343 Guilty Spark

343 Guilty Spark is a Forerunner Ancilla and the Monitor of Installation 04.

Origin
343 Guilty Spark was created when the human Chakas was mortally wounded during Installation 07's maneuver to avoid an impending collision with the "Wolf Planet" during 032 Mendicant Bias's occupation of the Halo. The Iso-Didact transferred Chakas' consciousness and memories into a monitor in an attempt to preserve Chakas' intellect and ancient memories caused by his Geas. He was left to watch over Installation 04 and its contents when the Foreunners departed.

The Flood Outbreak
343 Guilty Spark had been present on Installation 04 for some 101,217 "local years" and participated in plenty of test firings and in one actual firing of the installation prior to the Battle of Installation 04.

The arrival of the Covenant on the ring instigated Installation 04's genocide and the final Flood outbreak. Immediately putting long dormant contingency measures into action, Guilty Spark began to search for a Reclaimer and discovered UNSC Staff Sergeant Marvin Mobuto. Using Halo's teleportation system, Guilty Spark brought Mobuto to the Library in an effort to retrieve the Index. Ultimately, although he fought hard, and endured the Flood almost to the Index, the ill-equipped Marine failed and was killed, forcing the Monitor to seek out another Reclaimer. John-117 discovered the body of Mobuto (which was mangled beyond usage by the Flood) during his own journey through The Library, though it can't be seen in-game, and marveled at the Staff Sergeant's ability to get as far as he had.

343 Guilty Spark and a few Sentinels moved to the Flood Containment Facility to aid the Marines and John-117, who were battling the Flood. Here the Monitor recruited John-117 as the next Reclaimer, who he quickly teleported to the Library and began guiding to the Index. With superior equipment and training, and despite overwhelming odds, John-117 succeeded in retrieving the Index.

Taking the Index for safe keeping, Guilty Spark teleported himself and John-117 back to the Control Room. Here, safe from the Flood, the Index was returned to John-117. The Monitor explained that he was not permitted (by his programming) to reunite the Index with the Core, thus activating the Installation. Only a Reclaimer could do so.



However, Cortana, still in the Core, took the Index before it could merge with the Core and explained to an ignorant John-117 about Halo's purpose. 343 Guilty Spark confirmed this information, claiming that he had believed John-117 to have been aware of 'his' role and responsibility. With the Index in the possession of a hostile AI and protected by the now uncooperative Reclaimer, the Monitor turned the Sentinels against John-117 to attempt to retrieve the Index. This attempt failed and Guilty Spark was forced to seek an alternate way to activate the ring and destroy all sentient life.



After the encounter John-117 disabled the three Phase Pulse Generators, forcing their repair and delaying 343 Guilty Spark's plans. Disappointed by his lapse of judgment, the Monitor followed John-117 and Cortana to the Pillar of Autumn where he began to download the ship's data banks, being especially interested in the parts pertaining to Human history. He then disabled the vessel's automated self-destruct system to preserve the repository of knowledge he had discovered.

Although the warship's engineering room was protected by many Sentinels, John-117 was successful in destabilizing the power cores. Realizing the implications of the ship's destruction, the Monitor immediately made to flee the doomed ring. Moments before the ring was destroyed, the Monitor decided that he had done his utmost to fulfill his responsibilities. Later upon further reflection, when he was floating through space, Guilty Spark found himself happy as, ultimately, his purpose had been fulfilled; the Reclaimer had indeed succeeded in stopping the outbreak, even if it had been done “inelegantly.”

After Halo
After Halo's destruction, Spark moved aimlessly through space (as seen in the after-game credits) thinking and re-thinking what had happened to him and how the Reclaimer had betrayed him and destroyed his Installation. He began to wonder how he made such a mistake in judging John-117's character.

He later headed towards the local gas giant Threshold, where a Forerunner mining facility, that also doubled as a Flood Research Facility consisted. Unknowing to Spark, a Covenant detachment was sent to investigate the facility prior to his arrival. Upon entering the facility, he was attacked by several Kig-yar, until a passing Sangheili noticed and killed his attackers. Spark was then taken to their leader Sesa 'Refumme. After being informed by Spark that the Halo rings were a weapon, Sesa cut off all communications to the Fleet until he heard all that Spark had to say. Sesa then told the rest of the Elites and Grunts of what Spark had told him. They then renounced the ways of the Covenant and became Heretics.



Such a state of affairs could not be tolerated for long by the Covenant and soon action was taken to eliminate the Heretics. This was accomplished quickly and quietly by the Arbiter and a team of special operations troops. In the aftermath, Guilty Spark was captured by Tartarus and given to the Prophets aboard High Charity.



Interrogated by the Hierarchs, Guilty Spark revealed the nature of the Installations and the means to employ them, which made the Prophets send the Arbiter to retrieve Installation 05's "Sacred Icon." After it had been obtained, Tartarus took Guilty Spark and the Index to Installation 05’s Control Room, using Miranda Keyes as the new Reclaimer. However, Tartarus grew tired of Guilty Spark's constant warnings. When the Arbiter and Avery Johnson arrived to deactivate the ring, they first questioned Guilty Spark, so that he'd reveal Halo's true purpose. However, the Brutes were too loyal to the Prophets to accept this truth. 343 Guilty Spark escaped Tartarus' clutches and stood by and watched the ensuing struggle, reminded of the one he had witnessed on the Pillar of Autumn.

After Tartarus and his Brute Captains were killed, the control panel for the Installation began to show a holographic display. 343 Guilty Spark translated the display to Johnson, Miranda Keyes, and the Arbiter. The rings were now on standby, meaning they could be remote activated from the Ark. The Arbiter asked Spark where it was, and he directed them to a specific location, which turned out to be Earth.

Earth and The Ark
Spark arrived on Earth with a Fleet of Swords of Sanghelios in order to help them search for a storage device. He found the object, along with Master Chief and killed a Combat Form that was about to attack John. After a tense exchange between the two, they put aside their past and proceeded to bring the device back to the ship. The device contained a transmission from Cortana that she was still on High Charity. She claimed she had a solution to stop the Flood without activating the other Halo rings. In order to discover the answer, John, Johnson, Keyes and the Arbiter, along with Separatist forces traveled through the recently opened Portal; Spark joined them.

The Fleet followed the Loyalist forces through the portal, and came across a large Forerunner Installation similar to the Halos but not in ring form. Upon touchdown, Spark sent orders to all Sentinels that the incoming UNSC and Separatist forces were friendlies, therefore reducing the likelihood of friendly fire incidents. Searching for Truth's location, the Separatist Sangheili located the construct's Cartographer. Spark followed John and the Arbiter's platoons to penetrate the wall protecting the location, opening doors and providing Sentinels as backup for the assault. Once the Cartographer was found, Spark revealed they were beyond the rim of the Milky Way galaxy and told John the Installation they stood upon was the Ark. Using the map system, Spark found the Prophet of Truth's location several hundred kilometers away, but he was shielding his location utilizing a barrier installed by the Forerunners. At that moment, a Loyalist Phantom arrived, driving the trio back deeper into the hallways. Spark led them towards Johnson's location a few floors below. After the reunion, Johnson was nervous at the sudden appearance of hundreds of Sentinels, but Spark reassured him they meant no harm and were part of a primary task force, although, not being native to the Ark, he couldn't discern their goal.

UNSC and Separatist forces moved to disable the shield barrier protecting Truth. However, once the barrier was taken down, High Charity appeared from out of Slipspace, nearly destroying Rtas 'Vadum's ship, and spread debris and Flood everywhere on the Ark. Terrified of a complete takeover, Spark insisted that they focus their attention on the Flood. He was met with opposition from Keyes and the Separatist leaders, who made it clear that their first priority was to kill Truth before moving on to the parasite.

Once the Prophet of Truth was dead, the Flood began their infestation under the command of the Gravemind. Spark met up with the Arbiter and John-117 after their initial escape, only to reveal that the Forerunner constructs began the construction of a new Halo ring, to replace Installation 04. When asked what he would do with the Halo system, Master Chief replied, "light it." This cheered up Spark, who was thrilled the Flood would finally be dealt with for good. He went off to set up preparations for the firing sequence.

After rescuing Cortana from the Flood-infested High Charity, John-117, the Arbiter and Johnson landed on the newly constructed ring. Spark aided their progress through the Installation by providing Sentinels to combat the Flood. Once the initial wave of Combat and Pure forms were destroyed, Spark opened the main blast door to the Control Room.

Return to Halo


"Unacceptable! Unacceptable! Absolutely unacceptable! Protocol dictates action! I see now that helping you was wrong! You are a child of my makers, inheritors of all they left behind. You are Forerunner, but this ring... is mine!"

- 343 Guilty Spark turning rampant

Spark reunited with John, along with Johnson and the Arbiter in the new Installation 04's control room, telling them the ring was almost completed. However, regardless of being informed that activation would destroy the ring, Johnson was adamant to fire anyway, determined to destroy Gravemind forever. Upon realizing this, an outraged Spark retorted violently and fired upon Johnson to delay activation of the ring, mortally wounding him. He made claims that the ring was his, perhaps driven rampant by guilt, having already lost a different ring. Seeing John-117 running towards his fallen comrade, the Monitor fired upon him and the Arbiter, knocking the Arbiter out of the room and sealed the entrance behind him. John-117 was left to face the Monitor alone. With John on the floor with his shields down, Spark made it clear that he would stop at nothing to follow protocol and ensure the safety of the ring and the Ark. Although protocol stated that the structural integrity of Installation 04B must be protected from damage, primary protocol overwrites this, which stated that an imminent Flood outbreak should be contained immediately. Thus, if immediate containment procedures would cause massive structural failure to Installation 04B, and delayed action would negate containment procedures, the overwrite command should have been executed and allowed the self-destruction of the installation. It would then be fair to say that 343 Guilty Spark was defunct and ignored protocol.



The Chief engaged the Monitor in combat unsuccessfully and it looked like John was about to die when Sgt Maj. Johnson used his Spartan Laser to blast Spark's protective casing, exposing him to fire. Johnson then gave his weapon to John, giving him the means to end Spark's rampage, and telling him to "kick his ass." Spark began to malfunction ever more erratically as John destroyed him with the Spartan Laser. After precisely 3 hits, he finally succumbed to the stress, and exploded. His remains were left in the control room and were, no doubt cast into space after the destruction of the new ring.

Post Human-Covenant War Recovery
Spark was not completely destroyed, however. Between 2553 and 2557, the UNSC detected a transmission from the ruins of Installation 00 and deployed the from Luna to conduct a further investigation. A Remote Contact Team recovered an extremely damaged armature, believed by the team to be the source of the signal picked up by the initial investigative group. The device was actually the broken, barely active remains of 343 Guilty Spark.

After properly calibrating their AI translator, the human team began to interrogate Spark, hoping to gain insight into the ancient human-Forerunner relations and the Didact. Spark, acknowledging the humans as "the true Reclaimers" and claiming that his duty was to eventually testify to Reclaimers when given the opportunity, proceeded to describe the events that led to his former human self becoming a monitor. Over the course of his narrative, he constantly accessed the ship's information stores, breaching the firewalls without effort, much to the ONI team's dismay. As a result of the extensive damage he had sustained, Spark's memory was heavily splintered and barely functional; for example, he was unable to remember many of the preceding events, only learning of his recent interactions with the humans after tapping into their records and even then, assuming the monitor in question being a separate duplicate of himself.

After Spark had finished his story, his robotic shell finally powered down and was jettisoned into space by order of the ONI team commander. Before this, however, he had successfully managed to upload his data stream into the ship's computers, disabled its AI, and took full control of the vessel. Having come to the conclusion that the Librarian was alive as a result of long study, and that he had need for the ship and its crew, Spark put them to sleep and set course to where he believed the Librarian could be found.

Personality
The personality of 343 Guilty Spark is somewhat eccentric and egotistical to the point of solipsism. The long period of isolation experienced by it may have contributed, or even been the cause, of much of this. 343 Guilty Spark is in a state of Rampancy; although he is still accepting of his role as Monitor, his pursuit of alien knowledge does seem to go beyond his purpose. Since it was his job to manage the Flood, he was also trained to learn. It was intended for him to learn so he could stand ready for any changes in the Flood. However this system is his greatest weakness and he applies it to everything. He loves to learn and to take records; even if he has to force it out. While solipsistic much of the time, he seems to be aware of the limitations of his knowledge, such as when he perceived Installation 00 to be part of a Shield Installation, and not what it was all along.

343 Guilty Spark had quite an erratic and abnormal personality, and a disregard to Human and alien life alike. He seemed almost gleeful when, in Halo 2, he told Miranda Keyes there was no way for him to halt or cease the firing of Installation 05, showing a great lack of respect and deference for Humanity and Covenant life. This may be due to certain programming parameters. He, like 2401 Penitent Tangent, seems quite eager to activate the Halo Array, perhaps hinting that there is a certain gratification they receive in helping their masters. His strange personality was shown in the way he would randomly and with no clear lucid pattern say things such as: 'Ah, I am a genius!'. In Halo: CE, when helping Master Chief, he was constantly humming and giggling.

It is also interesting to note that he finds the religious rich conversation of the Covenant tiring. Terms such as "Oracle," the "Sacred Icon" and "Sacred Rings" frustrate him as the Covenant, with their limited knowledge about the Forerunners continue to use obscuring, meaningless titles for various objects.

Spark's eagerness to activate the rings at the slightest provocation seems unlike the wishes of previous Forerunners, who, by Spark's own admission, had used the Halo Array as a last resort. Spark's behavior indicates he sees the array as the only resort, as he wishes to use it before the Flood has even escaped the ring. At no point does he attempt less extreme actions, such as disabling and destroying any possible escape ships for the Flood to use.

343 Guilty Spark is quirky and very well-humored, although at the same time detached and analytical. Tens of thousands of years of waiting for a Reclaimer left the Monitor highly unstable. For 343 Guilty Spark, protocol dictates all: the slight emotion shown for the death of an ally is truly grief only for the inconvenience of finding another to assist him.

Weapons and Equipment
343 Guilty Spark has been seen using five known weapons. The first, shown in Floodgate, is a red beam that is similar to, but more powerful than, Sentinel Beam—the beam is powerful enough to mortally wound Sergeant Johnson and completely drain John-117 and the Arbiter's shields. The second weapon is a force field projector that repels objects; it was likely meant to be used when overwhelmed by Flood. The Monitor is also equipped with a third weapon, which is a thin blue laser that can unlock doors on The Ark and deliver a painful but non-fatal electrical shock or laser burn. The fourth is a similar variant, being a white laser that can be used to levitate and manipulate objects, which Spark used to the Separatists’ benefit at Earth by repairing the Covenant storage device containing Cortana’s message. The final known weapon that the Monitor used is an unusual beam resembling blue electricity which was used by Spark at the Pillar of Autumn to download data from the ship’s databases into Spark’s own files, allowing him to shut down the ship’s countdown sequence and delay the activation of its reactor.

Protocol
Most of the time, Spark is untroubled with what is going on around him. When Sesa 'Refumee and Tartarus were killed by the Arbiter, he appeared casual, although he was remorseful when his new ally was killed. However, if there is an issue concerning the Halo rings, he will do everything he can to protect them. For example, on the level The Library, if John-117 dies, he will say things like "Reclaimer, we must keep moving! ...Reclaimer?" or, "hmm, how unfortunate." Spark was unaware that the Prophets had distorted the truth about the purpose of the rings. Spark's protocol bound him only to contain a Flood outbreak from Installation 04, so when Installation 04 was terminated his programmed priority was nullified, because his prescribed means was now void.

It may have been at the destruction of his Installation that Spark became truly Rampant, since he was obviously abnormally protective of it. When it was destroyed, his functions were meaningless and he began to act on his own thoughts, one of the symptoms of rampancy. This means that he no longer had a protocol-based priority prescribing his actions concerning the Flood - he was free to make choices concerning the Flood, as he did on Installation 05 when he assisted in the deactivation of its firing sequence, risking the containment of a flood outbreak. Also, after he saved John-117 from a Combat Form, he said that with the destruction of Installation 04, he only had one purpose left: to help the Reclaimer (John-117) which Spark admitted was something he should have done from the beginning instead of trying to hinder him. This caused the two to put aside their differences and Spark to join forces with John again against the Flood and the Covenant.

Due to his abilities in connection with the Halo Array, Spark proved to be a powerful ally and seemed to take commands from Commander Keyes, Sergeant Johnson and John-117 and follow them without hesitation as part of his new function in life. When he discovered Installation 04B, his priority protocol reactivated, and he adopted the ring as his replacement. An error apparently occurred when his containment procedures were reactivated and his operation prioritization off-lined, so that when Sgt Maj. Johnson declared the intent to prematurely fire Halo, which would destroy it, Spark unhesitatingly killed him. He didn't care, because these rings were his creators' life work before they disappeared.

As with UNSC and Covenant Artificial intelligences, Guilty Spark's programming prohibits certain actions outside of his function. He cannot, for example, physically retrieve the Index from the Library or unify it with the Core, instead needing a Reclaimer to carry out these tasks.

Trivia

 * 343 is equal to 73, a reference to Bungie's favorite number, 7.
 * All known monitors are numbered by 7 to one less the power of their installation. 049, 343, and 2401 are respectively 72, 73, and 74 and are the monitors of installations 03, 04 and 05.
 * In Halo: Combat Evolved and Halo 3, 343 Guilty Spark's "eye" bears the Marathon logo.
 * In Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary, 343 Guilty Spark does not have the Marathon symbol on his eye because Bungie owns the rights to the Marathon symbol.
 * On the cover of Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary, you can see 343 Guilty Spark on the reflection of John-117's visor.
 * 343 Guilty Spark is the only significant enemy character that appears in person in the last level of each game in the trilogy (excluding cutscenes).
 * In the cutscenes of Halo 2, when 343 Guilty Spark talks his light glows brighter, but during gameplay in Halo 2 when he talks his light grows dim. This is referred to by Joseph Staten as "the most terrible glitch in Halo 2... and nobody cares about it."
 * The Disembodied Soul, when asked about Guilty Spark, claims that, "he's my progeny. He inherited my good looks and pleasant personality."
 * After the Halo: Combat Evolved credits, the tune he hums is a portion of the Halo theme. Occasionally, in Halo 3, he will hum some parts of the MJOLNIR Mix.
 * You can gain an Xbox Live Avatar prop representation of 343 Guilty Spark by using the Halo Waypoint app on the Xbox 360.
 * 343 Industries, Microsoft Studios's internal-build team tasked with managing the Halo franchise, is named in reference to 343 Guilty Spark.
 * The Halo Encyclopedia states that after the destruction of Installation 04 Guilty Spark went to parts unknown, even though it is well established that he went to a gas mine on the planet Threshold.
 * Since he was created from the mind of Chakas, 343 Guilty Spark is considered to be the oldest known Human mind in existence at the time of his death (aside from the Prometheans).
 * A figure of 343 Guilty Spark was created by McFarlane Toys as part of the Halo: Anniversary Series 2 line.

Appearances

 * Halo: Combat Evolved
 * Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary
 * Halo 2
 * Halo 2: Anniversary
 * Halo 3
 * Halo: The Flood
 * Halo: First Strike
 * Halo: Ghosts of Onyx
 * Halo Legends
 * Origins
 * Halo: Primordium
 * Halo: Silentium
 * Halo: Hunters in the Dark