Everyone is talking about the ending, focusing on Cortana and Chief…speculating on the Didact’s fate and such…But there’s something I want to bring to the table of discussion and speculation.
As you know, Halo 4 is just the beginning of a new Halo trilogy. The Reclaimer Trilogy to be precise. Reclaimers are humans, they are also the new enemy of this trilogy. A few pieces of evidence to point out…
- Halo 4 starts with a cutscene of Doctor Halsey arrested and being questioned on what made John 117 a good Spartan. She, in some light of horror, realizes that they are going to replace Master Chief, more importantly they are going to start up a new Spartan Program.
That cutscene was out of place if you take it in the context of Halo 4 as a standalone story. However, it connects wonderfully with the final cutscene…
- Here’s the Didact’s final speech before the ending, after his death.
“In this hour of victory, we taste only defeat. I ask why.
We are Forerunners. Guardians of all that exist.
The roots of the galaxy have grown deep under our careful tending. Where there is life, the wisdom of our countless generations has saturated the soil.
Our strength is a luminous sun towards which all intelligence blossoms…
And the impervious shelter beneath which it has prospered.
I stand before you. Accuses of the sin of ensuring Forerunner ascendancy…
Of attempting to save us from this fate where we are forced to…recede…
Humanity stands as the greatest threat in the galaxy.
Refusing to eradicate them is a fool’s gambit.
We squander eons in the darkness…
…while they seize our triumphs for their own.
The Mantle of Responsibility for all things belongs to the Forerunners alone!
Thing of my acts as you will.
But do not doubt the reality.
The reclamation…has already begun.
And we are hopeless to stop it.”
He’s not promising vengeance, he’s not saying “I’ll be back”, he’s warning you, he’s telling you that humanity is unfit to rule this galaxy, that they have already begun to reclaim the galaxy for themselves, and they he, the Forerunners, are helpless to stop it. Very helpless considering his death…
And what plays during that speech?
3. The final cutscene we see the massive Spartan IV program on the Infinity. Look how many there are…and for what? What threat looms over humanity? The Covenant? They were taken down by a single Spartan, why the need for thousands?
This is what the Didact was trying to stop, humanity’s forceful conquest of a galaxy, their rapid and violent expansion that the Forerunners faced many years ago.
Now let’s look back at the beginning cutscene again. The person questioning Halsey points out that the Spartans were originally built to stop rebellion…to strengthen an empire that was humanity. Halsey ignores this, she seems more interested in making humans into the perfection of Spartans than in what they are used for.
CLOSING.
The question we need to ask ourselves isn’t whether the Didact will return. It won’t matter, he’s lost already, he’d just lose again. The question is, what will humanity do with their new found power, and if it get’s out of hand, what can Master Chief do to stop it? More importantly, will he do anything to stop it?