- ROBERTO jh
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- Fabled Heroic Member
@anoton
Perphaps I phrased it wrong. I know the Elites are just as easily blammed for destroying humanity. I also know that they are not truly free; they still worship the Forerunners.
But they were the only ones who would accept they had been played and did something about it, that is undeniable. To me, that shows they are more open minded, or at least have the potential to become more then just a race of beligerants.
When Spark straight out says that the Halos are a WMD, not a religious gateway, who believed him? Who accepted it? Not the Brutes, but the Elites. They were the more intelligent race.
Now something else I should say is that this line of thought is made to fit into a certain chain of events that are yet to take place, but I have theorized upon. I feel that the Elites will inherit the Mantle after humanity is done with it, because they broke away, the only ones who saw the truth, and therefore the only ones who would be responsible enough to take the Mantle. So obviously this analogy can never be 100% accurate since its based on something that has not occured yet and may never occur.
And after further reading the rest of your post, I feel the need to agree with you. However, that is not to say I am done.
Another ideology I worked under while considering this is one I adhere too.
I (at the risk of being flammed) find religion to be a waste of time. I find the concept of people using other's faiths to achieve their own ends or otherwise telling other people what to believe to be foolish. It shows a complete lack of self reliance and self esteem: "I feel powerless, so I feel the need to have a guy in robes tell me what to believe in life."
Nobody can tell you what to believe.
I tend to walk in the middle ground. I believe in a higher power, but I don't believe in any established "God." What you were saying, that Anger, Fear, Submissiveness (pertaining to the Drones, and by extension, all of the Client races) is kind of what I was getting at.
Religion and faith are two different things to me. Halo without a doubt heavily criticizes the concept of religion and I fully agree with it; its because of religion an entire society fell apart in the games. Its the main reason for a lot of the strife in human history as well.
Its filled with so much hypocrisy its laughable.
Now I'm not saying I cannot stand those who practice it, let me say that now because I'm out of flame suits. I'm also not saying all religions are like this, I'm just saying it as a practice has a huge resume of being used as such. Three of my best friends go to church every sunday; we just have an unspoken rule to never bring it up. If you practice a religion, that's fine, I'm not one to judge.
But what I'm saying is that the concept of deities and higher powers are still a driving aspect of the story. Great Journey, the Precursors, Neural Physics and so on. Greg Bear even says flat out the Precursors are akin to gods.
So yes, religion is ripped a new one in Halo. That does not preclude the possibility gods and higher powers can exist in the story, the concept that there is a spiritual level of consciousness (which, I believe, is proposed via the Great Journey, a kind of afterlife or heaven so to speak. It at least is most certainly alluded to being a higher plane of existance, so it'd fit nicely in those parameters. And yes, by the way, the Journey is real, the Didact says the Forerunners will begin their Great Journey without the Librarian.) can not be said doesn't exist.
To me, the Covenant represent the people who are being used by religion to fit the needs of those sitting on a seat of power; all you did, anton, was agree with me. Anger, Submissiveness, Fear, and even Greed and corruption. Surely the people who run these religious cults are driven by the lust for power, just like the Prophets.
And yes, the Elites and their arrogance. A lot of people who feel they will ascend to a higher reality while the other, non believers are punished for eternity have an incredibly inflated ego (case in point: West Bro Baptist Church). The delusion you are the sole inheritors of the universe can lead to that.
But the Elites, despite their ego, and despite what promises had built up that ego for five-thousand years still saw the lies for what they truly were and fought against it. It takes an awful lot of maturity to admit you were completely, ruinously, wrong. If only for the briefest moment, they took their destiny in their own hands, not lead by false Prophets or false Gods, but themselves.
Yes, the Elites still believe in their gods. To think that an entire culture that has stood for thousands of years would just say "-blam!- it" and move on over night (or in this case, a few months) isn't logical. But they no less took that first step that the others wouldn't take. And first steps are the most important part of any process of growth.
So as I said: perhaps I didn't word it correctlly. And I also do not doubt for a second the only reason I thought of this at all is because of my own personal beliefs. But to me, it makes sense.