I’ve seen a few Halo 5 story line plots on these forums as of late, and yet no one seems to remember the story-arc 343 mentioned. Everyone keeps saying stuff like “Didact attacks Earth”, or “Covenant invade Infinity” or “Cortana magically comes back from some random few fragments in space” (my personal favorite).
I’m sorry to bust y’alls bubbles, but those plot lines are just so lame and uninteresting. They really sound more like a cheap fan-fic than an actual Halo story. So, I’m gonna throw some ideas out there based off of what’s been said by 343 so far, and by what Spartan Ops has shown us so far.
A while back, 343 specifically said that Halo 5 would have a “much darker story” than either Halo 4 or Halo 6. So everything good you thought would happen in Halo 4, scratch it out. So based off of this “darker story” thing going on, here’s what I believe will be incorporated into Halo 5:
-Cortana does NOT come back. 343 has mentioned several times that Master Chief will have to face his own humanity, and he’s never had to actually do that with Cortana inside his head. Now that she’s gone, he will have to mourn in his own stoic way and face this new threat alone. Now, Cortana might come back in Halo 6, but it’s unlikely she will be the “true” Cortana we know and love. She might be a whole new copy, or severely fragmented, either way is the only way she can come back (considering she got blown up by a nuclear warhead)
-The Didact…lives. Now, some of you may not believe me, but hear me out. Spartan Ops takes place SIX MONTHS after the end of Halo 4. So right away we have some big hints. This is also where I get the idea that Cortana won’t come back. I mean, if they’ve had half a year to do it, then she would’ve come back by now. Some fan-made plots I’ve read suggest that Chief will meet up with Halsey, and she’ll all of a sudden be like, “Oh! Of course! I’ll fix my most prized AI now that you’ve just asked me! I mean, it’s not like I’ve had six months to try already…”
But I digress, back to the Didact.
It just doesn’t make logical sense for 343 to awaken a Forerunner war-god, have him amass an entire army of Prometheans and Storm Covenant, and then just fall into space and go “Herg, bleehhh.” Think about it! Who else will Chief face? From what I can tell of Spartan Ops, they DIDN’T recover a body, otherwise they’d be studying every possible aspect of it. So yes, the Didact will live, and of course, he’s gonna be angry.
-Thel Vadam’s forces lose the Sangheili civil war. If a darker story line is to be in Halo 5, then this just falls right into place. I do think it’s possible the Arbiter will make an appearance, but either he’ll be executed by The Servants of Abiding Truth, or he’ll have fled Sanghelios and found refuge with the humans. Consider the Elite’s mentality: they don’t really know how to do basic things on their own world,(like farming), they’ve been known to join and serve with stronger forces in the past, (Sangheili - San 'Shyuum war anyone?)And they are HIGHLY religious. Now that a real live Forerunner, the Didact, has awakened, it’s more likely that the Elite’s will turn back to their old ways and serve with the Didact.
-The Didact doesn’t attack Earth, but rather, he bides his time. If he already tried once with the Composer and failed, then it’s safe to say he wouldn’t be stupid enough to go right back and try again, not in Halo 5 anyway. He’ll most likely take a step back, and try to amass a MUCH larger force filled with Prometheans and Storm Covenant and all that good stuff. Now, I know I hated on fan-fics earlier, but I’ve had this little thought stirring in my head I just want to throw out. He might go to a Forerunner world or installation and (this’ll sound dumb) rebuild and uncover a huge Forerunner Dreadnought fleet, I dunno. And if he did, it’d be cool if he did it at Onyx. Then he’d just slam into Earth with all his military power, and that’s when Halo 6 starts. Finish the Final Fight.
-Thomas Lasky, or Sarah Palmer dies. Now, what better way to have a dark storyline than to kill off a “good guy” character? Personally, I hope Palmer dies (I think she’s a wench) but, you never know, Lasky might keel over instead. The best way to have this happen would be to have either one of them trying to protect the Infinity, staying behind to give civilians time to escape from…somewhere, I don’t really know where (I’m not good at plot detailing). But the main point is that somebody dies.
-Now, for something happy. The Librarian’s memories/AI (the ones that Chief encountered and that Jul 'Mdama is trying to find) will be recovered and live just long enough to tell the humans how to kill the rampaging Didact. This is a little cheesy, I know, but considering she is his wife, she might know just what kinda poison will really hit home. If this was to happen, then most likely it’ll be at the end of the Halo 5 campaign, opening the doorway to the happy ending story of Halo 6.
Well, that’s all I got. I’d really appreciate it if you gave some questions, comments, or feedback. I will take negative feedback just as well as positive, but I just wanted to get these ideas out in the open. Thanks for reading!
