- last post: 01.01.0001 12:00 AM PDT
first off, i'd like to say none of my evidence comes from the novels whaich was declared cannon by bungie. instead i've gotten most of my info from the cortana letters, which has given me the greatest insight into Cortana's innermost phych (hope i spelled that right) which is never truly revealed in the games.
The first foremost bit of evidence which contrary to my first paragraph, came from thee enscription on cortana (the sword) which states (paraphrase) "I am Cortana, of the same steel and temper of Durandal". Durandal was an A.I. from bungie's marathon games who sought immortality. so we know that Cortana and durandal are similar.
now to apply this with info from the cortana letters.
"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."
"It is a blurred line that lies at the edge of Godhood and Insanity. Guess which side of it I am on"
"I am so close – you cannot imagine what it is truly like to hold eternity in your grasp"
this was from the first letter. in this Cortana seems to believe that she is powerful almost godlike, which would go along with the imortality bit.
"There will be no more Sadness. No more Anger. No more Envy."
also from the first letter, we see that cortana wants to use her alledged power for good, but we all know the road to hell is paved with good intentions. others see this as destroying the three stages of rampancy but that remains to be seen.
Okay, so we know that cortana sees herself as allpowerful and wants to use it to for good. but is she truely behind humanity the whole way and if not who does she fight for?
"This enemy - YOUR enemy - has proven more irritating than I anticipated.
They own nothing which they have not stolen. I can barely make sense of
their incessant rhetoric"
"There will be plenty of time for retribution; I cannot wait to get its hands on these psychotic zealots whose primary form of worship apparently takes place at the altar of orbital bombardment."
"In the end, they will all be little more than nuisances. I am so close – you cannot imagine what it is truly like to hold eternity in your grasp! I wonder to what gods my enemies will direct their pleas. Perhaps I can convert them."
we can extrapolate that Cortana does want to be rid of the covenant but only like you would want to be rid of a fly buzing around your head. sounds good for us if she's that powerful, i guess not...
"I am busy saving your pathetic futures."
"This enemy - YOUR enemy - has proven more irritating than I anticipated"
"I am still not sure what he ever saw in you"
this seems like cortana is fairly resentful about having to baby-sit humanity but (assuming "he" is the chief of course) she holds the MC in high regards. mabye she's only fighting cause the chief is.
so with the preceeding quotes we can conclude:
A) cortana is either close or has achieved transcendance
B)she wants to use such for good/stopping the lethal proccess of rampancy
C)she cares nothing about the fate of the covenant or humanity
D)the only two things she cares about are Godhood and the Master Chief
now that we have a decent idea of whats going on in cortana's head we need to apply that to the halo story. first of all i have seen a troubling screenshot of halo 2 where (with a good screen) you can make out Cortana crossing her fingers whe she says that she will blow up In Amber Clads reactors if tarturus activates halo. this means that there is something on delta halo (grave mind or related perhaps) that cortana wants and she's willing to risk all life in the galaxy to get it. *gasp*
but shortly after this potential betrayal she sent the chief to earth to defend it which means there is also something on earth that she wants protected as wel (the ark mabye).
now i've heard from many people that finishing the fight will involve stopping the covenant/discovering the nature of the forerunners etc. etc. but i know that bungie doesn't work that way, the covenant/halos/ark are big things that will distract us from the smll things that matter most, like finding a firefly in front of a search light. (^^ i wote this last paragraph just to see if it will help you find the tru7h ;) )
finally a summary of my looooong boring rant + my theory of how this will play out + applying it to a great story (sorry if it doesn't have many specifics, fill em in if you like):
-Cortana finds the secret to immortality/godhood while in alpha halo's controll room (how was 343 allowed to stay alive for this long?) but has no time or means to do it
-fast forward to delta halo where she finds the Gravemind who has achieved this immortality
-won't let delta halo be destroyed because she now has time to find out how to use the gravemind to achieve trancendance
-sends chief to defend the last peice of the puzzle of Godhhod which (i think) is in the ark
-while we're fighting covies in the desert cortana is massing some kind of force, flood i'm guessing which that wil absoloutly sweep right past the covanant with ease.
(-i guess flood because she will trick the gravemind/flood into thinking she's leading them to a feeding site while she accomplishes her hidden agenda)
-covies and humans will be forced into an aliance to beat the newly released flood.
- all this time cortana is watching as the galaxy is ripping itself to bits believing that the
ends (immortality) will justify the means (total anihalition)
-finally after commiting the unspeakable evil of destroying the on living being she has become attatched to (master chief) she sees the error of her wasys and as a final act of redemtion, she sacrifice's herself to destroy the flood once and for all.
there not bad for my first post, wish i could get a hold of that one screen but anyways try not to critisize me for bad grammer/spelling and feel free to add whatever to the theory or constructive critisism