Bungie Universe
This topic has moved here: Subject: The Ark cutscene
  • Subject: The Ark cutscene
Subject: The Ark cutscene

Why is it at the beginning of the level 'The Ark' in halo 3 that the ships don't enter through the portal but it seems that they enter through one of the 'arms' of the ark. Also wouldn't travelling in slip space from earth to outside the galaxy take forever unless the Forerunner slipspace technology was more advanced and travelling from one point to another is instantaneous for them.

  • 10.09.2011 12:44 PM PDT

By the power of truth, I, while living, have conquered the universe.

Posted by: LouisKey
Why is it at the beginning of the level 'The Ark' in halo 3 that the ships don't enter through the portal but it seems that they enter through one of the 'arms' of the ark.


They don't exit anywhere near one of the "arms" of the Ark, that's just what is in the frame at the time.

As for why they don't exit through the portal, I don't know, possibly an oversight.

Also wouldn't travelling in slip space from earth to outside the galaxy take forever unless the Forerunner slipspace technology was more advanced and travelling from one point to another is instantaneous for them.

Forerunner slipspace travel is near-instantaneous.

  • 10.09.2011 12:51 PM PDT


They don't exit anywhere near one of the "arms" of the Ark, that's just what is in the frame at the time.

I don't understand what you mean by that because as you can clearly see in this video that they come through one of the arms of the ark, almost as if the arm itself is part of the portal.

Also another question, how quick is 'near-instantaneous' exactly because wouldn't this destroy the theory that chief made it through the portal and the coordinates were changed at the last second, because then chief would have been exposed to slipspace radiation and would have died.

  • 10.09.2011 1:06 PM PDT

"Where ere thou hast been, here or in yon world manifest? Canst thou tell what is, or what was, or what is to come? No thing shall last. Yet there are some things that will never change. History is written in blood, yet are battles really lost on the battlefield? Canst thou tell me where thou comest, and where thou goest, and what is, or what was, or what will be? For everything remains, AS IT NEVER WAS."

You're looking at it wrong. The "arm" is in the backdrop, and they're entering in space, away from the "arm."

  • 10.09.2011 1:08 PM PDT

Oops. I think I just lost your mind.

They do not exit the portal, they exit slipspace in unoccupied space outside the portal. The "arm" of the Ark is just behind them in space.

  • 10.09.2011 1:11 PM PDT


Posted by: Irongam3r
They do not exit the portal, they exit slipspace in unoccupied space outside the portal. The "arm" of the Ark is just behind them in space.

I don't know why but for some reason in my mind it looks like they are coming out of the arm, that is what my brain is telling me, its kind of like that illusion with the dancer like if you stare at it long enough you will see it change direction. But anyway how exactly do they not exit from the portal and instead exit in space. I do not understand how they could do that.

  • 10.09.2011 1:23 PM PDT

Baffles me too.

  • 10.09.2011 1:31 PM PDT

It's probably just a 'once you see it you get it' thing, but if you look closely you can see the Ark's arm is pretty blury, implying it is in the background, while the ships a crisp and sharp, implying they are in the foreground.

Some people's minds don't easily see things as other's may, so it may just be how it is done.(creating a believable level of 3 dimensions with only the 2 dimensions your screen can make is not easy!)

  • 10.09.2011 1:34 PM PDT
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  • Exalted Mythic Member

I am...whimsical today.

I always took the large blue-purple spheres to be entrances. They are not connected.
One is a slipspace entrance that will discharge its cargo in the vicinity of the Ark, the other will do the same but to Earth (or in the vicinity of wherever else a portal opened up from).
Think of both as one way affairs. You could get to the Ark without the Ark portal existing, but then you'd have no way back.

  • 10.09.2011 1:40 PM PDT