- Arax 1501
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- Honorable Member
We also have to factor in the fact that before Humanity ever came into contact with the Flood for the first time the Forerunners staged a massive war against their creators (the Precursors). As I read through this post and wikied my brains out I have come to the conclusion that the Gravemind and the Prinsoner OR all Precursors are somehow linked. I personally favour the option that the a race as highly advanced as the Precursors - a race that can speed up the evolution of whole species and has Intergalactic travel (interestingly the same thing the Flood achieve in their last stage) would not have dividing sects.
This is complete theory put I have to fill in blanks or I can't sleep. I reasoned this out after re-reading a terminal message from Didact :"We can halt this thing!" - "And follow in Their footsteps." This is a confusing statement, for this is a race the forerunners felt needed to be overthrown. If we add in The Mantle (the code of conduct handed down to the Forerunners from the Precursors) as the dominant race in the Galaxy and what it meant to the Forerunners we get a picture of a race the forerunners idealized - much the same way the Covenant (and some humans playing Halo ^^) feel.
The true meaning behind what "following in their footsteps" actually is probably puts some spin on the Precursor/Forerunner War. I can't imagine the Forerunner would want to create their own super-parasite, so I must speculate that either this is a reference to their Just ways of combating Evil, or that the Precursors ended up fighting some kind of a Flood outbreak and winning. Perhaps to do what the humans did and be beaten by the Forerunners while their race was recovering. But I hold fast that their war would be centered around the creation of, or ability to create the Flood.
So!
1. The Precursors probably created the Flood.
Facts - Ship of unknown origin (not Forerunner) carrying the Flood parasite IN test tubes (not body bags) found by the same people who found other technology of unknown origin - AND - the last surviving member of said race.
2. Why would a people who passed down the "Mantle" to the Forerunners (a priceless treasure to them) be disposed in what must have been a cataclysmic war by...the Forerunners?
Facts - We have basically no information on the Precursor/Forerunner War. We have basically no information on who created the Flood. We have basically no information between the connection between the Prisoner and The Gravemind. Bugie has kept back all parts of that information, that in itself creates a possible link.
3. What does this mean?
Ideas - This bring me back to the idea of Sects or Factions between the Precursors. Say there was a group that opted for cultivating life and speeding evolution, and lets say their was a group who did the opposite - say, create an organic flesh/mind eating parasite that can't be stopped? Im generalizing a great deal here, it could be as previously mentioned that the prisoner was the sole creator of the Flood and hence the whole prisoner forever thing.
4. Why would the Precursors leave the Flood the way they did?
Ideas: I personally believe the Forerunners had a reason for idealizing and fearing their former mentors. At any rate, a war was fought and a lone, automated Spaceship carrying the Flood parasite was left untouched. Coupled with the Graveminds, clearly vengeful manner towards the forerunners plues the Prisoners comment to the current Didact of the time:
"We meet again, young one. I am the last of those that gave you breath and shape and form, millions of years ago.
I am the last of those your kind rose up against and ruthlessly destroyed.
I am the last Precursor.
And our answer is at hand."
5. What was the true purpose of the Flood?
Ideas: That last part sounds vengeful to me. Like he knows something. Again I can only speculate that either the Precursors as a race, or a select few left that catch of Flood dust as a last laugh effort - but I think it must be linked. The fact that when the Flood returned after being defeated by the humans, not to attack the humans home planet (to which they had no defence at the time) but instead went straight to attacking the Forerunners themselves (as seen in Halo: Legends - Origins Part 1), it seems like some pretty vengeful behaviour to me. So in short, Flood = Revenge. If not what it was created for in the beginning, that clearly how it ended up and also was The Timeless one hinted at.
Whether this was how all the Precursors wanted thing or if a group just wanted a easy way to control the Forerunners are both viable explanations.
So thats my case as to why I think the Precursors either created the Flood, or in some way ARE the Flood. I only wish I knew what the Prisoner told the humans who asked questions about the Flood to him. Some of them committed suicide it was so shocking. Perhaps it was the knowledge that all their technology was based on an insanely murderous race (unlikely) or that the Flood was based in hundreds or thousands of Galaxies, and that it was the final stage for all life. I don't believe either of those Theories, generally because the Flood in it's Virus stage (as in the dust) just seems too...created.
So in this I hope to find an answer between what the Prisoners primary motives are/were, if he is still out there or if he has been absorbed by the Gravemind. I will just make a not that the Gravemind would not need to absorb the Prisoner to be vengeful, a previous Gravemind with the same conscious could easily be angry at the Forerunners for destroying the Precursors. Put simply, the Gravemind's pissed at the "Fathers" and the Precursors were pissed at the Forerunners, I see connections.
I hope someone gets to the end of this post, and asks questions. But feel free to just skip it ^^.