NOTE: For part 2 of this discussion, please read here.
So, me and my family decided to watch Halo 2 (Anniversary) and Halo 3 tonight. We enjoyed watching them both on YouTube.
It came to my attention why Master Chief, John 117, was so insistent on finding Cortana throughout Halo 5’s campaign.
Firstly Chief “trusted” Cortana with his life. This was confirmed when Lord Hood asked him the question “do you really trust her that much (even if she may be corrupted and her plan a Flood trap?)” Chief trusted her enough to find out the answer. He took a huge risk coming to the Ark with Arbiter, risking his life because he had complete trust in her and her solution to stop the Flood. (Halo 3)
Secondly, when 343 Guilty Spark basically killed Sgt Johnson on Instsllation 04B, his last dying words to Chief were “Don’t you ever let her go”. This would’ve encouraged Chief to stick with Cortana.
Those are some key things. Now, it looks like Cortana has betrayed Chief. Everything they went through together has been abandoned for the power of the Mantle.
Now, although it seems this way, Chief did his absolute best to save Cortana even IF she was corrupted in Halo 5. Chief is not rogue, he is loyal and he keeps his promise. He made an internal promise to Johnson to never let her go, even when it seemed inconvenient for him and many others. NO ONE was going to break that promise. Not even Locke. Not even Cortana’s rampancy could break that promise.
(EDIT: Also, he promised to return for Cortana after she agreed he left her on High Charity during Halo 2. That meant risking his life by going to the Flood infected High Charity alone (with the Arbiter). He kept his promise. Not even the Flood could stop him.)
When Lasky talks to Chief in Halo 4 at the end, that’s when Chief realises that he may have been withholding his emotions from the death of his friends. Where was the emotional impact? (Chief is cool without emotional impact anyway lol) This theory is possible.
(I think this “figure out which one of us is the machine” quote has more meaning than we think. This could apply to Cortana in Halo 6 and Chief may answer that question by determining who really is the machine. Is it Cortana? Chief is not the machine. He’s too loyal for that. Cortana on the other hand resembles human emotion, she doesn’t actually feel it. She doesn’t have what humans will always possess, a heart. Thus, she is the machine. And it is quite possible in Halo 6 that we’ll discover (hopefully) that she is actually being controlled or influenced by the Didact, or the Flood. (The Flood are extremely intelligent, not to mention the “Domain” is also a Precursor installation, not Forerunner).
Now additionally it would be reasonable to mention a few other factors why Chief would be so determined to find Cortana in Halo 5. (Why should Chief 117 trust Cortana?)
For instance, Cortana has remained a highly loyal friend to humanity and Chief throughout the classic trilogy. She helped destroy Installation 04 to save humanity and continued saving humanity until she supposedly died. There is no greater love for another than sacrificing your own life to save someone else’s (according to the Bible). So it’s quite obvious that she would be entirely trustworthy at least by this point in time.
This is why I believe Cortana is not entirely responsible for the awakening of the Guardians. I believe it’s the Flood controlling her or the Didact.
THEORIES: If it was the Didact controlling Cortana (hopefully it’s him or the Flood, or someone more awesome like the Primordial , or the most ancient Forerunner of all time), then he, although demoralised by the Flood, would not associate with it. He would use Guardians as an “imprisonment” for humanity if not the Composer as a his original solution. Note the Didact also took interest in Cortana even though her “misjudgement is misplaced”. We can not be totally sure until Halo 6.
If the Flood is controlling Cortana, and this is quite interesting, because it knows Warden Eternal would never allow the Flood near the Domain. But the Flood “knows” how to convince AI’s into joining it’s side. The Flood knows how to turn AI’s objectives. When Mendicant Bias was in contact with the Prinordial, he turned evil. It didn’t even take long I don’t think for that to happen.
So, let’s sum this up a little. We now know the Flood can basically turn AIs against their creators, just like it did with Mendicant Bias. But it takes a considerable amount of patience “through rock, metal, and time” to know how to do this.
Scenario 1: Cortana was trapped on High Charity with the Flood. Cortan was clearly affected emotionally and physically by the Flood within a short period of time. Unfortunately for the Flood, it wasn’t enough time to turn her evil.
Scenario 2: The Didact’s ship is destroyed and Cortana escapes through slipspace coordinates to Genesis, while the Didact’s coordinates from the slipspace rupture led him to Installation 03. It’s been one year since then, and somehow (won’t know until Halo 6) the Flood has been able to convince Cortana to perform it’s will.
See where I’m getting at? Only question is how the hell could the Flood be on Genesis? It is possible that Precursor facility is infected. Was Chief actually inside the Domain himself or was that some kind of entrance? Can’t really say for sure.
However if the Domain was infected, it was enough to convince Cortana. The Flood absorbed intelligence like a sponge. The Domain could’ve been like a sponge for Cortana which give her power. Yet to find out more. But if this is true…
The Warden Eternal was a problem. The Domain was locked and no knowledge in the Domain could escape. But, the Flood, knowing that Warden would be a problem, would use Cortana as a type of distraction, a lure if you will, as a way of revolving Warden’s objectives and attention away from the Flood. (Don’t forget Foreruner technology is far superior to human technology, hence turning a human made AI against the humans is a piece of cake. It’s been a year and Cortana has been used by the Flood to do the same thing with Warden Eternal since he would be extremely difficult to convince.
Overall, once Chief learns the “Truth”, he will stick with his promise. He will go after the source of Cortana’s corruption. But if that source uses her to get in the way, Chief may have to make a difficult choice: save humanity and kill Cortana, or save Cortana and risk everything?
EDIT: Just to confirm how much Chief trusts Cortana, Tanaka and Locke can be heard talking on Sanghelios about their unusual friendship.
If you want to find out more of this theory please read these articles:
Cortana, Precursors, and the Domain
A weird… Very weird idea about Cortana in Halo 6
Why is Warden Eternal in Warzone?
How The Halo Franchise Might Fade Away
Additionally you might like to read:
How Warden Eternal Could’ve Been More Awesome
