Bungie Universe
This topic has moved here: Subject: The prophets weren't just deluded, they had a plan
  • Subject: The prophets weren't just deluded, they had a plan
Subject: The prophets weren't just deluded, they had a plan

Hold your ground, hold your ground! Sons of Gondor, of Rohan, my brothers! I see in your eyes the same fear that would take the heart of me. A day may come when the courage of men fails, when we forsake our friends and break all bonds of fellowship, but it is not this day. An hour of woes and shattered shields, when the age of men comes crashing down! But it is not this day! This day we fight! By all that you hold dear on this good Earth, I bid you stand, Men of the West!

Each one of us knows the story of Halo. You know, a genetically enhanced super soldier who saves the world from dillusional aliens and parasitic life forms. But focusing on its morals have led me to some key insights lately.

One of the primary themes of Halo is the various problems that false religion can create. This obviously relates to the story of Halo, because we know that the prophets were so deluded that they believed that activating a weapon of mass destruction would begin "The Great Journey." But were they really this blinded by these beliefs that they wouldn't use common sense? Or could they have known exactly what they wrought?

I personally believe that the Prophets were attempting to kill everything in the galaxy rather than achieve religious nirvana. Don't believe me? I've found some quite compelling evidence.

Remember back to Halo 3 for a second. The scenario is the end of "The Covenant." The Prophet of Truth is talking to Sgt. Johnson about his role in activating the rings. I quote his words exactly:

I'll admit; I need your help. But that secret dies with the rest.

"That secret dies with the rest?" What is the Prophet of Truth implying here? That somehow everyone will die? And how convenient is it that he reveals this moments before he nearly destroys all sentient beings in the galaxy? Interesting indeed.

Let's look at another example from Halo 3. In the opening cutscene of "Crow's Nest", the Prophet of Truth interrupts Lord Hood and gives a terrifying speech. These words are quoted exactly:

The culmination of our journey, for your destruction, is the will of the gods!

"Our journey for your destruction?" But wait, isn't the goal of the Covenant just to activate the Halos? How could the Prophet of Truth annihilate humanity by activating the rings, which coincidentally kill all sentient beings in the galaxy?

This is the only evidence I have for now. Feel free to share your opinion and present your own eveidence.

  • 03.17.2011 7:16 PM PDT

Truth may have indeed discovered the true secret of Halo, however, it would only have been him, and humanity, who knew the truth about Halo. All the other Prophets were religious zealots who actually believed almost everything that came out of their own mouths. Truth was the only Prophet who may have know the truth, or a partial truth, about Halo, the Prophets as a whole actually believed that Halo would elevate them to god-hood, like they believed the Forerunners were.

As for destroying Humanity, that had become partially the Covenant's goal ever since they first found Humanity on Harvest. That's what Truth means with his "your destruction is the will of the gods", they believed Humanity was an affront to the Forerunners and had to be destroyed in order for the Great Journey to progress, or something like that.

  • 03.17.2011 7:30 PM PDT

I wake up to find myself
After all these years
And where all the time has gone
Still seems so unclear

Or maybe he thinks only the "true believers" will be sent on the Journey. And the "Demon" and his "Heretics" will be killed.

Isn't that every major religion's logic?

  • 03.17.2011 7:34 PM PDT

Hold your ground, hold your ground! Sons of Gondor, of Rohan, my brothers! I see in your eyes the same fear that would take the heart of me. A day may come when the courage of men fails, when we forsake our friends and break all bonds of fellowship, but it is not this day. An hour of woes and shattered shields, when the age of men comes crashing down! But it is not this day! This day we fight! By all that you hold dear on this good Earth, I bid you stand, Men of the West!


Posted by: OrderedComa
Truth may have indeed discovered the true secret of Halo, however, it would only have been him, and humanity, who knew the truth about Halo. All the other Prophets were religious zealots who actually believed almost everything that came out of their own mouths. Truth was the only Prophet who may have know the truth, or a partial truth, about Halo, the Prophets as a whole actually believed that Halo would elevate them to god-hood, like they believed the Forerunners were.

As for destroying Humanity, that had become partially the Covenant's goal ever since they first found Humanity on Harvest. That's what Truth means with his "your destruction is the will of the gods", they believed Humanity was an affront to the Forerunners and had to be destroyed in order for the Great Journey to progress, or something like that.

Makes sense, but I still think that Truth was using the Great Journey to justify his genocide of humanity.

  • 03.17.2011 7:36 PM PDT

Truth was to deluded to actually know what the Halos were used for.

Your bit about the truth dying is that fact that he would kill everyone in that room to prevent the secret of Humans being the chosen successors of Forerunners from getting out to the Covenant.

This is evident in Halo Contact Harvest when the three Heirarchs learned who the humans were.

As for the the Great Journey bit, that was because he manipulated the Covenant into believing that their Gods wanted humans exterminated.

  • 03.17.2011 7:46 PM PDT

EDIT: Nevermind.

[Edited on 03.17.2011 7:50 PM PDT]

  • 03.17.2011 7:49 PM PDT

"Find where the liar hides, so that I may place my boot between his gums!" - Rtas 'Vadum

When you are next playing through Halo 3 and you get to the Scarab fight on the level The Ark, jump on the Scarab, kill everything and listen:

Truth: "I opened the portal to this hallowed place, this shelter from Halo's fire, in the hopes that more of our Covenant would join us. Alas, save for a rabble of Heretics and their Demon allies, we are all that remains on this new world. So we must temper joy and sorrow in our hearts, for those who were left behind."

I think he knew. One of the central tenets of the Covenant religion is that all who believed would be saved. Truth is implying here that those not on the Ark, regardless of whether they are true believers or not, will be killed/left behind.

It was believed that those who follow the Journey would ascend to Godhood when Halo fired. I do not understand why "shelter" would be necessary when the end result in both cases (Shelter or no shelter) for true believers should be the same.

  • 03.17.2011 8:19 PM PDT

Have you seen my mind anywhere? I seem to have lost it...

0x0 x0x 0x0 000 000 x0x 000
x0x 0x0 0x0 0xx 000 0x0 000
x0x x0x x00 0xx 0x0 x0x 0x0

I have seen you future

The secret that Truth needed to hide was that he needed a reclaimer (human) to fire the array.

The Covenant's beliefs were partially based on history. They believed that the Forerunners had fired the halo rings and that in doing so had been not killed, but also elevated to a higher plane of being. It is remarkably similar to a religion wanting to bring judgement day, the world will be destroyed but the righteous will ascend to Heaven.

The Covenant's knowledge of the rings as weapons of a sort is backed up by Regret's sermon where he "shall light this holy ring...release its cleansing flame...and burn a path into the divine beyond!"

The Halo 2 map ascension could be a place where the prophets were meant to wait for the "Great Journey."

The Covenant also probably believed that lighting the halos would kill all of the non believers (Humans).
Posted by: Austin lax16
Makes sense, but I still think that Truth was using the Great Journey to justify his genocide of humanity.

The idea of the Great Journey was around long before the genocide against humanity. Truth wanted to kill humanity because the human's place as reclaimers jeopardized the Covenant's religion, not the other way around.

  • 03.17.2011 8:21 PM PDT
  • gamertag: [none]
  • user homepage:


Posted by: Austin lax16
I'll admit; I need your help. But that secret dies with the rest.

Truth believed that the Humans were Forerunners who never embarked on the Great Journey. He believed this because so many Forerunner Monitors (in this case Mendicant Bias) saw the Reclaimers and Forerunners as the same people when in actual fact the Reclaimers were just their to replace the Forerunners when they left. The 'Oracle' told the three High Prophets of the Covenant that the Humans were Forerunners, this is what lead Truth to say this. It was also the reason the war began in the first place. Truth saw them as a threat to the religion. He told the Elites that the Humans were heretics and had destroyed Forerunner Relics on Harvest. He was confused by how and why they were left behind until he said "You were weak and gods must be strong.' Anyway the three Prophets kept all this as a secret from the rest of the Covenant.

  • 03.17.2011 8:28 PM PDT
  • gamertag: [none]
  • user homepage:

I like the Mk V armor.

Truth and the other prophets all knew what Halo was, they were told by Mendicant Bias on the dreadnought before he tried to escape, but a lekgolo worm short circuited the ships systems.

They realized this would destroy the Covenant, and so Truth, Mercy, and Regret took the positions of High Prophets, Truth only because he eavesdropped on the others.

He was scared, maybe he was a bit insane like Tartarus.

  • 03.17.2011 8:33 PM PDT


Posted by: Austin lax16

Posted by: OrderedComa
Truth may have indeed discovered the true secret of Halo, however, it would only have been him, and humanity, who knew the truth about Halo. All the other Prophets were religious zealots who actually believed almost everything that came out of their own mouths. Truth was the only Prophet who may have know the truth, or a partial truth, about Halo, the Prophets as a whole actually believed that Halo would elevate them to god-hood, like they believed the Forerunners were.

As for destroying Humanity, that had become partially the Covenant's goal ever since they first found Humanity on Harvest. That's what Truth means with his "your destruction is the will of the gods", they believed Humanity was an affront to the Forerunners and had to be destroyed in order for the Great Journey to progress, or something like that.

Makes sense, but I still think that Truth was using the Great Journey to justify his genocide of humanity.


Truth may have been, I don't really know what he believed at the end, but it sounds like he may have come to the conclusion that the Great Journey was false, or at the least that the Halos were no the key. But he certainly seemed to be under the delusion that Humans were Forerunners who had been left behind.

  • 03.17.2011 8:34 PM PDT

Hold your ground, hold your ground! Sons of Gondor, of Rohan, my brothers! I see in your eyes the same fear that would take the heart of me. A day may come when the courage of men fails, when we forsake our friends and break all bonds of fellowship, but it is not this day. An hour of woes and shattered shields, when the age of men comes crashing down! But it is not this day! This day we fight! By all that you hold dear on this good Earth, I bid you stand, Men of the West!

Thank you all for your explanations.

  • 03.19.2011 9:41 AM PDT

Welcome to bungie, you have no rights. play nice!
CLICK!

The secret: All those years of covenant, the San'Shyuum "knew" only they would take the great journey. Not the sangheili, not any one else.

  • 03.19.2011 12:03 PM PDT

Posted by: Austin lax16
One of the primary themes of Halo is the various problems that false religion can create. This obviously relates to the story of Halo, because we know that the prophets were so deluded that they believed that activating a weapon of mass destruction would begin "The Great Journey." But were they really this blinded by these beliefs that they wouldn't use common sense? Or could they have known exactly what they wrought?
You bring up an interesting point, and one I felt could have salvaged Halo 2's otherwise lackluster story. The civil war between the Covenant races which started in Halo 2 felt incredibly contrived and shallow.

It would have been more interesting had the Prophet of Truth known that the Covenant religion was incorrect, that the Halos were not religious artifacts, and that the "Great Journey" was a fallacy. He could have then orchestrated the deaths of the other prophets and the betrayal of the elites as a means to grab ultimate power for himself. The division of the Covenant races by the political intrigue of a power hungry prophet would likely have proven more interesting than an overzealous high priest blindly bringing about universal genocide because he is ignorant as to the true purpose of the relics he worships.

It could have added depth and sinister, calculating intelligence to the Prophet of Truth. One of Halo 3's many major story flaws was confirming that the Prophet of Truth really was nothing more than an overzealous religious fanatic with no comprehension of Halo's true purpose. He could have been much more interesting if he had known that the "Great Journey" was nothing more than a path to universal genocide, but had perpetuated the lie of the Covenant religion while at the same time systematically eliminating all of his rivals in a grab for unchallenged rule of the Covenant.

  • 03.19.2011 12:21 PM PDT

I think he knew exactly what would happen when he eventually tried to fire the array, but it was too late if he backed down the covenant would fall apart.

So he went a head with it anyway and managed to convince himself that he really was following the path of the great journey.

Thats how I choose to interpret it anyway!

  • 03.19.2011 1:21 PM PDT

-Panthers are the best.
-Haters gonna hate.
-Who Dares Wins
-If your one of my real life friends. STOP GOOGLE-ING ME.
XD

the prophest believed humanity to be an infestation for them to wipe out sent by the forerunners so killing them would be part of the journey. Also when he's talking about how the scret dies with the rest he could be implying that when the covenant become gods they will kill all humanity and all the secrest in the war would be gone including that he needed help from a human

  • 03.19.2011 1:32 PM PDT

Online Gaming's pretty much like a zombie movie. There are a lot of mindless idiots roaming around but you find some survivors on the way.
My YouTube channel
If you're interested in vs threads, here's a sweet little group for you to join

Why would they want to kill everything in the galaxy though? Just sayin

  • 03.19.2011 2:01 PM PDT