Was the Januc Key the only map to Forerunner Tech?

Community Halo Universe
1

The Janus Key was a very interesting item that was introduced into Halo 4: Spartan Ops, I thought that this was a fantastic thing to add to the game and would give both sides, Jul 'Mdama’s Covenant and the UNSC, something to actually fight about. But as we know, the story was completely glossed over in Halo 5, because a comic had been written about it.

The comic basically told the story of what Halsey and Jul did with the Janus Key - at the end the Key was destroyed by a Forerunner AI that deemed that Halsey was not suitable to have it.This could have been used in a much better way, but my main questions is, is there another Janus Key? Or something, or somewhere that you can find or access another map? I know that Halo has the mysterious element when a new Forerunner place is found, but it would be cool to have a map to follow, to explore new Forerunner locations, instead of just ‘bumping into them in space’.

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If any “record” of everything built by the Forerunners existed besides the Janus Key. It would be found on the capital of Maethrillian which we know survived, albeit was heavily damaged by the end of the Forerunner-Flood War. Think about it, from what we know Maethrillian was one of the oldest structures ever built and housed trillions of ancillas. The amount of information passing through Maethrillian must have been endless and we haven’t even considered the fact that the Domain’s Artificial Intelligence Abaddon was imprisoned in Maethrillian. Bottom line the Janus Key is stupid IMO and if 343i really wanted to go the route of Forerunner Records, Maethrillian would have been a better choice IMO.

3

There was also the Forerunner artifact located on Sigma Octanus, which had the coordinates for Installation 04 (aka Alpha Halo) and the Forerunner ship beneath Reach clearly had navigational data that Cortana used to get the Pillar of Autumn to Installation 04. There is/was the large cartographer facility beneath Harvest that pointed out the locations of Forerunner installations on other planets, such as Arcadia and the Shield World in Halo Wars.

Plenty of maps out there, 343i just doesn’t know what it is doing Halo so it forgets it has all these resources and has to dumb it all down to a plot device like the Janus Key because they can’t figure out how to keep the ‘classic conflict’ between the humans and the Covenant going.

Like you really think they would have hired fans that knew the Halo lore in-depth to serve as fact checkers for the plots of Halo 4 and 5’s campaigns and offer actual insight on what fans will and would not accept as viable directions to go in for story and art direction.

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> There was also the Forerunner artifact located on Sigma Octanus, which had the coordinates for Installation 04 (aka Alpha Halo) and the Forerunner ship beneath Reach clearly had navigational data that Cortana used to get the Pillar of Autumn to Installation 04. There is/was the large cartographer facility beneath Harvest that pointed out the locations of Forerunner installations on other planets, such as Arcadia and the Shield World in Halo Wars.
>
> Plenty of maps out there, 343i just doesn’t know what it is doing Halo so it forgets it has all these resources and has to dumb it all down to a plot device like the Janus Key because they can’t figure out how to keep the ‘classic conflict’ between the humans and the Covenant going.
>
> Like you really think they would have hired fans that knew the Halo lore in-depth to serve as fact checkers for the plots of Halo 4 and 5’s campaigns and offer actual insight on what fans will and would not accept as viable directions to go in for story and art direction.

There was also the map coordinates from Halo broken Circle that apparently had all the information on the Halo installations and the ark. As for the classic conflict between humanity and the Covenant, that would only be able to go so far.

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> As for the classic conflict between humanity and the Covenant, that would only be able to go so far.

Exactly, and 343i is so creatively bankrupt when it comes to that angle which is why they keep coming up or hurriedly retconning stuff so that they have that conflict continue despite having run it’s course. They don’t have the talent to create new and interesting enemies so they just keep recycling the Human-Covenant conflict over and over, and every single time they’re /tried/ to do something new, because they lack the ability to create quality antagonistic factions, we end up with Evil Robots. Both 343i games have been Evil Robots with more than a side of classic Covenant conflict to shore it up.

If they hired fans to lore check, if they brought on talented writers who understood Halo (Chris Schlerf was the closest, but it only really worked with the Cortana part of Halo 4’s story), I think they could turn it around. But they won’t.

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> > As for the classic conflict between humanity and the Covenant, that would only be able to go so far.
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> If they hired fans to lore check, if they brought on talented writers who understood Halo (Chris Schlerf was the closest, but it only really worked with the Cortana part of Halo 4’s story), I think they could turn it around. But they won’t.

Hiring fans like that would likely have a negligible impact. After all, which fans do you bring on? There are many fans who enjoy 343’s contributions to to lore. Are they disqualified?

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> > > As for the classic conflict between humanity and the Covenant, that would only be able to go so far.
> >
> > If they hired fans to lore check, if they brought on talented writers who understood Halo (Chris Schlerf was the closest, but it only really worked with the Cortana part of Halo 4’s story), I think they could turn it around. But they won’t.
>
> Hiring fans like that would likely have a negligible impact. After all, which fans do you bring on? There are many fans who enjoy 343’s contributions to to lore. Are they disqualified?

My guess would be one of the popular Halo Youtube guys like HaloCanon, The Act Man, Installation 00, or HiddenExperia, among many others.

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> > As for the classic conflict between humanity and the Covenant, that would only be able to go so far.
>
> Exactly, and 343i is so creatively bankrupt when it comes to that angle which is why they keep coming up or hurriedly retconning stuff so that they have that conflict continue despite having run it’s course. They don’t have the talent to create new and interesting enemies so they just keep recycling the Human-Covenant conflict over and over, and every single time they’re /tried/ to do something new, because they lack the ability to create quality antagonistic factions, we end up with Evil Robots. Both 343i games have been Evil Robots with more than a side of classic Covenant conflict to shore it up.
>
> If they hired fans to lore check, if they brought on talented writers who understood Halo (Chris Schlerf was the closest, but it only really worked with the Cortana part of Halo 4’s story), I think they could turn it around. But they won’t.

While I agree with you, 343 does have I would say the problem of making a new proper fraction. I don’t mean as what you said were they have decided to go with robots, but trying to make a whole new alien faction that does not somehow resemble the Covenant. Personally I think they’re always be a Covenant, in the form of there being that cannon fodder enemy, the warrior class, big hulking armored monster, and the Brute. I think the covenants success as an enemy to fight in the games made them perhaps too perfect as any other group will simply resemble them if introduced into the lore

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> > > >
> > >
> > > As for the classic conflict between humanity and the Covenant, that would only be able to go so far.
> >
> > If they hired fans to lore check, if they brought on talented writers who understood Halo (Chris Schlerf was the closest, but it only really worked with the Cortana part of Halo 4’s story), I think they could turn it around. But they won’t.
>
> Hiring fans like that would likely have a negligible impact. After all, which fans do you bring on? There are many fans who enjoy 343’s contributions to to lore. Are they disqualified?

Clearly I’m telegraphing that they should hire me, because I’d love to do it. Especially if I could fix Halo from what I perceive it has become.

But I do know that, when 343i was just setting up shop, they hired a few members of the fan community. There was that one story-centric blog site, Ascendant Justice, that had to close down right before ODST came out because the guys running it got hired on and chose (or were told) to shut it down despite the popularity and reknown it had for being a highly detailed look at Halo’s story. I was actually really sad about that because I enjoyed reading the articles.

There was also BS Angel, couple of others that they grabbed from the community. Don’t know what happened to all of them but I know that, however briefly, they were employed because of their impact in the fan community and their knowledge of Halo.

So it happens. Clearly if they did hire people they’d have to be adults with professional work attitudes, but also have a clear and strong passion for the franchise, as well as a deep understanding of what Halo is, is not, and of course, encyclopedic knowledge of the franchise’s lore. I see it as no different from the guys they hire for, say, Star Wars and Star Trek movies that make sure things are operating within continuity or figuring out ways to make it work, etc.

EDIT: Lol, other responses while typing this post.

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> > > > >
> > > >
> > > > As for the classic conflict between humanity and the Covenant, that would only be able to go so far.
> > >
> > > If they hired fans to lore check, if they brought on talented writers who understood Halo (Chris Schlerf was the closest, but it only really worked with the Cortana part of Halo 4’s story), I think they could turn it around. But they won’t.
> >
> > Hiring fans like that would likely have a negligible impact. After all, which fans do you bring on? There are many fans who enjoy 343’s contributions to to lore. Are they disqualified?
>
> My guess would be one of the popular Halo Youtube guys like HaloCanon, The Act Man, Installation 00, or HiddenExperia, among many others.

I’d rather not; because while they do know Halo lore, they don’t seem to know it as well as everyone would like to believe. Many times their ‘insight’ is no more than common speculation they’ve chosen to appoint as truth. Like any fan, they succumb to bias on certain topics; so if you’re going to have anyone help shape a series, you’ll need a completely unbiased party. Rare to come by.

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> > > > >
> > > >
> > > > As for the classic conflict between humanity and the Covenant, that would only be able to go so far.
> > >
> > > If they hired fans to lore check, if they brought on talented writers who understood Halo (Chris Schlerf was the closest, but it only really worked with the Cortana part of Halo 4’s story), I think they could turn it around. But they won’t.
> >
> > Hiring fans like that would likely have a negligible impact. After all, which fans do you bring on? There are many fans who enjoy 343’s contributions to to lore. Are they disqualified?
>
> Clearly I’m telegraphing that they should hire me, because I’d love to do it. Especially if I could fix Halo from what I perceive it has become.
>
> But I do know that, when 343i was just setting up shop, they hired a few members of the fan community. There was that one story-centric blog site, Ascendant Justice, that had to close down right before ODST came out because the guys running it got hired on and chose (or were told) to shut it down despite the popularity and reknown it had for being a highly detailed look at Halo’s story. I was actually really sad about that because I enjoyed reading the articles.
>
> There was also BS Angel, couple of others that they grabbed from the community. Don’t know what happened to all of them but I know that, however briefly, they were employed because of their impact in the fan community and their knowledge of Halo.
>
> So it happens. Clearly if they did hire people they’d have to be adults with professional work attitudes, but also have a clear and strong passion for the franchise, as well as a deep understanding of what Halo is, is not, and of course, encyclopedic knowledge of the franchise’s lore. I see it as no different from the guys they hire for, say, Star Wars and Star Trek movies that make sure things are operating within continuity or figuring out ways to make it work, etc.
>
> EDIT: Lol, other responses while typing this post.

We’d all love to help shape the series, but that’s because we all think we know what’s best. Truth is; everyone has a differing opinion of which direction this series should go. So while you might think one path is right, at least 50% could be inclined to disagree. There is no real win-win situation here. Someone will always be inclined to argue about what’s best for their favorite game.

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> > > > > 2533274806469514;4:
> > > > > > 2533274838418174;3:
> > > > > >
> > > > >
> > > > > As for the classic conflict between humanity and the Covenant, that would only be able to go so far.
> > > >
> > > > If they hired fans to lore check, if they brought on talented writers who understood Halo (Chris Schlerf was the closest, but it only really worked with the Cortana part of Halo 4’s story), I think they could turn it around. But they won’t.
>
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> > > > 2533274838418174;5:
> > > > > 2533274806469514;4:
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> > > > > >
> > > > >
> > > > > As for the classic conflict between humanity and the Covenant, that would only be able to go so far.
> > > >
> > > > If they hired fans to lore check, if they brought on talented writers who understood Halo (Chris Schlerf was the closest, but it only really worked with the Cortana part of Halo 4’s story), I think they could turn it around. But they won’t.
>
> We’d all love to help shape the series, but that’s because we all think we know what’s best. Truth is; everyone has a differing opinion of which direction this series should go. So while you might think one path is right, at least 50% could be inclined to disagree. There is no real win-win situation here. Someone will always be inclined to argue about what’s best for their favorite game.

Yes, that is generally what an opinion is.

12

I would say the Janus Key coupled with the Absolute Record is probably the only Forerunner installation/artifact to catalog the entirety of their accomplishments/technology. The only other one I could think is possibly the Domain itself.