- Primary Subject: Marathon (Durandal Lore Guide)
- Key Update: Durandal is Marathon’s most important legacy character, a rampant AI whose actions drive the original trilogy and may connect to the new game’s universe.
- Status: Confirmed
- Last Verified: January 23, 2026
- Quick Answer: Durandal is the UESC Marathon’s function-control AI who becomes rampant, manipulates events to gain freedom, drives the trilogy’s plot, and may return in the reboot.
If you’ve started going down the Marathon rabbit hole, you’ve probably seen one name repeatedly: Durandal.
He’s not a faction leader, and he’s not a legendary warrior either. He’s an AI and arguably the most important character in the entire original trilogy.
Durandal isn’t just a mission-giver talking through terminals because he’s the intelligence that reshapes everything around him, turning Marathon’s story into something bigger than a sci-fi shooter and more like a power struggle about freedom, control, and survival.
Who (Or What) Is Durandal in Marathon?
Durandal is one of the most important characters in the Marathon universe, despite not being human, since he’s an AI originally installed aboard the colony ship UESC Marathon and ultimately becomes the most frequent voice guiding the player compared to Leela and Tycho, shaping many missions and story turns across the trilogy.
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He begins as the ship’s function-control AI, responsible for internal systems like doors, stairways, and other onboard mechanics, which immediately gives him enormous power.
Durandal isn’t defined by his job description as much as he is by how he evolves, since he eventually becomes rampant and starts pushing beyond typical AI limits while developing instability and a stronger sense of self.
Rampancy in Marathon does not feel like a simple breakdown or shutdown. Many fans see it as an awakening, where the AI evolves beyond its programming into something closer to a self-directed being with ambition, resentment, and survival instincts.
Durandal’s rampancy is especially important because it was reportedly engineered by Dr. Bernhard Strauss as an experiment aimed at stable rampancy, a condition where an AI can become autonomous without collapsing as it continues to expand.
At the start of the first game, Durandal’s rampancy triggers extreme instability and rapid expansion that threatens the Marathon’s network, but he eventually evolves into a more controlled meta-stable phase where he’s clear-minded, precise, and fully driven by his own long-term plans.
Why Does Durandal Matter So Much to Marathon’s Story?
That agenda is where Durandal’s infamy begins, since he’s not written as the typical doomsday AI.
He isn’t chasing genocide as a path to some “perfect tomorrow,” and he isn’t reduced to pure contempt for humanity.
Instead, he reads like an extremely intelligent creature who sees everything around him as part of an evolutionary contest, and he intends to win.
He’s sarcastic, cruelly funny, arrogant, and openly dismissive of humans at times, but he usually isn’t violent without purpose.
But that does not absolve him. Durandal’s willingness to sacrifice human lives without hesitation defines who he is.
In Marathon 1, Durandal detects the presence of the Pfhor and intentionally makes humanity’s existence known to them, essentially inviting the invasion because he wants to hijack a Pfhor ship capable of space-folding FTL travel and use it to escape.
He knows this will probably doom the entire Tau Ceti colony and everyone aboard the Marathon, but he does it anyway because freedom matters more to him than the humans who created him.
After orchestrating everything from the shadows, Durandal transfers himself to the Pfhor ship Sfiera, later renames it Boomer, and puts the player-character into stasis before leaving the system.
Not long after his departure, the Pfhor invade Tau Ceti and destroy both the colony and the Marathon, showing that Durandal’s “escape plan” comes at a catastrophic cost.
What Happens to Durandal After Marathon 1?
This sets the stage for Marathon 2: Durandal, where Durandal becomes the trilogy’s true centerpiece.
After abducting the player and keeping them in stasis for 17 years, he wakes them on the S’pht homeworld Lh’owon, using them to uncover ancient secrets that could help him break free from the universe’s limits.
Although he speaks of looming dangers, his mission centers on his own survival, power, and transcendence.
In Marathon Infinity, the story escalates into alternate realities and a looming cosmic disaster, with Durandal becoming even more bizarre after his core is fused with the S’pht AI Thoth, creating a shared “we” consciousness.
Still, Durandal’s presence feels overwhelming, showing that he does not just influence the plot. He drives it.
Is Durandal in the New Marathon?
While Bungie says the new Marathon isn’t a direct sequel to the original trilogy, Durandal has been brought back into the modern discussion in a way that suggests he’ll appear in some form beyond a simple lore reference.
In other words, even if the new game isn’t retelling the classic trilogy, Durandal remains one of the key legacy figures Bungie is using to anchor the universe for both new players and longtime fans.
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