Ilsa Zane is a major antagonist in the Halo franchise, serving as the main antagonist of Halo: Initiation, the secondary antagonist of Hunt The Truth: Season 2 and the villain protagonist of Halo: The Third Life. She is an Insurrectionist leader who was the only survivor of the first phase of the Spartan-IV project and defected to the New Colonial Alliance as well as the one responsible for the New Colonial Alliance's allegiance to the Banished.
She was voiced by Tamara Taylor in Hunt The Truth.
Biography
Past
Thirteen years prior to the end of the Human-Covenant War, Ilsa was a resident on the colony world of Kholo who witnessed the planet's destruction by the unidentified Shipmaster who led the glassing as well as her parent's death by the hands of the Covenant forces on the colony. After the war, she was one of the experiments to take augmentations for the process of making her the first Spartan without armor. This process, however, only manage to kill off or cripple nine others with her being the only survivor but had her mentally unstable. Because of this, she was assigned to ONI only to make her escape and met up with Drake where she became a member of the New Colonial Alliance to swore her revenge on the UNSC.
Halo: Initiation
After the successful plot of stealing the plans of Infinity, Ilsa and her forces plot to capture the Infinity before they have a chance to use it and leads an attack force to commandeer it. They disguised themselves as a construction crew where they take this advantage to capture Del Rio and temporary shut down the ship's AI, Aine where they soon gain control of it. At first everything was according to plan with until Lasky and Palmer arrived with reinforcements and interfered with her plans. In one-to-one, Ilsa and Palmer fought against each other which ended with her being knocked towards a containment door with the AI eventually brought back online. Due to the augmentations, she survived the crash and was rescued by an unnamed NCA prowler pilot whom she recognized and was surprised to see.
Hunt The Truth
After her recovery, she was transported to Conrad's point where she meets up with many NCA forces and help them rose to become a formidable force while executing those who are unimportant to their cause. Along the way, she witnessed Conrad's Point under attack by a Forerunner Guardian from its emergence before leaving a trail of destruction on the crater point and ordered the NCA to secure the crater the Forerunner Guardian left behind. Securing the crater point, Ilsa is shown pleased with the work and announced the claim of the Master Chief's apparent "death". Taking a noticed of the ONI spies FERO, Black-Box and Rezneck, she approached them and recalled about FERO wishing for the NCA to protest peacefully before mocking her for believing negotiations would be a valid opportunity and questioned what was her use in the NCA. When Rezneck defended her, she executes him, knowing very well that Rezneck was a spy all the long and well-aware that FERO is also indeed a spy before Bostwick, a NCA operative, defended FERO from her which provoked her to attack Bostwick, injuring her which is enough to have FERO admit that she was a spy before also confessing that a UNSC strike force is coming. Before any of them have any reactions, the UNSC begin strike the NCA-controlled crater and FERO and Black-Box escaped with Bostwick as she tried to stop them from escaping but failed.
She and the NCA later tracked FERO's group at Laika III where she desired to kill them for what happened at the crater point and take control of the planet's Guardian before it would be activated. She then pushed the ship down on the planet's surface and make preparations for their assault while tracking them to a Triad campsite. With ONI forces also revealing to be pursuing FERO's group then engaged the NCA, she took part in combat against them which distracted them long enough for the Guardian to arise after its activation as a result of being unable to take the Guardian for themselves.
Halo: The Third Life
Continuing from the events on Laika III, she continued on opposing the ONI forces despite being unable to take the Guardian for the NCA before it set out a wave of concussive waves, resulting in massive damage as well as knocking her out unconscious. Moments before she went fully unconscious, she noticed the Guardian's departure in Slipspace before having the thoughts about no one being able to kill her. After being left unconscious, the Banished arrived on the planet where they soon capture her including the surviving humans from the destruction and claiming the crater left in the Guardian's attack.
Upon awakening, she finds herself in a Banished prison with fellow prisoners including the Triad cult leader, Dasc Gevadim. Dasc explained everything after she was knocked out and Ilsa reveals to him that she has a tracker that signals the NCA every twelve hours which they would respond with sending in a rescue team if not reported back in three days. Learning the revelation from Ilsa, Dasc was able to propose a deal that he will teach her in dealing with the Jiralhanae until the rescue team arrives with him being relocated elsewhere. The Jiralhanae Warrior, Amatus, would make his return with a prisoner for his pack to feast on as he challenged the warrior to a fight. During the fight, her augmentations allowed her to gain enough strength to kill Amatus in a brutal fashion by punching him in the throat to destroy his trachea and used one of the shoulder pads to crush his skull. Shocked of Ilsa's actions, the Banished Jiralhanae forces under Amatus' chieftain urged him to slay her only to show that he hated Amatus and Ilsa was invited to feast with the packmates. Breaking the deal with Dasc, Ilsa chooses him to be the first to be dinner as well as choosing each of the prisoners to be feasted on in the following days. In time, she becomes a welcomed member of the pack where she would hunt, kill and feast on the targets.
When Escharum made his arrival in his ship while the Banished scientists study the crater point, he was at first not pleased about Ilsa being alive. This would change Escharum's mind however as she offered him natural resources of the NCA for the Banished to gain good use.
Months soon passed and Ilsa makes her step on having the NCA join the Banished to execute Drake for his actions. She infiltrates the NCA D'artagnan where she held Drake hostage and berates him for his negligence before having him witness the arrival of the Banished. She soon made a broadcast to all NCA personal about Drake's failed promises ruined their potential and had them hide in cowardice and relieves Drake of his command by executing him before continuing her speech of the NCA pledging their allegiance to the Banished with Escharum joining the broadcast and revealed that Atriox saw the NCA's true potential and made the promise they would do great things together by hunting powerful prey and ancient relics and they would not bow to anyone again.
Escharum then put the NCA to great use by sending Ilsa and the newly founded members on missions to test their strength and power. During one mission, Ilsa fought against and murders an unnamed Spartan before taking the armor for herself, becoming the first Banished Spartan. During this, she resumes her goals of taking her revenge especially on the ones she desired to kill the most.
Trivia
- Ilsa's name was mistakenly written as "Isla" during the second issue of Halo: Intitation.
