Comments on: Terminal Visuals

By: Forwarduntodawn

Forwarduntodawn — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 12:51:45 +0000

Oh, and regarding the armour thing. Yes, I do see the human, but it seems largely off porportions. What could’ve been suggested was the composition of a Contender-class AI’s crystal. It was a compound mind and must’ve been comprised of many parts.
Cortana was stored in a flat piece of crystal, probably because her code and mimicked sentience was linear. But Mendicant Bias, being far more capable, might’ve required a 3-dimensional crystal carved in a specific shape to store his codes.

By: Forwarduntodawn

Forwarduntodawn — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 12:34:28 +0000

If the forerunners ONLY used glyphs to communicate, Cortana must’ve had a heck of the time at the terminals and with the Covenant AIs…

By: DavidJCobb

DavidJCobb — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 00:22:12 +0000

Why does Mendicant Bias have three icons? I think I have an answer.

I already raised this issue on the talk page for his Halopedia article; rather than reprinting it here, I shall link to my comments there.

http://halo.wikia.com/wiki/Talk:032_Mendicant_Bias#The_Terminal_Icons

By: michael

michael — Sat, 09 May 2009 10:52:47 +0000

maybe that foreunner armor is a helmet

By: onthefence928

onthefence928 — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 02:10:01 +0000

I believe the sword and shield references from cortana are deeper than the metaphor of the onyx project and the halo array.

i think it was meant as a recurring theme of the forerunners and as a main difference in humanity.

in practice a shield is useless without a sword, and a sword is much stronger when combined with a shield to protect the wielder.

the forerunners became complacent and peaceful, laying down the sword in and maintaining the shield as the guardians of the galaxy.

this separation of sword and shield permeates throughout the known history of the forerunners.

like a shield they spend much effort and resources into defenses, but lack effective means of a counter-strike, a mistake that allowed the flood to create the necessary foothold.

the flood in this metaphor is the opponent’s weapons, strong enough to overcome the forerunners shield mentality.

then as the shield that is the forerunner race is pushed farther and farther back, they stuggle to find the right sword for the job, all the while never abandoning the ever-weakening shield.

The ark, the line, and shield worlds, and the catalog project are all manifestation of the forerunner’s shield metaphor.

the failed military campaigns are all the failed attempts to rely on the shield while trying to fight the close battles of a dagger.

then the forerunners used a longsword in there attempts at glassing any flood infected world.

but the flood proved to be a force immune to conventional weapons and tactics, like a knight in full plate armor, it could be struck and slowed, but never pierced or cut down.

as long as the forerunners were weighed down by the burdensome shield they have become, they could not wield a weapon powerful enough to wipe out the entire flood.

the array was an ultimate weapon, the kind that required the dropping of all pretenses of defense, a last ditched effort only possible when preservation is no longer possible.

didact and the librarian are also a sword and shield.

didact was the reluctant sword, flawed by hesitation and reliance on a shield.

the librarian is the shield, seeking to protect what it can as well as it can, waiting and urging the sword to strike when necessary and unable to contribute in any way other then perseverance, determination, and self-sacrifice.

When cortana says “I am your sword, I am your shield” I believe she is speaking for many people.

she has understood the sword and shield difference between the forerunners and the flood.

she understands that what is necessary, is to embody both paradigms. I believe she has been in communication with a forerunner AI or at least been able to access the history of teh forerunners while absorbed into the gravemind’s fold.

it is also possible that the gravemind is inspiring this phrase from cortana.

lastly I believe that the secret potential that the forerunners saw in early mankind was a willingness to wield both the sword and shield with equal effectiveness.

they saw our strive to fight. to fight each other, to fight to protect. that we were an extremely effective race in terms of combat potential, but lacked to unchecked aggression lacking in other warrior races, a humble strength undoubtably recognized by the elites in their admiration of the humans they fought against and eventually joined sides with.

Where the forerunners failed by seperating the defensive and and offensive efforts, humans have grown to use a great offense as a great defense. our home planet is not protected by a shield, but rather the largest guns we have created.

our greatest military development, the Spartan Program, embodies the ancient warrior spirit the forerunners no doubt admired. The spartans were known for the phalanx, a formation consisting of wall of shields and spears. as enemies attacked the spartans, teh spartans were able the break the attacks with the rigid defense, without sacrificing the ability to push forward and deal mortal blows to opposing forces.

and in an extra piece of symbolism. The spartan power-suit was designated Mjolnir, the mythical hammer of thor. Despite the suit of armor being an instrument of personal protection, it’s augmenting abilities gave it the power of the greatest weapon in human mytholgies.

By: Connor

Connor — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 02:39:32 +0000

Before I discovered this website I thought I knew a lot about Halo. I, and I am sure many others here closely followed the ‘iris’ ad campaign for Halo 3 last summer (I spotted an image from it elsewhere on the site). I noticed there were some other symbols (which looked like text to be translated) on some of the various media related to the iris campaign, symbols that I later noticed in the terminals as forerunner text before it was translated. Forgive me if this already exists or has been done (actually, don’t-just point it out to me, I haven’t been following this as closely as I have in the past, in fact just discovered this site today), but I think an examination of the iris campaign would turn out to be interesting.

By: Janaka

Janaka — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 21:03:23 +0000

“Another message from Mendicant Bias, this one referencing the possibility of using facilities similar to the Onyx Project – shield worlds – which Forerunner populations could be evacuated to. Is this an image of a shield world or is he referencing a planet already struck down by the Flood? We may eventually find out the answer to this question, but probably not until Bungie’s next Halo game.”

Could it perhaps be the planetoid from Halo Wars?
It is after all infested by the Flood.
The Forerunner ships inside it resembled swords.
The planetoid/shield, guarding the swords/ships.
(?)

By: Matthew Thomas

Matthew Thomas — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 18:44:20 +0000

I think the aromour might be a decorative helmit a bit like what the elite’s where. I also think that you can make out the outlines of the creature that wears it. it looks a little like a brutes head.

This is what i think they look like.
http://foruner-research.webs.com/whattheylooklike.htm

By: Connor

Connor — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 23:03:35 +0000

The image of the Armor kind of looks like a helmet to me. I can see what could possible be eye holes and a mouth hole as well

By: Alex

Alex — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 07:24:09 +0000

I read every article. Very detailed and interesting. Definetely written by a good author. I don’t doubt the majority of you educated guesses and assumations are correct.
Maybe the item you refer to as a combat skin is what Mendicant & Offensive Bias looked like. Perhaps the were/are similar to Guilty Spark in the way that they levitate and function.