Fantastic read,truly fasinating. dont mean to pick holes or anything,but there were a few spelling mistakes… ๐
But appart from that, it is nice to still read facinating things from other people that just keep the halo series going,and getting deeper!
cheers
A great place to gather insight into the amazing world of Halo.
Maybe they should offer him to write the next book.
Comment by Aurailious — January 21, 2009 @ 5:47 pm
Halo fiction is what made me fall in love with the games. Although the game play and campaign itself is amazing, i’ve pretty much stopped playing due to the immature people who seem to inhabit matchmaking. The fiction of Halo and the insight displayed by the likes of this author are what keeps me a hardcore fan.
I took Didact’s quote on page two to be more an acceptance (as well as an affirmation) of imminent death, not the journey. Perhaps the extant Forerunners fled not only to exist idly but to flourish in a new realm.
In any case, excellent article. It was certainly an engaging and informative read. Thanks for beautifully interpreting/summarizing/explaining the rich story of Halo to us plebeians.
-Paul
Excellent post as always! It is amazing how much has been revealed of the ‘hidden’ back story.
Only thing that I would like to see changed is that the quotes would be referenced like they are in other articles on this blog. I recognized many and know where most came from… but still for sake of credibility a reference on a quote would be nice.
Other then that, excellant job sir! I await in rapt attention for your next articles! Thank God for RSS feeds getting it to me asap!
Very good analysis of the Great Journey mentioned by Didact in the Terminals.
However, his comment of “the silence of space” lulling him to sleep always struck me as pointing to the previously pulsing-with-life galaxy which is now utterly lifeless and thus silent due to the firing of the Array, rather than a literal solitary journey.
And again there is also the possibility that the Forerunner Great Journey was not something that had existed in their culture over the ages, but something that was created in light of making their final solution (Halo) acceptable to their own masses.
Just some thoughts, but keep up the excellent work.
Many have considered something incredibly interesting about this event: After the first and second array firings, though separated by a hundred thousand years, both responsible parties stole away from their act and fled into sleep without many words. The first was the aforementioned Didact and the second, of course, was the Master Chief โ who was launched to an unknown location when his ship attempted to move through the Arkโs gateway portal as it was being destroyed.
would not the precursors have been the first to fire it, or did they die off in some other way. cause i was viewing it as a repeating of history: 1st precursors, 2nd forerunners, 3rd as u said MC, altho im not sure if i agree with this. he didnt fire it as has been done in the past, but rather, destroyed it. MC parallels the 1st 2 only in his loneliness
Comment by S M Warrior — January 21, 2009 @ 11:13 pm
this is what makes halo different then any other game have played. the story. it goes so much deeper then one would expect and an extremely original plot. i applaud the writers of the story, and those who take the time to uncover the hidden secrets. thanks you
another great read!
S M Warrior- The Precursors never firedthe Halo array because it was not yet created. The Forerunners made it as a last defense vs. th flood. We don’t even know if the Precursors ever had contact with the flood, or what happened to them, just that they came before the Forerunners and they came up with the idea of the Mantle.
For Vociferous’ part that was an enthralling take on the Great Journey which I never gave any thought past the obvious Covenant belief.
The Precursors are probably those orange ottsel things from Jak 3. Nah, just kidding. The Precursors are probably a race the Forerunners learned about that had been wiped out by the Flood. Seeing how they had died, the Forerunners tried to create a solution of their own, or something like that.
So, the Precursors get royaly pwned, the Forerunners try to come up with a permanent solution and still get pwned, Master Chief and the Humans come along and finish what the Forerunners started, if you want to put it simply, though, I’m not saying this is exactly how it is. This is just one theory. Any way you look at it, the Flood is much more harder to defeat than anyone could possibly imagine.
Comment by MC Warhammer — January 22, 2009 @ 6:21 am
Hey vocif,
great stuff as usual, and then the kick in the head at the end of your article. I’m latching onto it as the best theory I’ve heard for what/where/when cortana and cheif are flying towards. the parallels drawn are insightful and basically I’d love to see what the books or a future release (game, comic, website, etc) can do for us. Of course thats like asking to see what tony soprano is doing now or what marlo from the wire is up to…. but I’d be happy if we found out. So with that said, I wanna see what nylund can do about continuing his onyx story (since i think its a separate issue now after reading your theory).
Very good read. I hope Bungie tells more about the Forerunners and the race that came before them. I hope for either a Forerunner game or book.
Comment by Trooper117 — January 22, 2009 @ 8:30 pm
There is, as of this time, absolutely no mention of Precursors outside the Bestiarium and the passing allusion to them in the Terminals.
No one knows what they looked like, what they thought, built, wore, fought with, or even where they are now.
There is one possibility, a terrifying and seemingly impossible one, but a possibility nonetheless, as to what happened to the Precursors.
That they left the galaxy is obvious. But, then what? Did they, like the race Arthur C. Clark calls the “First-Born” in his Space Odyssey series, become transentient, energy beings.
Or, in what could be the darkest twist of all, did they leave the Milky Way behind them, only to become the bane of all sentient life?
Did the Precursors become the Flood?
(That’s a rhetorical question, mind you)
Comment by the silver fox — January 22, 2009 @ 9:27 pm
It’s always a cliff hanger, but a great one at that. Hopefully we will receive the answer to these fictional questions before we ouselves expire.
How ironic.
Comment by Cory Brown — January 23, 2009 @ 10:00 am
Voc, great writeup as always man. You have a great understanding of the Forerunner events, and I can’t wait to see what you’ll do next with ODST and Halo Wars!
Great write up. One thing i though of tht I thought was interesting is that maybe the Forerunners had always intended to leave the galaxy, and give some other species a chance at the wheel. It may be that the flood just speed up their efforts
Comment by generalMADLee — January 23, 2009 @ 10:49 pm
I agree on almost every aspect of this analysis. But I`d like to add something to the reason, why Truth still kept his belief after the discovery of the humans, because we can see, that from that point on, one significant aspect of the covenant religion changed over time:
Until Harvest was discovered, the centre of the Covenant religion was the dogma, that EVERY member of the covenant( every race) would go on the Great Journey, when Halo would have been discovered and fired (That`s why elites said to fallen comrades:” Although you may die now, you will come with us on the Great Journey, when the time has come!”). This belief was the reason for the stability, the commonwealth and sometimes even harmony of the Covenant. But this dogma seemed to be crushed after they discovered humanity. From what Mendicant Bias told them, the Prophets believed that these “Reclaimers” were Forerunners. So they came to the logical conclusion, that not everybody would undoubtedly go on the Great Journey, that some could be left behind. The first thought of the Prophets then was of course, that this fact would crush the Covenant, which had been held together only by this dogma, there would bee civil war and the race of the prophets would likely not survive this.
So they decided wiping out the humans on harvest to be the first act, so nobody except them could learn the truth. But in the time of these events they also discovered evidence of the existence of the halos and to maintain their religion in the time after this they found a way to merge these two opposite evidences together: In the belief that only the strongest, the merciless would go on the Great Journey. So they really believed that the Gods (the strong and merciless Forerunners) would like to see the destruction of the humans by the hand of strong, worthy believers, because the humans were weak and an abomination of those, who deserved to be called Gods( “Your destruction is the will of the gods, and I am their instrument!”…”They declared humanity to be an abomination to their gods…”). And this gradual, careful shift in the covenant belief dictated by the prophets played an important role in causing the Covenant Civil War in the end( Getting rid of the untrusted Elites, who threatened the prophet`s claimed undisputed throne on the Great Journey( “The Great Journey has begun. And the Brutes, not the Elites shall be the Prophet`s escort!”)). You can hear Truth saying those things all the time in Halo 2 and Halo 3 (“When the Great Journey comes, the weight of your heresy will hold(?) your feet and you shall be left behind!” “Let him be! The Great Journey waits for nobody, brother, not even for you!” “Fight and show no fear! If you fail, then a fate even worse than death awaits you: We will travel on without you!”)
Other than that, I agree with everything.
Comment by Nico Pannewitz — January 25, 2009 @ 1:11 pm
Yeah…Amazing stuff, Loved the terminal references and how you got it all in, and displaying Didact’s emotions and how painful it was for him to fire the Array, the ammount of pain and suffering that could be put on the one person in charge of Killing off all sentient life in the galaxy…That just can’t be comprehended, and to also kill off the one you love in the process…In those first few paragraphs describing this actions and thoughts, just pure brilliance.
You better get a job at bungie man…or they are fools.
Vociferous, you are an outstanding writer whose gift at drawing profound connections from the scattered tidbits and elements of the Halo Universe has left me clinging to hear more time and again. I truly am very grateful to you for the time and heart that you have put into making the beauty of Halo all the more clearer for other fans. And I will continue to follow your work on this site closely as Halo Wars, ODST, and Chronicles come to fruition.
Great read,you are a excellent writer.
I have a few theories about the journey.
1. The great journey is the precusors journey to our galaxy (to flee from the flood?)and since the forerunners worship them that is why it is on their mantle.
2. The forerunners did in fact leave for another world (we know they at least tried to when they built the shield worlds)maybe only one shield world was not populated.
3. Forerunners traveling in slip space might have survived the halo event (because they were not technically in this universe, but a alternate dimension, which is why the shield worlds worked)and possibly established a colony on earth.
4. The forerunners are in fact dead as was assumed. They fled to the shield worlds, but slip space does not block the halo effect, and so they all died. The only survivors were the ones in the ark, who fled in the only surviving portal: to earth.
Comment by Sceptical Joe — March 19, 2009 @ 7:12 pm
You know this whole thing with the Forerunners and the Precursors sounds like Starcraft’s Protoss and Xel Naga. The first ones come, hang out, then leave, leaving behind a belief in the highest advanced race around that they must protect the galaxy. Culminate that with the coming of a parasitic unstoppable species (Flood/Zerg) and the interference of humans and you got yourself parallels. Nevermind that the Forerunners are dead and gone by the time humans show up.=p
Comment by Defender of Man — April 21, 2009 @ 3:16 pm
A beautifully interpretation of the hints given in the games. My understanding of the halo universe is continually increased by your articles.
As I was reading this is had a very interesting thought – remember the one-man slipspace pods on Onyx? When you said about the machine the Didact gets into, maybe that’s what they got into?
Great read.
Comment by C Vision — January 21, 2009 @ 2:27 pm
Articles like this reaffirm my interest in the Halo story. At least, the non-direct story.
A little researching and critical thinking goes a long way. Well done.
Comment by RPharazon — January 21, 2009 @ 3:08 pm
Wow that was a great read. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Keep up the good work.
Thanks,
Ren
Comment by Ren Heowein — January 21, 2009 @ 3:29 pm
Great read! have been checking the site every few days for stuff exactly like this. Keep up the great work guys
Comment by Nomer — January 21, 2009 @ 3:31 pm
How has Bungie NOT offered Vociferous a job…?
Comment by Sedi — January 21, 2009 @ 3:52 pm
Fantastic read,truly fasinating. dont mean to pick holes or anything,but there were a few spelling mistakes… ๐
But appart from that, it is nice to still read facinating things from other people that just keep the halo series going,and getting deeper!
cheers
Comment by Rick — January 21, 2009 @ 4:57 pm
A great place to gather insight into the amazing world of Halo.
Maybe they should offer him to write the next book.
Comment by Aurailious — January 21, 2009 @ 5:47 pm
Halo fiction is what made me fall in love with the games. Although the game play and campaign itself is amazing, i’ve pretty much stopped playing due to the immature people who seem to inhabit matchmaking. The fiction of Halo and the insight displayed by the likes of this author are what keeps me a hardcore fan.
Comment by Eric — January 21, 2009 @ 5:49 pm
I took Didact’s quote on page two to be more an acceptance (as well as an affirmation) of imminent death, not the journey. Perhaps the extant Forerunners fled not only to exist idly but to flourish in a new realm.
In any case, excellent article. It was certainly an engaging and informative read. Thanks for beautifully interpreting/summarizing/explaining the rich story of Halo to us plebeians.
-Paul
Comment by Paul — January 21, 2009 @ 6:24 pm
Excellent post as always! It is amazing how much has been revealed of the ‘hidden’ back story.
Only thing that I would like to see changed is that the quotes would be referenced like they are in other articles on this blog. I recognized many and know where most came from… but still for sake of credibility a reference on a quote would be nice.
Other then that, excellant job sir! I await in rapt attention for your next articles! Thank God for RSS feeds getting it to me asap!
Comment by CooperWBC — January 21, 2009 @ 6:46 pm
Very good analysis of the Great Journey mentioned by Didact in the Terminals.
However, his comment of “the silence of space” lulling him to sleep always struck me as pointing to the previously pulsing-with-life galaxy which is now utterly lifeless and thus silent due to the firing of the Array, rather than a literal solitary journey.
And again there is also the possibility that the Forerunner Great Journey was not something that had existed in their culture over the ages, but something that was created in light of making their final solution (Halo) acceptable to their own masses.
Just some thoughts, but keep up the excellent work.
Comment by Nick — January 21, 2009 @ 7:41 pm
Are you saying that the remaining Forerunners became the Terminals on the Ark?
Comment by Tyler — January 21, 2009 @ 8:44 pm
Many have considered something incredibly interesting about this event: After the first and second array firings, though separated by a hundred thousand years, both responsible parties stole away from their act and fled into sleep without many words. The first was the aforementioned Didact and the second, of course, was the Master Chief โ who was launched to an unknown location when his ship attempted to move through the Arkโs gateway portal as it was being destroyed.
would not the precursors have been the first to fire it, or did they die off in some other way. cause i was viewing it as a repeating of history: 1st precursors, 2nd forerunners, 3rd as u said MC, altho im not sure if i agree with this. he didnt fire it as has been done in the past, but rather, destroyed it. MC parallels the 1st 2 only in his loneliness
Comment by S M Warrior — January 21, 2009 @ 11:13 pm
this is what makes halo different then any other game have played. the story. it goes so much deeper then one would expect and an extremely original plot. i applaud the writers of the story, and those who take the time to uncover the hidden secrets. thanks you
another great read!
Comment by Ahsim — January 21, 2009 @ 11:16 pm
S M Warrior- The Precursors never firedthe Halo array because it was not yet created. The Forerunners made it as a last defense vs. th flood. We don’t even know if the Precursors ever had contact with the flood, or what happened to them, just that they came before the Forerunners and they came up with the idea of the Mantle.
For Vociferous’ part that was an enthralling take on the Great Journey which I never gave any thought past the obvious Covenant belief.
Comment by Fimalo — January 22, 2009 @ 3:34 am
The Precursors are probably those orange ottsel things from Jak 3. Nah, just kidding. The Precursors are probably a race the Forerunners learned about that had been wiped out by the Flood. Seeing how they had died, the Forerunners tried to create a solution of their own, or something like that.
So, the Precursors get royaly pwned, the Forerunners try to come up with a permanent solution and still get pwned, Master Chief and the Humans come along and finish what the Forerunners started, if you want to put it simply, though, I’m not saying this is exactly how it is. This is just one theory. Any way you look at it, the Flood is much more harder to defeat than anyone could possibly imagine.
Comment by MC Warhammer — January 22, 2009 @ 6:21 am
Hey vocif,
great stuff as usual, and then the kick in the head at the end of your article. I’m latching onto it as the best theory I’ve heard for what/where/when cortana and cheif are flying towards. the parallels drawn are insightful and basically I’d love to see what the books or a future release (game, comic, website, etc) can do for us. Of course thats like asking to see what tony soprano is doing now or what marlo from the wire is up to…. but I’d be happy if we found out. So with that said, I wanna see what nylund can do about continuing his onyx story (since i think its a separate issue now after reading your theory).
good stuff as usual.
Comment by el rolio — January 22, 2009 @ 9:20 am
Very good read. I hope Bungie tells more about the Forerunners and the race that came before them. I hope for either a Forerunner game or book.
Comment by Trooper117 — January 22, 2009 @ 8:30 pm
There is, as of this time, absolutely no mention of Precursors outside the Bestiarium and the passing allusion to them in the Terminals.
No one knows what they looked like, what they thought, built, wore, fought with, or even where they are now.
There is one possibility, a terrifying and seemingly impossible one, but a possibility nonetheless, as to what happened to the Precursors.
That they left the galaxy is obvious. But, then what? Did they, like the race Arthur C. Clark calls the “First-Born” in his Space Odyssey series, become transentient, energy beings.
Or, in what could be the darkest twist of all, did they leave the Milky Way behind them, only to become the bane of all sentient life?
Did the Precursors become the Flood?
(That’s a rhetorical question, mind you)
Comment by the silver fox — January 22, 2009 @ 9:27 pm
It’s always a cliff hanger, but a great one at that. Hopefully we will receive the answer to these fictional questions before we ouselves expire.
How ironic.
Comment by Cory Brown — January 23, 2009 @ 10:00 am
Voc, great writeup as always man. You have a great understanding of the Forerunner events, and I can’t wait to see what you’ll do next with ODST and Halo Wars!
Comment by Maj Williams — January 23, 2009 @ 3:48 pm
Great write up. One thing i though of tht I thought was interesting is that maybe the Forerunners had always intended to leave the galaxy, and give some other species a chance at the wheel. It may be that the flood just speed up their efforts
Comment by generalMADLee — January 23, 2009 @ 10:49 pm
I agree on almost every aspect of this analysis. But I`d like to add something to the reason, why Truth still kept his belief after the discovery of the humans, because we can see, that from that point on, one significant aspect of the covenant religion changed over time:
Until Harvest was discovered, the centre of the Covenant religion was the dogma, that EVERY member of the covenant( every race) would go on the Great Journey, when Halo would have been discovered and fired (That`s why elites said to fallen comrades:” Although you may die now, you will come with us on the Great Journey, when the time has come!”). This belief was the reason for the stability, the commonwealth and sometimes even harmony of the Covenant. But this dogma seemed to be crushed after they discovered humanity. From what Mendicant Bias told them, the Prophets believed that these “Reclaimers” were Forerunners. So they came to the logical conclusion, that not everybody would undoubtedly go on the Great Journey, that some could be left behind. The first thought of the Prophets then was of course, that this fact would crush the Covenant, which had been held together only by this dogma, there would bee civil war and the race of the prophets would likely not survive this.
So they decided wiping out the humans on harvest to be the first act, so nobody except them could learn the truth. But in the time of these events they also discovered evidence of the existence of the halos and to maintain their religion in the time after this they found a way to merge these two opposite evidences together: In the belief that only the strongest, the merciless would go on the Great Journey. So they really believed that the Gods (the strong and merciless Forerunners) would like to see the destruction of the humans by the hand of strong, worthy believers, because the humans were weak and an abomination of those, who deserved to be called Gods( “Your destruction is the will of the gods, and I am their instrument!”…”They declared humanity to be an abomination to their gods…”). And this gradual, careful shift in the covenant belief dictated by the prophets played an important role in causing the Covenant Civil War in the end( Getting rid of the untrusted Elites, who threatened the prophet`s claimed undisputed throne on the Great Journey( “The Great Journey has begun. And the Brutes, not the Elites shall be the Prophet`s escort!”)). You can hear Truth saying those things all the time in Halo 2 and Halo 3 (“When the Great Journey comes, the weight of your heresy will hold(?) your feet and you shall be left behind!” “Let him be! The Great Journey waits for nobody, brother, not even for you!” “Fight and show no fear! If you fail, then a fate even worse than death awaits you: We will travel on without you!”)
Other than that, I agree with everything.
Comment by Nico Pannewitz — January 25, 2009 @ 1:11 pm
Yeah…Amazing stuff, Loved the terminal references and how you got it all in, and displaying Didact’s emotions and how painful it was for him to fire the Array, the ammount of pain and suffering that could be put on the one person in charge of Killing off all sentient life in the galaxy…That just can’t be comprehended, and to also kill off the one you love in the process…In those first few paragraphs describing this actions and thoughts, just pure brilliance.
You better get a job at bungie man…or they are fools.
Comment by Nioax — January 25, 2009 @ 11:54 pm
Vociferous, you are an outstanding writer whose gift at drawing profound connections from the scattered tidbits and elements of the Halo Universe has left me clinging to hear more time and again. I truly am very grateful to you for the time and heart that you have put into making the beauty of Halo all the more clearer for other fans. And I will continue to follow your work on this site closely as Halo Wars, ODST, and Chronicles come to fruition.
Most Sincerely.
Comment by Tim — February 12, 2009 @ 1:54 am
Great read,you are a excellent writer.
I have a few theories about the journey.
1. The great journey is the precusors journey to our galaxy (to flee from the flood?)and since the forerunners worship them that is why it is on their mantle.
2. The forerunners did in fact leave for another world (we know they at least tried to when they built the shield worlds)maybe only one shield world was not populated.
3. Forerunners traveling in slip space might have survived the halo event (because they were not technically in this universe, but a alternate dimension, which is why the shield worlds worked)and possibly established a colony on earth.
4. The forerunners are in fact dead as was assumed. They fled to the shield worlds, but slip space does not block the halo effect, and so they all died. The only survivors were the ones in the ark, who fled in the only surviving portal: to earth.
Comment by Sceptical Joe — March 19, 2009 @ 7:12 pm
You know this whole thing with the Forerunners and the Precursors sounds like Starcraft’s Protoss and Xel Naga. The first ones come, hang out, then leave, leaving behind a belief in the highest advanced race around that they must protect the galaxy. Culminate that with the coming of a parasitic unstoppable species (Flood/Zerg) and the interference of humans and you got yourself parallels. Nevermind that the Forerunners are dead and gone by the time humans show up.=p
Comment by Defender of Man — April 21, 2009 @ 3:16 pm
A beautifully interpretation of the hints given in the games. My understanding of the halo universe is continually increased by your articles.
Comment by Max12345 — April 23, 2009 @ 10:54 pm
As I was reading this is had a very interesting thought – remember the one-man slipspace pods on Onyx? When you said about the machine the Didact gets into, maybe that’s what they got into?
Comment by freeman — August 6, 2009 @ 2:23 am