Evaluate my book reading order

I am wanting to get caught up on the Halo lore before Infinite (yes, I know the extra-game lore won’t be as important this time but still I want to be caught up in case of easter eggs and stuff), and there are a LOT of Halo books. I don’t think I will be able to read them all in publication order, but I think I’ve trimmed it down a bit to get just the main story beats so I can read it by this fall and save the extra stories for more casual reading next year. Please look at the reading order I have set up and let me know if I’m missing anything major. I tried to keep the books in a somewhat sequential publication order while also retaining the separate series’ together as best I could.

Playing MCC campaigns, Halo CE and Halo 2 finished, about to start Halo 3 then replay ODST, Reach, and finally Halo 4. I have watched a playthrough video for Halo 5.

  1. Fall of Reach - read
  2. The Flood - read
  3. First strike - reading
  4. Contact Harvest - added to list bc I know they retcon some Sgt. Johnson stuff and don’t want to miss it in later books if it appears
  5. Ghosts of Onyx
  6. Kilo-five trilogy
    6.5?) Forerunner saga - I really want to read this but I know it doesn’t really move the story “forward” so I just put it here based on publication dates
  7. New Blood
  8. Last Light
  9. Retribution
  10. Legacy on Onyx
  11. Bad Blood
  12. Shadows of Reach

> 2535457314567960;1:
> I am wanting to get caught up on the Halo lore before Infinite (yes, I know the extra-game lore won’t be as important this time but still I want to be caught up in case of easter eggs and stuff), and there are a LOT of Halo books. I don’t think I will be able to read them all in publication order, but I think I’ve trimmed it down a bit to get just the main story beats so I can read it by this fall and save the extra stories for more casual reading next year. Please look at the reading order I have set up and let me know if I’m missing anything major. I tried to keep the books in a somewhat sequential publication order while also retaining the separate series’ together as best I could.
>
> Playing MCC campaigns, Halo CE and Halo 2 finished, about to start Halo 3 then replay ODST, Reach, and finally Halo 4. I have watched a playthrough video for Halo 5.
>
> 1) Fall of Reach - read
> 2) The Flood - read
> 3) First strike - reading
> 4) Contact Harvest - added to list bc I know they retcon some Sgt. Johnson stuff and don’t want to miss it in later books if it appears
> 5) Ghosts of Onyx
> 6) Kilo-five trilogy
> 6.5?) Forerunner saga - I really want to read this but I know it doesn’t really move the story “forward” so I just put it here based on publication dates
> 7) New Blood
> 8) Last Light
> 9) Retribution
> 10) Legacy on Onyx
> 11) Bad Blood
> 12) Shadows of Reach

The Canon Order thread may help: https://www.halowaypoint.com/en-us/forums/db05ce78845f4120b062c50816008e5d/topics/halo-canon-order-halo-3-and-before/23bec818-d9c5-4932-981b-61efe8532f61/postsFor me, I’d alter that as the publication dates are pretty meaningless. From where you are now I’d finish First Strike then go:

  • Ghosts of Onyx - Broken Circle (optional) - Shadow of Intent - Last Light - Retribution - Hunters in the Dark - Forerunner Trilogy - Kilo-5 Trilogy (not required imho) - New Blood - Smoke and Shadow - Renegades - Cole.Protocol (optional) - Envoy (optional) - Legacy of Onyx (optional) - Point of Light - Bad Blood - Silent Strike (Optional) - Oblivion (Optional) - Shadows of Reach - Divine Wind (21 September release)My rationale is:
  • Getting you up to speed for Infinite - Reading the best ones regardless of relevance

You could skip the Kilo-5 trilogy easily. The only passage in the trilogy I found worth-while is the description of the Covenant Ventral Beam on a Battlecruiser being fired (Mortal Dictata pg 126). Most of the rest of Traviss’ books is her superimposing her beliefs onto all of the characters, being an apologist for a literal terrorist, while simultaneously making Halsey out to be evil incarnate for what she did to the Spartans to save humanity.

The Forerunner saga I highly recommend reading, as it provides huge insight into the Forerunners, the Flood, and the Precursors beyond what we’ve gotten in any other sources. I’d suggest that when you read it, jot down notes on:

similarities mentioned between human and Forerunner anatomy/physiology

Humanity and Forerunners are the same species, but neither faction knows that, because humanity are the pure genetic example of the species, and the Forerunners spent tens of millions of years genetically manipulating themselves in their attempt to turn themselves into the ultimate species, so when the two factions met again, they didn’t recognize each-other.any reference to the Precursors or Flood

The Precursors exist as constants outside of time. Their physical representations of themselves were avatars, not their true selves (like how the NPC’s in a D&D game are creations of the DM, under the DM’s control, but not actually being the DM). The Precursors are still around, unchanged, but they’ve chosen to let the galaxy think they’re gone, as they use the monsters they turned their last set of avatars into to drive the development of the created races following the Forerunners’ rebellion.
The Flood is doing terrible things (like how a DM sends monsters to challenge the player-characters, but it’s all intended to galvanize the characters into heroes, and there’s no intention for the monsters to actually win)

There are a lot of clues showing that the story is much more nuanced than it looks on the surface, that might take multiple read-throughs to find, if you’re interested. But having an idea of what you’re looking for may make them easier to spot.

> 2533274883501878;3:
> similarities mentioned between human and Forerunner anatomy/physiology
> Humanity and Forerunners are the same species, but neither faction knows that, because humanity are the pure genetic example of the species, and the Forerunners spent tens of millions of years genetically manipulating themselves in their attempt to turn themselves into the ultimate species, so when the two factions met again, they didn’t recognize each-other.

I’m sorry I’m going to have to call out some of the shortcut headcanon going on here as it’s not (at least currently!) entirely accurate.

Humans and Forerunners are not the same species canonically. Bungie started out with the plan to have them be the same, but changed their mind along the road and as it had never been stated before it cannot be claimed to be a retcon.

There are perhaps some indications 343 may be reappraising this (e.g. the Librarian’s number of fingers and the lost Theoretical rate), however there is currently nothing in canon to support that hypothesis solidly.

The canonical position is that Humans and Forerunners are separate species both seeded and designed separately by the Precursors

I do agree with you that Kilo-5 is extraneous now

> 2533274874872263;4:
> > 2533274883501878;3:
> > similarities mentioned between human and Forerunner anatomy/physiology
> > Humanity and Forerunners are the same species, but neither faction knows that, because humanity are the pure genetic example of the species, and the Forerunners spent tens of millions of years genetically manipulating themselves in their attempt to turn themselves into the ultimate species, so when the two factions met again, they didn’t recognize each-other.
>
> I’m sorry I’m going to have to call out some of the shortcut headcanon going on here as it’s not (at least currently!) entirely accurate.
>
>
>
> Humans and Forerunners are not the same species canonically. Bungie started out with the plan to have them be the same, but changed their mind along the road and as it had never been stated before it cannot be claimed to be a retcon.
>
> There are perhaps some indications 343 may be reappraising this (e.g. the Librarian’s number of fingers and the lost Theoretical rate), however there is currently nothing in canon to support that hypothesis solidly.
>
> The canonical position is that Humans and Forerunners are separate species both seeded and designed separately by the Precursors
>

>
> I do agree with you that Kilo-5 is extraneous now

I suggest re-reading the Forerunner saga. The evidence absolutely supports my claim.

Bornstellar notes the comparison of much more alike Forerunners who haven’t undergone their first mutation are to humans than the higher forms.

The Librarian saw the Path Kethona Forerunners who stopped manipulating their genetics ten-million years before the Milky Way Forerunners, and they look much more like humans than the Milky Way Forerunners.

A few times throughout the books, characters note the similarities of genetics between humans and Forerunners, and even speculate that there could be common ancestry, but they reject it not because of science, but because they personally find the idea revolting.

There’s also the fact that the Forerunners never found Humanity’s “Homeworld”. They looked all over human-controlled space, and didn’t find it. The Forerunners picked Erde Tyrene, but we know that’s wrong because there was no human presence on the planet, no signs of a civilization having developed on it.

You can look at the aesthetic of the Didact, who extensively mutated himself in an attempt to find an immunity to the Flood, and many of his features you can actually tell which of the other species he extracted the genetics from in order to incorporate them into himself.

Now if you look at the other side of the galaxy, the Forerunners were explorers, traveling far and wide. They were also scientists, experimenting with stellar engineering, and they even accidentally destroyed their own homeworld in a stellar engineering accident. It’s completely reasonable to speculate that this was the indecent that caused the Forerunners to lose track of an expedition to the other side of the galaxy.

You can even look at the Precursors’ promise. They picked a specific race, and promised them that their descendants would be given the Mantle of Responsibility. In Halo: Cryptum there’s a passage that directly identifies the Precursors as eternal beings “where the twin fists of time uncurl their fingers and join in a clasp, so that nothing changes or ever would”, which means they’d know the Forerunners actions from the beginning, and that the Forerunners wouldn’t be worthy. Think about it, why would the Precursors promise something to an unworthy race that they had no intention of giving it? In contrast, if you look at all of the other evidence, and take humanity and Forerunners as both being descended from that chosen race, then the Precursors did keep their promise. They did give the Mantle to the descendants of their chosen race, just not the branch of descendants that was trying to keep track of the promise.

Bungie orignally planned for Forerunners and Humans to be the same species, but the Forerunner saga gives plenty of evidence to show that they’re distinct, but descended from the same species.

(Work’s crazy for me right now, otherwise I’d be digging through the books and giving you quotations with page references)

Ok cool I know that the major antagonist in kilo five gets offed in a cutscene in halo 5, but I didn’t know if the future stories were gonna play up on that author’s take on Halsey. I’m super def into the forerunner saga so I’ll just swap them. Would I be missing any other major plot points to get me caught up? Once I finish shadows of reach I’ll rob ably go back and read the other books so it’ll get read eventually.

> 2533274883501878;3:
> You could skip the Kilo-5 trilogy easily. The only passage in the trilogy I found worth-while is the description of the Covenant Ventral Beam on a Battlecruiser being fired (Mortal Dictata pg 126). Most of the rest of Traviss’ books is her superimposing her beliefs onto all of the characters, being an apologist for a literal terrorist, while simultaneously making Halsey out to be evil incarnate for what she did to the Spartans to save humanity.
>
> The Forerunner saga I highly recommend reading, as it provides huge insight into the Forerunners, the Flood, and the Precursors beyond what we’ve gotten in any other sources. I’d suggest that when you read it, jot down notes on:
>
> similarities mentioned between human and Forerunner anatomy/physiology
> Humanity and Forerunners are the same species, but neither faction knows that, because humanity are the pure genetic example of the species, and the Forerunners spent tens of millions of years genetically manipulating themselves in their attempt to turn themselves into the ultimate species, so when the two factions met again, they didn’t recognize each-other.any reference to the Precursors or Flood
>
>
>
> The Precursors exist as constants outside of time. Their physical representations of themselves were avatars, not their true selves (like how the NPC’s in a D&D game are creations of the DM, under the DM’s control, but not actually being the DM). The Precursors are still around, unchanged, but they’ve chosen to let the galaxy think they’re gone, as they use the monsters they turned their last set of avatars into to drive the development of the created races following the Forerunners’ rebellion.
> The Flood is doing terrible things (like how a DM sends monsters to challenge the player-characters, but it’s all intended to galvanize the characters into heroes, and there’s no intention for the monsters to actually win)
>

>
> There are a lot of clues showing that the story is much more nuanced than it looks on the surface, that might take multiple read-throughs to find, if you’re interested. But having an idea of what you’re looking for may make them easier to spot.

> 2533274883501878;5:
> > 2533274874872263;4:
> > > 2533274883501878;3:
> > > similarities mentioned between human and Forerunner anatomy/physiology
> > > Humanity and Forerunners are the same species, but neither faction knows that, because humanity are the pure genetic example of the species, and the Forerunners spent tens of millions of years genetically manipulating themselves in their attempt to turn themselves into the ultimate species, so when the two factions met again, they didn’t recognize each-other.
> >
> > I’m sorry I’m going to have to call out some of the shortcut headcanon going on here as it’s not (at least currently!) entirely accurate.
> >
> >
> >
> > Humans and Forerunners are not the same species canonically. Bungie started out with the plan to have them be the same, but changed their mind along the road and as it had never been stated before it cannot be claimed to be a retcon.
> >
> > There are perhaps some indications 343 may be reappraising this (e.g. the Librarian’s number of fingers and the lost Theoretical rate), however there is currently nothing in canon to support that hypothesis solidly.
> >
> > The canonical position is that Humans and Forerunners are separate species both seeded and designed separately by the Precursors
> >

> >
> > I do agree with you that Kilo-5 is extraneous now
>
> I suggest re-reading the Forerunner saga. The evidence absolutely supports my claim.
>
>
>
> Bornstellar notes the comparison of much more alike Forerunners who haven’t undergone their first mutation are to humans than the higher forms.
>
> The Librarian saw the Path Kethona Forerunners who stopped manipulating their genetics ten-million years before the Milky Way Forerunners, and they look much more like humans than the Milky Way Forerunners.
>
> A few times throughout the books, characters note the similarities of genetics between humans and Forerunners, and even speculate that there could be common ancestry, but they reject it not because of science, but because they personally find the idea revolting.
>
> There’s also the fact that the Forerunners never found Humanity’s “Homeworld”. They looked all over human-controlled space, and didn’t find it. The Forerunners picked Erde Tyrene, but we know that’s wrong because there was no human presence on the planet, no signs of a civilization having developed on it.
>
> You can look at the aesthetic of the Didact, who extensively mutated himself in an attempt to find an immunity to the Flood, and many of his features you can actually tell which of the other species he extracted the genetics from in order to incorporate them into himself.
>
> Now if you look at the other side of the galaxy, the Forerunners were explorers, traveling far and wide. They were also scientists, experimenting with stellar engineering, and they even accidentally destroyed their own homeworld in a stellar engineering accident. It’s completely reasonable to speculate that this was the indecent that caused the Forerunners to lose track of an expedition to the other side of the galaxy.
>
> You can even look at the Precursors’ promise. They picked a specific race, and promised them that their descendants would be given the Mantle of Responsibility. In Halo: Cryptum there’s a passage that directly identifies the Precursors as eternal beings “where the twin fists of time uncurl their fingers and join in a clasp, so that nothing changes or ever would”, which means they’d know the Forerunners actions from the beginning, and that the Forerunners wouldn’t be worthy. Think about it, why would the Precursors promise something to an unworthy race that they had no intention of giving it? In contrast, if you look at all of the other evidence, and take humanity and Forerunners as both being descended from that chosen race, then the Precursors did keep their promise. They did give the Mantle to the descendants of their chosen race, just not the branch of descendants that was trying to keep track of the promise.
>
> Bungie orignally planned for Forerunners and Humans to be the same species, but the Forerunner saga gives plenty of evidence to show that they’re distinct, but descended from the same species.
>
> (Work’s crazy for me right now, otherwise I’d be digging through the books and giving you quotations with page references)
>

Firstly to debunk one point of inaccuracy: Erde Tyrene 100% is ancient humanity’s homeworld that’s confirmed in Primordium and SIlentium definitely has a passage stating that traces of ancient humanity were purged from the galaxy during the de-evolution process.

I don’t deny that there are strands of evidence to support your hypothesis, my point is, however, that it’s only an hypothesis and not canonical fact (at least yet). A lot of it is also speculative rather than hard fact: just because two species look alike does not necessarily mean they are descended from a common ancestor (especially when we know both species in this case were seeded and engineered by the Precursors - and crucially in the Forerunner Trilogy it states as much that both species were seeded by the Precursors). Indeed: you’re noting similarities between the Path Kethona Forerunners and -Yoink!- Sapiens, but what about the Florians, Neanderthals, Denisovans, Gigantopithicus? These we know did evolve from a common ancestor, but in fact look more different.

I don’t deny that some day you may be proven right, but for now you can’t present this hypothesis as canonical fact as it isn’t there yet. I agree that I think there’s every possibility that may yet be a road we get taken down, but only time will tell and there’s still a good chance another road is chosen.

> 2533274874872263;7:
> > 2533274883501878;5:
> > > 2533274874872263;4:
> > > > 2533274883501878;3:
> > > > similarities mentioned between human and Forerunner anatomy/physiology
> > > > Humanity and Forerunners are the same species, but neither faction knows that, because humanity are the pure genetic example of the species, and the Forerunners spent tens of millions of years genetically manipulating themselves in their attempt to turn themselves into the ultimate species, so when the two factions met again, they didn’t recognize each-other.
> > >
> > > I’m sorry I’m going to have to call out some of the shortcut headcanon going on here as it’s not (at least currently!) entirely accurate.
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > Humans and Forerunners are not the same species canonically. Bungie started out with the plan to have them be the same, but changed their mind along the road and as it had never been stated before it cannot be claimed to be a retcon.
> > >
> > > There are perhaps some indications 343 may be reappraising this (e.g. the Librarian’s number of fingers and the lost Theoretical rate), however there is currently nothing in canon to support that hypothesis solidly.
> > >
> > > The canonical position is that Humans and Forerunners are separate species both seeded and designed separately by the Precursors
> > >

> > >
> > > I do agree with you that Kilo-5 is extraneous now
> >
> > I suggest re-reading the Forerunner saga. The evidence absolutely supports my claim.
> >
> >
> >
> > Bornstellar notes the comparison of much more alike Forerunners who haven’t undergone their first mutation are to humans than the higher forms.
> >
> > The Librarian saw the Path Kethona Forerunners who stopped manipulating their genetics ten-million years before the Milky Way Forerunners, and they look much more like humans than the Milky Way Forerunners.
> >
> > A few times throughout the books, characters note the similarities of genetics between humans and Forerunners, and even speculate that there could be common ancestry, but they reject it not because of science, but because they personally find the idea revolting.
> >
> > There’s also the fact that the Forerunners never found Humanity’s “Homeworld”. They looked all over human-controlled space, and didn’t find it. The Forerunners picked Erde Tyrene, but we know that’s wrong because there was no human presence on the planet, no signs of a civilization having developed on it.
> >
> > You can look at the aesthetic of the Didact, who extensively mutated himself in an attempt to find an immunity to the Flood, and many of his features you can actually tell which of the other species he extracted the genetics from in order to incorporate them into himself.
> >
> > Now if you look at the other side of the galaxy, the Forerunners were explorers, traveling far and wide. They were also scientists, experimenting with stellar engineering, and they even accidentally destroyed their own homeworld in a stellar engineering accident. It’s completely reasonable to speculate that this was the indecent that caused the Forerunners to lose track of an expedition to the other side of the galaxy.
> >
> > You can even look at the Precursors’ promise. They picked a specific race, and promised them that their descendants would be given the Mantle of Responsibility. In Halo: Cryptum there’s a passage that directly identifies the Precursors as eternal beings “where the twin fists of time uncurl their fingers and join in a clasp, so that nothing changes or ever would”, which means they’d know the Forerunners actions from the beginning, and that the Forerunners wouldn’t be worthy. Think about it, why would the Precursors promise something to an unworthy race that they had no intention of giving it? In contrast, if you look at all of the other evidence, and take humanity and Forerunners as both being descended from that chosen race, then the Precursors did keep their promise. They did give the Mantle to the descendants of their chosen race, just not the branch of descendants that was trying to keep track of the promise.
> >
> > Bungie orignally planned for Forerunners and Humans to be the same species, but the Forerunner saga gives plenty of evidence to show that they’re distinct, but descended from the same species.
> >
> > (Work’s crazy for me right now, otherwise I’d be digging through the books and giving you quotations with page references)
> >

>
>
>
>
> Firstly to debunk one point of inaccuracy: Erde Tyrene 100% is ancient humanity’s homeworld that’s confirmed in Primordium and SIlentium definitely has a passage stating that traces of ancient humanity were purged from the galaxy during the de-evolution process.
>
> I don’t deny that there are strands of evidence to support your hypothesis, my point is, however, that it’s only an hypothesis and not canonical fact (at least yet). A lot of it is also speculative rather than hard fact: just because two species look alike does not necessarily mean they are descended from a common ancestor (especially when we know both species in this case were seeded and engineered by the Precursors - and crucially in the Forerunner Trilogy it states as much that both species were seeded by the Precursors). Indeed: you’re noting similarities between the Path Kethona Forerunners and -Yoink!- Sapiens, but what about the Florians, Neanderthals, Denisovans, Gigantopithicus? These we know did evolve from a common ancestor, but in fact look more different.
>
> I don’t deny that some day you may be proven right, but for now you can’t present this hypothesis as canonical fact as it isn’t there yet. I agree that I think there’s every possibility that may yet be a road we get taken down, but only time will tell and there’s still a good chance another road is chosen.
>

Halo: Cryptum, pg 20,

> to the best of Forerunner research, humans had indeed first arisen on Erde-Tyrene, but over fifty thousand years ago had moved their interstellar civilization outward along the galactic arm, perhaps to flee early Forerunner control. Records from those ages were sparse

That’s the extent of the connection, the claim of research done without evidence (and we know that the Forerunners lie about their history). Casual familiarity with the modern state of science reveals that the people professing to be telling the science are easily, and frequently infected by politics. That’s why evidence apart from their claims is so important. Evidence that never existed on Erde Tyrene for the Forerunners to remove.

If you have any quotations showing otherwise, I’d like to see them.

> 2533274883501878;8:
> > 2533274874872263;7:
> > > 2533274883501878;5:
> > > > 2533274874872263;4:
> > > > > 2533274883501878;3:
> > > > > similarities mentioned between human and Forerunner anatomy/physiology
> > > > > Humanity and Forerunners are the same species, but neither faction knows that, because humanity are the pure genetic example of the species, and the Forerunners spent tens of millions of years genetically manipulating themselves in their attempt to turn themselves into the ultimate species, so when the two factions met again, they didn’t recognize each-other.
> > > >
> > > > I’m sorry I’m going to have to call out some of the shortcut headcanon going on here as it’s not (at least currently!) entirely accurate.
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > Humans and Forerunners are not the same species canonically. Bungie started out with the plan to have them be the same, but changed their mind along the road and as it had never been stated before it cannot be claimed to be a retcon.
> > > >
> > > > There are perhaps some indications 343 may be reappraising this (e.g. the Librarian’s number of fingers and the lost Theoretical rate), however there is currently nothing in canon to support that hypothesis solidly.
> > > >
> > > > The canonical position is that Humans and Forerunners are separate species both seeded and designed separately by the Precursors
> > > >

> > > >
> > > > I do agree with you that Kilo-5 is extraneous now
> > >
> > > I suggest re-reading the Forerunner saga. The evidence absolutely supports my claim.
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > Bornstellar notes the comparison of much more alike Forerunners who haven’t undergone their first mutation are to humans than the higher forms.
> > >
> > > The Librarian saw the Path Kethona Forerunners who stopped manipulating their genetics ten-million years before the Milky Way Forerunners, and they look much more like humans than the Milky Way Forerunners.
> > >
> > > A few times throughout the books, characters note the similarities of genetics between humans and Forerunners, and even speculate that there could be common ancestry, but they reject it not because of science, but because they personally find the idea revolting.
> > >
> > > There’s also the fact that the Forerunners never found Humanity’s “Homeworld”. They looked all over human-controlled space, and didn’t find it. The Forerunners picked Erde Tyrene, but we know that’s wrong because there was no human presence on the planet, no signs of a civilization having developed on it.
> > >
> > > You can look at the aesthetic of the Didact, who extensively mutated himself in an attempt to find an immunity to the Flood, and many of his features you can actually tell which of the other species he extracted the genetics from in order to incorporate them into himself.
> > >
> > > Now if you look at the other side of the galaxy, the Forerunners were explorers, traveling far and wide. They were also scientists, experimenting with stellar engineering, and they even accidentally destroyed their own homeworld in a stellar engineering accident. It’s completely reasonable to speculate that this was the indecent that caused the Forerunners to lose track of an expedition to the other side of the galaxy.
> > >
> > > You can even look at the Precursors’ promise. They picked a specific race, and promised them that their descendants would be given the Mantle of Responsibility. In Halo: Cryptum there’s a passage that directly identifies the Precursors as eternal beings “where the twin fists of time uncurl their fingers and join in a clasp, so that nothing changes or ever would”, which means they’d know the Forerunners actions from the beginning, and that the Forerunners wouldn’t be worthy. Think about it, why would the Precursors promise something to an unworthy race that they had no intention of giving it? In contrast, if you look at all of the other evidence, and take humanity and Forerunners as both being descended from that chosen race, then the Precursors did keep their promise. They did give the Mantle to the descendants of their chosen race, just not the branch of descendants that was trying to keep track of the promise.
> > >
> > > Bungie orignally planned for Forerunners and Humans to be the same species, but the Forerunner saga gives plenty of evidence to show that they’re distinct, but descended from the same species.
> > >
> > > (Work’s crazy for me right now, otherwise I’d be digging through the books and giving you quotations with page references)
> > >

> >
> >
> >
> >
> > Firstly to debunk one point of inaccuracy: Erde Tyrene 100% is ancient humanity’s homeworld that’s confirmed in Primordium and SIlentium definitely has a passage stating that traces of ancient humanity were purged from the galaxy during the de-evolution process.
> >
> > I don’t deny that there are strands of evidence to support your hypothesis, my point is, however, that it’s only an hypothesis and not canonical fact (at least yet). A lot of it is also speculative rather than hard fact: just because two species look alike does not necessarily mean they are descended from a common ancestor (especially when we know both species in this case were seeded and engineered by the Precursors - and crucially in the Forerunner Trilogy it states as much that both species were seeded by the Precursors). Indeed: you’re noting similarities between the Path Kethona Forerunners and -Yoink!- Sapiens, but what about the Florians, Neanderthals, Denisovans, Gigantopithicus? These we know did evolve from a common ancestor, but in fact look more different.
> >
> > I don’t deny that some day you may be proven right, but for now you can’t present this hypothesis as canonical fact as it isn’t there yet. I agree that I think there’s every possibility that may yet be a road we get taken down, but only time will tell and there’s still a good chance another road is chosen.
> >

>
>
>
>
> Halo: Cryptum, pg 20,
>
>
> > to the best of Forerunner research, humans had indeed first arisen on Erde-Tyrene, but over fifty thousand years ago had moved their interstellar civilization outward along the galactic arm, perhaps to flee early Forerunner control. Records from those ages were sparse
>
> That’s the extent of the connection, the claim of research done without evidence (and we know that the Forerunners lie about their history). Casual familiarity with the modern state of science reveals that the people professing to be telling the science are easily, and frequently infected by politics. That’s why evidence apart from their claims is so important. Evidence that never existed on Erde Tyrene for the Forerunners to remove.
>
> If you have any quotations showing otherwise, I’d like to see them.
>

Likewise however that hardly constitutes proof of anything. This is my whole point about your hypothesis- I don’t actually disagree with a lot of it as a theory. But that’s all it is: a theory. You have various bits of insinuation which may support it, but you don’t have any hard proofs.
I’ll try and dig out the Primordium and Silentium passages I’m thinking of

This thread turned into a spoiler minefield!!!