Epilogue (Halo 3)

This article is about the Halo 3 level in Halo: The Master Chief Collection. For other articles of the same name, see Epilogue.

Epilogue is the eleventh level of Halo 3's campaign in Halo: The Master Chief Collection. Instead of gameplay, the level contains the cutscenes that originally followed the final level Halo, which depicted Lord Hood's speech at the Voi Memorial as well as John-117's survival following Raid on Installation 08.

Transcript

{Finale}

Marines and the Arbiter pay their respects to Earth's fallen heroes.

On a hillside near the Portal at Voi, which has now been shut down, Marines gather. Fleet Admiral Lord Terrence Hood removes his hat, and begins his speech.

• Lord Terrence Hood: "For us, the storm has passed. The war is over. But let us never forget those who journeyed into the howling dark and did not return. For their decision required courage beyond measure..."

Flashback: The front half of the Forward Unto Dawn enters the Earth's atmosphere, and crashes into the Indian Ocean. Two Marines track its descent.

• Lord Hood (voiceover): "...sacrifice, and unshakable conviction that their fight, our fight, was elsewhere."

Flashback continued: An engineering crew cuts into the Forward Unto Dawn with torches while a rescue Pelican hovers overhead. The Arbiter emerges from the wreckage.

Flashback ends: The Arbiter is revealed to be present at the memorial, standing solemnly with the Marines. The Shadow of Intent can be seen hovering above in the distance.

• Lord Hood: "As we start to rebuild, this hillside will remain barren. A memorial to heroes fallen. They ennobled all of us, and they shall not be forgotten."

Lord Hood puts his hat back on and salutes. Sergeant Stacker turns to the other Marines present.

• Gunnery Sergeant Reynolds: "Present arms!"

Seven Marines raise their Battle Rifles and each fire a single burst of three shots: a 3-volley salute. The view pans over the Portal, now closed and silent, and Mount Kilimanjaro against the evening sky.

Later, the Arbiter approaches Lord Hood, standing alone in front of the Memorial, which appears to be a Pelican wing, decorated with pictures of the fallen, including Commander Miranda Keyes and Sergeant Major Avery Johnson, along with flowers, medals, ribbons, and other tokens of respect.

Lord Hood and the Arbiter shake hands.

Under the UNSC emblem is an inscription commemorating the dead:

IN MEMORY OF THOSE FALLEN

IN THE DEFENSE OF EARTH

AND HER COLONIES

MARCH 3, 2553

Lord Hood and the Arbiter stare at the Memorial.

• Lord Hood: "I remember how this war started. What your kind did to mine. I can't forgive you. But..."

Hood turns to the Arbiter and holds out his hand.

• Lord Hood: "You have my thanks. For standing by him to the end."

The Arbiter slowly shakes Admiral Hood's hand. After letting go, Hood's eyes are drawn to one part of the memorial in particular.

• Lord Hood: "Hard to believe he's dead."

The Arbiter looks away, toward the Shadow of Intent, hovering silently in the sky.

• Thel 'Vadam: (quietly) "Were it so easy."

Thel 'Vadam and Rtas 'Vadum prepare to return home.

The Arbiter leaves the Memorial. His Phantom heads back to the Shadow of Intent, hovering in about the same position as the Portal to the Ark once was. The Arbiter meets Shipmaster Rtas 'Vadum on the bridge. 'Vadum is looking at a holographic image of Earth.

• Rtas 'Vadum: "Things look different. Without the Prophets' lies clouding my vision. I would like to see our own world - to know that it is safe."

The Arbiter reassuringly places a hand on 'Vadum's shoulder.

• Thel 'Vadam: "Fear not. For we have made it so."

The Arbiter clenches his fist to his chest.

• Rtas 'Vadum: "By your word, Arbiter." (clenches his fist to his chest likewise to Thel 'Vadam.)

The Arbiter takes a seat on the command chair, the one normally used by Rtas 'Vadum.

• Thel 'Vadam: "Take us home."

The Shadow of Intent leaves Earth.

Going back to the Voi Memorial, the view shows that next to the print "March 3, 2553", the number "117" is carved into the metal of the wing, and a rank insignia is taped to the upper right of it as a tribute to the Master Chief.

Fade to black.

{Epilogue}

• Cortana: "Chief? Can you hear me?"

The Master Chief, very much alive, awakens, floating in zero gravity in a debris-filled hallway on board the UNSC Forward Unto Dawn.

• Cortana: (relieved) "I thought I'd lost you, too."

The Master Chief looks at a gaping hole in the hallway. He drifts to his floating assault rifle and holsters it, then begins to drift to the end of the hallway.

The aft section of the Forward Unto Dawn lost in space.

• John-117: "What happened?"

• Cortana: "I'm not sure. When Halo fired, it shook itself to pieces. Did a number on the Ark. The Portal couldn't sustain itself. We made it through just as it collapsed."

The Chief reaches the end of the hallway, which opens up into empty space. The Forward Unto Dawn is revealed to be sheared in half, floating in a cloud of its own debris, still red-hot from the sudden slipspace slowdown.

• Cortana: "Well... some of us made it."

The Forward Unto Dawn's remaining half continues to drift aimlessly in unknown space.

The Chief begins to drift further inside the ship, finding a row of cryotubes complete with a holotank to plug Cortana into.

• Cortana: "But you did it. Truth and the Covenant, the Flood..."

The Chief plugs Cortana's data chip into the holotank and she appears.

• Cortana: "It's finished."

The Master Chief turns off the flashlight on his helmet.

• John-117: "It's finished."

The Chief places his assault rifle in one of the rackets on the wall.

• Cortana: "I'll drop a beacon, but it'll be a while before anyone finds us."

The Chief climbs into one of the cryotubes.

• Cortana: "Years, even."

The cryotube door begins to close.

• Cortana: "I'll miss you."

The Forward Unto Dawn drifting towards a mysterious planet.

• John-117: "Wake me. When you need me."

Cortana smiles, nodding. The cryotube closes and seals, freezing the Master Chief and bringing the Halo Trilogy to its conclusion.

Fade to black

{Legendary-only Scene}

The back half of the Forward Unto Dawn is seen drifting towards a planet. A star is eclipsed by the Forward Unto Dawn for a second as it slowly comes out from behind the planet, casting light upon it momentarily before blinding the view completely.

Game ends