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Subject: The answer to Halo 3. READ. *POTENTIAL SPOILERS*

It is better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and remove all doubt.

- Abraham Lincoln

Much of what follows is based on a somewhat overlooked quote from Halo 2 when traversing the Aztec-ish ruins: "You know, I think the Forerunners built these new structures around the old, to protect them, to honor them."

This got me thinking; why would the Forerunner worship their own structures? It is possible over time they became impressed with the structures and honored them in such a way, like we do with civilizations such as Ancient Rome. However, this explanation seems far too innocuous for Bungie.

The only other explanation is that when the Forerunner arrived at Halo... it was ALREADY THERE. It is far older than anything previously imagined. Many times has it been visited by many different species, and always it happens in much the same way. Two factions clash over Halo, for who would not want to control such majesty? Likely, there is always an inferior faction, and it is they who choose a Hero to combat their enemy and fight for control of the mystical object. Throughout the course of this action the Flood is released and the monitor zeros in on the Hero to fire Halo. They probably have little idea what they are doing until they fire.

This is based on a number of things. First of all, we know it has happened at least once before, since 343 tells us so. 343 seems to recognize something of the Chief to be the destined reclaimer, since he is the hero of the inferior faction.

Secondly, much of the story seems fated. Cortana's uncanny discovery of Halo brought about by extraordinary circumstances feels like it was meant to happen; the one ship with the knowledge of Halo's coordinates and the one ship with an AI smart and curious enough to interpret them as such is one of the only ships that survive. Also, much of the events of Halo seems orchestrated; the release of the Flood; the Hero's (MC) go-to-guy (Keyes) is made into a vessel for the Flood and MC must kill him personally.

Also, the Chief "instinctively" knows what buttons to press on the Forerunner pads. Many have pointed to this as being evidence that humans are Forerunner. I think it is because destiny is guiding his hand.

Additionally, the new trailer indicates that this has happened before in almost the exact same way. "I know you, your past, your FUTURE", and "This is the way the world ends" suggests Cortana is now privy to the previous firings and knows how they happened.

Lastly, add to the mix the fact that the Chief is often described as "unusually lucky" as well as all the religious connections, you get Destiny. This has happened many times before, and events are being played through characters to ensure that events repeat themselves exactly as before.

This also explains the Covenant's vendetta against the humans. I think the prophets somehow found about about the previous firings and discovered the inferior faction always found the hero that activated Halo. They must have interpreted this as being the other faction always become gods. Recall the Covenant only started their Holy War against humanity AFTER the Spartan project came to fruition in 2525. Why? Something about them must have indicated to the Covenant that they were these heros, the same something that probably indicated the same idea to the monitor.

It also opens up an intriguing theory about the Flood. I think they are simply a means to an end. They are lead by Gravemind, who for his part orchestrates the events to ensure Halo fires. Now that the Chief refuses to fire the Halos since he knows what they do and how they work, Gravemind is trying to force his hand by releasing the Flood into the Galaxy. Gravemind and the Flood are simply another cog in this complex cycle.

Obviously, though, there is an anomoly this time. A Halo has been destroyed and the Chief is working against the Monitor. So what is different this time?

I think the answer rests with Cortana. I think she is different somehow and has disrupted the flow. I can't explain it, but it has something to do with her, I'm sure. "I have defied Gods and demons." Indeed.

There are some problems with this theory, namely that the monitor himself said Halo was only fired once. It is possible the monitor has a limited memory or that he was introduced by one of the species who visited Halo over the millenia and was corrupted by Halo mainframe - ie went rampant. I'm not sure.

The question now, I guess, is who built Halo? And why? I don't know, and can't explain it. But I think the Forerunner/Forerunners we think of are but a part of Halo's history.

- Arthur

  • 05.14.2006 2:57 PM PDT

These theories are always interesting to read. Far-fetched? Yes. Possible? Entirely.

  • 05.14.2006 3:03 PM PDT
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Wrong,Wrong,Wrong....The Covie where fighting humans WAAAAY before the spartans were made.

  • 05.14.2006 3:05 PM PDT

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Posted by: williz
Wrong,Wrong,Wrong....The Covie where fighting humans WAAAAY before the spartans were made.


See ladies and gentlemen? The above is what happens when you don't read the books, or simply don't know what the hell you're talking about.

The SPARTAN program started quite a few years before the Human and Covenant war. Their original purpose was to put down rebellious groups trying to break the UNSC apart. Then the Covenant came along and destroyed Harvest and a battle-group sent to investigate the loss of communication with the planet. Admiral Cole lead a huge assault force that outnumbered the Covenant greatly and managed to retake the planet.

The Spartans were put into action soon after the initial contact with the Covenant. While they may not have had their MJOLNIR armor, the Spartans were used in military operations before and at the beginning of the war with the Covenant.

Pick up Halo: The Fall of Reach for more information. It's a good read.

-Cannon117

  • 05.14.2006 3:09 PM PDT
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SPARTAN II project came before the covenant war... because one of the SPARTAN's first missions was to extract a renegade admiral from a pirate asteroid base or something like that... Then a few years after that the covenant revealed themselves... and to quote from "The Fall Of Reach" "This is what they really were trained for", before the Covenant they were used to sort of enforce and extract pirate leaders renegade officers whoever was causing the worst disruptions... But it was like a decade after that operation the Covenant appeared...

Sorry if this sounds like I'm rambling but I really can't get my ideas straight...

  • 05.14.2006 3:10 PM PDT

Navy Football #45

This is a good story, which actually makes a new theory in my head. Cool....
The problem with this is that the covenant had no idea of knowing there was a spartan project occuring. The spartans were taken in 2517, and the war didn't start till 2525, in which the destruction of the Harvest Colony occured. BUT, the covenant may have had some prophecy of someone like Master Chief being born. I do have a problem with the halos being built by someone else though. Due to when the universe was formed, 4.5 billion years ago, us humans are considered a very advanced species in evolution. Now if a species became that intelligent to create the halos before humans came around (Forerunners), that might be plausible, but to think there was an advanced species such as that? I don't know. This theory is well played out though. Good Job.

  • 05.14.2006 3:16 PM PDT

It is better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and remove all doubt.

- Abraham Lincoln

Posted by: williz
Wrong,Wrong,Wrong....The Covie where fighting humans WAAAAY before the spartans were made.


No. In the Fall of Reach, the campaign against the humans began in 2525, when the MJOLNIR suits were made.

And the Covenant COULD very well know about the Spartan project. They had been monitoring Humans for many years before, as said in FoR. That is how they knew our language when they revealed themselves.

[Edited on 5/14/2006]

  • 05.14.2006 3:18 PM PDT

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hmmm could be....i mean y would the forerunners activate halo and kill themselves? lol

  • 05.14.2006 3:22 PM PDT
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Posted by: Nemesis2252
hmmm could be....i mean y would the forerunners activate halo and kill themselves? lol

To give others a chance for survival. And the forerunners did built the halo's.

  • 05.14.2006 3:24 PM PDT

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Posted by: just another fan
To give others a chance for survival. And the forerunners did built the halo's.


that doesnt make sence cause halo destroys ALL life, doesnt it? i havent read the books so i could be missing something?

  • 05.14.2006 3:27 PM PDT
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The Forerunners built the Halos. And like Rome, they weren't built in a day. The Halos are like the final resolution of the Forerunners. They probably lost most of their kind to the flood. So why would it be out of place for them to build a monument or temple to honor their dead? Mankind's been doing it throughout human history.

Just listen to Guilty Spark at the end of Halo 2. The forerunners built the halos, fired them off and died. As for Guilty's recognition of the Chief as a reclaimer, I think he's just generalizing, like he has a set of parameters and the Chief is "close enough" for a match.
You've also gotta keep in mind that Guilty Spark was watching Installation 4 for thousands of years, and is one crazy little bastard.

And why would the forerunners activate the Halos and kill themselves? Because they realized the only way to stop the flood is to eliminate their food.
"and that's what Halo was designed to do"-Cortana

[Edited on 5/14/2006]

  • 05.14.2006 3:28 PM PDT

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2. Blame-ability thy name is stosh.
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Posted by: Nemesis2252
Posted by: just another fan
To give others a chance for survival. And the forerunners did built the halo's.


that doesnt make sence cause halo destroys ALL life, doesnt it? i havent read the books so i could be missing something?


Halo's purpose was to eradicate all sentient life in the galaxy. Little micro-organisms would possibly survive the activation of the rings and eventually evolved into creatures capable of perception, such as the humans and Covenant.

-Cannon117

  • 05.14.2006 3:31 PM PDT
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Guys F-ing listen to urself!!! Look i play H2 and H1 all the time and i love the game and ive won a free $$$ off MLG but u guys are becoming way to in to this game. ITS A VIDEO GAME!!!!! There really is no life like science in it!! Suddenly Barney and the Trix Rabbit could pop out of the Fore runners and start shooting at the Master Cheif!!!!! Then maybe they all sit down for a Friggen Tea PArty!!!!! Its a good game guys...but its still just a friggen video game.

  • 05.14.2006 3:33 PM PDT

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one last thing. weve seen flood infected humans, and flood infected covenant. is there no infected forerunners left?

have we even seen what the forerunners looked like?

  • 05.14.2006 3:36 PM PDT

Five Tenets of Bungie.net Forum Life:
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2. Blame-ability thy name is stosh.
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4. Watch out for low-flying defense drones.
5. Seven is not optional, but rather, an inevitability.

Posted by: Nemesis2252
one last thing. weve seen flood infected humans, and flood infected covenant. is there no infected forerunners left?

have we even seen what the forerunners looked like?


There's a small possibility the Forerunner, or the Sentinels under the control of the Monitors, killed any combat forms left after the activation of the ring. But that leads me to a question of my own; since the Flood "presence" and the host share the same body and are seemingly aware of one another, does the activation of the rings kill the host, body and all, thus killing the Flood parasite?

And I doubt we've knowingly seen the Forerunner at all.

-Cannon117

[Edited on 5/14/2006]

  • 05.14.2006 3:41 PM PDT
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Your mother is so fat, she tried to jump through Halo and got stuck.

Go check out ma file share. plz? lol

Posted by: A2 Alpha
The Forerunners built the Halos. And like Rome, they weren't built in a day. The Halos are like the final resolution of the Forerunners. They probably lost most of their kind to the flood. So why would it be out of place for them to build a monument or temple to honor their dead? Mankind's been doing it throughout human history.

Just listen to Guilty Spark at the end of Halo 2. The forerunners built the halos, fired them off and died. As for Guilty's recognition of the Chief as a reclaimer, I think he's just generalizing, like he has a set of parameters and the Chief is "close enough" for a match.
You've also gotta keep in mind that Guilty Spark was watching Installation 4 for thousands of years, and is one crazy little bastard.

And why would the forerunners activate the Halos and kill themselves? Because they realized the only way to stop the flood is to eliminate their food.
"and that's what Halo was designed to do"-Cortana


Then why are the Flood still alive? The Flood probably did not become vegitarians in one day. I think the Halos don't exactly work...but that's just my theory, but then again he did say" ...all will perish as they did before."

  • 05.14.2006 3:41 PM PDT

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maybe halo only killed the forerunners for sum reason.

i would love in halo3 for them to show the forerunners in some form or way. also have a fight with an infected forerunner

  • 05.14.2006 3:46 PM PDT
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Theorizing certainly does exercise the mind, but it wouldn't hurt to go back over the fiction (FoR, FS) in light of your ideas. Assuming it is maintained as canon, recall that the Chief is not the first reclaimer. In FS, Guilty Spark identifies the corpse of an Officer as a failed reclaimer. The Chief grabs his tags, amazed that he made it in so deep. The thought-narrative is something along the lines of, "he must have been one mean S.O.B. to have made it this far."

It is possible that humans were/are the forerunners, but there's a lot to that theory that I would personally find disappointing. To create a weapon that would destroy all galactic life, for the sake of wiping out one parasitic species, flies in the face of the basic morals of humanity - or at least those that we aspire to. It doesn't make sense to me that the remnants of the Forerunners (humanity) would fight so hard to preserve themselves, while their progenators simply gave up and wiped themselves out with the activation of the rings.

Earth is obviously significant, however. I think it's quite obvious that activation of the Earth relic is a Very Bad Thing, and I'm very excited to see how it all fits into the saga.

  • 05.14.2006 4:08 PM PDT

I'm not that active, but never dead.

The big hole in your theory is the discription for the net map Warlock.


[Edited on 5/14/2006]

  • 05.14.2006 4:49 PM PDT
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Posted by: CANNON 117
Posted by: williz
Wrong,Wrong,Wrong....The Covie where fighting humans WAAAAY before the spartans were made.


See ladies and gentlemen? The above is what happens when you don't read the books, or simply don't know what the hell you're talking about.

The SPARTAN program started quite a few years before the Human and Covenant war. Their original purpose was to put down rebellious groups trying to break the UNSC apart. Then the Covenant came along and destroyed Harvest and a battle-group sent to investigate the loss of communication with the planet. Admiral Cole lead a huge assault force that outnumbered the Covenant greatly and managed to retake the planet.

The Spartans were put into action soon after the initial contact with the Covenant. While they may not have had their MJOLNIR armor, the Spartans were used in military operations before and at the beginning of the war with the Covenant.

Pick up Halo: The Fall of Reach for more information. It's a good read.

-Cannon117


PWND.

Well said, Cannon.

  • 05.14.2006 4:54 PM PDT
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Posted by: Arthur_Wellesley
The only other explanation is that when the Forerunner arrived at Halo... it was ALREADY THERE. It is far older than anything previously imagined. Many times has it been visited by many different species, and always it happens in much the same way. Two factions clash over Halo, for who would not want to control such majesty? Likely, there is always an inferior faction, and it is they who choose a Hero to combat their enemy and fight for control of the mystical object. Throughout the course of this action the Flood is released and the monitor zeros in on the Hero to fire Halo. They probably have little idea what they are doing until they fire.


The Art of Halo says that the Forerunner built the Halos.

Then why are the Flood still alive?

The Forerunner kept samples for futher study.

[Edited on 5/14/2006]

  • 05.14.2006 4:58 PM PDT

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