So the Brute Warlord does mention that his faction shares the same goal as the Harbinger. Which is part of Atriox “will”. Be curious if he’s being lied to since Atriox is trapped on the Ark out of contact with his forces. Cutter had to slipspace a ring to get a message to the galaxy and Atriox ship got blown up. No more lies indeed.
This does seem a little left field. My assumption was that the Banished were going to be a third force and had been tailored to be opposed to the other factions. For example, if it is Cortana, it made a lot more sense for her to side with religious covenant with whole machine god and mecha angel thing they had going. They don’t strike me as the type to be awe struck. If it is a Covenant type faction that would be odd since they despise the religious covenant. Could be something new of course but I can’t say with what we know. Composed Didact. Mendicant Bias. Precursor. Rebel Warden/Created. Could be anything.
It looks like they were determined to bring the Banished into the story and take a more central role as soon as possible. Still I think it’s a tough sell if they have allied with Rampant Cortana to fire a Halo ring. Unless them turning on Cortana is going to be a thing. “The Prophets were fools to trust them.”
I don’t think they’ve retconned the Cortana Rogue Servitor thing yet. Either they have, or they just aren’t talking about it to focus on the Banished to market game because they know that’s divisive. Simply because we see a lot of her in the trailers and the tie in novel synopsis mentions her taking over the galaxy is still ongoing.
Also just as an aside. I remember they mentioned they might do a small content drop for Halo Wars 2. Perhaps this Escharum Guy is going to be a new Commander?
I doubt the Banished are with Cortana. You can hear one of them shouting “Demon” in the campaign footage.
A Covenant splinter group will likely see human AI controlling forerunner structures as heresy. I see them as a third faction fighting for control of the ring from both Infinity and the Created so they can initiate their Great Journey.
I think Cortana’s goal is to threaten (but not use) the ring to control humanity and the Swords of Sanghelios. Just as USSR threatened to use nuclear weapons to seem strong and gain influence in the cold war.
Harbinger is either Cortana… Or… There is another mysterious Forerunner or Precursor force on Halo that we don’t know yet (or do from the Forerunner books) that has sided with the Banished against humanity and probably also Cortana in that case.
I mean. It would make sense seeing that Cortana so far in both the 2019 trailer and the Become intro yesterday was sort of friendly to Chief. With Chief calmly walking toward her (I presume) in last year’s trailer. Maybe Infinite in the long run will be Cortanas redemption as she needs Chief to oppose this Harbinger.
> 2674012278771805;3:
> Harbinger is either Cortana… Or… There is another mysterious Forerunner or Precursor force on Halo that we don’t know yet (or do from the Forerunner books) that has sided with the Banished against humanity and probably also Cortana in that case.
>
> I mean. It would make sense seeing that Cortana so far in both the 2019 trailer and the Become intro yesterday was sort of friendly to Chief. With Chief calmly walking toward her (I presume) in last year’s trailer. Maybe Infinite in the long run will be Cortanas redemption as she needs Chief to oppose this Harbinger.
Oh I agree there being a third party makes a lot of sense.
She seemed a little strange though. Distant and ethereal. Plus the hidden audio in the Discover Hope trailer suggested that one fragment was finding a shattered piece of itself. So, either not all of Cortana reformed in the Halo 5 version or she was shattered prior to the game.
Oh I think they always intended to go back on the Halo 5 ending eventually. Why else give her an army of anti flood robots? But I always thought that if you wanted to do Chief saving Cortana. It wouldn’t be them allying against a common foe. Sure, a third party attacking her Rogue Servitor Stellaris run would be a neat twist and gets them out of the issue of her not wanting to kill Chief. But it would be her going off the deep end and you finding the McGuffin that cures the Logic Plague. Possibly as she’s literally about to fire the Halo Array. Then it’s all “oh no Chief what have I done. I am a monster”. Suddenly being allies again or being shattered at the start of the game would be a tad jarring and you’d be passing on a low hanging fruit.
But yeah I think the general premise that she can’t beat this new threat without that human element makes thematic sense. Don’t want to read too much into the cinematic when she’s making the armour but that is basically the same premise on a grander scale. Even this Godlike AI with the Domain and Guardians can’t protect humanity from the Flood or Didact or MB or Banished.
> 2533274803587475;4:
> > 2674012278771805;3:
> > Harbinger is either Cortana… Or… There is another mysterious Forerunner or Precursor force on Halo that we don’t know yet (or do from the Forerunner books) that has sided with the Banished against humanity and probably also Cortana in that case.
> >
> > I mean. It would make sense seeing that Cortana so far in both the 2019 trailer and the Become intro yesterday was sort of friendly to Chief. With Chief calmly walking toward her (I presume) in last year’s trailer. Maybe Infinite in the long run will be Cortanas redemption as she needs Chief to oppose this Harbinger.
>
> Oh I agree there being a third party makes a lot of sense.
>
> She seemed a little strange though. Distant and ethereal. Plus the hidden audio in the Discover Hope trailer suggested that one fragment was finding a shattered piece of itself. So, either not all of Cortana reformed in the Halo 5 version or she was shattered prior to the game.
>
> Oh I think they always intended to go back on the Halo 5 ending eventually. Why else give her an army of anti flood robots? But I always thought that if you wanted to do Chief saving Cortana. It wouldn’t be them allying against a common foe. Sure, a third party attacking her Rogue Servitor Stellaris run would be a neat twist and gets them out of the issue of her not wanting to kill Chief. But it would be her going off the deep end and you finding the McGuffin that cures the Logic Plague. Possibly as she’s literally about to fire the Halo Array. Then it’s all “oh no Chief what have I done. I am a monster”. Suddenly being allies again or being shattered at the start of the game would be a tad jarring and you’d be passing on a low hanging fruit.
>
> But yeah I think the general premise that she can’t beat this new threat without that human element makes thematic sense. Don’t want to read too much into the cinematic when she’s making the armour but that is basically the same premise on a grander scale. Even this Godlike AI with the Domain and Guardians can’t protect humanity from the Flood or Didact or MB or Banished.
This.
Worth noting that Harbinger means:
_A person who signals the arrival of another or a forerunner of something._Thats the Google hit for Harbinger at least. So two opposing Forerunner forces. That’s sounds familiar right? My guess is Harbinger isn’t ‘his’ real name.
> 2674012278771805;5:
> > 2533274803587475;4:
> > > 2674012278771805;3:
> > > Harbinger is either Cortana… Or… There is another mysterious Forerunner or Precursor force on Halo that we don’t know yet (or do from the Forerunner books) that has sided with the Banished against humanity and probably also Cortana in that case.
> > >
> > > I mean. It would make sense seeing that Cortana so far in both the 2019 trailer and the Become intro yesterday was sort of friendly to Chief. With Chief calmly walking toward her (I presume) in last year’s trailer. Maybe Infinite in the long run will be Cortanas redemption as she needs Chief to oppose this Harbinger.
> >
> > Oh I agree there being a third party makes a lot of sense.
> >
> > She seemed a little strange though. Distant and ethereal. Plus the hidden audio in the Discover Hope trailer suggested that one fragment was finding a shattered piece of itself. So, either not all of Cortana reformed in the Halo 5 version or she was shattered prior to the game.
> >
> > Oh I think they always intended to go back on the Halo 5 ending eventually. Why else give her an army of anti flood robots? But I always thought that if you wanted to do Chief saving Cortana. It wouldn’t be them allying against a common foe. Sure, a third party attacking her Rogue Servitor Stellaris run would be a neat twist and gets them out of the issue of her not wanting to kill Chief. But it would be her going off the deep end and you finding the McGuffin that cures the Logic Plague. Possibly as she’s literally about to fire the Halo Array. Then it’s all “oh no Chief what have I done. I am a monster”. Suddenly being allies again or being shattered at the start of the game would be a tad jarring and you’d be passing on a low hanging fruit.
> >
> > But yeah I think the general premise that she can’t beat this new threat without that human element makes thematic sense. Don’t want to read too much into the cinematic when she’s making the armour but that is basically the same premise on a grander scale. Even this Godlike AI with the Domain and Guardians can’t protect humanity from the Flood or Didact or MB or Banished.
>
> This.
>
> Worth noting that Harbinger means:
> _A person who signals the arrival of another or a forerunner of something._Thats the Google hit for Harbinger at least. So two opposing Forerunner forces. That’s sounds familiar right? My guess is Harbinger isn’t ‘his’ real name.
> 2533274809687497;6:
> > 2674012278771805;5:
> > > 2533274803587475;4:
> > > > 2674012278771805;3:
> > > > Harbinger is either Cortana… Or… There is another mysterious Forerunner or Precursor force on Halo that we don’t know yet (or do from the Forerunner books) that has sided with the Banished against humanity and probably also Cortana in that case.
> > > >
> > > > I mean. It would make sense seeing that Cortana so far in both the 2019 trailer and the Become intro yesterday was sort of friendly to Chief. With Chief calmly walking toward her (I presume) in last year’s trailer. Maybe Infinite in the long run will be Cortanas redemption as she needs Chief to oppose this Harbinger.
> > >
> > > Oh I agree there being a third party makes a lot of sense.
> > >
> > > She seemed a little strange though. Distant and ethereal. Plus the hidden audio in the Discover Hope trailer suggested that one fragment was finding a shattered piece of itself. So, either not all of Cortana reformed in the Halo 5 version or she was shattered prior to the game.
> > >
> > > Oh I think they always intended to go back on the Halo 5 ending eventually. Why else give her an army of anti flood robots? But I always thought that if you wanted to do Chief saving Cortana. It wouldn’t be them allying against a common foe. Sure, a third party attacking her Rogue Servitor Stellaris run would be a neat twist and gets them out of the issue of her not wanting to kill Chief. But it would be her going off the deep end and you finding the McGuffin that cures the Logic Plague. Possibly as she’s literally about to fire the Halo Array. Then it’s all “oh no Chief what have I done. I am a monster”. Suddenly being allies again or being shattered at the start of the game would be a tad jarring and you’d be passing on a low hanging fruit.
> > >
> > > But yeah I think the general premise that she can’t beat this new threat without that human element makes thematic sense. Don’t want to read too much into the cinematic when she’s making the armour but that is basically the same premise on a grander scale. Even this Godlike AI with the Domain and Guardians can’t protect humanity from the Flood or Didact or MB or Banished.
> >
> > This.
> >
> > Worth noting that Harbinger means:
> > _A person who signals the arrival of another or a forerunner of something._Thats the Google hit for Harbinger at least. So two opposing Forerunner forces. That’s sounds familiar right? My guess is Harbinger isn’t ‘his’ real name.
>
> Maybe it’s composed didact?
> 2674012278771805;7:
> > 2533274809687497;6:
> > > 2674012278771805;5:
> > > > 2533274803587475;4:
> > > > > 2674012278771805;3:
> > > > > Harbinger is either Cortana… Or… There is another mysterious Forerunner or Precursor force on Halo that we don’t know yet (or do from the Forerunner books) that has sided with the Banished against humanity and probably also Cortana in that case.
> > > > >
> > > > > I mean. It would make sense seeing that Cortana so far in both the 2019 trailer and the Become intro yesterday was sort of friendly to Chief. With Chief calmly walking toward her (I presume) in last year’s trailer. Maybe Infinite in the long run will be Cortanas redemption as she needs Chief to oppose this Harbinger.
> > > >
> > > > Oh I agree there being a third party makes a lot of sense.
> > > >
> > > > She seemed a little strange though. Distant and ethereal. Plus the hidden audio in the Discover Hope trailer suggested that one fragment was finding a shattered piece of itself. So, either not all of Cortana reformed in the Halo 5 version or she was shattered prior to the game.
> > > >
> > > > Oh I think they always intended to go back on the Halo 5 ending eventually. Why else give her an army of anti flood robots? But I always thought that if you wanted to do Chief saving Cortana. It wouldn’t be them allying against a common foe. Sure, a third party attacking her Rogue Servitor Stellaris run would be a neat twist and gets them out of the issue of her not wanting to kill Chief. But it would be her going off the deep end and you finding the McGuffin that cures the Logic Plague. Possibly as she’s literally about to fire the Halo Array. Then it’s all “oh no Chief what have I done. I am a monster”. Suddenly being allies again or being shattered at the start of the game would be a tad jarring and you’d be passing on a low hanging fruit.
> > > >
> > > > But yeah I think the general premise that she can’t beat this new threat without that human element makes thematic sense. Don’t want to read too much into the cinematic when she’s making the armour but that is basically the same premise on a grander scale. Even this Godlike AI with the Domain and Guardians can’t protect humanity from the Flood or Didact or MB or Banished.
> > >
> > > This.
> > >
> > > Worth noting that Harbinger means:
> > > _A person who signals the arrival of another or a forerunner of something._Thats the Google hit for Harbinger at least. So two opposing Forerunner forces. That’s sounds familiar right? My guess is Harbinger isn’t ‘his’ real name.
> >
> > Maybe it’s composed didact?
>
> Mendicant Bias or maybe even the Primordial?
You just never know. I’m happy 343 is keeping the story close to their chest. I don’t want to to have it spoiled.