Confused by the ending...

Games Other Halo
1

No flaming please, this is something I’ve wondered since I beat halo 4 when it came out…
Obviously there will be spoilers :slight_smile:

Right, so Cortana, sadly, dies… As a Halo fan it is sad to see such an old and cherished character go, but as for Master Chief… Why is he so upset over it? I’m not meaning to sound heartless and like a -Yoink- but I just don’t get it… I mean she wasn’t a real person? Just a clone of Halsey, right? (Not read any books, my lore comes straight from the games and halo wiki)

As for when Lasky comforts chief and says “I’ve lost people I’ve cared about but nothing like you’re going through”. Lasky lost his brother? In my eyes that’s loads worse than losing an ai? Maybe I’m missing something in the lore… I don’t know… Can someboddy explain this to me?

2

It was his job to protect her and because of that he formed a strong bond with her. Alive or not she was very almost human, more human than Chief even.

That’s why Chief misses her. He formed a strong bond because she’s the only one he could form a bond with. Bear in mind that he was conditioned to be the way he is since being a child so showing emotion for him is incredibly difficult.

3

LOL… ^Showing emotion for him is incredibly difficult.^ Ok Mr. Spock

Anyway, the campaign story is sounding more and more like a love story. Someone is going to the ends of the earth, and other planets, to save and protect a loved one.

4

> <mark>LOL… ^Showing emotion for him is incredibly difficult.^ Ok Mr. Spock</mark>
>
> Anyway, the campaign story is sounding more and more like a love story. Someone is going to the ends of the earth, and other planets, to save and protect a loved one.

Yes, it is. The more you know bro.
Spartans are conditioned to not show emotion. It’s a form of weakness. learn2halo

5

She was an AI put together out of 7 clones of Dr. Halsey’s brain.
Wheter she was a real living being or not, that reaches the level of philosophical discussion… But I do not think she was, since it was just a collection of 1 and 0s at the end of the day.
I think Chief cares for her just because she’s pretty much like Halsey, person Spartans-II consider their mother.

And I don’t get Lasky’s line either. I mean, he lost his brother (as you said) and also his lover and ALL the goddam academy staff he got to live with. And we don’t know about his mother’s fate! I think that’s much harder than an AI with a good body…

6

He might have seen her as a companion the same way he might see Halsey as his mom.

She has pretty much been with him through everything and they got put together because of both of their capabilities worked well with each other.

She was smart enough to look out after him and he had the physical strength and power to perform the practical actions.

They also wished to find out who the machine and human is even though they’re both human and machine as one is human but modified and the other is made up from human cells. (Not sure if that came out right but you know what I mean seen as she technically is Halsey)

7

> She was an AI put together out of 7 clones of Dr. Halsey’s brain.
> Wheter she was a real living being or not, that reaches the level of philosophical discussion… But I do not think she was, since it was just a collection of 1 and 0s at the end of the day.
> I think Chief cares for her just because she’s pretty much like Halsey, person Spartans-II consider their mother.
>
> And I don’t get Lasky’s line either. I mean, he lost his brother (as you said) and also his lover and ALL the goddam academy staff he got to live with. And we don’t know about his mother’s fate! I think that’s much harder than an AI with a good body…

All you guys forget what chief has go trough! Did you guys forgot he left his mother when he was only six? Never saw her again? No dad? No fam.? Only war and fighting… killing the rebels and convenant? Lost all of his friends… and his new friends like Seargant Johnson… Captain Keys… and the daughter of keys? Never had a normal live as a spartan II ! Had no lover ever… maybe didnt even kissed a woman! and he is a full grown man now… Not like the spartan 4’s that go party after work…

And then he lost even a AI that he got used to… and a bond with… A AI that was more human then a human…

8

minus that first failed mission during boot the chief has never failed before, it was his mission to keep her safe and he failed she died to save him. he probly has no clue what to do now

9

> No flaming please, this is something I’ve wondered since I beat halo 4 when it came out…
> Obviously there will be spoilers :slight_smile:
>
> Right, so Cortana, sadly, dies… As a Halo fan it is sad to see such an old and cherished character go, but as for Master Chief… Why is he so upset over it? I’m not meaning to sound heartless and like a -Yoink!- but I just don’t get it… I mean she wasn’t a real person? Just a clone of Halsey, right? (Not read any books, my lore comes straight from the games and halo wiki)
>
> As for when Lasky comforts chief and says “I’ve lost people I’ve cared about but nothing like you’re going through”. Lasky lost his brother? In my eyes that’s loads worse than losing an ai? Maybe I’m missing something in the lore… I don’t know… Can someboddy explain this to me?

This is the exact reason why 343i needs to explain stuff better. Most who haven’t read the books will not understand what’s going on.

Anyway, cortana wasn’t a machine. Rather, and Artificial intelligence derived from a piece of Halsey’s brain tissue. Cortana, while not a physical being was still theoretically a person. She wasn’t a program or a machine. She had her own thoughts and ideas, her own beliefs. Essentially, she was a person.

Now, when you spend years, fighting with that person and they save your life on more than one occasion, a bond will grow. That’s just what happens. Cortana was, for lack of better words, Cheifs last “friend.”

Lets look at who he’s lost. His squad (which you wouldn’t know about having not read the books) he hasn’t seen in years, Keyes (both of them) are dead. Captain keyes was sort of his friend in one way or another. Then there’s Johnson, who was killed by 343 Guilty Sparks laser face.

So all he really had left was cortana, and now she’s gone (in theory.) Chief isn’t a machine (as evidenced in the books and in Halo 4) so it’s obvious he’s going to feel sad when he loses someone he could call a friend.

tl;dr: Cortana is theoretically a person and chiefs last friend (that he knows is alive). Now as far has he knows she’s been destroyed.

10

Chief considered Cortana as merely an asset inititally, but thier relationship developed over time.

That relationship is actually my favourite aspect of the Halo universe. I just find something amazing about it; the machine that wants to be human and the human that is a machine. They’re not lovers, they’re not family, they’re not comrades in arms, or friends. They’re all of that and none of that and so much more.

11

Without her, John would already be dead several times over, not just in Halo 4, but in all Halo games he has been in. Yeah, she is machine, but she pretty much was more human than most people he worked with.

If I had a partner, regardless of relationship, that saved my butt more than once, and I had the opportunity to return that favor blow up in my face, I’d be a bit depressed about it.

12

If I dropped this laptop that I’m typing on right now, I would be pretty broken up about it.

13

Is Cortanna supposed to resemble Dr Halsey in her early 20s? Would a flesh and blood Halsey clone look just like Cortanna?

14

> Is Cortanna supposed to resemble Dr Halsey in her early 20s? Would a flesh and blood Halsey clone look just like Cortanna?

Maybe. Maybe not. AI’s choose their holo appearance. Most AI’s choose human appearances and voices to match in order to make it easier to work with humans.

Cortana’s matrix was made using brains from flash clones of Halsey. Cortana does not have any of Halsey’s experiences or memories. They are two different personalities entirely.

Chief cares for Cortana because she seems like and behaves like a person (regardless of if you would define her as one). He lost his last, closest connection to another “person.”

15

What I meant by the clones is that Chief might rather download Cortanna’s mind into a fresh clone body instead of an AI chip.

16

> What I meant by the clones is that Chief might rather download Cortanna’s mind into a fresh clone body instead of an AI chip.

If a human brain could handle the vastness of an artificial intelligence…
But yeah, its possible they could use the composer.

17

> If a human brain could handle the vastness of an artificial intelligence…
> But yeah, its possible they could use the composer.

Just the algorythms that were entirely based on Halsey’s brain functions. No need to copy the memories or higher mental abilities only an AI can compute.

18

> > If a human brain could handle the vastness of an artificial intelligence…
> > But yeah, its possible they could use the composer.
>
> Just the algorythms that were entirely based on Halsey’s brain functions. No need to copy the memories or higher mental abilities only an AI can compute.

Fair enough. But then would it really be Cortana? Or are we gonna make a spartan out of her?

Obviously the scifi logic is negotiable.

19

Dr. Halsey was somewhat of a mother figure to the Spartans. And Cortana is essentially a digital version of her, so of course John had some attachment. And even though she is an A.I, she looks and acts human. Cortana has literally been inside John’s head. Plus, she has saved his life countless times, and she was one one of his only companions when most of the Spartans were thought dead and when he was stranded on Halo.

20

some of the posts above hit it straight on. I loved the ending. definitely one of the biggest cliff hangers.