The Enlightener

"*I am unique: I contain the consciousness of multiple subjects to produce one singular being. I have been trapped within the Infinite for trillions of years – long before the beginning of this universe. I am a Precursor.*"
—The Enlightener[src]

**The Enlightener** is the head of the Eridians, and known as perhaps the oldest Eridian in existence. While his body is thousands of years old, his mind is in reality trillions of years old, having existed before the current universe did.

It is possible he is from another universe prior to the current one, whereupon he was trapped in the Infinite until the Vault of the Dreamer granted him access to Midgard, although he had no physical body to manifest in it.

His Eridian name is unknown, or he simply does not have one, as he is only known by his title. This makes him the only member of the Seventh Conglomerate, a group he himself leads, not to also have a designation other than his denomination.

## History

### Early History

The Enlightener comes from a different universe, or at least predates the current one, calling himself a Precursor. Over time, he learnt of the Infinite, likely independent of his race, and began tapping into it.
He used this Infinite energy to merge his consciousness with other Eridians from the Precursor universe, amassing their knowledge and experience and using it to bolster his own. The Enlightener as a result is not a singular being, and instead has numerous minds within his own, although they all must ultimately answer to him alone.

Through unknown means, he ended up trapped in the Infinite, ultimately surviving the destruction of his own universe, but at the cost of losing his physical body and thus unable to return to his home dimension.

### Meeting more Eridians

After trillions of Midgardian years in the Infinite, the Enlightener sensed a telepathic connection coming from Midgard, of which he had only previously felt from his own race. Guiding the race towards the Dreamer, he slowly led the race down the path of discovering the Infinite. Ultimately, he discovered that another universe had taken the place of his own, one where the Eridians were still alive.

When an extinction event occurred on Pandora, their home planet, the Enlightener aided in their transcendence of form from material beings to ones of pure psionic energy. As a result, the Eridians narrowly survived their second extinction, and ascended into the Infinite.

Once Eridian society within the Infinite was established, the Enlightener was appointed Chief Philosopher and Scientist of the race. In this position, he developed most of the Eridian technology that allowed them to manipulate the timeline of the universe and create pockets of Eridium to power the Vaults they had created.

It was then that he formed the Seventh Conglomerate, a collective of the most intelligent Eridians to govern the race.

### Creating Sirens

The Enlightener was the one to identify the problem that the Eridians had left in their wake within their home dimension: excess Infinite energy remained and this could end up destroying the dimension. Advising his fellow Eridians that they would eventually need to return to Midgard, he offered a solution. The solution was to create Sirens who could soak up and manage this energy so that it would not cause a problem.

Enforcing a rule of only six Sirens in the universe at any one time, the Enlightener successfully infused some of his own biological code into them, allowing them to harness the Infinite. It is unknown why Sirens are all female.

### Manipulating Events

The Enlightener warped the timeline to draw the original Vault Hunters towards the Vault of the Destroyer and deliberately placed Commadant Steele with the Crimson Lance at birth so she would end up using the Vault Key to open it.

This triggered a release of Eridium into the universe, that the Enlightener was able to use it to establish a stronger connection between the Infinite and Midgard. This Eridium was also used up by the latter Sirens, making them more powerful and minimising the issue of excess Infinite energy.

Eventually, the Enlightener recognised that Midgard was slowly being torn apart by excess Infinite energy, and as such began manipulating events for years to draw Matt Rye, a Siren-Human hybrid, towards the Vault of the Dreamer, using his sister, who was the host of the Dreamer, as bait.

Following numerous prophecies of a massive war from consciousnesses in his mind, and fellow Eridians such as the Watcher, the Enlightener began plotting to use Matt as a link to Midgard, so that he could communicate with the Vault Hunters.

This succeeded and Matt was used as a living Vault Key to open the Vault. The Enlightener then possessed him, after the Anomaly was convinced to join the Infinite, and revealed himself to the Vault Hunters.

The Enlightener explained his reason for being, and why he had done what he had, informing them of the war coming, and resurrected Gaige. He also shifted around the neurones in Commander Sharp's head, rendering him unintelligent and useless to the Gemini Corporation, and disintegrated Sharp's underlings.

### Preparing for the War

In recognition for his actions, the Enlightener was made the leader of the Eridian race, and the Seventh Conglomerate became the species's managerial administration. This granted him higher powers, which he used to prepare for a great war that the Watcher had prophesied, which became known as the Great Monsoon.

Aware that the Great Monsoon was likely inevitable, the Enlightener was weary in sending in the Anomaly too early, because he did not want their enemy adapting to him too quickly and thus making it more likely they would lose. He was adamant on this, as he considered Matt to be one of their greatest assets.

As a result, the Enlightener forced Matt and his sister to spend four-hundred years in the Infinite, or four years in Midgard, and would not let them leave under any circumstances. He subjected Matt to exceedingly brutal and cataclysmic simulations to prepare him for the war, enough to traumatise him multiple times, and then provided him therapy to manipulate the Anomaly into staying on his side.

During this time, he took great interest in the functions of human beings, creating a measurement scale called the Human Factor to observe the level of good-hearted and selfless behaviour of creatures. He named it so as the characteristic is most evident in humans. This was so he could understand and hopefully predict the actions of humans like Matt, so he could accurately deliberate on strategies to help win the war, should it happen.

Following four centuries, the Enlightener was convinced by Matt, Amelia and the Eridians of his Seventh Conglomerate to return the two back to Midgard to allow them to take part in events that would hopefully allow them to lessen the threat of or even prevent the Great Monsoon. He ultimately sanctioned this and opened a portal for the two to pass through to reach Midgard.

## Powers and Abilities

### Powers

* **Advanced connection to the Infinite:**As the oldest user of the Infinite, even longer than the Dreamer, the Enlightener possesses an unparalleled connection the dimension, far beyond any other user. He is aware of just about every application of this ability, and can masterfully use any and all forms of Infinite energy.
	+ **Teleportation:**Just like the Watcher, the Enlightener can utilise the orange end of the Infinity Spectrum for spatial relocation and teleport from any end of the universe to other.
	+ **Mental Projections:**Also using the orange end of the spectrum, the Enlightener can project his mental image into places of high Infinite concentration, such as Eridian Tombs, or the Infinite itself.
	+ **Simulation Construction:**While in the Infinite, the Enlightener was able to create extremely realistic simulations to project onto observers like Matt, forcing them to live through them and die multiple times until they succeeded the arbitrary goal he intended them to succeed.
	+ **Timestream Control:**Much like Matt's Chronokinesis, the Enlightener had complete control over the timeline, although this ability was only accessible if he is in the dimension he is controlling. He likely had this ability when he was possessing Matt, and was able to change virtual timestreams for Matt and Amelia in the Infinite.

### Abilities

* **Master of the Infinite:**The Enlightener has knowledge of the Infinite that is incomparable to any other Eridian or Infinite user, so much so that he can expertly control the timeline at will and was able to develop new Infinite technology for the Eridians  used and already had mastery of the Infinite, both holistically and specifically. Most of his fellow Eridians don't even compare to his knowledge of all forms of science.
* **Minor precognition:**Although it could be argued that it is simply his intelligence allowing him to predict the future, the Enlightener did once mention he had the minor ability to predict some of the future, although only in the long-term and not in specifics.
* **Complete knowledge of the timeline:**The Enlightener's knowledge on the timeline is eclipsed by no one, and is able to manipulate it on even the subtlest of details. He manipulated the timeline under Amelia's nose, as she manipulated it herself, and allowed her to think she had complete free will over her actions - when she in fact, did not. Amelia only became aware at this towards the end of her service as the host of the Dreamer.

## Personality

It is questionable if the Enlightener even has a personality, as he displays little emotion, likely from spending trillions of years in the Infinite. He expresses moments of emotive idiosyncrasies, however, possessing a notably short temper at times and is not afraid to talk down those he disagrees with.

The Enlightener does not hesitate to use his superiority and higher class to deride others, having challenged Matt on his judgement on numerous occasions as he believed his intelligence was superior to the Anomaly. This may hint towards some sort of superiority complex in the Enlightener, evidenced by his strong belief that his judgement and knowledge far outclassed any other Eridian, and didn't even consider the experience of Matt. However, he at least admitted that the Anomaly was extremely powerful, and would one day reach a higher level of power than even himself. Additionally, the Enlightener acknowledged that his Eridians perhaps did possess *some*knowledge that he didn't, admitting to himself that the Watcher was better at seeing the future than he was.

The Enlightener cares little for the welfare of others, unless they are of use to him, and as such was only concerned if Matt was alive and cared nothing for his mental state. He resurrected Gaige for the simple reason that he was of importance to the Anomaly, and not because he pitied her or regretted allowing her death.

Furthermore, he prides himself on his ability to be completely objective and not "influenced" by the Human Factor nearly as much as his peers. He considers this to be a form of purity, as though it was some kind of contamination within his species, and takes this to making him more effective in decision making as he does not consider emotion to affect him in any way.