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This topic has moved here: Subject: [Halo 4 Theory] The Didactic Plan
  • Subject: [Halo 4 Theory] The Didactic Plan
Subject: [Halo 4 Theory] The Didactic Plan

Posted by: ElementalRunner

Posted by: Commander Stroll
Still using a pump-action shotgun over 500 years in the future I see.

omg not realistic stop game production plz

It has come to my attention that it is likely that the Didact has a plan, or at least made one that would still be effective if he were to die before it was enacted.

What is this plan?
My primary evidence comes from the 8th Halo: Anniversary Terminal, on Two Betrayals. I recommend you watch it again in order to understand what is to come. 343 Guilty Spark clearly mentions that:

"[Didact] never got the chance to fully execute his proposal. The council saw to that. But if anything were to ever go wrong with the Halos, if our tools were ever turned against us.....long plans, indeed."

So it seems likely that Didact at least partially executed a plan. But in addition, it sounds like this partially constructed plan is enough to compensate even if the Halos were hijacked by another species to be used against the Forerunners themselves.

Why does the Didact's Plan matter, exactly?

And here's the $1 million question. Which other species aside from the Forerunners could potentially hijack and use the Halos against them? Which race had a great war against the Forerunners and is still a potential enemy to them?

Ding! That's right! HUMANITY.

But wait, we're not done yet. Now we take ourselves briefly to Glasslands. At the closing of Glasslands, although I have not read it myself, I am aware that Installation 03 is under occupation. Who by?

Ding! That's right! HUMANITY.

I feel that all of this is somewhat TOO co-incidental. Furthermore on my point, I'll return to a noteworthy terminal: the 10th terminal, on The Maw. 343 Guilty Spark (as most of the community has now discussed) mentions that "he" (i.e. the Didact) would have to be here if there were Prometheans, and that humans "might almost prefer the Flood".

Other un-assorted evidence!

This is where I need help putting evidence together. Assuming you all know about Halo Waypoint's new interface to put the Terminal Symbols in which unlock the videos and some Reach credits. But that is not the concern. Using the Terminal Symbol Decoder, courtesy of forum user "About 9 Grunts", I translated the symbols into a series of words (one word per terminal); 10 words. They are below, in order of the level terminal they appear ("1" being the Pillar of Autumn terminal, "10" being the Maw terminal, etc.).

1. 343gs
2. halo4
3. spark
4. flood
5. earth
6. demon
7. rings
8. array
9. human
10. haven

Three words strike me the most here: "halo4", "earth" and "haven".....I need your help theorising here, community. I don't know what these all mean.

Also worth noting: the final track on Halo CEA's OST is "Didactic Principal", which could be the designated name for his grand scheme/plan.

[Edited on 11.22.2011 10:50 AM PST]

  • 11.22.2011 10:49 AM PDT

Glory and fame, blood is our name!
Souls full of thunder, hearts of steel!
Killers of men, a warrior's friend!
Sworn to avenge our fallen brothers!
Sons of the gods, today we shall die.
Open Valhalla's door!
Let the battle begin, with swords in the wind! Hail Gods of War!

Maybe he's waiting in the Legendary planet, in some extended stasis. I mean, Chief did use Installation 04b to blow up the Ark, so I'd say that qualifies as using Halo against the Forerunners. It's quite possible that Mendicant Bias is luring Chief into some elaborate trap.

  • 11.22.2011 11:25 AM PDT

Love your friends, Die laughing.

Here is the 11th terminal, could you translate the final word please, OP?

[Edited on 11.22.2011 11:34 AM PST]

  • 11.22.2011 11:33 AM PDT

Silver


Posted by: abelsinh
Here is the 11th terminal, could you translate the final word please, OP?


There's no glyphs at the end of Terminal 11.

  • 11.22.2011 11:40 AM PDT

Show Faith/Defy Fate

Awesome thread! And nice job on posting the decoded words too.

Im not sure if Im getting this right but The Didact seems to still be alive, some form of M. Bias is still out there, and we're pretty sure that the T.O. is still around. Humans are back on the scene and will probably be boosted to another level in a few years thanks to the Forerunner tech that they have now, and Im almost sure that the flood are heading towards the galaxy... again.

My question is what did firing the original Halo rings accomplish? All it did was "clear the field." Most if not all of the factions and the key players are still in play in some form or another. Surely the Human-Covenant war stirred -blam!- up, but the flood was probably going to show up again anyway.

  • 11.22.2011 11:41 AM PDT

Show Faith/Defy Fate


Posted by: GhostLink2401
Maybe he's waiting in the Legendary planet, in some extended stasis. I mean, Chief did use Installation 04b to blow up the Ark, so I'd say that qualifies as using Halo against the Forerunners. It's quite possible that Mendicant Bias is luring Chief into some elaborate trap.


Or maybe hes removing Chief from the battlefield (the galaxy), because things are about to go to hell and instead hes giving the Chief a better vantage point on the situation.

  • 11.22.2011 11:43 AM PDT

Posted by: ElementalRunner

Posted by: Commander Stroll
Still using a pump-action shotgun over 500 years in the future I see.

omg not realistic stop game production plz


Posted by: Ridin Dirtym99
Awesome thread! And nice job on posting the decoded words too.

Im not sure if Im getting this right but The Didact seems to still be alive, some form of M. Bias is still out there, and we're pretty sure that the T.O. is still around. Humans are back on the scene and will probably be boosted to another level in a few years thanks to the Forerunner tech that they have now, and Im almost sure that the flood are heading towards the galaxy... again.

My question is what did firing the original Halo rings accomplish? All it did was "clear the field." Most if not all of the factions and the key players are still in play in some form or another. Surely the Human-Covenant war stirred -blam!- up, but the flood was probably going to show up again anyway.


Thanks. I really have "About 9 Grunts" to thank for this; without the decoder he made (and I have no idea how he did it but it works...), the translation would not have been possible.

The decoded words "halo4" and "earth" are what worries me. Is Didact's Plan - whatever it may be - destined for Earth? Is it SPECIFICALLY for humanity?

The original firing of the Array was to eradicate the sentient life and provide no host bodies for the Flood, starving them to death. The only Flood left were those who were kept in research facilities secured by Sentinels. Unfortunately, they broke loose almost immedieately on Installation 05, and on Installation 04 the Flood were released by the Covenant.

I don't believe the Forerunners anticipated that the Flood would pop up again; an odd form of thinking considering they did re-seed the galaxy post-firing....

Unless of course this suggests that the Flood is also a target of the Didact's plan.

[Edited on 11.22.2011 11:48 AM PST]

  • 11.22.2011 11:47 AM PDT
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- There's no "I" in team.
- Yeah, but there's no "U" either. So if I'm not on the team, and you're not on the team... No one's on the god damned team!

I wonder if the reptilian creature shown in the Two Betrayals terminal is a Precursor...

  • 11.22.2011 12:25 PM PDT

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

I do not think that this is some sort of injunction against Humanity. If the Forerunners still regarded Humanity as an enemy and did not want them to be any where near the Halos then they would not be Reclaimers. The plan probably does not refer to Humanity as a target because that would be the largest plot hole to date. If you do not like Humanity and still regard them as enemies or at least as a huge potential threat then you do not make them Reclaimers with the ability to use your technology in ways that no other species can and you do not give them control of your biggest super weapons where the Monitors do everything that the "Reclaimers" say.

I have no idea what Spark was implying at the end of the final terminal either given that it was the Covenant who released the Flood and that Humanity, through the actions of Master Chief, still succeeded in stopping the Flood without killing everything within 25'000 light years. Thus his wife's sacrifice was not in vain. I would say that trading one Halo ring that can be replaced in about two months for the continued survival of everything living within that 25'000 light year shell, and for the continued meaning of the Librarians sacrifice and work is a pretty good deal. It seems to me that the story is being filled with more meaningless drama.

  • 11.22.2011 12:33 PM PDT

Posted by: ElementalRunner

Posted by: Commander Stroll
Still using a pump-action shotgun over 500 years in the future I see.

omg not realistic stop game production plz


Posted by: anton1792
I do not think that this is some sort of injunction against Humanity. If the Forerunners still regarded Humanity as an enemy and did not want them to be any where near the Halos then they would not be Reclaimers. The plan probably does not refer to Humanity as a target because that would be the largest plot hole to date. If you do not like Humanity and still regard them as enemies or at least as a huge potential threat then you do not make them Reclaimers with the ability to use your technology in ways that no other species can and you do not give them control of your biggest super weapons where the Monitors do everything that the "Reclaimers" say.


I'm not sure...maybe the Didact was somewhat comfident that humanity would not use the array on the Forerunners (2556 era humanity doesn't know about the Human-Forerunner war). However, his plan was prepared in the event that humanity did turn on them as a fail-safe; and now, with ONI holding Installation 03, the plan might be initiated.

[Edited on 11.22.2011 12:40 PM PST]

  • 11.22.2011 12:40 PM PDT
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Posted by: anton1792
I do not think that this is some sort of injunction against Humanity. If the Forerunners still regarded Humanity as an enemy and did not want them to be any where near the Halos then they would not be Reclaimers. The plan probably does not refer to Humanity as a target because that would be the largest plot hole to date. If you do not like Humanity and still regard them as enemies or at least as a huge potential threat then you do not make them Reclaimers with the ability to use your technology in ways that no other species can and you do not give them control of your biggest super weapons where the Monitors do everything that the "Reclaimers" say.

I have no idea what Spark was implying at the end of the final terminal either given that it was the Covenant who released the Flood and that Humanity, through the actions of Master Chief, still succeeded in stopping the Flood without killing everything within 25'000 light years. Thus his wife's sacrifice was not in vain. I would say that trading one Halo ring that can be replaced in about two months for the continued survival of everything living within that 25'000 light year shell, and for the continued meaning of the Librarians sacrifice and work is a pretty good deal. It seems to me that the story is being filled with more meaningless drama.

343 has nothing else to live for besides the ring and, as seen in Halo 3, values it above anything else; hell, he was willing to kill John and Cortana to get the Index in CE, even though they had a plan that, while killing all those still on the ring, would save the galaxy as a whole. It is likely only in hindsight that 343 saw that the Chief's destruction of the ring was an acceptable way to stop the Flood from getting off the ring and spreading their blight to other systems in the galaxy, protocol aside.

Also, 343 is not talking of any plan against humanity: he is referring to Didact's plan to build a large series of shield worlds throughout the galaxy to save lifeforms from the Flood until the Forerunner military had dealt with the problem. Didact's plan, unfortunately, was shafted by Faber and his builders, who proposed the Halo rings as the only way to stop the Flood. While Didact's plan would eventually be put into place (at least to an extent), it is likely his original plan was far more elaborate than the one he used during the war with the Flood.

[Edited on 11.22.2011 1:09 PM PST]

  • 11.22.2011 1:08 PM PDT

yas334229812

Demon, not Master Chief as Guilty spark did not call him a demon, so it is something else.

But i will iterate this that i believe that just like how Didact had a plan the Timeless one had one too.

The forerunners left the final act of the war to us, but i believe did not expect the Timeless one to have a specie to finish its own vision. Maybe the flood was a divergence, one to hide a certain specie that the TO created through flood matter and other organism, splicing etc.

The flood could have been a way to take out the flood and force them to activate the halo's so that both sides will have to start at zero, and from here the TO will not have to worry of the flood and can watch his vision come true with the help of his new specie.

This is only a possibility not something i believe but something i thought of while writing this idea.

  • 11.22.2011 1:21 PM PDT

Posted by: ElementalRunner

Posted by: Commander Stroll
Still using a pump-action shotgun over 500 years in the future I see.

omg not realistic stop game production plz


Posted by: DorkLord54
Also, 343 is not talking of any plan against humanity: he is referring to Didact's plan to build a large series of shield worlds throughout the galaxy to save lifeforms from the Flood until the Forerunner military had dealt with the problem. Didact's plan, unfortunately, was shafted by Faber and his builders, who proposed the Halo rings as the only way to stop the Flood. While Didact's plan would eventually be put into place (at least to an extent), it is likely his original plan was far more elaborate than the one he used during the war with the Flood.


You see, I initially thought 343 was talking about shield worlds too, but immediately after he mentions about if the shield worlds were used against them, they'd have a plan for that. The shield worlds were made to avoid their own firing of the Array; I feel Didact had some kind of other strategy to eliminate an enemy that had seized control of the Array.

  • 11.22.2011 1:47 PM PDT

Bias isn't luring the Chief into a trap, that just goes against the grain completely with what the final entries of the terminals implied. if anything Bias is trying to save the Chief, rather than bring harm to him, hence this whole statement:

"And so here at the end of my life, I do once again betray a former master. The path ahead is fraught with peril. But I will do all I can to keep it stable - keep you safe. I'm not so foolish to think this will absolve me of my sins. One life hardly balances billions."

that sounds more like an attempt at redemption rather than luring him into a trap, saying it'll do everything it can to keep the path stable suggests that the John's current location is no mere coincidence and that Bias either A) knew there were Forerunner there or B) assumed there were Forerunner there, and John was basically an example, an example that it had changed, repented for its previous actions. I do however think in Halo IV the Chief is entering a much grander stage, there is a reason Bias sent him to that location, a reason greater than we know, just hope 343 don't go off the rails and make a meal of it.

  • 11.22.2011 5:16 PM PDT
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so whats the symbol in the middle of the forerunner symbols

  • 11.23.2011 1:13 AM PDT

To be honest, when I first saw all this in the weekly update I thought 2 things.
#1- there is an actual legendary ending but,
#2- No matter what anyone does,(kill all the bobs, hit all switches etc) that until the "time" mentioned in "There'll be another time..." is reached there won't be a legendary ending.

The weekly update by bungie has slowed my hardcore search for what unlocks the legendary ending.


Posted by: ano86n
so whats the symbol in the middle of the forerunner symbols
I've never seen it before.

  • 12.19.2011 2:55 PM PDT

If the last Precursor is still alive couldn't it be him. And since he seems to be made out as a very important character in the books it seems more likely he would be an enemy. Also he wanted revenge against the forerunners for destroying his race. And the forerunners WERE created by the Precursors. So it would make sense that the Precursers would be able to use Forerunner technology, or vice versa.


Posted by: PLUT0NIUM 235
Bias isn't luring the Chief into a trap, that just goes against the grain completely with what the final entries of the terminals implied. if anything Bias is trying to save the Chief, rather than bring harm to him, hence this whole statement:

"And so here at the end of my life, I do once again betray a former master. The path ahead is fraught with peril. But I will do all I can to keep it stable - keep you safe. I'm not so foolish to think this will absolve me of my sins. One life hardly balances billions."

that sounds more like an attempt at redemption rather than luring him into a trap, saying it'll do everything it can to keep the path stable suggests that the John's current location is no mere coincidence and that Bias either A) knew there were Forerunner there or B) assumed there were Forerunner there, and John was basically an example, an example that it had changed, repented for its previous actions. I do however think in Halo IV the Chief is entering a much grander stage, there is a reason Bias sent him to that location, a reason greater than we know, just hope 343 don't go off the rails and make a meal of it.
I agree. The chief was obviously sent to show of Bias change. He also knew more than what we do. Obviously since he said "You are not ready" in the terminals. This next trilogy is titled the Reclaimer Trilogy so that tells me the chief was being prepared and made ready for what he had to do.

[Edited on 12.19.2011 4:13 PM PST]

  • 12.19.2011 4:09 PM PDT
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Deva Path


Posted by: DecepticonCobra

We are all going to get banned aren't we?

Somebody didn't fully read cryptum and Glasslands. In cryptum Didact tells his plan of the shield worlds and his plan not going through is the reason he went into exile in the first place. In Glasslands the engineers clearly explained why that shield world wasn't fully finished.

  • 12.19.2011 4:10 PM PDT

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avid forger, love vehicle gameplay

I believe that there are multiple types of shield worlds. The ones in Wars and Onyx/Glasslands are so different that they must have had different purposes. I believe that the shield world in Wars was more of a kind of shipyard or harbor, not really designed to protect anything from the Array's firing.

The Onyx shield world (the Sharpened Shield)was obviously designed to protect the occupants from the Array's firing and, as the name suggests, my also be a sort of "base of operations. A place for any surviving forerunners to defend themselves from anything that was still hostile. Part offense, part defense.

Now we know that there are many more shield worlds waiting to be discovered, who's to say that some technology featured in the Reclaimer Trilogy isn't anything recovered from some kind of forge or armory world. Besides, we now know what masdethe Halos, but what we don't know is; Where did the shield worlds come from?

An interesting thing, I orginally thought that the Ark made bothe Halo rings and shield worlds, but i now know that's incorrect. Perhaps there's another version of the Ark floating around somewhere in deep space...

  • 12.19.2011 6:45 PM PDT


Posted by: firedune

An interesting thing, I orginally thought that the Ark made bothe Halo rings and shield worlds, but i now know that's incorrect. Perhaps there's another version of the Ark floating around somewhere in deep space...


This brings an interesting thought to mind to me. Perhaps this isnt a Dadactic Plan but a Librarian plan. I mean tif the Librarian had the idea for the Halo Array and the Ark, then perhaps the portal took Chief to the Librarian and not the Didact. Who knows, the chief could even be a modern version of Didact. Not likely, but an interesting though to say the least.

  • 12.19.2011 8:49 PM PDT

Posted by: ElementalRunner

Posted by: Commander Stroll
Still using a pump-action shotgun over 500 years in the future I see.

omg not realistic stop game production plz


Posted by: grey101
Somebody didn't fully read cryptum and Glasslands. In cryptum Didact tells his plan of the shield worlds and his plan not going through is the reason he went into exile in the first place. In Glasslands the engineers clearly explained why that shield world wasn't fully finished.

Read Cryptum, not Glasslands.

  • 12.20.2011 3:47 AM PDT
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I came for Halo, but I heard the Tru7h, fought thru Carnage, and stayed for Bungie.

No one cares how much you know, until they know how much you care.--Teddy Roosevelt

the only word I don't understand being there is #3 spark. You already have 343 Guilty Spark at #1, so I don't see why they would repeat themselves. I'm not treating #8 array the same way b/c that could mean The Ark or a Halo while #7 rings cannot. Spark could be a reference to rampancy. Haven is definitely shield world.

  • 12.20.2011 10:58 AM PDT
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Idk i tried to word it and fill in the gaps... all i came up with was:
In HALO4 there is a SPARK that unleashes the FLOOD unto EARTH, but the DEMON(Chuck nori... i mean Master Chief) that destroyed one of the RINGS activates the halo ARRAY to contain the flood while the HUMAN race is protected in a HAVEN(Shield world, or something smart like that) :/ probably a little off but if the forerunners were still alive this could be considered using their tech against them, or their will... yeah probably not but you know food for thought

[Edited on 01.06.2012 1:41 AM PST]

  • 01.06.2012 1:32 AM PDT
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"Two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein


Posted by: Sparhawke
I wonder if the reptilian creature shown in the Two Betrayals terminal is a Precursor...


Doubtful. You may want to check out the thread on here connecting flood and precursors.

  • 01.06.2012 11:51 PM PDT