Prophet of Truth

The High Prophet of Truth, formerly the Minister of Fortitude, was the leader of the three Hierarchs that led the Covenant High Council during the Age of Reclamation and was one of the main instigators of the war against Humanity. In 2552 he plotted the ousting of the Sangheili from the Covenant, and replaced them with the Brutes after the death of the Prophet of Regret on Installation 05. After the demise of the Prophet of Mercy at High Charity, he became the de facto leader of the entire Covenant, from which position he lead their forces to the portal at New Mombasa and eventually to the Ark, where he was killed by the Arbiter.

23rd Age of Doubt

During the Age of Doubt, 2525 by the UNSC calendar, Truth was widely known as the Minister of Fortitude. He had gained his standing during a stint as junior staffer in the Ministry of Concert. At that time, he unearthed a conspiracy by several Kig-Yar ship captains to poison several recreational narcotics often enjoyed by Unggoy, rendering them infertile and serving as petty revenge for the displacement of Kig-Yar nests caused by a recent Unggoy overpopulation. Despite Truth's warnings, the matter was ignored and soon escalated into a bloody skirmish known as the Grunt Rebellion.

Truth found himself involved in a conspiracy when the Vice Minister of Tranquility, later known as the Prophet of Regret, informed him of the massive amounts of "Forerunner artifacts" a Luminary had discovered on the planet Harvest. Regret planned to use these artifacts to spring himself into a position of high power, as a Hierarch of the Covenant, and offered the same for Truth. This marked the first alliance between the Prophets and the Jiralhanae, as Regret wisely decided to use them to retrieve these artifacts, rather than upset the fine balance of power by allowing Sangheili to gain the treasures.

In order to push the three current Hierarchs, Tolerance, Obligation and Restraint from their positions, Truth utilized blackmail against the third Prophet, Restraint. Regret had shown himself as a sympathizer for those blacklisted from reproducing due to inborn genes, after being urged to do so by Truth who was aware that Restraint had illegitimately fathered two children. The Prophet of Restraint offered Regret a high position if he would adopt the children, but the scheming Prophets instead used this to their advantage, blackmailing him and forcing the Prophet to step down or have his scandalous affair made public.

Before their coup, the Prophets visited an "Oracle" within the Forerunner Dreadnought, an ancient AI known as 032 Mendicant Bias that had stored itself in the ship and had not spoken for several hundred years. When the Luminations of Harvest were inserted into its matrix, it suddenly came to light and revealed the symbols had been misinterpreted-that Humans stood as equals to the Forerunner, and the Covenant had been mistaken in their beliefs. When Truth realized that "reclamation" was really "reclaimer", he, and the Hierarchs-to-be agreed not to tell the masses, as they knew their Covenant would break. As the Oracle tried to launch the Dreadnought from High Charity to bring the humans to The Ark, the Prophets along with the Philologist, leader of the ascetic priests and later the Prophet of Mercy, disconnected the Oracle from the ship and decided that the Humans must be eradicated once and for all, before any of the Covenant could learn of this and shatter their society as well as their religion. Fortitude chose the name "Truth" as a reminder to himself of the truths he must never tell and the lies he would have to in order to prevent the Covenant from fragmenting.

The three Prophets successfully implemented their plan and became the new rulers of the Covenant which heralded the beginning of the Ninth Age of Reclamation.

Battle of the Rubble

Almost ten years later, Truth was behind a plot to have a group of Kig-Yar "ally" themselves with Humans, in an attempt to find Earth. It was going smoothly until Regret (who was not in on the plan) sent Thel 'Vadamee to investigate a series of modified Covenant weapons used by Humans, believed to have come from the Kig-Yars. Due a failure of the Humans providing Earth's location, the Kig-Yar in command, Reth, ordred an attack on the Rubble and Exodus asteroids, which soon failed along with Truth's plan. With the failure of the plan Truth called it's aftermath "a mess"[2], and he was about to have Thel and his soldiers killed, until Thel saved him from a disillusioned Elite, and for that he spared Thel on the basis that he "never say anything of what happened here". After returing to High Charity, Truth looked on the positive side, saying they had purged possible human-sympathizing Kig-Yar and Unngoy, and because of the modified weapons, found two more Human worlds.

The Reach Campaign and The Arbiter

The Prophet of Truth became the deciding factor in all issues for the three Prophets, representing an inequality in power that put him at the top of the other two.

Truth was the first Prophet ever mentioned by name, at the end of Halo: First Strike. He waited in High Charity on the Step of Silence for Tartarus, Chieftain of the Jiralhanae, to arrive, with what remained of an ancient Forerunner Crystal that could manipulate time and space. He ordered the reward and secret execution of the remaining survivors from Operation: FIRST STRIKE, as not to cause any disruption in the Covenant by stories of how the Demons destroyed an entire fleet.

The Heretics

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 its destruction at the hands of the Demon, known to his human comrades as the Master Chief. The Council called 'Vadamee a heretic for such a failure. With a nod, Truth dismissed 'Vadamee out of the Council Chamber and allowed the eager Tartarus and his Brutes to take the prisoner away, stating that when the Great Journey begins, he will be left behind for his heresy. 'Vadamee was later branded with the Mark of Shame. However, instead of executing him as most were suggesting, Truth chose to make him an Arbiter, knowing full well that the Council would have their corpse since the Arbiter's missions were 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. This was considered his death sentence. But as he was a great warrior, the Prophets thought to use him for their own reasons rather than waste his life.

The Great Journey
Punishing Regret

While on Installation 05, Regret transmitted an apology to Truth, apologizing for his reckless attack on Earth, who hadn't anticipated a human presence there. Truth responded angrily, saying that it was only Mercy who had stopped Truth from publicly condemning Regret. Nevertheless, High Charity and its fleet rushed to Installation 05 and released a fleet of Phantoms full of forces to save Regret from the Humans who had overwhelmed Regret's soldiers. His sermons were interrupted when the Master Chief gained entry, fighting and killing him. The rescue Phantoms were called back by Truth, and instead had a Covenant Cruiser decimate the ancient building with its weapons. It is likely that Truth allowed Regret to be killed as part of his plan to remove the Elites from power, as Rtas 'Vadumee remarks they had called back his ships before the Prophet had been killed and the Elites would later be blamed, then taken out of power by Truth, citing their supposed failure to protect the Prophets.

Locating the "Sacred Icon"

The main reason why 'Vadamee was still standing was because he had found an Oracle, calling itself 343 Guilty Spark, who had escaped the destruction of Halo. Carefully applying questions to the Oracle, the Prophets learned of the Activation Index, which they call the the Sacred Icon, to activate the remaining Halos.

Great Schism

After Regret was killed by the Master Chief, Truth began replacing the Elites with the Brutes as the Prophets' protectors, as the Elites had failed to protect Regret from his demise. This ultimately led to the start of the Covenant Civil War. Shortly thereafter, while Truth was addressing the Covenant about the Parasite, "Sacred Icon”, and Great Journey, SPARTAN-117 was teleported into his chamber and pursued as he tried to escape to the Forerunner Dreadnought. Thel 'Vadamee reached the the Icon only to have it taken by Tartarus, who then attempted to kill him by knocking him into the depths of the Library.

As the two remaining Prophets tried to escape with their Human captives, a mass of Flood Infection Forms attacked them. Many were destroyed by Tartarus and his Brutes, but one managed to leap towards Mercy and kill him. Tartarus attempted to save the old Prophet, but Truth ordered him to be left behind, one of his final moves to take full control of the Covenant.

Truth sent Tartarus to Installation 05 to activate the rings while he escaped into the Forerunner Dreadnought. When the Master Chief questioned a dying Mercy, he told the Chief that the Prophet was going to Earth, "to finish what we started". This implies that Regret's attack on Earth might have been an attempt to activate The Ark, the massive Forerunner monument which could activate all the Halo rings.

Assault on Earth

After the assault on his Dreadnought by SPARTAN-117, Truth managed to defeat the Orbital defenses of Earth and landed his ships on the newly unearthed device beneath the sands of Africa. He successfully activated this device, opening a portal to the Ark. After getting into this portal and traveling to an activation room on the installation, he shielded himself from attack and captured Sergeant Major Johnson to activate the rings for him. Despite his efforts, the UNSC and Elite forces broke through, as well as the newly Flood-controlled High Charity, who proceeded to assault the Citadel Truth was in from the opposite side.

Activating The Ark

In the Ark's main Control Room, Truth's Brute Chieftain proceeded to beat Johnson, who goaded him on. Truth ordered the Chieftain to stop as Johnson wanted him to kill him. As the High Prophet tried to force Johnson to activate the ring, Miranda Keyes 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, to no avail. Truth, hiding behind her, told her she was only delaying the inevitable. She attempted to kill both herself and the Sergeant before either could be forced to activate the installations, but Truth managed to stop her himself by fatally severing her spine with seven shots of a Brute Spiker. He then comments to Johnson that he understands why the Forerunner left humanity "behind". He states that they are weak and that gods must be strong. As he began to activate the system, the Master Chief and Thel 'Vadam found themselves allied with the Flood in a final, desperate attempt to stop him from firing the rings.

After his guards were finished off by the Flood, Truth found himself being overtaken by the Gravemind's infection. Thel 'Vadam warned Gravemind to not take over the Prophet, desiring to have his revenge before his consciousness was expunged saying "I will have my vengeance on a Prophet, not a plague!". Truth in his last moments still found himself deluded, believing he would transcend as a god, while Gravemind spoke through him and stated that he would be food and nothing more.
The death of Truth.

Before his very last words, the Arbiter held him up by his throat so he could watch the "Demon" halt all of his plans by shutting down the Ark. He yelled his last words, referring to himself as the voice of the Covenant, before being run through by Thel 'Vadam's Energy Sword. With his death, the Covenant collapsed, finally bringing the Human-Covenant War and Covenant Civil War to an end.

Quick Stats