reliquary|reliquaries]]; the [[Ages of Reclamation]] were designated as periods of significant Forerunner discoveries. While incorrectly understood by the Covenant as their quest for Forerunner relics, the Reclamation is an actual concept pertaining to the Reclaimers' process of reattaining the Mantle.{{Ref/Level|H4|[[Epilogue (Halo 4 level)|Epilogue]] (''"The Reclamation... has already begun. And we are hopeless to stop it."'')}} Like the Forerunners, the Covenant (if only the Prophets) considered themselves the inheritors of the Mantle.{{Ref/Reuse|Covie Mantle}} However, because the Covenant's member species are not recognized as Reclaimers (being referred to as "intruders" and "meddlers" by [[343 Guilty Spark]]), they require human captives to activate certain Forerunner technology, most notably the Halo rings, the [[Installation 00|Ark]], and [[shield world]]s. One notable exception is [[Jul 'Mdama]], who gained the allegiance of the Promethean Knights on the shield world [[Requiem]] following the Didact's apparent demise; he was able able to set Requiem on a collision course with [[Epoloch system|its star]], though it seems he was given the Didact's override to accomplish this.<ref name="Exodus">''Spartan Ops'', [[Exodus (Spartan Ops)|S1010 Exodus]] - This is evidenced by the appearance of the Ur-Didact's sigil when 'Mdama gives inputs the [[self-destruct]] order.</ref> While the [[Banished]] [[War Chief]] [[Escharum]] scorned [[Castor]] for using humans to activate the [[Menachite portal complex]] in [[2559#October|October 2559]], the old [[Dokab]] was well-aware of the human affinity for Forerunner technology, having witnessed humans activate devices that [[Kig-Yar]] scavengers and [[Sangheili]] priests had proclaimed to be worthless.{{Ref/Novel|Id=Chapter 21|SoR|Chapter=21}}

In the [[Silver Timeline]], Reclaimers appeared to be much rarer, rather than just humanity as a whole. Neither [[Soren-066/Silver|Soren-066]] nor [[Reth/Silver|Reth]] had Forerunner artifacts respond to them while [[Makee]] and [[John-117/Silver|John-117]] did, making them "Blessed Ones" in the eyes of the Covenant. After seeing John activate the [[keystone]], Reth stated that John was "different" than Makee and that he could see it in John's eyes. John was also immune to the harmful effects that the artifact had on the entire [[the Rubble|Rubble]].{{Ref/Reuse|Unbound}} [[Silver Team]] was also unable to activate the keystone.{{Ref/Reuse|Homecoming}}

*According to [[Bungie]] employee [[David Candland]],<ref name="blam">[http://forums.bungie.org/halo/archive36.pl?read=1070818 '''halo.bungie.org''': ''Re: Why retcons don't bother me anymore''] (Evil Otto: ''"One of the most striking retcons to me is the basic concept of whole role of humanity. Originally (back in Halo 1) the reason why humans weren't conquered and incorporated into the Covenant collective was because their presence defied Covenant religion. When the Covenant discovered humans, they knew they were forerunners, but their presence implied the "great journey" failed. They also weren't the all powerful gods they worshiped, so the Prophets wanted to "sweep them under the carpet," as it were."'')</ref> Bungie's original intention for the connection between humanity and Forerunners was that they were one and the same; this was hinted repeatedly throughout the ''Halo'' Trilogy<ref name="blam2">[http://forums.bungie.org/halo/archive36.pl?read=1070818 '''halo.bungie.org''': ''Re: Why retcons don't bother me anymore''] (Evil Otto: ''"The plot lines in our games imply this everywhere - the chief being called reclaimer, only humans being able to retrieve and insert the index, Spark telling the chief, "you are forerunner." etc."'')</ref> and potentially alluded to in [[Joseph Staten]]'s novel ''[[Halo: Contact Harvest]]''. In this regard the title of "Reclaimer" would indicate modern humans salvaging the relics of their ancestors, thus giving the term a literal meaning. During the development of ''[[Halo 3]]'', this changed so that humans and Forerunners were distinct from one another, as is evident in material released as part of the game's marketing campaign and in the [[terminal]]s found within the game itself. The books of ''[[The Forerunner Saga]]'' released by [[343 Industries]] expanded greatly on the similarities and difference between both peoples, establishing that the two species were indeed related but distinct and that the actual connection goes far further back than the events in the books, to the time when both species had been created by the Precursors.