The Forerunner are shrouded in mystery. Although their cyclopean architecture still remains, they have long been absent from their own creations. What little we know of them is explained vicariously through their machinery and their automatons. Clearly, they were technologically superior to both Humanity and the Covenant. Their empire spanned at least this galaxy, encompassing both Einsteinian reality and Slipspace.

At one point in the Forerunner's history, they encountered the Flood. For whatever reason, they felt it was necessary to contain and study the Flood, in colossal facilities capable of omitting sentient life from the entire galaxy, rather than destroy them outright. Their allowance of the Flood's perpetuation could be considered an inexcusable lack of foresight for such an advanced civilization, though without knowing their precise reasoning, the passing of judgement is problematic.

The Forerunner had abandoned this Halo, Installation 04, some time ago, leaving their robotic compatriots behind to defend and monitor the installation. Seeing the Master Chief and Cortana breach protocol and refuse to activate Halo upon the Flood's release, 343 Guilty Spark turns Halo's only known internal defensive system on them: the Sentinels. The Sentinels are floating Mantis-like machines, using what is presumably Forerunner weapon and shield technology. Unlike the the Human and Covenant arsenal, the Sentinels used some sort of controlled stream of energy. Deadly and precise, they appear to be more like surgical cutting tools than offensive weaponry, and while effective against the Flood's lower forms, are easily overcome by the Warrior class.

Their relics are not restricted to Halo 04. The Aztec-esque stones of C'ort Azur, the arches and weathered inscriptions of Sigma Octanus, the intricate caverns and 3km holographic dome beneath ONI's Reach complex, the ancient stepping-stones of the Grunt's homeworld, and the Prophet's own claim to have evolved on an abandoned Forerunner planet, not to mention the countless installations undoubtedly pilfered to allow the Covenant to have achieved their current levels of technology, all give testament to this galaxy's permeation.

But who were these Forerunner; these Truth-givers? What relationship do the ever reverent Covenant have to them; does persecuted Humanity have to them? The Covenant, garbed in their glyphs, pay an eery homage to those symbols depicted in the interiors of Halo's buildings, whereas Humankind seems all too at home, and recognized. But what of 343 Guilty Spark's comments of their lost history? Have they been destroyed, taken leave, or are they now "in chains"? Much remains to be answered.

As for the Forerunner, it is interesting to note that the Covenant have symbols similar to those found on Halo. It is possible that the Covenant may be the Forerunner that built Halo. As to why they are foolish enough to release the Flood, it is possible that though they are the Forerunner, they had "forgotten" about the Flood. Furthermore, the energy field that goes between the two "projections" on their dropships looks a little like the Forerunner energy bridges.

An interesting idea. The Covenant are obviously interested in the Halo, but that they might be reclaiming their own lost heritage puts a different spin on it.

-mnemesis

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Jesse Cook (cool_jess@hotmail.com) writes:

I stumbled across your site the other day and read through your collections of data. After reading through the various sections I noticed that everybody keeps saying "The Forerunner", and wondering whether it is plural, for a race of beings, or singular, as in one being. Anyways, I was playing Halo and I started playing at "The Two Betrayals" and I noticed that when Cortana is informing the master chief of what he was about to do, she says, "The Forerunners" with an "s", as in plural. I think it's in the spot where she says something to the effect of, "Do you have any idea why the Forerunners built this place?". I haven't played it again to verify yet, just remembered and thought I'd submit this piece of data for discussion.

There's always room for more discussion. And Jello. :)

-mnemesis

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Mark Levin, in an HBO Forum post, comes up with a different idea with regards to the Forerunner:

I know he says this, but don't the huge plants on 343GS sort of look like they've been infected? Their bulges flash the same way Infections do. Maybe the Forerunners were superintelligent trees?

Cheeky.

-mnemesis

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Another possible theory explaining the relationships between the different races on Halo.

Stefan Ludlow (sfludlow@voyager.net) writes:

...what do all of these have in common?
 
 
    Symbols on Halo buildings
    Symbols in Control room
    Symbols on Gold Elite backs
    "great religious significance to Covenant"
 
I have deduced (or think I have) why Halo has a deep religious significance to the Covenant, more accurately, the Elites.  The symbols on Halo are the same style as those on the Gold Elites back. I think that the Elites bay be the Forerunner, or the Forerunner are the ancestors of the Elite species.

Who the hell WERE the Forerunner?!?

-mnemesis

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Craig has some observations about the similarities between Forerunner and Covenant controls.

Craig Hardgrove (chardgrove@hotmail.com) writes:

My method of rampant speculation only involves visuals from the game. I think Bungie has given us a lot to work with if we just pay careful attention to many subtle details of the game.

Control panels on Truth and Reconciliation are same as those on Halo. This is most noted in the Control Room and in the underground complex with the flood. Covenant=Forerunner possibility. The most interesting control panel area on Truth and Reconciliation is an elevated platform above the large flight deck areas that the dropships leave from.

In 343 Guilty Spark, when you are in the underground complex with the flood, I have noticed a few areas (at least one) that consist of an entrance to a square hallway with three locked doors. After the flood have been released, if you go to those areas the doors have been blown off and you can enter the three rooms. These rooms appear to be holding cells for the flood. Also, there is a room in the level with a large glass structure in it, with a control panel similar to that on the Truth and Reconciliation and in the Control Room. When you first encounter the glass structure you notice gross green stuff (flood blood) dripping from the walls (at this point you are below the glass structure). These areas definitely seem like some sort of testing chamber. It also appears to me that the area above where you first enter the locked door and encounter the flood is some kind of observational area for the testing facilities. I say this becaus similar control panels to those in the control and room and on the truth and reconciliation appear there.

Bungie? Subtle details? Nah... ;-)

-mnemesis

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Matt Wright's observations on the Forerunner and their tech: amongst other things, perhaps the Sentinels were never designed to counter anything above Infection forms and the gradual dissolution of the Forerunner empire

343 Guilty Spark seems surprised that the ballistics-type human weapons (most noteably the shotgun) are so effective against the Flood. Someone else noted that the Energy-beam weapons used by the sentinels are excellent against the small spores of the flood, but very weak against the mature Flood warriors. This perhaps indicates that the biological lifeforms 343 GS talks about were never intended to be on the Halo. Since this intallation was a research facility, as well as a weapon, perhaps the Forerunner were not biological lifeforms, and therefore had not anticipated needing a defense mechanism to destroy mutated Flood forms. This also might disprove the unsatisfactory (in my book) feeling that the Forerunner did not care to take their chances fighting and commited suicide (If this was, in fact, the case then the Forerunner were definitly not Human).

What they left behind is impressive. Their structures are intact after countless years, and the Halos are fulfilling their purpose in their absence. Reminds me of the Roman empire, who grew to be greater and stronger then any other nation up to that point, but gradually died over centuries, never really being conquered. Even the powers that arose from europe- Spain, France, England - all had roots in that empire. I think that this is what happened to the Forerunner.

It is obvious that whatever the capabilities of Halo are, whatever is actually ON Halo when it goes remains alive. 343 GS quite clearly indicates the Halos have been used before and evidently the 'Reclaimer' survived the destruction to ask him if he would do it again, and the Flood also survived. Where did they go? Perhaps their empire collapsed- as mentioned above- dealing with a now empy galaxy, leaving colonies behind, with new cultures arising from each Halo. From this seperation may have arisen the seperate species that now make up the Covenant. After many years, clues, may have caused them to stumble onto Halo. I also like the theory that the Forerunner created the Covenant, with their strict religious rules (the control of halo is in a shrine of some sort), and highly advanced genetic strains. The Covenant, being genetically engineered by the Forerunner, could have been more powerful, expecially together, then anyone imagined, and could have struck with a deadliness only matched by the Flood.

More and more, these conundrums keep popping up. Why not just destroy the Flood outright? Why would the Forerunner have assumed that no biological creatures would ever be on the Halo? Hmm...

-mnemesis

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Simon goes on with a second possible theory on the roots of the Halo Story.

My only other theory of Halo history, (which is not as sound) is that The Forerunner(s), created the Flood, sealed them inside Halo, and left symbols and information for the Covenant to find. That is, assuming that the Forerunner(s) knew of the Covenant's religious beliefs. The Covenant were meant to open the door, releasing the flood, as a test of either the Flood or Covenant's ability as a species. Seeing how destructive they were, the Forerunner(s) wished to destroy the Flood, as a precaution for possible disaster. The whole Covenant-Human war wasn't expected, and not part of the Forerunner plan. Although, when the Forerunner(s) indestructible, living, speaking, live video camera 343 Guilty Spark found the Master Chief, the Forerunner(s) chose him to be a prime subject for activating Halo. This is all, of course, under the rash assumption that the Forerunner(s) weren't really gone, just watching everything happen through Guilty Spark.

Where are the Forerunner, anyway?

-mnemesis

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On the subject of the Forerunner, the Flood, and the Covenant:

The Forerunner(s), being an incredibly advanced species, did not fear the Flood enough to destroy them, and instead kept them contained within Halo for study. They, of course left Halo, to ensue greater archeological discoveries elsewhere. The Covenant found Halo and studied it, finding deep religious significance in it. As Cortana said, "The control room seems to be located in some sort of temple, or shrine." The Covenant revered the long since gone Forerunner(s) because of the incredible advancement of Halo. They dug deeper inside to see if they could find more religious leavings of the Forerunner(s). They instead found the Flood. The symbols on the walls of the building in 343 Guilty Spark are the same as the ones on the Covenant's vehicles, as well as on the Elites backs. (This I have only heard of and have not yet found to be true myself) I assume that this is not because the Covenant are the descendants of the Forerunner(s), but because they revere them. A Forerunner symbol on an Elite's back would be the same as the American flag on the marines shoulders, by my estimation. The only reason the some of the Covenant technologies are similar to the Forerunner(s), such as the Library elevators and the Shade guns, are because the Covenant emulated the Forerunner(s).

-mnemesis

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Liquidex, in this HBO forum post, makes the following observation:

Liquidex writes:

Apparently Human history is 343GS's "lost time". Personally, I can't help but wonder if that's the smoking gun right there-- I mean regardless of the graphical connections of the Covenant in terms of symbols and computer interfaces and what not, can there really be any doubt after he says something like this?

There are a number of good points made by other posters in the same thread.

-mnemesis

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Jehkoh@aol.com (Jehkoh@aol.com) writes:

Perhaps the Forerunner suffered from a plague of some sort that altered their genetics, resulting in mutations and disfigurations. They realized they were altered beyond help and after some time figured out they would harm fellow Forerunners, and (since they were the master alien race) preserved themselves within Halo or as an act of selfishness, preserved themselves within Halo and waited for someone to destroy their food, so they could exist without harming others personally, (only by killing the others, impersonally. I prefer my first thoery. They preserved themselves within Halo. Perhaps Halo had already been constructed before the Forerunner were plagued, and it's purpose (weapons of mass destruction) was to be for something else.

-mnemesis

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Sean Hansell (The Majin) (sean@sovereigninnovations.com) writes:

This is in addition/spin-off to Ryan's theory on the nature of the covenant, so credit him for my revelation.

Part 1:
The Covenant and The Forerunner could've had a relationship somewhere in the past. Perhaps the Forerunner were member race of the Covenant, a race of builders. Somewhere along the line, the Forerunners crossed or defected from the Covenant. (It would help to know here who just the Covenant?s ?gods? were)
The Covenant declared war on the Forerunner, wiping them into extinction. Some of the Forerunner escaped.....to Earth. Only a few, that made it to reproduce and evolve into the human race. Over time the legend of the Covenant disintegrated into memory.

Part 2:
When the Human race started to become technologically evolved, they began to expand into a small empire. Somehow, the Covenant came across the human installation, Harvest. Surprised at the re-emergence of their old partners, the Forerunner, they immediately destroyed the colony. Now they have declared war on the Humans. This would explain a load of different things.

1. Why GS recognizes you as Human/Forerunner.
2. Why the Covenant have such a seemingly non-existent reason for hating your guts.
3. Why Covenant and Halo/Forerunner technology is almost identical.
4. Why the Covenant worship the Halo, the death ground for the Forerunner they destroyed.
5. Why GS is surprised you brought such "ineffective weapons" to combat the Flood.

A very tidy theory. Sean goes on to point out that it doesn't explain the Flood, but it does do a very good job on the other species. Any thoughts? ;-)

This is the thread over on the HBO forum that Sean is referring to. As usual, go check it out!

-mnemesis

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It has been postulated before that, since 343 Guilty Spark recognizes us, our outward appearance must be similar to that of the Forerunner (assuming that it was a Forerunner who had previously activated Halo). It has also been theorized that our MJOLNIR armor has some connection to the Covenant, but we must remember that in Halo: The Fall of Reach we learned that the MJOLNIR armor is purely a human creation (the Covenant shield technology is added later). Masenko-Ha checks in with some coherent (and well-written!) thoughts:

Masenko-Ha.com (webmaster@masenko-ha.com) writes:

I think the Forerunner is an ancient form of the human race, and here's why:

One: Halo 343 has the same atmospherical conditions as those on Earth. Similar weather, similar gravity and similar habitat. The marines can breathe and move like normal on the ring, and this is proof of my theory.

Two: Similar technologies. It is a highly believed theory that 343 Guilty Spark thinks he has seen the Master Chief before, and that is probably because the Forerunner - or the ancient humans - are very similar to the Master Chief. Would the humans, given enough thousands, millions or billions of years evolve in a somewhat relative manner? I think so... and this would mean creation of some of the same devices, specifically noted here: the MJOLNIR armor.

Three: We don't know where the Forerunner came from. They obviously aren't from Halo, but created them, just as humans - once our technology advances - may be able to do. They simply colonized, just as the humans have. I believe that every technology displayed by the Forerunner could be achieved by humans, given we live long enough for our technology to advance.

Four: the Covenant called a "Holy War" on the humans, and thought it incredibly urgent to take control of Halo before the humans. Now... why would any race so technologically advanced, and well-allied just begin the genocide of a race they nothing about?

343 Guilty Spark's babblings prove that the Forerunner have fired Halo before. Perhaps the Covenenant witnessed, or maybe even barely survived the firing of Halo and now believe that the Humans are Forerunner.

As a matter of fact, the Covenant could even know that the Humans are just the descendants of the Forerunner, but with similar technologies and physicallities, would not our mind-sets be overall the same? And then, we'd be just as capable as the Forerunner to fire Halo again, given the right Human gets their hands on the devastating controls of Halo.

So... how did the Human genetics get on Earth? There are a million possibilities... I'm sure you can think of one. Remember: the Forerunner DID colonize, and we DO NOT know the limits of Forerunner technology.

Would something as specific as our armor survive in genetic memory to be created again eons later? "Oddly familiar, as if from an old dream", eh? Make that a really old dream... ;-)

-mnemesis

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Åstro the Space Duck has done a great job of compiling and interpreting the Forerunner symbols found throughout Halo and it's environs. Check it out, now!

writes:

-mnemesis

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Kurt Eskew (keskew@kc.rr.com) writes:

...343 GS interest in human history, the strange symbols, and the covenants religious obsession with Halo. It all points to one thing, the Forerunner are the descendents of the artist formally known as Prince. Just think about it for a second. What else could be the explination. My theory is that Prince, or what ever he is called now, was frozen and launched into space. He landed on an alien world, defrosted, and began cloning himself. He then transmitted his music throughout the galaxy where the Covenant picked it up. They loved it and began to seek out its source. The genetically enhanced Prince then constructed Halo, conceived an entire language with just symbols and duplicated is devout fans, the flood. However the flood soon became disinterested and drove their masters from the Halo, a long time passes and eventually MC comes by.

-mnemesis

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Warren Wilson (warrenvw@softhome.net) writes:

Factual evidence in the Library is abundant and is supplied in brief intervals by 343 GS's random statements. To first take a crack at analyzing the whole mystery, we must ask ourselves the oh so common question of "who does 343 GS think the MC is?" He refers to MC as reclaimer, and talks throughout the entire game as if our hero, John 117, is part of an old, recognizable race with whom the floating monitor is already familiar. Well that's because he is. MC is forerunner, just as all humans once were.

When 343 GS lectures you about bringing ineffective weapons, despite the containment protocols, he talks as if you already knew the protocols. How could you have, unless you are part of the race that originally constructed Halo? He also refers to the other race (the covenant) as being responsible for releasing the Flood. Indeed we know they are, for Cortana informs us of this when she freaks out in Halo's control room back in the fifth board. "The other race" signifies there being two races, one which you must be a part of since he's addressing the statement to you. Once again, this clues you into being forerunner, for it is unlikely that the monitor has been exposed to more races than those who have made it onto halo, and if he is only aware of two, and one is the covenant, then the other must be human/forerunner.

343 GS also identifies your battle suit as being class two, and suggests upgrading to class twelve. If he recognizes your suit, it must be based on a technology that is forerunner and human at the same time. Perhaps this is the shield system, stolen from the covenant, the same system that makes the elites so darn hard to take down. But where did the covenant get it from. Well, talk about loopholes, probably from technology laying around in halo. This would give reason to 343 GS recognizing the model of your armor (despite how inferior he makes it sound).

However, one of the more important clues is in what 343 GS says towards the end of the Library, when he comments "The installation was specifically built to study and contain the Flood. Their survival as a race was dependent upon it. I am grateful to see that some of them survived to reproduce." Whose survival as a race, the Flood? Certainly not, that would be inconsistent with what he'd been saying all along. Most likely he's referring to the Forerunner. Granted, we don't know anything about why the flood was necessary for the survival of the forerunner, and why there was a previous outbreak. Heck, it might even be possible that the forerunner created the flood for some perverse reason. What we do know is that he's referring to you, MC, as being that offspring, and if the race he's talking about is the forerunner, which it most undoubtedly is, then he is identifying you as forerunner as well.

-mnemesis

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Drew van Vliet (cptcanuck23@yahoo.com) writes:

I belief (like many others) that the Humans are the Forerunner. To me this is very obvious. I mean from the comments that 343 Guilty Spark makes, I gathered that he believes the Humans and the Forerunner are one in the same. An obvious one was when he said; "I would conjecture that the other species currently on the installation is responsible for releasing the Flood. They seem most persistent in their attempts to access restricted areas." I am assuming that by the other species he means the Covenant (they were the first to release the flood). Another is when he said; "You can't imagine how exciting this is! To have a record of all of our lost time! Human history, is it? Fascinating." This is implying that Human history is the piece of the timeline lost after the Halos were used. How do I know the Halos were used before? From yet another quote "Last time, you asked me, if it was my choice, would I do it? Having considerable time to ponder your query, my answer has not changed." Considering that he still wants you to activate Halo's defences you can say that his original answer was "yes."

-mnemesis

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Acerdude17 (Acerdude17@aol.com) writes:

The Forerunner is/was evidentally far superior to any other race discovered at the time. To me the answer is blatantly obvious. The Forerunner consists of a fleet artificial intellegences (including centinals and and monitors, like 343 GS). I come to the conclusion based on the simple fact that Halo was designed to wipe life-forms away clean, the only reasonable reason somebody would build such a device is because they aren't organic life-forms. Really, why would you wipe yourself out with all that technology, or even create the capability for doing so? Anyway, the Forerunner built Halo to function as a life-form research center, that explains why it was built so as to sustain life, but also have the capabilities of wiping it away. They began by starting with simple things such as the trees, flowers, shrubs, and grass. Then the set of robotic "species" began to make infectious spores, later to become known as the flood. The Forerunner dis! covered how parasitic life was able to conquer all the simple life forms. Evidence of that particular experiment can be found in the level "343 Guilty Spark" (with all the infected trees/swamp areas).

-mnemesis

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Mr. Elliotto (elliotmohr@yahoo.com) writes:

People before have theorized that perhaps the Forerunners were mechanical beings, not biological. Well after reading through people's thoughts, I had one of my own. The most prodominant being: Why wasn't the flood destroyed outright if it were so dangerious? This, and possibly the creation of Halo are answered if you assume the Forerunners were machines.

My theory is that perhaps the entire Halo itself was created as a research facility. And I don't mean just for the flood--I mean all the biological life found on the surface of Halo's inner ring was a result of the Forerunners dabbling in biology.

-mnemesis

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D'Vane Polhill (DaPhatPhantom@msn.com) writes:

There might have been a single specie in the beginning. They were all peaceful. Soon, three groups formed and all of them had different ideas. One group could possibly be the Forerunner. They moved and settled elsewhere. The Covenant remain at their original spot, and what would later become the Flood, moved elsewhere as well. The Forerunner advanced in technology fast.

-mnemesis

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Matthew Braithwaite (ypocy2k@hotmail.com) writes:

I, personally, think that the forerunner(s) are some sort of god-like species, who created lots of races through their many tests and experiments. The first time they used the halo(s) must have been like the "flood" in the bible where god destroyed the earth in order to start a fresh. Maybe the forerunner(s) saved some of the races from the destructive force of the halo(s). Then to help them re-establish themselves, they must have given them help with new technologies (hence both humans and covenant having MJOLNIR armor).

-mnemesis

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Dustin M. (theblast00@hotmail.com) writes:

I would figure that the Forerunners were either the first or one of the first sentient beings in the universe and that they saw that their species was coming to an end. I would speculate that the Flood is the cause. As a last ditch effort to keep the species alive, they plant their DNA in every possible alien species evolving into what they think will be sentient. This DNA is routed so that their achievements and developments will evolve with the species. (Hence the same symbols with the covenant that are seen on Halo and when 343GS remarks about seeing the Mjolnir armor on the MC before.)

They construct the Halos and 343 GS and kill off themselves and any other sentient beings at the time to stop the flood spread. The species they implanted the DNA in were not affected as they weren't sentient yet. The species evolved and discovered Halo.

-mnemesis

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Wimoo Wiimsly (wimoo@hotmail.com) writes:

Maybe the covenant used to be the Forerunners' semi-satient 'slave' helpers. They evolved self-awareness after the Forerunners (died out?), and retained the forerunner symbols, not knowing what they mean. THIS is why they are occupying halo- to discover the truth about their origins!

-mnemesis

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Arthur Wellesly (arthur_wellesly@hotmail.com) writes:

It is important to note that that in the FoR, Dr. Halsey said the Covenant assimilate other technologies to their own. This not only explains why the symbols are the same, but aslo why the plasma beam on Level two looks just like Covenant weapons on Level one.

-mnemesis

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Andrew Hovey (andy_cap_@hotmail.com) writes:

...The covenant hold halo as some kind of realigious symbol, which is why they did everything they could to stop the PoA and her crew from landing on it, which includes launching boarding parties, and destroying life boats... ...The covenant obviously know there way around halo, or at least it seems that way. This may be explained by how the covenant always seem to be one step ahead of the Masterchief and Cortana... ...The technology on Halo and inside the covenant ships are very similiar. Aside from all the holographic control pannels, a good example of this is located in the Silent Cartograher level. Around the first two levels while desending toward the location of the control room, there is a large pillar which gives off purple light, and a hovering-like sound. This sound is exactly the same as the grav lift on the Truth and Reconcilliation.

-mnemesis

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Jonathan Steed (duckbill5587@hotmail.com) writes:

I think that the forerunners were actually covenant. I think that why they abandon the halo is because the flood killed high numbers of them, and they had to evacuate. The forerunners settled on a planet that later became the covenant homeworld.

-mnemesis

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Ry Kuntze (hydrokodone@hotmail.com) writes:

...the Forerunner genetically created the Covenant to serve as a militaristic race that would defend the various Halo installations from invasion. To further the Covenant's success, the Forerunner imbued a certain amount of 'holiness' to the Halo structures and fed such truths to the Covenant as a form of religion: if the Covenant believe that the Halo installations are holy, they'll defend them much better.

-mnemesis

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SAMPO Man (sampo@antisocial.com) writes:

My thoery has the Covenant being and not being the Forerunner at the same time... ...but maybe the ones reffered to as the Forerunner are now dead. Maybe the Forerunner are other alien species and just more of one army, that possibily died because of a Flood outbreak on another installation... ...Maybe the aliens on Halo are the Covenant, but their fallen comrades are now referred to (respectfully) as the Forerunner.

-mnemesis

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Dolores Beaulieu (doloresbeaulieu@charter.net) writes:

You see, the Covanent and Forerunner are very much alike. They have the same control pannels, the installations on Halo shoot plasmma just like the Covanent weapons, and the Forerunner robots and the Covanent both speak English.

-mnemesis

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An update? Don't be silly, its only a small one. There will hopefully be more shortly. But to show that there is more alive at the Story Page than just hair and fingernails...

DJ France (david_jf71@hotmail.com) writes:

If the Flood are a virus, that can be kept in a fairly small space, then why go to the trouble to build Halo(s) in the first place? Isn't there a better way to destroy the Flood than by killing it's food?

A superior race like the Forerunner would want to keep their budget and spending limits nice and tidy I would think. I couldn't begin to imagine the building cost of even one Halo! But the possibility of 4 or more Halos in the galaxy, or even more in the universe? You're in the big $$$$$$$ there.

Why build only one when you can have four for 4 times the price :)

-Finn

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The forum never lets up. An interesting point from a recent post by Wado SG:

First a disclaimer, maybe I watched too much Starblazers when I was a kid or watched the movie Starship Troopers too much...

Now is it possible for people to live in Slipstream Space? In the Fall of Reach there certainly are ships traveling through it and other objects are in there. I recall the UNSC finding an asteroid in Slipstream Space (oh wait, that was a Covenant ship I think).

Anyway, I think the answer is yes. In that case, could it be possible that the Forerunners found a way to live in Slipstream Space?

A good question. If any of the Forerunner were to survive the previous Halo firing, did they do so by entering Slipspace? Have they returned, or do they still call it home?

Perhaps they have been unable to leave. The 3rd Cortana Letter asserts that "whoever made such a place [Halo] must now live in chains; there is no other explanation for their absence".

In the Heechee Saga by Frederik Pohl, an ancient race known as the Heechee escaped a danger too great to confront by bottling up dozens of stars, entire worlds, and finally themselves within the safety and seclusion of a black hole. If the Forerunner are "trapped" in Slipspace (or somewhere similar) is the gate latched from the inside?

-Finn

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Spencer Ruport (sruport@adamsgrp.com) writes:

Maybe the forerunner are still monitoring the Halo's from afar and maybe... this is exactly the kind of experiment they had hoped for...

Hmmm. Those super-sentient races of antiquity always seem to pop up at the most unlikely times, leaving notes and telling you what to do. "Sleeping God" this, and "Tau Ceti" that...

-Finn

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Bartman778@aol.com (Bartman778@aol.com) writes:

Recently, a good gaming buddy of mine, Matt, and I were discussing our D&D campaign world that I run. He is constantly trying to get me to use gunpowder in it, which I will never do, but his arguments got us both thinking. A society that did not develop gunpowder/explosives would tend to develop technology remarkably similar to Covenant technology. Instead of focusing on how to build a bigger bomb (nuke), they would instead focus on building a bigger battery. Their energy efficiency would blow ours through the roof. However, they would not have to be any more advanced than human beings. Just as they have very few forms of explosive technology- the plasma grenade and needler being the only two examples- humans have limited forms of energy efficiency near covenant levels. The meaning of all of this? Humans and covenant could actually be about the same age, but have developed radically different technologies. Perhaps, if the Forerunner did create humans/covenant, they gave them each 1/2 of the puzzle. Or is it 1/2? Could each have been given 1/3 and the remainder kept or given to ANOTHER race?

A third race? Time will tell. ;-)

-mnemesis

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Unless the Flood find no delight in the Forerunner themselves...

Lord Can of Pain (coledec@hotmail.com) writes:

Could it be that the reason the Forerunners contained them instead of wiping them out was that they where only a threat to others? The Forerunners might have been immune, be it that their bodies could fight off the Flood or they might not have even been made of biomass. They could have been a race of living crystals or rock or just something not based on the usual living cells. To get to the stage that they are at would have taken thousands of generations and remarkable advancements. The usual Forerunner might have lived for millions of years and so the repopulation of a galaxy wouldn't seem that long to them. They might have felt the same of taking this galaxy out as we would of fumigating a bunch of harmful termites and a colony of ants got in the way.

While throwing a wrench into most Human/Forerunner theorizing, the idea does still have merit.

-Finn

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Chris "Spartan-776" Luksic (Fretburner5138@aol.com) writes:

I've taken to note the similarities between the game and the Ancient Period (Greece in particular). First off, there's this mysterious civilization (the forerunner) who just up and disappear. This is like the story of Atlantis. As Plato said, in one day and one night, a city disappeared (that's not the exact quote, but damn close).

And was swallowed by the sea on which it stood...

-Finn

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Crystals. What if the crystal found, that had Halo's Coordinates, was really a warning beacon, saying that this installation has been quarinteened, or something similar to that. :Shrugs: Just wondering.

Interesting point. And here we are, racing off across the galaxy to go there, the Covenant chasing/preceding us, totally ignoring the warning. The Forerunner must be shaking their heads in disbelief somewhere, rubbing their elongated, pulsating temples, watching us and wondering just how stupid are they?!?

-mnemesis

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Kodos (Tyrant343@aol.com) writes:

Now onto WHY would the Forerunner deem it necessary to kill all life in the universe to spare them infection...maybe they found it mercifull.

Why let a race serve as horrible slaves semi-sentient and infected when they can be euthinized instead? Wouldent be the first time one civilization had imposed its sense of morality and justice on another...

Well, Keyes' and Jenkins' descriptions of the receiving end of a Flood infection from Halo: The Flood certainly seem horrible enough, but that'd be some harsh mercy. ;-)

-mnemesis

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Over on the HBO Forum, there's an interesting post you might want to check out. It's got quite a lot of what we have referred to in the past as "crack-pipe" speculation, so be prepared for some far-reaching stuff, but it's got a certain sense of continuity. It's addressed to me, but, what the heck, you can all go read it. ;-)

-mnemesis

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Sympathy for the Devil

It seems that in the midst of all the aura and mystery surrounding the Forerunner, there is a feeling of animosity often hanging overhead; a few hard feelings. What gave/gives them the right to sacrifice the lives of all sentient life in this galaxy? With all their technology, couldn't they find another way? Why is extermination the only answer? Bob offers us a slightly more sympathetic perspective:

Bob Dole (saberwinggundam@hotmail.com) writes:

First of think of the flood as an advanced stage of cancer. Cancer with a conscious and malicious nature. Image this cancer as sentient and able to travel from one solar system to the other. Now imagine if you are one of the Forerunners? There is a sentient and highly contagious contagion running throughout the stars. All the lesser races are infected or already mutated by this highly evolving race. What do you do? Simple kill everything that's not you. It would be impractical to kill every flood spore and warrior drone, since there are probably trillions of them. The Forerunners were probably losing, or already infected, so what did they have to loose. No more "us", or the Forerunners, but no more "food" for the spore dudes. The last guardians of these ring worlds contained what flood they could for experimentation before they fell to old age or infection themselves.

Merely hastening the inevitable; euthanasia on a galactic scale...

-Finn

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Edward Shinai Purugganan (hybrid_phoenix2k2@hotmail.com) writes:

Now, there has been much speculation on the weather being used to protect Halo's systems either from the Flood itself, or maybe intruders, such as the Humans and the Covenant, and I believe they're correct. Yet I think there's more to just burying canyons in snow. Jonathan Pratt (July 5,2003) made some serious speculation about the blue streaks and the weather using snow to bury the control center in AotCR and other people in the past have also mentioned the tubes/pipes/ducts seen in AotCR. Now the snow may not be as effective as a deterrent against technologically advanced forces, but maybe for the Flood, but the pipes seem to decend farther than the ground, which might leave one to wonder: just how deep does this canyon go, and also, what exactly is filled up in the canyon? We know that parts of Halo have an extreme elevation like "Halo" and T&R, so we know its possible that these canyons are extremely deep. I speculate tha! t the tubes/pipes/ducts transport water and also possibly a substance that might generate a deep freeze on that water to create ice. Another consideration should be that the Flood were kept deep inside Halo, and the Forerunner made Halo to have their systems on higher levels and their experimental labs(which are most dangerous) on the extreme lower levels. Along with this, they created accessways to send constructs, such as Sentinels, down below to protect themselves from the Flood, effectively contain the Flood, and observe/experiment on them at the same time. Now back to the ducts with water, maybe their measure to contain the Flood, in case of an outbreak, was to fill the canyons with water and possible other areas, and freeze that water in order to hinder the Flood from expanding to higher levels. Since we know that the Flood would attempt to change the atmosphere (thanks to 343GS) the ice could probably isolate the lower levels for the Forerunner to figure out a solutio! n and take care of the problem, maybe send Sentinels through accessways which they didn't freeze. Ice seems to be more reasonable as a defensive measure and it seems likely that this is true, since 343GS said that Halo has been used before and while going to the control room in AotCR you find that the there is still a considerable amount of ice still present, possibly because they used the "ice isolation" measure before to contain the Flood. Halo is supposed to wipe out all life in a radius or something(I forgot) light years, but that doesn't mean that it would destroy life on Halo. Those portals on the outside edges of Halo, I believe, are the firing mechanisms which obliterate life, and maybe access-ports for ships or containment vechiles. To sum it all up: yes, the weather is a fail-safe measure, and that measure is to freeze out the Flood from higher levels, and to prevent life being assimilated by the Flood.

It's been long, but this is the short, expansion-part, conspiracy theory of the weather. It's not know whether Forerunner had a "civilian" population on Halo, or that they have one at all. However, if they did have a society that has different structures like our own, they might have wanted to keep experiments a secret. Thus, they hide them in lower levels and use weather as a fail-safe, instead of weapons. Sentinels could have been robotic assistants for anything, and be adapted to be used as containment robots, or anything else. So, the secret of the Flood is kept. For what reason? That's open to plenty of speculation by the masses... :) A note to everyone: just don't think the weather we have is some secret government control system to keep things in order and hide us from the truth.. or maybe we should... ;)

I don't know about that. That weather here has been pretty weird lately.

"Lesser" classes of Forerunner, eh? Interesting... ;-)

-mnemesis

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Bob Cringle (boogersayspickme@hotmail.com) writes:

Hey I was reading some of the other post on the story page and what if the Forerunner were actually water breathers. Think about it! The control is in a canyon that seems to be snowing all of the time. What if there was a malfunction in the environmental systems and really the snow is supposed to be water so that the Forerunner can breath. And also the Silent Cartographer is a piec of tall rock n the middle of an ocean. If that doesn't sound relistic then what about if the flood were origninally supposed to be allergic to water ie. if the went in it they would die. That would explain my earlier comments. That would also explain why the flood containment facility is a swamp (possibly a recently dried lake) Also that would explain why the entrances to all the major centres are underground and have well sealed doors. Another thing that I think goes along with my theory is that there is an opening in the top of the Silent Cartographer that an aircraft is able to fly into. Coincidence? I think not. Anyways thats just my 2 cents.

What if thats the reason Earth is covered in so much water? Mabye the forerunner dropped us here because they thought we would evolve into water breathers as well. Also mabye thats why the covenant (who might also be decendents from the Forerunner) look so different from us. Mabye the originall Covenant are actually water breathers.

The 'Forerunner seeding the galaxy' concept fits in nicely with this.

-mnemesis

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Robert Corregan (robbiecorregan@shaw.ca) writes:

Ever consider the possibility that the Flood are the Forerunner? Think of it. The Flood built the Halos as places they could hibernate in without being discovered. Then they built the Monitor and Sentinals to guard the facilities. (Now hear me out.) The Flood then try to take over the galaxy and failed because there were more advanced civilizations(human and covenant ancestors). They started loosing and retreated to the Halos and started to hibernate. The few remaining ones, with the Monitors assitance, activated the weapons. The advanced life in the galaxy was destroyed. They all hibernated because of lack of food. The Monitor became rampant and then started to hate his masters. The humans and Covenant became dominant again and found Halo. It could also be that is way the Monitor says "I'm so happy to see that some of them reproduced."

Well, 343 Guilty Spark is insane, no doubt about it. He's certainly had a loooong time to twist his original purpose into its polar opposite.

-mnemesis

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Does Forerunner tech door size matter, really?

Lori (wyattlori@peoplepc.com) writes:

We can tell by 343GS's behavior in relation to the flood's outbreak that the Forerunner have (or had) very different views on the disaster. While humans and covenant panicked and treated the situation as one of the direst of emergencies, 343 simply followed protocol and lead MC to the solution. I don't believe that a species that feared for its own existence would create an AI that could act in such a leisurely manner during this emergency, nor do I think that they would be willing to construct a weapon that would wipe themselves out in order to control a single outbreak (In quoting 343, "...this galaxy will be quite devoid of life, or at least any life with sufficient biomass to sustain the flood...") thus, I believe that the Forerunner: A.) Dwell outside of our galaxy, where they would not be vulnerable to their own "security mechanism" B.) (This may be a little stupid) Do not have sufficient biomass to sustain the flood. It is (barely) possible that the Forerunner are simply too small to interest the flood, and are thus impervious to Halo's mechanism. which is why they were able to so easily study them and, through their studies, discovered the threats that a massive outbreak could pose (perhaps infected lifeforms would be hostile towards the Forerunner in the event that they left the ring and infected entire planets). But this theory can easily be struck down by observing the Forerunner architecture. Doorways and hallways are constructed needlessly large to accommodate tiny beings. Control panels are positioned in such a way as to be convenient for humanoid creatures, roughly 5'6 or higher. On the other hand, note the absence of large stairs. Overall, most of the evidence points to theory "A," so I'm simply going to stop rampantly speculating and shut up.

We've had a number of submissions that mentioned the size of the hallways as evidence of the Forerunner's size, but remember, there are a few small doorways, too. The elevators on AotCR spring to mind, as do some of the doors on Silent Cartographer. Regardless, I think the "dwelling outside the galaxy" idea is much more intriguing. Wouldn't it be easier to contain a rampantly virulent organism inside of one (or more) manufactured facilites, rather than monitor an entire galaxy?

-mnemesis

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Rob Schultz (robs@essential-data.com) writes:

Regarding Eryk B Nice's speculations on Halo-04 being a fortress to guard some sort of doorway..

Lest we forget, the gas giant's apparently named "Threshold".. The threshold of a door, perhaps?

Indeed. And what of the moon, Basis? Who names a moon "Basis" and a planet "Threshold?" And why?

-mnemesis

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Jason Watson (forestfroggr@hotmail.com) writes:

I have been reading some of the recent speculation concerning the Forerunner, and thought I should put in my own two cents. Now, if the firing of Halo is such a drastic measure that it wipes out all life of sufficient bio-mass, which, presumably, includes the Forerunner (maybe they are non-biological in nature- hmmm) within the galaxy, then this last resort weapon is in reality of no use. Assuming that the Flood infection has reached such a point that it is unstoppable save for the firing of Halo, then the benefit of firing Halo is really nil, since it will not benefit the Forerunner (they will be dead). If all it can do is kill the food of the Flood, (which, if it kills things of sufficient bio-mass for the Flood, wouldn't that include the Flood as well?...but that's another matter all together) thereby starving all the Flood, then all Halo is good for is a "if we are going down, we are going to take them down with us" kind of a weapon. In regards to the previous firing of Halo, contrary to a recent post, the most natural interpretation of G.S.' statement about the others following suit is that once one is fired all will be fired, because if only one is fired, then the Flood can still eventually infect other areas of the galaxy. So, presuming that previously all Halos were fired, how could any 'seeding' of the Humans and Covenant take place? Assuming biological life of insufficient bio mass survived, that leaves only 100,000 years for both the Covenant and Human races to evolve, which seems like too short of a period of time. Now, there seems to be, assuming the aforementioned presuppositions are correct, (which is not necessarily the case) one possibility, involving three huge presuppositions. 1.Halo is spoken of as a Fortress world. 2.The Flood do not seem to be an original part of Halo. 3.A single Halo, let alone many, would take an enormous amount of time to build.

I will start with the last consideration. GS says that when the Halos are fired, "this galaxy will be quite devoid of life." Why the use of the word 'this'? Why not just say 'the galaxy'? It seems to me that if GS thinks MC is a Forerunner, then the word 'this' has great significance. To anyone else, once could just say 'the galaxy', because there would be no confusion regarding which galaxy one was talking about. Therefore, it seems likely that the Forerunner are not native to this galaxy, but came here in trying to escape the Flood. It is not a stretch, considering the technology of the Forerunner, that they may be capable of inter-galactic travel. So, perhaps while other galaxies were being overrun they sent a group to this galaxy to begin the construction of Halos, as I will now elaborate upon. This would go along quite well with the Flood not originally being a part of Halo. (The facility, Library, whatever, not Halo itself, is spoken of as being built to study the Flood.) Therefore, after the completion of Halo, structures were built to study the Flood, perhaps after the Halos were fired. But more about that later. Why is Halo a Fortress world? When GS is talking to MC, he mentions the firing of Halo rather casually, as if it will have no immediate effects on MC. This is important, and why Halo would be a Fortress world. The simple conclusion is that the effects of the firing of Halo do not affect the Halos themselves! Perhaps that is the purpose of the mysterious blue beams...who knows. The point is that the Halos are fortress worlds because they are the only safe place for the Forerunner to be when the Halos are fired. Having said all that, here is the scenario that I find most likely. The Flood is probably some naturally occurring parasite that came into contact with the Forerunner in some other galaxy. To avoid being completely destroyed, some Forerunner came to this galaxy to construct the Halos. Having done this, eventually the Flood caught up with them. Therefore, the Forerunners fired the Halos, wiping this galaxy clean, destroying the Flood, although perhaps they still remain in other galaxies, but without a way of leaving those galaxies now. That doesn't matter. What matters is that now this galaxy is free from the Flood. The Forerunner, with such a reprieve, decide to capture some of the Flood before they all die so they can study them to find a different way of killing them, or, perhaps, to find a way to use them for their own ends. Who knows? With this complete, the Forerunner civilization advances, populations grow, and eventually colonization begins to happen. However, after the firing of the Halos, there are only a few planets that haven't been ecologically devastated- and these happen to be Earth and the Covenant homeworld. A lot can happen in 100,000 years.

Those galaxy-hopping Forerunner. What will we do about them? ;-)

There is a certain amount of resistance to the notion of this galaxy, our galaxy, not having pride of place in the minds of the Forerunner. We would like to think that we would be protected from some galactic cataclysm, or at least left alone to deal with things our own way. After all, if we had never run up against the Covenant, yet some mishap on installation 04 led to the proper "containment protocols," it'd sure be a nasty (and very final) surprise to look up at the sky one day, *FOOM*, and humanity is history.
In contemplating the potential benefits of firing (a) Halo vs. the potential harm though, it may behoove us to consider a little bit larger picture than we might have before. Take a look at this image (almost 9 years old now ;-)). There are approximately 1,500 galaxies in that image alone. That image represents the area of the sky that would be covered by a dime (about 3/4", or a little under 2 centimeters), if you held it 75 feet awat from you. Imagine that. All those galaxies, just waiting out there. An intelligent and forward-thinking race might have a hard time resisting the urge to head out and really take a look around. ;-)

-mnemesis

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When it comes to behemoth feats of engineering and intra-galactic security, everyone is a critic. As if the Forerunner haven't been cut down enough for their apparent short-sightedness in building a Fortress World that annihilates everything it would seem to protect and keeping samples of the Flood for further study, deadnail pipes in with another quip regarding the way things should have been done. Well they should have asked you, shouldn't they ;)

deadnail (deadnail@yahoo.com) writes:

If your suit is a class 2 in Forerunner terms, and you are recommended to upgrade to a class 12... what's the top class available?

Did GS343 mean, hey, if you wanna get a class 38 go right the hell ahead, just don't trip and blow up the spacering... I believe he said you should have at least a 12.

They can build hundreds (???) of fekkin humongous spacerings with a 25,000 lightyear blast radius but they couldn't just make a suit for everyone so the Flood couldn't gain advantage in combat?

But a galactic suicide bomb with 10x the mass it would take to make suits for everyone? What would a class 47 pistol do, probably just leave a smoking crater where a combat form was standing. And even if they took major losses in the first fights, the Flood couldn't take control of their dead bodies in those suits.

So what the hell?

The only reason people would act that damn strange is guilt, like they wanted to take themselves all out as well... suicide to keep honor, like maybe admitting that their experiment went out of control and wiped out a few hundred allied species or something.

So maybe the Covenant realize we are the second coming of the Forerunner species. We wiped the Galaxy once, maybe all the Prophets just said, "To hell with it, let's just off the monkies and not worry about them doing it again."

Hell yeah! Er, wait... no. Geesh, I got caught up in the moment there ;)

-Finn

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Scott Porter (maplemist@perth.igs.net) writes:

Some people are mentioning the fact that 343 is very calm despite the emergency going on around him is a sign of rampancy or dillusion, but in TFOR on page 338 it says:

She knew they could see the countdown timer, but Cortana noticed that the crew responded well to her calm voice in stressful situations. Thier reactions times generally improved by as much as 15 percent--give or take. Sometimes, human imperfections made calculations maddeningly impercise.

It might just be that 343 has found this working with Marvin Mobuto, or has he been told this, or is it just dillusion and insanity?

Do note aswell on page 337 it says:

Cortana ran a self-diagnostic. Her Alpha-level commands were intact. She had not jeoparfized her primary mission by following this vector.

This means that she is free to do what ever she likes, and then afterwards check to see if it was okay.

Interesting possibility for 343 GS, and consistent with the idea of the Forerunner as an advanced, forward-thinking, big-brain civilization. If you think about it, the little guy got the MC, probably the most determined, focused human alive, to obey his orders (up until a point, that is), so his detached demeanor may be due to more than just his own, personal eccentricities.

As far as Cortana goes, I think the more significant point is that she felt that following the suggestion made by the strange symbols found on Sigma Octanus IV (which led them to Halo) might not be in line with the supposed primary mission (that of securing a Covenant Prophet and returning it to ONI), so much so that she ran a diagnostic on herself to verify. Anyone want to take a stab at deciphering Forerunner symbols with regard to star formations?

-mnemesis

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The scintillating sounds of soothsayer Sippan:

Sippan (sippan@macnytt.com) writes:

...won't we be enemies of the (if any) remaining Forerunner now? Ever read the hitch-hikers guide to the galaxy? The Forerunner have spend a lot of time (I assume) on building Halo, and its sole purpose seems to be to study (and contain) the Flood. Maybe they were only hours away from reaching the purpose of these studies, when! Some idiot from an obscure planet billions of light years away pops up from nowhere to use the installation as his personal battle arena, and he *blows it up*! WHAT ARE THE ODDS?!! Arghhh! It's like you have been building a life-size copy of the Master Chief using matches, and just when you are going to add the final match to the creation, the neighbor kid smashes a football into it. I know I would want to kill, imagine the Forerunner.... =)

Another idea is that the Forerunner had predicted this, but the MC went his own way about things and it didn't turn out the way they thought. I mean, to fire the Halo needed assistance from someone who could make it through The Library and recover the index, and then back to the control room. When the Forerunner built this they must have thought about the fact that if someone wants to activate Halo, that means the Flood have been released, and that means the place will be crawling with Flood. A normal human would be assimilated almost immediately. Guilty Spark can't do it himself. What are the odds of a Spartan übersoldier popping up from nowhere to do the job? So, I think there was some kind of prophecy about this, and that everything was destined to happen up until when Cortana convinced the MC to blow everything up instead.

The mice are going to be right ticked ;)

Prophecy, huh? As in, one that they strayed from, or perhaps, even with Cortana and John's free choices, one they still took part in? Events organized to someone else's liking? Past actions set in motion and orchestrated to converge, allowing John to be there at that exact time? Stranger things have happened...

-Finn

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Such talk of "zones" and how they can be used to "buffer" has been circulating the forum recently. And while intriguing, they could not be justly mentioned without clearing this piece of mail from the queue.

Ross Taylor (capuchin_king_of_monkeys@hotmail.com) writes:

I've just been reading the ideas sparked by 343's use of the term "this galaxy". Perhaps the Forerunner are intergalactic voyagers, but they do not hold this particular galaxy in high regard. During their travels, they came across a problem that could not easily be solved: the Flood, and rather than fight a losing battle they chose to flee. But recognising the ability of the flood to utilise the host's knowledge, they realised the possibility of the Flood travelling to galaxies the Forerunner inhabited.

Rather than travel the universe trying to eradicate all of the Flood, thereby risking making the situation worse by leaving themselves open to exposure, they decided instead to set up 'buffer zones', consisiting of entire galaxies between those of the Forerunnners, and those in which they had encountered the Flood. Using the fortress worlds they would ensure the Flood had no chance of traversing across a galaxy once they had reached it-by killing off their food source and means of mobility. So the Halos are the tools Forerunner use to ensure the flood will not spread to areas important to them.

Hmmm... like keeping the porch clean. Just a thought... but with the Forerunner's vast knowledge and mastery (possibly of space both real and Slip), what if this "buffer zone" happened to be superimposed over one of the areas they wished to protect? What if this galaxy as we know it is merely the "first floor" of the house. If I knew the Flood were downstairs, I don't think I would leave MY room ;)

-Finn

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Peter R., concerned this time with the Forerunner's title, or lack of it.

writes:

Forerunner(s). That's no name for a race. It's a term used by later generations of intelligent life, who have first forgotten all about the existence of another form of sentient existence that came before, and then rediscovered the existence of something that came before, but haven't quite figured out everything about it. No live species would cale itself 'forrunner(s)'. That term would be reserved for whom/whatever came before them. Since not even GS seems to know what they're called. one could argue he's from a different timeframe altothether.

Or, no name was thought to have been required, by either 343 Guilty Spark or by the Forerunner themselves. As the Elites so steadfastly hold, a name implies legitimacy; in another sense, it also implies that there is something else that the named object is being contrasted with and discerned from. If the Forerunner were possibly the only sentient/sapient race at one point in history, perhaps naming themselves seemed entirely superfluous?

Although it is unlikely that Cortana's labelling them as such is entirely arbitrary and unfounded...

-Finn

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The Forerunner seeded the galaxy like it was going out of style.

Gabriel Erickson (shadow_of_hayate@yahoo.no) and Hi Eye (hieyeck@hotmail.com) write:

In away I see the Forerunner like a race in a old Star Trek Next Gen episode. In the Star Trek episode the Humans, Klingons, Romulans, and I forget who else, discover an ancient artifact that they assume is a super powerful weapon. They without trust work together to uncover the artifacts mystery and eventually come to a key planet. There they discover that the artifact isnt a weapon but a piece of Ancient(in the cosmic scale) History. A hologram of sorts appears and tells the assorted species the tale of its race; how they had lived so long as the only sentient species in the galaxy that they eventually started to die, as though the species had become genetically stagnant. They then created all the sentient races in the galaxy before they disappeared forever.

-Finn

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Chris Barrett (chrisb_developer@hotmail.com) writes:

After thoroughly reading the story section, I was somewhat surprised by the belief that the Forerunner were a benevolent race that maintained a living Flood culture, possibly out of regret for nearly eradicating them. However, the very nature of everything we are presented whilst treading on Halo depicts a frighteningly contradictory image.

First off, we have the Sentinels and 343 GS. Why would a race so intent on the survival of the Flood (GS: "...their survival as a race was dependent on it. I am glad some of them have survived to reproduce", assuming that's the stance you take) focus on producing defense systems optimized for the purging of Flood Rangers, the most defenseless Flood form? This seems somewhat against commonly accepted Forerunner ethos. While I accept they probably used only in the event of an outbreak, aren't the Flood supposed to be maintained in a stasis-like state? The only possible cause of an outbreak would be the introduction of foreign vectors into the environment, something that was clearly not intended to happen (furthermore, the Sentinels are all but worthless against other forms of Flood. Why combat the Flood with weapons that are ineffective against their dangerous forms?). Furthermore, the Forerunner submit the complete authority and control over Halo and the Sentinels to an unstable and psychotic AI. Surely the Forerunner with their god-like technologies had experience with AIs, and could have anticipated 343 GS' erratic and dangerous behavior. Why allow a 'rampant' AI such a degree of control? What is concerning is if 343 Guilty Spark is in fact based on a Forerunner behavioral pattern, much like how Cortana et al are procured from human brains. A perplexing race indeed, particularly if most have a similar disposition to insanity as 343 GS.

An entire race of 343 Guilty Sparks. The mind reels.

This does bring up an interesting point about the Forerunner, though. The Covenant obviously worship them, and there is a perception that Forerunner technology is far superior, but GS is not the most stellar of examples, is he? Or, is he?

-mnemesis

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The Flood, and the Forerunner's own susceptibility.

NRW380 (NRW380@aol.com) writes:

On p. 241 of The Flood, it tells that the flood were kept for future research, and were known as well for their ability to take over other life forms, "even advanced life forms", which implies that the Forerunner(s) could be affected by the Flood which must mean that the Forerunner(s) were a living species, not some robotic creature(s) like some theories have told.

What is included in the phrase "advanced lifeforms" that is not covered by merely the descriptive phrase "life forms"? The Flood can only utilize organisms of sufficient mass and cognitive capability (the minimum necessary): Grunts, Humans, Elites, etc.; life forms. But what is the nature of the possible creatures implied under the expanding adjective "advanced", and do the Forerunner fit into this category? Does this entail cybernetic enhancement or silicon based life, or is it merely a means of distinguishing between Carrier-worthy hosts like the Grunts and Jackals, and more intelligent, viable Warrior/Worker species such as the Elites and Humans?

-Finn

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Otto Mossberg (owm109@hotmail.com), this time about Slipstream's nasty undertow:

Awhile back, someone noted that it didn't seem to take long, according to H:TF, to get to the Halo system, in relation to the ammount of time it took to get from Sigma Octanus to Reach. I noticed this in the Halo storyline (found originally on the Microsoft Halo site, I believe):

"Scientists noted an odd "flexibility" to temporal flow while inside the Slipstream. Though no human scientist is sure why travel time between stars is not constant, many theorize that there are "eddies" or "currents" within the Slipstream-there is generally a five to ten percent variance in travel times between stars."

Whether or not that 5-10% is enough to put the Halo system outside of UNSC space, and beyond ONIs prying eyes, I don't know.

Maybe not... Does the Forerunner crystal from Reach merely exploit these currents or winds in some way? Adjust the sails, so to speak?

-Finn

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Shane Meyer (keymeyer@mac.com) writes:

In "Halo: First Strike", Cortana, after studying the Covenant plasma weaponry aboard the flagship Ascendant Justice improves it.

Instead of using the standard method by selecting the charged plasma atoms with proper trajectory necessary to it a target and shunting them into a magnetic bubble and then discharging it and using subsequent pulse charges to herd the plasma to the target.

Cortana instead used EM pulses a priori to align the stochastic motions of the plasma atoms, herding their trajectories and eleven degrees of electron freedom into a laser-fine columnated beam within a microsecond.

To me, this new firing system, which is described as red laser-like beams, sounds awfully like the weapons used by the Sentinels. This would reinforce the fact that the Covies don't understand the technology that they have attained and since Cortana, as a human AI and using human knowledge, made an innovation through human technology, suggests a human-forerunner connection

Yet another Human-Forerunner connection suggested. It may be simply that Humans, exemplified by Cortana, are more innovative, more intelligent than the Covenant, though. Nevertheless, those connections keep adding up...

-mnemesis

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Forerunner Scripts

Stuart Glass (Stuart.Glass@macquarie.com) writes:

On the use of "forerunner" symbols on covenant equipment and armour and on certain halo structures; could there be several classes of script?

I have been wondering why the same forerunner symbols don't appear all over halo's control panels, subsystem panels, lift and door buttons. If they were the forerunner's written form of language they'd be everywhere, rather than a few key symbols in specific locations. Could these symbols be a form of lesser pictographic language used by the forerunners in the same way the ancient Egyptians used Heiroglyphics for the masses on their monuments and Demotic script for writing business, legal, scientific, literary and religious documents?

This could explain why the Covenant only have and use the pictographic symbols of the forerunner, and why they mistranslated halo's forerunner symbols that were used to warn against the flood.

(As a counterpoint, who is to say that the symbols were not put there by the Covenant after their arrival on halo to mark certain structures in a way that the troops would know their purpose?)

Mentioned and entirely possible... Whether the Covenant marked areas themselves, or merely misinterpreted those left behind by the Forerunner, this idea of multiple scripts or dialects is fascinating indeed.

-Finn

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He also makes a point resurrecting an old Forerunner idea...

Further in the Maw, while you are cracking engine shields, 343 GS also says (which is, funny enough, not in your list of transcripts)

"hand over the construct, or I will be forced to turn you offline"

Think about that. If he knows you are human, how could he turn you offline? Perhaps the foreruners are not another race or species...but a race of AI.

If they were a race of AI, and I'm not saying they are, mind you, just, you know, pondering, then is it possible that they might have...


...gone...



rampant?!?!!!??! ;-P

-mnemesis

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Boxer [subnova] (twhite1721@hotmail.com) writes:

This theory is based on the idea that The Forerunner could be infected by The Flood.

"The installation was well conceived. It is surely the only way to end The Flood threat."
"The installation was specifically built to study and contain the Flood. Their survival as a race was dependent upon it."

It appears that Halo was designed to destroy The Flood while at the same time it was designed to study and contain them. Quite a paradox we have here.

"While naturally the Flood is simply too dangerous to release, my mass sterilization protocols may have been in need of being activated. Of course, samples were kept here after the last catastrophic outbreak...for study. It seems that that decision may have been an error."
?I am grateful to see that some of them survived to reproduce."
-343 GS-

It seems that 343 GS can?t keep his thoughts straight. The Flood are too dangerous to release so they must be exterminated yet he is glad to see that some have survived. Perplexing indeed.

Alright, here?s the theory.

I believe that The Flood were at war with The Forerunners. How this started and the origins of The Flood are irrelevant at this point. The fact of the matter is that The Forerunner were fighting The Flood.

It is apparent that destroying all life in the galaxy was the only way The Forerunner could destroy The Flood. This has led me to the conclusion that Halo was conceived with two purposes: 1) Destroy all Flood. 2) Imprison X amount of Flood (possibly for interrogation?).

If this is the case than Halo was designed with the ability to protect The Flood imprisoned within, but not exclusive to, the facility in the swamp on 343GS. Perhaps The Forerunners did this because they wanted to keep Flood specimens alive in order to find out what the cause of the original Flood "outbreak". This could be misinterpreted as wanting to keep The Flood from becoming extinct.

So, if my theory holds, it would seem that Halo is both a Galactic Prison of sorts while at the same time being the Executioner.

If 343 Guilty Spark has actually gone the Monitor's equivalent of insane (and there's not much evidence to the contrary), then it'd be easy to imagine him "misinterpreting" things to ensure the Flood's survival at all costs. Intriguing!

-mnemesis

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IdenTheBox (identheboxii@hotmail.com) writes:

It seems to me no one is ever going to be give the poor Forerunners a break about keeping the flood around. I would like to point out that even we humans are guilty about taking something that was once incredibly dangerous and killed hundreds of thousands, and then instead of eradicating it we merely contained and studied it. Small pox. And while not on the same plane of deadliness that the flood exists on, if small pox was released there would of been a huge epademic as it would of taken months to make enough vaccines for everyone. So give the poor forerunners a break, it's something intelligent species do, study, even at their own risk.

See, it's not that they kept the Flood around. We've had more than a few submissions that pointed out that many human countries stockpile nasty, virulent things. No, the big question with regards to the Forerunner is why destroy the entire galaxy in case the Flood get out? If the Forerunner don't occupy this galaxy anymore, then why not just let the Flood have the whole thing as a playground? If they do occupy this galaxy (or did, at some point in the past), what is so flipping special about the Flood that they'd destroy all, but still keep 'em around? So, no! No break for them!!

-mnemesis

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superiorlordtommy@hotmail.com (superiorlordtommy@hotmail.com) writes:

Well, I saw Lori's post, and I think his second idea IS possible (Forerunners are small). Heck, Maybe they are some flying brains (ok this sounds stupid) and wears Robotic suits? Maybe the highest evolution is to ditch the body and leave the vital part-- the Brain (Maybe the heart is with the brain).

That could explain the big and small doorways, maybe the small ones are emergency entrance for the forerunner to enter or exit the area when something went wrong.

Ah stupid idea. :P And it's been 101,217 years from now. What could Flying Brains evolve into? ; )

Maybe not so stupid after all. ;-)

Yeah, I know that's an Engineer. But where do you suppose the Engineers came from, hmm? Hmm?

-mnemesis

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The Forerunner: Just a bunch of guys, checking stuff out. Did they know that anyone would eventually live in this backwater galaxy? Maybe so, maybe not...

Nic_Arrington@Dell.com (Nic_Arrington@Dell.com) writes:

I think things are being over analyzed.

Who is to say that forerunner ever cared for anything in this universe to begin with?

What makes us think that GS343 is working towards forerunner goals.

Who is to say if anything surrounding covenant and human decent has anything to do with forerunner ether way?

First I propose that our universe/Realm of existence was in the time of the forerunner nothing more than a quarantined universe used for study and experimentation on the Flood. Halo was designed to contain flood and keep it manageable within this realm. In a lab environment you don?t want your specimens to be eating the table or running down the hall, even if you don?t care about the dean, it just makes since to keep it under the lenses in the Petri dish! This is essentially what Halo is!

Architecture: Halo's design layout appears to be two fold. Scientific and strategic planning. It is NOT military in design, I site that every structure and access point to halo is an airlock (two doors for every access point) blast doors for inter access locations (tunnels that connect between what appear to be maintenance halls) every entrance is angular meaning you make a turn before and after every door you go through (this indicates internal desire failsafe in case of blast scenarios) These indicate that Halo was designed for strategic defense. Next: in the level GS343 the underground structure is mainly built for scientific research and quarantine lockdown. There are two levels here, The lower level is closed and constrained. There is little to NO intended access to the upper level. This indicates whatever is on the low level needs to stay there. this is maintained by the energy bridge leading to tee exits and the blast doors at every entrance. Also note the airlocks upper deck has a glass floor! No doubt for observation of what is running around downstairs. Also not the double blast doors and the containment barrier and observation deck outside the Flood containment aria and the blast doors covering what appears to be containment cells. And the air/fluid fonts on the floors. (these are similar to what is used in containment in CDC SAC rooms) these rooms were built to house gaseous pathogens and possible infected specimens. The lack of a decent lab table indicates that large specimens were studied here, possibly the macro lab? Only issue here is the fact the blast doors are so darn week! Call it a design flaw, call it old (100,000 years or more) equipment, whatever it is, the flood just beat the doors open. Anyway moving on. The control room. Ok this is just interesting. The building was designed to be DIFFICULT TO ATTACK, not impenetrable. This is for strategic defense, if the flood does become unmanageable on halo well they cant get control OF halo!

SIDE NOTE: notice all the airlocks? Well this tells me one thing. Halo can be vented into space! This indicates flood may not be able to survive in a vacuumed! It makes since, most microorganisms tend to "pop" in a vacuumed. I can and probably will repost a complete analysis of the structure of halo but right now I don?t have time. suffice it to say Hal is not a military installation "halo is not a cudgel, you barbarian" it is a scientific installation. Its design is to this end. I note the lack of ANY forerunner weapons! Save halo itself. Halo was used to study flood or some other similar micro/macro organism and halo's varied environments only support this. It probably is mobile, and possibly inter dimensional travel capable. In my educated opinion it was brought here to study what was deemed dangerous research and our galaxy/universe is the test chamber, if forerunner was so advanced, why would they study flood in their own universe and risk infection? They wouldn?t! when they were done OR when things got out of hand, or when their funding got pulled, they left and left halo (and her sister rings) here. "let those pesky covenant fools deal with it." sounds right. they might have fired it just to "tidy up" a little. Before leavening. Like I said who says they cared?

New light has been shed on the Covenant-Forerunner relationship that may indicate a greater likelihood of the above-mentioned view. Both the human race and the Covenant client races may have been only gleams in the respective eyes of various single-celled creatures scattered across this galaxy when the Forerunner(s) passed on.

-mnemesis

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Harbinger: the title of First Strike's epilogue, and so much more...

Paul (paul01@dart.net.au) writes:

Hi guys,

firstly, I just wanted to say that you guys rock and that as a huge bungie.org fan and halo fan that you're work on keeping all us loonies informed is not without great thanks and kudo's.

Ok - I have been doing a bit of dictionary and thesaurus work of late on Halo names and one that got me quite excited was when I plugged in "Forerunner" into dictionary.com (not plug intended) and heres what a got:

a. One that precedes, as in time; a predecessor. b. An ancestor; a forebear.

a. One that comes before and indicates the approach of another; a harbinger. b. A warning sign or symptom.

Ok - so most of us are like "duh" about the first result, as in #1. But #2 has some major implications on who the Forerunner are. And I doubt seriously that Bungie would have chosen the word and its meanings by chance.

No, never by chance. There has been mention lately of the possibility of a new race and/or species in Halo 2. Could this be the "harbingee" Paul's theory would allude to? If so, the Forerunner link would have to indicate that the Forerunner themselves knew this possible "other" was to come. Intriguing!

-mnemesis

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dcburt (dcburt@rogers.com) writes:

Is the index holographic or solid? it seems to change to switch around. The chief holds it, and then the moniter zaps it into data, and then cortana's hologram hand tosses it away. What actually is it?

Excellent question, really great. This is one of the things that I imagine one would find in the pages of the famed Halo Story Bible, right there for anyone to read. Anyone who gets past the Webmaster, that is. Which all goes to say that we might never know. Damn. But, again, good question. ;-)

(Which is not to say that the subject hasn't been toyed with...)

-mnemesis

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Matt Forbes (MATTHEW.FORBES@rwe.com) writes:

The following theory was posted a few months ago on the Forum, but was done so in reply to a dying thread, (there were reasons for this which I won't bore you with), and as such was hardly read by anyone. (Here's a newer thread that looks at the same stuff, which currently can be replied to. -Ed.)

I was playing through the Library last night, when something 343 said struck me as odd, and made me question whether he really knows who or what he is talking to. He refers to your armour as a "Combat Skin" in the comments he makes about your need to upgrade it, but when he mentions the Flood changing the atmosphere, he says "Your Environment Suit should serve you well..." This differing nomenclature made me wonder whether the two items he refers to are different - i.e. your armour is what he refers to as the 'Environment Suit', and your 'Combat Skin' is the Chief's body?

Sounds bonkers, but bear with me. We don't really know anything about the Forerunner, and have no physical evidence of their form - could they be so advanced that they no longer have their own bodies, but have the ability to control other being's physical forms? The Chief certainly seems to know how to use Forerunner tech even though he's not supposed to have come across it before, and 343 GS could recognise something in the Chief's brainwaves, rather than in his physical form. A Forerunner may be piggybacking his way across Halo in the Chief's brain! GS could be berating the Forerunner's choice of body to secure the Index - he came in a crappy Human combat skin, rather than another one. Perhaps the last time Halo was set off, the Forerunner were forced to occupy Flood beings, as the rest of the Galaxy was "quite devoid of life", and this is why GS says that "their [Forerunner?] survival as a race was dependent on it" - meaning the enduring of the Flood. Why don't the Forerunner have full control over their human vehicle? I don't know, but possibly they've been used to sitting in a Flood's knackered cerebral cortex for too long and are out of practice, or maybe John 117's intense military training and monolithic sense of duty makes him immune.

It could also explain why all the doors on Halo are different sizes, because depending on which being the Forerunners were inhabiting, different sized portals may have been necessary. The idea that GS isn't actually talking to the Chief could account for the perception that GS thinks the Chief has set off Halo before - he doesn't think the Chief has at all, as he is actually addressing the Forerunner in John 117's head, who have/has set Halo off before, and having done so were forced to inhabit the forms of the very creatures they sought to contain.

Indeed, we don't know much about the Forerunner. Their creation was all around us throughout the game, yet we've never had the slightest inkling that something was watching from the shadows. Or, have we? And, which shadows, eh?

-mnemesis

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I've got one last thing - I'm starting to believe that the symbols at Sigma Octanis and Reach were created by Humans, rather than Forerunners. Why would a race trying to study or contain a species - in what I would assume to be seclusion - point the way to its cage? Instead, I think the Humans put those symbols there to make sure that if the Flood were ever released again (is "broken covenant" of any Biblical significance?) they would know where to go in order to kill them. I just can't reconcile this with the fact that the Covenant knew where to look for the stones, though.

Perhaps such a hypothetical earlier human civilization had a secondary purpose in putting those symbols where they might be found. After all, might there be some of us who would realize that we had left those for ourselves? Would our previous selves trust us that much? Are we worthy of such trust? Hypothetically speaking, of course? ;-)

-mnemesis

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cywarrior9@bellsouth.net (cywarrior9@bellsouth.net) writes:

I'm not sure if anybody's suggested this before, but it seems everybody thinks that the Forerunners were human. What if they were, instead, our overlords?

I can't help but wonder if maybe the humans were at one point enslaved or created by the Forerunners - in the Bible, God made a "Covenant" with Noah (or just humanity in general, but I can't remember, nor can I find my Bible at the moment) that he would never unleash a "Flood" again. Now, the Flood part is obvious. And I'm sure that it's been postulated before that the Covenant may have been created or commanded (or something) by the Forerunner to guard the Halo installations.

Now, there are obviously some problems with this idea, but I've got a few answers to those questions, too. Since the Spartans seem to be eerily familiar with Forerunner stuff - the light bridge comes to mind, as does the Reach underground with the symbols and everything - it seems to suggest that at some point in our far past, the humans were created by the Forerunners and would, subsequently, gain an intimate knowledge of their constructs and language and all that. Now, have there been any people aside from Spartans that have been oddly familiar with Forerunner things? It a long shot, but maybe it has to do with the augmentations Dr. Halsey made to them - a side effect of the reaction speeding, perhaps. IIRC, it increased the speed of information inside their brains? It isn't impossible that such an unexplored surgical procedure could enhance other abilities, like increased capacity to access genetic memory.

Good point. The uncanny abilities that the SPARTANs have with certain Forerunner elements has always pointed to some kind of relationship between the two, but, as always, the specific definition eludes us. Perhaps we have found a way to tap into our "inner Forerunner."