Bungie Universe
This topic has moved here: Subject: Looking back at the Cortana Letters. (again)
  • Subject: Looking back at the Cortana Letters. (again)
Subject: Looking back at the Cortana Letters. (again)
  • gamertag:
  • user homepage:
  • last post: 01.01.0001 12:00 AM PDT

I think there is still a lot of information to be pulled from the Cortana
Letters that might give us insight into the Halo Story. (and those
Marathon connections I keep babbling about)

A work that is very prevolent in the letters is The Marriage of Heaven
and Hell
by William Blake. I'll try not to fill the post with quotes, so
most of what I'm writing will be paraphrase.
The First Cortana Letter
I have walked the edge of the Abyss (I have been to Hell)

I have governed the unwilling: In a line from the text, Blake asserts
that reason is the restraint from sin, and in doing so "governs the
unwilling." In other words, Cortana is reason. (and evil)

I have witnessed countless empires break before me: No real
connection to Blake's work, but suggests that Cortana has seen her
share of action.

I have seen the most courageous soldiers fall away in fear: ditto

I was there with the Angel at the tomb: Let the Marathon links
begin.

Posted by: William Blake
But I arose, and sought for the mill, & there I found my Angel, who
surprised, asked me how I escaped? I answer'd: ' All that we saw
was owing to your metaphysics; for when you ran away, I found
myself on a bank by moonlight hearing a harper, But now we have
seen my eternal lot, shall I shew you yours?' he laugh'd at my
proposal; but I by force suddenly caught him in my arms, & flew
westerly thro' the night, till we were elevated above the earth's
shadow; then I flung myself with him directly into the body of the
sun; here I clothed myself in white, & taking in my hand
Swedenborg's, volumes sunk from the glorious clime, and
passed all the planets till we came to saturn: here I staid to
rest & then leap'd into the void, between saturn & the fixed
stars.

Do I need to translate this? I think a few of you know what I'm
hinting at.

I could write a lot more on this subject, but I'm not in the mood
so here's a Lazy Link

If anyone has questions or comments, post away. (That's why I
made the thread; knock on wood)

P.S.
Here's a quote that made me smile.
"Opposition is true Friendship."
How true.

  • 09.09.2004 7:39 PM PDT
  • gamertag:
  • user homepage:
  • last post: 01.01.0001 12:00 AM PDT

I'll get back to you when I have a spare moment ;-)

  • 09.09.2004 7:56 PM PDT
  • gamertag:
  • user homepage:
  • last post: 01.01.0001 12:00 AM PDT

Is it really Cortana talking in those letters? If I remember correctly at one point someone pops in and says something like, "It is not cortana. Do believe its lies."

  • 09.10.2004 10:35 AM PDT
  • gamertag:
  • user homepage:
  • last post: 01.01.0001 12:00 AM PDT

Posted by:skraeling
Is it really Cortana talking in those letters? If I remember correctly
at one point someone pops in and says something like, "It is
not cortana. Do [not] believe its lies."

Yes, good point. Here's the actual quote.

<P>Source</B>: BW-AI aboard (?) PoA</P></FONT><PRE></PRE><FONT size=2>
<P>The interloper should cause no further problems. You – whoever
you are (I am simply tracing route codes) – may disregard all previous communication from the entity calling itself Cortana. </P>
<P>Be aware that communication nodes are failing everywhere – there
is no way of confirming either origin or destination. Do not believe any
more of its lies.</P>
<P></P>


If you look carefully, you'll see the letters PoA, so it's fairly safe to
conjecture that this message is being sent to the Pillar of Autumn.
Also, note the BW-AI. It's possible that the BW-AI is sending the
message telling us to ignore Cortana, and it's also possible that
the BW-AI is Covenant.
Here's a quote from the Halo Transmissions.

• CPV Reverence (DE H c-7)

o SCS Pillar of Autumn

RECEIVED (trans) 04.1.7.0317
via x-process 02775.2.32.939444
(process owner BW - AI - Class III)

You slave, toil, bleed and sweat for your food. And we shall eat it.

I think a probable explanation is the Covenant are trying to get
through to us, the reader, telling us not to believe Cortana.
So who do we trust? Cortana or the Covenant? The question is
much harder to answer than it seems.

  • 09.10.2004 12:02 PM PDT
  • gamertag:
  • user homepage:
  • last post: 01.01.0001 12:00 AM PDT

But the message does not say it isn't Cortana but says what it is telling you is all lies. Given that Cortana is a closely guarded secret that is no suprise. Think message interception... Why did they give her to the MC? To keep her from the Covenant at all costs ;-)

  • 09.10.2004 4:29 PM PDT
Subject: More on William Blake
  • gamertag:
  • user homepage:
  • last post: 01.01.0001 12:00 AM PDT

I'm kicking myself for not seeing this earlier.

The BW-AI is a Covenant A.I. as the Halo Transmissions show.
How could a Covenant A.I. get on board (?) the PoA and thwart
Cortana's plans by forcing her to be confined in the hybrid war
machine?

Cortana definitely takes note of this transgression.
<P>There will be plenty of time for retribution; I cannot wait
to get its hands on these psychotic zealots whose primary form
of worship apparently takes place at the altar of orbital
bombardment.</P>


The Covenant A.I. seems to know a lot about Cortana's plans
as well.

<P>Be aware that communication nodes are failing everywhere
– there is no way of confirming either origin or destination. Do
not believe any more of its lies.</P>
<P></P>
<P>I have already calculated all possibilities. </P>
<P>There is no escape.</P></FONT><I><PRE>x – process 04497.2.32.867734 unexpectedly terminated


How could a simple minded A.I. know so much? What do the
Covenant know that we don't?

Sorry for the void at the bottom of the post. I can never figure
out what causes that.







  • 09.10.2004 8:12 PM PDT
  • gamertag:
  • user homepage:
  • last post: 01.01.0001 12:00 AM PDT

I'm sorry if I'm intruding, but what are the cortana letters? I saw the other one that got to be like 70 pages, but what are they?

  • 09.10.2004 8:49 PM PDT
  • gamertag:
  • user homepage:
  • last post: 01.01.0001 12:00 AM PDT

No, you're not intruding at all bri_guy. Half the reason I started this
thread was in hopes of newer fans finding the Cortana Letters. I
myself didn't discover them until after Halo was released.
http://marathon.bungie.org/story
You'll find them there. Scroll all the way down on the left hand side
and click on Cortana Letters. There's lots of cool stuff on that site
too.

  • 09.10.2004 9:57 PM PDT
Subject: Direct to the Cortana Letters

"FOR YOUR OWN PROTECTION: Ensure brain is engaged before putting keyboard into gear."
Need a ninja?
Got a cheater? [email]h2cheats@microsoft.com[/email]
Forum Rules.
FAQ.
I'm certifiable.

A direct link to the Marathon Story Page info on the Cortana Letters: http://marathon.bungie.org/story/cortana.html

A direct link to the Halo Story Page info on the Cortana Letters: http://halosm.bungie.org/story/cortanaletters.html

It's been almost five years now, I guess, and we're still pondering...

-- Steve hopes you enjoy the first-class analysis on those pages.

  • 09.11.2004 5:32 AM PDT
  • gamertag:
  • user homepage:
  • last post: 01.01.0001 12:00 AM PDT

I was there with the Angel at the tomb

Who is the Angel? Swedenborg.
And lo! Swedenborg is the Angel sitting at the tomb; his writings
are the linen clothes folded up.

Swedenborg was a philosopher as well as many other things, but
it's his philosophy on Infinity that's important to Halo and Marathon.

Infinity

  • 09.11.2004 10:19 AM PDT
  • gamertag:
  • user homepage:
  • last post: 01.01.0001 12:00 AM PDT

YOu never cease to amaze eMCee...

  • 09.11.2004 6:31 PM PDT
Subject: Very Rampant Speculation
  • gamertag:
  • user homepage:
  • last post: 01.01.0001 12:00 AM PDT

Thanks Gaara.

I'd been thinking a lot about Swedenborg and how he is related to Halo,
when I remembered a post by Eagle 117 a while back. He wrote
concerning Trautmann's riddle. "Who or what would wear a Halo?"
Swedenborg is an Angel in "The Marriage of Heaven and Hell," so
perhaps the wearer of the Halo is Swedenborg.


Here's a snippet from the unformatted KYT terminal.
We met once in the garden at the beginning of the world and,
unaware of our twin destinies, we matched stares across a dry
fountain.


If we asssume that that the Cyborg is the speaker in the KYT terminal
then he would be like Adam. The terminal also reveals the Cyborg's
eternal opposition to a mysterious female who is a "sword drenched
in his blood forever."

We can infer from the above snippet that it's the beginning of the
Cyborg's eternal journey and opposition with the female character.
(presumably Cortana) I say that because the speaker is unaware
of his twin destiny at that point, and the entire terminal is from an
omniscent standpoint regarding the Cyborg's (eternal hero's)
exploits.

So, the KYT terminal gives a description of what the beginning of
the eternal warrior's journey was like, but what happens after that?

Back to the Cortana Letters.

Cortana mentions that she was there with the Angel at the
Tomb. (Swedenborg) Here's the lines that say Swedenborg is
the Angel at the Tomb.
"As a new heaven is begun, and it is now thirty-three years since
its advent: the Eternal Hell revives. And lo! Swedenborg is the Angel
sitting at the tomb; his writings are the linen clothes folded up. Now
is the dominion of Edom, & the return of Adam into Paradise;"


"The return of Adam into paradise" is what strikes me here. If
we assume that the speaker in the KYT terminal is the Cyborg, and
that the allusion to the Garden of Eden involves the Cyborg as
Adam, then perhaps the return of Adam into paradise would
involve the Cyborg as well.

In my head I'm picturing a sequence of events, but can't quite
figure out how to word them.

It seems like the Marathon series captures the beginning and
end of the universe. The final screen all but says that this is it,
no more universe. Cortana's allusion to Blake however, offers
up "a new heaven." Maybe Halo is the continuation of the
universe, marked by the start of the new heaven with Cortana
there with the Angel at the Tomb, watching the universe begin
anew from the comforts of paradise, (hell?) with the eternal
hero there as well.









  • 09.15.2004 7:24 PM PDT