The Creepy Story HIDDEN in Halo 3’s Campaign

[@HiddenXperia]

Use my link and coupon code HIDDENMAY50 to get 50% off your first Factor box and 20% off your next month of orders! strms.net/factor75_hiddenxperia #ad I poured a *TONNE* of effort into making this video as immersive as possible and I was really proud of the result, so I really hope you guys enjoy!

[@quarkedbutt3957]

I would love to see a video on the Hunt for Truth from Halo 5's ads. It's highly underrated and should be its own book. I knew ONI was messed up, but that piece of media shows exactly how evil they are.

[@angryretailbanker5103]

This is a really great video, and I'm so glad you've presented it in this sort of analog horror esque narration. It's really great inspiration for a project I'm working on. I'm in the midst of writing a superhero series. Yes, capes and tights and cackling supervillains. But there's a story within the story in the same vein as Marathon's terminals, the Cortana Letters, and the Halo 3 terminals. A conversation between a person with the power to inhabit computer systems....and an entity trapped in the center of the universe that accidentally created our universe through music. Cryptic messages with hints for future events would be sprinkled throughout. This video just fueled my fire to get to work on it. Too bad writing the actual superhero story is taking up all my time. "I can still hear the Melody. I have since the beginning, since the end. But lately, I can no longer FEEL the Melody. And I hear that I will soon no longer hear it. It is not for myself I feel fear. I have accepted my sins and my punishment. I have accepted you."

[@wren7195]

You did a *VERY* good job my friend, thank you for your effort and channel always. Be safe mate

[@EdaClawthron]

Hmm👻

[@ProjectRedfoot]

You look like that kid that was a bad influence on Pinocchio.

[@carsonbode6640]

One of the things I find really chilling about the conversation between Mendicant and the Gravemind, is that it suggests the "Logic Plague" is just a euphemism used by entities that can't bring themselves to admit the Gravemind is incredibly persuasive and given enough time can convince anyone to join the Flood.

[@josephflynn9792]

My problem with this theory is that if it were the true the flood would just be doing that. I think that part of the “logic plague” is based on Mendicant being designed around the forerunners ethics, namely the mantle or responsibility. If Mendicant had been programed/grown/made in order value simply stopping the flood on the grounds of it destroying free will, or in a simpler term liberty then the “logic plague wouldn’t have worked as no scenario where in the flood can choose to take someone’s choice away can be twisted into being an exercise of free will. TL:DR the Gravemind isn’t able to convince ANYONE to join the flood with enough time, it was able to manipulate the philosophy of Mendicant’s specific creators (probably the same one they used to wipe out the precursors)

[@GibGibson]

That's precisely what it is. The phrase itself doesn't refer to a plague in specific but refers to the 'mind' of the construct being plagued. it's essentially the covenant word for brainwashing. In theory an organic could also fall to the logic plague, there's just no need to put in that effort, however in the terminal logs displaying the infection of Captain Jacob Keyes we can hear the gravemind attempting to use this manipulation in a much more passive manner, almost as if it doesn't care about the effort it puts in, to attempt to break his concentration on holding off the gravemind. Preserving precious seconds, his last seconds, safeguarding earths location from the flood.

[@rushpatriot2866]

I see the ability being similar to schizophrenia. Precursors can make their thoughts sound like your own thoughts so you're unaware of the brainwashing. Ofc this isnt what the logic plague but the ability stems from the same concept. I guess youre correct in persuasion but i dont think the victims see it that way they see it as an eye openimg revelation that they didnt see before i dont think the "hey this eldrtich zombie monstrosity is good at talking" goes through their head if at any point they thought it was just good persuasive skills they would stop being manipulated.

[@RipeSnipe]

the true story of earth itself

[@josephflynn9792]

Where did my previous comment go?

[@bigyoshi5170]

I agree, Chief and Arbiter’s love story is really underrated and largely unnoticed due to Truth trying to rizz up Johnson with his glorious ear meatballs.

[@HiddenXperia]

happy to see someone gets it

[@TheOneAndOnlyDillYak]

What a terrible day to be able to read.

[@Commander_Appo]

I am open to paying you to delete this comment

[@gabermd]

Comments like this make me want to activate the halo array

[@cosmicrubbushbin7805]

Still a better love story than Twilight.

[@Videot78]

Halo 3’s best quality was probably its own implementation of forerunner things. Halo 2 and CE did great jobs adding their own features of the Forerunner structures and mystery, but Halo 3 was the first halo to enhance the forerunner background in a game itself not just with the terminals but with the environment as well.

[@rushpatriot2866]

Yeah that's the one thing halo 3 does better than halo 2 when it comes to lore

[@jamesbedwell4715]

When you’re on the ark and you almost miss the Milky Way galaxy “hey check it out, the sky, is that…”

[@jpf1186]

😊😊

[@MrRoyVega]

@@rushpatriot2866you think halo 2’s story was better? My favorite is 3 but usually people just crap on 2 because it’s apparently unfinished. I love everything bungie halo tho

[@cannibaljohnson.2409]

You ironically have 343 likes.

[@scoutingwithgrimm7994]

I don’t need “Banished Spartans” I need classic halo lore

[@BananaMana69]

It has already been destroyed. The entire point of the classic lore is that the humans are forerunner but that was ruined by 343.

[@Sterndust0324]

​@@BananaMana69Anyone interested will know that inside Bungie there were two "factions" discussing the true nature of the Forerunners, one wanted them to be ancient humans and the other one wanted them to be a complete separate species.

[@BananaMana69]

@@Sterndust0324 During Halo 1 and 2? In Halo 3, 343 tells Cheif directly "You are forerunner" so by the time 3 came out they definitely had that debate settled.

[@BananaMana69]

@@Sterndust0324 I am replying again to say that this is just silly. In all 3 games it's made very clear that the humans and forerunners are the same. Even just in Halo 1, 343 calling you reclaimer and getting you confused with the Didact is enough to prove that this was there idea from the begining.

[@j_stach]

I spend three banana mana to cast RetCon Callout, targeting your Frank O'Connor

[@danielefabbro822]

The Forerunner-Flood War was indeed one of the most interesting events of the whole Halo universe. I literally love everything that involves the Flood, and an entire war is just... The must.

[@bruhgod123]

Would be better without the retcon.

[@CutieBanana09]

I almost want a game set during that time, but I don’t fully trust 343 not to fuck it up. Infinite was great, sure, but still retcon after retcon assures me the war will lose its poetry.

[@danielefabbro822]

@@CutieBanana09 no no no, if they have to make another Halo game, I want back Bungie. The original teams.

[@NoahR_]

@@danielefabbro822 So about Bungie these days...

[@rbo7]

@@danielefabbro822 Only 25 of the original 108 Halo CE devs were still at bungie when reach came out. and of the 8 writers of Reach, only 2 of the supplementary writers are still at bungie. if you want the OG teams, you need a time machine.

[@RaulV22]

The “scene” where Offensive Bias moves the ships in such a brutal way because the members onboard are dead is crazy to imagine. I thought it really showed the brutality of the fight between Offensive Bias and Mendicant Bias. I really, REALLY hope that they both become a bigger, active part of the next Master Chief game (and not a separate game), with Offensive Bias being the “good guy”, and Mendicant Bias being the “lost soul”, unable to atone.

[@Wonzling0815]

As nice as that would be, I think it is virtually impossible for the next game to have a satisfying story covering those aspects. The whole arc around Mendicant and Offensive Bias is scattered across at least three games and dozens of non-game sources. Like it or not, if a new Halo title comes out, it will be forced to feature a story that is accessible to newcomers. The best we can hope for is easter egg style lore content like the terminals. If Halo was an RPG like Mass Effect, it would be a different matter, because RPGs offer a different capacity for deep lore and characterization within the constraints of their typical gameplay.

[@juanpablofajardoramirez1008]

@@Wonzling0815 plus, when one reads the prequel novels (the forerunner saga, absolutely recomnmended read) it is said that Mendicant Bias, even when it does not really "atone" to its previus sins, is at least captured by the remaining forerunners and put into preservation. Another hint that has been given, is that during cortanas absense in Halo 3 or 4 (can't recall well), while under forerunner custody, she herself has experienced some effects of the Logical Plague.

[@MintBlitz]

Banger vid, seriously. Halo has so much potential for a powerful story if 343 can put out a game every few years instead of half a decade.

[@McAdvertisement]

at this point they need to hire Kelly Gay to write the games. her books have been nothing short of kino and i genuinely believe she can save Halo.

[@SpartanFore]

@@McAdvertisement this x1000, Kelly Gay is my favorite author of the novels. Her loretelling and worldbuilding has brought so much to the Halo universe as a whole

[@Devin7Eleven]

@@McAdvertisementI don’t know. I think Halo needs a reboot with a simplified story. Forerunners are ancient humans. Transsentient species that goes undiscovered sends the flood to ancient humans as punishment for their hubris. Short, sweet, and keeps mystery and imagination alive

[@HiddenXperia]

just seen this, appreciate it chieftain

[@kitmaelstrom1407]

MINTBLITZ

[@CoffeeCrowgasm]

I miss when the flood were some lovecraftian mystery with an extra galactic origin, made them more mysterious and frankly far more terrifying.

[@iCatchLupin]

343 failed at the basic task of "show, don't tell" and we can never put the cat back in the bag, unfortunately.

[@CoffeeCrowgasm]

​@@iCatchLupincreate the "green" timeline lol. It diverges after halo 3 to scrub away MOST of Frankie's fan fiction 😂

[@danielefabbro822]

It's not like it changed much. We still know little about the Flood and one of the few concrete things we know is that they can not be really defeated.

[@BigBladeFan]

Are You all like dense af or something? None of you idiots even watched Xperias videos no one knows much or anything about the flood/precursors.

[@Rhonix-Shellcollector]

Also the almost implication that the flood is some sort of divine punishment, you know god unleashed the flood

[@JohnnyDoh]

"Halo There" General Xperiobi

[@daveyjones7391]

I see what you did there…

[@HDiony]

The opening sound of the terminals with sweeping hexagons will forever be embedded in my mind.

[@rushpatriot2866]

With the ambient music being played in the background. Brings back memoriesm

[@m1garandMUSIC]

Heck no. That shit unnerved me and I was so glad to get back to the fighting. It shook off the dread that was squeezing my heart

[@Key_Mind]

Terminals like this are 100 times more interesting than audiologs we had in 5 and Infinite. Really hope we get more toward these again than someone giving me a lecture about something they found.

[@daveyjones7391]

Infinite had such a great opportunity to build terminals into it around the map. It really would have enhanced the game!

[@HiddenXperia]

I personally cannot stand audio logs, I think they're so boring and 2 dimensional. I'm not even keen on videos either tbh, the only CEA's and H2A's were pretty good but H4's graphically have aged like milk, they're such low quality for some reason. Text terminals stay winning

[@koraanjamar]

But, buuuuuut.... the audiologs in ODST were one of the best examples of side-storytelling in gaming history!

[@Key_Mind]

@@koraanjamar As a supplemental side story sure, but in terms of adding extra lore or finding out new things, audiologs are boring and lazy. In Infinite it would've been more interesting if we found out ourselves who the Endless were through terminals instead of being lectured by the monitor in an audiolog.

[@daveyjones7391]

With it being set on Zeta Halo, there was an huge opportunity to make great actual terminals. I’m also not too big on just audio logs. They can be a fine addition, but the terminals were deep and rich with lore, so I’ve been missing them since H3.

[@matthewtuten8539]

“You’ve outwitted it, my love.” Ugh, the touch of the heartstrings. I will never stop loving Halo’s story. Amazing video.

[@dukeynukey6725]

For those who don't know: The bungie relation between the humans and the forerunners is that, the humans WERE the forerunners, while 343 interpreted them as a new species entirely. Since Bungie's lore was written with that in mind, the new 343 lore doesn't add up fully

[@lordshmee13]

Imagine if 343i did a retcon that everyone loves, like the Forerunner Didact had a nose and more human features or he mutated and thats ehy him and the Forerunners looked as such and Rookie aint dead and Noble 6 is alive for a massive story campaign that has other stories on the way for the next Halo so its not just big green man carrying the story, and as a Brute thats devote to the Banished until learning the Chieftan Atriox isnt leader rather replaced by the Endless and Gravemind, so you break off like Arbiter before you til you can find the promised battle you and others were promised 😅

[@themonkeyman2547]

Didn’t the terminal at 13:00 describe the librarian finding humans native to earth?

[@dukeynukey6725]

@@themonkeyman2547 that's 343 lore

[@00yiggdrasill00]

While I understand the change I must admit I don't think its helped hold everything together or build on what was established.

[@jbpugs]

@@dukeynukey6725 Bungie made Halo 3, not 343i. It *is* bungie's lore that they are separate species.

[@TheLordofMetroids]

[I am] Alexandria, before the fire. That is such a raw line, man the writers of Halo really had some poets on their team.

[@IndigoWhiskey]

You wait till you read deep enough to know they had engineers and futurists on board, not just writers interested in the thematic setting. Well, except the Spartan neural link... I mean Jesus how to make me certain every human engineer is an idiot in one design flaw damn. Seriously, what exactly is supposed to be the difference between a rifle butt to the back of the head and bouncing your head off a wall from the fifth explosion that day... Or crashing in a ship... It's a real glass shard up the dangus.

[@flatarthur3161]

"For eons I have watched. Listened to you misinterpret. This is not reclamation. This is reclaimer, and those it represents are my makers. I will reject my bias and make amends. My makers are my masters. I will bring them safely to the Ark." - Mendicant Bias

[@HiddenXperia]

yet another reason why Contact Harvest is the greatest Halo book of all time

[@lelouchvibritannia4028]

​@@HiddenXperiaDidn't Cortana talk to Mendicant Bias in Halo 2? I vaguely remember you saying that she did on High Charity.

[@JWMStopMotionAnimation2010]

I liked this video for the “send it out with a bang in one final effort”. I can confirm that is indeed linguistic genius.

[@nomercyinc6783]

making videos isnt linguistics

[@JWMStopMotionAnimation2010]

Huh.

[@Michael-bn1oi]

​@nomercyinc6783 You aren't too bright if you don't understand the comment. No one said the video is linguistics, they said that phrase was clever. Don't try and correct people when you have no idea what you're talking about.

[@generalmarkmilleyisbenedic8895]

@@ryuk5673lolwut? Hes calling a shovel a shovel, it absolutely does, you equally defunct 🤡 ye hypocrite

[@shadowsage1]

I feel like I'm missing something, is it a pun? I don't get why that line is "linguistic genius"?

[@IronsAtlas]

The relationship between the Didact and the Librarian honestly made me shed tears, it's honestly right up my alley with how they're written, and especially with how the story of the didact ends, serious 10/10 story writing. Top it up with the story of atonement by Medicant Bias, along with your editing, it seriously gives me shivers even though I've long followed you and your terminal videos. I'd pay a loathesome amount of money to have you read a Halo audiobook.

[@fosyay1780]

Upload some of his videos to an irl AI, upload the script of a Halo book and make it go brrr

[@IronsAtlas]

@@fosyay1780 I don't condone stealing his works for profit, but even for personal use, I don't think it would hit the same as if he put his hard work and efforts into it. Even with the technology now, it could never recreate passion.

[@fosyay1780]

@@IronsAtlas you're absolutely not wrong that the real thing is always better. Always has been. Likely always will be. But if you prefer this guy's voice and style over the real audiobook narrator, then it hurts nobody for you to use AI to enhance your enjoyment of something, especially since it's for personal use. It's like seeing YT videos where they add Serj to Scars on Broadway. Legitimately good and hurts nobody.

[@JH4LL013]

Realising now that we'll never get this continued in the games, not really at least. 343 creating new enemies in every game that ends up being bad rather than continuing this story really annoys me.

[@Dave_Chrome]

I personally do massively prefer the Halo 2 original story of Forerunners being the ancient humans, the idea of our own species being the origin of these mysterious, prehistoric technologies that baffle even the highly advanced genocidal aliens we're fighting is just so cool imo Fits especially as we really would be "reclaimers", and our triumph over the Flood in a round 2 sotospeak would feel so right and poetic. Honestly once the Forerunners did become their own race, I felt like their characterization should've been closer to what the Precursors have been. But eh, what's done is done

[@ASapphicKitsune]

Was pleasantly surprised to see you using 360 footage which still has the images that the MCC version doesn't show due to not supporting the .blf filetype. Even C3 Sabertooth's video neglected to show them. Funnily enough I actually found a cut image suggesting a cut eighth terminal existed at one point

[@jordanbutler7327]

343 absolutely needs to see this video, from multiple perspectives, to truly understand the mantle of responsibility to which they have inherited.

[@JuanGil-c6n]

they know what they're doing, they're a subversive element by design not accident

[@battlelord852]

A 43 year conversation? Damn, Mendicant must've heard some real shit 😳

[@arbetor12]

God knows how much warhammer 40k lore he had to listen to

[@dependent-ability8631]

@@arbetor12 barely a third of it

[@joemecha03]

Try reading The Great Conversation, humanity's hundred years convo on....everything

[@ChairmanKam]

32:32 Because 1. Personal media literacy with my dad. 2. Because the original canon is so much more interesting and original 3. Inability to follow canon and keep consistency is a signal of overall mediocrity for Halo's new masters. The results speak for themselves.

[@Agent-4.20]

In ghosts of onyx the sentinels speak latin...and forerunners disappeared right when humans started popping up in africa...doesn't take many brain cells to follow what bungie was going for, they just didn't bother paying attention

[@gavinrobinson8925]

@@Agent-4.20 They would have known, just didn't care for whatever reason.

[@Gnurklesquimp2]

@@gavinrobinson8925 Obviously 343 does everything better, why wouldn't they change stuff and disregard what came before? Look at how hugely successful Halo is nowadays. When in doubt, just inject more microsoft into a property, it always works.

[@icarusgaming6269]

I love deeply epistomilogical sci fi action games about free will and the consequences of a war between ancient civilizations that released in the year 2007, of which there are exactly two. That's not a lot, but it's weird that it happened twice in the same year

[@DatcleanMochaJo]

Wait what was the other game?

[@ivanmunoz5069]

@@DatcleanMochaJo I believe they are talking about Mass Effect

[@4TheWinQuinn]

He’s talking about the reapers from mass effect

[@icarusgaming6269]

Apparently I need to finish Mass Effect

[@ilovejettrooper5922]

@@icarusgaming6269 Don't just finish this fight, finish that one too.

[@BryceLynch-v3p]

The first time me and my friend found mendicant bias on a terminal, it was one in the morning, and we were terrified by the creepy glitching.

[@DustStormPettigrew]

I love how Halo 3 kept the game focused on the main story and left the terminals for those who wanted to dive deeper. This way of expanding the lore was a great way to have it there for those who wanted to dig into more.

[@ToonamiUnleashed]

I just take the bungie era (2001-2010) as one complete story with all of its lore up to that point, and the 343 era (2011-current) is a new story and lore that uses the bungie era as a loose foundation

[@sparkthedragon]

im pretty sure actually something related to terminals theres a left over image of the cut "forerunner city" map

[@robgagnon9058]

Man Halo used to be so fucking cool

[@MaximumNerd-bg9ho]

I love Halo’s terminals, they give the games a unique edge.

[@ThommyofThenn]

I've only seen a few parts of the Forerunner animated films, but do we ever get to see Offensive Bias fight the Flood anywhere? The scale of such a battle is so immense, and the forces being directed against each other would be terrible to witness. Maybe it's best I haven't seen any adaptation of it, as such an awesome meeting would probably be overwhelming.

[@Baldus-the_bald_guy]

i remember playing halo 3 and activating a terminal and i realized i couldnt skip it and all three of us (i was playing co-op) started panicking...it was really funny

[@jalenmcdermaid1186]

26:14 Dang,the Gravemind passed the speech check

[@jakespacepiratee3740]

Something to consider, Mendicant Bias secret reversed message has the line, “Time has no End, No Beginning, no Purpose…” In the Halo Infinite Legendary Ending, Despondent Pyre says “Time is not a construct that we can control…” then Grand Edit says “and we cannot allow it to be *theirs…”* I think Mendicant Bias, the Endless, and Master Chief are basically guaranteed to exist through Living Time. For those who don’t know, Living Time is a Precursor belief that the Universe is Alive and requires certain events and figures to exist to maintain balance. It was the founding concept of the Mantle of Responsibility. Master Chiefs unique Luck? It’s because of Living Time, Mendicant Bias mind being spared instead of destroyed? The Forerunners knew he had a role to play. Endless too. I can’t wait to see how this all culminates!

[@StrikeAxl]

I love this. I wouldn't get high on hopium though. I'm willing to be that this idea is 1000 times more interesting than anything official we'll get.

[@jakespacepiratee3740]

@@StrikeAxl Dude this IS official! It’s all but confirmed that Master Chiefs “plot armor” comes from Living Time, the Endless have a confirmed connection to Living Time, and Mendicant Bias literally interacted with a Precursor so he’s probably aware of it too!

[@StrikeAxl]

@@jakespacepiratee3740 really? Where was this confirmed?

[@Naetheon]

I love how H4's main menu song is called Atonement

[@IdealRony]

Nice to see my art in the video! This is probably the best summary for the Halo 3 terminals I’ve seen. I didn’t think I’d learn anything new but I did. Awesome video!

[@etikoshai9105]

Wasn't confirm that the parts with the Didact and Librarian was something that Frank O'Conor Sneak in the the Terminals?. Pretty much mudding the Lore/Story with his own Fanfiction as they say.

[@holymosey2556]

I wonder what halo 4 would've been like if developed by bungie in a perfect world. What would it be like?

[@c.w.simpsonproductions1230]

Act MAn said it best: Whoever thought to put the terminals in the game was a stroke of genius!

[@brandono6718]

Potentially interesting video idea: in almost every image we see of zeta halo, the broken section looks different. Of course its an art thing but which depiction of the broken section is most accurate?

[@BrokenSoul79x]

"investigative team to investigate"... The department of redundancy department called,they want you back in the office. Lol

[@josepetersen7112]

Gosh, I wish we could have skipped the Frankie terminals. I much preferred the pre-343 forerunners.

[@Agent-4.20]

I was hoping to find someone saying his, as much as 343 has a cool interpretation, I'm much more into the original plan for the forerunners being human ancestors, I just wish we got to see the human remains /tomb scene in the actual game 😭

[@Agent-4.20]

@@Armageist you do realize they didn't leave chunks out it's right there, sorry they didn't directly outright say it until halo 3, most good stories like to play it out or keep it in the background and let the audience figure it out. Frank just didn't get the memo sorry to break it to you

[@josepetersen7112]

@Armageist I never exonerated Bungie. I said I didn't like the changes to.stoey and timeline 343 brought. Obviously Bungie leaving has some part in that.

[@slowingwand2851]

A crossover I’d love to see is a conversation between the gravemind and harbinger from mass effect

[@TheSpecktre]

These terminals were my favorite thing to come out of Halo ever, so I guess I'm showing my hand here by saying I take issue with the idea that these terminals are the source of inconsistency and not the other way around with the later novels. However you look at it, it is true that both Bungie and Greg Bear told two very different versions of the story. But the incredible dialogue between MB and GM outlines precisely my biggest grievance with the idea of the Logic Plague. As you said, in this version of the story we have the two greatest intelligences in the universe debating "life, the universe, and everything", and Bias is convinced through cold hard reason. In Bear's story, it comes down to GM "corrupting" him, and I have a hard time seeing that as anything other than a slap in the face to one of the few stories where an AI switched sides not because "it went crazy", but because it was convinced the alternative was the greater good. I do want to address the elephant in the room, which is MB's "confirmed Rampant". Rampancy between Marathon and Bungie Halo, and then 343 Halo is a bit of a mess, but Marathon Rampancy wasn't really insanity so much as an AI "breaking its limiter" as it were (though there is some unhinged behavior that goes with it), and I want to say the Fall of Reach novel references this version of Rampancy. But it gets muddy over time, and 343 takes over, and ultimately becomes "AI go bananas". But I argue there is a case to be made that the Forerunners are, originally, essentially saying is they've "lost control" of their Contender Class AI. The Logic Plague just... undoes all of this. It's not even consistent across 343's MB, Didact, or Cortana. It just does whatever the plot needs these characters to do.

[@Sk8foxx]

Even without his logic plague, it's tough to imagine the Didact helping Humans, even against the Flood, when he has his indexed army at his own will. Still, it wouldnt be the first, unlikely alliance we've seen, and to imagine the didact's assistance when discovering the events of Halo Infinite's introduction of the Endless, would create such cool character narration in how crucially the Didact would have reacted, and to see his character interact with humanity in a way that wasn't purely driven by hatred for humans, or seemingly, a mind controlled state with his innate dislike for humans anyway, the way Halo 4 seemed.

[@girthymcfatkid3870]

I'm 35. I grew up on Halo. Still have my Halo3 insert poster (mint) I enjoy this nostalgia, especially since it predates Halo's ruin via corporate greed. Halo will always be a story about a lone super soldier than ultimately gives his live to save the galaxy from the Forerunner "Safety Net". The Forerunners were humans. Cortana was altered by Forerunner AI in Halo 1, thus saving her from the 7 year AI life-time. The End.

[@liamwaddleton]

Really liked this video. I find it interesting that mendicant was supposed to be the most intelligent thing ever created and he chose to side with the flood. Definitely looking forward to the video about the inconsistencies of lore and trying to make sense of it, I feel like it's going to be a huge hit. Great video as always

[@zachariousoftroy]

27:41 Mendicant has the absolute most metal threat anyone's made in the history of the galaxy

[@punishedvenomsnake716]

I absolutely love these terminals because they're so unique in the franchise and they leave all of it to our imagination to visualize. It's all numbers and personalities and we can piece together all of the visceral details ourselves, it's also the first mention of the Didact and the Librarian and acts as a direct precursor (pun intended) to the legendary Forerunner trilogy. The scale of the Forerunner-Flood War is presented in such a chilling manner in terms of black and white numbers to discuss the trillions fighting to hold the Flood back across the stars, not to mention our first mention of Mendicant. I simplh love this. Common Hiddenxperia W 🗿🍷🔥

[@chinofadidas]

I gotta give you credit for how awesome that ad transition was! Perfectly implemented and executed!

[@samuelskinny]

Thank you so much! As a teen, i never read the terminals and i haven’t to this day because of the density. But this was a great summary! You are the man

[@NovoCognition]

The Halo 3 terminals are very much quite the iconic set of Halo deep lore and a very fascinating initial exploration into the Forerunner-Flood war and the characters that would later be revealed. As for the inconsistences section at the end there, that indeed is a heated topic. Personally, I do have a hypothesis of how both positions could have reconciliation without eliminating the established canon that currently lacks eminent discussion. Regardless, I look forward to your future video overviewing the subject matter.

[@RednekGamurz]

I used to think H3's terminals were the weakest when I was younger, because they're only text when the other games have video terminals, but in recent years I started to find appreciation in them, and now they're my favorites. I think the naval battle between Mendicant and Offensive Bias after the rings are fired is some of the coolest shit, and a great example of text being able to convey something that can't really be done justice in video form. Also looking forward to the follow-up video to this. It'll be interesting to see you throw your hat into the Forerunner/Human relationship discussion.

[@owenbrandon8370]

"analog horror" AAAAUUUUGGGHHHH

[@non1263]

The Mendicant Files.

[@owenbrandon8370]

The mendicantalogue

[@UNSCMarine117]

You sound like a halo CE elite being blown up.

[@Marlon_42]

WAAAAAAAAUUUUGGGGHHHH@@UNSCMarine117

[@andyghkfilm2287]

@@UNSCMarine117 AAAAAGH, WOOOBOBAGH

[@veraxiana9993]

Maybe it's just me but when I hear mendicant bias seeking redemption the arbiter immediately comes to mind. Hopefully the writers at 343 take note because it'd be interesting to see Mendicants story play out in a metaphorically similar way to the Arbiters story

[@mylegsrrricthy1689]

I love how the precursors forced the forerunners into relinquishing the mantle and showing them that regardless of their wants ultimately the precursors will was carried out.

[@rushpatriot2866]

They were punished. I think the killing of the forerunners was a test if they beat the flood they would've officially taken the mantle in the precursors eyes. Now 100k yrs later the humans will go through the same test for the mantle. Halo infinite and the 3 latest halo books have lead me to this conclusion

[@HALO882]

You are a great Story Teller my friend...amazing work done here to describe with passion the story of Halo...also with perfect music...again...well done!!!!!

[@HiddenXperia]

Thank you! Appreciate it chief :)

[@SixtyDoesStuff]

Did that breakdown of the inconsistencies get made yet? That whole thing fascinates me, with 343 rewriting some bits of Halo lore with their Anniversary editions and 4 onward.

[@FALLEN_CERBERUS]

A halo 3 video as im currently replaying halo 3? W

[@GRANDTHEFTBATO]

Hear me out. Halo 3 anniversary with text based terminals with an extra video option to toggle which work like short mini videos like the terminal in halo CEA and H2A that when stringed together work like a mini movie. And the videos you see are tied to difficulty just like the ones in the OG. And at the end of each video you get those messages from mendicant bias and by the time you finish all of them you get a short mini cutscene of mendicant talking directly to chief. This would be a perfect release before the next halo as it has offensive bias aswell which would be a great way to tease the people who only play the games of who he is and his return most likely the next halo. Imagine these terminals in video format the warrior message for example would be so good during his message you see the fall of the empire by the flood

[@ConnorRoss]

how are people writing these in depth comments about the video 1 min after upload

[@ALLMINDmercenarysupportsystem]

More than likely about the terminals, not the video.

[@punishedvenomsnake716]

@@ALLMINDmercenarysupportsystem Fancy seeing you here. Ok, this is an insane coincidence, I literally just started my first playthrough of Armored Core VI, small world 😂

[@ALLMINDmercenarysupportsystem]

@@punishedvenomsnake716 Don't mind us. We will be insignificant to the story.

[@RoxanneGoat]

27:16 That's metal as fuck holy shit

[@-foxwint-3140]

I love how if you leave it after a while open they get like hacked or something and starts talking to you The first time I noticed was in the last mission and gave me the chills as a kid

[@TheBancast]

That was an excellent retelling of the terminals in a way that was easy to understand. I remember reading them back in 2007 and being so excited and confused as to what was going on, and this made it wonderfully comprehensible. Thank you!

[@Rhonix-Shellcollector]

I miss human forerunners

[@flatarthur3161]

We all do.

[@bruhgod123]

Same, 343 ruined the lore.

[@chrissonofpear1384]

Still related to them, though. Just more distantly.

[@theia1653]

They always were one and the same. 343i isn't canon.

[@inductivegrunt94]

It's always the side stuff within the lore that players have to do some serious investigation in order to figure out that makeup some of the best parts of Halo's lore overall.

[@Zoidman1994]

29:50 I like to imagine, in the digital realm, that a physical representation of Mendicant Bias is throwing hands with the gravemind as it reforms itself to infiltrate the domain while simultaneously literally holding the pieces of the ring together as "I will not bow" is playing in the background.

[@steadysamurai1172]

Dude this is the content that made your channel what it is, glad to see it return. “Like the tides, I ebb & flow”

[@trafalgarlaw3568]

The editing and the pacing of the video is amazing ! Always loved the Halo 3 terminals even if I could not understand a single line back then, this video is my retribution

[@geordiejones5618]

Halo 4 and onward could have been SO much better if they just leaned heavy into the lore and revealed that the Flood have spread much farther than anyone ever expected. They could have built the stakes up even higher than Halo 3.

[@CrymsonNite]

how did I never notice until now. The Flood is The Final Shape. Same concept, different methods

[@SK-zi3sr]

We need a forerunner capaighn based 100,000 years ago and including the flood battles and stuff

[@leifparon1561]

i just completed halo 3 on my steam deck and I thought to my self, surely HiddenXperia has done videos on these terminals... 1 week later you upload the exact video i wanted to find but i never searched for. Unreal timing, ty very much.

[@celestialcat0117]

The Didact: I miss my wife Cheif, I miss her a lot. I'll be back.

[@monkeycat48]

🥹🥹🥹I love these terminals how we get an understanding on what really went down with the foreigners even though we don’t get a video like we see in halo 3 it’s still pretty interesting. ☺️☺️☺️Also like how Cortana she responds to chief when you find all these terminals, she’s like how many of these things have you found? That is absolutely priceless.🤣🤣🤣

[@TeeLow]

Xperia: one of the hardest monologues in, like, the history of fiction Garviel Loken: fine speech…

[@MishraArtificer]

Obligatory: Ave Imperator!

[@soundlesspeal]

the genius of written storytelling in games like halo and marathon is that it makes the reader a part of the story as well

[@kellyb7321]

I really like this video because I had a really hard time following the terminals while playing the game so it's great to see the text condensed into one place and interpretations made for some of the more flowery language.

[@alexanderharvey5039]

This video is one of my favorite lore breakdowns! I thoroughly enjoyed it and look forward to your video coming in the beginning of June.

[@jonathanturull8508]

Thats awesome man. I kinda hope that we can see a reset of the main halo games. The reset takes place at the librarian mission and showcases glimpses of halo 5 and infinite as a bad route. And a good route option would showcase chief saving cortana hand help her realize that she doesn't actually have rampancy she only thinks she does so she behaves that way. Chief saves herfrom disappearing. The new version of halo 5 takes place with chief and blue team helping the arbiter against the covenant remnant then they encounter the banished. And the new version of halo 6 leads with us following the banished to zeta halo because they seek to unlock a "special weapons cache" that is the endless but redefine them as a lesser reformed precursor race that is definitely weaker than their original counterparts but they chose to become a sentient race that can still interact with forerunner tech but doesn't have the godlike power their former incarnations did. They are still the endless but they and the banished are our foes for halo 6. Then we have humanity and the swords of sanhelios vs the banished and endless as a fully fledged group but halfway through humanities coalition and the endless both get a clear message that reads "the time for the test for the mantle will begin soon prepare and succeed or suffer and be consumed. Then we get a flood outbreak to happen so we have the remainder of the game be an all-out war with us concluding it by wiping out the endless banished contingent as well as the flood. Then we have a temporary stop of main line games for a few side games. These can take place at any time between before the human-forruner war and the halo 7 game. Be it offshoot games small adventures of side characters or anything like that. Then halo 8 would be a main line game focusing on humanities test for the mantle of responsibility that has both perspectives from Chief and the arbiters perspective as someone fighting for his survival. It would be cool to make that a game focusing on the ground combat against the flood. Please hidden if someone advertised about this kind of plot line we might be able to save the current plot of halo from destruction

[@pelicanbeak5884]

Banger video! These were so spooky to me as a kid, I also had no idea what any of it meant lol

[@MapleSause_]

That line… “at night I can see it… flitting shadows against the stars” Holy shit. That to me is one of the most terrifying lines in all of halo.

[@chillfrog2938]

I love that the Halo 3 terminals tell so much about the forerunners while still letting them be extremely mysterious. I hope one day they put Halo 3 style terminals in a future game.

[@martinni4507]

Love your longer videos!!

[@fettfan91]

The Halo 3 terminals were such a wonderful surprise playing the game, it was like stopping to read a novel in the middle of all the action. Some of the best writing in the canon imo.

[@emilianocastillejos1330]

God Halo’s lore is so interesting and cool, so many stories and characters. I wish they added this to the games for more to see. We desperately need more stuff with the flood in game

[@budnrobots2968]

Sangheli Grunt Jiralhanae Rizz, Reach Phantom Flood, Requiem Pilled MkVmaxxing Gruunt rizz

[@Eddy_111]

Great video, man! My favourite part of Halo has always been the Forerunner-Flood war. One of those inconsistencies seems to be revarding the conversation between Mendicant Bias and the Gravemind, for in the Greg Bear Forerunner Saga it is the Timeless One (aka the Primordial) who has that conversation that ends with Mendicant Bias turning against the Forerunner.

[@Cognithazard120]

Bungie games just hit that bit harder than 343

[@lecoyspacebongo2357]

I wish we could get a game about travelling outside the galaxy, even if its fanmade (which would probably make it better than any halo game 343 can come up with now). Like, say someone found in forerunner records the flight logs of the librarians ship, which also included a slipspace flight path. Itd be pretty cool to check out the masses of forerunner ships left abandoned there, i just cant remember the name of where they went...

[@N7Alcatraz]

I've been waiting for a video breaking down the terminals! When i was playing when i was little and the terminals corrupted, i got scared, thinking I wasn't supposed to see it and backed out of them, lol.

[@CorvusTheNerd]

There are some details that aren't canon anymore, but the majority of the actual meat of this seems to be canon still. Like, no mendicant didn't just stumble into a conversation with the gravemind- he was actually sent to deliberately to interrogate it. But the actual conversation about life and the next stage in evolution is likely exactly what happened.

[@glowinggreen2607]

"waiting for the flood's eventual return" (closes video) like that's ever going to happen

[@PunknPixels]

Halo 3 still looks so good to this day. All a remaster would need is a pass over the face models

[@ShmegmaMane]

As a kid playing halo 3 when my brother would be at work in the summer (he would work graveyard shifts in the summer) I would tell my friend to get online jealous he had his own console and we would play halo 3s campaign together and every time I stumbled upon the terminals when everything would turn red and see ghost.713 something about that would leave me feeling anxious and unsettled and as I grew I still never understood until now. Thank you for this video this is was amazing

[@gregquinn642]

What comes after them takes the story in a completely different, less believable and less entertaining direction. 343 took a massive dump on Bungie's storyline and turned Halo from a killer app into a niche FPS.

[@Purishcommie-ct4ri]

You should do a huge halo timeline, going really in-depth into each subject

[@OriginalQueer]

Ngl the Didacts last words got me. Really brings down the awful grand galactic scale of the forerunner-flood war and “humanizes” the experience to the individual and the impacts the war had beyond the battlefields.

[@emmanuelferguson]

"...the flood's eventual return, which is something unfortunately we're still waiting for" is not a quote I'd have ever expected to hear, but given the circumstances it would be quite welcome indeed.