Boren’s syndrome. Which was just a cover up for the augmentations that Sgt. Johnson received allowed him to be immune to the flood. The novel First Strike showed Master Chief deciding to not let anyone at ONI know about this because he was afraid Johnson would be killed to be experimented on. However what Chief didn’t know that Boren’s syndrome was a fake condition. Had he known this he would have realized humanity has potentially had the cure all along. Will Chief ever find out that Sgt. Johnson was a Spartan I? and if so will he be able to make this connection? Also do the Spartan II, III, and IV’s have the same augmentation that provide immunity? We’ve never seen a Spartan downed by a flood to the best of my knowledge. Perhaps all Spartans are immune.
I don’t think he’s immune anymore…
It’s not immunity, necessarily.
Johnson’s nervous system was so screwed up due to the augmentations that the Flood didn’t waste time trying to make something from him.
That kind of thing would probably not be, at least purposefully, carried over in the improved augmentations.
Johnson has no immunity anymore. It was retconned out of existence by later media.
This is from Halopedia
^ Johnson’s supposed biological immunity to the Flood as a result of Boren’s Syndrome was originally presented as factual in the novel Halo: First Strike. As stated by Joseph Staten here, Bungie disliked the notion of a Flood immunity and established the disease as being fictitious on page 122 of the Halo Graphic Novel. As stated in the introduction to Breaking Quarantine, the comic was intended to further cement Bungie’s original vision for Johnson’s escape from the Flood. The comic indicates that he simply fought his way out of the containment facility and did not suffer lacerations which would expose him to Flood infection in the process.
This is what Joseph Staten said on Bungie.net.
JS: The books are, for better or worse, part of the canon. In the future we may choose to revise or flat-out ignore some of the less appealing ideas (Johnson’s biological immunity to the Flood, for example), but folks should treat them as defining elements of the Halo universe.
So this means as it currently stands; Johnson never had an immunity to the Flood and just fought his way out. The Catalog also stated tha there is no known Flood cure. I’m not saying dosn’t exist, personally I believe one might but Johnson nor any other Spartan as of current canon don’t possess one.
To be fair, Catalog’s data is sometimes limited by the databases of UNSC, ONI, and those on Edon/Mars.
> 2533274869999832;4:
> Johnson has no immunity anymore. It was retconned out of existence by later media.
>
> This is from Halopedia
> ^ Johnson’s supposed biological immunity to the Flood as a result of Boren’s Syndrome was originally presented as factual in the novel Halo: First Strike. As stated by Joseph Staten here, Bungie disliked the notion of a Flood immunity and established the disease as being fictitious on page 122 of the Halo Graphic Novel. As stated in the introduction to Breaking Quarantine, the comic was intended to further cement Bungie’s original vision for Johnson’s escape from the Flood. The comic indicates that he simply fought his way out of the containment facility and did not suffer lacerations which would expose him to Flood infection in the process.
>
> This is what Joseph Staten said on Bungie.net.
>
> JS: The books are, for better or worse, part of the canon. In the future we may choose to revise or flat-out ignore some of the less appealing ideas (Johnson’s biological immunity to the Flood, for example), but folks should treat them as defining elements of the Halo universe.
>
> So this means as it currently stands; Johnson never had an immunity to the Flood and just fought his way out. The Catalog also stated tha there is no known Flood cure. I’m not saying dosn’t exist, personally I believe one might but Johnson nor any other Spartan as of current canon don’t possess one.
Where on Halopedia is this? I read the articles on Sgt. Johnson and the Flood before making my original post and I just looked at the page for Boren’s syndrome.
There is no logical reason for Johnson to be immune because of plasma radiation and the same not being said for the Covenant. Forerunners were surrounded by radiation not to mention heavily augmented their bodies and yet infection continues.
This is why it doesn’t make sense and people should drop it.
> 2533274835488730;7:
> There is no logical reason for Johnson to be immune because of plasma radiation and the same not being said for the Covenant. Forerunners were surrounded by radiation not to mention heavily augmented their bodies and yet infection continues.
>
> This is why it doesn’t make sense and people should drop it.
Except it wasn’t the radiation. The syndrome was a cover up for his augmentations and actually has nothing to do with radiation exposure.
> 2533274807480458;8:
> > 2533274835488730;7:
> > There is no logical reason for Johnson to be immune because of plasma radiation and the same not being said for the Covenant. Forerunners were surrounded by radiation not to mention heavily augmented their bodies and yet infection continues.
> >
> > This is why it doesn’t make sense and people should drop it.
>
>
> Except it wasn’t the radiation. The syndrome was a cover up for his augmentations and actually has nothing to do with radiation exposure.
Not like i didn’t know this already.
> 2533274835488730;9:
> > 2533274807480458;8:
> > > 2533274835488730;7:
> > > There is no logical reason for Johnson to be immune because of plasma radiation and the same not being said for the Covenant. Forerunners were surrounded by radiation not to mention heavily augmented their bodies and yet infection continues.
> > >
> > > This is why it doesn’t make sense and people should drop it.
> >
> >
> >
> > Except it wasn’t the radiation. The syndrome was a cover up for his augmentations and actually has nothing to do with radiation exposure.
>
>
> Not like i didn’t know this already.
Just because you mentioned augmentations doesn’t negate the fact your first sentence made it seem like you thought the radiation was a legit issue.
Also while we are talking about augmentations, the forerunner encountered the flood while already having perfected augmentation processes for the most part. It’s been stated several times that the Spartan-1 program left many medical side effects, maybe it’s side effects from imperfect augmentation, like Spartan-I that could lead one immune, rather than a side effect free refined augmentation process.
See, this is one of the things that really irritated me about Bungie’s handling of Halo’s lore. Flat-out ignoring certain elements because you don’t like them is exceedingly lazy. If you want to make it believable, you really should find a creative way to explain certain things. The Didact situation is different, because we very clearly see him fall into the Composer at the end of Halo 4 (for comic-book lovers, we actually see him composed), so it is fairly obvious he will appear in a different physical form in future media (or not physical at all).
> 2533274807480458;10:
> > 2533274835488730;9:
> > > 2533274807480458;8:
> > > > 2533274835488730;7:
> > > > There is no logical reason for Johnson to be immune because of plasma radiation and the same not being said for the Covenant. Forerunners were surrounded by radiation not to mention heavily augmented their bodies and yet infection continues.
> > > >
> > > > This is why it doesn’t make sense and people should drop it.
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > Except it wasn’t the radiation. The syndrome was a cover up for his augmentations and actually has nothing to do with radiation exposure.
> >
> >
> >
> > Not like i didn’t know this already.
>
>
> Just because you mentioned augmentations doesn’t negate the fact your first sentence made it seem like you thought the radiation was a legit issue.
>
> Also while we are talking about augmentations, the forerunner encountered the flood while already having perfected augmentation processes for the most part. It’s been stated several times that the Spartan-1 program left many medical side effects, maybe it’s side effects from imperfect augmentation, like Spartan-I that could lead one immune, rather than a side effect free refined augmentation process.
It seems like the moon creates it’s own light but that isn’t the case. Ask for clarification before making assumptions.
You say “for the most part” despite it being clearly stated that mutations did go wrong and there were plenty of mental side effects.
I wish 343I would talk about johnson’s immunity in a video for full clarification that it is canon. The “definitive editions” aren’t definitive enough.
> 2533274835488730;12:
> > 2533274807480458;10:
> > > 2533274835488730;9:
> > > > 2533274807480458;8:
> > > > > 2533274835488730;7:
> > > > > There is no logical reason for Johnson to be immune because of plasma radiation and the same not being said for the Covenant. Forerunners were surrounded by radiation not to mention heavily augmented their bodies and yet infection continues.
> > > > >
> > > > > This is why it doesn’t make sense and people should drop it.
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > Except it wasn’t the radiation. The syndrome was a cover up for his augmentations and actually has nothing to do with radiation exposure.
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > Not like i didn’t know this already.
> >
> >
> >
> > Just because you mentioned augmentations doesn’t negate the fact your first sentence made it seem like you thought the radiation was a legit issue.
> >
> > Also while we are talking about augmentations, the forerunner encountered the flood while already having perfected augmentation processes for the most part. It’s been stated several times that the Spartan-1 program left many medical side effects, maybe it’s side effects from imperfect augmentation, like Spartan-I that could lead one immune, rather than a side effect free refined augmentation process.
>
>
> It seems like the moon creates it’s own light but that isn’t the case. Ask for clarification before making assumptions.
> You say “for the most part” despite it being clearly stated that mutations did go wrong and there were plenty of mental side effects.
> I wish 343I would talk about johnson’s immunity in a video for full clarification that it is canon. The “definitive editions” aren’t definitive enough.
As far as assumptions go, I think its a bit of a stretch to imply I was jumping to baseless conclusions, it really did seem like you were focused on the radiation aspect of the immunity. I didn’t realize I was understanding something different than what you were trying to portray, thanks for the clarification though.
I say “for the most part” because mutations were something part of forerunner society and they were typically done several times throughout the lifespan of a forerunner. From what I understand is that while painful, side effects are typically minimized unless riskier procedures that take place over days (brevet mutation) rather than years are performed. With that said, I do agree, mutations did indeed go wrong on occasion with physical and mental side effects.
I also agree we need clarification, a video explaining would be nice.
> 2533274976244936;11:
> See, this is one of the things that really irritated me about Bungie’s handling of Halo’s lore. Flat-out ignoring certain elements because you don’t like them is exceedingly lazy. If you want to make it believable, you really should find a creative way to explain certain things. The Didact situation is different, because we very clearly see him fall into the Composer at the end of Halo 4 (for comic-book lovers, we actually see him composed), so it is fairly obvious he will appear in a different physical form in future media (or not physical at all).
I agree completely. I have always been bothered by the ambiguity in the first three games about the forerunner-human relationship. It’s one thing to keep something mysterious, it’s another to create a story not knowing or deciding what direction certain lore aspects are headed and making very confusing dialogue references via major characters throughout a series.
I think the other thing is if the spinal thing is still the reason, you’d think the forerunners would have tried that. I mean, it’s an alien that attaches itself to your nervous system, surely playing around with that would be obvious.
It’s also questionable if it would have worked against the spores either.
> 2533274807480458;6:
> > 2533274869999832;4:
> > Johnson has no immunity anymore. It was retconned out of existence by later media.
> >
> > This is from Halopedia
> > ^ Johnson’s supposed biological immunity to the Flood as a result of Boren’s Syndrome was originally presented as factual in the novel Halo: First Strike. As stated by Joseph Staten here, Bungie disliked the notion of a Flood immunity and established the disease as being fictitious on page 122 of the Halo Graphic Novel. As stated in the introduction to Breaking Quarantine, the comic was intended to further cement Bungie’s original vision for Johnson’s escape from the Flood. The comic indicates that he simply fought his way out of the containment facility and did not suffer lacerations which would expose him to Flood infection in the process.
> >
> > This is what Joseph Staten said on Bungie.net.
> >
> > JS: The books are, for better or worse, part of the canon. In the future we may choose to revise or flat-out ignore some of the less appealing ideas (Johnson’s biological immunity to the Flood, for example), but folks should treat them as defining elements of the Halo universe.
> >
> > So this means as it currently stands; Johnson never had an immunity to the Flood and just fought his way out. The Catalog also stated tha there is no known Flood cure. I’m not saying dosn’t exist, personally I believe one might but Johnson nor any other Spartan as of current canon don’t possess one.
>
>
> Where on Halopedia is this? I read the articles on Sgt. Johnson and the Flood before making my original post and I just looked at the page for Boren’s syndrome.
>
> It’s in the note section at the end of the Sgt. Avery Johnson article. The note links to both the Breaking Quarintrine arcle and the Joseph Staten qoute in the Bungie Site.
> 2533274964189700;15:
> I think the other thing is if the spinal thing is still the reason, you’d think the forerunners would have tried that. I mean, it’s an alien that attaches itself to your nervous system, surely playing around with that would be obvious.
>
> It’s also questionable if it would have worked against the spores either.
Without having read any of the thread besides the original post (Sorry, pressed for time right now), I just want to say this:
As I’m sure others have said, Sgt. Johnson isn’t immune anymore. That was retconned. The reality of it (as we learned in, I think, Halo: Primordium) is that the Flood have the ability to choose their hosts. Theoretically, in my opinion, this means that they’d be less likely to choose somebody who is potentially fatally ill (or seems to be fatally ill, like the case of Sgt. Johnson’s screwed nervous system), instead opting to simply kill the host and assimilate the flesh into a Gravemind.
So yes, Sgt. Johnson was always susceptible to the Flood… if they chose to infect him. They did not.
> 2533274806352868;17:
> Without having read any of the thread besides the original post (Sorry, pressed for time right now), I just want to say this:
>
> As I’m sure others have said, Sgt. Johnson isn’t immune anymore. That was retconned. The reality of it (as we learned in, I think, Halo: Primordium) is that the Flood have the ability to choose their hosts. Theoretically, in my opinion, this means that they’d be less likely to choose somebody who is potentially fatally ill (or seems to be fatally ill, like the case of Sgt. Johnson’s screwed nervous system), instead opting to simply kill the host and assimilate the flesh into a Gravemind.
>
> So yes, Sgt. Johnson was always susceptible to the Flood… if they chose to infect him. They did not.
Yeah that makes sense. Also UrbanRocket had a point about the spores. I think eventually he would have just been killed and converted to biomass even if they couldn’t make him into a combat form. At the time he was exposed to the flood it was the initial stages of the outbreak so I’m sure they didn’t care about anything that wasn’t suitable to make combat forms or carrier forms.
I wonder how far the Johnson retcon goes, if it goes anywhere at all. He still had dormant Flood DNA in him.
Did you have a change of heart IMendicantBias? I saw the February 16th Blog/Theory you posted on Halo Archive (http://www.haloarchive.com/flood-cure-fact-or-fiction/) and it’s pretty much what I was postulating in this thread…It’s very impressive by the way, well written and well researched. I wish I had had the time or skill to write it like that. I’m just curious as to why you were so blatantly against then and now it seems you give the idea of him being immune some credit. Anyway great job to you or who ever wrote that blog, it’s things like that blog that get me exited for the future for Halo’s lore and motivate me to think about all the possibilties the story could lead.