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The Librarian
Biographical information
Rate	Lifeworker
Rank	Lifeshaper
Physical information
Gender	Female
Chronological and political information
Era(s)	Forerunner-Flood war
Affiliation	Forerunner Empire

“Each one of these souls is finite and precious.

And I'm close.

Close to saving them all.”

— The Librarian

The Librarian was a Forerunner whose true name remains unknown. She sought to document and index all sentient beings of the Milky Way, and protect them from being absorbed into the Flood by sending them to the shelter of the Ark. Of all the races she indexed, she held a deep respect for Humanity, whom she viewed as "special" among all of the sentient life she had seen, and felt that it was well-worth the sacrifice of her own life to save them.

At an undisclosed point in time during the final days of the Forerunner ecumene before the firing of the Halos, she incapacitated the original iteration of her husband, the Ur-Didact, to prevent him from using the Composer on the entire human race. She later removed herself from the Flood-Forerunner conflict by building, deactivating and subsequently burying the portal leading to the Ark from Earth (then known as Erde-Tyrene). In her quest to index all sentient beings, she was cut off from Forerunner rescue by the Flood, delaying the firing of the Halos as the Bornstellar Didact attempted to save her. In the end, the Librarian destroyed her own ships, forcing the Bornstellar Didact to activate the Halos. The Librarian's destruction of her remaining Keyships presumably left her stranded on Earth, where she spent her last days on Mt. Kilimanjaro, overlooking the portal to the Ark.

In Halo 4, the Librarian makes an appearance before Master Chief. She explains to the Reclaimer about her plans to ensure that mankind will inherit the Mantle of Responsibility, mankind's ancient history with the Forerunners and the motivations of the Ur-Didact, as well as his plans for the Composer. She then tells the Chief that when she indexed humanity for repopulation, she had placed seeds which would lead to the creation of the Spartans, their MJOLNIR armor, even the Chief's Ancilla Cortana. She claims that he's "the culmination of a thousand lifetimes of planning." But before she could elaborate, the Didact appeared, demanding that she relinquish her dialogue with the human. With little time, the Librarian reveals that she also placed a genesong with the Master Chief's DNA, containing many gifts, including an immunity to the effects of the Composer but it had to be unlocked. She quickly enabled the immunity once she confirmed that the Didact can't be stopped without it.

At the end of Halo: Primordium, 343 Guilty Spark (once the human known as Chakas) hijacked an ONI ship, declaring that the Librarian did not die on Earth, as most believed, and he knew where to find her.

Six months after the Didact's defeat, the Covenant Remnant, under the leadership of Jul 'Mdama, maintains a presence on Requiem, believing the Librarian to in hiding on the planet and seek to release her, believing she will grant them powers and technologies beyond imagining.

It is important to note that "Librarian" would not have been her actual name or title. The Forerunner records of her transmissions utilize translation software so advanced that it incorporates idioms from the reader's own experience. Thus words such as "Eden", "fairy tale" and "Librarian" are not direct translations of their Forerunner counterparts ad verbatim but rather close approximations in the English language, factoring in the cultural and linguistic idiosyncracies inherent in the language itself. Such words are demarcated with brackets in the Terminals.

Trivia

• The Librarian's glyph is an emblem you can use in Halo 3's Multiplayer.
• The Librarian was mentioned in Halo 3 in the Terminals. In conversations, she is known as "L".
• On one of the Terminals in Halo 3, you can see the symbol of the Librarian.
• The Librarian referred to the part of Earth she resided on as "Eden" - a reference to the garden of Eden in Abrahamic religions.
• The Proto-Gravemind was originally called "The Librarian".
• According to 343 Guilty Spark, the Librarian was the only one who could "temper" the Didact's rage.
• The ending of Halo: Primordium strongly suggests that the Librarian may be alive, contrary to what her husband said.
• The Librarian is the second Forerunner to be depicted in the Halo series (the first being the Didact.)
• The Librarian manipulated the DNA of reseeded humans to guide them towards the development of the skills and technology they would require to uphold the Mantle. Such technologies include augmentation (Project CHRYSANTHEMUM), advanced combat skins (MJOLNIR Powered Assault Armor), and AI creation (AI). These manipulations would eventually culminate in the creation of one specific human who would be play a central role in Mankind's reclamation of the Mantle.

List of Appearances

• Halo: The Flood (Mentioned only)
• Halo 3 (Mentioned only)
• Halo: Cryptum (First appearance)
• Halo: Primordium (Mentioned only)
• Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary (Mentioned only)
• Halo 4