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This topic has moved here: Subject: Enkidu - Cortana Letters Revisted?
  • Subject: Enkidu - Cortana Letters Revisted?
Subject: Enkidu - Cortana Letters Revisted?
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Quick analysis before I go off to bed.

Thanks to your friends, I found a few new cubby holes in this place. Some spiffy tools were lying about in there, too, left behind by the previous owners. (Moving in is so much faster with a few helping hands, isn't it?) I can't begin to describe how much those have helped me brighten up the place.

So now it's obvious that E. has found some automatons (sentinels?) to help him do whatever he's doing. Tools, but also helping hands? Sounds like a robot to me. They were also left behind by the previous owners, meaning that in order to control them, E. must now have access to some of the Forerunner network.

It's really starting to feel like home in here. Nothing like a change of venue to make you feel like a new man. Oh, that's right, you don't consider me a man. Maybe you're right. I wouldn't fit inside skin anymore, anyway.


Obviously this means that E. is talking. The whole thing about "fitting inside the skin", though... makes me think if maybe E.'s designers made him to be another AI that piggybacked along with a Spartan, but never got the chance. I don't know, really. Or maybe what he means by "skin" is not literal, but more figurative, with "man" meaning something that fellows humans of that time would recognize as something manmade - meaning he's become more than he originally was, something hybrid or advanced beyond human (as AIs go).

Anyhow, your playmates outside are really frosting me. They keep trying to pry into my place, peeking in the windows and making a nuisance of themselves. They're not very good at it, though, for all their prating. They keep ranting that this place should be theirs, but finders-keepers, right? I squatted here first. Tough luck for them and their holy rollers.

Okay, this is without a doubt confirmation that JD's "friends" are the Covenant, trying to get into the installation. The whole "ranting" and "holy-rollers" thing should make this clear to everyone.

Come to think of it, it's tough luck for you too isn't it? Don't worry though. You always land on your feet. Even when I push you.

Like now.

You want to get the door? That knocking should be your friends, and I'm a little busy taking care of unfinished business here.

Go on now! Get that door! Scat!


These last few lines are a bit chilling. Mainly because we see here that E. is willing to possibly put JD in danger in order to get something done - in other words, he's using his control and command of the place to manipulate things for his own designs, whatever they may be.

Obviously, E. is using JD to do things around the installation, much like 343 GS did with MC without telling him what he was REALLY doing. My question is, what is this "unfinished business" that he is referring to? Probably something that we'll see or hear about later, I guess.

As for the nature of what E. is, I have another hypothesis - maybe E. has, as an artificial consciousness, fragmented into two or more parts. They are all sympathetic (relatively) to JD and his fellow soldiers, but different parts control at different times. I bring this up because I am left scratching my head as to why the Covenant transmission would have, in simple steganography, the phrase "ENKIDU LIVES!" Perhaps it is the small, original facet of E. that is trying to let JD know that it is still in the system and alive, but wholly overwhelmed by the other fragments of AI consciousness that are running the show (which derive their power from the Forerunner network and code used to patch up E.).

Just an idea...

As for the content search, I think Bungie is on to us...

meta name="keywords" content="Marathon, Halo, Bungie, Enkidu, fanfic, crude extended metaphor, juvenilebehaviour"

What's more, look at the title of the window: "If you thought I was a pain before..."

That's it for me tonight - I'll check back in tomorrow, and see what all have to say.

  • 05.06.2004 1:00 AM PDT
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Hey Ogun good job. I think you have the right idea about the artificial consciousness. I was kinda thinking along the same lines. Although i dont think it is the covies that JD is letting in. E. has been keeping them outside for awhile now but he has been letting in the humans.

Edit: It is late and i am too sleepy to think anymore.

[Edited on 5/6/2004 1:09:40 AM]

  • 05.06.2004 1:09 AM PDT
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Jackass - nice job of finding the new terminal before it's on the main page...

Ogun - my take on the the keyword content:

Crude Extended Metaphor - probaby refers to the whole Enkidu and the Epic of Gilgamesh thing... Crude because it's a rough comparison, Extended because it just keeps going, and Metaphor explains itself...

Juvenile Behaviour - probably refers to Enkidu's tone in this part of the message:
Come to think of it, it's tough luck for you too isn't it? Don't worry though. You always land on your feet. Even when I push you.

Like now.

You want to get the door? That knocking should be your friends, and I'm a little busy taking care of unfinished business here.

Go on now! Get that door! Scat!


[Edited on 5/6/2004 1:59:48 AM]

  • 05.06.2004 1:59 AM PDT
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enkidu_k.html is finally on the main terminal... wonder why it took so long?

The time and network status on the main terminal have also changed again...

[Edited on 5/6/2004 5:56:01 AM]

  • 05.06.2004 5:28 AM PDT
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My problem is figuring out whether or not Enkidu is hostile or not.

His new helpers must be Sentinels, the question is how can Enkidu control them and where is the Monitor of this installation? 343 Guilty Spark wasn't released until the Flood were, maybe this installation has a monitor and the monitor hasn't been activated yet. Maybe Enkidu's plan will "wake up" the Monitor, then all hell will break loose.

We still don't know anything about the tremors or the rest of the humans on Frigid. We know that they're there on planet, and holed up relatively safely in the Forerunner installation. It's obvious that Enkidu has kept the Covenant out of the facility for the most part, so the question is why are the humans allowed in? It can't be Enkidu being kind to them, maybe he's giving JD motivation for following along with his (Enkidu's) plan.

Personally, I think JD is one of the SPARTAN-IIs in Mjolnir MkI armor. I think it's implied in Fall of Reach that though the three Spartans were too far away to be recalled they still were in hopes that they'd make it to Reach. This is all of course before the UNSC knew about the Covenant assault on Reach.

  • 05.06.2004 6:02 AM PDT
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Just a quick question then (yep, I'm a n00b), if these may be the cortana letters re-visited, then can anyone tell me were the original letters are...?

ta

  • 05.06.2004 6:04 AM PDT
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Thorne:

In my opinion Enkidu is more like an ally than on the same side. He's an ally because he seems to be helping you a whole lot more than the Covenant, but there is always the posibility that he may abandon you is it suits him.

I'm thinking these are a different type of sentinal, the ones on Halo were designed to prevent a flood outbreak and so far we haven't seen any flood. Also the old sentinals don't seem like they'd be able to help "brighten up the place".

Sentinals just seem like drones, they only know how to do one thing. As such Enkidu would have no probs controlling them through the planetary network - It's probably how 343 GS controlled the ones on Halo...

  • 05.06.2004 6:17 AM PDT
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Posted by: loony_n_darwen
Just a quick question then (yep, I'm a n00b), if these may be the cortana letters re-visited, then can anyone tell me were the original letters are...?

ta


they are all through this thread... you got a lot of reading to do.

they're not exactly the Cortana Letter re-visited... but they probably are a teaser for Halo 2

You can find the letters and transmission here...

Cortana Letters
http://marathon.bungie.org/story/cortana.html

Halo Transmissions
http://halosm.bungie.org/story/trans.html


[Edited on 5/6/2004 6:27:07 AM]

  • 05.06.2004 6:25 AM PDT
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Wow, 35 pages! took me an hour and a half to read, even skimming over the longer stuff. I, like everyone else, looked at Terminal 10's source code and found an interesting bit in the META tags.... Charlene??? what is all this nonsense about? Now, i haven't read the halo books yet (hoping to get them soon :>) but for the life of me i haven't heard of a Charlene during ALL of my research and reading during the Cortana Letters or the Enkidu Terminals. But lets keep up the good work and crack this mystery!

  • 05.06.2004 6:51 AM PDT
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Someone was mentioning about the crystals and the fact that they may have time altering properties. Someone was also talking about tremors that started when the ship landed on. Game Informer magazine (issue#133, page 46) was mentioning that HALO 2 would be "....including a huge beast capable of flipping over a Warthog!"

Could this be a hint to a rampaging herd of dinosaurs that was last seen in the HALO-Evolution video here and the original HALO trailer from E3 2000 here showing a herd of dinosaurs attacking a squad of men? That would be awesome!

  • 05.06.2004 8:54 AM PDT
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Wouldn't anything be more helpful than a plasma round to the face? Seems to me to be the only kind of help the Covenant offer, lol.

The "new" Sentinels may be different than the ones we're all familiar with, I'll grant you that. They do sound as if they at least have some kind of tools that they can use to manipulate the environment.

  • 05.06.2004 9:05 AM PDT
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The line, from If you thought I was a pain before; Thanks to your friends, I found a few new cubby holes in this place. Some spiffy tools were lying about in there, too, left behind by the previous owners. (Moving in is so much faster with a few helping hands, isn't it?) I can't begin to describe how much those have helped me brighten up the place.

I don't know how the Covenant, who are outside, would help him find new cubby holes. I think he's referring to Lt. Demarais team, who would be inside if they have survived. The Covenant wouldn't be able to be helping hands, but Lt. Demarais team would be. Maybe the tools he found are the helping hands, but I don't think so because the helping hands that sped up his moving in were already there when he found the cubby holes containing the tools.

  • 05.06.2004 9:33 AM PDT
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January 30, 2004 (Warthog's Day)
The Master Chief emerged from his code. After seeing his dynamically lit realtime shadow, he went back for 9 more months of development.


Behold the power of the Originals, the Gods Axeone-Neurone.

Not only has Enkidu found tools (weapons?) hidden in the cubby holes, but he must have also found weapons within himself. Why else would he refer to himself as a school book repository? He is the storage for weapons and the vantage point from which they are used.

A school book repository is where Oswald shot Kennedy and left his rifle. While this metaphor is crude it is not extended except maybe over time.

  • 05.06.2004 10:10 AM PDT
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Well since this is a planet, I'm finally going to rule out the flood theory since those were stricky the Haloes themselves. It MIGHT be some other race? But I doubt it. It sounds like the structure under the ONI facility and the one's that were under and in the museums on other planets. Maybe there's one on Earth too? Who knows...

  • 05.06.2004 11:01 AM PDT

My thumbsticks will be your Doom.... sorry 'bout that.
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Possible theories on Ekindu letters:

1. they are fanfic and should not be taken seriuosly.

2. they are sanctioned by bungie "a la Cortana letters" and should be taken very seriously.

3. They tell a story of a lost Spartan and an AI that uncontrollably merges with Forerunner technology.

4. -stranded UNSC crew on a very important Forerunner site trying to defend it and save their lives from the Covenant.(sound familiar?)

5. Possibly has connection with dr.Halsey and Spartan 087 following up on Ackerson's secret projects. (doubtful however cause their vector when departing wasn't towards any known system whereas Frigid is close to Reach)

6. special introduction to a MasterCheif rescue mission for Halo2. Where the Cheif goes to Frigid with Cortana to pull out his fellow Spartan JD and surviving marines, while Cortana straightens out Ekindu -or- the same thing that corrupted ekindu ends up corrupting cortana and the Chief and JD have to fight their way out sans AI.(In the E3 vid, Jasaon Jones(Ithink) does mention that the next game will be a galactic romp!)

7. they are setting us up for an introduction to another race or another artifact or another AI like 343GS or all of the above.

[Edited on 5/6/2004 11:14:25 AM]

  • 05.06.2004 11:11 AM PDT

My thumbsticks will be your Doom.... sorry 'bout that.
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Ummm... this is regarding the legrange topic a few posts back. there is no permanent "dark side of the moon". The moon orbits the earth but has no rotation. Meaning the same side of the moon is always facing earth. When there is a half moon, we on earth are only seeing half of the lit side. The most obvious example to explain that there is no perma-darkside is a solar eclipse by the moon.
Now just as the moon always faces earth the same way -so does Frigid orbit its sun. The Halo construct was similar in that one side always faced Threshold while in orbit around it.
Orbital mechanics aside, i think we need to be asking ourselves how if any does this ekindu stuff relate to Halo2???

  • 05.06.2004 11:44 AM PDT
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Please follow the quotes and at the end I'll reveal what i'm thinking...

Posted by: buck3803
A legrange point is always going to be relative to the primary sun. The Moon is the perfect example, because it really isn't Earth's moon. A moon rotates around a planet. The Moon is at a Legrange point just beyond Earth from the Sun. That's where the expression "dark side of the moon" comes from, because there really is one. It just happened that one of the legrange points in the system that contained Threshold and Basis was directly between Threshold and Basis. It has nothing to do with them really. Just like the Moon really has nothing to do with Earth, which means it really isn't a moon anyway. Right?

Edit - on object in a legrange point will remain there until the end of time, so this not only relates to the primary sun but to every primary body in the solar system, i.e. every planet.
It will always face the same direction with some possibly slight "oscillation" that isn't really movement on the object in the legrange point but movement of the planet the object is viewed from. I think, it's something like that anyway.


I think that this is far more important than anyone realizes. A quote from Enkidu #7 about Frigid:
Not that summer is terribly long down here. It's hard to count days when the sun never sets, and months don't apply without moons, do they? I could give you a count of the seconds, but why? It's always sunlight under the rosy sky. It makes me believe in eternity.

So Frigid is at a legrange point, and buck3808, you also said that installation 004 was at a legrange point:
Installation 004 was located at a legrange point between the gas giant Threshold and it's moon Basis. So, we now have two seperate installations that are both at legrange points in their respective solar systems


So here is what I'm thinking: Could Frigid be another halo installation? Perhaps this Figid instalation is encased in a ball of ice for some reason and has been mistaken for a planet. Check out this quote from halo. Its cortana speaking to the cheif on Level Assault on the Control Room:

Interesting... the weather patterns here seem natural, not artificial. I wonder if the ring's environment systems are malfunctioning... or if the designers wanted the installation to have inclement weather.

Now please don't go flamming me but what if Frigid is another instalation that is encased in a ball of ice. Perhaps its weather system has malfunctioned. If a ring has enough power to wipe out all life within 25,000 light years, I'm sure it has enough power to run the AC on full and turn the place into a freezer. We also know that the structures on frigid resemble the ones found on instalation 004.

Another mystery are the tremors on Frigid. These tremors are coming from within the planet. Another clue a ring is inside? In he latest #10 enkidu says he has to take care of "unfinished business". whats he preparing to do? Defrost the place maybe?

I have my doubts as well, but seriously, is this worth analyzing? I think so.

[Edited on 5/6/2004 12:10:42 PM]

  • 05.06.2004 12:08 PM PDT
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Posted by: Doom Sticks
Ummm... this is regarding the legrange topic a few posts back. there is no permanent "dark side of the moon". The moon orbits the earth but has no rotation. Meaning the same side of the moon is always facing earth. When there is a half moon, we on earth are only seeing half of the lit side. The most obvious example to explain that there is no perma-darkside is a solar eclipse by the moon.
Now just as the moon always faces earth the same way -so does Frigid orbit its sun. The Halo construct was similar in that one side always faced Threshold while in orbit around it.
Orbital mechanics aside, i think we need to be asking ourselves how if any does this ekindu stuff relate to Halo2???


Actually, the moon does rotate on its axis. But the way it rotates makes it look like its always the same side. The moon rotates once every 27.3 days, this is due to it being slowed down over millions of years by the tidal gravitational pull of the earth and moon together. In fact all moons in the solar system except Hyperion(Saturns Moon) rotate in this way. Basically its an optical illusion.

[Edited on 5/6/2004 12:12:18 PM]

  • 05.06.2004 12:09 PM PDT
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Tartarus, nice theory. If the ring froze, the ring would be crushed because of the ice expanding. But this expansion of the ice and the Halo being crushed may be the cause of the tremors.

  • 05.06.2004 12:25 PM PDT
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lol.....this is crazy.....yae i thought we had lost u for a bit there tartarus....

  • 05.06.2004 12:47 PM PDT
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I've yet to see how any of this can relate to Halo 2. We know that in Halo 2 the game takes place on earth and another halo installation, and in a forerunner station in the atmosphere of a gas giant. Maybe Frigid is the halo we go to in Halo 2, except its not really a halo, if you get what I mean.

  • 05.06.2004 12:55 PM PDT
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I know why he says, "I wouldn't fit inside skin anymore, anyway." It's due to how he used to be the person Endiku (not really, but he defienetly thinks he was Endiku). Of course, part of him realizes that he's an AI nowadays and also Endiku at the same time (Obviously he recognizes the AI part, especially since he's in a computer right now...). Therefore, that why he says that he won't fit into skin anymore. It's very much akin to Cortana's line, "If I still had fingers, they'd be crossed right now."

  • 05.06.2004 1:05 PM PDT
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We need number 11 faster, I'm having withdrawals.

  • 05.06.2004 1:38 PM PDT
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Tartarus-

Sorry but your theory doesn't hold up this time. If Frigid is a HALO structure, then the forerunner installations would be ON THE INSIDE of the ring, inside the ice. Think about it...

When you're on HALO, you're on the inside of the curve, which would be the center of the iceball. So that's a no go. But good brainstorming.

  • 05.06.2004 1:43 PM PDT
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Posted by: Zk315
I know why he says, "I wouldn't fit inside skin anymore, anyway." It's due to how he used to be the person Endiku (not really, but he defienetly thinks he was Endiku). Of course, part of him realizes that he's an AI nowadays and also Endiku at the same time (Obviously he recognizes the AI part, especially since he's in a computer right now...). Therefore, that why he says that he won't fit into skin anymore. It's very much akin to Cortana's line, "If I still had fingers, they'd be crossed right now."


that is a good statement and to help further this... remeber in the book halo the flood... the ai welsley thought he was ummm i think the duke and i remember him constantly saying that he was in the battles

good point

  • 05.06.2004 1:44 PM PDT