So I was replaying the campaign last night and got to the end of the game and realized something that didn’t really stand out to me on my first play through. When Cortana activates the Guardian above Earth she shuts down all of the ships, ODPs, etc. There are people on those whose life support probably just got turned off and now they are all just going to suffocate to death. What about the people planetside that are in Hospitals undergoing operations or critically injured that need a machine to stay alive? She basically just killed millions of innocent people and didn’t even bat an eye. How can 343 claim she’s morally gray when she did this?
Youre looking way to far into this i think lol
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> Youre looking way to far into this i think lol
Maybe but at the same time she’s killed a ton of people in the very short time she has been back. Many of those people were just going about their daily lives and she shows up and destroys their home, kill many of the people located on their planet, and then leaves to say that they cause needless violence that should be stopped.
Its basically the same debate in Clerks about Star Wars.
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> So I was replaying the campaign last night and got to the end of the game and realized something that didn’t really stand out to me on my first play through. When Cortana activates the Guardian above Earth she shuts down all of the ships, ODPs, etc. There are people on those whose life support probably just got turned off and now they are all just going to suffocate to death. What about the people planetside that are in Hospitals undergoing operations or critically injured that need a machine to stay alive? She basically just killed millions of innocent people and didn’t even bat an eye. How can 343 claim she’s morally gray when she did this?
I assume either they will be using the ‘corruption/not actually cortana’ idea that has been floated a few time or the idea of the end justifying the means. If you could kill one person to cure cancer would you? A lot of people would say, ‘yes’. Fewer would say, ‘yes’ if that person was a child or someone they knew, but a lot of people still would. Where is the proper place to draw that line? Where does the harm to an individual or small group get outweighed by a benefit to the species/community as whole. There isn’t an easy answer. Cortana (corrupted or otherwise) feels her actions are justified by the good that will come from them.
There’s been a lot of in depth discussion about Cortana’s kill count over at the universe section, but to some it up.
- People died when each Guardian awoke, add that to the amount of Guardians you see in the campaign - Prometheans attacking UNSC forces on both Meridian and Genesis - Life support in hospitals - EMPd ships getting pulled into a planets gravitational pull and crashing into city’s - Any aircraft in the sky would have fallen - Probably some minor collisions between ground vehiclesThe only person with a higher kill count are the actual Forerunners ( Maybe the Prophets) themselves when they activated the Halos, but now that Cortana has a Halo that could all change.
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> the only person with a higher kill count are the actual Forerunners themselves when they activated the Halos, but now that Cortana has a Halo that could all change.
What are glassed planets?
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> > 2533274904245048;6:
> > the only person with a higher kill count are the actual Forerunners themselves when they activated the Halos, but now that Cortana has a Halo that could all change.
>
>
> What are glassed planets?
During the Human Covenant war the Covenant would blast super heated plasma across an entire planet until its surface was completely glassed over. Its what happened to Reach.
And remember, to the folks at 343 that carnage is only something we can disagree with and is totally not evil.
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> > 2533274796680285;7:
> > > 2533274904245048;6:
> > > the only person with a higher kill count are the actual Forerunners themselves when they activated the Halos, but now that Cortana has a Halo that could all change.
> >
> >
> > What are glassed planets?
>
>
> During the Human Covenant war the Covenant would blast super heated plasma across an entire planet until its surface was completely glassed over. Its what happened to Reach.
I assume he was mentioning that the prophets probably had a higher kill count than cortana atm.
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> > 2533274816299345;8:
> > > 2533274796680285;7:
> > > > 2533274904245048;6:
> > > > the only person with a higher kill count are the actual Forerunners themselves when they activated the Halos, but now that Cortana has a Halo that could all change.
> > >
> > >
> > > What are glassed planets?
> >
> >
> > During the Human Covenant war the Covenant would blast super heated plasma across an entire planet until its surface was completely glassed over. Its what happened to Reach.
>
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> I assume he was mentioning that the prophets probably had a higher kill count than cortana atm.
Your fluency of sarcasm amazes me.
~23,000,000,000
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> Youre looking way to far into this i think lol
Even the Chief asked her in the campaign, what “the exact body count was”… it wasn’t in an actual cut scene, it was during game play. Not verbatim, but it went like this; MC - “How many died?” Cortana - “Excuse me?” MC - “The exact body count when you activated the guardian… you know, don’t you.”
Apparently Chief is also looking too far into this?
Shhh. It’s not really Cortana, she’s still your attractive AI companion… :3 It’s her evil twin that Doctor Halsey made for Jul. ;D
She’s just been sleeping.
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> > 2533274845863353;1:
> > So I was replaying the campaign last night and got to the end of the game and realized something that didn’t really stand out to me on my first play through. When Cortana activates the Guardian above Earth she shuts down all of the ships, ODPs, etc. There are people on those whose life support probably just got turned off and now they are all just going to suffocate to death. What about the people planetside that are in Hospitals undergoing operations or critically injured that need a machine to stay alive? She basically just killed millions of innocent people and didn’t even bat an eye. How can 343 claim she’s morally gray when she did this?
>
>
> I assume either they will be using the ‘corruption/not actually cortana’ idea that has been floated a few time or the idea of the end justifying the means. If you could kill one person to cure cancer would you? A lot of people would say, ‘yes’. Fewer would say, ‘yes’ if that person was a child or someone they knew, but a lot of people still would. Where is the proper place to draw that line? Where does the harm to an individual or small group get outweighed by a benefit to the species/community as whole. There isn’t an easy answer. Cortana (corrupted or otherwise) feels her actions are justified by the good that will come from them.
Many Halo villains so far considered themselves justified in their actions. What makes Cortana any different? And what reason does anyone have to trust that she has their best interests at heart? Because so far Cortana’s actions are only bringing more pointless war and death to the galaxy, which is still dealing with the fallout of the Human-Covenant War. And we (the people in the Halo universe) only have HER word (the word of a terrorist and mass murderer) that any of this is going to be worth it in the long run.
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> And remember, to the folks at 343 that carnage is only something we can disagree with and is totally not evil.
You just don’t understand all this subtlety and nuance…
> 2533274845863353;1:
> So I was replaying the campaign last night and got to the end of the game and realized something that didn’t really stand out to me on my first play through. When Cortana activates the Guardian above Earth she shuts down all of the ships, ODPs, etc. There are people on those whose life support probably just got turned off and now they are all just going to suffocate to death. What about the people planetside that are in Hospitals undergoing operations or critically injured that need a machine to stay alive? She basically just killed millions of innocent people and didn’t even bat an eye. How can 343 claim she’s morally gray when she did this?
These are the choices ONI does every day.
This is the parallel that Hunt The Truth series was trying to establish. She is no more corrupt then the UEG/ONI.
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> > 2533274845863353;1:
> > So I was replaying the campaign last night and got to the end of the game and realized something that didn’t really stand out to me on my first play through. When Cortana activates the Guardian above Earth she shuts down all of the ships, ODPs, etc. There are people on those whose life support probably just got turned off and now they are all just going to suffocate to death. What about the people planetside that are in Hospitals undergoing operations or critically injured that need a machine to stay alive? She basically just killed millions of innocent people and didn’t even bat an eye. How can 343 claim she’s morally gray when she did this?
>
>
> These are the choices ONI does every day.
> This is the parallel that Hunt The Truth series was trying to establish. She is no more corrupt then the UEG/ONI.
…And that makes it okay for Cortana to do? No. Also, ONI didn’t activate dozens of superpolice machines that can go anywhere at any time.
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> And remember, to the folks at 343 that carnage is only something we can disagree with and is totally not evil.
This certainly isn’t something limited to 343 alone, though.
It’s a rather nasty tendency in media in the broad sense to paint one side as “good” and one side as “evil” without any ambiguity to whether their intentions might be driven by something righteous in a misguided (or in a way, totally justified) sense.
Which is mostly why I find antagonists with clear and agreeable motives most compelling.
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> > 2533274812652989;9:
> > And remember, to the folks at 343 that carnage is only something we can disagree with and is totally not evil.
>
>
> This certainly isn’t something limited to 343 alone, though.
>
> It’s a rather nasty tendency in media in the broad sense to paint one side as “good” and one side as “evil” without any ambiguity to whether their intentions might be driven by something righteous in a misguided (or in a way, totally justified) sense.
>
> Which is mostly why I find antagonists with clear and agreeable motives most compelling.
I just find it funny how Cortana and the Didact have the same ideologies, yet the Didact was branded as evil, but so far 343 is treating Cortana with kid gloves.
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> And remember, to the folks at 343 that carnage is only something we can disagree with and is totally not evil.
I actually find it insulting that 343 would try and sell that hypocritical BS, seeing as how they consider Halsey a monster for objectively much less harmful things.