Gravemind

General CVG character
name= Gravemind


caption=The Gravemind in "Halo 2"
series="Halo" series
species= "Flood"
firstgame="Halo 2" (2004)
voiceactor= Dee Bradley Baker

Gravemind is a fictional character featured in the video games "Halo 2" and "Halo 3". While only one Gravemind is ever seen, the name is given to the commanders of the Flood parasite, a highly-infectious spore which is released during the "Halo" series. The Master Chief and Arbiter come upon the creature in the bowels of the Forerunner ring Installation 05, where the Flood creature forges an alliance between the two foes in order to stop the firing of the ringworld, an event which would destroy all three characters and their races. The character is voiced by Dee Bradley Baker.

Making its first appearance in "Halo 2", the introduction of the Gravemind was meant to dispel the idea that the Flood is a mindless virus. The character was designed by a Bungie Studios team including artists Robert McLees and Juan Ramirez, and slowly developed into a massive creature with tentacles and a frightening level of intelligence. Driven by a desire to spread, Gravemind is cunning and manipulative; he forges alliances as often as he tries to consume his allies, tricking the Master Chief into aiding him while infecting the Chief's compatriots at the same time.

The character was not well-received by many critics upon his appearance in "Halo 2", and reviewers including 1UP.com found his role in "Halo 3" confusing and without clear motive.

Character design

Early Concepts for the Gravemind were done by Bungie artist Robt McLees. McLees is known at Bungie as the "architect of the Flood", [cite web |author=Smith, Luke|url= http://www.bungie.net/News/content.aspx?type=topnews&cid=12753|title= Halo Universe: Covenant Weapons|accessdate=2007-11-09 |format= HTML|publisher= Bungie.net|date=2007-09-06] and had done the early concepts for the Flood forms in "Halo: Combat Evolved". McLees' original drawings were then added to by Juan Ramirez.cite book|last=Trautmann|first=Eric|title=The Art of Halo|year=2004|publisher=Del Ray Publishing|location=New York|isbn=0-345-47586-0|pages=71]

The Gravemind's form and design constantly changed during development. Early versions of the creature had a basic shape of a mass of tentacles, with a jagged tear in one large appendage forming a rudimentary mouth. Later on, the mouth was studded with the skulls of human and Covenant corpses for teeth. [cite video |people=Staten, Joseph |date2=2007-09-25 |title=Halo 2 Developer's Commentary |medium="Halo 3" Legendary Edition | time=54:00| publisher=Bungie Studios—Staten: "...as originally designed, the Gravemind was this seething mass of corpses right, his teeth were skulls and he talked from the shadows. When we moved to the world where we wanted him to have lip sync and actually speak... maybe not the best decision in the world."] This design was later revised due to practical considerations about lip syncing the character for speech. Despite these design changes, the Gravemind's size was always meant to be huge;cite book|last=Trautmann|first=Eric|title=The Art of Halo|year=2004|publisher=Del Ray Publishing|location=New York|isbn=0-345-47586-0|pages=72] early concepts showed the Master Chief dwarfed by the Flood intelligence.

Attributes

Personality

Unlike the mindless 'zombie' nature of most Flood, [cite news|author=Godinez, Victor|date=2006-07-16|url=http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/ptech/gamereviews2/071806ccdrPTECHhalobook.1d4d3a2.html|title=Review: The Halo Graphic Novel|work=The Dallas Morning News|accessdate=2007-09-06] Gravemind is intelligent and cunning,cite web|author=West, Steve|date=2007-09-09|url=http://www.cinemablend.com/games/CB-Games-Halo-3-Primer-Characters-6265.html|title=CB Games Halo 3 Primer: Characters|publisher=Cinema Blend|accessdate=2008-01-04] and acts as a collective mind driving the Flood. The Gravemind lyrically speaks in iambic heptameter.cite web|url=http://www.1up.com/do/feature?cId=3162602|title=The Halo Story: A Primer|publisher=1UP.com|accessdate=2008-01-30|date=2007-09-07|author=Parrish, Jeremy] While capable of subterfuge, Gravemind often utilizes the brute strength and sheer numbers of the Flood to further its aims. When attacking planets, the Gravemind of the Forerunner's time used smaller craft as ablative armor, sacrificing countless Flood so that larger ships can land and infest major population centers. [MB: 2 hours ago 12,423 small recreational vessels appeared inside [CE-10-2165-d's] orbital perimeter. Hidden within that vast swarm were seven massive freight carries. The smaller craft were employed as ablative armor, allowing the carriers to descend through the atmosphere; landing on top of major population centers. Despite the fact that the naval garrison was aware of the likelihood of just such an attack, their ability to effectively defend against it proved insufficient. This has always been the enemy's [modus operandi] : [flood] your opponent's ability to process information with so much noise that no meaningful resistance can be put into action. - cite video game |title=Halo 3| developer=Bungie Studios |publisher=Microsoft |date=2007 |platform=Xbox 360 |version= |level=(Terminal 1)] In a more strategic move, Gravemind uses logic to sway the Forerunner's own artificial intelligence, Mendicant Bias, to his side. While Mendicant Bias had been specifically created to defeat the Gravemind, the Flood leader convinces the AI that the Flood is a utopian ideal, and that its conquest of the galaxy is inevitable. While the Gravemind's motivations and goals are not made expressly clear in "Halo 2", "Halo 3" reveals Gravemind's ultimate goal- to consume all thinking beings in the galaxy.cite book|author=Bungie|year=2007|title=Halo 3 Instruction Manual|publisher=Microsoft| - [http://www.microsoft.com/silverlight/halo3.aspx online version] ]

Outward appearance

The Gravemind is composed of rotting corpses and biomatter, and towers nearly eighty meters high as seen in "Halo 2".cite web|author=Loftus, Stephen|url=http://nikon.bungie.org/misc/sloftus_scalecomparison/?display=Forerunner|title=Determining the Real Sizes of Objects in Halo|year=2005|publisher=Halo.Bungie.Org|accessdate=2008-01-04] Gravemind resembles a large Venus Flytrap with many tentacles, but is capable of movement and linguistic communication via its large mouth formed from overlapping fleshy 'leaves'. Though an animal, the Gravemind's somewhat plantlike appearance has drawn comparisons to Audrey II from the 1986 film "Little Shop of Horrors" due to the "swarms of sinuous tentacles" about a central mouth.cite web|url=http://everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=1739023|title=Gravemind @ Everything2|publisher=Everything2.com|date=2005-07-28|accessdate=2008-01-04] [cite video |people=O'Donnell, Marty |date2=2007-09-25|title=Halo 2 Developer's Commentary |medium="Halo 3" Legendary Edition | time=53:00| publisher=Bungie Studios - O'Donnell: "It's not a plant, it's not Audrey, although I don't know why I keep thinking about Audrey."]

Appearances

"Halo 2"

The Gravemind makes his first appearance halfway through "Halo 2"'s campaign. Using his tentacles to save the Master Chief and Arbiter from perishing, Gravemind brings them face to face in a chasm on Delta Halo. Gravemind reveals to the Arbiter that the ring's architects, the Forerunners, died when they activated the installation in order to stop the threat of the Flood; the Master Chief verifies what the creature says, having stopped the firing of another ring in '. Though the Arbiter does not accept the truth immediately, Gravemind sends the Master Chief to the Covenant city "High Charity" and the Arbiter to the Halo's control room in order to stop the deluded Covenant from killing all sentient life a second time. Though he promises an alliance, Gravemind has ulterior motives. His Flood infest the human ship "In Amber Clad" and makes a slipspace jump into "High Charity" itself, in an effort to use the station to escape the confines of Halo.Cortana: Flood-controlled dropships are touching down all over the city. That creature beneath the Library, that "Gravemind", used us. We were just a diversion; In Amber Clad was always its intended vector. There's a conduit connecting this tower to the ship- head back inside, I'll lead you to it. - cite video game| title = Halo 2| developer = Bungie Studios|publisher = Microsoft| date = 2004| platform =Xbox| version = | level = High Charity| isolang = | quote = ] Having taken over the city, Gravemind questions the A.I. Cortana, who was left behind to destroy "High Charity" if Halo was activated. Gravemind says that he has questions that he will ask, and Cortana agrees to answer them. [Gravemind: Silence fills the empty grave, now that I have gone. But my mind is not at rest, for questions linger on. Now I will ask, and you will answer. / Cortana"': Alright, shoot. - cite video game |title=Halo 2 |developer=Bungie Studios |publisher=Microsoft |date=2004 |platform=Xbox |version= |level=The Great Journey |language= |quote=]

"Halo 3"

Gravemind is one of the primary antagonists of "Halo 3". While the Master Chief and Arbiter have returned to Earth in order to stop the Prophet of Truth from activating a Forerunner artifact buried in Africa, Gravemind turns "High Charity" into a Flood hive and sends an infected cruiser to Earth in an effort to infest the planet; this plan fails, and a message from Cortana informs the Master Chief and allies of the existence of the Ark, a special installation built by the Forerunners outside of the Milky Way galaxy where "all" the Halos can be fired remotely. Both Gravemind and the Master Chief want to stop Truth from activating the rings, so the Flood once again ally with the Chief and Arbiter. As soon as Truth is killed, however, Gravemind turns on the Chief, [Gravemind: Now the gate has been unlatched, headstones pushed aside, corpses shift and offer room, a fate you must abide! / Arbiter: We trade one villain for another. - cite video game |title=Halo 3| developer=Bungie Studios |publisher=Microsoft |date=2007 |platform=Xbox 360 |version= |level=The Covenant |language= |quote=] who escapes the Flood's clutches and rescues Cortana from "High Charity". Despite being tortured by Gravemind, Cortana has managed to keep a secret safe from the Flood; she has the activation index of Installation 04, which she captured from 343 Guilty Spark during '. [Cortana: The activation index, from the first Halo ring. A little souvenir I hung onto, just in case. - cite video game |title=Halo 3| developer=Bungie Studios |publisher=Microsoft |date=2007 |platform=Xbox 360 |version= |level=Cortana |language= |quote=] Using the index, Cortana can activate the local ringworld, destroying Gravemind but sparing the galaxy's sentient life. Gravemind finally gains this knowledge, but too late; the Master Chief escapes with Cortana, destroying "High Charity" in the process. Gravemind survives the blast and attempts to rebuild himself on the new ring. Despite his best efforts, the Master Chief and company activate Halo, stopping the Flood once again. Gravemind, resigned to his defeat, nonetheless insists that it will only slow—not stop—the Flood. [Gravemind"': Resignation is my virtue. Like water I ebb and flow. Defeat is simply the addition of time to a sentence I never deserved... but you imposed. - cite video game |title=Halo 3| developer=Bungie Studios |publisher=Microsoft |date=2007 |platform=Xbox 360 |version= |level=Halo |language= |quote=]

Reception

Criticial reception of the leader of the Flood was generally poor. In a review of "Halo 2", Mike Leonard of the AllXbox community said that the introduction of the Gravemind character had him "rolling my eyes hard enough to get motion sickness from seeing the back of the inside of my skull";cite web|author=Leonard, Mike|url=http://www.allxbox.com/reviews/halo2.asp|title=A mega-look at the biggest Xbox game ever|publisher=AllXbox.com|accessdate=2008-01-03] Leonard went on to say that the "Little Shop of Horrors" reject" ruined the "cool" of the "Halo" franchise. Jeremy Parish of 1UP.com bemoaned the fact that Gravemind was never explicitly stated to be the Flood leader in either "Halo 2" or "Halo 3" and was hardly seen in the third installment.cite web|author=Parish, Jeremy |date=2007-12-31|title=6 of '07: Halo 3|publisher=1UP.com|url=http://www.1up.com/do/blogEntry?bId=8551185&publicUserId=5379721|accessdate=2008-01-05] Publications also took issue with the fact that the character's motivations were never fully explored; the "South Florida Sun-Sentinel" said that the "unique and compelling characters" of "Halo 3", such as Cortana and the Master Chief, were overwhelmed by Gravemind. [cite news|author=Jones, Scott|date=2007-09-25|title=Out With A Bang|work=South Florida Sun-Sentinel|page=E4]

More favorably, Aaron Sagers of the newspaper "The Morning Call" saw Gravemind as a perfect example of a trend in pop culture called a "frenemy". Frenemies, according to Sagers, is a friend or rival "with whom [the protagonist] feuds; an individual who reinvigorates the sense of self-worth and drives up one's visibility in the public's eye." Gravemind, operating as a frenemy, served to personify the Master Chief's otherwise nebulous fight against the Flood.cite news|author=Sagers, Aaron|date=2007-10-03|title=Finding a frenemy to feel fine|work=Morning Call|page=M2]

References

External links