Hey guys, today I will be taking about Mendicant Bias the Forerunner AI tasked with leading the Forerunner fleets inside the Maginot sphere at the end of the Forerunner-Flood war. No leaked or unannounced information was used in this article, just my own speculation and released material.

Despite Mendicant Bias been the most advance Forerunner AI of it’s time it fell to the Timeless one, who warped his mind, thus Mendicant launched a massive attack on the Forerunners. Offensive Bias eventually defeated Mendicant, and Mendicant was sealed away.

Mendicant Bias’ rampant symbol

But why would the Forerunners seal away this threat, instead of destroying it? Well Bornstellar explains, due to Mendicants huge knowledge on the Flood, he would be invaluable if they ever returned, and if they did not, we would lie their until the end of living time with one thought, atonement. This was revealed in Greg bears audiobook, rebirth. A transcript of the event is below:

“Forerunner justice,” he growled low and deep, “We will see what that means. “The great ship descended slowly through a vivid blue sky. Swarms of Sentinels rose to greet it, thin beams of energy tethering it to them so they could guide it safely to the dock. Two massive angular arms rising from the pedestal on the desert sand. Riser stood by Bornstellar’s side watching the proceedings from a platform high above the ground. He felt awkward in the presence of these Forerunners, their bulky armor shaped for ceremony, but there were also a few other humans. As the ship approached, its drive pulsed deep notes that resonated within the Florian’s chest. The dock arms reached up to meet it, locking onto the ship’s broad hull and lowering it carefully into place. The ship touched down with a loud and final boom. Near the ship’s bow, a three-winged door retracted. Cold fog welled up inside, puffed out, then swirled away in the rising heat. A hard light ramp flickered into being. Through the last of the inner mist emerged a massive structure. An oblong of silver-gray metal, its surface inscribed with glowing blue lines that pulsed in rhythmic patterns. The oblong descended to float just above the ground, where a flock of sentinels received it and dragged it forward with hard light tethers. Riser was reminded of pallbearers carrying a coffin. The sentinels guided the oblong across the dock and down to another unfinished structure still being shaped as they watched. Constructor machines like spiders spun hardening cocoons of metal around slowly ascending frameworks. Then Riser understood. From below the rock and sand out of the Ark’s deepest foundation, a massive tomb was being prepared. A void had already been cleared to receive the coffin. Sentinels dragged it to the edge of the void, a strange grave at a place where there was no real dirt, no real planet, and latched into the waiting frame. The oblong coffin’s blue lines flowed outward spreading into the confining struts. Riser puffed out his cheeks and looked up at his tall companion. Bornstellar was observing the ceremony with a gray, grim face. Hard to read. All Forerunner fighters looked gray and grim to the Florian. When all was ready, Bornstellar raised his arms to address the tomb. “Ancilla 05-032 of the designation Mendicant Bias, you have colluded with the greatest enemy of the Mantle.” A deep voice issued from the coffin and was amplified across the platform, echoing from the ship, the dock, the tomb, even now being given its final touches: “Those who pass judgment should first judge themselves,” the voice now echoed off far bluffs and canyons, “Judge themselves, judge themselves…” “A sin to fight a sin,” said Bornstellar, “a lesser evil to fight a greater one. That is the choice I was forced to make. You had no such excuse, you brought matters to this point.” “Why was I spared, then?” “You are brought here to be sentenced. You have not been immediately destroyed because you may yet be needed. Your intimate knowledge of the Flood makes you invaluable should they return, but we can never trust you, never again allow you any latitude. You will be entombed here. Your processes locked, frozen into a single thought for all eternity: absolution. Should you be needed, you will be reawakened. Should there be no need, you will be buried here until the end of Living Time.” “Then I will serve as a monument to your sins. That is what you wish for.” Bornstellar shook his head. “I wish only for the Mantle to be upheld.” “I am penitent. I know that what I have done cannot be forgiven. I will accept my stasis with grace and await a time when I might redeem myself.” “Aya, so shall it be,” said Bornstellar. He reached out to a pylon, spread his hand across the controls as they appeared and closed his fist. The constructors finished their webs and sealed themselves into the tomb’s fabric. Mendicant Bias’s coffin was locked in place. The entire structure dropped slowly below the ground into the void and the foundation metal, its blue lines pulsing more and more slowly. “One thought for all eternity,” said Mendicant Bias. His tone sounded almost wistful. Now the lights were fading, flickering, going dark. “Atonement.” The tomb turned as black as night. The machine’s final words spread across the false desert and echoed moments later from the false mountains. Bornstellar, Riser, Trial, Chant, and all the rest watched silently as the rest of Mendicant Bias, locked in eternal exile, was covered by sand.

What I think is Mendicant Bias’ tomb.

Now why is all this important, well with the release of Halo: Escalation 6 we know the flood are back. And if you are familiar with the Halo: 3 terminals then you know that Mendicant Bias communicated with and helped the Chief, as Humans are related to Forerunners Mendicant thought helping Chief would help atone for his sins. So we know Mendicant is still alive and kicking, we know that the UNSC/ Covenant could have a way to find him (The Janus key, although since the Ark is out side the Galaxy we don’t know if it would actually detect him)

But the Ark was destroyed in Halo 3 right? Well not quite, the Ark was left battered and broken, but not destroyed, we know this as 343 released articles called eleventh hour reports, talking about the state of the Halo universe post war. Now in these reports the UNSC return to the Ark after Halo 3’s conclusion, and discovered a broken Forerunner monitor, who started to recount its early life in the times of Born Stellar. Initially the science team doubted it, but they eventually linked its ramblings with evidence found on Onxy. Eventually it was revealed to be Guilty Spark himself, revealing that he was in fact Chakas before he became the monitor, and then he kidnapped the ship, stating he knew where the Librarian was, and we have not heard anything on that point since.

So that’s something I guess, Guilty Spark is alive and kicking, and he knows where the Librarian is (unknown if he meant requiem or somewhere else) and he has a UNSC ship, and has disappeared. So that could very easily come into Halo 5, with Chief been sent to find this ship, or Guilty Spark finding the Librarian and been pissed at Humanity for destroying his Halo… twice.

But what about Mendicant bias, well the description of his burial place seems very familiar to me, watch this:

Thanks to GhostRobo for the clip.

Yeah, pretty similar, so if this is Mendicant Bias, why are his lights red? In the text it stated he had blue lights, well in Halo 3 he helped chief, maybe with the revival of the Didact he may have been corrupted, and turned evil again? Or maybe he is in a defensive mode? Or maybe thinking about atonement for a 100,000 years finally took its toll and caused him to go rampant. Alternatively since he helped chief maybe he felt like he had atoned, and his mind wandered to other places for the first time in 100,000 years, also causing him to go crazy.

What I believe is Mendicant Bias.

So why would Chief seek him out? Well the most obvious reason could be the Floods back, and Mendicant is the only hope for stopping the Flood fleets, meaning the UNSC has sought him out for help. Another reason could be he could help Chief recover Cortana, with Cortana coming into contact with a terminal at the end of Halo 3 it is possible that Mendicant has a record of Cortana or something similar. Whatever the case I am certain that it is Mendicant Bias, all my own assumptions remember, it could be something else, but the descriptions are very similar, and I believe Mendicant still has a role to play in the fiction going forwards.

Thanks for reading guys, see ya tomorrow! (5 days until E3!) Please share this article around guys, as I’ve said my addicted to the statistics page, please fuel my addiction 😀