[Deepblue]

Please note this stuff is not mine, however I find it rather interesting.

Theory 1
(Posted by Eagle117 on the Bungie.net forums)

Spoiler:

First, I intend to show that Ackerson and a few ONI officers new of Halo before the Pillar of Autumn did a “blind” jump to it. ONI charted the planet Threshold ( the gas giant Halo orbits ) long before the events of Halo (1). In an interview between HBO and Eric Nylund (the author of Halo: TFOR and FS), this question is asked to the author, “Why, if Halo is in uncharted space, are the moon and planet know as Basis and Threshold?” Nylund responded with, “I’ll throw out a clue here: “uncharted” from who’s perspective? “Surveyed” by whom?” I believe this is a hint pointing towards ONI because they are the ones who charter space ( Office of Navy Intel ). If Threshold was charted, then ONI discovered Halo before the Pillar of Autumn did the so called “blind” jump to it.

In The Fall of Reach, on p. 336 to be exact, Cortana finds an 86.2 percent match between the Covenant transmission that Keys intercepted from Sigma Octanus IV ( which is also the same as the 512 alphanumerical string in Ackerson’s S-III file that I discuss in the next paragraph), and star charts of uncontrolled chartered UNSC space. Cortana, as curious as she is, follows the Cole Protocol and charts a route from Reach to this area of uncontrolled UNSC space to investigate it’s importance to Ackerson and the Covenant.Note: this area that Cortana “blindly” jumps to is chartered space ( she has charts of it in her data banks ). When the Pillar of Autumn comes out of slip space, it arrives at Halo... which is the beginning of Halo(1) the game.

Also, at the top of page 130 ( FS ) Dr. Halsey is investigating Ackerson’s S-III file. She discovers a 512 alphanumeric string ( which is the also the same as the Covenant transmission intercepted by Keys from Sigma Octanus IV that I discussed before) that matches a star chart of uncontrolled UNSC space. Again, note that the area the 512 alphanumerical string points to is UNSC chartered space because it matches a UNSC star chart...it’s just not UNSC CONTROLLED space. Ackerson was involved with something in this area, which I’m am saying right now is Halo because that is where the Pillar of Autumn “blindly” jumped to. Oh, one other small bit of info to consider. To my recollection, it’s really never explained why ONI lieutenant Haverson is at Halo??? Taking these things into account, there seems to be some evidence pointing toward Ackerson’s, and possibly ONI's, involvement with Halo.

HERE IS THE THEROY:

I believe that Ackerson’s secret project involved using Halo, or more likely, the Flood as a weapon against the Covenant. There are several interesting points of intersection between info we already have that point me in this direction. For one, there is the ever so talkative 343 GS. He refers to the MC as the “Reclaimer”. There have been speculations that time travel may have something to do with that. Well, I have another possibility that I have yet heard discussed. On page 270 of TFOR, it is said that at some time in the past, Dr. Hasley gave permission for Ackerson to flash clone John 117 ( MC ) for a black ops mission. Now, why would a clone of the MC be needed for a black ops mission, when that is exactly his purpose and function... that is, to carry out black ops/secretive missions? If you accept that Ackerson was involved with Halo, then it’s quite likely that this, or any other secretive black ops mission of Ackerson, would involve Halo. Like I said before, if it was any other black ops/secret mission, the original MC or Spartans would have been used... that’s there porpose. Bringing all this back to 343 GS nick name for the MC, it is easy to see that the Master Chief is called the Reclaimer because 343 GS has already come in contact with a flash clone of him sent to Halo by Ackerson on a black ops mission.UPDATED ON BOTTOM

Perhaps the most chilling evidence of this flash clone of the MC is this statement form 343 GS, “Technically this installation’s pulse has a maximum effective radius of 25 thousand light years. But, once the others follow suit, this galaxy will be quite devoid of life, or at least any life with sufficient biomass to sustain the flood. But you already new that. I mean, how couldn’t you? The last part of that quote is the most intriguing. If in fact Ackerson made a flash clone of the MC whose mission most likely involved Halo, then it’s not only possible, but probable that the cloned MC came in contact with 343 GS ( Again, this is why he’s called the Reclaimer ). This means that the activation of Halo, the Flood, and the possible use of Halo as a weapon has already been explained to the clone of MC.

BUT WAIT, THERE IS MORE:)

Why would 343 GS need to explain Halo’s defense systems against the Flood to the cloned MC. We know from this statement made by 343 GS during the Library level, “I would conjecture that the other species currently on the installation are responsible for releasing the Flood. They seem most persistent in their attempts to access restricted areas” that the current outbreak of the Flood is because of the Covenant. But, this current outbreak is obviously a considerable amount of time after the clone of MC was at Halo. We can also tell from this statement made by 343 GS, “Why naturally the Flood is simply too dangerous to release, and mass sterilization protocol may AGAIN need to be enacted. Of course, samples were kept here after the last catastrophic outbreak... for study. It seems... that decision may have been an error” that there was an outbreak of the flood in the past.

This outbreak in the past would have been hundreds of thousands of years before the MC’s clone visited Halo, because if the cloned MC did activate Halo, then all the other Halos would have followed suit and all organic life that could possibly sustain the Flood ( Humans and Covenant ) would be erased from the galaxy. So, we are still left wondering... why would 343 GS explain Halo’s defense procedures to the MC’s clone?

Here is what I think. If in fact there were samples of the Flood kept for study from the last outbreak, as 343 GS mentioned, then it may be likely that the MC’s clone ( Ackerson ) would have found these samples. These samples were not full grown Flood forms though. They couldn’t have been because the Flood would have died off because of Halo's defensive systems removing all potential host/food thousands of years before hand. These samples would more than likely have been in some sort of high tech “petri dish,” if you will. As controlling as Ackerson is, I think he would have found the Flood as a very useful weapon against the Covenant. He may have attempted to make Flood forms, and he probably would have succeeded. Now, he would have to make the Flood forms inside Halo’s secure facilities. Why? Because 343 GS would have informed MC’s clone of the consequences of the Flood escaping from Halo secure facilities, not to mention that 343 would have made sure that the Flood samples would never leave Halo. So, the answer to the question of why was MC’s clone was told about the protocols of activating Halo’s defense system is, because Ackerson’s secret project involved remaking the Flood, and using them as a weapon against the Covenant. 343 GS made sure that Ackerson new the consequences of the Flood being released, and as a result of this, Ackerson had to conduct the Flood experiments inside Halo’s containment facilities.

More proof of these accusations that I’ve made against Ackerson trying to reconstitute the Flood on Halo would be the fact that there are so many Human forms of the Flood. There are many Covenant Flood forms because there are ample amounts of Covenant on Halo trying to activate it. We know from Cortana that “only a hand full” of survivors made it off the Pillar of Autumn. So, why are there hundreds of Human Flood forms? I believe the reason there is a such large amount of amount of Human Flood forms is because Ackerson used the Spartan’s DNA files (remember the S-III file found by Dr. Hasley), made clones of them, and used those clones in experiments with the Flood DNA. This may be why there are so many Human forms of the Flood. And this my friends, may be what Ackerson’s secret project is. Not Spartan III’s, but clones of the original Spartans made into Flood forms:)

Theory 2
(Posted by Chaplain on the Bungie.net forums)

Spoiler:

I'd like to make a final statement about this, one last thread, professional, none of that... disrespectful stuff, or cussing. But I'll start off by giving you all of the evidence I have towards Forerunner and their existence.

In Halo, the last level, Called, "The Maw," You get to the bridge, 343 Guilty Spark, is pulling information from Human, databases. He is looking at the "Pillar of Autumn's" computers. And he says this. "You can't imagine how exciting this is! To have a record of all of our lost time! Human history, is it? Fascinating." 343 Guilty Spark pretty much just said: "he just got a record of all of his lost time..." "Human History is it?" Human, History.

1. 343 Guilty Spark said hat he was built by the Forerunners (In the books). Now, when 343 Guilty Spark referred to his lost time, how could it mean anything other than the forerunners?

2. Then, since 343 Guilty spark referred to that lost time, as human history, how could that not mean humans are forerunners...

3. Thirdly, if a long time ago, the forerunners (Now known as humans) were alive, and they built the Halo's. And when the Halo's were activated, and wiped out most of the forerunners, wouldn't that make for millions of years of, "Lost Time?" The humans, could just be a patch filling in for the forerunners, The Humans of NOW may not have built the Halo's, but they may have built them a long time ago.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

I don't want to get too in depth and start contradicting my insight that this is only a game and the plots don't go that far in, but Zuka Zammamee, when talking to the prophets on one occasion, said that the master Chiefs shields may in fact be better than his… The prophet went on to say that was classified as treason. Now, if you were a soldier, and you knew a weakness in your army, wouldn’t it be a good idea to speak up about it? Yes, it would the prophets don’t even want the main Covenant population THINKING about such things, that’s because it would make the prophets look like they got caught with their pants down if they found out the Humans were forerunner.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

And As for your other idea, if the Halo were to be fired, all sentient life would be destroyed. How many years ago was it destroyed? 100,000 years right? Hate to use other people's arguments, but who's system? Earths? Ours? The Covie system? Or the previous more advanced form of humans (i.e. Forerunners.) Which would be very important to recognize, as 343 would only assume his (More his Creators) solar system, he wouldn't automatically assume somebody else’s. And even so 343 acts like he knows the Chief. Do you remember anything from the book? How about The library level. How about that marine. Staff Sergeant Mobuto. Marvin, Mobuto.

"Ah," 343 Guilty Spark said, peering down over the Spartan's shoulder. "The other Reclaimer. His combat skin proved even less suitable than yours."
The soldier looked up over his shoulder. "What do you mean?"
"Is this a test, Reclaimer?" the Monitor seemed genuinely puzzled. "I found him wandering through a structure on the other side of the ring, and brought him to the same point where you started." Page 244 (Bottom paragraphs, word for word.)

That guy. You forget about him? I hope not, I hope nobody would forget about him, because that guy, is a real man. But more to the point. He called him the other Reclaimer. And note, "Reclaimer" is capitalized... That's right, meaning, he isn't just ANY reclaimer, he's the Reclaimer. Human. Not just the Spartans. It isn't just Master Chief that he thinks is the Reclaimer. He is calling human's Reclaimer. Humans. (In order to be a Reclaimer by the way, you have to own the thing being reclaimed.)

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Now, The Forerunner didn't give the armor and weapons and stuff to the covenant (Further proving my point) because in the game and books, 343 says "The other species." While referring to the covenant. And if 343 Doesn’t know who the covenant are, then the Forerunner obviously never really made any transactions such as giving them technology.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Okay, now Check this out.

"Why would you hesitate to do what you've already done?" 343 Guilty Spark Demanded.

What YOU have already done. Humans. Possibly. And That proves that there was AT LEAST, a human looking figure on Halo before. Now then take into consideration he calls ALL humans Reclaimer. So he was very possibly saying, (Rewritten in my own words what he could in fact have been saying.) "Why would you hesitate to do what your people have done before?"

That's not it.

"If you are unwilling to help--I will simply find another," Spark said conversationally.

Doesn't a "Reclaimer" need to activate the installation? "...I will simply find another." He is referring to the human race as the Reclaimer.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

That's still not all.

What type of gravitation system do the covenant have? They have mysterious forms that just automatically attract you to the floor, now UNSC and Human artificial gravity is created how? (Remember in the boxing ring where Chief Really screwed up those four O.D.S.T.'s. It's call Centrifugal force. What type of artificial gravity does the halo have? You don't even need the book to know this one, it's a "ring" world. Obviously sense it is spinning there's it's gravitational poll. But if you're going to get cranky I'll give you the fricking book example.

"Captain," Cortana said, "the object is clearly artificial. There's a gravity field that controls the ring's spin and keeps the atmosphere inside."

That type of Artificial Gravity is Human based. Oh and would you like more about its gravity?

"But it appears that the ring has an oxygen-nitrogen based atmosphere and earth normal gravity."

Now I don't know if you caught all of that but its got earth normal gravity, and the atmosphere is perfect human living conditions, complete with perfect air, nice gravity, and weather conditions such as sun, snow, rain, etc... Wouldn't you think, that whoever built the Halo's, would build them to their own liking? Yes, I would think that and so would you. This is exactly as a human planet should be. The G-Forces not too extreme, and the air is perfect and breathable.

Now, lets go over everything, that I've said.

1. He is referring to the human race as Reclaimer. Not just Master Chief, and the forerunner activated it before, 343 says this, he says, that we've done this before. He was referring to the Forerunner, but we are human, he didn't know we call ourselves human. But never-the-less, he says we're Forerunner. (Inadvertently, in fact, does he ever do anything advertently?) Now to number two.

2. Earth Normal Gravity, and Oxygen-Nitrogen based air. Why would this be? Maybe because the builders of the halo wanted to survive on their own creation while they activated the Halo's, so they would obviously build something to their liking. Even further proof that Humans built the ring.

3. The gravity system is human based. It is a human model of artificial gravity.

4. He said he had considerable time to ponder the question, does "Considerable time" sound like 100,000 years? I think it does.

5. He said "Last time you asked me..." "...And I still say yes." 343 has talked to human life forms before. On Halo. And you know what? There is way more than just sufficient proof here.

Lastly, the (edited)Engineer(End edit), in The fall of Reach, it comes to a Human car, dismantles it, and then reassembles it... I'm willing to bet that the covenant did the same to the Forerunner tech a long time ago, and then just said that they were given the tech directly, making them their gods, and setting up the whole chain of command to have the grunts answer to everyone, the jackal’s to Elites, Elites to Prophets, and Prophets to nobody.

I'll finally to end with this. (You don't have to believe it but I will, ) Raiden2006 has a friend on Xbox Live, that works at Bungie, he said something about the Forerunner being human and he sharply replied back, "How did you know that?"

Flames are not welcome here, but if you have something to add to this, by all means, do so, in a non flaming way, don’t just say “You’re wrong.” Give me the evidence that I’m wrong. Have fun, and keep it professional.

I think both of these ideas are rather believable and sound.

[Hippo]

Ok, we don't need more threads than we have for this... Nor do we need cross posting from forum to forum...

[WMCoolmon]

Haven't played Halo 2, but maybe the Forerunners were both human and Covenant?

[NGTM-1R]

Spoiler:

He overlooked the meaning of "it has a gravity field". A straightforward interpretation of Cortana's statement would be to interpret Halo as having artifically induced, non-centrifugal gravity. Spinning something to create the illusion of gravity does not give it anymore actual gravity then it would have otherwise, and Halo is too small to have a real gravity field (well, technically) of its own.

Furthermore, Halo does not spin. Look at all the cutscenes involving a shot of Halo. It don't move.

And the Covies got their technology from the Forerunners, so the Forerunners clearly had artigrav of the non-spinning variety.

Some of his other points are questionable as well. I agree with the conclusion, but I don't think all the reasons it was arrived at for are correct.

[Deepblue]

@Hippo: its better to condense stuff into one thread.
@WMCoolman: Remember spoiler tags. (kinda, not really though)

Spoiler:

GS is called the "oracle" in Halo 2 by the covenant. When have they met him before? I thought only MC had met him. Or did they just base this off written records from the past?

[kv1at3485]

I'm waiting for halo.bungie.org to start allowing more submissions.  They have a pretty nifty section analyzing Halo already.

[Deepblue]

Originally posted by ngtm1r

Spoiler:

He overlooked the meaning of "it has a gravity field". A straightforward interpretation of Cortana's statement would be to interpret Halo as having artifically induced, non-centrifugal gravity. Spinning something to create the illusion of gravity does not give it anymore actual gravity then it would have otherwise, and Halo is too small to have a real gravity field (well, technically) of its own.

Furthermore, Halo does not spin. Look at all the cutscenes involving a shot of Halo. It don't move.

And the Covies got their technology from the Forerunners, so the Forerunners clearly had artigrav of the non-spinning variety.

Some of his other points are questionable as well. I agree with the conclusion, but I don't think all the reasons it was arrived at for are correct.

[/B]

Spoiler:

I do believe that particualar conclusion is incorrect, however the atmospheric and gravitational conditions seem more than coincedental.

[NGTM-1R]

Originally posted by Deepblue

Spoiler:

I do believe that particualar conclusion is incorrect, however the atmospheric and gravitational conditions seem more than coincedental.

[/B]

Spoiler:

Jackels, Hunters, Elites, and Prophets all seem to handle Halo's environment just as well as humans do, if not better, though.

[Knight Templar]

I had some time-travel theory that I explained to Anaz a while back that has to do with the thingie they find in FS. He actually remembers it better than I IIRC.

[Deepblue]

Originally posted by ngtm1r

Spoiler:

Jackels, Hunters, Elites, and Prophets all seem to handle Halo's environment just as well as humans do, if not better, though.

[/B]

Spoiler:

This makes perfect sense because the prophets claim to be descendents of the forerunners. As such they would be able to handle similar conditions.

[Deepblue]

Originally posted by Knight Templar
I had some time-travel theory that I explained to Anaz a while back that has to do with the thingie they find in FS. He actually remembers it better than I IIRC.

Spoiler:

343 GS: "When you asked me before, "would I do it"... after much thought, the answer is still yes." Time travel would get really confusing though.

[Knight Templar]

Yes. That's part of the reason why I don't remember all of my theory.

[an0n]

"You can't imagine how exciting this is! To have a record of all of our lost time! Human history, is it? Fascinating."

Uh, if any of you are basing your 'ForeRunner = Humans' theories on that quote, you're wrong.

He doesn't mean "Oh, look, all the gaps in this one great civilizations history - filled!". He means "Wow! Look at all the **** that's happened while us Oracles have been sitting out here in the void!"

[NGTM-1R]

Open-ended pronoun. Open to multiple interpretations.

[Deepblue]

They better answer some of these questions in Halo 3...

[WMCoolmon]

@WMCoolman: Remember spoiler tags. (kinda, not really though)

Like I said, I haven't played Halo 2 - I know next to nothing about it, actually. It's just an idea I had while playing through the library.

[an0n]

Wait a ****ing minute: What are they doing coming in here if they're scared of spoilers?

****ing morons.

[Deepblue]

I geuss spoiler tags really don't matter here because anyone who would click on this thread probably has already finished the game.

[Knight Templar]

Not me, but I've read up to FS and the thoeries seemed mild H2 wise. I would know what to expect though.

[Crazy_Ivan80]

as far as I know one needs to use both Maraton and Halo info to speculate.
But that's me.