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  • Subject: Is the Timeless One testing humanity?
Subject: Is the Timeless One testing humanity?

@accordingto343

Your one stop shop for all of 343's fabulous errors and ridiculous notions in the Halo lore.

For the last few days, a different kind of idea popped into my mind. Could the Timeless One be testing humanity? It could be argued that the actions of the TO influenced human history in the Halo Universe, he unleashed the Flood, he forced the Forerunners to leave the universe, and he gave us room to expand and rebuild our former might and thus inherit the Mantle. First, a recap.

Over 100,000 years ago, humanity had an interstellar empire that rivaled the Forerunners. Spreading from world to world, humanity found an ancient ship containing millions of jars of powder. For some reason I can only chalk up to human ignorance, they and the San Shyuum, ie Prophets, put the powder on their pets. Eventually, their pets mutated and attacked and feasted on the corpses of their former masters.

This is where the Flood began. It hopped from world to world, but remarkably, humanity developed a countermeasure against the Flood and kicked it's space AIDS-ridden ass out of the galaxy.

It can at a price though. Though they beat the Flood, they had also been fighting the Forerunners for territory and lost. Their punishment was de-evolution, their culture, their technology, their progress, wiped clean.

However, the Forerunners would soon learn the horrors of the Flood, and humanity never told them how to beat it. We all know what they did next, Halo. It cost the Forerunners greatly, they were significantly reduced in numbers and left the galaxy in shame.

However, humanity recovered and developed FTL-travel once more and once again traveled across the stars. And then they found the Covenant. 30+ years later, humanity is still around but in a sad shape, but we still managed to be the "winners". However, lets look at some things.

1. The Flood get thrown at us. We prevail. We may get de-evolved, but the Forerunners are the ones who get exiled and leave. We succeeded where the failed.

2. We start from square one post-Halo firing and mush build up out technology all over again. We reached the stars

3. The Flood appear during the final, desperate moments of the Human-Covenant War and set the stages for the Covenant schism. We beat the Covenant and stop the Gravemind and his forces, at least for now.

Say what you want, but the Timeless One set the stage for the events that transpire in the story, one way or another he has a hand in this. And we still come out on top each time. Perhaps Chief's destiny is to finally topple the Timeless One, this firmly securing our right to hold the Mantle.

Sorry if it doesn't make the best sense, but let me try to better explain it.

TL;DR: The Timeless One influenced human history and each event we've gone though has been a test to see if we can endure in the face of hardship thus proving our worth to carry the Mantle.

  • 09.10.2011 8:26 PM PDT

Heh...I love it. You forgot to mention how Carter and Johnson will be in Halo 5.

  • 09.10.2011 8:30 PM PDT

Cave Johnson here, we're done!

PS: If you are reading this comment while imagining my voice, don't panic. That's just a side effect of the testing.


Posted by: DecepticonCobra
For the last few days, a different kind of idea popped into my mind. Could the Timeless One be testing humanity? It could be argued that the actions of the TO influenced human history in the Halo Universe, he unleashed the Flood, he forced the Forerunners to leave the universe, and he gave us room to expand and rebuild our former might and thus inherit the Mantle. First, a recap.


Of course being that there actually is a mantle to hold, it's highly possible that in the forerunner precursor war that they just killed off the precursors or forced them out in some way leaving a gap to be interpreted as "the mantle".

Our knowledge of the mantle is limited, and more and more it looks more like a religious ideal fabricated by the forerunners.

1. The Flood get thrown at us. We prevail. We may get de-evolved, but the Forerunners are the ones who get exiled and leave. We succeeded where the failed.

Who knows how we prevailed, we might have used a similar tactic as the forerunners did. Maybe we devised a way that cost a lot of human lives, but effectively ended the floods presence if kept under watch.

The forerunners had to deal with a flood controlled by a potential precursor as well as a rampant AI in control of their most powerful laboratory/weapon. It's not necessarily a fair comparison. They had to deal with a war they could not win on either sides, humans could win against one side.

2. We start from square one post-Halo firing and mush build up out technology all over again. We reached the stars.

There are a lot of ideas floating around that this isn't necessarily true. Knowing Geas as well as possible forerunner structures left to us as "birth rights" is possibly an explanation to how we came to where we are today.

3. The Flood appear during the final, desperate moments of the Human-Covenant War and set the stages for the Covenant schism. We beat the Covenant and stop the Gravemind and his forces, at least for now.

We didn't beat the covenant alone though, we had the help of the heretic elites. Was it not for them we probably wouldn't have stopped the ark from firing the halos. As well as stopping the gravemind from having his hands to the keys of the galaxy.

Say what you want, but the Timeless One set the stage for the events that transpire in the story, one way or another he has a hand in this. And we still come out on top each time. Perhaps Chief's destiny is to finally topple the Timeless One, this firmly securing our right to hold the Mantle.

We didn't come to the top alone, the san shyumm helped us with the flood. And ultimately it was the elites who shined toward the end. While one of our own possibly stopped the ark from making more halos, it was they who brought us there.

I don't think it's truly setting the stage, there are a lot of actions taken by the gravemind that completely ignore what would could possibly be a test. (Assuming the gravemind is the precursor)

Why would he continue his genocide against the humans as well if they were to inheret the mantle?

Also is the precursor the same person as the gravemind?

If he was the same "being", then why did he not help humanity? And instead work to destroy them.

Why would the millions of canisters of powder connect with the precursor? What if that powder isn't made by the precursors?

Why would he be testing humans with the flood and not the san shyumm? They both fought in that war. And were both the cause of the flood.

I don't think he is testing us, I don't think there is a mantle to be held. Just an empty gap from what once was held by the precursors, who were supposedly dismantled by the forerunners.

But then again it could be apart of some elaborate scheme gone wrong. But I definitely don't see the timeless one testing us after the halo array.

  • 09.10.2011 9:04 PM PDT