I couldn’t help but just think about it. The Flood as we know are hyper intelligent when they reach a certain stage. They’ve battled the Forerunners already and Humanity too, both ancient and modern. You’d think that after assimilating so many people, after fighting in so many wars and witnessing so many events, that they would become unimaginably intelligent. They were smart enough to forge a temporary alliance with Master Chief in order to stop the Prophet of Truth.
If they’re that smart, that experienced, and considering they literally created life in the galaxy…isn’t it safe to assume they were aware of all possible outcomes during their battle against modern humanity? If that’s the case, do you think they already planned for the loss suffered on the Ark during Halo 3?
It should be when thinking of their primordial roots and all of what they would have retained in their experience from billions of years. When understanding Bungie’s intentions at the time of Halo 3 they should have been defeated though not completely destroyed in the likely event of other containment facilities existing.
An interesting quote from the Gravemind in the final mission of Halo 3 alludes to the timeless nature of his consciousness:
“Resignation is my virtue. Like water I ebb and flow. Defeat is simply the addition of time to a sentence I never deserved… but you imposed.”
An addition of time to a sentence made against him. It wasn’t an admittance of absolute destruction. My impression is that he was remarking on an addendum to an unjust pacification and imprisonment the Flood were subject to 100 thousand years ago. We saw what happened to the Gravemind’s consciousness when the IsoDidact destroyed his previous body. They were able to rematerialise in bodily form using accumulated bio-matter and lead the war effort against the Forerunners.
While I can’t speak to the Flood’s preparedness of the events on the Ark, I do believe that they will resurface from just about any catastrophic setback they’re faced with. You would have to completely destroy every specimen still in Forerunner containment facilities throughout the galaxy if you wanted to try and permanently rid the universe of them – even then I wouldn’t put it past the Precursors to have had a contingency for even that. Certain developments in the recent book, “Point of Light”, is going to create some interesting nuance with the Flood.
> 2533274882898126;1:
> I couldn’t help but just think about it. The Flood as we know are hyper intelligent when they reach a certain stage. They’ve battled the Forerunners already and Humanity too, both ancient and modern. You’d think that after assimilating so many people, after fighting in so many wars and witnessing so many events, that they would become unimaginably intelligent. They were smart enough to forge a temporary alliance with Master Chief in order to stop the Prophet of Truth.
>
> If they’re that smart, that experienced, and considering they literally created life in the galaxy…isn’t it safe to assume they were aware of all possible outcomes during their battle against modern humanity? If that’s the case, do you think they already planned for the loss suffered on the Ark during Halo 3?
Um….
this is acary to think about….
why are you scaring me
Realistically they can’t lose at this stage. It would be unwise to assume that the flood hasn’t spread extra-galactically and made countless keyminds and/or assimilated other galaxies since the flood’s receding after the war. I’m willing to bet they’re essentially everywhere in some form or another. We just have accounts that were experienced within the Milky Way. Who knows where they ended up.
It’s a very interesting question, one I’m not sure we have all the necessary lore to answer.
On the one hand, the Flood made decent headway with ancient Humanity before they decided to retreat. And from what we read in the Bear Trilogy, their return saw them reach a level of galactic power waaaaaay beyond what they accomplished in the OG Trilogy’s events. I’m talking Key Minds, Star Roads, etc.
So with in mind, the Flood undoubtedly have the ability to wipe 26th century Humans out of existence.
As a side note though; with the Forerunners controlling larger swaths of the galaxy, one could argue that the sheer abundance of food available made this possible. We know the Flood become more intelligent when they consume intelligent minds. It’s quite possible that, pound for pound, there just aren’t enough intelligent minds in the Milky Way yet, for the Flood to evolve to the same power.
> 2533274882898126;1:
> I couldn’t help but just think about it. The Flood as we know are hyper intelligent when they reach a certain stage. They’ve battled the Forerunners already and Humanity too, both ancient and modern. You’d think that after assimilating so many people, after fighting in so many wars and witnessing so many events, that they would become unimaginably intelligent. They were smart enough to forge a temporary alliance with Master Chief in order to stop the Prophet of Truth.
>
> If they’re that smart, that experienced, and considering they literally created life in the galaxy…isn’t it safe to assume they were aware of all possible outcomes during their battle against modern humanity? If that’s the case, do you think they already planned for the loss suffered on the Ark during Halo 3?
In Halo: Cryptum, there’s a passage where Bornstellar sees a Precursor’s mind, and it uses a lot of poetic language to say that the Precursors are eternal constants. That means anything they could learn, they already know from the beginning due to them existing independently of time. As such, that does mean that they’d know the outcome of every decision, which means whatever happens, they’ve already planned for it.
> 2533274810945725;5:
> It’s quite possible that, pound for pound, there just aren’t enough intelligent minds in the Milky Way yet, for the Flood to evolve to the same power.
The Gravemind seemed to remember everything that happened in the past. I believe that once the Flood assimilates a mind, that mind and it’s knowledge are now one with the Flood for the rest of it’s existence, no matter what happens. I’d say that the intelligent minds from the past are still contributing to the Flood even now
> 2533274808716317;2:
> It should be when thinking of their primordial roots and all of what they would have retained in their experience from billions of years. When understanding Bungie’s intentions at the time of Halo 3 they should have been defeated though not completely destroyed in the likely event of other containment facilities existing.
>
> An interesting quote from the Gravemind in the final mission of Halo 3 alludes to the timeless nature of his consciousness:
>
> “Resignation is my virtue. Like water I ebb and flow. Defeat is simply the addition of time to a sentence I never deserved… but you imposed.”
>
> An addition of time to a sentence made against him. It wasn’t an admittance of absolute destruction. My impression is that he was remarking on an addendum to an unjust pacification and imprisonment the Flood were subject to 100 thousand years ago. We saw what happened to the Gravemind’s consciousness when the IsoDidact destroyed his previous body. They were able to rematerialise in bodily form using accumulated bio-matter and lead the war effort against the Forerunners.
>
> While I can’t speak to the Flood’s preparedness of the events on the Ark, I do believe that they will resurface from just about any catastrophic setback they’re faced with. You would have to completely destroy every specimen still in Forerunner containment facilities throughout the galaxy if you wanted to try and permanently rid the universe of them – even then I wouldn’t put it past the Precursors to have had a contingency for even that. Certain developments in the recent book, “Point of Light”, is going to create some interesting nuance with the Flood.
This line always rings in my head when thinking about winning against the Flood.- “Resignation is my virtue. Like water I ebb and flow. Defeat is simply the addition of time to a sentence I never deserved… but you imposed.”
I believe if there is life there will always be the Flood.
