[General Battuta]

We have an ongoing Halo thread, but it's all about whether the game is trash or gold.

On a less confrontational note, did anyone explore the full depth of the terminals present in Halo 3? I've been reading up on them, and the sheer depth of the story is simply amazing. It's no wonder that so many people have complained the Halo story is confusing -- there's layers upon layers of detail here.

I would note, in particular, Bungie's knack for dropping hints -- they allude to grand secrets and conspiracies in a really tantalizing way, and they leave a few Big Questions open to speculation. There's just enough evidence present to assure you that they know what's really going on, but not enough to give it away.

I really admire the storytelling method used in the Halo games. There's a surface narrative (kill the aliens!) which appeals to simplistic preteens, and beneath that there's layers of depth -- the whole epic of Forerunner and Precursor -- for anyone who cares to look.

Additionally, the Flood -- the ubervillains of the series -- even get to tell their own side of things, and by the time I'd finished reading some of the Gravemind's arguments, I was almost sympathizing with them. Very compelling storytelling.

Check this out for a good summary of the story told in the Halo 3 terminals:

http://blog.ascendantjustice.com/halo-3/the-terminals/

Anyway, I was wondering if anyone else who followed the Halo story had any speculation, questions, or comments? There are a few unanswered questions left at the end of Halo 3 (the Precursors? the role of humanity? Where did the surviving Forerunner go?) and this community certainly does have a knack for theorizing.

I wish that the kind of hints and substory that are strewn about the Halo games were present in Freespace 2. It might give us more of an edge in figuring out some of the questions regarding the Shivans and their ultimate purpose. This isn't meant as criticism of FS2 or Halo, but I do think it'd be interesting to contrast the two storytelling styles.

[Snail]

The terminals tell the story of the original Flood-Forerunner war.

The first few terminals tell of the first events in the Halo universe, and of how the Flood arrived and started hijacking civilian ships and invaded Forerunner space using these ships. Later terminals explain the mission of a Forerunner called the Librarian, her AI, Adjutant Reflex (not actually mentioned in the terminals, but connected), and her friend, the Didact which is to catalog all sentient life and store them in the Index. It shows their original plan to hide all sentient species on shield worlds (small dyson-spheres) and then activate the fortress worlds (the Halos).

Things then go wrong when one of the Forerunner AI called 032 Mendicant Bias, goes rampant and helps the Flood, and tries to stop the Forerunners from firing the Halos. There is then a big battle between Mendicant Bias, who is trying to stop the Halos from firing, and Offensive Bias and the rest of the Forerunner, who want to fire the Halos to kill the Flood. One of the terminals describes this battle. The last terminal says that Mendicant Bias will help the Master Chief (Reclaimer), though exactly how he does this is not known.

[Admiral_Stones]

I want to point out Halo seemed to be promising before Micro**** went a buyed Bungie and made them rush it.

[Dark Hunter]

I want to point out that this thread is for discussion of the story of Halo. If you don't like Halo, why don't you go gripe about it in the "Halo Nonsense" thread? That's where the flamewar debate about Halo's quality is happening.

My big question is why exactly the Forerunners liked humans so much moreso than other species. It's a pretty common theme in Sci-Fi, that humans have the greatest potential (my how arrogant we are!)... but my question is WHY (in the context of the game universe, not Real Life)?

I also wonder what's happening to the various races of the Covenant.  The Elites probably went off to fight the Brutes (those two species really seem to hate each other), but what of the Grunts? Did they get freedom? Or the Hunters... who knows what they want... much less the Drones.

I'd wager that the remnants of the Covenant High Council (read: the remaining Prophets) are trying to keep the Covenant together, but without the ridiculously large fleets they once had they are having a hard time of it.

[Snail]

My big question is why exactly the Forerunners liked humans so much moreso than other species. It's a pretty common theme in Sci-Fi, that humans have the greatest potential (my how arrogant we are!)... but my question is WHY (in the context of the game universe, not Real Life)?

Something to do with Adjutant Reflex and Microsoft's Iris campaign.

I also wonder what's happening to the various races of the Covenant.  The Elites probably went off to fight the Brutes (those two species really seem to hate each other), but what of the Grunts? Did they get freedom? Or the Hunters... who knows what they want... much less the Drones.

The Gwunts probably got freedom... I mean it's not like they like the Covenant. After all a few of them defected to the side of the Elites. The Hunters also defected... I hate how everyone thinks they're dumb... They're not.

The Drones & Jackals are, IMO, just ****ing bugs who act stupidly on the words of the prophets.

I'd wager that the remnants of the Covenant High Council (read: the remaining Prophets) are trying to keep the Covenant together, but without the ridiculously large fleets they once had they are having a hard time of it.

I think the only important remaining prophet is Truth.

[General Battuta]

The terminals tell the story of the original Flood-Forerunner war.

The first few terminals tell of the first events in the Halo universe, and of how the Flood arrived and started hijacking civilian ships and invaded Forerunner space using these ships. Later terminals explain the mission of a Forerunner called the Librarian, her AI, Adjutant Reflex (not actually mentioned in the terminals, but connected), and her friend, the Didact which is to catalog all sentient life and store them in the Index. It shows their original plan to hide all sentient species on shield worlds (small dyson-spheres) and then activate the fortress worlds (the Halos).

Things then go wrong when one of the Forerunner AI called 032 Mendicant Bias, goes rampant and helps the Flood, and tries to stop the Forerunners from firing the Halos. There is then a big battle between Mendicant Bias, who is trying to stop the Halos from firing, and Offensive Bias and the rest of the Forerunner, who want to fire the Halos to kill the Flood. One of the terminals describes this battle. The last terminal says that Mendicant Bias will help the Master Chief (Reclaimer), though exactly how he does this is not known.

It's a good summary indeed -- I was aware of this, but nonetheless, a great summary. I have to say I really liked this hidden story, even more than the main game's plot.

It actually appears that the Didact (some kind of military commander, I think) and the Librarian were lovers, but the Librarian refused to return to safety behind the Forerunner 'line', despite the Didact's pleadings. Eventually, the Didact had to activate the Halos and kill her -- in fact, I think I remember her begging him to do it.

My big question is why exactly the Forerunners liked humans so much moreso than other species. It's a pretty common theme in Sci-Fi, that humans have the greatest potential (my how arrogant we are!)... but my question is WHY (in the context of the game universe, not Real Life)?

At one point in the terminals, I believe that the Librarian says that humans 'may hold the answers to our own mysteries.'

It seems that the Forerunners were given guardianship of the galaxy (the Mantle) by an earlier race called the Precursors, which has since vanished. Some people have theorized that the humans are remnants of the Precursors. I don't know if I buy that.

[Dark Hunter]

I'd wager that the remnants of the Covenant High Council (read: the remaining Prophets) are trying to keep the Covenant together, but without the ridiculously large fleets they once had they are having a hard time of it.

I think the only important remaining prophet is Truth.

Truth was the only remaining High Prophet, but there were a significant number of lower Prophets serving on the council, along with the highest ranking Elites (this was before the Great Schism). I'm saying: isn't it likely that these lower Prophets would try to reestablish their supremacy in whatever remains of the Covenant?

[Sarafan]

http://blog.ascendantjustice.com/halo-3/the-terminals/

Why the link leads to the Rick Roll's video?



Wait.




Rick Roll + Microsoft + Bungie= ?





Holy s***, Master chief is Rick Roll!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Akalabeth Angel]

   There's "Precursors" in Halo??? Do they look like big woolie mammoths?

[General Battuta]

Y'know, I'm honestly not sure what they look like.

So, here's a question that's been kind of nagging at me -- those infuriating Cortana/Gravemind transmissions in Halo 3. At first I felt like they didn't make any sense at all, but it seems like there might be some form of reason to when they appear.

When you're on the Ark, before High Charity arrives, you don't get any of these transmissions. Conversely, while on Earth -- as the Flood-controlled cruiser and High Charity approach -- the transmissions are plentiful. Late in the game, after High Charity arrives on the Ark, they resume again. It seems like there's an actual transmission being sent which requires Cortana to be in relative proximity.

Also, question: why was Gravemind in such an awful rush to get every single Flood form out of the galaxy and onto the Ark? Obviously he thinks the Halos are going to fire, but surely he could've dropped a couple infection forms on Earth as he passed through the portal.

Perhaps Lord Hood and the other humans were successful in wiping them out? There were a decent number of human ships remaining that might have fought off a Flood incursion, but were unable to stop High Charity from passing through the portal.

[Snail]

So, here's a question that's been kind of nagging at me -- those infuriating Cortana/Gravemind transmissions in Halo 3. At first I felt like they didn't make any sense at all, but it seems like there might be some form of reason to when they appear.

When you're on the Ark, before High Charity arrives, you don't get any of these transmissions. Conversely, while on Earth -- as the Flood-controlled cruiser and High Charity approach -- the transmissions are plentiful. Late in the game, after High Charity arrives on the Ark, they resume again. It seems like there's an actual transmission being sent which requires Cortana to be in relative proximity.

Uhh no the Flood cruiser was not travelling with High Charity IIRC. The Elites say "A single ship broke through our line" or something like that.

Also, question: why was Gravemind in such an awful rush to get every single Flood form out of the galaxy and onto the Ark? Obviously he thinks the Halos are going to fire, but surely he could've dropped a couple infection forms on Earth as he passed through the portal.

He probably did.

Perhaps Lord Hood and the other humans were successful in wiping them out? There were a decent number of human ships remaining that might have fought off a Flood incursion, but were unable to stop High Charity from passing through the portal.

Did High Charity pass through the portal at all? I thought it took another route. Meh, I got to play Floodgate again.

[General Battuta]

Yep, I'm aware the cruiser and High Charity weren't traveling together -- it's just that they were both approaching Earth, and both (at some point in the game) served as the source for these transmissions.

I can't see how High Charity would've reached the Ark without using the portal, since it was explicitly said to be coming to Earth, and because the Ark is far off the rim of the galaxy, a distance that would probably require years of Slipspace travel to cover.

[Snail]

Well if it did I'd have to say Earth would've been screwed...

[General Battuta]

Maybe Gravemind figured there was no point since the Halos would be firing anyway? Stopping that was its primary objective.

[achtung]

Gravemind probably jumped in near the portal in Africa, saw the charred land left behind by the Elite ships, said screw it, and proceeded to go through the portal pursuing its main objective (preventing the firing of the Halo Array).

[General Battuta]

That's true -- Gravemind does seem to have the capability for precise jumps (fittingly, given the vast computational power it has available), so it probably slipped in as close to the portal as possible to avoid risking itself at the hands of the human ships.

[TrashMan]

The Halo story has so many loopholes I can't even count them.

Forrunners appear 10 times more stupid than Terran Command.

[Snail]

I think you're looking for this thread.

[Colonol Dekker]

Toward the last few Terminals,

Doesn't it say that the last forerunner settled on a nice planet with a big mountain *cough kilamanjaro cough~*
I reckon that Humans evolved from Forerunners in a homeworld style, hence why Miranda Keyes could handle the Index and some of the Flood Council comments just before she gets Needled 

Reclaimer could just be a term for forerunner supersoldiers in armour. That could be why the Sparkmeister referred to the Chief as reclaimer in Halo 1 from the off.

[Dark Hunter]

Actually, the Forerunners named humans as their inheritors, apparently seeing more potential in us than the rest of the varying species throughout the galaxy. Any human is therefore a "Reclaimer" of their technology.