Hunt the Truth

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The Return of Benjamin Giraud

Give Key a wig and the casting makes perfect sense.

I'm sure by now we've all experienced the Hunt the Truth not-quite-ARG for Halo 5. The general concept alone is intriguing but for 343i to bring back such an obscure character is nothing short of amazing - a great example of the plot archaeology I've come to expect from them. It's also thrilling to hear Keegan-Michael Key in a serious role. I'm so used to him being funny it's kind of a shock, sort of like Keaton!Batman supposedly was in the late '80s; I'm totally on board with the choice, though. And what's this about anomalies in deep space? I think we all know where Halo 5 is headed. --Our vengeance is at hand. (Talk to me.) 12:20, 23 March 2015 (EDT)

And I thought they had done something spectacular when they brought Petra to Escalation... Good. I like 343's choices. Imrane-117 (talk) 14:21, 23 March 2015 (EDT)

Looking at the site my train of thought went something like follows: "Huh, so there's yet another war journalist who saw the Chief in New Mombasa... Wait a second, 'Giraud'? That sounds familiar... oh, right." That is some genius reuse of an existing character right there, and the casting is indeed spot on as well. --Jugus (Talk | Contribs) 14:45, 23 March 2015 (EDT)

It's going to be curious to see what this "untold backstory of the Master Chief" will be. Will it be the same old child soldier story we've heard since The Fall of Reach? Or are they going to retcon in something new and strange? Or is what we'll hear even necessarily truthful? Who knows so far.

With Giraud now back, perhaps 343 will let us know soon what happened to Maria-062. Hopefully it won't be through "death by Catalog"... Tuckerscreator^(stalk) 14:30, 23 March 2015 (EDT)

I think it's a given that we can't take everything we hear at face value as this whole campaign seems to be about keeping people guessing. So even if they introduce some all-new backstory through Giraud's podcast it should take more than that to overwrite what we've known for 10+ years.

It's apparent 343i have become a lot more careful with Catalog, at least when it comes to revealing character statuses. It's unlikely they'll off anyone in a forum post anymore, though Team Black-style killings are still possible. I, for one, fear for the safety of Blue Team in Guardians. Though it's obvious they won't get as unceremonious deaths as Black did, it is possible that they're there merely as loose ends to be tied up. --Jugus (Talk | Contribs) 14:45, 23 March 2015 (EDT)

The choice of this particular person to break this story is hardly coincidental. Giraud's backstory gives a very clear example of ONI's policy of never telling the whole truth. He will uncover what they want him to uncover and reveal to the public. He and his readers will think it's some shocking revelation as ONI spoon-feeds him these "threads" that are unraveling the "mystery" surrounding the Chief; a mystery that they themselves created and maintained. We, the players will of course know more than Giraud or his readers, but I am certain that things will be left vague enough to sow doubt and uncertainty as to the actual truth, because the fact is that ONI themselves don't know the whole truth, now that the Chief has gone off the reservation. "Contain, Control and Investigate" is a time-honored tactic in the intelligence community: When faced with an unknown, you first contain the situation to prevent outside access and interference, then you control the flow of information related to the situation in order to conduct counterespionage and (if necessary) sway public opinion, all while investigating the situation in order to make as accurate an assessment as possible. If this ad campaign is well-enough conceived and constructed, then the newer players will be questioning the Chief's motives while the more hard-core fans will be left wondering if the inconsistencies they're seeing are actually that or if they're supposed to be deliberate obfuscation on ONI's part. To that end, I believe any new info will be intended to draw these old-school fanboys (myself included) in. DJenser (talk) 09:59, 27 March 2015 (EDT)

Indeed. Giraud's "search for the truth" may come across as sincere but given his past activities we can't be fully sure about the veracity of anything he says. As an aside, I really liked that they used this opportunity to reintroduce Sully as well (in a way that didn't amount to "KIA by falling rocks"). --Jugus (Talk | Contribs) 12:38, 29 March 2015 (EDT)

I'm sure if we ask nicely we can still get Grey Team killed off in a Catalog post. ;) Sith-venator Wavingstrider

(Commlink) 12:43, 29 March 2015 (EDT)

Second Sunrise Over New Mombasa

With the Hunt the Truth campaign I was reminded of how much I like this story. Aside from being the first and still one of the few forays into civilian life in the Halo universe, the writing works very well for such a short piece and it's full of fun little details. The art is very outlandish but Moebius' signature style has a clear sense of identity and the visual storytelling is very well executed. And unlike in a more conventionally illustrated comic there's no ambiguity that the visuals are not meant to be a 100% accurate representation. In any case I don't think this story would've worked as well or been as memorable without Moebius.

If they're going to show Key as a live-action Giraud (which is perfectly possible) I'm wondering if they'll be keeping his blue hair, sleek one-piece shades (he'd had time to get new ones) and forehead patches. I've always wondered what those things on his forehead are supposed to be. They could be a futuristic fashion thing, something like tattoos, or (as I like to think) cybernetics or wearable computing devices that have to do with his job — perhaps memory or sensory augments. Halo could use some exploration of how the private sector has applied cybernetics, though from what we've seen they don't appear to be very widespread. --Jugus (Talk | Contribs) 03:47, 25 March 2015 (EDT)

Like a 26th Century Google Glass? Interesting... DJenser (talk) 09:59, 27 March 2015 (EDT)

New Hunt the Truth Trailers

Guys, you need to check these out right now.

Alright, if you've watched them now, here's what I think.

OH MY GOD!!! So much information, but nothing concrete, just enough to set you're taste buds on fire, right? Me personally? Well, from what I can tell, based on the videos, whatever it is that Chief does, causes some sort of cataclysm. What that cataclysm is, I don't know. Chief seems to be upset with Locke, while Locke is just downright furious, and possibly resentful. What do you guys think? Siphon 117 23:00, 29 March 2015 (EDT)

This.

The videos seem to be almost exact mirrors of each other, much like the picture I attached. It's impossible to see which side is "true". I don't think this was meant to give us information, but more a general feel. To "set our taste buds on fire" as you put it. It seems like both MC and Locke are going to fight each other, and then realize that ONI is really the big bad (maybe with Palmer aiding them in her fight against ONI, due to her character development that resulted from her encounter with Halsey).

I was a little disappointed with the music. It was mostly atmospheric, so we didn't get anything like the ODST trailer, which I still love. Granted, it was amazing atmospherics, but still... --Weeping Angel (talk) 23:24, 29 March 2015 (EDT)

This is a pretty intriguing ad campaign, and it's showing a side of Chief we haven't seen as much; his ruthless side. It's sounding almost the opposite of the Believe campaign. Tuckerscreator^(stalk) 03:45, 30 March 2015 (EDT)

I'm sure this has been mentioned by someone else somewhere, but in the Chief trailer, when he asks if everything "you've" done was worth it he's not looking at Locke. He's looking at the statue of himself and only turns to Locke after saying "Was it?" I'm thinking this is not accidental. --Jugus (Talk | Contribs) 09:09, 30 March 2015 (EDT)

The official summary from [news.xbox.com] states that "Peace is shattered when numerous colony worlds are unexpectedly attacked". Based on this marketing campaign, we are obviously meant to infer that the Chief may be the one doing the attacking. However, the same marketing materials strongly hint at misinformation being disseminated by ONI, based on a long history of their doing just that. This is clearly meant to create polarity between the various camps of HALO conspiracy theorists who take up positions on either side of that fence. Also, did you happen to notice that the destruction being shown in the background was more extensive in the Chief's clip? Proof positive that, when it comes to wholesale devastation, you just can't beat the Chief... DJenser (talk) 18:37, 6 April 2015 (EDT)

He definitely seems to be acknowledging himself. I still wonder if that scenario will have any relevance to the campaign(Either one). For some reason it seems like Locke's trailer had more emotion in it, as if its the one trying to prove a point. Like the OP said, Locke seems "downright furious".Kal825B (talk) 19:08, 30 March 2015 (EDT)

Especially if he's swallowing what ONI's spoon-feeding him... There are 3 sides to every story: Yours, mine and the truth... DJenser (talk) 18:37, 6 April 2015 (EDT)

Yeah, leaves a lot open to speculation. Obviously, being ads, they might not even have any importance to the story, only acting in a symbolic nature. So far as we know, Chief has likely gone rogue for unknown reasons, and Locke has been sent to bring him back. However, these ads seem to be pointing to the Chief be the catalyst of something, with Locke trying to either stop Chief, or preserve what the UNSC and the rest of humanity see the Chief as. All very interesting.Siphon 117 19:56, 30 March 2015 (EDT)

Okay, I know these are ads, so we shouldn't read too much into their specificity, but I just noticed that John had 3 grenades. Check out the MC ad at around 14 seconds in Does this mean we will be able to carry more than two of each type of grenade, at least in campaign? I always appreciated having a lot of grenades in Halos 1-3. I hope 343i brings that back. What do you guys think? --Weeping Angel (talk) 22:45, 5 April 2015 (EDT)

Episode One

So this was certainly an intriguing entry, and we've got some insight into the direction of the ARG.

My questions:

Is Ellie not a fake, since Giraud found her on his own? If so, why didn't she say anything about John's "death"?
Could Thomas Wu also be an ONI plant, meant to exaggerate the Innies' methods and spread anti-propaganda about them torturing civilians?
Giraud and others appear to not be aware of the Spartans' true backstory, or even of their existence prior to the Battle of Earth. But why is that, since Spartans were made public in 2547? Is the lack of knowledge about their abduction meant to be a retcon, suggesting that Parangosky and Osman didn't actually reveal the S-IIs origins but gave the populace a false backstory? Maybe the true backstory was only revealed amongst the military? (as some of Majestic knew who Halsey was.)

My speculation

Fellow Spartans will be interviewed. Or at least, folks who claim they're fellow Spartans.
Giraud's search for how John "died" might lead him to Lt. Parisa, who has an account of that.
The Believe marketing campaign will be canonized as a false account of how humanity won the war and how the Chief died.
Around this time, Giraud's London contact found and interviewed a Grunt who claimed to have fought and survived against the Chief because he was "smarter, faster, stronger than the Master Chief..."

Also, Subtank, I guess you win that debate from six years ago about whether Kelly was that girl in the Starry Night trailer. :D Tuckerscreator^(stalk) 00:48, 30 March 2015 (EDT)

RE Spartan-II publicity: New Blood indicates that there had been rumors for a while that the S-IIs were kidnapped as kids (and in The Flood Antonio Silva is clearly aware of their origins, which I always found odd). According to New Blood, the info isn't public knowledge by 2555, though Musa does confirm it to Buck in private. The rumors are probably where Madsen's info came from (or maybe Musa felt like confiding classified information again), but the lack of a public statement would explain why DeMarco or Thorne didn't know about it. Then again, it could be that they released the info for those willing to look, but presented it as though Halsey had done it all on her own without ONI/UNSC oversight. Still, it's odd that Giraud indicates the Master Chief popped out of nowhere when the S-IIs had gone public years earlier, though it's probably just dramatization for news story reasons. --Jugus (Talk | Contribs) 02:11, 30 March 2015 (EDT)

My interpretation was that the Master Chief was just one of many before the Fall of Reach, not given any special PR over the rest of the Spartans, until there were practically no more Spartans left, and he had to become the focus. As for whether the public know about the S-IIs true origins, Mal and Vaz in Glasslands didn't know about it by 2553, and as far as I know the UEG was still holding hearings about S-II and III. Nothing to say ONI didn't lie to them, or even that the UEG would declassify the whole story to the public.

I do like the theory that the teacher was genuinely not an ONI plant, and that it signifies that John's flash clone survived. Mass Effect did the Evil CLone story well, and this is better - it gives the clone a backstory and motivation, and may signify that someone is trying to replace the Master Chief in a similar manner - either the Insurrection, to sway people to their cause with the Chief's mythos, or ONI itself, in need of a more loyal saviour or perhaps to perform false-flag attacks to keep them relevant in a post-war galaxy as the UNSC tries to transfer power back to the UEG. We're probably blowing ONI's cover story way out of proportion, but I like the idea. -- Qura 'Morhek ^{The Autocrat} ^{of Morheka} 05:30, 30 March 2015 (EDT)

I recall Parangosky was planning to make the S-IIs and their files public as of the Kilo-Five books, though it's possible it was just for some government committee who then promptly decided to keep the whole thing under wraps (which would be the sensible thing to do, unless Maggie wanted to bring ONI and the UNSC crashing down with her).

Honestly, I would hate it if this turned out to be an "evil clone" story. Too clichéd and contrived. I doubt this'll turn out to be the case, though. I suspect the Chief was framed by ONI for the destruction Locke blames him for, or he actually did do it for some greater reason (the most obvious candidate being a Flood infestation). --Jugus (Talk | Contribs) 07:47, 30 March 2015 (EDT)

I highly doubt John's clone would have lived that long, let alone be strong enough to knock out boxers twice his size with two punches. Daisy's clone living for another decade was pretty miraculous and even she needed a wheelchair. John's clone living to his forties seems highly improbable. Tuckerscreator^(stalk) 11:52, 30 March 2015 (EDT)

That, and I don't think it's a coincidence that ONI's cover story on John's life involves him beating up kids bigger than him in a boxing ring. His stated age isn't an exact match with the Atlas gym incident but it's close enough to have conceivably served as the inspiration for ONI's prettied-up version of the events. --Jugus (Talk | Contribs) 11:59, 30 March 2015 (EDT)

To top it off, Giraud finds local government docs at the end which basically say that "John" (his clone) died at age six. What username? (talk) 13:17, 30 March 2015 (EDT)

There's something weird about that document... Every one of those names on that list appear to be in First Name/Last Name order except for John's... Some of them are admittedly quite obscure, but Meng & Zhen are both Chinese given (first) names, Tatsuyuki is Japanese, Hedegaard & Dagmar are Swedish, Milena, Vanja & Ondrej are Eastern European (possibly Czech), My is Vietnamese, Raimo is Finnish, Costa is Greek and Callum is Gaelic. Throw in Christine, Gastone, Conrad & Russel and you can clearly see that John's name is glaringly out of order on that document. Hardly coincidental... DJenser (talk) 15:28, 6 April 2015 (EDT)

Actually, you're not completely correct; both Meng and Zhen can be surnames in Chinese (speaking as a person of Han Chinese descent myself), and a lot of the names you've listed are can be surnames as well; notable real life examples including Connie Hedegaard, Albert Costa (in fact, Costa is most commonly a Romantic language surname), [Ian Callum, and Kent Conrad. Additionally, a number of other names in the same column as John can be given names as well; Gara (in Azerbaijani, anyways), Lori, Evan, Betty (Anglosphere), Marek (Czech, Slovak, Polish), Marcelo (Iberian), and Eyob (Eritrean/Ethiopian).

That being said, the real oddity is the timestamp; it goes from 08:14 all the way to John at 09:01, and then starts over again at 08:03, despite the fact that each row is marked as being taken on December 7, 2517. What username? (talk) 02:33, 7 April 2015 (EDT)

All very valid points. Many of those names could be both surnames as well as given names, it's true. But let us consider the name as a whole... For example:

Hedegaard is still used today as a Danish surname, but it has also been used elsewhere on the Scandinavian Peninsula as a given name, though its use has declined considerably in the last century or so. My great grandfather & his twin sister were Swedish & were rather unglamorously named Hubert & Hedegard which, in retrospect, is probably why she preferred being called "Hedy". Fortunately, that naming practice was left behind in the Old Country... Rolla, on the other hand, is an Italian surname.
Costa is indeed a Romantic surname, but it is also a Greek derivative of Constantine or Konstantinos and, while Betty is widely considered a given name, it is in fact a shortened form of Elizabeth and is almost never used as a birth name in and of itself.
Marcelo is a Spanish or Portuguese male given name, but it must also be noted that Venera is an Italian female given name, derived from the goddess Venus.
Likewise, while Lori is a very popular female given name in the United States (derived from Laura or its corrupted form Laurie), it is less commonly used as a surname in the US than in other countries such as Italy or France. Bearing that in mind, Gastone is an Italian male given name for which Lori could easily be used as a surname.
Eyob has been used as both a surname as well as a given name throughout the Ethiopian/Eritrean region, however Kisanet is listed as a female given name in that region and does not appear anywhere as a surname.
Callum and Conrad are indeed interchangeable, however, Alder and Brillantes are almost exclusively surnames (with the notable exception of Filipino director Brillante Mendoza), and so can reasonably be expected to be listed as such in this case.
Gara is an Azerbaijani given name, but throughout most of the rest of the world, from Hungary to Poland, Ireland, Canada and even Alaska, it's a surname. Kiss could be used as a given name in this case, in much the way that Thin was used in the "I Love Bees" ARG.

In summary, you are correct that many of the names on that list could be taken as either surnames of given names, however, I believe a suitably convincing case could be made for their being listed in FIRST/LAST order with the exception of John's (which I believe was intended by 343 to look as if it were hastily inserted after the fact, in order to draw attention to the discrepancy. As for the timestamp, you're right... That also sticks out like a sore thumb. DJenser (talk) 12:58, 8 April 2015 (EDT)

RE Ellie: My impression was that she moved to another city/neighborhood and lost contact with him sometime before the kidnapping (she mentions that she wasn't allowed to use Waypoint as a kid), and just had a really good memory. What username? (talk) 13:46, 30 March 2015 (EDT)

This series has such stellar casting, both out-of-universe and (in the likely case that "Govender" is a plant) in-universe. It stands head and shoulders above the often stilted ham and cheese in i love bees and Sadie's Story. I can't wait for Parisa to show up - She will, right? - though I hope "Palace Hotel" isn't treated as the true version of "Metropolis".

The May 2547 version of the CAA Factbook presents a lie of omission: It portrays the Spartans as veteran Special Forces operators, making no indication of their true origins. As far as the contemporary public was concerned (those who cared enough to do a little research, that is) the Spartans of the day were essentially Spartan-IVs. I doubt anyone outside ONI would have considered the possibility that the Spartans could have such a seedy background; the looming threat of annihilation would be an immeasurably more pressing concern.

As for Silva, he commanded the ODSTs John killed and maimed aboard the Atlas. If ONI were willing to tell anyone about the SPARTAN-II program back then it would be the man who'd just lost several Helljumpers to a fourteen-year-old. Maybe the "kidnapped children" rumors were prevalent enough by 2552 that he didn't mind spilling the beans in front of McKay. John's lack of a reaction (even from his own POV) is rather odd, though. --Our answer is at hand. (Talk to me.) 09:37, 30 March 2015 (EDT)

I mentioned this to Tucker over skype, but the circular symbols on the top of the page here appear to be circular Gallifreyan, generated from a user-made font such as this one. HEADCANON: John is a TIme Lord, and his MJOLNIR is his TARDIS! :P -- Qura 'Morhek ^{The Autocrat} ^{of Morheka} 04:44, 3 April 2015 (EDT)

Thought I'd put this here before I got any feedback, in case I'm being hasty. Meant for the trivia section on the Hunt the Truth article, but holding off until someone else comments.

In the image containing purported evidence of John's death at the age of 6, the partly circular symbols visible at the top of the page appear to be circular Gallifreyan text from Doctor Who, likely generated using a fan-made font.

-- Qura 'Morhek ^{The Autocrat} ^{of Morheka} 05:47, 3 April 2015 (EDT)

Episode Two

So we have confirmation; Ellie did move off planet shortly before John's flash clone died, hence why she didn't mention anything about it. Also, is it just me, or did Dvorak (I'm probably spelling her name wrong) sound like she was voiced by Jen Taylor? It was around the end of her lines, but her accent seemed to diminish and she started sounding more Halsey-like. It's hard to describe. Tuckerscreator^(stalk) 21:37, 5 April 2015 (EDT)

I totally thought it was Jennifer Hale.Sith-venator Wavingstrider

(Commlink) 21:51, 5 April 2015 (EDT)

Yeah, I heard a bit of Halsey in there, but I could see it being Hale. - NightHammer (talk) 21:54, 5 April 2015 (EDT)

I'm pretty sure I hear Jennifer Hale. --Our answer is at hand.

(Talk to me.) 09:19, 6 April 2015 (EDT)

Agreed, I hear a lot of Hale in that. I quite liked it! -- Qura 'Morhek ^{The Autocrat} ^{of Morheka} 19:12, 6 April 2015 (EDT)

It's not Jen Taylor. Still waiting to hear back from Jennifer Hale. Jarmatus (talk) 21:23, 7 April 2015 (EDT)

Episode Three

Another intriguing episode, and a hint that the plot may be ramping up in the following one. It was noted earlier that Deon's tale about John pummeling big dudes in a boxing ring resembled the Atlas incident; Walker's story appears to be a fictionalized version of the Spartans' training mission at the Military Wilderness Training Preserve where John refused to leave any teammate behind. It also appears that Ellie is going to be a recurring character; I wonder if Chief remembers her... Tuckerscreator^(stalk) 23:37, 12 April 2015 (EDT)

This series continues to be enjoyable, though I will say that I expected ONI to be more subtle and clever with their cover-up: for example, with regard to Elysium City having remained a known safe zone, why fabricate a story that can be proven false by people who were there? Then again, perhaps subtlety is too much to ask from the organization that goes around kidnapping kids wearing conspicuous uniforms with ONI patches on them. That said, I'd love it if Giraud got hold of a former member of Tango Company to see what they had to say about John and his Spartan buddies. --Jugus (Talk | Contribs) 01:10, 13 April 2015 (EDT)

It is true that ONI could have done a better cover-up attempt. A better way for them to silence the truth would have been to conduct their own investigation first, find people like Ellie or Petrovsky who saw glimpses of the truth about John, then arrange "an unfortunate accident" for them. Maybe they wouldn't have been able to get as far as Giraud without his private contacts, but finding and hiding half of the clues available is a good start.

Or perhaps that's what Giraud is supposed to be. A patsy, who is meant to find all the remaining clues to the truth about Master Chief and the Spartans, only to be silenced once his investigation is complete so ONI can gather and destroy all his accumulated evidence. They never meant him to believe the cover story at all. Perhaps. Then again this is only a theory... Tuckerscreator^(stalk) 01:26, 13 April 2015 (EDT)

I believe that is what is called a "stress test." I'm guessing this was meant for exactly that, but is going to rapidly devolve into an accidental full disclosure of the Spartan-II Program that proves politically catastrophic for the UEG, and devastating for ONI's remaining good faith, and now ONI has to clean up their mess - by disposing of the evidence, including the legend himself, and replacing him with a new legend, Locke, and again it devolves into a rapidly spiraling situation that turns Locke and John against ONI.

Additional note of potentially no significance: John+Locke. John Locke. Relevant to anything? Probably not. But interesting to consider. -- Qura 'Morhek ^{The Autocrat} ^{of Morheka} 07:59, 13 April 2015 (EDT)

Episode Four

Tuckerscreator^(stalk)'s thoughts:

We're hearing the beginning of that "something in deep space" that Giraud mentioned in the introductory clip. I'm going to guess it's not something Covenant; for now the UNSC has been able to predict the Covenant remnants patterns and attack plans. The slipspace distortion brings to mind what the Flood/Precursors were doing towards the end of the Flood-Forerunner War. Or could it be the Ur-Didact, now back and assembling a greater army?
With all the false stories and red tape that Giraud has had fed to him, it's pretty astonishing in retrospect that Petra got to read about something as high level as what happened on Installation 00. I do hope we'll find out soon what she suspects of the Ark and Cortana's message, maybe Hunters in the Dark will go into detail about that.
If what Giraud was seeing at the end was a disguised ONI facility, it seems odd to me that it would be disguised. ONI wasn't exactly secretive about its base in New Mombasa, with its great cube of ominousness. Or that he wasn't escorted inside; obviously ONI doesn't want people mistaking the place for an actual school and walking in.
Giraud seems to have had some measure of PTSD after surviving New Mombasa, hence his vacation. Hopefully we'll get details soon about how he got out. And apparently Petra was there too, who knew.

I find it increasingly unlikely that ONI doesn't know damn well what Giraud has been digging up the whole time, and that this series is going to lead up to the full declassification of the Spartan-II Project - but on ONI's terms, by framing it as a cover-up from ONI by internal renegades like Parangosky, Ackerson and, yes, Halsey. The narrative of individuals being held solely responsible has already been established there. And yes, the damage to ONI will be not inconsiderable. But being able to discredit what they perceive to be a threat-in-waiting by telling the public that the Master Chief, the salvation of Earth and Her Colonies, is more machine now than man is going to have a significant impact on those who would otherwise have been willing to follow his lead. And it allows ONI to look good by airing their own dirty laundry and "investigating" it, which presumably is where Agent Locke comes in. The IIs and IIIs aren't going to like it, there can't be many of them left by now - we know a handful of IIs, including Blue and Naomi, survived; whatever MJOLNIR-equipped III teams survived Reach; and however many Gamma Company members survived whatever they were deployed to during late 2552, which may very well have been Reach. The IVs are the fresh start - can't have a clean slate without wiping it clean first. The IVs even continue the Headhunter tradition of two-man teams for high-risk low-survivability ops, which I would definitely class taking out IIs and IIIs as. A Stalinist purge of "internal threats" on a superhuman level.-- Qura 'Morhek ^{The Autocrat} ^{of Morheka} 05:41, 20 April 2015 (EDT)

Episode Five

Tuckerscreator^(stalk) 18:24, 26 April 2015 (EDT)'s thoughts:

I notice that Mendez never mentioned anything about how old John was at the time or where he came from or his "time amongst rebels". Glasslands suggested he's feeling guilt for his involvement in S-II and is trying to dissociate himself from the kidnapping and flash cloning behind the scenes. It's very likely that he deliberately avoided referring to anything about John outside of battle and training because he didn't want to have to lie.
ONI, not just the CIA of the future, but also the IRS. And they have not lost their appeal for designing interiors to look like Aperture Science.
Sully sure used to be a nice kid...
Would Giraud been able to mail the video files, get paid, and then begin the whistleblowing? Seems like he'd want some pay to lose that bill before doing what's sure to put him on the run...

I feel like Giraud doesn't want his files to be used by ONI at all. Also, I think Sully intentionally put Giraud on the flight with Walker (he was very insistent that Giraud needed to be on that flight). I think he is still a Chief supporter and wants Giraud to leak out the truth. Plus, what's the chance of Walker and Giraud being on the same flight—the galaxy is huge. I think Sully definitely intervened. - NightHammer (talk) 21:37, 26 April 2015 (EDT)

I agree that something has likely intervened on Giraud's behalf, but somebody suggested on the HBO forums something I hadn't considered - the Assembly. The AI collective micro-managing humanity's survival and rise to power as an interstellar power. It may be that they have decided that ONI needs to be taken down a peg, and have selected declassifying S-II as the way to do it. Yes, you're tainting the Chief and co., and demoralising humanity in the short term, but in the long term the UNSC simply can't stop making Spartan-IVs now that the technology is there, and ONI has clearly become too powerful, given its actions on Sanghelios and sending Palmer after Halsey, and needs a short, sharp lesson in humility. -- Qura 'Morhek ^{The Autocrat} ^{of Morheka} 04:59, 27 April 2015 (EDT)

I like the supposition on Sully's angle. Sully knows that he's alive and well today directly because of the intervention of the Master Chief all those years ago so it will be interesting to see his development in this. Is he fully ONI-stooge or is there more than a glimmer of sympathy towards the Chief in bringing his story to light? -ScaleMaster117 (talk) 09:32, 27 April 2015 (EDT)

I'll have to listen again to see if their voices sound similar, but a thought that occurred to me was if "Mshach Moradi" is actually Sully's alias. It would explain how he knew the contents of Giraud's "glassed planets have bad records" phone call and how he had gotten so much out of random soldier transmissions. It might also hint another reason why he abruptly cut off the meeting right after Giraud asked if one man should hold that much power, which is something Moradi mused about in his latest phone call. The only snag I see is that Sully sent Giraud a calendar notice while Moradi was telling Ben about the rumbles in deep space; why would he interrupt his own phone call? Tuckerscreator^(stalk) 12:53, 27 April 2015 (EDT)

Episode Six

It seems the theory of Sully having arranged the Walker mixup is Jossed, but his phone call does suggest he knows more about what's going on with Giraud than he's letting on. Sorta surprised that ONI hasn't stormed Ben's house with ODSTs yet. He's uploaded how many episodes by this point?

Petra does have a point in that Ben recording her without her knowledge and then uploading it was a terrible thing to do. Now that ONI knows all about how she kept them from hearing his "treasonous" comments, she could be facing serious trouble of her own. On the other hand, it's a shame that she doesn't feel as driven as Ben to find out what the truth about the coverups is; something very important is clearly being hid here, if it's so bad that they'll drug a guy and put him comatose on a plane, or brainwash homeless guys. Tuckerscreator^(stalk) 23:06, 3 May 2015 (EDT)

What I'm most excited about is this Pharaoh - who I fully expect to be either Halsey, or at a stretch, Parangosky. In fact, I kind of prefer the latter, because then you get the potential that ONI could be trying to salvage this mess by having her pin it on Halsey, who is already persona non grata even before she sided with Jul. I still think something else in the background has to be at work, though I liked the touch of Walker actually being the work of Moradi, and not some AI puppetmasters. Hadn't expected that. -- Qura 'Morhek ^{The Autocrat} ^{of Morheka} 02:04, 4 May 2015 (EDT)

And now we have the morse code at the end of the episode that leads to "Stolen Gauntlet", which is a Ford video that's posted by someone who's anme is an anagram of "Dr. Halsey"... Christian-B122 12:04 AM 4 May 2015 (PST)

Episode Seven

Episode Seven is...interesting. It finally gets to laying out what we all know (as fans) about Spartan-II, in explicit terms, and gets to the business of what kind of fallout this might have, especially in the future. And we hear FERO for the first time, in a voice-garbled appearance. And we finally have confirmation that the UEG operates a senate, presumably implying an American-style system of government. I was hoping it would retain a General Assembly and Secretary General as holdovers and evolutions of the old UN system, myself, but I think I've resigned myself to the UEG being Space America a while ago.

Looking forward to seeing how things go down in future episodes. I agree with the people who suggested FERO would turn out to be Halsey, given that she doesn't seem interested in overthrowing the UEG as a whole and more in blackening the eye of ONI. It could turn out to be an Insurrection figure, or disgruntled ONI, but I think 343i would use the pre-existing character. -- Qura 'Morhek ^{The Autocrat} ^{of Morheka} 18:21, 10 May 2015 (EDT)

I really hope it's Halsey. And I really hope Jul pops on the line too.Sith-venator Wavingstrider

(Commlink) 18:27, 10 May 2015 (EDT)

"We will deliver a headline, that will wake up the whole of-"

"Honey? Honey, I need the phone."

"Hold on a minute Jul dear, I'm on a call."

"But you're aaaaaalwaaaaaays on a call!" -- Qura 'Morhek ^{The Autocrat} ^{of Morheka} 19:40, 10 May 2015 (EDT)

All power to the Halsey+Jul shipping.XDSith-venator Wavingstrider

(Commlink) 19:42, 10 May 2015 (EDT)

The description of a flash-clone's life was horrifying, and it's the first confirmation since Homecoming that the clones were, in fact, sapient people. Being forced to grow up rapidly so you can die... geez. Glasslands may have been too fixated on singling out flash-cloning as the supposed worst part of the Spartan Program, but hearing this perhaps makes it clear why they chose that aspect in particular. I wouldn't mind a short story from the POV of a flash-clone; it might be a depiction similar to Anton's Key in the Ender's Game books.

I'm curious if the Insurrection is involved in this latest plot with Giraud. FERO's rhetoric sure sounded destructive, and Ben may need to think for a while, as Petra said, about if he really wants to tear down an institution without any plan for what will replace it. Especially if this group was associated with the death camps. Tuckerscreator^(stalk) 04:26, 11 May 2015 (EDT)

Episode Eight

So now we're finally seeing what is flipping Chief's reputation, and it seems to put a bunch of events in perspective. Sully suddenly telling Ben to make a propaganda article about Chief's heroic biography? Seems like an urgent attempt by ONI to re-cement him as a hero to citizens so that they'll distrust any leak saying Chief's been up to no good. That "something big in deep space"? Was it what little Mshak could glean from the slush of ONI trying to hide the outrage over the summit massacre?

Theories:

Mshak mentions the clones of the two trainees who committed suicide. No confirmation if they're still alive, though. One wonders what condition one of them would be in thirty years later...
So apparently there's government again on Biko. It was claimed to be glassed, and numerous S-III candidates were even pulled from it. Perhaps this means terraforming has improved the planet in the years since.
ONI turning the Spartans against the same colonies they came from suggests more authoritarian plans with the S-IIs that they had in mind after putting down the rebels. I wonder if this had a factor in how an AI of the Assembly contacted the Covenant the year the S-IIs became operational. It may have feared that letting the Spartan Program continue for another year would result in escalating the Insurrection and tearing humanity apart sooner, so it opted to distract humanity with the invading interstellar empire before the Insurrection could prepare a counter-punch. Tuckerscreator^(stalk) 19:04, 17 May 2015 (EDT)

I'm guessing this is a cover story for something else entirely. Maybe the core of the story is true - peace talks, the Chief turning up - but the actual setup and events happened differently. All we "see" is the Chief, seemingly unprovoked, firing on human security forces - we have only assumption and FERO's word they were a peace delegation. I also find it suspicious that they say alien, but not Covenant. Given how hostile the remaining Forerunner constructs and only living Forerunner encountered have been, my guess is that this was a first contact scenario that went bad. Last time the UNSC had a disastrous first contact, it resulted in nearly thirty years of war and hundreds of destroyed colonies. Pinning the blame on the Chief might be somebody's way of absolving humanity as a whole of blame to try again. In addition, I don't trust someone from the Insurrection, any more than I do ONI. We've seen what the Insurrection is capable of and if they're not quite as monstrous as ONI's actions, it is from a lack of resources, not a lack of ambition. -- Qura 'Morhek ^{The Autocrat} ^{of Morheka} 20:14, 17 May 2015 (EDT)

Episode Nine

Tuckerscreator^(stalk)'s thoughts:

Ben really should have had Ellie and Katrina testify under aliases. And Walker. And Petra, and a bunch of other people who it appears ONI might be after now.
Honestly, I'm surprised the meeting actually succeeded, as far as we know. FERO must be pretty good for ONI to not stamp their attempt preemptively.
I suppose this settles that Sully is not a double agent. Perhaps he viewed maintaining the Chief's reputation as a greater favor to his rescuer.
It's interesting to me how this series is revealing major class divides amongst humanity that appear to be why the Insurrection spawned. There were hints of it in Dirt, such as when Gage was furious that the Cole Protocol wasn't implemented until the Covenant had rampaged through most of the Outer Colonies. Some of us even theorized it a bit with Forward Unto Dawn and how Corbulo Academy seemed apt for breeding military dynasties to keep power amongst influential families. But now it's claimed that the Spartan Program was made with the goal of keeping the Outer Colonies in line. An interesting take considering Carver's algorithm and Halsey's selection process appeared before to be made from a neutral academic perspective, not apparently a socially prejudiced one. Tuckerscreator^(stalk) 18:19, 24 May 2015 (EDT)

Yoonhyuk-740's thoughts and in response to Tuckerscreator^(stalk)

I don't think it would have mattered; even if Ben's interviewees all used aliases, it would only take ONI a little bit longer to find out who they were. At least Petrovsky seemed to not care whether he would get killed or not.
FERO seems to be the Insurrection to Ben's UNSC Civillians and ONI's UNSC. Does anyone else get the feeling FERO might be someone like Ilsa Zane if not her?
Sully's actions do mirror what Agent Locke said in his ad..you know; "Let us see him forever, as you. And not as you." This also begs me the question, is he keeping in touch with Lasky?
The way you phrased it makes it sound like ONI went all Emperor Mengsk (Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty for the analogy) on the Outer Colonies. But would kidnapping kids and making child soldiers be the best way to keep those colonies in line? Yoonhyuk-740 14:39, 25 May 2015 (KST)

I don't think it would have been the best way, just how ONI thought it'd be the best. We know from Reach that the Spartan Program was really the brainchild of the Assembly, wanting to speed up the pace of human evolution for defense against invading aliens. So they would have manufactured data to lead ONI to think that supersoldiers are the answer to colonial rebellion. While the Spartans had good results early on against Innies, as shown with Watts, we don't know what would have happened after that. Perhaps the leaks would have happened sooner. Perhaps the Insurrection would only escalate. Perhaps discovery of what happened to their children would cause the public view of the rebellion movements to go from "fringe extremists" to "mainstream". Or perhaps ONI would have succeeded and have Spartan police patrolling the colonies in a few generations. We can't know what would have happened then, but we're gonna see something about it happen now. Tuckerscreator^(stalk) 02:05, 25 May 2015 (EDT)

DJenser's thoughts:

Ben Giraud is a photographer/blogger playing at being a journalist... Journalism 101: A journalist lives and dies by their sources. They are solely responsible for verifying their sources' information and protecting their secrecy, otherwise they will LOSE their sources to any number of things like other journalists or vengeful governments. Ben has clearly never learned how to cover his tracks and protect his sources.
Ben Giraud has been played by all sides from the beginning. His small-time status made him an attractive mouthpiece for ONI while his need to pull at the many dangling threads surrounding the Chief specifically (and the SPARTAN II program in general) have made him a convenient foil for the New Colonial Alliance to undermine ONI and the UNSC's position in the Inner Colonies.
Ben suspects that something is fishy with the whole "Chief is a Traitor" rhetoric that is spreading like wildfire across Human space, but he's in grave danger of losing any ability to prove that unless he gets control of his story quickly.
The communication loss in the outer colonies isn't the work of the UNSC or ONI, but has to do with the deep space anomalies which have conveniently been forgotten by Ben & everyone else... FERO seemed to think they were important, but all of her actions thus far seem to have drawn attention away from them instead of toward them and the threat they supposedly represent, which calls her actual motives into question... Mshak conveniently going dark at that exact point in the narrative leads me to believe this particular plotline has been deliberately crafted in such a way as to generate conspiracy fodder and keep listener discussions going until the next reveal in a future episode.

The bottom line is that there are still too many variables at play to get s definite sense of where this is leading, so we'll have to wait & see what the next episode brings, though I suspect we won't know the whole TRUTH until 10/27...

Episode Ten

This is definitely an interesting one. I knew we would be seeing more of Del Rio, but I certainly didn't expect it to be this way. How does a disgraced Navy Captain spin that into a successful political campaign? Of course, given recent events I imagine he could turn that into a "not part of the CURRENT military establishment." And as for what we learn about the Chief...I knew it. I friggin' knew it. There had to be something more, and there was. This Sapien Sunrise group sound fairly sinister, but also make me really hopeful that we'll face human enemies for the first time in the games. I can't help thinking that the Biko thing has to be a trap, though - something tantalising enough to lure him out, away from Earth, in a remote space far from observers where the UNSC won't be recorded snatching a rogue journalist. -- Qura 'Morhek ^{The Autocrat} ^{of Morheka} 18:21, 31 May 2015 (EDT)

There goes my janitor theory.Sith Venator

(Dank Memes) 18:34, 31 May 2015 (EDT)

Mind if I join? It's Bliss that the coordinates led to, Sith, and I pretty sure that the UEG had Senatorial elections in 2557, so its possible that Del Rio. As all all know Bliss was an Outer Colony with (possibly) 500 million civilians living there and was glassed in 2526 after a short battle against the Covenant, I'm surprised that humanity haven't gotten around to reterraforming and resettling the colony. - EpicZealot1239

I admit, I'm sorta disappointed how the Biko incident turned out to be brazenly heroic after all (complete with not-the-American-anthem playing in the background). It feels like a cop out. Granted, I expected that there'd be a good motive for the Chief for doing it by the time that we presumably play the experience in Guardians, but it seems too soon to reveal it.

Either this Bliss thing is a trap or Giraud is going to meet someone interesting there. FERO in person? John's parents? John himself? Tuckerscreator^(stalk) 19:13, 31 May 2015 (EDT)

I have a feeling that he will be meeting NCA operatives or an associate that has been aiding Blue Team. I honestly don't expect it to be a trap, since I'm sure ONI would rather trap him on a non-glassed world. Also, it'd be awesome if the people that were taking Ben to Bliss were Kig-Yar. - NightHammer (talk) 19:21, 31 May 2015 (EDT)

I would like it to be Kig-Yar, but I doubt it will be. :/ Sith Venator

(Dank Memes) 19:24, 31 May 2015 (EDT)

I don't know. I agree it is unlikely, but Petra and Ben put emphasize on how the freighter owners were hardcore capitalists and "these people only speak bribe", which kind of sounds like the Kig-Yar. Obviously, they can still be humans of course. - NightHammer (talk) 19:30, 31 May 2015 (EDT)

We need the Kig-Yar captain to be like Edward Kenway. Now you got me really hyped up on the idea it's Kig-Yar.Sith Venator

(Dank Memes) 19:44, 31 May 2015 (EDT)

I don't like the fact that I recognized that song from Lazy Town... And watch the freighter owners end up being Yonhet (which I wouldn't entirely mind either, but still, Kig-Yar are way better). - NightHammer (talk) 19:50, 31 May 2015 (EDT)

I didn't even know where it came from. Until now. Or it could be a mixed crew, with some Unggoy too!Sith Venator

(Dank Memes) 19:57, 31 May 2015 (EDT)

It was nice hearing the Sangheili kaidon in this episode though. If a Sangheili can "appear", I'm sure Kig-Yar and Unggoy can as well.- NightHammer (talk) 20:19, 31 May 2015 (EDT)

The first part of the episode was really well done, I loved the atmosphere, topped off with the little bit of humour of Ben's silly tripwire. I didn't expect Chief's situation to be quite so clear cut in that it was all awesome heroics and he didn't kill any innocents, but then again maybe I'm selling him short. With various rebel groups making so many appearances and ONI turning an ever-darker shade of grey, I'd be very surprised if we don't start fighting human enemies soon. Well, other than this guy. Hearing the Sangheili attempt to defend John was rather touching actually, but fit perfectly with his relationship with them in Halo 3. We better have Elite allies again in 5. Bliss is an interesting choice given the trivia entry on how Anders mentioned it being Forerunner-related like Onyx. I wonder if the surface looks like a desert now. >.> Alex T Snow (talk) 01:24, 1 June 2015 (EDT)

@Alex T Snow, My thought is that this reveal wasn't meant to clarify the Chief's intent so much as it was meant to create an atmosphere of tension and despair at the possibility of his name not being cleared as well as frustration that all sides are merely using the incident to further their respective agendas rather than trying to uncover the truth or, in Ben's case, get it out there for all to hear.

As for the whole Bliss = trap/legit question, I think it's a moot point if Ben can't get the funds for passage on that freighter. I wonder how they're going to present that one in the next episode? My guess is that he either stashed the money, (not in his own apartment, but another location within the building), or FERO will be providing him with the money he needs to get off-world. Not entirely sure I trust her motives yet, though. Thus far, everything we've seen from her indicates she's either colluding with Sappy Sunrise or the Insurrection. Either way, I wonder if she has the Chief's best interests at heart. Weird thing about her speech patterns though... Her phonology is oddly exact; she tends to sound out each consonant ( "Colle-c't ", "Exa-c't ", etc) and her delivery becomes weirdly clipped, as if she's placing a period after -Each. Word.- she wants to emphasize. The cumulative effect comes across like she's a machine or something... Could be an AI, could be Halsey... Or, she could be someone who's using some sort of vocal-recognition/replication software to replace her actual voice in an effort to conceal her identity from ONI tracing programs designed to pinpoint individuals based on their speech patterns & voiceprints. Who knows how deep this particular rabbit-hole really goes in this case. Based on that little exchange between Ben & Petra in Episode 4, pretty damn deep...DJenser (talk) 11:00, 1 June 2015 (EDT)

It was obvious from the start that there had to be more to the Biko attack than it seemed. While it didn't feel like a cop-out to me the reveal was a little soon — I was expecting more of a buildup. And though Del Rio's reappearance was surprising to me, he clearly hasn't changed one bit. Something I'm curious about is how Ben is going to make his 72 hour deadline to the borders of human space in a non-military vessel. Those post-war Forerunner upgrades must've really panned out. --Jugus (Talk | Contribs) 01:41, 1 June 2015 (EDT)

Unless it really is a group of Kig-Yar or Yohnet.Sith Venator

(Dank Memes) 01:52, 1 June 2015 (EDT)

I hope it is. On a side note, it's funny when you imagine that in-universe, Ben actually had to edit in the heroic music wherever it comes up. --Jugus (Talk | Contribs) 07:39, 1 June 2015 (EDT)

He's probably got a dozen saved music tracks from his propaganda days. There "Spartan Theme 1", "Heroic Retreat 4", "Chasing the Covenant Offplanet 9", and of course "Sad Violin of Glassing". Tuckerscreator^(stalk) 12:04, 1 June 2015 (EDT)

Forum:Hunt the Truth

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