Aldaris: the judicator who saw the truth

Aldaris was a Khalai protoss of the Judicator Caste who served the Conclave of Aiur as a judicator of great renown. A firm believer in the Khala, he did not hesitate to judge others by a strict interpretation of its tenets, and through him the Conclave enacted its antagonistic will toward Tassadar, Artanis, and the Nerazim. Late in his life he allied with the Dark Templar out of necessity, but his mistrust of them ultimately played into the hands of Sarah Kerrigan. (StarCraft (manual); StarCraft; StarCraft: Brood War)

Early service and the Great War#

Aldaris was a judicator of great renown prior to the outbreak of the Great War. According to the Daelaam archives, mercenaries once captured Praetor Fenix with the intent of using him to assassinate Aldaris, but the plan backfired and Fenix slew them one by one. (StarCraft II: Legacy of the Void)

By 2499, Aldaris served as the Judicator advisor to Executor Tassadar of the Koprulu Expeditionary Force, communicating with him by holographic projection. He judged Tassadar's effort to stem the spread of the zerg among the terran worlds to have failed, and when Tassadar refused the call to return to Aiur and disappeared, Aldaris was reassigned to advise Artanis, the newly appointed executor in the wake of the zerg invasion of the protoss homeworld. (StarCraft (manual); StarCraft: The Dark Templar Saga: Twilight; StarCraft)

Aldaris directed Artanis to Antioch, where, linking up with the defenders led by Praetor Fenix, the protoss secured the province from the immediate zerg threat. In the aftermath Tassadar interrupted remotely from Char, revealing that he had been consorting with the Dark Templar. Aldaris was furious, both at this association and at Tassadar's continued refusal to return. He distrusted Tassadar's advice to strike at the cerebrates and assented only reluctantly, and the subsequent failed strike destroyed what faith he still held. The Conclave agreed with his assessment that Tassadar was no longer trustworthy and very possibly a heretic. Resuming his advisory role, Aldaris directed Artanis to Scion, but while the hive cluster there was destroyed, the Fenix-led garrison left at Antioch was overwhelmed in their absence, and Aldaris could only counsel Fenix to hold his position as long as possible before the province was overrun. (StarCraft)

Among heretics#

Believing the war with the zerg in hand, the Conclave dispatched Artanis and Aldaris to arrest Tassadar for treason. They tracked him to an orbiting space platform, where Aldaris warned that he sensed a lingering darkness despite the zerg having supposedly abandoned Char. The two descended to the surface of Char with an entourage of warriors and found Tassadar and his followers alongside the terran Jim Raynor. Tassadar was willing to face the Conclave's judgment but insisted that the Dark Templar first be located, a condition Aldaris condemned as heresy and madness. When Artanis sided with Tassadar, Aldaris made a final appeal to the executor and was refused. He admonished Tassadar for damning not only himself but all his followers, then warned of consequences once they returned to Aiur, demanding without success that Artanis cease his actions before a course was set for the homeworld. (StarCraft; StarCraft: Queen of Blades; Artanis: Sacrifice)

Upon returning to Aiur, the Conclave continued to speak to the rebels through Aldaris. He accepted Tassadar's surrender after an aborted rebel attack on the Conclave and later bantered with Dark Prelate Zeratul when the Dark Templar forced Tassadar's release. The success of the rebels against the zerg vindicated Tassadar, and the Conclave sent Aldaris with an apology. The Overmind was destroyed through Tassadar's sacrifice, but the battle for Aiur was lost and the Conclave destroyed. (StarCraft; StarCraft: Brood War (manual))

The Brood War and the revolt on Shakuras#

With the Conclave gone, Aldaris had little choice but to cooperate with the rebels-turned-heroes to survive. Reluctant to abandon Aiur, he favored standing his ground, but Zeratul persuaded him to pass through the sole remaining functional warp gate to Shakuras, assuring him that the Dark Templar would welcome all to their adopted homeworld. (StarCraft: Brood War)

On Shakuras, the arrival of Sarah Kerrigan instantly aroused Aldaris' suspicion and infuriated him. Unlike Matriarch Raszagal, he refused to consider anything the Queen of Blades had to offer, and in disgust he removed himself from the planning to retrieve the Khalis and Uraj crystals. His suspicions proved prescient. While Artanis, Kerrigan, and Zeratul were away searching for the crystals, Aldaris discovered that Kerrigan had somehow corrupted Raszagal's mind, and he rallied a legion of Templar in open revolt. Before he could excise the threat, the Fleet of the Matriarch returned with the crystals, and the corrupted Matriarch told Artanis and Zeratul that Aldaris was acting in bad faith and had to be killed. (StarCraft: Brood War)

Aldaris masked his location with illusions, but his revolt failed and he was eventually captured. Offered the chance to surrender and renew his pledge of cooperation in lieu of execution, he refused, unwilling to work with those he believed were being manipulated by Kerrigan. As he began to explain that the Matriarch's alliance with Kerrigan was something far more sinister, he was interrupted and killed by the Queen of Blades and her minions. The act broke the temporary alliance between Kerrigan and the protoss, but the damage was done, and Aldaris took his full knowledge to the grave. (StarCraft: Brood War)

Character and legacy#

Aldaris was a subservient and fiercely loyal Judicator who held the will of the Conclave in the highest regard and was an avid defender of the Khala. He clung to tradition in all things and believed that straying from the protoss core principles would lead to ruin. He was capable of admitting his errors in judgment, and his willingness to cooperate with the Nerazim for the survival of the species showed that pragmatism could override his rigidity, but only briefly. His conviction that any fraternization with the Dark Templar disgraced the memory of Aiur and played into Kerrigan's hands ultimately cost him his life. Six years after his death, he was remembered by some Nerazim as both a betrayer and one who was betrayed. (StarCraft; StarCraft: Brood War; StarCraft II: Legacy of the Void)