- last post: 01.01.0001 12:00 AM PDT
So, as many of you know, there is the old theory of the Bungie Mythos, and "convergence." The idea being that Pathways into Darkness, Marathon (all three) and Halo (all three) are directly intertwined.
Now, we all know about bungie's obsession with the number 7, so I'd just like to point out that first (as others have noted) that if the Chief's armor is actually different it would be the Mjolnir Mark VII (*7*). BTW, Mjolnir Mark IV armor was the armor of the character in Marathon.
Also, Halo 3 would be...the last game of the Bungie Mythos. (Closure, perhaps? :P) After all, if Pathways into Darkness (PiD) was the first, then the Marathons were 2-4, and the Halo games are 5-7, with Halo 3 (another favorite number of Bungie's) being the 7th game. (Oh, and 3 + 7 = 10, another bungie fav. And yes, going to great lengths and adding seemingly random numbers revealed many Marathon numerical secrets)
Durandal (the rampant AI of the Marathon series) is, like Cortana, named for legendary swords forged for Charlemagne. This prefaces Cortana's rampancy, which seems confirmed from the trailer. Of course, at the same time, the Cortana letters also suggest Cortana was rampant when she wrote them, and refer to her being housed in some "hybrid war machine" (the Chief), and other quotes seem to place the Cortana letters in Halo 1.
Durandal was also obsessed with the "closure" (collapse) of the universe, and tried desperately to escape it, although he suggests at the end of Marathon Infinity (in which the epilogue is written at the end of the universe) that the character of the player is infinite (like Joseph Campbell's Hero with a Thousand Faces), and suggests a future role, despite the apparent end of the universe.
Thus, assuming a recylced universe, a story told and retold (as indeed there are many, many parallels between Marathon and Halo), we may perhaps predict the events of Halo 3.
1: Cortana will achieve immortality and near-Godhood. Also, this will come about through the Forerunner artifacts left behind (Halos, the Ark, the shard that bends time and space).
2: Well, that's about it, really. See, I'm hoping that everyone here who knows the Bungie mythos will help me to decipher the connections. So, yeah, if you know lots about the books, the Cortana letters, the Halo transmissions, (not ILB, which is not official bungie canon), PiD, and Marathon, I'd appreciate the help.
I do have a crazy, crackpot theory though, which has no real purpose other than to get people's wheels spinning, because, it's all so speculative, there's not much to go on at this point (that I know of). So, take a deep breath, 'cause it doesn't make a whole lotta sense.
In the Cortana letters, Cortana writes about a "Demon folded in black clouds," which in PiD is a literal occurance at the end of the game. And while the demon seems to release much chaos, and many monsters, he himself never fights you, and he himself would be extinguished if the dreaming God (a being of immense power and immortality that crash-landed on earth 64 million years ago) woke up, just like the rest of us. Interestingly enough, he drops an "alien gemstone" which allows for your escape an important theme in Marathon.
Thus, I believe that the demon folded in black clouds is not the Dreaming God in PiD, nor the W'rcacnter in Marathon. The Dreaming God is analgous to the W'rcacnter, but the Demon is not the God, they are different.
Indeed, Cortana, in her letters, quotes from Blake's poems about journeying through hell, and enjoying the delights of Genius, which to angels seems insanity (Rampancy, anyone? A rampant AI is not insane, really, just so brilliant that it can't be controlled, and is thus dangerous, but this is often mistaken for madness). Cortana likens herself more to a demon than in opposition to it.
This ties in to Durandal, the AI of Marathon, who, like Cortana, is named for one of the legendary swords that Charlemagne took possesion of in medieval lore. Durandal is the Marathon trilogy's demon folded in black clouds. He is a genius, and has his brushes with madness, and his journeys through hell. He seems to angels (and other, relentless good-natured beings, such as Leela, or Thoth) insane, and a demon, yet he is the player's aide, just like Cortana, really, except a little nuttier. He is also obsessed with the eventual collapse of the universe (which he predicted), and how to escape it. In a sense, he wants to escape from being folded (a term used in Marathon for Faster Than Light (FTL) travel) in black clouds (the universe itself). At the end of the trilogy, he realizes this will not make him God (as he had earlier supposed), but he does not say whether or not he escapes from the collapsing universe (as many fans believe he did).
You see, he addresses the final message of Marathon Infinity (the last game) to you, the player, at the moment before the collapse of the universe. He talks about becoming one with you, at the moment when all become one, when the universe collapses. He also talks about how you (the hero) are infinte, and everlasting, going by many names but always the same (the Hero with a Thousand Faces -- an idea written about in a famous book of the same name by Joseph Cambell). Thus, through you, he escapes a fate of obliteration by becoming one with you, the infinte hero. Just like the literal Demon in PiD escaped the waking of the Dreaming God by your (the hero's) actions.
Durandal persists, as the Gravemind (no, not Cortana). After all, he did in Marathon direct the release of a parasitic virus that took over the bodies of the Pfhor (aliens very similar to the Covenant) and turned them into fungal-looking monstroties (go check out the Marathon concept art and see just how much these guys look like Flood).
Durandal was once an AI, for the hero of the Forerunner (one of the infinite roles that we, the hero, have played in the past), the hero's sword against enemies. He either contacted or found the Flood, much like he found the Pfhor in Marathon, and found the W'rcacnter, in order to achieve his ends (his end to be to unite himself with a hero, so as to continue to be eternal).
Let me explain: Basically, in Marathon, Durandal achieves immortality by releasing chaos, and thereby forcing you to be a hero (so he can be your sword, and like you, become infinite). In Marathon, chaos is emobdied most terrifyingly by the W'rcacnter, which are eventually contained, through your heroic efforts.
But, in the next (the Halo) universe, Durandal releases the chaos of the Flood (somehow, obviously we can't know the details) in order to force some Forerunner guy (becuase they do seem to be human) to be a hero. However, this time, he miscalculated, and containment comes at the price of the entire human race. He persists, though, as the Gravemind. This explains why the Gravemind doesn't seem to control the Flood really, and also explains the iambic pentameter (Durandal was given to poetry and gandiosity), not to mention the hidden poem (on the soundtrack CD) where he talks about needing to repent for his sins. Besides, how do you think the Covies found out about Harvest? Cortana couldn't have told them (like how Durandal told the Pfhor in Marathon about the humans), because she didn't exist yet. Durandal (the Gravemind) probably did it in order to find another hero.
Plus, like the Gravemind, Durandal was well-acquainted with technology and teleportation (remember how the Gravemind can teleport the chief, arbiter, and his own tentacles all over Halo Delta?), and with bossing heroes around.
He doesn't wish though, for containment again, he wants to repent, to save the galaxy from his creation, from the chaos that he released. He still seems a demon (folded deep down in the containment of a Halo, the black clouds of rock and metal keeping him contained) to angels, still seems a madman when really a genius.
This is why he goes to Cortana (who is very much like him). If he wanted to use the Flood to take over, he wouldn't talk to her, he definitely wouldn't ask questions, he'd just destroy her.
But he also wants to prevent the god from waking, the Halos from firing (for indeed, the way they begin to come on-line, one at first, then two, then all on standby, waiting for the Ark, is a slow waking from an acient sleep), the Ark from activating (the Ark is so very similar to the waking god of PiD).
So there you go, and don't take it too seriously. There are a lot of holes (ones that I can see, but you know, choose to overlook), few facts to go on, etc. But maybe it'll get you guys thinking about connections to the Bungie mythos so we can make, smaller, narrower, more accurate predictions of Halo 3's plot. Plus, it was just kinda fun to write.