Xalanyn Are Reclaimers

In this episode: We discuss a massive discrepancy and break in logic that could indicate Humanity aren't meant to hold the Mantle, but the forerunners are doing all they can to protect us.
Fate of the Precursors:
• Fate Of The Precursors...
Primordials Horrific Secret:
• The Primordials Horrif...
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[@jakespacepiratee3740]

"The Endless will be found, they will Ascend." "Humanity was the culmination of their final plan...plans change. We are returning." "The Galaxy itself will pay for your transgressions!"

[@kevinprzy4539]

It makes me think, do they mean they (the galaxy) will pay for your transgressions as if you’ve fed them lies and they’re unknowingly paying for it or do they mean they will quite literally make the galaxy pay/hurt because of their transgressions? If it’s the latter are they really still worthy of the mantle?

[@jakespacepiratee3740]

@@kevinprzy4539 Personally I think the Endless are hypocrites. The Harbinger keeps whining about how unjustly they were treated and how they were oppressed and mistreated, yet she doesnt care when Thousands of Humans are killed and tortured by the Banished. The Endless care about themselves only, and their control of the Mantle of Responsibility would be very bad.

[@syedabdulrauf4545]

I saw this theory somewhere else but it makes the most sense. So what that person said is that each precursor has chosen its own race for the mantle and each race is tested. So for example some chose forerunners, they were tested but failed. Humanity was chosen by the primordial and was doing good so that’s y the forerunners killed all the precursor as revenge. Another was chosen that being endless, and they were also doing good. So I’d say that both are reclaimers but are yet to have the final test.

[@jakespacepiratee3740]

Im really surprised Installation00 never mentioned this because its a big piece of evidence for the Xalanyn are Reclaimers theory: In the Harbingers VERY FIRST scene, she says to Master Chief "The Endless will be found. They will Ascend." The term "Ascend" is ONLY ever been used in 343 Halo games to reference claiming the mantle of responsibility!

[@b.rangerreaper907]

That sounds like a possible theory but there's only one question left if the theory is true... Why were the Forerunners tested and deemed a failure before Humanity and the Endless were even tested? It doesn't make much sense that the Precursors would test the Forerunners first, deem them unsuitable to hold the mantle "then" test Humanity and the Endless at the same time after unless the Forerunners were suppost to be like a trail run for the test or something and the Forerunners really had no chance to hold the mantle in the first place.

[@yondercommunications]

This makes sense. I was thinking that both Humanity and the Endless are Reclaimers.

[@rigen97]

Humanity or Xalanyn didn't even have to be "doing good", the mere existence of other races that are tested as inheritors of the Mantle would enrage the Forerunners; especially those with similar personality as the Didact. Their religious faith in the Mantle as their birthright would make them feel betrayed no matter if the other races really have any chance to claim the Mantle.

[@TK199999]

@@b.rangerreaper907 Because the Forerunner reaction to be told they failed may have been the actual test.

[@Dellloga]

What if the Harbingers Species, are "The Meddlers?" I can see some parallels.

[@jeremyblackmouth3323]

I made a mention of this in a previous video of yours. That the Xalalyn and humanity were both to be tested for who would ultimately gain the Mantle Of Responsibility. What you said here gives more credence to that but there is one concept that might be inaccurate from what has been said by Halo Lore, that history is written by the victors. Without question the Forerunners went to war with the Precursors over failing to prove their worth as inheritors of the Mantle but just as the Primordial is capable of deception or misinformation, so to are the Forerunners. Their victory over the Precursors meant they could write history as to why they fought thr Precursors in the first place. Instead of humanity to be next in line as possible inheritors of the Mantle, the Xalalyn were chosen first. What gives this credit is that before Halo Infinite and even in Halo Lore no mention of either the Xalalyn or the term "The Endless" was really spoken. Even the Harbinger said how the Forerunners tried to erase their existence which would have been accomplished merely by the firing of the Halo Array but the Forerunners took extra measures. I agree that some of the extra steps taken by the Forerunners could be seen as circumventing the judgement of the Precursors to inherit the Mantle using humanity but here's where the worry starts in regards to The Mantle and can mark the return of the Precursors since not all were killed off by the Forerunners. Like how the Diadact returned and proclaimed that the Mantle was meant for Forerunners alone, a Precursor could return and deem all unworthy of the Mantle and erase everything. That connects with the war the Forerunners waged on the Precursors, that all were unworthy of inheriting the Mantle and they were setting things up to erase and start over anew. One little change of fact in the past, from it being truth but changed to point of view, and the possibilities get rather bleaker than they were from what Forerunner history records.

[@arnaudsurribas2963]

The Endless tracks bring so much mystery, the feeling of immemorial buried secrets, laments of pain and sorrow. Almost like like painfull events wiped out from collective memory but still haunting the place. A whisper waiting for vengeance, desguised in justice, that should stay buried for eternity. I love it, and this is fitting your video way to well !

[@buckeyebeliever3397]

Woah woah woah where did he get “Xalanyn” from? I didn’t hear that when freeing an outpost or stanning over Chak Lok…

[@torbjrnkvalheim3460]

Interesting video. But I failed to see it make any sense. If I understand the lore correcly, then the Xalanyn were unknown to the forerunners before they gave the mantle to the humans. I believe the lie they are talking about is simply that the forerunners were the true holders of the mantle. Also, I do not think that we will be able to find the answers in past lore. I am taking the fun of theory crafting out of this , but the Xalanyn is something that 343 pulled out of their behind to give us something new and fresh and they will most likely be retroactively ( I hope I am using that word correctly here )be changing the lore of halo to suit their new and interesting species.

[@jakespacepiratee3740]

The Endless exist because people didnt like the Created Faction, and they existed because people didnt like the Didact.

[@carsonhunt4642]

Agree exactly with this. They’re just trying their best to make the new story align with the old, so small oddities may exist. As an og fan not sure how much I like the new stuff. Banished were cool, not sure they needed some other aliens controlling them (like prophets did to covenant).

[@DigitalApex]

@@jakespacepiratee3740 343 just sucks at writing while they throttle a beloved IP

[@Eli-wu5jm]

I think you've highlighted a really common trope in literature as a whole. The Unreliable Narrator. The Halo Universe is full of them, telling different sides of the story through various perspectives that don't quite add up. It's not wise to take any of them as Gospel; not the Primordial, not the Harbinger, not even the Librarian or the Monitors.

[@mysteriousnobody2903]

One thing that I think you overlooked is that the Precursors were wiped out long before humanity was devolved, there was almost certainly a massive shift it perspective and belief by that time. Any species that is not immortal will inevitably change greatly over time, especially after all we saw happen and all the deaths.

[@bobbob-cd9yl]

Yo I hate that I dont know the track off memory but what song is the one that plays in the beggining it's beautiful

[@handsomekeyes5419]

The intro or the very beginning

[@DisNS333]

High Charity Suite, Halo 2 OST I think

[@bobbob-cd9yl]

@@handsomekeyes5419 very very start once the vid starts

[@drewzilla2747]

It's: Halo Infinite OST - 44. Gareth Coker - Silent Auditorium. Skip to 2:20 in the song.

[@XecuttioneR]

I actually hope this theory isn’t true The introduction of the xalanyn is creating more questions than answers I find that 343 prefers to introduce new lore/story in each game they release, rather than create a linear story line But I do remember reading something about how it was the librarian that actually gave humanity the ability to access forerunner tech. She essentially made us reclaimers of the mantle at the very end of the war when it became apparent that the halo array was the last option. It wasn’t a grand decision by the forerunner ecumene

[@ihavetwofaces]

I've always seen it as: the Precursors judged Forerunners as failures, selected Humanity as their replacement, and this ignited the Forerunner extermination of the Precursors. But there was a long period between the genocide and the firing of the Array. In that time, the rejection of the idea that Forerunners failed and Humanity were to hold the Mantle, and simultaneously the Forerunners grew wiser by studying the Domain and Living Time and from their war with the Flood - this snapped them out of their ignorance and made the Forerunners realize that they had failed. Therefore selecting them for indexing, imprinting them with geas, building the Portal on Erde-Tyrene, then activating the Array, with their last gift being a clean slate where humanity could begin to re-evolve.

[@radiationpony8449]

what i find most convincing is that the gravemind refers to Master chief (humanity) as "child of my enemy" and not as the holder of the mantle or reclaimer.

[@nonsensicalrants1703]

I am still under the opinion, as I shared in The Primordial's Secret, that The mantle is a lie. An ideology the Precrusors didn't believe in but told to their food. The holder of the mantle is nothing more than a sheep dog to herd the other sheep, but in this scenario the sheep dog is also a sheep.

[@TheAstrobiologistOW]

Personally I think the Forerunners being forced to hand over the Mantle to humanity even after ripping it from the Precursors makes perfect sense. It's very ironic in the most humiliating way possible to the Forerunners, and as such is exactly the sort of revenge the Precursors would've gone for.

[@aidanszabo2349]

The only thing I can’t shake is that The Harbinger called Chief reclaimer, if the endless were the original heirs then I feel she would never call him that.

[@thomasa5619]

Yeah I lean more towards the endless perhaps being precursor, it kinda fits the theme, they came first AND they’re endless? After millions of years the modern forerunners may not have recognised them

[@____________838]

That and her design somewhat matches the Precursor concept art in some ways.

[@jenndowden8131]

If the Forerunners truly believed they were genociding the precursors in their own self-defense, they might have still seen humanity as a potential heir, after themselves, & as you mentioned- controllable. I do think the Harbinger has skull-shape & facial structure quite similar to the primordial, which had been heavily mutated over time; makes me wonder what it looked like prior to its incarceration.

[@ValenWarden]

I've just always thought about it as if a father(Precursor) was choosing who'd inherit the family business after him. He chose the younger brother(Humans) instead of the older brother(Forerunner). In the Elder Brother's rage he struck down his father, and put his brother in a coma(devolving humans) but in time they realised they fucked up the family business and that their father was right to choose their younger brother. So, they left the keys with their little brother and went away. Don't know where the Xalanyn would fit into that, though.

[@oliverfranke7650]

Bungies idea to make the Forerunners ancient Humans still makes more sense than what was added in the second trilogy.

[@____________838]

“Trilogy”… You mean three disconnected standalone stories?

[@opratorkilo4649]

My theory is that an ancient society was trying to find another dimension other than the end or the nether, in their experiments they determined that they'd need a more powerful heat source than the flint and steal used for the nether or the even more powerful eyes of ember(blaze)+lava to even get to another dimension. So they identified soul sand and lit it as their source since it burns even hotter than normal flame. But they needed a new material to contain all that additional heat so they found the most heat resistant material other than netherite and reinforced to make the new frame for their portal. With all the peices put together to set up there new gateway to another world all they needed now was a unknown mechanism to light their new portal, and they did but once the gateway opened something terrible stepped out from this new twisted world. The warden, and with each person it killed skulk would being to spread an take over. The few who did escape observed how it hunted and the nature of the spread of skulk, desperate to fix their mistake they returned to the surface and harvested sheep wool on a scale never seen before. To try and seek their way back to shut off the portal. Which they were successful but at great cost. To prevent anyone from making the same mistake they destroyed the mystery object used to light the portal to prevent anything else from escaping. But they couldn't destroy the portal itself do to its indestructible nature, along with the still lurking warden. So they abandoned the sight while leaving only the wool and a few of their tools they used to get around the warden and the skulk. (This is all a theory of course but to me this makes the most sense, i believe sometime in the far future the devs will eventually give us the means to recover the lost relics used to light the portal initially so that us the player can go see the world that the warden comes from. The way i see it in short the ancients tried to take portal technology to the next level after the end was discovered, and ended up finding, and releasing something that should've never been disturbed, the ancient citys are a giant fossil of their tragedy and their effort to fix their mistakes)

[@Krendesh77]

I'd also like to think that the Forerunners chose humanity for an additional reason: the Precursers had still seen them as potential inheritors. Given the Librarians sentiment for humans (especially after their de-evolution) and the guilt she must have felt for the truth she learned about the Forerunners transgretions against the Precursers, it would make sense to have humans claim the Mantle when they were ready as a way of setting things right. On a darker note, what better revenge against the Precursers is there than taking the very species chosen to inherit their ideals and instead have them continue in the Forerunners' stead to continue the work that they were forced to leave behind. Until we get more information about the Xalanyn, that's currently where I stand

[@wearsjorge55]

Humanity and the endless will join together to complete the final test that'll come from outside our galaxy

[@graysonsmith6862]

Loved this! Picks at my brain regarding the game and story i grew up with. I feel so involved with this story and i love learning new perspectives so this is just. Amazing. Thank you 00.

[@FBI-ju5no]

The Harbinger says John is a reclaimer, yet says the "reformation" had begun. The endless are not reclaimers, they are reformers.

[@StacheMan26]

Perhaps what the ancient Forerunners learned was true, they had been tested, found wanting, and humanity was next in line. But not next to inherit the mantle, simply next to be tested. And in between when the ancient Forerunners slew their makers and when the last, guilt ridden Forerunners left the galaxy, naming humanity their heirs the Precursors had decided that we too were wanting and chosen another. Perhaps that is for the best, though, for the mantle has corrupted everyone we've yet seen hold it and I doubt we would fare better.

[@crazymanstu4541]

So is the reclaimer symbol precursor or forerunner text, that would completely change the options.

[@TimeTravelingBunnis]

We should probably, on some level separate "Reclaimer" from the Mantle. Humans can be reclaimers and not the holders of the mantle, I think.

[@kevinprzy4539]

Doesn’t reclaimer correlate with “reclaiming” the mantle? Idk for sure though.

[@TimeTravelingBunnis]

@@kevinprzy4539 well, I guess. But it could be just the reclaimer of the Forerunner legacy. If we are talking about reframing the view of galactic history then these things can be considered. Reclaimers is a forerunner term not a precursor term.

[@kevinprzy4539]

@@TimeTravelingBunnis true, I wonder how or why the harbinger has the reclaimer symbol on her helmet when it was only created by the forerunners. 🤔

[@TimeTravelingBunnis]

@@kevinprzy4539 🤷 I figure she could have made it for herself. They seem able to side step some of the forerunners paradigms.

[@____________838]

Then what exactly would they be… reclaiming?

[@jayebuss5562]

I think it's just an experiment for the precursors. Create a few species and see who comes out on top. What else would you do if you were that advanced?.

[@MasterOrona]

I’ve tried to explain all this to my son and he simply asked me this exact conflict of interest and I was stopped in my tracks. I told him maybe we didn’t have all the parts to the story yet. And maybe The Librarian did and that’s why she’s on our side so much. ?

[@joaquinpina9122]

Not really a hole in the theory but more of a possible explanation to the question of why they would give humanity the mantle; I believe the forerunner we see, ie didactic librarian, were not immediately aware of the forerunners rise to the mantle. At least to my interpretation of the librarians monologue during hale 4 it was a form of repentance to humanity for A) nuking humanity back to the stone age for basically doing their job for them B) stealing the mantle initially I believe there was a story of the librarian ,before the halo array fired, finding the last of the actual precursors as they were before they were before the flood. She ended up finding out, basically, the origin story of the the halo universe. >forerunners genocided precursors > stole mantal from humanity

[@skaboodlydoodle]

Precursors chose Humanity to be the holders of the mantle The Forrunners got mad and wiped out the Precursors The Humans and Forrunners fought until the flood came Forrunners did a lot of seriously effed up stuff fighting the flood Forrunners felt guilty about all the war and subjugation and realised "Wait....are we the baddies?" Forrunners changed their opinion of humanity and realised the galaxy would be better off in human hands rather than the forrunners screwing everything up again It makes sense when you acknowledge that people and even civilizations are capable of realizing their mistakes. Germany is ashamed of WWII, Brittan is ashamed of hundreds of years of colonialism, the Forrunners are ashamed of millions of years of tyranny. Tends to happen when you conquer the known world because of a master-race complex.

[@fatallywound3d340]

I thought the precursors chose humanity to be tested next after the forerunners but hadn't actually gone through with it before the forerunners attacked them.

[@MrAntony2you]

I did enjoy your theory about the Xalanyn, however your video does miss significant details that is explained in the Forerunner Trilogy novals as well as in Halo Point of Light and many other Forerunner short stories, where it is explained that the Forerunners committed the genocide of the Precursors millions of years before the events of the Forerunner-Human war and forgotten to time as the Forerunners that took part in the genocied exiled themselves on the very planet that was the "last stand" of the Precursors due to their shame of what they had done, the Librarian found this particular planet in an exhabition to discover the truth of what the Didact disclosed with her from his discussion with the Primordial before he was exiled to a cryptum for disagreeing with the use of the Halo Array, before that point Forerunners believed the Precursors were mistical beings that passed on peacefully and appreciated the Precursor artifacts left behind, and here is what i believe, the very Humanity that was meant to inherit the Mantle was a long forgotten race from back when the genocide took place, the Ancient Hamanity that fought against the flood and shortly after by the Forerunners knew nothing about the Mantle of Responsibilty, going by all my research on the matter as it seemed that they were unintentionally invoking it while fighting against the Flood as the Librarian stated herself, however at the time the Forerunners only saw Humanity as a savage species killing planets that were unknowingly infected with the Flood, this was even shown in the Halo 4 terminals, The Librarian saw Humanity as her children after de-evolving them and putting into place her very own plan to have Humanity the holders of the mantle after the Forerunners fire the Array, she herself put into place the plan to make humans the reclaimers and so their technology would recognise them to intergrate the tech with their own. One thing that the Librarians essance told Rion Forge in Point of Light was that Forerunners and Humanity were genetic cousins from her experience of going to Path Kethona seing the descendants of the Forerunners that fought against the Precursors, she also said about the fact that unlike the Primordial, Precursors didn't share ideologies as the ones that died on Path Kethona celebrated joy instead of relishing in suffering, meaning there were good and bad Precursors once upon a time, one thing that the Xalanyn and Precursor/Primordial/Gravemind do share is the ability to interact, control and absorb electronic/data and AI, the Gravemind was able to do so in Human Weakness the short story that takes place during Cortanas interrogation between Halo 2&3 and Harbingers ability to aquire Dispondant Piers code and detect The Weapon within the Zeta Halo's systems

[@robert1529]

I have a theory... let's say that humanity were chosen to be the holders of the mantle, but instead of a soul owner of the mantle we were suppose to be the leaders of a alliance consisting of Humanity as the leaders and Xalanyn and forerunners that together would uphold the mantle, almost like in the medieval age where kings had to divide their kingdoms between their sons to ensure they do not fight for complete control. and when the Forerunners found out that they won't be the soul owners they sought to seize power for themselves and in pursuing chaos the Xalanyn decided to make a gun for it aswell. and when the flood broke out the Xalanyn was hit at the same as humanity but the Xalanyn came running to the Forerunners for help and that's when the Forerunners imprisoned them

[@joelvazquez1617]

I don't know how anyone else did not notice or hear when she, The Harbinger, says that they, Xalanyn, were the Reclaimers. Even known KZbinrs did not notice. Am I the only one who heard her say it? Xalanyn might not be the Precursors but they definitely were the Reclaimers.

[@miroslavmalivukovic1534]

And all of this bs started when they turned the Forerunners from humans into an alien species. In the canon, that is.

[@____________838]

That’s what happens when a new studio decides to test their creative chops.

[@thomasgroesbeck9902]

I feel like Installation00 is confusing "contradiction" with "tragic irony" here. The Forerunners *initially* thought that they were worthy of a higher destiny, but as their evil actions and unintended consequences cause chaos and ruin they realize they must abandon their prize to worthier successors, a classic tragic arc as old as "Oedipus Rex"

[@disaster_chief]

In their final moments, the forerunners sought forgiveness from humanity for betraying the trust between brothers, and so gave them the mantle. Kinda like mendicant bias helping chief on the ark after betraying the galaxy by siding with the flood.

[@8BitNostalgia]

What you're forgetting unless you did say something about it is that not all the foreigners like the plan of giving Humanity the mantle like the Didact he hated that plan. It was only a few forerunners up in the High Council that kind of betrayed the Didact and lock them away and then executed the plan and as far as I remember the librarian in Halo 4 explains that it was more they realize their pride had been the fall of the Galaxy and so they were kind of bowing out because they realized they were the problem so while it doesn't necessarily make sense and it might be a lie there basically saying they grew as a species and realize that they were the problem and their arrogance was a problem so they let us take over

[@8BitNostalgia]

So like the precursors chose Humanity the forerunners got upset annihilated the precursors took over the mantle nothing really happened because there was plenty of room for both humans and forerunners to expand then the humans started glassing Forerunner planets because the humans encounter the flood first as far as I remember. Then the forerunners started attacking the humans and they both had war for like thousands of years and eventually D evolve the humans like you said but then the forerunners end up losing the war and most of the forerunners agree that their arrogance and choice to attack and devolve humans is what led to the downfall of the Galaxy because if they would have teamed up they could beat the flood this leads them to lock warmongers like the Didact up then proceed with firing the ring after the librarian catalogued a lot of life if not all life and then they chose to make humans the reclaimers because they realized that it was pretty much the entire thing was the forerunners fault they were the cause of the flood and they were the cause of the devolving of humans which led them to really be the entire cause of the downfall of the Galaxy so they decided they weren't worth being in charge of the mantle until they gave it to us the people the precursors had said should be in charge it kind of makes sense like it really does

[@pvalpha]

The reason I like the original halo trilogy was that A) It showed us an advanced humanity. B) we discovered the Halos and discovered a lot of it was very similar to how we would build things. C) eventually we're told "You *are* forerunner." by 343gs and by that *end* it makes sense. We had existed before. We had encountered the flood, a malignant species from beyond our galaxy that would wash over and destroy everything in its path. To *survive* we destroyed ourselves yet planted the seeds for intelligent life to *rise* again and for us to "reclaim" our lost heritage. It means that we would have to come to the mirror and face what we were and what we did and decide *how* we were going to face that going forward. Would we take responsibility and try to *heal* the damages we caused and try to recover what was lost for all the species? Or would we simply repeat the process until the next inevitable cycle of destruction came? It was a chance to explore how our concepts of religion, predestination, and society would clash with a reality that we were responsible both for the genocide of countless intelligent species as well as the resurrection of them and the attempt to preserve both lost culture and our own existence so that one day we could put an end to the plague that existed in our domain. It was a chance for us to be *us* and make something *good* from that. To me, that was a far, far better story than *surprise*! The forerunner are this random alien species that preceded humanity and they were perpetuated by an older precursor species as were we... and we came into conflict and the forerunner defeated us and devolved us. Created the Halo arrays and nuked everything. Swell. Take it from a deep exploration of responsibility and hope for our species and turn it into a generic story where we're just in the right place at the right time because a bunch of ancient aliens (God/Jesus/whatever) set it up *just* so. It feels like it was made more empty to prevent it from challenging people too much.

[@dacer1977]

I think the forerunners made humanity the reclaimers to reach some atonement for their terrible crimes against the mantle. They killed the precursors and every sentient being in the galaxy. The librarian discovered the early history of the forerunner-precursor war and felt a great deal of guilt for this. She also played a pivotal leading role in the end of the Flood war and her vision was carried on by the isodidact.

[@TheKingdomEntertainment]

You say it doesn't make sense for the Forerunners to choose humanity to be the heirs after lashing out against the Precursors for choosing them. I think it makes perfect sense when you look at it from other perspectives. *1:* The Forerunners genocide of the Precursors was only discovered by the Librarian near the end of the war with the flood. It had been covered up for millennia. The Forerunners that wiped out the Precursors are many generations removed from the Forerunners that chose humanity. You can hardly even treat them as the same culture, given that the crime was covered up and all-but forgotten. *2:* The Forerunners rebelled against the Precursors in arrogance - they believed themselves superior to humans, and when they were found wanting, they lashed out. But then the Flood showed up, and the Forerunners were sort of... humbled. They grew from who they were, and made a more respectable choice in the end. The Forerunners that wiped out the Precursors... if the Flood had shown up right away and they had made the Halos back then, they would have fired them and then kept the Mantle. But the Forerunners that actually fired the Halos willfully left the galaxy and surrendered the Mantle. I think in the end, they realized the Precursors were right from the start to reject them - regardless of whether they did choose humanity or not.

[@eduardojose2755]

Interesting thoughts! I agree with most of the discussed, but i difer with the endless being the "true reclaimers". I think that the truth lies within the forerunner saga of books. I truly think that the last precursor/first grave mind, saw what the forerunners did to humanity and gave the endless the tittle of reclaimers and Augmented them just so they could bolster their standing in the war. They still lost but they left what they deemed as "their true reclaimers". This isnt set in stone obviously but its the best explanation that takes into considerationbthe established mythos.

[@brandonmiller9155]

Wait. I had this theory and posted it on plasmaposting on Facebook like 2 weeks ago. 🤔

[@tarozama2666]

OMG I love where this is going. (could go)

[@camiloandrespachecocastro7015]

My thought is that both humanity and the Endless are a test for each other, to see who will ultimately be worthy of the mantle of responsability. On an unrelated thought based on the existance of the artifacts, I think the original halo array might not be forerunner (the new one certainly is) but zeta was part of the OG array so it may have sense.

[@shadewolf0075]

Nope each array is forerunner. Granted we could still see the ruins of ancient human cities on the ring in later DLC hopefully

[@The--Illusion]

So here is another what if: What if the Endless aren't a creation of the Precursors. Their tech and abilities don't line up with what we know the Forerunners and Ancient Humanity could do. Both civilizations had absolutely no hint of temporal technology (time tech). The Precursors I think could do this, given their very high level of tech. But none of their known creations could. So that begs the question if the Endless are another species, perhaps invading from another galaxy, that the Forerunners saw as a major threat (this would explain why they were locked up). Given the Endless' abilities and tech, I don't think any evidence or iconology that they were the actual inheritors of the Mantle of Responsibility would have any meaning. Another question is, why were the Precursors looking for an inheritor? According to what we know, they are effectively immortal. So why even look for one? This could all be a game they are playing to keep themselves busy.

[@mitchelltravis1187]

Something I had thought of, from one of your other videos, what we know: The precursors selected another species to hold the mantle of responsibility. The Forerunners destroyed the precursors, who welcomed demise, leaving that nebulous cloud of dust. Later the flood appear (from said cloud) and begin war with humanity, who flee. Humanity accidentally ends up at war in Forerunner space. If the precursors had selected humanity as their reclaimers, why would the flood have attacked them? Why wouldn't the flood; so obviously capable of logic and conspiracy, not ally themselves with the humans to make war upon the forerunners? What if the 4 runners locked away the harbinger and their kind to block the precursors from their selection. The forerunners then destroyed the precursors (or so they thought) Eventually, the precursors returned as the flood, seeking to restore the mantle. Of course they would attack the humans; f the humans were not their reclaimers, they would have no reason not to. Falling into your statements about the precursor views of 'all things are sweetness' we see that mankind and the Forerunners shared views about 'salvation from the struggle' - but the xalanyn do not. The Precursor were the sweetness of prosperity and peace, but once destroyed, became the sweetest of conflict, of struggle, of death: The flood. And if the Harbinger is 'timeless' - perhaps that was a Gift from the Precursors?

[@ambiguumspectatoremespecta9803]

Installation00 Well remember that the humanity the precursors had chosen to be the heirs of the mantle and the humanity the forerunners had chosen to be their heirs to the mantle of responsibility are not the same species. The humanity that the precursors choose was the original human species they had created, a species that had evolved independently of forerunner influence and manipulation. The humanity that had arisen following the species wide devolution was altered by the librarian and forerunners in the form of gene songs or geas which predisposed them to certain behavioral characteristics such as easier interaction and familiarity with forerunner technology; it also altered their behavioural response to forerunners in which they would feel love and loyalty towards the forerunners like a child would view their parents as seen with that interaction between Lucy Orion Forge and the librarian personality imprint on Mount Kilimanjaro.

[@MJS-lk2ej]

7:35 ...once the forerunners had failed and learnt the sins of their past that had been hidden from them, in order to repent they decided to restore the pre-ordained order of things. That is the interpretation you are meant to have and it makes sense, but that doesn't make it true. also a big brother typically doesn't kill their little brother, and resurrect them, twice. I'm all for questioning the paradigm, but it needs to be discussed with nuance, hell I made a reddit post years ago about how what we know of the flood is all unreliable and we shouldn't believe it, but I provided extensive evidence, then speculated about an alternative explanation, not just baseless speculation that goes nowhere. for those curios about the aforementioned post, I titled the post "The Flood Have no Relation to the Precursors*" on r/halo if you want to read it

[@karthiksubramanian2279]

I 100% believe Didact will return...to help Chief or to form temporary alliance and become villain again. By the way, the mantle was originally decided to be handed over to humans by Precursors. It's that ancient humans themselves didn't know that and they simply believed they hold the mantle without ironically knowing that was inevitably true. Forerunners simply decided to hand over the mantle to humans after realising their failures, as what precursors originally intended to do. Endless must have been a recent faction the forerunners identified during their end times and shocked to see they survived the Halo pulse.

[@sharonbraselton4302]

tta birg gets ketalctably

[@ImperialHell172]

00 you’re not far enough it didn’t make much sense for them to choose humanity to their heirs despite them already being chosen by the precursors. As we know, the Forerunners interpretation of the Mantle of Responsibility was to PROTECT all life in the universe. Whereas, from what we assume, the Precursors interpretation of the Mantle was to let all the good and evil things happen (putting it simply) without interfering. I’ve been recently playing over the entire halo saga in order (haven’t read the forerunner books yet) and something was very wrong, something felt off with the way spark spoke to you and the terminals on the ark plus with what we know from Halo’s 4,5 and now infinite. If the forerunners were truly protecting humanity and all life, then the Primordial and the precursors could actually be the real danger in halo and the Flood, may be their revenge against all life in the Milky-way because for once, their creations defied them, fought back and caused their (near) extinction and the precursors wanted an obedient race. The Endless

[@joshuamcdonald5850]

What a cool theory, love it.

[@SOLARMAXIMUM8619]

It wasn’t all of forerunner society that chose humans to bear the mantle it ended up in the hands of the didact and the librarian who learned of the forerunners genocide against the precursors so in repentance they said humans should have it because forerunners had been violating the mantle from the beginning and were always unworthy of it, it was a truth that broke the collective ego of the whole race the forerunner trilogy goes into this

[@SOLARMAXIMUM8619]

The forerunners killed the precursors in ‘self defense’ and then yeeeeears later the librarian learned of it and realized that the precursors never even fought back they just let it happen and so later while the flood and the primordial are about to extinguish the last dregs of the forerunners they realized that they created the flood indirectly by killing the precursors in the first place proving to themselves finally that they were unworthy all along, the forerunners were always extremely arrogant and it was this hubris which doomed the galaxy the precursors were likely never gonna wipe out forerunners cause that would’ve violated the mantle they were probably just gonna remove them from power which ancient forerunners interpreted as akin to their own extinction and murdered the precursors

[@SOLARMAXIMUM8619]

And the reason i say the precursors ‘let it happen’ is precursor technology was so far beyond anything the forerunners could even attempt to approximate that there is no way theyed beat them in a fight, the precursor star roads could literally rip whole arks apart and they could manipulate slip-space , it took the forerunners activating halo to destroy the star roads and the primordial did all this essentially by itself imagine what damage the whole race of precursors could do if they defended themselves

[@islandcryptologistexplaine8172]

I think their were three or more canidates for the reclaimer with human being chaos forerunner being order the xylan being neutral so the forerunner saw humans more of a threat than the xylan like eldest and second siblings always fighting dispute the youngest getting all the love well that's my take on it anyway

[@tystringfellow7912]

Can you do a video on the unsc army

[@risunokairu]

If the Precursors were the first sentient race ever and evolved to the maximum, and along the way came up with their religion about the universe learning itself through life, they probably view just themselves as the Universe. They were always the Flood and didn't degrade. They create life, then they infect and absorb it to gain its experience. Thus the Universe experiencing life. Cleanse palette, start again.

[@quenter1392]

I dont buy the idea about the break in logic. There were millions of years between the killing of the precursors and the decision to make humanity the reclaimers. There were a ton of leadership shakeups, and truth was purposefully destroyed. The forerunners who killed the precursors are not the forerunners just before the firing. In fact, the more modern forerunners were appalled by what their ancestors have done, and they sought to make it right. Ultimately I do not know if humanity was originally supposed to hold the mantle of responsibility, I will have to wait and see.

[@dovahkiin7253]

Anyone else hate how the Endless are set up? Like how all of a sudden there is now a threat that's so much "worse than the Flood". I'm really not a fan...

[@liftkingkg3867]

What if the new alian the sorry don't know how to spell it lol but the xalilian (endless) where the first ones to be holder then since they where evil or for watever reason I was taken and given to the forerunner then they weren't fir to hold it so the precursor chose the humans next

[@lioneye101]

All of this makes no sense. Btw, where are the San Shyam? Did they just disappear because 343 is just plain incompetant

[@lordshmee13]

They did the right thing in making me hate the bad guy of the game, just not the right reason to do so, Halo 4 and 5 introduced the prometheans and the knights teleported on battlefield, then the soldiers, thats so goddam annoying, then they gave it to the Harbinger.

[@gumbi79]

halo lore is pretty cool , but i wish ancient humans and thar artefacts ships tech etc had been broufght into main story , that would be cool , like infinity could of went on a mission top find aceint human spaceship graveyard or weapon s cache

[@mark_thurwanger]

I think 343 made a mistake with introducing the Endless because it completely fucks with well-established lore.

[@jakespacepiratee3740]

There is little-to-no lore about what happened following the firing of the Halo Array, so its a very good spot to introduce a new species.

[@superspike1]

The Xalanyn and "The Endless" may not be the same. as seen in the sylaxes in the post credit scene the display on those is not the same as the Xalanyn ( the Harbingers ) sylax. it could be The Endless are a race of AI's with access to the Domain, ( as the godmode cortana ) had said after accessing the domain "I can see the future" so it may be that there is a race of digital beings who have access to and can control time thanks inpart to the Domain. just another theory to add to the list :)

[@jakespacepiratee3740]

no. The Cylixes are used to store ORGANIC beings. I have no idea were people get the "Endless are AI" theory from, because there is jack for evidence for it.

[@izumishion6267]

To play devils advocate, there's a small flaw as to your logic behind the reason the Forerunner's choose Humanity as their successor. The main reason is simple: the Librarian chose humanity, not the Forerunners as a whole. The way I see it is that, the Librarian was the wisest of all Forerunner's. She was the one who pitched the idea that Humanity wasn't attacking the Forerunners but cleansing the galaxy of the Flood, she took care of humanity after our regression and even displayed some disgust at the devolving of humanity back to a more primitive state while the Didact embraced it. Most likely, she saw what the Precursor's saw in humanity and thus decided to give the Mantle to it's rightful heirs which wasn't theirs in the first place. Now, I'm not disagreeing that the Endless could be the true Precursor heirs, in fact I find the theory to be very correct, just that your theory on why the Forerunner's chose us was bugging me a bit.

[@Amondil1]

I think your logic is off, Forrunners find out that they are not to hold the mantle of responsibility so they wipe out the Precursors. Humanity is selected to hold the mantle. The Forruners act like the jealous sibling and beat their brother because he gets what they want. Then the flood happen they realize the error of their ways and do everything in their power to correct their mistake, giving it back to the one it was ment for. Seems pretty simple to me and matches up with what we got about the Forerunners latterly sacrificing themselves to save the Galaxy with the Halo arrays. But then again it all really depends on what 343 what's to do with their story. Because you can clearly see there is a divergence in vision, from the original Bungie Halo story, the 343 Halo story, and now it seems they are trying to do something different because their previous game routs have not been working. imao

[@superspike1]

Thinking now on your hypothesis of Forerunners and Humans being "brothers" brings to mind that if this were true. the Forerunner's would have destroyed Humanity if not at the same time as the Precursors then shortly after so they could not contest the Forerunner's hold on the Mantle. It makes no sense that if Humanity was supposed to be the holders of the Mantle and were on Par with the forerunners why did it take 10million years before there was a War between them? and it is Human nature to expand and control, how is it that after 10million years Humanity is not lording over the entire galaxy? I think it is far more likely that humanity was not even around at the time of the precursors and humanity is a result of long evolution thanks to a dead precursor body. In my thinking that would bring humanity growing to be a multi star system society possibly a few thousand years prior to their war with the precursors, as they grew and found the primordial / dust. leading to the flood in turn leading to more aggressive expansion, in turn gaining the attention of the forerunners. And due to the primordial taunting the didact with the whole "humans are superior to you haha" and the perfect manipulation of humans have a cure to the flood and you don't lalala the forerunners devolved and imprisoned humans to find out if this was true instead of eradicating them entirely. it is the primordial who lays the idea that humanity was supposed to hold the mantle and well lets face it, he cant be trusted lol. there is also the lifeshapers travel to the mini galaxy and the history she learnt there, but as far as i can tell that only covers the fact that the forerunners did indeed kill the precursors and not the reasoning as to why.

[@lordshmee13]

Itd be silly but hilarious if the Didact came back, but his conciousness has to be put into a Monitor body and doesnt have the artillery normal Monitors have.....til later. Imagine the like buddy cop action between Chief and the Didact, and if Chief vs new enemy, has Chief down and its like o no whos gonna save him......blam The Didact lasers baddy away ,saves the day 😂 something hollywood like

[@rorymcclernon4674]

Halo has been retconned to death at this point.

[@bw5020]

This doesn't feel hard to understand.... they were honorable but flawed. Very much human despite humanity being their antagonists. I also don't think they're going to want to redo the history of Halo a 3rd time

[@CaptainPilipinas]

those ecumene forerunners choosing to Not give a flip about it then. for 10+ million Years.

[@LDSG_A_Team]

One question I always had: why didn't the Forerunners re-seed their own species? Is it just because they felt guilty for having to wipe out all life in the galaxy, or did something actually prevent them from doing so?

[@HeWhoComments]

This is a good question. I’ve wondered this for a long time as well.

[@hiddendesire3076]

Not sure where I heard it, but I remember someone mentioning one of the books alluded the forerunners being related in some way to the ancient humans, genetically/evolutionarily speaking.

[@guibou336]

It's more than just guilt. They went agaisnt all they beleived, all their civilisation was built upon, all their hopes and aspirations. They failed the Mantle and so, as a species, didn't see a purpose in their re-seeding. I'd have to reread the last book of the Forerunner trilogy so don't quote me on that but, a few Forerunner lived past the halo activation and I remember a couple, I think it was in the Librarian crew, they didn't even want to conceive a child. Their race had to end for the atrocities they commited and as OO said in previous video, that was the ultimate revenge of the precursor.

[@trashyhobo4957]

@jack patton pretty sure they scraped that idea in h2 development

[@bigbl8717]

@@hiddendesire3076 I can't recall off hand who it was, but I remember seeing a lore/theory video about that. It might have been 00 for all I know. Anyway, the theory held that both the Forerunners and Humans were descended from a common ancestor (whoever it was used the term Progenitors). Our genetic similarity is why Forerunner tech recognizes us, etc.. Also suggested the Forerunner use of genetic modification to fit their rates/castes is part of what made them look as different as they do. Interesting theory.

[@penguintoast2471]

Remember that when we talk about the forerunners wiping out the precursors and the forerunners declaring humanity their reclaimers these events are hundreds of thousands of years apart and the forerunner sentiments could have changed a lot since then, so maybe it does add up after all

[@rigen97]

Forerunner-Flood war happened just a little while after Forerunner-Human wars that resulted in humanity being banished and devolved, so I'm kinda in doubt.

[@chrishakala528]

@@rigen97 The librarian seems to have been the most involved in that decision, and she favored humanity to some extent.

[@rigen97]

@@chrishakala528 that is true

[@ibrahimmekonnen8259]

It could be that the precursors choosing humanity as the holder of the mantel would be the end of their species (they would get destroyed by the precursors for not being needed anymore or at least they feared that) while them choosing humanity could be just them ruling indirectly by controlling the humans. Or maybe the forerunners are just really petty and want to choose for themselves even if they get what they want in both outcomes.

[@thomasa5619]

Weren’t the forerunners tested and failed millions of years in the past? Humans were chosen as successor. They wiped out the precursors, millions of years passed humanity found the dust, flood, encroached on forerunner space. Devolved as punishment. Flood attacks forerunners. 100,000 years pass. Present day. The forerunners could have just accepted that humans were reclaimers.

[@lonelystarboy]

The Forerunners chose Humans as reclaimers because the knowledge of the forerunner precursor war was long lost and forgotten. Remember they though the Precursors passed away peacefully.

[@ozzyd31ta62]

You gave me chills down my back. Chief is gonna need the Didact's help. Because humanity is on their last leg. Chief needs an army. The Didact can assist with that especially knowing his species's darkest secret have returned. Didact becomes good guy with a truce. Just like Halo 3 He back stabs Chief like the Flood. Boom Halo 3 2.0

[@superspike1]

Wasnt the Didact killed at the composer manufacturing plant?

[@VeryScarySmile]

Or no backstabbing

[@iona2225]

@@superspike1 I would be very happy if they ignored those comics.

[@GaMeR-bb6zy]

@@superspike1 it looked like he died in halo 4 but he survived. I don’t exactly remember how and what all happen but he killed Spartan team black (I think) after the end of halo 4 and was then killed by chief sometime after in a book. I could be wrong about what happen after halo 4 but he did survive. Hiddenexperia has a video on it and I’m sure that installation00 does too

[@SmileyBoi21]

@@superspike1 He was composed in Escalation (Even though he was immune)

[@tech34756]

Thinking about it, I'm wondering if The Mantle is arguably the 'main villain' of the Halo series? After all it has caused so much death and destruction, with the only positive I can think of being that it push the Forerunners to preserve life before firing Halo.....something they wouldn't have had to do if it wasn't for The Mantle. Even in recent times, in game, Cortana's 'enforcement' of The Mantle lead to the events of Halo Infinite. In many ways, it's a worthy macguffin created by an eldritch abomination.

[@jakespacepiratee3740]

Yep. Its basically "The Iron Throne" if it was created by the Old Gods, an inherently worthless thing many people fight and die over to dominate and control everyone else. 343 should lean into this theme if they want their Halo games to be remembered with a consistent overarching theme.

[@Machtri343]

@@jakespacepiratee3740 I'd wager that "The Mantle" is the catalyst the Precursors came up with in order to produce the "sweetness" of life's struggles. The Precursors and the Flood are neurophysical beings, and if they're described to derive pleasure from the collective pain of intelligent beings, birthing species that are inherently jealous and giving them a spiritual throne to fight over would be a sure-fire way to produce that "sweetness." I also don't think the Precursors were lying when they deemed the forerunners as unworthy of The Mantle. If the Mantle is meant to catalyze the production of neurophysical sweetness, then would it not make sense that the species that are most worthy would be the ones most capable and most willing to cause struggle? The Forerunners were unworthy of The Mantle because they sought to stabilize the galaxy and to preserve the functions that kept the Forerunners in power. Their ideals and technological feats brought about all-encompassing peace (whether forced or otherwise doesn't really matter), and their use of The Domain to preserve the consciousnesses of their people and their use of genetic imprinting to carry on the personalities of great Forerunners flew in the face of what the Precursors desired; that desire being volatility and change. I think it could be argued that the Xalalyn might have been deemed as worthy of The Mantle in response to the Forerunner's creation of the Halo array. If the Forerunners were determined to maintain the stability of the galaxy in a way that would deal substantial harm to anything neurophysical (and therefore damage the Precursors' ability to experience the "sweetness"), then it would make sense that the Precursors would place the responsibility of causing struggle on the shoulders of a species able to circumvent the effects of the Halos' pulse. As an aside, I think the concept of the "sweetness" of life's struggles is an interesting commentary on purpose of life, change, and how death and resolution play a part in that. Personally, it's interesting how the Precursors are set up to almost be the pinnacle of ultimate morality, since they are the only "species" to have "ascended" to the point of being able to feel the change of the galaxy as a whole and be the "parents" of species able to enact galactic change. The Precursors' morality also feels deeply and innately wrong, too, until you think about the stagnation of life and change that is caused by ensuring stability. It's an interesting dichotomy where either extreme is distinctly hellish but in very different ways.

[@paneynay]

@@Machtri343 so deidric prince molag-bal created the mantle so he could get that sweet halo indorphins

[@tech34756]

@@Machtri343 (spoiler for Doom/Eternal) In some ways this reminds me of the recent Doom games, where the death/suffering of others was coaxed by the ‘Gods’ so they can feed off the energy this creates in an ‘unholy alliance’ with The Demons. During the creation of my original post, I was hypothesising whether The Mantle was even some ‘joke’ The Precursors came up with to ‘toy’ with their creations that backfired, although further research seemed to show they believed it themselves. My reasoning behind this was that something like The Mantle sounds like something an entity trying to induce suffering would create and could (partially) explain Cortana’s megalomania, given her exposure to Gravemind and The Domain, both Precursor ‘constructs’ in some form. It would also play into larger themes of Halo such as the use/abuse of ‘religion’ we saw with The Covenant from the Bungie era.

[@windwakin]

@@tech34756 I love this, there’s so many ways to interpret the story of halo and I love it all!

[@OniLink147]

This makes sense, though if humanity *is* meant to be Reclaimers, then Forerunners stepping aside could be seen as character development.

[@hiddendesire3076]

I still question if the Harbinger is related to the precursors. Similar mouth style, similar speech patterns, double voice, literally quotes the Gravemind. Maybe the precursors were working towards taking that form. The flood as we know were those whose “dust” were corrupted. But could the Harbinger’s species be the end goal of the precursors?

[@briggs4884]

Precursors are known to have taken various forms and lived at different levels of technological progress just to experience it

[@gjtrue]

VERY cool and interesting video. That'd be something indeed. The Forerunners in truth helping Humanity in some form to combat the Flood, Xalanyn, and the Precursors. We still don't know what these other "gifts" are that the Liberian gave to the Master Chief back in Halo 4 besides one of them being an immunity to the Composer. Maybe she and others foresaw the Endless and possibly the Precursors.

[@charlesedwards2348]

I think your missing the redemption mindset. The Forerunners either knew or didn't know they where being tested- whether they knew or didn't know doesn't truly matter. The Forerunners felt entitled to the Mantle and took it by force, depriving Humanity of its chance to hold the Mantle. When everything fell apart, the learned the error of what they had done, both it killing the Precursors, but also in its treatment of Humanity. The Librarian knew this and worked to help restore Humanity when the Forerunners realized they couldn't defeat the Flood. So they left behind all they had created to allow Humanity to advance to the technological level they would need to be at to administer the Mantle.

[@ChocolateManOfficial]

I mean, the Xalanyn could very well be the real reclaimers, but this isn’t a good reason to deduce that. The Forerunner-Precursor War occurred millions of years prior to the firing of the array. The Librarian, who was ultimately in control by the end of the Forerunner-Flood War, hadn’t even been born yet. Not every member of a species thinks alike throughout the eons.

[@rabihk6383]

I find it odd though that the harbinger calls you reclaimer and refers to you as not an enemy. She never really alludes to the xalanyn being the reclaimers in my opinion

[@jakespacepiratee3740]

Yes she does allude to the Xalanyn being Reclaimers. She literally has the Reclaimer symbol on her Head, and one of the first lines she says to Chief is "The Endless will be found, they will Ascend."

[@shadewolf0075]

@@jakespacepiratee3740 that doesn't necessarily mean they actually are. They very well could be calling themselves that just to spite the forerunners which is what I am thinking is the case. They are doing exactly what the forerunners did to the precursors and just stealing the mantle to spite them for perceived or actual wrongs to them. Taking humanity's chance for the mantle yet again. I mean she literally has the tone of wanting to ruin the forerunners' plan for humanity just to get some form of revenge since she can't hurt them physically

[@jakespacepiratee3740]

@@shadewolf0075 But the Mantle of Responsibility wasnt created by the Forerunners, it was created by the Precursors, so the idea of the Endless wanting the Mantle just fo make the now-extinct Forerunners upset is pretty silly. This would literally be the "old man yelling at a cloud" Meme. The Forerunners lie is probably Humanity's legitimacy to claim the Mantle, when it reality it was meant to go to the Endless. In an audio log, the Harbinger says "Humanity was the culmination of their final plan. Plans change. We are returning."

[@TexMackerson]

@@jakespacepiratee3740 but forerunners didnt choose humans as reclaimers, it was precursors who did it 🤡🤡

[@jakespacepiratee3740]

@@TexMackerson “Plans change. We are returning” 💀

[@elanta3]

QUESTION though: Wasn't the Reclaimer symbol created by the Forerunners? So why would the harbinger be wearing the symbol? Did they Co-oped it? It could have been provided to the Endless by the Precursors and if it was then what other Precursor symbols and architecture have we seen and not known it?

[@agentgamma771-08-B]

No, reclaimer symbol didn't matched the writing style of forerunner language, it was taken from precursors

[@DigitalApex]

Because 343i doesn't know how to do retcons or create a compelling faction they just pulled out of their asses, aside from the Banished, but I digress.

[@Dellloga]

Will some one PLEASE wake Mendicant Bias already! I've been waiting since 2004! Thats worse then dial-up...

[@rantradio]

Fact of the matter is, we won't find out until that dlc drops to continue the campaign. I just find it farfetched that the Forerunners, leaders of the galaxy, had NO idea about these Xalanyn/Endless Until after the firing of the array.

[@superspike1]

Possibly due to the destruction of neural constructs left by the precursors to protect them during the halo firing.

[@rantradio]

@@superspike1 I hear that, but Forerunners catalogues and indexed the entire galaxy, living organisms also, in at seems wild that during indexing they never came across the Xanalyns.

[@superspike1]

@@rantradio not the entire galaxy, in the last forerunner book it says that the life shaper had run out of time and many samples could not be acquired due to this and because of already succumbing to the flood, also a vast majority of samples and specimens were held on the greater ark. Which was destroyed by the flood.

[@rantradio]

@@superspike1 oh Shit!!! I'll retract my statement then... I actually forgot that the Librarian had said something similar. It's my fault for holding the Forerunners in such high regard. Cheers 👊🏿

[@SPITSPHIRE]

so this is easily explained by the fact that its not the forerunners as a whole choosing humanity. At the end of the forerunner flood war there were next to no forerunners left alive in the galaxy, and the bornsteller didact and librarian were essentially all that remained of thir government. it was the librarian who chose to promote humanity as the reclaimers, as a sort of atonement for the sins of the forerunner species, and the diadact who enforced this decision after the firing. with no opposing authority to counteract the order, humanity became the inheritors of the forerunner empire and by extension the mantle. in regards to the xalanyn my theory is thus: they are a species created around the same time as ancient humanity and the forerunners and have achieved a similar civilization tier level as them, and the forerunners upon discovering them, feared thir advanced nature would cause them to become the dominant species in a post array galaxy. In order to prevent them from essentially overpowering the primitive species and gaining dominance, thereby denying humanity the chance to attain advancement and the mantle, the forerunners decided to imprison them on zeta halo. the "lie" of the forerunners being that the xalanyn believe themselves to be the rightful "reclaimers" of the mantle. being that they are "those whose evolution is most complete.", in thir minds the mantle should rightfully be theirs seeing as they are the most advanced civilization in a post forerunner galaxy.

[@KillerChickn]

Just because the Forerunners as a species didn't at first want Humanity to take the mantle doesn't mean the Librarian later didn't realize this was the only way and Forerunners made a mistake destroying the Precursors, so she worked to set it right and make Humans Reclaimers. It wasn't the Forerunners that made us Reclaimers. It was a single Forerunner, The Librarian, going against the historical wishes of her people and realizing they were wrong, Humanity must ascend and take the mantle one day. So she saved us and gave us Geas to do it.

[@jalakor]

This stuff is cool, but truthfully, I have always thought Bungie’s original idea for the Forerunners was more that HUMANS were forerunners, and there’s lots of ways that would make sense, and it wouldn’t be nearly as complex a story to talk out… but I suspect I’m in the minority as far as people who subscribe to that vision. It is what it is :) Edit: I will say, I like the theory that the Precursors aren’t actually as benevolent as we might have been told before now. If we’re gonna stick with 343’s vision of the Forerunners, I think that’s the plot twist I’d be down for. In general I hope to see all this stuff cleared up, it’s sorta confusing in the games.

[@MastaChafa]

So the only forerunner that didn't want humanity to become reclaimers was alive and tried to kill humanity, then the guardians were hacked by Cortana and helped kill more humans, then in zeta Halo the sub monitor tries to kill chief... But Forerunners want to help humanity... Right... Forerunner entities have been so fucking indifferent to humanity along the games that there is no way I can believe they care about humans.

[@John.S92]

Technically, the Forerunners where not meant to have the rights to the mantle of responsibility, the precursor had intended to pass the mantle of responsibility to Ancient humanity. Sure now, ancient humanity was ended by the forerunners genocide of ancient humanity, but they then made a simpler genetic variant of ancient humanity, the one we know as "humanity" (the one they made after stripping the DNA of ancient humanity of millions of years of evolutional advancing), so in theory, humanity could be spiritual hairs to the ancient humanity, but likely not still contenders for the mantle of responsibility as set by the precursors.

[@__Bobafet117__]

I like the theory but I think the reason why they chose Humanity in the endless because their overall guilt the killing their Masters and then that bringing downfall for the entire galaxy just because of what they did so that's why they ended up just letting Humanity be what they were intended to be

[@thedreamchasers7252]

I find it odd that if humanity isn't the future, and the Harbinger bears the mark of reclaimer, why does she still refer to Chief as a reclaimer?

[@lelandmiller5965]

I think something big that's been missed here is, if I remember correctly, humans and forerunners were actually cooperatively living on the same planets before the Flood outbreak. Or at the very least they would have been trading, which would have been the perfect method for the Flood to begin infesting Forerunner worlds as well. It's very possible that before humanity suddenly and aggressively began burning planets to slow down the Flood, there was actually a certain level of peace and unity among the two. Thus, when they realized they were about to commit the greatest possible crime, they fell back on the only other species they ever trusted; us.

[@abhisheksamriwal5932]

You also have to take into consideration the vastness of both the empires humanity at that time control 20000 systems so if the disease spread they would have kept it a secret from the foreunners so they wouldn't appear weak Thin it like during cold war USSR try to appear strong but was crumbling from inside

[@raziel_0965]

you are forgetting that forerunners as a whole did not think the humans were next at all for the mantle the reclaimer stuff comes from the librarian and the iso didact

[@JRMshadow260a]

Or the Xalanyn found out about the mantel to tried to steel the mantel from ancient times...

[@KOOLEE88]

These are the most plentiful and long comments I've ever seen on a video, well done everybody

[@factsoverfeelings1776]

Who decreed that the Xalanyn are Reclaimers though? Not the Precursors!

[@grimmpickens5766]

The reclaimer symbol predates the discovery of the xalanyn, so it's more likely the xalanyn adopted it after the fact. They also were the only remaining sentient species, so they could have just claimed the title for themselves on virtue of being the only ones left. The truth being protected in this case would be that humanity will be the holders of the mantle, now challenged by an advanced species surviving the lighting of the rings.

[@superspike1]

100 years following the halo firing, there were still many forerunners in the galaxy that had survived on the lesser ark, hence you have the monitor saying she needs to bring this to the councils attention.

[@____________838]

@@superspike1 I thought the council was the council of Moniters?

[@mairaineplayzgames2205]

8:15 simply put, its 343 retconning alot of lore.