Cortana
From Halopedia, the Halo wiki
| Cortana | |
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| File:Cortana Halo 3.jpg | |
| Biographical information | |
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Began service: |
Before 2550 |
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Gender: |
Female programming |
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Description: |
Tall and slender with short-cut hair in Halo 1, and long hair in Halo 2 and 3 |
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Color(s): |
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| Political and military information | |
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Affiliation: |
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Functionality: |
Infiltration of Covenant Technologies |
Cortana, UNSC AI serial number CTN 0452-9, is an Artificial intelligence construct. She is a smart A.I. capable of performing processes at blinding speed as well as having a personality akin to a human. She is one of the most important characters in the Halo trilogy. She served as John-117's partner in missions as well as taking the post of AI for the Pillar of Autumn, and Cairo Station.
Demeanor and Appearance
Cortana has a witty personality and a good sense of humor laced with gentle sarcasm. She has neither arrogance nor false modesty about her immense capabilities, and her statements about her abilities have an objective perspective that human beings typically cannot achieve. She has genuine, not merely programmed, loyalty to humanity and the UNSC, but exhibits devotion to John-117 beyond that which her programming or mission requires.
Her personal loyalty is regarded as unwavering, but as an AI construct she is subject to corruption. Lord Hood questioned her reliability when it became clear that she had been compromised in some way by the Gravemind's possession of High Charity, on which she was trapped. John-117, however, never questioned her integrity. Cortana did consent to answer the Gravemind's questions as a strategy for both personal survival and the possibility of gaining information for the UNSC. When she reunites with John-117 in Halo 3, she admits to answering his questions and regrets it. and proves her loyalty by helping the Master Chief to contain the Flood. She has an unwavering loyalty to the Chief and is willing to do whatever she can to help him.
Cortana has no physical body, but she can communicate through comm systems and project a holographic image of herself from appropriate projectors, such as Holotanks. Her chosen avatar is a female human with purplish skin, short hair, and blue to green symbols scrolling down her body. In Halo: Fall of Reach, Cortana is said to resemble her creator, Dr. Catherine Halsey, with a similar attitude "only unchecked by military and social protocol."
In the games, because of upgrades in video chip technology, her appearance changes noticeably from Halo: Combat Evolved to Halo 2; she has longer hair, a more realistic figure, making her more human, a more feminine figure, and a slightly different shade of purple.
Creation
Cortana was created using a flash cloned brain of Dr. Catherine Halsey, the SPARTAN project creator. She is, so far as is known, the only AI to be created from Dr. Halsey's brain. Cortana seems to share her creator's memories and values. During the opening sequence of Halo 3, Cortana tells John that he is different, in that he has 'luck' on his side:
They let me pick. Did I ever tell you that? Choose whichever Spartan I wanted. You know me. I did my research, watched as you became the soldier we needed you to be. Like the others you were strong and swift and brave. A natural leader. But you had something they didn’t. Something no one saw but me. Can you guess? Luck. Was I wrong? In Fall of Reach, one of the things that Dr. Halsey noted in John as a child was his luck. When Cortana chose John to be her Spartan, Dr. Halsey told her he was the luckiest of them all, indicating their mutual feelings on the value of this trait.
Cortana is known to repeat things said by Dr. Halsey before her creation. In the Halo 3 level Crow's Nest, she appeared several times and repeated the patriotic words that Dr. Halsey had told the SPARTAN-IIs when they were brought to Reach as children. Onboard Flood-infested High Charity, she repeats words that Dr. Halsey said to John when they first met: "May I speak with you, please? What's your name? It's very nice to meet you. So you like games? So do I."
Cortana is also very aware of her short lifespan and her derivative nature as a copy of part of another person, rather than a true human being. Desperate and tortured aboard High Charity she murmus: "A collection of lies; that's all I am! Stolen thoughts and memories!" Later on she says: "I'm just my mother's shadow..." and "It was the coin's fault," refering to the game of chance that Dr. Halsey played with the young John.
As the years past the xbox's graphics were realised to be more powerful than first thought therefore a great change is easily seen in Halo 2's graphics. Cortana was difficult to design and turned out looking quite blurry in 2002's Halo: CE but in 2004 for Halo 2 they decided to leave the bossy masculine version of Cortana in Halo: CE and make her very attractive and sexy but still the same voice and gentle sarcasm. Just about everyone perferd these new looks and were accepted halo 3 too. They improved again by making her more lilac and curved.
Images
Cortana in The Pillar of Autumn.
- Cortanachief.jpg
From the Halo Graphic Novel Gallery.
Cortana infiltrating High Charity
Trivia
- In Halo 3 the map High Ground inside the first one of the bunkers contains a screen that observes a corridor but occasionally changes into Cortana's face for a short time.
- She was rated as one of the ten most disturbingly sexual game characters by Games.net and one of the fifty greatest female video game characters ever by Tom's Games.
- Some wonder if Cortana is actually in love with John-117 based on the way her and the chief interact throughout the Halo universe.
Sources
- ^ Halo: The Flood page 255
