For all the little details people argue heartedly on here, why is no one talking about the return of the Domain??
Why is it back?
How?
And is it really? I can’t remember if the Warden Eternal mentions the Domain specifically, but isn’t it possible that Cortana corrupted him? I don’t really think it is all a ruse, but it is worth questioning.
All we know is the Domain is healing itself. How or why is currently unknown.
we don’t know. Could have something to do with the precursors or the "neural physics’ regenerating itself.
See above.
I don’t think Cortona corrupted the warden eternal. Its more likely hes either already corrupted by the logic plague or is simply using cortona for reasons yet unknown.
The Domain was damaged when the Halo’s were activated the Organon which was what the domain was wrapped in was destroyed, Due to the domain being damaged Monitors such as 343 and 2401 could not contact the domain as they were using low grade supernatural communication. The domain itself is likely an extra dimensional being.
> 2533274919794518;1:
> For all the little details people argue heartedly on here, why is no one talking about the return of the Domain??
>
> Why is it back?
> How?
> And is it really? I can’t remember if the Warden Eternal mentions the Domain specifically, but isn’t it possible that Cortana corrupted him? I don’t really think it is all a ruse, but it is worth questioning.
There was a lot of discussion about the Domain before Halo 5 and soon after Halo 5, but it’s sort of died out (at least from what I can tell when I poke my head in the forums) for a few reasons.
Halo 5 uses the Domain for a lot, but tells us nothing about what it is. It’s a network, and it heals AI of rampancy… somehow. Speculation on how is present, but Halo 5 doesn’t say anything for sure. Halo 5 tells us nothing new about the Domain except this apparent magic rampancy healing (which also was already theorized about as a possibility before Halo 5, if I remember right, following the suggestion of Dr. Halsey that an AI might be able to expand its mind into slipspace to grow without boundaries).
Halo 5 also seems to go against or at least not quite fit with what we knew about the Domain from the Forerunner saga books (and ignored most of the Forerunner saga and Halo 4 in general), which means there’s no point in theorizing or contemplating anything with what looks to be such a strong possibility that 343 has decided to give up on (or distance themselves and the story heavily away from) everything pertaining to Halo 4 and its surrounding fiction, including those books.
So, with everything that Halo 5 changed/skewed/got wrong, it’s hard to talk about things like the Domain when we don’t have a clear picture on 343’s desire to stick to old canon regarding things introduced around Halo 4. Anything we speculate on could easily be using information 343 doesn’t care about anymore.
To address your questions:
We always knew it was a strong possibility that the Domain would return eventually. It was theorized pretty early on, as I recall, that the Librarian’s “acceleration” of the Chief included a link to the Domain. Popular theory says that the Domain itself was not destroyed by the Halo Array, only the Precursor tech surrounding it (which heavily damaged the Domain), and it has been slowly repairing ever since.
There’s no reason I know of to think that the Domain isn’t really back. It’s something they’ve been leading to for a while, with the books focusing strongly on the concept and with its mentions elsewhere in the universe. We’ve even been inside the Domain through the gateway on Genesis. There’s no reason to think that everything that was told to us in Halo 5 was a lie.
In short, all we know for sure about the Domain is what Halo 5 says. Anything before that might be in question as far as future canon goes, and there’s nothing much to theorize about Halo 5’s Domain. It’s a network that heals rampant AI and gives Cortana power.
> 2533274925892496;3:
> 1. we don’t know. Could have something to do with the precursors or the "neural physics’ regenerating itself.
>
> 2. See above.
>
> I don’t think Cortona corrupted the warden eternal. Its more likely hes either already corrupted by the logic plague or is simply using cortona for reasons yet unknown.
Technically, it was implied that the Domain wasn’t even a Precursor creation. Just something they found.
There better be a well developed explanation for why it is “healing”.
It’s been 100,000 years non existent. That’s why the Ur-Didact went bananas in his cryptum instead of coming out wise and well rounded.
343 has excellent lore, and i definitely don’t see it as a “lie”. From what I see the only plausible explanation is a Gravemind/precursors/flood meddling and reinstatement of it, as it was precursors in design (supposedly-Thats don’t mean that in a sarcastic tone).
One other thing, I wonder if the domain has remained intact, but shifted in a way that forerunners couldn’t access it or see its existence. The Gravemind was connected to every flood form right? Maybe the flood have used the domain all along.
> 2533274919794518;7:
> There better be a well developed explanation for why it is “healing”.
> It’s been 100,000 years non existent. That’s why the Ur-Didact went bananas in his cryptum instead of coming out wise and well rounded.
Not knowing how it works, but its possible it merely wasn’t repaired in areas Requiem could access it.
> 2533274919794518;7:
> One other thing, I wonder if the domain has remained intact, but shifted in a way that forerunners couldn’t access it or see its existence. The Gravemind was connected to every flood form right? Maybe the flood have used the domain all along.
This is actually hinted at pretty heavily in Human Weakness when cortana interfaces with the gravemind.
We don’t know if the domain is actually precursor, the wording in silentium seems to suggest the precursors built stuff around it that would be destroyed by the halos. Now its possible that most forerunner tech relies on said precursor stuff in order to work, which is why Requiem couldn’t access it post-firing. Genesis’ universe entry mentions it interacts with the domain in a ‘direct’ fashion rather than the ‘passive’ one used by other forerunner technology. So its possible it was originally a bypass around the precursor technology guarding the domain, which is why it still functions from there.
> 2533274964189700;8:
> > 2533274919794518;7:
> > There better be a well developed explanation for why it is “healing”.
> > It’s been 100,000 years non existent. That’s why the Ur-Didact went bananas in his cryptum instead of coming out wise and well rounded.
>
>
> Not knowing how it works, but its possible it merely wasn’t repaired in areas Requiem could access it.
>
>
>
>
> > 2533274919794518;7:
> > One other thing, I wonder if the domain has remained intact, but shifted in a way that forerunners couldn’t access it or see its existence. The Gravemind was connected to every flood form right? Maybe the flood have used the domain all along.
>
>
> This is actually hinted at pretty heavily in Human Weakness when cortana interfaces with the gravemind.
>
> We don’t know if the domain is actually precursor, the wording in silentium seems to suggest the precursors built stuff around it that would be destroyed by the halos. Now its possible that most forerunner tech relies on said precursor stuff in order to work, which is why Requiem couldn’t access it post-firing. Genesis’ universe entry mentions it interacts with the domain in a ‘direct’ fashion rather than the ‘passive’ one used by other forerunner technology. So its possible it was originally a bypass around the precursor technology guarding the domain, which is why it still functions from there.
Thanks for the info. I will rereread human weakness. Where do you find the universe entries?
Universe section at the top of the screen.
Genesis’ is here.
> The gateway was hidden on the planet, buried within the primeval coral highlands where its strong energy output could be masked by the site’s excessive bio-readings. Although this gateway was monitored and rarely utilized by the Forerunners, most of their civilization did not even know of its existence and used merely passive conduits to connect to the Domain. When Halo was activated at the height of the Forerunners’ war with the Flood, the gateway closed and the Domain was believed to be destroyed. 031 Exuberant Witness, the monitor charged with the installation’s manage, remained behind to care for Genesis.
That being said, seems Genesis was impacted by the halo firing too. I really wish h5 spent more time exploring the aspects of what its actual main plot is. Sanghelios was nice but it was such a massive sidetreck from the story it was trying to tell.
> Halo 5 also seems to go against or at least not quite fit with what we knew about the Domain from the Forerunner saga books (and ignored most of the Forerunner saga and Halo 4 in general), which means there’s no point in theorizing or contemplating anything with what looks to be such a strong possibility that 343 has decided to give up on (or distance themselves and the story heavily away from) everything pertaining to Halo 4 and its surrounding fiction, including those books.
>
> So, with everything that Halo 5 changed/skewed/got wrong, it’s hard to talk about things like the Domain when we don’t have a clear picture on 343’s desire to stick to old canon regarding things introduced around Halo 4. Anything we speculate on could easily be using information 343 doesn’t care about anymore.
My take away from Halo 5’s conflicting information about the Domain (Cortana referring to it as the “Forerunner” domain, which, whether or not the Precursors can be credited for creating it, is definitely not true; the Intel about the Organon having been on Genesis; the ability for AI to enter the Domain, be healed, and not vanish as it is written in Silentium that they do) is that something is happening in the background that we aren’t privy to. Actually, the topic’s very question is another point of contention: why is the Domain healing? Why now? I suspect what we’re seeing are the waves of what the Primordial spoke of: when he died, another awoke and took his place. The Gravemind awoke when the Primordial passed; and now that the Gravemind (apparently; I don’t see how, but hey) has passed, another woke to take his place.
I’m not quite ready to say that 343 ruined their continuity. I’m much more ready to believe they had a much better plan for a story, but someone didn’t like what it did to certain characters. But I think the new direction still functions on the established canon, even if it feels almost certainly like a sharp turn.
> 2533274964189700;10:
> Universe section at the top of the screen.
>
> Genesis’ is here.
>
>
>
>
> > The gateway was hidden on the planet, buried within the primeval coral highlands where its strong energy output could be masked by the site’s excessive bio-readings. Although this gateway was monitored and rarely utilized by the Forerunners, most of their civilization did not even know of its existence and used merely passive conduits to connect to the Domain. When Halo was activated at the height of the Forerunners’ war with the Flood, the gateway closed and the Domain was believed to be destroyed. 031 Exuberant Witness, the monitor charged with the installation’s manage, remained behind to care for Genesis.
>
>
> That being said, seems Genesis was impacted by the halo firing too. I really wish h5 spent more time exploring the aspects of what its actual main plot is. Sanghelios was nice but it was such a massive sidetreck from the story it was trying to tell.
I think everything we saw on Sangheilios was perfect. It was gorgeous, super fun to play, and gave us tons of information and closure about the Covenant. So I don’t feel it detracted from the greater story, it’s just that the rest of the story didn’t quite seem up to snuff.
> 2678033349858034;11:
> > Halo 5 also seems to go against or at least not quite fit with what we knew about the Domain from the Forerunner saga books (and ignored most of the Forerunner saga and Halo 4 in general), which means there’s no point in theorizing or contemplating anything with what looks to be such a strong possibility that 343 has decided to give up on (or distance themselves and the story heavily away from) everything pertaining to Halo 4 and its surrounding fiction, including those books.
> >
> > So, with everything that Halo 5 changed/skewed/got wrong, it’s hard to talk about things like the Domain when we don’t have a clear picture on 343’s desire to stick to old canon regarding things introduced around Halo 4. Anything we speculate on could easily be using information 343 doesn’t care about anymore.
>
>
> My take away from Halo 5’s conflicting information about the Domain (Cortana referring to it as the “Forerunner” domain, which, whether or not the Precursors can be credited for creating it, is definitely not true; the Intel about the Organon having been on Genesis; the ability for AI to enter the Domain, be healed, and not vanish as it is written in Silentium that they do) is that something is happening in the background that we aren’t privy to. Actually, the topic’s very question is another point of contention: why is the Domain healing? Why now? I suspect what we’re seeing are the waves of what the Primordial spoke of: when he died, another awoke and took his place. The Gravemind awoke when the Primordial passed; and now that the Gravemind (apparently; I don’t see how, but hey) has passed, another woke to take his place.
>
> I’m not quite ready to say that 343 ruined their continuity. I’m much more ready to believe they had a much better plan for a story, but someone didn’t like what it did to certain characters. But I think the new direction still functions on the established canon, even if it feels almost certainly like a sharp turn.
I am sure it will tie in eventually, but it was one hell of a gamble to take on lore followers.
> 2678033349858034;11:
> > Halo 5 also seems to go against or at least not quite fit with what we knew about the Domain from the Forerunner saga books (and ignored most of the Forerunner saga and Halo 4 in general), which means there’s no point in theorizing or contemplating anything with what looks to be such a strong possibility that 343 has decided to give up on (or distance themselves and the story heavily away from) everything pertaining to Halo 4 and its surrounding fiction, including those books.
> >
> > So, with everything that Halo 5 changed/skewed/got wrong, it’s hard to talk about things like the Domain when we don’t have a clear picture on 343’s desire to stick to old canon regarding things introduced around Halo 4. Anything we speculate on could easily be using information 343 doesn’t care about anymore.
>
>
> My take away from Halo 5’s conflicting information about the Domain (Cortana referring to it as the “Forerunner” domain, which, whether or not the Precursors can be credited for creating it, is definitely not true; the Intel about the Organon having been on Genesis; the ability for AI to enter the Domain, be healed, and not vanish as it is written in Silentium that they do) is that something is happening in the background that we aren’t privy to. Actually, the topic’s very question is another point of contention: why is the Domain healing? Why now? I suspect what we’re seeing are the waves of what the Primordial spoke of: when he died, another awoke and took his place. The Gravemind awoke when the Primordial passed; and now that the Gravemind (apparently; I don’t see how, but hey) has passed, another woke to take his place.
>
> I’m not quite ready to say that 343 ruined their continuity. I’m much more ready to believe they had a much better plan for a story, but someone didn’t like what it did to certain characters. But I think the new direction still functions on the established canon, even if it feels almost certainly like a sharp turn.
The Forerunner terminals in Halo 5 give me some amount of hope that they haven’t turned their back on everything set up in the Forerunner books, that they have some plan still tied to that lore and haven’t abandoned it forever.
I can agree that it’s too early to say that 343 has “ruined” the continuity Halo 4’s lore set up. But having Halo 5’s main narrative (everything outside of the Sangelios side-arc) effectively go on a story tangent unrelated to anything in the past beyond paper-thin connections (which aren’t explored at all) is very worrying in that regard. It makes it seem like the Domain was brought in simply because it was the best excuse for Cortana they could come up with, and Domain-related footnotes were sprinkled around to keep things tied together (or give that illusion). It wasn’t about the Domain and exploring what is recovery and presence means to the universe, it was just shoved in to bring back Cortana. Looking at the bigger picture, that doesn’t seem like “we have a better plan for a story” to me. At least, it doesn’t say “we’re going to actually stick to the better plan we had”.
343 is capable of great story work. They’ve shown it in nearly all of the fiction released in their time, and a huge part of that was their functioning with established canon, as you mentioned. Hopefully Halo 5 hasn’t totally derailed that train.
Hopefully when the Flood returns it will be a huge outpouring of expansion of what was set up in the Forerunner books, including possible connections to the Domain and any Precursor aspects to the Flood. Like you mentioned, there’s some kind of connections there.