unforum

[NSA]

From the end of Halo 2 "... my creators activated the Rings, they, and all additional sentient life, in three radii of the galactic center died, as planned."

Now, we dont know where the Forerunner's claimed the galactic center was located, but its possible that Earth's location was outside the three radii. GS 343 makes it pretty clear that the Halo firing was well thought out and planned, so it makes sense that they would plan for the Ark and the firing device to be secure, if only to be able to fire it again if something went wrong.

It also wouldnt make sense for a race like the Forerunners to kill themselves and all other sentient beings off entirely, since that would in-effect be the same as letting the Flood win. If the Flood managed to infect the universe, they would eventally die off as a result of a lack of new hosts. In effect they would kill their own food chain, and accomplish the same thing as the Halos. The Forerunners must have known this, and known the Flood infection had only reached "three radii of the Galactic Center". So I imagine the Forerunner did the equivilent of cutting off their own hand to save the rest of the body, or something. Kill most so a few could live? It just doesnt make sense to kill everyone in the galaxy just so they dont get.. killed by the Flood. Humm.

When the third Prophet (forget his name!!) is dying from the Flood infectious form, he tells Master Chief that the Prophet of Truth is going to "Earth, to finish what was started.. and this time, none of you will be left behind". This could be taken many ways, but I believe he is referring to the surviving Forerunners managing to survive the first Halo detonation? It seems the Prophets know a LOT more about the Halo's than they are letting onto.. so I guess we wait and see.

[Fenwicked]

[archon]

I'm with NSA on this one; the Ark is probably Earth and the surviving Forerunners AKA humans.

The other reason behind creating the Halos is that maybe becoming one with the Flood is just too terrible an existence to have to be subjected to. It's gotta be hell on your sinuses, at least.

edit: To, two, too.

[Anton P. Nym]

[adfegg]

[archon]

[ubersaurus]

Joe Staten answered a few questions about Halo over on HBO, and said that everything from the novels or the Bees is subject to change from Bungie themselves-hell, he personally didn't consider the Bees canon(although he loved it). He also answers a few other little tidbits, like that the 3 distant SPARTANs don't affect Halo 2 at all, he covers the different Ages of the covenant, but most importantly, he dodges the question of the Covenant releasing the Flood, saying that "no rational being would knowingly release the Flood". He also dodges any questions that relate humans to forerunner, but says that ONI knows far more then anyone realized.

[NSA]

Those different "Ages" titles are sure interesting. It sounds like they are written from the Covenant perspective, since we know they refer to the "4th age of Reconciliation" etc.

[archon]

Just gonna give my brief rundown of the age names:

Age(s) of Abandonment - like NSA, the period of growth after Halo firing
Age(s) of Conflict - Elites versus Prophets
Age(s) of Discovery - Prophets find Forerunner tech
Age(s) of Reconciliation - Prophets and Elites come together to form Covenant
Age(s) of Conversion - Elites rope in the Grunts and the Hunters, maybe the Engineers and Drones, too. And Jackals, of course.
Age(s) of Doubt - Probably when the Grunt uprising was. Maybe other races had heretics, too.
Age(s) of Reclamation - Discovery of the Halos/beginning of the Covenant attempts to fully harness all Forerunner technology and modify it for their purposes.

The later history is pretty much based on assumption, but everything before that is documented Covenant history. The Flood may have been found in either the Age(s) of Doubt or Reclamation, at least in my opinion. The Prophets probably learned that humans still existed in doubt. In my opinion.

Edit: Always forget the Jackals.

[adfegg]

[ubersaurus]

[archon]

[NSA]

[weephun]

OK, going off memory here, so I could really be wrong, but isn't there a quote in the manual that comes with the collectors edition that list as coming from the Age of Reconciliation?

[NSA]

Well in the Halo 2 soundtrack CD, there is the Covenant "Writ of Union":