One of the things that makes a good story is the connection between two main characters. John are Cortana are a pretty good example of this. You can mostly tell how they feel about each other. They have an extremely tight friendship that has been through so much. In Halo 4, I hope their connection as characters becomes even stronger.
Take, for example of a brilliant character relationship, Harry and Hermione in the “Harry Potter” series; SPOILERS AHEAD for the HP books and movies:
Harry and Hermione’s relationship has been nothing but the strongest friendship. Harry befriended her when she had no friends; she has helped him with challenges countless time. These are the things that made their relationship as characters so strong. They never felt anything more than utter friendship, and by that I mean no crushes or anything like that on the other. She was scared for him in the Triwizard Tournament; she helped him start up Dumbledore’s army; they helped each other with their struggling love life in the 6th book; they bonded after Ron left in the 7th; Harry danced with her to cheer her up.
All of this led up to one perfect moment: in the 7th: Part 2 film, Harry finds out he has to die and goes to sacrifice himself. He tells Hermione, and she starts crying and says “I’ll go with you.” She then embraces him in a heartbreaking hug. The reason the scene was perfect is because we, the audience, felt what she felt towards Harry, and Harry to her, too. They had been through so much together, and after all of it, she wanted to go with him to Death. The audience thought of each moment they’ve had together during that scene, which resulted in the goal of any good story: Catharsis.
Anyway, if you’re still with me after all that rambling, thank you. Now back to Halo 4: Chief and Cortana need more moments like these. They have some, but their relationship as characters would be beautiful if 343i added more. It strengthens the connection, thus engaging the audience more and feeling what the characters feel. If 343i does this, when the perfect moment comes for Cortana and Chief, after everything they’ve been through together leads up to one crucial moment(the Hermione willing to die with Harry moment), it will be sheer beauty as we will truly feel the connection between John and Cortana in it’s most important moment.
There’s a line that 343 Industries has to tread very carefully when it comes to the relationship between the Master Chief and Cortana. On the other side of that line is some very weird territory.
Incidentally, the Harry Potter films are horrible; use the books the next time you want to craft an analogy.
> There’s a line that 343 Industries has to tread very carefully when it comes to the relationship between the Master Chief and Cortana. On the other side of that line is some very weird territory.
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> Incidentally, the Harry Potter films are horrible; use the books the next time you want to craft an analogy.
I didn’t mean like that, but I guess I could’ve worded some stuff differently.
I think the connection between the two is equally strong in both the films and books. You didn’t like the films?
> I’m pretty confident that 343i is doing something to enchance this relation between the Chief and Cortana than any of the previous halo games. Only this time, it seems that our super soldier is stranded on a distant, unknown planet.
Yeah, that outta put some strain on the both of them.
> > > I’m pretty confident that 343i is doing something to enchance this relation between the Chief and Cortana than any of the previous halo games. Only this time, it seems that our super soldier is stranded on a distant, unknown planet.
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> > Yeah, that outta put some strain on the both of them.
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> Not quite , depending on what route 343i wants to take with this, it can be humourous despite the dire situation they’re in. It could also be an entirely different narration, while still explaining more in depth of the halo universe, and the planet that they’re managed to ‘stumble’ upon.
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> Its far too early to even begin to grasp what 343i is planning for this duo, but rest assure it’s probably going to thrill and make us think.
Though I think humor will be included, I don’t think it’ll be the main focus for their relationship. I do agree with you that the narration will thrill us, though.
Cortana’s going rampant and breaking down, plenty of stressful moments to be had.
I recently picked myself up a copy of of Halo Evolutions Volume II. (Yeah, a bit late, I know.)
I was reading some stories in there, and the one I like the most is ‘Human Weakness’ by Karen Traviss. In there while Cortana was quite quickly descending into rampancy at the hand, or, tentacles, of The Gravemind, it detailed her emotions really great. Cortana even felt pains of jealousy at the thought of other AIs being in his helmet and working with him when ever she ‘died’, that along with total yearning for Chief to fulfill his promise to her. The short story also reveals that Cortana knows how Chief feels for her; compassionate, caring, and a good friend. She would know, after being in his head, after all.
I don’t want a crappy story of hurt and comfort in the new trilogy, but it would be great to see the real relationship between Chief and Cortana manifest into the games.