Corrupter Protocol | Lore and Theory

[@Installation00]

Saturn Devouring his Son: kzbin.info/www/bejne/b3mcgZ1ojs2jr7Msi=MtfjWqfjnvWgFQyA

[@ambiguumspectatoremespecta9803]

15:20 The following below was copy and pasted word for word from the Halo Waypoint Intel 1: Gallows which goes more into dept on Mjolnir anti - flood counter measures. WARNING: FSC SIGNATURE DETECTED ALERT ENERGY SHIELDS DEPLETED; ARMOR BREACH CONFIRMED SPARTAN COMPROMISED . . . FSC INFECTION CONFIRMED . COUNTERMEASURES INITIATED . . . . \HYDROSTATIC GEL LAYER PRESSURIZED . . . SUCCESS \GALLOWS DATALINK SEVERENCE . . . SUCCESS \BEGIN REACTOR DETONATION . . . FAILURE . . \CODE INJECTION DETECTED \COUNTERMEASURES CANCELED BECOME \ARMOR BREACH SEALED \ENERGY SHIELDS RECHARGED BECOME \ARMOR SYSTEMS REPAIRED UNITY. SWEETNESS. As can be seen the Spartans Mjolnir Armor attempted to detonate its micro fusion power plant but was prevented from executing it by the flood itself.

[@teamancilla6226]

This story was so chilling and a perfect treatment for the Flood. I only wish we had more!

[@jrwilliams4029]

I was wondering when you were going to cover this after being apprised if it’s existence on HiddenX. Glad you are covering it.

[@plaguenotprophet7840]

With all Spartans in the field scattered, and the flood returning, the time has come for all Spartans to return to combat. We must reunite, to stop the end of all things

[@KantoKait]

14:45 lol, or they coul have, almost random, Fusion pack detonations. 15:30 we got there. Will this be the theme of the battle royal, that's in the works?

[@katanafourzeronine]

"When a Spartan becomes infected with the Flood." That's a string of words I really don't want to see together.

[@Moonlight_Tide]

Almost as scary as hearing a doctor say "rabies went airborne"

[@TheAKgunner]

@@Moonlight_TideFrankly, I’d prefer the rabies.

[@BanishedSilentShadow3318]

Yeah the last thing anyone even the the higher ups in ONI wanna see is "CORRUPTER" on their screens

[@RandemFellow]

The Mjolnir tried to detonate, but the self destruction was neutralized by the infection form. And the brain was destroyed by the gallows protocol, but the infection form still managed to survive.

[@danmullen6744]

I thought the implication of having the suits reactor meltdown was “we know the floods gonna use the Spartans body to stack bodies no stopping that if it happens, but this at least puts a timer on the flood forms usefulness” I think oni understood a flood infected spartan was endgame for the species so all the contingencies prior to the meltdown are just to make the Spartans body a little less useful for the flood in the meantime the armour lock won’t stop the flood but it at least slows it down a bit blowing up their head hopefully limits the usable Intel from the Spartans memories and the meltdown puts a timer on how long they can use them as a combat form, in saying all that yeah we know the flood can change physics they were trying to jump start a slip space drive in Mona Lisa I wouldn’t be shocked if in lore yeah they can just stop the meltdown logic plague or domain magic 😂

[@captain_arbiter3167]

Something critical you forgot to note that in the Gallows intel drop among the lines a code there’s a line that say “Nuclear Fusion Cell Detonation……… FAILED” I think that’s implying there is in fact a countermeasure to destroy the suit but the flood infection was able to stop it.

[@Nope-dk4sh]

The suits had/have a self destruct failsafe to stop the tech falling into "hostile hands" doesn't it?

[@spirit1643]

It sure does have that failsafe. It's been a long while since I've read the books, but I swear they mention that ability to destroy the suit.

[@Commander_Appo]

That’s what I was going to comment

[@nestorgamer9746]

@@spirit1643 yeah during Operation First Strike, when one of the Spartans assaulting the Unyielding Hierophant gets killed

[@jaredvillhelm2002]

@@nestorgamer9746 came here to say this

[@TaliaDaFawx]

to be honest, it was foolish for the Special Forces branches in Halo to assume their Guillotine Protocol would stop a Spartan from becoming infected. If they really wanted to be thorough, the whole body needs to be disintegrated to prevent the Flood from making use of any biological material needed to help it spread. The Guillotine Protocol is just extremely flawed to the point where I wonder if the ones behind the protocol just watched a bunch of zombie flicks and assumed that the head was the part needed to be intact for the Flood to spread

[@derekmensch3601]

Honestly it feels like duck and cover for me. Purely there for the user to feel safe

[@ambiguumspectatoremespecta9803]

The purpose is to deny the flood sensitive information known to the spartan. Remember that when the flood takes over a host it not only hijacks their body but also assimilates the hosts knowledge into it's own hivemind collective. The purpose of destroying the Spartans head and therefore brain is to negate that factor from occurring.

[@warriorshedge6772]

As is the lore.. Logic plague from my understanding, controls AI, not premeditated algorithms. How does the flood super cell break through mjolnir? Not the pod, the microorganism! What was dumb, was sending in a small team to handle a "who knows how big" infected asteroid.. And of course incompetence is what releases the flood again, the captain of the ship wants fucking glory.. From beating what the forerunners couldn't.. I don't like this return. AGAIN, BRINGING THEM BACK IN THE MULTIPLAYER MAKES NO SENSE, the flood is an iconic cinematic threat that deserves proper screen time, not some bullshit trailer which shows nothing of the flood's return.. What a fucking travesty, why does no one talk about that, halo fans used to give death threats for getting the shotgun color wrong, now you guys have.. Effectively become cod and battlefield fans. Just a controllable populous

[@Evan_Wingerter]

I feel its more for the flood to be incapable of stealing the memories and knowledge of a spartan

[@ALLMINDmercenarysupportsystem]

​@@warriorshedge6772 Yes, I feel there should have been a bit more of a response. But death threats are never acceptable. Do not complain about their absence.

[@c.w.simpsonproductions1230]

The captain in this story made my blood boil. Captain Keyes went through one of the most horrific deaths in the entire franchise to protect the galaxy from the Flood, and this prick spat in the face of Keyes and every other hero who died stopping them and put the whole galaxy at risk just to fatten his wallet.

[@111Tommyg]

that and Jenkins

[@terrified057t4]

Seems a trend among high-ranking UNSC officers, like Major Silva. That asshole could've doomed humanity were it not for Melissa McKay.

[@ParkerClements-jb3cu]

It's low key comical that the protocol for dealing with the flood essentially boils down to a war crime exclusive operation

[@razalfraz6618]

To me the head bombs were definitely an asset denial for information and to hopefully destroy the neural-link to the armor

[@odinulveson9101]

Yup. Perfect and logical cover for utter extermination of both flood, spartan, evidence

[@orionriftclan2727]

If I remember, the nuclear fusion reactor can detonate as a failsafe

[@thewerdna]

​@orionriftclan2727 which in the first lore drop there was suit diagnosis from an infected Spartan that said the fusion reactor detination failed

[@orionriftclan2727]

@@thewerdna oh dear the Precursors, welp that's bad

[@matthewchristian9591]

​@@thewerdnayeah but there is a manual self destruct switch on the suit why did no one use it?

[@Impartial_Sojourner]

The GALLOWS procedure is exactly designed to prevent a Keyes-level situation. The suit was also attempting to initiate a self-destruct sequence, but somehow, the logic plague was used to circumvent that. There is a blurb on Waypoint that supports this. Which is wild because I thought only the Gravemind could do that at a certain level of growth, but crimony, that's terrifying.

[@BoisegangGaming]

Yeah, the Flood manipulating technology the same way they manipulate biomass is probably the scariest part of the cosmic horror. Nothing is safe. Everything can be corrupted.

[@debbiebernhardt5406]

Code damage must of occured. The flood could reck the code of any ai, including Cortana. The system was breached right before failsafe engaged.

[@commanderjason7786]

I'm kinda surprised 00 didn't mention this. I assume he probably didn't see the Waypoint post? I don't blame him for missing it, it's mixed in with the other season Intel stuff.

[@Xeno-The-Wanderer]

I heard once that at a certain level the flood has all aspects able to inject the logic plague as they’re just another extension of the central intelligence so maybe there is one around or once gained the rest are able to do so… alternatively these being flood from before the halo firing seemingly protected by the ship could mean they kept access to the ability despite the loss of all key minds. Alternatively all are able to and the necessity of a grave mind is a misconception

[@matthewchristian9591]

Ok so why didn't anyone hit the manual self destruct switch on the suit that one cant be stopped. Also yes only graveminds can use the logic plague combat and infection forms dont have the iq to do this. So either this is a non canon story which is what i believe. Or and this is the worst option there is already a gravemind here and no one knows it.

[@inductivegrunt94]

Probably the most terrifying lore in Halo. Nothing Oni could do, even at the Midnight Facility, could top the sheer dread of when a Spartan is infected by the Flood. When your here that word, "Corruptor", you know exactly what you'll feel... dread.

[@jimbothegymbro7086]

imagine how horrifying it would be if say a spartan on the infinity got infected, imagine the sheer dread as you hear corruptor not once not twice but upwards of 100 times due to an infestation starting in the spartans armor room where they're most vulnerable to infection, that would be horrifying beyond measure

[@CommissarChaotic]

I don't tend to make air units

[@matthewchristian9591]

Honestly i think most people would be confused i believe only the higher ups or those working around flood would be told what the code word means.

[@slicer940]

13:48 I’ve mentioned this in past videos but can we highlight just how smart the flood is, even in its opening stages? It lured the marines into the facility in Halo CE, ambushed the 2nd squad- Closest to the exit and also covering any retreat. And took down the 2nd pelican without alerting any of the marines that were with Keyes and Johnson. Then they lured the Chief into the same trap. Lastly they realized how important the captain was and made it a priority to get to a ship with him partially infected and away from any combat, and then placing him under heavy guard. If that isn’t horror idk what is. And it’s shame it’s never really touched on by the lord or KZbinrs to that depth.

[@AxisChurchDevotee]

Likely due to the flood already having a proto gravemind by that point so they were in the coordinator stage giving them the ability to think.

[@malcolmsaint]

And this is mentioned to be feral flood. Ill be using your comment to highlight how intelligent they are even at the stage of being feral.

[@starsilverinfinity]

I mean, thats kinda what happens when the Flood gets even a modicum of information - I would say its less "The flood are smart" and more "the flood knows how to capitalize on any intel". Any marines they turned would immediately have the battle plans in them turned against them - they would know of the evac pelicans, the importance of various personnel, the location of anything important those marines had been too (assuming the marine knows of course), etc. Then they immediately moved to make sure they can get more intel to fill the gaps in their infoweb Feral flood coordinate with pheromones and are said to not be very coordinated, but really it just means they simply b-line for more intel as soon as they get that first drop

[@ReachStudioPro]

As a Flood expert myself, it delights me when I see people noticing these traits from them. It's like the feeling of not being alone anymore.

[@marissadougal5125]

@@malcolmsaint it’s moments like this you understand truly why the forerunners were so scared of the flood and took such drastic measures.

[@crota6233]

hype loved saturn devouring his son, my favorite part was the dude thinking about whether or not he could run from the unsc or accept his court marshal

[@stray4244]

I think the flood were able to interface with the suit and turn off the hydrostatic gel layer being pressurized. It did turn off the suit's self-nuke protocol, I imagine it could disable the layer if it could do that.

[@LeFrenchman-id5xb]

A few thoughts come to mind. One, the fact that Chief managed to survive his first and multiple encounters against the Gravemind was not only lucky but extremely pissed off the Flood. No doubt this guy was making up plans to get his teeth on some Spartan biomass somehow after that. Two, during the climax of the battle I loved how it seemed to the other personnel that they might actually win the fight against the Flood. My first thought was holy fuck those Spartans must be getting pounded cuz they were definitely the parasite's target after they showed up. Failing to follow protocol was the biggest fuck up that day and everyone around knew it lol

[@maeshg1969]

15:30 there actually is measure to activate the fusion core just that the flood managed to get there before it actually detonated

[@DaddyHensei]

The suit tried to blow but the flood compromised the failsafe. The head bomb is a back up to be sure that at least the most critical piece doesn't fall into enemies hands. It's really pretty smart, on humanities part. They hedged their bets by including another method of self destruction. At the end of the day, all the flood will walk away with is a stronger meat puppet, compared to other combat forms. Spartans are tough but it's their mind that's the real force multiplier, without they're just a stronger combat form in fancy armor.

[@Exrevenant]

If you think a flood infected spartan is bad, just imagine a flood infected warrior servant, or even promethean ( before the bots came around )

[@ALLMINDmercenarysupportsystem]

The thing about that is that everyone (at least in the military) was on equal level. For them, that would be equivalent to a standard marine getting infected for us. But yea, just imagine the absolute chaos and terror that could cause if it somehow came up in modern Halo instead of the Forerunner times.

[@nfldend501]

the prometheons were created because they can't be infected by the flood

[@matthewchristian9591]

They cant infect prometheans they were made in a way to make it so the flood couldn't infect them the problem was they literally lost their individuality and became nothing more than a drone.

[@Katsu-jyn]

Prometheans were specifically designed and created by the didact to counter the flood. They can’t be infected

[@lv1543]

I think the didact and his warriors were far and above spartans

[@sasukeoftheleaf3179]

I loved Saturn devouring his son, it was an amazing story and I really want a continuation!!! As far as theories go however, I have a few. It’s possible that the flood has already infiltrated the suits systems. I say that because even the text in the "Rusalka" armor kit states "CORRUPTER, UPSILON, no not for you" which makes me think the flood manually stopped the rest of the suit from being destroyed. Not only that but I’ve reason to believe (even if this wasn’t that important) that the Spartan in the rusalka armor was the first to fall. That being because the visor is literally split open, as if it exploded but failed to fully break the helmet. I’m not sure if all of fireteam leviathan was infected as it’s rather ambiguous. Anyway, just my thoughts, great video!!!

[@NorthSeaRaider]

I think 343 would be stupid to not use this as a way to introduce the Flood into the main games.

[@nagi603]

...but what if the human physiology can take only that much, and the spartan simply cannot be so highly overclocked as a regular human, even by the flood? I'd say it's most likely that while a human flood form is strengthened by X, the spartan might not possess as much hidden/unused potential. It might still be much powerful as a non-infected spartan, but not such a jump as the spartan is to a baseline human.

[@blueguy2128]

You're right but common sense and logic left Halo a long time ago. Now Spartans are fuckin power rangers remember? Now Spartans can kill with the simplest flex of their ass cheeks remember? Everybody thinking Spartans are all fuckin Goku in armor is stupid as hell

[@bleachedshadow9981]

A regular human marine infected by the Flood is enough to send chief flying if he gets a hit off. A Flood infected Spartan would be actual hell on Earth or any planet it’s on.

[@devonwarnock2625]

Thanks for this upload while you're going through so much. Your community is always here for you bro.

[@Installation00]

I appreciate that. 😊

[@RuzzyID]

Usually the Flood try to prioritise killing Spartans over infecting them because majority of the time it's too difficult due to the augmentations and it takes too long, so they'd rather kill them.

[@Sebastianguitar01]

On the Halo lore, Spartans II John 117 and Jerome 092 were almost infected, but were saved by Cortana & Serina before the flood managed to pierce through their armour after their shields got depleted, and that was in both cases with Mark V armour that wasn't designed for flood encounters. This short story game me thoughts, maybe the spartans IV encountered forerunner flood forms or even pure forms like tanks, juggernauts or else thst were able to infect them, the only certain thing is that there's a condor on the lose with 4 infected spartans IV floods that can start a new outbreak if this story is handled properly.

[@conflictt3224]

My theory is that, regardless of if the suit detonated, it would not be considered enough for ONI comfort. Even if they detonate the suit, they would then on top of that be nuking the entire continent that spartan was on anyway. So at that point, why worry about it? Lock it in place, destroy the brain, and even everyone within the solar system drops every ounce of ordinance they have on the location. Detonating the chest isn't seen as necessary, especially since they probably don't know the Flood Spartan can move in Armor Lock since it's never happened before now.

[@halolasomaster3900]

I'm glad some people recognize Halo Wars lore

[@remipearce597]

Not only the fact that the Spartans have key information thay should not get leaked but by blowing the head you also destroy the ai core in the Spartans helmet, the ai while rare are potentially the single worst thing the flood could infect with the logic plague, as found by the forerunners

[@TheNotoriousLARGE]

Flood Spartans aren't completely destroyed almost certainly because ONI wants to study them. Definitely something they'd try despite the unbelievable risk

[@AxisChurchDevotee]

Guess they learned nothing from the Mona Lisa.

[@shadowwarrior1003]

no, the armor is meant to detonate the fusion core on the suit, but it failed to detonate, likely due to flood interfacing with the systems

[@TheNotoriousLARGE]

@@shadowwarrior1003 He didn't say that the fusion core is detonated, he asked why it isn't. And I'm suggesting why I think so. Corruptor Protocol specifically mentions destroying the Spartans head, nothing about the whole body. Could be that it's meant to and failed, but it's not clear

[@shadowwarrior1003]

@@TheNotoriousLARGE destroy the head to prevent intel yes, but the protocol of the suits are meant to detonate the fusion core, which failed to occur

[@TheNotoriousLARGE]

@@shadowwarrior1003 Where does it say that? I haven't read or heard it anywhere. Because, again, in the video 00 asks *why* the fusion core isn't detonated, he doesn't say that it's supposed to

[@FTSARES18]

A Spartan is a terrifying thing to behold but it was only a matter of time before one became infected they way I look at it of course ONI would want to keep that under wraps

[@Tallacus]

so if the suit kills the Spartan but that was still not enough to kill the parasite, I remember reading the Flood novel and it does gives us the horrifying account of a marine who was infected and he was literally not in control of his body, to know Flood infection doesnt kill you, you consciousness still lives only for you to witness this other thing take use you like that, terrifying...

[@thesuperstorm4940]

A message is heard over all UNSC communication channels the message repeats: Corruptor is engaged, Corruptor is engaged

[@JV-lz3jd]

Listening to the story there were a lot of factors that led to the Spartans being infected and it was the fault of the captain for disobeying The ship’s AI warning to send a spartan team to try to reclaim the forerunner ship . Even though they had Hellbringers and cyclops units as backup but it was still not enough to save them.

[@hellbentstudios8721]

I really liked that ending! Was rather haunting. One thing I think is terrifying about an infected spartan isn't the strength but the SPEED of them. If they can just about keep up with a Spartan II then imagine what they could theoretically be capable of. Not to mention combat speed. Their strength, combat speed enhanced with spartan augmentations would probably exceed that of Mjolnir armour, as in just punch straight through it lol. Imagine a tank from H3 with the speed of a combat form, evasion of a infector form and strength to one shot you. Real scary stuff...

[@ThommyofThenn]

I've wondered this before and had always assumed there was some reason they hadn't. Will be interesting to watch this and challenge the things I had taken for granted. It would be kinda fun if the armour had a self-destruct function when flood invasion of the suit is detected. Edit: just over halfway done. This is way more intense that I had been visualising. You'd think the ship could use generators to generate a shock or energy discharge to destroy the form and incinerate the body. But maybe the biomass could simply fill in the suit anyway

[@thesuperstorm4940]

I will mention this about the Armour Kit Rusulka, the armour seen on the Spartan is the, Recon helmet (as seen on Jun marksman of the Spartan team Noble), ODST shoulder pads and Type FJ knee guards

[@divorcelawyer8352]

You know, I feel it would have been smarter to set off a 2 stage detonation. First the head is destroyed to 100% guarantee that the flood won’t get info out of the spartan, then have the rest of the armor or at least the chest cavity explode, neutralizing it’s ability to fight.

[@I_dcd]

You know looking back on what you described here. The post Halo 4 era would have been actually perfect for a galactic wide exploration of the Halo array in the games. You could still implement plenty of enemies such as put out of contact rouge covenant groups in rare encounters, the sentinels itself with their wide variety of varient classes, and most importantly the flood being a main centerpoint of threat due to outbreaks occuring due to mistakes from inexperience with containment protocol. Overall it would make for a fitting plot to explore the bigger picture of this universe and the games finally shedding light on the precursors as well. Even future events following Infinte still has the opportunity to explore these possibilities.

[@asimovstarling8806]

The uncomfortable answer, the one every spartan alive dreads, Is yes. And that answer is already staring us in the face, waiting for us to stare back.

[@konahrikb1578]

Why don't they just set the armor's reactor to self-destruct in the event of flood infection, like the Chief did to Grace-093 after she was killed by Brutes during Operation FIRST STRIKE? The resulting explosion destroyed the entrance of a power complex on the Unyielding Hierophant, and that was a Mark V suit, so Gen II's reactor overloading should instantly vaporize the wearer and any infected tissue immediately.

[@GModBMXer]

So it seems the only thing this protocol wanted to accomplish was delaying the Graveminds memory absorption in the end. Its incredible how well-thought the Halo series is. Factoring limitations, solutions and overall goals.

[@woodsyjones]

Halo lore just brings me immense joy. It feels necessary as a part of my life it means that much to me!!

[@odinulveson9101]

I assumed it was the back area of hosts the flood POD infector preferred since the spine is closer and would explain it burrowed and apperared face-first through the chest. Also the infected spartan could have been infected NOT by a pod infection form but airborne spores caused by them infiltrating breaches, gaps and wounds in the armor and undersuit. Caused f.ex by combat forms infectious claw appendages in melee combat or the protection harmed by debri etc in thick floaty infectious spore pockets of infectious fog, mist pockets etc. Spores might infect and transform a bit slower than by a pod i.form but still. Interesting nontheless! And its canon so thsts great to hear 👏

[@JKR3TRO]

"Shout out to John for... I don't fucking know" 😂😂😂

[@TobeWilsonNetwork]

Probably will be the last well executed and interesting expansion of the Halo lore. At least they’re going out answering a few lore fan questions.

[@Human_01]

Informative! That was both fun and immersive to listen to. Great job on the video. Kudos!✨👏👏

[@sookendestroy1]

Oh no, this sounds almost like an ONI plot to see the capabilities of flood infected Spartans against enemies. Theyve done similar before. Also if they wanted to keep the Spartan alive they could have pulsed the shield, we know Cortana did that and it worked

[@NovusDundus]

Somewhat reasonable explanation to why the power pack doesn't (immediately) detonate Spartans are typically squad based. Imagine a Spartan in your squad having their suit breached and then immediately detonating like a warhead, killing the entire squad. lol Or the explosion resulting in damage to a facility, device or even monitor, possibly further allowing any flood to escape containment. It *COULD* be something that requires manual activation from a ship in orbit. But it's also too risky to do automatically.

[@admiralshadowofasunderedst3068]

The armor would attempt a reactor detonation but was stopped by the Flood WARNING: FSC SIGNATURE DETECTED ALERT ENERGY SHIELDS DEPLETED; ARMOR BREACH CONFIRMED SPARTAN COMPROMISED . . . FSC INFECTION CONFIRMED . COUNTERMEASURES INITIATED . . . . \HYDROSTATIC GEL LAYER PRESSURIZED . . . SUCCESS \GALLOWS DATALINK SEVERENCE . . . SUCCESS \BEGIN REACTOR DETONATION . . . FAILURE . . \CODE INJECTION DETECTED \COUNTERMEASURES CANCELED BECOME \ARMOR BREACH SEALED \ENERGY SHIELDS RECHARGED BECOME \ARMOR SYSTEMS REPAIRED UNITY. SWEETNESS.

[@halflifeturkiye]

Actually make perfect sense, you don't want an infected spartan explode inside a Pelican or another VTOL aircraft and kill entire team.

[@kiarvolfenberg8790]

Hi. I've being thinking about the UNSC arcenal and came to One sollution: it's All utilises Electro-Ignition instead of modern-based trigger... As such: in "Halo: Nightfall" series (which is lore) there is a moment, where One of the ODST's says: "So what?! I'll turn it on to shoot ya, and turn it off immediately!" Refering to his MA5 rifle... That reference makes no sence for trigger-based weapons, but Absolutely "must have!" for electro-ignition... That also explains power source in Every UNSC weapon

[@daruphir]

You should try and do an autopsy of a flood infected spartan by an Oni-Cdc specialist.

[@joeycampbell940]

Honestly ive always thought a glassing followed later by a railgun barrage would be great flood control while leaving the earth mixed enough to repopulate the area shortly afterwards.

[@zackwerth77]

I’d like to point out that in halo 5, chief was able to move while his armor was locked by Cortana near the end. He’s only able to move his head and arm a bit but he’s able to overcome through his own strength.

[@Lightman0359]

Real world answer: Corporate greed. If the armor enters meltdown, then they can't entice players back with Flood Spartan skins [and to sell said skins]. In universe answer: possibly also greed. By locking the armor and destroying the head [including not only the Spartan's knowledge, but the comms and other sensitive equipment in the helmet], they probably thought the infested spartan to be effectively neutralized, and thus... retrievable for study [and possibly salvage of the rest of the armor].

[@PackHunter117]

*I feel really bad for the Spartan. That’s one helluva way to die.*

[@MaxsonAtTheFort]

Technically the Spartan is still alive, he’s conscious while he watches in horror as his body goes on a rampage against former friends and allies.

[@egcarbone2410]

@@MaxsonAtTheFortI mean his brain is a pile of singed viscera, he’s not alive

[@MaxsonAtTheFort]

@@egcarbone2410 He’s still talking in his mind though, kinda how Keyes was when he was being absorbed into the Proto Gravemind

[@stray4244]

@@MaxsonAtTheFort Or was that the other guy mentioned in the story? The miner we follow got infected. Or maybe it was one of the other Spartans that got infected? There was more than one I think.

[@egcarbone2410]

@@MaxsonAtTheFortno, the person having an internal conflict is Julian, not the Spartan.

[@wisedude4285]

Ah yes the return of my favorite Halo KZbinr

[@markaword1561]

Spartan 117B reporting

[@jeanmouloude]

im happy to be part of this channel for the past 5 years or so :)

[@PhilipMcCrotch]

343 need to wise up and get the flood back into the campaign

[@dovahkiin7253]

We'll be waiting a LONG time, if it happens at all

[@odinulveson9101]

Prepare to wait looooooong. They dont got the spine to it yet. Perfect excuse? " We ( M$ too even ).. we will make H.I multiplayer the best it can be.. so um yeah you asked for it, so no more campaign stuff since we need to draw the resources from their department.. oh and NO more live service cinematics and story telling either! Take that nagging fans! " 😂 just overexxegerating... still....

[@joshsmith923]

Something maybe overlooked... what happens to a Ai that is paired to an infected spartan?

[@noahzuniga2079]

Oooohhh, i wonder? Could it make the infected even more dangerous? We know AI will fall to the logic plague. But an infected spartan paired with a logic plague afflicted AI. That's a scary thought.

[@ajgunemm]

Logic plague I'd guess

[@bable6314]

@@noahzuniga2079 It's unlikely that the Flood could infect a Smart AI with the logic plague fast enough to prevent that AI from detonating the armor's fusion reactor.

[@noahzuniga2079]

@@bable6314 that is most definitely a good probability

[@admiralshadowofasunderedst3068]

​@bable6314 we know the flood was able to stop the armor from denoting it's reactor.

[@khajiitimanus7432]

Okay. According to comments and the video, here's a summary of the MJOLNIR response protocol: 0) CORRUPTOR broadcast? 1) Armor Lock 2) Guillotine Protocol 3) Nuclear Detonation There actually is a self-destruct in the MJOLNIR armor - supposedly. But in this particular instance, while the Guillotine was successful, the Flood still managed to deactivate the complete self-destruct. If the CORRUPTOR broadcast was after Guillotine, then there's a higher chance it could've been interrupted. I therefore find it most likely that CORRUPTOR was a very early step, so that if the Flood did bypass Guillotine, they could be silenced ASAP. For whatever good that's worth, as my logic may be flawed or missing a detail.

[@TheBrowniesOwn]

remember that the mjolnir armor is like a class 4 out of class 19 for powerarmor by forerunner standards, and in the flood war, they had millions of forerunners, presumably with power armor of the top tier.

[@CKATNISS]

This would seem to be the very first flex of practice of epsilon and corrupter

[@codyblazejackson3077]

I love your take on this. Keep em coming. Thank you for your hard work!

[@MoonMorningstar]

Ahhh yes, I to remember when Humanity in Halo learned the tech of "MASS Accelerator Cannons"< take that, Mass Effect! xD

[@Redacted724]

I want to see a short animation of what that would look like, the shield popping and the form latches on, blood and gore and metal being torn apart as the spartan struggles to pull the infection form out of his fresh chest cavity, him trying to fight back as his body twists and contorts and reforms, and then finally the infection reaching for the head as a light shines behind the visor, overloads, and then explodes sending brain matter and glass shooting out just as the infection takes control of what’s left inside the helmet and the jagged destroyed armor then slumping over before reanimating and letting out a horrible flood roar

[@Insanity6419]

Imagine a mini series where a 6 Spartan Flood containment team is on a mission to frigate of some kind and during the mission one of the Spartans get infected and we see from another Spartan’s POV as the infection form burrows into their teammate all you hear the shrieks a cries of immense pain, as the spartan armor begins to lock up due to the protocol, simultaneously all noise over the radio just goes silent and the spartan’s head drops down just as the armor locks up completely, nothing but silence as the rest of the team knew the micro explosives went off and they all stare for a second thinking they’re in the clear but then the head moves up and the flood mutations start and it’s just more horror like from then on in the series. I doubt any of the Spartan IVs have had any experience with the flood so they wouldn’t really know what to expect. They may be trained on what to expect but nothing could prepare them for the real deal. If done right I think it could make for a great mini series

[@bmxdude1337]

Idk seems like an oversight by the writers of 343i....or they are just making things up as they go, i wouldnt get too hyped

[@BanishedSilentShadow3318]

[Warning: spartan has fallen to the flood!] Everyone: ............ ODSTs: nah. Ain't gonna deal with that! Marines: ..... where's chips when you need him.. Other spartans: oh god.. ONI: nuke. EVERYTHING!!

[@AM-dc7pv]

I think the real question would be where are the flood infected Forerunner, Ancient Human, et al, Ecumene-era or legacy advanced combat armors running around? While after Mendicant Bias was defeated and with him so too the Flood, given the Flood surviving an all-out galactic level extinction event didn't wholly eradicate the Flood with many dispersed across the galactic expanse as well, one would imagine that given the sheer number of Forerunner, Ancient Humans and other previous species, atleast a few would've survived because of the probability. Also, are the Flood similar to Dragonball Z's villain Cell in which, like Cell the Flood only need to assimilate something once to retain that knowledge and possibly replicate it ad infinitum thereafter? [In which ever manner, whether that's with or without the Gravemind.] ...Or nah?

[@111Tommyg]

I'm not sure how I feel about Spartans being infected now being cannon, I can somewhat understand it slightly with the spartan 4's having less augmentation that previous iterations of spartan how ever I am still under the impression that Spartans are considered dead, degenerated or rotten with the augments they receive and so can't infect them, is this not the case anymore? also with that on top of the suits themselves being able to kill any infection forms or spores that try to infiltrate the suit. I don't know, I feel like this kind of just removes the nuance of the Spartans which they should retain. maybe I'm just still holding a candle to for the old lore.

[@admiralshadowofasunderedst3068]

Nope this is a misconception what caused Johnson not to get infected was because the combat form was old and decided to go for the easier marine instead of Johnson. Spartans are capable of getting infected even master chief almost got infected the more genetic engineered forerunners were also capable of getting infected. Spartans being able to get infected has been a thing sense the bungie days.

[@Ghastly_Grinner]

As someone who writes stories I have always hated the flood they have the magical ability to do exactly what the writer needs them to do at that time sometimes a infector form drives it self into a person and its a tug of war between the parasite ant the human sometimes the infector infects a person and they fully transform in 3 seconds sometimes its a single flood spore that infects someone and they are a flood moments later. To me the flood have always sucked because of those inconsistencies

[@nihilityjoey]

The flood and halo are sci - Fantasy, right alongside Warhammer.

[@layk]

Depends. The lore explanation for some of these situations was the age of the forms. For example, one infector form was so old, and decaying that the host marine it infected still had some measure of control of himself.

[@Myjacob99]

I remember when spartans were just immune to the flood

[@bmxdude1337]

i member too

[@Razgriz_01]

That was just Johnson and he was a special case. He was also fighting weakened, starving Flood. He's not immune, just resistant and also got very lucky. In First Strike, they even make a point that they probably can't replicate what Johnson had that made him resistant or immune. Chief almost got infected, but was saved by Cortana.

[@dougsmith6262]

Reminds me of what happened to Deathlok in the Marvel Zombies series. His cybernetic side detected the infection and pretty much self-destructed.

[@Nope-dk4sh]

Thought: The Neural link implant connects directly to the suit, replacing the "Brain" requirement. Decapitation of a Spartan has no impact is because of this link, the flood form exploiting this and then supplanting any hardware restrictions or limitations by tapping into and eventually overriding the implant's need to be a bridge. Flood forms have shown they can influence tech (2401 Penitent Tangent?) so I don't see this as outside of their capabilities.

[@ghostreaper4822]

Essentially Cole Protocol. In that case, NAV data, AIs, and any information pertaining to Earth were to be scrubbed, whatever the means necessary. The Protocol itself simply doesn't state to self destruct a whole ship/station to do so. It gives a focused intent on what is to be accomplished, so even someone down to the lowest rank can achieve it by knowing the simplest task and condition. That's where it relates to suspending laws of war and rules of engagement and also having that explosion mechanism in place here. No matter what happens, that Spartan's mind must be destroyed.

[@Jorary209]

Isnt there recent lore that 343 released from this seasonal update that gives a description of the mjolnir software enacting the safety protocols of the armor, but then was overcome by the logic plague very quickly? I dont remember if it was a post or one of the new flood armor/effects in customization that gave the description

[@thewerdna]

Yes. A detonation of the fusion core is supposed to happen, but the flood took control of the suit too fast

[@LR_Bushido]

Am curious, wasn't it stated in the lore that a Spartans armor can be made to self destruct like a mini nuclear bomb? If so that should of been easily priority.

[@orangecat504]

The logic plague got to it before it could happen

[@Donnirononon]

I do understand that it is for design reasons, but would it not be beneficial for the flood to NOT damage the power armor? Imagine the flood can take over the body to gain access to the BMI. It then can use the suit as it does desire, maybe also protecting it with an overgrown protective layer in order to prolong its service time since flood cant do maintenance on it. In Addition, the spartan BMI would also allow for deep access to UNSC servers tho a smart Firewall could prevent the flood causing any damage here.

[@X38277]

They probably don't have better protocols because ONI wanted to see what would happen.

[@piccoloktheforged]

I just find it funny how when these got announced i asked does these skins mean that spartan 4s are susceptible to the flood and the spartan 4 stans got mad at me when you soon later say there is in universe lore of even spartans getting infected 😂

[@nickreed3924]

I'd be interested in a video that catalogs exactly how many spartans have been confirmed to have fought the flood.

[@SoupRoutine]

Would the suit's systems even be susceptible to the logic plague? Unless I'm mistaken, the suit doesnt have any smart AI technology natively in it (or dumb AI for that matter). Wouldnt the logic plague require an entity to understand that logic for it to work? I could be wrong, but thats how i understand it.

[@bable6314]

Yes. The logic plague isn't a virus. It's just... logic. Carefully spoken facts that manipulate an artificial intelligence to perform acts against their own programming.

[@admiralshadowofasunderedst3068]

It would we see the suit would attempt to cause the reactor to meltdown but it was stopped by the Flood WARNING: FSC SIGNATURE DETECTED ALERT ENERGY SHIELDS DEPLETED; ARMOR BREACH CONFIRMED SPARTAN COMPROMISED . . . FSC INFECTION CONFIRMED . COUNTERMEASURES INITIATED . . . . \HYDROSTATIC GEL LAYER PRESSURIZED . . . SUCCESS \GALLOWS DATALINK SEVERENCE . . . SUCCESS \BEGIN REACTOR DETONATION . . . FAILURE . . \CODE INJECTION DETECTED \COUNTERMEASURES CANCELED BECOME \ARMOR BREACH SEALED \ENERGY SHIELDS RECHARGED BECOME \ARMOR SYSTEMS REPAIRED UNITY. SWEETNESS.

[@phantoms205]

At the end of halo 2 the gravemind said he would ask cortana questions what were those questions exactly

[@g12gigaman]

What do you mean why didn't they implement core overload? upon flood infection Mjolnir systems go into a 3 stage process 1st immobilize 2nd destroy spartan cranial vault and neural lace 3rd detonate suit fusion pack the flood somehow interrupted stage 3 and off lined the armor lock it's in the season intel you overlooked it Edit halo waypoint halo infinite reckoning intel 1 gallows it shows detonation failure followed by suit systems being restored and altered

[@dairydregone7146]

Finally, u did the new Halo flood lore

[@sensufr219]

I think it was Halo Envoy where at the end Gray team was paired up with a team that contained different species that would go through the known universe and find forerunner artifacts and Or covenant remnants to find and deal with it would be cool if this type of story used gray team

[@ariannescharfi9366]

I find it weird to begin with that the forerunners didn't get rid of the flood research faciilities shortly before the rings were activated so they can't be conserved in any way..

[@FBI-ju5no]

Honestly, i dont know why the armor doesn't have a three stage response. Stage 1: lock the armor Stage 2: destroy the brain Stage 3: destroy the body/suit

[@tristanbackup2536]

On that other channel of breakdowns. I'm curious if you can do a serious breakdown & go into extreme detail of a T800 from Terminator. From the theoretical hyperalloy that it uses like tensile strength, the power source, & the neuromorphic processor it has, leave no stone unturned. 😂

[@laughingleopard5226]

Cannot say I care about Halo at all as a game, but I do appreciate a game series with good lore.

[@kegcodex]

I think the main reason the flood could move through armour lock is because we unknowingly limit our strength so we don't hurt ourselves. And with the flood overriding your nervous system would probably override the limitations on our bodies.

[@mattmc9812]

Experimental weapons of teh unsc. Weapons that are not standard like the ion field missile on the hannable mantis

[@ClericOfPholtus]

I mean If Flood are detected Why send a team at all? Full plasma lance bombardment, pure and simple. The UNSC's had them for a few years now (technically should've had them since the last year of the war when they started picking up Huragok left and right lol)

[@t3arki113r]

That’s normally the plan. But the spartans got infected because a greedy captain wanted the ship the flood were in (since selling pieces off could make him millions) and sent the team in to cleanse the ship, but that backfired horribly. Any sensible captain would immediately follow protocol and blast the place.

[@madnessgodman]

Awesome new video!

[@hastonlagrone768]

The various defense mechanisms against flood infection being driven by software rather than hardware is strange to me. The engineers had to know the flood can interface with an operating system and hijack it with the logic plague, why even risk it?

[@thomasveerman4532]

Could you please also dive into how the flood came to be on the ship? Did they survive the firing of halo or did they escape later? They can't have been in there for 100k years, they would have starved.

[@mattl9084]

The flood on alpha halo were there for a little over 101,000 local years and didn't starve? Not out of pocket for them to survive that long. And the firing of the halo array doesn't kill the flood just the food itself

[@Xornth]

Now just imagine how bad it was when the forerunner warriors were infected. Remember mjolnir is a hazmat suit to them.

[@Napalmxxx2]

I know it wouldn't be a Spartan 2 or Orion Project (Spartan I's) since the nature of their augmentation regiments renders it impossible for the Flood to force a match like normal

[@sleepybear9953]

Love your vids man

[@GlacierCodfish]

Nice video. But at 2:40 you mention the question of this story being canon or not, but I don't recognize any details that confirm this canonically. Its a little abrupt to use Alex's odd wording as a proof to OFFICIALLY CONFIRM a spartan being infected in the Halo cannon. Yes, it is pretty well packed into the Halo story, but there is ofcourse still nothing here preventing this from being a fracture. Even the fact that this happened before Halo4 yet we hear nothing about it in later games or other lore, should be a pointer to this being a fracture or simply a simulated scenario used by the UNSC to train and test protocol. I think this is likely a fracture, but I also think 343 choose to not specifically confirm or deny this now, in order to be able to build on this story later if needed.

[@michaelgemmill569]

I just assumed all the tendrils punctured the hydrostatic gell so it couldn't pressurize and lock up.