Ur-Didact

"In this hour of victory, we taste only defeat. I ask, why? We are forerunners, guardians of all that exists. The roots of the galaxy have grown deep under our careful tending. Where there is life, the wisdom of our countless generations has saturated the soil. Our strength is a luminous sun, towards which all intelligence blossoms... And the impervious shelter beneath which it has prospered. I stand before you, accused of the sin of ensuring forerunner ascendancy. Of attempting to save us from this fate where we are forced to... recede. Humanity stands as the greatest threat in the galaxy. Refusing to eradicate them is a fool's gambit. We squander eons in the darkness, while they seize our triumphs for their own. The Mantle of responsibility for all things belongs to forerunners alone. Think of my acts as you will. But do not doubt the reality: the Reclamation... has already begun. And we are hopeless to stop it."

- The Ur-Didact

The Didact, born Shadow-of-Sundered-Star, is a forerunner Warrior-Servant who held an extremely high status in the forerunner society as Protector of the Ecumene, head of the Warrior-Servant rate and supreme commander of the entire forerunner military. He wholeheartedly believed in the Mantle the forerunners held to protect life, and fervently opposed the Halo Array as a sin beyond measure. He was also the husband of the Librarian, head of the Lifeworkers.

Originally thought to have been killed by the Master Builder, the Didact effectively existed as two individuals during the final days of the Forerunner-Flood War; his original self, as well as his implanted consciousness within a young forerunner known as Bornstellar-Makes-Eternal-Lasting. To differentiate these two incarnations, the original Didact was referred to as the Ur-Didact, while his other incarnation was known as the IsoDidact. The Ur-Didact was eventually exiled on the shield world of Requiem, not to be awakened until 2760; meanwhile, the IsoDidact served until the final days of the flood conflict and was responsible for activating the Halo Array. After facing SPARTAN-II John-117 and the AI Cortana, the Ur-Didact was destroyed under the combined power of a HAVOK nuke and the fire of the Composer emitted from his ship, the Mantle's Approach.