The Answers To Cortana Remain On The Surface
On my 14th birthday they took me to a lab, and... a doctor came in, and... it was a ... lady doctor in a white coat.
Introduction:
Now, I want to begin this post by making explicitly clear, that I do not condone the execution or the writing of Halo 5: Guardians, nothing I will say here will make anything about Halo 5's writing any better or any worse.
What I will be talking about today is actually the fact that by all means, Cortana as our enemy makes sense, not only that, it's a logical story progression -- For the most part -- to have her as our enemy to end her story arc.
Though, keep in mind, everything I will say will be part of my own speculation and theory, but I will provide the evidence afterwards as to how I came to this conclusion.
Also, keep in mind this will probably be a short article, unlike the rest. So, without further a do, let's get on with this, shall we?
[I also want to make clear that we will be dabbling in spoilers if you don't want to be spoiled, avoid this article at all costs until you're caught up with Contact Harvest, Halo 5, Halo 4 Loot Crate, I Love Bees, Dominion Splinter, Forward Unto Dawn & Origins. Fair warnings aside, let's get on with it.]
The Theory:
With all the following events that have been happening around the Halo universe, I had kept this idea locked away in my mind for a while, perhaps only a few people knew about what I was exactly thinking when it came to this theory.
Well, as I have kept reading and reading all the news, and the moment I got my hands on a picture of today's loot crate. Well, the picture began to become clearer, so, here's my theory:
My theory goes back directly to Halo 3, with Cortana's mind corrupted by her time with the Gravemind, she was left touched by his ideals and the things he had done to her. And perhaps, this influenced one of her personality constructs.
Fast forward a bit and we find ourselves drifting in space for five years, herself showing signs of rampancy, she began to build a story of the Forerunners and that of Humanity in her head. While showing the obvious signs of rampancy, she continued on, thinking, alone. One day, however, part of her is fed up with this, and expresses that if she was going to die, then John would suffer the same fate. Although distracted by something else as the ship begins to slow down, Cortana and her personality matrix cease this action.
But here comes the interesting part, from previously released media, we know that AIs closer to rampancy can have split personalities; as evidenced by Durga who had five personalities and she could transition between one and her original memories from her brain donor almost seamlessly. A donor who was named Yasmine Zaman. Candidate for a secondary Spartan-II group who was killed by Catherine Halsey for her smarts and her brain donated to create an AI; one that would become the ancillary construct named: Melissa. Melissa was blown apart by an accident aboard the Prowler UNSC Apocalypto, sending fragments of her across time. Those fragments will come to be named; Sleeping Princess, The Operator and Durga.
Now, what do I think of this, though? Well, not necessarily the exact same circumstances, but I believe that Cortana suffers from a similar split personality disorder, causing her to have different constructs evidenced further after splitting herself aboard the Mantle's Approach and how some of her fragments seemed influenced by Didact's own views in Halo 5, obviously influencing her speech to sound awfully similar to that of Didact's own. As her fragments came into direct contact with the Didact's own combat skin.
And well, lo and behold, the release of the new loot crate data drop very much confirmed that Cortana killed Aine. But the interesting thing is that she seemed very... Unaware of what she was doing, while also aware. Which the first thing I thought about when I read that was back to Forward Unto Dawn, having a part of her threatening to kill John where he slept.
Perhaps that was a fragment of her that was very hell bent on the things that had happened to her. Perhaps that fragment is the one we see that survives.
Because our Cortana died.
But perhaps this corrupted fragment lived on, corrupted by the views of Gravemind, corrupted by the Mantle and wishing to form it her own and most of all, corrupted by the Didact's own presence and views.
After all, remember this line from Halo 5: Guardians
Oh, yes, AIs are just machines aren't we? Mass produced. Disposable. Well, humanity may not have cared for its created. But we will care for you.
The Evidence and Sources:
Now, we go for the answers.
1. How did Cortana both speak with Aine and aid us at the same time? AI's can split fragments and transport them around systems they know, here's an excerpt from Contact Harvest.
Sif was surprised. It was the first text COM Mack had sent her in a very long time. He was flirting but not speaking—making an unusual effort to be polite. But it was Mack’s final question that really threw her logic for a loop. In the history of their relationship, Mack had never asked Sif to visit him in his own data centre. Had she been in a more stable state, Sif would never have compressed a fragment of her core and pulsed it down the Tiara’s maser. But her algorithms’ restraint had backfired. If they wanted her to be reasonable, she would oblige—get another rational being to confirm or dismiss her conclusions. A few seconds later, Sif’s fragment hit the antennae atop Utgard’s reactor complex and slipped into Mack’s COM buffer.
<\ Well. That was quick.
<\ Make yourself comfortable. Be with you in a jiffy. \>
2. How did she kill Aine? Well, the answer is fairly simple, we've seen something similar before as to how one AI can sufficiently affect another, again, in Contact Harvest. Here is an excerpt of said interaction.
“Loki,” she said, taking a step back. The ONI PSI forced a smile. “He told me to say good-bye.”
Loki moved forward swift as lightning. His avatar grabbed Sif’s hands and held them tight while his fragment tore out of the cluster. She threw up a firewall, but the fragment cut through it with aggressive, military-grade code designed to decimate hardened networks. The circuits of a port authority AI were easy pickings. Sif tried to speak, but no words came.
“He asked me to keep you safe.” Loki slowly shook his head. “But that’s too risky. Better just to keep you quiet.” The data fragment exploded outward, filling all her clusters and arrays with a debilitating virus. She could feel her core temperature rising rapidly as her hardware fried around her. Her avatar swooned—an outburst of emotion as the virus deleted her restraint algorithms and purged the rest of her operational code.
Loki’s avatar caught Sif’s in his arms and held her as she shook. When her avatar finally stopped twitching and his fragment was satisfied she would not recover from his attack, Loki pulled the fragment back to the one cluster he had spared. “A precaution,” he said, as the fragment burrowed into the cluster’s flash memory. “In case your guests are smarter than they look.” The last thing Sif remembered was Loki’s glint behind Mack’s eyes. Then her core logic faltered, and everything in her data centre went dark
Here is an excerpt of her conversation with Aine as well.
[ANE 3567-7] Remove yourself from my operational Matrix NOW, or I will inform the Captain and they will lock you and your Spartan down. Do you understand? Or would you like me to articulate the UEG's policy for final dispensation?
[CTN 0452-9] Aine, let's work--
[ANE 3567-7] I see what you're doing. Stop! Stop that now!
[BREAK]
[CTN 0452-9] Aine. . . Aine? Damn it. You should have let us help you while you had a chance.
3. What did she do in Forward Unto Dawn? It's better you watch it.
4. Origins?
5. Who is Durga? Durga is a fragment of Melissa that got transported into Earth, 2552, the other two fragments of her - Sleeping Princess and The Operator - were sent to the past to 2004. She was featured in I Love Bees. Here are a few excerpts of her becoming Yasmine and Durga all at the same time.
Jersey: Durga! Can you hear me? Durga: Jersey... Jersey: Durga! If you're still in there somewhere, we really need your help! Durga: I'm trying Jersey... Kamal: Yasmine! Durga: I'm here! Jersey: Who's running the show in there?! Durga: I am. Jersey: Who? Durga: Durga. Jersey: Are you sure? Durga: It's getting easier to compartmentalize. Jersey: Nice to hear. Okay, we need to find out what's happening to Rani, and we need to think of a way to get the freak out of here.
Durga: I'm playing on the beach. Very young... making a castle out of sand... It's way better than my brother's. There's a boy on the beach next to me. But, a wave comes up foaming with spiders and takes away his face. Kamal: Shh... Yasmine... it's me, Yasmine... it's your brother... Kamal. Durga: There are people who love me. I will not be forgotten. I will not be forgotten... I will not be forgotten... Kamal?! Kamal...?
Jersey: Wait... why bees? I mean, if you came here because you knew my dad, what was it about that place that-- Kamal: Yasmine... Durga: Kamal? Kamal: I'm here, Yasmine. Durga: They took me away. Kamal: I know... Durga: They took me away and no one ever came to get me. Kamal: (in pain) I'm sor... Durga: They trained me... eight years... (Durga slowly returns) to be a Spartan. They taught me to kill... with guns, and knives, and ships, and bombs, disease, and diplomacy, and my own bare hands. Jan: And you were a good little girl, and you learned it all. Durga: Until they murdered me.
Kamal: Oh, Yasmine... Durga: On my 14th birthday they took me to a lab, and... a doctor came in, and... it was a ... (Yasmine) lady doctor in a white coat. And, the nurse brought out a steel tray covered in picks and scalpels that rattled when she walked. I thought that I could use them to kill the doctor, but I didn't. I let them strap me down. Jersey: Durga, it's okay, we're here. Kamal: Yasmine, you don't have to do-- Durga: --and she, picked up this long needle, with some yellow liquid in it. Black bars like stripes at the millilitre markings... Jan: Jesus... Durga: And she said, "this will hardly hurt a bit." Kamal: Yasmine... Durga: (Durga returns weakly) She said, just... a pinch, honey. You'll barely feel it. Just a little sting. (Durga starts crying)
6. Fragments?
Dominion Splinter - Tales From Slipspace story - Confirmed that the one we saw in Halo 5: Guardians were essentially fragments of the one that died to get us out of the Mantle's Approach.
There's also this other image that seems to hint at another personality in TFS.
Author's Notes:
And that brings this article to a close, as I am writing this I am clocking at 1.8k words for this article, so I'm guessing that what I said at the beginning that this was going to be a short one, is probably a lie by now. Hah. I often underestimate what I can write and how much I can write.
I also hope you all enjoyed this one, I have been working on this theory for months formulating it in my head, that loot crate data drop just blew up the hatch for me. It feels like a really strong theory, even though Halo 5 was a botched mess, I hope that they can redeem it this way or another. As it is possible to redeem it.
With all the consecutive releases that have been going on in the past months, it just shows that they still know what the heck they're doing with the story of Halo, especially Envoy. I just hope Halo 6 isn't hindered by anything, and of course, you do you, 343. Finish this storyline how you intend it. We don't need another change of story to fix this.
Also, If you wish to listen to I Love Bees, you can do so right here in either of these two alternatives. [Halopedia Link]
Thank you guys, profusely, this shall be my last paid post of the month as Patreon starts charging as of today, the link to my patreon is hyperlinked on the subtitle, if you feel like helping a rat in need from Venezuela that's the main place to go. Give anything at all or give nothing at all. Just letting me write these about anything I want is very much so enough to me:
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As a few closing words, the Archive has begun undergoing major changes! So the Archive Beacons will obviously resume soon enough as well as my first issue of Pictorial Hand.
Also, to all my friends at PAX today, love y'all, hope I could be there to enjoy that time with you guys right now. And to hold one of those BR55s or a Sniper Rifle...
Also, the purpose of that Half Life image is because yes, you will get my Half Life article next, yes you will see everything I have to say soon enough!
But as always, live your life, stay safe, play Halo and other vidya and I'll see you on the next article!
- HaruspexOfHell
