The Terminals III
The third and final article on the terminals of Halo 3 entitled The Thunder and the Surf…
In this piece we focus on Mendicant Bias, the AI construct behind the extinction of the Forerunner race and the only hope for the future of humanity.
You can read more about the terminals found in Halo 3 by accessing our Terminal page which features the prefacing A Voice from the Tomb and She Died in Eden articles, as well as The Index, a strategic bibliography of every dimension of the terminal entries.
All comments can be left on this page and feel free to participate in our forum community.
Halo = Epic Story
Comment by Sub — May 1, 2008 @ 8:47 am
This is exactly what sets the Halo series apart from other games. The story is deep and extremely interesting, but the great part is that it isn’t spoon fed to you.
I’m glad that Bungie decide to advance the story through the terminals, and not simply as flashbacks or something similar as you play through the game.
I think it’s a nod to those who actually care about the heart of the game and not just whats on the surface. I love your articles vociferous, but especially the ones on the terminals. Thanks!
Comment by slikz21 — May 1, 2008 @ 12:35 pm
This is why the Halo Trilogy is such a great series. The underlying story is so well thought out, the greatest hero of the whole series is it’s villain, and is never seen in the game unless read about in the terminals. No other game I’ve even played come close to this kind of intense story.
Now to see what happened to Halsey and the other Spartans from GoO.
Comment by Free Weights — May 1, 2008 @ 2:18 pm
This is exactly the depth I find so interesting about the Halo trilogy and its accompanying media. I can see definite oppurtunities for the people at Bungie to continue this and as long as it continues in a way like this, I can’t say I would have any objections.
Comment by Toxicity — May 1, 2008 @ 3:16 pm
Truly epic worthy of the story Bungie wanted to tell.
Now I have a question that no one has been able to answer for me yet and it may be nothing, but can someone tell me why the Gravemind help MC escape High Charity with Cortana? The portal to the arc and the Flood’s path to total control were opened with the only thing in their way being MC. That one tentacle refuses to make any sense to me.
Comment by Fimalo — May 2, 2008 @ 11:55 pm
Hey, did anyone notice that in the entries from the terminals, that the numbers(for example: t7-01, or others like it) or a good amount of them add up or somehow end up with the result of seven?
just wondering, i feel like Jim Carrey from “The Number 23”
if anyone has an opinion, I would be interested to hear it, just send an e-mail.
Comment by Michael — May 3, 2008 @ 1:26 am
Just a thought Fimalo, but it could be that Gravemind’s telepathic link went both ways, so to speak.
If he had any pieces of his consciousness still inside of Cortana (as we suspect is the case, given her superluminal messages to the Chief throughout the third game), Cortana could have used the same connection to fiddle with the tentacle…
Or possibly, this is the only physical evidence we see of Mendicant Bias’ aid. Certainly he doesn’t admit to helping the Chief until the next level, but it does sort of make sense. If the link exists two-ways, Mendicant might still be able to manipulate Flood bio-mass to some degree, and he would have been the only intelligence aside from Cortana able to help the Chief’s party at that point.
The other parallel that I enjoy (may have been elucidated in another article, maybe not) between MB and OB is between Dr. Halsey/Cortana and the Chief himself. The Chief is, for all intents and purposes, a blunt instrument. He’s a weapon, built for a specific purpose and given specific missions, like Offensive. It was Halsey (and, by extension, Cortana) that acted as the thought center, constantly willing to look and ask. Even Cortana follows Mendicant’s path at the end of Halo 2 when the Gravemind asks his questions, questions which (apparently) Cortana is given to answer.
Comment by bigsean — May 3, 2008 @ 2:35 am
This will make the Halo series forever great. This sets it apart from other games. Not one, not GTA, Call of Duty, or any shooter will ever match Halo.
Comment by Hale 079 — May 3, 2008 @ 3:23 am
Vociferous, amazing job. I read about this on Bungie.net and was not disappointed.
Comment by Chuck — May 3, 2008 @ 9:27 am
This is definitely one of the greater fictions Bungie has ever put out.
I hadn’t actually gotten the achievement for unlocking all of the terminals, but when i did come across them it was very interesting. I’m glad the story didn’t slip by me because it is truly magnificent.
Comment by Baloop — May 3, 2008 @ 3:03 pm
Just read all three of these things, led here by Bungie of course and figured I’d just stop in to say this was an amazingly well thought out explanation to a lot of the Halo backstory, something that I enjoyed reading immensely. One thing I was thinking about is looking back on the third one, perhaps humanity was favored so much because the Librarian spoke so highly of them, and Didact having the control decided to entrust the control of the Index with them, as a last apology to his love. Who knows, great story regardless and thanks.
Comment by codealarms — May 3, 2008 @ 5:12 pm
If you don’t recon for all this explanation then I will cry. It has answered an insurmountable amount of questions I have contemplated since the time I heard the word forerunner.
Comment by trwmplr — May 3, 2008 @ 9:10 pm
Amazingly well done dude. I couldn’t make heads or tails of the terminals, but you took the small amount of information that Bungie offered and shared the story with the rest of the Halo community. You deserve many more thanks than I can give. You just filled in the past of the Halo Universe for everyone who had been wondering since we first glimpsed 04 from the bridge of the Autumn. Thank you so much!
P.S. Bungie – give this man recon, for the love of God.
Comment by Marclivi — May 3, 2008 @ 11:28 pm
who said video games detract human intelegence and stiafle creativity.
Comment by bomber127 — May 3, 2008 @ 11:57 pm
I love this type of story telling and fiction, but I hate to see it come at a price. The price that is the campaign within Halo 3.
I’ve been an avid follower of Halo since early 2004, excepting anything and everything I could get my hands on, be it the games, the books, or the music. I’ve usually been extremely pleased, yet when it came down to experiencing the finale, the “best game Bungie has ever made” I came away extremely disappointed. I felt as if I hadn’t experienced anything of significance, coupling that emotion with several, absolutely, glaring loopholes throughout the campaign, and the fact that the story doesn’t introduce the same level of depth that is present in Halo 2 through the use of a playable Elite character I am to this day extremely unhappy with Halo 3.
Well…how I feel about the game is beside the point, I just wanted to express my idea that while this type of fiction is extremely good at keeping me entertained and focused on Halo it could have impacted the story of Halo 3 negatively. Which I believe is highly probable.
Comment by [B]Rad — May 4, 2008 @ 12:17 am
one finale, unreserched theory about the question what hapend to the forrunners? what was the plan within the plan? this will be hard to read. writen expression is difficult. m. bias was designed to bring back all of the flood condensed into one areainside the rings radius from that extra galactic mentioned. this theory also includes the forrunners and the arc inside rings as bait. eliminating themselves as food for a possible parisite spore infecting and recreating the threat. thats why m bias was never instructed to attack their plan was acctualy to use the fire power of the rings on the infection. i have never until this article herd spacificly that the ark was outside the array, also the cataloging and indexing does not nessecerly meen a life form could just be dna that forrunner tech could recreate and reevolve after all sentient life and parrasites were obliterated. making the ark bieng inside array very possible.
Comment by bomber127 — May 4, 2008 @ 1:16 am
I’ve seen the Iris fragments and read all 7–wait, my bad–8 terminals and read all the novels. So have many other people; everyone has full access to your source material. But nobody has done the kind of legwork and research it takes to pull it all together and tell the story in such a comprehensive volume until now. Thank you. Huge props.
Comment by Evan (GT: elMONOenFUEGO) — May 4, 2008 @ 1:49 pm
Way too much information for one sitting. I found that out very, very quickly.
Comment by Drilsel — May 4, 2008 @ 6:21 pm
I must commend you for this. I loved what little bits of information I could gain from the terminals I had found, but I didnt expect anything this coherent and well written. I’m ecstatic that Bungie has admitted your interpretation as nearly perfect, because the story is compelling and amazing for people like me, who have played so much of the game and care so much for it’s history and fiction. Thank you.
Comment by Jimmy2do — May 4, 2008 @ 10:14 pm
Did u get reconz?
Comment by cURTO — May 5, 2008 @ 3:12 am
In regards to that mystery, the reason they liked humans so much; seems to me like the cliched ‘human spirit.’ If indeed Cortana had contact with that ancient construct, she very well may have learned of the human role. Being somewhat similar in nature (cortana and constructs that is) the line at the beginning of H3 about why she chose MC seems important. Describing his luck, etc, his spirit, will to succeed, his confidence despite the odds; all with the knowledge that he has so little life to live relative to constructs and the forerunner. It seems like we were chosen for those reasons that ambition for life, as it were. More likely given how commonplace that theme is in the first place, obviously, but I guess this is speculation – but what else can fiction allow?
Comment by Rip Chizzleton — May 6, 2008 @ 12:50 am
Wow…I am truly stunned by the quality of all three of your examinations regarding the Terminals. I don’t really feel the need to debate the validity of what you presented here in the comment section, that I will keep on the forums. Needless to say though, in my opinion you clearly, concisely, and eloquently put forth the best explanation of the Terminals story I have seen anywhere yet.
Like a lot of Halo players I first got hooked on Halo’s story in CE, the high quality multi-player aspect of the game was just icing on an already amazing cake(at least initially, though I am fairly obsessed with online multi-player play now haha). I have subsequently been an avid reader of all the books and enjoy all the other contributing factors in what is, as someone mentioned earlier, undeniably an absolute epic and evolving story canon.
That said I have read and studied the Terminals quite often and found that I learned or suspected something new about the story every time. And even though playing through the Halo 3 campaign frequently has yielded considerable satisfaction with story, after looking at your explanation here I have obtained a whole new plain of understanding in the Halo-verse.
Overall the Terminal articles are an essential for any Halo story fan. Moreover there is no question that every person who has played through the campaigns, whether they are huge story fans or not, must read these articles if they want the truest game-play experience in Halo.
Seriously, thank you for putting these articles together. I already connected so many more dots and can’t wait to show some of my friends these articles who were somewhat confused with the Halo 3 story. Thanks again and keep your analysis of all things Halo-verse coming.
Comment by MJOLNIR7 — May 6, 2008 @ 10:33 am
to comment 5
he let him take the keyship to earth
thus helping gravemind
Comment by chris — May 6, 2008 @ 7:20 pm
Anyone notice the similarity between the forerunner’s ARK and Noah’s ARK?? I’m not a religious person but wasn’t he trying to use his ARK to save every species from a FLOOD?? Weird…
Comment by Fiend62o — May 6, 2008 @ 10:01 pm
Indeed, this is what sets the Halo series apart from all others. Much like a real life situation, there is the surface story, which indeed takes precedence, but there is also an underlying story. One that you can only find if you look deep enough for it. You know, a “They were here before. How did they mess up, so I don’t make the same mistakes,” kind of deal. Ascendant Justice, you’re my hero(s).
And, as for Fiend62o, if you haven’t noticed, there are a lot of religious references to the game. In fact, for the most part, it nearly parallels Christianity completely. Think of John117 as a Christ figure. 343 betrayed him in his final hour. The Gravemind tempts him repeatedly. Basically, from my point of view, all of the Forerunner exploits are similar to the Old Testament and all of the UNSC exploits run pretty parallel to the New Testament.
Comment by HitokiriX1985 — May 9, 2008 @ 12:58 pm
What I dont get about the conclusion to Halo 3 is that: wouldn’t firing the new Installation 04 trigger the other 5 still remaining inside the galaxy. Thus erdadicating all the flood and other sentient life forms there?
Please answer, I much enjoyed your three part review of the background story of Halo.
Comment by Jebisis — May 10, 2008 @ 12:06 am
In regard to question 26, no, it wouldn’t. The new Installation 4 wasn’t yet completed – by starting the firing sequence, it was simply destroyed, as opposed to operating as intended.
Comment by Nick — May 10, 2008 @ 4:39 pm
Oh, okay, that helps. but another thought came up after I posted that last question. Regarding: Earth was still under seige off of the ark. So when the new Halo was fired on the ark – destroying everything including high charity and the gravemind – then would the Flood still be present on earth, and also still in the remaining 5 Haloes in the Galaxy? or would the flood on Earth on the other side of the portal die as a direct consequence of the Gravemind dying?
Comment by Jebisis — May 10, 2008 @ 9:07 pm
All the flood on earth were killed by the elites when thy glassed half of africa, the rest on the ark. all the covenant were on the ark, they were all there ( i find this hard to belive seeing as the covenant has a huge population consisting of many races). in conclusion everybody died save the elites and humans and the master chief. anyway great analysis i really enjoyed reading it i have always loved exploring the buildings of the forerunners the designs are always amazing. great job you deserve recon
Comment by jamez buk — May 13, 2008 @ 4:45 pm
you know what i think the forerunners are an extremly advanced race of humans that got killed by the flood berfore they could activate the halo and thats that dude calls master chief the reclaimer
Comment by joe — May 22, 2008 @ 9:32 pm
To 23, They were all on the ark when Gravemind helped MC escape, as in they all just left Earth.
And to bigsean (7), I don’t think GM’s telepathy was about controlling others motor skills but rather fooling them into doing what it wants. It took years to convince MB. So even if the link went 2 ways it wasn’t a way for any AI to help. But thanx for trying to help me. It’s the best answer I’ve heard yet.
Oh and I think the Librarian was the male, seeing as Humanity previously knew him as Noah. Maybe Bungie actually brought a piece of the Bible into their story. Or 25 is right.
Comment by Fimalo — May 23, 2008 @ 1:04 am
To 24 – it’s not weird, it’s a brilliant stroke of storytelling by Bungie. If the events of Halo were real, and the Forerunners really did save humanity from the Flood via the Ark 100,000 years ago, it makes sense that the memory of that event would be passed down to surviving generations, evolving over many millenia into the Biblical story we know today. In fact most of the world’s religions have some kind of flood myth, leading historians to speculate they might all be based on a real, global event. Obviously Bungie planned these references to give the Halo story depth and realism.
Comment by K — June 13, 2008 @ 3:47 pm
The only other game series with a comparatively epic story would be Half Life. And they are both told in an awesome, immersive way, which also keeps major elements secret and mysterious, leaving players wondering and craving for more. My favourite game-stories of all time, given that Portal is included in Half Life and Monkey Island is out of their league 😉
On a more related note: If the flood (and the gravemind?!) came from a different galaxy (which is kinda hard to believe for me, i mean, superluminal travel and slipspace is one thing, but distances between galaxies are just inconceivably VAST and pretty much empty of useful resources afaik) then wouldn’t there be more where where it came from? A greater Gravemind? One that has already got hold of an entire galaxy? Or did it arrive in the milky way because it was expelled elsewhere?
And by the way, did Mendicant Bias die on the ark? I bet it could have easily stowed away in the UNSC ships.
To invalidate any Bible-Theories: Do not forget that all information source about the forerunners humanity/the covenant has is written in the ancient forerunner language. It is extremely likely they had words that are nonexistent in english and thus can only be translated using metaphors or by paraphrasing it. This happens in the RL too. Also the forerunners probably had their own fairy tales, myths, religious allegories, ect. which influenced their language in forms of idioms, proverbs, metaphors or even entirely new words. This has happened to any RL-language of this very planet, too, and leaves things untranslatable.
Example time:
I’m not sure how common this expression is in the english language, but I looked it up and it’s pretty much the same as in German:
“to be as rich as Croesus”
Croesus was an ancient king (~2600 years ago) who was especially famous for his wealth. Today we losely compare ourselves or others to him to stress how rich or poor they are. Languages that developed elsewhere in the world, were probably not influenced by this guy who lived somewhere in Turkey. Take native american languages for example. Now if they wanted to translate “Bill Gates is as rich as Croesus”, they would either do it carelesly and say something like “He’s totally rich” or they would find a similar simile in their own history or mythology, or they would use a special word that expresses extreme wealth.
So the term “ark” may have been chosen by translators (most likely programs) either because it sounds particularly classy rhetoric-wise or because the forerunners used a term for which the english vocabulary had no equivalent.
Also, there are lots of references to mythology in Halo. For example the Mjölnir Armor the chief wears or the name Cortana. This is a common thing in the Sci-Fi or fantasy genre.
woot my first post in any halo community. ahoy.
It’s a great site you’re running here. keep up the great work. I’m going to read the rest of your articles now and I might drop some comments occasionally 🙂
Comment by DooFi — July 28, 2008 @ 5:09 am
The terminals tell a great story and they complement the already epic story-line that is halo
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Comment by Angel Carney — November 18, 2008 @ 5:56 pm
“I’m not so foolish to think this will absolve me of my sins. One life hardly balances billions. But I would have my masters know that I have changed.
“And you shall be my example.”
When I read this piece of text I’m struck by the impression that Bias believes in an afterlife, and that his Forerunner creators are there and will pass judgment on him after his impending demise.
It’s an interesting comparison with the Covenant belief in the Great Journey. Not to mention the implication that an artificial intelligence can come to believe in the spiritual.
Comment by IMAGinES — December 21, 2008 @ 5:05 pm