- prometheus25
- |
- Exalted Mythic Member
Old school Bungie, born and raised,
In the Septagon is where I spend most of my days.
Relaxin', maxin', posting all cool,
Talking about Halo, life and some school.
Got in one little argument, and the mods got scared,
they said "You're gonna get banned and your member title'll be bare!"
Just finished it.
Here are the important facts I pulled, mostly from the end.
***MASSIVE SPOILERS***
1.) Chakas is turned into some form of monitor
The book doesn't specifically say when this happens, but is first implied in chapter 36.
When I became fully aware of what had happened to me, I tried to suppress what little remained of my emotions... Something switched me off.
Chapter 37
And on again.
The process was instantaneous-but time had obviously passed.
Chakas realizes he's been "digitized" into a monitor.
I believe the point as which Chakas was turned into a monitor would have been after he met Mendicant Bias, the giant green-eyed, crystal thing encountered in chapter 26, page 288. There's one line that possibly details Chakas being "monitorized," page 292:
All the journeys and years ended with a burst of pain-immense pain
Another supporting quote is on 353:
"I remember the Beast-the Primordial," I said. "Does that mean I met the Captive?"
"Probably. It often leaves a memory of what it did-cruel enough."
"It did something to me-to us, didn't it?"
"Yes," the Didact said. "And we are about to meet it again."
2.)Chakas IS NOT 343 Guilty Spark
The notion that the Chakas-monitor is 343 Guilty Spark was mentioned by the human team apart of the ambiguous interrogation that the novel is being told through. It happens on page 369.
SCIENCE TEAM LEADER: "We'll need a tentative designator for the source [of the information] (Who gave the narrative that is Halo: Primordium). What are we calling it?" (The monitor)
ONI COMMANDER: "We still haven't confirmed any connection between this one and-"
SCIENCE TEAM LEADER: "I said 'tentative.'"
ONI COMMANDER: "No way in hell I'm going to confirm this is the same as the monitor found defending installation 04."
STRATEGY TEAM LEADER: "That's our working hypothesis. Should raise some eyebrows at High Command, and we need that sort of boost right now." (Introduces the prospect of Chakas-monitor being 343GS as a political move, primarily)
SCIENCE TEAM SENIOR TECH LIEUTENANT: "Sir, am I being ordered to confirm that this is-"
ONI COMMANDER: "How many of these devious bastards (monitors) are out there, anyway?"
STRATEGY TEAM LEADER: "One per Halo, so far. As for this particular monitor (confirms that Chakas is indeed a monitor)-I certainly hope it's the last. Yes! So designate. But bury it somewhere in the political report. Give us all some cover in case it blows up in our faces."
Henceforth, the monitor AI is refered to as I believe erroneously) "343 Guilty Spark." I believe it to be erroneous due to a line a few pages later, on 372.
In time, my numbness developed into something richer, something that coujld survive thousands of centuries with only a minimum of madness creeping in. To contain multitudes (The Chakas-monitor was tasked, by Didact, to keep safe any Human biological records. pg 356-7) is a definition of madness, is it not? I have rarely been able to remember which of my fragmented selves has performed any particular action.
I see in your records that one of me caused you considerable difficulty-and then, assisted you! How like us. But never did that monitor reveal its origins, or the motives behind its perverse behaviors.
Perhaps now you can guess.
As Reclaimer (In the age-old debate, I'd like to point out that this establishes Humans as Reclaimers, not just Master Chief/Spartans), is is your privilege to shrive me again-not of the flesh, long since turned to dust, but of my rich confusion of sins.
Thus establishes that Chakas-monitor is NOT 343 Guilty Spark, but that 343GS was a fragment of the prior monitor. Also note how Chakas-monitor references "sins," fitting with the names of Guilty Spark and Penitent Tangent (Halo 2). Also alludes to an explanation of 343GS's inherent instability: 343GS was "psychologically" unstable because he was the result of "psychological" instability and fragmentation?
3.) The Timeless One/Primordial/Prisoner was possibly not a Precursor
I know this is going to be the one hotly debated. Hear me out, though.
Page 363. Didact and Chakas-monitor are interrogating the recaptured Primordial.
[Didact] "You told me you were the last Precursor."
The Primordial rearranged its limbs with a leathery shuffle. Powder sifted from torso and legs (the same powder Riser recounted of in the desert-graveyard after the ship he landed on crashed?).
"How can you be the last of anything?" the Didact asked. "I see now that you are nothing more than a mash-up of old victems infected by the Flood. A Gravemind. Were all the Precursors Graveminds?"
Taking a break, this establishes that the Primordial is a Gravemind, and explains his control of the Flood. Let us resume:
Another sifting shuffle.
"Or are you after all only an imitation of a Precursor, a puppet-a reanimated corpse? Are all the Precursors gone-or is it that the Flood will make new Precursors?"
"Those who created you were defied and hunted," the Captive said. "Most were extinguished. A few fled beyond your reach. Creation continued."
Thus, the Primordial is NOT a Precursor, but a Flood Gravemind. Long ago, the Flood rose up and destroyed the Precursor. "Those who created you were defied and hunted."
The remaining Precursos, those who "fled beyond your reach," may have escaped the galaxy.
The last comment:, "Creation continued," gives me one of two impressions. Either The Precursors that fled continued creating life in other galaxies, or it was the Flood or this Gravemind that continued creating life in place of the Precursors. My money is on the former.
If anything else seems vastly important, I'll post it. If anyone wants my thoughts on the above or anything else, ask. I'd love to put in my own thoughts on such matters.