Apologies if these points have been mentioned before. The contents of the trailer have been analysed to death, but it seems that a lot of the important symbolism has gone unnoticed.
The construct mirrors Cthulhu. It took half a year to notice this, but the construct has tendrils or tentacles (excuse the vocabulary) coming down from its “mouth”. This, as well as its scale, wings, insectoid head, etc., give it a striking resemblance to our favourite Great Old One. If we’re to assume it’s Mendicant Bias, you could make a connection between his imprisonment under the sands and Cthulhu’s slumber at R’lyeh under the Pacific. It also seems that the Primordial - the “Timeless One” (note similarity to “Old One”) - was inspired by Lovecraft’s mythos. Taking all this into account, it makes sense that Halo Xbox One is said to be the “dark” chapter of the saga.
The Chief isn’t wearing a poncho - he’s wearing a mantle, a piece of clothing worn between the 12th and 16th centuries. Of course, the Mantle is the Precursors’ and Forerunners’ self-imposed responsibility for the other races of the galaxy due to their position as the dominant species - the Chief’s mantle represents humanity’s future as the “Reclaimers” of the Mantle. Thanks to TheNerdyOne_ on the /r/halo subreddit for pointing this out.
I can’t believe how much this has been ignored, but the Halo Xbox One trailer quite clearly mirrors the Halo 3 trailer. With this, I think 343 is going out of their way to say, “we’re trying to go back to Halo’s roots, and we want to make Halo 5 a classic, conservative Halo title”. This is by far the most important thing I got from the trailer, and I think we should be seriously hopeful.
Seems coincidental to me. I don’t find it plausible that 343i went out of their way to design the being in the video to look like Cthulhu. For what purpose?
Interesting. O’Connor confirmed that Chief is “deliberately masking his appearance,” so a purpose exists for the clothing. The name may just be a coincidence.
> 1. Seems coincidental to me. <mark>I don’t find it plausible that 343i went out of their way to design the being in the video to look like Cthulhu. For what purpose?</mark>
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> 2. Interesting. O’Connor confirmed that Chief is “deliberately masking his appearance,” so a purpose exists for the clothing. <mark>The name may just be a coincidence.</mark>
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> 3. I’ve pointed that out before, but I have no idea how we could possibly draw any conclusions from it.
For the purpose of giving Mendicant Bias an appearance that relates him to a being of myth with many similarities. Happens all the time in all forms of media.
And as for the Chief’s “Mantle”, It seems unlikely that it’s just a coincidence. Especially considering the importance of the Mantle in the future of Halo’s story.
But then again, it could just be fans overanalyzing things. We’ll find out soon enough.
> 3. I can’t believe how much this has been ignored, but the Halo Xbox One trailer quite clearly mirrors the Halo 3 trailer. With this, I think 343 is going out of their way to say, “we’re trying to go back to Halo’s roots, and we want to make Halo 5 a classic, conservative Halo title”. This is by far the most important thing I got from the trailer, and I think we should be seriously hopeful.
I have my doubts about this one. How could a mere teaser trailer “symbolise Halo going back to its roots”? Especially regarding the MP aspect? Halo 4 mirrored CE’s campaign extensively, did Halo return to its roots then? No. I have no doubts that the story for Halo 5 will be phenomenal, but i’ll have to physically wait and see the MP when it comes out, in order to judge.
> For the purpose of giving Mendicant Bias an appearance that relates him to a being of myth with many similarities. Happens all the time in all forms of media.
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> And as for the Chief’s “Mantle”, It seems unlikely that it’s just a coincidence. Especially considering the importance of the Mantle in the future of Halo’s story.
I think even calling the figure “Mendicant Bias” is too forward. The figure could be something that we don’t even know about yet.
And this picture shows that Chief’s cloak looks nothing like a mantle.
