HALO INFINITE STORY THEORIES
The Cortana Gravemind theory:
During halo 3, the human part of cortana was infected by the gravemind using the logic plague, there are several lines of dialogue in halo 3 to back this up.
Because the flood is immortal, when cortana died at the end of halo 4, the infected part of her lived on and used the wreckage of the didacts ship to access the domain.
The cortana we see in halo 5 is not cortana at all, but rather, the surviving gravemind pretending to be cortana, the gravemind would, after all, have all of her memories and would therefore know exactly how to impersonate her.
Reasons why i think/hope it’s true:
- it would be awesome to see the Gravemind return
- it would explain cortana’s actions and behaviour throughout halo 5
- it would provide a story connection between the 2 halo trilogies
- the flood have already returned in halo wars 2, which could be setting up this plot point
- it would speak volumes of the floods intelligence, i mean, what better way to take over the galaxy than to become a human AI and take control of all forerunner installations? including the ark, which essentially renders the halos useless
- given what we know so far about halo infinite, it is definitely not out of the question
- a flood infected AI taking over the galaxy is the exact event that happened in the forerunner-flood war with the AI Mendicant Bias, thus, this plot point would be a perfect mirror of that event
- halo infinite takes place primarily on Zeta Halo, which was also the main setting of the afformentioned infection of the forerunner AI Mendicant Bias (which, by the way, has been subtly influencing the Master Chief since halo 2)
- it would mean that the death of cortana in halo 4 was ACTUALLY the death of cortana, making that moment much more emotionally impactful and making you hate the Gravemind even more
- its never explained in halo 4 exactly HOW cortana was able to survive past her expiration date, her being infected by an immortal entity would be more than enough explanation
- cortana being in the chiefs head throughout halo 4 could mean that he has developed some dormant form of the logic plague, and if it awakens in halo infinite, master chief going down in a blaze of glory while simultaniously fighting off a flood infection would be one hell of a badass way to go (side note, it has been confirmed by 343 that chiefs story will come to an end in some way in halo infinite)
- during halo 3, while cortana is being tortured by the gravemind, she says this; “i have walked the edge of the abyss, i have seen the future and i have learned - there will be no more sadness, no more anger, no more envy” think about it, isn’t that cortanas EXACT goal in halo 5? plus, early in halo 5, we actually see cortana standing on the edge of an abyss
- near the end of Halo 5, cortana says this: “for those who resist our offer and cling to your 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” doesn’t that sound EXACTLY like what the flood does? they CONSUME living things and REMAKE them in their own image, of course, cortana could just be talking about turning them into prometheans, but i like MY version better.
The Return To Reach Theory:
Near the end of Halo Reach, Doctor Halsey is studying a forerunner artifact, we now know from the extended lore that this artifact was a giant forerunner ship that likely held the location of the forerunner capital city, maethrillian.
The reason that Maethrillian is important is because it is the home of the domain, the forerunner network which Cortana and her Created are currently residing within
Now, there are those at ONI that KNEW that the ship contained maethrillians coordinates and assuming that Doctor Halsey is one of them, during Halo Infinite, she could lead the Chief back to Reach, then to Maethrillian to destroy the domain, which would defeat Cortana and the Created
Reasons why i think/hope its true:
- It would be awesome to see Reach again.
- Its the only way i can think of for Cortana to be defeated that wouldnt feel like a massive cop-out.
- with both Halsey and Blue Team back in the picture as of Halo 5, it’s the perfect opportunity to tell an incredibly emotional story.
- Because the Arbiter was responsible for the glassing of Reach, seeing him walking around the scorched land that he helped create would lead to some great character moments.
- during the game, we could see Noble 6’s helmet on the ground and one of the Arbiters elites could pick it up and say “I remember this one, he fought well”
- speaking of Noble 6, that could be how they find the crashed ship, by retracing his footsteps.
- Maethrillian is the location where the still living conciousness of 343 guilty spark is residing, a reunion with him could be… interesting, to say the least.
- Obtaining all of the knowledge of Maethrillian would instantly propel humanity to become a teir 1 species, meaning that the precursors final test for the Mantle Of Responsibility would be just around the corner.
- The knowledge that Doctor Halsey had been keeping such important information from humanity for so long would really shed some light on just how corrupt ONI truly are, something that we’ve never really seen in the games
- In the Halo 5 audio logs, we learn about something called Bastion, which from context clues, sounds like it’s a part of the Domain in which some still-living forerunners are residing, meaning that yes, destroying the Domain would defeat the created, but it would also come at the cost of the forerunners ever being able to return, which could lead to some great drama.
- Thanks to the existence of a) the upcoming book 'Halo: Shadows of Reach, as well as b) the fact that Anders was trying to get to Reach at the end of Halo Wars 2, we know that the planet will be playing a part in the story of halo again very soon.
Dear 343, if you are already planning on going down either of these paths with the story, please don’t change it just because some people have predicted it, if you actually take the opportunity to tell this story, then i think it would be, without any exaggeration, The. Best. Halo. Story. Ever. (And yes, i’m including Halo 2 in that statement) I mean seriously, the stars align so perfectly that you would be a fool not to tell this story.
343, Please.
Side note: these theories are not entirely mine, they have been pieced together from several videos by HaloFollower, LukeTheNotable and HiddenXperia