- last post: 01.01.0001 12:00 AM PDT
Not sure how many of you are familiar with the awesome film that is Donnie Darko, but I got a **VERY** strong Donnie Darko vibe from the last few moments of the Halo 3 E3 teaser.
Additionally, I just discovered that Bungie loves the movie, which gives at least a wee bit of credence to my theory. Check out the Bungie guide to sci fi from April 2006:
http://www.bungie.net/News/TopStory.aspx?link=bungiescifiguid e
Now for the details:
Early on in Donnie Darko, Frank (his "guide" in the film and/or giant bunny pal) tells Donnie in a very surreal, dream-like scene: "Twenty eight days, six hours, forty two minutes, twelve seconds...that is when the world will end..."
At the end of the Halo 3 trailer, Cortana states, with similar inflection, "this is the way the world ends."
In Donnie Darko, the world in and of itself doesn't really end, but that particular universe/timeline does end. Donnie saves the universe by traveling back in time and sacrificing his own life. In a sense, the world does end, because the timeline that had been transpiring until Donnie time travels ceases to exist. A new universe/timeline is created....and the world continues. It is Donnie's destiny to travel back in time, to make things right, to save us all, and to die in the process. The final scene of the movie consists of Donnie on a high overlook with his dead girlfriend (cortana? j/k), looking at the sky - the screen fading to white as he travels back in time. It is at that moment that "the world ends" in the movie. See any parallels to the Halo trailer, or am I just plain crazy?
Finally, let's go back to Halo 1.
Remember when 343 Guilty Spark asks the Master Chief: "Why would you hesitate to do something you've already done?"
This is in reference to setting off Halo to destroy the flood. I am of the opinion that the real Master Chief travels back in time and meets 343 Guilty Spark in the distant past. 343 Guilty Spark is smart enough to recognize the Master Chief as an individual. He's not confusing him with another forerunner/human from the past.
One last 343 quote from Halo 1 concerning the setting off of the ring:
"Last time you asked me, if it were my choice, would I do it? Having considerable time to ponder your query, my answer has not changed."
Guilty Spark is referring to him as an indivudal that he recognizes, not simply as a generic human/forerunner. Additionally, Guilty Spark was shocked at how primitive his equipment was in Halo 1. Equipment which was upgraded in Halo 2...and that I'm sure will be upgraded again in Halo 3. The Master Chief he met in the past was using Halo 3 gear (or perhaps forerunner equipment he acquires in halo 3).
The Donnie Darko parallels and the former supposed code name of the game ("forerunner") have convinced me that we will be traveling waaaaaay back in time in Halo 3 and that the Master Chief will not survive.
I highly recommend the film, if you haven't seen it. Any thoughts on my slightly crazy theory?
[Edited on 5/15/2006]