Halo Wars 2 and the Infinite teaser haven’t really explained the Banished hostility towards humanity. On the Ark they go out of their way to kill all humans they find and in Infinite talk about the species “Brazen defiance” and how humanity will burn.
This kind of doesn’t make sense considering the factions backstory. They don’t believe in the Covenant religion and their whole deal is that they’re a warrior brotherhood of strength. It was all about them standing up and getting their freedom. So going after humanity for genocide doesn’t add up. This isn’t just about conquering humanity or forcing them to join the Banished.
I think the reason they want to destroy humanity is tied to Cortana and the AI. You can only create a Smart AI from a human. Anyone of those AI can gain control over powerful forerunner technology which they can and have used to subjugate the galaxy. So, from the Banished perspective, the only way to end this Reclaimer threat to their freedom is by not only destroying the Created but also the humans from which another Smart AI could be made. As long as a single human lives you could create another AI and that’s a threat the Banished can’t ignore.
I fully agree. I really want the Banished to go “woah forced peace?! Nah freedom pls” and fight with us. Maybe not immediately. Maybe at first they think because cortana is a human made AI they think humans are the ones releasing the Guardians.
Side note I wouldn’t say you can only make a Smart AI from a Human, I think it’s just on the lines that humans are the only ones to go do it
One of my friends brought up a similar theory about the Banished linking the Created to Humanity. Nice to see others have similar perspectives. Then again, great minds think alike.
In the banished teaser the voice mentions being “his legacy” which leads me to believe that the banished forces within the galaxy think Atriox to be dead. While the banished are well organized and have goals unrelated to humanity, I feel like those could be easily distracted from by the assumed deathodeath their symbol of a leader.
I think it’s stemming from them believing that humanity killed Atriox when he arrived at the ark since they haven’t heard from him in years. Atriox meant a lot to the banished and to lose him to the humans would certainly make a lot of high ranking officials commit to wiping out humanity, not to mention that humanity is also the reason why the galaxy is being overrun by prometheans controlled by an ai created by humans.
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> I think it’s stemming from them believing that humanity killed Atriox when he arrived at the ark since they haven’t heard from him in years. Atriox meant a lot to the banished and to lose him to the humans would certainly make a lot of high ranking officials commit to wiping out humanity, not to mention that humanity is also the reason why the galaxy is being overrun by prometheans controlled by an ai created by humans.
I think when they say they’re his legacy is because that Banished army is on a suicide run. There plan is to move the ring into human space and tactical pulse it. So in death they would be Atriox’s legacy to the galaxy.
I mean, Atriox is in the one place the Halo array firing won’t impact him.
Yeah I think they might run with the idea that rampant Cortana is a Rogue Servitor trying to save organic life. But just puts a massive target on humanity as well as disarming them so they can’t protect themselves. Whilst she is unable to protect them because:
If she’s just a rampant fragment she’s not at 100 percent. A blind Titan fumbling in the dark to protect ants.
She’ll be too preoccupied keeping humanity down to deal with threats like Atriox or the Flood. Ruling the galaxy actually makes protecting it harder.
That or Atriox just hammer timed the Domain before the game starts. That is also a possibility although that’s not a soft reboot.
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> > 2533274837760922;5:
> > I think it’s stemming from them believing that humanity killed Atriox when he arrived at the ark since they haven’t heard from him in years. Atriox meant a lot to the banished and to lose him to the humans would certainly make a lot of high ranking officials commit to wiping out humanity, not to mention that humanity is also the reason why the galaxy is being overrun by prometheans controlled by an ai created by humans.
>
> I think when they say they’re his legacy is because that Banished army is on a suicide run. There plan is to move the ring into human space and tactical pulse it. So in death they would be Atriox’s legacy to the galaxy.
>
> I mean, Atriox is in the one place the Halo array firing won’t impact him.
>
> Yeah I think they might run with the idea that rampant Cortana is a Rogue Servitor trying to save organic life. But just puts a massive target on humanity as well as disarming them so they can’t protect themselves. Whilst she is unable to protect them because:
>
> 1) If she’s just a rampant fragment she’s not at 100 percent. A blind Titan fumbling in the dark to protect ants.
>
> 2) She’ll be too preoccupied keeping humanity down to deal with threats like Atriox or the Flood. Ruling the galaxy actually makes protecting it harder.
>
> That or Atriox just hammer timed the Domain before the game starts. That is also a possibility although that’s not a soft reboot.
The Banished have no reason to chase the ring and light it for no reason other than to do a galactic suicide bomb and aren’t the type to give up other options so easily, the last thing they would want is to give the Covenant and it’s remnants what they wanted. I think they took the ring as a bluff aimed at Cortana to get her to leave them out of her galactic domination plan by having the ability to wipe out all life within 25,000 light years which ended up failing because Cortana decided to cripple the ring with a guardian. Maybe humanity had a similar idea but because the Banished believe that Atriox is dead and was potentially killed by humans they decided to take the ring for themselves instead of helping the humans with their goal.
Your theory gives the Banished a little room to be “moral gray area” villains, at least from my perspective. They see humanity as a real threat to their own autonomy, one that may have a fair bit of justification.
Humanity always pushes the limits of what they can do, even to the blatant point of doctor Halsey straight up experimenting on stolen children. She made extremely powerful warriors, but at what cost? These human solider are not only a massive threat to any enemy they face, but their psyche could even turn to be a threat to themselves.
We really don’t have a solid checks and balances for our sciences, (despite some human rights laws) thus things like Cortana Ai overlords are possible if we make them smart enough. It can even be by complete accident.
If I were Atriox, I’d definitely be afraid of giving these unrestricted geniuses all that power and technology. This could be an actual legitimate justification for us being a target, not just a crusade like the covenant pretty much did.
I think this theory is really good and could be spot on. It gives the Banished a logical reason to hate and fight humanity.
going off on a tangent…
If the banished were to control the ring, they’d be a threat to both UNSC and the Created. The Domain is the only thing keeping the Created alive, a tactical pulse over Maethrillian could destabilize/destroy the Domain, killing the A.I’s “life blood” and wipe them out. This could be a driving force behind a potential temporary alliance between the UNSC and banished as well.
The destruction and potential repairing of the domain using a Human mind (like how the Forerunners did) may be Halo’s endgame.
I have a similar theory to yours, the banished want to destroy humanity because they believe they are in control of the guardians, and the created My reasoning is follows:
Near-enough every human colony is under created control, or all are. - The insurrectionists in Bad Blood blamed the UEG and wanted them to handle it. It wouldn’t be too far’fetched for them to of originally believed that the UEG were in control. - The Created’s mantle goes against everything the banished fight. - They are Human AI’s in control, not covenant, and not forerunnerAlso I think that you can create smart AI’s without Humans, the Forerunners did.
The whole Banished thing started because Atriox was tired of the Prophets sending his men into UNSC front lines as battery rams. They suffered great losses all the time because the Prophets just saw them as disposable.
That’s why Atriox and the Banished rebelled against the Covenant. That’s why they hate humans.*
It’s actually partly in a Halo Wars 2 cinematic (transcript) and part of it is explained in the graphic novel about Atriox.
Even if Atriox himself doesn’t actually hate humanity. He actually offered peace once.
I always figured that Atriox didn’t see much difference in humanity and the covenant with considering them both killing his men (not thinking about the UNSC just protecting themselves from an enemy alien species)
The Banished being genocidal against humanity would be a nonsensical retcon that ruins them. All we can do is hope that this isn’t truly the case in Halo Infinite.
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> I don’t think brutes need much of a motivation to go and kill.
The Brutes should be killing Elites too then.
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> The whole Banished thing started because Atriox was tired of the Prophets sending his men into UNSC front lines as battery rams. They suffered great losses all the time because the Prophets just saw them as disposable.
>
> That’s why Atriox and the Banished rebelled against the Covenant. That’s why they hate humans.*
>
> It’s actually partly in a Halo Wars 2 cinematic (transcript) and part of it is explained in the graphic novel about Atriox.
>
> * Even if Atriox himself doesn’t actually hate humanity. He actually offered peace once.
This is incorrect. Atriox never blamed humans for defending themselves in the war, he also saw them as fodder of the Covenant’s pointless war just like his brothers were.
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> I always figured that Atriox didn’t see much difference in humanity and the covenant with considering them both killing his men (not thinking about the UNSC just protecting themselves from an enemy alien species)
False. Atriox had no malice towards humans defending themselves. He knew the UNSC was just protecting themselves as fodder in a pointless war. He only blamed the Covenant.
