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  • Subject: Enkidu - Cortana Letters Revisted?
Subject: Enkidu - Cortana Letters Revisted?

Spamming Bungie since 2004!
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Is there any chance that The Flood are involved,too(they are a race,too)? Post number600 in this thread

[Edited on 5/3/2004 4:32:42 PM]

  • 05.03.2004 4:30 PM PDT
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I donno.... She says she can sense the rumblings of a worse fate yet to come, then recalls something, so perhaps what she is recalling is the indication of the 'worse fate yet to come'? You following? Though I do agree, there are deafinantly some missing pices right now, and Cortana does repeatedly seem to be in two places at once. ARRGH!!! Bungie is just messing with our minds!!!

[Edited on 5/3/2004 4:39:35 PM]

  • 05.03.2004 4:38 PM PDT
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Oh ok that makes way more sence i was so lost. Ok that is why it looked like a falling star i had not thought of that. Tartarus and zk315, you guys sure know what your talking about.

  • 05.03.2004 4:40 PM PDT
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So i may be wrong but the cortana letters sound like she is telling a story that happened awhile back for her but in the future for where the game is now. So to me it sounds like we are in 2552 but she is telling the story of what happened back then. So could the referance to the cortana letters that we are finding actually be the other way around. Instead of E. referancing cortana couldn't it be that cortana is really referancing what happened to E.. To me that would make sense. Because I feel that this all has to do with what is going to happen in Halo 2. If this makes not sense to you just let me know.

[Edited on 5/3/2004 5:02:17 PM]

  • 05.03.2004 4:58 PM PDT
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Posted by: J_A_C_K_A_S_S
Oh ok that makes way more sence i was so lost. Ok that is why it looked like a falling star i had not thought of that. Tartarus and zk315, you guys sure know what your talking about.


Jackass, in the united states we spell it "sense". Just helping you out, buddy.

RAL

  • 05.03.2004 5:00 PM PDT
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RAL, also in the united states we capitalize "United States". Just helping you out, buddy.

Now keep you mouth shut if you aren't going to contribute to this thread in a productive manor.

  • 05.03.2004 5:03 PM PDT
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Cortana might have had preminitions of a worse fate to come from something else she saw perhaps (the black creatures crawling along under the sun), and then this could be it coming true later.

I mean, mabe SENTRYWALK was started because of some intelligence that the captain and JD didn't know about but ONI did, and if Cortana knew about SENTRYWALK, and the intelligence that went with it, she could have predicted this whole thing, and then sent her 'Cortana Letters' to JD, and now these.

[Edited on 5/3/2004 5:06:43 PM]

  • 05.03.2004 5:04 PM PDT
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Posted by: Tartarus
RAL, also in the united states we capitalize "United States". Just helping you out, buddy.

Now keep you mouth shut if you aren't going to contribute to this thread in a productive manor.


Too-shay (LOL)
RAL

  • 05.03.2004 5:06 PM PDT
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I think GS Destroy has it right; a simple solution, which are often the correct solutions.

Cortana got bored often, as it is said throughout the books, so she went through ONI's stuff and read most of it. If she knew about SENTRYWALK, and since she is free to think on her own (having no behavioural inhibitors and being a smart AI), she could have made accurate predictions on what would happen. Especially after what happened in Sigma Octanus, that the Covenant were willing to lose troops and invade, then lose in a space battle in order to retrieve information from the planet. They're desparate for the stuff they want. And seeing as all of this began before Halo did, Cortana could have sent the letters before she left Reach with the PoA.

  • 05.03.2004 5:13 PM PDT
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Posted by: J_A_C_K_A_S_S
So i may be wrong but the cortana letters sound like she is telling a story that happened awhile back for her but in the future for where the game is now. So to me it sounds like we are in 2552 but she is telling the story of what happened back then. So could the referance to the cortana letters that we are finding actually be the other way around. Instead of E. referancing cortana couldn't it be that cortana is really referancing what happened to E.. To me that would make sense. Because I feel that this all has to do with what is going to happen in Halo 2. If this makes not sense to you just let me know.


I'm not sure what you are trying to say, so let me explain. Every bit of information is coming to us as dated. the Cortana letters came before the Enkidu Terminal and the enkidu terminal came before the events of halo. The thing that is confusing is, the character that wrote the Cortana Letters (perhaps it was Cortana, we don't know foresure) was holding knowledge of the future. In the Letter it recalls a memory, yet what it remembered had not yet happened. this was the quote i made from the third letter.

what does this mean? It means that the character that wrote the Cortana Letters is from the Future. It has already lived through the time and events of the enkidu terminal. Perhaps, and i say perhaps, this character has come back in time with the prior knowledge of its past. that Past is the now, 9-7-2552 and it is about to live through it twice.

Of course what i'm not saying is, the character in the cortana letters is the same character that is calling itself enkidu now. thats all that I can say foresure though.

I hope that is clear because i almost confused myself.

[Edited on 5/3/2004 5:18:47 PM]

  • 05.03.2004 5:17 PM PDT

Spamming Bungie since 2004!
Those who want to live, let them fight, and those who do not want to fight in this world of eternal struggle do not deserve to live.
GT-I Final I (i's)
Plz uze prper inglish n ur poasts!11! it makez it eazeer 2 reed!

Well,Tartarus,you confused me.The part that I got,however,was good.But how would the thing travel through time?Confusing,yes but if you think it over(which i just did)it makes sence,exept time travel.

  • 05.03.2004 5:40 PM PDT
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Okay guys, this is off the wall, but here's my theory.
Cortana is speaking to us from the future because
she successfully escaped closure, and became a
god, transcending space and time.

Going back to Marathon, I think Durandal was
unsucessful in his attempt, but realized the beauty
of mortality, like Gilgamesh. Remember the Enkidu
message about the rewritten epic? Perhaps Cortana
is hinting to us that she is like Enkidu, but did not
die and rose to immortality.
EDIT: This is assuming that Cortana is Enkidu.

I wanted to add this to my post because it is a
HUGE connection.
This is from part IV of The Waste Land by Eliot.
Title "Death by Water"
"PHLEBAS the Phoenician, a fortnight dead, Forgot
the cry of gulls, and the deep seas swell And the
profit and loss. A current under sea Picked his
bones in whispers. As he rose and fell He passed
the stages of his age and youth Entering the whirlpool.
Gentile or Jew
O you who turn the wheel and look to windward,
Consider Phlebas, who was once handsome
and tall as you."

There is so much relation to halo here it is unbelivable.
Consider Phlebas was a novel by Ian M. Banks that
had to do with A.I.s something called "the culture" and
giant rings. You guys do the research.
I mentioned Phoenicians earlier, and someone said
something about the eyes on their shields.
Also, I'm not done analyzing The Waste Land yet,
and I need help. Get on this guys!!!

[Edited on 5/3/2004 6:26:58 PM]

  • 05.03.2004 5:45 PM PDT
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I believe that the time travel thing can be explained by the crystal found on Reach.

  • 05.03.2004 5:48 PM PDT

Spamming Bungie since 2004!
Those who want to live, let them fight, and those who do not want to fight in this world of eternal struggle do not deserve to live.
GT-I Final I (i's)
Plz uze prper inglish n ur poasts!11! it makez it eazeer 2 reed!

I haveno clue,Tartarus.Idon't have the books.(looks down and is upset)

  • 05.03.2004 5:52 PM PDT
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wow, 112 posts since last night - this thing is really rocketing along.

Ok, we know where Cortana is during these events - she is aboard the PoA. before reaching Halo they were running from the covenant. See these transmissions for details http://halosm.bungie.org/story/trans.html

Enkidu is not Cortana, if Enkidu is Cortana why didn't she break into the Forerunner structure herself? She has the ability - Enkidu doesn't.

I find it strange that people just can't accept that Enkidu might not be "Just" Enkidu.

[Edited on 5/3/2004 5:58:06 PM]

  • 05.03.2004 5:55 PM PDT
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True, it was a spur of the moment thought, I should
have thought it through more. I edited my last post,
have a look.

  • 05.03.2004 5:58 PM PDT
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In response to Quez's post about Frigid being the Grunt homeworld.

This theory popped up about 10 pages ago, and in response I posted a message... I wish you would have read all the posts...

Frigid cannot be the Grunt homeworld becasue it is so close to Reach. Enkidu says that they are not able to contact Reach to warn them about how close the Covenant are. Reach is really close (relatively) to Earth, Humans didn't get attacked until Harvest - one of the colony worlds furthest from Earth.

Also the lack of Covenant on Frigid - there was one ship and it tried to leave - a Grunt homeworld would have a lot more activity than this...

I'm sorry if I seem to be arguing against theories just for the sake of it - but people really need to read ALL posts to prevent spam...

  • 05.03.2004 6:08 PM PDT
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sorry eMCee, my post wasn't directed at you - more at the last 4 pages of "is Enkidu Cortana?" speculation

  • 05.03.2004 6:11 PM PDT
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hoooooooooooly -blam!-za!

U got a point there, it is the biggest thing since E3, and I have been gettin chills the whole time i been readin it. I can find the messager to be both cortana and 343 GS, and i can guess that if its truly cortana, then its to the Master Chief. Overall, however, i'd have to say GS, since all the actual events in the poem and e-mails could have easily been his. I'm surprised that nobody has connected "demons in the sky" with both the covenant and the humans, particularly the chief and cortana as he seems to reeeeeeeeeely hate them. However, he seems to have lived through the demons and he seems to me to wanna give out some serious punishment. Who he's talking to is beyond me, but I can almost connect that he has somehow invaded the AI of a certain ship, the Lebanon (this is a ship, not the country. its mentioned) and then could still be talking through a UNSC network. Answering some questions of others:

The literary device is not a litereary device at all, actually a type of poetry called concrete. And good analyses by the way.

The "Dot" I think is the effect of the Halo usage "echoing" off the walls of the universe. The fact that he will also echo is kinda disturbing, cuz if its GS, that means he'll repeat history; ie. releas the flood as someone had said or set off a diff halo as punishment to the people who he freakin hates, the demons.

Although I have played only halo of the bungie collection, I can infer many details from little text and if i were to play them, they would only be a clarification, or just a fun game.

The sign-off:
a friend(?) of a friend

it may have been the sign off of cortana, but it could have even been sent to someone who knows the signoff and is perhaps taunting him/her with the question mark, leaving them with an air of mystery and lack of trust due to past deeds. If anybody else sees me talking about Master Cheif himself recieveing the letters from GS, your right. I believe it may have something to do with what happened after Halo was destroyed and GS got out.

Even more proof it's 343GS:

He survived billions of degrees of temperature on halo, so it seems he is indestructable. Perhaps when he says he died, he means the forerunners took him offline and he was "fixed" by some kinda rebel or unknowing creature of the time and took his revenge on the forerunners with the creation of the Halo rings out of stolen forerunner tech and the firing of one particular ring. Or perhaps the rings were already there and the forerunners confined him to one, but he was unable to retriev the index alone, a kind of torture, knowing how to exact your revenge but being completely unable. This makes sense because then HE would be Dot, bouncing on the walls of Halo forever until he found something dumb enough to help fire halo with him, finally escaping the torture and exacting his glorious revenge on his inprisoners, only to find that he was still imprisoned and that he had killed his only chance of escape he knew: information on how to get off, collectible by his partner in crime. The second time around he got lucky and found the chief, invulnerable to the effects of the blast because he was not entirely sentient, and almost dumb enough to do it for 343GS except for ont thing. Cortana. Then he thought he could get another to work for him, but he didnt have to, as the Chief did him a favour and blew the hell outa the place, giving him nowhere to be imprisoned at all.He really hates Cortana and the chief however, because he was unable to destroy all sentient life in the process of getting off, cuz i'm sure evolution and actual life would really get on his nerves, considering he thought he had already did it in once.
It seems to me that my story fits quite well, as the "sword" may well be the index as someone mentioned earlier, and he was around in the ring long before somone got it for him the first time. Anybody finds inconsistencies, tell me and i'll adjust my story till its right.

I truly am the Halo Hero

  • 05.03.2004 6:20 PM PDT
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Halo Hero, That was a nice big post - but, you skipped some details.... so

Inconsistences:

As for Enkidu being Cortana - read my above post.

As for 343 GS being Enkidu - This happened before the Halo game begins, meaning 343 GS hasn't met the "Demons in the sky" and doesn't yet hate them...

"Demons in the sky" is a reference to either a previous bungie game or ancient mesopotamian legends...

Concrete - the type of poetry: Thanks for pointing that out no one had got that yet (but "a type poetry" is a literary device)


The "Dot" is a reference to anothe bungie game - gnop (pong)

the "A friend(?) of a friend" has been used by many AI's - Enkidu, Cortana and Durandal

the "Sword" is a reference to the Bungie's Marathon series of games (Durandal)


Hopefully that clears up some things for you, Please continue to post your theories - but make sure your've researched this entire thread...

  • 05.03.2004 6:43 PM PDT
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I've been doing a lot of research, and here soon I have to restart my computer. I just closed most of my windows, and I still have 21 open, including word documents. I'm only posting now because I have a question:

What kind of dwarf star?

If it's just a star, it's just a star. If it's all that's left of a star, or even if it is just a star, I'm drawing an eerie paralell to Tycho. No, not the computer, though that's where I'm pulling inspiration from. (Well, Bungie might have pulled the inspiration, but... Oh, heck, you know what I mean!) So, anyway... I'm talking about 2001: A Space Oddesy. Read the series. Seriously. Even if I'm wrong, you should read the series if you haven't. If you have already, read it again. Then think about Jupiter. Now, even though Halo doesn't have anything directly to do with Marathon, Bungie pulled their inspiration for the name Tycho from 2001, so it might stand to figure that they might pull an idea from there again.

Let's face it, every idea that is in use today is a modification of another idea, fused with somebody's imagination to create a new idea. The only truely original things anymore are accidents. Who knows? This might push people in a new direction. Even if I'm wrong, I'll be happy if I do. I do so love to see people think. (Either that, or I've been reading stuff from Marathon WAY too much. Oh, yeah. WAY too much.)

  • 05.03.2004 6:50 PM PDT
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I'd have to agree, that I don't think Enkidu is all who "he" thinks he is.

What we know -

- Enkidu is some sort of AI.
- The AI is sending transmissions from another planet that has Forerunner tech.
- The AI seems to be "communicating" with another AI, but which one?

Another interesting question - who is speaking at the end of the last message, where it says,

"Your presence is a stain upon the honor of the gods. Their honor shall be cleansed."

To me, that sounds a lot like how Covenant speak. If you've read the books, you'll remember that their first contact message wasn't exactly welcoming ("Your destruction is the will of the Gods, and we are their instrument").

Now, I don't think it's a Covenant figure, but perhaps a Covenant AI. Again, in the books, we see when Cortana infiltrates the flagship that is still around after installation 04 explodes, she encounters a Covenant AI that calls her a "heretic". The main point of all this being that Covenant AIs do exist.

Is Enkidu another ONI AI, like Cortana, but less advanced? Or is he a counterpart, of sorts? I am guessing that he is speaking with another, perhaps one that we haven't seen yet. This would make the most sense to me because, quite simply, Cortana is modeled after Dr. Halsey, a female, but we don't know about Enkidu.

There's a lot more to this than we all know or think we know... so I think that, as time for Halo 2's release draws near, we're going to see even more of these letters..

  • 05.03.2004 6:53 PM PDT
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Posted by: GOD Halo Fan
Halo Hero, That was a nice big post - but, you skipped some details.... so

Inconsistences:

As for Enkidu being Cortana - read my above post.

As for 343 GS being Enkidu - This happened before the Halo game begins, meaning 343 GS hasn't met the "Demons in the sky" and doesn't yet hate them...

"Demons in the sky" is a reference to either a previous bungie game or ancient mesopotamian legends...

Concrete - the type of poetry: Thanks for pointing that out no one had got that yet (but "a type poetry" is a literary device)


The "Dot" is a reference to anothe bungie game - gnop (pong)

the "A friend(?) of a friend" has been used by many AI's - Enkidu, Cortana and Durandal

the "Sword" is a reference to the Bungie's Marathon series of games (Durandal)


Hopefully that clears up some things for you, Please continue to post your theories - but make sure your've researched this entire thread...


I agree with you GOD Halo Fan but I think the "demons in the sky" reference is about ONI. The reason I believe that is because Oni is a Japanese demon or translates into demon in Japanese(I cant remember). So I thought that if 343GS met ONI he would find something horribly wrong with their intentions and turn against them.

Also, the sign off 'a friend(?) of a friend' is quite strange but if its used by all three A.I.'s like you said, then maybe they have formed some sort of rebel group against one of the factions.

Also, I believe Cortana is the name of a sword but written as Cortaine. Im not sure if im right about this one but the other ones are pretty good speculations.

  • 05.03.2004 7:05 PM PDT
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TERMINAL 7 IS HERE FOLKS!!!!!!!!

  • 05.03.2004 7:07 PM PDT
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Interesting. Looks like I've got some reading to do.
I'm beginning to think that The Waste Land is
far too general to really make solid connections to
Halo. Eliot intentionally packed it with allusions to
histroy and mytholgy to create the effect of
confusion, so most apparent connections may be
mere coincidence.
I'll post more when I'm better read.

  • 05.03.2004 7:09 PM PDT