Jjaro

Overview

Existing both in Bungie's Pathways into Darkness and the later Marathon Trilogy, the Jjaro were an ancient and poorly-understood alien race whose technology has had a profound impact on the galaxy at large. According to Durandal, the Jjarro vanished millions of years before the events of Marathon 2, though their handiwork can still be found within vacant installations adorning the moons of numerous habitable worlds. Very little is known about them concretely, and some have postulated that the word "Jjaro" may even refer to a singular being. The only verified instance in which humanity may have had contact with one of their kind occurred on May 5, 1994, when a single Jjaro representative by the name of Ryu'Toth warned mankind of the eminent awakening of a "dreaming god," instructing them on how to halt this destructive process. Even this appearance raises more questions than it answers, however, as Ryu'Toth manifested not as a physical being, but as a holographic projection. Whether the entity calling itself Ryu'Toth was truly speaking on behalf of the Jjaro may be impossible to know for certain.

Though the Jjaro themselves have been unseen for eons, their abandoned technology has greatly benefited less advanced races in recent times, none more so than the aggressive Pfhor. Voraciously scavenging from sites across the galaxy, the Pfhor have built most of their technology base from stolen Jjaro artifacts, and are not afraid to experiment with components whose purpose they do not fully comprehend. This reckless attitude toward implementation has led to a number of undesirable situations. The greatest slave revolt in Pfhor history, for instance, was caused by a botched Jjaro implant placed into one of their Drinniol servants, and their irresponsible use of the Jjaro's trih xeem device in the Lh'owon system inadvertently unleashed the W'rkncacnter, a powerful being of pure chaos. Ironically, though, it was also a Jjaro relic that proved critical in containing the W'rkncacnter once more.

It is often theorized that Yrro and Pthia, the mythical benefactors of the S'pht, were themselves members of the Jjaro. Though there is scant evidence to support this, the Jjaro station used at the climax of Marathon Infinity seems to lend some credence to the idea, as it is stated that the station once belonged to "the progenitors of the S'pht," and was used to reform Lh'owon into a paradise.