Waypoint, do you have a moment? Just a moment. That’s all it will take.
Call this a theory, speculation, ramblings, whatever suits you. In truth, what I have to say as of now is a jumbled tangle of concepts and ideas. Yet the nature of the Guardians subtitle is something important, as many believe, and I might have a reason why and how it relates to Chief and the new Spartan.
I want to start with the end of Halo 4. The Ur-Didact has just attacked Earth and Composed nearly 7 million inhabitants from New Phoenix. Master Chief manages to stop him, yet at the cost of Cortana’s life. Fast-forward about 7 months into the future past the New Phoenix Incident and Chief is nowhere to be found, a detail Spartan-IV-turned-traitor Vladimir Scruggs notes. However, one of the descriptions for an upcoming issue of Halo: Escalation states that Chief joined the crew of the Infinity shortly after the New Phoenix Incident, yet left. Some point to this development as evidence that Chief has gone AWOL, perhaps in pursuit of some way to revive Cortana as the Halo Xbox One trailer seemed to show, although I won’t be regarding it as the highest of canon for this thread. Now with an AWOL Chief, in comes the presence of our mysterious new Spartan character, who I will call the Investigator for the purpose of this thread, however I do not claim this to be his canonical name, it is just for the purpose of the thread and nothing more. I have seen that some believe that the Investigator may be sent to eliminate Chief or recover him. If so, ONI may have good reason to do so.
After the New Phoenix Incident, ONI seems to have stepped into overdrive to investigate the Forerunners, particularly the Didact. Once he had taken control of the UNSC Rubicon after it and a small band of other vessels returned to the Ark to investigate its status, the words of the new reactivated 343 Guilty Spark, though now with the awakened memories of himself as an ancient human, seem to indicate this.
“You and I are brothers in many ways…not in the least that we faced the Didact before, and face him now, and perhaps ever after.”
So Spark is aware that the Didact has made his return and the purpose of the ONI science team of the Rubicon was to probe him and question him about the Didact. Concurrently, a document entitled the “Bornsteller Relation” is mentioned in both Halo: Primordium and Halo: Silentium, and appears to be the information from the first books, Halo: Crpytum, yet in a canonical form within the Halo Universe. No surprise, the Didact factors heavily in the Relation as well. Now no date is given about when ONI made it back to the Ark, found the Relation, or found the datastreams that make up Silentium, but there is no doubt they would be very important after the New Phoenix Incident.
The reason I mentioned these things is to show that ONI isn’t messing around when it comes to Forerunner-related subjects. Now is where Chief comes in. As we saw in Halo 4, the Librarian altered Chief in a way still not completely clear to us. He developed an immunity to the Composer, which the Ur-Didact had, and soon after began to hear the voice of the Ur-Didact, but Cortana could not. I believe this shows that Chief now has the geas of the Ur-Didact. In Cryptum, Bornsteller Makes Eternal Lasting, the future Iso-Didact, also received the geas of the Ur-Didact and could similarly hear his voice while also gaining his memories. No sign that Chief has the Ur-Didact’s memories yet, but I think this presents a problem given the Ur-Didact’s mental state.
Halo: Silentium showed that the Ur-Didact was mentally scarred by the Gravemind while in its clutches. It was this corruption that led the Ur-Didact to use the Composer on the human population being preserved on a Halo ring known as Omega Halo. If Chief has the Ur-Didact’s geas, could it stand to reason that the Ur-Didact’s corruption from the Gravemind could have leaked into Chief’s mind as well? Perhaps ONI thinks so. No doubt Chief would have told of what the Librarian told him and did to him, as well as mention hearing the Ur-Didact in his head, or at the least any recording his helmet had would tip ONI off with Chief asking Cortana if she heard him.
Citation from the Bornstellar Relation may bring up concerns about Chief as such a scenario occurred with Bornsteller. Yet with the knowledge that the Ur-Didact was corrupted, this might not gel well from a security standpoint. One might wonder how the Librarian would let this happen, but her plans fell apart fairly spectacularly before the rings fired. Remember, she was to give the Janus Key to the Ur-Didact to help us, but neglected to give it to him since he was still loony. Even she may not have known how deep her husband’s corruption was or saw giving Chief immunity from the Composer as risk enough.
Now comes the Investigator. I’m beginning to think he may not be an antagonist as we traditionally think. I suspect that he has been sent by ONI, as indicated by the symbol on his armor, to find the Chief and eliminate him as a security risk, not as some mustache-twirling scheme just to be evil. Given how Chief’s section of the promo art seems hazy and almost like a mirage, I think the Investigator will follow in Chief’s footsteps so to speak. But that is an aside, so take it for what you will.
As for how Chief’s potential Gravemind corruption may affect what he does, I present another theory I developed four months ago, HOLY JEEZ, I KNOW HOW CORTANA WILL COME BACK. Read it and tell me this: If the Gravemind pushed the Ur-Didact to Compose humans through the exploitation of his prejudices towards humanity that he managed to keep in control until meeting the Gravemind, is it possible it may do something dastardly with Chief and his depression over losing Cortana, exacerbating that depression far more provocatively than Chief otherwise might take it? I certainly don’t see Chief abandoning his duties in a foolish gambit to revive Cortana, important though she was to him.
So there you have it. In short, the Investigator may very well be a protector in the making against the possible corruption of our beloved Master Chief. ONI obviously isn’t messing around with the Forerunners, the Ur-Didact especially, and surely do not want a new New Phoenix Incident to occur. Yet with the data they have and the things regarding Chief being known to them as well, perhaps they fear Chief may be a catalyst for something worse and feel they must stop it, hence the Investigator.
Perhaps I’m just rambling and grasping at straws though, so you decide. Thanks for reading.
