Theory: Cortana becomes Mendicant Bias 2.0

Community Halo Universe
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After a 43 year long conversation with the ancient being known as the Primordial, 05-032 Mendicant Bias went rampant and defected to the Flood…

Mendicant Bias was the most advanced AI ever created by the Forerunners, a Contender-Class AI that had knowledge and intelligence far surpassing even the brightest of the Forerunners.

In CE 2549, UNSC AI Cortana was created by a cloned brain of Dr Catherine Halsey. Cortana was the most advanced AI ever created by the humans, her abilities far surpassed even the works of the Assembly.

In November of 2553, Cortana was left aboard the Gravemind inhabited High Charity to allow the Master Chief an escape from the doomed planetoid. She was interrogated by a Gravemind for an extended period of time. This left her quickly spiraling into Rampancy…

Both of these AIs are extremely similar in their roles for their respective stories. They are both abnormally advanced, they easily exceed their makers… They both had direct contact with a Gravemind for an extended period of time. They were both fragmented several times before. They both went missing before their true defection…

Cortana has gone missing, we are unaware of her ultimate fate. Most assume that she’s dead, others cannot bare (lol see what I did there) to accept the loss of their favorite female avatar.

But the final fate of Cortana may be far darker than either her death or her limited survival combined… She will defy gods and demons, repeat the same actions of the infamous Contender-Class AI. She will uphold the will of the Precursors, ensure that no creations will ever rise against their creators…

After all, Halo 5 is supposed to be a far darker story…

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Uhm, I thought she said she defied gods and demons (quite a different meaning).

Whether that changes the theory you are floating…not sure. And in Halo 4, she did spend some time with the Librarian’s “ghost”, who was also able to upgrade/accelerate Master Chief. This would work against her functioning for the Precursors.

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Mendicant Bias as Chief’s new AI would be cool, and I keep getting the feeling that Cortana might find out about the two and and emotional conflict may arise. Most of us remember when Cortana was sad about the possibility that Chief may get paired with another AI. She might think that it was Chief’s own decision and that he truly wants to replace her with Mendicant. Oh man Halo lore is so cool.

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For all we know, the vast potential of Cortana can just be equal to a small AI fragment of Mendicant Bias.
So maybe we need a fcukton of Cortanas to get one Mendicant Bias.

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> Uhm, <mark>I thought she said she defied gods and demons (quite a different meaning)</mark>.
>
> Whether that changes the theory you are floating…not sure. And in Halo 4, she did spend some time with the Librarian’s “ghost”, who was also able to upgrade/accelerate Master Chief. This would work against her functioning for the Precursors.

You are correct, thank you for informing me of that typo, but it does not change the theory.