343 Guilty Spark

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343 Guilty Spark
Monitor of Installation Zero-Four
Game series	Halo series
First game	Halo: Combat Evolved
Voice actor(s)	Tim Dadabo

343 Guilty Spark (pronounced "three-four-three") (alternatively known to the UNSC as the Monitor; and to the Covenant as the Oracle) is a fictional character featured in the video games Halo: Combat Evolved and Halo 2. He is an artificial intelligence with the duty of overseeing Installation 04 which both the UNSC and Covenant know as Halo. His physical avatar is metallic, blue-glowing and roughly spherical in appearance. He is capable of travelling through Earth-like conditions and outer space by means of "Impulse Propulsion".

1 Background
2 Role
- 2.1 Halo: Combat Evolved
- 2.2 Halo 2
3 Trivia
4 References

[edit] Background

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Unlike other artificial intelligence characters in the Halo universe, 343 Guilty Spark is contained within a physical avatar, which he is invariably tied to. The Oracle is found in the Library in Halo: Combat Evolved and during the search for the Sacred Icon in Halo 2. Constructed in the Forerunner Monitor style, the avatar has many abilities, including flight and the ability to interface with computer systems when in close proximity. 343 Guilty Spark can also access Installation 04's teleportation grid. However, he lacks offensive capabilities, and can be immobilized and manipulated by strong gravitational manipulation, such as that present in Tartarus' hammer.

343 Guilty Spark also controls the Sentinels of Halo. He can manipulate them just as he can manipulate his own personal avatar. However, this only extends to the Sentinels of Installation 04. He has not shown control of other Sentinels, such as those of 2401 Penitent Tangent on Installation 05. While on Installation 04, 343 Guilty Spark could command his Sentinels from tremendous distances, but once the Halo was destroyed and he left its ruins, he displayed control only over those Sentinels near to him. Though it should be noted that during the firing sequence of Installation 05, he exercised control and interfacing, if not outright management, of the entire sequence. He continually monitors the status of the firing sequence and commences the final countdown to firing, as well as manipulating the holographic readout on Halo's command console when the failsafe protocol is activated.

343 Guilty Spark's interface ability appears to be quite advanced. Not only can he access Forerunner computers, but he can also enter alien systems, like those on the human Pillar of Autumn. Even on a human computer that he had no previous interaction with, he could institute overrides that even Cortana (the native AI) could not contend with.

The personality of 343 Guilty Spark is somewhat egotistical and eccentric, and possibly insane, due to the millenia he was left alone on Halo. He often audibly reminds himself that he "is a genius", and he is prone to cheerful humming for no apparent reason. It is possible that 343 Guilty Spark is in a state of rampancy, a form of insanity featured in Bungie's Marathon series. Although he is still accepting of his role as Monitor, his pursuit of alien knowledge does seem to go beyond his purpose. He seems to prefer that his living companions remain alive, but he shows little sorrow when they die, remarking "My, how unfortunate," over their corpses. He has a special relationship with humans, which he refers to as Reclaimers, although the true meaning of his thoughts are still unknown.

343 Guilty Spark was on Installation 04 for a total of 101,217 years, which could be years away from it's Earth time equivalent. This time had been spent maintaining the structure. He has a vast wealth of knowledge on the Flood, the Forerunners, and Halo's overall purpose. Prior to this, he was tasked with the study and containment of the Flood.

[edit] Role

[edit] Halo: Combat Evolved

In Halo Combat Evolved,the Master Chief first comes into contact with 343 Guilty Spark in a swamp area on Halo. The Flood had been released from the local infrastructure, and the Master Chief (with several other UNSC soldiers) were running towards a tower structure as Foehammer was ready to evacuate them. However, when several Sentinels are found at the tower, they engage the Flood as well. The Master Chief and the Sentinels fend off several waves of the Flood, but then the Master Chief is teleported to the top of the tower, where he interacts with 343 Guilty Spark. 343 Guilty Spark calls Spartan-117 a Reclaimer and states that he requires the Chief's assistance.

343 Guilty Spark then teleports himself and the Master Chief to the Library, a vast complex infested by the Flood. 343 Guilty Spark informs the Master Chief that the Reclaimer must reclaim the Index, the key to activating Halo's defenses and destroying the Flood. Despite the seriousness of the situation and the fact that Master Chief is in constant peril from the attacking Flood, 343 continues to uphold a cheerful attitude throughout the Library incident, whilst casually explaining the history of Halo to the Chief. Sentinels aid the Master Chief throughout the Library, and 343 Guilty Spark floats above the action, occasionally floating through tunnels to access computers and open otherwise impassable doors, allowing the Master Chief to proceed.

Once the Index has been reclaimed, the Master Chief and Guilty Spark are returned to Halo's control room. The Master Chief and Cortana had been there previously; they had been making an effort to reach it before the Covenant, and the result was Cortana's insertion into the mainframe. 343 Guilty Spark claims that Master Chief must reunite the Index with the Core, as he himself cannot perform a task of such importance. However, once inserted, Cortana takes the Index and reveals that when Halo's defenses (or more accurately, the HALO network itself) are activated, it will not kill the Flood; it will instead kill their food, starving them to death. 343 Guilty Spark confirms that activation will cause the eradication of all sentient life within 25,000 light years, thus indirectly killing the Flood. When the Chief refuses to fulfill his task, 343 Guilty Spark orders the Sentinels to kill him and recover the Index carried by Cortana in his armor. He then teleports away to seek an alternative method to activate Halo.

Before leaving 343 Guilty Spark asks "Why would you hesitate to do what you have already done?" followed by "Last time you asked me: if it were my choice, would I do it? Having considerable time to ponder your query, my answer has not changed. There is no choice. We must activate the ring." From these statements we can infer that 343 Guilty Spark is unable to distinguish between the Master Chief and whomever activated the rings' last detonation cycle.

The Master Chief and Cortana temporarily disable the pulse generators powering Halo's weapon, meaning that 343 Guilty Spark will have to wait at least a little while for repairs to take place. Guilty Spark is later discovered on the Pillar of Autumn, accessing information on humanity, about which he states, "imagine, a record of all our lost times. Human history is it? Fascinating." This could also mean that the Forerunners were human. He has taken control of the ship, and refuses to allow the self-destruction of its engines. However, in a final showdown, the Master Chief and Cortana do battle with 343 Guilty Spark and his Sentinels in the ship's engine room, and succeed in manually initiating a "wildcat destabilization of the ship's fusion engines". Though Halo is destroyed, apparently killing every living thing on it, 343 Guilty Spark and several Sentinels escape destruction by heading into space.

[edit] Halo 2

The Guilty Spark makes a return in Halo 2. Later, 343 Guilty Spark travels to a Forerunner gas-mining facility in the atmosphere of the gas-giant, Threshold, where he meets a Covenant elite, to whom he gives knowledge about Halo's true nature. This knowledge causes the Elite to become a Heretic and rebel against the Prophets. The Heretic Leader informs other Elites and Grunts, who were presumably under his command, of his new-found knowledge and forms a heretic army on the facility. When the Arbiter is sent to kill the Heretic, he is engaged by the Sentinels, and he also encounters 343 Guilty Spark (whom he refers to as the Oracle). Once the Heretic is dead, Tartarus arrives, and he captures the Oracle with his gravity hammer.

343 Guilty Spark is held in captivity for some time. The Covenant Hierarchs interrogate 343 Guilty Spark, gaining as much information as they can about Halo and the recently-uncovered Delta Halo. Once Commander Miranda Keyes (daughter of captain Jacob Keyes from the first game) is captured—along with Delta Halo's Index—both she and the Oracle are taken by Tartarus to Delta Halo's Control Room. Guilty Spark, still hell-bent upon activating the installations, warns Tartarus not to damage Keyes as she is "delicate", but Tartarus ignores him. The Arbiter, Sergeant Johnson, and several Elites arrive as Tartarus is activating Delta Halo. The Arbiter asks 343 Guilty Spark what the purpose of Delta Halo is; once again Guilty Spark reveals that, as with Alpha Halo, it will destroy all life within 25,000 light-years, as well as activate the remaining five Halo installations.

Blinded by his purpose and his commitment to the Great Journey, Tartarus throws the Oracle at Sergeant Johnson and activates the ring anyway. As Guilty Spark begins to countdown the ring's firing sequence, a battle ensues between the Elites and the Brutes, culminating in Tartarus' defeat at the hands of the Arbiter. Meanwhile, Miranda Keyes attempts to interrogate 343 Guilty Spark about how to stop Halo from firing. He tries to stall, but eventually answers Keyes' question by telling her to remove the Index from the core. Keyes takes back the Index, and the process is stopped. However, the ring sends a remote beacon to all other installations, preparing them to fire simultaneously upon receiving a confirmation signal from "the Ark", a fact which 343 Guilty Spark explains (and was aware of when he told Keyes to remove the Index). When Keyes asks him from where the installations can be triggered, he pauses and says "Why, the Ark, of course."