I believe she will return in some shape or form in Halo 6… maybe Halo 5 as an antagonist or something deeper, perhaps Didacts Ancilla. Would be perfect as the Ur-Didact would finally know John weaknesses, secrets and aptitude.
Evidence
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Cortana/Halsey (same voice) present on Reach; July 7, 2589 honouring the fallen Noble Six. So Doctor Catherine Halsey cannot die by Admiral Serin Osman or Spartan Commander Sarah Palmer; if Cortana is in-fact deceased. Otherwise she will return if Halsey dies… a one or the other deal.
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Cortana being such a main character, added humanity to John and had insurmountable knowledge of the Forerunner. John was essentially a robot before Cortana, which was quite ironic considering she is an AI. John-117 and Cortana have always battled together since Halo CE and so why kill off the only female protagonist besides, Halsey or Kat.
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Cortana had rewritten the boundaries of what AIs can do, by touching (hardlight projection) and feeling (emotions)… essentially being human. And so, we only just visited the core of John and Cortana relationship and deep trust for one another.
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We have finally figured out that Humanity is starting to surpass Forerunners… they tried bridging the biological and digital worlds, using composers making them immortal, but failed. Cortana and John have a very interesting relationship, in which they constantly show hope. Hope for the bridging of AI and Humanity to live in peace, and that to immortalize the biological and digital worlds empathy by the two parties must be met. John being emotionally a robot but physically human; while Cortana being emotionally human but physically a robot… essentially immortalizing the core of humanity, hope and the strength to endure.
I would rather have her as ‘unknown’ but for Halo 5, I’d rather have her believed to be dead.
It nearly completely destroys the point of her death in the first place, and why should Chief have his friend back when others lose theirs everyday?
While yes she may return at sometime, a very FITTING TIME, then its fine, but it must be VERY well deserved. The series is turning so that John will have both natures as you stated, emotion and body of human.
But it is actually interesting to note that you noticed how they may actually bridge the two; robot and human, we might see some more indication later on.
Overall, she should not return now, although fragments or memories like Halo 3 might still work.
There is a thread just like this here
I KNOW she is dead. A small fragment is not out of the question as even that is dead, however a revival of that and only that is arguable.
Cortana is DEAD, and should STAY dead.
While there is justification for speculating the survival of a small fragment, it’s much likely for that not to happen. Cortana’s survival (even if it makes sense) would not only be a cheap butchery of Halo 4’s ending, but it’d also be lousy writing that just shows the existence of plot-armor.
And believe me, the only thing that I hate more than plot-armor is stereotypical mustache twirling villains.
It would appear that the common consensus is that Cortana is dead and should thus stay dead and by this pave the way for a new AI or voice in Chief’s ear to provide him technical support on missions. That about sums it up.
> Cortana is DEAD, and should STAY dead.
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> While there is justification for speculating the survival of a small fragment, it’s much likely for that not to happen. <mark>Cortana’s survival (even if it makes sense) would not only be a cheap butchery of Halo 4’s ending, but it’d also be lousy writing that just shows the existence of plot-armor</mark>.
>
> And believe me, the only thing that I hate more than plot-armor is stereotypical mustache twirling villains.
Not a complete revival, but more so what I meant was a small and short lived way for her to come back, make some words, have better closure with John, then bye bye forevas.