- last post: 01.01.0001 12:00 AM PDT
Not to sound like a highschool english teacher or anything, but could you please read through your posts before you hit the submit button. The grammor is bad and its hard to figure out what you are saying because some of the sentences don't make any sense.
Now that that is out of the way, i have a few problems with your theories.
#1.) Durandal is not the Gravemind.
First of all, if you look at the Marathon and Halo timelines at bungie.org, you will see that during the century that Halo takes place in, Durandal was on the Marathon. The Marathon was launched on November 16th, 2472 and is on the Marathon until July 25th, 2794 when the first Marathon game takes place. The first Halo game begins September 19th, 2552, and although i am not sure of the exact date you meet the Gravemind, it is certain that not enough time has passed for Durandal to be off the Marathon and there is no evidence or reason the Marathon would have stopped at Instilation 05 (the Halo in Halo2). Just looking at the timeline you can clearly see that there is no feasable way that Durandal is the Gravemind.
At halo@bungie.org you can read the transcripts of every line the Gravemind speaks in Halo 2. Nothing he says comes close to anything Durandal ever said in any Marathon game. Durandal's motives are finding the Jjarro and eventually escaping the eventual closure of the universe. Although it is difficult to tell what Gravemind is planning from his few lines of dialogue in Halo 2, I am sure that it has little to do with Duranal's plans. We will only know Gravemind's true intentions when Halo 3 comes out in 2007, but if i had to guess, i would say that he just wants to get off of Halo and spread the flood accross the galaxy. Sure he is intelegent, but he is still a flood and the flood are parasites seeking not to create but to destroy. You can also read every terminal in the Marathon series at the Marathon Story Page at marathon.bungie.org if you want to learn more about the Marathon series. Bungie.org is really a great resourse everyone who has theories about anything Bungie should explore.
#2.) Durandal is not mentioned in the Cortana Letters
You have read the Cortana letters right? If not or even if you have got to marathon.bungie.org and read them again. In the first 5 and even the hidden one, there is no mention of Durandal. The only other presence that could be an A.I. is referred to as "certainly mindless" which cannot be Durandal. Also, you mentioned something about a "Fourth UNSC." The only things about a 4th anything mentioned in the Cortana letters are as follows...
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.
and four "lost colony" worlds
neither of which are referances to Durandal or an A.I. for that matter. The Cortana letters do not even appear in any bungie game, Marathon or Halo, and the first acctuall use of them since they were written was in the Halo 3 E3 trailer. In said trailer Cortana quotes a few lines from them, but up until then bungie denied that they were an officail part of the story anyway. Perhaps they will play a role in Halo 3, but in any case, Durandal is not mentioned at all in them.
#3.) A few questions about referances you made that were confused by bad gramar
A.) Cortana did not "advance" from anything, she was created by Dr. Halsey. The doctor but some of her own personality into Cortana, but Cortana was created and didn't evolve from any other life form. Also that may not even matter since so many things in the books were completely ignored in Halo 2 anyway.
B.) What is your definition of a "Marathoner"? Do you mean the Jjaro? They were the advanced race from the Marathon series and if Halo and Marathon were ever intended to be connected in anyway, the Jjaro would surely have played an important role. If you mean "Marathoner" as in people who were on the Marathon ship then it is impossible since the Maratathon was launched in 2472 and the Halo rings are much older than that.
C.) There is no Marathon:Gold. The three games in the Marathon Series are Marathon, Marathon 2: Durandal. and Marathon: Infinity. You can play them all in windows with Aleph One, so ask around and get coppies of them so you can experience their greatness.