Before Halo 5 was released, there were a lot of theories about what their purpose was; why the Forerunners built them, why they are activating now in the contemporary era. One theory by Haruspis, a genius of Halo lore, was that the guardians were created at the mid point of the Forerunner-Flood War to contain the spread of the Flood. His theory was that they would use an EMP to shut down all power on an infected planet, and then utilize the Forerunners’ unique method of planetary bombardment to render the planet inhabitable - lifting up chunks of a planet’s crust, and sending them crashing down.
Now, I liked this theory, and I do think that the Guardians have this planet-breaking power, even if we haven’t seen it yet.
But after Halo 5 came out, we learn that they were used to police the Forerunners’ client races. Now, I actually like this revelation of the Guardians’ purpose, because it reinforces the imperialistic themes that are prevalent throughout Halo fiction. We’ve got the Covenant who believe that they have a divine right to conquer the Galaxy and convert every species to their religion, and we’ve got the Forerunners, who believe that upholding the Mantle involves subjugating other races and placing themselves on top of the food chain.
I’m curious: what do you all think of the Guardians?
Maybe the Guardians have already been discussed to death in other forums.
Not that I’ve found.
The purpose of the Guardians were revealed in the game and further expanded by Grim.
And Haruspis is far from a Lore genius.
I usually find Haruspis is pretty on the mark…but the game pretty clearly spells out their purpose…if the Universe Entry didn’t do so as well (not sure when he posted his theory).
I do like the idea of them, as as you say, it helps reinforce the forerunner imperialistic notions. The treatment of ‘lesser races’ wasn’t touched on much in the Forerunner Saga beyond humans and prophets, both of whom were exceptions to the supposed norm.
I think the problem with the Guardians is that they are pretty clear cut. Their purpose and current functions are rather clear, all that really remains is 'what other goodies do they have in store?".
I thought The Guardians were poorly done, before launch they were seen as a powerful mysterious force, my theory was that they were created from what was left of Precursors remains or they’re essences and were created to stop a Precursor enemy that would eventually return which The Forerunners could of learned from any Precursor site or from The Domain or even The Primordial or future Graveminds, Guardians should be so powerful that using them would create destruction beyond just an EMP as in the game The Guardian could not even break a space elevator or even shatter any ground or buildings except Sunaion, this means that it would be Chief’s choice to use The Guardians even though there are possibly other less costly ways
But in the game they are literally just Space Cops, that’s it, imagine if Halo was just a wildlife reserve that’s what it is actually like, The Guardians were useless against Flood which Humanity and Sanghelli basically destroyed so what’s the threat factor? A blackout? So we’ve gone from Space Parasite that almost consumed everything to Space General who fought in Ancient Wars and was apart of the society that changed the galaxy to Space Cops who cause Blackouts on orders by Cortana, the A.I who was basically they’re to guide the player…
Yep 343 did great…
> 2533274964960316;6:
> I thought The Guardians were poorly done, before launch they were seen as a powerful mysterious force, my theory was that they were created from what was left of Precursors remains or they’re essences and were created to stop a Precursor enemy that would eventually return which The Forerunners could of learned from any Precursor site or from The Domain or even The Primordial or future Graveminds, Guardians should be so powerful that using them would create destruction beyond just an EMP as in the game The Guardian could not even break a space elevator or even shatter any ground or buildings except Sunaion, this means that it would be Chief’s choice to use The Guardians even though there are possibly other less costly ways
>
> But in the game they are literally just Space Cops, that’s it, imagine if Halo was just a wildlife reserve that’s what it is actually like, The Guardians were useless against Flood which Humanity and Sanghelli basically destroyed so what’s the threat factor? A blackout? So we’ve gone from Space Parasite that almost consumed everything to Space General who fought in Ancient Wars and was apart of the society that changed the galaxy to Space Cops who cause Blackouts on orders by Cortana, the A.I who was basically they’re to guide the player…
>
> Yep 343 did great…
“In a Galaxy defined by peace, Humans were the animals who brought chaos and bloodshed” stated the Warden Eternal in halo 5. The Guardians come from an era when the Forerunners had pacified much of the Galaxy and other races under their rule; that is, an era when war was but a distant memory. It makes sense that in such a time, the Forerunners would stop manufacturing genuine warships and machines in favor of “Space Cops” designed to police the galaxy.
You say that the Guardians were useless against the Flood, an enemy which Humans and Sangheili managed to overcome. Well, the contemporary races of the Galaxy had only to deal with a minor outbreak, thus destroying them was relatively simple. the Forerunner -Flood war was a Galaxy-spanning conflict where the Forerunner shad to resort to detonating stars to slow their advance.
Fighting against the remnants of an ancient race which had conquered the Galaxy, is capable of building Halo rings, shield-worlds and the Ark and has an army of robots containing the Composed minds of Humans, ancient and contemporary, is a dream come true for me, because as early as Halo CE, I always wanted to fight the Forerunners as the primary enemy faction.
> 2533274967414694;7:
> > 2533274964960316;6:
> > I thought The Guardians were poorly done, before launch they were seen as a powerful mysterious force, my theory was that they were created from what was left of Precursors remains or they’re essences and were created to stop a Precursor enemy that would eventually return which The Forerunners could of learned from any Precursor site or from The Domain or even The Primordial or future Graveminds, Guardians should be so powerful that using them would create destruction beyond just an EMP as in the game The Guardian could not even break a space elevator or even shatter any ground or buildings except Sunaion, this means that it would be Chief’s choice to use The Guardians even though there are possibly other less costly ways
> >
> > But in the game they are literally just Space Cops, that’s it, imagine if Halo was just a wildlife reserve that’s what it is actually like, The Guardians were useless against Flood which Humanity and Sanghelli basically destroyed so what’s the threat factor? A blackout? So we’ve gone from Space Parasite that almost consumed everything to Space General who fought in Ancient Wars and was apart of the society that changed the galaxy to Space Cops who cause Blackouts on orders by Cortana, the A.I who was basically they’re to guide the player…
> >
> > Yep 343 did great…
>
>
> “In a Galaxy defined by peace, Humans were the animals who brought chaos and bloodshed” stated the Warden Eternal in halo 5. The Guardians come from an era when the Forerunners had pacified much of the Galaxy and other races under their rule; that is, an era when war was but a distant memory. It makes sense that in such a time, the Forerunners would stop manufacturing genuine warships and machines in favor of “Space Cops” designed to police the galaxy.
> You say that the Guardians were useless against the Flood, an enemy which Humans and Sangheili managed to overcome. Well, the contemporary races of the Galaxy had only to deal with a minor outbreak, thus destroying them was relatively simple. the Forerunner -Flood war was a Galaxy-spanning conflict where the Forerunner shad to resort to detonating stars to slow their advance.
> Fighting against the remnants of an ancient race which had conquered the Galaxy, is capable of building Halo rings, shield-worlds and the Ark and has an army of robots containing the Composed minds of Humans, ancient and contemporary, is a dream come true for me, because as early as Halo CE, I always wanted to fight the Forerunners as the primary enemy faction.
They were useless look up The Universe article on this site it’s canon also Warden is an individual with his own motives who clearly goes against the wishes of The Forerunners since they choose Humanity in the end to inherit The Mantle not A.I’s since Liberian said this literally the same year to Chief and advanced him not Cortana and considering who has more influence Liberian the highest ranked Lifeworker and last political power beyond The Builders vs a Keeper of The Domain who relies on rampant half destroyed A.I’s to change entire plans that were put in place since it’s already been established that Humanity are Reclaimers since they can only activate Forerunner tech with least trouble and have been refereed to as Reclaimers by Forerunner A.I’s and The Liberian
And you’re dream was to fight Forerunners who before 343’s retcon were peaceful beings who strived to ensure life’s survival by Halo Rings and even old structures in Halo 2 on Delta Halo with Halo 3 showing how The Forerunners wanted nothing more then for humanity to inherit their legacy.
Now wanting to fight Forerunners prior retcon is dumb but add retcon we have a war between Humans and Forerunners everyone regarded as a mistake, and the only exception is the insane Ur-Didact who was made insane by The Gravemind as a unwilling weapon, so please seriously? That’s you’re dream conflict? Since CE?
> 2533274964960316;8:
> > 2533274967414694;7:
> > > 2533274964960316;6:
> > > I thought The Guardians were poorly done, before launch they were seen as a powerful mysterious force, my theory was that they were created from what was left of Precursors remains or they’re essences and were created to stop a Precursor enemy that would eventually return which The Forerunners could of learned from any Precursor site or from The Domain or even The Primordial or future Graveminds, Guardians should be so powerful that using them would create destruction beyond just an EMP as in the game The Guardian could not even break a space elevator or even shatter any ground or buildings except Sunaion, this means that it would be Chief’s choice to use The Guardians even though there are possibly other less costly ways
> > >
> > > But in the game they are literally just Space Cops, that’s it, imagine if Halo was just a wildlife reserve that’s what it is actually like, The Guardians were useless against Flood which Humanity and Sanghelli basically destroyed so what’s the threat factor? A blackout? So we’ve gone from Space Parasite that almost consumed everything to Space General who fought in Ancient Wars and was apart of the society that changed the galaxy to Space Cops who cause Blackouts on orders by Cortana, the A.I who was basically they’re to guide the player…
> > >
> > > Yep 343 did great…
> >
> >
> > “In a Galaxy defined by peace, Humans were the animals who brought chaos and bloodshed” stated the Warden Eternal in halo 5. The Guardians come from an era when the Forerunners had pacified much of the Galaxy and other races under their rule; that is, an era when war was but a distant memory. It makes sense that in such a time, the Forerunners would stop manufacturing genuine warships and machines in favor of “Space Cops” designed to police the galaxy.
> > You say that the Guardians were useless against the Flood, an enemy which Humans and Sangheili managed to overcome. Well, the contemporary races of the Galaxy had only to deal with a minor outbreak, thus destroying them was relatively simple. the Forerunner -Flood war was a Galaxy-spanning conflict where the Forerunner shad to resort to detonating stars to slow their advance.
> > Fighting against the remnants of an ancient race which had conquered the Galaxy, is capable of building Halo rings, shield-worlds and the Ark and has an army of robots containing the Composed minds of Humans, ancient and contemporary, is a dream come true for me, because as early as Halo CE, I always wanted to fight the Forerunners as the primary enemy faction.
>
>
> They were useless look up The Universe article on this site it’s canon also Warden is an individual with his own motives who clearly goes against the wishes of The Forerunners since they choose Humanity in the end to inherit The Mantle not A.I’s since Liberian said this literally the same year to Chief and advanced him not Cortana and considering who has more influence Liberian the highest ranked Lifeworker and last political power beyond The Builders vs a Keeper of The Domain who relies on rampant half destroyed A.I’s to change entire plans that were put in place since it’s already been established that Humanity are Reclaimers since they can only activate Forerunner tech with least trouble and have been refereed to as Reclaimers by Forerunner A.I’s and The Liberian
>
> And you’re dream was to fight Forerunners who before 343’s retcon were peaceful beings who strived to ensure life’s survival by Halo Rings and even old structures in Halo 2 on Delta Halo with Halo 3 showing how The Forerunners wanted nothing more then for humanity to inherit their legacy.
>
> Now wanting to fight Forerunners prior retcon is dumb but add retcon we have a war between Humans and Forerunners everyone regarded as a mistake, and the only exception is the insane Ur-Didact who was made insane by The Gravemind as a unwilling weapon, so please seriously? That’s you’re dream conflict? Since CE?
Well, when I played Halo CE back when I was 12 years old, I had what you might call an active imagination. The Halo Universe was so full of mystery back then; there was no solid, concrete info on what happened to the Forerunners, just that they were gone from the Ring. Back then, I thought they were some super-advanced race who built planets and used robots to fight there wars and had once ruled the galaxy, but decided to leave for another after the war against the Flood. Guilty Spark was rather casual about saying that the Galaxy would be devoid of life after firing the rings, so I took this to mean that they lived in another galaxy and thus, wouldn’t be affected by the Halo Rings.
In fact, before Halo 2 came out, I thought the game would be about the forerunners returning to the Galaxy to seek revenge against Humans and Covenant for “vandalizing” their ring (blowing it up in Halo CE). To me, it seemed natural that after the Covenant, the next great enemy would be the Forerunners. Of course, we then get to Halo 2, and Guilty Spark says they’re dead (death of dreams!). And then we’ve got Halo 3 and the Terminals, which seem to give us some idea of what the Forerunners were like, but not the full picture. We know that the Forerunners strived for the survival of the lesser races, and the same concept exists in 343i’s Halo, as seen in Greg Bear’s Forerunner trilogy when the Librarian and other Lifeworkers indexed what species she could for re population. But, even in the Halo 3 Terminals, written by Bungie writers, it is said that many species were lost because the Forerunners retreated back beyond their line, abandoning them to the parasite. The Forerunners’ belief in the mantle, their right to protect the species’ of the Galaxy with them on top, weakened the other species, bred dependency and when the Flood came and the Forerunners abandoned them, they were helpless.
The Forerunners were not a perfect race, or peaceful for that matter; you don’t come to rule the Galaxy or other species by being peaceful, you do it through war. Bungie planted a seed with the Halo 3 Terminals, and it was up to 343i to make sense of it all, although I do have some issues with the current lore, such as Ancient Humanity and their relationship with the Forerunners: once terrible enemies, but now they are the heirs to the Forerunners’ empire. When I read those Terminals from Halo 3, I got the impression that Humans were a primitive race that the Forerunners discovered in the final days of their war with the Flood, and that Humans could use Forerunner tech because they evolved in such a way that their genes were 100% identical to the Forerunners, hence why the Librarian thought they were special.
Although, back before the Forerunner trilogy, I read a theory that Humans were descended from the Precursors, another explanation for the Librarian’s interest in Humans.
.
> 2533274964960316;6:
> I thought The Guardians were poorly done, before launch they were seen as a powerful mysterious force, my theory was that they were created from what was left of Precursors remains or they’re essences and were created to stop a Precursor enemy that would eventually return which The Forerunners could of learned from any Precursor site or from The Domain or even The Primordial or future Graveminds, Guardians should be so powerful that using them would create destruction beyond just an EMP as in the game The Guardian could not even break a space elevator or even shatter any ground or buildings except Sunaion, this means that it would be Chief’s choice to use The Guardians even though there are possibly other less costly ways
>
> But in the game they are literally just Space Cops, that’s it, imagine if Halo was just a wildlife reserve that’s what it is actually like, The Guardians were useless against Flood which Humanity and Sanghelli basically destroyed so what’s the threat factor? A blackout? So we’ve gone from Space Parasite that almost consumed everything to Space General who fought in Ancient Wars and was apart of the society that changed the galaxy to Space Cops who cause Blackouts on orders by Cortana, the A.I who was basically they’re to guide the player…
>
> Yep 343 did great…
I wouldn’t play down EMPs. They aren’t just localized, they can put an entire planet into a technological stone age within minutes. In such a technologically-dependent civilization like humanity and many Covenant species, this is absolutely crippling. Within seconds after arrival, an entire UNSC colony was rendered dead in the water, with not even a glimmer of hope of retaliating.
The Guardians may not have been effective against the Flood, but they kept hundreds, perhaps thousands of species in check around the galaxy. One single Guardian can police a solar system. And that is huge.
Also, I’m not sure where you determined that the humans and Sangheili dominated the Flood. First of all, it was the San Shy’uum, not the Sangheili. The humans went to the San Shy’uum for technological assistance, and still got pushed back to the edges of their territory by the Flood. Humanity’s biggest strategy was to destroy clean planets to stop the Flood from spreading, because they had failed to stop their advance conventionally. When the Forerunners entered the Picture, the Flood ended up receding to return later, giving the illusion that humanity defeated them so the Forerunners would preserve them.
The Guardians can take away the most pivotal and useful ability any space faring species has. Technology. Even today, if a Guardian showed up in Earth orbit and let out an EMP blast, humanity would be absolutely crippled. Economically, militarily, etc. The UNSC has 500 more years of technological advancement, application, integration, and dependence.
And remember, a rogue AI very nearly brought an end to the Forerunners, a galaxy-spanning empire that had dominated for thousands of thousands of years.
> 2533274964960316;8:
> > 2533274967414694;7:
> > > 2533274964960316;6:
> > > I thought The Guardians were poorly done, before launch they were seen as a powerful mysterious force, my theory was that they were created from what was left of Precursors remains or they’re essences and were created to stop a Precursor enemy that would eventually return which The Forerunners could of learned from any Precursor site or from The Domain or even The Primordial or future Graveminds, Guardians should be so powerful that using them would create destruction beyond just an EMP as in the game The Guardian could not even break a space elevator or even shatter any ground or buildings except Sunaion, this means that it would be Chief’s choice to use The Guardians even though there are possibly other less costly ways
> > >
> > > But in the game they are literally just Space Cops, that’s it, imagine if Halo was just a wildlife reserve that’s what it is actually like, The Guardians were useless against Flood which Humanity and Sanghelli basically destroyed so what’s the threat factor? A blackout? So we’ve gone from Space Parasite that almost consumed everything to Space General who fought in Ancient Wars and was apart of the society that changed the galaxy to Space Cops who cause Blackouts on orders by Cortana, the A.I who was basically they’re to guide the player…
> > >
> > > Yep 343 did great…
> >
> >
> > “In a Galaxy defined by peace, Humans were the animals who brought chaos and bloodshed” stated the Warden Eternal in halo 5. The Guardians come from an era when the Forerunners had pacified much of the Galaxy and other races under their rule; that is, an era when war was but a distant memory. It makes sense that in such a time, the Forerunners would stop manufacturing genuine warships and machines in favor of “Space Cops” designed to police the galaxy.
> > You say that the Guardians were useless against the Flood, an enemy which Humans and Sangheili managed to overcome. Well, the contemporary races of the Galaxy had only to deal with a minor outbreak, thus destroying them was relatively simple. the Forerunner -Flood war was a Galaxy-spanning conflict where the Forerunner shad to resort to detonating stars to slow their advance.
> > Fighting against the remnants of an ancient race which had conquered the Galaxy, is capable of building Halo rings, shield-worlds and the Ark and has an army of robots containing the Composed minds of Humans, ancient and contemporary, is a dream come true for me, because as early as Halo CE, I always wanted to fight the Forerunners as the primary enemy faction.
>
>
> They were useless look up The Universe article on this site it’s canon also Warden is an individual with his own motives who clearly goes against the wishes of The Forerunners since they choose Humanity in the end to inherit The Mantle not A.I’s since Liberian said this literally the same year to Chief and advanced him not Cortana and considering who has more influence Liberian the highest ranked Lifeworker and last political power beyond The Builders vs a Keeper of The Domain who relies on rampant half destroyed A.I’s to change entire plans that were put in place since it’s already been established that Humanity are Reclaimers since they can only activate Forerunner tech with least trouble and have been refereed to as Reclaimers by Forerunner A.I’s and The Liberian
>
> And you’re dream was to fight Forerunners who before 343’s retcon were peaceful beings who strived to ensure life’s survival by Halo Rings and even old structures in Halo 2 on Delta Halo with Halo 3 showing how The Forerunners wanted nothing more then for humanity to inherit their legacy.
>
> Now wanting to fight Forerunners prior retcon is dumb but add retcon we have a war between Humans and Forerunners everyone regarded as a mistake, and the only exception is the insane Ur-Didact who was made insane by The Gravemind as a unwilling weapon, so please seriously? That’s you’re dream conflict? Since CE?
Humanity taking the Mantle was a last-minute, isolated effort by the Librarian and a few others who understood that the Forerunners would not survive this conflict in the capacity to rule the galaxy. The innumerable shield worlds throughout the galaxy show that the Forerunners had every intent to wait out the Halo Array and retuen to their place of dominance once the Forerunners were gone. The destruction of the last of central Forerunner leadership at the Greater Ark was the end of their effort. Otherwise humanity likely wouldn’t be where it is now, and the Forerunners would be ruling.
I’m not sure where you got that the Forerunners were actively looking out for humanity. A galactic empire isn’t likely to rule through fairness and open peace, and we knew little about the Forerunners aside from their galactic suicide and leaving humanity some keys to their technology. Humans were intended to take the Forerunners’ place when the Array fired and there were no Forerunners left, yes. But that doesn’t mean that’s the only path.
Like it or not, Cortana’s mentality actually does make sense. Her methods and lack of regard for the civilizations she claims now to rule are unfortunate and unethical. But the Mantle would ideally be best with a civilization capable of long-term planning and execution. In the current galaxy, AIs fit that the best.
> 2533274964960316;8:
> And you’re dream was to fight Forerunners who before 343’s retcon were peaceful beings who strived to ensure life’s survival by Halo Rings and even old structures in Halo 2 on Delta Halo with Halo 3 showing how The Forerunners wanted nothing more then for humanity to inherit their legacy.
>
> Now wanting to fight Forerunners prior retcon is dumb but add retcon we have a war between Humans and Forerunners everyone regarded as a mistake, and the only exception is the insane Ur-Didact who was made insane by The Gravemind as a unwilling weapon, so please seriously? That’s you’re dream conflict? Since CE?
This is actually rather innacurate. The h3 terminals really just have humanity inheriting things being a last moment idea by the Librarian, and also mentions Forerunners were keeping other species down in order for them to protect them.
"Can’t you see? Belief in the Mantle sealed our doom! Weakened our [protectorates], bred dependence and sloth. Our [so-called Guardianship] has stripped those we would keep safe of any capacity for self-defense!
Were we such noble [Guardians] when we drew our line and abandoned billions to the parasite? "
There was nothing to support the forerunners being benevolent peace keepers in CE or H2 either, they just aren’t enemenating evil like slapping skulls all over their robots.
eva pleases
> 2533274809721811;13:
> eva pleases
Are you talking about the Evangelions. If so, it would be cool to see something like that in Halo.
The guardian’s are cool but I feel like they would be easier to defeat than a forerunner fleet seeing as they were designed to intimidate and control not utterly destroy.
> 2533274963003387;15:
> The guardian’s are cool but I feel like they would be easier to defeat than a forerunner fleet seeing as they were designed to intimidate and control not utterly destroy.
Hard to destroy something when none of your electronics and technology are working. Planetary EMPS means no ships, MACs, hell I bet they even shut down Spartan armor.
I think that they serve a good purpose in that they give definition to what the Mantle of Responsibility actually is. It’ll be interesting to see the extent of their power. Obviously they shouldn’t be extinction-level weapons like the Halo Array, as elimination defeats the need for policing. If their ability is to, in fact, affect technology and electromagnetic fields (hence why they seem to have gravitational effects), then that’s pretty cool, and I wonder how that power will be used. Will Cortana send noncompliant to the stone age by destroying their technologies? It’s an interesting threat beyond simply just killing everyone.
I do wish that Guardians would have played a bigger roll in Halo 5, considering the game is named after them. But they are still cool, and yes I know that this is not a theory nor an answer.
Snowbound remake!!
> 2533274964189700;12:
> > 2533274964960316;8:
> > And you’re dream was to fight Forerunners who before 343’s retcon were peaceful beings who strived to ensure life’s survival by Halo Rings and even old structures in Halo 2 on Delta Halo with Halo 3 showing how The Forerunners wanted nothing more then for humanity to inherit their legacy.
> >
> > Now wanting to fight Forerunners prior retcon is dumb but add retcon we have a war between Humans and Forerunners everyone regarded as a mistake, and the only exception is the insane Ur-Didact who was made insane by The Gravemind as a unwilling weapon, so please seriously? That’s you’re dream conflict? Since CE?
>
>
> This is actually rather innacurate. The h3 terminals really just have humanity inheriting things being a last moment idea by the Librarian, and also mentions Forerunners were keeping other species down in order for them to protect them.
>
> "Can’t you see? Belief in the Mantle sealed our doom! Weakened our [protectorates], bred dependence and sloth. Our [so-called Guardianship] has stripped those we would keep safe of any capacity for self-defense!
>
> Were we such noble [Guardians] when we drew our line and abandoned billions to the parasite? "
>
> There was nothing to support the forerunners being benevolent peace keepers in CE or H2 either, they just aren’t enemenating evil like slapping skulls all over their robots.
Uh mate it wasn’t a last term decision if you realise how much emphasis they put on The Mantle now giving up their entire legacy would not take days it would take years and yes The Forerunners were clearly benevolent guardians why else not persevere thier own DNA instead of all other life or even make Halo a barren wasteland? Which btw is a Weapon so why make greenlands stretch the horizon? Why is thier architectural style simple and calm? Thier technology like Sentiels not appear more threatening? Why is thier musical themes cheerful, calming and simplistic even up to now? Because everything about The Forerunners is sentimental it’s why we like thier environments and technology, it’s why on Delta Halo Cortana comments that The Forerunners were protecting the older struchures and the music swells, in H3 Terminals the entire story is about The Forerunners mistakes in being zealous with their beliefs like The Mantle and making honest mistakes like The Line Installations in reality they didn’t just decide to let species die but we’re talking about everything is on the table even Halo, while The Forerunners have to let go and left life renew, the blatant example is Didact having to let go of his belief of The Mantle by firing The Halo Rings and letting new life renew by letting his Wife die, if you can’t tell that The Forerunners were flawed but graceful guardians by visual language, events, characters, musical cues and more in H:CE to H3 then what were you playing?