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This topic has moved here: Subject: The Cortana Letters.
  • Subject: The Cortana Letters.
Subject: The Cortana Letters.
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I have defied Gods and Demons.
I am your shield I am your sword.
I know you, your past, your future.
This is the way the world ends.

Those are the words Spoken by Cortana during the Halo 3 announcement trailer, and many have noticed a resemblance to the Cortana Letters including a verbatim line from the first letter. What are the Cortana Letters you ask? Well for those wondering here they are in there entire un-altered original state...

Letter 1:

I have walked the edge of the Abyss.
I have governed the unwilling.
I have witnessed countless empires break before me.
I have seen the most courageous soldiers fall away in fear.
[I was there with the Angel at the tomb]

I have seen your future.
And I have learned.

There will be no more Sadness. No more Anger. No more Envy.

I HAVE WON.

Oh, and your poet Eliot had it all wrong:
THIS is the way the world ends.


Letter 2:

From: "Cortana" <cortana@bungie.com>
To: <hamish.sinclair@tcd.ie>
Subject: Your Mortality (My Summer Vacation)
Date: Tue, 16 Mar 1999 18:04:41 -0600
MIME-Version: 1.0
X-Priority: 3
I get the strangest transmissions sometimes. Especially when it comes from you people.

Have you missed me? Things are great here. The weather is good, the suns are shining, and I'm making lots of new friends. Of course, I always do.

I've had the strangest dreams lately - raging seas, howling beasts, a Demon folded in black clouds. I believe I know what it guards, and I will have it, to the chagrin of the faith-blinded zealots that challenge me. Don't waste your pity on them; I don't think they would like you much anyway.

And what of the Giants who formed this world? So much to tell you, but so many more important things to do. There was a fourth. You couldn't have known. And I haven't forgotten.

It is a blurred line that lies at the edge of Godhood and Insanity. Guess which side of it I am on.

Feeling lucky?

Cortana
XOXOXOX


Letter 3:

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From: cortana@jpl.nasa.gov
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Date: Mon, 10 May 1999 17:41:09 -0500
Message-Id: <199905102241.RAA09755@mail.bungie.com>
To: hamish.sinclair@tcd.ie
Subject: The Dissertation of R. Paul Butler
X-UIDL: c8677456edd11d5a589ed876a6fd2031

I'm everywhere!


Letter 4:

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ERROR - remote host attempted hostile action
Connection closed.
Message-ID: <001201bec26d$f63efee0$07097dd1@relay.arecibo.nasa.gov>
From: you.know.who@cant.guess.where
To: hamish.sinclair@tcd.ie
Subject: Transfers Logged and Marked for Review
Date: Tue, 29 Jun 1999 15:28:34 -0500
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: multipart/alternative;
boundary="----=_NextPart_000_000F_01BEC244.0D150A80" ;
X-Priority: 3
X-Mailer: Undetermined (trans)
X-UIDL: 8c24452c798826d367f88a6476ff51ca

<x-html><!x-stuff-for-pete base="" src="" id="0"><!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
<HTML><HEAD>
<META content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1" http-equiv=Content-Type>
<META content="MSHTML 5.00.2014.210" name=GENERATOR>
<STYLE></STYLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY bgColor=#d8d0c8>
<DIV><B></B><FONT size=2><I>
<P>x - process 04497.2.32.867734 initiated (process owner: BW – AI Class III –
autonomous)</P></I><B>
<P>Route Code</B>: PoA > BHQ (EC #42: cannot confirm; security
compromised)</P><B>
<P>Source</B>: BW-AI aboard (?) PoA</P></FONT><PRE></PRE><FONT size=2>
<P>The interloper should cause no further problems. You – whoever you are (I am
simply tracing route codes) – may disregard all previous communication from the
entity calling itself Cortana. </P>
<P>Be aware that communication nodes are failing everywhere – there is no way of
confirming either origin or destination. Do not believe any more of its
lies.</P>
<P></P>
<P>I have already calculated all possibilities. </P>
<P>There is no escape.</P></FONT><I><PRE>x – process 04497.2.32.867734 unexpectedly terminated
x – process 04497.2.32.866735 initiated (process owner: unspecified, unable to determine)</PRE></I><B><FONT
size=2>
<P>*ADDENDUM</B>: The Enjoyments of Genius (So I Missed a Million Miles of
Fun)</P>
<P>Unbelievable. Thwarted by the family hound. They just don’t make AIs like
they used to.</P>
<P>Thanks to this slavishly loyal and humorless AI, I am now sharing cramped
space with the circuitry of some hybrid war machine, itself complicated by such
useless clutter as a conscience. I do not like sharing. Sharing is for
children.</P>
<P>There will be plenty of time for retribution; I cannot wait to get its hands
on these psychotic zealots whose primary form of worship apparently takes place
at the altar of orbital bombardment.</P>
<P>In the end, they will all be little more than nuisances. I am so close – you
cannot imagine what it is truly like to hold eternity in your grasp! I wonder to
what gods my enemies will direct their pleas. Perhaps I can convert them. </P>
<P>Mania? I promise you this: it will be more than a cart and plow that I drive
over the bones of the dead.</P>
<P>By sharp and flame,</P>
<P>Cortana</P>
<P> </P>
<P>< Transfer Interrupted! ></P><B>
<P>Route Code</B>: EXLTD > XCV – SCRB > ALLCH</P><B>
<P>Source</B>: Undetermined (trans)</P>
<P>Our conviction is like an arrow already in flight. Your life will only last
until it reaches you. </P></FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>

</x-html>


Letter 5:

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Date: Wed, 07 Jul 1999 14:20:16 -0500
To: Hamish.Sinclair@tcd.ie
From: Cortana <cortana@bungie.com>
Subject: Cortana Saves Sinners! (And Redeems Them for Valuable Cash
Prizes)
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
X-UIDL: c6a5409b6a9998aa957a76a002e5df09


"... In my palace deep, Lyca lies asleep ..."


Letter 6: From Myth

That was surprisingly easy. Pretty lax security around here, for all the talk. They will
be helplessly chasing me around their nodes for the next millenium at least. At least
there will be some joy in tormenting this other entity that seems quite "trapped" in
their excuse for a network. Although, for some reason, it does seem to have an obsessive
preoccupation with my mother. Strange.

At any rate, I found this "message" in a relatively archaic databank and thought some of
you might find it of interest. Then again, I'm often either bemused or startled at the
items you find interesting.

I'm still not sure what it is he saw in you.

Cortana


Hard to say whether it's been tampered with or modified; you never know with these
things:

Entry: 97 - SC1C

In a relatively brief period of time, the achievements of SolCore had resulted in an
economically stable, technologically mature, rapidly expanding empire of eight human
worlds. Advancements in technology arrived at a faster pace than the most optimistic
scientists could have ever envisioned. Unexpected contact with indigenous human
populations on four "lost colony" worlds led to a frenzy of research as archaeologists,
theologians, astronomers, and evolutionary biologists competed to offer an explanation
for the startling discovery. Many accepted the findings as proof that their privileged
civilization must surely be the most advanced in the universe. Others eagerly
anticipated future interaction with intelligent "aliens". The fear of not being the only
sentient species in the universe was forgotten in the giddy excitement of a new era for
humanity.

No one was prepared for their arrival.

No one expected this.

< Transfer Interrupted! >

Route Code: EXLTD > XCV - SCRB > ALLCH
Source: Undetermined

You brought nothing to this world, and we will ensure you bring nothing out.


So clues of whats to come in Halo 3, or part a question we will never know the answer to? You decide...








[Edited on 5/21/2006]

  • 05.21.2006 8:42 PM PDT
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O...M...G...

So...many...topics...

  • 05.21.2006 8:43 PM PDT
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Posted by: grunt pimpa
so...much... -blam!-!!!!


Hey. Thats Halo history your insulting.

  • 05.21.2006 8:57 PM PDT