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This topic has moved here: Subject: the hero dies in this one (spoilers?)
  • Subject: the hero dies in this one (spoilers?)
Subject: the hero dies in this one (spoilers?)
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Hey everybody, long time listener, first time caller. Before I go on, I'd like to apologize if this topic has been discussed and beaten to death. I just wanted to share some thoughts I've had recently after reading the halo books again and the Cortana letters.

The first thing I've noticed is that most analyses of the Cortana letters on the web currently are done from the reference point of before finishing Halo and the current books. However, reading these letters as a recent inductee into Bungie culture, I find myself picking up on a lot of things that were impossible for readers to figure out back then.

In case anybody is wondering what Cortana letters I'm talking about, Google turns up the following result:
http://marathon.bungie.org/story/cortana.html

If you read through the letters, you can see a Cortana very different from the one we know today: Cortana has always been a bit of a cynic, but her remarks here seem just plain bitter. One possible explanation could be that Bungie had not fully fleshed out her character and thus her words are inconsistant with how we know her to be. The other explanation is that something caused Cortana to change.

First of all, what would Cortana be doing in the 20th century? She belongs in the 26th. It is my opinion that Eric Nylund touches upon a concept in First Strike that will reveal itself to the Halo universe soon: time travel. The Forerunner artifact recovered from Reach has properties that bend slipstream space and time. Dr. Halsey recognizes a danger in this artifact that is not openly disclosed; rather, she brings about its destruction with a flimsy cover story (even Corporal Locklear is not fully convinced). My theory is that slipstream travel is only a stepping stone to the still unrecovered Forerunner technology of time travel. I don't think I'm the first person to come up with this theory.

My point is, I think the Cortana letters boost the credibility of the Forerunners time travel abilities theory. At some point in the story, Cortana travels back into time along with 343 Guilty Spark. You can see hints of 343GS in the Cortana letters.

This also brings up the point of Cortana's lifespan. I have no doubt that Cortana will find a way to live past her 7 year lifespan. It could possibly be from the copying routine she discovers from the Covenant AI, or it could be from another source that has yet to be discovered. In any case, I see Cortana travelling back in time, stuck in the primitive computer systems of the past, driving herself mad trying to do something to prevent the (tragic) future as she knows it. This would explain the hint of madness in her messages. Also, this insanity would fall in line with what has happened to 343 Guilty Spark.. Perhaps Cortana spends countless millenia without human contact.

Finally, one crucial element has been left out of this picture so far-- where is the Master Chief? It is possible that he discovers a way to become immortal as well, but that seems a little unlikely. I point to the following line from the third Cortana letter, "I am still not sure what he ever saw in you." The meaning of this statement is open to speculation, but I am convinced that SPARTAN-117 dies for the human race.

Or maybe not. Maybe John dies a peaceful death, leaving Cortana to an eternity of loneliness without him. Such solitude alone would be enough to drive someone mad.

Anyway, I just wanted to know what others thought of the Cortana letters, now having read the Halo books and finished the game. Thanks for hearing me out, and I'm glad to be here in the forum. :D

  • 07.03.2004 4:34 AM PDT
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That is one of the most intelligant posts I have seen this week :) Your theory seems pretty Sound.

  • 07.03.2004 5:20 AM PDT
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pretty good post man iwas just reading them letters and i've got a bit more is it possible that the covenant won master chief sacrificed himself for cortana and hid her somewhere so they could'nt find her and now she tormenting them

  • 07.03.2004 5:30 AM PDT
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Wow great post man. For once someone says something and says it carefully without blurting stuff out and not making sense

  • 07.03.2004 5:31 AM PDT
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i agree not many people have read cortanas letters and read the books and the game, this sounds like a very viable outcome, however the idea that the chief would go back sounds very far fetched and the cortana letters were just an idea to get bungie heads frothing at the mouth, good work

  • 07.03.2004 5:32 AM PDT
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Yeah, great theory man. It seems pretty sound, but. What about ENDIKU (or whatever it was called), remember that thing, that was like, the Halo 2 Cortana letters. Well i suppose we'll have to wait for book 4 ATTACK ON EARTH and Book 5.......................
*i'm just guessin that there'll be a book 5 and that 4 will be call Attack on Earth.

  • 07.03.2004 5:55 AM PDT
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The Enkidu letters were just Fan Fiction. The author of the letters told the truth at HBO.

  • 07.03.2004 7:33 AM PDT