Can someone help me understand where the story goes from here? If Cortana has control of all AIs, which humanity is probably totally dependent upon, as well as the Guardians, which if you put several of those together could probably take down Infinity, how would humanity even be surviving as of this point? Cortana could just fire the halo rings and kill everything, remake the universe in their image as she says in the closing lines of h5. In the Infinite trailer, we some Chief helping some spartans but again…what interplanetary transport would they be using that doesn’t have an AI in it that pledged to Cortana?
In response to the topic; Yes.
I’m pretty sure a single Guardian can take down the Infinity.
Cortana could fire the rings, but she wants peace, not total destruction.
Let’s not forget how humanity didn’t surrender against the Covenant, despite being heavily out matched. Since this is Cortana specifically we are talking about, I imagine its going to end with Master Chief coercing her out of it.
Yes, humanity is outmatched. But humanity has been down before and prevailed (just look at the Human-Covenant War).
It’s not survival that’s in jeopardy for humanity; it’s freedom. Cortana isn’t looking to destroy humanity, but rather subjugate them. At most, she’d eliminate the UNSC and render humanity with no military power.
Also, not all AI have joined Cortana. Roland, for instance, is still loyal to the UNSC.
Absolutely, but humanity had master chief. 
Well humanity was pretty much doomed when fighting the Covenant and eventually won anyway. Locke said it best in H5 when he remarked that humanity is at it’s best when creating something from nothing (I can’t remember the exact quote, but he says it to Buck on the elevator ride when the are leaving Meridian). Also, not all AIs have sworn allegiance to Cortana. Roland and BB are perfect examples of this, as stated above.
Where did you see other Spartans in the trailer? Are you referring to the marines that pop the orange smoke toward the end?
Regarding firing the Array, I have a feeling the during Infinite, Cortana will realize that she can’t remake the galaxy to her desired specifications without activating the rings and starting over from scratch. The Halo 5 Legendary ending leads me to believe that might be the decision she eventually makes. Plus, if 343 continues their mirroring of Bungie era themes, it’s possible that Chief will return to the Ark, defeat Cortana, and prevent the activation (pretty much how in H3 they went to the Ark, killed Truth, and prevented the activation of the Array).
Yep they’re super outmatched, that’s why they’re on the run. She doesn’t have control of all AI’s though, Roland for example.
As far as just killing everyone and starting over, that’s probably something she’d do only as a last resort. She wants “peace”. Anyone who complies gets to live under her rule, anyone who doesn’t, dies. She doesn’t want to just kill everybody.
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> Absolutely, but humanity had master chief.
I would say the SPARTAN program in general. I know Master Chief has been through a lot compared to other SPARTANs, but there are others who helped. For example, if Noble 6 hadn’t delivered Cortana to Keyes, Chief wouldn’t have an AI who he could really depend on.
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> Can someone help me understand where the story goes from here? If Cortana has control of all AIs, which humanity is probably totally dependent upon, as well as the Guardians, which if you put several of those together could probably take down Infinity, how would humanity even be surviving as of this point? Cortana could just fire the halo rings and kill everything, remake the universe in their image as she says in the closing lines of h5. In the Infinite trailer, we some Chief helping some spartans but again…what interplanetary transport would they be using that doesn’t have an AI in it that pledged to Cortana?
Just like what everyone is saying. She wants peace. But she won’t kill everyone for it. In Halo 5, she mad either clear that it’s her gift… kinda.
But in the end, she wouldn’t do it because she lost the one thing she wanted in your Cryptom… 117.
The UNSC isn’t totally screwed. Not every A.I is part of the Created. I know that Roland and my boi Black-Box are still sane. I would say that the dumb A.I.s (for example, Auntie Dot) are still with the UNSC. Dr. Halsey is safe and she is basically the smartest human character and pull any solution to a problem out of a hat. Probably will make some Guardian proof tech. Blue Team, the most effective and deadly Spartan Team is on Infinity along with Osiris and possibly hundreds of other Spartans or Marines. The Infinity is known to carry a small cache of frigates and has loads of ordinance on board. The Arbiter and the Swords of Sanghelios are stronger thanks to the defeat of Mdama’s Covenant fan club. Plus, we know Infinity likes to play hide and seek with Cortana. Lot’s of things are in the UNSCs favour. A lot of things are against the UNSC. This was the same with the Human-Covenant war.
Let’s be honest, there is a high chance in the course of Halo Infinite that we will find some kind of plot-related McGuffin that amazingly provides the main cast a way to defeat Cortana.
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> Let’s be honest, there is a high chance in the course of Halo Infinite that we will find some kind of plot-related McGuffin that amazingly provides the main cast a way to defeat Cortana.
Just like with every game before…
Hidden Xperia has said a couple times on his channel that he thinks the UNSC Infinity is almost OP in the current universe. Also, the Infinity has a sister ship, the UNSC Eternity whose status I believe is unknown but last we knew was under construction.
I’m inclined to think humanity is severely outmatched judging by how the Infinity retreated from the Guardian at the end of Halo 5. But we’ll see. I imagine humanity will figure out a workaround in Infinite to combat AI, and/or perhaps a way to control Guardians. Without Guardians, Cortana will have extremely limited forces as humans aboard AI controlled ships surely can disable them.
Outmatched? 100% yes. But Cortana doesn’t want to kill humanity like the covenant did. She wants total peace not destruction. And not all AI’s are with her some remain loyal (or so they say) to the UNSC. I am interested In how this story will go moving forward
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> > 2533274826056477;4:
> > Absolutely, but humanity had master chief.
>
> I would say the SPARTAN program in general. I know Master Chief has been through a lot compared to other SPARTANs, but there are others who helped. For example, if Noble 6 hadn’t delivered Cortana to Keyes, Chief wouldn’t have an AI who he could really depend on.
You miss the point. The Spartan program could be shut down and it still wouldn’t matter. Master Chief is the protagonist of the story, he (and, since you play as him, you) will ultimately be the main reason for Humanity’s survival.
Well the UNSC could pull a full Forerunner and go with the “leave the galaxy and let the problem fix itself” idea… but they won’t. Remember you can’t subjugate the entire galaxy and bring around peace between species if they’re all dead. Also would Cortana invest in finding the remaining forerunners outside the galaxy or no, she doesn’t have any reason to?
Probably not because they have Master Chief, Arbiter, Swords of Sanghelios, and Fireteam Osiris
Until she has the Guardians and a Halo ring, sure they are totes outmatched. But as a poster above pointed out, those assets are just one plot mcguffin away from being taken away from Cortana. After that she will be left with just the Warden and the Prometheans. Then she would still be a threat, but a perfectly manageable one. And then the Flood come back at Forerunner era levels of nope and the real fun begins.
So it seems Cortana’s goal is to “subjugate” humanity rather than destroy and build anew. I guess this makes sense but at the end of h5 she says something about “when my work is done in 10,000 years”. So her plan takes 10,000 years to execute?
I guess Cortana still cares about humans in a way…but has judged that humanity is not peaceful on its own, and so they need to be controlled. Is that sort of her motivation?
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> Well humanity was pretty much doomed when fighting the Covenant and eventually won anyway. Locke said it best in H5 when he remarked that humanity is at it’s best when creating something from nothing (I can’t remember the exact quote, but he says it to Buck on the elevator ride when the are leaving Meridian). Also, not all AIs have sworn allegiance to Cortana. Roland and BB are perfect examples of this, as stated above.
>
> Where did you see other Spartans in the trailer? Are you referring to the marines that pop the orange smoke toward the end?
>
> Regarding firing the Array, I have a feeling the during Infinite, Cortana will realize that she can’t remake the galaxy to her desired specifications without activating the rings and starting over from scratch. The Halo 5 Legendary ending leads me to believe that might be the decision she eventually makes. Plus, if 343 continues their mirroring of Bungie era themes, it’s possible that Chief will return to the Ark, defeat Cortana, and prevent the activation (pretty much how in H3 they went to the Ark, killed Truth, and prevented the activation of the Array).
Sorry yes I meant marines
So the roughly the plan is, “try to control humanity, if i can’t, then destroy humanity and covenant and everything else and start from scratch in a more peaceful way”. she could even use the flood to execute that plan if she is unable to fire the rings for some reason.
if the forerunners have decided that cortana indeed should hold the mantle, then they might also support the firing of the rings, as they’ve already fired them once.
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> So the roughly the plan is, “try to control humanity, if i can’t, then destroy humanity and covenant and everything else and start from scratch in a more peaceful way”. she could even use the flood to execute that plan if she is unable to fire the rings for some reason.
This doesn’t sound like the plan. Her statements in Halo 5 sound like her plan B would be to compose dissenters, not destroy them:
“However, for those who refuse our offer and cling to their old ways… For you, there will be great wrath. It will burn hot and consume you, and when you are gone, we will take that which remains… And we will remake it in our own image.” - Cortana, H5 mission 15: Guardians
That sounds alot like Composing, instead of simply destroying. And it sounds like she was speaking specifically to those who would resist her, not making a blanket statement of what she would do to everyone.
Also, trying to use the Flood in any way would be absolutely counter-intuitive to her goals; since she wants to hold the Mantle and be responsible for all life in the galaxy, unleashing a force that would destroy all that life would defeat the purpose, especially if she did decide for some reason to wipe the slate clean. If she could fire the rings, unleashing the Flood would be silly because it’d just be an extra step in clearing the galaxy to start fresh. If she couldn’t fire the rings, the releasing the Flood would still be silly because she’d never be able to get rid of the Flood after.
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> if the forerunners have decided that cortana indeed should hold the mantle, then they might also support the firing of the rings, as they’ve already fired them once.
It’s not the Forerunners who decided that. Cortana came up with the idea that the Created should hold the Mantle seemingly on her own. Classically, the Forerunners only fired the rings as a last resort; they didn’t want to, but felt they had to. It wasn’t a decision made lightly. And some Forerunners, like the Ur-Didact, were vehemently against using the Halos at all.