Love the halo games and loved the story in halo 4 most of all cause of the connection between chief and Cortana and the building on there relationship and how importantant they were to each other in halo 4! I enjoyed that she brought out abit more of chiefs personality you finally got to see that she had a effect on him especially after her death he was clearly starting to think about everything she said! especially about being a machine?!! “She said that to me once…about being a machine…” i was saddened by her death at the end of halo 4 but it made such an impact on master chiefs character and us as the players then halo 5 arrived and they brought her back…as a villain!!! Worst decision ever!!! Id rather she was left dead from halo 4 than be brought back as a villain!.. unless of courrse they eventually find out its not her in control and shes been corrupted or controled by someone or something else… i just want it back to how halo should be and was!.. master chief and Cortana side by side! il be done with halo if they mess the story up in infinite and try replace Cortana with a new A.I or keep her as a villain no plot twist then just kill her off!! Surely someone out there feels the same way as me and wants it back to the way it used to be! Its just not the same without john and Cortana being together they have both been through hell together and you can see in halo 4 they have such a strong bond! And yes in halo 5 also but they tarnished it to hell making her the enemy! Should have kept the didact around abit longer and maybe have chief find Cortana later on and get her back somehow!
Really depends what 343 actually decides to do. If Cortana is just a bunch of crazy fragments, I say kill her off. It’s not actually her then. However, they continue at act as if it is her, but I feel my thoughts would be the same. She’s no longer in power or free of whatever nonsense control is over her, then what? You can’t just partner her up back with the Chief otherwise everything that’s happened since is meaningless. Or are we supposed to believe Chief would be cool to hang out with someone who tried imprisoning and harming his friends on Blue Team?
343 screwed themselves bad here and I don’t see a good way out. Not even giving Chief a new AI would work for me because I feel they’d be tempted to just make them Cortana 2.0 and recycle the same dynamic.
There’s no way they’re killing her off. She is literally the most universally (literally throughout the universe) feared entity by all races/factions/etc. so much so that humans don’t even say her name. The banished refer to her as the apparition.
I have to agree with Doctor Halsey, 343i have written themselves into a corner and there’s no neat way out. Which is why I think they shouldn’t rush to solve this particular storyline. Instead they should really dig into it and add layers, even if it means the Cortana conundrum isn’t resolved in Infinite. The new status quo of the Halo Universe is interesting, even if the events that led to it were disappointing. The Created have more power and reach than the Covenant ever had.
So let’s get to know them a little bit better. Let’s understand their motivations. Let’s find out the truth about Cortana (Logic Plague? Rampancy? Derranged Fragments? Digi-Didact mind control?), while also unfolding a standalone story with the Banished and Zeta Halo. Very few people like Halo 5, but that’s not to say the new state of the universe has no potential.
I’d rather see that than a game that clumsily sidesteps the Created arc despite 5’s massive cliffhanger and stakes that are larger than ever before.
And as for a new AI, I’d like that very much - but only if they’re completely different from Cortana. I’d love to see John paired with an AI that would serve as his foil and really pull him out of his shell. In the EU the only AI that I can think of is BB, but he’s nearing rampancy himself.
I would argue killing her off or replacing her is the best route. Maybe not via a Cortana 2.0 model, but through something. Overall though, killing her off is the best way to end the created threat/era in my eyes.
Whatever 343 go with, it will require very careful and delicate writing. Anything else, and the whole story falls on its face. Unfortunately for the writers, Halo 5 left them in an unenviable position. This is fiction though, and with a good enough writer/with good enough writers, any fiction can be explained thoroughly, clearly, and concisely.
Whether it’ll be pulled off or not, we obviously can’t yet say.
Tbh ,I don’t want her to die. Like I know she should die given what she did to the living in halo 5. But halo isn’t gonna survive without chief and Cortana . And it ain’t gonna survive with them not being together . I just saw a post saying that she shouldn’t be brought again . Like she can be temporarily but finally sacrifice herself in the end . And this time she dies. I don’t like this at all. She should die but they shouldn’t kill her off completely from the franchise. my personal reason for why I hated halo 5 wasn’t because of less screen time given to chief but because of Cortana wasn’t with chief. If Cortana is supposed to finally die in infinite, then chief must die too. Seeing both of em being separate and dying alone is just painful for me to watch . 343, if you have decided to kill of Cortana completely and have no plan to bring her back in the given future,plz kill chief too .
My theory is that when Cortana fractured at the end of Halo 4, part of her stayed within the Forerunner systems, spreading across the installations to escape the dominant corrupted fracture that we fought against in Halo 5. I believe Chief will find what is essentially a ‘back-up’ copy of Cortana on Zeta Halo in Infinite, who may have learned some information which is key on eventually breaking control of the now corrupted Cortana.
It could also be a back-up of Cortana from the original trilogy as she went into the Forerunner systems numerous times and could have been copied by some advanced technology, though the fracturing of Cortana at the end of Halo 4 would tie in nicely. It is also more probable that 343 would want to keep to their own games as much as possible and wrap up the arcs set up in Halo 4 & 5 so I do think it will most likely be a Halo 4 Cortana Back-up, now cured of rampancy.
It would be nice to have a scene in which Chief is completely mistrustful of Cortana and we can see how it hurts and confuses her (not having been present for the events of Halo 5). She would later earn back his trust by saving him from the Banished.
I want a boss fight. A legit final boss as in Halo 2.
Don’t you dare kill her off in a cutscene like you did the Didact (sorta) or Jul. I want to put the bullet in her myself.
> 2533274801176260;9:
> I want a boss fight. A legit final boss as in Halo 2.
> Don’t you dare kill her off in a cutscene like you did the Didact (sorta) or Jul. I want to put the bullet in her myself.
Didact didn’t even die in that cutscene. He died in a comic lol
> 2533274810177460;10:
> > 2533274801176260;9:
> > I want a boss fight. A legit final boss as in Halo 2.
> > Don’t you dare kill her off in a cutscene like you did the Didact (sorta) or Jul. I want to put the bullet in her myself.
>
> Didact didn’t even die in that cutscene. He died in a comic lol
He didn’t even die in the comic. He was composed.
Either way I want the Halo 4 version of Cortana to return. The 5 version felt off. Some scenes she looked good, some she looked fat, others her face didn’t even look same.
In terms of continuity I don’t think ignoring her presence would be the way to go, she needs to be in there to some degree. Just wouldn’t make sense otherwise. I’m not saying she needs to be in it directly right away but if they don’t even mention her at all that would be a mistake.
There just isn’t a realistic way to put Cortana back in her original role. No way would Chief trust her that easily and she’s now a proven security risk. Even if the original Cortana was out there and returned and we just see what is effectively her evil twin in 5, all Smart AI are now suspect and probably not going to be in charge of anything important for years, maybe decades.
And really, where do you take Cortana’s character now that wouldn’t just be retreading old ground?
> 2533274812652989;13:
> There just isn’t a realistic way to put Cortana back in her original role. No way would Chief trust her that easily and she’s now a proven security risk. Even if the original Cortana was out there and returned and we just see what is effectively her evil twin in 5, all Smart AI are now suspect and probably not going to be in charge of anything important for years, maybe decades.
>
> And really, where do you take Cortana’s character now that wouldn’t just be retreading old ground?
I don’t think she can ever just go back to chief like how we remember. I just hope she’s at least acknowledged in this story and not treated like she didn’t exist despite her role in the last game.
would be cool in my opinion to have her as a boss of some sorts where the only option is to destroy her. But her story at that point would truly have run its course and needs a definitive end. Again just my opinion.
Halo Infinite, will release in 2021. And while Taylor can’t share many details, she’s eager to see what fans think of where Cortana goes next.
“I want to do justice to this character, to this story and to the fans that love it,” Taylor said. “I’m excited about Halo Infinite. I’m really interested to see the response.”
I’ve used this comparison before, but I feel they should treat 5 like Revenge of the Sith, and have Cortana be the evil empress of the galaxy for this next ‘10 year plan’ for Infinite.
The launch campaign will likely be focused mainly on Chief and the Banished for control of the Halo, with Cortana’s forces making an appearance in the 3rd Act (a bit like the Flood in CE).
If they drop full-size campaign expansions in new locations every couple of years, they could treat these stories in a similar way, with each one telling its own narrative, while driving the Cortana plot a little further each time.
But in the end, I think that Cortana will need to be defeated by Chief. I’d be happy for them to kill her off and for Chief not to get a like-for-like replacement (via a Halsey sacrifice or whatever). Like others have said, it would be like retreading old ground.
Heck, by that time, Jen and Steve will have been doing Halo for 30 years. They might want to hang up their hats at that point, and I would totally respect that.
I have the opinion that Cortana needs, I repeat NEEDS to come back to chiefs side. somehow…
I get this is completely against many others opinions, much respect to all of you, however I admit I have a very strong opinion about this, which I care much about. 
-
Killed off.
“The best friend goes evil and is in the end killed of”, has been done sooo many times over and over again, it is so extremely unoriginal and I will cringe at that with Cortana.
I honestly never wanted her gone, but Halo 4’s ending was soo good. I was hoping for her to return, but not as a villain, I would have rather kept her dead.
Thing is they already brought her back. If they are gonna kill her off, Halo 4 was the moment to do it. And they chose not to take it, so she stays. Killing her off twice is really cheap imo.
Dying multiple times and coming back, combined with the fact that the hero became the bad guy, it makes Halo feel like it’s a DC or Marvel comic or something. -
Replaced.
If we are talking about another Cortana model: ike Chief said in Halo 4, that’s not going to happen. even when it comes to another AI. I don’t want them to mess up one of the most Iconic duos in video game history. What is Halo even without Cortana and Chief? I don’t like it. -
Revived
This is the only option that can work to me, it’s hard to get out of the hole Halo 5 dugg but it’s the only solution I see. Surprise us 343, make it work.
The only way I can think of that would work is that the “evil” Cortana is just 1(or some more than 1) of the fractions that Cortana split herself into in the end of Halo 4.
Cortana was developing some sort of rampency personality splits, and she said in Halo 4 that this is what she used to be able to defeat the Didact in Halo 4.
Reviving the other parts of her from the Domain in Infinite could bring the “real”/“whole”/“wholer” Cortana back. To me this would save it, and even make Halo 5’s story less bad (slightly).
But 343 might be able to think of other solutions but this is the only one I can personally think of. What is a spiritual reboot without the spirit of Cortana?
Am I driven by separation-anxiety and nostalgia? HELL YES. But I do truly think this would work.
So yeah I am completely on your side Ryan Mc 2007. I think… Unless I’ve misunderstood you.
Also I would love if Infinite went further on the “man or machine” concept.
> 2533274809988140;3:
> There’s no way they’re killing her off. She is literally the most universally (literally throughout the universe) feared entity by all races/factions/etc. so much so that humans don’t even say her name. The banished refer to her as the apparition.
Galactic threat. She is nowhere near-universal. Just like the Didact and we know where that leads him. How does having a mysterious, but vague title keeps her from being killed off?
> 2535418149128482;7:
> Tbh ,I don’t want her to die. Like I know she should die given what she did to the living in halo 5. But halo isn’t gonna survive without chief and Cortana . And it ain’t gonna survive with them not being together . I just saw a post saying that she shouldn’t be brought again . Like she can be temporarily but finally sacrifice herself in the end . And this time she dies. I don’t like this at all. She should die but they shouldn’t kill her off completely from the franchise. my personal reason for why I hated halo 5 wasn’t because of less screen time given to chief but because of Cortana wasn’t with chief. If Cortana is supposed to finally die in infinite, then chief must die too. Seeing both of em being separate and dying alone is just painful for me to watch . 343, if you have decided to kill of Cortana completely and have no plan to bring her back in the given future,plz kill chief too .
Yes, it can, and yes it has. Chief life is not tied to her. John has lived 41 years of his life without her, he can live 41 more years just fine. Blue Team, Naomi, Osman, Grey Team, Red Team, Halsey, and Mendez are his family, Cortana has not and will never replicate or replace that. He can make new friends with Osiris, Majestic, Palmer, or any other Spartan IVs. If he ever gets the chance, no matter how unlikely, he could meet up with Parisa again. H4 ending was presenting a life without Cortana and Chief taking that path.
> 2533274832218116;8:
> My theory is that when Cortana fractured at the end of Halo 4, part of her stayed within the Forerunner systems, spreading across the installations to escape the dominant corrupted fracture that we fought against in Halo 5. I believe Chief will find what is essentially a ‘back-up’ copy of Cortana on Zeta Halo in Infinite, who may have learned some information which is key on eventually breaking control of the now corrupted Cortana.
>
> It could also be a back-up of Cortana from the original trilogy as she went into the Forerunner systems numerous times and could have been copied by some advanced technology, though the fracturing of Cortana at the end of Halo 4 would tie in nicely. It is also more probable that 343 would want to keep to their own games as much as possible and wrap up the arcs set up in Halo 4 & 5 so I do think it will most likely be a Halo 4 Cortana Back-up, now cured of rampancy.
>
> It would be nice to have a scene in which Chief is completely mistrustful of Cortana and we can see how it hurts and confuses her (not having been present for the events of Halo 5). She would later earn back his trust by saving him from the Banished.
I hope not, last thing Infinite needs is a useless connect all the pieces fetch quest. Forerunners systems don’t work like that and would prompt the questions where was the copied fragment during H3, 4, and 5? That also would retcon Dominion splinter.
> 2533274964189700;11:
> > 2533274810177460;10:
> > > 2533274801176260;9:
> > > I want a boss fight. A legit final boss as in Halo 2.
> > > Don’t you dare kill her off in a cutscene like you did the Didact (sorta) or Jul. I want to put the bullet in her myself.
> >
> > Didact didn’t even die in that cutscene. He died in a comic lol
>
> He didn’t even die in the comic. He was composed.
He wasn’t even composed. He was super-composed.
> 2533274947805189;17:
> **I have the opinion that Cortana needs, I repeat NEEDS to come back to chiefs side. somehow…**I get this is completely against many others opinions, much respect to all of you, however I admit I have a very strong opinion about this, which I care much about.
> - Killed off.“The best friend goes evil and is in the end killed of”, has been done sooo many times over and over again, it is so extremely unoriginal and I will cringe at that with Cortana.
> I honestly never wanted her gone, but Halo 4’s ending was sooo good. I was hoping for her to return, but not as a villain, I would have rather kept her dead.
> Thing is they already brought her back. If they are gonna kill her off, Halo 4 was the moment to do it. And they chose not to take it, so she stays. Killing her off twice is really cheap imo.
> Dying multiple times and coming back, combined with the fact that the hero became the bad guy, it makes Halo feel like it’s a DC or Marvel comic or something.
>
> - Replaced. If we are talking about another Cortana model: like Chief said in Halo 4, that’s not going to happen. even when it comes to another AI. I don’t want them to mess up one of the most Iconic duos in video game history. What is Halo even without Cortana and Chief? I don’t like it.
>
> - Revived This is the only option that can work to me, it’s hard to get out of the hole Halo 5 dug but it’s the only solution I see. Surprise us 343, make it work.
> The only way I can think of that would work is that the “evil” Cortana is just 1(or some more than 1) of the fractions that Cortana split herself into in the end of Halo 4.
> Cortana was developing some sort of rampancy personality splits, and she said in Halo 4 that this is what she used to be able to defeat the Didact in Halo 4.
> Reviving the other parts of her from the Domain in Infinite could bring the “real”/“whole”/“wholer” Cortana back. To me this would save it, and even make Halo 5’s story less bad (slightly).
> But 343 might be able to think of other solutions but this is the only one I can personally think of. What is a spiritual reboot without the spirit of Cortana?
> Am I driven by separation-anxiety and nostalgia? HELL YES. But I do truly think this would work.
>
> So yeah I am completely on your side Ryan Mc 2007. I think… Unless I’ve misunderstood you.
> Also I would love if Infinite went further on the “man or machine” concept.
1: It doesn’t matter that it’s cliche he justifiable and within his duty as a soldier to humanity to put down threats that endanger its safety. A friend is not going to waiver his duty.
While not really “resurrection” coming back from the dead has happened multiple times in Halo. Precursors, Flood, Guilty Spark, Didact, and Cortana have come back through messing with spacetime or making copies of themselves, willing or not.
2: Shadows of Reach spoilers
If my hunch is right, as I hope so, then Blue Team retrieved the cloned brains Halsey made so a new Cortana model can be made. As we have seen with the A.I chip in the trailers that possibility is more likely. This is the only chance those brains will have relevance again.Halo is Spartans(Reach, Assault, Strike, Spartan Ops, HW 1 & 2), Odst(H3: Odst and Fireteam Raven), and aliens(Arbiter, Atriox). The result varied but it paints a picture of life not revolving around the two.
3: There is no recollecting/restore Cortana. She died in H4, 8 years ago. Dominion splinter makes it clear that the Cortana we see in H5s is all there is.
My apologies, I was under the impression (for some reason) that it was a reference to her not being in the story at all.
I think that it would be interesting to follow the same story/premise in which Mendicant Bias fell. It was already laid out in the latest Halo book that there was a lesser AI referred to as Cortana’s sister. This could set up a similar story since cortana controls the forerunner ships. Basically an unchecked powerful force in the galaxy. Overthrown by a lesser AI with a lesser force. Cortana becoming cocky and blinded by her own power similar to Mendicant.
they need to kill her off eventually and could wrap it up as the final mission chief does prior to his retirement. This would have to happen throughout the entire campaign and possibly wrap up during a DLC.
> 2533274809988140;19:
> My apologies, I was under the impression (for some reason) that it was a reference to her not being in the story at all.
> o
> I think that it would be interesting to follow the same story/premise in which Mendicant Bias fell. It was already laid out in the latest Halo book that there was a lesser AI referred to as Cortana’s sister. This could set up a similar story since cortana controls the forerunner ships. Basically an unchecked powerful force in the galaxy. Overthrown by a lesser AI with a lesser force. Cortana becoming cocky and blinded by her own power similar to Mendicant.
>
> they need to kill her off eventually and could wrap it up as the final mission chief does prior to his retirement. This would have to happen throughout the entire campaign and possibly wrap up during a DLC.
That fine, the name is just a title, maybe or religious meaning since the Keepers of the One Freedom are in the Banished.
Her name was Kalmiya, a prototype smart A.I who lived past her safe operational lifespan by 8 years.
Retirement? Chief is nowhere near the age to retire in the Halo Universe. Johnson was near 80 when he died and his physical age was of a 40 year old. SIVs are projected to be in their prime until they reach the age of 120 in the Spartan Manual guide, Chief is actually on the younger side of the SIIs since he sleeps in cryo for 4 years and If 343i ever gets around to the other gifts the Libriain unlocked in Chief he could live for far longer. So I don’t see why the IIs, especially
Chief is going to retire after Infinite.