- Ender
- |
- Exalted Mythic Member
DMUKYA
Proud member of Eagle 117's theory group, The Watchers
Another great theorist group is Avignon
Interested in the mysteries within all of Bungie's games? Check out Theory of Unification
For the Biblical allegorist in you, there's מִכְמַן
Enjoy reading or writing sci-fi or fantasy? Come to New Horizons
Cortana-Curtana (Shortened)
Again, there seems to be some discrepancy with the definition. The name is derived from "curtus" which means "shortened". But the name was original "Courtain", which is French. "Courte" means short. "Courtain" has no specific meaning. However, it does not translate to "shortened". Courtain is not the past tense of a verb, that much is clear. The suffix "ain" is used to form a diminutive. In this case, it should be roughly "Small, short one".
A symbolically broken sword that is part of the traditional English regalia, now included in the Crown Jewels of the United Kingdom. According to legend, it bore the inscription "My name is Cortana, of the same steel and temper of Joyeuse and Durendal" (as Ogier's sword). In "Peter and the Sword of Mercy" the Sword is made of "heavenstone," which is meteoric metal infused with "starstuff." Curtana is the key to the main treasure of the entire book.
You are confusing your legends here. These are two distinctly different swords that have the same english name. The Sword of Mercy, known as Curtana, that is part of the Crown Jewels, is not the same Courtain wielded by Ogier the Dane. On top of that, "Peter and the Sword of Mercy" was a disney creation from 2009. Hardly relevant. The Sword of Mercy is historically believed to have been made for Charles I of England, which would be nearly nine centuries after the events of La Chanson de Roland. The inscription, however, is correctly attributed to Ogier's sword.
The second parallel that jumps out at me is the description of the sword's materials. IMO, to make a sword out of heavenstone and starstuff sounds like quite the feat. The AI Cortana was, metaphorically speaking, made of starstuff and heavenstone.
Again, this is coming from Disney's prequel book to Peter Pan published long after Halo came out.
Seeing that the brain donor is usually supposed to die, having Halsey survive was quite a feat.
Incorrect. The brain donor is not supposed to die after the mapping process. Even Halopedia (an untrustworthy source when they fail to correctly document things) mentions they often perform this process on the brains of the recently deceased or on the flash clone of a living brain, the latter of which was done with Halsey.
Master Chief Parallels:
I agree for the most part. See my posts in this thread for more of my thoughts on the subject.
Its provenance (birthplace) is related in the chanson de geste Mainet (fragment), which describes the childhood of Charlemagne, where he was forced to flee from danger in France and thus spending his time in exile at the court of the Saracen king Galfre in Toledo. Presumably this is where he learned to speak the language of the Saracens.I can find little information on Mainet aside from the fact it is one of the chansons de geste. Do you have a link by any chance to someplace I could get more information about it? I do, however, have information on Joyeuse's inception as given in Charles Le Grete and Croquemitaine again. These works list it as one of the swords forged by Galans, the brother of the smith who forged Durendal and Cortana. Which is interesting, because the inscription on Cortana does not appear in myths until it is recounted in Bullfinches Mythology, some 6 or 7 centuries after La Chanson de Roland is written. That is, in fact, the only instance of this phrase. (In actuality, it appears as "My name is Cortana, of the same steel and temper as Joyeuse and Durindana.")
Curtana's holder, Ogier the Dane had teamed up with Charlemagne; "In La Chevalerie Ogier de Danemarche, he had a son who was slain by Charlot, son of Charlemagne. Seeking revenge, Ogier sought out and slew Charlot, and was only barely prevented from killing Charlemagne. He resisted Charlemagne for seven years but made peace with him to fight at Charlemagne's side against the Saracens, in which battle he slew the giant Brehus." Roland was already an ally.
It should be noted that not only was Roland and ally, he was Charlemagne's nephew and Ogier's best friend.
The inscription the sword holds may support this theory. "Anyone's sword" could mean that anyone could pick it up and use it, the knight included. The inscription may also imply that the AI may be a freelancer in some sense.
Are you going off of this inscription: "Decem oræceptorum custos Carolus"? I was only able to find this in Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. While I do think Brewer's is generally a good source... I can't find any reference to an inscription in any actual Roland mythos texts. In addition, where did you find that it was lost in battle? I may have missed that, but I don't see that in any of the texts.
Assuming Roland and Orgier the Dane were present for Corsuble's beheading (or somewhere near), this is where all three swords come together at last.
This takes place fully within Bulfinch's Mythology, so I will take it as mythos canon for the purpose of this section. Roland and Ogier are both in fact there at this time. It is immediately following this encounter that he, Roland (as Orlando), and Olivier (as Oliver) are knighted. There may be an issue here, though. If we take La Chanson de Roland as correct in when Roland obtained Durendal, he would not have had it at this point. If we take Bulfinch's as correct, he DOES have Durindana in his possession, as he is given it by Charlemagne when knighted. I suppose we must utilize Bulfinch's for this particular analysis.
The linked theory suggests that at the end of Halo 3, the Master Chief is transported to the Marathon universe (200 years before the colony ship Marathon was attacked).
No. No no no. No no no no no. No. I won't go into it here, because I have done so a billion times in the past in a number of different threads. It is IMPOSSIBLE to link Marathon and Halo's universes without either parallel universes or having Durandal escape the closure of the Marathon universe and end up in Halo's. If you absolutely need me to write a detailed summary of this, I can. I spent a long time trying to link the two. I even had a group dedicated to that. It cannot be done. Nor should it.
---
Now, it may seem after reading all of what I've written that I believe you to be a terrible person and a horrid theorist or somesuch. QUITE THE CONTRARY! I think you did a marvelous job taking a small connection (the inscription on Cortana) and fleshing it out with many more connections to find a pattern. I do believe that there are quite a few parallels between Marathon and the Roland Mythos as well as Halo and Ogier's tales. I think, perhaps, that some of your information was taken out of context or was misinterpreted, but a lot of what you said had merit.
If you're interested in this stuff, I'd recommend actually reading The Song of Roland (if you know French, get a copy in modern French; it is a much more elegant read than the English translations) and Bulfinch's Mythology. Also, James Baldwin wrote "The Story of Roland" which collects the myths in a fashion similar to Bulfinch's Mythology, but without adding connections to King Arthur (which, you'll find Bulfinch does incessantly.) Another great resource is this site. Oh, and don't forget to play the Marathon Trilogy!
These were interesting thoughts, so keep up the good work!
PS. Another trivial thing to note: Mjolnir Recon Number 54 may or may not be you, the player. There's a bit of a mystery there :)