I feel a very, very large amount of players don’t seem to understand the ending of Halo 4. How did Chief survive? How did Cortana, an artificial intelligence with no solid form beyond the chip, surround/attack Didact? How did the Didact and his impressive, high-tech armor fail to save him?
So let’s answer these:
This is the fundamental answer to most end-game questions players have: Cortana /was/ the hardlight shield. When you were placing her around pedistals to distract Didact (or whatever Cortana said- forgive me, I can’t seem to remember her goal at the moment), Cortana also got access to the hardlight bridge. Hardlight was the pinnacle of Forerunner technology per se- it was used almost as much as solid materials in their construction and design efforts. Hardlight, though we do not know the properties, is apparantly exceedinly strong and hard to crack in certain, concentrated forms (as opposed to the limited form seen in the hardlight shield).
Remember when Cortana held the index in Halo CE? It’s because the index was made of hardlight. When she ‘downloaded’ it per se, she was able to emit the physical, hard-light form of the index. She did the same on the bridge: As Cortana was the hardlight bridge, she became a physical entity that could touch and interact with other beings.
Now, here’s where things tie in: The Didact was standing on the bridge- on Cortana. She used her technological prowess to manipulate the bridge into holding the Didact down. Because it was hardlight, it was beyond the Didact’s personal, physical capability to break entirely free.
The Didact couldn’t save himself with his magnificent armor, from what we see, because of a point-blank detonation of the pulse grenade. By the time the armor would have recovered, he had already fallen too far, too fast, to recover.
When Chief detonates the nuke, Cortana manipulates the hardlight (last second!) yet again: This time reforming it into a shell between Chief and the nuke. This hardlight shell entirely shielded him from the blast. It also allowed Cortana’s dissipating fragment the last precious few seconds she needed to bid him farewell before her/the shield’s power failed and dissipated. This is also how she manages to touch his chest (via hardlight). After the shield dissipates, Chief is found floating in space. When Cortana says “the rest of me is down there”, she inidcates the debris of the Didact’s ship, not Requiem or some other place.
Hope this helped, guys! I may have either been too detailed or too vague, but if you still have questions please ask!
I’d rather everyone appreciate Halo 4’s campaign as much as possible: It was beautifully done, and sometimes you just need to know more than what was directly stated in cutscenes to realize what’s happening.
My theory on Cortana, is that the Librarian fragment perhaps kept part of Cortana.
Otherwise, she’s most likely dead and not to be seen again, but instead used as a driving force for Chief to go out and accomplish what needs to be done in the next several games.
Either way… it’s going to make for some great plot. And very emotional- her death caught me entirely off guard at the ending.
I honestly don’t think she’s dead. Because as we see, Cortana’s chip was completely destroyed, right before the end cutscene. If she can manipulate this bridge, and still cast a Hologram of sorts, without her chip - I honestly believe she’s still around, and still able to function. The composer would have been destroyed in an instant - as we see, the pieces are falling around chief when Cortana walks away. This would leave Cortana with no place to go - so why was she still functioning at this point, and why would she voluntarily walk away? I honestly believe that the Librarian told Cortana what she had to do - that she would have to ‘sacrifice’ herself to save Chief - because she knows Chief would be too selfless to think about his own life. In the meantime, I think the Librarian maybe “Backed up” Cortana, or managed to save her herself, but lead John to believe that she’s actually dead. With Cortana dead, Chief becomes independent, and because of this, much stronger. That’d be the perfect way for the Librarian to prepare him, before bringing Cortana back onto the scene at the close of the game (Halo 5). As we know, the Forerunners had the technology to transform Humans/Forerunners to AI’s (The composer) but also bring them back to their physical forms. I have a feeling this may, in time, relate to Cortana’s situation.
Either way, I’d like to believe she’s still alive - the mechanics of the Campaign just don’t work out without her.
Thanks for making an awesome thread
And i dont think either of cortana or Didact did die. Well cortana cant die the way we do but. I think she will make a return somehow in the next game,Also so will didact i believe,there is so much more to tell about him,I really hope he isnt dead yet. I dont think he dies that easily.And also i dont think it matters but,He is talking in the epilogue
Keep in mind the original idea was to get Cortana back to Dr. Halsey, who I believe is on Earth. So there is still hope that something could be done to bring our favorite AI companion back!
Though I hate to say it, and be a little less optimistic, but she could be completely gone which ends up adding fuel to Chief’s fire to be more of the badass that he is. I don’t know about you, but in the final mission when the Diadact blasts the last pedestal and Chief screams out to her, I as the player was pissed for him and I blitzed through to the hardlight bridge in hopes of bringing on an epic beatdown.
The theory of the Librarian backing her up is highly possible as it’s the type of ploy you would make in story-telling. It’s like Cortana, where the hell did you go? And it’s never answered as to what exactly what occurred, just that she encountered the Librarian as well. So, there’s that slight element of mystery there that keeps the possibility open. Same thing with the diadact, sure it hurt him and it caught him off guard, but he didn’t dematerialize or show on surface signs of damage other than his stagger. I’m sure we will see him again, as well as, other forerunner leaders that he might have awaken. I mean…he is talking to someone in the epilogue, but who?
I agree completely! If Cortana was still somehow able to reason, function and have her original personality in her supposed final moments I think she’s still alive. I’d advise 343 to do something different with her resurrection this time, Halo 5 could end up way too similar to H3 if Chief just chases down her chip again. Maybe they could even make her into a physical being, considering that the Didact and Librarian had the tech to interchange flesh and data. BUT - It’d be very hard to pull this off without making it cheesy, so I’d advise against that as well. All things considered I thought the campaign was a-freakin-mazing! I sat down for just a taste before starting War Games and ended up finishing it in A SINGLE SITTING! lol. But yeah… Am I the only one who was mad she didn’t kiss him at the end? Cliche or not, I wanted it and they both deserved it! Thoughts?
(Awesome thread, by the way! Solidified all of the things I was wondering about.)
> I feel a very, very large amount of players don’t seem to understand the ending of Halo 4. How did Chief survive? How did Cortana, an artificial intelligence with no solid form beyond the chip, surround/attack Didact? How did the Didact and his impressive, high-tech armor fail to save him?
>
> So let’s answer these:
>
> 1) This is the fundamental answer to most end-game questions players have: Cortana /was/ the hardlight shield. When you were placing her around pedistals to distract Didact (or whatever Cortana said- forgive me, I can’t seem to remember her goal at the moment), Cortana also got access to the hardlight bridge. Hardlight was the pinnacle of Forerunner technology per se- it was used almost as much as solid materials in their construction and design efforts. Hardlight, though we do not know the properties, is apparantly exceedinly strong and hard to crack in certain, concentrated forms (as opposed to the limited form seen in the hardlight shield).
>
> 2) Remember when Cortana held the index in Halo CE? It’s because the index was made of hardlight. When she ‘downloaded’ it per se, she was able to emit the physical, hard-light form of the index. She did the same on the bridge: As Cortana was the hardlight bridge, she became a physical entity that could touch and interact with other beings.
>
> 3) Now, here’s where things tie in: The Didact was standing on the bridge- on Cortana. She used her technological prowess to manipulate the bridge into holding the Didact down. Because it was hardlight, it was beyond the Didact’s personal, physical capability to break entirely free.
>
> 4) The Didact couldn’t save himself with his magnificent armor, from what we see, because of a point-blank detonation of the pulse grenade. By the time the armor would have recovered, he had already fallen too far, too fast, to recover.
>
> 5) When Chief detonates the nuke, Cortana manipulates the hardlight (last second!) yet again: This time reforming it into a shell between Chief and the nuke. This hardlight shell entirely shielded him from the blast. It also allowed Cortana’s dissipating fragment the last precious few seconds she needed to bid him farewell before her/the shield’s power failed and dissipated. This is also how she manages to touch his chest (via hardlight). After the shield dissipates, Chief is found floating in space. When Cortana says “the rest of me is down there”, she inidcates the debris of the Didact’s ship, not Requiem or some other place.
>
>
>
> Hope this helped, guys! I may have either been too detailed or too vague, but if you still have questions please ask!
>
> I’d rather everyone appreciate Halo 4’s campaign as much as possible: It was beautifully done, and sometimes you just need to know more than what was directly stated in cutscenes to realize what’s happening.
Sum it all up. Look for Halo 5: The Search for Cortanna, coming to a next generation Xbox console near you in about 2-3 years.
Highly doubt she will be gone from the Halo video game universe.
It all makes sense, you see: we met her on a bridge, had that first mid level cutscene with a bridge, crossed some other bridges (except that one bridge in Guilty Spark) and finally battled on a bridge.
But the biggest bridge of all was the bridge to Chiefs humanity. Looking forward to Bridge 5 and 6!
I personally am not sure which stance to take on the Cortana survival question: Either one leads to so many ambiguous yet potentially great plots. I also have several complex Didact theories, but I’m going to wait til Silentium before I start writing about those.
I knew that’s how she held the didact, but i’m confused how she could separate chief from the bomb when he was physically touching it when it went off.
> 5) When Chief detonates the nuke, Cortana manipulates the hardlight (last second!) yet again: This time reforming it into a shell between Chief and the nuke. This hardlight shell entirely shielded him from the blast. It also allowed Cortana’s dissipating fragment the last precious few seconds she needed to bid him farewell before her/the shield’s power failed and dissipated. This is also how she manages to touch his chest (via hardlight). After the shield dissipates, Chief is found floating in space. When Cortana says “the rest of me is down there”, she inidcates the debris of the Didact’s ship, not Requiem or some other place.
hmm i love the explanations but since i completed it i always though she brought chief into a digital form just before the nuke detonated, like a tron style thing where the users and programs could ‘physically’ interact?
i think i only came to this conclusion because a forunner ship couldnt survive the nuke to how could hardlight resist it O.o
> > 5) When Chief detonates the nuke, Cortana manipulates the hardlight (last second!) yet again: This time reforming it into a shell between Chief and the nuke. This hardlight shell entirely shielded him from the blast. It also allowed Cortana’s dissipating fragment the last precious few seconds she needed to bid him farewell before her/the shield’s power failed and dissipated. This is also how she manages to touch his chest (via hardlight). After the shield dissipates, Chief is found floating in space. When Cortana says “the rest of me is down there”, she inidcates the debris of the Didact’s ship, not Requiem or some other place.
>
> hmm i love the explanations but since i completed it i always though she brought chief into a digital form just before the nuke detonated, like a tron style thing where the users and programs could ‘physically’ interact?
> i think i only came to this conclusion because a forunner ship couldnt survive the nuke to how could hardlight resist it O.o
>
> id love to hear your thoughts on this
Well, how I understand it, ships are partly made of hardlight, partly made of non-hardlight. The Didact’s original ship (in cryptum) had more hardlight elements than his one on Requiem: When Faber (The Master Builder) tried to destroy his ship in Cryptum, it had more hardlight elements that continually tried to repair themselves as the ship was torn apart. It would’ve been successful if it hadn’t been Forerunner weaponry on Forerunner armor- a testament to Hardlight’s strength.
A human nuke, by comparison, was not near as strong, but strong enough that the hardlight, without a source, was to eventually dissipate anyway.
> I knew that’s how she held the didact, but i’m confused how she could separate chief from the bomb when he was physically touching it when it went off.
My guess is that she manipulated it at the atomic scale: The tiniest gaps she filled in, thus ‘pushing’ Chief’s hand away from the nuke and filling the gap with hardlight. A smart AI would be capable of this.
