- “Gamelpar — the name of the old man no longer wanted in the village. The name sounded something like “old father.” How old was he?”— Chakas
Gamelpar was an elderly human living on Installation 07 during the Forerunner-Flood war. He traveled with Chakas and Vinnerva across the installation in a desperate effort to locate Riser.
Biography[]
Gamelpar was among those born on Earth and brought on the Halo as an infant by Master Builder Faber's researchers. Due to his origin, he had an "old spirit," a personality impression of one of the human warriors who had been conquered by the Forerunners in the Human-Forerunner war, imprinted within his genetic material as part of The Librarian's geas. Becoming more prominent after Gamelpar had established a family, the warrior's consciousness revealed a great deal of information about humanity's past to him. The spirit would study the stars each time the Halo was moved to another system, trying to pinpoint their location.
Gamelpar's "best wife" also came from Earth and told him stories of it. At one point in his life on Installation 07, he lived with his family in a newly constructed city, but the Tudejsa abandoned the city after the Forerunners started abducting more humans for their brutal experiments with the Flood in the "Palace of Pain." After fleeing the city to the nearby plains, Gamelpar witnessed The Primordial and 032 Mendicant Bias observe them and decide who would be taken for experimentation. Gamelpar was once taken to the Palace of Pain himself, but he was not infected. He survived and was returned to his community; however, he would never speak of what he had experienced.
He was the grandfather of Vinnevra, raising her after her parents had been taken to the Palace of Pain and protecting her from unwanted attention by sexually mature male Tudejsa. Due to this, he was unpopular within the village, and was eventually banished, living in the forest outside of it.
After an Earth human known as Chakas crash-landed on the installation, Vinnevra took him to see Gamelpar, who proceeded to tell the story of his life on the Halo. Afterward, the three decided to follow Vinnevra's geas, which had been roused after Chakas' arrival and was now giving her directions. Observing their destination from a distance, they discovered to their horror that the geas had been leading them to a "Palace of Pain." They turned around and proceeded to move in the opposite direction, eventually arriving at the shores of a large lake, where they came across a human city. Gamelpar and Chakas went to explore the buildings, where they witnessed a proto-Gravemind locked in a Forerunner cage. They promptly left the city and proceeded to cross the lake on a small boat.
Physical features[]
Gamelpar's physical features were said to most closely resemble those of Aboriginal Australians, with him having a black skin and square face with a flat, broad nose. By the time Chakas encountered him, his old age was evident in his appearance; he was extremely thin, his limbs were shriveled and his skin wrinkled. He only had a few yellow teeth in his mouth and a fringe of white hair on the top of his head. Chakas described his voice as a "soft, rattling squawk."
Trivia[]
- 'Gammel Par' is Danish and Norse for 'Old Couple', which is likely the origin of his name and a reference for Gamelpar and his 'old spirit'. 'Gammel Far' literally means Old Father in the same languages.
Appearances[]
- Halo: Primordium (First appearance)
Sources[]
- Halo: Primordium