So just what is the 'greater threat'? ONI

Games Other Halo
1

Speculation Post #1

Okay, so we know that there will be no Flood in Halo 4 and the New Covenant (Possibly the Servants Of Abiding Truth led by Jul’Mdama who was held captive on the Shield World by ONI at the end of Glasslands. Seeing that the Covenant know of the Shield World in Halo 4, it’s possible he escapes and defeats the Servants original leader; who was dealing with ONI, and then leads the newly reformed Covenant fleet to Requiem)
So who is the main antagonist, the greater threat?

Speculations abound that it is the Procusors (The Gravemind claims that the Flood is in fact the Procusors, but they is no Flood in Halo 4…), or Forerunner remnant, which would make no sense, since in Glasslands, the Spartans find that Requiem is perfectly intact and lacking any inhabitants, so without a doubt, there are no Forerunners there. Every Shield World seems abandoned.

My bet is on ONI actually. They are basically set out as the Cerberus of the Halo Universe; killing all aliens (Which is fine here. All aliens are hostile in Halo), supplying guns to alien revolutionaries to destabilize their government (WHICH IS TRYING TO MAKE PEACE WITH THEM!), creating the highly amoral Spartan Program, BLOODY RESURRECTING 343 GUILTY SPARK [When the hell does reactivating an highly dangerous, murderous AI seem like a bloody good idea? Destroy it before you throw it out the airlock!] violently surpassing the Insurrection,list goes on…

Seems like it is a bit foreshadowed. At the end of Glasslands, an Insurrectionist held world actually seems far more nicer than an UN controlled one, where they actually live in cohabitation with aliens such as Jackals and Grunts. ONI wants to nuke it.

ONI playing villain makes a lot of sense. Insurrectionists only want freedom from having the pay tribute (Like giant planet wide taxes) to a home world that sits there, does nothing, and abandons them in their time of need. UNSC responds by nuking them (Far Isle Colony) and not even letting them live on an asteroid without sending in troops to kill them all. Tyranny much?

Office of Naval Intelligence controls Requiem at the end of Glasslands, so who else is around asides from the Covenant (Who are invading it in Halo 4, it seems) to fight? ONI Troops would possibly be Black Ops ODST units as well as Spartan IV (Who are just ODST and other UNSC special forces recruited, augmented and provided special armor that is likely inferior due to the high cost of actually producing MINJOIR Armour), which would provide a good challenge, or would fighting regular Human enemies be too COD like?

My bets for the greater threat are on ONI.

Speculation Post #2

After further speculating about ONI becoming the main (Or secondary) antagonist of the Reclaimer Trilogy, I’ve just come across a few things that are quite interesting.

  • Guilty Spark returns in the Forerunner Trilogy as reconstructed by ONI following Halo 3, before escaping at the end of the Novel by highjacking the ship, going after the Liberian who is possibly still alive somewhere as well as his former friend Riser (Who is possibly converted to Monitor as well?). Obviously, ONI would want to capture a living Forerunner and their technology, so perhaps an unlikely situation to actually team up with Spark to stop ONI from doing something extremely counter productive to the survival of Humanity.
    Otherwise, if fighting alongside ONI, we might just go up against Sentinels again.

  • ONI arms the Servants Of Abiding Truth; a fanatic anti-peace pro-Covenant faction who wants to kill the Arbiter, with new weapons. I guess anyone would be kinda angry to find out that their own side are supplying weapons to their enemies as well? I know all the reasoning behind it but… giving Plasma weaponry that could have supplied to the UN’s Marine Corps to Covenant fanatics? Doomed to failure…

  • ONI seizes control of Requiem, it’s population of native Engineers as well as imprisons Doctor Halsey; the creator of the Spartan II Project. In Glasslands, notice the location stated at the start of the chapter when Admiral Parongosky; head of ONI, talks with Halsey: Installation 03. ONI have a Halo in their bloody possession and possibly the Flood virus that were contained within as well as the facility’s Monitor and Sentinels.

  • ONI as a villain would be an interesting twist especially with the Infinity Campaign, playing from the prospective of ONI Spartan IV units.

2

That…actually makes sense. Great first post.

But of course, everyones gonna cry about “ITS NAWT HALO!” and “COD RIPOFF!”
Because As you know, if you fight humans, that automatically makes it a CoD ripoff.

3

Yeah I guess that does make sense. But I really doubt Humans would be the primary enemy just because a lot of people (including me) would not like the main enemy to be Human. Laregly because throughout the Halo games, you always have the sense that Humans are getting picked on and are all alone against the Galaxy. Therefore you feel you really are fighting to save the other guys around you and that Humanity needs to stick together. To change that suddenly would seem a bit drastic.

But I think now that they could very well be one of the enemies we fight. Nice post :slight_smile:

4

I think the outrage would be worth it just to square off against ONI; so far outclassing the Covenant in terms of pure evil) Though, ONI would need some good reason just to turn against the Chief, though I have a dozen speculations on that as well.

5

> Yeah I guess that does make sense. But I really doubt Humans would be the primary enemy just because a lot of people (including me) would not like the main enemy to be Human. Laregly because throughout the Halo games, you always have the sense that Humans are getting picked on and are all alone against the Galaxy. Therefore you feel you really are fighting to save the other guys around you and that Humanity needs to stick together. To change that suddenly would seem a bit drastic.
>
> But I think now that they could very well be one of the enemies we fight. Nice post :slight_smile:

But it could be really intresting as well. Cheif has to choose between his own race or the other Alien races getting bullied by ONI.

6

> But it could be really intresting as well. Cheif has to choose between his own race or the other Alien races getting bullied by ONI.

Well, ONI seems be bullying the rest of Humanity as well, and has also reduced the Spartans role to Suicide soldiers. If ONI starts to get a bit power hungry (They already have more power than the UNSC civilian government and the military, even going as far to second guess Lord Hood), they they would certainly go straight to villain.

7

Yeah they are all true. There are definitely a ton of possible options.

8

> Speculation Post #1
>
> Okay, so we know that there will be no Flood in Halo 4 and the New Covenant (Possibly the Servants Of Abiding Truth led by Jul’Mdama who was held captive on the Shield World by ONI at the end of Glasslands. Seeing that the Covenant know of the Shield World in Halo 4, it’s possible he escapes and defeats the Servants original leader; who was dealing with ONI, and then leads the newly reformed Covenant fleet to Requiem)
> So who is the main antagonist, the greater threat?
>
> Speculations abound that it is the Procusors (The Gravemind claims that the Flood is in fact the Procusors, but they is no Flood in Halo 4…), or Forerunner remnant, which would make no sense, since in Glasslands, the Spartans find that Requiem is perfectly intact and lacking any inhabitants, so without a doubt, there are no Forerunners there. Every Shield World seems abandoned.
>
> My bet is on ONI actually. They are basically set out as the Cerberus of the Halo Universe; killing all aliens (Which is fine here. All aliens are hostile in Halo), supplying guns to alien revolutionaries to destabilize their government (WHICH IS TRYING TO MAKE PEACE WITH THEM!), creating the highly amoral Spartan Program, BLOODY RESURRECTING 343 GUILTY SPARK [When the hell does reactivating an highly dangerous, murderous AI seem like a bloody good idea? Destroy it before you throw it out the airlock!] violently surpassing the Insurrection,list goes on…
>
> Seems like it is a bit foreshadowed. At the end of Glasslands, an Insurrectionist held world actually seems far more nicer than an UN controlled one, where they actually live in cohabitation with aliens such as Jackals and Grunts. ONI wants to nuke it.
>
> ONI playing villain makes a lot of sense. Insurrectionists only want freedom from having the pay tribute (Like giant planet wide taxes) to a home world that sits there, does nothing, and abandons them in their time of need. UNSC responds by nuking them (Far Isle Colony) and not even letting them live on an asteroid without sending in troops to kill them all. Tyranny much?
>
> Office of Naval Intelligence controls Requiem at the end of Glasslands, so who else is around asides from the Covenant (Who are invading it in Halo 4, it seems) to fight? ONI Troops would possibly be Black Ops ODST units as well as Spartan IV (Who are just ODST and other UNSC special forces recruited, augmented and provided special armor that is likely inferior due to the high cost of actually producing MINJOIR Armour), which would provide a good challenge, or would fighting regular Human enemies be too COD like?
>
> My bets for the greater threat are on ONI.
>
> Speculation Post #2
>
> After further speculating about ONI becoming the main (Or secondary) antagonist of the Reclaimer Trilogy, I’ve just come across a few things that are quite interesting.
>
> - Guilty Spark returns in the Forerunner Trilogy as reconstructed by ONI following Halo 3, before escaping at the end of the Novel by highjacking the ship, going after the Liberian who is possibly still alive somewhere as well as his former friend Riser (Who is possibly converted to Monitor as well?). Obviously, ONI would want to capture a living Forerunner and their technology, so perhaps an unlikely situation to actually team up with Spark to stop ONI from doing something extremely counter productive to the survival of Humanity.
> Otherwise, if fighting alongside ONI, we might just go up against Sentinels again.
>
> - ONI arms the Servants Of Abiding Truth; a fanatic anti-peace pro-Covenant faction who wants to kill the Arbiter, with new weapons. I guess anyone would be kinda angry to find out that their own side are supplying weapons to their enemies as well? I know all the reasoning behind it but… giving Plasma weaponry that could have supplied to the UN’s Marine Corps to Covenant fanatics? Doomed to failure…
>
> - ONI seizes control of Requiem, it’s population of native Engineers as well as imprisons Doctor Halsey; the creator of the Spartan II Project. In Glasslands, notice the location stated at the start of the chapter when Admiral Parongosky; head of ONI, talks with Halsey: Installation 03. ONI have a Halo in their bloody possession and possibly the Flood virus that were contained within as well as the facility’s Monitor and Sentinels.
>
> - ONI as a villain would be an interesting twist especially with the Infinity Campaign, playing from the prospective of ONI Spartan IV units.

  1. Requiem is not Trevelyan. This was confirmed multiple times and would have been entirely stupid due to the events of Glasslands.

  2. Comparing Halo to Mass Effect repulses me, especially since Halo came first. If anything, Cerberus are the ONI of the Mass Effect Universe. Aside3 from that, ONI is a branch of the human military which is a branch of it’s government. ONI opposing John would mean humanity’s opposing John.

  3. Explain to me how ONI is an “ancient evil”. They are not ancient at all.

  4. John would kick ONI’s -Yoink- before they knew it if THEY were the enemy, and all hints are aiming at either a new Precursor master plan or some rogue Forerunner survivors (which I really hope it isn’t).

  5. There is no plausible reason as to why ONI would become an enemy.

  6. That is not Guilty Spark. GS was a shard of his personality and he is likely to be very different. I expect him to still be voiced by Tim and to be an effective, canonical resurrection of the old Guilty Spark, but they didn’t just go up to GS’s remains and bring him back to life.

  7. A more plausible enemy that is still similar to your idea would be ancient humanity, but that is highly unlikely.

9

> 1. Requiem is not Trevelyan. This was confirmed multiple times and would have been entirely stupid due to the events of Glasslands.
>
> 2. Comparing Halo to Mass Effect repulses me, especially since Halo came first. If anything, Cerberus are the ONI of the Mass Effect Universe. Aside3 from that, ONI is a branch of the human military which is a branch of it’s government. ONI opposing John would mean humanity’s opposing John.
>
> 3. Explain to me how ONI is an “ancient evil”. They are not ancient at all.
>
> 4. John would kick ONI’s -Yoink!- before they knew it if THEY were the enemy, and all hints are aiming at either a new Precursor master plan or some rogue Forerunner survivors (which I really hope it isn’t).
>
> 5. There is no plausible reason as to why ONI would become an enemy.
>
> 6. That is not Guilty Spark. GS was a shard of his personality and he is likely to be very different. I expect him to still be voiced by Tim and to be an effective, canonical resurrection of the old Guilty Spark, but they didn’t just go up to GS’s remains and bring him back to life.
>
> 7. A more plausible enemy that is still similar to your idea would be ancient humanity, but that is highly unlikely.

My answers in return:

  1. Well, ONI has control of a Shield World. I’m starting to wonder why they want to investigate another one?

  2. I am certainly drawing a comparison to a newer title, if only because it’s the only suitable parallel that I can think of. Both have same methods and morals: “Ends justifies the means” and both kill a good number of Humans in the cause of ‘saving’ Humanity. Unlike Cerberus however, ONI is legalized.

Also: ONI may be viewed as a ‘branch’ of the Military, but in fact is an agency that wields more power than the civilian government and the military as well. It’s no bloody secret that the UNSC isn’t the nicest of governments… plus, if ONI’s secrets were to be revealed (Spartan Program), it would most certainly cause all the colony worlds and even the civilian population of Earth as well to rise up against the UNSC government in mass revolt.

  1. Ancient evil? hmm… definitely not ONI but that couldn’t stop them being a secondary antagonist, could it?

  2. Pulling out some Forerunner survivors would really seem cheap with the Halo Array and all… maybe another Master Builder and a stupid army of machines you have to fight? Sentinels = Not the most fun enemies to fight
    Plus, Procursors? Seeing them revealed as an enemy would ruin their mystical status. Plus, aren’t the Procursors the Flood anyway? It’s already been confirmed that there are no Flood in Halo 4 (Doesn’t confirm they won’t be in 5 or 6… speculation onward!)

  3. They are ONI. A Black Ops Military faction above the law that can pull any war crime and get away with it. There are different Cells within ONI with different priorities as well leadership, all under the direction of Admiral Parnogosky (May be replaced by Serin Osman by the end of Kilo-Five Trilogy seeing that it was heavily foreshadowed in Glasslands.) Rouge cell? Admiral Parnogosky mentions that that a full uncensored report of all ONI’s crimes including the Spartan Program will be sent to civilian government at some point; possibly leading up to or at her death. This could lead to some elements of ONI flying loose; or like: Cerberus from Mass Effect, going rouge.

10

> > 1. Requiem is not Trevelyan. This was confirmed multiple times and would have been entirely stupid due to the events of Glasslands.
> >
> > 2. Comparing Halo to Mass Effect repulses me, especially since Halo came first. If anything, Cerberus are the ONI of the Mass Effect Universe. Aside3 from that, ONI is a branch of the human military which is a branch of it’s government. ONI opposing John would mean humanity’s opposing John.
> >
> > 3. Explain to me how ONI is an “ancient evil”. They are not ancient at all.
> >
> > 4. John would kick ONI’s -Yoink!- before they knew it if THEY were the enemy, and all hints are aiming at either a new Precursor master plan or some rogue Forerunner survivors (which I really hope it isn’t).
> >
> > 5. There is no plausible reason as to why ONI would become an enemy.
> >
> > 6. That is not Guilty Spark. GS was a shard of his personality and he is likely to be very different. I expect him to still be voiced by Tim and to be an effective, canonical resurrection of the old Guilty Spark, but they didn’t just go up to GS’s remains and bring him back to life.
> >
> > 7. A more plausible enemy that is still similar to your idea would be ancient humanity, but that is highly unlikely.
>
> My answers in return:
>
> 1. Well, ONI has control of a Shield World. I’m starting to wonder why they want to investigate another one?
>
> 2. I am certainly drawing a comparison to a newer title, if only because it’s the only suitable parallel that I can think of. Both have same methods and morals: “Ends justifies the means” and both kill a good number of Humans in the cause of ‘saving’ Humanity. Unlike Cerberus however, ONI is legalized.
>
> Also: ONI may be viewed as a ‘branch’ of the Military, but in fact is an agency that wields more power than the civilian government and the military as well. It’s no bloody secret that the UNSC isn’t the nicest of governments… plus, if ONI’s secrets were to be revealed (Spartan Program), it would most certainly cause all the colony worlds and even the civilian population of Earth as well to rise up against the UNSC government in mass revolt.
>
> 3. Ancient evil? hmm… definitely not ONI but that couldn’t stop them being a secondary antagonist, could it?
>
> 4. Pulling out some Forerunner survivors would really seem cheap with the Halo Array and all… maybe another Master Builder and a stupid army of machines you have to fight? Sentinels = Not the most fun enemies to fight
> Plus, Procursors? Seeing them revealed as an enemy would ruin their mystical status. Plus, aren’t the Procursors the Flood anyway? It’s already been confirmed that there are no Flood in Halo 4 (Doesn’t confirm they won’t be in 5 or 6… speculation onward!)
>
> 5. They are ONI. A Black Ops Military faction above the law that can pull any war crime and get away with it. There are different Cells within ONI with different priorities as well leadership, all under the direction of Admiral Parnogosky (May be replaced by Serin Osman by the end of Kilo-Five Trilogy seeing that it was heavily foreshadowed in Glasslands.) Rouge cell? Admiral Parnogosky mentions that that a full uncensored report of all ONI’s crimes including the Spartan Program will be sent to civilian government at some point; possibly leading up to or at her death. This could lead to some elements of ONI flying loose; or like: Cerberus from Mass Effect, going rouge.

  1. Requiem is not a standard Shield World.
  2. Correct.
  3. ONI being a secondary antagonist would not be good at all IMO.
  4. Well, you could say that the highest form of a Gravemind is set to mimic the Precursors, but that is about it really (as the most popular theory implies). As for the loss of their enigma should they appear in the game, who ever said they would? I said that a new Precursor master plan could be afoot, with a new minion species (like the Flood) specially tailored to accomplish. This could be anything really. As for Forerunners, I wouldn’t like it either but there are plenty of unavoidable hints.
  5. That doesn’t seem very “Halo” to me, and I (again) highly doubt ONI will be an enemy.
11

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12

> 1. There are many reasons why people investigate various locations. more resources, information etc. When did it say ONI is investigating Requiem in the first place? I thought the UNSC are just going to stumble upon it.
>
> 2. ONI isn’t like Cerberus at all. ONI is smart, doesn’t attack its own race and sure as hell doesn’t indoctrinate anyone. Propaganda =/= indoctrinate.
>
> 3. Why would ONI attack its own race? There is no reason to do so. ONI needs the UNSC as much as the UNSC needs ONI.
>
> 4. The Precursors may have created a new race. Forerunners owned the Precursors, so I doubt we’ll be able to beat the Forerunners.
>
> 5. And that makes them similar to Cerberus…how? ONI helps humanity in a mostly just way, while Cerberus does it in an unjust way.

  1. Well yea. Requiem is gonna need some investigating. By the latest indication, as stated earlier, it may actually house some still living Forerunners including the Liberian; considering Guilty Spark is sure that she is alive.

  2. Well, yea. But there have so much in common! Multiple cells overseen by a single leader. Neck deep in black operations. End justifies the means mentality. Their very own army. Both carry out immoral experiments. ONI also attacks Humanity occasionally as well…
    The only difference is: while the Illusive Man is stuck on some stupid space station orbiting a sun, Admiral Parnogsky has an office in Sydney!

  3. I’m not saying ONI would attack the UNSC. I’m saying that ONI will attack the Chief. Two different things. ONI would differently take down anybody who got in their way.

  4. I’m actually quite sick of speculating the whole Procusor thing. Either they are Flood or their something else entirely.

  5. ONI is just?.. wow… Wouldn’t call training child soldiers to fight a popular insurgency against them as ‘just’.