- last post: 01.01.0001 12:00 AM PDT
I haven't read too much of the thread, but how does this scenario sound?
It's a bit far-fetched, but here goes...
The Forerunners as we know them were really a prior race of humans, who broke the Covenant and were subsequently attacked by the flood. In order to survive, they built the Halo Rings as a way to wipe out all life in the universe. (Duh) In order to survive, they built the Massive construct seen in the Teaser Trailer of Halo 3 to activate the rings and protect either just itself or perhaps the entire planet from the detonation. By this logic, it's no wonder that New Mombasa is both the setting for the trailer (the massive bridge from Halo 2 can be seen destroyed in the background right off the bat,) and the first point of attack in Halo 2. The Construct is the Ark. As you can see, this story is basically a rewrite of Noah's Ark, with the alien "Flood" being THE FLOOD and the "Ark" obviously being Noah's Ark.
Now, where the real "Covenant" from the game factor in is that it was their covenant that the Forerunners followed, and they have simply mis-interpreted it. Forerunner writing is still alive and well, as the rings only eliminate life, and there is no way they could know that the Humans are the Forerunners. Now, however, because the flood have arisen and they believe that the rings are their "Great Journey," they have decided to repeat the mistakes of the past and re-activate the rings.
My idea of how the story of Halo 3 will play out is that the Covenant will nearly annihilate humanity and take Earth. They will activate the ark, much to the dispare of the Humans, Elites, Grunts, and Hunters, and from here, two possible storylines could occur.
#1: Earth is destroyed, and the Chief resorts to time travel. (unlikely)
#2: Everything around the Earth is destroyed, and the Chief and his compatriots retake the Ark. (This will probably be a VERY long process) The final goal is to eliminate the Ark, and Earth with it, to prevent this catastrophe from ever occuring again. In a segment horrifically like the end of Halo, the Chief somehow sets a time bomb on the Ark and races away to escape. The remaining Humans and Covenant leave before he does, and the Chief attempts to repeat the end of the first Halo, but is unable to escape this time. After all, it's the final game, and if the matrix could do it, why not Halo? (VERY LIKELY)