2401 Penitent Tangent is a fictional character featured in the video game Halo 2.

Background and Role

2401 Penitent Tangent is the monitor of Installation 05, referred to by the humans as "Delta" Halo. Although it only shown briefly during the encounter with the Flood Gravemind deep in the bowels of Halo, 2401 Penitent Tangent is nearly identical to its brother monitor, 343 Guilty Spark, with the exception that it glows a dim red instead of bright blue. It speaks with the same upbeat, artifical voice that all monitors appear to have, and expresses excitement at the sight of the Master Chief, because a "Reclaimer" can activate the facility and contain the outbreak of the Flood. A short argument with a semi-deceased High Prophet of Regret demonstrates that Penitent Tangent employs the same amount of regulation and protocol when it comes to dealing with the threat of the parasite. This is much to the dismay of Regret, who insists that "...of all the objects [the ] left behind, there are none so worthless as these [monitors]!"

Also revealed by Penitent Tangent is the fact that the ring(s) have been activated exactly once before, and is/are quite capable of being activated again. It shouts at Regret for the Covenant's blatant disregard of protocol in controlling the Flood. Before anything more can be said, 2401 Penitent Tangent is taken away.

Even so, however, suggestions, and fans say that this, along with Guilty Spark, should play an important role when meeting even another oracle in Halo 3, if such a game will be created. Anyone who has ordered the Limited Edition of Halo 2, and watched the DVD, saw some things that didn't quite make it to the game. However it showed us that there were seven halos, and if all halos work the same, and the Bungie team makes another Halo, with another halo, there should be a time where all three monitors meet, to solve a very big problem. However, this can only be considered speculation.

Trivia

Also of interest is the fact that Penitent Tangent's number (2401) is 7 to the power of 4 whilst Guilty Spark's number (343) is 7 to the power of 3, as the number 7 is used frequently in Bungie games and mythology. Also, 2+4+0+1 = 7.

Also, one must note that there are seven unique letters in "Penitent Tangent". In earlier Bungie games, namely the Marathon series, names were often found to be sevens.

"Penitent" is synonymous with "Guilty." This suggests another pattern in the names of the monitors. Some assume that the sin that the monitors are guilty of is the eradication of the Forerunners.