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Mendicant Bias and Greek Mythology
Another real-life element that has something to say about the Halo story just made its first appearance in quite some time: Greek Mythology. That's right: Greek. Not Norse. :P
Charlie Fischer (errantventure11@msn.com) writes:
I was reading Cicero's "On Friendship" for my Humanities class when I noticed Cicero reference an individual named Bias. This Bias turned out to be Bias of Priene, a greek philospher known for the justice of his verdicts, and the wisest of the Seven Sages of Greece.
I'll be sending a thorough fleshing out of this connection in the near future, once I have time. Here is a rough portrayal based on my current understandings of the Halo story and who Bias is (complements of Wikipedia...)
Keep in mind Mendicant is derived from the Latin Mendicans, which roughly translated equates to begging. It was generally applied to religious ascetics who survived off of the charity of others, but can also be applied to the act of begging.
Perhaps the reason Mendicant Bias failed his creators was because he was designed to find a peaceful solution to the conflict? Bias of Priene was known for his just verdicts, and perhaps Mendicant was seeking to not only distract the Gravemind, but his method of creating a false sense of security for Gravemind before the counter-attack was through an intention strategy of begging for mercy, negotiating a peaceful resolution, aka surviving off of the charity of Gravemind. The only problem was that the Gravemind's logic pushed Mendicant to make a just decision that was not in favor of his makers.
Enter Offensive Bias. After Mendicant sells his makers short with his verdict that the Forerunner subconsiously want to end their own reign of the galaxy, Offensive Bias is created to come to another just verdict, a sort of appeal to Mendicant's previous decision. Except this Bias is designed with a different goal in mind (victory), and his verdict is different: The Forerunner must atone for their sins, but not be destroyed by them.
I haven't been able to take the time to fully flesh out this possible connection between Halo and greek mythology/philosophy, but figured I would give the story page a heads-up in case you guys had seen this already and knew something of it. I'll e-mail again when I have something concrete to give details on. If you have seen this previously, please let me know!
Charlie Fischer
Mendicant Bias, your legend intrigues us so!
-UNSC Trooper
This discussion on the forum discusses 'canon' and what we can properly, or willingly, include in that definition.
As speculists, the matter of 'canon' crops up often for us. And isn't it heartbreaking when a pet theory gets smashed on the rocks of fact.
Arrr. The canon. She be a harsh mistress.
-Jillybean
Canon, schmanon. This comes from the games, doodz.
The 483 (dmv1822000@yahoo.com) writes:
A line in the cutscene [Floodgate - ed] at the end of the first invasion of the flood on earth suggests that the elites know more about the flood than they let on. Specifically, right after they watch the message Cortana sent, the elite shipmaster, Half Jaw, say to lord Hood,
"You heard your construct, the flood, a Gravemind, is on it's way…"
and then later the arbiter remarks
"…If the construct is correct, then you've already lost."
The way they refer to it as "A" Gravemind, instead of "The" as cortana and the Chief have, seems to say that the elites, or atleast higher ranking Covenant officers have dealt with, or seen materials regarding Graveminds, and have a much deeper understanding of the flood than they have mentioned. This would help us to understand why Half Jaw himself, who is probably in command of the entire covenant portion of their navy, chose to chase the single flood infested ship to earth, and leave the (failed) containment of High Charity to the lower ship masters. Besides the chance to get revenge on "The Bastard Truth!" of course, Knowing earths potential to give the flood sufficient proteins to form another Gravemind.
Following this line of thinking, it's safe to assume that the Covenant (Prophets Hierarchs) knew full well what they were unleashing when they landed on Halo 04. Or, they could have learned when the captured Guilty Spark from the heretic leader from Threshold.
More evidence that the Sangheili rock way more than us? Or just an odd speech pattern?
-Jillybean
Halo 3 Campaign
RyanTheHeretic asks some questions about parts of Halo 3's Campaign, some of which hadn't been discussed before (to the best of my knowledge). His inquiries include the crashing of the Flood-infested ship in Voi, Cortana's data device, and the Elites being aware that a data storage device was placed on that ship.
Ryan's questions are answered here by mendicantbias00, here by Ross Mills, and here by gspawn -- all of the responses provide believable explanations (and sometimes straight-to-the-point one liners) to each query.
permalink | Rampant Speculation
-UNSC Trooper
Forerunners studying reanimation?
What if the Flood's capability to bring dead organisms back to life determined the Forerunners to replicate or research its reanimation techniques, among other things? Dantrell posted this thought on the forum. It's scary, it's inhuman ... but it could be the truth.
permalink | Rampant Speculation
-UNSC Trooper
Cortana's Rampancy
RyanTheHeretic talks about Cortana's rampancy on our forum. He suggests that Cortana would inarguably go rampant if no one finds her and the Chief in the Forward Unto Dawn's other half. Her lifespan is still debatable considering the activity she's been put through and her feelings. Would her regaining faith in humanity possibly lengthen her lifespan? Yet, is it possible for a UNSC AI to have no real life expectancy? Go read.
-UNSC Trooper
Two people pointed out that a possible flaw in this theory isn't a flaw at all. As DesmondX and Joe Nowakowski say: the Chief wouldn't remember Guilty Spark because he hasn't met him yet, but Spark would certainly remember him!
Sorry for the confusion, folks, but if you're paying real close attention, you'll find the coded messages ;)
Send help. Stop. Wu imprisoned us. Stop. Have had to eat Finn. Stop. Tasted good with chianti. Stop.
-Jillybean
Reclaimers ... of the Galaxy?
Mike emailed us a vicious (and by vicious, I mean REALLY vicious - it takes a lot of space on our page ;]) analysis which could easily be converted to a full-length article about a secondary meaning to "Reclaimer", and some speculation on the seeding of the Galaxy after the Forerunners were forever inscribed in the changing sands of history.
Deadguy71 (deadguy@msn.com) writes:
Ok, so we know now that Forerunners were humans. This was explicitly explained in Halo 3.
Here's the next piece of the puzzle.. Humans are referred to as "Reclaimers" and the Forerunner locator device used by the Covenant in the novel (and Medicant Bias) "Contact: Harvest", also name them to be reclaimers.
Some speculation has been heard in the past to state that "reclaimers" get their name due to their "job" to reclaim the index from the library and use it to fire-up the rings. I think it's time we relooked at that now.
Why weren't humans simply referred to as "Forerunners" by ANYONE? Even "forerunner-descendants", or simply "humans"? Instead, they carry the name "Reclaimer". We know from Contact Harvest, why the Covenant would have avoided calling them forerunners, by why would the Monitors insist upon the name "Reclaimer"? Indeed, it was important to the Covenant's original "oracle" (Medicant Bias) to point out that it needed to assist the "Reclaimers" in finding the Ark. Not a ring, but the Ark.. this is an important distinction I'll mention again later.
Later, all monitors/oracles encountered in the stories/games were in War-mode where the Flood had been released and it was a time of war. The monitors knew that the only way to fight back, was to have a reclaimer use the index (and therefore use the rings). Perhaps this isn't the only purpose of Humans, and therefore it seems silly to name the species "reclaimers" in a time of peace if it only referred to reclaiming the index. Also odd of the (Medicant Bias) oracle to name them Reclaimers without any flood to
worry about, and with a perceptable urgency to get them to the Ark.
The rings had been fired in the past, with the intent of killing all sentient life in our galaxy to halt the flood. This SHOULD (and possibly did) create a time of peace. This time of peace would have been planned for... think of it, an entire galaxy, devoid of sentient life, ready to be claimed or "RECLAIMED" by the forerunners that had escaped to the ark (which
was proven to be located not on Earth, but outside of our galaxy entirely... all Earth had was a slipspace portal generator to allow passage to the Ark).
Here's the problem though. The forerunners didn't return, and I suggest that they didn't intend to return at all. Instead, they left their artifacts and
advanced technology behind for the "Reclaimers" to find while they themselves DID take a great journey to another galaxy (the one containing the Ark) and presumably stayed there.
This explains why the Covenant's AI (Medicant Bias) told the Prophets the story of the Great Journey, that the entire Covenant religeon is based upon.
The forerunners activated the rings as they left the galaxy, and this is the last thing that Medicant Bias would have known about them.
Part of the Forerunner's focus, prior to the flood outbreak in this galaxy, was to catalog and record lifeforms. The terminals even state that during
the last weeks of the conflict with the flood, some of them continued to catalog them and discovered Earth, even stating that they were stopping to "catalog" the humans they found there, despite knowing that the rings were going to be activated soon and there were too far away to flee to the safety of the Ark.
This tells us a few pertinent things:
Earthlings were within the galaxy as the rings fired, the Forerunners at that location died, unable to race back to the ark. The Earth must not have had the portal to the Ark installed at that time, otherwise those forerunners would have easily left that location with plenty of time to spare. The humans alive at that time would have died as well.
Earthlings were, at that point and time, extinct and indeed all humans within the galaxy died.
As I noted, the forerunners had left quite a bit of stuff behind, including an Ark that would rebuild the rings and somehow reposition them in the galaxy if they were ever destroyed (slipspace travel, I assume). Plus after the blast from the rings, sentinels were dispatched to Earth, to create a portal, perhaps in rememberance of the Forerunners that were there at the
location when the rings had been triggered. In the Halo comic's opening pages of the first issue, early humans witnessed the portal to the ark being
created by sentinels.
So here's the really interesting bit. After the universe was scoured clean of sentient life, it began to repopulate itself right?
Earth itself was chosen as a place to position a portal to the ark, in case humans should ever need it again. How was it known that humans would develop here? There's a significant clue right there on the opening page of the Beastarium. From memory, it states that no one is to create the lifeforms from this index without authorization. Species were catalogued and
apparently able to be recreated from their cataloged entries. (otherwise, why warn against doing just that?)
It's possible that the rings themselves, with their utopian landscapes and suchlike, might have even been designed that way in-order to raise the various species and allow them to form communities until they could be
transferred to planets that were deemed appropriate. This would increase their chances of survival, and might even, describe the "Garden of Eden", with a primative's distant memory of being on the Ring, and cared for until they could repopulate the Earth. Perhaps the bible story of Eden was all that was left of the true story of living on the Ring, and lost quite a bit of the specific story in it's retelling. Could sentinel beams be the "flaming swords" that block passage to Eden?
A little blasphemous, and perhaps an accidental comparison that I made, but interesting nonetheless.
The Forerunners knew the humans would be there in the future because they SEEDED them there. Humans were seeded, according to forerunner plan, to reclaim the galaxy that had also been seeded from the indexes carried by the rings (possibly each ring was responsible for reseeding it's own section of
the galaxy, explaining the need for libaries and indexes at each installation).
Humans are Reclaimers, not of the index, but of the galaxy that had been scoured clean for them.
I suppose the intent was to allow humans to develop on Earth without assistance, and then, when they reached a significant tier of industry, and had learned the lessons they needed to learn in terms of morality, they'd be able to travel the galaxy and reclaim the forerunner technology for themselves. All during a time of peace brought on by the lack of Flood.
Perhaps it was the Medicant Bias AI that was supposed to get them to the Ark, to teach the humans what they needed to know about what had transpired so that they could "set-up shop" in their newly cleaned galaxy... giving them full knowledge of forerunner technology and how/when to use it.
That would explain both, why Medicant Bias wanted to get reclaimers to the Ark prior to the floods release from containment, plus it explains how the installation monitors KNEW the humans were reclaimers, rather than
forerunners, but seemed confused that the reclaimers didn't know anything about protocols or even what the Halos were to be used for, how they worked, why they weren't wearing the proper protective gear, etc.
That part of the forerunner's plan failed, because even as Humans discovered the first ring, (with presumably only one previous artifact on Reach) the flood was released from containment. ONI knew a little about the
forerunners, but not to the level they would have, if the Forerunners plans had worked correctly.
Forerunners had left the monitors to continue study of the flood, with the extra precaution of several layers of containment protocols. Perhaps the initial samples were destroyed by the rings firing, and it was reseeded into containment centers like all the other sentient races were. The idea might have been that the monitor's continued study of the flood might have revealed new ways to deal with the flood threat, in case it ever appeared in this galaxy again. Properly informed reclaimers would, in theory, be ready for any such threat, should it appear, rather than be blind-sided by it as the Forerunners had been.
However, this was not the case.
Wow ... just wow. This is what I call an eyebuster! Now, if only I could find my Beastarium and look up all the research that was put into this. ;)
-UNSC Trooper
The Great Journey ... a hoax?
Scarab posted a series of very explicit questions on our forum today. The Great Journey appears to be what the Prophets believed in with (almost) their entire dedication. Or is there more to it? Did they lie about their wish to achieve trans-sentience and become gods like the Forerunners did?
All of these questions and a lot more are asked in the thread, along with a slight inconsistency from Halo: Contact Harvest. If you feel up to it, and you trust your Halo knowledge, head on to the forums and try your luck at answering the questions.
-UNSC Trooper
Infinity and the Master Chief
Ryan sent us another connection to Marathon, this time involving the workings of Slipspace and the Master Chief's "luck".
Ryan Montoya (maxbud06@hotmail.com) writes:
I have played all the Halos, read all the books, and played Marathon1-2. My first thought: In the book 'First Strike' I think it was(correct me if I'm wrong), the Master Chief saves his fellow Spartans,and they bring aboard a Forerunner artifact. When they try to enter slip space this 'artifact' screws everything up, putting them into a different dimension. It is unfortunate that I have never played Marathon Infinity, but I do know of the loop effect or whatever.
It is my theory that the 'artifact' found on Reach and the way things go down in Infinity are related. Maybe not directly, but like if the Forerunner had created more objects like the one on Reach, one that could manipulate time itsself.
My second thought: There has always been something in me that places Master Chief's luck into something more than what nature can do, man(Forerunner)-made luck. I'm not talking about just being lucky though, I'm talking about a Red vs Blue Wyoming type luck: if you fail the first time, rewind and tryagain. This could explain Guilty Sparks comments on Master Chief doing things again, at some point he failed, and was thrown back to the beginning. Leading to the Marathon connection: (I wish I played Infinity) It sounds like what happens to you in Infinity to me.
And the connection of Master Chief = Mark IV Cyborg: This one is a stretch, but scientifically is possible (I think). In the Halo 3ending when the ship is going through slip space, the Arbiter's half of the ship makes it to Earth, but at some point the other half (Master Chief's half) was spit out. I'm sorry but I am going to explain slip space for anyone who does not get it.
Slip space is a folding of space between two points making the distance shorter. Mathematically this requires more conventional energy (non-dark matter)than the universe holds.
Back to where we were: By saying the Master Chief's half was 'spit out' is a bit of an understatement. When you're 'spit out' of slip space, you are expelling all of that energy with you, and when you have more energy than the ENTIRE UNIVERSE pushing you, that is enough to put you into another universe, the Marathon Universe maybe? But if your thinking what are the odds he is flung into the perfect place, maybe 0:1, but it isn't possible in this case fore it to be that. The Master Chief, if he misses the mark,simply tries again. Eventually he will succeed, but then what happens when the Master Chief's 'luck device' thinks that everything is done? Infinity.
P.S. I am resending this because I need to add one important thing supporting my argument: When the Pillar of Autumn found installation 004 on a random slip space vector, what are the odds of that. Any programmable location, and they find a Halo. All I'm saying is they probably didn't find it the first time.
Though this theory has been submitted before, I never noticed that it's yet another connection to Marathon. It's not the same universe, but it's similar, and maybe we might see something like Infinity develop in the Haloverse too. That would make the day of every Marathon fan. It'd certainly be interesting, but following Infinity's outline might be a little unoriginal too - that's just me, though.
permalink | Marathon Connections
-UNSC Trooper
Legendary Ending - a result of time travel?
It does sound Star Trek-like, but Neloms came up with an unprecedented, yet believable, theory on our forum.
Neloms suggests that a possible explanation for the appearance of the planet covered in Forerunner symbols in the Halo 3 Legendary Ending might be caused by a temporal rift once the Portal collapsed - sending the Master Chief and Cortana adrift in the past.
This might also explain Guilty Spark's various remarks throughout Halo: Combat Evolved such as; "Why would you hesitate to do what you have already done?", and "The last time you asked me ..."
Despite the theory's credibility, there are multiple issues that don't add up, one of them being the Chief apparently not recognizing Guilty Spark even though they might have met in the past.
It's a very exciting take on the Halo 3 Legendary Ending and on future Halo stories, so go read and post your thoughts!
Which makes me wonder what the Forerunners look like ...
-UNSC Trooper
Mendicant Bias and Ephialtes
A fan has emailed us a connection in regards to Mendicant Bias's rampancy, and Ephialte's betraying of the Spartans at the Battle of Thermopylae.
Anonymous (Anonymous) writes:
Haven't you guys noticed that Mendicant Bias's story mis similar to Ephialtes, the traitor of the Battle of Thermopylae?
Just a little tidbit of information I thought I throw there.
It certainly is. Ephialtes informed the Persians of a way to attack the Spartan army's rear, just like Mendicant Bias did when he defected, revealing the Ark's location to the Flood.
Thanks.
-UNSC Trooper
Mack - Endless Summer
James Ficker emailed us some ideas concerning the connection between Mack (the AI controlling agricultural activity on Harvest) and Endless Summer (the successor of Deep Winter in Zone 67 on Onyx).
James Ficker (james_ficker@eku.edu) writes:
I recently lent my girlfriend The Fall of Reach, as she is an avid reader herself and thought she might like a bit of background into my slight Halo obsession (I'm working on making a set of Mark V armor to use for Caboose from Red Vs Blue) and she liked TFoR so much, she asked to read the other books. When she was finished she posed the following question to me, which I had never even thought of:"
"Did you pick up the Mack/Loki connection with the AI Endless Summer from Ghosts of Oynx? Mack's last transmission was the words "Endless Summer"? It seemed to me that Mack was more than a "Smart AI," shown by the fact that it literally took the downfall of a planet to use up this AI, and that he'd been around for more than 7 years, hadn't he? That seems to suggest that his core processing might have been so good that was reused by humans in the future. Since you can't completely delete everything on a computer system, it makes sense that his last thought would be a ghost transmission in his rebooted system that he used to name himself in the future."
I had never considered the fact that humans might reuse their AIs. I know that Smart AIs "die" in the sense that they pretty much think themselves to death. However, the process for creating an AI as described in the books, scanning a recently deceased person's brain, seems very expensive and complicated, especially when coupled with the fact that I'm sure a candidate for scanning must meet a very specific set of criteria to be suitable for base for an AI.
Is it possible that the UNSC recovers some core fragments from the AI and uses it to build a new AI so they don't have to create a new one form the ground up and if so, would there be some fragments, some ghosts left in the programming from the pervious "life?"? We know from Cortana in First Strike that an AI can copy fragments of themselves which retain personality and memories.
The UNSC was the losing side of a war that was pushing them to their limits. I'm sure anyway to cut corners, speed things up and reduce costs would have been used, and it seems to me that Mack was a very robust and resourceful AI, an excellent source for a future AI to be built on.
Well, Contact Harvest states that Mack's figure appears to be an American cowboy, while Endless Summer from Ghosts of Onyx portrays the figure of a Native American. This leads to the Cowboys and Indians fame, and to a strong likelihood that Endless Summer is indeed a follower of Mack's remains.
Though it depends on when Endless Summer was created. At the time when Mack was destroyed, the UNSC was still fairly intact even with the Covenant threat lurking closer to Earth every year, so the military might have still had the necessary resources to create a completely new AI. Despite this, however, the theory still stands. Very nice find.
Thanks, James.
-UNSC Trooper
The Prophets' homeworld
Hnc asked an interesting question on our forum. Why did the Prophets claim that their homeworld was destroyed? Does the divide between the two sides that sparked the Prophet Civil War still exist? Do the Prophets that moved on to create the Covenant have something to hide?
There could be a number of reasons for them to hide this fact, one of them being their position within the Covenant. Contact Harvest, I believe, explains how the homeworld was destroyed by blowing a chunk out of the planet.
Head on to the forum and watch the thread for more information.
-UNSC Trooper
Halo: The Cole Protocol Cover
That's right boys and girls, you read that correctly. The cover for Halo: The Cole Protocol has been posted at Tobias Buckell's blog.
For a quick analysis of the cover. What does it depict? Apparently, there's a red planet in the background, a machinery blazing some kind of scattered light, and a Spartan-II from Gray Team clad in Mark IV MJOLNIR Powered Armor. There's also another human figure walking on what seems to be an asteroid. The cover itself resembles the style of 60-70's science fiction novels, therefore it's safe to say it's original and creepy at the same time. It's all up to speculation right now, so speculate away!
-UNSC Trooper
Number of Spartans in Halo Wars
Avateur stopped by the forum and posted a neat listing of all Spartans in Halo Wars based on our Spartan II Roster. The exact number of Spartans that would make up Spartan Group Omega depends on each team's background, and thus a decisive number hasn't been settled yet. However, the information he provided is pretty solid.
Swing by the forum and check it out.
-UNSC Trooper
Update!
The site's finally been updated with some new content. I've written two new research pages. The first one is the Spartan-III Roster containing information from Ghosts of Onyx. The second one is the ORION Project.
Apart from that, I've also added a new feature to the site. The Quote of the Week is now officially running! Although it wasn't necessary for me to say it, because you can see it in the menu on the right. If you want to know more about this new feature, just click the "What's this?" button.
The Resources page has also been updated with the new content. To top it off, I bet you can see some new cornershots too.
So, enjoy the new stuff. There'll be more coming.
-UNSC Trooper
Halo squad based FPS game?
Rumors have been flying around like crazy these past few days. First, we got Gamespot saying that a reliable source has informed them that a Ghost Recon-style Halo FPS game is in the works.
Then, we've got "Halo Blue" - or Halo "Blue" - in a Walmart Intranet page. With all the speculation that's been going on just a few hours before E3 2008 and the big Bungie announcement, all we can do is wait and see if the rumors are confirmed. Let's keep our fingers crossed.
-UNSC Trooper
MJOLNIR Armor. Possible World War II connection.
I've pondered a lot over whether or not I should post this. I decided that even though the subject has been briefly covered to some extent, this is a new theory to the one of the meanings of the MJOLNIR Powered Assault Armor.
We know that Bungie is very savvy when it comes to Norse mythology, hence several references like the UNSC Skidbladnir, Valhalla and of course, MJOLNIR. According to the Norse, MJOLNIR was the name of Thor's hammer; a very powerful weapon which when thrown at an opponent came back to the owner (like a Boomerang), and apart from that, was also capable of striking lighting bolts.
This could explain the connection between the Spartan-II's armor and the mythological hammer. The Spartans are weapons themselves, delivering deadly blows to their opponents. But what else is there to say about the MJOLNIR armor, and what other connections might there be between the Spartans and our real world?
A fan emailed us a very interesting theory about a potential connection between the MJOLNIR armor and the real world. The World War II period, to be exact.
Anonymous (Anonymous) writes:
I've been playing Halo since it came out with regular xbox, and shortly there after I found your website. I've read a lot of the posts made by people concerning the Halo story, and in particular the meaning of the MJOLNIR armor.
But I have yet to see the relationship between the MJOLNIR armor and the Nazi propagandist who used the alias Mjölnir. I don't necessarily see a tie between them, but I found it interesting that no one pointed out that Hans Schweitzer in the 1930s made several Nazi propaganda posters and signed the alias Mjölnir on the posters. Here is a link of one such poster (don't worry its not some neo-Nazi website) of an example of Mjölnir's posters, note the upper right hand corner for the signature.
http://www.calvin.edu/academic/cas/gpa/posters/garant.jpg
Now, the link that was provided doesn't work. But I've done some research and I've come up with this Wikipedia page and this gallery.
Hans Schweitzer was a German artist known for painting several militaristic propaganda posters for the National Socialist Party. Most importantly, his pen name was "Mjölnir".
This, in my mind, raises a few questions. Just like the Nazis, the UNSC uses massive propaganda and psychological methods to establish its military might. This is where the Spartan-II Program and the MJOLNIR Armor comes in, which in the year 2547 was made public in order to increase humanity's confidence that they were winning the Human-Covenant War. This is extremely similar to World War II, Hans Schweitzer, and the Nazis (which we all know used propaganda to further their way in the war). Moreover, in the 1940's the Nazis were aspiring to be a world-spanning empire, which forms yet another thread to the UNSC, an interstellar empire. The main link here is propaganda, and what the government does in order to protect its credibility and reputation. Extremely believable connection.
This is quite a find. At first glance, it makes you think that the MJOLNIR Armor is based on a fascistic concept, and in my opinion, is as plausible a connection as the Norse hammer myth.
Thanks for the submission.
-UNSC Trooper
The Architecture of War, part II
Great news, everyone! The second part of the Architecture of War series over at Ascendant Justice has been posted. Did you ever ponder about sniping or just going guns-ablaze in front of the enemy? The second part of this great series deals with the best ways, or the worst, to face your enemies in Halo 3. Well ... the Grunts can be beaten with just a hit of the butt of your weapon, but there's an art to that too.
Really nice work, go read!
-UNSC Trooper
Cortana and 343 Guilty Spark
There's been a post on our forum today by Carlos Gonzales. He asks what the difference is between Cortana and 343, and whether or not they both have the same capabilities and intelligence to hack into one antoher's - ore other - software programs. They're both AI's, but they have limited processing power, and lifespan alike.
The More Deluded replied here, saying that unlike Cortana who only controls a soldier's CP, 343 Guilty Spark has above anything, a more military role, controlling the Sentinels. I have to say that I agree with him completely, Cortana has a pretty obvious disadvantage in front of 343, mainly because she can hack into Covenant and human software, but not Forerunner. I think it's safe to assume that Cortana might get a hell of a lot of headaches trying to hack into the controls of a Halo take over it completely, ha!
-UNSC Trooper
The Hunters and Larry Niven
Dirkgently just found a nice little connection between Contact Harvest and one of Larry Niven's novels. Namely, he suggests that the Hunters are somewhat similar to the worms used for mining in Larry Niven's A Gift From Earth novel. Both of them are worms and both of them some time in their history ate rocks in order to survive. The latter being more of a job than a need for survival.
This suddenly makes me interested in learning more about the Hunters and their ring home. I think I'm going to look for my copy of Contact Harvest and read the Hunter bit.
Go read and give Dirkgently some feedback.
-UNSC Trooper
This is an interesting take. Josh tells us that Cortana is actually a new version of Durandal from Marathon.
poiso42@gmail.com (Josh Trevett) writes:
Someone over on the Marathon Story page mentioned that an intelligence, somehow managing to retain its capacity for thought right up until the final singular moment of the universe, would be able to compute infinite data in infinitely little time. It is known from Marathon Infinity's final screen that Durandal reached this point of existence. This would basically allow Durandal to birth the next universe, in his head. That next universe could be the Halo universe; Durandal's semi-conscious dream, every element some kind of surrogate for either himself or things he's aware of.
This, if assumed to be true, can answer a good many questions. Let's take a look at the first Cortana letter, mailed originally to the Marathon story page, and thus viewable in the context of that game's story. She reminisces over a past which may as well be Durandal's, and then says: "There will be no more Sadness. No more Anger. No more Envy. I HAVE WON. Oh, and your poet Eliot had it all wrong: THIS is the way the world ends." Doesn't that start to make sense, if you imagine Durandal saying this? By creating the next universe, Durandal has escaped rampancy, and knows full well how "the world ends," and incidentally, how it begins. What did he "win?" In Marathon 1, Durandal stated his ultimate goal: "Escape (from the universe's closure) will make me God." Hmm.
It also explains the presence of funny little easter eggs like the Marathon logo's appearing everywhere, the rocket launcher's looking the same, the alien grunts saying "They're everywhere!" - That's just stuff which Durandal is subconsciously replicating from his memories. Same goes for thematic similarities, like The Flood's similarity to Rampant AI behavior, the Master Chief being a reincarnation of the Mark IV Cyborg, and Cortana's seeming like such a perfect surrogate for (or new version of?) Durandal, with some Leela-ish tendencies.
It even helps us reconcile Bungie's statement that the two games aren't in the same universe: they're in subsequent universes.
And what if this is an infinite cycle? If every universe ends this way?
There's a lot to examine with this light in both game series to see where it doesn't add up and what mysteries it might help solve, but hopefully it makes as much sense to you guys as it does to me.
There is a lot of proof out there that Halo might be connected to the Marathon universe. Emphasize on might, because it may not be more than a myth or a legend. Remember that Marathon takes place after 2500. Halo on the other hand starts in 2160, maybe even earlier. Thus, Halo is unlikely to be the "next" universe Durandal speaks of.
Thanks for the submission, Josh.
permalink | Marathon Connections
-UNSC Trooper
Halo: The Cole Protocol
Wow. The title is a bit sketchy, but this is great news nonetheless. The sixth Halo novel is entitled Halo: The Cole Protocol, and will be written by Sci-Fi author Tobias S. Buckell as stated on Bungie.net. The novel will be set to launch due Fall of this year, and it will focus on a much speculated aspect of the Halo universe. Brace yourselves ... Gray Team! Of what is known is:
"takes readers into an unexplored conflict of the Human-Covenant War where unlikely alliances are formed and shattered..."
I'm genuinely intrigued by that sentence. We will surely be looking forward to reading Mr. Buckell's work in Fall ... if we can keep our pants on long enough!
-UNSC Trooper
The Architecture of War
War in Halo is epic, that's undeniably what makes you sit in front of your TV for hours and see the world through the Chief's eyes. Ascendant Justice strikes again, this time depicting the true architecture and details of armed engagements throughout the Halo series.
Their article not only investigates how the scenarios were built to give the impression of a true battlefield, but also makes you understand the that the war in Halo is much more than just another human-alien conflict. Thanks to vociferous for another informative article. Go read!
-UNSC Trooper
We've got another Halo-Marathon connection to delight your eyes with. Some might say that the UESC and the UNSC are related, some might say that ...
Aaron Hulburt (meatbag_slayer@yahoo.com) writes:
I apologize if this has been brought up before. In Halo 3 there is the affair between the Librarian and Didact. In Marathon 2 there is also an implied relationship between the two Jjaro, Yrro and Pthia, mentioned in the terminals on the level Six Thousand Feet Under which I thought was rather similar.
A love story indeed (more or less). I'm not very familiar with this part of Marathon 2, but why not?
Thanks for the submission, Aaron.
He's talking about Six Thousand Feet Under, Terminal Four on the Marathon page. I quote:
In primordial space, timeless creatures
made waves. These waves created us and the
others. Waves were the battles, and the
battles were waves.
Fleeing all W'rkncacnter, Yrro and Pthia
settled upon Lh'owon. They brought the
S'pht, servants who began to shape the
deserts of Lh'owon into marsh and sea,
rivers and forests. They made sisters for
Lh'owon to protect and maintain the paradise.
When the W'rkncacnter came, Pthia was
killed, and Yrro in anger, flung the
W'rkncacnter into the sun. The sun burned
them, but they swam on its surface.
Yrro became an angry master, bleeding for
his failure, grieving for the loss of
Pthia. He broke the S'pht into eleven
clans, and spread them over Lh'owon.
And he spoke, yet covered in blood from his
exertion,
"I Yrro, who was your master, have failed
to preserve you. Take your royalty to
guide you, and live upon the paradise that
you built for me."
But then again, does the Librarian strike you as someone who would call their lover 'Master'? They did command Didact not to come to Earth, after all. Kinky. - Jillybean
permalink | Marathon Connections
-UNSC Trooper
Would Gravemind survive?
Would that chunk of muttering Flood survive the firing of the Halos? Capt Spanish put together a detailed analysis of why the Gravemind would actually survive the Halo effect due to its network processing capabilities.
This post got me thinking, and personally, I would agree with Capt Spanish on this. There is more to the Flood hierarchy than meets the eye. "I will ask, and you will answer" indeed.
-UNSC Trooper
Ascendant Justice - Halo 3 Analysis
Ascendant Justice just keeps getting better and better. Mendicantbias00 let us know that the site's been updated with some Halo 3 analysis up to the level Floodgate. The other levels will also be up soon. Most of them contain a detailed analysis, but also provide some additional information regarding dialog, action etc. Go have a read!
-UNSC Trooper
There's been few emails of late. I wonder why. The forum's been quiet too, but a post recently reminded me of this thread on the nature of the compound mind.
Cthulhu117 writes:
We don't know the purpose of the Gravemind. The Art of Halo tells us something on the order of "a cross between the ultimate stage in the Flood's evolution and a queen bee." But I don't think this is really an answer. What does a queen bee do? It sits in the nest and produces eggs. Nonstop. This is, I am decently sure, not what Gravemind does. And what is the ultimate stage in the Flood's evolution that the book speaks of? Well, it's GM itself, actually. This isn't a definition in the usual sense; it doesn't carry any non-obvious information.
So, when do we see Graveminds? Only twice.
1. In the pre-Array Flood. A Gravemind converses with Mendicant Bias. It spirals him into willful rampancy and attempted genocide in order to restore peace to the universe. The Flood, already massively powerful and slowly exterminating galactic civilization, become unstoppable, except by the kamikaze of the Halo Array.
2. In the 100-millennia-post-Array Flood. A Gravemind converses with Cortana. It attempts to either assimilate her or catapult her into a forced rampancy, possibly with the goal of gaining her knowledge and unique adaptability. The Flood, currently a token force by their own standards, are all but annihilated when the Gravemind's physical manifestation is destroyed and their last refuge scoured of life.
It's mostly the second manifestation I'll talk about, since we observe it directly. In the level "Cortana," we blow GM the hell up. We blow up the High Charity to do this. We are left with no doubt that he dies. He dies hard. And yet, in the very next level, "Halo," he's back somehow. Like the proverbial cat, GM came back; you thought GM was a goner, but he just couldn't stay away, oh no no, oh no no, oh no no. And yet, we know he's dead. We saw the ship he was on explode in a nuclear firestorm. Cortana even says GM has been destroyed. "It's trying to rebuild itself! On this ring!" That is tantamount to saying that Gravemind has been destroyed—so badly destroyed that it needs to "rebuild" itself. Presumably, this means it builds a new form from corpses, as seen in The Art of Halo. But how the hell can there be anything to rebuild? None of him can possibly have survived...unless, of course, there's more to Gravemind than the physical. If Gravemind's body is a mouthpiece for its guiding consciousness, rather than a shell.
The Compound Mind that commands the Flood isn't contained in the vast, tentacular corpse-conglomerate we call a gravemind. It's contained in the Flood itself. As long as there is a single infection form to contain the collective, malevolent intelligence of the Flood, there will be a Compound Mind, and the single, many-headed organism called the Flood will survive.
Now we see why the Forerunners couldn't meet the Flood in battle. We see why they didn't simply strike surgically at the Gravemind. We see why they realized the only way to stop the spread of the Flood was to remove all possible sources of food until the Infection Forms hopefully starved to death. They knew. They knew the Flood was a many-aspected, divisible mind manifest in many bodies. And they realized that ultimately, unless contained, the Flood is unstoppable.
Now, this theory doesn't pretend to account for the apparent telepathy of the Flood, or any of the other weird and paranormal phenomena that occur around them. But all the same, I am quite convinced that the Flood is as I have described it: a single, Borg-like organism in many bodies and many minds.
The whole thread is good for reading, but that theory itself is so obvious that, really, you guys should have told me about it sooner. You all dropped the ball on this one. I'm very disappointed.
-Jillybean
Another post on the thread agreed for the most part. CarbonElite wonders if the Gravemind is not as sophisticated as we think.
CarbonElite (pvtmarine813@yahoo.com) writes:
I agree with you on the fact that the flood are all linked and the more "minds" that are added to the flood the greater its capacity for intelligence. However what if the flood were not able to create a Gravemind but instead make a connection to the Gravemind? The main theories I have heard has been we have the Gravemind at the top, those flood spine shooter thingies [pure forms - J] then combat forms then spores. What if there was another tier within these classes as Jillybean suggests? Where have they been this whole time in the trilogy?
What if Keyes in Halo 1, and this tentacled menace in Halo 2 were such communication forms? The flood spores would only need a basic genetic "order" or instinct to form into a communication form. So this form has the ability to make contact with a higher order of Flood which has the capacity to instruct the Flood further (Which I beleive actually is the Gravemind) Basically I believe that they use a Galaxy wide pony express moving thoughts and commands around the galaxy.
And the the Gravemind that we've run into is not the Gravemind's physical form but just a mouthpeice. A communication form.
If this is the case this might help explain how the Gravemind survived the Forerunner conflict. It was never destroyed, just one of its mouths. And when Cortana states that "It's trying to rebuild itself on this ring." She doesn't realize that this mouthpiece isn't the Gravemind. Honestly how long would it take to remake an intelligence that has the mental capacity to store thousands of years of information? A very long time And if I'm not mistaken the flood are pretty chatty and intelligentish (its a word I swear) [We believe you - J] on the last level when its still tying to remake itself. Or how about this metaphor. Does it take longer to copy everything word by word from someone speaking and then read that out loud, or is it faster to just get that person on the telephone and have them speak? I believe that when High Charity was destroyed Master Chief merely broke the phone and so the flood made a new one.
Hold the phone, I think he's got something.
-Jillybean
And so we come to the post that made me think back on the nature of Gravemind.
EmptySet (spikerags@hotmail.com) writes:
This is how I always interpreted that terminal, but Urban Reflex makes an interesting point about differentiating between the infection and the host. I read three ways to interpret this information:
1. The Halo blast kills flood outright - at least, it kills flood forms of sufficient biomass. That matches the terminal account, but it conflicts with everything we were told about the flood previously.
2. The Halo blast only kills the host. This would leave Mendicant's ships adrift, filled with forerunner corpses and swarms of infection forms that removed themselves from the inert bodies. The infection forms live on, but are incapable of piloting the ship, and will be destroyed as OB destroys the fleet.
3. The Halo blast kills infected hosts, and the infection entity, since it is tied too deeply into the host's nervous system. (We see infection forms reanimate "dead" combat forms, but do we ever see infection forms retract themselves from a host in-game?)
For practical purposes, options 2 and 3 are distinctions without a difference - the flood are not killed by the Halo blast itself, but by the consequences thereof.
(What about pure forms?)
Where I'm going: where is it ever stated that the Gravemind was destroyed in the Halo blast? I think it is assumed, because the galactic flood infestation is halted (until Gravemind hijacks HC 100,000 some odd years later, at least), but I can't remember any dialog or terminal thread that stated it explicitly. Do we even know where the flood's "core Mind" is during the battle and ensuing Halo blast?
We really don't know the composition of the Gravemind - we know (at most) that the physical core is made up of at least one prophet, during Halo 2. Especially considering the debate about flood infection vectors, re: flora vs. fauna, is it possible that the core Mind of the Terminals survived the blast (even if some of its sentient "components" were destroyed), and retreated to some safe haven, to await the repopulation of the galaxy?
The Halo Array was built prior to the deployment of Mendicant Bias. If MB knew about the Array (did it?), we can probably assume that the Flood knew about it.
Perhaps the Gravemind "smuggled" itself aboard Installation 05 prior to the Halo's firing. Maybe it tried to sabotage the ring, maybe the ring was somehow shielded from its own blast (still under debate?), maybe because the rings are repositories of Forerunner knowledge, and GM wanted to study its enemy in the same way the Forerunner were studying the spores. Still doesn't explain how it would subsist for 100,000 years without any sentience to consume (on the ring), but it explains how it got there in the first place.
I had always assumed Gravemind survived the blast, but now I wonder. Did he survive it, or did his consciousness, and is that truly one and the same? And have the Forerunner, in their infinite wisdom, created a device that would allow their enemy to survive with a fully integrated consciousness and memory?
Answers on a postcard, please.
-Jillybean
I am a monument to all your sins ... child of my enemy
Have you ever wondered what those lines from Halo 2 meant? Course you have, but now's your chance to post your opinion. Brian Ojeda has started a nifty thread discussing what these lines mean.
First of all, child of my enemy seems to make sense in that it is addressed to a human, which we all know are believed to be descendants of the Forerunners. The other line ... I'm not sure about. Go read!
-UNSC Trooper
Ascendant Justice - Shield World(s)
Ascendant Justice strikes again, this time with a very well researched subject: the Shield Worlds. Their article takes you back into the developing stages of the Halo series, and then fast-forwards through Ghosts of Onyx and a Joseph Staten interview. If you want to find out, or maybe speculate on what the Halo series holds for us in the future, go take a look!
-UNSC Trooper
Sam Robinson writes about the connection between Onyx and the Ark.
Sam Robinson (smr.r@tiscali.co.uk) writes:
On halo 3 (the mission 'the ark') 343 GS says that he thought the ark was part of somesort of sheild istalation. Having read Ghost of onyx it mentions that Onyx is a shield planet. I don't know how but i think they are linked some how. Any ideas?
Another thing about onyx is the small portal which a group of Spartan-III jump through and land in the middle of a sphere that has a diameter of the earths orbit around the sun (pritty big I'd say) may be, as the book suggests, this is a refuge for the forerunners when they activate the halos, but how could the forerunners suvive in that space when the flood were created to deplete their numbers because they couldn't sustain their population in a whole galaxy?!
And also when the elites fleet travels through the 'portal' they arrive half way between two of the spines yet when the Dawn goes through the portal they are directly above the ark?!
Yes, they are connected in that they both serve as a shelter from the Halos. And the Ark is situated well outside of the Galaxy, so in contrast to Onyx, is a safe place if it isn't found by the Flood.
Thanks, Sam!
-UNSC Trooper
Marathon and Combine
David Sharp writes to us about a connection he's found between the Combine from Half Life 2 and Marathon.
David Sharp (gluttonys.blood.fest@hotmail.co.uk) writes:
Hi, nice site.
I honestly don't think Marathon and Halo are set in the same universe, I think it's just a nice link Bungie put in.
Anyway, that's not why I'm posting. The combine use this symbol: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Combine.svg
You have to admit it does look pretty close. Thanks for reading, I hope it's good enough to go on your lovely site. :D
-David Sharp
Yes it does look pretty similar, but I doubt that the symbols are in any way related to Marathon or Halo. Thanks, David!
permalink | Rampant Speculation
-UNSC Trooper
History of the Sangheili
I have to say this is a pretty damn well-written history article on the Elites (it's better than my UNSC history article), courtesy of vociferous. It spans about four parts, very informative, and very well formatted. Now that's what I call Halo history!
Go read, that's an order!
-UNSC Trooper
It's been some time, but here's another theory on the Forerunners and the Flood.
Rehalo (wow_sungun@hotmail.com) writes:
I have a theory: Evolution only keeps going when theres competition, when theres an enemy to bang heads with/kill/eat/become better than. If/when a race reaches a point where it no longer is threatened by anything other than itself, it will naturally implode and die. Yes. Die. But in order for a race to reach this point, it has got to be insanely well-developed and ultra-smart, something the Forerunner were. Cause lets face it, they made big rings in space that have the power to destroy big parts of the universe.
Brings me to the flood: The description of the multiplayer map "Warlock" says that this most likely was some sort of forerunner "Arena", that this was a place where battles and fights took place while other watched. (I'm partly guessing this)
Think about it: The Forerunner have discovered everything undiscoverable, done everything one can do with limitless power and knowledge, and basically turned every stone in the universe. Now, boredom is the worst enemy of this great civilization, that and the fact that there is nothing else to discover, reach for, or work with. So they invent a super organism specifically designed for fun and recreation, an "enemy" this super-civilization can kill and have fun with. But of course this goes wrong. The virus becomes too powerful, too resistant to any weapon. So now they have to escape their own creation, creating super-mega weapons that wipe out parts of the galaxy. They create an ark, blah-blah. The uber civilization of the forerunner is lost, killed by their own genious.
All that, OR the forerunner realized that there was no point in living and staying alive when there was nothing left to do/invent/whatever. So they make giant rings as a tribute to the holy dance of eternity, (Life and death, summer-easter-winter-spring thing) and kill themselves with it. They have reached a level of intellect and understanding that they no longer fear death, no, they actually embrace it, for it is all part of life, of nature. In the books, in the games you see it; the covenant ships use slipspace "engines" that instead of tears a hole in space, "unlocks" it. In the rock the spartans find in the fall of reach, cortana sees an "artistic" mathematical pattern. It's everywhere, the Forerunner knew nature so well they no longer had to use a hammer to beat the nail into the plank, they just had to think it.
Although this theory has been all chewed up, it never ceases to amaze me how new speculations arise. "A Flood to have fun with" ... I gotta get me some Flood then!
-UNSC Trooper
Terminal Visuals
It's been quite a while since we've updated the HSP, so prepare to get an earful of Halo Terminal news!
Mendicantbias00 let us know that the Terminal pages over at Ascendant Justice have been updated with visual elements to further increase the rate interaction. It's some really cool stuff, so don't forget to check it out.
If you want a more playful and user-friendly interface to view the various terminals seen throughout Halo 3, I warmly suggest you look into our Forerunner Terminal Archives. Thanks to everyone who made this possible.
-UNSC Trooper
The Forerunner-Flood War
Whoa! This is the longest thread I've ever seen on our forum, the admin even warned us about it. Honestly asks if there was anything the Forerunners might have done change the tide of the war against the Flood. Everyone seems to have responded to that, but this time I'm not suggesting that you post anything. The thread is already filling up almost the entire page.
Go check it out, but be warned, it's a looong read!
-UNSC Trooper
The Flood and Machines.
Honestly raised an interesting question on our forum. Can the Flood indeed infect machines? This question is responded to by SgtSatin, explaining that a flood form can only grow if it has infected a sentient host, that is, a living being. Go check it out and post your opinion!
-UNSC Trooper
Halo 3 Terminals
We just found out that Ascendant Justice has an interesting article in Halo 3's terminals. There's a lot of examination in there, so don't hesitate to post your comments or suggestions. A nice and informative little find which will help you learn more about the Forerunners' empire and the Ark.
-UNSC Trooper
Facts about the Halos and the Flood.
Elpolloguapo has written an extensive analysis about the Halos, the Flood, and the consequences of the firing of the Halos. He's put a lot of work into explaining all the details of the Halo mechanisms. I must say that this was the most worthy post for adding to the News page.
Go read, and give Elpolloguapo some feedback!
So if the Halos can kill Flood, why did the Forerunners want to "starve" the Flood to death?
permalink | Halo Installations
-UNSC Trooper
Halo: Uprising, Issue 4 cover art
Mcdizzel let us know that the cover art for the fourth issue of Halo Uprising has been released. Let's hope that it doesn't get delayed anymore, 'cause it's already a year late.
Go check it out!
-UNSC Trooper
Covenant vs. Phfor
As weird as it seems, it's a possibility.
Stukylemulkey (stukylemulkey@usao.edu) writes:
hey my name is Kyle and I am a halo veteran maraton newbie. I have been reading a lot of this stuff you guys have (which is great) but I have a theory of my own. Now if I remember reading all the terminals
correctly the humans fought the phfor and won the battle barely right? Well couldnt this be the covenant just by a different name? Since marathon is 300 years from the original starting point, the phfor could
have attacked the marathon ship and the inner planets and earth simultaneously, thus enabling the mark VI marine to defend his ship and 300 years of technology to take into effect and allow a mark V to defend humanity. Since the timelines are all screwed up this is pure speculation but as I understand in marathon infinity time travel and dimensional portals are all possible, making this possibly relevant.
Thanks for listening to my idea
As speculated before, the Halo and Marathon timelines leave a lot of room for interpretation. Anything could be possible if these two "universes" were connected, including the Covenant-Phfor theory.
Thanks, Stukylemulkey!
permalink | Marathon Connections
-UNSC Trooper
Halo Timeline Updated!
At last, the Halo Story Timeline has been updated with Halo 3 information, courtesy of yours truly and Louis Wu. It's pretty sketchy, as this Timeline is actually supposed to detail the most important events in the Haloverse, not game walkthroughs.
Have a nice read!
-UNSC Trooper
How hot are the plasma rounds of Covenant weapons?
Just how hot is the Covenant plasma? There's a sweet discussion going on in our forum. All I can say about this, is that Bungie.net's weapons articles can provide you with enough data to clear the matter out.
-UNSC Trooper
Conversations from the Universe
SPARTAN-034 has asked a few questions regarding little bits of information from the Conversations from the Universe booklet. The first two questions have already been answered, the last one is a bit more complicated. Swing by, and check it out.
The "Believe" Campaign
Onebitrocket asks if the Believe campaign is a part of Halo canon. Although the Halo 3 Believe campaign is canon, some of the events portrayed in the films have not quite been tied in to the Halo 3 storyline. Neil Blomkamp's TV ads however, are believed to be canon-accurate, as they lead up to the Sierra 117 level in Halo 3.
permalink | Rampant Speculation
-UNSC Trooper
The Halo Arrays.
There's a pretty broad discussion sparked by Kanbo taking place on our forum regarding the "tactical usage" of the Halo arrays.
Apparently, the Halos might also be capable of destroying the Flood. However, as suggested by Billhead, the Halos might have been designed for only one purpose; the destruction of all sentient life in the Galaxy.
Our fellow crew member Jillybean has also posted an interesting theory which was submitted to the site a long while ago. According to this theory, due to the strong vibration caused by one of the Halos being fired, the nerve systems of all living beings could be affected, and ultimately destroyed.
We'll be watching this topic closely.
permalink | Halo Installations
-UNSC Trooper
Master Chief and The Marine.
Another Halo-Marathon connection, this time between the Master Chief and The Marine.
Stephan Berbes (lepreconofficer@yahoo.com) writes:
I was inadvertently thinking on a Saturday when I read the Marathon page about the "Heroes Are the Same Reincarnated Spirit" idea, and about how the Master Chief and the Marine from Marathon could be the same person. Bungie has denied that the two are on the same timeline, and that Marathon is a spiritual predecessor. However, that doesn't mean the idea is shot.
In Robert Heinlein's "The Cat Who Walks Through Walls", the main character, Richard, discovers he married the creator and writer of his favorite childhood TV show about a galactic spaceman fighting evil. Later in the story, Richard meets the fictional character in the flesh. This is the idea that if someone creates a realistic enough universe or even world, it becomes an alternate timeline. In another of Heinlein's books, "The Number of the Beast", two scientists who make another appearance in "The Cat Who Walks Through Walls" discover that the Number of the Beast from Revelations (Biblical reference? Check) is not 666, but six to the power of six to the power of six. This number, incidentally, is the number of alternate timelines in existence. The characters then go on to visit several of these timelines, including the Land of Oz. Imagine having Dorothy and Frodo team up to take down the Sith, which, with the right technology, is possible.
Now to bring it back. Since we all know how deep the stories of Halo and Marathon are, we can reasonably assume that there are timelines out there where we can meet the MC and The Marine. The problem is, are we meeting them at the same date on both timelines?
The idea that heroes recycle the same soul enters now. Its quite possible that the MC and the Marine have the Hero Soul, if we make the assumption that souls can jump across space-time barriers. So, in a sense, the MC and the Marine are the same person, and that the references to one game in the other could be a result of that; if we can keep track of the timelines by lunar landing, we can compare timelines by the names of products, surely.
Just a thought.
-Stephan
While the Master Chief and The Marine are similar characters, we might or might not meet them both at once in either Halo or Marathon storylines. Hmm ... this requires extensive Timeline examination.
Thanks, Stephan!
permalink | Marathon Connections
-UNSC Trooper
We all know that the Master Chief was abducted at the age of six, but do we know anything about his pre-military life?
Connor Smith (c_j_smith5@hotmail.com) writes:
There was a comment about the age of Master Chief in refernece to his age. The Master Chief was born in 2511, the fall of Reach happens in 2552. This would make the Master Chief 41 years old but the Master Chief is infact a weapon and would spend most of his time in cryo when he is not needed. This meaning his age would be 41 years old but his body would be younger.
Also there is mentioned that the children used in the Spartan-II program all possess certain rare genetic markers. Do these kids have a rare genetic marker or is this a forerunner gene. Combat suits are commented about numerous times in terminals. These suits are used to surivive in many enviroments which seem like somthing the Mark class armor.
During the game the flashes of Cortana she mentioned numerous times i know your past, your present and your future. This leads us to believe that the Master Chief's has past that is unknown to him and even us. The Master Chief was always the most advanced spartan it could be possible that he does not have the rare genetic marker, he could infact be a forerunner.
If the Master Cheif is in fact a forerunner it would explain the spartans. The spartans suits have many higher form of technology such as the shields and the fact that they are controled by the spartans thoughts. The shields is what throws it off. We see the sheilds on the convent elites and the convent ships. I find it odd that the humans were able to develop shields for the spartans shields but not their ships. Could Cortana know who the Master Chief really is could she be a creation of the forerunners.
Medical technology in the 26th century has made it possible to age a bit slower than normal - just look at Sergeant Johnson! - and it's natural for the Master Chief to feel younger.
As for the shields; The Fall of Reach mentions that the UNSC scientific community was able to design the armor shields based on the Covenant Jackal's shields, so it's not exactly their own discovery.
Thanks, Connor!
-UNSC Trooper
