Cortana's death will be better for everyone

Games Halo 5: Guardians
1

Warning: My opinion inbound, I do not intend everything to be 100% factual.

I’ve seen a lot of theories and ideas about the possible revival/resurrection/re-introduction of Cortana in Halo 5/XBO. I’ll be blunt, I think those are wrong or will be proven wrong. What the Halo 4 Essential Visual Guide says about her fate is clear. Maybe 343i are misleading us, but if they are I don’t think it is a smart way to do so. After all, they are ambiguous about the Didact’s fate and we saw a grenade explode in his chest. Cortana’s fate has been fairly concrete.

And really, I think this is a good thing.

Cortana’s Perspective

For so long Cortana has been the emotional core of the franchise, ironically being more human than the Master Chief ever was. Halo 4 upped the ante on this and dug deep into this ideas as far as it could go. Looking at how Cortana developed in Halo 4, it seems abundantly obvious that she was experiencing rampancy, though it is arguably about whether or not she went down every level, for example jealously. However, her deterioration looks more like that of the Kubler-Ross model, in it people experience Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression and Acceptance. From another thread of mine:

> With rampancy swiftly descending on Cortana, we see her performance begin to degrade. Her manner of behavior is that of <mark>denial</mark>. Early on she does have <mark>hope</mark> that she can be saved when she supports the notion that Dr. Halsey can fix her, but then she becomes more <mark>depressed</mark> as the story goes on and becomes prone to intense <mark>anger</mark> and irrationality. Finally, at the conclusion of the story she <mark>accepts her fate</mark> and does what she can to save the one she was made to protect, John. She uses the last of her power to save him and then fades away asking for John to come out of his shell of a machine and be human.

To put it simply, Cortana acts in denial early on in an effort to continue being useful for Chief and keep him safe all the while bargaining on hopes such as Halsey fixing her, but in the end she becomes more depressed, in particular the scene before Shutdown begins where she explains:

> “I can give you over forty thousand reasons why I know that sun isn’t real. I know because the emitter’s Rayleigh effect is disproportionate to its suggested size. I know it because its stellar cycle is more symmetrical than an actual star. But for all that, I’ll never actually know if it looks real… If it feels real…”

Her anger becomes apparent in her infamous “I will not allow you to leave this planet” outburst and various strings of rampant in-game dialogue. And in the end, she manages to get some closure and accepts her death as it comes closer.

The Master Chief’s Perspective

Chief, however, hasn’t grieved completely. Again, from another thread:

> On the other end of the relationship is Chief and how he struggles to overcome Cortana’s death. He is the first one to believe Halsey can fix Cortana and uses that as his guiding light. Each time Cortana starts to act up, he does his best to comfort her. Chief is completely out of his element in this instance, Cortana is not some piece of military hardware like a gun that can be fixed by a throughout cleaning, she is an artificial construct with deeply human emotions. Emotion, however, is something Chief has struggled to grasp. Yet for all of his comforting and hope, Chief fails to save Cortana. Losing it not a concept he is used to and losing those close to him has always taken a huge toll on his psyche. Even behind that helmet of his, I knew he was reaching a breaking point and Cortana’s demise snapped it.

For most of the game he is in denial about Cortana’s true state. He would be in the Denial and Bargaining stages for most of the game, banking on some hope of saving Cortana, yet Depression has to hit him at the end when Cortana tells him she won’t come with him. She has accepted her fate, Chief hasn’t. If the Halo 5/XBO trailer is any indication, he still hasn’t. To me this ties in with the theme of “Being Human” the Reclaimer Saga seems to promote. The game ends with Chief stepping out of his armor, a symbolic gesture of his humanity breaking out. Now he has to undergo one of the hardest things all humans face when confronted with the death of a loved one (NOT that Chief is literally in love with Cortana):

Moving on.

The Fan’s Perspective

And now this is where we come in. I see all of the theories about Cortana possibly coming back being a reflection of our own grief. While I myself have come to accept her fate, others still cling. That isn’t inherently a bad thing, when a popular character dies it weighs heavily on those who loved said character. Honestly, I would say these fans are more in the right state of mind for the next Halo game where the hope for Cortana reviving will be a top priority on Chief’s mind. They will better identify with Chief’s hopes. Perhaps when Chief can learn to accept fate, they can as well.

I know the argument has been made that perhaps Cortana returning and reuniting with Chief can be made into a powerful story. Maybe, but I still believe that Chief learning to be human will depend on Cortana staying dead. After all, nothing is more human than grieving. If Chief can carry on in a post-Cortana world as dark threats creep on the borders of the galaxy, he’ll be the stronger for it. And with people like Lasky, Palmer (yes even her), the new generation of Spartans and others at his side, he’ll adapt and persevere.

Thanks for reading.

2

What I hope they’ll do is at least offer the chance of her coming back (without actually being able to bring her back). Some sort of moment where Chief has to either face a harsh decision, or realise that even with his best efforts that revival of Cortana is impossible.

For example, Chief finds a way to revive Cortana… or he thinks he does. As the process starts we slowly see an image of Cortana materialize, and see her turn to face him. But as the revival process continues, Cortana either looses power or goes through an advanced stage of aging, pushing her quickly into Rampancy and likely pain. Chief is faced with either letting her suffer or stopping the revival process. Possibly it would never work in the first place, and Cortana would simply be ripped apart in front of him every time he tried to revive her.

Of course there’s more that can be done with that idea and different ways to accomplish it, but for the most part that’s the general outcome I’d like to see.

Call it stereotypical, but I think it would be interesting to see how Chief reacts.

Then there could also be a betrayal, possibly by ONI which stops the process, or Chief has to make the decision of reviving Cortana and inevitably getting them all killed (for whatever reason, and with whichever people may be with him at the time) or escaping and watching the construction he was using to revive her collapse on itself.

Either way I’d like to see Chief be forced to struggle emotionally, and see how he reacts to it and his own personal performance.

Essentially, I want to see the man break psychologically.

3

Good read.

But she’s coming back.

4

Honestly, I think you’re looking at this more deeply than 343 themselves will be doing. I think they’ll be more concerned with how to shock people or give them what they want, than they will with the kinds of things you talk about.
It could make as little sense as possible, but I doubt 343 is concerned with that. Making little sense wouldn’t exactly be out of character for 343.

5

First of all - great post Cobra

Secondly - I agree, I really think fans are clinging onto the hope she survived, I think it’s better that she stay dead, her role in Halo 4 is probably the biggest in the Reclaimer Saga, helping Chief realise his Humanity, even though she won’t return she’ll live on through Chiefs humanity, and after suffering for so long (being interrogated by a Gravemind then left to her own thoughts for a few years) she got a happy ending

6

I personally don’t mind whether she comes back or not. I’m leaning slightly more towards thinking it will be better if she does, but I wont lose sleep over a Cortanaless future.

My opinion is that if 343 sees it as advantageous for the popularity of Halo to bring her back, then they will find some way to do it.
I can’t see them using canonical coherency as the deciding factor.

7

I definitely hope Cortana comes back since my favorite character is the Chief/Cortana interplay.

My expectation that she will be back (I’m convinced as an antagonist initially) stems from the fact that I can’t imagine 343 will pass up on the chance to leverage Cortana for more emotional story lines. Additionally, I think they’ll be hard pressed to fill the void she leaves with a compelling character. Certainly their attempts at creating characters in Halo 4 fell pretty flat.

If nothing else, I think pragmatism will dictate Cortana’s return, never mind that I think it would be the most powerful direction to take the story.

8

I think that she should stay dead for the next game, then in the conclusion to the Reclaimer saga it becomes the mother of all rescue missions to bring her back.

9

> I think that she should stay dead for the next game, then in the conclusion to the Reclaimer saga it becomes the mother of all rescue missions to bring her back.

I like the way you think!

Very much Halo!

10

Great post Cobra. I may not fully agree with you, but great post none the less.

I honestly don’t believe 343i well have Cortana remain dead. I don’t think she’ll fully return in Halo 5, but she may return. I’ve acceptrd the fact that she died, but I really don’t see her remaining gone.

In the end, I think Cortana will not return until the Master Chief has gone through her loss (Halo 5).

11

And on top of all Cobra said (which I 100% agree with), dramatically killing a main character, and doing it well, only to bring her back a game later is just lousy storytelling. It shows 343i has no guts, it creates very visibly plot armor around all the good guys and it steps and stomps on what made Halo 4’s ending so powerful, the one thing that rescued Halo 4’s story from being a failure (the Didact seemed like a mustache-twirling, classic villain who wants to wipe out humanity for no apparent reason until Silentium came out and the lack of concrete in-game explanation on what exactly the Covenant were doing in the same planet Jon had to drift to when they’re all supposed to be disbanded anyway…

Back on topic, the John-Cortana relationship and her inevitable death were Halo 4’s saving grace- they made what was otherwise a flawed story into a beautiful and tragic one. Bring her back and all that goes away. Bring her back and Jon will return to his previous state, being the organic machine in the same relationship we’ve been taking part of for the last 12 years. If Cortana returns, the story would not improve in any way, it would take a step back. It would cancel out Halo 4 and it would make that whole arc redundant. And for what? Some cheap resurrection, a voice in the background?

They could have just kept her alive but they chose to kill her. They should stick to their stuff, the story will improve greatly if they just stick to it.

12

I like your points a lot OP, the whole stages of grief insight is pretty mind-blowing.

As a player, I hope she comes back simply because she’s been such a huge part of Halo for so long. From a story standpoint, I totally agree with you that she shouldn’t.

But from a practical standpoint, I don’t see why they killed her off in the first place. Obviously there is a story to tell, but to kill of 50% of what Halo is may have been unwise.

That said, there weren’t really any other characters to do it to, and I personally the story takes precedence over nostalgia–we can’t go on replaying the same thing over and over again.

That’s great on paper, but when we start Halo 5 and it’s somebody else directing us around…I just hope it’s not like Palmer in SpOps

13

> And on top of all Cobra said (which I 100% agree with), dramatically killing a main character, and doing it well, only to bring her back a game later is just lousy storytelling. It shows 343i has no guts, it creates very visibly plot armor around all the good guys and it steps and stomps on what made Halo 4’s ending so powerful, the one thing that rescued Halo 4’s story from being a failure (the Didact seemed like a mustache-twirling, classic villain who wants to wipe out humanity for no apparent reason until Silentium came out and the lack of concrete in-game explanation on what exactly the Covenant were doing in the same planet Jon had to drift to when they’re all supposed to be disbanded anyway…
>
> Back on topic, the John-Cortana relationship and her inevitable death were Halo 4’s saving grace- they made what was otherwise a flawed story into a beautiful and tragic one. Bring her back and all that goes away. Bring her back and Jon will return to his previous state, being the organic machine in the same relationship we’ve been taking part of for the last 12 years. If Cortana returns, the story would not improve in any way, it would take a step back. It would cancel out Halo 4 and it would make that whole arc redundant. And for what? Some cheap resurrection, a voice in the background?
>
> They could have just kept her alive but they chose to kill her. They should stick to their stuff, the story will improve greatly if they just stick to it.

Cortana’s resurrection, if done right, wouldn’t cheapen Halo 4’s ending. In the period of time between her death and speculated revival, John would still have to struggle without her and finally deal with his humanity/sanity. You said the Master Chief-Cortana relationship was one of the elements Halo 4 got right, and that her death was a powerful moment for the series. Couldn’t the same be said of her resurrection? Chief and Cortana reuniting could be one of the most heartfelt moments in gaming.

14

I agree. Cortana’s death was too powerful to bring her back. It’s like instead of becoming Darth Vader in Episode III, Anakin just straight up refuses and stays a Jedi.

15

> Cortana’s resurrection, if done right, wouldn’t cheapen Halo 4’s ending. In the period of time between her death and speculated revival, John would still have to struggle without her and finally deal with his humanity/sanity. You said the Master Chief-Cortana relationship was one of the elements Halo 4 got right, and that her death was a powerful moment for the series. Couldn’t the same be said of her resurrection? <mark>Chief and Cortana reuniting could be one of the most heartfelt moments in gaming.</mark>

It could be, but it could also cause a bit of suspension of disbelief. Like someone said, giving those two characters plot armor screams a lack of guts creatively. Are we to assume everybody BUT Chief and Cortana are fair game? I watch the anime Attack on Titan and there was an episode where I thought one of the main three characters died. It was brutal and sudden and sad given everything he wanted to accomplish with his life. And then by the next episode a nice little deus ex machina brings him back. I was hoping the other characters would move on without him, the main female lead was good enough to do so. But no. Yet other characters die without any hesitation.

In a series where the worst is expected, it drags the experience down. And with Halo 5 supposedly the darkest Halo game, I would hate to see that tone ruined by Cortana coming back. I simply believe Halo’s story needs to become less attached to its characters and give a little more weight to their lives.

Besides, I have a feeling this is why Halsey has moved into the forefront of the main story. With her gone, Halsey may be the catalyst for more development for Chief.

16

They better not kill Chief at the end of Halo 6. Killing Cortana isn’t unacceptable, but there are few ideas I hate more than the idea that Chief needs a “hero’s death”. Just leave it to our imagination.

Grrrr just don’t do it 343, no no no no no and no.

No.

17

> They better not kill Chief at the end of Halo 6. Killing Cortana isn’t unacceptable, but there are few ideas I hate more than the idea that Chief needs a “hero’s death”. Just leave it to our imagination.
>
> Grrrr just don’t do it 343, no no no no no and no.
>
> No.

If anyone needs an ambiguous “death”, it’s Master Chief. I would have been content with his story ending in Halo 3.

18

> > Cortana’s resurrection, if done right, wouldn’t cheapen Halo 4’s ending. In the period of time between her death and speculated revival, John would still have to struggle without her and finally deal with his humanity/sanity. You said the Master Chief-Cortana relationship was one of the elements Halo 4 got right, and that her death was a powerful moment for the series. Couldn’t the same be said of her resurrection? <mark>Chief and Cortana reuniting could be one of the most heartfelt moments in gaming.</mark>
>
> It could be, but it could also cause a bit of suspension of disbelief. Like someone said, giving those two characters plot armor screams a lack of guts creatively. Are we to assume everybody BUT Chief and Cortana are fair game? I watch the anime Attack on Titan and there was an episode where I thought one of the main three characters died. It was brutal and sudden and sad given everything he wanted to accomplish with his life. And then by the next episode a nice little deus ex machina brings him back. I was hoping the other characters would move on without him, the main female lead was good enough to do so. But no. Yet other characters die without any hesitation.
>
> In a series where the worst is expected, it drags the experience down. And with Halo 5 supposedly the darkest Halo game, I would hate to see that tone ruined by Cortana coming back. I simply believe Halo’s story needs to become less attached to its characters and give a little more weight to their lives.
>
> Besides, I have a feeling this is why Halsey has moved into the forefront of the main story. With her gone, Halsey may be the catalyst for more development for Chief.

We’ve had this argument before, and I don’t see why Halsey AND Cortana couldn’t flesh out the Chief a bit more.

But I really couldn’t care less if Cortana returns or not. I’m arguing that her resurrection, if done right, wouldn’t diminish the story in any way. I’m up for John transforming into a flying pink unicorn if it both makes sense canonically and isn’t done in a corny way.

19

And for the record, if anyone is opposed to the idea of Chief becoming a flying pink Unicorn, then I can only assume that you’re unwilling to adapt.

20

> > They better not kill Chief at the end of Halo 6. Killing Cortana isn’t unacceptable, but there are few ideas I hate more than the idea that Chief needs a “hero’s death”. Just leave it to our imagination.
> >
> > Grrrr just don’t do it 343, no no no no no and no.
> >
> > No.
>
> If anyone needs an ambiguous “death”, it’s Master Chief. I would have been content with his story ending in Halo 3.

Yeah same. For me that was perfect; I’d rather they didn’t try to wrap up his life story, or kill him. There’s a magic in not knowing.