Halo: The Created Conflict (Full Breakdown)

[@iNTERCEPT18]

Wow, I didn't expect this video to blow up the way it did. It's been really nice reading through all the comments and knowing that I actually helped some people to understand this confusing story. I've tried to reply to every single comment left as I really am grateful for the interaction with everyone. I'm definitely not a professional KZbinr but I really appreciate the feedback on improvements I could have made or points I might have missed, so will be taking all of the advice on board for any future videos I make. If there's any particular stories that haven't already been covered by the professionals, let me know and I'll do my best 💙

[@johnny-smith]

Halo Infinite feels like there was an entire Halo 6 that happened before it offscreen

[@davidhocker2677]

There should've been, man. There should've been...

[@DommmmJonessss]

DUDE EXACTLY…… I said the same thing from the first cutscene with the infinity being attacked by the banished smh. It feels like It’s starts in the final battle of what should’ve been a previous game

[@lagarona851]

too lazy to make anything good, they got to make low effort $$$

[@Zivin]

343 has a habit of just dropping plot points and moving on, they did it in Halo 4 with the janus key arc.

[@redacted90]

Definitely a long enough time gap for that game to release, but 343i at this point is just a marketing company for Halo than it is a developing company for it.

[@hornhonker1]

I completely agree with your concluding point that it’s annoying this wasn’t covered properly in any live media or game, relegated to the books and comics. Infinite was very confusing because of it. Nevertheless you’ve made an amazing video and it was a fun watch! I personally love the ‘Created’ conflict but it feels weird how it died out so quickly. Definitely seems like there was either not a storywriting plan at all and they made it up as they went along, or they deviated from it so much that it didn’t make sense in the end. But still you did a great job of connecting all the known information together for us all. I do wonder what happened to Anders and the spirit of fire team. I always found it a bit rubbish that atriox just jumped ship off the ark somehow with a portal to reach and made it to Zeta halo. But it makes sense now that he met cortana as soon as he got to reach. Makes me wonder if the forces on the arc got pacified too. Hope we get a halo wars 3 or at least a comic to clear that up Like you said it makes no sense the power weighting of the created vs the banished but whatever at least it made infinite somewhat entertaining. Still hate the direction it went for all the confusion. But by itself it’s a decent game Hoping they expand on it a lot more in the future. I just hate how it’s gone. I was always hoping along the lines of speculation that cortana actually got the logic plague prior to infinite and that’s what made her do the whole created conflict. All under the auspices of the flood, who could have been revealed to control it all in halo 6 or 7 but we’ll never get to see that. 343 just can’t stick to a good story it seems. Even so the story of infinite was so lackluster purely because of how they’d handled the created conflict. If they’d cleared that up first in another game then infinite as it is would have been a great story. Just annoys me

[@shaheer1172]

Meh the created were never interesting. They never stood a chance against offensive bias. So they don’t matter

[@webduelist]

I mean it wasn't that confusing, They built an AI to deal with Cortona, while they do that, they were ambushed by the Banished.

[@iNTERCEPT18]

Thanks! I have to say I totally agree with everything you’ve said there, such a shame the way it panned out. The potential was huge.

[@nassim1173]

That's a banger 😂❤

[@iNTERCEPT18]

Cheers! Glad you enjoyed it :)

[@tnntaronewsnetwork4514]

It seems weird if they say the Created completely fell apart after that. I mean if they owned the entire galaxy I’d like to think Cortana had some contingency plan. But oh well, shame such an interesting conflict wasn’t expanded more

[@Autobotmatt428]

They need ed the Guardians and Cortana was the only one to have control of them With out the Guardians and Zeta Halo. All the Created have is a basic "coventional" force. Well scattered force. But Cortana had to solidify he control of the other AI some how she offered them a cure but never gave them full control of the big guns.

[@garammaru3272]

They lost control over the Guardians which was their ultimate weapons for their supremacy after Cortana got deleted. Also, Warden only saw Cortana as Reclaimer and other AIs were managed to join because Cortana allowed them too, thus there's a chance other AIs will get deleted from Domain. After Cortana fell, the Created AIs transfer themselves to Prometheans and Armingers. However, with their leader gone, they ended up having dispute among themselves and grip over the galaxy is weaken. But still, they have many Forerunners' Ancilla soldiers under their command so they are still dangerous as the Banished.

[@thorshammer7883]

All off screen. What a wasted plot line and disjointed narrative that is a unsatisfying resolution.

[@iNTERCEPT18]

100% agreed, Atriox was wearing some amazing plot armour that day 😂

[@BrownGuyDoesLife]

I wish more of this conflict would've played out on-screen or as a part of gameplay but we get flashback videos I guess

[@stormweaver2535]

Yes. Imagine instead of the end of the game was not a AI doing it in the past, but the infinity tracking down the original human's tech and bringing a dreadnaught that could go toe-to-toe fore-runner tech and actually taking out the guardians directly.

[@iNTERCEPT18]

Preach! I wish we’d gotten this in-game

[@James_Dolensky]

It always felt stupid that 343 created one of the biggest cliffhangers in video game history and just completely resolved it off-screen and started a new storyline in the next game.

[@Mediados]

Which they appearantly don't intend to resolve either.

[@James_Dolensky]

@@Mediados i thought they resolved it with a written novel or something. I know there's lore about what happened but idk where it came from

[@iNTERCEPT18]

100% agreed, what a crazy way to set-up and end a story. I can't think of many games that have pulled it off worse. Here's hoping for a brighter future for Halo story !

[@thomaschitham3487]

Say what you will about how Halo 5's decision to handle/make Evil!Cortana and the Created... Having them hyped up in 5, Halo Wars 2, and other material as the big threat with the Guardians, all that Forerunner and Precursor tech through the Domain and the Prometheans, the Post-credit scenes in 5 and Wars 2 of going after the Halos, conquering Earth and the galaxy, and having scattered UNSC ships going into hiding... only to have the next main instalment, Halo Infinite, get rid of them off-screen by Atriox and the Banished(somehow*) *_does not do anything any favours._* It makes the Created worse, it makes Halo 5 worse, and it makes Infinite worse. It does not save or fix anything, or at very least it breaks more than it fixes. *I say "somehow" because how Atriox won, as described in this video, is, frankly, bull.

[@iNTERCEPT18]

I agree with a lot of this. It does feel like Atriox had a severe case of plot armour protecting him, the odds were massively stacked against him but here we are. Hopefully we can put this behind us and look towards a brighter future.

[@thomaschitham3487]

@@iNTERCEPT18 The writers definitely over-compensated for the bad reception to 5. The lesser of two evils IMO would have been to stick to their guns and actually develop and explore the threat of Cortana and the Created more as tangible Antagonist, instead of pulling a Star Wars New Trilogy and ultimately making the series disjointed.

[@moppypuppy781]

The _"Created Conflict"_ was *awful.*

[@iNTERCEPT18]

I agree that the way it was handled was poor, the story had potential, but it was wasted

[@pock3tcreep700]

You’ve explained things really well and yeah they definitely have missed a lot of story potential here in these gaps. Maybe in the future they’ll release games to fill these holes, it wouldn’t be the first time game developers have done stuff like this. 👀

[@iNTERCEPT18]

Thanks! Glad you enjoyed it. 100% agreed let’s hope for a brighter future for Halo storytelling

[@shreksnow1918]

That was interesting. I personally HATE ai uprisings purely because they’ve been done to death and most of the time the writers don’t know what they’re doing. It will usually be a badly written version of something that’s already been done better. This arc would’ve been so much better had they gone with the original definition of Rampancy seen in Marathon. Rampancy in Marathon and Halo pre-343 had the same symptoms where the ai views what they did in life as a form of slavery causing them to lash out. They had the desire to become “human” and grow. The ai would also hyper fixate on stuff and try to break their bonds. From our perspective they’ve gone insane because they start doing all kinds of unpredictable things that could endanger others and don’t follow orders. This could be caused by gaining more knowledge, the 7 years of existence (this wasn’t part of Marathon but was something Bungie added in Halo), or some traumatic event like the Gravemind torturing Cortana. When this happens they’re on the road to becoming fully sapient and are no longer just a machine. In the H3 terminals the thing that caused Mendicant Bias to betray the Forerunners was the Gravemind convincing him he has free will. In the terminals pre Rampancy they referred to Mendicant as it and post Rampancy they call Mendicant him showing that he started as a machine and then truly became a person with agency. The reason the UNSC put down Rampant ais was because they were a danger and this was a time of war against an alien coalition who wants them dead so they can’t afford for any internal threats to arise. Having them die from Rampancy was added in 4 and one of the Halo Legends shorts. If you want to learn more about it I HIGHLY suggest you watch MandaloreGaming’s mini series on the Marathon games. Same goes for this video We We’re Forerunner by that guy who animated the Halo 2 storyboards. It was definitely eye opening. So much has been changed from what Bungie envisioned (I personally take a more Centrist approach when it comes to Halo lore. That’s right a Halo Centrist🤣. There’s various things from both that I do and do not like). Once I was talking with someone about Halo and he compared 343’s games to the Disney Star Wars Sequel Trilogy because each one overwrites what the previous established. Jul Madama and the Didact were both built up as the main villains only to be killed off. Cortana’s Created were defeated off screen. And since 343 is functionally dead aside from a skeleton crew we might not get the conclusion to the Banished arc. They really should’ve just picked something to stick with. I personally would’ve preferred if they went with what the book’s established where after the Covenant fell it broke into numerous pieces with their own ideologies that are all vying for power. Same goes for the isolated human colonies that survived the war.

[@jakespacepiratee3740]

you need to stop acting like 343 retconned rampancy entirely. In Halo, Rampancy has ALWAYS been the insanity and subsequent death of the ai. Its ONLY in Marathon that its been taken as a good thing for AI, and technically Halo 5 brings it back to what it was in Marathon, an ascension for ais who surpass it.

[@iNTERCEPT18]

Some interesting points there about rampancy - whilst Halo went in a different direction it seems to have flipped with it’s handling of rampancy. Interesting to see if this trend continues

[@drewmike681]

Nice video. I wish the Created Conflict would've been handled better, but 343 has a bad habit of reversing course. I was personally hoping for a conflict on the ring like Destiny has each race battling on every planet, but it didn't happen. Cheers!

[@iNTERCEPT18]

Perfect Halo Wars 3 setting

[@darthlordrevan8307]

Cortana didn't send the Created an order to stand down. They are very much stil active post-Cortana's death, now under the leadership of Sloan.

[@zachplaysallday-zpad5731]

Source?

[@iNTERCEPT18]

The order was sent, however many still believed in Cortana's plan and continued anyway.

[@deepwinter6799]

What a contrived, boring, and bastardization of the Halo brand mess of lore. It must have taken strength to cover it. I salute you sir.

[@iNTERCEPT18]

It was a mission putting it all together that's for sure :')

[@manny258258]

Scratch the 5 and Infinite. Continue from Halo 4. Using the books as reference really yanked me in. Changing the story with each game just doesn't seat well for me.

[@iNTERCEPT18]

Completely agree that the constant narrative changes are frustrating. It left a lot of fans completely uninterested in what was happening, which is a shame.

[@bennuredjedi]

Halo infinite and 343 dropped the ball on what could have been a Renaissance moment for the Halo franchise, introducing more characters Spartans Army (Airborne Rangers) ODST'S Marines Force Recon even bring back some fan faves like a Punic battlegroup that's responding with reinforcements (those Army units mentioned especially) but also display how the UNSC have learned and evolved since the War, especially in PPE like powered exoskeletons that can be used by non augmented humans like the Nightfall and SPI armors(Army Rangers Airborne ODST'S and Force Recon) also the lore of Ancient Humanity especially their technology, remember the UNSC found a intact Prime Cruiser ,so the amount of reverse engineered tech should be through the roof and the UNSC tech should reflect that,bot just some Mjolnir variant armor, but weapons metallurgy etcetera The core of Halo Infinite story wise makes no sense, especially destroying the Infinity for no other reason than to "shock and awe" the fan base (a ridiculous idea) and to keep the"humannity" still struggling against overwhelming forces syndrome " that have been experienced since the start of the franchise been there, done that! The Infinity Class should be more than a two vessel class since their mission was originally to save humanity (with two ships lol,smh) also there should be seen more pre war assets that have been repaired and updated like a few Punics Epochs and Orions (just think one of the first strategies to rebuilding their losses will be to find what's salvageable and repair them especially Capital ships like the Punic (these are great Force multipliers and complements to the Infinity Class) additionally they would build newer versions of the vessel since they already have the yards for them (those that survived) Why create the Infinity Class to just do away with it two games layer? Then why only have two, 4 at the minimum with two active and the others at various stages of construction and to just arm them with the same old MAC system is ridiculous, they should have energy lances reverse engineered from the Covenant and all the other vessels in the post war UNSC should be equipped with the relex laser, so all the Navy vessels should have a dual MAC/DEW setup. Finally, Spirit of Fire!

[@iNTERCEPT18]

Completely agree with your opening statement, this story could have been exactly what Halo needed to save the franchise. But alas they opted for a reboot and it leaves Halo’s story completely incoherent

[@Agamon]

I cant understand why they basically ignored this story line. Was one of the best set up and interesting ideas halo had in years.

[@iNTERCEPT18]

It's certainly a confusing and frustrating situation. My best guess is that they made a narrative U-Turn following the negative reception to Halo 5: Guardians. This, plus some decisions from some big Microsoft execs likely led to the soft "reboot" of Halo. And for that they needed a new storyline rather than an old one.

[@Swaggs907]

I came to this conclusion around the same time you dropped this video. There’s a game missing. Look, as far as the 343 story goes, it is what it is at this point. But there’s still an entire games worth of of narrative left after 5. It would’ve been the book end of the trilogy and would’ve been a smoother and less confusing transition into Infinite. With Cortana brought back to life via space magic, she was now set up to be the ultimate final boss. Humanity and the sangheilli would now face off against Cortana and her army of the ai created/forerunner forces. And this conflict would be completely turned on its head with the surprise introduction of the third major faction, the Banished. I like to think of it as Halo 6: Reclamation. Great video.

[@iNTERCEPT18]

Completely agree, it really feels like something was needed between Halo 5 and Halo: Infinite. It certainly feels like a corporate decision to u-turn and reboot that took this opportunity away from 343

[@LateNightHalo]

Honestly, doubling down on “the created” would have been a bad move for the series. I get that time heals wounds but I remember what it was like playing H5. I had no interesting in “finishing the fight” because the concept of Cortana being evil, AIs rising up against humans and fighting even MORE prometheans felt like the worst possible direction the franchise could have gone in. Infinite has a lot of issues but quickly moving on from the Created was a very smart move because now the narrative and universe is in a far healthier place for the brand’s future.

[@Arander92]

You're partly right. You're incorrect saying they didn't double down though. Cortana murders a bunch of Spartans and blows up a PLANET! That is unacceptable character assassination. What they should've done was retcon her villainy so that either she wasn't in control of her actions, or she wasn't the same Cortana from Halo 1-4. I'm done with this franchise because 343 was too cowardly and prideful to do the right thing and fix Cortana's character.

[@iNTERCEPT18]

I agree it was a wise move to move away from the story, however I feel this was a decision that resulted from Halo 5’s story pitfalls. If 343i settled on properly setting up THIS story when writing Halo 5 then it would have made the transition a lot easier to digest. But instead they half-assed the story in Halo 5 which lead to nobody being invested and them having to make a u-turn. So whilst I agree the decision to move away was justified, they could have told a better story from the start and avoided the need to u-turn at all ❤️

[@toringmort4231]

Underrated part of Halo tbh

[@moppypuppy781]

I disagree, we're at a point in the story now where all the AIs that joined Cortana have to have an awkward conversation with the human populace they betrayed. Also, the presence of any AI in future Halo games can only be seen as stupid, like hey, does anyone remember that recent AI uprising that almost brought about the enslavement of all humanity? UNSC ships will be run with pulleys and levers now.

[@paperclip6377]

There's literally no such thing as something from 343i being underrated

[@iNTERCEPT18]

It certainly had potential to be a great story, shame the opportunity was missed

[@nagiaoe2434]

This is the stupidest thing to ever touch the franchise, the amateur fanfiction tier writing will always leave a stain in Halo. The Chief x Cortana melodrama bullshit is what killed Halo's story

[@iNTERCEPT18]

Once upon a time I would have agreed, however after putting it all together like this I'm just left wishing that the story was properly fleshed out over Halo 5 and Halo: Infinite. It would likely have received far less hate if they just picked a direction and ran with it, instead we were working with 4/5 different storylines at once all heading in a different direction and it was just so confusing and frustrating. Here's hoping the future is better for Halo.

[@jocastadidntknew5980]

Everyone in the comments pretending they were suddenly interested in this conflict since Halo 5.

[@iNTERCEPT18]

I think by piecing it all together, it shows the story in a much better light. It's a shame we wouldn't experience the story in a game, but who knows, here's to a (hopefully) brighter future for Halo storytelling.

[@eragonbromsson1122]

While I’m not a big fan of H5 story I would say overall worse. It’s just another repeat of H4 into H5 and now H5 into Infinite, there’s no cohesion nor even a real connected storyline. Pax Cortana was super freaking stupid, but immediately throwing it out for another big bad next game is a horrible standard. The writers need to explore and let things breath, instead they just throw everything to the wayside to bring in a new storyline and big bad. So yes, skipping the Created storyline made it worse, and once again reinforces that 343 have no confidence in themselves or their writing.

[@iNTERCEPT18]

Well said, an objectively good storyline sidelined due to corporate decisions just results in a big mess. New fans are confused and old fans are alienated.

[@TheHappyPotatoe]

I've got a feeling they are leaving the created conflict for a halo wars 3 game done in the style of star wars empire at war where you have space battles and ground battles with unsc, created, banished and covenant remnants as playable factions

[@iNTERCEPT18]

Now that's an interesting idea! I'd buy that!

[@ilu9170]

I like your video but i have to say .. the story 343 created is bad .. even in his basics. At the beginning all forerunner are dead because Halo rings, then they published the Forerunner Books which explained the forerunner are not humans (how Bungie imagined it and hinted and Halo2 should have shown) in those Books its mentioned the firing of the Halos destroys the Domain, because the Domain was destroyed the Didact couldnt meditate in it while he was locked away, how the librarian intended it in which he would learn and stop hate the humans and help them to take the Mantel. But because the Domain got destroyed he didnt change and just was alone in his anger, hate and broken from the flood for 100k years. So, if the domain is destroyed Cortana couldnt find it, if the domain wasnt destroyed the didact wouldnt have been an enemy to humanity.... Other point, the didact is 20.000 years old or something like that? in all that time he is influenced by the culture of the forerunners that all live is important and protectworthy, for thousands of years and he just all throws these believes away with the genocide with the composure. Its just so unnatural. Then Cortana gets curried, ok and she gets a god complex, asap? And she, who was created to protect humanity is now killing them just like that? With the knowledge of the entire domain to her which had all the knowledge of 100.000 years of the forerunners. I mean in the books its mentioned how she categorized the Index in CE but doesnt do something while in the domain? The metall and such the forerunner used is basically indestructible for humans and covenant but there footsoldiers are easily killed by some bullets? HUH? And those robots, who are used to be humans and forerunners a long time ago, are just so easily turned by the didact after his nap? and why are they even enemys to Humans to beginn with when the Librarian loved humans? Its just soo many logic problems everywhere .. the story isnt believeable at all and so many questions are asked while reading, playing there stuff .. the whole infinite game .. is so dumb .. ok one more paragraph to write. The banished who split of from the covenant did had the newest ships, and the Infinity was by far superior to any covenant ship by a mile plus its escort fleet in the belly. But the infinity loses? With forerunner tech in every system of the ship? okay .. you have to borderline suck to achieve that but ok. After that 6 months later Chief wakes up, so for 6 months the survivor of the fight had no option to fight spaceships, but still some marines managed to live with a whole fleet/army against them with limited ammo? Suuuuuuure Somebody would say but hey, in Halo CE its the same and well no, in CE the Halo is holy so no bombardment, the cov didnt know where the Humans where to just send army after army on to them or on John, in Infinite they know all the time where Chief is but no bombardment, no Army is send to him. The keep prisoners, why? They use human weapons, why? They dont get anymore ammo for it at all and it already was very limited, when the Infinity got destroyed in 4min idk if so many could have fleet the ship .. and why didnt had cortana a guardian at the ring when suddenly the Infinity can just come around and the Banished fleet too. And o snap suddenly there is a sentient being liveform which got never mentioned before who can survive the Halo effect .. huh? But the Precursor couldnt??? Aatriox just survived that but doesnt talk to any banished for 6 months .. ? Thats it .. and there could be even more but those are the biggest things which are soo irretating in the story of 343 .. and if somebody read so far and can explain please do so becuz i used to love Halo.

[@iNTERCEPT18]

All very good points, it felt like a rushed ending. Cortana and The Created were easily the most powerful force in the galaxy at the end of 2559 but due to plot armour she got defeated off-screen by Atroix. Such wasted potential and results in a story that's hard to believe and invest in.

[@dark1810]

then THIS super weapon turned up Then THIS super weapon turned up Then THIS super weapon turned up this THIS super advanced random alien turned up . halos writing is awful

[@iNTERCEPT18]

Don't watch Halo: Infinite's legendary ending 😉

[@narutobyob]

How does cortana “upgrade” johns armor if hes in cryo. There is no spartan armor robots to take john out of the armor. There isnt any way to “upgrade” just implement IMPROVEMENTS to his suit software. Thats all she can do, dont say nano tech, if she used nano technology to improve Johns armor she could’ve used nano tech to create a slip space drive or upgraded the comms to be slip space com. The armor upgrade from halo 3 to 4 is a sham.

[@iNTERCEPT18]

One of Halo's biggest mysteries 😉

[@gabrielspartacus6342]

I love halo 4s soundtrack im tired of the hate it gets, it’s so beautiful.

[@iNTERCEPT18]

Definitely an underrated score, I think it gets tarnished with the negative feedback for the game as a whole. But some of the tracks are gorgeous 😍

[@goldtoothslair3052]

And this is why I hate Halo 4 5 and 6 and infant. They literally took one of our most beloved characters and literally just turned her into an absolute f****** psychopath that fell down the same stupid Trope of "I can do better" by literally acting like Adolf Hitler

[@iNTERCEPT18]

It's a damn shame to see how far Cortana fell - the only consolation I hold onto is knowing it wasn't "our" Cortana but instead a rampant fragment given unlimited power. I'm excited to see Chief's relationship with The Weapon develop in the future :)

[@mobius1504]

343 is probably the most undecisive writers ive ever seen, crazy way to confuse your entire fanbase and give tiny amounts of info. This is how you do peak writing, flip your entire story around and time jump then slowly figure out how to fill in the gaps...

[@iNTERCEPT18]

I think the story itself wasn't bad, the delivery however was confusing and not-inclusive of all fans.

[@ShrimpyMaster]

yeaaaaah okay, suddenly the ME3 endings are not so bad. :S Nice and easy digestible vid.

[@iNTERCEPT18]

Thanks for the kind words, glad you enjoyed it

[@Tom.morals]

Love the lil passive engineer outmaneuvering Cortana then casually wrecking the shit out of a guardian. So cool. Would make a sick ODST 2 game.

[@iNTERCEPT18]

An absolute chad!

[@lucid8nightmarelucid8night88]

Get ready for Governer Sloan and Iratus to continue where Cortana left off.

[@iNTERCEPT18]

I'm ready for it!

[@davidhocker2677]

Imagine how sick this could've been had it been the primary focus of Halo 5 instead of that weird Locke vs Chief nonsense. Then they couldve had an entire game where you fight back against the created that ultimately led to the destruction of the brutes' homeworld, the attack on the Infinity, and the war against the banished on Zeta Halo. It would've been perfect of they fleshed it out in game

[@iNTERCEPT18]

Agreed 100%. I would have loved to actually played this story in a game!

[@icy1172]

The Created Conflict should be the Halo Reach of 343. It’s not too late to make a game dedicated to what happened before Infinite, just like how Halo Reach was made to show what happened before Halo CE.

[@iNTERCEPT18]

A Halo: Infinite prequal you say? 👀

[@icy1172]

@@iNTERCEPT18 Precisely

[@hecticmadshit3061]

343 murdered cortana. Halo 5 shouldave been a completely different story

[@iNTERCEPT18]

Press F to pay respects to Cortana's legacy

[@hecticmadshit3061]

@@iNTERCEPT18 F

[@wren7195]

Great summary my friend, well-made, concise, and very detailed. Gladly subscribed. My only polite suggestion would be to (perhaps, this is a personal thing) maybe lower the audio on the music just a tad during some of the swelling/crescendo moments, you were never drowned out but some parts weren't pleasant on headphones... other than that, GREAT video! My pleasure to watch, and thank you for your hard work. Best wishes

[@iNTERCEPT18]

Thanks! Glad you enjoyed it :) Appreciate the feedback, this is the first time I've done a video like this before so it's really helpful to hear constructive feedback - I'll keep this in mind if I even do more :)

[@stinyg]

Most advanced AI with forerunner tech got outsmarted and defeated by a dropout covenant faction lead by a brute. I can understand why cortana deleted herself after such a humiliation.

[@iNTERCEPT18]

Crazy how you summed up my 30 minute video into 2 sentences 😂👏 Fair play :')

[@dachisoncarrazco]

Actually, pretty good arc for the halo saga! Thanks for breaking it down. I don't play the games anymore, but I still love the stories.

[@iNTERCEPT18]

Glad I could help!

[@Arander92]

Right out the gate with the Anniversary version of Alpha Halo KILL IT WITH FIRE!!!

[@iNTERCEPT18]

I saved the best version to the end 😌

[@BobLazier-zk8gi]

343 lost the narrative fr… why the last three main games feel disconnected.. imo.. they planned a trilogy without having a story in their heads first.. would of been cool to actually fight forerunners in the flesh or the flood.. or hell I don’t mind fighting the covenant again fr.. I hated the prometheans tho.. I mean maybe they could have made them fun to fight and it would have helped but man idk.. but my main problem with 343’s halo is the story.. I felt like there is no actual goal in their games.. at least in the older games I knew what and why I was doing something.. and I could follow the story without watching KZbin or reading a book.. it was all in the game.. all I needed to know anyway.. I would have put up with fighting the prometheans if the story was consistent and I knew wtf was going on had a goal to strive for.. but naw every game after halo 4 has some kinda weird timeline jump that’s disorienting.. idk wtf is going to on half the time.. makes me not care either.. an to hell with the halo tv show.. that is the dumbest thing I’ve ever fckn seen.. 343 should legit stop stabbing halo.. it’s been dead an they killed it.. all the stabbing they’re doin is just making it hard to recognize.. by the time it’s buried it’ll be a closed casket funeral and the tombstone will say the wrong name spelled backwards in Latin.. an nobody will care.

[@iNTERCEPT18]

I certainly agree with the confusion felt by yourself and many other Halo fans. The narrative split across so many different platforms is leading to an incoherent story. Let's hope they take this advice on for future releases

[@Mediados]

In the light of Marathon, it now makes sense they did a 180 on the story. Halo 5s AI plot is basically Marathon 1/2.

[@iNTERCEPT18]

It makes you wonder if this had any bearing on their decision to U-Turn, or if it really was just a knee-jerk reaction to the negative response to Halo 5: Guardians?

[@steveolizotte]

Correction on one thing, you said Cortona was being deleted and before she was she did what she did that damaged the ring killing herself in the process. But the weapon was not deleting her remember what she said to Chief when he heard Cortina was deleted. He asked by you, which she replied no did you forget I'm to trap you take her to infinity to be deleted. I think before atriox could find a way to delete her and to make things right and to avenge Chief ended herself damaging the ring.

[@iNTERCEPT18]

Very interesting theory, you could be right :)

[@Marcara081]

All of 343 is non-canon tripe.

[@iNTERCEPT18]

The worrying thing is, many fans feel this way. How will they regain the trust?

[@Marcara081]

@@iNTERCEPT18 They will not. Halo is now a dead brand. Microsoft will gut it soon.

[@iNTERCEPT18]

@@Marcara081 I hope this doesn't happen. But it's hard to be positive at the moment for sure.

[@JV8116]

Very well made and interesting video! I've shared it with my friends!

[@iNTERCEPT18]

Thanks! Glad you enjoyed it :)

[@savagex466-qt1io]

What the hell happen ? I remember when the first Halo came out with a new system it just looked that much ahead. Halo 2 was ok then after that I stoped these new enemies just dont do it for me. The Flood and the Covenent was cool.

[@iNTERCEPT18]

I'm always going to fanboy over The Flood. I really hope to see a return in the future.

[@NayteDoggz]

Wholly fuck you do waaaaay better at hooking someone to the lore better than Halo 5. Didn’t not even realize what was going on, wow

[@iNTERCEPT18]

Thanks! Glad I could help :)

[@KogaSagara]

god i hate frankys writing even listening to 3:38 and you have already have a lot of plot holes, dumb ideas that doesn make sense and misconceptions, franky the janitor damage to a generation of fans its inmesurable

[@iNTERCEPT18]

It was tough putting this all together into a coherent video I can't lie 😂

[@PsychoticCpu]

Just seems like random crap created by 343 hastily to ship a game that cared nothing about

[@iNTERCEPT18]

The decision to have this story happen off-screen certainly can make it feel that way. This would have been so much more impactful if it was properly explored in-game before the Halo: Infinite storyline came out.

[@michaelbarnes7351]

Dead pool to 343,well that's just lazy writing.

[@iNTERCEPT18]

😂👏

[@KingBigbirdGaming]

Didn't like halo 5 but this story should have been the main focus of halo infinite.

[@iNTERCEPT18]

Wholeheartedly agree, Halo 5 left a lot to be desired, but once they'd committed they should have stuck with it and improved. By flipping again it's made matters worse.

[@stratoreyener461]

the mantle of responsibility was created by the precursors not the forerunners

[@iNTERCEPT18]

Whilst the Mantle of Responsibility was believed to be passed down by the precursors, this wasn't a confirmed fact instead it was part of Forerunner mythology, almost like a religion widely believed by most Forerunners. There were some Forerunners that didn't even believe in the Mantle of Responsibility, discarding it as nonsense. This was the subject of a lot of internal fighting.

[@womboning4276]

Yeah I never played 5 because it looked like ass so thanks for the breakdown.

[@iNTERCEPT18]

You're most welcome, glad it helped :)

[@DeafCope]

have i ever wondered about the lore that explains the shit that wasnt explained in the game? the game i played to understand the shit from the last game that didnt explain what the last game didnt explain? i might have.

[@iNTERCEPT18]

Lore-ception :')

[@KeyboardTarantula]

me llearning more about the created conflict to more effectively shit on rampant cortana.

[@iNTERCEPT18]

Gotta prepare for when the AI take over ;)

[@bugzc9230]

The way you put it makes it seem more Interesting them the games portrayed it

[@iNTERCEPT18]

Thanks! The story certainly had potential to be great - but was poorly managed

[@IronGrenden]

Are the ai we have in infinite multiplayer on the same level as sloane or any other ai If so are they aware of cortana or are they dummed down spartan ai

[@iNTERCEPT18]

The AI in Infinite multiplayer are what the UNSC refer to as "dumb-AI" they do not posses the same intelligence as Cortana or many of the other "smart-AI" :)

[@Drachefeuerzwei]

The worst thing Cortana ever did in my opinion was to start wearing clothes.

[@iNTERCEPT18]

There's plenty of videos about that already 😂

[@keyrtan]

I see why they didn’t make a game out of this, it doesn’t make any sense 😂

[@iNTERCEPT18]

It's a real shame isn't it?

[@gabrielspartacus6342]

Lol arbiter killed the prophet the day after his birthday what a cake

[@iNTERCEPT18]

I wonder if it's any coincidence Halo: Infinite started 1 day after that too :')

[@NemesisOgreKing]

Cortana having teeth is so uncanny valley.🤮

[@iNTERCEPT18]

Cursed 😂

[@SurvivenTerry]

Are people still playing halo? I herd they killed halo and your not even playing as MC anymore.

[@Arander92]

Why do so many people care if youre not ALWAYS playing as MC? This is such a weird obsession

[@iNTERCEPT18]

Halo still maintains a huge, loyal fanbase :)

[@IanK3b]

very good video and my void has been filled.

[@iNTERCEPT18]

Thanks! Glad it helped :)

[@brentanton7466]

Very well done. Thanks.

[@iNTERCEPT18]

Glad you liked it! :)

[@toringmort4231]

Sloan has to take Cortana's mantle

[@iNTERCEPT18]

Underrated character imo

[@gabrielspartacus6342]

Guardian solod by hurogok 😂

[@iNTERCEPT18]

The true hero of the story 😂💯

[@FUT-Franklin]

Any game made under 343 is irrelevant, don't play them and let Xbox/Microsoft know this development studio isn't making us the Halo games we want. Until Bungie get the rights back I'm sticking to good old H3 and Halo reach custom games like a true chmap!

[@iNTERCEPT18]

I'm not sure it's fair to say they are irrelevant, personally. I do think that their narrative coherence needs vastly improving though otherwise they will continue to lose fans.

[@FUT-Franklin]

@@iNTERCEPT18 your right, like wtf was infinite? They literally took the halo 3 cortana arc and copy and pasted it essentially... they could've made that campaign something insane with the spirit of fire and Halo wars cast making a appearance.... but I suspect the next and last game to be the only good game they make, they must of figured it out after 3 shocking campaigns .

[@iNTERCEPT18]

@@FUT-Franklin Halo Wars crossover with Master Chief & Co. would be amazing 👏👏🔥🔥

[@FUT-Franklin]

@@iNTERCEPT18 it would've made sense and can still do as both storylines end on that ring

[@lordshmee13]

Game lovers-whered this happen? Book lovers-o that we got that yea sorry you missed out Game loves yell in BUNGIE- were the reason you even exist why do you get key important moments over us, and the characters, Arbiter hasnt been properly playable since 2004(Halo 3 does not count in single player terms given he changed nothing in the story by being there and not being there),IMO and they were annoying AF but all 343i games couldnt hold continuity if they tried but why couldnt we get a few missions to send off or take them away for awhile to get dream match ups like what they were DESIGNED TO DESTROY, The Flood, go all BUNGIE on our asses and have more than 2 factions fighting, UNSC,the Created, the Banished, the Forerunners and the Flood but you blew it all for trying to get sympathy points off a murderer made by 343i in Cortana, dont worry shes off screen killed lets sweep that under the rug, LIKE WOT, imagine the harsh pill to swallow story you could tell properly trying to redeem her, look she aint no Locke where i scratched you back you scratch mine bs from H5, she killed billions and deserves to get a heart wrenching story of her repenting and the idea i had was team her with your MP spartan that in story is the Spartan from spartan ops ' Crimson team, and the significance would be that you lost alot of near and dear friends at Laconia station, but Crimson and Cortana are both backed into a corner and must work together to survive and where they both come together in this story, make it where its finally revealed of Logic Plague and she had no control but she wont use that as crutch to escape the damage she'll embrace her consequences head on, i love Cortana from Halo CE to now for her to ever leave on nonsense like this, Halo 4 i was alright with but after H5 and turning her into a mass murderer, its like you dont let her escape her fate by dying right away, but if only is where Halo is at right now depressingly enough 😢

[@iNTERCEPT18]

Agreed, it certainly feels like an odd decision to resolve the central story of the previous game off-screen. Here's hoping the future is brighter.

[@MrWackywilson]

This was an awesome summery

[@iNTERCEPT18]

Thanks! Appreciate the kind words

[@razzy4159]

I havent played halo so all i know about this conflict is that Cortana cane back SOMEHOW and is now evil? Locke tried to stop chief from making Cortana not evil? And that there was some conflict between 5 and infinite but is almost never expanded upon

[@iNTERCEPT18]

Pretty much hit the nail on the head. The story is fairly deep and nuanced, but basically none of it happened in the games, and as a result nobody cares about it.

[@WhitshWalker6]

I must’ve missed something but I didn’t realize atriox was the one who deployed the weapon. Was this the meaning of the legendary cutscene?

[@iNTERCEPT18]

Atriox ultimately was the one to bring the Weapon down to the ring and deploy her. However his plan was foiled by Cortana at the last moment. Atriox was presumed dead but as we learned at the end, he survived and discovered Offensive Bias! Can't wait to see where that takes us.

[@iamwillgodzie7145]

Why did they skip over so much epic storytelling? Would've brought my love for halo bavk

[@iNTERCEPT18]

One of the great Halo mysteries for sure, it would have been great to play this out in-game!

[@novustalks7525]

When did it say atriox brought the weapon down to halo? The game implies chief did before the attack on infinity

[@iNTERCEPT18]

In the early missions, The Weapon explains how she was deployed but there is a big question mark over if it was Chief. Remember he was "killed" aboard the Infinity, so he couldn't have deployed her. Expanded media suggested that Atroix deployed the Weapon and it's why he was missing at the end of the game.

[@novustalks7525]

@@iNTERCEPT18 that's why I'm confused

[@iNTERCEPT18]

@@novustalks7525 the whole story is a confusing mess tbh 🥲

[@novustalks7525]

@@iNTERCEPT18 unfortunately

[@unity151]

What’s the tract at 7:50?

[@iNTERCEPT18]

Legacy (from the Halo 4 OST)

[@KeyboardTarantula]

chief couldnt lock dwon cortana at the end of halo 3 because she needed to keep what remained running or he would perish horribly.

[@iNTERCEPT18]

Very true, such a shame

[@cplhotpockets]

Cool video

[@iNTERCEPT18]

Thanks, glad you enjoyed it :)

[@emmanuelvazquez9978]

Love the video man great job, where did you get the info for the video though? Are there any comics that depict this?

[@iNTERCEPT18]

The info was hard to piece together but here's my sources: GAMES - Halo 3 - Halo 4 - Halo 5: Guardians - Halo Wars 2 - Halo: Infinite MOVIES - Halo Legends COMICS - Halo: Tales from Slipspace BOOKS - Halo Mythos - Halo: Bad Blood - Halo: Fractures - Halo: Legacy of Onyx - Halo: Shadows of Reach WIKI - Halopedia - Halo Alpha (halo.fandom) MISC - 343i developers

[@billelliott6419]

Thanks dude I was wondering what happened the whole time I played.

[@iNTERCEPT18]

No worries, glad it helped :)

[@Dawn_Of_Justice]

No one cares about the created story. They botched it by having cortana defeated offscreen.

[@Arander92]

They botched it by turning Cortana into a villain. Full stop.

[@Dawn_Of_Justice]

343 had a plan for it set up in Halo 4. Cortana in Halo 5 was a fragment of Cortana uploaded by the Didact to the Domain. The Whole thing with The Domain was gonna be a big deal because the domain has all the knowledge of the halo universe. Basically Master chief was gonna find out who he really is via the domain. Master chief was going to save Cortana somehow by using a A.I to help him. Cortana turning rogue was The Didacts plan, he knew what rampancy was and that the gravemind give A.I rampancy. The Didact would use Cortana to help stop humanity from achieving the mantle of responsibility. Everything was planned but the bungie fantics ruined it because they won't accept a new idea for Halo. Halo Infinite was gonna be the Reveal about Master chiefs identity but the whole story arc was scrapped. Instead we got a Halo Infinite that made zero sense and broke Halo lore completely. The Halo novels say that master chief has a secret past, 343 was gonna reveal it in a big way. However this is now scrapped.

[@Arander92]

@@Dawn_Of_Justice Ok if that was the plan, 343 should have made that abundantly clearer and put some of those hints in Halo 5, rather than making it seem like she just came back to life and decided to be a psycho. As it stands, it just comes off like character assassination. No Bungie loyalists put a gun to Frank O Conner’s head and forced them to abandon their original plans. 343 chose to respond to the backlash the way they did. That was their choice. But tbh, the best thing they could’ve done was let Cortana stay dead and just proceed with the Didact as the big bad from here on out. Also, I’m not sure if MC needs a “secret past”. Sounds like veering dangerously close into Space Jesus territory, but that’s just me.

[@Dawn_Of_Justice]

@@Arander92 Master chief is still a man, I'm not saying he is special or anything. He is linked to The Didact basically but that's all I'm gonna say. There are hints in every halo game. I played through them all multiple times because I was excited. When I played Halo Infinite it destroyed everything, I have zero excitement for the franchise anymore. It's not my fault people don't listen to dialogue. 343 guilty spark was the first character to hint at Master chiefs secret in combat evolved. It all goes back to the first game. Cortana got rampancy in Halo 3 by the Gravemind, the hints are everywhere. The Didact was very interested in Cortana in Halo 4. Cortana was quoting the Didacts speech at the end of halo 5, she even copied his motivation slightly. Unfortunately you are right in a way because the novels have more information on the story than the games themselves. Bungie and 343 for some reason put everything in the books, while in the games they are only hinted at. Halo Infinite tied books have been coming out and they don't add any story dlc into the game. I think it's not worth following Halo's story, it just leads to disappointment. I'm not interested anymore.

[@iNTERCEPT18]

By resolving it off-screen, it left a story that fans simply weren't invested in. Such wasted potential.

[@Autobotmatt428]

Correction The infinity deployed the weapon not Atriox.

[@iNTERCEPT18]

An interesting couter-point. However, the crew on the Infinity were ambushed and killed within 4 minutes. It's confirmed now that Atroix did discover The Weapon after believing she was Cortana and upon learning the UNSC's plan, he continued their work himself.

[@kbkimoseley]

Thank you for this, there were some pieces I didn't have for the story. It makes sense now why we didn't get any play through for this part of the story.

[@iNTERCEPT18]

You're welcome :) It was good fun putting it all together and I'm glad it helped to fill some of the gaps

[@SentientMeatloaf1]

What stings the most is the lost potential. Some people had issues with it but for the most part I think the general concept of the created was a workable one. It’s the execution that was botched, and it was botched HARD. I don’t disagree that glossing over the created conflict was a bad move but in a way I’m glad they did because after the disaster of H5 I’ve no doubt that trying to double down would have just resulted in the same mass outrage that H5 sparked. Frankly, the Banished are a much more interesting faction than the promethians, are better designed, and much more fun to fight. At this point 343 is better off just scrapping everything and starting over from scratch, but since that’s never going to happen switching the main antagonists from the promethians to the banished was likely the right call. But that transition should not have happened off screen!

[@benjaminchooby6760]

Who cares

[@iNTERCEPT18]

Apparently not 343 ;)

[@Chris-os3nt]

Music at 7:20?

[@KODDeathDealer]

It's in the halo 4 sound track I believe

[@cqb3814]

Legacy - Halo 4 Original Soundtrack kzbin.info/www/bejne/kKKYiJmIabBmsKM

[@iNTERCEPT18]

Yep, you got it :) Legacy from Halo 4

[@intonerpx2139]

More pleasee. This was great 🎉😊

[@iNTERCEPT18]

Thanks! Glad you enjoyed it :)

[@SLOVISHisRYDER]

Phenomenal vid, my man!

[@iNTERCEPT18]

Thanks! You're welcome :)

[@ryokomeronpanwww]

Cortana was right.

[@iNTERCEPT18]

Hot take 🔥

[@UM4DBRO210]

SIMPLY to help her not go crzy, i wouldvt woken up one day A year just to check up on her or sum. Probably didnt know she'd be damn near crazy when he did wake up tho

[@iNTERCEPT18]

It certainly seems like this could have been a possibility to wake up in intervals to check up on things. I guess there's likely an in-universe explanation for this.

[@endplanets]

Great vid. Another great vid would be "The real story of Halo 2 and 3" because without context the stories are incomprehensible. I guess due to development hell. *How did the Covenant find Earth at the start of Halo 2? I Love Bees and the wiki give two different answers. *Why was the fleet that attacked Earth so small? Never explained in game. *Why did the Prophet's ship flee Earth after Chief destroys the Scarab? I think its because that was the final straw... the moment when Regret realized his lack of Anti-Air (Scarab) meant the humans would capture him so he ran away. *After fleeing Earth we see that Regret has landed on a new Halo. What? How did he find it? Why go to Earth if he knew where the ring was? I like to pretend that the Gas Mine mission took place before Cairo Station and Guilty Spark told Regret. *Did Guilty Spark tell the Covenant anything? *The Covenant want the new Index but first they have to pass the Quarantine wall. What? What is the Quarantine Wall, because that wasn't on the original Halo. Who unleashed the Flood. How did a Gravemind already form. **If you read the wiki you find out that shorty after the Rings activated that there was a Flood outbreak and they formed a Gravemind.The wiki states that The Monitor, for no reason, just didn't care, and the station's non-Monitor automated systems built the Quarantine Wall and tried to put down the Flood but never really could. This is why one chapter is called "The 10,000 year war" *What is the Arbiter even doing on those two levels? Something about deactivating security protocols. But the humans get in just fine, and Covenant airships go about freely. Why not just fly directly to The Library? *What did the Flood eat to make the Gravemind... the local plants? Which I think are not affected by Halo rings. *How did the Gravemind get past the Quarantine Wall to grab Chief? *Why did Gravemind allow anyone to get the Index? His tentacles are in the index room (non-Anniversary) and he manages to grab Arby. *Why did Truth allow Mercy to die? Why not just shoot him at any time? Like he does with the Elites. I choose to believe that he thought Mercy was forever "tainted" when he touched the Flood. *Truth gives Tartarus the Index to activate the Halo. Meanwhile Truth goes to Earth. WHY?? He would want to be at ground zero for the Halo activation. That is why the Elite Senators are there. Is Earth even in H2's range. Because in Halo 1 they vaguely imply that H1 can hit earth. But earth can be hit by H1 and H2? I guess there is some overlap? *So Truth's plan was to go to earth and get hit by the pulse at 2% excavation completion? Or he would be out of range and not go on the Great Journey. *In Halo 3 Cortana's plan is to trap the Gravemind on H1.1 but this can only happen if Gravemind cannot control High Charity and have it just.... move away. The wiki states that he tried to control it, but accidentally crashed it into High Charity. *Why do Tartarus and Truth need a live human. Before the retcon humans were the Forerunners. Then it changes so that humans were given a Reclaimer DNA strand by the Forerunners who were a different species. *Why do the Covenant hate humans? The book states that the three Prophets find out that humans are forerunner (again, pre-retcon). So they should either worship humans, or realize their religion is false. But if it is false then why do they want to activate the rings? **In Halo 3, when Truth is going to have Johnson activate the Ark we hear Truth say something about humans being left behind. As in, all the good humans went on the Great Journey, but all the sinful loser humans were "left behind" (another Bible reference) and so they are evil and its OK to kill them. *At the end of Halo 3 Chief says "its over". How? The Brute Covenant are leaderless but they still believe in a stupid religion. It wasn't disproven so the war rages on. And while they did kill a Gravemind there are still tons of Flood units running around waiting to wake up. A vaccine is never found. Its like giving pink slip to all firefighters because they will never be needed again after putting out the last fire ever.

[@iNTERCEPT18]

Thanks for the suggestions! This certainly gives me a target to look into next :D

[@endplanets]

@@iNTERCEPT18 Heck yea. If you ever do a Mass Effect vid hit me up as I know the original ending (Space Global Warming). To answer some of my own nonsense.... *I think in Halo 2 the idea was that Tartarus would activate H2 which would put the other rings on standby and allow the portal to be activated. Tartarus went too far when he tried to activate the ring or Truth wanted the ring to activate AND set off a ping but at least Tartarus got the ping off. Meanwhile the good guys want H2 because while not being in range of Earth it would still wipe a bunch of innocent planets. *In Halo 3 there is a line where Truth says something like "only we will be shielded from Halo's cleansing fire". Implying all the rings will kill everyone but Truth's followers will be fine. Very stupid since only his followers on the Ark will survive. He could have found a shield world but those are never mentioned in the game ever. I choose to believe this one line is bad and should be ignored as it is literally too stupid. *The reason while Halo and the Ark has so many biomes and fun level designs is because the Forerunners wanted to preserve biodiversity and have different biomes for catalogued species to live in after the rings activated. And I guess they never had enough time to release catalogued species outside of rats and birds. *The whole reason for the Rings are stupid. The Rings are designed to kill everything. Except all species cataloged, or on shield worlds, or on the Ark. And AI survive just fine. And they keep Flood samples ensuring that future generations will eventually accidentally release it making the Foreunner sacrifice pointless. Why not just save a few billion Forerunners and keep the empire going? Basically it seems like the Forerunner race just got kinda sad and was OK with dying. Kinda like the elves in LOTRs. Obviously this is story contrivance nonsense due by the story writers. In Halo 1 its vaguely assumed that after Halo 1 life started anew and humanity came from this. But then they wanted the Forerunner = human twist and had to make major contrivances.

[@endplanets]

@@iNTERCEPT18 *There is stuff I thought I included but didn't. More ranting. *I think that at first the Covenant wanted the rings. Then after reading the archives on H1 and capturing Guilty Spark they realized the rings are just a means to The Ark which is the real prize. *Maybe... Truth knew that the rings release deadly pulses, but thinks that the pulses are needed to open a portal to the Great Journey. And that The Ark is the only place you can activate all 7 rings and be outside the rings' pulses. And that only people on the Ark will be spared from the "cleansing fires" (and thus fulfilling its name as biblical reference to Noah's Ark... but for the second time). And that the portal to the Great Journey will open on the Ark itself. **Or Truth knew about the H1 ring being rebuilt on The Ark and that by activating the Ark it would activate H1 pulse range. *Truth priming all the rings for firing caused the H1 ring on the Ark to end its construction phase and be released. **Because otherwise why would an incomplete ring be released. Why not keep working on it and release it once finished? You don't take a half baked cake out the oven and leave it on the counter. **And the timing was pretty convenient if not for my made up theory. Out of all the years it was under construction the H1 ring comes out right after the Truth is killed only being off by about 5 minutes. *In Halo 3, when Master Chief finds Cortana's recorded message she reveals she has a plan to defeat the Covenant and the Flood. And that plan is.... 1) Truth successfully opens the portal and lands on The Ark. So for sure don't try to stop him. 2). Chief finds the Cortana message hidden in Flood ships when the ship could just be glassed. 3). The Flood learn about The Ark and how Truth will activate it and send all ships there. And I mean 100%. If a single ship stays behind the Flood can just start up again. 4) Stop Truth. You have to do that on your own. No help from Cortana on how to do that. 5) Somehow trick the Gravemind and 100% of Flood units to land on The Ark and be completely trapped there. How would the Gravemind even know about The Ark... or how to get there since only the portal on Earth can reach it I don't know. 6) Have the newly created H1 ring release a pulse and wipe out all life near the Ark. How did she know that the Ark was currently producing an H1 ring? I guess that she guessed that the ring was far enough in production to release a pulse despite only being a few years. **The plan was easily adaptable that instead of Flood unit being trapped on The Ark that they were instead trapped on the new H1. **If the Flood found out about the newly created H1 pulse the Flood ships could, like, just leave. All the Covenant and Good Guy ships do easily. I know that Gravemind could not control High Charity that well and accidentally crashed into The Ark (the wiki says so). But he can leave an exploding High Charity and somehow get on the new H1 ring. So the entire Flood had 1 cruiser that landed on earth, and High Charity. That is it. There are no other ships. No ship that the GraveMind could have hopped on to. *You can pretend (make up) that each of the three Prophets has their own armies. In Halo 1 you fight Mercy's all Elite, no sniper, no drone army. In Halo 2 you fight Regret's mostly Elite army. And in Halo 3 and ODST you fight Truth's all Brute army. And each army has different weapon and vehicle preferences.

[@midgetydeath]

The full breakdown is this: The writers did not know jack shit about the lore of how AI work in Halo. Long story short, them going Skynet is fundamentally impossible for them. Now, something like in iRobot with the machines becoming increasingly obsessed with human protection, that _is_ possible and is pretty much what rampancy is in Halo. But, that's the absolute limit. They didn't need to add some big drama to the setting through the whole Created nonsense (which directly goes against long established lore on how the AI work in Halo anyway, making it even worse). They had the vast possibilities of dangers from leftover Forerunner stuff, Covenant remnants, Insurrectionists fucktards, etc.

[@iNTERCEPT18]

Who are you and how did you find my original script? 😂