Did the Gravemind cutscene subtly reveal a huge secret of the Halo rings?

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Thanks to u/Exitaph doing some digging in the Halo 2 Gravemind cutscene and posting his findings on reddit, we may now not only finally know where the Gravemind was located on Delta Halo, but also a secret of the Halo rings that explains how the rings themselves were built to counter the Flood may have been revealed...
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►►Thanks for watching guys!

[@HiddenXperia]

What do you think - just a reused asset? Or a hint at something greater? Also, I'm trying out a new, slightly later upload time, let me know if you prefer it over the original or not! Enjoy fellas, more Reach + MCC + PC talk in the next video :D

[@albertwesker6463]

HiddenXperia project zorgo is watching

[@gaelvdokhnovlyat6446]

HiddenXperia how many people say "First" in your videos a day?

[@Dv-hb2gi]

Its easy. The control room controls every aspect of the halo. And what we see on Halo 2 is not a control room. Its the firing room. Since we se the pulse running from it. What ya think?

[@Stratonetic]

Awh, I get no credit for my subtle comment in the previous video about how Halos are gauntlets for those seeking to activate them? No matter, I'll still watch anyways.

[@thundereagle4130]

The only problem I have with the theory is that the place where Taterus activates the ring isn't ''cold'' as in it doesn't snow and we know cold keeps the Flood away. So why is that control room not cold? I always though it was more of a terminal room/giant pulse generator rather than a real control room.

[@GrumpyMcfart]

considering Halos are apparently designed to jettison entire sections that have sustained too much damage I don't think it's unreasonable to suppose that there might be multiple back-up control rooms. after all, it would suck to jettison a part of the ring only to realize you can't fire it anymore.

[@Fbiguy]

That makes a lot of sense! I would imagine that part of the simulated firings carried out by the Halo's (as mentioned by the monitor of 05) would be making sure the control room is operable. When the primary control room becomes inoperable due to damage or maybe infestation, it's probably deactivated and a backup control room becomes the primary control room instead. It would also make sense for multiple libraries and cartographers to exist for the same reason, but only one is "active" at any given moment.

[@mcspartan5822]

I think this makes the most sense... If you damage and jettison part of a ring designed solely for galactic scale genocide, then you need a backup trigger (or backup triggers) to fire it still.

[@ejmcn]

If I was designing the Halo ring I would do it in repeating sections. This would mean that you would have copies of everything needed to fire in event of the flood. It would all so be faster and easier to build only building 1 section and then assembling them into a ring.

[@slightlyamusedblackkidfrom9153]

That would mean each "section" of the ring has its own control room.

[@maddeeps5520]

@@slightlyamusedblackkidfrom9153 Yeah but if only one of them was active at any given time and the others were backups it would make complete sense especially when you take the jettisoning of sections into account. If you have every individual section as a backup of each other section then no matter which part of the ring needs to be jettisoned there will ALWAYS be a functional backup library, control room, cartographer, etc. available for the ring to flip into "active" mode. Personally I think Fbiguy is spot on, it would only be logical to build the halos that way both for simplicity (needing only a schematic of 1 section that you just build multiple times and connect them all to form a ring rather than needing a schematic of an ENTIRE RING) and for functionality.

[@thexyayxmaker]

Probably just reused assets but it's a nice thing to have, showing us that there still are some unexplored mysteries to our beloved rings.

[@HiddenXperia]

The more mystery the better imo, whether it's mystery caused by reused assets or by something purposefully hidden

[@DrDarkly]

@@HiddenXperia If you look closely at the walkway in the Halo 2 version, you can actually see that it's modeled differently from the Halo: CE version. The hallway looks different, and the walkway doesn't have the same taper. Personally, I don't think its a 100% reused asset, and very well could be a newly produced, or at the very least modified asset.

[@xbluesaintx]

I remember this being discovered many years ago. Although I don't recall if Bungie ever commented on it. I wouldn't be surprised if it was intentional though. The usurper sitting in the place of control / authority after using deception to get the rightful possessors of that authority to corrupt / destroy themselves? Sounds like something Staten would write concidering the Judeo-Christian influence on Halo.

[@jswid2251]

Why would they have the same room in the anniversary cut scene?

[@jswid2251]

The Thyme Cube But it's was 90% different 😂

[@adelaltamimi1279]

Short Answer: yes Long Answer: I... I am the monument to all of your siiiiinnnnss...

[@greenradiozone824]

lmao

[@LAV-III]

Damn gravemind answering questions with more questions

[@theOneThatWas]

Actually it's a no. Just people over thinking it.

[@slimecatking5373]

Hang on Short answer: maybe Long answer: ...

[@cooperthecrafter9649]

No I am

[@TheRealGuywithoutaMustache]

Halo is simply a complex masterpiece of a story.

[@justsomebush5669]

What happened to your mustache?

[@lukeskywalkerthe2nd773]

Just Some Guy without a Mustache Ikr!!! That's one of the many reasons why the story of Halo is one of my all time favorite stories ever!!! :)

[@glorytokekistan824]

Heck off jellal

[@ethanpoole3443]

The same can be said for Niven’s Ringworld series that inspired Halo, though most of the Halo series books are certainly written in an easier to read writing style. Both are very enjoyable and lure the reader into a fantastic alternate world.

[@chrissonofpear1384]

I feel some of the Forerunner backstory and ancient humans have made things a bit too convoluted by now (plus two Didacts) but I'll still hooked to see what happens.

[@AQDuck]

The retexture is probably just because textures were applied differently in H2's engine, so they just took a default Forerunner texture and applied it to the 3D model.

[@ZephyrusAsmodeus]

Or make it darker to fit the setting, would be weird to have bright grey in a dark room

[@Fuk99999]

This could also explain the flood part of the texture. They were testing how it worked

[@i-kneel-for-no-man3814]

Maybe it was a control room but when the gravemind took control of it the sentinels managed to disable it and disconnect it from the halo. Then build up a new control room?

[@evanquinn6092]

Claudio Gonzalez nice theory

[@ValWasTakenWasTaken]

That would explain why the Delta halo control room looks the way it does, ie not in a mountain/its placed outside. Because the sentinels built it as an afterthought. And why it has a different firing mechanism inside compared to Halo Ce and Halo 3. Like an emergency one time use kind of thing.

[@icyknightmare4592]

I'd go one further and make the assumption that, if there is only one control room in the ring's design, then it can't be ejected from the ring. The Flood then formed their Gravemind in the control room because that was presumably the only place on the ring that couldn't just be thrown out into space. Thus, the shielded sentinel wall to contain the outbreak in that section of the ring.

[@Dynoids]

Only flaw in this is that they dont have to deactivate the control room, they arent worried about the flood setting it off, since the flood is trying to prevent anyone going in and firing it. So just build a new room so proper firing can happen

[@thecalmclone2813]

Also, remember that the flood outbreak started tens of thousands of years before halo 2 so this could be a possibility

[@bthsr7113]

Redundancy makes sense from an engineering perspective, and it's not the only superweapon to have auxiliary control rooms. The FIRST Death Star had 24 auxiliary stations from which the order to fire could be given/carried out if the primary control center, above the superlaser dish, was knocked out or hijacked. It might also be an in-universe reused asset, with a leftover from the standard template, or another Halo's design (since they seem to have unique features and roles) that they didn't have time, or attention, to remove or replace.

[@John.T.]

It would make sense if the Gravemind was cooped-up in the control room - it’s probably guarding it - making sure no one activates it.

[@Lofi.z34]

You can see in the Halo 2 anniversary scene that the platform was obviously torn to pieces. Probably just a pot for the plant to sit in...

[@John.T.]

SwaffyX Okay so he’s not guarding it - he just destroyed it Either way it makes sense he’s there

[@John.T.]

NotableBias / Possibly....

[@happyboii1047]

@@twitchygene614 if anything its more likely that the sentinels remade the control room once the original control room fell

[@gumfireparalax1371]

@@happyboii1047 That has always been my theory.

[@The5lacker]

"Don't have a single point of failure" just kinda seems like the kinda thing you'd learn when constructing a galaxy-spanning civilization in the first place.

[@Kap85lan]

Right, let's build an AI and then give it full control of the most devastating weapons ever built. Nothing could go wrong!

[@GoseiSamurai]

Halo Canon says suck it, sorry he said it not me lmao

[@HiddenXperia]

He beat me to the punch on this one, my excuse I wasn't home for 2 days after this got found, but still, I'LL GET HIM NEXT TIME!

[@slothstudio5688]

@@HiddenXperia Haha I watched both videos cus why not

[@markmulder9845]

@@HiddenXperia For when you beat him to the next one, Halo canon says (in cortana's voice line from Halo CE) "SOD OFF!" FYI, He totally thought you had already beaten him the punch.

[@Jedi_Spartan]

@@slothstudio5688 same.

[@alphacraig2001]

2nd favorite cutscene in all of Halo, only the Arbiter's final cutscene with Tartarus was better. But I've personally remembered almost all the dialogue from this scene and the Gravemind's voice and words are so haunting and badass. "This one is machine and nerve, and has it's mind concluded. This one is but flesh and faith, and is the more deluded."

[@curtisbarnard3910]

I repeat the Gravemind's quote from that cutscene all the time.

[@alphacraig2001]

@@curtisbarnard3910 Which one? Or all of them?

[@JohnUnsub]

"This is not your grave, but you are welcome in it."

[@HaloCanon]

Great video man! Advantages of taking a little extra time ;) One thing that I WISH I'd mentioned though: it being a control room makes a lot of sense given how much control over Delta Halo's systems it can exert.

[@HiddenXperia]

Thanks friendo, yeah haha I guess being afk for 2 days was kinda useful lol. And yeah, that makes sense, of all the places to build a Gravemind you'd build it where it can have the most control over the ring. Although I'm sure this was just originally a reused asset, I wouldn't mind this becoming canon at all, it seems quite logical, on both the Flood and Forerunner side of things

[@simongosper1531]

Fate had you meet as foes, but this comment section will make you brothers

[@supernovaserpent7482]

When Miranda also said "ive pulled up **a** library containing the index" that shows that there might be other libraries across the rings

[@waltermalone216]

Miranda wouldnt know that.

[@melissa7611]

The library was a well armored fortress, so well that even a gravemind can't stole a index, so for that my guess is that they put alot of effort on protect the index and make two or more place to shot the ring from after all the index can ussed to shot any ring, like cortana does with the first index that keeped until halo 3

[@punishedvenomsnake716]

Your thumbnails are always just so cinematic, I love it

[@HiddenXperia]

Thanks man, Bailey does an amazing job, her work is incredible, all credit goes to her!

[@officeofnavalintelligencePR]

Arthur Morgan that you?

[@punishedvenomsnake716]

@@HiddenXperia I'll check them out, thanks for the reply, Hidden =D

[@lukeskywalkerthe2nd773]

Ikr!!! :)

[@officeofnavalintelligencePR]

Arthur Morgan thought you was dead

[@Stratonetic]

Regret was going to activate Installation 05 and he was in a temple like structure on that ring in Halo 2, maybe he didn't realize he needed the index and perhaps the structure led to the control room where the Gravemind was and after it was destroyed because Chief killed Regret and the Covenant glassed the temple, the Covenant had to go to the second control room.

[@chrissonofpear1384]

Good catch - speculative, but promising.

[@Jebus678]

It could also simply mean that the vast sentinel force on delta halo constructed a new controll room tapping into the system, Due to the original being in the quarantine zone. And this one was most likely created as a fortress as opposed to the previous. Since reaching it from the ground is impossible.

[@FUBBA]

The halo rings are actually like onion rings with flood breading.

[@ZephyrusAsmodeus]

Mmm delish

[@Fuk99999]

I need this as fanart now

[@FUBBA]

Fuk99999 vore

[@MasterCrander]

Halo Rings: confirmed ogres

[@Anudorini-Talah]

my childhood friend used to call the small floods, onion heads

[@Celestial_Wing]

Seeing how the Gravemind and the Flood were in the Quarantine Zone the entire time until Arbiter lowered the containment field, the room is most likely just a sort of basement to the library. The Forerunner tended to stick to a common theme in their architecture through out the Halos, so it shouldn't come as no surprise if some rooms look similar to another just with different machines inside.

[@alexanderrobins7497]

True. On Installation 04, the Index was not literally right above the control room. They could be on opposite sides of the ring for all we know, and I would expect Installation 05 to follow the same design philosophy with plenty of variation.

[@maestroairsoft424]

I cant be the only one who always thought the Gravemind was in a control room....

[@CodyRPierce]

Ive said it since 04...

[@SeahawkSTRIKE]

i didnt even know he was in the control room till today...

[@ryanc8442]

@Ruben Just read the script for that cutscene, Cortana never says either of the words 'control' or 'room', so no she didn't.

[@howmanybabiesdidNestleKill]

I assumed thats where it was. But the underwater aspect of the prior cutscene confused the shit out of me.

[@curtisbarnard3910]

Multiple control rooms. A primary and one or two secondary control rooms. The primary is where you get full access to the ring and the secondaries are limited. In Halo CE , Chief and Cortana was in a the primary control room for Alpha Halo. In Halo 2, the Gravemind was also in the primary control room but it did not have the Index. Tartarus had to go to a backup control room because the primary was taken over by the Flood. The slight difference in the room tell which halo's primary control room you looking at. E.g. Think of it in terms of the control room of a power station. Each power station control room will have the same lay-out but there will be a change of position to one of the control stations. That change will tell you if you are looking at the control room of power station 1 or 2 or 3.

[@stylesrj]

Maybe the secondary control room is also slower to fire since it takes an hour to build up a charge... or however long it takes for Johnson to take down Tartarus...

[@glitterboy2098]

@@stylesrj alternately it wasn't a control room at all, but rather something like an engineering room where you could trigger a firing directly. a control room would let you do a lot more than just fire the ring, after all, but if you control the actual firing mechanism, you could in theory bypass the control room.

[@halomaster343full]

@@glitterboy2098 Yess, there are a lot of "firing" stations around the ring were energy beams come out at Halo's activation. A control room should be were all kind of commands can be executed like lowering temperature for certain zones (like a Quarantine Zone ) or just eject them to outer space as we see on Halo Wars 2.

[@blakeetter280]

“Could the halo rings have multiple control rooms?” Dude that ring is the size of a planet. Did you really think it only has one of each room? “The rooms are all identical!?” Well yeah they were all made by the same factory with little organic interference, stands to reason they’d all be the same

[@flightlessraptor1082]

This definitely explains why the control room on installation 04c in Halo wars 2 looks so different from installation 04 and 04b's control room

[@bradleymcquade]

I believe the halos do have one control room but when one is compromised the Forerunner Builders construct another one, the reason why it’s different to the original is probably because the beam emitter is not powered by the amplifiers and had to take a different design to compensate.

[@robbieb313]

how did it take us this long to draw this connection

[@kilesov117]

15 or so years as he said in the vid

[@solairesunpraiser]

@@kilesov117 not asking how long, asking how it took this long.

[@kilesov117]

@@funguy8444 My bad, it was 3am and i was tired AF, i just read it again.

[@legendaryrobb5903]

You were knocked out by Tartarus. You probably didn't think about the connection.

[@MediaevalJames]

I feel it was more an idea that never came to fruition, you enter a control room like in the first game but find a gravemind instead of the controls.

[@TheByQQ]

If I saw that zombie danger noodle after opening the doors I'd shit myself. Especially the one from Anniversary.

[@carsonbode6640]

It's possible that the room was supposed to be the end of that cut level leading up to the Gravemind, so Bungie re-used some level design from CE to invoke a sense of nostalgia while hinting at a greater threat by showing Flood biomass covering the Forerunner architecture.

[@zedabo1099]

Maybe the control room Tartarus uses is a back up, that can only be used if the original control room - where the Gravemind is - is infected with the Flood.

[@uberchris792]

Never clicked off of flood hentai so quick in my life

[@iamphilamonjaro]

Jesus christ please tell me that isn't a thing 🤣

[@uberchris792]

@@iamphilamonjaro knowing the internet it probably is

[@HiddenXperia]

Ayyyy nic- WAIT WHAT

[@stogiannougiannis5928]

I hope it is not a real think because...Oh god, why do i see Hidden making a video about the Flood having sexual lives and the title would be: Do the Flood have sex, if yes... How they do it? Hell nooooooooo

[@uberchris792]

@@stogiannougiannis5928 Well don't give him the idea lmao but it might exist

[@cleanserofnoobs4162]

I've ALWAYS noticed this. I've told people years and years ago, but people told me it's the library. *sigh*

[@chrissonofpear1384]

Or just a similar room in the library. Not that your wrong, but similar layouts might be used.

[@QuickScope771]

Flood boys are tricky as hell. As Gravemind says he is time and he will wait...

[@FrostyWheats]

After starting this video and wondering why my young mind knew that the gravemind was in a control room, I went back to watch the original cutscene. In most of the Aribter centered shots, you can make out the bridge, entrance and wall which clearly show it being a control room. Also, right before the two of them teleport, you can see what appears to be a moving hologram of the ring in the background, similar to the one in Combat Evolved. I think it was definitely intentional. Or at least it was intentional enough for it to be shown in greater detail in the remastered version of the cutscene.

[@syd4952]

I think the flood intentionally infected the control room so the Monitor had to make a new one and that's why it looks different than the control rooms in halo CE and 3, he tried to make the design harder for them to take control.

[@spartan-6364]

Syd R That could be case though it would likely be Installation sub-monitors that built the new control room rather than Penitent Tangent, given that A) I doubt Tangent was able to construct a new control room given his capture by the Flood and B) Tangent definitely won the Forerunner Empire's worst employee of the millennia award

[@TenaciousG12]

the control rooms in halo ce and halo 3 are THE SAME ROOM as the halo in halo 3 is literally a reproduction of the original halo. this is not evidence that the halo 2 control room is different. it is entirely possible that every halo has a unique control room as they certainly have unique environments (if you believe the holographics in halo 3 level the covenant)

[@jimpraxis3878]

Given how much of I05's structure had been damaged/altered (as evidenced by the amount of submerged architecture), I think a reasonable theory might be that the Gravemind was holed up in the original control room, and that the one used at the end of Halo 2 was a replacement built after the Flood outbreak had been partially contained, to keep the Ring useable.

[@sabasman]

I’ve always had the feeling the control room you arrive at in two betrayels is a different one, yes Cortana is there, is but as said she’s in the system. Now when you walk outside, there are random new human weapons, why? Game play reasons? Maybe, but they never really do that in CE. The only, unless they skipped that continuity part on purpose, I could think is was that marines where send out to control room B or something, and that control room was closer to the library. Reusing the map could simple be a time saver, and could fit with the forerunner design philosophy

[@Sweetness71775]

There were other Reclaimers brought to the Library before John by Guilty Spark. halo.fandom.com/wiki/Marvin_Mobuto

[@jfergie766]

If you reference the book Primordium, it confirms that at least the first gen Halo array (designed by Faber) had multiple control rooms. This design was created in case the ring was damaged and had desmantle itself that it would not risk losing its only source of control (in the case installation 07). In theory, the current Halo array would have multiple control rooms.

[@chrissonofpear1384]

And we may likely see such places again, in Halo Infinite.

[@jfergie766]

@@chrissonofpear1384 We'll see if 343 elaborates. But last time we saw 07 in the forerunner saga, the ring was uninhabitable.

[@jacobsnodgrass1888]

Theory: there is a primary control room and the primary firing system has a secondary system.

[@ChrisPTenders]

This is one of the more interesting Halo lore videos since that whole Logic Plague thing a few years back. I like it.

[@TheWhiteTrashPanda]

The "control room" tartarus tries to fire delta halo from is more akin to the center of the library. Look at the library on alpha halo, with it's central platform, then look at the room where you fight tartarus on delta halo. Many more similarities than to either the alpha halo control room or the delta halo/gravemind control room. Not exactly the same but much closer in design. Maybe the library could serve as an emergency control room in a pinch.

[@Onyx-Tau]

The Delta Halo control room that the Gravemind is stationed in might just be a last-ditch stronghold (with a ring-firing interface) underneath the main control room that Tartarus used. this would also explain why the Alpha Halo control room looked the same - the Cartographer led Chief to the safehouse, not the Covenant-overrun central control.

[@billmcelgunn7819]

I've wondered the same thing! Is this a control room like from Halo Combat Evolved? Thank you for making a video on this

[@jakeman2120]

Considering we normally go to the cartographer before going to the control room, it is no surprise that we never ended up at a fake control room. Cartographers might reveal false locations or simply not work if flood are detected. Also possible is that control was rerouted to an alternate facility when the original control room was inside the quarantine zone.

[@TheDeviousDave]

This is why I love Xperia, always finds a way to bring news to the table matter how long it was buried. Unlike Halofollower who recycles the same vids over & over again

[@kylewhitty4253]

Very late to this party and I’m sure someone else has already mentioned it, but the Gravemind being in a Halo control room actually makes perfect sense for one major reason...how else could the Gravemind tap into the teleportation technology of the ring that he uses to send Master Chief and the Arbiter to there spots unless he took over the control rooms system.

[@opticlightning3353]

I barely trust myself with a pocket knife let a lone a control room to a ring that kills everything within millions of lightyears.

[@R3DSH1FT196]

I've always thought it was a control room, or at least the same design, however Cortana did say the Gravemind was beneath the Library, whereas the control room on Alpha Halo was inside a zigurrat. That being said the two rings could have different designs, and it makes perfect sense that a Gravemind would take over the control room first and foremost. So maybe the Tartarus control room was in fact a backup.

[@charchadonto]

Most likely a reused asset. There was going to be a level called forerunner tank where you drive a forerunner tank through hallways and fight off gravemind tentacles until you actually stumble upon him but that was cut and reworked into a cutscene. The room the gravemind is in may not have been a control room for the ring but maybe the library itself.

[@central_core8178]

The gravemind room being the control room also kind of adds to why the area the room is located is snowy, halo CEs control room had a snowy area around it.

[@thecamper8563]

Can you please explain how when the halo rings were activated, how did the forerunners survive allowing the librarian to plant seeds

[@thecamper8563]

D3LTA oh I thought if you stay on the ring you die as well

[@effen_aey_man]

They didn't, the librarian planted the seeds before the activation of the rings and sentinels spread them across the galaxy

[@HiddenXperia]

It was explained more or less in my Offensive Bias video :) Basically a few Forerunners made it to the Lesser Ark while Offensive held off the Flood fleet, they fired the rings, then some years later the Ark automatically sent out Key Ships to reseed the galaxy. That's pretty much the long and short of it :)

[@thecamper8563]

HiddenXperia thanks man, who knew a famous person would read my small comment 😉

[@WintersFinalstand]

The only forerunners to survive are a small group outside the galaxy. I doubt any remain on the rings. The forerunners as a empire though are gone forever, as they have passed on the Mantle to Humanity as the reclaimers.

[@Spicy0505]

Around 4:20 when speculating why the "control room" was "below a lake" I always just assumed that the gravemind used the teleportation network on the Halo ring to bring chief to it. It was shown to be capable of that in the gravemind cutscene after all.

[@anamericangrizzlybear8315]

Pssh, maybe it slipped passed you. But I always knew, I just didn’t say anything because I thought it was that obvious.

[@brokenhalosc0810]

You knew

[@LAV-III]

You knew?

[@alexanderrobins7497]

lol

[@gothbanz]

But remember during the high charity mission cortana says “the creature beneath the library used us we were just a diversion”

[@RatAvenue]

Back at it again with another Flood video. How many more flood videos until we get Halo MCC on PC? I'm guessing at least 20.

[@ImDirtyDan73]

I hope so!

[@daviharrington]

Another ICONIC video by you HiddenXperia! This response is going to be a long one though so prepare! The secondary Control Room idea seems pretty legit in the terms of how the Forerunners work but the most likely fact for the Gravemind cutscene is that the room is most likely a low-poly asset flip from the last mission of Halo: 2 (The Great Journey). The reason for this is that as you said with the minimal amount of time that Bungie had then and how late in development the cutscenes were made, it's very reasonable to assume they used a copy of the control room, darkened it and put the Gravemind there to make it appear as if he was sitting underneath the Library (this is confirmed by Cortana in the mission High Charity when she talks about the Gravemind being underneath the Library). The Halo: 2 Control Room is also not "totally different" from the Halo: CE Control Room. It is the same room but with a different layout of component-like structures inside it to make sure it is an entertaining boss battle against Tartarus. The rooms themselves, without the glass bridge from Halo: CE and the layout from Halo: 2 are virtually identical to each other in construction and design. If it is true though, I think your idea of secondary Control Rooms acting as decoys is pointless because of the Library. If the Chief or another Reclaimer found the main Control Room they couldn't even fire the Ring without the index so having multiple Control Rooms spread out along the ring to fool The Flood is a bit silly for The Forerunners ESPECIALLY when the Silent Cartographer points out the Control Room anyway. We are all entitled to our opinions though and I welcome any response you want to give :-) That is simply all there is to it, or is it? Given what we know of the Forerunners and it's a lot, we can possibly assume that lore-wise it IS a second Control Room but not a decoy like you said. Since the Library is so massive, it should be doing more than just housing the Index in case a person happens the walk by and picks it up. The library is so massive that it easily dwarfs structures around it with its sheer size. So what is it doing with all that space? I believe the Library itself is possibly not just storage for the Index but it could act as secondary backup storage for the major facilities on the Ring such as: Silent Cartographer, Flood Research Centers and even a secondary Control Room. The purpose of this facility storage would be a function that is remarkably like how the Ark functions but instead of a secondary Ring being built right after a Ring in the array has been destroyed it simply houses copies of all of the major facilities on the ring from day one replacing them if those areas of the ring has been compromised or forcefully ejected into space (hopefully putting the replacements in different parts of the Ring for added security). If more than two major facility is destroyed or otherwise lost then the Library can also house the extra materials needed to construct more facilities if needed. The Library is almost the perfect place too, it sits slap-bang in the middle of the Quarantine zone, has large cavernous access points for Gondolas to move through and it is also close to the biggest Sentinel Factory on the Ring. The Gravemind has also taken over 2401 Penitent Tangent as well and would more than definitely know the facility he is sitting in is the extra Control Room but can't do anything about the primary one until the Shield Wall is taken down. That's my theory on how the Ring could potentially operate but we all have different ideas and theories so I'm down to hear all the responses :-)

[@thedishonoredamerican129]

This lad speaks through poems. And is the smartest being in the galaxy. It would be no surprise if he did. Plus he has the tentacles.

[@redacted4472]

I always thought that room in the gravemind cutscene looked like a control room. But i was never certain. Great video.

[@TheNobleStar9075]

Notification squad! Another I C O N I C video

[@konahrikb1578]

Don't forget that originally, Chief was supposed to meet the Gravemind by taking a ride in a Forerunner Tank in the tunnels under Delta Halo, so it may have used the retextured control room as part of the initial level design, until it was scrapped in the end

[@NexxtMeme]

The best halo was Halo 2. Prove me wrong.

[@yungblac8336]

Ehhhhhhhhhhhhhh Id say combat evolved or 4 were the best

[@NexxtMeme]

@@yungblac8336 Halo 4 did introduce running (in a form that wasnt an ability) which was great.

[@yungblac8336]

@@NexxtMeme yeah I really liked that feature idk why it was a ability in the previous games makes more sense to just have it as a regular thing

[@NexxtMeme]

@@yungblac8336 Agreed.

[@Oznerock]

@@NexxtMeme Running with your gun down is a really bad form of mobility and the waste of a button, in my honest opinion. It *slows* down gameplay artificially, and incentives devs to make long stretches with no cover or interesting terrain. Use the button for more active forms of mobility, like jetpacks and stuff.

[@ZarMationStudios18]

If I recall right, during "Delta Halo" while riding on the gondolas, Cortana comments on how the structures you're passing by look older than the ring itself. She suggests it was done to memorialize the ancient architecture in a way, and I'd agree - if the Librarian took it upon herself to Index as many sentient species as she could, I'd reckon some Architect would have a soft spot for historical Forerunner buildings as well. If that's the case, then perhaps the Sentinels repurposed an old cathedral or something after the Gravemind overran the original control room... or perhaps the control room Tartarus actually goes to was always an older model of one? I'm partial to that idea, especially considering that the array Master Chief explores is actually the second!

[@asianexpectations5579]

Honestly the gravemind is my favorite biological character in all of Halo

[@trucklechuckle450]

I feel like it makes sense. In Halo:CE the Captain Keyes flood form was based in the control centre of Truth and Reconciliation. So it would make sense for the Gravemind to set up its base in the control room on Delta Halo.

[@crazycoffee]

@HiddenXperia will you be playing halos on PC? What do you think about Halo going to other platforms?

[@HiddenXperia]

Talked about it in my last video, but 100% and very very happy about it :) Been waiting for over decade for it, and now PC is my primary platform it feels exceptionally good knowing the best games ever made are gonna be playable at high framerates with high FoVs 😍

[@crazycoffee]

@@HiddenXperia I bought an Xbox one just for MCC. The first shooter I played was Halo 2 then Halo CE. I was in love ever since

[@IpodLapras]

We could tie it to what Chief said in Infinite. “Each Ring is different”

[@kj1173]

Hey guys question who would win in a fight Tartarus (halo 2) or atriox (halo wars 2) please reply your opinion Also I never thought of the fact that there could be a bunch of control rooms on a single halo

[@glorytokekistan824]

Atriox easy, tartarus only has brute strength while atriox has that and is a good tactician

[@halinaqi2194]

Tarturas would win a physical battle, he was the chieftain of the brutes their highest ranked member and put up quite the fight against the chief. If it was a tactical battle of who is a better strategist, atriox would win.

[@jonnyaitken2404]

if you notice in halo 2 the control room at the end of the game has a much more ruff and mechanical look compared to the grand clearly important control rooms of ce and 3. this could be because, since the flood had taken control of the control room, the sentinels had constructed a new one else where on the ring.

[@shaneroberttate7270]

Could you do a video on gray team

[@amendus]

They way the flood act, having multiple control rooms sort of sounds like a good back-up plan.

[@hammerred5755]

Can you do another video on ODSTs and Mombasa please

[@oneeyednut7891]

It would make sense to house two control rooms on a ring, considering what the Forerunners where dealing with, but at the same time, while on the mission Silent Cartographer in Halo Combat Evolved, after you activate the Cartographer it only shows the location of 1 control room

[@zacimusprime4865]

I’m early to watch the new video😊👍🏻

[@sticklyman196]

I think it is a real control room, at the very least. It explains how the gravemind was able to teleport Master Chief and the Arbiter. Especially considering it used to the same effect that was used when Cortana teleported chief in CE

[@V1p3r65]

I love the fact how you and Halo cannon had a competition to release to see who'd release this vid first. Keep giving us more lore, God knows we can never have enough.

[@goddamnfish]

I think it could be that after the Flood outbreak on Delta Halo, the control room was actually overtaken by the parasite, and yet the fail-safe protocol took its part, and the automated system of the ring constructed another control room, in the progress it also disabled the old, now infested one. This could also explain why Delta Halo’s control room seems to be in an odd, isolated location instead of being connecting to land or structure.

[@RedTHedge]

In Halo 2, I think it was a reused asset as a cool reference, but by the time H2A came out it was definitely a canon thing that it's H2's Halo's control room.

[@skaboodlydoodle]

I'm a 3d modeler. The retexturing means nothing and does not take much effort. Especially if it's supposed to be completely dark.

[@markmulder9845]

I'd say they have multiple control rooms. However, they are not all active at the same time. If the current active one gets compromised or ejected from the halo (ejecting it would literally disable the halo all together so that would be dumb to only have one control room on a planet sized station), then a spare one will come online and so on. Also, Halo Canon said suck it.

[@davidlance6097]

I always thought Gravemind was held somewhere under the Library. They were contained within the Exclusion Zone until Arbiter deactivated it. No way he could’ve moved that quickly

[@JesseFleming1990]

Not sure why people say it took 15 years to figure this out. This was discovered with the first H2 BSP viewer named dark matter and was identified as a repurposed unused asset in 2005 / 2006. Tons of other unused BSPs that exists in cut scenes that were going to be full levels as well. Like the ending scene actually takes place in a fully cut (race to escape) type level.

[@Genealofthe501st]

One thing I would like to point out from an artistic view is that when you are creating something, the better you make something look when it is able to be seen clearly, the better it looks when you make it harder to see. It could be that a lot of detail went into the way the location of the gravemind just to make it all look good and to add to the scene as if all we could see was the gravemind then something about the scene would feel off.

[@hievenhade7545]

the fact that 343 actually took note of this being actually the control room and then included it in the Anniversary cutscenes too just showed to me once again how much they respect Bungie's old work (even though you could argue that it was Blur's doing there idk)

[@SameBasicRiff]

The "tartarus" control room seems more like a library then a control room. Plus if the gravemind was indeed in the control room who knows how much control he could get. I mean even basic flood taking over a ship can be deadly enough.

[@LAV-III]

I doubt he would fire it though because you know there goes the floods only source of food

[@SameBasicRiff]

@@LAV-III well exactly. What if he (gravemind) could have corrupted the cartographer from the control room, to make the library seem like the control room so anyone thinking they would fire the rings would waste their time? edit* maybe thats how that flood pelican in halo 3 could slip space jump, from a gravemind in a control room (like how cutter had a random jump to the arc? lots of mysteries here for sure)

[@halopro8958]

Riff Bear I don’t recall any Flood Pelican in Halo 3 making slipspace jumps (Unless you’re talking about the Flood Captured Covenant Ship, ‘Indulgence of Conviction’) and Cutter didn’t make a jump to the Ark, ‘The Spirit of Fire’ drifted there as they had no slipspace drive, as it was what they used to destroy The Shield World.

[@SameBasicRiff]

@@halopro8958 uh no they did not "drift" to the ark outside the milky way thats retarded they specifically say something brought them there (its left a mystery). How you missed that is almost shocking with a name like yours. Also in halo 3 some flood infected ship comes though a slip space rupture to Voi in a cutscene even though that kind of ship doesnt have slip space capabilities, im pretty sure.

[@jipjansen4842]

@@SameBasicRiff SoF did drift there. Stated by Sabrina, if they didn't Sabrina would know or the crew itself would know at the time they woke up to deal with the flood on the ship. Having them be brought to the Ark would be retarded

[@benjaminshort4169]

I think one thing that is being forgotten here. The Gravemind was able to *teleport* Chief and Arby, meaning he was able to use the rings teleportation grid, something Cortana was only able to do *after accessing the control room* in Halo CE. Perhaps there was a boss fight planned with the Gravemind in the control room and that was scrapped later in development?

[@halomaster343full]

Also the ring's monitor has access to that teleportation grid and Gravemind has captured 2401 so when hacking this AI Gravemind gained access to certain info like "admin" codes to use the teleportation grid.

[@CrazedCobalt]

My only question is if there are multiple control rooms, would Cortana have noticed that when she and Chief activated the cartographer on Alpha Halo? At 4:32 it is suggested that these supposed multiple control rooms could be found with a cartographer, so to me it stands to reason that Cortana would have found more than one when they activated the cartographer. Cortana would likely have mentioned it to Chief and Keyes rather than remarking on the control room appearing to be a temple for shrine. Also, if there are multiple control rooms, it is lucky that Guilty Spark transported himself and Chief to the same one that Cortana had been left in given that the flood had been released and a more hidden control room should have been used in case the first one was contaminated.

[@Vengeful_Void666]

I would say thats not a lore problem but a production/story problem from Halo 1. It could be that bungie just didnt think about that when they made halo 1 and where it would lead.

[@lukeofender2071]

Cortana also said in Halo CE that the control room on alpha halo was in a shrine- "an unlikely place for such a significant installation". Perhaps there was an easily accessible "prime" control room marked on cartographers and one or more secret "beta" control rooms that weren't seen on cartographers but could be found by monitors. It would explain how the Gravemind knew about the one on Delta Halo since it/they had infected 2401 Penitent Tangent and knew about it, as well as how Cortana saw the one control room on the cartographer and not multiple.

[@slicer940]

I think you are right about the delta halo control room being a back up. Because compared to other control rooms, the delta halo room we fight in reminds me of a hand crank radio because of how it spins up to charge, where on alpha halo it seems as if the charging sequence was done elsewhere. But on delta halo it was done in the same room. I also think that maybe the gravemind is not in a control room but rather at the bottom of the elevator shaft in the library. I always thought of the flood as being a test before getting the index. If you survive the flood, you can activate the ring. Because it makes no sense to store flood in the same place that an index is kept.

[@Samurialotis]

Another reason why there could be multiple control rooms might be the ring needs simultaneous activation across multiple locations if the monitor and/or index is not available

[@CRAZYGREGFILMS]

I think it's reused, cause Cortana did say it was beneath the Library. Plus the Gravemind said there was still time to stop the key from turning, (AKA the ring firing) Why would he say that if that was the Control Room? So I still think it was reused.

[@halopro8958]

Its possible he just figured out that there were multiple control rooms or that he knew there were secondary ones.

[@CRAZYGREGFILMS]

@@halopro8958 Or it's reused content, the lore never speaks of multiple Control rooms in one ring. Until that's confirmed otherwise, that's all I'll think regarding this subject.

[@Vengeful_Void666]

@@CRAZYGREGFILMS Didnt 2401 penitent tanged said something about 05 has 1billion aceeses and only 1 real access in the graveming cutscene?

[@CRAZYGREGFILMS]

@@Vengeful_Void666 I think he meant that the ring's in perfect shape and ready to fire without destroying itself. Like in Halo 3 when the Monitor wanted them to wait for a few days.

[@zenny1329]

In Halo one the monitor describes the activation of Halo requiring the mating of the index to the core. In Halo 2 Keyes has to climb through the mechinisim to pull the index out of the center beam. Looking at the layout of the room compared to the control room layout in Halo 1 and 3, it looks more like the inner working in of a machine rather than an interface to use it. The moving parts, the giant beam in the center. I think the reason the two control rooms look so different is that the one in Halo 2 is most likely a ”manual axillary” with direct access to the core. If the main control room fell you could still fire the ring by ”physically" inserting the index into the core. This would also explain why the control room in 2 was so hidden, it's a piece of the machinery.

[@swiftjest8507]

I love watching your lore videos, how much detail and time that gets put into the countless videos you produce. Really appreciate everything about your videos, the theories, and lore.

[@tatsuyashiba6931]

Maybe there is a monitor for each control room. If one librarian knows about a control room and the graveminds captures it, thinking it's the only one, the other control rooms would still be safe and accesible

[@JinVanStein]

It's most likely reused assets, but I really love the idea of there being a back-up control room or a dummy one. I'd like to think they designed Installation 05's dummy room to look like 04's actual control room to deceive any creatures that might've found both rings... Or alternatively, that the secondary control room(the one we fight Tartarus in) came online after the Gravemind infiltrated the primary facility.

[@thewolfdevil5193]

Tbh, I believe that Delta Halo's second room was built later as a replacement for the contaminated one.

[@jacoboreilly2413]

No idea how I missed this upload but I've been wondering why 05's control room was different for ages. Thanks for this video!

[@andymac4883]

Whether or not it was intended to be Delta Halo's control room (or one of them), I think it makes an awful lot of sense for the Gravemind to set itself up there. There's a delicious irony in settling oneself in the very room that was designed to wipe one and one's own kind out of existence.

[@Hexagonaldonut]

My thought process on this is, most likely there *are* redundant control rooms that can be cut off by the ring's systems if necessary. Redundancy is *extremely* useful in security, and besides that there's the issue of practicality, or in other words, the rings are *huge.* Having to make your way to one specific location on the entire ring in order to fire it would be a problem, especially if the teleporter array were to be compromised somehow. It'd make a lot of sense to have a control room at the very least at every 90 degrees on the ring.

[@iunnor]

This is why we need that ‘Forerunner Tank’ level..

[@Zippity181]

Another theory might be a rings ability to modify itself and react to flood infestation. Rings are able to eject damages chunks of them and Delta Halo constructed the containment wall in response to the flood. It is possible that the Flood/Gravemind contaminate the control room but the Halo responded by shutting down said room and constructing another on a safer section of the ring. This could explain the different appearance, the fact their might be 2 control rooms and why Gravemind has so much control of the ring as he is in a control room. Tartarus' control room having a more improvised look with exposed mechanics and no convenient map hologram also might be related to this as its a makeshift or even unfinished control room.

[@ICantThinkOfANameB]

on a station as massive as a Halo ring, it would make sense that there would be multiple control rooms in case one broke down or was otherwise compromised

[@isaacmaes9819]

Strong possibility considering on the Silent Cartographer, after you go through the security door and go right instead of left, that cut scene were chief kicks something off that huge drop plays.