Editing Prologue

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|game=''Halo 4''
|name=Prologue
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{{Article Quote|Catherine Halsey is interrogated deep within a secret ONI facility.}}

'''Prologue''' is the first level of ''[[Halo 4]]''<nowiki>'</nowiki>s [[campaign]]. Rather than featuring gameplay it is a cutscene depicting [[Catherine Halsey|Dr. Catherine Halsey]] and her thoughts on the [[SPARTAN-II Program]].

==Transcript==

'''{''[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=23iCZ8uJzrU Cutscene]''}'''

''Open on a line of beds. They are made of plastic, with no sheets, and are enclosed by glass walls. Children inside them are sleeping. Pan to a boy sitting on one of the beds. His head is shaved and he wears a gray uniform that reads "[[John-117|John]]". He looks up at his viewer, his eyes fearful.''

[[File:Spartan candidate John-117.png|right|thumb|Halsey's memory of a young John.|200px]]

''Fade in to a closeup of Halsey's eyes. She seems tired and grave.''

*'''Interrogator''': "Tell me about the children."

''The interrogator, who is framed in shadow, sits at the other end of their table.''

*'''Interrogator''': "''Dr. Halsey''?"

''Halsey looks at her speaker defiantly.''

*'''Doctor Catherine Halsey''': "You already know everything."

*'''Interrogator''': "You kidnapped them." 

''Cut to John-117, now wearing a breath mask, lying down on the bed as machines prepare to operate on him.''

*'''Halsey (voiceover)''': "Children's minds are more easily accepting of indoctrination, their bodies more adaptable to augmentation. The result was the ultimate soldier."

''Cut to John, now fully armored and being inspected by technicians. He towers over all of them.''<!--The main Spartan featured throughout the cutscene has the number 117 written in Braille on his chest.-->

[[File:Spartan-II MJOLNIR Armor fitting.png|right|thumb|John fully armored.|200px]]

*'''Halsey''': "And because of our success, when the [[Covenant]] invaded, we were ready."

''Cut to a {{Class|CAS|assault carrier}} hovering over a human city. Dozens of aircraft fly out of its launch bay.''

''Cut back to the interrogation.''

*'''Interrogator''': "Dr. Halsey, you're bending history for your favor and you know it. You developed the Spartans to crush [[Insurrection|human rebellion]], not to fight the Covenant."

''Banshees strafe and bomb the city as [[civilian]]s runs for their lives.''

*'''Halsey (voiceover)''': "When one human world after another fell..."

''A [[Sangheili]] drives his [[Type-1 Energy Weapon/Sword|energy sword]] through a fleeing civilian.''

*'''Halsey (voiceover)''': "When my Spartans were all that stood between humanity and extinction..."

''From up in the sky, a dozen Spartans drop from Pelicans, using thruster packs to slow their descent.''

*'''Halsey (voiceover)''': "Nobody was ''concerned'' over why they were originally built."

''The Spartans land. A Elite snarls at them. The Spartans take cover and shoot down some of the Sangheili who return fire, flaring the shields on the Spartans' armor, while the lead Elite calmly steps forward and fires back. Cut to the Spartans advancing, still firing.''

[[File:Spartan-II defense - 2.png|right|thumb|The Spartans fighting the Covenant.|200px]]

*'''Interrogator (voiceover)''': "So you feel in the end that your choices were ''justified''."

''Cut to Halsey, who sits forward calmly, clasping her hands.''

*'''Halsey''': "My work ''saved'' the human race."

*'''Interrogator''': "Do you think the Spartans' lack of basic humanity helped?"

''Halsey looks at him worriedly as the interrogator, now standing, backs away from the table.''

*'''Halsey''': "What are you after? The others before you were [[Office of Naval Intelligence|Naval Intelligence]] but ''you'' - you're something else."

''Cut to John sitting alone in a hangar. His head is drooped and he is speaking to no one. Marines walk past him.''

[[File:Master Chief - Social outcast - wide shot.png|thumb|John sitting alone.|200px]]

*'''Interrogator (voiceover)''': "Records show Spartans routinely exhibited mildly sociopathic tendencies, difficulty with socialization. Furthermore..."

''Cut to a Spartan fighting a [[Jiralhanae Chieftain]]. He leaps agilely, dodging every blow. Dead Sangheili cover the ground.''

*'''Halsey (voiceover)''': "''The records show'' efficient behavior operating in hazardous situations. I supplied the tools to ''maintain'' that efficiency."

''Cut to John as Halsey hold up a [[data crystal chip]] projecting [[Cortana]]'s avatar.''

''Cut back to the interrogation.''

*'''Interrogator''': "Do you believe the Master Chief succeeded because he was, at his core, ''broken''?"

*'''Halsey''': "What does John have to do with this? You want to replace him."

*'''Interrogator''': "The Master Chief is dead."

*'''Halsey''': "His file reads 'missing in action'."

*'''Interrogator''': "''Catherine'', [[Office of Naval Intelligence Directive 930|Spartans never die]]."

''Cut to a John's foot stepping down on a puddle. He leads a crowd of military personnel and civilians. The fighting has stopped but dust clouds cover the city.''

*'''Halsey''': "Your mistake is seeing Spartans as military hardware. My Spartans are humanity's next step..."

''Halsey stands up from her chair in determination.'' 

*'''Halsey''': "Our destiny as a species. Do not underestimate them. But most of all, ''do not'' underestimate... ''him''."

''Cut to black.''

==Discrepancies==
{{Main|List of inconsistencies in the Halo series#Halo 4 2|l1=List of inconsistencies in the Halo series}}

Several elements in the cutscene are portrayed differently from how they occurred in now canonically obsolete material, especially the [[SPARTAN-II augmentation procedures]]. In the commercial ''[[Scanned]]'' and in the comic book ''[[Halo: Fall of Reach]]'', the Spartans are built like heavily muscled young adults, whereas in the flashback John looks like a preteen, if not younger. The physiques depicted in the previous media are likely more accurate, based on the description of John as having the body of an "eighteen-year-old Olympic athlete" just prior to the augmentations in ''[[Halo: The Fall of Reach]]''.<ref>'''Halo: The Fall of Reach''', ''page 59''</ref> Although it should be noted that game canon ''does'' supersede book and promotional content, so this cut scene ''is'' the preeminent official canon depiction of pre-aug John-117 in video game content.  The surgery and procedure also look different, as it is shown being done by machine rather than in an open surgical theater.

The Elites in the cutscene wear the same armor as those from the [[Covenant remnant|post-war Covenant]]. Similarly the Brute John is shown fighting also wears an unseen armor combination, with the body armor of a [[Jiralhanae Chieftain|Chieftain]] but the helmet of a [[Jiralhanae Captain|Captain]]. These latter examples involving the Covenant may represent a retcon of [[Sangheili combat harness|both]] [[Jiralhanae power armor|armors]], or it may indicate that multiple styles of armor were in use during the war.

Some of the events can be assumed as representative rather than exact. When and where the battle in the city occurred is unclear, but it is likely not meant to be a specific battle. Rather, it could be considered a summation of the entire war. Likewise, the scene in which Halsey presents Cortana to John did not occur as such, as evidenced by John's armor and him meeting Cortana by hologram; canonically, as seen in ''Halo: The Fall of Reach'', John met Cortana after she was inserted into his neural interface for the first time. The comic ''[[Halo: Fall of Reach]]'' is an exception to this, as Cortana and John do first meet via hologram, although John was in his new Mark V. This was likely to suit the more visual nature of a comic and a cutscene. Overall, the ambiguous aspects of ''Prologue'' may be due to Halsey's embellishment.

===The Spartans' armor===
The most prominent inconsistency that the Spartans are all shown wearing the heavily modified version of the [[MJOLNIR Powered Assault Armor/Mark VI|MJOLNIR Mark VI]] that Cortana devised for John-117. Dr. Halsey could not have known this variant existed, as it was created months or even years after her last meeting with the Master Chief. She has also shown distaste for alterations to "her" armor<ref>'''[[Halo: Reach]]''', campaign level ''[[ONI: Sword Base]]'' ('''Halsey''': ''"What have you done with my armor?"'')</ref> as she designed MJOLNIR to be modular specifically to avoid the use of in-the-field modifications.<ref>'''[[Dr. Halsey's personal journal]]''': ''"And they've made field modifications to my armor. I designed MJOLNIR to be modular specifically to avoid this."''</ref> However, ''[[Halo 4: The Essential Visual Guide]]'' retcons these suits as the [[MJOLNIR Powered Assault Armor/Mark IV|Mark IV]] variant upon which John's revised armor was based,<ref>[http://www.dk.co.uk/nf/Book/BookDisplay/0,,9781409334828,00.html '''DK Publising''' - ''Halo 4: The Essential Visual Guide'' '''Preview''']</ref> much like the original Mark VI was canonically based on John's Mark IV variant from ''[[The Package]]'' and ''[[Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn]]''.

The suits display elements not typical of the Mark IV, such as energy shields and built-in thrusters. The thrusters the cutscene's Spartans use to slow their descent would have been useful to [[Red Team]] during their freefall drop at the [[Fall of Reach]], and later to John during his drop from the [[Forerunner Dreadnought]], yet their respective MJOLNIR Mark V and Mark VI suits lacked them. Strangely, the thrusters are positioned at the base of the suits' microfusion reactors, rather than at the top of the back as usual. Though the suits' energy shields may seem anachronistic, Mark IV energy shielding prototypes had entered field testing by [[2531]].<ref>'''Halo: The Essential Visual Guide''', ''page 119'': ''"Energy shielding was a key feature of Mark V, although other Spartan squads had field-tested prototypes of this technology as early as 2531."''</ref>

==Trivia==
When the interrogator is talking about the initial purpose of the SPARTAN-II Program, "to your own favor" appear in the subtitles while "for" is actually said instead of "to".

==Sources==
<references/>

{{succession box | before = ''[[Halo 3 credits]]'' <br />| title = ''Halo 4'' Campaign Missions | years = '''''Prologue''''' |after = ''[[Dawn (level)|Dawn]]''}}
{{Level|H4}}

[[Category:Halo 4 Campaign]]