Are Halo, Destiny & Marathon Connected? - The Bungie-verse Theory

[@HiddenXperia]

NEW LORE BANGER JUST DROPPED ENJOY FRIENDOS! IF YOU SEE ME AT HALO WORLDS TODAY/TOMORROW COME SAY HI!

[@kevinhabing]

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! compare the runes at the time stamp 16:50 with the runes in halo sandtrap !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@thefakebriskeh]

343 is not retelling marathons lore lmfaoo

[@evdoggster]

VEEERRRRY COOOOOL

[@neoluna1172]

On a cannon level, even setting aside bungie not owning halo anymore, im not convinced halo fits into the cannon connections. That being said, the meta theory I totaly buy, and its not just some run of the mill fan theory, its a love letter from old school bungie and is legit one of the most wholesome things I have ever seen a dev do.

[@WaveOfDestiny]

This video is almost perfect. You did almost exactly what i was about to do. It's not a coincidence i changed my name to wave of destiny. The Bungieverse is not only absolutely real, but it's one of the best narratives and philosophies in fiction ever to me. The feeling that hit me when i realized that i was fighting the same Darkness in Destiny that i was fighting and was scared by as a child when they were named the Flood, the same enemy that my father fought in Marathon, impersonating the same hero that is able to write his own fate, to change his own destiny, was literally impossible to describe, a sense being exactly where you are supposed to be, growing up with Bungie and being in a new chapter of your own life, fighting what previously made you scared as an adult. It speaks to my soul and my entire life so much that i actually cried during the end of this video. Bungie, their games and philosophy, are such a big part of my soul that part of the reason i am who i am now as a person is because of them. I can literally psychoanalyze myself and find out that many parts of me, what i like, what i desire, how i play, how i act, are connected to elements of their work, it almost feels like they are my third parent. Idk if you know about them, but the connections you mentioned between these games are only the tip of the iceberg honestly. The Bungieverse permeates almost every aspect of the games in a fundamental way, even the main plots of the games feel like simply rivers that flow into the drains that are drawn by the verse. In fact this very thing is the entire plot of Destiny right now, as the Witness aims to combine the light and dark to see and control these rivers, these timelines, and stop the guardians from guiding them into what he calls chaos. The Witness wants to be the new Destiny, a being able to alter timelines and their flow so that they follow a rigid and predictable direction known as the final shape, pretty much destroying life in the process. Even Halo 3 follows this narrative almost completely, Halo 3 literally starts with Cortana saying that Chief is the chosen one, because he is lucky. Halo 3's protagonist is not chief, as a person, but it's literally Destiny. Tons of other connections all around the place like the Flood and the Darkness wanting the same thing, having the same propieties, the same powers (down to the flood having ontological powers that can alter the laws of phisics and turning the universe against its enemies, having an hive mind, the ability to take, the ability to remember what previous graveminds experience throught time and space, the ability to see in the unseen, the finality of death and eternity) and they even literally have the same quotes: the flood: "do not fear, i am peace, i am salvation" the darkness: "we are not enemies, we are not friends, we are salvation". Not to mention the flood infection forms always have 3 red tendrils they probably use to see, just like the hive worms in destiny always have 3 eyes. How about connecting the Traveller to the Halo rings? Both are round, both are technology, both personify the concept of the cycle of death and rebirth, both focus on making whoever uses their power forget who they are (the halos wiped the species and replanted their seeds, erasing every memory of what your species did in the past, the traveller requires you to die and resurrects you without any memory, which is a direct contrast of the Darkness and the flood, which aim at eternal life and eternal death, and grants you the power to remember things even past the laws of physics). Not to mention the fact that Marathon lore almost perfectly describes the concept of dark and the Winnower as the lore of Destiny does, including the element of the garden of creation. How about we add the fact that there are characters in Destiny who break the 4th wall and known they are withing a game and that the Guardian is contolled by something outside their existance like a puppet with strings? How about the activity dares of eternity in Destiny, which came out in Bungie's 30th anniversary, canonically giving to the guardian guns and armor that come from different universes, which are literally guns and armor from Halo, Marathon and Mith? With the character saying that "they belong to their original owner"? If i point out any other connection i might hit the character limit for youtube comments.

[@ootdega]

The conclusion was...surprisingly wholesome. It's kinda funny that the conclusion was so comically obvious that it took us 30 years to get it. It's also such a Bungie thing to do. "Every protagonist is the same person, but that person could be anyone." A hilariously complicated way to express a hilariously simple idea, but an idea that can only exist in a video game. It's touching and a just a little silly at the same time.

[@NorthyNamey]

But that’s just a theory…A GAME THEORY!!!!

[@ootdega]

@@NorthyNamey As retribution for quoting Matpat in my presence, I will find where you live and force you to watch in helpless terror as I construct the most vile and horrifying Subway sandwich ever conceived Be afraid

[@Revan_Reborn]

even better for both theories. there's another MIDA weapon in Destiny, the MIDA Multi Tool. it's lore tab mentions that not only did it come from a "revolutionary government" but that it also came from an "alternate timeline" and it was designed by a "primitive AI". even further, the cached messages stored within the weapon tells that the brief reign of MIDA resulted in the death of 10% of Martian people.

[@tomtheconqerur]

Considering how incompetent most characters in Destiny are, I wouldn't be surprised if the "Primitive AI" outsmarted them.

[@sp4rtan148]

"I don't have time to explain why I don't have time to explain." Ugh...@@tomtheconqerur

[@michaelbarker6732]

I just realized the reason Master Chief is “lucky” might just be because he has the privilege of being controlled by the player. In game, he can die over and over and only the successful attempt is needed to progress, but in the lore that means he was just always successful in extremely unlikely circumstances.

[@basicmudkip5985]

Or maybe he has forerunner technology stuffed into his gut

[@henrychapman3727]

I think about that while I’m playing, every time he dies is just another possible chief that didn’t make it. Only the story in which he succeeds is the one that moves forward

[@drew4163]

its all a diffrent univers when he fails

[@albertwesker3299]

Mf got Return by Death from Re:Zero just because we control him.

[@Lazypackmule]

Well, yeah Though given Halo's specific themes it's presented as more of a divine providence thing

[@toxicspartan2192]

Dude looking hella forward to you talking about the new flood lore.

[@HiddenXperia]

as am I :)

[@JayPlusForerunner]

​@@HiddenXperiaI saw the trailer and immediately knew the flood stuff would hook you

[@TexasDinoHunter]

Same bro

[@Maysy787]

Wait what are we on about, is it a new book or something?

[@benvoli0c977]

​@@Maysy787leaving a comment so I can know as well when it's said

[@The_Ragequit_Cannon]

This kind of complexity is why I think it was a mistake to make Marathon into a pvepvp extraction shooter. You're just not going to get to take part in this lore if you're worrying about being cross mapped by an enemy sniper while you're trying to evacuate the zone

[@trashjash]

Or getting your wallet sucked dry by nuBungie's overenthusiasm towards microtransactions while they focus solely on character emotion lore rather than the deeper, more complex ideas and topics of the setting. I've become very well acquainted with Destiny and its lore, and watched the clear change in direction when they dropped the cosmic scale and mystery and zoomed in to the writers' favorite characters to project emotions into while ignoring the grander setting. Current day Bungie is on par with pre-Pierre Hientz 343i in many, many ways.

[@m0urn1ng5tar5]

THIS

[@Daxel134]

its 100% marathon only in name and jangling keys for nostalgia

[@corruptVz]

@@trashjash Super accurate bro. They better cut the bullshit with final shape so we can at least get one last decent release.

[@GmoneyDaGamer24]

@@trashjashyes brother, destiny 1 seemed to have so much lore potential and they just fumbled the bag crazy, destiny 2 story seems like kiddy bs how it focuses on certain characters way more than anything else and characters are important but its too much

[@nightingale7277]

I'll do you one better -- bungie openly confirms the existence of a multiverse containing their other games in destiny's cannon. For bungie's 30th anniversary, there was a special event in destiny surrounding the IX and their ability to tap into and move through the "paraverse." This allows the player to pull unique weapons out of other bungie games to use in destiny: namely the BR, magnum, and two halves of an energy sword.

[@durandol]

And the shotgun from Marathon

[@chaoschaoforever]

@@durandol As well as the sword from Myth.

[@cloudyskygaming0]

In addition, theres a master chief reference in Destiny: The Taken King, while not an official connection, it is a heavily implied link.

[@thisplatformsucks]

Which... isn't how this stuff works. That just means Bungie's Halo is canonical within Bungie's universe, but you don't get to say that someone else's creative works exist parallel to your own. Otherwise I'd just say that The Lord of The Rings and Dune are both canonically parts of my own sci-fi-fantasy universe, essentially claiming credit for them.

[@chaoschaoforever]

@@thisplatformsucks True. But since Halo is a BUNGIE creation, it's there way of saying it's within their connected universe without getting sued by Microsoft or 343i for it. But considering most people from 343i are massive Bungie Era Halo fans (at least as of now they are since the old leadership refused to hire Bungie Era Halo fans) they probably wouldn't sue. Microsoft tho would.

[@that1blindkid146]

I feel like it would be cool if they made The Weapons name Joyeuse to bring that whole thing full circle. They never explicitly say what name they gave her at the end.

[@SamuriLemonX18]

Or Joy for short. Rolls of the tongue better

[@Popoki777]

Joyeuse was an AI that was central to Rasputin's story before destiny's original story got scrapped. The other AI that was scrapped was Charlemagne which eventually came back into the story.

[@colbyboucher6391]

Yep, I've been saying this as well... although at the same time, I feel like that's _Bungie's_ thing rather than Halo's thing because of the Marathon connection and 343 using the name would be sort of presumptuous.

[@brucesshipyards744]

I really hope they do. 343 isn't Bungie, but 343 carries on that bit of Bungie's legacy - its only right to continue the plan, if in their own way.

[@Settings208]

as cool as it'd be, i think there's a high chance that the weapon named herself cortana

[@Alektricc]

As a Destiny and Halo fan, this video really made me feel a sense of nostalgia I haven't felt in a long time. Thank you for making this

[@murpheyholloran1067]

Destiny also has direct, transuniversal ties to Marathon and Halo through the Bungie 30th Anniversary event a couple years ago. Starting in the event, The Nine can partially access and interact with the Halo and Marathon universes (and maybe a few others) through something they call the Paraverse. This brought over things like the Magnum, BR, a bunch of Marathon armor and some weapons etc into Destiny.

[@TheSaintDario]

With the Halo universe's love for the number 7. How fitting would it be that indeed Halo is part of the Marathon universe, and be the 7th timeline.

[@WaveOfDestiny]

Bungie loves 7 in general. It's not just an Halo thing it's literally everywhere in their games. You can look under a gun in Destiny in the inspection menu to find 7 lol

[@haloking4253]

I gotta say this was a wonderful video to watch. Thank you for making this. Especially using music from Halo and Destiny throughout the video. I loved the message shared in this.

[@marshestmellow9524]

Martin O’Donnell is the song of halo

[@RyanB571]

Bungie truly truly cared about its Fans, its Players. Without us there would be no Marathon, Halo, Destiny. Bungie will always have a place in my heart forever and its a shame that others missed the golden age of Bungie, of Gaming, of telling a story that made the player feel special

[@pancakewarriors7233]

Yeah the old bungie did the new one is slacking

[@jaybird0312]

@@pancakewarriors7233 the new one got greedy

[@dalektrekkie]

Bungie literally canonized the "bungie-verse" as the Paraverse in Dares of Eternity in Destiny 2. That's why all the weapons you can get from that activity are references to their other games. Hell, the Forerunner exotic sidearm you get it just a visually modified CE magnum and the brief quest to get it has you exploring a small cave that has a Halo-esque cryo pod in it

[@thearbiter3351]

I'm loving that you're posting OG lore videos again, human

[@matthewanderson9754]

You just made me actually feel good about being a giant nerd and playing all of those games other than marathon.... thanks for this cool take and breakdown of bungie doing awesome work.

[@sebbytheshogun3859]

I dunno if this means anything, but when there was the mention of seven timelines, that might be the core of all the Halo number seven references. Though, that's just a thought. I just had the number seven lodged in my mind because it's very prominent to Halo and it could have significance to something else in the Bungieverse.

[@WaveOfDestiny]

Bungie loves 7 in general. It's literally everywhere in their games, not just Halo.

[@LeQuartermaster]

Was awesome seeing you up there on stage talking with the halo book authors! Aspiring writer myself and you asked great questions

[@icarusgaming6269]

There are two other connections between Halo's universe and other continuities that are much more tangible. The first is Nicole-458's appearance in Dead or Alive 4. When the UNSC Calypso's crew experimented with a Forerunner artifact they brought on board, it sent out a Slipspace pulse that disrupted local infrastructure and communications in the Sol system. It caused the spyware component of the Calypso's onboard AI to be relocated onto a random civilian's chatter, and it caused the Calypso itself to crash into the Moon. The following information comes from DOA4 and is deemed non-canon: Before crashing, the Calypso tumbled through the Slipspace wake created by the artifact and came back into realspace near the Nassau Station MAC platform, catching the platform in the wake and creating a semi-stable bubble that transported it and its entire crew into the 21st century DOA/Ninja Gaiden timeline. Now, Nassau Station was known to participate in the Battle of Earth a few weeks after Durga appeared in Chatternet, so in order for this to make any sense either Durga had to relocated *before* the wake occurred or the Calypso had to be in Slipspace for entire duration of the invasion. Given that ships are sometimes known to arrive before they depart, I'd say the former is more likely. This establishes the ability for Slipspace anomalies, in very rare circumstances, to cause *extreme* time paradoxes and connect Halo to other universes The second connection comes from the same event, and this is where it gets weird. The anomaly also connected Halo to *our* universe. While Durga was just a fragment, the rest of the AI Melissa was transported into the real internet of 2004 and took up residence in a beekeeper's personal blog, igniting the ARG component of ilovebees. The ensuing story took place in real life and interacted with real Halo fans. Now, there are two ways to interpret this. The first is that Melissa was transported from the Halo universe into ours, ending up in our 2004 because that was the current year when the story was written. She didn't time travel per se, because she didn't end up in *Halo's* 2004. The second, and my personal favorite, is that there is no distinction between Halo's timeline and our own, she traveled through time but stayed in the same universe, and ended up in the real world because the real world is Halo's past and Halo is the real future. Yes, I am actually proposing that *Halo is real,* and if you don't believe me yet, this isn't even the first time that it's crossed paths with our time When the Cortana letters were first sent out in 1999, they all came from the email address "cortana@bungie(dot)com," making it clear they were being written by a Bungie employee. But there was one that was much more ominous, hidden in the code of the 1.3 update for Myth: The Fallen Lords like a trojan horse. In its opening, Cortana speaks about how easy it was to infiltrate Bungie's network and evade another "entity" chasing her around and insulting her mother, which may be a Bungie employee? These letters are very aggressive and out of character, so only the elements reused in Halo 3 are said to be canonical. In Halo 3 it becomes clear exactly what this is: A fragment of Cortana corrupted by the Gravemind and shed aboard High Charity. The lines she says at the same time as the Gravemind are identical. It's not currently known how the fragment ended up in our time, but literally the first thing we ever saw of Halo was a crossover with the real world. Halo has always been real I haven't quite gotten my head around the Halo 3 ARG yet, but it seems Adjutant Reflex met a similar fate as Melissa and the Cortana fragment, stranded out of time in the old Bungie forums. Destiny players, feel free to chime in. I know your game's lore has a very similar concept

[@WaveOfDestiny]

Destiny has characters that know they are in a game and that the Guardian is a puppet with strings controlled by an entity outside of their existance. I think that pieces of lore were given IRL to community members by these characters and maybe others too. I find it intereresting how this narrative almost perfectly fits the Undertale/Deltarune timelines too, even if it doesn't have direct references, the similarities are astonishing, as if the creator is a Bungie fan. Destiny, the player, changing timelines, darkness and light, ancient horrors of dark that consume worlds, games within games within games, puppets with strings, entities that want to become gods by escaping the universe. Bruh i'm headcannoning them togheter

[@Ghostvirus]

Ilovebees the arg for Halo 2 also contains a reference to the Gherrit White terminal in Marathon 1. Also in Halo 3: Ghost of Onyx its reported that the Covenant were investigating an object in the yucatan penisula which might be a reference to the plot of pathways into darkness and strangely parallels dead space.

[@icarusgaming6269]

@@WaveOfDestiny My favorite parallel is DDLC. Anything and everything relating to this theme is a massive spoiler, but it also deals with peering beyond the fourth wall. The original version is free if you haven't played it

[@Zawfee]

Thank you for pointing out all these connections! I was slowly coming up with a lot of these myself but i dont create content. There's so much that blatantly ties all these games together. All the different alien races in each game having them fighting against each other while a larger dark force looms in the background. Ahh its all so good! This is soooo satisfying. Dont forgot to tie in Oni! The name alone...

[@rorykeefe8954]

That subscription plot splits into two timelines based on each individual’s decision. OH GOD! REAL LIFE IS WITHIN THE MARATHON UNIVERSE ISN’T IT?!? DOES THAT MEAN THE FLOOD IS GONNA REACH EARTH?!?

[@TheLastArbiter]

12:23 this part I think he just meant stylistically they are the same, not literally that John-117 is the Marathon marine. It’s just the same archetype or they adapted the same idea of the character for Halo

[@isostrike1667]

Just wanna throw a quick mention to the Bungie paraverse introduced in the 30th anniv. update to D2, it essentially confirms that all bungie created franchises coexist and can be canonically intertwined at times.

[@Zach-rx9xb]

Got me feeling all warm and fuzzy at the end. Been looking forward to this video for months. Your channel gave me so much more appreciation to the games I grew up with.

[@IDoABitOfTrollin]

I'm calling it, John will live much longer than normal because of his sped up evolution.

[@danielefabbro822]

Installation 00 have already stated that a Spartan 2 have a "service life" of 250 years roughly. That doesn't cover the entirety of Spartan 2 life. So we can think that a Spartan 2 or an Homo Augeos can at least live for 400-450 maybe even 500 years that for a Homo Sapiens would be like 95-100 years? Roughly. That's absurd. If you also think that they can "rest" in hypersleep for lots of years... well, MC could possibly become immortal.

[@XaelVT]

I loved the destiny part towards the end. It was said in lore in destiny that our guardian (the playable character) Is the greatest guardian to ever exist. This very much fits into the hero soul theory. In lore there is a hidden agent that says this about our guardian (VIP-2014), "I am not an expert on psychology, but there is definitely something wrong with VIP-2014, and there are two possibilities I can suggest; VIP-2014 is either the single greatest guardian to have ever lived, who has some higher understanding of the Light and the universe that we are unable to comprehend, and this granted them great power and knowledge at the cost of their sanity." Its a nice and crazy lore tidbit that not many have seen but worth sharing. Love the video and the content man! Keep it up!

[@ryotodoryu8919]

What i love about this is you can clearly see that as the story has developed they just made new games based around the newer story but all containing the core story the original plot line and because of this unusual type of story evoloution fans have formed a theory conecting it all back into one great story. What an amazing comunity halo has.

[@flawlesscowboy1173]

God, hearing HiddenXperia talk about Destiny lore is so badass and makes me wish he made Destiny lore videos. It is definitely my second favorite franchise/universe next to Halo's. I enjoy watching Byf and Meylin for Destiny lore but Luc just has a certain energy that intrigues my ears into paying full attention to what he is saying. Maybe one day he will get super into Destiny or at least enough to make a full lore video on it.

[@dalektrekkie]

The problem with trying to dive into Destiny lore is that it's a very deep rabbit hole to go into and there's been so many retcons that unless you spend an inordinate amount of time catching up to the recent stuff before you even put out the first video you're bound to get some things wrong if you try and start from the beggining.

[@flawlesscowboy1173]

@@dalektrekkie facts

[@craigthebrute118]

Dont forget that in elsewhere, chief's cryo pod can be found with his magnum that he had at the end of halo 3. As if in destiny one of the timelines collided and This version of chief branched off from The rest of the halo games while he was in cryo sleep after halp 3

[@maskedspartan7397]

Bungie: let's just copy our old work and change up the names. Community: :O

[@juergensnudat323]

You had me tearing up from 21:50 on. I was thinking about all the bungie games i had played and how big of a impact they had on my childhood. Thank you for that

[@Psudostooge]

It all leads back to the key, the linchpin, the very crux of bungee Gnop

[@keaganwheeler-mccann8565]

What is Gnop, human?

[@Psudostooge]

@@keaganwheeler-mccann8565gnop is the greatest mystery of our day, an enigma wrapped in layers of metaphors and metaphysics shrouded in darkness that when read backwards spells pong

[@drakenforge4276]

​@@keaganwheeler-mccann8565 just a funny little ball flying in space. A pong clone for MAC if you will. Is it the comet? The Traveler? The W'rkncacnter? Or are they all the same entity, floating in timeless space influencing the very fabric of the worlds they affect?

[@tallonmetroids271]

Oddly enough, I now finally understand what RvB was referencing with Church going back in time, like, 10,000 times...

[@1337GameDev]

That intro really got me... I was beginning to think about a theory where halo 4 and onwards didn't happen.....

[@ryatt9365]

I’m so jealous of the timeline where Bungie stayed mostly the same after leaving Halo and went on to connect these worlds more solidly. Basically if all the modern corporate gaming bullshit never touched Destiny, causing the deterioration of the series and forcing most of the original creatives to give up on their vision of these shared universes, all before their first entry was even out the door. Allowing them to eventually return to Halo and possibly even Marathon after their run with Destiny is over, either to further expand all 3 worlds or just to put a nice bow on it all. All of these universes are so amazing on their own, but a world where they were all officially connected over time would’ve put them all on a whole different level from most other works of fiction.

[@Russianpumpkinspider]

I feel like I wanna cry of joy after watching this video i’ve played most of it every bungei game this just makes the halo music so much more epic these video games will always have a place in my heart.

[@ayoungtricknamedjim5498]

This kid is gonna blow a gasket when he figures out what "The Hero's Journey" is...

[@KitKatHexe]

It's worth noting that in the Bungie 30th anniversary pack for Destiny 2, Bungie declared that the Destiny, Marathon, Myth, and pre H4 Halo universes are all apart of a single multiverse referred to in Destiny as "the Paraverse" Destiny's guardians, with the help of an entity known as the Starhorse actually pull pieces of equipment from other universes. Including the battle rifle, the Magnum, a portion of a needler that's been refashioned into a shoulder pad, and the Arbiter's covenant era vambraces. This was actually first hinted at in Destiny 1 with the MIDA Multi-Tool having found it's way from the marathon universe by some other means.

[@collincortright8640]

This video gives me faith in both Bungie's "Fall of Destiny" and in 343's handling of Halo. Perhaps we have lost sight and they still have it.

[@Zeraia420]

i knew this was going to turn into "you're the hero" between all games, but the way you slid that. WOW what a great video. I'm close to crying dude just wow

[@thomasmiller8289]

Nice, didnt expect you to get into the deep lore around the “7” heroic figure. I read it years and years ago on some old bungie forum and it has informed my enjoyment of bungie games ever since. Destiny is probably their most extensive exploration of the idea (causal / para-causal entities) - so much to dig into

[@thethievesdomain8360]

"You are the child of my makers. Inheritor of all they left behind. You ARE forerunner, but this ring is MINE."

[@BrandonBreezeyVirgo]

I’m glad one of the greatest Halo KZbinrs still exists. Ultimate Halo, Reflex’sHalo, Jkprising, etc have all been since declared MIA.

[@goggleheroomegamaple820]

in extention, you could say that link and his companions from the legend of zelda are part of the same reincarnation. Hero clad in Green accompanied by little friend to be their guide. Master Chief is just another incarnation of Link, and Cortana is Navi.

[@matts2581]

If we're the silent protagonist - I always found it intruiguing that we were looking to go see "the silent cartographer." That always got me - heavily cryptic storytelling.

[@jellis]

Great video. This reminds me of old theory discussions back on the Bungie net and HBO forums, before Destiny came out. Good times. Mostly ones the user Cortana V posted. Who I believe went on to actual work at Bungie at one point.

[@hirunabi6421]

i like to think that you need to look at their other games to really understand the entire universe around them as it more than often is a transposition between one and the other if the marathon logo is a world within a world then bungie games change the "inner" sphere with each new series...could that be why the new marathon game specifically lost that one? i don't know what to expect from it

[@Deff496]

Hello, I watched your content for years and I really enjoy it. Could you make a video about an explanation to the halo 2 terminals?

[@BioAlpha5]

10:20 "The hero soul" So hes like LINK FROM ZELDA!? LMAO ok thats fucking great hes green too and courage's as fuck

[@espinoth9913]

I wonder if Bungie will ever try to make a game where 'the player is the shared element' is a diagetic plot point... It could make for a very immersive and mindbending experience if done well.

[@Zwachhiee]

In the destiny 30th anniversary bundle they introduced to idea of the paraverse and introduced weapons and armor into the game that are directly influenced by marathon and halo, ie : a ghost sparrow, h1 magnum, titan arms with needler bolts, the halo cryo pod all sorts of cool stuff

[@Jacobk-g7r]

16:29 i think i figured it out. The witness is trying to just stop the struggle in destiny so maybe it’s seen the variants and just wants it to end but they’re in their universe so every game is different just like every reality is different or separate. It’s all the same though. It even connects to us individually.

[@Fosi94]

13:54 that's the pyramid of Chichén Itzá 😍

[@Ahhkiba]

Destiny, Halo, Marathon, and Myth. Are connected and it’s hinted at in D2 when the Anniversary came out that things are being pulled from those universes.

[@chancellorforrun2330]

Just to support the theory further. In destiny 2, we have half the energy sword, the BXR-Battler/The BR55, the M6G magnum, and other assorted gear from Marathon and other games. We also have found various artifacts of aforementioned games. Hell mars had/has a lot of various mentions of the MIDA group. Earth I believe had mention of Master chiefs feats somewhere during rise of iron. The beauty of bungie games is that despite everything, veterans will always find something that will give us a glimmer of nostalgia no matter what. And to new fans, you’ll see and make the connections so very quickly when you go back to play the older games. Here’s to us guys.

[@storm1OG]

This isn't a critique on the video, or the theory presented. I'd like to pose my theory that, when you quoted Alex Seropian, it's left to a broader interpretation. I won't be drawing it to connections in lore, however. His quote: "What Marathon players didn't know is that the character they were playing was the very first incarnation of Master Chief... I don't think you ever find that out, but it's the same character. God, we've never said that before, but it's completely obvious. Cortana isn't in Marathon, but there are three A.I.s in there that came from the same stylistic story line." I take into consideration that Bungie, as a fledgling company at the time of making Marathon, was trying to make memorable games on a budget. What Alex could be saying is the game they would realize they TRULY wanted to make was in fact, Halo once they got the ball rolling, so to speak. The BEGINNINGS of it were experienced in Marathon. When he said, "... I don't think you ever find that out, but it's the same character." I interpreted that within this context as, 'I'm not sure the players will realize this, but the IDEA of Master Chief started in Marathon. He's essentially that same character but fleshed out more.' Continuing on, it's better to read the quote as whole to help contextualize it more as he then seems to make a realization: "... God, we've never said that before," and then "... but it's completely obvious." Here he's had a sort of epiphany on what he said before as the realization hits him that, 'Wow without Marathon we wouldn't've made Halo. We really made our "better" Marathon.' He concludes with another correlation including Cortana as well: "Cortana isn't in Marathon, but there are three A.I.s in there that came from the same stylistic story line." Given the context clues, its self-explanatory. "... that came from the same stylistic story line." One could infer that, as a whole, the quote is the Co-Founder/Co-Creator saying they were inspired by Marathon to make Halo. Given the information you presented as well here, from the first draft of Halo to the 'Bungie-verse', I interpret it as a company repeating a good idea that captures a wide audience and original fanbase of their products. They like our stories with [Insert Impressionable Trait] main character with x/y/z guns and [Insert Impressionable Traits] A.I. companion character fighting extraterrestrial existential threats. The formula is repeatable, the money is nigh infinite because so. Add what's popular nowadays (BRs, micro-tranX, cosmetics, battle passes, DLCs, Pre-Orders, etc.) and you've got Destiny 2, Halo Infinite, and more than likely the soon to be Marathon game.

[@wrigleyvilleripper2117]

I feel like Halo was them Rewriting Marathons story to be less Complicated and more believable, But part of me believes that We are what connects these timelines.

[@stinbray1120]

so im like ten seconds into your explanation and does that mean that master chief is the reincarnation of link and cortana is zelda (not to mention the other possible connection to doom)

[@TheOmegaRiddler]

I feel like the second theory needs to be explored with the Destiny Lore channels.

[@comeheathens]

I love the theory and it's almost infallible. But what we'd still have to confirm if the Spartan asleep in the pod from Destiny 1 is or isn't John.

[@bigangenbygang]

My personal take is that Pathways, Marathon, Destiny, and Myth all share a universe and timeline. Halo is a failed timeline from far before the events that were talked about in Marathon 2. One where the Primordial was unleashed by Zeta Halo and the Forerunners lost their war far sooner than in the other timeline, and as a result were unable to place whatever the sleeping god was on Earth. Their early extinction and the firing of the Halo rings lead to a vastly different universe, one where the events of Halo end up taking place.

[@jahronman573]

What if, when the final shape is over. The witness actually wins and ends the universe, but something like the vex or even the travel itself manages to intervene and we end up with a new universe, that being the new marathon game

[@PanoptesDreams]

It is worth noting that Chief can't be the protag from Destiny as it is already suggested that he is in a conatinment pod (dead) at the top of the cosmodrome in Russia. Ghost spoke to the unnamed hero, tried to resurrect them but they said they had seen enough battle and wanted to rest.

[@PanoptesDreams]

And I'm doubling down on this because Chiefs "soul" and memories was bound to that body. And Ghost had to go find someone else (us).

[@thenightscythe2030]

I think Alex's quote is simpler than that.... he means We (the player) are the same character... that the Different Universes are the Consoles/Games themselves.

[@danegativeone7858]

Master Chief actually appeared in Destiny to a degree. The Bungie 30th Anniversary DLC is where you'll want to go if you would like all the juicy crossover bits from previous Bungie games. As for Marathon, since they're making a new game alongside Destiny 2 still working on The Final Shape, I'm curious how many references will exist between the two.

[@kessilrun6754]

Well the articles I remember reading in like 2000 was that Halo was to be the new Marathon game, set to release on Macintosh , but Microsoft purchased it and made it exclusive to Xbox before that could happen and so it then shifted into being an entirely different game. But that originally it WAS to be a new Marathon game and , last minute, made into what it is today. I believe it was maybe in an OXM magazine. It had screenshots of never before seen footage and weapons that were to be in Halo, alongside some original Marathon looking asset/ inspired suit for the Chief. So the simple fact that you see evidence of Marathon in Halo is because it was to be Marathon lol

[@intuitionedits2.032]

"The eternal hero isn't some soul hopping entity. It's us." I didn't even think of it that way.

[@DANTICVS]

I want your longest video with the connections between Marathon and Halo. Thanks.

[@pronoblewolf]

The work in kak inter is more than likely related to the precursors and the flood because they exist before the forerunners in yarrow

[@mikedropmeta]

Man, MyNameIsByf should have been digging through Marathon lore for insight this entire time...

[@patrickrollins4350]

Great video. I fully subscribe to Halo being a prequel to Marathon. Going all the way back to the ending of Halo 3, me and my friends thought halo 4 would be the beginning of the Marathon games. That was and still is my personal head canon and where I think the games would have ended up if Bungie hadn't sold the rights to Halo.

[@richardmc90]

Chief even in the first game. Is told by 343 guilty spark.” he asked him once before that if he had to activate the halo rings if he could do it.” Then said. “that having considerable amounts of time to ponder that there is only one conclusion. We must activate the halo ring to beat the flood.” Chief is a reincarnation of the Didact that activated the halo rings. 343 guilty spark was a AI advisor that is also a previous Didact ,and was his friend before he died. was Then made into the ai 343.

[@DiscipleOfHeavyMeta1]

22:23 God, I miss this from games so bad. Everything has been ruined now. Everything.

[@TheRealGeliel]

“I am Cortana, of the same steel and temper as Durendal."

[@darthjayder9914]

I like the philosophical statement of us being the hero, but I don't feel that it makes this theory actually validated unless the soul is a certain thing that literally exists. what I would like to see is a more in-depth timeline of events that connects all of the events together if they do, because I like the idea of all of these games existing in the Bungie mega-verse, and following a sort of meta-meta timeline of events. because it certainly looks like all of the games could very well exist in the same meta-reality, your theory is just missing context to tie it together and make it solid, and I think reviewing a timeline would help give it that context and make it solid, like bone, if you will, instead of staying like it is now, like smoke. great concept, its just missing the floor to stand on.

[@DEppersonchannel]

He forgot to mention the Master Chief reference in Destiny's "Cayde's Stash" misson

[@RW1A]

One thing i wish halo still had at the end of the game was the bungie thank you messages

[@SPARTAN.JEROME-092]

This is a clear case of Writers drawing the lore of Marathon with crayons and the fandom de encrypting it with physics on a blackboard

[@JUGGERNAUT____]

I can spend the next 20 years listening to you talk about halo

[@med5674]

The perfect video to watch immediately after waking up at 7 in the morning.

[@Infinity868]

I feel like a lot of these similarities were Bungie taking their previous lore and ideas, which were really cool, and logos, which were really iconic, and bringing them forward with their newer games. Halo was it's own complete story, but since Bungie had a really amazing set of ideas already, they decided to recycle them in Halo and really make them shine with the advancements in detail they had, instead of leaving them behind in Marathon where they would continue to age. Halo was simultaneously entirely new, while using pieces of Marathon cannon. A lot of story creators, including myself, have a few core ideas that really feed into our style, and end up being used across many otherwise unrelated storylines or universes. I think that's what happened with Bungie - the ancient race, ultimate evil, AI's, cyborgs - those were all part of their definitive space lore, and they didn't want to come up with something completely different when they could use it again just as well. You could say that lore of Bungie's games is like a legend - a similar set of core elements that is passed from one generation of game to the next, being changed and modified into completely separate, unique cannons, but always based on this one idea.

[@BinkleXVI]

0:05 thought he was reaching for the Newports again

[@robertroznicki7689]

This video got me thinking... what if the ODST glyphs are connected to Marathon and Destiny..

[@UEiamjet]

Good ol fashioned Zelda style , it’s very similar, that’s the reason why links name is what it is

[@Pfletch83]

Alien Species in the Yucatan Peninsula ? Me thinks that Bungie was inspired by Contra to a degree

[@Blitzkrieg1012]

I love the Bungie multiverse, its all so good.

[@yup458]

did we ever talk about guilty spark saying weird shit to chief in two betrayals cutscene

[@ZstackZip]

This is basically the Pixar Theory but for Bungie

[@gwaihirwindlord1935]

Pathways was my first Bungie game. We were a Mac only house and Bungie was a Mac only developer. Pathways was an amazing game for its time. Bungie earned my respect and loyalty and I played every one of their games up through Oni. I was crushed when they joined Microsoft. I was an M&K player and wasn’t about to buy a console, let alone one made by Apple’s nemesis. I was over the moon when they released Halo CE for the Mac and jumped back on the bandwagon. I finally gave in and bought a console when I realized there would never be another Halo released for the Mac. Played Halo 2, Halo 3, Reach and ODST. Lost interest when 343 took over the IP. Found out about Destiny and have been in that universe since day one. Like everyone else, I picked up on all the references and Easter eggs from game to game. At first, I thought it was the programmers/gamers who just wanted to honor the players who grew up playing Bungie games. Maybe it was at first, but it evolved. After watching this vid, I absolutely believe in Bungie’s grand plan and the eternal hero theory. No one will convince me otherwise and I can’t wait to see how this progresses in Bungie’s next iteration of Marathon. Thank you for opening my eyes to this. Going to make my tinfoil hat now…

[@that_benji]

I'm excited to see how the new Marathon game ties in to this theory.

[@sa-amirel-hayeed699]

Destiny is actually around 13,000 years. The player character has supposedly been dead for 10,000 years. And the character in the cryo pod that had been a great hero who didn't want to be resurrected because "the last war was enough for one thousand lifetimes" hint that it IS Master Chief in that pod.

[@michaelandreipalon359]

In my opinion, the "periodical universal reset in the end of time = a new different yet same feeling universe begins" cycles should follow this order: Myth and Myth II > Pathways into Darkness and -the first two Marathon games- timey-wimey Marathon Infinity > Halo up to the ambiguous end of H3 and Expanded Universe stuff that caught up to it, like The Forerunner Saga, Broken Circle, the Believe in-universe interviews set many years later, and Reach's distant finale > Destiny. The third Myth game, Oni, and 343 Halo should be set in other parallel universes mostly disconnected from the past games. Either way, the "same soul" archetype is one I highly regard as definitive fact, although it may confuse people as to why said "soul of *A Hero/Destiny"* also got etched to Thel 'Vadam, the ODST Rookie, Noble Six, and those two co-op Elites.

[@NestorKYAT]

All our multiplayer Spartans confirmed as canon

[@battlehammer4023]

Didn't Rooster teeth use Marathon in one of their early seasons of Red vs Blue when church got thrown back in time?

[@CabalOnMars]

Can you make a video about dares of eternity? I think it connects everything through the bungieverse. There even is the grave of master chief in the forerunner exotic mission.

[@michaelgemmill569]

Love the emotion we could hear in your voice at the end, it's so true they made us the hero 😊

[@Matthew-wb5mt]

What if the main character isn’t the only reincarnation. I know you already talked about Cortana and ghost, but what about other characters, like sgt. Johnson as lord shaxx or saint 14, Keyes as Zavala, miranda as holliday and possibly more.

[@isaacwalker7412]

I know it wasn't the intension, but thank you for this, i guess that i needed to hear that i am the hero. so thank you for showing me this, for showing all of us this, it may have just saved me or anyone else who needed it.

[@LeTtRrZ]

I think when that guy said the marine and MC were the same character, he meant that more from an artistic standpoint and not from a literal standpoint. It was just Bungie experimenting with character design.

[@WaveOfDestiny]

No it was literal. Bungie came along that statement and said that chief isn't literally the same exact person but it's another reincarnation of the same person. They clarified the contiunities are not directly connected but the are linked through a multiverse

[@Dreadful_Deity]

Let’s hope its Ultra Ego Vegeta so we have a chance at Black Frieza after & all other characters like Moro and stuff