little bit of a problem though i just realized…………onyx was completly obliterated by the nukes that kurt used to sacrifice himself…
——————————————————
off topic gameplay “likely” elements
1. new armor permutations
2. new enemies
3. new flood possibly (it was never proven that there was only one gravemind there could be one for each ring and one probably escaped to this planet beforehand seeing as how there all knowing)
4. new teamates (help team gamma survive and learn the secrets of your past through dr. kensley and the hardships of what happened to your seperated teammates through the voice of spartan 3 team gamma
5. larger on screen enemies (its happening to a lot more games latley)
6. maybe a visual of johns face as to show (how i see the cutscene) kelly taking off her helmet after discovering that john is alive and rushing over to john and pulling his helmet off.
7. new weapons like the SAM rocket launcher
new sniper rifle and melee modes the sspartan 3 equipment storage.
Hey well done man, perfect analysis. I myslef am a big fan of the story and contemplated the ideas you higlighted myslef. The idea of having a re – invented halo story gives me butterflies and i do think that there are many ways in which a new stroy could be made. I hope u agree – Ghosts of Onyx has really blasted the world of halo wide open!!! good article – just need to read the new book now
Dave
However, I have my doubts about the legendary ending. For starters, is it even canonical?
How do we know it wasn’t just Bungie putting some red herring in there to keep people speculating, getting hyped up all for nothing?
I think it’s nothing more than a referrence to Marathon and just a practical joke on us.
Halo 3 is meant to be the end of Master Chief’s story, so by having some “stay tuned” ending completely contradict that statement?
Comment by Howling Darkness — July 6, 2008 @ 12:35 pm
john-117 is drifting towards a shield world, name is unknown, and definately not onyx. also the legendary ending to me seemed like a stay tuned, to me.
Great reading here! This is my first visit to this site and I see I have a lot of catching up to do.
Reading through the shield world article left me wondering if the flood could have survived the original Halo detonation by simply entering slipspace? I know they would have returned to an empty “grocery store”, but what is going to happen to those inside of Onyx as well? So many questions that I’m not sure they will ever be answered in my lifetime concerning this story ๐
the shield world was created to save the “reclaimer” when the halo was activated so in the story of ghost of onyx they think it was for new technology but Dr. Hasley new more about it (creator of cortana)So she used it to save the Spartans so now they are lock up in the shield door waiting
the chief and cortana aren’t the only ones left. the end of ghosts of onyx leaves us with dr. halsey, mendez, if my memory serves, linda, fred, tom and lucy, and maybe a couple others. so if the planetoid in the legendary ending is, as i assume, the planet that the aforementioned traveled to from onyx, the chief will have them as allies.
Comment by xxl pulse lxx — August 20, 2008 @ 10:36 am
also, after scanning through comments, i;m reminded that onyx is no more. you find out it was made entirely around a shell of sentinels.
Comment by xxl pulse lxx — August 20, 2008 @ 10:38 am
there’s this interesting pic of an shield world on the legendary bonus disk ๐
I don’t think that the planet at the end of Halo 3 is a Shield world. In reference to Marathon and The Cortana Letters there was a planet with creatures crawling on its surface. Could this be that planet?
I have a theory. Truth KNEW that the Great Journey killed all sentient life. Why? If you listen quite closely, you will hear him say (RIGHT BEFORE he is about to activate the rings) “Your secret dies with all the rest.” This would also imply the fact that he knew that the Humans’ ancestors were the Forerunners. Did you know that the word “Forerunner” LITTERALLY comes from the Latin word “praecursor”?
It’s most likely, if not obviously, a Forerunner arttifact. Look at the higlighted symbol! That swmbol has been seen on all of the Megastructures we’ve been to so far.
A couple of theories I have. I think the shield worlds performed what thy were meant to, which was to save the populations of Forerunner worlds to repopulate after the Halo rings fired, which would be the current species (Covenant and Human).
Which opens a couple more questions, like where did the Forerunners themselves go? And why is humanity so special to the Forerunners so we are considered Reclaimers and the Covenant is not? Maybe the Covenant are not species saved by the Forerunners?
Also, the Flood seems to have survived on the Halo rings themselves for study. A mistake I think!
Comment by Ziterminator — January 18, 2009 @ 3:34 am
DUDE, FOR ALL THE PEOPLE WHO HAVE BEEN FOLLOWING HALO KEEP TO IT READ THE BOOKS. THE MOST EPIC STORY IN THE WORLD..AND THE BEST!!!!
As usual, an interesting article done by the fantastic writers of this blog. However, with all that we have learned since the trilogy concluded, don’t forget that a principle if not core artistic choice by Bungie is to have all things Forerunner vague, mystical-like, and merely elaborate set-pieces with little direct meaning.
The Forerunner only fully operate in the background and the past-tense; it is impossible to have them play in the forefront of a story’s events. As for the Forerunner planetoid and the FoD’s floating shell, it is likely that that is it. There is nothing more to tell. Since this is the end of Master Chief’s story, and given that we were first introduced to the Halo universe via his story, the meaning will be clear.
The story began with him, and it ends with him. Halo Wars, Halo 3: ODST, and other coming products only fill in the blanks of past events, and that means events and characters that have chronologically been played out. That is probably what Bungie meant by other story and character arcs; filling out the holes in the story.
But that also means of course that there is nothing after these past events and the trilogy. Halo 3 ends the entire story, and the FoD’s shell floating towards an unknown planetoid is a perpetual mystery, never to be solved.
As the “Art of Halo 3” says about the end on pg.115;
“The implications here are clear, the Chief’s story concludes where it began-in a cryo chamber. His duties completed, his mission achieved, the Spartan rests. Cortana and the Chief are adrift in space, a time capsule and ultimate representatives of humankind’s achievements.”
In other words, they are going to be nothing more than artifacts, representatives of humanity, heading towards some never-to-determined, empty and worthless Forerunner facility. Their previous trilogy, Marathon, had an open ending with no true resolution, so it should be an almost certainty that this will be the same.
After all, if they leave it open ended, it saves them the effort of actually truly answering any of these questions. They like vague, and sometimes lazy storytelling, and the desire for open-ended interpretations and endings is a perfect cover for writer laziness.
Comment by Random Furby — February 27, 2009 @ 9:25 pm
what if the planetiod we see at the end of the lengendary ending of halo 3 is a secret human colony or the homeworld of a new species that has not yet been revieled?
The book “Ghosts of Onyx” makes one thing clear…the shield world had their protectors, namely the sentinels. If Onyx was that heavily protected that even the Covenants found it hard to breach, it would make sense to assume that other shield worlds would also be similarly protected. In the novel there is one statement which says that the outer surface of the Shield World was crawling with Sentinels which made a shell like structure around the Sphere. So the surface of the sphere was not visible. As per my assumptions this could mean two things:
1> This might not be Onyx or any shield world but a completely separate installation. Could be that what the good doctor and the Spartans found at Onyx was a gateway to the actual Shield world. Which was in a completely different location. All the so called shield worlds could be gateways to the same place. And Chief was heading to the actual thing.
2> If this is actually a shield world then all I can say is there are loads of Sentinels who would treat the chief hostile (remember in Onyx the Spartans had a nice party with them). This would definitely mean that in the next game Chief has a lot of clean up to do… Lots of actions with big guns(I hope)!!!
Seems as though this planetiod is actually Reach. This is not an exact answer but to my eyes, the two planets appear the same. Could Bungie have inserted this preview of Halo: Reach into the end of H3? If so, what would this mean for Master Chief? Is he actually gone without hope of retreival?
Very very very good research but there would be one more small horror with the fact of cortana going into rampancy because at the end of Halo3 the Master Chief says “Wake me when you me” because he knows that she is showing signs of rampancy.And also that you dont know what your up againist.
Great stuff but if they are going to make a halo which has the shield world and all why not make it before halo wars, odst, and fall of reach unless they are starting from the beging again
The “legendary ending” of halo 3 is not so, I played the last level, halo, from rally point alpha, on EASY, and when the credits were done, the so called, “legendary ending” started to play… how about that!
One major issue, this planetoid is near the rubble of the end of H3… Granted, it is LY’s away from earth… but realisticly ๐ would THE shield world be there? OK MC is lucky (a nod to “Teela” of Niven’s “Ringworld” if you ask me, but I digress.) but that would be overly grevious for Bungie’s grizzled ancients… I think Shield World is in or beyond slipspace. Ahh, I heart Halo. See you all on Reach. On that note, and in line with some other speculations I’v seen here on AJ, what if that isnt FR tech?
scratch the second team after gamma there was none.
Comment by skelingtin — June 18, 2008 @ 8:56 pm
little bit of a problem though i just realized…………onyx was completly obliterated by the nukes that kurt used to sacrifice himself…
——————————————————
off topic gameplay “likely” elements
1. new armor permutations
2. new enemies
3. new flood possibly (it was never proven that there was only one gravemind there could be one for each ring and one probably escaped to this planet beforehand seeing as how there all knowing)
4. new teamates (help team gamma survive and learn the secrets of your past through dr. kensley and the hardships of what happened to your seperated teammates through the voice of spartan 3 team gamma
5. larger on screen enemies (its happening to a lot more games latley)
6. maybe a visual of johns face as to show (how i see the cutscene) kelly taking off her helmet after discovering that john is alive and rushing over to john and pulling his helmet off.
7. new weapons like the SAM rocket launcher
new sniper rifle and melee modes the sspartan 3 equipment storage.
Comment by skelingtin — June 18, 2008 @ 9:03 pm
crappy part of halo 4
its gonna take another 4 to 5 years to make
lol!!!!!!!!
……………… i feel sad inside now
Comment by skelingtin — June 18, 2008 @ 9:05 pm
Hey well done man, perfect analysis. I myslef am a big fan of the story and contemplated the ideas you higlighted myslef. The idea of having a re – invented halo story gives me butterflies and i do think that there are many ways in which a new stroy could be made. I hope u agree – Ghosts of Onyx has really blasted the world of halo wide open!!! good article – just need to read the new book now
Dave
Comment by David — June 22, 2008 @ 2:51 pm
Fantastic Article.
However, I have my doubts about the legendary ending. For starters, is it even canonical?
How do we know it wasn’t just Bungie putting some red herring in there to keep people speculating, getting hyped up all for nothing?
I think it’s nothing more than a referrence to Marathon and just a practical joke on us.
Halo 3 is meant to be the end of Master Chief’s story, so by having some “stay tuned” ending completely contradict that statement?
Comment by Howling Darkness — July 6, 2008 @ 12:35 pm
john-117 is drifting towards a shield world, name is unknown, and definately not onyx. also the legendary ending to me seemed like a stay tuned, to me.
Comment by garry — July 10, 2008 @ 6:57 pm
Great reading here! This is my first visit to this site and I see I have a lot of catching up to do.
Reading through the shield world article left me wondering if the flood could have survived the original Halo detonation by simply entering slipspace? I know they would have returned to an empty “grocery store”, but what is going to happen to those inside of Onyx as well? So many questions that I’m not sure they will ever be answered in my lifetime concerning this story ๐
Comment by Spartan 6453 — July 16, 2008 @ 3:54 pm
the shield world was created to save the “reclaimer” when the halo was activated so in the story of ghost of onyx they think it was for new technology but Dr. Hasley new more about it (creator of cortana)So she used it to save the Spartans so now they are lock up in the shield door waiting
Comment by Killaramas — August 8, 2008 @ 8:30 am
the chief and cortana aren’t the only ones left. the end of ghosts of onyx leaves us with dr. halsey, mendez, if my memory serves, linda, fred, tom and lucy, and maybe a couple others. so if the planetoid in the legendary ending is, as i assume, the planet that the aforementioned traveled to from onyx, the chief will have them as allies.
Comment by xxl pulse lxx — August 20, 2008 @ 10:36 am
also, after scanning through comments, i;m reminded that onyx is no more. you find out it was made entirely around a shell of sentinels.
Comment by xxl pulse lxx — August 20, 2008 @ 10:38 am
there’s this interesting pic of an shield world on the legendary bonus disk ๐
Comment by lordpratt — August 31, 2008 @ 10:13 am
I don’t think that the planet at the end of Halo 3 is a Shield world. In reference to Marathon and The Cortana Letters there was a planet with creatures crawling on its surface. Could this be that planet?
Comment by Fatalis — October 27, 2008 @ 6:19 pm
I have a theory. Truth KNEW that the Great Journey killed all sentient life. Why? If you listen quite closely, you will hear him say (RIGHT BEFORE he is about to activate the rings) “Your secret dies with all the rest.” This would also imply the fact that he knew that the Humans’ ancestors were the Forerunners. Did you know that the word “Forerunner” LITTERALLY comes from the Latin word “praecursor”?
Comment by Christian Bethel — November 24, 2008 @ 7:35 pm
It’s most likely, if not obviously, a Forerunner arttifact. Look at the higlighted symbol! That swmbol has been seen on all of the Megastructures we’ve been to so far.
Comment by Christian Bethel — November 24, 2008 @ 7:37 pm
Maybe the light we see is the star as a result of the Ark’s explosion. The chief and cortana could’ve drifted a LONG way
Comment by Christian Bethel — November 24, 2008 @ 7:40 pm
A couple of theories I have. I think the shield worlds performed what thy were meant to, which was to save the populations of Forerunner worlds to repopulate after the Halo rings fired, which would be the current species (Covenant and Human).
Which opens a couple more questions, like where did the Forerunners themselves go? And why is humanity so special to the Forerunners so we are considered Reclaimers and the Covenant is not? Maybe the Covenant are not species saved by the Forerunners?
Also, the Flood seems to have survived on the Halo rings themselves for study. A mistake I think!
Comment by Ziterminator — January 18, 2009 @ 3:34 am
DUDE, FOR ALL THE PEOPLE WHO HAVE BEEN FOLLOWING HALO KEEP TO IT READ THE BOOKS. THE MOST EPIC STORY IN THE WORLD..AND THE BEST!!!!
Comment by aaron — February 22, 2009 @ 2:21 pm
does anyone know The Tyrant a.k.a Daniel Morris?
Comment by Christian Bethel — February 23, 2009 @ 6:41 pm
As usual, an interesting article done by the fantastic writers of this blog. However, with all that we have learned since the trilogy concluded, don’t forget that a principle if not core artistic choice by Bungie is to have all things Forerunner vague, mystical-like, and merely elaborate set-pieces with little direct meaning.
The Forerunner only fully operate in the background and the past-tense; it is impossible to have them play in the forefront of a story’s events. As for the Forerunner planetoid and the FoD’s floating shell, it is likely that that is it. There is nothing more to tell. Since this is the end of Master Chief’s story, and given that we were first introduced to the Halo universe via his story, the meaning will be clear.
The story began with him, and it ends with him. Halo Wars, Halo 3: ODST, and other coming products only fill in the blanks of past events, and that means events and characters that have chronologically been played out. That is probably what Bungie meant by other story and character arcs; filling out the holes in the story.
But that also means of course that there is nothing after these past events and the trilogy. Halo 3 ends the entire story, and the FoD’s shell floating towards an unknown planetoid is a perpetual mystery, never to be solved.
As the “Art of Halo 3” says about the end on pg.115;
“The implications here are clear, the Chief’s story concludes where it began-in a cryo chamber. His duties completed, his mission achieved, the Spartan rests. Cortana and the Chief are adrift in space, a time capsule and ultimate representatives of humankind’s achievements.”
In other words, they are going to be nothing more than artifacts, representatives of humanity, heading towards some never-to-determined, empty and worthless Forerunner facility. Their previous trilogy, Marathon, had an open ending with no true resolution, so it should be an almost certainty that this will be the same.
After all, if they leave it open ended, it saves them the effort of actually truly answering any of these questions. They like vague, and sometimes lazy storytelling, and the desire for open-ended interpretations and endings is a perfect cover for writer laziness.
Comment by Random Furby — February 27, 2009 @ 9:25 pm
what if the planetiod we see at the end of the lengendary ending of halo 3 is a secret human colony or the homeworld of a new species that has not yet been revieled?
Comment by Cody — March 17, 2009 @ 4:40 pm
The book “Ghosts of Onyx” makes one thing clear…the shield world had their protectors, namely the sentinels. If Onyx was that heavily protected that even the Covenants found it hard to breach, it would make sense to assume that other shield worlds would also be similarly protected. In the novel there is one statement which says that the outer surface of the Shield World was crawling with Sentinels which made a shell like structure around the Sphere. So the surface of the sphere was not visible. As per my assumptions this could mean two things:
1> This might not be Onyx or any shield world but a completely separate installation. Could be that what the good doctor and the Spartans found at Onyx was a gateway to the actual Shield world. Which was in a completely different location. All the so called shield worlds could be gateways to the same place. And Chief was heading to the actual thing.
2> If this is actually a shield world then all I can say is there are loads of Sentinels who would treat the chief hostile (remember in Onyx the Spartans had a nice party with them). This would definitely mean that in the next game Chief has a lot of clean up to do… Lots of actions with big guns(I hope)!!!
Comment by PJ — May 24, 2009 @ 12:43 pm
Seems as though this planetiod is actually Reach. This is not an exact answer but to my eyes, the two planets appear the same. Could Bungie have inserted this preview of Halo: Reach into the end of H3? If so, what would this mean for Master Chief? Is he actually gone without hope of retreival?
Comment by Jon — June 4, 2009 @ 11:16 pm
Very very very good research but there would be one more small horror with the fact of cortana going into rampancy because at the end of Halo3 the Master Chief says “Wake me when you me” because he knows that she is showing signs of rampancy.And also that you dont know what your up againist.
Comment by Nick — June 29, 2009 @ 7:08 am
Great stuff but if they are going to make a halo which has the shield world and all why not make it before halo wars, odst, and fall of reach unless they are starting from the beging again
Comment by Ryan — July 9, 2009 @ 8:02 am
The “legendary ending” of halo 3 is not so, I played the last level, halo, from rally point alpha, on EASY, and when the credits were done, the so called, “legendary ending” started to play… how about that!
Comment by Robert Allen — July 12, 2009 @ 8:31 pm
One major issue, this planetoid is near the rubble of the end of H3… Granted, it is LY’s away from earth… but realisticly ๐ would THE shield world be there? OK MC is lucky (a nod to “Teela” of Niven’s “Ringworld” if you ask me, but I digress.) but that would be overly grevious for Bungie’s grizzled ancients… I think Shield World is in or beyond slipspace. Ahh, I heart Halo. See you all on Reach. On that note, and in line with some other speculations I’v seen here on AJ, what if that isnt FR tech?
Comment by Echo Six Three — May 2, 2010 @ 3:36 am