Okay so the campaign trailer shows a disabled Guardian in the background. So presumably, whatever happened to Cortana has shut down all the Guardians and Prometheans. When we last saw her, she’d taken over Earth and disabled a good portion of the UNSC Fleet along with their MAC cannons. Those that fled like the Infinity, I’d assume, are what gets defeated by the Banished at Zeta Halo.
But if that’s the case why not just take the Banished Fleet and attack Earth? Presumably there’s not much in the way of defences. Most humans are on Earth. But one trailer says it’s six months after the initial defeat so why wait on Zeta Halo?
Few ideas -
- Cortana didn’t scrap all the UNSC ships or made some kind of deal. So the humans just turned the lights back on. Problem with that is, why haven’t they shown up at Zeta Halo?
- The Banished still aren’t quite strong enough to attack Earth. Possibly she hadn’t totally dismantled/scrapped the UNSC ships and what’s left of humanity isn’t at Zeta Halo because they’re bunkered down at Earth.
- The UNSC proper does not know what happened to the Guardians and does have a fleet but has no idea about the Banished/Harbinger threat on Zeta Halo. So the Banished can’t attack whilst the UNSC has a full defence of Earth.
- Perhaps the disabled Guardian we see was Cortanas personal Guardian. So it went down because it was connected to her. Perhaps it was even directly destroyed by the UNSC or Banished. But the other Guardians are still floating around on autopilot doing what they were before. So the Banished still need some way of breaching those defences.
Not sure of the Banished size or strength, but I do know that if Halo Wars 2 is canon (which I would assume it is lol), then most of the forces are likely stuck on the Ark up until recently. HW2 took place in 2559, so if we are to assume the biggest portion of Atriox’s army is on the Ark, then either the Brutes that are on Earth (source: MP cinematic attacking London) are KotOF (less likely as they’ve been getting their butts kicked) or they’re a small section of Banished that went to Earth for one reason or another (maybe in search of Atriox or maybe just as fall back orders, who knows?). Otherwise, the only way to get the Banished from the Ark to Earth quickly would be reopening the portal.
This would explain how they got passed the defenses, considering the portal is literally above Kenya I believe. It does have a UNSC deployment, but given the circumstances, what could the UNSC or ONI do with a Guardian pulling the plug on them? It’s likely whatever happened to Cortana happened not too long after her oppressive sweep over Earth with her Guardian. (Speculation of course) This all takes place several months after the end of Halo 5 I believe, so we’re still working out the time line.
> 2533274879757912;2:
> Not sure of the Banished size or strength, but I do know that if Halo Wars 2 is canon (which I would assume it is lol), then most of the forces are likely stuck on the Ark up until recently. HW2 took place in 2559, so if we are to assume the biggest portion of Atriox’s army is on the Ark, then either the Brutes that are on Earth (source: MP cinematic attacking London) are KotOF (less likely as they’ve been getting their butts kicked) or they’re a small section of Banished that went to Earth for one reason or another (maybe in search of Atriox or maybe just as fall back orders, who knows?). Otherwise, the only way to get the Banished from the Ark to Earth quickly would be reopening the portal.
>
> This would explain how they got passed the defenses, considering the portal is literally above Kenya I believe. It does have a UNSC deployment, but given the circumstances, what could the UNSC or ONI do with a Guardian pulling the plug on them? It’s likely whatever happened to Cortana happened not too long after her oppressive sweep over Earth with her Guardian. (Speculation of course) This all takes place several months after the end of Halo 5 I believe, so we’re still working out the time line.
The Banished never went to Earth.
That trailer had the same incorrect visuals as Halo 4’s opening prologue, the events are canon but the armor and vehicle designs are not.
It was actually the Covenant invading London during Halo 3. The Banished are too small to invade Earth which is the center of the UNSC and the Created would have prevented them after they took over.
> 2535419587718390;3:
> > 2533274879757912;2:
> > Not sure of the Banished size or strength, but I do know that if Halo Wars 2 is canon (which I would assume it is lol), then most of the forces are likely stuck on the Ark up until recently. HW2 took place in 2559, so if we are to assume the biggest portion of Atriox’s army is on the Ark, then either the Brutes that are on Earth (source: MP cinematic attacking London) are KotOF (less likely as they’ve been getting their butts kicked) or they’re a small section of Banished that went to Earth for one reason or another (maybe in search of Atriox or maybe just as fall back orders, who knows?). Otherwise, the only way to get the Banished from the Ark to Earth quickly would be reopening the portal.
> >
> > This would explain how they got passed the defenses, considering the portal is literally above Kenya I believe. It does have a UNSC deployment, but given the circumstances, what could the UNSC or ONI do with a Guardian pulling the plug on them? It’s likely whatever happened to Cortana happened not too long after her oppressive sweep over Earth with her Guardian. (Speculation of course) This all takes place several months after the end of Halo 5 I believe, so we’re still working out the time line.
>
> The Banished never went to Earth.
>
> That trailer had the same incorrect visuals as Halo 4’s opening prologue, the events are canon but the armor and vehicle designs are not.
>
> It was actually the Covenant invading London during Halo 3. The Banished are too small to invade Earth which is the center of the UNSC and the Created would have prevented them after they took over.
The Mark VII the armour of the brutes and the Pulse are all cannon. They just outsourced the CGI. The Banished in Infinite are huge, they even have a super carrier. They pose more of a threat to humanity than the covenant ever did. Especially now with the Harbinger and the defeat of the created, as seen in the background of the campaign overview.
> 2533275020892695;4:
> The Mark VII the armour of the brutes and the Pulse are all cannon. They just outsourced the CGI. The Banished in Infinite are huge, they even have a super carrier. They pose more of a threat to humanity than the covenant ever did. Especially now with the Harbinger and the defeat of the created, as seen in the background of the campaign overview.
The Mark VII armor during 2552 is not canon, the concept art shows Spartan-III armor which is what they canonically wore during the events in the trailer.
The trailer was set during Halo 3 in 2552 with the Covenant invading, the Banished never invaded Earth. We already saw this issue with Halo 4’s prologue using the wrong armor, visual inconsistencies happen due to real world resource limitations.
The Banished appear huge, but compared the UNSC during the post-war era they are far smaller. The reason they were able to defeat the UNSC in Halo Infinite is because the UNSC was destroyed by the Guardians, the Banished were only up against a crippled fleet of the UNSC (which is a shell of its former self). The Banished aren’t an empire, the UNSC is just fractured and weakened right now, so a mercenary organization like the Banished can beat them.
> 2533275020892695;4:
> > 2535419587718390;3:
> > > 2533274879757912;2:
> > > Not sure of the Banished size or strength, but I do know that if Halo Wars 2 is canon (which I would assume it is lol), then most of the forces are likely stuck on the Ark up until recently. HW2 took place in 2559, so if we are to assume the biggest portion of Atriox’s army is on the Ark, then either the Brutes that are on Earth (source: MP cinematic attacking London) are KotOF (less likely as they’ve been getting their butts kicked) or they’re a small section of Banished that went to Earth for one reason or another (maybe in search of Atriox or maybe just as fall back orders, who knows?). Otherwise, the only way to get the Banished from the Ark to Earth quickly would be reopening the portal.
> > >
> > > This would explain how they got passed the defenses, considering the portal is literally above Kenya I believe. It does have a UNSC deployment, but given the circumstances, what could the UNSC or ONI do with a Guardian pulling the plug on them? It’s likely whatever happened to Cortana happened not too long after her oppressive sweep over Earth with her Guardian. (Speculation of course) This all takes place several months after the end of Halo 5 I believe, so we’re still working out the time line.
> >
> > The Banished never went to Earth.
> >
> > That trailer had the same incorrect visuals as Halo 4’s opening prologue, the events are canon but the armor and vehicle designs are not.
> >
> > It was actually the Covenant invading London during Halo 3. The Banished are too small to invade Earth which is the center of the UNSC and the Created would have prevented them after they took over.
>
> The Mark VII the armour of the brutes and the Pulse are all cannon. They just outsourced the CGI. The Banished in Infinite are huge, they even have a super carrier. They pose more of a threat to humanity than the covenant ever did. Especially now with the Harbinger and the defeat of the created, as seen in the background of the campaign overview.
Where are you getting some of this info? The Banished is not as large as the UNSC (that’s why they didn’t attack until the Created thrashed them), and they’re certainly nowhere near the level of the Covenant at its height. Pretty sure there’s no evidence of them having a Supercarrier either.
> 2533274926527272;6:
> > 2533275020892695;4:
> > > 2535419587718390;3:
> > > > 2533274879757912;2:
> > > > Not sure of the Banished size or strength, but I do know that if Halo Wars 2 is canon (which I would assume it is lol), then most of the forces are likely stuck on the Ark up until recently. HW2 took place in 2559, so if we are to assume the biggest portion of Atriox’s army is on the Ark, then either the Brutes that are on Earth (source: MP cinematic attacking London) are KotOF (less likely as they’ve been getting their butts kicked) or they’re a small section of Banished that went to Earth for one reason or another (maybe in search of Atriox or maybe just as fall back orders, who knows?). Otherwise, the only way to get the Banished from the Ark to Earth quickly would be reopening the portal.
> > > >
> > > > This would explain how they got passed the defenses, considering the portal is literally above Kenya I believe. It does have a UNSC deployment, but given the circumstances, what could the UNSC or ONI do with a Guardian pulling the plug on them? It’s likely whatever happened to Cortana happened not too long after her oppressive sweep over Earth with her Guardian. (Speculation of course) This all takes place several months after the end of Halo 5 I believe, so we’re still working out the time line.
> > >
> > > The Banished never went to Earth.
> > >
> > > That trailer had the same incorrect visuals as Halo 4’s opening prologue, the events are canon but the armor and vehicle designs are not.
> > >
> > > It was actually the Covenant invading London during Halo 3. The Banished are too small to invade Earth which is the center of the UNSC and the Created would have prevented them after they took over.
> >
> > The Mark VII the armour of the brutes and the Pulse are all cannon. They just outsourced the CGI. The Banished in Infinite are huge, they even have a super carrier. They pose more of a threat to humanity than the covenant ever did. Especially now with the Harbinger and the defeat of the created, as seen in the background of the campaign overview.
>
> Where are you getting some of this info? The Banished is not as large as the UNSC (that’s why they didn’t attack until the Created thrashed them), and they’re certainly nowhere near the level of the Covenant at its height. Pretty sure there’s no evidence of them having a Supercarrier either.
I
> 2533274803587475;1:
> Okay so the campaign trailer shows a disabled Guardian in the background. So presumably, whatever happened to Cortana has shut down all the Guardians and Prometheans. When we last saw her, she’d taken over Earth and disabled a good portion of the UNSC Fleet along with their MAC cannons. Those that fled like the Infinity, I’d assume, are what gets defeated by the Banished at Zeta Halo.
>
> But if that’s the case why not just take the Banished Fleet and attack Earth? Presumably there’s not much in the way of defences. Most humans are on Earth. But one trailer says it’s six months after the initial defeat so why wait on Zeta Halo?
>
> Few ideas -
> - Cortana didn’t scrap all the UNSC ships or made some kind of deal. So the humans just turned the lights back on. Problem with that is, why haven’t they shown up at Zeta Halo?
> - The Banished still aren’t quite strong enough to attack Earth. Possibly she hadn’t totally dismantled/scrapped the UNSC ships and what’s left of humanity isn’t at Zeta Halo because they’re bunkered down at Earth.
> - The UNSC proper does not know what happened to the Guardians and does have a fleet but has no idea about the Banished/Harbinger threat on Zeta Halo. So the Banished can’t attack whilst the UNSC has a full defence of Earth.
> - Perhaps the disabled Guardian we see was Cortanas personal Guardian. So it went down because it was connected to her. Perhaps it was even directly destroyed by the UNSC or Banished. But the other Guardians are still floating around on autopilot doing what they were before. So the Banished still need some way of breaching those defences.
I think it would be fair to say that after the initial victories won by the creates, battle lines/spheres of influence started to settle. It would make sense that Cortana and her forces wouldn’t have any incentive to chase down and look to destroy the remaining UNSC forces and instead are focused on rebuilding “the mantle” focusing on the core human worlds. With the majority of Created resources focused on consolidating their conquered territory…possibly even facing a grinding war with the Sword of Sanghelios…the created just not having enough forces or resources to be strong everywhere.
Humanity may have been able to form a fleet around the Infinity, and sought to take the Zeta Halo as a stronghold, to regroup and possibly look to take the fight to the created once they had the chance to take a break. After what I’m sure would have been a difficult battle, the Banished were able to take advantage of a weakened UNSC remnant still regrouping and took the Zeta Halo. The majority of humanity is in the hands of the “benevolent dictatorship” set up by the created…safe from the Banished, but not exactly free. Zeta Halo could be the last piece of embattle real-estate remaining and that’s where MC enters the fray…
Assuming that the rumors are true and that Infinity will continue to evolve and expand…it’s likely that we’ll see a new an improved Created forces…and possibly (for the first time in the history of the Halo franchise) human enemies allied with the Created. I see Infinite’s initial campaign as a jumping off point to ongoing expansions rather than a numbered instance. I’m sure that eventually we’ll see all the factions (and likely new factions) come out as additional content.
> 2533274802284024;7:
> Assuming that the rumors are true and that Infinity will continue to evolve and expand…it’s likely that we’ll see a new an improved Created forces…and possibly (for the first time in the history of the Halo franchise) human enemies allied with the Created. I see Infinite’s initial campaign as a jumping off point to ongoing expansions rather than a numbered instance. I’m sure that eventually we’ll see all the factions (and likely new factions) come out as additional content.
There could/should also be human enemies allied with the Banished as the Official Spartan Field Manual mentions how they have human criminals working for them.
Upon skimming this, what happen to the created that Cortana rallied in Halo 5? Did 343 scrap that idea of our children rebelling against humanity? I haven’t heard anything about their progess.
> 2533274879757912;2:
> Not sure of the Banished size or strength, but I do know that if Halo Wars 2 is canon (which I would assume it is lol), then most of the forces are likely stuck on the Ark up until recently. HW2 took place in 2559, so if we are to assume the biggest portion of Atriox’s army is on the Ark, then either the Brutes that are on Earth (source: MP cinematic attacking London) are KotOF (less likely as they’ve been getting their butts kicked) or they’re a small section of Banished that went to Earth for one reason or another (maybe in search of Atriox or maybe just as fall back orders, who knows?). Otherwise, the only way to get the Banished from the Ark to Earth quickly would be reopening the portal.
>
> This would explain how they got passed the defenses, considering the portal is literally above Kenya I believe. It does have a UNSC deployment, but given the circumstances, what could the UNSC or ONI do with a Guardian pulling the plug on them? It’s likely whatever happened to Cortana happened not too long after her oppressive sweep over Earth with her Guardian. (Speculation of course) This all takes place several months after the end of Halo 5 I believe, so we’re still working out the time line.
Atriox and The Banished opened a portal to reach to meet with Escharum in the end of SoR didnt they? So they aren’t stuck on the ark.
> 2535419587718390;8:
> > 2533274802284024;7:
> > Assuming that the rumors are true and that Infinity will continue to evolve and expand…it’s likely that we’ll see a new an improved Created forces…and possibly (for the first time in the history of the Halo franchise) human enemies allied with the Created. I see Infinite’s initial campaign as a jumping off point to ongoing expansions rather than a numbered instance. I’m sure that eventually we’ll see all the factions (and likely new factions) come out as additional content.
>
> There could/should also be human enemies allied with the Banished as the Official Spartan Field Manual mentions how they have human criminals working for them.
They also have humans with them in SoR
> 2533274911869879;9:
> Upon skimming this, what happen to the created that Cortana rallied in Halo 5? Did 343 scrap that idea of our children rebelling against humanity? I haven’t heard anything about their progess.
We don’t know. 
Every Halo book post Guardians manages to always take place outside of territory controlled by the Created or we see the moment they take over but not the follow up. The closest we get is in the Bad Blood book I think where you see the Created letting the Grunts continue with self rule, giving them technology and food. But very thin on details and it’s being viewed by outsiders. They’re not exactly plugging people into the matrix at any rate. Some Halo 5 multiplayer maps made a big deal about terraforming planets like Sanghelios.
Between the books and those lore snippets she’s confirmed to have control over the core UNSC territory, Sanghelios, the Grunt homeworld and that’s all within a few days of Halo 5. The implication is that she rules the galaxy and in the book Shadows of Reach you can’t even fire weapons on a dead world like Reach without drawing attention or even speak her name on a comm device. Oh, I think it wasn’t also mentioned that the UNSC would send Spartans to purge Created AI from data networks in raids on Earth and other colonies.
But yeah, unless something new has come out, we don’t have any real information on what life is like on Earth or Cortanas rule. I can’t recall the timeline but if she owned Earth for a year with Forerunner technology you’d think it would have made an impact. I didn’t see any reference to the Created/Cortana in the New Mombasa maps. Maybe they will answer those questions and I think eventually they would. Probably because they don’t want to be wrote into a corner and is quite central to the story.
If you’ve ever played Stellaris, she’s probably been frantically trying to build organic sanctuaries for that deluge of pops she just took. Looking at that Guardian in Halo Infinite it’s a bit of a disaster run.
