By the power of truth, I, while living, have conquered the universe.
Posted by: JJAB91
Here there be spoilers.
SERIOUSLY? Is everyone just going to accept Cryptum as absolute canon? Because honestly...Cryptum just takes the established canon and feeling of the Halo story and steps all over it. No, it takes it, shatters it against a wall and then pisses on it just to be sure. Before this 'book' came along what did you think of the Forerunners? Mostly likely you thought of them as an ancient, wise and benevolent long extinct race of aliens that once ruled the galaxy but sacrificed themselves to save everyone from a cosmic horror. You know why you thought that? BECAUSE EVERYTHING IN HALO SUPPORTED IT. Everything in the Halo series has supported that but Greg bear decided to go -blam!- IT and rewrite everything that Halo had already established. Don't get me wrong I love new information and canon being added to the story but this...this is just stupid.
-The Forerunners are no longer that mysterious, wise and kind race that everything prior had pointed them to be. Now they're just complete -blam!-s to everyone. What the hell? This may seem minor but to be frank it kinda ruins everything, before this damn book came out the Forerunner were portrayed as wise, kind and ancient. Keepers of the galaxy and while not the only species in the galaxy they were the only one with such technological progress and devoted themselves to guard the galaxy from all harm. However a cosmic horror from distant space came and brought that peace to an end. The forerunner then waged a 300 year long war to fight this flood and only after exhausting all other options sacrificed themselves so that others may live. But guess what? NOPE. -blam!- all that because now we know the Forerunners were just neutral and simply just there and to top if all off they were just pricks. So an intergalactic Swedish Gordon Ramsay. What the -blam!- Greg Bear?.
Er... the Forerunners being the "wise and lovely race that protects everyone" was never even hinted at. Ever. I for one have always believed there was more to them, as did Wolvers, there was always a reason why they were the only intelligent race around and that was because they'd exploited a loophole in the Mantle. Removing anyone else that may be a threat to their control, like humanity and the Precursors.
Plus, you're going off one's perception of what may have been. There was never any evidence to support the Forerunners being kind and wise, in fact they were described by Cortana to be much like the Sangheili, blinded by hubris and choosing not to embrace the greater threat until it was too late. Your complaint is null.
-But thats not even the start of it, Humans got hit by the retconning stick too. Humans in the Halo series have always been a pride species finally making their way across the stars abit with war and difficulty and discovering that they have not only missed so much but also that they are not alone. But NOPE. -blam!- THAT! Because now apparently humans were once pants-blam!-ly advanced to the point where they not only controlled parts of the galaxy but even allied themselves with the Prophets and waged war with the goddamned Forerunner and then not only lost but then were devolved. Messing with the entire story.What the hell is this? AND then the kind and wise Forerunners executed countless humans after the war. Yeah, kind and wise my ass. THAAAAANKS Cryptum.
How does it mess with the story if there was literally nothing in Halo's canon to dispute it? Before Cryptum we knew next to nothing about the galaxy pre-Halo activation, there's no room for the story to be broken because there never was a story there before.
Humanity being an ancient and advanced race has been hinted at since Halo 3's Terminals with the message that "welcomes" humanity back to the Stone Age. Plus Halo Legends: The Babysitter has ancient human ruins too, this has all been slowly building up.
-ANNNND then we have The Flood. Nope, they were not spared ether. In ALL other previous Halo works what were the Flood? They were that cosmic horror that came from out of galaxy that even the great Forerunner could not control and had to sacrifice themselves to stop. Now what are they? Dandruff. Or more specially a white powder that APPARENTLY Humans had discovered and used on their PETS. Yeah...way to even break canon and suck the dignity out of a space parasite Greg.
-_-
They were created by the Precursors as their final answer to their defeat by the Forerunners. The Flood began as powder, humans tested its effects on their pets and over time they evolved into the Flood we see in the games. They left the galaxy then later returned where the Forerunners found them on G617 g1. I don't know what you've been reading but there's absolutely no canon breach there...
-Yeah the even more wise and mysterious Precursors who were the Forerunner even before the Forerunner are now giant bugs. Fuuuun.
Again, I don't know what the -blam!- you've been reading. The Forerunners were never described as "giant bugs", in fact Bornstellar is referenced to appear very much humanoid with tufts of fur.
The Precursors weren't the Forerunners, they created the Forerunners to inherit the Mantle from them when they transcended.
-Finally we have all the inconsistencies this creates. So the Forerunners are now dicks and devolved Humanity? Ok fine but what about the Prophets? They merely had a majority of their area taken they never were devolved so...what the hell? How did they suddenly forget about all that and started worshiping the space equivalent of the jocks from Highschool as gods? I know there is 110,000 years between the war and the Halo games AND that the Halo Array went off but a SUPER advanced civilization even with the Halo's firing don't just forget everything. The prophets along with the majority of other life in the galaxy were sent to the Ark and then sent back after the firing. What about their amazingly advanced civilization? Their towering metropolises? Sure the Array wipes sentient life but not computers or cities or ENTIRE CULTURES. Explain this plot hole please. What about that the Flood were discovered by the FORERUNNER on G617 g1 and not the damn Humans. Or that this goes against dozens of other Halo media such as the Terminals in Halo 3. Also where are the Elites during all this as well? Or the dozens of other Halo species that can be bastardized.
Well done, you answered your own question. The Forerunners stored samples of San 'Shyuum DNA, along with every other species. They fired Halo which wiped out all life in the galaxy and then reseed life. How are these new San 'Shyuum supposed to know about a history that was essentially wiped away?
I already answred your point on the Flood.
How do you know that these structures are gone?
A) We're never in a position to see them.
B) Ancient Human structures still survive (The Babysitter).
C) 110,000 years would be enough to wipe them away.
D) The Flood took over the vast majority of planets beyond the Maginot Line, these structures would have been destroyed.
Look I have no problem with adding new to old or creating new canon but this...this is just stupid. It doesn't just add canon it messing with the formula the very feeling of Halo. That is something that should NEVER be changed. But instead it was walked all over. Changing what Halo is.
It's not stupid, you're stupid because you cannot see that nothing you have said is a canonical violation.