- last post: 01.01.0001 12:00 AM PDT
After reading a thousand and one threads that look for meaning, story, plot and spoilers within the Halo novels (which may or nay not be canon - that is not an argument for this thread), I felt an urge to re-read something that IS part of the game universe - something intrinsically tied to Halo 2 and therefore, perhaps the most pertinent piece of information we have.
Although this thread is open to discussing ANY aspect of the conversations (with regard to its connection to Halo 3 of course), I am going to open up debate on the few areas which caught my attention today.
Ok, the first story, regarding Revolution 56-11.334 and Revolution eta-condtion, I am interested in the last line: "Excellent! I believe I see assistance approaching... [ends]
Now, broadly speaking, my first reaction to this was 'OMG forerunners must have returned!'. I say this because I was sure that neither humans nor covenant returned to intillation 04 after Chief destoryed it, so logically, the only other thing it could have been was the only other race we are aware of.
...However, (and I need some assistance here) I don't remember how 343GS first appears in Halo 2... does he say how he got there? Who he met? If not, then there are some very interesting holes in this plot thread, which I believe lead to something revelatory in Halo 3. Who else would be classed as 'assistance?' pertinent tangent? Or another of their kind?... mmm
So, secondly:
The artifact on coral. I believe it is fairly clear that the artefact they partially uncover is of Forerunner origin. Now, this interests me for two reasons. Firstly, it the last paragraph "I just pray that we find some clue, some data that can help us in the war". Now, is that just blind hope from a random guy writing a letter to his wife? Or is it perhaps a hint towards the possibly exploration of a new planet? - Which brings me onto my second point of interest - This structure is found on a planet! Surely that means that at one time, THIS is where the Forerunners had one of their colonies (I am not sure enough of this to suggest it would be their homeworld).
Either way, it is an interesting piece that opens up a host of possibilities. If earth is being destroyed, then perhaps we elope to our forfather's world? Is it a safe-haven? What is the structure. It sounds like a pyramid - arcitecturally speaking, that would be relatively consistent with Forerunner structures. Again, it's by no means a solid theory - more of a possibility with some interesting tangental ideas.
Now, the attack on Sacred Promise and Commitment and Patience intrigued me only because of two lines - and I stress here that the link I am about to make is tenuous... at best!
"Contact alpha has fired its main weapon!"
Now, the terminology is interesting - contact alpha is stated as if it is of unknown origin. If it was a covenant starship, wouldn't they call it by its known name? Is this an attack by a new predator? An unexpected visitor?
"We will be entering the primary sattelite's atmosphere in less than three minutes"
Contrarily, this line leads me to believe that this attack is actually a Covenant attack after all. It seems that an attack is being had on a human vessel, and they are just outside the atmosphere of a planet ("Brace for atmospheric entry in...9..8...). Backup is on its way but is taking too long to arrive, and the covenant ship destorys the Sacred Promise.
The talk of a satelite leads me to think that this is a human outpost on earth - at the edge of the atmosphere. They weren't expecting the Covenant to arrive at earth so soon, and the Covenant weren't expecting us to be there.
Next on my list is the eavesdropping of the elites.
One line, one point:
"I suspect we are forcing them into a tighter arena than they care to fight in - soon we may be able to use the Sharquoi".
Now if that wasn't a new character introduction I don't know what is :) I am comfortably confident that we will be facing these behemoths in Halo 3.
Lastly, Cassandra's letter to 117, or as I like to call him, Big Daddy...
I jest...
A few things to mention here - the most obvious is the one I am going to discuss the least - is Cassandra a functional Spartan and wll we see her in Halo 3? My honest answer to that is 'I hope the hell not, because the only path that could lead down is a love interest and I aint' buying that'. But, please discuss.
More importantly, I feel, is this, when she speaks of Chief's new Mark VI armour:
"The choice to incorporate further Covenant technology somehow makes my skin crawl"
I would suggest that on this line alone, it is likely we will see some kind of active camo add-on to 117. I'm not sure what other attributes the Covenant armour have, but if there are any you think would be relevant, please speak up.
Last but not least - The back page references the names of the Covenant. No Sharquoi, but there are engineers. Also, notice how vague the descriptions are when compared to the enemies we know...
...The only meanings I could find for Boo-bag were something akin to a child's pillow or lady's arm bag. Not particularly revealing I know :)
Loogie produced more lucid results: A loogie is a slang expression for a mass of phlegm and saliva that is ejected from the mouth - I imagine this may mean the engineer is a 'slug-like' creature. Slow moving and gunky, but useful in its own way. Pillow/bag may be referring to its shape? Fat... bloated. I'm unsure.
Anyway, I thank you for your patience if you've made it this far. I apologise for any needless expository sentences - I have a tendency to indulge in language. I hope that from this, we can not necessarily learn something new, but rather, add something to the mostly stagnant nature of the Halo 3 theories (various contributors aside of course).
Thank you,
Doc
[Edited on 7/18/2006]