Ok, new here so I’m not familiar with similar submissions. This is simply my take on the precursors and their motives.
Personally, I’ve had a falling out with Halo since the original trilogy. It feels as if 343 industries, although lovers of the Halo universe like myself, have lost something of the dread that the Flood evoked, still the crux of Halo in my opinion. I understand the desire to part ways with the Flood rather than run it into the ground; however, I believe a revolution in the history of the precursors may save Halo, for myself and for those who feel the same.
Ok, let’s consider the Precursors. I think something was missed in the creation of their origin and that of the Flood. Let’s forget a moment the idea that the precursors were some superior, hyper-evolved, godlike beings, and instead consider their humble beginnings. Imagine, a distant galaxy, home to myriad lifeforms, and a particular, promising parasite. The Flood. It began much like it began in our galaxy, a simple parasite that grew and evolved until it threatened all life in its galaxy. After conquering many sentient species, it discovered it’s own PARADOX.
A parasite needs a host. As it gained self-awareness it obviously came to the conclusion that rampant infection would leave the galaxy bare of food. The Flood was destined to starve itself to death. And using its intelligence, it came to the only rational solution. Farming. Having possessed the ability to create life, or perhaps more reasonably, clone life from its home galaxy, the flood, or whatever it was called there, set out to farm the universe. Having absorbed, or invented itself, the technology to travel to other galaxies, it came to ours, where it seeded life.
Now, the milky way wasn’t their first attempt. By then they had perfected a method of ensuring the survival of their crops. Why create life that will most likely destroy itself and others in war? So they developed the idea of the Mantle of Responsibility. It is a hoax, simply an ideal, peaceful way to ensure the various alien races live in relative peace until they have grown enough in population to be harvested. The guardians were a clever trick, a forceful way to do this.
Perhaps the forerunner/precursor war happened because the forerunners learned of the precursors dark secret and revolted. The precursors didn’t put up much of a fight. They didn’t need to. All they had to do was leave behind a bit of DNA, and quietly recede to other galaxies. There was no need to return to any galaxy if they merely left behind the primitive dust from which they evolved. Nature would take its course and the Flood would rise again, forming a new collective.
Perhaps it is eventually possible for the Flood to converse with Flood graveminds in other galaxies. Perhaps humans and forerunners are clones of lifeforms native to the Flood homeworlds, fighting a war that has waged a million times before on a billion other worlds.
The precursors most likely have evolved to be visually different from the Flood, although their primitive need for new hosts may remain. If humans were to encounter one, what would it look like? Perhaps the precursors merely wish to see the success and orthogenesis of the new colonies it has produced, because in billions, if not millions, of years, they will unite into greater and more powerful graveminds, with an intelligence unrivaled in the universe. They will be truly indestructible.
But perhaps humans can learn this secret and unite the forerunners against the Flood. The covenant will likely bicker and refuse to believe it. But the forerunners have known the precursors and fought them once before. After all, the Flood can still defeat them, corrupting their technology and covering their worlds. They are immune to infection, but not destruction. Cortana could learn this truth in the domain and help unite the humans and forerunners against the precursors. Maybe the precursors have formed a new plan to infect our galaxy after the failure on Halo and the Ark. Perhaps the covenant release them once more. They are not gone from the galaxy. The precursors could be very different, with strange abilities and technology harvested from other worlds. We’ve seen the Spartans battle covenant, flood, and forerunner, but never precursor. We will need all the technological prowess we can muster, and the help of the forerunners. I, for one, would love to see a promethean cut through the body of a Flood host!
I think this alternative opens Halo up in a truly universal, time-transcending reality, one in which humans may be the only ones capable of putting a kink in the precursor’s master plan.
That is it. That is all I have to say. Thoughts?