All the evidence for the Endless being Precursors

Community Halo Universe
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Since the launch of the Infinite campaign, many have been speculating as to what’s going on with the Endless, or Xalanyn. There are several theories, all of them intriguing. However, I want to bring up what’s probably the most popular theory, which actually has a lot of evidence currently supporting it. This theory is that the Endless are actually Precursors, albeit in a more primitive form. I want to bring all the points of evidence that seem to be leaning in this direction. Here we go!

  1. When the Harbinger is freed from her cylix, she quotes the Gravemind when she speaks to Lucas Browning, “I shall talk, and you shall listen.” It’s not that she just quotes the Gravemind, she says the line in the same cadence as the Gravemind.

  2. In The Rubicon Protocol, when Lucas Browning is sent to the Harbinger’s office at the House of Reckoning, before even entering her office, Lucas’ vision gets distorted and he feels he is not in a hallway, but a cavern. This sounds extremely similar to the Gravemind moments in Halo 3, where our screen gets tunnel-like vision.

  3. When the Harbinger speaks to Lucas Browning, he feels as though insects are crawling over him. This is similar to in Human Weakness when Cortana was stuck on High Charity with the Gravemind, when Cortana converses with/interrogated by the Gravemind, she feels as though something is slithering across her ‘skin’. After the Harbinger speaks to Lucas, his mind has broken, and starts rambling like a lunatic. This sounds very similar to what happened towards the end of the Human-Forerunner War. Humans asked the Primordial about a possible solution to defeating the Flood. It’s unknown as to what the Primordial told them, but as a response, many of the Humans that got an answer ended up committing suicide.

  4. During her introduction scene, Harbinger tells Master Chief, “the Forerunners’ lies are at an end. I am the Harbinger of the truth.” This could very well be hinting at her tearing away the Forerunners’ revisionist history about them and the Precursors. The Endless might have some memories as to what happened 15,000 million years ago.

  5. During the fight at the end of the game at the Silent Auditorium, the Weapon says this peculiar line, “She’s switched transmitters. Re-routing the power through that one. This isn’t good. The connection is sentient. It’s searching for something.” This may be tying into the Precursors’ use of neural physics. According to the Precursors, the Universe itself is conscious or sentient, and neural physics seem to be based on that.

  6. In the 2022 encyclopedia, in the Endless/Xalanyn section, it is mentioned that they are attuned to Living Time itself, “Incredibly little is known about their nature, though careful observation indicates that they somehow have the ability to manipulate various forces and energy types in unique ways, including-perhaps more troublingly-a peculiar attunement to elements of Living Time itself, though to what extent is unknown.” This is a very interesting and exciting tidbit of lore.

There we go, these are all the points of evidence that the Endless are indeed Precursors. What’d you think of this theory or evidence? For me, it’s a case of if it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it’s a duck. Very intrigued to see where they take the Endless, especially if they do end up actually being Precursors. Excited to hear your thoughts. Let’s have a fun discussion.

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They could.

But to be devils advocate:

  1. The Harbinger seemed extremely weak for a true Precursor. The way that the last Precursor was described in the Forerunner Trilogy the Didact was only able to kill it by using a time vortex. To use a 40k analogy, the Precursors are meant to be like the Ctan; these God like beings that shaped the universe. Whereas the Harbinger comes across more as a Warlock or lesser power. Dangerous, but we did kill it with a sentinel beam. Basically the power level seems off.

  2. Are the Precursors really a secret? I know strictly speaking a lot of stuff in the Forerunner trilogy isn’t known to the heroes such as the Logic Plague. But,
    the Forerunners gave up the Mantle so there wouldn’t be any need to suppress knowledge of the Precursors. There has to be a better reason to bury the Endless and why they didn’t just kill them.

  3. Crucially. We already know about the Precursors. My take is that they are setting up some sort of twist like in Halo Combat Evolved. That OMG moment Halo is a Galaxy killer that escalates the stakes dramatically. Or the reveal of the Flood. That proverbial table flip. So they would need to surprise us and because we know about the Precursors it can’t be them. So the twist should really be something we don’t see coming but is seeded in the game.

  4. Quoting the Gravemind can indicate many things. Atriox quotes the Arbiter in Halo Wars but that is just a call back even though they are vastly different characters in allegiance and ideology. This could just be a way of communicating to the audience that, yes, they are as dangerous as the Flood.

  5. Telepathy isn’t unique to the Precursors. Cortana is able to communicate with Chief in various games. The Didact speaks to you.

  6. There’s other possibilities that have been suggested. For example all this talk of shattered shards, what if they’re multiverse travellers and killing them could have dire consequences for unravelling reality. Which is why the Forerunner killed them.

Think about where we are in the story. We’re walking into the Control Room and Cortana telling us something dangerous has been let loose. So, there’s going to be a twist about the Endless and there’s going to be a twist about Zeta Halo.

One of my pet theories is that Zeta Halo is the Matrix and that’s what happens to people locked into Cylexes. Like the Composer it can be fired and absorb people into the bowels of its prison. Which is why we’re constantly being shown these Cylexes even though their function shouldn’t be all that relevant. With all the weird stuff that occurs (6 months, visions, doors opening for us, an extremely odd nightmare of Chief being strung up) being either glitches in the system or Cortana directly interfering with the simulation.

Of course Zeta Halo could just be a Time Machine.

As for the Endless themselves. I think it could be anything from a Flood misdirect to Destiny level reality warping dimension splitting, time shattering insanity. Which is why the Forerunners freaked out. They found the Darkness and shot a Halo at it.

One spin on your theory would be that, it’s stressed the Forerunners were surprised to find the Endless not killed by the Halo. What if the Flood Pureforms which destroyed the Galaxy (being Precursors) reacted to the firing of the Halo by becoming something dramatically different. Evolving into a third form. So they aren’t pure precursors and they aren’t flood; but pure flood forms that have mutated even further. Think Gears of War how the Locust react to the firing of the doom weapon in that game and become the Swarm. In fact it’s almost the inverse as the Locust go from basically humanoids to a more flood like infection. Basically Halo created the Endless. It’s not that they are immune to Halo, it’s that Halo created them and that’s why the Forerunner had no record of them.

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Once is a coincidence. Twice is a coincidence. We have an entire string of circumstantial evidence that would suggest the Endless (the Harbiner) are, or are related to the Precursors.

General power level has nothing to do with anything. Precursors came in all shapes and sizes and forms- were shapeshifters- but were also described in their “pure form” to have very distinct physical characteristics that Harbinger shares in.

Everything you’ve described aligns with the probability of a heavily suggested relationship as opposed to insufficient characteristics and traits that would rather dismiss the theory.

Among the plethora of distinctions made in Halo Infinite that align with said Precursor descriptors, it could be perceived that the orange energy of which Harbinger materializes out of- and manipulates inside the Auditorium- could very well be a display of Neural Physics at work.

It’s quite the poignant statement to make saying “the connection is sentient.” to emphasize this point.

Harbinger also appears crab-like in the face, and a ridged aft section of her head which tapers to a fine point-- more or less as described for Precursor physical characteristics, per the Forerunner Trilogy.

Additionally, Harbinger has a slew of combat dialogue that may align with the Forerunner-Precursor relations we’re familiar with. Lines such as:

  • “We are Legion.”
  • “I hail a glorious rebirth- a righting of a terrible wrong!”

among several others to support this inference.

My bottom line thus far, with everything we know up to this point, is that the Endless may be another form of Precursor, or may very well even be biological descendants of those who survived the genocide millions of years ago.

That’s plenty of reason to give the Forerunners their motive.

For the past 21 years of Halo we have been told everything we know through the scope of the Forerunners only. 343 has now introduced a paradigm where not everything we have been told is exactly the way we understand it to be.

“I am the Harbinger of Truth. The Forerunners lies are at an end. The Endless will be found. They will ascend. You [us humans] are not the future.” (This line heavily implies that the Harbinger deems her people- the Endless- the true and rightful heirs to ascension/the Mantle.)

I find it fascinating, and the introduction of the Endless holds exciting prospects both for the lamen, and deep lore enthusiasts alike.

Here’s to a strong narrative future for Halo staying brave and true with continuity with the introduction of the Endless.

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Hey, I appreciate your reply. I like the points you bring up, let me try my take on these pieces.

  1. Yeah, the Harbinger is weak. However, I suspect the Endless/Xalanyn are just the newest iteration of the Precursors. They’ve lived as several species/lifeforms over the history of the Universe, both primitive and highly advanced. The Xalanyn are technological, but nowhere near what they once were 15 million years ago.
  2. I suspect the Forerunners weren’t just scared of the Endless being able to survive Halo, but they uncovered (somehow) that the Endless are current Precursors. To keep anything from getting out, the Forerunners acted swiftly and locked them up.
  3. I think it can be them. This would be a payoff for lore fans, and incite those who don’t know the deeper lore, and this’ll open a whole new landscape of possibilities.
  4. Ofc it could just be a coincidence/fan service. However, her saying exactly like the Gravemind is quite peculiar. I think there’s more to this.
  5. No, but the way it’s described in The Rubicon Protocol is very similar to the Gravemind moments and what Cortana went through when on High Charity.
  6. Would not be a big fan of multiverse stuff coming into the storyline. Yeah, a multiverse has been mentioned in the Forerunner Saga and in Last Light, but never driving events.

While your theory is definitely inventive and intriguing, I really hope there isn’t anything involving time machines. Yeah, there’s the whole 3 day thing at the end of the game. But I think that was time dilation rather than time travel. Yeah, there’s the dialogue in the legendary ending about time not being a concept the Forerunners can control, and can’t allow it to be the Endless’. At least, I REALLY hope time travel doesn’t come in
Just a few thoughts. I appreciate your response.

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Whether the Xalanyn are Precursor or not, it is undeniable that there is a huge connection between the two.
If the Endless aren’t Precursor, the only other possibility I can think of is that the Precursor’s could have created them specifically to plot agains the Forerunners, predicting some future (at the time) events, and tought the Xalanyn neural physics, logic plague stuff etc etc.

I’m open to whatever will be revealed. But it’s probably most likely that the Endless’ relation to the Precursors is very literal.

I gotta give it to 343. As much as I didn’t like Cortana’s arc in Infinite, they did a great job setting up the Endless and making them intriguing. And I’m excited to see what they do with it.
Yes, they kinda pulled it out of nowhere, but it works imo.

One thing though, that might be a bit bad about making the Xalanyn and Precursors the same. Is that it entirely devaluates “Point of Light”, and makes Spark’s new mission feel more pointless.
PoL is my favourite Kelly Gay book, so disregarding it like that is a bit annoying.
On the bright side. This might mean that we’d get Spark back, maybe even Dadabo, and that would maybe make it worth it.

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I just hope we get more information drip-fed, via the novels, to set us up for true transmedia experience.

A one and done DLC to unravel the mystery wouldn’t have half the impact

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