So, it’s no surprise that most of the fanbase was upset that Cortana was brought back and turned into the villain in Halo 5. However, recently, I came up with an idea different for the villains in Halo 5, and I wanna see what you guys think. I would have the primary antagonist be the Ur-Didact. This makes sense, as he was the antagonist in Halo 4, and when you’re telling a several installment storyline, you stick with the same central villain. This idea goes by erasing Next 72 Hours away. The Didact eventually makes his way to a society of Forerunners on another shield world (possibly Bastion), off in the far reaches of the galaxy, not getting involved. The Didact gives his speech,
> In this hour of victory, we taste only defeat…I ask, why?
> We are Forerunners, guardians of all that exists. The roots of the galaxy have grown deep under our careful tending, where there is life the wisdom of our countless generations has saturated the soil. Our strength is a luminous sun, towards which all intelligence blossoms, and the impervious shelter beneath which it has prospered…
> I stand before you, accused of the sin of ensuring Forerunner ascendancy – of attempting to save us from this fate where we are forced to…recede.
> Humanity stands as the greatest threat in the galaxy, refusing to eradicate them is a fools gambit. We squander eons in the darkness, while they seize our triumphs for their own! The Mantle of Responsibility for all things belongs to Forerunners alone…
> Think of my acts as you will, but do not doubt the reality… the Reclamation has already begun,…
> And we are hopeless to stop it.
The Didact convinces the other Forerunners that the galaxy has flung into chaos without the Forerunners guiding everyone. He says, as in the speech, the Humanity is an issue, and that we are the main cause of chaos and disorder, and that we must be exterminated. He then argues that the other species need to be led by the Forerunners in order to. They then rediscover the Guardians, and plan for the grand return of the Forerunners to the galaxy. They will use the Guardians to shut down every planet, thus making it easier for them to wipe us out, as well as forcing servitude from the other species. Those like Jul 'Mdama would of course place loyalty to the Forerunners, as his people would be overjoyed, the gods have returned to the Universe to lead them. Others would join due to believing that fighting against the Forerunners as futile. I would have us only battle a couple Forerunner Warrior-Servants in the game, and the only way to take them down being Forerunner weaponry. What do you think of this idea of where I would’ve gone with the villains for Halo 5?
If it was up to me there would not have been a clear villain in the game, and instead it would have been an introspective journey for John 117 and Blue Team with the “antagonist” being the Halsey-Jul combo (and at the same time, ONI).
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> If it was up to me there would not have been a clear villain in the game, and instead it would have been an introspective journey for John 117 and Blue Team with the “antagonist” being the Halsey-Jul combo (and at the same time, ONI).
Yeah, I would have the main focus be on John’s personal journey and his relationships with Blue Team and Halsey. I think, since this is the second act in a new story arc, you should also continue with the conflict established in the first act.
I absolutely agree on the Didact back, but this is what I would do. The didact used what he learned from the domain and is reactivating all the forerunner facilities and factories to produce numberless hordes of sentinels, Wardens, knights, guardians, and more automated armies the forerunners used in the past, and he pretends that cortana is alive and trying to communicate a message to the UNSC (but chief discovers that he is lying) while also, we got a faceless faction threatening the galaxy from the shadows (and we get a reference by the end, “Banished”, to generate more hype for them) and, hold to something, at first Locke is the antagonist, used by ONI to kill the arbiter and the chief himself until he finally refuses and sees that there are bigger threats and allies can not be afford to be wasted (sort of mirroring the arbiter and the prophets).
i think the villain is the flood’s logic plague. Didact’s mind is somehow affected by it and so is Cortana so maybe after all the flood is and has been the villain all along
Chief goes off the reservation before the game even starts and Locke is forced to locate him. No squads, if only to streamline the narrative. Chief is missing going on his own missions but for unknown reasons. However everywhere Chief is believed to have been going has housed known Forerunner sites and slipspace jettisoned remains of the Didact’s ship. A trail of Human bodies in the wake of these sites becoming activated requires somebody to get to Chief and have him explain just what the Hell he is doing. A Guardian on Meridian activates like before but Locke is unaware if Chief activated it or not and has to follow him and shut it down. The remains of the Didact’s ship are on site with this Guardian as it had gone into slipspace in an effort to escape the blast and crashed there. It reactivates later on and activates surviving Forerunner robots. Once reactivated, the Guardian annihilates Meridian and all fighting forces before getting away with Locke and Chief aboard. Locke and Chief have a fight and Locke is left back with the UNSC to again pursue Chief.
While searching for Chief, Locke goes through battles with the UNSC and Covenant remnant which Halsey is still associated with considering her attempted assassination back in Spartan Ops. The Guardian from Meridian collects Halsey, and Locke or Chief does battle with Jul and kills him. Locke pursues Chief and aboard the Guardian both confront each other again. While neither win, the Guardian makes its way back to Earth and we find out why Chief was aboard the Guardian. The Guardian came from the Didacts ship from the end of Halo 4 and a remnant of Cortana’s programming that helped subdue the Didact is now surviving inside the Guardian. Chief is trying his hardest to prevent it from causing more damage and rescue whatever is left of his friend. The problem however being is that the remnant of Cortana now has the location of Earth and subsequent colonies, and if she can destroy Meridian she can absolutely wreck Earth. Locke ultimately chooses to destroy what’s left of Cortana and Chief has to watch his friend in a sense die twice which further unhinges him.
The Guardian wanted Halsey as it is the closest thing to her own “brain” and Chief because she knows he wanted to get her back to Earth to fix her. However somewhere the wires get crossed with the functions of the Guardian policing a solar system and the two incompatible programs destroy more than it fixes forcing UNSC intervention. Chief desperate to go back to normal as he finds it hard to adjust to “normal” life tries to reclaim his friend only for it to go horribly wrong.
So if Halo 4 is Chief’s beginnings of his 7 stages of Grief largely being Shock, Denial, and Anger , it’s continued into Halo 5 and now includes Bargaining and Depression. So by Halo 6 he’s escaping Depression and reaches for testing and then Acceptance. This builds off of Halo 4 with Chief having to confront his humanity and what the Hell he does outside of being a Spartan and Hero. The man has got some issues.