Canon

Terminal (Halo 3)

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This article is about the Terminals in Halo 3. For other uses of "Terminal", see Terminal (disambiguation)
File:Halo-3-20070923025938534.jpg
A terminal's interface.
The exterior of a terminal.

The terminals in Halo 3 are Forerunner terminals that provide insight into the history of the Forerunners, primarily the Forerunner-Flood war. The terminals are a continuation of the Iris alternate reality game used as viral marketing for Halo 3. They clarify a great deal of the Iris story line by naming the authors of different messages and by explaining the circumstances of the original firing of the Halo Array. The terminals follow the stories of the Librarian and the Didact, Forerunner logs of Flood attacks, and Mendicant Bias' progression into rampancy.

Overview

The terminals can be accessed on any difficulty. Finding and accessing all seven of the terminals in Halo 3 unlocks the Marathon Man achievement; this can be done over the course of several sessions, out of order, and on various difficulties. The player does not need to finish any of the missions in question in order to unlock the achievement.

IMPORTANT: The terminals must be accessed as follows:

  • In either single-player or cooperative mode.
  • It is necessary to read the text until the green arrow (facing left) turns red. On some terminals, it may be necessary to wait until the screen flashes red and the screen appears to "scan horizontally". This does not occur for all terminals. If there is no red arrow (see below) then wait until the red flash/scanning occurs.
    • There is a green arrow in the bottom left-hand corner. When it turns red the player can exit the terminal. Note that normally the player is able to advance each screen of the display by pressing the A button. However, in some cases this may take time. If the arrow is still green then wait until the terminal proceeds.
  • For some players, the seventh terminal must be accessed last in order to unlock the achievement.
  • If the achievement is not unlocked after accessing all terminals, try accessing all of the terminals on the same difficulty level.
  • In co-op, all players must be near a terminal to access it.

The terminals

The terminals are located on three levels: The Ark, The Covenant, and Halo. There is also a hidden terminal on Cortana, but that one does not need to be found in order to get the achievement.

Upon initial access on all difficulty levels, the seven terminals give background details regarding the story of the 300-year-long Forerunner-Flood conflict, including strategies, encounters, enemy and friendly losses, and procedures leading up to the activation of the Halo Array. After a short time, this text is overwritten and a new message is displayed on the screen.

On Easy, Normal, and Heroic difficulty levels, this second screen of text details a correspondence between two Forerunner lovers called the "Librarian" and "Didact". In this transcript, as in the Terminals, "L" stands for Librarian and "D" stand for Didact.

An unknown entity sends brief messages onscreen upon shutdown. The final terminal reveals that this entity is the rampant Forerunner AI Mendicant Bias, who had previously assisted in the Flood's attempt to destroy the Forerunners.

On the Legendary difficulty level, the second screen of text tells the story of Mendicant Bias. It is revealed that Mendicant Bias was the AI who took control of AdjutantReflex during the "Iris" campaign. Messages detailing Mendicant's eventual defection to the Gravemind are displayed by Terminals 1 through 4, with the AI having an ongoing conversation with the Flood (tagged LF.Xx.3273). These messages are incomplete and partially disrupted, with {~} symbolizing the disruptions. A noticeable pattern in the messages suggests that many of the disruptions occur at the use of pronouns, such as "I, we, me, they, it", though this pattern is not entirely consistent.

Terminal 5 displays several hostile messages sent from Mendicant Bias to its makers, confirming its rampancy. These messages are different on each difficulty level.

Terminal 6 details the defeat of Mendicant Bias by Offensive Bias, as perceived by Offensive itself.

The final message hidden in Terminal 7 is an apology made by Mendicant directly to John-117 for the former's betrayal, atoning by saying it will help the Reclaimer leave the Ark safely.

Note: The following are exact transcripts of all seven terminals in Halo 3. It is all copied directly from each terminal in-game and is not speculative. Most of the Terminals have extra content that can be accessed on the Legendary difficulty. One terminal's main content does differ based on the difficulty level.

Terminal One
Terminal 1 in Halo 3 campaign level The Ark.
The terminal in a semi-circular room, with corridor in the background.
Walkthrough:

After fighting the Hunters, continue on your way until you enter a building in the cliff wall. You should now be in a corridor with two holographic displays on the right, and two doors on the left. Enter the semi-circular room and you will see the first of the seven Terminals.


(Upon initial access)

Observed extensive ground action on [LP 656-38 e]. 9,045 survivors barricaded within central government building. Structure's defenses inadequate to withstand extended siege by enemy ground forces (≈ 1,572,034,315+). Estimate position overrun in [173 hours].

846 smaller groups in less defensible structures: global distribution corresponding to [probability model zeta]. Estimated local position overrun in [9 hours] (average).

Observed local naval forces engage enemy irregular naval group near [DM -3-1123]. Enemy group consisted of 149 commercial shipping vessels, passenger ferries, and private recreational vessels from neighboring system. Enemy losses were total. No damage was sustained by local naval vessels.

However, it was immediately apparent that enemy group sought only to enter [D<-3-1123 b's] atmosphere and make landfall. In this they were partially successful.

Observed extensive ground action on [DM-3-1123 b]. Enemy forces lacked basic unit cohesion but quickly gained numerical superiority. [32 hours] after enemy landfall 83% of local naval forces advocated total [destruction of the biosphere] following the evacuation of unmolested population centers. Enemy losses were total.

Estimated number of citizens evacuated before commencement of orbital blanket bombardment: 1,318,797 civilian/42,669 military (.0006% of total population).

(No message from Mendicant Bias upon shutdown)

(Upon being rerouted to new destination within Terminal)

// FRAGMENT 1/7 [RECORDED VERBATIM AND INTERPRETED POST-CATACLYSM]

L: Categorization has sped since the improvements were announced, but there are many hurdles. The indexing of sentient species may have irreversible effects on the surviving insentient species. We will have extinction events and irreparable environmental harm on at least 18 worlds. Current projections estimate post-archival cataclysm on as many as 31 worlds. The paucity of sentience has been a blessing in this regard.

D: How formal you are, Librarian. We're receiving shipments of indexed beings more frequently than communications. Don't compound scarcity with brevity.

I know things beyond the [Maginot] line are harried. But I worry about you. I've asked you time and time again. Abandon your cataloging. Come back inside, where my fleets can keep you safe.

Come home.

L: Would that it were my choice. I have committed to this course because it's the right thing to do. We no longer have the manpower or materiel to excise remedial measures at a planetary level. I certainly can't justify using the [transit measure] to save my own skin when there are still so many innocents to protect and index.

D: You know I oppose your mission, but you're exceeding its parameters anyway. You've put yourself in jeopardy. You've done enough.

If you will not come to me, I will find my way to you.

L: We have no time to spare, Didact. Every vessel we can fill, we send to the Ark. I dare not cease the mission. Not now, not until I've done all I can. Each one of these souls is finite and precious.

And I'm close.

Close to saving them all.

//FRAGMENT ENDS

(The following appears only if you access the Terminal on Legendary difficulty)

(Upon being rerouted to new destination within Terminal)

[29,478 hours] have passed since I left the [Maginot] sphere and entered contested space.

The enemy is everywhere.

Despite this the morale of my charges remains high. They wake, clean themselves, fuel their bodies, communicate with one another, eliminate waste, train to destroy the enemy, and return to sleep. The sacrifices they have chosen to make on behalf of their [brethren] fills me with pride.

If only I could save them all - but they know, perhaps even better than I, that that is not possible.

[37 seconds] ago I moved beyond my ability to observe the events taking place on CE-10-2165-d.

The importance of my mission forbade me from rendering any aid, but no less important was the need for me to study the enemy's capabilities in real world situations.

[2 hours] ago 12,423 small recreational vessels appeared inside [CE-10-2165-d's] orbital perimeter. Hidden within that vast swarm were seven massive freight carries. The smaller craft were employed as [ablative armor], allowing the carries to descend through the atmosphere; landing on top of major population centers.

Despite the fact that the naval garrison was aware of the likelihood of just such an attack, their ability to effectively defend against it proved insufficient.

This has always been the enemy's [modus operandi]: [flood] your opponent's ability to process information with so much noise that no meaningful resistance can be put into action.

[3 minutes] ago those same population centers began disappearing under brilliant flashes. This was not an ill conceived, poorly implemented counter attack; it was a deliberate denial of resources - those resources being the remainder of [CE-10-2165-d's] population.

Is this the noble sacrifice my creators spoke of? Where is the nobility in these streets paved with greasy carbon and dun ash? [My mouth is speaking at another's behest] - that is not my voice; that is the other.

Its voice stands out as the single calm note in the panicked cacophony outside the sphere. It alone is not decrying its fate or raging against the [central government].

This anomaly bears closer examination.

Cortana terminal

The Cortana terminal at the end of the communications room.

"It was the coin's fault! I wanted to make you strong, keep you safe... I'm sorry, I can't..."
— Cortana terminal

The Cortana terminal is an Easter egg located in the basement room of the Tilt Skull's location, where the gravity hammer is found. This Terminal does not count towards the Marathon Man achievement but instead plays a secret Cortana moment. This terminal references a scene in Halo: The Fall of Reach where John-117 unwittingly ensures his conscription into the SPARTAN-II program by correctly guessing several coin tosses in a row. Audio of Dr. Halsey enticing him to play Heads or Tails with her can be heard as the player approaches the terminal's location.

Appearances

Characters

Species

Organizations

Locations

Events

Technology and equipment




Analyses

Translation and naming

It is important to note that phrases such as "Maginot Line", "Eden", and "fairy tale" would not have existed in the Forerunner language(s). Forerunner technology (including terminals) utilizes extremely advanced translation software. This software is capable of incorporating idioms from a reader's own experience,[1] such that a human viewing the terminals will see human idiomatic expressions and human names in relevant contexts.[1][2]

Several pieces of text are bracketed and shown in a darker font color; this is likely done to indicate that the phrases in question have no exact equivalent in the reader's language, and that an approximation has been used. Furthermore, some bracketed phrases also contain sub-bracketed question marks (such as the phrase "[travel the path of demons[?]]"), implying that the terminals' software is unsure of the proper translation for the given dialog.

Interestingly, the word "Ark" does not appear in brackets, meaning that it is a direct translation, rather than a human idiom.

Reversed messages

In certain parts, backwards speech can be heard. Common phrases include "Archive Access", "Interruption", "Lineage Confirmed", "Data Corruption", and "Welcome Child".

Additional information

For a moment after a page is initially accessed the text is shown in its original state in Forerunner script. The symbols stand in only for letters, not for numbers or punctuation, and share the same colors (i.e. gold and orange) as the letters possess when 'translated'. They stand in only for the letters in the main sections, not in the text that comes up immediately before the display is redirected.

The symbols bear no resemblance to the other, more well known Forerunner symbols and possess no observable meaning, as they replace the English characters at random (this can be seen by flipping quickly between two pages and concentrating on any one particular symbol, observing how the stand-in changes).

When certain terminals are redirecting the player after they have logged in, as the screen turns red on the left side are symbols and the words "I AM MENDICANT BIAS."

Production notes

According to Paul Russel, several Bungie employees were involved with the writing of Halo 3's terminals. Frank O'Connor, Damian Isla, Robert McLees, Rob Stokes, Paul Bertone, Jaime Griesemer, Jason Jones, and possibly also Lorraine McLees had a hand in producing the narrative of the terminals,[3] a narrative which was then vetted by Bungie management prior to launch.[4][3] Damien Isla also worked on the terminal's in-game implementation from a coding perspective while Paul Russel worked on the art.[5][4]

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.[3] However, Paul Russel and Damian Isla worked extra hours to get the animations, font, and code all correct and working.[4]

Relationship with subsequent canon

"The terminal dialogs may themselves be questionable, in light of this new testimony."
— A science team leader, regarding the terminals and the contradicting discoveries.[6]

Parts of the terminals are contradicted by newer information from The Forerunner Saga and other subsequent media. 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.[7] 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.[7]

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.[8] 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.[6]

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;[9] this foreshadows the Battle of the Maginot Sphere, which was introduced in the terminals.

Human-Forerunner connection

The terminals, along with the Iris marketing campaign, 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".[10] 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.

Bungie was internally split into at least two teams on the relationship of humans and Forerunners during the development of Halo 3. According to statements from David Candland, Paul Russel, and Jaime Griesemer: The "Game" team had continued the original idea that Forerunners were ancient humans, following this intention through from being conceptualized during pre-production of Halo: Combat Evolved,[11][12] shown in the original ending for Halo 2 (described here) and echoed in Mendicant Bias's statements regarding humanity in Halo: Contact Harvest.[13][14] Additionally, In the last level of Halo 3 the final line of cinematic dialogue from 343 Guilty Spark: "You are Forerunner!"[15] was intended to reveal this information, supposing to wrap up the mystery of the Forerunners identity.[11][16] This version appears to have suggested 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.[17][18][15][19]

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.[20][21][22] 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,[10][23] 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."[14] and Halo 3 was approved to ship with both versions.[24]

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", rather unambiguously indicating that humans and Forerunners are synonymous. While Joseph Staten wrote Halo: Contact Harvest, he was placed on temporary administrative leave to resolve differences between him and Marcus Lehto.[25][26] According to Paul Russel, Staten was therefore not privy to what was going on with the decisions made for the terminals. Joe Staten later returned to the studio and worked on Halo 3's story team near the end of development.[27] Given that dialogue from Halo 3's "game" story was written with the intention that humans and Forerunners are contiguous rather than related but parallel populations, and Staten would be considered part of that side of Halo 3's development; and is known to have been outside the studio during the major development of the terminals, It is very likely that he was writing on Halo 3's story continuing the idea described in Contact Harvest. However, what exact intentions he may have had has not been explicitly confirmed.

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. 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.[28]

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. 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. 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.[29] While the origin or nature of the "base stock" is not elaborated on, this explanation is somewhat conceptually similar to the original terminal writers' intent of the Forerunners being an offshoot of early terrestrial humans.[note 1]

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.[30]

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.[31] 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.[32]

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.[33]

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.[34] 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.[35]

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 at 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.

Trivia

In Terminal 4, the Librarian states that she can see the Flood's ships blotting out the stars at night as they gather from across the galaxy and converge on the Line. This should be impossible, as the light from different stars in the galaxy would take any number of centuries or millennia to reach Earth to be seen with the naked eye. Given that the terminals utilize imperfect translations, one may infer she is speaking metaphorically or using an exotic form of sensor equipment allowing her to observe the starfield in real-time.

Gallery

Notes

  1. ^ 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. ^ Jump up to: a b Halo Encyclopedia (2009 edition), page 165
  2. ^ Halo: Cryptum, page 6
  3. ^ Jump up to: 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]
  4. ^ Jump up to: a b c Twitter, Paul Russel (@docabominable): "...I believe Robt and Lorraine were writing them, Damian did code, I did the art & terminals." (Retrieved on Dec 18, 2022) [archive]
  5. ^ 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]
  6. ^ Jump up to: a b Halo: Primordium, page 340
  7. ^ Jump up to: a b Halo Waypoint: 343 Sparkast 017
  8. ^ Halo Mythos, page 161
  9. ^ Halo: Silentium, pages 327-328
  10. ^ Jump up to: a b Iris, Server 5
  11. ^ Jump up to: a b halo.bungie.org: Re: Why retcons don't bother me anymore (Evil Otto: "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.")
  12. ^ 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]
  13. ^ 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." (Retrieved on Dec 14, 2022) [archive]
  14. ^ Jump up to: a b 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..." (Retrieved on Dec 18, 2022) [archive]
  15. ^ Jump up to: a b Halo 3, campaign level Halo (343 Guilty Spark: "You are the child of my makers. Inheritor of all they left behind. You are Forerunner! But this ring... is mine.")
  16. ^ 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]
  17. ^ Halo 3, campaign level The Covenant (The Prophet of Truth: "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.")
  18. ^ Halo 3, campaign level Cortana (The Gravemind: "Child of my enemy, why have you come? I offer no forgiveness. A father's sins pass to his son.")
  19. ^ Halo 3, campaign level Halo (343 Guilty Spark: "Think of your forefathers!", "Do not destroy your inheritance!", "Accept your legacy!")
  20. ^ 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.'" (Retrieved on Dec 14, 2022) [archive]
  21. ^ 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." (Retrieved on Dec 14, 2022) [archive]
  22. ^ 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." (Retrieved on Dec 15, 2022) [archive]
  23. ^ Halo 3: Cradle of Life
  24. ^ 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." (Retrieved on Dec 13, 2022) [archive]
  25. ^ Twitter, Paul Russel (@docabominable): "...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..." (Retrieved on Dec 18, 2022) [archive]
  26. ^ 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." (Retrieved on Dec 18, 2022) [archive]
  27. ^ 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." (Retrieved on Dec 18, 2022) [archive]
  28. ^ Halo Legends, Origins audio commentary
  29. ^ Halo Waypoint, Wintertime Wrap (Retrieved on Nov 18, 2022) [archive]
  30. ^ Halo: Evolutions Volume II, page 10
  31. ^ Halo: Silentium, pages 309, 312, 314
  32. ^ Halo: Silentium, page 230
  33. ^ Halo: Silentium, page 267-268
  34. ^ Halo: Primordium, page 338
  35. ^ Halo: Silentium, page 36

External links