Joachim Werner is an odd individual, first rising in prominence after the end of the Human-Covenant War, he has been wanted as a terrorist by the Commonwealth of Jacinto. Nicknamed "The Elder", he is the cult leader of the Church of the Ancients, a human religious movement found on Jacinto that worships the race known as the Forerunners. Many have claimed that the Covenant's highly religious society directly influenced Joachim, and that he fervently believes in the Covenant's own religion.