- last post: 01.01.0001 12:00 AM PDT
This theory builds upon the theory that earth is the ark, the one that the ark is a litteral safe haven from the halo rings' activation, and the one that says humans are the forerunners.
If Earth is indeed the ark, it makes it a very important forerunner artifact no matter what it does. Therefore, the Covenant would be very intersested in it. So, when the small Covenant fleet (only 1/50 the size of the one that conquered Reach) arrives at Earth, they are simply coming to investigate the nature of this forerunner artifact they obtained the location from in one of their other investigations of the forerunner instilations. Much to the surprise of the Covenant, they have stumbled on the Human homeworld.
So later in Halo 2, when the Prophet of Regret tells the Prophet of Truth that "no human presence was foretold" he says that because they didn't even come to Earth in order to destroy the human race. Because his fleet was so small, the humans on earth repel the Covenant with relative ease. So toward the end of Halo 2, after Regret and Mercy have been killed, Truth attacks Earth again except this time he is prepared for the humans living on the Forerunner artifact.
Now we arrive at the Halo 3 trailer. Earth is conquered but for a strange reason it hasn't been glassed (bombarded by plasma) like Reach and all the other human planets conquered by the Covenant. This further proves the theory that Earth is the ark or at least something very vital to the Covenant's "Great Journey". It is obvious there is some forerunner element to Earth becuase of what we see in the trailer.
So how did they human get on the ark (Earth)? I believe that the "ark" is a literal ark like the one Noah used in the Bible to excape from the flood that covered the whole Earth. Noah and his family were the only ones who survived on the entire planet because the took refuge in the ark. The definition of ark is "a place or thing furnishing protection; refuge". Protection or refuge from, in this case, the activation of the halo rings. So a small group of forerunners (who I believe are humans on in the same) take refuge in this instilation on Earth when the Halo rings are activated. After everyone in the galaxy is dead except for them they emerge from the ark and repopulate the human race ON EARTH.
I can't find many holes in this theory. Why else would bungie have called it an "ark"? I know I'm not the first one to come up with a lot of this stuff, I just kinda pieced it all together.
-Freebrid