Real World

Human-Forerunner connection

From Halopedia, the Halo wiki

Halo 2 ending storyboard.
A storyboard for the cut Halo 2 level Earth Ark, in which the Arbiter discovers a human skeleton inside a Forerunner tomb - confirming the two species as one and the same.

"Subtext? Wasn’t it obvious? Humans are and will always be forerunner."
— Martin O'Donnell describing his view on humanity and the Forerunners.[1]

For much of the original Halo trilogy, the relationship of humanity and the Forerunners was indirectly hinted at numerous times, with an intent on the part of much of the original Bungie staff to have the two species be one and the same. However, this relationship changed around the release of Halo 3 in 2007 thanks to the Iris ARG and the game's Terminals, both of which were written largely independently of the rest of the game and explicitly defined the two as being independent offshoots of humanity that coexisted at the same time. This interpretation was then followed by 343 Industries after they took over the Halo franchise from Bungie, and continued throughout their works, initially defining the two as entirely different species in The Forerunner Saga before rolling back to an interpretation more akin to the terminals later on.

In modern Halo canon, humanity and the Forerunners are two distinct species descended from a common ancestor, both of whom were created by the Precursors millions of years ago.[2][3]

Background

Halo and Halo 2

Keith David's recorded lines for the cut final level of Halo 2.

In the production of Halo: Combat Evolved and Halo 2, the intent on the part of Bungie was for humanity and the Forerunners to be the same species. This facet underpinned much of the background for the Human-Covenant War; humanity was an affront to the Covenant religion because their status as living Forerunners implied that the Great Journey (the Forerunners' ascension to godhood) had failed. This intent manifested in multiple areas, including Master Chief being referred to as a "Reclaimer", humanity having a particular affinity for Forerunner technology, and so forth.[4] Ultimately, this element was only a background aspect of Combat Evolved, but was intended to play a larger part in Halo 2. Storyboards drawn by Lee Wilson for a cut level, "Earth Ark", showcase the Arbiter finding a Forerunner tomb inside a structure buried under New Mombasa on Earth. Inside the tomb is revealed to be a human skeleton, finally confirming for the Arbiter that the Covenant religion is a lie and concluding the arc that he had started at the beginning of the game when he was sent to wipe out a group of heretics who had claimed similar things.[5] Dialogue recorded by the Arbiter's voice actor Keith David also expresses some of the character's shock at the reveal:

“ This is a Forerunner? No.... That is impossible; it cannot be! ”

Halo 3

Going into Halo 3, the internal perception of this twist changed within Bungie. After the infamous crunch that defined Halo 2's development, numerous prominent members of staff reduced their involvement with the game or were replaced. This included Halo 2 lead writer Joseph Staten who largely departed from the game's production on a sabbatical - only coming back towards the end - and Jason Jones, who was largely MIA during development. In Jones' absence, and without a clear project lead, multiple internal visions emerged. Throughout this process, Bungie management were primarily focused on simply getting the game released over minor concerns about continuity and as such, these conflicting internal visions manifested in the differing presentation of the Forerunners as presented in Halo 3's main campaign and two pieces of ancillary media produced to support the game: the Iris ARG and the Terminals.

According to Frank O'Connor, the Halo 3's terminals were written by himself, Damian Isla, Robert McLees and Rob Stokes.[6][Note 1] At one point, the terminals were at risk of being cut from the final game because Bungie feared they would not be ready at launch.[7] However, Paul Russel and Damian Isla worked extra hours to get the animations, font, and code all correct and working.[10] Damian Isla worked on the terminal's in-game implementation from a coding perspective while Paul Russel worked on the art.[14][10] The terminals and Iris were among the first official sources depicting the history of the Forerunners themselves, through various documents recorded from before the firing of the array. These sources follow a narrative in which the Forerunners (specifically the Librarian) discover Earth during the Forerunner-Flood war; the Librarian shows intense fascination at the planet's biota, calling it an "anomalous world" that may provide answers to the Forerunners' "own mysteries".[15] More specifically, she is fixated on Earth's population of humans, who are shown as living in a paleolithic state. This version is also followed in the log by the Librarian featured in the 2010 reissue of Halo: The Flood, in which she documents her ongoing indexing of Earth's biota, including the various species of human.[16]

Within materials in and related to Halo 3, the narrative regarding the human-Forerunner connection suffered a disconnect from developer miscommunication. According to statements from David Candland, Paul Russel, and Jaime Griesemer: The "Game" team had continued the main idea that the Forerunners were humanity's ancient ancestors, following this intention through from being conceptualized during pre-production of Halo: Combat Evolved,[4][5] shown in the original tabled ending for Halo 2 (described here) and echoed in Mendicant Bias's statements regarding humanity in Halo: Contact Harvest.[17][13] Additionally, In the last level of Halo 3 the final line of cinematic dialogue from 343 Guilty Spark: "You are Forerunner!"[18] was intended to reveal this information, supposing to wrap up the mystery of the Forerunners identity.[4][19] This version suggests that the Forerunners regressed themselves technologically after the firing of the Halos, and in effect became humanity as we know it, with modern humanity being described as "children" of the Forerunners.[20][21][22]

The "Terminals" team had changed this to be somewhat different, reworking the idea to where the Forerunners were a subset of early sapiens, uplifted by the Precursors to a higher technological level-notably still the same species.[23][24][25] This idea is also plainly seen in Iris, with it as well having the Librarian discovering Earth and indexing the humans she finds, noting her personal allurement to both. However, while Iris specifically depicts this planet as Earth,[15][26] neither the terminals or Iris explicitly comment on the biological connection between Forerunners and humanity. Paul Russel has explained: "The game and terminal writers were separate teams with overlap; they didn’t think the discrepancy would matter; management vetting never read or cared about continuity; morning bagels were more important than canon."[13] and Halo 3 was approved to ship with both versions.[27]

In Halo: Contact Harvest, a Forerunner Luminary designates the humans on Harvest with the symbol meaning "Reclaimer", and Mendicant Bias explicitly states that "those it represents are my makers", an evidently unambiguous statement indicating that humans and Forerunners are synonymous. Joseph Staten began writing Halo: Contact Harvest while he was placed on temporary administrative leave to resolve differences between him and Marcus Lehto.[28] According to Paul Russel, the decisions for the terminals were made around this time.[29][30] While Joseph was working on the novel, ideation and drafts were being vetted by terminal writers Frank O'Connor and Robert McLees, as they were the keepers of the Halo Story Bible.[31] According to a Q&A on Bungie.net, Bungie "shoved Joe through the castle gates and slammed them closed behind him" to write the novel for a year, before resuming work on Halo 3.[31][32] Joseph had left the studio during early Halo 3 pre-production,[28] a period ending in December 2005,[33][34] and returned to work on Halo 3 in 2006.[35] According to Joseph, "[The novel] was supposed to come out before Halo 3, but honestly I was so busy helping finish the game that the novel's release date slipped by about a month. Fortunately, this gave me time to deliver a much more polished draft. We locked Halo 3 then I locked myself in a room for a month and made a number of really critical tweaks." He had also said "folks who spend the time to find and read the Halo 3 terminals will definitely have more insight into one of the major, climactic scenes in the book".[36] He would again thank Frank O'Connor and Robert McLees for their work as writing editors throughout the process in the final release of Contact Harvest.[37]

With this, Staten is known be involved with both Halo 3's "game" story and Contact Harvest, where the original Forerunner intention is presented in explicit statements in both respective media. It is not specifically confirmed, but made certainly clear that Joseph Staten was writing on these materials with the original intention. With Robert and Frank being both writers on the Halo 3 terminals and editors for the novel, and Joseph having knowledge of the terminals, it is unknown why the contradiction took place. The potential insight from the terminals that Staten had mentioned is likely meant to refer to the backstory of Mendicant Bias. His behavior and statements in Contact Harvest match to how he is in the final terminal, and his appearance is in the major reveal scene of the book.[38][39]

Another piece of Halo 3 ancillary media, the Bestiarum included in the game's Limited and Legendary collector's editions, introduced the concept of the Precursors in passing as a "Technological Tier 0" civilisation - one capable of feats even beyond the Forerunners. While this brief mention was the only discussion of the Precursors in Bungie-era Halo, the concept was later picked up and expanded upon by 343 Industries in their works.

Ensemble Studios and early 343 Industries

Concept art for Ensemble Studios' Halo MMO, depicting human-like Forerunners.

Notably, concept art for the cancelled Halo MMO Titan, developed by Ensemble Studios, depicted the Forerunners as ostensibly human, supposedly reflecting the creators' intent at the time of the game's development. This idea is followed up in their game Halo Wars, in which Professor Anders is able to interface with Forerunner technology with ease.[40]

The Origins short in Halo Legends, released in 2009 by 343 Industries, depicts the Forerunners as armored humanoids with a human-like build, including five-fingered hands; later media would establish them as having six fingers by default. However, the canonicity of Origins was presented as nebulous even at the time of the short's release, with the noted caveat that the visuals and events shown are Cortana's interpretations rather than being necessarily reflective of in-universe reality.[41]

343 Industries and The Forerunner Saga

When 343 Industries was developing The Forerunner Saga, the modern concepts for the human-Forerunner relationship were established, with there being considerable changes from the previous intentions. They are presented as being clearly distinct species in both the novels and subsequent visual media, which depict the Forerunners as humanoid but decidedly alien, contrasted with the explicitly human Ancestors. These novels are first-hand accounts of the timeframe covered by the terminals and though they are presented as testimonies by in-universe characters, they hold higher canon priority than the terminals. This has been explained by the terminals being partially unreliable in-universe documents; 343 Industries has stated that the unstable Mendicant Bias manipulated the transmissions to some extent when presenting them to John-117, filtering and editing the information in a way which best suited its own purposes.[42] Thus, the inconsistencies between the sources are attributed to unreliable presentation, not because the terminals' content has been retconned outright. It was also suggested that Mendicant's communication with John-117, and its reasons behind tampering with the terminals in the specific way it did, may yet play a part in future fiction.[42]

"The terminal dialogs may themselves be questionable, in light of this new testimony."
— A science team leader, regarding the terminals and the contradicting discoveries.[43]

Regardless, the Forerunner Saga novels feature most of the central events and characters from the terminals, though their timing and many other specifics are changed. The terminals have also been referenced in various pieces of subsequent fiction. In Halo Mythos, it is stated that when the front half of the UNSC Forward Unto Dawn arrived at Earth on December 23, 2552, the Office of Naval Intelligence acquired records of John-117's interactions with the terminals.[44] During ONI's interrogation of 343 Guilty Spark (which forms the meta-plot of Halo: Primordium) the UNSC Rubicon's science team references the terminals as a source for their prior information on the Forerunners; they note that the terminals' records are (on some points) incompatible with Guilty Spark's account.[43]

Some elements of the terminals were later adapted in Halo: Silentium; the in-universe conceit for the latter novel's story is the analysis of Juridical logs found on Trevelyan. Most notably, the Librarian's self-imposed exile on Erde-Tyrene and her refusal to leave as the Flood approach are carried over rather closely. As in the terminals, she sends the Didact a contemplative message in her final hours while she watches the construction of the portal structure in eastern Africa. Near the end of the novel, Offensive Bias is mentioned as heading off Mendicant Bias' fleet while the Didact prepares the Halos to fire;[45] this foreshadows the Battle of the Maginot Sphere, which was introduced in the terminals.

The novels greatly extended the timeline of Forerunner involvement with humanity. Rather than being a discovered during the Conservation Measure, Earth has been known to the Forerunners since ancient times by the time the novels are set, and has been used as an outpost by the Librarian for nine millennia prior to the firing of the Halos. Although the humans have been devolved to a primitive state by the Forerunners, they are depicted as a civilization with a long history of contact, rivalry, and war with the Forerunners. Despite these distinctions, the novels' point-of-view characters frequently note various similarities between them, and there are several instances in which in the early history of both is noted as being shrouded in mystery.[Note 2]

Contradictions of Halo 3's terminals

Parts of the terminals are contradicted by newer information from The Forerunner Saga and other subsequent media.

The Didact's involvement

One of the most notable incongruities occurs in Terminal 3, in which the Librarian asks the Didact if he has learned nothing from 300 years of warfare against with the Flood. According to Halo: Cryptum, the Didact went into exile around 98,445 BCE and was not recovered until roughly a decade before the end of the war in 97,445 BCE. Barring a retcon, the simplest explanation is that the Librarian was referring to the Warrior-Servants' ability to share sensory information, or that he could have researched the preceding centuries of war via the Domain.

In Soma the Painter, which acts as a form of primer for The Forerunner Saga (having been released less than two months before Halo: Cryptum in Halo: Evolutions Volume II), the Didact is referenced by the Auditor as if he were available and supposedly in command of Forerunner defense during the Forerunners' contact with the Flood around 97,745 BCE.[47]

The Didact and the Halos

The transmissions exchanged by the Didact (the IsoDidact in the context of The Forerunner Saga) and the Librarian preceding the Halos' firing also present a number of discrepancies with Halo: Silentium. In the terminals, the status quo of the Didact leading Forerunner defense from Installation 00 while the Librarian catalogs the galaxy's lifeforms is implied to have continued for the duration of the war. The Didact is adamant until the end in his refusal to use the Halos, before the Librarian strands herself on Earth. Even at this point the Didact attempts to send a rescue party to retrieve his wife, but the rescue party is destroyed by Mendicant Bias as it attacks the Maginot Sphere. This finally deprives the Didact of options but the activation of the Array.

In Halo: Silentium, the IsoDidact's acceptance of the Halo Array develops over a longer period of time; by the time he makes it to Installation 00 in the final hours of the war, he is fully convinced of the Array's necessity and shows much less hesitation to sacrifice the Librarian's life. While the Librarian travels to Earth to draw off the Flood, no rescue party is mentioned; however, at the Librarian's request, the IsoDidact sends a vessel which will be converted into materials to construct the portal to the Ark.[48] Much of the Didact's stubborn opposition to the Halos depicted in the terminals is relegated to the Ur-Didact and acts as a motivator for many of his actions.[49]

Mendicant Bias' betrayal

Another inconsistency involves the timeframe of Mendicant Bias' betrayal. In Terminal 3, the Didact refers to Mendicant Bias as an ally; the context of the message implies that the AI was created during the Forerunner-Flood war. However, Halo: Cryptum shows that Mendicant Bias had been created prior to the Didact's exile and had already gone rogue 43 years before the latter's revival. The novel depicts Mendicant Bias' assault on the Capital, which occurred only weeks after the Didact's resuscitation and before he regained command of the Forerunner military. Halo: Primordium shows that the "Mendicant Bias" that attacked the capital was only a fragment of the AI's personality construct array and that the Forerunners attempted to alleviate the shard's rampancy. Halo: Silentium states that the procedure was successful and the metarch's components were spread across the galaxy for the sake of compartmentalization. However, as the Flood overran most of the ecumene, Mendicant Bias' disparate parts were found and, within several years, the AI was reconstituted.[50]

In the terminals, Mendicant's defection immediately precedes the Flood's gathering into one massive force and subsequent attack on the Maginot Sphere; it is implied that the AI had not directly engaged Forerunners before the final battle against Offensive Bias. The novels describe Mendicant Bias as fighting on the Flood's side for several years, beginning with its attack on the Capital.

The Precursors and the Mantle

The prominent exploration of the Precursors in The Forerunner Saga (including the Flood's use of their artifacts as weapons or the Precursors' relationship with the Flood) is not discussed in the terminals, as the details about the Precursors were not conceived until the writing of the novels. The Precursors are mentioned only in passing, as the mythical beings the Forerunners believed them to be; even in the endgame of the war, the Didact insists that the Forerunners, once they succeed, can "follow in their footsteps". In The Forerunner Saga, the Didact already knew the truth about the Precursors and their transmutation into the Flood at this point and certainly would not have regarded them with such a reverential tone.

The terminals present the Forerunners' stagnation and their refusal to accept the Flood as the next step and salvation of galactic life as being Mendicant Bias' primary motive for defecting. In Halo: Primordium, Mendicant Bias states that it "fulfills the wishes of those who created us all", implying that the Primordial's Precursor-derived authority and the Domain's revelation of the truth about the Forerunner-Precursor relationship were a major contributor to the AI's turning against its creators.[51] The terminals describe the Forerunners as making their first contact with the Flood on G 617 g in the beginning of the three-century-long Forerunner-Flood war; the novels establish that the Forerunners were aware of the Flood ten thousand years in advance, having taken part in its sterilization in the later half of the human-Forerunner wars.[52]

In the terminals, the Mantle is depicted as little more than a Forerunner belief system, which the Librarian outright shuns as superstition and the cause of the Forerunners' weakness in the face of the Flood onslaught. In The Forerunner Saga, the Mantle is established to be something more multifaceted and universal, with different characters having varying views as to its nature and interpretation. The Librarian is portrayed as being against the stagnation and decadence of Forerunner society and the oppression they committed in the name of the Mantle, but maintains her belief in the ideal of the Mantle itself, even grooming humanity to reclaim it.

Modern status

Through sources like Halo: Point of Light and the 2022 Halo Encyclopedia, Forerunners and humans have been revealed to have been split off from a species created from a base stock by the Precursors fifteen million years ago.[53] While the origin or nature of the "base stock" is not elaborated on, this explanation is somewhat conceptually similar to the terminal writers' intent of the Forerunners being an offshoot of early terrestrial humans.[Note 3]

Notes

  1. ^ Bungie employee Paul Russel would go on to say three other employees, Paul Bertone, Jaime Griesemer and Jason Jones "contributed to the writing of the terminals."[7] However, this is not congruent with the rest of the known information about the terminals authorship. Jaime Griesemer would later go on to clarify his distance to the terminals, aligning himself towards the "game" team.[8] Jason Jones is also known to have been considerably absent from Halo 3's development.[9] These employees have not been mentioned by the likes of Frank O'Connor, who was one of the terminals major contributors, with his expansion being that the terminals were also based on "discussions with Joe Staten and other alum."[6] It is important to note that these statements by Russel are derived from his real-time reading of fan discourse about the creation of the terminals, specifically the notion that the terminals were solely produced by Frank O'Connor, and Russel's statements were made primarily to combat that narrative. Initially, Russel relayed his impression that only Robert and Lorraine McLees were the writers of the terminals, not including O'Connor at all.[10] Shortly later, Russel said that the terminals were mainly a "McLees family contribution," but they were written by "possibly also Frank."[11] It was after this point that Russel then named Frank O'Connor, Damian Isla, Robert McLees, Robert Stokes, Paul Bertone, Jaime Griesemer, and Jason Jones as writing contributors, this time not mentioning Lorraine McLees.[7] After this point of discussion, Russel made a post clarifying that he's remembering the details as they come, and he could contradict himself and adjust to new information.[12] An example of this would be seen in the same statement of his expanded list of writers, where he claimed the terminals were also authoritatively "all vetted by management," he later adjusted this to "management vetting never read or cared about continuity" after returning from discussing things privately with others.[13] Overall, these employees could be "other alum" whose discussions that ideas in the terminals were based on, as Frank O'Connor related to Joseph Staten, but not actually writers of the terminals, and it is apparent Russel had simply produced as many names as possible to combat the fan narrative that Frank O'Connor singularly produced them.
  2. ^ For example, how or when the Ancestors had reached the point of interstellar travel is not well known. Notably, within the narrative Forthencho distrusts the notion of Earth being their homeworld, thinking of ruins found on other worlds.[46]
  3. ^ Assuming modern interpretations of the fossil record apply, the dating of the split would mean the common ancestor of both species would predate anything recognized as "human" today. It is notable that modern interpretations of the timeline of human evolution are called into question even in Iris through the Society of the Ancients and related elements such as The Castaway Theory and the out-of-place handprint, though these reinterpretations are framed as a conspiracy theory.

Sources

  1. ^ X.com, Marty O'Donnell (@MartyTheElder) (Retrieved on Apr 13, 2025) [archive]
  2. ^ Halo Encyclopedia (2022 edition), page 16
  3. ^ X.com, Halo (@Halo): "Many millennia ago, humanity was a space-faring contemporary and rival of the Forerunners—both species having been engineered and branched from the same base stock by the enigmatic Precursors. ONI has classified these ancient humans as "Ancestors."" (Retrieved on Apr 27, 2025) [archive]
  4. ^ a b c halo.bungie.org, Re: Why retcons don't bother me anymore: "One of the most striking retcons to me is the basic concept of whole role of humanity. Originally (back in Halo 1) the reason why humans weren't conquered and incorporated into the Covenant collective was because their presence defied Covenant religion. When the Covenant discovered humans, they knew they were forerunners, but their presence implied the "great journey" failed. They also weren't the all powerful gods they worshiped, so the Prophets wanted to "sweep them under the carpet," as it were. The plot lines in our games imply this everywhere - the chief being called reclaimer, only humans being able to retrieve and insert the index, Spark telling the chief, "you are forerunner." etc." - David Candland (Retrieved on Dec 23, 2022) [archive]
  5. ^ a b Twitter, Jaime Griesemer (@32nds): "I’d say it was a big part of prepro for H1, was in the background of H1 when it shipped, was at one point going to be revealed in H2 but got tabled when we cut the ending, and then mostly abandoned in H3 because new writers thought it was too silly to hit as the BIG reveal." (Retrieved on Jan 29, 2023) [archive]
  6. ^ a b Twitter, Frank O'Connor (@franklez): "Terminals were written by me, Damian Isla and TWO Robs. They are based on notes and ideas from the creation of each prior Halo and some ideas from the Marathon era and discussions with Joe Staten and other alum. They are canonical. They are mildly opaqued thru time and narrator." (Retrieved on Nov 18, 2019) [archive]
  7. ^ a b c Twitter, Paul Russel (@docabominable): "Nooo! Bungie totally wanted the terminals! We didn't initially have time or resources to get them in. I was asked if I wanted to help and jumped in. Frank, Damian, Robt, Stokes, Bertone, Jaime, and even Jones contributed to the writing of the terminals. All vetted by management." (Retrieved on Dec 18, 2022) [archive]
  8. ^ Twitter, Jaime Griesemer (@32nds): "It’s not so much about too many cooks, but that the game was what we all really cared about." (Retrieved on Jan 30, 2023) [archive]
  9. ^ VICE, The Complete, Untold History of Halo: "Jason vaporized at the end of Halo 2. He went on his long sabbatical out of the blue, and it was left to us to figure out who was going to lead the Halo team. At that point Bungie as a group was really rudderless, if not quite leaderless, really." - Joseph Staten (Retrieved on Aug 22, 2022) [archive]
  10. ^ a b c Twitter, Paul Russel (@docabominable): "Yes! Folks, don’t forget the terminals. Which, to be fair, almost didn’t happen. They were an Easter egg from a few people, and I worked with Damian Isla to make sure they didn’t get cut. I believe Robt and Lorraine were writing them, Damian did code, I did the art & terminals." (Retrieved on Dec 18, 2022) [archive]
  11. ^ Twitter, Paul Russel (@docabominable): "No, as far as I know, the terminals were written by Robt McLees and possibly also Frank, though the terminals were mainly a McLees family contribution. Damian and I did code and art, respectively. https://archive.is/ED5en" (Retrieved on Dec 18, 2022) [archive]
  12. ^ Twitter, Paul Russel (@docabominable): "Hi! In the thread about terminals, I want everyone to know that I’m remembering more things as it goes, and adjusting to new information as it comes up. I may contradict myself slightly from time to time. The truth is a journey as much as a destination. Thanks for your patience! https://archive.is/dcooT" (Retrieved on Dec 18, 2022) [archive]
  13. ^ a b c Twitter, Paul Russel (@docabominable): "From what I have gathered by talking to people involved offline: The game and terminal writers were separate teams with overlap; they didn’t think the discrepancy would matter; management vetting never read or cared about continuity; morning bagels were more important than canon. https://archive.is/sW1TP" (Retrieved on Dec 18, 2022) [archive]
  14. ^ VICE, The Complete, Untold History of Halo: "I was always doing little tiny incremental things with development throughout, but where I really started working on things going directly into the game was Halo 3, when I worked with (engineer) Damian Isla on the terminals that explained the deeper lore. So I was doing more and more story as we got towards the end of it, and as we started Reach, I got the chance to actually write the script." - Frank O'Connor (Retrieved on Aug 22, 2022) [archive]
  15. ^ a b Halo 3 marketing, Iris campaign, Server 5
  16. ^ Halo: The Flood, Adjunct: Terminal L
  17. ^ Twitter, Paul Russel (@docabominable): "The way I understand it is that the terminal version is the same but adds the precursor angle of selecting a subset of humans to advance. https://archive.is/wip/57bY6" (Retrieved on Dec 14, 2022) [archive]
  18. ^ Halo 3, campaign level Halo: "You are the child of my makers. Inheritor of all they left behind. You are Forerunner! But this ring... is mine." - 343 Guilty Spark
  19. ^ Twitter, Jaime Griesemer (@32nds): "It’s a reveal that just points at another mystery. Very JJ Abrams. I didn’t love it but it was an attempt to wrap up that thread, yeah." (Retrieved on Jan 29, 2023) [archive]
  20. ^ Halo 3, campaign level The Covenant: "Your forefathers wisely set aside their compassion. Steeled themselves for what needed to be done. I see now why they left you behind. You were weak. And gods must be strong." - Prophet of Truth
  21. ^ Halo 3, campaign level Cortana: "Child of my enemy, why have you come? I offer no forgiveness. A father's sins pass to his son." - Gravemind
  22. ^ Halo 3, campaign level Halo: "Think of your forefathers!, Do not destroy your inheritance!, Accept your legacy!" - 343 Guilty Spark
  23. ^ Twitter, Paul Russel (@docabominable): "One of the writers said that the (terminal) forerunners were a '…subset of early humans uplifted by another group (the precursors?)'. Also 'I don’t believe that management gave a single shit about any story element...they only cared about shipping a game.' https://archive.is/fkTOC" (Retrieved on Dec 14, 2022) [archive]
  24. ^ Twitter, Paul Russel (@docabominable): "My friend who was on the terminal writing team said they’re not a separate species, but a group of early humans who were uplifted by a more advanced civilization. https://archive.is/DTNKb" (Retrieved on Dec 14, 2022) [archive]
  25. ^ Twitter, Paul Russel (@docabominable): "A couple people on the terminal team told me that the precursors picked a group of sapiens to become forerunner. If evolutionary timescales are involved, this could explain their different appearance in H4. It’s my personal best guess based on my understanding. https://archive.is/PcPA5" (Retrieved on Dec 15, 2022) [archive]
  26. ^ Halo 3 marketing, Iris campaign, Halo 3: The Cradle of Life
  27. ^ Twitter, Paul Russel (@docabominable): "I hoped that came across as MAYBE the discrepancy came up and didn’t seem important against everything happening to get a AAA game out the door. I’m trying to be careful to not put words in others mouths. One thing for sure, H3 shipped with both versions and both were approved. https://archive.is/OfsZG" (Retrieved on Dec 13, 2022) [archive]
  28. ^ a b VICE, The Complete, Untold History of Halo: "A big thing that happened is that Marcus and I had a giant argument. He said he was done working with me, and I with him. I think everybody agreed that the best thing was for me to take a big break from working on Halo. So I took an extended sabbatical. [...] I became sort of the de facto franchise guy for the Halo universe during the early stage of Halo 3’s pre-production." - Joseph Staten (Retrieved on Aug 22, 2022) [archive]
  29. ^ Twitter, Paul Russel (@docabominable): "I think that another way to look at it is that Joe was on “administrative leave” when he wrote the book, and wasn’t in the studio during much of H3. He honestly had no position at Bungie at the time and wasn’t privy to what was happening with the terminals while writing the book. https://archive.is/hmGTO" (Retrieved on Dec 18, 2022) [archive]
  30. ^ Twitter, Paul Russel (@docabominable): "See, Marcus had said “him or me” after H2, and Bungie chose Marcus. They put Joe out to pasture to chill, kept him on the payroll to write Contact Harvest, out of the loop. https://archive.is/JXK4w" (Retrieved on Dec 18, 2022) [archive]
  31. ^ a b Bungie.net, Halo: Contact Harvest (Retrieved on Feb 7, 2021) [archive]
  32. ^ Twitter, Paul Russel (@docabominable): "To be clear, this wasn't a punishment for Joe. To reduce tension and remind that 'writer' is a position, Rob Stokes led H3's writing team for a bit, then Joe came back at the end for polish and finish. By then differences were settled, heads cooled. https://archive.is/dLJwE" (Retrieved on Dec 18, 2022) [archive]
  33. ^ Twitter, Max Hoberman (@MaxHoberman): "Alright, here's trivia Round 3, coming in hot because I have to run. This image is from a Halo 3 multiplayer map, at the end of preproduction. Which map is it?" (Retrieved on Apr 13, 2023) [archive]
  34. ^ Twitter, Max Hoberman (@MaxHoberman): "December 2005" (Retrieved on Apr 15, 2023) [archive]
  35. ^ LinkedIn, Joseph Staten: "Writer, "Halo 3," "Halo: Reach" 2006 - 2009 · 3 yrs" (Retrieved on Apr 15, 2023) [archive]
  36. ^ 1UP, Halo: Contact Harvest Q&A (Retrieved on Oct 17, 2012) [archive]
  37. ^ Halo: Contact Harvest, Acknowledgements
  38. ^ Halo: Contact Harvest, chapter 16: "< I WILL REJECT MY BIAS AND MAKE AMENDS > [...] < MY MAKERS ARE MY MASTERS > [...] < I WILL BRING THEM SAFELY TO THE ARK >"
  39. ^ Halo 3, campaign level Halo: Legendary Terminal "But I want something far different from you, Reclaimer. Atonement. [...] But I will do all I can to keep it stable - keep you safe." - Mendicant Bias
  40. ^ Halo Wars, campaign level Beachhead
  41. ^ Halo Legends - Origins audio commentary
  42. ^ a b Halo Waypoint, 343 Sparkast 017 (Retrieved on Jul 13, 2014) [local archive] [external archive]
  43. ^ a b Halo: Primordium, page 340
  44. ^ Halo Mythos, page 161
  45. ^ Halo: Silentium, pages 327-328
  46. ^ Primordium, chapter 21: "I had severe doubts that Erda was our planet of origin. Other worlds in other systems seemed more likely. I had been to many of them and had viewed their ancient ruins."
  47. ^ Halo: Evolutions Volume II, page 10
  48. ^ Halo: Silentium, pages 309, 312, 314
  49. ^ Halo: Silentium, page 230
  50. ^ Halo: Silentium, page 267-268
  51. ^ Halo: Primordium, page 338
  52. ^ Halo: Silentium, page 36
  53. ^ Halo Waypoint, Wintertime Wrap (Retrieved on Nov 18, 2022) [archive]
Retrieved from "https://www.halopedia.org/index.php?title=User:BaconShelf/Sandbox8&oldid=1667873"