A Thousand Other Plans Tried and Failed - Flood Lore

[@TheAstrobiologistOW]

The containment facility on Installation 04 practically had a sign in big letters on it that said “Please don’t feed the philosophically-gray omniscient corruption of the Precursor’s own Domain” and the Covenant were still like “yeah we should open that” wtf

[@elijahwatson3474]

I think it was on accident and most Covenant never read up on the flood because it extremely rare to see them.

[@Nighterlev]

@@elijahwatson3474 Halo 5's multiplayer is the best. The Covenant already knew of the Flood's existence. but they had no idea what the Halo rings were truly for, nor what they were made for, or even had "study rooms" at all.

[@donpacificbobcat9er615]

To be fair they did close the door behind them.

[@Seriona1]

Yeah, people forget that Captain Keyes' team actually released the Flood thinking they found an Covenany Armory.

[@MH-fc2xs]

They were already done for when the Covenant opened it first. Keyes and his squad were finding bodies of infected before they even got to the locked door.

[@tarozama2666]

I wish we knew more about ancient humans, their technology and culture. And their relationship to the forerunners before the war

[@fadelsukoco3092]

This deserves more upvotes. Ancient Humanity for me is one of the most-interesting pieces of background lore in the Halo Universe, and their history is so amazing and intriguing, and is just begging to be expanded on. The Humans, with inferior tech and already crippled and battered by the Flood and continuing to be so, and significantly-demoralized by the Eldritch answers the Primordial gave about the Flood's origins, and will their fleets slowed to a crawl and paralyzed by Forerunner Slipspace damage, it is said in the novels that Ancient Humanity and the San Shyuum were made weapons which Forerunner forces had no defense against, and had superior knowledge of Precursor technology to boot. Yet even with superior tech and vastly-superior numbers and resources against a crippled foe, it still took the Forerunners over a MILLENNIUM to reach Charum Hakkor and 53 years of sieging just it to force a surrender, and that's only because the government of the San Shyuum betrayed the Ancient Humans and any of their troops still serving alongside them, to the Forerunners for more-refined reparations and Post-War punishment. Ancient Humanity and the San Shyuum were absolute badasses, it's even said (by the Librarian, I think) in one of the books that the war with Ancient Humanity weakened the Forerunners and caused the Builders to gain enough political power that they could not contain and destroy the Flood when their time came. Not to mention how Ancient Humanity made a counter to the Flood, not a cure, but it still denied them biomass from their fallen or infected troops. That's pretty impressive. Even if they were being tricked by the Flood in termsof the galactic retreat.

[@fadelsukoco3092]

As for their relationship with the Forerunners before the war, they have always been rivals, since the Precursors DID pass the Mantle from the Forerunners to the Humans in about 10 million BCE, but the Ur-Didact and Librarian first met each other on Charum Hakkor, the Capital of the Human Empire, so...

[@chrissonofpear3657]

It's been hinted they and the Forerunners were once a single species, albeit over 10 million years before the Halo firings.

[@tarozama2666]

@@fadelsukoco3092 Sorry for the delayed response. I would love to see a Human-Forerunner game. Also I would be ecstatic to see some ancient Human structures, tech or message, from the great war, in Halo infinite. Or a Ancient Human threat our Forefathers created to counter Forerunners of the future. But now threaten our existence.

[@Paul-A01]

I think its a stupid retcon from the first games which implied that humans are forerunner descendants.

[@jabril7832]

Did they try bug spray?

[@sunnychopper6663]

This comment right here. Had me dying at the library. Not the place to be laughing that loud lol

[@Solaxe]

The flood is like fungi, and even that isn't accurate

[@cyph.p.om.]

@Solaxe S r/wooooooooooooosh

[@coldcowboy3853]

@@saintjames1995 so just death star their asses

[@oniagent391]

SlayGames. X they blow up stars to stop the flood

[@AhegaoComics]

I love how overpowering the Flood can be and is.

[@xDinomanx]

@Cian McCabe Pretty much, the Flood are absolutely relentless. Almost like the Reapers from Mass Effect in the same sense that they are a race that doesn't have the same physical demands other sentient races have (e.g. they don't "sleep", they just consume anything and everything that lives and breathes with a few exceptions and do not stop). That and the fact that like a virus they spread so quickly made them just a horrifying force to anyone that encountered them.

[@DylanBegazo]

The fundamental concept behind the creation of the Halo rings was actually mentioned in Tron Legacy aka Tron 2. Here it is: “Sometimes, the only way to win, is not to play” - Flynn Senior - Creator of Tron And Quora, ISO and friend of the Creator Flynn senior said, “Remove oneself from the equation”. These two quotes are the same fundamental inception that gave birth to the Halo Rings by the creator of the Halos. That concept is also mentioned in the Bible too: “There is no greater act of Love than this, that a person give up his life for the ones he loves, that they might be saved” The ones that the forerunners loves and wished to save were the rest of life within the Milky Way Galaxy. And a few of them realized that the only way to win was not to play, to remove themselves and all sentient life from the galaxy so that the galaxy could be saved from the Antithesis-of-life/The-Flood hence why the Forerunners reluctantly and sadly enacted the greatest act of love, to sacrifice life so that life can be preserved and restarted post flood someday. It’s really sad but this is inception that gave birth to the Halo Rings. The UNSC’s stance within this philosophical dilemma is that the UNSC disagrees with this inception and believes that there must be a less severe way of winning against the flood. That’s it. That’s the stance we take and we stand by it with our lives. There must be a less severe way to protect everyone. That’s it. The Covenant and their post war factions are just delusional. Lol The Banished only care about themselves. The Arbiter Understands this philosophical inception of the Halos like the UNSC does and agrees with the UNSC’s stance. And you wanna know the best part? Key info 1 - Flood originated from outside the Milky Way Galaxy. Meaning that until that issue is dealt with, Halo will still have a reason to exist. Possibly the Flood came from our galactic neighbor The Andromeda Galaxy which I’m assuming is also now teaming with flood too if their concentration was great enough to disperse far enough to make it to the Milky Way Galaxy and land on a ancient Human Empire occupied world. WHICH MEANS, that the Flood from outside the Milky Way Galaxy could disperse again and thus return again to its neighbor our Milky Way Galaxy. Thus restarting the entire philosophical dilemma again!!! Unless we deal with that too AKA flood returning to the games someday plus perhaps a Full Fledged Flood focused halo Videogame mega series that involves a mega campaign that could take another 9 games, which the ENTIRE MILKY WAY GALAXY is being explored while searching every part of our galaxy for Milky-Way-native flood to exterminate as we learn more about the history of the ancient Human Empire Forerunner Flood war. Perhaps culminating into a grand finale where the Milky Way is clean of flood and the UNSC and the Arbiter’s friendly forces and colonies begin our military expansion to Andromeda Galaxy on ANOTHER MEGA campaign with the purpose of ensuring Flood never return to the Milky Way Galaxy EVER AGAIN. That would be a true linear conclusion to the Halo franchise maybe 30+ games from the present Halo 5 Guardians into the future thus ensuring Halo has a long and healthy career. To flesh out Halo more, during the internal Milky Way campaign full fledged video game series part of the linear story, all homeworlds of all alien species should be explored just like every Forerunner shield world and normal world and Installation yet discovered so learn and explore and at the same time make sure Flood are gone for good while dealing with Cortana’s forces as she runs rampant across our Milky Way Galaxy. For the later part of the Linear Halo Story when our forces go to Andromeda to find answers to truly stop Flood from ever returning, that full fledged Videogame mega series should have the overall Master Title of: Halo: Andromeda (game #) (Planet name & #) Something like that. And Sidenote: Some Forerunner civilian ships did manage to escape The Milky Way prior to the Firing of the Rings. Look it up and read the books. This fact means that forerunners still exist somewhere outside the Milky Way. Perhaps we encounter them upon securing the Milky Way and going to our Galactic neighbor Andromeda.

[@Grev..]

@@xDinomanx dont you mean they are? They were???? Flood is alive

[@beserker9890]

Catalyst - D B The flood are the precursors, so they technically originated within Our galaxy but that doesn’t rule out the possibility of them living on elsewhere.

[@captrustle7939]

One word *TYRANIDS*

[@lukeskywalkerthe2nd773]

The fact that they had over a 1,000 plans that they tried and failed really goes to show just how hard (and near impossible) it was to beat the Flood. It's such a shame that the only way to defeat them (at least for a time), was to wipe out all life in the Galaxy with the Halo Array (making the Forerunners themselves nearly extinct in the process). :(

[@LeonRedfields]

Couldnt they have set the rings off with AI while they were far far away?

[@DivusMagus]

@@LeonRedfields that runs the risk of the AI being corrupted like Mandicent Bias.

[@alejandrogibran7823]

Robert Lipshultz they had the flood on their feet, the greater arc was destroyed inmediatly after firing a greater halo and they had to send the remaining troops to buy just enough time to fire the lesser arc

[@chrissonofpear3657]

I wonder if the 'Ark theory' suggested by Chris Schlerf and others will still fit in - about the Ark possibly being a weapon as well?

[@julianmarco4185]

@Cian McCabe The reason Offensive Bias succeded is pretty much because he did not care what means he uses to defeat his enemy. He employed tactics that to many would be equivalent to suicide including throwing ships at him. The point was that single focus plans could defeat this galaxy wide threat. The only thing that I see the Flood respecting or at least at how to combat them is with better organic technology. I believe the Primordial gave the humans a clue about how to defeat the Flood just not an answer. He kind of told them: ok, this is how you stop their most powerful ability, but you will still have loses, you will still have to sacrifice to survive. Humans were on track to at least some kind of solution. If they had worked with the forunners, they could have beaten them.

[@Simte]

*At least we tried.*

[@neanderthal2459]

Simte your best is not good enough! -Gordon Ramsay

[@Jedi_Spartan]

And failed

[@scottgrasser9737]

not really the forerunners really half assed it they kept wasting decades on research they lost because they viewed the flood as a disease to be cured rather then a enemy to be conquered plus they kept refusing to go far enough in the war to win due to space hippy librarian always stopping efforts to just blow up there enemy by the time she was told to shut up were nukeing systems it was to late

[@Jedi_Spartan]

R/therewasanattempt

[@collincaperton6718]

@@scottgrasser9737 space hippie librarian is the only reason life was allowed to remain

[@FrozenPhoenix15]

Can you imagine a thousand Onyx’s hopping around the galaxy, destroying everything in sight?

[@DirgeOfCerberus111]

Wow, Death Star be damned. Forget one or two small moons, just thousands of straight up *planets* blowing shit up.

[@General_Eisenhower1945]

USA! USA! USA! *looks over shoulder to see two nuclear explosions

[@starsilverinfinity]

DirgeOfCerberus111 some shield worlds are bigger than some star systems lol - imagine that

[@chrissonofpear3657]

Bastion may BE a mobile Onyx, yeah. I still think Onyx itself was built in secret by the Master Builder, as it had unusually advanced sentinels inside, few people reached it, and it was also supposed to be a capital and refuge for survivors.

[@StarboyXL9]

@@DirgeOfCerberus111 Real life is so much better than Sci-fi... If you think a planetary battlestation is big, you've obviously never heard of a Nicoll-Dyson Beam. The power to make stars go supernova by harnessing the power of an actual, full-size star into a beam of pure energy. Never seen it in any sci-fi, not even the Culture, and yet it is easily one of the most powerful weapons (besides reality-warping stuff) that humanity has ever conceived.

[@ToxicBalloon360]

I think many people don't realise how horrific the Flood really is. This may be due to the way the Halo games are presented, with their lively coloured palettes, it can be difficult to see them for how scary they really are. They easily surpass the likes of Xenomorphs, Necromprhs and other eldrich horrors in other universes.

[@clydemarshall8095]

I am in complete agreement with you. When looking at the games alone, I think necromorphs are scarier but if I take into consideration the larger lore and context of both entities the Flood are infinitely more terrifying. I'm not sure how the Halo games themselves could emphasize that though. The short story Mona Lisa does an excellent job of displaying the sheer horror the Flood represent. Similarly, the book The Flood, a novel adaptation of the plot of Halo: Combat Evolved, also delves into what the Flood do to their victims. Any ideas on how the horror the Flood are could be more readily conveyed in the future?

[@Garthorium]

@@clydemarshall8095 Many people have suggested spin off Halo games in a class of horror shooters such as the Metro series. Games where you could play the role of a fresh or veteran UNSC marine engaging with the Flood for the first time. Surely, SURELY it wouldn't be too hard to do.

[@clydemarshall8095]

@@Garthorium I don't know. At this point, I don't exactly trust 343i in the execution of anything.

[@Garthorium]

Clyde Marshall I know *exactly* what you mean lol. Couldn't trust them to run a fucken bath.

[@chrissonofpear3657]

Eh, we KNOW that Frank O'Conner can write things well, just from his short stories and from the Halo 3 Terminals (which I THINK were by him) But in terms of long term planning, overreacting to fans or bending to Microsoft, that offers less confidence.

[@ebomb1133]

Wow I never realized that's why the covenant limited the intelligence of their AI DUE to Mendicant Bias. Interesting little fact 🤔 thanks as always for the spectacular content halo cannon!

[@jamescriscuolo830]

Mendicant bias was actually on the key ship that the prophet of truth escaped on in halo 2 if I’m not mistaken, mendicant rarely communicated with the covenant but they kept it around

[@wiibrockster]

@@jamescriscuolo830 Didn't they view Mendicant Bias as sacred?

[@jamescriscuolo830]

@@wiibrockster sort of, they viewed it as the most sacred oracle, they viewed the monitors of the installations, firerunner Ali’s as the oracles with mendicant at the top of that ladder, whenever a new prophet was to be coronated they went to mendicant who was just observing not interacting for the most part for his permission so to speak for the new prophets to take the throne. Right after first contact at harvest though and the prophets of truth and mercy were becoming coronated they brought back texts that they misread as reclamation with every human on harvest being mislabeled as forerunner artifacts but they were actually showing up as the symbol for reclaimer, the forerunner label for humanity and the inheritors of the mantle of responsibility, mendicant woke up upon that for the first time in about 100,000 years to tell them that they were wrong and the prophets misheard mendicant thinking he said humanity was the forerunners. Mendicant then tried to launch the key ship from high charity to head to the arc but the prophets managed to disconnect his mainframe from the ship before it could be launched. Fun fact that mishearing of the prophets thinking humanity were forerunners is what caused the human covenant war as if that news became widespread it would destroy their religion and their newly acquired thrones

[@t.j.murphy3670]

I think the gravemind sums it up best in halo 3 with the sentence "did you really think it was going to beat me?"

[@scottgrasser9737]

is that was he says i could never quite hear him over the other sounds at the time

[@chrissonofpear3657]

"Did you think me DEFEATED!"

[@sirry6626]

What still fascinates me is that One containment outbreak on Installation 05 caused The Entire Covenant Armada and High Charity to fall within a matter of hours to days. I can't imagine the intensity of the Flood while the forerunners were fighting eons before that.

[@KrypticWarrior2]

the more you learn about the flood, the more fitting their name becomes, a near unstoppable force that seeps its way into everything and with the smallest compromise it will break into your defenses

[@robbythebun1912]

"This is my final entry." Ricardo starts dancing to "You got that" on a 10 hour loop.

[@jordanbauman-putnam9524]

I like how the forruners try a new plan, and when it immediately doesnt work they just lock it up in and don't talk about it anymore

[@Jedi_Spartan]

Obviously, none of the 1000 plans were trying to break into other universes and call in Doom guy, anyone from Warhammer 40K. Or alternatively, develop time travel, come to the present day and call in HiddenXperia with his endless knowledge of the Flood. *Edit: this was originally meant to be a joke so please stop comments why this wouldn't work.* *Second Edit: That's better, thank you.*

[@worldwanderer91]

HiddenXperia is actually a Flood Gravemind

[@Jedi_Spartan]

@@worldwanderer91 If so, why does he keep on giving us info on how to stop him and the flood

[@insomnia2869]

to trick us into using the wrong method to make it easier for them to take over

[@Jedi_Spartan]

@Cian McCabe well both are still OP so they'd be the Forerunner's best bet

[@kR-qj7rw]

the forerunners are at least in the middle point of 40k power scale so mot of that universe would be consumed. doomguy get's stuppid fanwank levels of hype, is he deadly? yes, could he MAYBE contain an outbreak from the tart maybe yes, but at the time of the forrunner war against the flood the parasite has thousands of space systems it's literrally impossible to kill at that point, unless you wipe all life in the galaxy

[@miguelle4756]

“Because of Mendicant Bias corruption the covenant did not put effort into their A.I’s research.” That’s a lore I didn’t knew about.

[@Darqshadow]

It was why the Covenant hated humanity's ai program. They thought it was heresy due to being capable of corruption by the logic plague (cortana)

[@wiibrockster]

It's a neat little detail. It explains why we never see The Covenant which is a supposedly more advanced society than Humanity never used Smart AI.

[@wanderingbufoon]

“Did you unplug and plug it back in?” - asked the ancient humans the forerunners

[@jesusarredondo4904]

I was absolutely glued to this.

[@Nugnugnug]

The infinite devil machine, and the cure that was worse than the cancer.

[@DylanBegazo]

Nugnug Caveman The fundamental concept behind the creation of the Halo rings was actually mentioned in Tron Legacy aka Tron 2. Here it is: “Sometimes, the only way to win, is not to play” - Flynn Senior - Creator of Tron And Quora, ISO and friend of the Creator Flynn senior said, “Remove oneself from the equation”. These two quotes are the same fundamental inception that gave birth to the Halo Rings by the creator of the Halos. That concept is also mentioned in the Bible too: “There is no greater act of Love than this, that a person give up his life for the ones he loves, that they might be saved” The ones that the forerunners loves and wished to save were the rest of life within the Milky Way Galaxy. And a few of them realized that the only way to win was not to play, to remove themselves and all sentient life from the galaxy so that the galaxy could be saved from the Antithesis-of-life/The-Flood hence why the Forerunners reluctantly and sadly enacted the greatest act of love, to sacrifice life so that life can be preserved and restarted post flood someday. It’s really sad but this is inception that gave birth to the Halo Rings. The UNSC’s stance within this philosophical dilemma is that the UNSC disagrees with this inception and believes that there must be a less severe way of winning against the flood. That’s it. That’s the stance we take and we stand by it with our lives. There must be a less severe way to protect everyone. That’s it. The Covenant and their post war factions are just delusional. Lol The Banished only care about themselves. The Arbiter Understands this philosophical inception of the Halos like the UNSC does and agrees with the UNSC’s stance. And you wanna know the best part? Key info 1 - Flood originated from outside the Milky Way Galaxy. Meaning that until that issue is dealt with, Halo will still have a reason to exist. Possibly the Flood came from our galactic neighbor The Andromeda Galaxy which I’m assuming is also now teaming with flood too if their concentration was great enough to disperse far enough to make it to the Milky Way Galaxy and land on a ancient Human Empire occupied world. WHICH MEANS, that the Flood from outside the Milky Way Galaxy could disperse again and thus return again to its neighbor our Milky Way Galaxy. Thus restarting the entire philosophical dilemma again!!! Unless we deal with that too AKA flood returning to the games someday plus perhaps a Full Fledged Flood focused halo Videogame mega series that involves a mega campaign that could take another 9 games, which the ENTIRE MILKY WAY GALAXY is being explored while searching every part of our galaxy for Milky-Way-native flood to exterminate as we learn more about the history of the ancient Human Empire Forerunner Flood war. Perhaps culminating into a grand finale where the Milky Way is clean of flood and the UNSC and the Arbiter’s friendly forces and colonies begin our military expansion to Andromeda Galaxy on ANOTHER MEGA campaign with the purpose of ensuring Flood never return to the Milky Way Galaxy EVER AGAIN. That would be a true linear conclusion to the Halo franchise maybe 30+ games from the present Halo 5 Guardians into the future thus ensuring Halo has a long and healthy career. To flesh out Halo more, during the internal Milky Way campaign full fledged video game series part of the linear story, all homeworlds of all alien species should be explored just like every Forerunner shield world and normal world and Installation yet discovered so learn and explore and at the same time make sure Flood are gone for good while dealing with Cortana’s forces as she runs rampant across our Milky Way Galaxy. For the later part of the Linear Halo Story when our forces go to Andromeda to find answers to truly stop Flood from ever returning, that full fledged Videogame mega series should have the overall Master Title of: Halo: Andromeda (game #) (Planet name & #) Something like that. And Sidenote: Some Forerunner civilian ships did manage to escape The Milky Way prior to the Firing of the Rings. Look it up and read the books. This fact means that forerunners still exist somewhere outside the Milky Way. Perhaps we encounter them upon securing the Milky Way and going to our Galactic neighbor Andromeda.

[@SpartanSpartan-pg4zk]

@@DylanBegazo you really move my head with that, It's like senior Flynn was precursors, Forruner was Clu, ancient humans were Tron,

[@DylanBegazo]

Spartan 304 Spartan 6 yup. Congrats. You got it ☺️

[@SpartanSpartan-pg4zk]

@@DylanBegazo thx man😀😀😀

[@DylanBegazo]

Spartan 304 Spartan 6 😁 🙌🏾🙌🏾

[@DonRoyalX]

Man that intro is some good writing. Also how the Oracle looks down as he says “died, as planned”. Showing regret and remorse, juxtaposed by the efficient tone, a personality trait the Forerunners would have imparted, intentionally or not. Little details like this are what make me obsessed with this series 😁

[@TazbowGMV]

Wonderful synopsis of Forerunner Strategies against the Flood. All the points have been there in the lore for a while but you did a great job of connecting them into an overarching thesis surrounding Flood Containment and Elimination. Great video!

[@simoncowell7063]

forerunner plan #674 step 1: SECURE THE KEYS step 2: ASCEND FROM DARKNESS step 3: RAIN FIRE step 4: UNLEASH THE HORDE step 5: SKEWER THE WINGED BEAST step 6: WIELD A FIST OF IRON step 7: RAISE HELL step 8: FREEDOM

[@ImChurro]

Why is this familar but I can’t put my finger on it

[@redeemaugustine5945]

Call of duty black ops duh 🙄

[@ImChurro]

Janimates you say that as if every person just knows CoD trivia 😂

[@jpheitman1]

See also: "The Last Castle."

[@joshuaclark385]

This shouldn't be so fitting. What, was that particular Forerunner's name 'Victor Reznov'?

[@nightbandit1260]

They should have tried taking the Galaxy And push it somewhere else!!!

[@revolverocelot1380]

Patrick Star confirmed a forerunner.

[@fearxhusky114]

Just say no the flood can harm you if you say no

[@Stratonetic]

I wish we got a scene of Mendicant Bias speaking to the Primordial in earlier games or other media, perhaps we'll get a scene like that in Halo: Infinite?

[@chrissonofpear3657]

If not, or at least a MENTION - I'll be pissed. But I've already been writing a fanfiction all about that, with just a few chapters left (after three years work) www.fanfiction.net/u/7240238/CaptChris42

[@darthvader4594]

did they make their own death star?

[@JJAB91]

Actually yes. OR-3-212 e or known to the UNSC as X50 was pretty much that and orbited Draetheus V

[@Jedi_Spartan]

They needed more than that, as mentioned, it got to the point where they blew up stars

[@fadelsukoco3092]

@@Jedi_Spartan and routinely as a standard containment procedure when the Flood either overran a system or to present scorched Earth to deter the Flood from entering or to ambush it.

[@fadelsukoco3092]

The Forerunners had planetcracker frigates. Think about that, and how much ships the Forerunners had, which logically would be billions to trillions.

[@ViolenVaymire]

Taken from a post i will link, The forerunners are SEVERELY underestimated. They "can build Death Star sized objects in 5 minute" Forerunners It's actually more hilarious then that. Here's the full calc: "The Sharpened Shield is roughly 300 million km in diameter with a G2 type star slightly smaller than Sol at the core, with a volume of roughly 7 septillion km3 she boasted a habitable surface area of 255 quadrillion km2 (some 550 million times the surface area of Earth). Assuming the Shield has a paltry 2 km thick shell the overall volume of the structure would equal 282 quadrillion km3 of material (which assuming it had a density of iron would weigh more than the sun itself); even if Didact began construction of the project immediately following the end of the Human-Forerunner war and it continued up until his exile in an 8,000 year time period as a lower limit the Forerunners would have to assemble 1,120,716 cubic kilometers of material per second. To put it into accepted SW-vs-ST parlance, that's the equivalent of manufacturing the second Death Star every five minutes, non-stop, for nearly eight thousand years - or stripping away an Earth sized planet every nine days. And despite this gargantuan effort the Shield wasn't the only of of its kind, many more were built and hidden across the galaxy - and to add insult to injury not only was this a secret project, it was swept under the rug by Faber because he preferred the Halo Array." - Rama www.reddit.com/r/CharacterRant/comments/5l0o4b/what_is_the_flood_and_what_is_it_capable_of_rant/

[@strickencross88]

I've only started the video, but I love how this opens! Nice work, Toa!

[@ASwordElite]

Dude, what if there is a shield world that was used by the Forerunners as a research station, but is now infested with flood due to an experiment gone bad? The Flood could've infected the forerunners and learned how to move the artificial planet? Shield worlds protect those from the Halo firings right? I think it would be pretty cool, but fukin creapy.

[@dylanmorris7946]

This is essentially a plot point in Halo Wars.

[@ASwordElite]

@@dylanmorris7946 LoL I just realized that haha

[@zero5496]

Forerunner:“let’s take our worlds and push it somewhere else!”

[@killerdolphin5504]

Ancient Humans: **Exists** The Didanact: I’m about to ruin this mans whole career.

[@kasrkin100]

The Flood: hold my beer

[@killerdolphin5504]

commanderyammarkkasrkin MV The Master Chief: SIKE that’s the wrong number!

[@kasrkin100]

The Flood: *Has Leave The Chat For while*

[@AlexandeRSciswoR]

If the first thousand plans don't work, the next thousand will! That makes sense.... Doesn't it?

[@GunlessSnake]

Only if you can afford another 1000 plans. The Forerunners couldn't, and neither could many fictional civilizations.

[@xDinomanx]

By the time the Forerunners had some solutions, they were already on the run and losing the war pretty badly. They just didn't have anymore time to enact better solutions such as the creation of more shield worlds etc.

[@estergelizon2087]

But they didnt have Dr.halsey,spartans,117,and cortana

[@xDinomanx]

​@@estergelizon2087 Yes but remember as well, the Forerunners were as far as what is established canon in the books (and games to an extent as well), the most powerful and most advanced civilisation in the galaxy. They had the technology, weapons and most innovative and creative minds in the galaxy. Things that were superior to humanity after they were "reset" following the Halo Array. Even if they had characters like them, it's hard to say how well they would've done.

[@chrissonofpear3657]

Any more ideas on what the other plans may have been? I'm getting close to the end of my Forerunner fanfiction story (posted on fanfiction.net) Just had the fall of Maethrillian happen.

[@Master_Arthius]

The Didact could have succeeded at a lower cost.

[@CanIHasThisName]

The flood was already spreading faster than he could purge it at that point and he was straight up destroying habitable planets and entire start systems in the process. Not to mention that Didact was a piece of shit.

[@CanIHasThisName]

@Bruno Pereira Ethical values are kinda moot when wiping out the entire galaxy is a thing that's being discussed. That was simply a statement about his character. He was a piece of shit.

[@dinodude6992]

Meanwhile pale king in hollowknight: no cost too great

[@xFatherSonHolySpiritx]

We NEED a halo flood horror game It would be awesome to maybe play as ancient humans or something like that going deep into halo lore yet keeping it scary with the flood too

[@maltahighjacker9842]

I always thought, why not make swarms of nano machines? like tiny sentinels waves of them that could burn away flood bio mass if they had focused on that before the flood outbreak gained the ability to jump planets that could of ended the threat right there and then.

[@MegaDani1208]

They would have won with our new armor, the SEEKER Mk. II GEN3

[@jameson1239]

ONI Section 3 I swear section three if you release that I’m activating halo ring again

[@SpartanSpartan-pg4zk]

The flood human covenant war and the flood of Forruner human war is totally different

[@jamesb1988]

I've always wanted to see more of the Primordial... it's appearance alone is extremely unsettling, then you consider how methodical/cunning/sinister it is. Despite his hostile/aggressive behavior, the Didact wasn't evil. He was just trying to protect his people, even if his methods were at times too extreme. The Primordial though? Pure EVIL.

[@ledlow5184]

Can we get a vid on combat skin teirs? Super nerdy but it's interesting! Like what IS a tier 12 combat skin capable of?

[@jacobfaro794]

Remember the guardians, like that, but better. Advanced combat skins create digital replications to fight using the wearers mind, but it was slower than mendicant bias. Long story short, faster APM is superior to strategy. If only they were Korean, maybe they would have a chance.

[@hmshood9212]

A city destroyer from a single Tier 12 unit probably.

[@turkishman4202]

All the plans failed mostly because of political reasons ''! Wow

[@kevinpoppe8285]

Welcome to the real world

[@thomaszhang3101]

If only the Didact took power earlier...

[@chrissonofpear3657]

He was actually accused of disloyalty and possible plans for a coup, by the Master Builder. I am sure he had garnered many allies to his side to shore up his case (something I explored anyway in fanfic)

[@thomaszhang3101]

@@chrissonofpear3657 Well if he can dominate the Senate like Julia Ceasar, he could have concentrated the might of the entire Forerunner empire on flood before it can reach its critical mass, after which it cannot be stopped by conventional means.

[@turkishman4202]

I think i see the reference hear :) Didactic=trump , Hilary Clinton =librarian . Ancient humanity illegal imigrants comig into the solar system .

[@deltahalo241]

I wonder how effective the Line Installations were against the Flood

[@scottgrasser9737]

poor as the flood was able to wait outside them and gather whatever numbers they needed to push though at best they slowed the flood down but it also led the forerunners to play to much defence and rather then push forward they let the flood build for to long so i would say they lost the war for them

[@chrissonofpear3657]

I think they were fairly effective - at first. And then the Flood began moving too fast and too unpredictably, plus the defences began to be subverted. They played a somewhat significant role in my fanfic story about the fall of the Forerunners, to, helping to inspire future Halo tech.

[@VaciliNikoMavich]

Probably went around it like Germany did to the hilariously useless Magnot Line France used.

[@psychologicaltirefire8190]

@@VaciliNikoMavich The Maginot Line was not useless. Its purpose was to force any attacking German Army to go through Belgium...which is exactly what happened. The French had an agreement with the Belgians that if Germany were to attack Belgium that they would both activate their reserves. However the Belgian Government pussied out and decided to go towards a policy of neutrality and build fortifications instead. France prepared itself for another WW1/Great War rather than the "Lightning War" that the German Army had started to use. But the end all of this is that the Maginot Line forced the German Army to go through Belgium, it did what it was supposed to do.

[@VaciliNikoMavich]

@@psychologicaltirefire8190 Cool.

[@jrwilliams4029]

It truly escapes my understanding why the librarian set up biological reseeding mechanisms to repopulate the galaxy and incredulously kept flood cells in stasis on the rings and possibly other research stations on shield worlds.

[@FRIEND_711]

Star hopping :,P Boy do we know how effective those tactics are ^^"

[@alexdivision4320]

Strange that no other lore channel I've watched has ever mentioned the cyclops things when they've talked about the flood

[@thevoidlookspretty7079]

“His massive mind.” Bias’ mind could have controlled the fate of the whole galaxy. He had, I guess you could say, a galaxy brain.

[@richardmason2116]

The Primordial and the Gravemind aren't one in the same. The Primordial transferred it's consciousness to the Gravemind in order for the Primordial's knowledge and will to be understand by the Gravemind to the best of it's ability to take revenge against the Forerunners. While the Primordial's consciousness is essentially stored within the Gravemind, it was stated that the Gravemind was it's own sentient collective consciousness and that even it had a relatively shakey grasp on the knowledge it gained from the Primordial.

[@johnkevaro9586]

Your videos are so well structured, well narrated and interesting. Still my favourite Halo lore master. Keep pumping out the videos Halo Canon.

[@alexmendozaarchdemonofburg7856]

the flood still give me chills

[@hachimark8436]

Man, no offense to HiddenExperia, but HaloCanon's lore vids are presented in a much better way... but that's just me. Keep up the great content man! Happy HALOween as well!

[@RestrictedHades]

Hachi Mark completely agree but hidden experia has more personality

[@diegolijeron9279]

They (halo youtubers) all have their unique nuances, then there’s HaloFollower....

[@dr.catherineelizabethhalse1820]

@@diegolijeron9279 Come on. Chris failing English is very entertaining. :3

[@sashali6666]

So why are you on this channel

[@DylanBegazo]

The fundamental concept behind the creation of the Halo rings was actually mentioned in Tron Legacy aka Tron 2. Here it is: “Sometimes, the only way to win, is not to play” - Flynn Senior - Creator of Tron And Quora, ISO and friend of the Creator Flynn senior said, “Remove oneself from the equation”. These two quotes are the same fundamental inception that gave birth to the Halo Rings by the creator of the Halos. That concept is also mentioned in the Bible too: “There is no greater act of Love than this, that a person give up his life for the ones he loves, that they might be saved” The ones that the forerunners loves and wished to save were the rest of life within the Milky Way Galaxy. And a few of them realized that the only way to win was not to play, to remove themselves and all sentient life from the galaxy so that the galaxy could be saved from the Antithesis-of-life/The-Flood hence why the Forerunners reluctantly and sadly enacted the greatest act of love, to sacrifice life so that life can be preserved and restarted post flood someday. It’s really sad but this is inception that gave birth to the Halo Rings. The UNSC’s stance within this philosophical dilemma is that the UNSC disagrees with this inception and believes that there must be a less severe way of winning against the flood. That’s it. That’s the stance we take and we stand by it with our lives. There must be a less severe way to protect everyone. That’s it. The Covenant and their post war factions are just delusional. Lol The Banished only care about themselves. The Arbiter Understands this philosophical inception of the Halos like the UNSC does and agrees with the UNSC’s stance. And you wanna know the best part? Key info 1 - Flood originated from outside the Milky Way Galaxy. Meaning that until that issue is dealt with, Halo will still have a reason to exist. Possibly the Flood came from our galactic neighbor The Andromeda Galaxy which I’m assuming is also now teaming with flood too if their concentration was great enough to disperse far enough to make it to the Milky Way Galaxy and land on a ancient Human Empire occupied world. WHICH MEANS, that the Flood from outside the Milky Way Galaxy could disperse again and thus return again to its neighbor our Milky Way Galaxy. Thus restarting the entire philosophical dilemma again!!! Unless we deal with that too AKA flood returning to the games someday plus perhaps a Full Fledged Flood focused halo Videogame mega series that involves a mega campaign that could take another 9 games, which the ENTIRE MILKY WAY GALAXY is being explored while searching every part of our galaxy for Milky-Way-native flood to exterminate as we learn more about the history of the ancient Human Empire Forerunner Flood war. Perhaps culminating into a grand finale where the Milky Way is clean of flood and the UNSC and the Arbiter’s friendly forces and colonies begin our military expansion to Andromeda Galaxy on ANOTHER MEGA campaign with the purpose of ensuring Flood never return to the Milky Way Galaxy EVER AGAIN. That would be a true linear conclusion to the Halo franchise maybe 30+ games from the present Halo 5 Guardians into the future thus ensuring Halo has a long and healthy career. To flesh out Halo more, during the internal Milky Way campaign full fledged video game series part of the linear story, all homeworlds of all alien species should be explored just like every Forerunner shield world and normal world and Installation yet discovered so learn and explore and at the same time make sure Flood are gone for good while dealing with Cortana’s forces as she runs rampant across our Milky Way Galaxy. For the later part of the Linear Halo Story when our forces go to Andromeda to find answers to truly stop Flood from ever returning, that full fledged Videogame mega series should have the overall Master Title of: Halo: Andromeda (game #) (Planet name & #) Something like that. And Sidenote: Some Forerunner civilian ships did manage to escape The Milky Way prior to the Firing of the Rings. Look it up and read the books. This fact means that forerunners still exist somewhere outside the Milky Way. Perhaps we encounter them upon securing the Milky Way and going to our Galactic neighbor Andromeda.

[@ease-l5330]

I hope the forerunner flood war is explored in Infinite

[@SeporiBowi]

One of my favorite videos on this channel, you really out done yourself with this one. Congrats.

[@Phoxcario]

I'm in the process of reading Halo Envoy, and it mentions the Sharquoi. The Renegade Brutes have found them again!

[@Jedi_Spartan]

Yeah, he's reviewed that book

[@thomasveerman4532]

Keep making that great content, you and Eckhart's Ladder are imo the top channels for Halo lore right now. After reading a Halo novel I instantly go check your review on it.

[@josephfleeger9488]

343 should make a game on the forerunners and their fight against the flood. Or someone needs to make a series on it. That would be awesome.

[@KRDecade2009]

We got three bad books about it. It’s going to be worse if they made a game about it

[@AristonSparta]

That last minute and a half was very well done. It pulled me in and made me want more.

[@legendarymasterchief7620]

Yeah, um, Goku? We're gonna need those Super Dragonballs...

[@unsc2060]

I know today is going to be a good day when Halo Canon uploads. Happy Halloween everyone!

[@novadselir1068]

I’m perplexed with all that skill in genetic engineering, they didn’t make chimeras resistant or immune to flood assimilation.

[@Ecthelion842]

Nothing biological is immune to the flood, even if immune to direct infection it can still be used as biomass

[@novadselir1068]

Gary Gardner true but with success of John and the many species resistant or immune to flood influence it just seems like a logical step.

[@spartan8705]

SPARTANs are simply harder to infect, not impossible. You make everyone harder to infect, you’re back to square 1

[@novadselir1068]

ST-1170 perhaps but you’d give yourself a ton of time and mutations capable of continuing and surpassing your previous objective.

[@thorveim1174]

@@novadselir1068 Spartans are protected thanks to the energy shields that can fry infection forms on contact. They aren't immune though, and the UNSC has protocols in place in case of a spartan being infected (basically, nuking the whole planet into oblivion ASAP, mainly because on top of being formidable fighters, they have extensive knowledge that would be disastrous in the hands... er, tentacles of the flood) Issue is any sufficiently large being with a nervous system is a potential infection victim. And other species can still be turned into biomass for flood use (so things like Hunters that are immune to infection due to their unique biology can still contribute to flood development... and AIs can be infected too through the Logic Plague as soon as they arent "dumb" AIs like Sentinels, incapable of higher thought).

[@darthstarkiller6605]

It’s terrifying knowing somewhere out in the farthest reaches beyond known space the flood escaped long long ago during their first invasion and have been festering and growing over the millennia. To return one day when humanity and the covenant have beaten each other to near extinction to sweep into the galaxy in vast numbers beyond imagination to finish the job they failed to do the first time unless our reclaimer can finally find a way to crush this ancient enemy once and for all

[@kirinyardberry1324]

nah the flood was created from the precursors after they were wiped out by the forerunners. Milky way was the first galaxy they invaded

[@DarknessXER]

It has been hinted at and shown that the flood have colonized entire other galaxies.

[@Champagne420]

I got a quick question. Why didn’t the forerunners resurrect themselves? After they fired the halo rings

[@MrAvakstone92]

Because they decided they fucked up the galaxy enough times, and that eliminating themselves would the other species prosper

[@hachimark8436]

As far as i know, Collectively, it was their plan to completely wipe-out most of the life in the galaxy (genocide) and it had somehow broken their moral code. Or more likely called the mantle of responsibility.

[@alejandrogibran7823]

Chris Brandon most of them were converted to the flood, they did not want to interfiere with other species, thou it is stated that some did survive the war but it just states it was a small fraction of the empire

[@shadowedspartan3237]

It was self induced penance for crimes against the mantle

[@chrissonofpear3657]

They survived, but then spread themselves out very thin in the galaxy they went on to settle, according to Halo Fractures. And then may have died out - EXCEPT perhaps inside Bastion, wherever that turns out to be.

[@ecliptify3680]

holy shit, i just searched up halo for nostalgia and everything from the old days. I thought everything would’ve been dead by now after 343 threw the king of FPS to the dogs, but people are still trying to hold it up. It’s crazy that people are still learned about the lore and everything, I just wanted you all to know that I’m genuinely proud of what the halo community is and was. :)

[@chrissonofpear3657]

I have great hopes for it, but the prospect of Microsoft micromanagement or of chickened out plot details due to some blowback of fans has jaded me a fair bit. Things don't seem as organically developed either, as much as in 2007-12 period.

[@Deka4891]

Flood > Zombies 😜

[@savagedarksider5934]

Zombies had nothing on the flood.

[@TheHalfLeft]

Deka Tron oi galvatron

[@Deka4891]

@@TheHalfLeft "I will rip open Ultra Magnus and every other Autobot until the Matrix has been destroyed!" 😉

[@TheHalfLeft]

Deka Tron where’s Optimus when you need him... oh yeah😫

[@Deka4891]

@@TheHalfLeft First Prime, then Ultra Magnus...

[@lordmarvin7177]

Did they try walking around with a toothpick in their mouths?

[@epsilon752]

Bruh just make shields that zap the flood and DON'T run out after three popcorns hit you.

[@spartan0771]

Delivery of the script and editing on this is 👌🏻👌🏻👌🏻

[@spiguy]

#MakeOnyxGreatAgain

[@Свободадляроссии]

We need some kind of media on humans and forerunners before the flood. Developing that world further would make its devastating fall so much more real. All the life of the galaxy, empires spanning thousands of worlds, ground down in a war of thousands of years, and then wiped out completely in an instant, is incomprehensible.

[@icyknightmare4592]

Have we ever considered that the Forerunners failed because 1000 is not a multiple of seven?

[@ulty1472]

😂

[@LordyT34]

Forerunners: *Build a series of massive superweapons to destroy the Flood* Also Forerunners: *Leave easily accessible means of returning the Flood*

[@TOXSGhost]

First one here* oh I know what the Halo cannon likes* ;)

[@Chsae314]

Great video! Love hearing about the Forerunners and ancient humanity.

[@TheAstrobiologistOW]

Could you possibly make a video about the beginning and operation of the Flood? We understand that they’re corrupted remains of Precursors, but how can the Primordial be the Gravemind if the Gravemind in H2 and 3 seemingly possessed no such neurophysics-based abilities? Also you said A Gravemind? I thought there was THE Gravemind, as in there can be multiple physical bodies (like the Keyminds we hear about towards the end of the Forerunner Flood War) but they share a single mind? What exactly is the relationship between humanity and the Flood? Does it like us because the Precursors like us? Or does it just not care? What about the other Precursors? They were supposedly an intergalactic species, so even if all the ones in the Milky Way and Path Kethona were killed, wouldn’t there still be uncorrupted Precursors out there? Wouldn’t they hate the Flood? Now that I mention it, Precursors can die? I thought they just kept reincarnating? What about them being killed by the Forerunners made them unable to come back? How did they even lose to the Forerunners? If they let themselves be destroyed, why?

[@elijahwatson3474]

He still at weaken state and needed help, also his actions of connected Cortana and Chief with the Domain in 3 probably show him using them

[@MrAvakstone92]

+The Gravemind is both plural and singular; plural in the sense there are numerous specimens of that keymind form, and singular in the sense they share same conciousness +Also, H2-H3 Gravemind also used Neural Physics technology, in conjuction with Covenant tecnology, to transport High Charity from Mars to Installation 00 +The second: they don't care about what the Precursors originally thought about humans +Sadly, there's a lot about the Precursors we still don't know (including their war against the Forerunners), and the last bit of info we know about their status is from Halo Mythos, which says, by modern times, they are "sunked in unreachable depths"

[@chrissonofpear3657]

I would bet that the Gravemind DOES use neural physics, even if only on a minor scale - at first. Whether Precursor artefacts can be reactivated by later Graveminds is less clear. Although, now the Domain is being opened up and subverted, who knows what could happen?

[@Omega4Productions]

@@chrissonofpear3657 Well the Halo Array destroyed all remaining Precursor technology in the galaxy, so there's sadly no chance of any Precursor tech popping up in the games at this point.

[@MikiWarhammer40k]

Thanks Offensive Bias, we get to live thanks to you forgotten hero!

[@bartk1290]

Halo 4 was a good game. This is a good video.

[@xenorocker7480]

Yeah I miss playing Halo 4 on the 360

[@chrissonofpear3657]

I like Big Team Battle and CTF. I still play it on 360, just not in a while.

[@TheSpectralForce]

There was a lot of genuine effort put into Halo 4s campaign. They set up a story with a lot of potential... Then halo 5 axed all the hanging threads of that story. sigh

[@gokhandemir7917]

Halo 4 was decent.

[@ngockien2080]

And the forunner once think they could out smart the precusor, when they could not even be able to defeat the dust of precusor

[@pastordonkoh7692]

Forerunners never tried *weaponised Nano technology or nanites* Look at the Nanosuit in Crysis 2-3 to see where i'm coming from. They would attack flood at a molecular level and the flood wouldn't be able to evolve a defence unless they took over the commanding ancilla/software ....or is that technology non existent for Tier 1 Civilisations in Halo?. That's one thing that throws my ability to suspend disbelief over the forerunners. The have technology far more sophisticated than Nano technology but there is no record of them ever using it yet we have *"NANO MACHINES"* in Mark 7 armor by 2558...and Humanity is Tier well above Tier 3, not sure if quiet 2

[@hoo-dini4494]

Boris Dun Ou Ere hmm, I think there WAS an instance of them using nano tech, or at least was implied to be used. It was when 2 forerunners wanted to talk, but in secret, so a 100 meter structure was built in seconds around them. But I ain't too sure, I don't own the book, nor am I too sure that I'm remembering correctly

[@lorddeath6300]

Boris Dun Ou Ere maybe your forgetting about the logic plague that a flood gravemind can inflict upon A.I’s very small machines such as nanites can be affected but I’m not so sure, maybe it would to dangerous if a flood gravemind found out about nano technology and exploit it if it was able to consume a life form with such knowledge, makes me think that’s the main reason why the forerunners avoided this kind of tech to slow down the evolutionary process of the flood.

[@whisperedflame6952]

Boris Dun Ou Ere nanomachines would be too susceptible to the logic plague, as they’d be directly integrating themselves within the Flood to destroy it from within. Now that isn’t to say the Forerunners didn’t attempt such measures, as it’s clearly evident they had nanomolecular technology. But like all other things, such a measure didn’t succeed.

[@pastordonkoh7692]

@@whisperedflame6952 not really as a single nanite doesn't have intelligence. They behave like mlekgolo worms except they are artificial. The flood immune system wouldn't evolve to combat weaponised nanotechnology Unless their super cells emit some EMP waves or something Susceptibility to logic plaque is only a legitimate argument where the central A.I is concerned as in if Mendicant Bias was leading the deployment But from a practical point of view, nanites *would have won them war* with Offensive Bias

[@pastordonkoh7692]

@Cian McCabe I read the Forerunner trilogy-including Primordium years ago so my memory's definitely let me down. And where did you find this information about Sangheili being injected with nanites?

[@deadlyknights1119]

To be honest, I think the firing of the Halo Rings were almost noble in a way (if it wasn't for the Forerunner procrasentating to the point in which it was the only option left) It did save life in galaxy, the flood are definitely a test from the mantle, for god sakes the old ones became what the flood were, I almost feel like it was intentional, if the Forunners failed then the primortials would prove them wrong, and get revenge for the ending of their species by the hand of the Forerunners. If the Forerunners won, they would have proven that they could protect the galaxy from quiet literally the end of existence. The Forerunner made more of a draw in the end, Forerunners were pretty much all wiped out (with few examples) and the Flood remaining were trapped in shield worlds and couldn't spread, until the Covenant released them. Whatever your interpretation, this is what I pull out of it.

[@lennardchurch8483]

You're close. The Flood were a test for Humanity... The Forerunners already failed their test for the Mantle, which was why the Flood were created to begin with. The Precursors are eternal constants (Bornstellar sees this in Halo: Cryptum, but he's too inexperienced to understand what he's seeing). Their physical forms are avatars, which they used to guide their created races in how they should develop. The Precursors used many races of avatars, showing the other races how civilizations grow, peak, and decline, before dying out. The Precursors chose one race and told them their descendants would be given the Mantle of Responsibility, the duty to safeguard the right of every species to the opportunity to reach their full potential. That race was the ancestors to both Humanity and the Forerunners, the break happening when the Forerunners started extensively practicing genetic engineering on themselves. As best as I can gather, Humanity are descended from explorers who went to the far side of the galaxy, then lost contact with their home system when the Forerunners accidentally destroyed their homeworld in a supernova. The Forerunners believed they were the inheritors of the Mantle, and subjugated the other races, stealing their technology and holding them back to ensure that the Forerunners maintained their technological superiority, but then the Precursors told them that they were not the promised inheritors, Humanity was. That threw the Forerunners into a rage, and they committed genocide on the Precursors' avatars, and the Precursors let this happen, but the Precursors also laid the seeds for plans that would bear fruit in the distant future. The first of these was the avatars they turned into dust that would re-awaken as the Flood, to humble and ultimately destroy the corrupt Forerunner civilization, but only after allowing them to reach their full potential, in accordance with the Mantle. (The Flood allowed the Forerunners to build and fire the Halo Array, and only forced the final outcome once humans were safely relocated to the Lesser Ark). The Logic Plague that the Flood had inflicted upon the Forerunners was likely the reason the Forerunners put all of their own people on one Ark and put all of the other races they were saving on the other (apart from some caretakers the Forerunners had on the Lesser Ark to oversee it). The Flood would later direct the development of the modern races of Halo, presenting itself as an "all consuming" foe, while it was predominantly denying them access to Forerunner technology that they would use to eradicate themselves or each-other. The Flood is giving them something to fight that's not each other, and since these races aren't as technologically powerful as the Forerunners, and they don't know the true power of the Flood, the Flood can hold back more against them, without them realizing that's what it is doing. Humanity first passed the test of worth by self-sacrificing themselves to save the other races from the Flood. Humanity was re-tested in the events of Halo Wars through Halo 3, in which humanity repeatedly showed that they were willing to give up huge advantages against their foes to prevent the Flood from spreading. The second were avatars that were preserved in Neural Physical stasis chambers, which were sufficient to preserve them for tens of millions of years, only dissolving, releasing their occupants when the Halo Array was fired, which was why the Forerunners found them after the Halo Array's firing, and thought they'd survived Halo's energies. These avatars would be captured and sealed into Forerunner-made stasis, where they'd remain over a hundred-thousand years, until one of them, The Harbinger, was awoken by the Banished, and now it was these avatars' turn to disrupt the Banished by playing to their egos, and restore a measure of balance that would allow all of the races to continue growing.

[@chatterboc3678]

YES!!! I am not the last one to comment months later

[@sampatterson2434]

Awesome video, and as always a great collection and presentation of Halo lore. Thanks!

[@robertb7230]

The lore was so much more interesting when the "Forerunners" were just humans. Yes, in the original Lore, forerunners were humans. That was supposed to be the big revelation. The flood was ripped straight from the bible, a plague on humanity that nearly destroyed them all save for a single seed--which eventually became the humans on earth. It would have been interesting to go deeper into that lore to see what brought about the "flood"--maybe some actual lore into how humanity angered "god" (Precursors) ect. Swapping the forerunners to be a different race was a terrible narrative choice, it broke the deep, rich symbolism Halo had before.

[@scottgrasser9737]

you are the child of my makers...you are forunner ohh human history is it fascinating yea i agree and it was stupid they changed it hell the fact in the new lore humanity was allowed to use forruner tech makes zero sence as the forunners gad devolved humans due to viewing them as savage

[@elijahwatson3474]

scott grasser Um, did you miss the part where the Librarian when behind the other forerunners backs to make humans reclaimers? Some forerunners realize their mistakes

[@capmcrunch8591]

@@elijahwatson3474 The librarian explanation is not without its issues as well. 343 Industries contradicted fundamental quotes from 343 Guilty Spark, as well as the logs in Halo 3. Bungie are the original authors of this franchise, so I am far more willing to believe their vision than the lame fanfic 4 and 5 introduced. It appears even 343 recognize how bad they effed up as Halo Infinite appears to retcon some things, but we'll see for sure on the 8th.

[@Alphonse365]

Maybe next video: Why the flood didn't invade earth in Halo 3?

[@whisperedflame6952]

Inb4 hiddenxperia fanboys over another Flood video

[@user-dj2dc6pi4l]

WhisperedFlame ikr better prepare

[@kyledespain5247]

Imagine how well, or bad, the Forerunner-Flood war would have been if there was an alliance between the forerunners and the ancient humans. Worst case scenario would be that the Flood army just gets bigger because of the alliance and the Halo Array still fires like in the story. Best case scenario is that the Humans and Forerunners defeat the flood

[@Ethan-mz4kv]

Just wear a mask lmao.

[@melkirdinmarais8222]

😆

[@Schneeregen_]

I wonder why they didn't use the Engineers, since they're immune to infection forms and halo rings as they lack a nervous system, but still could be used for biomass I guess.

[@LeonRedfields]

Its a shame such a great story has been ruined.

[@scottgrasser9737]

yea 343 got really stupid with its cartoon bad guys and cliche characters the captain of the infinity in 4 is just there to give the chief a authority figure to hate (dudes a child solder who has to have had worst commanders in his life) the didact is in the back lore kind of interesting but in the games he was a simple kill all humans freak whos plot just was silly like...ummm the rest of your race is dead jackass what is the point beyond my children died in a war 100,000 years ago that we started (oh and im sorry but i find the idea of 2 didacts stupid and overly complex) cortana just needs to die i doint even like her character anymore she was annoying in 3 with her visions and during 4 i just could not give a dam and felt they turned her into a generic ass damsel in distress who acts nothing like what she use to be so i doint care she turned evil because it does not feel like a evil cortana and im sorry but the chief as awesome as he is should just be one man in a giant galaxy and frankly 4 and 5 made the universe focus to much on him both the didact and cortana are to personal with the chief and it makes to to cartoonist feeling that the cartoon evil is so focused on just you

[@fairplayer916]

I have always hated calling it the logic plague. It seems as though all it really means is that the gravemind really does have a point

[@sagnorm1863]

He does have a point. If you care about preserving life and allowing it to evolve on its own (Mantle), then isn't the flood just a natural progression of life? And before you say flood is not natural, it is hypothesized that precursors created all life in the galaxy in the first place. Obviously I don't agree and would create a rebuttal, but its a legit argument.

[@fairplayer916]

@@sagnorm1863 the flood is a mutation of the precursors caused as a side effect of their attempted extinction at the hand of the forerunners. Can't name what book explained that off the top of my head. But I did explain my original statement poorly. I meant that the logic "plague" seems to be propoganda used to describe what is actually a logical persuasion. IE: the ai's switch side because after explaining things, they think the floor is right. My thoughts anyway.

[@MitchCyan]

All the black Forerunners were sent to the front line in Operation Human Shield.

[@zealotking67]

The Flood always fascinated me because they aren't your typical enemy. They are classified as Xenomorphs but are also biorecombinators since they take old flesh and form it into a newer version of itself. And on top of all of that the Flood also classifies as a fungus since they uses spores to reproduce their virus and spread to new hosts. Truly one of the most complex and interesting of video game zombies

[@blazedkuma]

Halo turned sour the moment Forerunners were no longer a mystery. 343 plots are fanfic tier.

[@glennpruess6936]

2:49 very good to see other halo fans mention ww2 strategies and events, especially those of the pacific theater

[@GamingTalk-cl7xj]

Many of the halo 5 forerunner weapon mod REQs have cool flavor text, meant to be forms of flood resistance

[@JoshEastham]

All those knights just standing there and not being used? Combine all the knights and that other species and you have a massive anti flood army

[@corynthius8860]

The forerunners really wanted the mantle of responsibility and the flood were the perfect test for them. They failed when they fired the halo array, proving without any doubt that they were unworthy. And in their shame they left the galaxy

[@lennardchurch8483]

Close, the Forerunners failed when they started subjugating other races, stealing their technology and re-setting them to primitive states, all so the Forerunners could maintain their technological superiority. This was a blatant violation of the Mantle, and proved the Forerunners unworthy of it. When the Forerunners learned that they were not the inheritors of the Mantle promised to their ancestors, that another bloodline of descendants would have that honor (Humanity), the Forerunners flew into a murderous rage exterminating the Precursors' avatars, again proving that the Forerunners were not worthy of the Mantle. The Forerunners' third strike was that when they faced the Flood, they sought to exploit other races to create a "cure" for the Flood to save themselves. Humanity was given this same test, but passed by being self-sacrificial in their attempts to stop the Flood to save the other races. The Flood allowed the Forerunners to reach their full potential so the death-sentence on their species wouldn't violate the Mantle, and in that time the Flood used the Logic Plague to manipulate the Forerunners without their knowledge so that in the end, the Forerunners would compile everything they had left on the Greater Ark, while putting all of the other races on the Lesser Ark, so that when the Halo Array was fired, and the Flood destroyed the Greater Ark, the other races would be able to repopulate the galaxy, free of the Forerunners' and the Flood's presence.

[@mercury2157]

I like how the Forerunners' final methods of dealing with the Flood is "obliterate the flood's food source so we can starve it, thus winning the long game but losing all the same," and the Human and Covenant method is just "lol fucking burn them"

[@hutchinator]

this is amazing, I love this video... I've been trying to convince a buddy, who doesn't care for the Halo games, to read the Forerunner Saga cuz it is so foreign and, well, alien, in how it's written, as well as it's so far removed from the Halo games and I think he'd really enjoy it, but I could never find a way to explain the going-ons of it enough to catch his interest. I think this video will do it perfectly. Yes, you could argue this video is a little spoilery but luckily he's one of those weirdos that doesn't care about spoilers. Anyways, great video, man! Thanks!!

[@chrissonofpear3657]

Well, book 2 can be a slog, and I nearly held off on buying it. But on deeper reading, there's a fascinating story to all three, even if 343 never fully pay it off. Just depends if he can get over the possible issues with having an ancient human civilisation, and the oddities of the Geas or the Domain...

[@PhantasticTruth]

What if the flood is just a test to see who is worthy of the mantle. Maybe there is something worse coming from outside the galaxy and the halos are reset buttons until a solution evolves against whatever is coming.

[@uberjens]

Anyone know the OST that plays at 4:37?

[@Mr.Skits94]

Maaaan i love every video you make. Keep it up

[@michaelandreipalon359]

We need more fleshing out of the rest of these plans. Same for a lot of Star Wars clone trooper Orders.

[@Loebachus]

In the symbiotes eternal war on the parasites; will the value of peace in life overcome the promise of freedom in death?

[@sethleoric2598]

I remember as a kid i thought they were the 4 Runners like some kind of Jedi council or something

[@carbonsuicidemtb1583]

Another amazing video, thank you Sir