Please Keep the Precursors Mysterious, 343i!

Community Halo Universe
1

Around a decade ago the Forerunners were regarded as a transcendent, enigmatic and mysterious race which we knew barely anything about beyond their technology and war with the Flood. But through recent media, such as Halo 4 and the Forerunner Saga, we’ve been given a major impression of them as a species and culture. We know what they looked like, what their culture was like, how their society operated and a fair degree of their history. I’m mostly pleased with how they’ve been handled.

Now it seems the Precursors have taken their place as the advanced, mysterious alien race. Personally I’d prefer it if a lot of the details on their origin, society and appearance went unexplored. It makes the lore much more interesting if some things are left open without an explanation. I really don’t think it’s needed.

The Precursors are the closest Halo has to deities. They created life in our galaxy, have explore the universe and possibly exist beyond it. The Organon as network is said to be 100,000 billion years old. Science currently suggests that the universe is only 13.7 billion years old.

I think exploring that will remove a lot of the mystery in the Halo universe and doesn’t add much of worth to its lore. There’s no need to discuss their origin, and a race possibly existing prior to them. I think having an alien race before the Precursors is kind of redundant and this cycle of creator species could possibly go on ad infinitum.

You can explain the origin of the Flood, but the Precursors are so much more interesting if a lot of things are left unexplained. Thoughts?

2

Some secrets should be uncovered and explained, some secrets are best left buried. Simple as that.

I wouldn’t mind some things explained like how some of their tech works and more examples of it, but I wouldn’t want every bit of their origins and society and all of the things revealed. Heck, even with all we were shown about the Forerunners, there’s still plenty left for us to uncover about them. We don’t yet know them like the back of our hand, so there’s still more things to discover about them there.

So I’m 50/50 on this. I’d like to know more (Insatiable curiosity!) but some things, as said, may be better left to speculation and wonder.

3

Destroy all the secrets! Burn all the mystery! Learn all the spoilers…

4

I believe that some things should be brought to the forefront, while other elements remain a mystery. There needs to be a right balance between the two in order to make it feel right.

5

I want to learn about them.

6

> I want to learn about them.

Goooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooood Emperor Palpatine "Good" Compliation - YouTube Let there be no mystery, let everything be known.

7

A little too late for that given how heavily they play into the Flood and development of nearly every single species in the galaxy. You can’t have everything like that and not factor in the Precursors.

8

The thing about the Precursors and the Flood is that they’re eldritch. They’re Lovecraftian monstrosities that exist outside of what humanity can know, ancient beyond measure.
Lovecraftian creatures are actually effective villains, because they prey upon our fear of the unknown and unworldly. However, they rely on two characteristics to remain effective villains. They must exploit the impossible, and they must be shrouded in mystery.

The more you know about a Lovecraftian abomination, though, the less powerful it is. The Precursors are currently at a pretty good spot. They are older than the universe, immortal even after death Their technology was unknowable even to the Forerunner, and could be destroyed by a very specific and very lethal process. Their engineering projects… They turned an entire solar system into a game of Cat’s Cradle, and that’s before they decided to get busy.

What more do we need to know?

9

> The thing about the Precursors and the Flood is that they’re eldritch. They’re Lovecraftian monstrosities that exist outside of what humanity can know, ancient beyond measure.
> Lovecraftian creatures are actually effective villains, because they prey upon our fear of the unknown and unworldly. However, they rely on two characteristics to remain effective villains. They must exploit the impossible, and they must be shrouded in mystery.
>
> The more you know about a Lovecraftian abomination, though, the less powerful it is. The Precursors are currently at a pretty good spot. They are older than the universe, immortal even after death Their technology was unknowable even to the Forerunner, and could be destroyed by a very specific and very lethal process. Their engineering projects… They turned an entire solar system into a game of Cat’s Cradle, and that’s before they decided to get busy.
>
> What more do we need to know?

Really? I personally feel like the Flood are much more disturbing now after Silentium now that we know their true motives and a good portion of their origin. It plays out in a way that makes them seem unique and horrible. Before they were just a race of biological “Borg” who just want to bring everything under their mind because they’re no better than a disease.

Now we know they’re corrupted Precursors who are using their near unstoppable biological infectious power to deliver an unstoppable revenge that will make them the only thing in the universe.

That there seems pretty scary and horrifying over a bunch of generic space zombies.

10

Giving out information and expanding the universe of a particular piece of fiction does not lessen the fog obstructing other parts of the universe. The direction of reveal nothing about the Forerunners employed by Bungie is much more about fitting their Modus operandi and is a decision by Bungie rather than a axiom to write a good fictional cannon. Information is one way of creating mystery. One that relies much more on the participant to ponder on philosophical, moral, technological and, logistical elements of the universe rather than the participant working to connect unfilled gaps with a lack of information. The books written by Greg Bear (Find a way to have him involved in the Halo in a large way) increase mystique of the Forerunners not decrease it. As long as the fiction is written well, added depth joins as needed, and the new information dovetails nicely with the universe it stays mysterious. Do not mistake a lack of information for mystery. The ancient super advance aliens with no information (Bungie’s approach) does not equal mystery it usually equals a lack of planning and lazy writing.

11

Would be nice to keep the precursors a mystery in the halo universe. Only mentioned from time to time via terminals and such.

But I think it would be nice to see an artifact of theirs which has either devastating or beneficial results.

Other than that. I say let em be a mystery to us.

12

> The thing about the Precursors and the Flood is that they’re eldritch. They’re Lovecraftian monstrosities that exist outside of what humanity can know, ancient beyond measure.
> Lovecraftian creatures are actually effective villains, because they prey upon our fear of the unknown and unworldly. However, they rely on two characteristics to remain effective villains. They must exploit the impossible, and they must be shrouded in mystery.
>
> The more you know about a Lovecraftian abomination, though, the less powerful it is. The Precursors are currently at a pretty good spot. They are older than the universe, immortal even after death Their technology was unknowable even to the Forerunner, and could be destroyed by a very specific and very lethal process. Their engineering projects… They turned an entire solar system into a game of Cat’s Cradle, and that’s before they decided to get busy.
>
> What more do we need to know?

The precursors don’t need to be a copy of something else. They should be their own thing.

13

The Precursors are theorised to be literally out of the current universe.
They are actually Gods. They don’t die conventionally and their own existence is meta-physical in nature.
Any more knowledge will just baffle us with it’s stupendous awesomeness.
Even if we learn something more, it will not be enough.
Forerunners on the other hand could not transcend beyond a point of time so their mystery was shortlived, Precursors on the other hand give the notion of mystery an understatement.

14

> > The thing about the Precursors and the Flood is that they’re eldritch. They’re Lovecraftian monstrosities that exist outside of what humanity can know, ancient beyond measure.
> > Lovecraftian creatures are actually effective villains, because they prey upon our fear of the unknown and unworldly. However, they rely on two characteristics to remain effective villains. They must exploit the impossible, and they must be shrouded in mystery.
> >
> > The more you know about a Lovecraftian abomination, though, the less powerful it is. The Precursors are currently at a pretty good spot. They are older than the universe, immortal even after death Their technology was unknowable even to the Forerunner, and could be destroyed by a very specific and very lethal process. Their engineering projects… They turned an entire solar system into a game of Cat’s Cradle, and that’s before they decided to get busy.
> >
> > What more do we need to know?
>
> The precursors don’t need to be a copy of something else. They should be their own thing.

And yet the Flood, even from Bungie’s era, was very clearly inspired and influenced by Lovecrafts terrors and horrors. 343 has taken that foundation and ran with it, seemingly very well from the looks of the Forerunner trilogy and the reactions of the community at large.

The Flood is Lovecraftian at it’s core. By extension, the Precursors are also to some degree. This is undeniable. But it doesn’t mean they can’t be their ‘own thing’.

15

Precursors are pretty much Gods. Gods that simply allowed the Forerunners to beat them. Some Precursors went Flood mode on us…and others said, “Frag this galaxy.” and left to another galaxy…beyond even Path Kethona.

16

I want to bring to attention… this quote…

“Child of my enemy, why have you come? I offer no forgiveness… a fathers sins, passed to his son.” ~ Gravemind, Halo 3.

We all know now from Greg Bear’s Forerunner Saga… that the Flood are the descendants of the Precursor species… and that the Precursor have a “test” for Humanity… which is assumed, or rather stated, to be the Flood by perhaps a sinister source, the Primordial.

Well I have a theory about the dormant Precursor…

The Gravemind, is the collective embodiment of the Flood… their memories and motives are all shared so long as one Flood spore remains… the original Gravemind was the Primordial… thus his motives are the Floods… Revenge, Suffering and Pain.

This all contradicts the teachings of the Mantle Of Responsibilty, idealogy; held so closely by the Forerunner race… which apparently originated from the Precursor belief of Living Time and that Space is alive, yet not like a sentient or ancilla, but something we cannot comprehend… and gains fulfillment and joy from the galaxies living species.

My theory is that the Primordial is actually a Dominant Precursor that… much like the Evil Xel’Naga, Amon, in the Starcraft Universe… went against his fellow deity-like species… in hopes of revenge and closure for his species’ betrayal.

So the quote then relates in-directly to the Primordial…

So the quote broken down…

Child of my enemy… this is referring to the “evolutionary child” of the Precursor species… which was the parent race that spearheaded the ancient Humans… to Tier-1 Technological Ranking along with the Forerunner. And the my enemy is a reference to the Precursor meta-physical collective species, that is the only viable race that the Flood will see as a threat… they see others as mere Food, biomass… the Precursors are bound to the Flood; as the Flood is bound to them… Precursor can control the Flood, while the Flood can control the Precursor technology…

Why have you come… this is self-explanatory the Master Chief, John-117, is rescuing his Smart AI companion, Cortana, from the infected Covenant Holy City, High Charity… but there could possibly be some foreshadowed message… it could also be referring to Humanity, as a whole, facing their ordained prophetical destiny… the Mantle Of Responsibility and the Precursor test… apparently the Flood.

I offer no forgiveness… could be targeting the Floods, and Primordial’s, beckoning madness and revenge for the past genocide… that befell them from the Forerunner, so long ago.

A father sins, passes to his son… this is a reference to the creators of Humanity and Forerunners alike… the Precursors… rather than the latter, the Forerunners which we thought prior… and their sins, could be referring to the in-action and curiosity during the Forerunner uprising… to which passes the punishment and eventual undertaking of the Floods end goal, and the Mantle Of Responsibility, onto Humanities shoulders.

So their is references and merit everywhere… that perhaps the Primordial is more sinister, than he leads on…

17

> I want to bring to attention… this quote…
>
> “Child of my enemy, why have you come? I offer no forgiveness… a fathers sins, passed to his son.” ~ Gravemind, Halo 3.
>
> We all know now from Greg Bear’s Forerunner Saga… that the Flood are the descendants of the Precursor species… and that the Precursor have a “test” for Humanity… which is assumed, or rather stated, to be the Flood by perhaps a sinister source, the Primordial.
>
> Well I have a theory about the dormant Precursor…
>
> The Gravemind, is the collective embodiment of the Flood… their memories and motives are all shared so long as one Flood spore remains… the original Gravemind was the Primordial… thus his motives are the Floods… Revenge, Suffering and Pain.
>
> This all contradicts the teachings of the Mantle Of Responsibilty, idealogy; held so closely by the Forerunner race… which apparently originated from the Precursor belief of Living Time and that Space is alive, yet not like a sentient or ancilla, but something we cannot comprehend… and gains fulfillment and joy from the galaxies living species.
>
> My theory is that the Primordial is actually a Dominant Precursor that… much like the Evil Xel’Naga, Amon, in the Starcraft Universe… went against his fellow deity-like species… in hopes of revenge and closure for his species’ betrayal.
>
> So the quote then relates in-directly to the Primordial…
>
> So the quote broken down…
>
> Child of my enemy… this is referring to the “evolutionary child” of the Precursor species… which was the parent race that spearheaded the ancient Humans… to Tier-1 Technological Ranking along with the Forerunner. And the my enemy is a reference to the Precursor meta-physical collective species, that is the only viable race that the Flood will see as a threat… they see others as mere Food, biomass… the Precursors are bound to the Flood; as the Flood is bound to them… Precursor can control the Flood, while the Flood can control the Precursor technology…
>
> Why have you come… this is self-explanatory the Master Chief, John-117, is rescuing his Smart AI companion, Cortana, from the infected Covenant Holy City, High Charity… but there could possibly be some foreshadowed message… it could also be referring to Humanity, as a whole, facing their ordained prophetical destiny… the Mantle Of Responsibility and the Precursor test… apparently the Flood.
>
> I offer no forgiveness… could be targeting the Floods, and Primordial’s, beckoning madness and revenge for the past genocide… that befell them from the Forerunner, so long ago.
>
> A father sins, passes to his son… this is a reference to the creators of Humanity and Forerunners alike… the Precursors… rather than the latter, the Forerunners which we thought prior… and their sins, could be referring to the in-action and curiosity during the Forerunner uprising… to which passes the punishment and eventual undertaking of the Floods end goal, and the Mantle Of Responsibility, onto Humanities shoulders.
>
> So their is references and merit everywhere… that perhaps the Primordial is more sinister, than he leads on…

That’s actually quite intriguing…and makes sense.

18

I think the Precursors will be at the forefront eventually. Events seem to be leading to galatic fight with them.

19

I’d say we’re very likely to learn more about them. But when they’re a species older than our universe we’re unlikely to get the same sort of details as the forerunners have these days.

20

I’d like to learn more about them. But I would still appreciate some mystery.