Series Future (Cortana Theories (SPOILERS)

Games Other Halo
1

So I recently bought and finished Halo 4, and I have so ideas about what happened to Cortana, and what this leads up to.

Major Speculation to follow.

First off, Cortana and Didact are definitely not dead.

Its Series Development 101: You don’t kill off half of your main characters, especially when you have no significant supporting characters and your sole main character has the conversational skills of a tulip. It would slow MC’s development, and make it awkward to try and find a brand new sidekick on him, considering the decade of chemistry Cortana and MC have built.

As for the Didact, its a rule in the world of entertainment: If you don’t actually see the bad guy’s dead body, then he didn’t die. The falling-off-of-structure-into-hazy-abyss has been done to death,(Ha!) and this is no different.

Also, starting off a new trilogy, introducing new challenges for the protagonist, (Didact and rampancy) and then immediately getting rid of them is kind of not too smart. There has to be more to it.

Well, anyway, this thread is operating on the assumption that they are both alive, and is dedicated to finding out where they are and in what state.

I personally believe that 343 is somehow gonna pull something where Cortana comes back rampant as -Yoink-, and obsessed with the Forerunners, as she and the Didact both fell into the Slipsace Event beneath the Composer. Stuck together, the fragile mind of Cortana sides with him, and part of the sequels follows Chief trying to get her to Halsey to fix her up. I’m guessing 343 will have Halo 5 going along normally and then reveal at the end about Cortana. Then 6 will follow that.

Also, I’m guessing these things will happen in the next games:
-Halsey in probably gonna die (in MC’s arms, or some dramatic thing like that)
-The Librarian is still alive.
-Didact will find and unleash the Flood (You know someone is going to)
-Spartan 2 appearances.
-Master Chiefs face.
-Badass Arbiter with a army of Elites

and…

-A new trilogy. (These things are freaking cash cows, and Microsoft kinda blew it with Windows 8 and Surface, so yeah.)

Sorry for ranting, thanks for reading!

2

> So I recently bought and finished Halo 4, and I have so ideas about what happened to Cortana, and what this leads up to.
>
> Major Speculation to follow.
>
> First off, Cortana and Didact are definitely not dead.
>
> Its Series Development 101: You don’t kill off half of your main characters, especially when you have no significant supporting characters and your sole main character has the conversational skills of a tulip. It would slow MC’s development, and make it awkward to try and find a brand new sidekick on him, considering the decade of chemistry Cortana and MC have built.

I’d say Cortana is definitely dead since 343i themselves have confirmed it in-game and in a soon to be released visual guide for Halo 4. The Ur-Didact is alive no doubt, where he ended up is a mystery. Besides, who says Chief will get a new sidekick? It isn’t necessary. And anyway, I think introducing him to more people would better improve his development than restricting him to a sole individual.

> As for the Didact, its a rule in the world of entertainment: If you don’t actually see the bad guy’s dead body, then he didn’t die. The falling-off-of-structure-into-hazy-abyss has been done to death,(Ha!) and this is no different.

True, the epilogue speech also backs this up.

> Also, starting off a new trilogy, introducing new challenges for the protagonist, (Didact and rampancy) and then immediately getting rid of them is kind of not too smart. There has to be more to it.
>
> Well, anyway, this thread is operating on the assumption that they are both alive, and is dedicated to finding out where they are and in what state.
>
> I personally believe that 343 is somehow gonna pull something where Cortana comes back rampant as Yoink!, and obsessed with the Forerunners, <mark>as she and the Didact both fell into the Slipsace Event beneath the Composer.</mark> Stuck together, the fragile mind of Cortana sides with him, and part of the sequels follows Chief trying to get her to Halsey to fix her up. I’m guessing 343 will have Halo 5 going along normally and then reveal at the end about Cortana. Then 6 will follow that.

That is where the theory falls apart. The Ur-Didact was able to get rid of her before getting injured by the Pulse Grenade. Also, Cortana spent most of her programming trying to hold the Mantle’s Approach together long enough for Chief to escape, what was left of her was there to say goodbye.

> Also, I’m guessing these things will happen in the next games:
> -Halsey in probably gonna die (in MC’s arms, or some dramatic thing like that)

Personally, that would be a huge insult to her character for her to just have a simple death, especially after the crap they’ve put her through these last two years by demonizing her character. If anything, Halsey should become an AI. Maybe not Chief’s AI, but that would be a fittign development for her.

> -The Librarian is still alive.

She is not.

> -Didact will find and unleash the Flood (You know someone is going to)

I don’t see why he would unleash the Flood, he was corrupted by them but he doesn’t work for them.

> -Spartan 2 appearances.
> -Master Chiefs face.

Maybe.

> -Badass Arbiter with a army of Elites
>
> and…

After his recent developments in the Kilo-5 novels, I hope so. Otherwise we will be meeting a more cowardly Arbiter.

> -A new trilogy. (These things are freaking cash cows, and Microsoft kinda blew it with Windows 8 and Surface, so yeah.)

God I hope not.

3

Some good responses, although after trawling the interwebs for a bit longer, the theory that the Librarian indexed her makes some more sense.

Also, she made dozens of copies on board the Mantle, but I’m not sure if that is anything.

You gotta admit though, the series wouldn’t really work without her. Also, where do they confirm it? I haven’t seen an official confirmation. I hope she isn’t. Such a great character should be able to make it through the rest of the series at least. If she really is, Id be pretty surprised that 343 was so quick to get rid of her.

As for the Flood, the Didact already has his army technically, but it wasn’t enough to get rid of the Humans. But the flood would work pretty damn well. He and his Prometheans would remain untouched and be able to contain it to just remove the humans unaffected. That’s my theory, but it could be anyone else. They are too central to the story to not show up for three straight games.

And in Primordium, Guilty Spark said that The Librarian was alive and he would find her.

4

> Also, she made dozens of copies on board the Mantle, but I’m not sure if that is anything.

Just plays into her statement that most of her was below in the Mantle’s Approach to save Chief. AI fragments aren’t very stable anyway, rampant ones especially.

> You gotta admit though, the series wouldn’t really work without her. Also, where do they confirm it? I haven’t seen an official confirmation. I hope she isn’t. Such a great character should be able to make it through the rest of the series at least. If she really is, Id be pretty surprised that 343 was so quick to get rid of her.

Here and in the Epilogue’s description.

> As for the Flood, the Didact already has his army technically, but it wasn’t enough to get rid of the Humans. But the flood would work pretty damn well. He and his Prometheans would remain untouched and be able to contain it to just remove the humans unaffected. That’s my theory, but it could be anyone else. They are too central to the story to not show up for three straight games.

I know the Flood is key to the story, but why would the Flood willingly work for the Ur-Didact? That’s just setting up for the most telegraphed in advance betrayal in the history of Halo. He may be crazy, literally, but the Ur-Didact wants the Flood gone just as much as anybody.

> And in Primordium, Guilty Spark said that The Librarian was alive and he would find her.

Silentium shows her dying on Earth and Chant-To-Green assumes the role of Lifeshaper, which if memory serves is the actual term Spark uses at the end of Primordium.

5

I don’t believe they would get rid of such a popular character. Makes no sense.

6

It’s not out of the question that 343 just want us to believe that Cortana is dead so that they surprise us with her return. I truly believe that she will return, but how and in what form I do not know.

7

My Theory around the whole “ER MY GERD, CORTANA AREZ DEAD!!!” thing revolves around her similarities with 05-032 Mendicant Bias…

At the time of it’s creation, 05-032 Mendicant Bias was the most powerful Artificial Intelligence ever created.

Cortana was the most advanced AI ever created by humanity.

05-032 Mendicant Bias was in direct contact with a Gravemind for a prolonged period of time… So was Cortana…

05-032 Mendicant Bias went missing before it’s defection to the Flood was revealed… Cortana has gone missing, we are unaware of her true fate. (Most assume she’s dead, I think that she’s in a far more terrifying condition)

In other words, when the Master Chief goes looking for Cortana, he’s going to find that he just made one big -Yoink- mistake.

Cortana will return, but as a defect to the Flood, it’s going to be Mendicant Bias all over again!

8

I definitely like this thread. Fun to talk about what might happen, especially with regards to Cortana.

The comment about Halsey dying, does bring into question then, would her brain be used to repair Cortana? Afterall, Cortana was made from a cloned brain of Halsey. How better to fix her than to have the real thing?

When Cortana states to Chief, "Most of me is down there, " where is down there? Most believe she means with the wreckage of the Didact’s ship. However, she also could have meant Earth. She might have found a way to download herself, likely into an ONI server, an placed herself into a kind of “cold storage” until a way was found to cure rampancy.

OR

“down here” could have also meant the slipspace portal that was open at the time of end fight between MC and the Didact. If she slipped through that portal, then she would have likely been transported to Requiem. Since there are 6 months between that event and Spartan Ops, it could be that she and the Librarian interacted in some form. With the Librarian sensing the destruction of Requiem, she could have very easily transferred the remaining essence of Cortana into the Janus Key. Once the Key halves are reunited, Cortana could be “born again” this time free from rampancy.

There are PLENTY of ways to bring Cortana back. THe problem is, without enough outcry from fans, 343 may decide she isn’t really needed after all.

IMHO, Cortana is the essence of humanity behind Chief. They need each other. Noone knows him better. Besides, I will really MISS her voice. She was a reassuring voice to me while playing all of the campaigns. As well, I think Jen Taylor, the voice of Cortana deserves better than to have a character she’s portrayed for more than 10 years be killed off. They might as well have just killed Chief off to then and start fresh with another hero…(NOT something I want to see happen anytime soon, mind you)

9

> They might as well have just killed Chief off to then and start fresh with another hero…(NOT something I want to see happen anytime soon, mind you)

Replace him with Thorne and I’m good.

10

For all who think cortana is dead, watch this. Fast forward to 50:33

11

Whoa. I think that kinda confirms that she is not dead. If she was they would say it outright, wanting you to forget that connection so they could move on.

HOW they bring here back is gonna be interesting though. I hope it’s something awesome staring us in the face and not some unrealistic loophole to work around.