I would like to discuss with you about the Halo Infinite Legendary Ending.
So, apparently The Harbinger was talking to someone on the other side of Zeta Halo, could it be Atriox at this point? The Weapon says that is an old transmission, and due to the fact that her and the Master Chief come out from the Silent Auditorium after three days, it could be that the Harbinger was talking to Atriox some days earlier (it could be also be that she was talking with someone else).
Talking about the Grand Edict and the Criterion, this is the first time we hear about these names in the Halo universe. The Grand Edict is a Forerunner from a not specified caste, it seems that he would like to hide the Endless using the cylix because apparently they seems to be immune the Halo Effect and because they know some secret. It looks like that Despondent Pyre has to study this race and that she be assisted by Offensive Bias.
Maybe in the next campaign we are going to see the resurrection of the Endless thanks to Atriox, and maybe Mendicant Bias?
This is what I understand but I might be wrong. What do you think about that?
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Now to start off, this is highly speculative and could be completely wrong and sound ridiculous, but hear me out before you judge.
So, in the Legendary cutscene we see a date that goes back thousands of years ago. So what Iâm saying is Atriox went all those years back in time. Now like I said hear me out.
We know the Banished think Atriox is dead (confirmed by Escharum early on). How long we donât know, but possibly 6 months due to Atriox being on the Infinity as he was looking for something, most likely the Weapon or Cortana, and the Infinity appeared to have several interior explosions as we fell into space, and we havenât heard from the Infinity since. So letâs say after he searched the Infinity, he heads down to the ring (and whatever happened to the Infinity, the Banished think he died during that raid). Now Atriox spends the next 6 months inside the ring learning secrets etc about it, and overall just getting a good understanding, so he eventually uses those weird portals (the one that Chief and the Weapon used in the last mission that put them 3 days into the future to get to the surface), and heâs in the past to do whatever it was he was doing in the cutscene, most likely freeing the Endless, which was the Harbingerâs goal, and maybe why Atriox aligned himself with her? Anyways, the reason this is believable is because Zeta Halo is far different from all the other Halo rings we know in the Universe, and thatâs because itâs the last remaining ring that was constructed by the Larger Ark. Now as for the dialog that was playing over the cutscene, I think that was the Monitor discussing how much of a threat the Endless are as Atriox was presumably freeing them, which is why itâs in that cutscene.
So yeah, that theory did go a little off the rails, but I think itâs fun to kinda go wild with speculation, as long as itâs in the realm of possibility. So until we get a real answer or more clues as to what happened that may debunk this theory, this is what I believe was happening. Letâs just hope we donât have to wait 6 years for an answer to this legendary cutscene as H5âs couldâve been interpreted many ways.
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Though the audio in that scene references time manipulation, I donât think that Atriox was sent back in time nearly a hundred thousand years (after the array was fired), just that the audio of the conversation took place that long ago. The post credits scene also takes place without the audio on lower difficulties, AFAIK.
I think 343 needs to tread carefully with a time travel storyline. It can often become a giant paradoxical mess.
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In my opinion the ending is less speculative, you just have to figure out who the grand edict is, and I donât really know when atriox is present on the ring ⌠before attacking the infinity? or maybe atriox has a precursor geas, which allows it to have access to all the knowledge present in 07? the fact is that in my opinion he simply indexes the eternals, that he is part of the criterion team? you absolutely need to know more but for me these are the questions and possible answers, without time travel, in my opinion the matter is simpler than that
Agreed.
Time travel into the past as a messy business to get involved in and Iâm not overly keen on Halo going down that road.
I know there was an isolated incident in First Strike, and there has been an offhand reference to slip space drive malfunctions where a ship arrived before it had technically left (maybe they are one and the same), but Halo hasnât really messed with reverse time travel in any meaningful way, and itâs introduction opens the door to âtime travel ex machinasâ to get out of impossible situations.
Travelling into the future is fine. Time dilation effects are a real thing, and Iâm totally fine with Chief taking 3 days to travel what he perceives as an instant.
As for the post credit scene, I want to believe that what we see, and what we hear, are two seperate events. This is supported by the fact that Atriox can be seen with no audio on lower difficulties. Also, when I beat the game in normal, I got the scene without the date.
Similar to the end of Rally Point Omega in Halo Reach, just because we see a ship many years in the future on a lush green Reach, doesnât necessarily confirm that Halsey was physically there giving 6 their eulogy at that date.
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I agree with others: the cutscene and the dialogue take place in two different times. My guess is that the Endless found a way to manipulate time while also being immune to the effects of the Array. This would have scared the Forerunners, because they are outside the norms of the universe and are very much a threat to them (âworse than the Floodâ). So maybe the Forerunners took them down before they could become a greater threat to their dominance, locking them away. Now, Atriox is likely going to either free them, or learn more about them.
You are forgetting that Halo has already down time travel and time manipulation in the lore already, several times actually, and to add, it is featured in fan favourite books. A prime example is with the Forerunner slipspace crystal, such as when they went to Reach after the Battle of Installation-04 they went back in time from when they entered slipspace, and in the slipspace anomaly messed with time even more. Now keep in mind this is a crystal that could fit in Halseyâs pocket, so think how much difference a whole ring could make. Also yes, I am still aware that my theory is far fetched, but I think itâd be interesting to explore
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I didnât forget, I mentioned First Strike at the top of my post, and made references to other instances of TT too.
But other than the paradox of Cortana potentially getting an idea from future herself, the use of TT in Halo has been relatively inconsequential.
As for Atriox going back in time to free the Endless, I have to ask why?
Didnât the game stabling that they were captive on the ring in the present? If they are freed by him in the past, why are they still captive in the present?
I just personally think that having the precise ability to travel back in time to change the events of the future to such a degree, not only opens the door to too many shenanigans, and also asks the question of why hasnât it been used to advert every other galactic catastrophe in the past?
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Well like I said in my post, TT in this instance would be RESTRICTED to this ring. We know itâs not like other Halo rings in the Universe as Zeta Halo was constricted by the Larger Ark (which was destroyed along with the 11/12 rings it created during the tail end of the Forerunner-Flood War).
As for why Atriox gone into the past is unknown, but it would explain his absence since we saw him on the Infinity. Heâs thought dead, but if he was really on the ring in present time, why havenât any Banished found him? He could then re-emerge in the present and stopping him and the Endless would be the objective for story DLC, whenever that may be.
Even if reverse TT was only on Zeta Halo, it establishes the fact that the Forerunners had the technology to do so, and then begs the question why they didnât exploit reverse TT in other ways to benefit themselves.
Also, if Atriox frees the Endless in the past, then brings them to the present, then they wouldnât be locked up during the Infinite campaign, because they were freed in the past, and on their way to the future.
It creates a bit of a paradox.
As for Atriox being missing, he doesnât have to TT into the past to do so.
In Primordium, we find out that Bornstellar uses some kind of time dilation field to rapidly age the Primordial over eons, while he watches over the course of a few seconds (this happens on Zeta Halo).
Perhaps the âcontainmentâ being used to lock up the Endless has a similar function. The Endless could be locked inside a facility where time passes much more slowly.
Essentially, Atriox could have entered the facility shortly after Infinity was taken out, and what he perceives to be a few days searching inside, actually equates to 6 months in real time.
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