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Subject: Something caught my eye from a Cortana Letter

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"Would you like some more epic with that fail?"

I don't want to seem repetitive in what other people may have said and I'm sorry if this has been posted before, but after reading through a thread that was about the "Lyca" website and how it *might be* related to Halo 3, I thought about the Cortana Letters. So I did a Google search on them and started reading the first letter. I saw this and it caught my eye:

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.

I remember Cortana saying in the Halo E3 Trailer "I know you, your past, your future." She also says at the end "This is the way the world ends." The above sentence "And I have learned." Makes me think, too. Remember in the books that Cortana was nearly full with data from Halo? And now that she's stuck in High Charity with Gravemind, maybe she's learned something else as well? I don't know, I had something I wanted to say for that one but couldn't quite put it in a good enough sentence -lol- (Maybe someone else can come up with something good for that one). "There will be no more Sadness. No more Anger. No more Envy. I HAVE WON." We all know that Cortana's probably lost her mind and is going rampant, but she can still blow the rings if she wanted to. She told the Chief "Don't make a girl a promise, if you know you can't keep it." That's along the lines of what she said to the Chief when he left her. Blowing the rings will end the sadness, suffering, fighting, and anger within the Covenent and between Humans. *Shrugs* More than likely this thread will be locked, but I thought it was something interesting that I wanted to share with everyone. Please no flaming >.< I'm kinda new at the whole "Theorizing" idea.

[Edited on 5/29/2006]

  • 05.29.2006 2:13 PM PDT
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Posted by: Broken Dreamz
There will be no more Sadness. No more Anger. No more Envy.

I HAVE WON.

This means she is not rampant.

  • 05.29.2006 2:18 PM PDT
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Carrots.

She never was.

  • 05.29.2006 2:20 PM PDT

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"Would you like some more epic with that fail?"

Well we all speculate that she might be, seeing as she told Gravemind to "Shoot" after he said he wanted to ask questions and also the Chief mentioning in the books that she had been "acting a little weird since her stay in Halo's systems", that's what I meant by speculate. Also, I remember reading in the books that Dr. Halsey told her to override her ethics code dealing with emotion and memory so she could erase what she had seen, I can't remember what exactly Cortana had witnessed but I think it was when Halsey told Chief to make his choice about which data chip to give to ONI about Johnson's files, yet Halsey didn't want Cortana to remember it or build emotion to it. The lines "There will be no more Sadness...I HAVE WON, etc." Indicates she's upset that all of this is happening and doesn't want the Chief to suffer? So instead blow the rings? *Shrugs* Plus whilst reading the first book it shows that Cortana is a little attached to the Chief, I just found it (Page 236 Fall of Reach):

Cortana framed her fingers around the man's face (She's looking at Chief's picture). "He's so serious," she murmured. "Thoughtful eyes, though. Attractive in a primitive animal sort of way, don't you think, Doctor? Halsey then proceeds to tell Cortana to "Choose another" but Cortana says "You ASKED me which one I wanted..."

[Edited on 5/29/2006]

  • 05.29.2006 2:23 PM PDT
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You might have something here.What if Cortana instead of blow up the ring like you said in your thoery, she wants to activate them to end all sorrows and anger,etc.

  • 05.29.2006 2:30 PM PDT
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here's another subtheory for you:

No sadness, no envy... sounds alot like something the gravemind might say. I realize that's from the cortana letters, but think about it.

With the flood taking over everything in the galaxy, there wouldn't be sadness or envy... just hunger. "I have won" coujld relate to gravemind finally breaking cortana.

Probably way off here, but hey, that's why it's a theory ;)

  • 05.29.2006 2:53 PM PDT

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"Would you like some more epic with that fail?"

You have a good point Abriel, thanks for putting your part in =) I do see where you are comming from, "I HAVE WON" does indeed sound like something Gravemind would say. At the end of Halo 2, Gravemind makes a remark that goes along these lines, "I have many questions and I WILL have answers." His voice is demanding, sounding as if nothing can get in his way.

[Edited on 5/29/2006]

  • 05.29.2006 3:02 PM PDT
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Sadness, Anger, and Envy. Those are the 3 stages of rampancy. When Cortana says "there will be no more"...etc, it means she isn't rampant.

  • 05.29.2006 3:06 PM PDT
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No she isnt rampent but like i said maybe she wants to end it all by activating the halos

  • 05.29.2006 3:10 PM PDT
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Could the skulls from Halo 2 be connected some how?

  • 05.29.2006 3:35 PM PDT

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"Would you like some more epic with that fail?"

I'm not sure what you mean by "skulls", are you talking about the hidden skulls you can find in certain levels throughout the game? I'm interesting in hearing how you think they could be related =).

  • 05.29.2006 3:37 PM PDT
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"Those who live by the sword get shot by those who don't"
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lets not and say we did

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Cortana most likely moved the data off her system once they returned to earth. There was about a month for her to do so.

  • 05.29.2006 3:45 PM PDT
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I agree with what Abrial said, i mean at the end of Halo 2 Gravemind was trying to get answers from Cortana and she was trapped there with him. SHe could hav esort of joined his said like Abrial said.

  • 05.29.2006 3:57 PM PDT
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will people ever listen. the game does not in any way get info from the books. the books just fill in the gaps.

  • 05.29.2006 3:58 PM PDT
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yeah, the skulls that are found in Campaign. I think he's saying that they might be related because the names are similar, for example There is an envy skull and others.

  • 05.29.2006 4:03 PM PDT

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"Would you like some more epic with that fail?"

I don't know how many times I have seen people say this, and I'm not being rude, but Bungie has a Story Bible that the game AND books both work from. Yes the books may fill in some of the gaps, but they both coincide together.

EDIT:
About the skulls: I looked up the skulls and found two. One was "Envy" and the other was "Anger". I looked into what each skull could do and I don't see a relation to the game. But if anyone else does, feel free to post what you think.

EDIT #2: I found something else in another Cortana Letter that might interest some of you. We all have our own opinions whether Cortana is going rampant or not, I'm half and half (I'm not saying she is and I'm not saying she isn't.). While reading another Cortana Letter, she says this:

"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."

Even though her letter is about something completely different, putting those lines together with "There will be no more Sadness...etc" seems to make sense:

"There will be no more Sadness. No more Anger. No more Envy. (The stages of Rampancy)

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."

It could very well just be context, but placing them together, they look like they're related. Godhood could *possibly* relate to her being able to activate and blow up the rings, thus ending life, and insanity could *possibly* relate to her being tortured by Gravemind. It may seem kinda out there, but that's why I love theories =).




[Edited on 5/29/2006]

  • 05.29.2006 4:05 PM PDT
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I think a lot of the stuff your saying makes sense broken dreamz but i dont think she got tortured my the gravemind because shes a computer program. How does a ball of flood stuff torture a computer program.

  • 05.29.2006 5:25 PM PDT
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hmmmm, it's interesting for sure, and I like the reference "godhood" and her having the ability to activate the rings and blow everything up.

Also, it's sad that people keep saying "omg the books dont have an impact on the game". This is true, the books dont dictate what happens. The Halo Bible does. Bungie oversaw the writing of the books. That doesn't mean that the books are the bible, they're just part of the story line.

The books give a better understanding about what happened before, during, and after Halo 1. That's all. If you think they'll have significance on Halo 3, go ahead and think that, but dont think that you're right or that other people are wrong. It's a matter of speculation on something that hasn't happened yet.

  • 05.29.2006 5:26 PM PDT

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"Would you like some more epic with that fail?"

I appreciate input from the both of you =). Night Hawk I want to point out something to you: In the Halo E3 trailer, listen closely at the 28 second mark and you'll hear a female scream. If you go to the Halo 3 Storyboards, you'll see a picture of Cortana screaming. Some people say it's a scream, some people say it's not. To me it sounds like a scream. And how can Gravemind torture a computer program? I have no idea, but that's the creature she was left behind with on High Chairty, and the StoryBoard picture of her screaming indicates that she's going through *something* horrible.

[Edited on 5/29/2006]

  • 05.29.2006 5:34 PM PDT

this is very similar to the plot of the marathon story. cortana mentions the three stages of rampancy in her first letter: sadness (melancholia), anger, and envy. there is a good article on rampancy in marathon and halo at wikipedia, for those who have not played marathon.

it is possible that cortana may have achieved a state of stable rampancy considering she is connected to such a large network where she was left off towards the end of halo 2. perhaps cortana will lead chief to destroy the universe by tricking him into activating the halos, and then find a way to escape the end of the universe and become a god of the next one - the same goal as durandal in the marathon series. knowing that the covenant do not innovate, but aquire knowledge from enslaved races, it is possible that they had knowledge that they did not understand how to use or its purpose, which cortana was able to decipher and use to escape the same fate as everyone else when the halos were activated. this is also something durandal says in the marathon games (the first one, i think.)

although, i doubt they would just take the same plot as marathon and use it all over again.

  • 05.29.2006 7:26 PM PDT
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Posted by: l_l_l
Posted by: Broken Dreamz
There will be no more Sadness. No more Anger. No more Envy.

I HAVE WON.

This means she is not rampant.


Or that she is Rampant but Rampant AIs in the Halo Universe are in a state of meta-stability.

  • 05.29.2006 7:28 PM PDT

Posted by: Broken Dreamz
and insanity could *possibly* relate to her being tortured by Gravemind.


when the marathon story was being written, rampancy replaced the word insanity to keep it from sounding too cliche. perhaps she is refering to becoming rampant due to her torure from gravemind. this is basically what you said, but in relation to building evidence that cortana is indeed a rampant AI in halo 3.

  • 05.29.2006 7:32 PM PDT
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One of the things that struck me right away about her letters was "There was a fourth, and you didn't know about it." So I watched the teaser again and saw 3 rings in the background. So where is the fourth? Well when it shows the big crater if you look in the background to the right you can see it. A connection? Who knows?

  • 05.29.2006 7:38 PM PDT

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"Would you like some more epic with that fail?"

You three have very good points, thank you for posting them. I have a headache and I'm leaving here in a few minutes for bed. I'll edit this post with my replies to what you all have said tomorrow morning, until then, keep the ideas comming and I'll check on them when I wake up ^_^.

  • 05.29.2006 7:51 PM PDT

What I thought would be really interesting is if Halo 3 tied the Marathon and Halo stories together. Maybe the "fourth" is refering to a fourth AI. There were 3 AIs on the UESC Marathon: Leela, Durandal, and Tycho. However, if Cortana was the fourth AI, that would blatantly contradict the book 'The Fall of Reach' which describes Cortana as being made in the vein of Dr. Halsey at a different time and place.

Yeah... that theory is probably just wishful thinking and total crap. Maybe it was a new AI altogether though.

Edit: oh, and sorry for lack of capital letters in my earlier posts... i get lazy.

[Edited on 5/29/2006]

  • 05.29.2006 8:05 PM PDT

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