originally posted in:Halo Archive
Interesting. I know the Gravemind is essentially omniscient, but I've never heard the word transsentient used to describe it or anything else. I honestly don't even know what 'beyond sentient' means since I don't know how anyone or anything can be beyond a state of sentience , unless the person or being in question is a god, but the Gravemind isn't.
IDK, I personally wouldn't describe the Gravemind as transsentient, just a creature that is almost at the state of omniscience, but I'm probably viewing the word to mean something it's not.
English
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Omniscience is the state of knowing everything. The Graveminds most certainly do not. The Graveminds are transsentient because if you kill a Gravemind, you're only destroying the corporeal manifestation of it. As soon as the Flood creates another compound-intelligence, the Gravemind returns as if nothing happens. You encounter this first hand in Halo 3 when you kill the Gravemind by detonating High Charity, but it returns as if it was simply delayed, completely coherent with its memories intact. [i]"You think me defeated!?" "The Gravemind - it's trying to rebuild itself on this ring!"[/i]
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I know what omniscient means, which is why I said almost at the state, not actually omniscient. I see what the word means now. Thanks for clarifying.