Prophet of Truth

**High Prophet of Truth** is the central antagonist of *Halo 2* and *3.* He is leader of the three Prophet Hierarchs that led the Covenant Empire.

## History

### Halo 2

Thel Vadamee, the former Supreme Commander of the Fleet of Particular Justice, was brought before the High Council to answer for his failure in protecting Halo from it's destruction at the hands of John-117. The Council called Thel a Heretic for such a failure, and with a nod, Truth dismissed Thel from the Council Chamber and allowed the eager Tartarus and his Brutes to take him away, stating that when the Great Journey began, the disgrace Elite would be left behind for heresy. Thel was later branded with the Mark of Shame by Tartarus in front of the population of the High Charity. However, instead of executing Thel like the Council decided, Truth, backed by the High Prophets of Regret and Mercy, chose to make him an Arbiter, knowing full well that the Council would have their corpse since the Arbiter's missions are suicidal and he would most likely die. He then sent his new Arbiter against the Heretic rebellion forming on the nearby gas mine on Threshold. The mission was considered his death sentence, but despite heavy resistance from the Heretics and even an unexpected incursion by the Flood, Thel succeeded in the task and survived to take on another mission.

The sparing of Thel's life was most likely due to the fact that Truth didn't wish to waste such a great warrior, preferring Thel to serve a purpose, even in death or rather, perhaps he simply needed a quick solution to the imminent Heretic threat. However, Truth may also have felt indebted to or biased towards the Arbiter, due to their previous encounters.

While Truth had kept the discovery of Earth a secret from everyone else, Regret managed to independently discover the location of the Artifact. Eager to exploit it's power, Regret quickly departed for Earth with a fleet of fifteen ships, not realizing that this planet was in fact the most heavily defended Human world of all: Earth.

Soon after this, Truth learned of Regret's brash and foolhardy move, and sent a massive fleet, commanded by the Brutes, to Earth to pick up where Regret had left off. Upon arrival at Earth, Regret's forces were outnumbered and outgunned. In mere hours, Regret was forced to retreat. Just after Regret's retreat, Truth's fleet arrived.

Several remaining ships from Regret's fleet were still under the command of the Elites. Once Truth gave the word, the Brutes in Truth's fleet forcefully overtook the Elites and assumed near-complete control over the battle not only above Earth, but also on the ground, staying any remaining Elites stationed on the planet at will, with the Pious Inquisitor being the only remaining ship from Regret's original fleet. Upon further orders from Truth, they aggressively deployed significant infantry directly into the Human city New Mombasa, and picked up where Regret had left off while holding the Human forces at bay until Truth's reinforcements arrived. Once the UNSC forces had been defeated in the city of New Mombasa, Truth's fleet would start uncovering the Artifact, preparing it for his arrival nearly a month later.

While on Delta Halo, Regret transmitted a message to Truth, apologizing for his reckless attack on Earth. Truth responded angrily, saying that it was only Mercy who had stopped Truth from publicly condemning Regret. Nevertheless, High Charity and it's fleet rushed to Installation 05 and released a fleet of Phantoms to save Regret from the Humans who had overwhelmed Regret's soldiers. His sermons were interrupted when John-117 gained entry to his inner sanctum, and killed Regret. The Phantoms were called back by Truth, who instead had a Covenant Cruiser destroy the ancient building Regret had occupied with it's weapons. It is possible that Truth allowed Regret to be killed as part of his plans to remove the Elites from power, as Rtas Vadum remarks they had called back his ships before Regret had been killed, and so then the Elites would be blamed and taken out of power by Truth, citing their supposed failure to protect the Prophets.

The main reason why Thel was still alive was because he had found 343 Guilty Spark, who had escaped the destruction of Halo. Carefully applying questions to Spark, the Prophets learned of the Activation Index, which they called the Sacred Icon, required to activate a Halo ring. Truth and Mercy then dispatched Thel and many high ranking Elites including Rtas Vadum to collect the Index from the Library of Delta Halo, fully expecting most, if not all, of them to be killed by the Flood, and secretly ordering Tartarus and his top Brute warriors to kill many Elites that made it to the Index. This resulted in the attempted assassination of Thel, and in Commander Miranda Keyes and Sergeant Major Avery Junior Johnson being taken prisoner.

After Regret was killed by John-117, Truth's duplicitious scheming came to full frutition. The Elite Honor Guard's failure to protect Regret afforded him with the final liverage needed to appoint the Brutes to the lofty position. Truth began replacing the Elites with the Brutes as the Prophets' protectors, as the Elites had failed to protect Regret from his demise. This was a devastating blow to the Elites' honor, and they threatened to resign from the High Council in outrage. Shortly thereafter, Truth was addressing the Covenant about the Flood, the Index, and the Great Journey, John-117 was teleported into Truth's chamber and pursued him as he and Mercy attempted to escape in a Forerunner Dreadnaught. On the move, Truth, knowing there was no chance the Elites would step down peacefully due to their fury and being replaced, secretly ordered the genocide of the Elites by the Brutes; initially, the Elites believed that the Brutes had began an insurrection against them and the Prophets. When Thel informed them otherwise, the Elites split with the Covenant completely. The Great Schism had begun.

As the two remaining Prophets attempted to escape with their captives, a mass of Flood Infection Forms attacked them. Most were destroyed by Tartarus and his Brutes, but one managed to get past the Brutes and leaped towards Mercy, knocking him off his chair, and attempted to infect him through his throat. Tartarus attempted to save Mercy, but Truth ordered him to be left behind, one of his final moves to take full control over the Covenant, despite the fact Mercy was a heavy supporter of Truth.

Truth sent Tartarus to Delta Halo to activate the rings while he escaped in the Forerunner Dreadnaught. When John-117 questioned a dying Mercy, he told John that Truth was going to Earth, to finish what they started.

### Halo 3

Although Tartarus' attempted to activate Delta Halo had failed, ending in his death, Truth was not deterred, going back to the Artifact which Regret had sought. Truth took off from High Charity in the Dreadnaught, severing the ancient vessel from the city's power grid. Unknowingly carrying John on his ship, Truth headed for Earth, and after his fleet managed to defeat the orbital defenses, he landed the Dreadnaught in the middle of the Artifact, which his troops had nearly excavated during the four weeks since their arrival. While the digging was still in process, Truth broadcast to a UNSC base, declaring that Human extinction was inevitable and not even their "Demon" could stop him.

Once the Artifact was finally uncovered, Truth landed his Dreadnaught directly on it, while his troops set up air defenses around the perimeter. Nonetheless, the UNSC managed to break through the defenses and assaulted the Dreadnaught. However, Truth successfully activated the Artifact, opening a portal to the Ark. After getting through this portal and traveling to an activation room on the installation, he activated a barrier around the Ark's Citadel and Core to shield himself from attack and captured Johnson to activate the rings for him. Despite the Prophet's efforts, the combined forces of the UNSC and Elites deactivated a section of his shield and broke through, along with the newly Flood-controlled High Charity, who proceeded to assault the Citadel from all sides.

In the Ark's main control room, a Brute Chieftain proceeded to beat Johnson, who goaded him on. Truth ordered the Chieftain to stop as Johnson wanted him to kill him, as only a Human could activate Forerunner technology. As Truth tried to force Johnson to activate the ring, Miranda crashed a Pelican into the control platform in hopes of rescuing Johnson, but found herself surrounded by Truth's Brute bodyguards. As the Brutes flanked her, she held them off with her Shotgun and Magnum to no avail. Truth, hiding behind her, told that was she only delaying the inevitable. She attempted to kill both herself and Johnson before either could be forced to activate the installations, buth Truth managed to stop her himself by shooting her in the back with a Brute Spiker, killing her. As he began to activate the system, John and Thel found themselves momentarily allied with the Flood in a final, desperate attempt to stop Truth from firing the rings.

After his guards were finished off by the Flood, Truth found himself being overtaken by the Gravemind's infection. Thel warned Gravemind not to infect him, as he desired to kill him in revenge. In his final moments, Truth still believed he would trascend as a god, while the Gravemind spoke through him and stated he would be food and nothing more. Before his very last words, Thel held Truth by his throat so he could watch John halt all of his plans by shutting down the Ark and thereby all the Halo rings. He yelled his last words, referring to himself as the voice of the Covenant, before being "silenced" when Thel impaled him with his Energy Sword. With his death, the Covenant had been beheaded, finally bringing the Human-Covenant war and the Great Schism to an end.

## Personality

Truth has expressed little or no emotion whatsever even when Installation 04 was destroyed, he seems to have a very calm and stoic nature, giving him a hardy, stone-faced personality. However, he was quick to become impatient and angry towards those, like his fellow Hierarch, Regret, who angered him, or did something foolish or reckless. An example of this was when Truth sent a transmission to Regret, scolding him on how rash he was to attack Earth.

However, the reason he acted so harshly towards Regret may have been because he worried that Regret would end up dead or even worse. This is probably not the real reason however because Truth has been very cold to his other allies to the point of having them killed including Tartarus, Thel Vadam and Regret himself, likely because he wanted to gain more power over the Covenant by eliminating any possible competition. After arriving on Earth, Truth appears noticeably more aggressive and impatient, possibly having grown more annoyed by the "Demon" interfering with his plans or eager to bring about the Great Journey now that is so close, especially with the Journey having been prevented twice previously.