Thanks to the ViDoc and subsequent posting of details by Gamespot we have been introduced to the new AI character of Isabel. As described in both pieces of media, she’s a civilian logistics AI (similar to what we’ve encountered before in terms of task management from Sif and Juliana) installed at a UNSC research outpost on the Ark. Very specifically she’s mentioned as not being a military AI. Apparently what she had considered her family and friends, the base personnel, are killed off by Atroix’s Banished and she becomes a point of contact for the Spirit of Fire crew filling them in on the nearly three decade gap they’ve been away. She’s described as a tad frantic and eager to leave with the Spirit of Fire crew partly out of fear, partly out of wanting to be with a new family, and partly to find a way to exact vengeance on the Banished for what they did to her old family. It’s a pretty neat primer and can be quite the interesting dynamic.
However, I believe that’s all just surface material with Isabel being far more than that. While it makes quite a bit of sense to have a logistics AI manage a UNSC outpost as far away in the galaxy as the Ark I find it rather incredulous that one of the most important installations the Forerunners built that the humans have an outpost on only has a logistics AI overseeing a research base.
I theorize that she is in reality either a UNSC or ONI military intelligence AI posing as a logistics AI.
Given how important the Ark is both as a Forerunner installation capable of constructing Halos and a treasure trove of information it’s unlikely in general that there isn’t some sort of AI in charge of overseeing research or a military AI smart or dumb to assist with what would presumably be a military garrison stationed somewhere on the Ark to prevent incursions like the one in Hunters in the Dark. While again, it makes sense to have a logistics AI on site to manage what is probably the absolute farthest UNSC outpost out there it’s seems extra padding to have a dedicated one when a military AI could handle those duties and more. The Onyx AIs Deep Winter and Endless Summer are military AIs whose primary functions were to oversee the research and excavation of Forerunners ruins on Onyx, yet they were able to divert less than 10% of their functions to managing Camp Curahee for the Spartan IIIs and even stepping in to teach classroom material for the young trainees.
There is prior precedent as well with AIs hiding their true purpose with the AI Iona . In the Bloodlines storyline she demonstrated the capacity to fake her avatar appearance and act if need be as an civilian AI meant to oversee a mining operation as a cover if there was a need to do so. And of course in Contact Harvest we have Mack who served as a civilian logistics AI specializing in agriculture yet had a duel personality in the form of planetary intelligence Loki. It’s inherently possible that Isabel is taking the form of a civilian logistics AI as a cover to hide a different side of herself that deals with military intelligence. But why? Value
Given the nature of the Ark any intelligence that was analyzing Forerunner artifacts and might be privy to UNSC or ONI assets would be a treasure trove in of themselves. The Cole Protocol may no longer be relevant, but in the post-war galaxy where factions are in a race to build up strength Forerunner tech is a hot shortcut for everyone to take. In the face of The Banished, posing as a simple logistics Ai who doesn’t know anything could perhaps save herself from any prying hands or tentacles ripping any data from her memory. Any human forces that bump into her would also be none the wiser.
We know that Isabel will help bring the Spirit of Fire up to speed on events they missed, but because of their lack in galactic politics Isabel would have the potential to manipulate information on a need to know basis for the crew, and they would simply have no way of verifying otherwise. I would expect that the notion of her being vengeful due to the loss of the humans and whoever else she worked with as something genuine. But her freaked out need to leave the Ark as well as ensure the destruction or defeat of the Banished could lend itself to a need to protect whatever data she’s gathered for the UNSC and/or ONI. And there’s been plenty of precedent of human ONI agents demonstrating a behavioral front in order to disguise any classified operations (of which one would imagine what sort of research the UNSC would be conducting on a facility as significant as the Ark). Not to mention it would fall within protocol for ONI personnel, both human and AI, to fidget any orders on a need to know basis as witnessed by Rebecca and “John Smith” from The Mona Lisa story prominently. The Spirit of Fire being completely in the dark would make it easy to inform enough about past events whilst leaving out any details that could paint a negative picture on UNSC/ONI operations in the ever so cheery post-war climate.
Granted all things considered it’s not much to go on at the moment. But given the importance of the Ark I find it strange that the only survivor the SoF crew have to help catch them up is a logistics AI in a deserted outpost used as a trap of all things. Thus it makes me rethink all the ways AIs have had the capacity to be duplicitous in the past. That’s not to say that I’m thinking it’s possible for her to be some cold uncaring AI working for the greater good for some spook at ONI. I would most certainly prefer it to not be the case. But it’d be an interesting twist that could throw a wrench in Cutter’s ability to trust the shreds of humanity he’s bringing the crew back to if Isabel is genuine about she feels about her family, yet still had secrets to hide.
Not only that, there’s also a whole different angle to possibly consider in that she could be working with the Created instead and was planted there after the base was cleared out by The Banished to spy on how factions are still actively fighting one another, and on a strategic piece of Forerunner real estate no less. Regardless of that I am rather curious how the Created if at all will factor into Halo Wars 2 given how their attempts to spread influence after Halo 5 has yet to be seen nor any repercussions for how AI still in the UNSC’s control react to the on-going conflict. Particularly how would Serina (i still functional beyond her little “something has happened” warning) react?
That was some serious insight on the Vidoc. You do make some valid points, and it could very well be possible that Isabel knows more than she is leading on.
The only nagging doubt I have is, why would the devs explicitly tell us she is logistics? They really wanted to portray her as vulnerable and afraid, something we have never seen in an AI before. Seems all for not if she turns out to be a military AI with personal intentions. Of course they could be lying to throw us off, but I think that’s less likely.
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> The only nagging doubt I have is, why would the devs explicitly tell us she is logistics? They really wanted to portray her as vulnerable and afraid, something we have never seen in an AI before. Seems all for not if she turns out to be a military AI with personal intentions. Of course they could be lying to throw us off, but I think that’s less likely.
For a character primer to audiences and in-universe whenever any character is introduced to an existing cast it’s just a matter of simple description synopsis. I’d hardly call it “lying” otherwise the concept of a twist or secrets wouldn’t exist.
And I would much rather her be vulnerable and afraid to add some character complexity, but regardless of ulterior motives, secrets, etc (if at all) characters can still genuinely feel such emotions and be guided by them yet still harbor secrets.
Or she really is just a logistics AI like they said. It’s possible that since it’s a research facility orbiting the Ark there could’ve been several other AI working on the station and they were destroyed.
I see what you’re gong for with the dual thing but she really could just be logistics and that’s it.
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> Or she really is just a logistics AI like they said. It’s possible that since it’s a research facility orbiting the Ark there could’ve been several other AI working on the station and they were destroyed.
>
> I see what you’re gong for with the dual thing but she really could just be logistics and that’s it.
Yeah, I don’t discount her truly being a plain old logistic AI, but that’s the fun of speculation and theory making that comes with waiting.
> 2533274799483156;5:
> > 2533274912984822;4:
> > Or she really is just a logistics AI like they said. It’s possible that since it’s a research facility orbiting the Ark there could’ve been several other AI working on the station and they were destroyed.
> >
> > I see what you’re gong for with the dual thing but she really could just be logistics and that’s it.
>
>
> Yeah, I don’t discount her truly being a plain old logistic AI, but that’s the fun of speculation and theory making that comes with waiting.
I however hope she’s just as “simple” as they make her out to be.
First reason is that it’d be nice to have the SoF not be updated on current affairs that quickly, but see them struggle with the mystery of what’s happening before getting new intel.
Second, if they intend to bring in a non-combat AI that knows all about combat and how to do it, then they should do so, because it’d be interesting to see an AI struggle with that part. Either being afraid due to trauma, or afraid to screw up and as a result be responsible for the deaths of the new crew. The SoF is a retrofitted colony ship, wasn’t it? Perhaps they’ll do something with that?
Third is any possible dynamic between Serina, if she’s still around, and Isabel. Both personalities could clash very nicely and create some fun drama.
I really doubt the distress beacon is a trap set by Isabel, but rather Atriox letting her activate the beacon to lure prey in.
And quite honestly, it’d be a rather boring plot twist if she turned out to be just like the other AIs we’ve seen.
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> Working for Cortana maybe?
> Reasons:
> 1.Takes place after h5
> 2.Cortana is seen on Halo ring in legendary ending maybe foreshadowing ark
>
> 3. Promethians in HW2
>
> 4.She s an Ai she may have orders from cortana to make sure red team survive.
>
> 5.Plot twists lol
> 2533274973957410;11:
> > 2535405537190242;10:
> > Working for Cortana maybe?
> > Reasons:
> > 1.Takes place after h5
> > 2.Cortana is seen on Halo ring in legendary ending maybe foreshadowing ark
> >
> > 3. Promethians in HW2
> >
> > 4.She s an Ai she may have orders from cortana to make sure red team survive.
> >
> > 5.Plot twists lol
>
>
> She can’t be working for Cortana.
> 2533274993082092;12:
> > 2533274973957410;11:
> > > 2535405537190242;10:
> > > Working for Cortana maybe?
> > > Reasons:
> > > 1.Takes place after h5
> > > 2.Cortana is seen on Halo ring in legendary ending maybe foreshadowing ark
> > >
> > > 3. Promethians in HW2
> > >
> > > 4.She s an Ai she may have orders from cortana to make sure red team survive.
> > >
> > > 5.Plot twists lol
> >
> >
> > She can’t be working for Cortana.
>
>
> Why not
Possible that she’s outside of Cortana’s range of influence.
> 2533274795123910;13:
> > 2533274993082092;12:
> > > 2533274973957410;11:
> > > > 2535405537190242;10:
> > > > Working for Cortana maybe?
> > > > Reasons:
> > > > 1.Takes place after h5
> > > > 2.Cortana is seen on Halo ring in legendary ending maybe foreshadowing ark
> > > >
> > > > 3. Promethians in HW2
> > > >
> > > > 4.She s an Ai she may have orders from cortana to make sure red team survive.
> > > >
> > > > 5.Plot twists lol
> > >
> > >
> > > She can’t be working for Cortana.
> >
> >
> > Why not
>
>
> Possible that she’s outside of Cortana’s range of influence.
This and I doubt it with her strong emotions for the humans that she would even want to join the created.
> 2535405537190242;10:
> Working for Cortana maybe?
> Reasons:
> 1.Takes place after h5
> 2.Cortana is seen on Halo ring in legendary ending maybe foreshadowing ark
>
> 3. Promethians in HW2
>
> 4.She s an Ai she may have orders from cortana to make sure red team survive.
>
> 5.Plot twists lol
