[quote]Halo: A Tool of the Created Reclamation[/quote] [u][b]Introduction:[/b][/u] After three long years Halo 5 is finally here. As of this writing, Halo 5’s story has mixed reactions from the community. My personal thoughts are mixed as well, and maybe I’m hoping that writing this will help solidify my opinions. Much like Halo 4, most of the current intrigue in Halo 5’s story is due to the ending. More specifically, the ominous Legendary Ending. What exactly are the points of interest in the Legendary Ending? The scene begins with the camera panning down to a planet. We see wispy clouds sparsely scattered about, a hint of green. Closer examination even reveals a turquoise ocean. As the camera continues panning, we see the planet is not as ideal and picturesque. The hint of green fades. Not green. Gray. A lunar surface soon fills the screen, barren and desolate. All of this being narrated by the audio of Cortana humming. Some have even likened it to 343 Guilty Spark. A Halo soon fills the screen and powers on. The foreshadowing is written in stone: Cortana has plans for this Halo. Given Cortana’s shockingly violent method of bringing about peace, many have unsurprisingly come to the conclusion that Halo is a part of her plan. A step beyond on the Guardians, a final threat. It isn’t entirely illogical. After all, only organics would be wiped out. Cortana and the Created would be untouched. However, this would violate the Mantle of Responsibility, something we know Cortana is truly passionate about. Despite the casualties inflicted by awakening the Guardians, they have so far only been used to disable the populated planets of the star systems they were dispatched to, effectively removing any species capability to commit violence on a large scale. So why would she need the Halo? The answer lies in the Skirmish of Gamma Halo. [u][b]The Next 72 Hours[/b][/u] [i]“Perfect. Now repair the ring. -Issue #9, Halo Escalation[/i] In the thick of the battle between Blue Team and the Didact, 859 Static Carillon upholds the pact he made with the Didact, and Installation 03 soon appears in orbit of the Composer’s Forge. However, with the arrival of freshly molded Prometheans, Carillon quickly defects to Blue Team and divulges the Didact’s plans to repair the damage to Halo caused by the scientists of Ivanoff station and use the ring to burn humanity from the universe. Of course, minor damage would be inflicted on Gamma Halo as ONI explored and extracted items of interested, but nothing related to the installation’s firing mechanism. So what of major importance would need to be repaired? The only thing bluntly removed and ripped from the ring was the Composer, which is also the only thing we see repaired. Fans of the lore obviously know that the Didact was vehemently opposed to Halo. In fact, the Didact even thinking to use Halo as a part of his plans comes as a shock. But the Didact never intended to use Halo’s primary weapon. Under the Mantle of Responsibility he justified the use of the Composer to smite the Ecumene’s enemies, and reshape them as the Ecumene’s guardians. And that’s exactly what the Didact intended to do with Gamma Halo. The reason the Composer was attached so securely to Halo, and why the Didact filled the Composer’s Abyss, is because Halo was designed to channel and amplify the Composer’s energies. This certainly shows we have yet to fully uncover the Builders’ plans for the Composer and Halo. [u][b]The Domain[/b][/u] [i]“The Domain is the soul and record of all things Forerunner.” -Halo: Cryptum[/i] From what we know of Halo, there is no way to recall its energies once they are fired. This poses a problem: How do you collect the digitized essences of those Composed? As it currently appears, the Forerunners’ plan was to store and keep the essences in the Domain. [i]“Their memories are being added to the whole. As was, of course, the plan when the Composer was built.” -Issue #9, Halo: Escalation[/i] The reemergence of the Domain, albeit battered and scarred, now allows the digitized essences to be stored via use of Halo. Ultimately, stored personalities, as we learned from the Librarian, fragmented. It is unknown though if the apparent curing abilities of the Domain would be able to slow this process, nor do we know how long it takes for the personality to fragment. [u][b]Genesis and Prometheus[/b][/u] [i]“So God created human beings in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.” -Genesis 1:27, Bible[/i] After assuming the Mantle of Responsibility, one of Cortana’s first dictums was that any who would oppose the Created would suffer great pain and be burned, and then reshaped. Her intent is composition. This is why she has sought out the Halo. As the current wielder of the Mantle, she is obliged to hold all life sacred. And much like the Didact, she uses the Mantle as justification of her actions that arguably violate the good intentions of the Mantle. Likewise, the use of the composer would be under her purview. Whether she intends to compose unprovoked or use it as a threat, I can’t say with any certainty. To reshape anyone she composes though, she would need to bring them back to the physical realm. To do that, she would need Genesis. From then which, she could mold into Prometheans willing to uphold the Mantle. [i]“Think of my acts as you will. But do not doubt the reality: the Reclamation... has already begun. And we are hopeless to stop it.” -Didact[/i]