Cortana. (spoilers ahead)

Games Other Halo
1

Hi guys. I just wanted to share something with you about my Halo 4 experience…
Over the many years that Ive played halo, Ive developed a deep attachment to some of the characters. When Johnson died, I stared at the screen wide eyed in disbelief. I couldnt believe he was gone. And the chief has been somewhat of a role model you could say. The sacrifice he makes for others time and time again, the way that no matter what the odds, nothing makes his resolve or determination waver in the slightest… Believe it or not, seeing those qualities in the chief has inspired me, strengthened me, and got me through some tough times. No movie I have watched or story I have ever read has moved or influenced me in such a way as some of the events in the Halo series have. And nothing more so than Cortana’s fate… It was genuinely upsetting for me to see her go… I was almost moved to tears if you can believe that. I could barely believe how much of an impact that scene made on me either. Cortana was so strong, yet also so vulnerable… Seeing her go was just so upsetting. I actually miss her already.

I remember back when I played Halo 3, and realized that eventually she was going to go rampant and think herself to death. And knowing that they were going to make more games… We would eventually have to witness that fate… I was actually in denial. I kept telling my best friend, my halo gaming partner (who I have played through every game with on legendary and have shared the roller coaster experience that Halo is with) that in the games to come, they would no doubt uncover more of the mystery that were the Forerunners (the major unanswered question in the previous games) and that they would eventually discover Forerunner technology that allowed her to overcome rampancy and live on, the same way the AI Guilty Spark lasted as long as he did… Obviously the Forerunners have the technology to make it happen, so I said that they simply had to. Cause what are the Halo games without Cortana?.. The chief and Cortana are one of those iconic duos that arent the same without eachother. Its like Simon without Garfunkel, Starsky without Hutch, Adam without Eve… It changes the idea of what it originally was into something completely different and unrecognisable.

That being said… It lays the groundwork for some of Halo’s most epic and moving story telling ever…
Let me explain what I mean by that, and what I desperately hope to see in the future Halo games…
We have been so profoundly affected by Cortana’s fate, and considering the fact that the new trilogy explores the more human side of the chief… I want to see him struggle with her loss in the upcoming games… He was trained to be the ultimate soldier, to be able to cope with all the things that a war could throw at him… But he was never trained to deal with the loss of the woman he loved. We all know that the chief and Cortana developed into a relationship no less than loving. That there was a love interest between them. I want to see the chief struggle with this loss, to see him break down, become reckless, defy his superiors and become enraged over his loss… Doing so would make us identify and connect with the chief in such a profound way its unbelievable. This alone would make the Halo saga the single most epic game in existence in terms of the emotional connection that its fans have. It would elevate the game above all others made in the sense it would show that games arent just games anymore, that they have become another medium of story telling as powerful as cinema and music, and deserve the same respect… This is the ultimate achievement that any game can strive for. To be put up there with other classic stories like Romeo and Juliet.

What would make the Halo saga the king of games would be to achieve that. To see the chief struggle with that loss and change because of it, allowing us to connect with him even more.

As far as what I hope to see goes… I can only hope to see him struggle and change over the loss of cortana, to appear to constantly be hoping to find her at some end of the universe, always staring out the view port into the vastness of space… “your out there somewhere… I WILL keep my promise…” Then in one of the following games, finding her still “alive” as an AI… And because the forerunner explored ways to make a living organism into a technological living entity, and then turn them back into a living organism… I want to see Cortana come back as an AI, then choose to stay an AI as to help the chief fight the war the best she can, (the chief now fighting with much more resolve and fire now he has Cortana back) then when the war is over, when theres no more reason for the chief to fight and be a soldier… Cortana finally becomes made into human form as the climax to the story. At this point we see the chief finally remove his helmet and show his human side too… “Promise me when this is all over, you’ll figure out which one of us is the machine”
The veil of hardware now falls from both characters and they are both seen in all their vulnerable human glory…
“I was supposed to protect you…”
“We were supposed to protect each other…”
dialogue below from my own imagination
Cortana: You did…
John: WE did…
Cortana: thinking about the past Dont make a girl a promise… if you cant keep it… looks at the chief and smiles… You kept your promise…
John: finally embraces Cortana… Lets go home…
THE End

2

I surprised myself when I realized my eyes were welling up at the end of Halo 4, however, I’m not sure I like the idea of seeing Cortana return, especially Cortana becoming a human. But I completely understand where you are coming from with the whole “games are more than games”.

3

I dont really agree with the assessment that the relationship between the chief and cortana was one of love. To me in the beginning their relationship was more like a soldier using a tool to accomplish a task, then over the course of the games it gradually evolved into more of friendship. The reason I believe this is because the chief believe most if not all of his spartan teammates died on reach. This means the chief thinks he’s one of the last if not the only spartans alive which would be very depressing to a soldier. Cortana however has been with him for quite awhile and he knows he can protect her (since she’s inside his helmet most of the time) so he slowly begins to form a friendship with her which is why he’s so sullen when she dies because he thought she would be the last thing he’d lose. After all you’d think a friendly ai that’s in your armor all the time would be the hardest friend to lose right? Since cortana has always been so useful in the games I think the next 2 games will show the chief struggling to be as effective as he was with cortana since he became reliant on her. Now that he doesnt have a super intelligent ai to hack computer systems, open doors, etc he’s going to have to do all that himself which he’ll probably struggle with which might show us a more human side of him rather than seeing him as this unbeatable super soldier that can do anything.

4

uh…she is not gone

5

> I dont really agree with the assessment that the relationship between the chief and cortana was one of love. To me in the beginning their relationship was more like a soldier using a tool to accomplish a task, then over the course of the games it gradually evolved into more of friendship. The reason I believe this is because the chief believe most if not all of his spartan teammates died on reach. This means the chief thinks he’s one of the last if not the only spartans alive which would be very depressing to a soldier. Cortana however has been with him for quite awhile and he knows he can protect her (since she’s inside his helmet most of the time) so he slowly begins to form a friendship with her which is why he’s so sullen when she dies because he thought she would be the last thing he’d lose. After all you’d think a friendly ai that’s in your armor all the time would be the hardest friend to lose right? Since cortana has always been so useful in the games I think the next 2 games will show the chief struggling to be as effective as he was with cortana since he became reliant on her. Now that he doesnt have a super intelligent ai to hack computer systems, open doors, etc he’s going to have to do all that himself which he’ll probably struggle with which might show us a more human side of him rather than seeing him as this unbeatable super soldier that can do anything.

“They’ll pair you with another AI, you know?”
“That’s not going to happen.”

6

It was a very dramatic and surprisingly emotional ending. I didn’t know they could hit those emotional levels with John, but they rocked it. Knowing she was just about the only thing he had left, the only family he had left, made that cutscene very intense. I honestly hope they don’t just turn around and bring her back in Halo 5. That would hurt some of the emotional impact of this story.

7

Well… I can understand that people are reluctant to see a love interest in the game… Considering its seen by a lot as “an -Yoink- kicking war game”

But if they were nothing more than friends, why did cortana get so upset over the idea that john would get paired with another AI? Another Cortana that wasnt her? This suggests a deep attachment to john, that she wanted to keep him to herself, and didnt like the idea of him developing an emotional attachment to someone other than her.
Its relationship 101, if you love someone, you dont want them to develop the same attachment to someone else.
That being said, she could have just cared so much about john that she didnt trust another AI to safeguard his well-being.

Sure it started out the way you described, but over the years they knew eachother, How could they not develop deep feelings for eachother? You know how it goes, its same in the movies. A man and woman both going through the same intense experiences and circumstances, unable to turn to someone else because they dont understand or get them through it like that one person has… It ends up bringing them together.

Plus, I think its too great of an opportunity for 343 to miss. IMO it would be one of the single greatest stories told in a game. On top of the story itself, it explores the idea of someone falling in love with someone who isnt actually human, but an artificial intelligence.

It could go either way really. It could be left as another tragic moment in the Halo saga, or it could go the way I described. You’ve got to admit… There is a lot of evidence that supports my thinking. The fact that they enlighten you to the fact that the Forerunner explored making living organisms into machines, and retuning them to their organic state, In the same game that they seemingly “kill” off Cortana…
Might just be a coincidence… But I dont think it is personally.

As I said, they are an iconic duo, it seems counter-productive to let her die for good when they could keep her in the game.

8

> I dont really agree with the assessment that the relationship between the chief and cortana was one of love. To me in the beginning their relationship was more like a soldier using a tool to accomplish a task, then over the course of the games it gradually evolved into more of friendship. The reason I believe this is because the chief believe most if not all of his spartan teammates died on reach. This means the chief thinks he’s one of the last if not the only spartans alive which would be very depressing to a soldier. Cortana however has been with him for quite awhile and he knows he can protect her (since she’s inside his helmet most of the time) so he slowly begins to form a friendship with her which is why he’s so sullen when she dies because he thought she would be the last thing he’d lose. After all you’d think a friendly ai that’s in your armor all the time would be the hardest friend to lose right? Since cortana has always been so useful in the games I think the next 2 games will show the chief struggling to be as effective as he was with cortana since he became reliant on her. Now that he doesnt have a super intelligent ai to hack computer systems, open doors, etc he’s going to have to do all that himself which he’ll probably struggle with which might show us a more human side of him rather than seeing him as this unbeatable super soldier that can do anything.

he can get a new vigil from halsey, it won’t be cortana but it will still give him info.

9

> “They’ll pair you with another AI, you know?”
> “That’s not going to happen.”

EXACTLY! Good to see someone else is on the ball and has picked up on the hints :slight_smile:

10

> It was a very dramatic and surprisingly emotional ending. I didn’t know they could hit those emotional levels with John, but they rocked it. Knowing she was just about the only thing he had left, the only family he had left, made that cutscene very intense. I honestly hope they don’t just turn around and bring her back in Halo 5. That would hurt some of the emotional impact of this story.

This is exactly what I was thinking, but I couldn’t put my words down. As much as everyone would love to see the return of Cortana, it would do more harm than good from a story-telling standpoint.

11

I’ve always liked Cortana, but this game just made her into a deeper character than I ever thought she was. I was sad at the end of Halo 4, what would Cheif be without her? Although the game did end with MC taking off his armor so maybe that symbolizes something, such as no longer needing Cortana? I don’t know.

12

> It was a very dramatic and surprisingly emotional ending. I didn’t know they could hit those emotional levels with John, but they rocked it. Knowing she was just about the only thing he had left, the only family he had left, made that cutscene very intense. I honestly hope they don’t just turn around and bring her back in Halo 5. That would hurt some of the emotional impact of this story.

I agree, I want to see him struggle throughout 5 without her, then begin to consider the possibility that he may not find her towards the end, but without giving up hope. Then in Halo 6… The climax I described.
I’d say maybe have the chief begin to loose hope to stick with the idea of making him appear more human, then he finally finds her… But I think I prefer the idea of him clinging on to hope and never losing it, never accepting that he wont find her.

If they made it so she didnt return until number 6… There would be enough time between her “death” and him finding her for it to not hurt some of the emotional impact. Its how they kill off and bring back characters in other media.

13

we already know that Halo 5 will be darker than any Halo ever … for now let’s enjoy Halo 4 as it’s

14

About the idea of bringing her back…
Look at what they did with the chief… On anything but legendary, they let you believe he was dead, and then brought him back a good while later.

Thats got me thinking… I havent completed Halo 4 on legendary yet… I wonder if they did something similar… O.O

15

Ah, apparently you only see the chiefs eyes on the legendary ending… Got all excited for a moment there lol xP

16

Halo 5 is going to be darker than any other Halo because of Cortana and Didact.

17

This is the first game that has inspired any type of emotional response from me. I was extremely saddened when Cortana disappeared. and that final scene where Chief quotes her, freaking gut wrenching. MY friends made fun of me for it, but they haven’t been playing this series since they were nine years old.

18

[SPOILER ALERT]

Spoiler alert for Halo: Contact Harvest.
Move on if you intend on reading it.

A machine loving a human and vice versa isn’t such a far fetched idea, if anyone has read Halo: Contact Harvest, it is hinted at the possibility of two planet-side AI’s, Mack and Sif, loving each other, though none actually telling each other until it’s too late.

[END OF SPOILERS]

Since I’m assuming everyone in this thread will have completed the Halo 4 story, if not then get out now, no need for any more spoiler alerts.
I’d like the idea of 343 experimenting with Cortana/Chief relationship. First I thought the idea of Cortana’s return could hurt the story, but if done right it could bring a whole new foundation for some great stories, not just in games, but to path the way for a whole new branch of Halo canon. So I’m going to go back on everything I’ve previously said.

During Halo 4, we observe some interesting developments, for example how the Forerunners experimented, and possibly perfected the technology to turn reality into the digital realm, and vice versa. Afterall, this is what saved John from the nuclear explosion during the climatic ending.

Also, for anyone who has only played the games, and knows nothing else of Halo canon, we learn that Cortana is unique in that she was constructed from a clone of a living brain. Dr Halseys cloned brain.

All of this is off the top of my head, so to speak. So what I am going to suggest is going to be far fetched and will need a lot of work and discussion.
At some point in the next two games we may learn that somehow remnants of Cortana’s personality have remained in whatever forerunner construct she happened to be in when using their technology to save the chief at the end of Halo 4. With this in mind, The Librarian, who altered chiefs DNA, may be able to save Cortana. since she could manipulate those “fragments” of cortana since they came from a organic construct (brain) and they are currently stored in familiar forerunner technology, specifically the construct that can alter reality into the digital realm. The Librarian could then somehow restore Cortana to her previous AI form.

Like I said, it’s a simple version of a complex idea using bits of what I can only remember. As for Cortana becoming “Organic” or human. I think that would be a bit too much, and who knows, maybe because she never had a full organic body to begin with, (unlike the Promethean Knights, who were fully human) The forerunner tech wont be able to transfer her from the digital realm to reality.

Discuss!

19

> he can get a new vigil from halsey, it won’t be cortana but it will still give him info.

The chief states that he wont be paired with another ai in the game and plot wiese it would make the chief a lot more human to watch him struggle to do things that were once easy with cortana.

> > “They’ll pair you with another AI, you know?”
> > “That’s not going to happen.”
>
> EXACTLY! Good to see someone else is on the ball and has picked up on the hints :slight_smile:

Personally I still dont see it as love. Dont get me wrong I believe they have a very deep relationship with each other but I dont believe it’s one of love. Even if the chief did get another ai he still had a bond with cortana so of course he would be upset if he lost her. Its the same thing as losing a friend. Sure you can always make a new friend (or in this case get a new ai) but you’ll still miss your old friend. Since the chief has lost enough friends as is I can see him not wanting to make another. As for cortanas side to me its like you said, she could just be concerned that the new ai wouldnt be able to protect the chief as well as she could.

20

This thread was very good and I actually enjoyed reading it. Believe me, we share many thoughts.
I think that the end was sad, and actually later it has felt even worse. I mean, it was good ending, but sad. I will never forget that feeling when the screen went black and Unforgotten started to play.
This might sound a little strange but in my opinion Cortana’s death was a pretty good twist. She was old and going rampart, but she was able to sacrifice herself before falling, and save humanity. I think, however, that she will return in Halo 5. Before the Halo 4 came out, 343i said that in the new trilogy Chief’s and Cortana’s relationship will get more attention. I don’t want to spoil anything but it’s hard to imagine, that after that, Cortana would die in the first game of the trilogy. I believe, that during or at the beginnig of Halo 5’s campaign Chief (and Dr. Halsey?) will save Cortana. Somehow. We just have to believe. ;_;

Still, Cortana turning into a human would be a bit too sugary. She’s an AI and even they both have strong feelings… she will stay an AI.