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  • Subject: Possible storylines of Halo 2
Subject: Possible storylines of Halo 2
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Sitting down at my Xbox tonight, I decided to start a new game on Legendary so as to see some of the hints Bungie cleverly included in the first game that could help determine a storyline for Halo 2. All was going fine - nothing caught my attention... until I got to "Truth and Reconciliation". Maybe others have noticed this and speculated, but I don't read the forums much, so I wouldn't know. Anyhow, I rescued Keyes and the others and something immediately caught my attention. In the cut-scene after rescuing Keyes, he says something to the affect of, "I overheard the guards talking about this ring-world. They call it Halo." I thought to myself, 'if Keyes heard the guards, that means he understands their language'. WHAT??!! How is this possible? How would Keyes be able to understand Covenant languages when we know from the story (especially the 3 Halo novels) that UNSC command knows almost nothing about the Covenant's culture, nature of religious beliefs, or really much at all about the Covenant infastructure. To add to this, how does Keyes immediatley know the controls of the Covenant dropship that he pilots at the end of the level? Does something about Captain Keyes bother anybody else? We clearly saw and heard the Flood infect Keyes... or did we? We know from the reimmegance of Sg. Johnson in "First Strike" that appearances can be decieving. People survived Halo other than the Chief. Is it possible that Keyes could have been one of these and he somehow transplanted his neural implants to somebody else? The supposed death and story of Keyes bothers me tremendously, but does it need to? And why did Keyes' Flood infected body look so different from any other marine who they use as a host? Does Bungie hold a secret in Halo 2 that revolves around Keyes? OK Halo 2 story speculators, I turn it over to you.


  • 05.16.2004 8:12 PM PDT
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I don't know. That is really interesting. I have often pondered that myself, but on Halo (level) Cortana talks of how the covenant are speaking on unencrypted wavelengths. Maybe that has something to do with it.

  • 05.16.2004 8:38 PM PDT
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[color=white]Well, considering MC punches Keyes in the face, leaving a massive hole, I doubt he lived 100%. Also, I think Keyes had a translator hooked into his neaural interface (I think that's what it's called) And finally, Johnson has a disease, making him "untasty" to the Flood. I know that sounds odd, but it's true (it states it in First Strike). If I'm wrong on anything, please, by all means, correct me. ;D[/color]

  • 05.16.2004 8:44 PM PDT
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Did it state in any of the novels (well, I mean Fall of Reach and The Flood - Keyes wasn't in First Strike) about Keyes having a translator? I don't seem to remember that... could be wrong though...my point about Keyes is that his death seemed very unexpected. In fact, when I first saw Keyes as the flood I didn't think it made sense - something about it was odd, unsettling if you will. I think there is more to Keyes than meets the eye. Sg. Johnson's blood condition is one of (what I think) many more twists to the story that weren't revealed in the first game. Questions, questions - any answers?

  • 05.16.2004 10:54 PM PDT
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Here it goes. The Covenant are a group of alien races, unified by a rigid caste structure. And while ONI has very limited information, and almost no knowledge of their languages, that's not true for all of the species. They have quite reliable translator devices for the Grunt species. And this is why in the game, it sounds like the grunts speak in English, the translators work in real time. And I think this is who Keyes overheard. None of the other races in the Covenant would have been foolish enough to talk about this in front of the prisoner, only the lowly grunt. But that strikes up another question. I thought the covenant took no prisoners...so why do they have Keyes and some marines locked up? I haven't read The Flood (only the other two) so excuse if it's answered there, I heard it wasn't as good as the other two.

  • 05.16.2004 11:04 PM PDT
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1) Some Covenant language has been translated
2) Keyes has some translation software in his neural interface
3) The Covies can speak english
4) Keyes can pilot the Covenant ship because he is a superb captain, all vessels are based on the same principals: thrust, drag, etc...
5) Keyes is dead, the MC removed his neural interface from the Flood form...

Your looking too hard for hints... it was a nice try but I doubt it...

  • 05.16.2004 11:09 PM PDT
Subject: intero
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They were interrogationg Keyes, trying to get the location of Earth mostly.

  • 05.16.2004 11:10 PM PDT
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Where did you get that?

  • 05.16.2004 11:12 PM PDT
Subject: sorry
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It was in the second book, "the flood". If i remember correctly, the entire command team was killed except for Keyes, because they only needed him. I don't recall other marines alive in the book in holding cells like in the game though.... may be possible, I'm gonna re-read it in the coming days.

  • 05.16.2004 11:14 PM PDT
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The other marines in the cells were dead, in a pool of their own blood. So maybe they were tortured in their cells.

  • 05.16.2004 11:15 PM PDT
Subject: Possible storylines of Halo 2
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i also considered the grunts talking, but arrived at the same conclusion as to why they wouldn't just kill Keyes and the other marines. Something deeper could be at work here... but what makes the grunts so stupid to talk in front of Keyes? I don't think the grunts are as stupid as they are made out to be. Sure they freak out when attacked and are the lowest on the Covenant totem pole, but this caste system is militarily based, not intelligence based. Keyes still bothers me.

  • 05.16.2004 11:15 PM PDT
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No they're stupid. And I think that you're reading just a little too much into it. But Bungie is a crazy bunch of guys, so you never know.

  • 05.16.2004 11:17 PM PDT
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I remember reading from this site that Bungie scripted Halo very cleverly, giving the slightest of hints to its storyline along the way... are there others people found?

  • 05.16.2004 11:19 PM PDT
Subject: Like I said...
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**SPOLIERS ON THE BOOK "THE FLOOD"**

They needed Keyes to find the location to Earth. The good captain didn't give up the Info though. They had a plan to capture him. In the book, the command team took the last secured Lifepod to halo, and an invisible Elite boarded it, Keyes was the only one who noticed, and killed it right there. One of the Crew later turns on the team and tells the covies where to find Keyes ( she was promised to to be hurt...), and of course she was killed a little later. They identified him and his rank, so the rest of the team was killed. I think the Elites were talking to each other about Halo when they thought Keyes was knocked out.. but that last part I don't recall clearly.....

  • 05.16.2004 11:21 PM PDT