*** HALO CRYPTUM SPOILERS ***
Disclaimer: I’ve already done a search for Precursor threads, but all they pretty much say is “Were we created by them too?? Did they create the flood?? Will they be in Halo 4?? Are they REALLY just giant space-lobsters??”. Needless to say, as much as I’d love to revive that last mentioned thread even if just to talk about possibly setting a Precursor on fire for a tasty mid-mission space-lobster snack (Achievement maybe??), I’d rather not be held responsible for starting said spam-fest.
Also, I’m surprised I didn’t find anything like this already so if I’ve missed it, you have my apologies.
With that said:
There’s one Precursor left??? … well -Yoink- my -Yoink- and call me -Yoink-, that I believe is highly unlikely (but obviously not impossible, this IS just speculation after all).
Yes, I believe they will be this ancient enemy in Halo 4 and I believe this not only because of the possible glimpse we got at the end of the conept art trailer, but also because I believe they simply can’t all be dead. Far from it infact. Here’s why:
<strong>“We meet again, young one. I am the last of those that gave you breath and shape and form, millions of years ago. I am the last of those your kind rose up against and ruthlessly destroyed. I am the last Precursor. And our answer is at hand.”</strong>
From this, what we can definitely gleam is that this race gave the Forerunner “breath and shape and form, millions of years ago.” which is plausible, as this race is listed as a Tier-0 civilization which if you don’t already know means they have the ability to (amongst other things) accelerate intelligent life. More on this in a little bit.
After this, ‘The Timeless One’ speaks about how he is the last Precursor, the last of those against whom the Forerunner rose up against and destroyed in a war. He also states that “our answer is at hand.” Obviously, anyone can see that what he/she/it means is that this this ‘problem’ will be solved.
Now, some believe that they created the Flood, a ‘dust/spore’ stored in small glass vials that as you know if you read Cryptum was later introduced to a small species that were kept as pets galaxy wide. This caused a ‘cute’ mutation which made the little sods more attractive as pets and they were spread Galaxy-wide. After time, the mutations naturally mutated further until essentially the flood as we know it was ‘born’.
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A giant accident? … maybe.
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A highly intelligent and cunning plan for revenge (a failsafe if you will) from a species known for creating/advancing life that went off like clockwork? (Minus MC destroying the Flood outright)… highly possible.
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Above mentioned plan that got out of control and went further than it was intended (again, thankfully stopped by MC)? … again, possibly. Everyone makes mistakes right?
I personally believe the 2nd/3rd options are the case. The Flood(A species I think was ‘created’ by the PC rather than ‘advanced’) was indeed a failsafe left behind for revenge against the Forerunner. I DON’T believe however that this is the whole story.
Tier-0 civilizations also have the ability to travel ‘between’ Galaxies. Having the ability to hop from one Galaxy to the next seeding/advancing life as they go, for whatever purpose they see fit (The reason the Forerunner rose up maybe?). If this IS the case, then we are left with two main conclusions:
1) The PC ‘collectively’ jumped from Galaxy to Galaxy and WERE all wiped out by the Forerunner, save for ‘The Timeless One’ (as far as we know, there may of course be more prisoners out there).
2) They either left ‘teams/groups’ behind in each Galaxy to monitor their charges (Which in turn means military forces left to protect the scientific teams). OR, being the unbelievably advanced civilization that they were, they would have foreseen the possibility of defeat and some would have fled our Galaxy before the remainder were wiped out.
This I believe is also what ‘The Timeless One’ meant by " our answer is at hand.". That the ‘answer’ to his species being wiped out, is that others are coming (when ready) to exact revenge on the remaining Forerunner (Wherever they may be) and take back charge of ‘The Mantle’, thereby re-establishing their place as top dog (or lobster) of the Galaxy.
I believe that not only was this their main plan in the first place, but it was also an acting backup-plan if the Flood didn’t do its job properly.
Conclusion:
I believe that the PC either partially retreated in secret, or that they were already stationed in other Galaxies and will eventually move on to ours (either after having received word and building a large enough force to wipe out the Forerunner, or simply moving along the line to see what the other groups had produced over the eons) and upon discovering what the Forerunner did (if they don’t know already), will wipe out not only the Forerunner and their allies, but possibly wipe the Galactic slate clean so to speak and start anew. Either way it doesn’t look good for Jon.
It also I feel is the best explanation ‘at this point’ for how the PC could be a major threat to the entire Universe and subsequently be in the Reclaimer trilogy. Because not only were we ‘reclaimers’ in terms of reclaiming Forerunner tech and the Mantle, but the Forerunner were reclaimers themselves. So if you follow the line:
Precursor -> Forerunner -> Humanity.
We inherited from the inheritors, therefore we may also be targets. The illegitimate Grand-children of the PC if you will.
Anyways, this is all speculation and will remain as such until proved/disproved. So, please feel free to do just that if you can, or just throw ideas around if you so wish. Just please, keep it clean.
I also wish to take the time to thank you for reading this far (if you did, you should get a cookie or something some day…or a lobster dinner???), apologise for ruining your eyeballs…actually that’s a lie, I loved every minute of it.
And also to offer a tl;dr for those who don’t like walls of text.
TL;DR
- Precursors aren’t all dead. The “our answer is at hand.” statement in Cryptum may well relate to the flood being a backup plan, but may also mean that the Precursors are still alive somewhere. They mad, they jelly, they gonn’ come back an kill us like some 50’s horror flick “Giant Lobsters From Space!!!”.
~ Duck.