> In an effort to search for a quote that anton so desperately needed me to surface, I was sidetracked, like usual. I came across very interesting information regarding the Timeless One. TO is not who it says it is, as Greg Bear hinted at. The Timeless One is not the last Precursor. It was created by the Precursors, possibly one gone wrong. Have a look at these quotes from Halo: Cryptum.
> “Or was it something manufactured by the Precursors- possibly a strange, distorted sibling of both Forerunners and (the Didact was reluctant to consider this) humans? Precursor sibling, or ancestor to … what?”-pg. 276
> “The cell contained, in temporal suspension, a genuine monster: a large creature with an overall anatomy like a grossly misshapen human…”-pg. 277
> “They are out there, waiting…Thousands of years wasted!The solution was lost, Father…Lost!If what the Old Ones made is loose…”-pg. 138
>
> If you look at the quotes from the passage it implies the Timeless One is actually part machine. Kind of like the Engineers that the Forerunners crafted. This also makes a lot of sense regarding how the Timeless One survived the firing of Halo, the Gravemind’s ability to successfully control Installation 05’s teleportation grid, and Gravemind’s ability to hack into Cortana in ‘Human Weakness’, considering Gravemind is the Timeless One. And the Timeless One, well… It could very well be…
Well you have a typo its not “…Precursor sibling…” it’s “…Precursor**,** sibling…” That comma makes a big difference.
Also there is this quote from the novel,
“We meet again, young one. I am the last of those who gave you breath and shape and form, millions of years ago. I am the last of those your kind rose up against and ruthlessly destroyed. I am the last Precursor. And our answer is at hand.”
—The Timeless One speaking to the Didact. http://www.halopedian.com/The_Timeless_One
> What if the precursor was in the domain and the flood can access the domain?
Lets stick to cold hard evidence shall we, in this case you have none. I on the other hand may.
pg.208
> “They are about to give it powers it never had before. Just as they did ages ago. Those who are ignorant of history are doomed to repeat it.” I thought I recognized whomever or whatever had deposited this message, but could not place the memory. It was not the Didact that was certain it might not have even been a forerunner.
This was during Bornstellars fall to the San’shyuum homeworld. Perhaps it came from the Domain as he thought he was accessing it moments prior. It may also be the neural physics of the precursor.
> > In an effort to search for a quote that anton so desperately needed me to surface, I was sidetracked, like usual. I came across very interesting information regarding the Timeless One. TO is not who it says it is, as Greg Bear hinted at. The Timeless One is not the last Precursor. It was created by the Precursors, possibly one gone wrong. Have a look at these quotes from Halo: Cryptum.
> > “Or was it something manufactured by the Precursors- possibly a strange, distorted sibling of both Forerunners and (the Didact was reluctant to consider this) humans? Precursor sibling, or ancestor to … what?”-pg. 276
> > “The cell contained, in temporal suspension, a genuine monster: a large creature with an overall anatomy like a grossly misshapen human…”-pg. 277
> > “They are out there, waiting…Thousands of years wasted!The solution was lost, Father…Lost!If what the Old Ones made is loose…”-pg. 138
> >
> > If you look at the quotes from the passage it implies the Timeless One is actually part machine. Kind of like the Engineers that the Forerunners crafted. This also makes a lot of sense regarding how the Timeless One survived the firing of Halo, the Gravemind’s ability to successfully control Installation 05’s teleportation grid, and Gravemind’s ability to hack into Cortana in ‘Human Weakness’, considering Gravemind is the Timeless One. And the Timeless One, well… It could very well be…
>
> Well you have a typo its not “…Precursor sibling…” it’s “…Precursor**,** sibling…” That comma makes a big difference.
>
>
> Also there is this quote from the novel,
> “We meet again, young one. I am the last of those who gave you breath and shape and form, millions of years ago. I am the last of those your kind rose up against and ruthlessly destroyed. I am the last Precursor. And our answer is at hand.”
> —The Timeless One speaking to the Didact.
> NameBright - Coming Soon
>
> Kind of makes him a precursor doesn’t it.
Not exactly. Think about what 343GS says…“you’re inheritor of all they left behind, you ARE Forrunner”, but we know that humans are the spiritual succesors to the Forrunners. Maybe that is what TO is to the Precursors…their designated succesor.
I am the Lord Jesus Christ. Must be true because I said so right? No, and just because he referred to himself as the Last Precursor doesn’t mean he really is. The Didact and his children theorized that he might be some kind of construct and creation of the Precursors but I don’t think they truly believed it could be an actual Precursor. Even the synopsis for Primordium refers to him as the “supposed last Precursor”.
> This mirrored composite is interesting:
> http://www.halopedian.com/images/thumb/b/b9/Ancientthreatmirror.jpg/640px-Ancientthreatmirror.jpg
>
> The head fits this description:
> Precursors are described as “very large”, with 4 upper limbs and 2 legs. Also having an “ugly head shaped like arthropods” - like spiders or crabs - they have oval, faceted slanted eyes and a “flat face”. Coming from the back of the head is a long tail with a 2 meter barb coming out of it. Whether this is the way all Precursors look has yet to be revealed, but this is the way the prisoner on a Pre-Human world is described.
>
> “Each hand had three fingers and a central opposable thumb”.
>
> “The face of a Precursor has been likened to that of a eurypterid, or “sea scorpion,” a creature that the Precursors had allegedly seeded on a number of planets. Their heads were flattened, with oval compound eyes and (presumably) mandibles or similar mouth parts.”
>
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eurypterid
>
> Note that the Eurypterid’s head is very similar to what we appear to see in the composite picture. The hands, too, fit the description. The interesting thing is the “mechanical armour”, which maybe suggests TO may not be a true Precursor (or maybe, like the Forerunner’s the Precursor’s wore armour).
>
> This brings me to another theory, that the Forerunner’s armour, and their habit of wearing it, derives from their uprising against the Precursors, the armour being used as a means to shield themselves from the neural control/power of the Precursors.
I honestly excepted Precursors to have a much different appearance rather than a sea scorpion/humanoid. As I stated in the first page of this post “The Timeless one” is a creation by Precursors to do their work. But even the Timeless one has a different opinion on what to do. As for your view of the Halo 4 concept art trailer ending, I also said that the Precursor may be a bit mechanical. What we saw in the trailer may have been a [replacement] for the flood or just the head of the TO.
I’m starting to think now, that it may be the gravemind. Still not 100%. Or at least some form of flood.
The Didact is doubting whether it is actually a Precursor, since Human technology was able to penetrate through the ‘Precursors’. Since Humans were less advanced, shouldn’t have been possible. Unless that is, that the Timeless One isn’t a precursor at all.
Maybe just a being that is virtually immortal, through actual precursor technology, therefore having lived a long time was able to aquire it’s own mass of intelligence. Even insight to the real history behind the precursor-forerunner war and human-flood war.
> I’m starting to think now, that it may be the gravemind. Still not 100%. Or at least some form of flood.
>
> The Didact is doubting whether it is actually a Precursor, since Human technology was able to penetrate through the ‘Precursors’. Since Humans were less advanced, shouldn’t have been possible. Unless that is, that the Timeless One isn’t a precursor at all.
>
> Maybe just a being that is virtually immortal, through actual precursor technology, therefore having lived a long time was able to aquire it’s own mass of intelligence. Even insight to the real history behind the precursor-forerunner war and human-flood war.
>
> Maybe the Flood consumed the Precursors too…
So the flood were Precursors to the Precursors. Then what are the Precursors of the Precursors of the Precursors… anyway your statement would be false. The Flood are adopted Tier 2 as shown in the Bestiarium (But then again the Bestiarium can be changed at any moment). If your statement would be true at all, than how come humans were able to defeat the flood and the Precursors weren’t?
Humans are capable of an unexcelled brilliance as shown in Charum Hakkor. Anyway each civilization is more superior in one subject than another civilization. An example being covenant have more advanced weapons and defense than humans, yet humans are better an artificial intelligence than the covenant. This shows that different species are superior in certain subjects and fields of science.
Funny, I thought the exact same thing on my third read through Cryptum. This lead me to believe the Primordial, if he was telling the truth, could possibly be a machine/Precursor hybrid, the yin-yang to life itself, the major theme in Halo. Born from goodness, but through experimentation, built with evil.
> > I’m starting to think now, that it may be the gravemind. Still not 100%. Or at least some form of flood.
> >
> > The Didact is doubting whether it is actually a Precursor, since Human technology was able to penetrate through the ‘Precursors’. Since Humans were less advanced, shouldn’t have been possible. Unless that is, that the Timeless One isn’t a precursor at all.
> >
> > Maybe just a being that is virtually immortal, through actual precursor technology, therefore having lived a long time was able to aquire it’s own mass of intelligence. Even insight to the real history behind the precursor-forerunner war and human-flood war.
> >
> > Maybe the Flood consumed the Precursors too…
>
> So the flood were Precursors to the Precursors. Then what are the Precursors of the Precursors of the Precursors… anyway your statement would be false. The Flood are adopted Tier 2 as shown in the Bestiarium (But then again the Bestiarium can be changed at any moment). If your statement would be true at all, than how come humans were able to defeat the flood and the Precursors weren’t?
>
> Humans are capable of an unexcelled brilliance as shown in Charum Hakkor. Anyway each civilization is more superior in one subject than another civilization. An example being covenant have more advanced weapons and defense than humans, yet humans are better an artificial intelligence than the covenant. This shows that different species are superior in certain subjects and fields of science.
I agree here. I still hold to the belief that the Primordial created the Flood, which is why he was imprisoned in a Precursor prison for crimes against life.
I do not believe the Precursors as a whole are evil/antagonists however.
> > > I’m starting to think now, that it may be the gravemind. Still not 100%. Or at least some form of flood.
> > >
> > > The Didact is doubting whether it is actually a Precursor, since Human technology was able to penetrate through the ‘Precursors’. Since Humans were less advanced, shouldn’t have been possible. Unless that is, that the Timeless One isn’t a precursor at all.
> > >
> > > Maybe just a being that is virtually immortal, through actual precursor technology, therefore having lived a long time was able to aquire it’s own mass of intelligence. Even insight to the real history behind the precursor-forerunner war and human-flood war.
> > >
> > > Maybe the Flood consumed the Precursors too…
> >
> > So the flood were Precursors to the Precursors. Then what are the Precursors of the Precursors of the Precursors… anyway your statement would be false. The Flood are adopted Tier 2 as shown in the Bestiarium (But then again the Bestiarium can be changed at any moment). If your statement would be true at all, than how come humans were able to defeat the flood and the Precursors weren’t?
> >
> > Humans are capable of an unexcelled brilliance as shown in Charum Hakkor. Anyway each civilization is more superior in one subject than another civilization. An example being covenant have more advanced weapons and defense than humans, yet humans are better an artificial intelligence than the covenant. This shows that different species are superior in certain subjects and fields of science.
>
> I agree here. I still hold to the belief that the Primordial created the Flood, which is why he was imprisoned in a Precursor prison for crimes against life.
>
> I do not believe the Precursors as a whole are evil/antagonists however.
I don’t believe so either, why would they destroy everything their own creations.
> This mirrored composite is interesting:
> http://www.halopedian.com/images/thumb/b/b9/Ancientthreatmirror.jpg/640px-Ancientthreatmirror.jpg
>
> The head fits this description:
> Precursors are described as “very large”, with 4 upper limbs and 2 legs. Also having an “ugly head shaped like arthropods” - like spiders or crabs - they have oval, faceted slanted eyes and a “flat face”. Coming from the back of the head is a long tail with a 2 meter barb coming out of it. Whether this is the way all Precursors look has yet to be revealed, but this is the way the prisoner on a Pre-Human world is described.
>
> “Each hand had three fingers and a central opposable thumb”.
>
> “The face of a Precursor has been likened to that of a eurypterid, or “sea scorpion,” a creature that the Precursors had allegedly seeded on a number of planets. Their heads were flattened, with oval compound eyes and (presumably) mandibles or similar mouth parts.”
>
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eurypterid
>
> Note that the Eurypterid’s head is very similar to what we appear to see in the composite picture. The hands, too, fit the description. The interesting thing is the “mechanical armour”, which maybe suggests TO may not be a true Precursor (or maybe, like the Forerunner’s the Precursor’s wore armour).
>
> This brings me to another theory, that the Forerunner’s armour, and their habit of wearing it, derives from their uprising against the Precursors, the armour being used as a means to shield themselves from the neural control/power of the Precursors.
Nice theory BUT: “We meet again, young one. I am the last of those who gave you breath and shape and form, millions of years ago. I am the last of those your kind rose up against and ruthlessly destroyed. I am the last Precursor. And our answer is at hand.”
> > In an effort to search for a quote that anton so desperately needed me to surface, I was sidetracked, like usual. I came across very interesting information regarding the Timeless One. TO is not who it says it is, as Greg Bear hinted at. The Timeless One is not the last Precursor. It was created by the Precursors, possibly one gone wrong. Have a look at these quotes from Halo: Cryptum.
> > “Or was it something manufactured by the Precursors- possibly a strange, distorted sibling of both Forerunners and (the Didact was reluctant to consider this) humans? Precursor sibling, or ancestor to … what?”-pg. 276
> > “The cell contained, in temporal suspension, a genuine monster: a large creature with an overall anatomy like a grossly misshapen human…”-pg. 277
> > “They are out there, waiting…Thousands of years wasted!The solution was lost, Father…Lost!If what the Old Ones made is loose…”-pg. 138
> >
> > If you look at the quotes from the passage it implies the Timeless One is actually part machine. Kind of like the Engineers that the Forerunners crafted. This also makes a lot of sense regarding how the Timeless One survived the firing of Halo, the Gravemind’s ability to successfully control Installation 05’s teleportation grid, and Gravemind’s ability to hack into Cortana in ‘Human Weakness’, considering Gravemind is the Timeless One. And the Timeless One, well… It could very well be…
>
> It’s all just speculation on the Didact’s part but I still think he’s right. Primordium calls this into question as well when the descriptions says “This journey will take them into the Palace of Pain, the domain of a powerful and monstrous intelligence who claims to be the Last Precursor, and who now has control of both this Halo and the fate of Forerunners and Humans alike.”
>
> I don’t necessarily believe that that last picture is the Timeless One however. I believe that the Timeless One is the master of the Flood and the Gravemind is nothing more than a conduit through which the Timeless One speaks. At the End of Halo 3 the Flood were brought back under control. The Gravemind was killed as well as his forces and although Flood still exist in research facilities and what not, they’re still now contained and no longer a threat.
>
> This leads me to believe that if the Timeless One used the Graveminds as a voice, then he himself is hiding somewhere and we are going to be teaming up with the Forerunner to find him. But since the Flood are no longer a threat, the Timeless One must now use a different puppet species as his army and the Creature/Machine/Thing we see in that picture is now that puppet enemy which replaces the Flood.
OT: I hope the Timeless One (if he’s ancient enemy or a puppeteer of Gravemind) can shift between states of matter like how Flood Pure Forms can change forms in any order. That would make it quite difficult to defeat him. It would also give an incentive for an ice gun!!
The Timeless One was discovered by the Humans in a pod I thought. But you could very well be right. But remember, not only did he survive the final activation of the Halo array by the Forerunners, he survived the Halo test fire on the planet adjacent to Charum Hakkor: which inevitibly destroyed all of the technology on Charum Hakkor- which was a Precursor hub planet before the Forerunner/Precursor war… but not the Timeless One.
> > > In an effort to search for a quote that anton so desperately needed me to surface, I was sidetracked, like usual. I came across very interesting information regarding the Timeless One. TO is not who it says it is, as Greg Bear hinted at. The Timeless One is not the last Precursor. It was created by the Precursors, possibly one gone wrong. Have a look at these quotes from Halo: Cryptum.
> > > “Or was it something manufactured by the Precursors- possibly a strange, distorted sibling of both Forerunners and (the Didact was reluctant to consider this) humans? Precursor sibling, or ancestor to … what?”-pg. 276
> > > “The cell contained, in temporal suspension, a genuine monster: a large creature with an overall anatomy like a grossly misshapen human…”-pg. 277
> > > “They are out there, waiting…Thousands of years wasted!The solution was lost, Father…Lost!If what the Old Ones made is loose…”-pg. 138
> > >
> > > If you look at the quotes from the passage it implies the Timeless One is actually part machine. Kind of like the Engineers that the Forerunners crafted. This also makes a lot of sense regarding how the Timeless One survived the firing of Halo, the Gravemind’s ability to successfully control Installation 05’s teleportation grid, and Gravemind’s ability to hack into Cortana in ‘Human Weakness’, considering Gravemind is the Timeless One. And the Timeless One, well… It could very well be…
> >
> > It’s all just speculation on the Didact’s part but I still think he’s right. Primordium calls this into question as well when the descriptions says “This journey will take them into the Palace of Pain, the domain of a powerful and monstrous intelligence who claims to be the Last Precursor, and who now has control of both this Halo and the fate of Forerunners and Humans alike.”
> >
> > I don’t necessarily believe that that last picture is the Timeless One however. I believe that the Timeless One is the master of the Flood and the Gravemind is nothing more than a conduit through which the Timeless One speaks. At the End of Halo 3 the Flood were brought back under control. The Gravemind was killed as well as his forces and although Flood still exist in research facilities and what not, they’re still now contained and no longer a threat.
> >
> > This leads me to believe that if the Timeless One used the Graveminds as a voice, then he himself is hiding somewhere and we are going to be teaming up with the Forerunner to find him. But since the Flood are no longer a threat, the Timeless One must now use a different puppet species as his army and the Creature/Machine/Thing we see in that picture is now that puppet enemy which replaces the Flood.
>
> This sounds delicious!
>
> Gravemind does resemble a meat puppet, literally. xD
>
> OT: I hope the Timeless One (if he’s ancient enemy or a puppeteer of Gravemind) can shift between states of matter like how Flood Pure Forms can change forms in any order. That would make it quite difficult to defeat him. It would also give an incentive for an ice gun!!
I don’t think the flood would like to be thrown away like puppets (even though they are) Lol, next thing you know the flood rebel because they are being replaced and start helping MC to ensure their own survival.
> This would mean that the “Timeless One” was the plan of vengeance against the Forerunners. He was locked up in Charrum Hakkor with all those security measures because the Precursors didn’t want the Forerunners to kill it. But once that halo ring was activated he escaped his stasis field to the workings of the Precursors. If he is mechanical than it would explain why he was in that capsule for millions of years without getting hungry or requiring some sort of substance to eat.
And too continue this, I just realized that we forgot all about Cortana, whats her roll in all of this. Will the Timeless one successfully assimilate Cortana and use her as a secret weapon against Spartan - 117? (Do not forget that the Gravemind talks as if it was an A.I. Explaining yet another reason for why the “TO” is a mechanical being) Find out next time on “Thoughts about Halo 4.”
Edit: Could Mendicant Bias purposely rig the portal so the Master Chief would be sent to the “Mysterious Planet” to kill the Timeless One.
The precursors are theoretical transentient beings, i do not believe that the TO is a gravemind, especially after the physical description we recieved in cryptum. Maybe the precursors transentient nature explains the TO’s ability to controll the flood?
