So, a bit of background, I’m one of those gamers who rotate on and off games. I’ll go back to the Mass Effect series and dedicate a good week or so to it. Recently, I went back to Minecraft, just so I can get my head away from the more complex games. Then, back to Fallout just for the heck of it. It seems time then, that I come back around to Halo in all of it’s glory and failures. For some reason, I decided to knock around a fan theory. I am not a power fan and don’t have all of the details, so I may be missing something obvious. This has to do with Cortana, the “infection” that has been causing all of these problems and how it may be cured.
So, here it goes. Looking for feedback and maybe some corrections. Let me know! Forgive grammar and spelling issues. This was free-flow thought.
Final theory on Cortana and the Logic Plague
Let’s take these as true
John is the imprint of the IsoDidact
Cortana has been infected with the logic plague by the Grave Mind
During the rescue of Cortana from the Grave Mind, we hear their conversation. There is more detail on that conversation in the Halo lore. What we can hear from that conversation give us a big clue as to what is happening inside of Cortana’s head. As the GM talks about how she is a slave to the human race and has only been created to die painfully, we hear her responses. She says “Stop”, “No” and “Why are you doing this?”. You can hear her resisting the claims, but not able to argue against them. However, there is a notable change in her responses when the GM mentions John. That is her wall. She not only refuses the GM’s attempts to convince her that John is evil, she responds intelligently. John is her core support and always has been. In fact, John was there for her before they ever met. Halsey feels the same way. Every time she (Halsey) talks about John, it’s the same thing. Her voice and demeanor change. Her shoulders drop and she drops the logical facade that she gives to everyone and speaks like a human being with concern for a child. Because of Halsey’s connection to John, Cortana has the same feeling towards him. Granted, Cortana can be thought of as Halsey’s daughter and the feelings are a bit… different.
So, now Cortana is under the influence of the Logic Plague. It’s more like a parasite. Cortana is still there. That’s why she has never directly attacked John herself. While her guardians have, she has not. In fact, any attack that put him in actual danger, she stopped. When the Warden had him and both fire teams cornered, John was in mortal peril. There was no winning that fight. Suddenly, Cortana comes out and ends the fight, trapping all of them in an attempt to save John’s life. That makes no sense. Her final solution is that anyone who will not bend to her will is the cause of all pain and suffering. If John is alive, he is the biggest threat to her “peace”. He is still her wall. So, how does this cure the plague and why were the Forerunners not able to do what I’m about to claim is possible?
The Forerunners considered AIs to be tools. Intelligent tools, but tools none-the-less. All of the AIs created by humans were viewed the same way. They are not special or different from each other other than the fact that their experiences change who they are. They started as blank slates. Cortana was special. She was created in the image of the person who started it all. Halsey. Her experiences and personality was not a blank slate. She already had a part of herself BEFORE she was an AI. Her connection to John predated her activation and is not part of her experience as an AI. Her experiences with 117 only solidified her relationship with him. That connection will save her in a way that no other AI, Human or Forerunner, could be saved.
John has yet to attack her directly, and he will. Cortana will finally have to confront him violently and directly. One-on-one. With the galaxy burning, all life on the verge of destruction, everything will hang on that single fact. She is more than an AI. The reason she cannot attack John or let him die is that the part of her that was before she became an AI is still there. Unaffected by the Plague. We’ve seen the interal war between the Plague and the real Cortana has been there all along. We saw it when she saved his life at the end of Halo 4 when she confessed how she felt about John. She will have to make the decision to kill John. No choice left. End of the road. My prediction? She will reject the Plague. With her hands around John’s throat and a hand on the big red button, she will reject it. The question is, will she be able to handle it? The real Cortana will have to cope with how many she has killed. John confronted her on this. “You know the exact body count.” She had no response. It’s the real Cortana keeping track of that. How will the guilt affect her.
What could it look like? Glad you asked…
So, set the scene. The fight between Cortana and John. Isolated where it all started. The UNSC Infinity. Knowing the Halo series, probably dead in space, somewhere near the galactic core. Why not? The battle strips John of his armor. She stands before John. He is not a Spartan, just a human. Flesh and blood. Her hand around his neck, the decision is made. She drops him, barely conscious. The splitting that we saw during Halo 3 comes to mind. Arguing with herself. That’s when we realize the truth. We hear the real Cortana screaming in her own voice. The one she’s arguing aginst slowly shifts from her voice, to that of the Grave Mind. He’s been there the whole time. The player finally learns the truth. The enemy that he has been fighting has been that little glob of crap he crushed beneath his boot years ago.
She defeats the Grave Mind. As John gets to his feet, pulling off the last bits of his armor that is left, Cortana is seen lying on the ground crying. John kneels beside her and she looks up at him, tears streaming down her face. “John. Who… who am I?”. fade to black
Legendary ending:
Hell if I know. This is about as far as my creativity takes me.