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Subject: Halo 4 and Why You Get No Opinion Unless You've Read The Books

With Halo 4 approximately 6 months away from release, undoubtedly there's intense speculation from all of us fans about just who the heck the antagonist of this new trilogy could possibly be. Of course, there's popular theories, but many of those theories I have seen have been argued without an appreciation for the various sources of information (specifically, the Forerunner Trilogy of books) and it's getting on my nerves.

SPOILER WARNING
The rest of this post contains spoilers for the following media:
Halo 2
Halo 3
terminals in Halo: Anniversary Edition
Halo: Cryptum
Halo: Primordium

The top 5 theories of Halo 4's antagonist theories are these: The Flood, The Covenant (or rogue species that were a part of it), the Precursors, the Forerunner, and finally a new species we've never heard of before.

Let's start with,

The Flood:

Now, we saw the end of The Flood, or so we thought, at the end of Halo 3 when The Arbiter and the Master Chief detonated the under-construction Installation 04B at The Ark. The Gravemind, present at The Ark on board the infected High Charity, was killed and all Flood (and sentient life) in a 25,000 light-year radius of The Ark was eradicated. To seal the deal, the unfinished Installation 04B was destroyed because it was not constructed enough to withstand the stress of firing. We're also told in the Halo 3 ending that the blast "did a number on The Ark".

All this being said, the entirety of The Flood was NOT destroyed, and here's why. First off, The Flood, as we know, was present on both Installation 04 and Installation 05, so it is safe to assume that the Forerunners kept samples of The Flood on all Halo installations and there are still 6 other undiscovered rings remaining. Secondly, considering the fact that, in Halo 3, an infected Covenant CCS-class battlecruiser landed on Earth before High Charity appeared leads us to assume that The Flood was successful in infecting other Slipspace-capable vessels and is probably still out there. But we don't know for sure, only that the only Flood-infected vessel present at The Ark during the firing sequence was High Charity, which lead to the demise of the Gravemind. One thing to keep in mind is that death of a Gravemind does not end The Flood, only puts them from a "Coordinated-stage" to a "Feral-stage" (reference: Halo Bestiarum). Another thing is that The Flood, at original contact with the Ancient Human Empire, and then the Forerunner, came from outside of our galaxy. 343 Guilty Spark himself says in one of the Halo: Anniversary terminals that it's possible there's still more Flood out beyond the edge of the galaxy.

So with these arguments, yes, it is possible that The Flood could be in Halo 4 were it not for one problem: Frank O'Connor himself said The Flood is not going to be an enemy in Halo 4. Period. Not to say they don't tie into the story or have some involvement in the plot-line, but as an enemy you fight in the game? Nope.

The Covenant

Now this theory is one of the dumbest I've ever heard. First off, The Covenant is broken up. I have yet to read Halo: Glasslands, but from what I've heard from other people and seen of its general plot synopsis, I don't think I'll be reading about a still-stable Covenant trying to obliterate humanity. The Covenant was divided since near the end of Halo 2, and essentially finished with the death of The Prophet of Truth. Of course, there are still "Covenant Loyalists" (mostly the Jiralhanae) that continue to believe in the Great Journey, and don't like humanity very much, but as an effective government and military organization they don't appear to any longer be an "ancient evil" that can have much effect on the universe. Those who have seen the Halo 4 box art notice the Covenant ship also being pulled into the planet along with UNSC Forward Unto Dawn. It has been stated that this Covenant vessel is essentially a "rogue" vessel not part of the Covenant military which makes sense considering Halo 4 takes place roughly 4 years after the end of Halo 3 (reference: May 2012 issue of Game Informer magazine). So we'll get to see Covenant, but they're not going to be the main antagonist and focus of the plot.

The Precursors

The Precursors. The original inhabitants of the galaxy that supposedly seeded the universe with life and created the very Mantle the Forerunners upheld and eventually passed on to humanity. Some say these will be the antagonist, and to be very honest even I can't debunk this theory for sure. But here's some insight.

The reason why The Forerunners received the Mantle from The Precursors is because the Forerunners eradicated the Precursors in a long and bloody war. Though there is not enough information to say for certain, the general Forerunner belief at the time of the Forerunner-Flood War is that there were no Precursors left in existence. The Captive (also known as The Timeless One, and the Primordial) that we read about in Halo: Cryptum and Halo: Primordium was long believed to be a Precursor but in fact was a Flood Gravemind pretending to be one. This Flood Gravemind, before being discovered for what it truly was, tried to convince ancient humanity as well as the Forerunner that the Precursors were the ones who created The Flood to punish Forerunners and the rest of the galaxy for rising up and eradicating the Precursors. Of course, since The Captive was actually a Flood Gravemind, it could have been lying so no one knows if this is true or not, or whether even The Flood and The Precursors are even two different species. Further information will be revealed to us in the final book of the Forerunner trilogy, Halo: Silentium, but that won't be released until about 2 months after the release of Halo 4 (reference: Halo: Cryptum and Halo: Primordium).

The Forerunners

This is another theory I have difficulty believing. Some of those who have read Halo: Cryptum and Halo: Primordium believe Forerunners to be the enemies because of the fact that, before the Forerunner-Flood war, there was a war between Humans and Forerunner.

Although true, the fact remains that the Forerunners left all of their technology behind, as well as the Mantle, for humanity to inherit. Not to mention the fact that the Librarian and her husband The Didact were pretty much the leaders of the Forerunner by the time of the firing of the Halo Array, and although The Didact did fight the humans during the Forerunner-Human war, understood his wife's love for humanity and their importance.

While it is true that Monitors such as 343 Guilty Spark have been known to betray humans, one has to understand that they aren't Forerunner. They are artificial intelligences, that can go rampant and insane just as a human AI can (it just takes longer... a LOT longer). Not to mention that all they were given were protocols and instructions on how to handle certain situations by the Forerunner in a manner that appears to have been very last-minute. The Forerunner knew the Halo installations were important for defending the galaxy from The Flood and so built the Monitors to take care of them AND protect them. Despite the fact that humanity in the games are the Reclaimers, and Monitors such as Spark recognizes them as such, the fact that they DID try to and succeed in destroying two Halo installations makes it understandable that Spark couldn't override his duty to protect Installation 04 and Installation 04B and is the reason for his first betrayal in Halo: CE and the second in Halo 3. From what it seems, the protocol to protect a Halo Array overrules the protocol to safeguard and obey Reclaimers (references: Halo: Cryptum and Halo: Primordium).

Other Race

The theory I think is most likely is that it is a completely new race that will be the antagonists for the new Halo trilogy, but that all of the other species I mentioned (human, Covenant, Forerunner, Precursor, and Flood) will all tie in and somehow relate to this "ancient evil".

Of course, I could be wrong. But the fact that we can safely assume that no KNOWN species can possibly be the antagonists leaves us only one other explanation. Also there's the Halo: Anniversary terminals that tell of the unknown alien ship that crash-landed on Installation 04 more or less halfway in-between the end of the Forerunner-Flood War and the start of Halo: CE. It seems very unlikely that 343 Industries added this sub-plot about a crashed alien ship just convey to us the severity of Guilty Spark's isolation, but that's also still a possibility we can't throw away. We can't jump to conclusions.

Conclusion

I offer no insights into what the enemy could be, only insights into what it most certainly isn't. I, myself, cannot wait for Halo 4 and the release of Halo: Silentium. The story is going to be nothing short of amazing, and I'm almost kind of glad that we don't know who the antagonists are, yet get all of these hints of this connected plotline from so many different sources of information. It will make Halo 4 more enjoyable, at least for me. That's not to say I'm not speculating myself! I just don't think it's any species we know of at the moment.

Hope this cleared some stuff up for all you Halo fans. Read the books, I beg you!

  • 05.18.2012 5:08 PM PDT

Also correction, there's 5 undiscovered installations, not 6. Out of the 7 Halos, Installation 04 is discovered in Halo: CE and Installation 05 in Halo 2. Installation 04B doesn't count of this 7 because it was made by The Ark to replace the original Installation 04.

  • 05.18.2012 5:17 PM PDT

Note: Flood were confirmed OUT of Halo 4, so it isn't them.

*continues reading*

Edit: nvm, you know that -___-

[Edited on 05.18.2012 5:53 PM PDT]

  • 05.18.2012 5:52 PM PDT
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Do not waste your tears, I was not born to watch the world grow dim. Life is not measured in years, but by the deeds of men.

Posted by: goldhawk
We should know better, because we are better.

Silentium is the name for the third Forerunner book? Did Bear post this on his site?

Aside from that, I agree that the two most likely antagonists are the Precursors and the possible new species. O'Connor said that they would be introducing some new enemies into the game so that removes Covenant and the Flood as possibilities.

  • 05.18.2012 6:06 PM PDT


Posted by: Xd00999
Silentium is the name for the third Forerunner book? Did Bear post this on his site?

Aside from that, I agree that the two most likely antagonists are the Precursors and the possible new species. O'Connor said that they would be introducing some new enemies into the game so that removes Covenant and the Flood as possibilities.


The working title, yeah. He posted in on his blog; January 2013 is the current release timeframe as well.

  • 05.18.2012 6:11 PM PDT

Good Post, I agree with most of your speculation and theories.

However, I don't know who told you about the "supposed plot" of Glasslands, but there is no Covenant in the novel. The main antagonists are the Elites. Well a portion of them at least. The book is mainly about espionage on both sides of the conflict.

Elites and humans have been killing each other for decades, so it's easy to believe that there's still tension there. The Arbiter and his followers know that the humans are capable of good, but others just saw them as a means to help dethrone the prophets. SPOILERS: can you say Sangheili civil war?

There is no organized covenant in the book. The jackals have reverted back to piracy and black market trading, but technically they were never part of the covenant to begin with.

As you said, there may be loyalists, most likely brutes, that are still trying to "walk the path."

[Edited on 05.18.2012 6:18 PM PDT]

  • 05.18.2012 6:16 PM PDT

"Apparently people don't like the truth, but I do like it; I like it because it upsets a lot of people. If you show them enough times that their arguments are bull-blam!-, then maybe just once, one of them will say, 'Oh! Wait a minute I was wrong.' I live for that happening. Rare, I assure you."-Lemmy of Motorhead

i belive shhave funzes suppos

Yes, I'm the guy who had the Flood admit to being furries.

I honestly don't want to have to read 3 books (plus any of the comics that's come out) to understand the story.

I would LOVE to read them, but with school, other literature, life and other games in the way, it's hard to read them. I'm hoping everything is explained in Halo 4.

I do understand what the OP says, though. You can't really formulate a valid opinion on something without any sources that are related to the subject.

  • 05.18.2012 7:03 PM PDT
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(To discuss Halo 4.)

I believe that ONI has probably discovered all of the Halo installations one way or another.

I am betting on a Precursor related species, with the Forerunners also being involved, first hostile, then friendly.

  • 05.18.2012 7:23 PM PDT
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"It's not who I am underneath, but what I do that defines me."

Also, I'm fairly certain the Forerunners, or some sort of Forerunner, will make an appearance. Are they enemies or allies? No idea, but considering the last few books and Halo Anniversary have been pointing toward the Forerunners, it only makes sense that they would appear in some capacity. It IS a Forerunner world that Chief lands on, afterall.

[Edited on 05.18.2012 10:16 PM PDT]

  • 05.18.2012 10:12 PM PDT

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The forunners may be hostile towards the cheif because the ship he's in may have smashed a lot of them on accident.

  • 05.19.2012 11:44 AM PDT

"I may not be perfect, but always been true."


Posted by: GrandmasterNinja
The forunners may be hostile towards the cheif because the ship he's in may have smashed a lot of them on accident.


They would have vaporized the ship before it hit any of them.

  • 05.19.2012 12:24 PM PDT

This is actually the stupidest thing ever posted on B.net:

Posted by: the omega man117
Why does everyone hate Halo 2? Maybe its because its the worst game ever next to mario.

Posted by: ROBERTO jh
Note: Flood were confirmed OUT of Halo 4, so it isn't them.


That's all I really wanted. I am kind of "flooded out" if you know what I mean.

  • 05.19.2012 1:41 PM PDT

By the power of truth, I, while living, have conquered the universe.

Posted by: ROBERTO jh
Note: Flood were confirmed OUT of Halo 4, so it isn't them.


Not quite. He said that we won't be FIGHTING the Flood in Halo 4, this leaves a lot open for one to interpret. They may well make an appearance at the very end of the game as part of a cliffhanger or be relegated to some other kind of role.

  • 05.19.2012 1:43 PM PDT
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Posted by: Super PolarBear
That's all I really wanted. I am kind of "flooded out" if you know what I mean.
I've been "flooded out" since CE... Every time I get to the flood levels on each Halo game I just sit back hoping to get to the end of the game.

  • 05.19.2012 1:54 PM PDT
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Posted by: Duardo
Also, I'm fairly certain the Forerunners, or some sort of Forerunner, will make an appearance. Are they enemies or allies? No idea, but considering the last few books and Halo Anniversary have been pointing toward the Forerunners, it only makes sense that they would appear in some capacity. It IS a Forerunner world that Chief lands on, afterall.


And a shield world, at that (or so I've heard), which as far as I recall were designed to protect sentient life from the Halo array - which might mean Forerunners could still be alive and kicking.

  • 05.19.2012 3:49 PM PDT
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'To create an apple pie from scratch first you must create the universe'.

Installation 03 has been discovered, Halo Grasslands.

  • 05.19.2012 4:03 PM PDT

*SPOILERS FOR PRIMORDIUM*

Wasn't Installation 07 discovered? And in my opinion I feel the Precursors are the enemies in this new Trilogy, the Librarian and the Didact will be allies, as well as any Forerunners that may remain that came out from possible hiding.

As for the Precursors it makes sense for them to be the enemy, regardless of the Captive posing as a Precursor he makes a good point, the wrath of a god can be provoked, and when provoked they can be downright evil. Precursors, according to Primordium are responsible for life is pretty much most, if not all, of the Milky Way. And surely they aren't all dead, they had possibly a galaxies wide empire. Now as for them possibly creating the Flood it's really unsure, I mean some things make sense. For one both Flood and Precursors are extra-galactic entities, and as for the ship that carried the original flood, well it would have helped for more of a description of it.

I know my evidence isn't really strong, but I intensely hope Precursors are the new enemies, besides it doesn't get more ancient than the god creators of all life in the damn galaxy.

I will conclude by saying perhaps the return of the Precursors would reflect on the theme of the Bible, with god returning to Earth and rendering judgement to mankind, if the Captive Gravemind was correct then humans are supposed to be judged in the upcoming possible return of the Precursors (almost said Reapers. :P).

  • 05.20.2012 5:54 AM PDT

Double Post sorry.

[Edited on 05.20.2012 6:15 AM PDT]

  • 05.20.2012 6:11 AM PDT

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Posted by: Xd00999
Silentium is the name for the third Forerunner book? Did Bear post this on his site?

Aside from that, I agree that the two most likely antagonists are the Precursors and the possible new species. O'Connor said that they would be introducing some new enemies into the game so that removes Covenant and the Flood as possibilities.


Still the flood it's gonna be the main enemy for the whole trilogy, with out the flood, the game being called Halo would lose it's purpose, The flood it's not gonna be in Halo 4 indeed, but it's gonna be the main enemy at the end. If the flood is removed from the Halo universe now, there's no point in using the Halo's anymore. If you read the Forerunner books, it is hinted the Flood is the main weapon of the Precursors since they couldn't defeat the Forerunners themselves.

[Edited on 05.20.2012 6:47 AM PDT]

  • 05.20.2012 6:43 AM PDT

What a waste....

On the Covenant: (SPOILERS AHEAD)

In Glasslands, there are a few Elites who believe in the Forerunner religion but are okay with humans. There are also the Arbiter's peeps, who are okay with humans but don't like the religious guys.

ONI is feeding weapons to the religious zealots to destabilize the Elites so that they can be wiped out entirely. This is probably going to come up in Halo 4.

My $0.02

  • 05.20.2012 7:19 AM PDT

Posted by: MasterSin

Posted by: Xd00999
Silentium is the name for the third Forerunner book? Did Bear post this on his site?

Aside from that, I agree that the two most likely antagonists are the Precursors and the possible new species. O'Connor said that they would be introducing some new enemies into the game so that removes Covenant and the Flood as possibilities.


Still the flood it's gonna be the main enemy for the whole trilogy, with out the flood, the game being called Halo would lose it's purpose, The flood it's not gonna be in Halo 4 indeed, but it's gonna be the main enemy at the end. If the flood is removed from the Halo universe now, there's no point in using the Halo's anymore. If you read the Forerunner books, it is hinted the Flood is the main weapon of the Precursors since they couldn't defeat the Forerunners themselves.
The Flood isn't the single defining thing in Halo's history.

That's like saying humans are the single defining thing about Earth's history. Without humans, why even bother calling everything before history? Yeah, sounds dumb doesn't it?

They MAY come back, they MAY NOT. They won't be erased from the Halo Universe just because they don't make an appearance, and you cannot say that the Flood WILL be the enemy. Besides Halo Reach was a game without Flood, but no one really complained about the lack of Flood.

  • 05.20.2012 7:21 AM PDT
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I understand nothing because my life is a conspiracy.

I like story, but I'm not this crazy about it. I just don't want them to screw up the gameplay and the features. They already dashed my dreams be removing Firefight and replacing it with Special- I mean Spartan Ops.

  • 05.20.2012 11:52 AM PDT

Posted by: lime013
I like story, but I'm not this crazy about it. I just don't want them to screw up the gameplay and the features. They already dashed my dreams be removing Firefight and replacing it with Special- I mean Spartan Ops.
If 343 was smart Spartan Ops would be Firefight but with Objectives, and not the god awful Generator Defense crap.

Also if bloom is in the game then it's probably already going to be broken. Unless they magically managed to fix bloom in Halo 4 (I'll be happy if it's not in there at all). Can someone confirm for me if bloom is in fact in Halo 4? I heard it was, but not on the Battle Rifle.

[Edited on 05.20.2012 6:08 PM PDT]

  • 05.20.2012 6:01 PM PDT
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Posted by: X Delta Xero X
Posted by: lime013
I like story, but I'm not this crazy about it. I just don't want them to screw up the gameplay and the features. They already dashed my dreams be removing Firefight and replacing it with Special- I mean Spartan Ops.
If 343 was smart Spartan Ops would be Firefight but with Objectives, and not the god awful Generator Defense crap.

Also if bloom is in the game then it's probably already going to be broken. Unless they magically managed to fix bloom in Halo 4 (I'll be happy if it's not in there at all). Can someone confirm for me if bloom is in fact in Halo 4? I heard it was, but not on the Battle Rifle.


Bloom was a little too much in Reach, that I agree with, but it does help balance out precision weapons. Also, Bloom is in Halo 4, just not on the BR. Stupid propaganda; they're just trying to convince you to buy the game with little features like Master Chief and the BR.

  • 05.20.2012 6:13 PM PDT


Posted by: lime013

Posted by: X Delta Xero X
Posted by: lime013
I like story, but I'm not this crazy about it. I just don't want them to screw up the gameplay and the features. They already dashed my dreams be removing Firefight and replacing it with Special- I mean Spartan Ops.
If 343 was smart Spartan Ops would be Firefight but with Objectives, and not the god awful Generator Defense crap.

Also if bloom is in the game then it's probably already going to be broken. Unless they magically managed to fix bloom in Halo 4 (I'll be happy if it's not in there at all). Can someone confirm for me if bloom is in fact in Halo 4? I heard it was, but not on the Battle Rifle.


Bloom was a little too much in Reach, that I agree with, but it does help balance out precision weapons. Also, Bloom is in Halo 4, just not on the BR. Stupid propaganda; they're just trying to convince you to buy the game with little features like Master Chief and the BR.
I only hated Bloom on two weapons, the DMR and the Magnum. I assume the DMR is going to have bloom, and honestly I don't care about the DMR. The Assault Rifle having Bloom made it feel better, I felt that short controlled bursts really were the key to victory.

If Magnum has bloom I may rage.

  • 05.20.2012 6:39 PM PDT

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