- last post: 01.01.0001 12:00 AM PDT
Posted by: GS Destroy
That was my point - another option would be the data network, and knowing Bungie, that's a viable option as they never like to do things the same twice. (No wonder they're games are so good.)
Thank you! I finally found someone who agrees with me on the Flood issue - why would we want to play the same damned old boring game again? It'd be Halo on a planet this time, not Halo 2. But then again, I could be wrong.
As for a few other things...
I agree with Shifty's analysis of Enkidu's terminal signings - they seem to reflect a fragmented sense of self. As for the whole thing about Enkidu being not a man anymore, I've said before how, since he's been in the network and patched with Forerunner code, he has EVOLVED to something more than what a human AI could ever be. In other words, while his capacities and abilities are more than any other human AI at the moment in this network (and I'm gonna stick my neck out and say Cortana is included in this group), it is because he is now a hybrid AI, one made of human and Forerunner code - hence he is no more a man in the eyes of his creators - but he's still an AI.
As for the posts about 343 GS - stop it. This is not 343 GS. He died (vaporized, floating in space, whatever) in Halo. So far, the only way Enkidu can communicate with JD is via the terminals, and if it was another Monitor (like 343 GS), why communicate via terminal? Wouldn't it just show up in a blink of yellow energy and teleport around? For the function of a monitor, that would be much more efficient - and monitors would be able to move JD from places they don't like via teleportation. If there is a monitor on Frigid, we haven't seen him yet. Also, monitors, being in charge of their place, would not act like spoiled children or angry parents when people they can't stop go into things they aren't allowed to - they'd just instead try to find some way to stop them (ala 343 GS siccing his sentinels on MC).
I don't know what is behind the doors - perhaps a data core, or (here's an idea) the Index for the world of Frigid. We don't know if there is an Index for Frigid, but we also don't know if there isn't one either. Whatever it is, it is something that Enkidu doesn't want the others to see and/or have - and I don't think it's out of concern for JD and his friends, but more for himself and his own designs.
Maybe it's the little man behind the curtain pulling the levers and gears and speaking into the mouthpiece, trying to scare JD (and for all we know, the D could stand for Dorothy) from seeing the real him.
Now, here's a crazy-assed idea about WHY the Covenant want to kill the human race...
First off, BEFORE the Covenant encountered humans or Halo, they knew about the Flood somehow. They were able to neutralize the Flood, and afterwards were scared to death of them. Most likely because the Flood would have nearly kicked their butts out of existence.
Second, while the Covenant revere Forerunner tech, it doesn't necessarily mean that they revere the Forerunners themselves. For all we know, they could despise the Forerunners, but since none of them are around, the Covenant ruling cast (Prophets and Elites) acts like it likes them, for the sake of appearance.
Third - somehow, humans and Forerunners are connected, and the Covenant ruling castes know this and don't like it, because it somehow challenges and upsets the foundations of their own power base. For more on this, look up Nietzsche's analyses of religion and see how he equates priests (in his book "The Anti-Christ") as people who use their position to maintain power and control over others.
Solution? Kill the offenders - dead men don't tell secrets and can't answer questions.
Finally - when the Covenant came to Halo and found the Flood, they were afraid (Cortana - "The Covenant found something buried, something horrible, and now... they're afraid.") . How would they be afraid unless they automatically knew what it was, be it from legend, history, or experience as a race? They sent in a strike team to deal with the Flood, because they knew the magnitude of the threat. Perhaps their reverence for their technology is what prevented them from destroying the Truth and Reconciliation, whereas with the humans, tech was and is a lot more expendable. They were looking for more tech, but instead found something that they already knew could whup their ass like nothing else. So they chose to try and eradicate it, but not having had experience with disastrous outbreaks like humans have (and who are we to say? All that we've been hearing so far is the human side of all these stories - I'd love to get a primer on Covenant history).
Anyways, crazy ideas aside, I've been working a lot, so that's why I haven't been posting. As for the similarities between the original Cortana letters, the Enkidu terminals, and the Epic of Gilgamesh, well, all I have to say is that there are DEFINITELY connections between all of them.
Here is an excerpt from my copy of the text (Gilgamesh, Gardner, John and Maier, John; Vintage Books, 1984).
For I am the first and the last
I am the honored one and the scorned one.
and here's another doozy...
The one who saw the Abyss I will make the land know;
of him who knew all, let me tell the whole story
... in the same way...
and finally, here's an interesting description...
Two-thirds of him is divine, one-third human.
The image of his body the Great Goddess designed.
She added to him...
Now I don't know about you guys, but that last one sounded like a description of the MC, and more importantly, his "mother", Dr. Halsey.
Any comments?