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This topic has moved here: Subject: The Cortana Letters
  • Subject: The Cortana Letters
Subject: The Cortana Letters

Today I was browsing the web looking for anything about Halo 3. I ended up coming acrossthis website. This stuff is crazy

So this guy (I haven't found a name on the site) got a strange email from a person calling themselves 'Cortana' with the email address 'cortana@bungie.com'. He sent an email to bungie to ask what it was all about and if it was authentic or not. They confirmed that it was authentic, but did not tell what it meant or what it was about. He also said that he would be receiving more simmilar letters in the future.

Two of these 'letters' stood out to me and showed multiple Connections to the Halo 3 trailer. What's even more baffeling is the fact that these letters were received in the year 1999. A full 7 years before the Halo 3 trailer was released. Coincidence? Maybe...

I have copied the letters and have pointed out the parts that I have found to be significant.


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)


This part seemed to me to sound like what Cortana said in the Halo 3 trailer.

I have seen your future.
And I have learned.


This is simmilar to what Cortana says in the trailer, "I know you. Your past, your future."

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.


This is also said by Cortana near the end of the Halo 3 trailer.

a friend of a friend


The next Letter has a few more connections to the Halo universe, but they are a little more of a stretch then those in the first Letter. Note that not all of this Letters connections are directly concerning the trailer.


Letter 2

I get the strangest transmissions sometimes. Especially when it comes from you people.

May be connected to the 'strange transmision' we see in the Halo 3 trailer?

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.

1) The MC most likely misses Cortanas company.
2) Gravemind perhaps?


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.

Cortana mentions Demons in the Halo 3 trailer.

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.


Many people have speculated whether or not Cortana is a God or if she has just gone Insane. Cortana also mentions defying Gods in the trailer.

Feeling lucky?

The number 7 is lucky, isn't it?

Cortana
XOXOXOX



These things may or may not have any Relevance to anything having to do with Halo 3, but it's always fun to speculate!

What do you think?

  • 06.14.2006 4:38 PM PDT

One shot: one kill, zero seconds to live

Halo had been in development since 1998 and even further back. the guys at bungie just probably wrote these along time ago and decided to drag them out again to use in the 3rd game

  • 06.14.2006 4:41 PM PDT
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I think that on my first day back from being blacklisted I'm having to see the same junk as I did before I was blacklisted. Sorry, that is excessive flaming. The Cortana letters have been around since before Halo 2 if I'm not mistaken. And while the other posts aren't on this page of Bnet (Halo 3 corner) they have in fact been discussed.

  • 06.14.2006 4:42 PM PDT
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*shoots self*....... "Suicide"

  • 06.14.2006 4:43 PM PDT

Posted by: spartanwingzero
Halo had been in development since 1998 and even further back. the guys at bungie just probably wrote these along time ago and decided to drag them out again to use in the 3rd game


You do know that even before the first Halo came out Bungie had the storyline basically mapped out, right? Just wanted to point that out.

  • 06.14.2006 4:44 PM PDT

One shot: one kill, zero seconds to live

Posted by: pilesofnoodles
Posted by: spartanwingzero
Halo had been in development since 1998 and even further back. the guys at bungie just probably wrote these along time ago and decided to drag them out again to use in the 3rd game


You do know that even before the first Halo came out Bungie had the storyline basically mapped out, right? Just wanted to point that out.


yeah, i've known that for a long time

  • 06.14.2006 4:46 PM PDT
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Everybody remembers I love bees, right?

Also the covenant refer to the Forerunners as Gods, and Master Chief as the Demon. Cortana only ever met Spartan John 117, the Master Chief... according to the books. So why is demons plural?

  • 06.14.2006 5:02 PM PDT

One shot: one kill, zero seconds to live

Posted by: Holy Warrior
Everybody remembers I love bees, right?

Also the covenant refer to the Forerunners as Gods, and Master Chief as the Demon. Cortana only ever met Spartan John 117, the Master Chief... according to the books. So why is demons plural?


cortana knows about all of the other spartans, she was programed to include all of them. in Halo: first strike she's onboard the ship with them too.

[Edited on 6/14/2006]

  • 06.14.2006 5:06 PM PDT
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When she says, "Oh and you poet Eliot had it all wrong. THIS IS THE WAY THE WORLD ENDS." Shes reffering to the ww1 poet Eliot who wrote, " This is the way the world ends. Not with a bang but a whimper." Maybe this means the world ends with a bang?

  • 06.14.2006 5:11 PM PDT
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Bungie listens to its fans! ^.^ | Ninja .II./ You
RCG: In ur base, steelin' ur flagz. | Watch the demo, then join the carnage!

This thread is like a time-machine to pre-2000...

  • 06.14.2006 5:24 PM PDT

Yes they have been discussed, but I'm just pointing out connections that I have noticed between them and the Halo 3 trailer. If I'm not mistaken, we didn't have this opportunity until a month ago.

  • 06.14.2006 9:47 PM PDT
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why does know1 see this

this is a hidden cortana letter found int he myth 1.3 cd

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.


check it out, heres my interpretation

shes at the end of halo 2 i think, shes runing from node to node from the crappy covenant AIs and is reading thru all there crap. Remember shes on high charity, so the flood have invaded and shes probly for the most part alone.

she found a message in a relatively "archaic" database. archaic means ancient so most likely a FORERUNNER database. The message shows that the forerunners were *duh* humans and they seemed to be doing pretty damn good until.....

No one was prepared for their arrival.

No one expected this.

< Transfer Interrupted! >

dun dun dun what could that be? guesses anyone? oh alright il answer for you

THE FLOOD WAHHHHHHHH



  • 06.14.2006 10:02 PM PDT
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yup there from like 98 or 99 but there just starting to make sense now

and no1 iv seen has really discussed what i posted, but then again i havent read everything im sure some ppl have discussed it

  • 06.14.2006 10:21 PM PDT
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Posted by: Holy Warrior
Everybody remembers I love bees, right?

Also the covenant refer to the Forerunners as Gods, and Master Chief as the Demon. Cortana only ever met Spartan John 117, the Master Chief... according to the books. So why is demons plural?


No, the covenant refer to the forerunners as Holy Ones, but i have never seen or heard anything in which they called them gods.

And Cortana is speaking, not some Covenant leader, so why would she call the MC a Demon?
I believe both are refrences to something else.

  • 06.14.2006 10:27 PM PDT
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I havent read many of the posts in this thread but bungie have already dismissed the cortana letters. They haven't got anything to do with the core of the Halo storyline.

  • 06.14.2006 10:28 PM PDT
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Posted by: MooseJuice
yup there from like 98 or 99 but there just starting to make sense now

and no1 iv seen has really discussed what i posted, but then again i havent read everything im sure some ppl have discussed it

The first Cortana letter was recieved on February 15, 1999.

  • 06.14.2006 10:30 PM PDT
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Posted by: SARGE JOHNSON
I havent read many of the posts in this thread but bungie have already dismissed the cortana letters. They haven't got anything to do with the core of the Halo storyline.

I'm not about to take your word for it.
Give us a quote please or shut up.

  • 06.14.2006 10:31 PM PDT
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Has anyone here actually seen these b4 the release of the trailer? Even back in 98-99? I personally never heard of them prior to seeing the trailer, then it just started appearing everywhere. Its possible I just didnt look hard enough, maybe not. I was just wondering if they slipped these in as an "I love bees" type deal, and said they date back to 98-99. I honestly dont know. Thats why I'm asking.

  • 06.14.2006 10:57 PM PDT
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Posted by: SARGE JOHNSON
I havent read many of the posts in this thread but bungie have already dismissed the cortana letters. They haven't got anything to do with the core of the Halo storyline.


bungie dismisses alotta things.

and technically the one i posted wasnt a cortana letter, it was a hidden msg found in the myth 1.3 cd

  • 06.14.2006 11:02 PM PDT
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He's right, when The Fall of Reach was being written Shishka declared the Cortana Letters non-cannon to the Halo Story, although to think they aren't relevant may be foolish.

  • 06.15.2006 4:56 AM PDT
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Your about 7 years too late mate

  • 06.15.2006 5:03 AM PDT

Posted by: High Truth
He's right, when The Fall of Reach was being written Shishka declared the Cortana Letters non-cannon to the Halo Story, although to think they aren't relevant may be foolish.


The things is that they might have looked back at these letters during the making of the Halo 3 trailer. That may be why there are so many connections to them and the Trailer.

  • 06.15.2006 4:44 PM PDT