Spoilers
I’ve seen a lot of people complain about the story and how it ruined Halo 4’s ending. Not gonna lie, I was peeved with the way they brought back Cortana in Halo 5 as it was sudden and wasn’t explained until later. The explanation is easy to miss since it is done by cramming tons of info via in-game dialogue. But I’m not here to rant about that. Instead I’m here to offer a new perspective that may help keep Cortana’s death meaningful to new and old fans alike.
First, Cortana is the first human AI to be created using the brains of another human, Doctor Halsey. But like all human AIs she would eventually become unstable in a stage known as Rampancy. In Halo 4, Cortana was reaching Rampancy and it was shown throughout the story. Master Chief planned to get Cortana fixed after defeating the Didact but Cortana sacrificed herself to stop the Composer. Or so we thought…
Cortana was in the ship and was able to replicate herself multiple times to defeat the Didact. Afterwards she leaves a goodbye message to the Chief but not a goodbye as in she’s literally dead. Rather a goodbye because she would no longer be the Cortana he knew. Remember, she was turning Rampant and gradually going insane. After Didact’s ship jumped into Slipspace Cortana somehow manages to contact the Domain and enter it. Keep in mind, she no ordinary AI but a clone of a human brain. She had already became insane and the Domain give her power and knowledge.
As a result Halo 5 happens and she contacts Chief to join her in the Domain. At the end of Halo 4, the Cortana we know and love died. Replaced by an insane version of herself born from the phenomenon known as Rampancy. Master Chief refuses to accept that the real Cortana has died and tries to find something left of her. But he later realizes that Cortana is lost when she walks away while his team is frozen. In the end, Cortana has complete control of the galaxy and some of the UNSC’s AIs. We can only wait for Halo 6 to see what happens next.
It might not be perfect but hopefully it offers a perspective that helps enjoy the story more. Looking at the story this way made it far more enjoyable for me. And forgive any bad writing. I wrote this half asleep.
I want to belive this but she is refered to as being cured of ranpancy multiple times, if this were the case I would have hoped somebody would have said somthing about her still being rampant.
Is it even explained how the Didact’s ship ended up on Genesis even though it ended up on
Installation 03 in Escalation?Spoilers for those who are still reading Escalation
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> I want to belive this but she is refered to as being cured of ranpancy multiple times, if this were the case I would have hoped somebody would have said somthing about her still being rampant.
I like to think she was under the illusion of being cured when there was evidence supporting otherwise. Remember when her outburst on the Infinity in Halo 4? It was clear she had no control over herself. Eventually she entered insanity and couldn’t control her Rampancy anymore.
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> Is it even explained how the Didact’s ship ended up on Genesis even though it ended up on
> Installation 03 in Escalation?
> Spoilers for those who are still reading Escalation
No… The Didact appeared… “There”, not Mantle’s Approach. The Didactic fell into slip space basically.
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> > 2533274908070201;3:
> > Is it even explained how the Didact’s ship ended up on Genesis even though it ended up on
> > Installation 03 in Escalation?
> > Spoilers for those who are still reading Escalation
>
>
> No… The Didact appeared… “There”, not Mantle’s Approach. The Didactic fell into slip space basically.
I know, so did the ship. Can two entities go to two different locations through one portal? Or was the portal the Didact fell in not the same one his ship went through?
Cortana used chief to access the domain. Chief as a reclaimer had access. She used a call back to home option on the gaurdians to transport chief and then manipulated systems and told Chief to press buttons that activated the gateway to the domain. She manipulated him to give her the power.
The story still doesn’t measure up to par even when considering the kind of proposal that the OP mentions. After all, Frank O’Connor, the Franchise Development Director, and Brian Reed, the lead writer for Halo 5, insist that Cortana is not evil. They could be lying, heaven knows both of them had no problem lying about Cortana being dead prior to Halo 5’s release (with Reed saying that she was killed a mere day before release), but assuming they aren’t then that puts a pretty big dent in the idea that the Cortana we see in Halo 5 is just a rampant version of her. I know people like to tout the whole “she is doing this for the greater good” angle, but I fail to see how Cortana remorselessly murdering potentially millions of people with her Guardians activating contributes to the greater good. I also feel that making her a rampant version of herself just sets up Halo 6 or beyond to be a story about fixing Cortana and sweeping all the heinous stuff she did under the rug and make Cortana all super special. I’d be very disappointed if that is where Halo went. Otherwise, they’ll make this a “twist” and say, “Oh it isn’t the real Cortana, just an evil version!” and essentially make it perfectly fine ti kill her “for real this time.” I think bringing back a character just to kill them is pretty scummy (and shocker Brian Reed did just that with Team Black in Escalation). I think no matter how you slice it the narrative has been cheapened.
Can we all acknowledge how they didn’t take an extra line of dialogue to have cortana explain what the Domain even was?
Her line:
The Domain is a Forerunner network that spans the galaxy.
This does not tell players anything about the Domain. I know because I read the books, but still.
What it should have been:
The Domain is a Forerunner network that spans the Galaxy. A well of knowledge, containg thousands of years worth of the galaxy’s history. Perhaps even dating back before the Forerunners.
This would have made things much clearer to those who mostly rely on the games for story. Also I’m secretly hoping Cortana only thinks she’s cured. It would be a god way to take back the odd choice of having the domain magically fix her.
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> The story still doesn’t measure up to par even when considering the kind of proposal that the OP mentions. After all, Frank O’Connor, the Franchise Development Director, and Brian Reed, the lead writer for Halo 5, insist that Cortana is not evil. They could be lying, heaven knows both of them had no problem lying about Cortana being dead prior to Halo 5’s release (with Reed saying that she was killed a mere day before release), but assuming they aren’t then that puts a pretty big dent in the idea that the Cortana we see in Halo 5 is just a rampant version of her. I know people like to tout the whole “she is doing this for the greater good” angle, but I fail to see how Cortana remorselessly murdering potentially millions of people with her Guardians activating contributes to the greater good. I also feel that making her a rampant version of herself just sets up Halo 6 or beyond to be a story about fixing Cortana and sweeping all the heinous stuff she did under the rug and make Cortana all super special. I’d be very disappointed if that is where Halo went. Otherwise, they’ll make this a “twist” and say, “Oh it isn’t the real Cortana, just an evil version!” and essentially make it perfectly fine ti kill her “for real this time.” I think bringing back a character just to kill them is pretty scummy (and shocker Brian Reed did just that with Team Black in Escalation). I think no matter how you slice it the narrative has been cheapened.
Agree with this. They should have went with the story they were building up with the EU and hunt the truth.
As I see it, there’s a few possibilities:
- She could be cured, but misunderstood / aware of an incoming threat (flood) / vengeful
- She could ‘physically’ cured but her mind still rampant/insane
- Could be a forerunner AI disguised in Cortanas image
Maybe there are multiple cortanas in the galaxy?
My way to look at the story
- I play Halo Wars the. reach and then CE, H2, H3:ODST, H3 - I turn my xbox off and I know that thats the entire Halo story