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The alien alliance known as "''", it is revealed that the Covenant received much of their technology from the Forerunner. Indeed, the High Prophets, who are part of the alien federation's leader caste, evolved on a planet formerly inhabited by the Forerunner. HISTORY According to the evidence scattered among the ''Halo'' games and novels, the Forerunner appear to be an extremely advanced race who mysteriously vanished, leaving behind a vast collection of their technology . One type of such "technological relics" are the '' that the Halos are weapons of last resort, used to destroy all life in the galaxy large enough to sustain the parasitical Flood, thus preventing the Flood from spreading. A single ring has a range of 25,000 light years, but activating one will activate the other 6 spread throughout the galaxy. However, all 7 rings can be activated from the Ark, the actual identity of which is unknown, or if one is partially activated but fails to complete its firing sequence. Near the end of '' Halo 2 '', 343 Guilty Spark explains that the Forerunner destroyed themselves along with other sentient life within three radii of the galactic center by activating the Halo weapons from The Ark . The Ark is believed to be on or near Earth; it is unknown whether it encompasses the entire Earth or is simply an installation or object located on Earth. It is hypothesized that possible locations for The Ark include New Mombasa, East African Protectorate (from ''Halo 2''), Jerusalem , and Boston, Massachusetts (from the Haunted Apiary ). Some have also suggested that the Ark may in fact be located on or in the Earth's moon. Another possible location of the Ark is Coral, the planet mentioned in; "Conversations From The Universe". Also some suggest that the Ark is the Forerunner ship that Master Chief is on at the end of Halo 2 Other types of Forerunner relics are mentioned in the two novels "''''". These include a rock embedded with crystals apparently describing stellar coordinates for an unknown star system and a mysterious crystal-shaped object seemingly capable of bending time and space. SUCCESSION THEORIES Humanity as Forerunner It has been hypothesized that humanity may actually be Forerunner who were protected from the original activation of the Halo weapons, possibly by The Ark in the same manner that Noah's ark saved life from God's flood. Several comments are made to this effect , and possibly all Humans , are considered "Reclaimers". Also, when confronted about the true function of Halo after retrieval of the Index, 343 Guilty Spark comments: "But you already know that… I mean… how couldn't you. (…) Last time you asked me, if it were my choice, would I do it? Having considerable time to ponder your query, my answer has not changed." When taken together with the knowledge that the Forerunner apparently destroyed themselves with Halo (see "History," above), it again suggests that 343 Guilty Spark believes that Master Chief is a Forerunner or at least one of the builders of Halo. This would explain why only humans can use the Index to activate Halo (e.g., Tartarus uses Miranda to activate Delta Halo at the end of Halo 2 ). Guilty Spark's comments may also hint at why the AI Cortana states in both Halo and Halo 2 that something seems "familiar" about the Forerunner computer systems. Finally, during the Halo 1 level "The Maw" section "Light Fuse, Run Away", 343 Guilty Spark is seen in a cutscene extracting information from consoles in the engineering bay. As he madly hums, zapping boards with some unknown device, he comments to the Master Chief: "To have a record of all our lost time…." The use of the pronoun "our" may or may not be inclusive of the Master Chief, but it does suggest either that humans are heirs to the Forerunner or at least that Forerunner events are entwined with the affairs of humans, as it is presumably human data logs that Guilty Spark is extracting. Although the Humanity-Forerunner connection is probably the most popular Forerunner succession hypothesis, one of the most significant flaws is that no one has been able to comprehensively explain how or why Humanity forgot its Forerunner heritage. Some have also pointed out that the Forerunner's angular gray architecture and technology looks similar to human technology, though that could simply be a result of the extreme contrast between Humanity's gray color scheme and the Covenant's purple color scheme. As it stands, a possible answer to the above flaw lies in the ancient Forerunner relic, the Ark . It is believed that the Ark may have sheltered the only surviving Forerunners. In addition, it is also believed that the Ark is Earth, or at least it is on or near it. One theory as to why the Covenant chose to land in New Mombasa is its proximity to the Great Rift Valley , a place rich in anthropological history and possibly a point of origin for the Forerunners' colonization of Earth. If, in fact, the number of Forerunner survivors had been low and their location of was on or near Earth, then Humanity's relation to the Forerunner may have some more validity. Given that the detonation of the Halos was a last ditch effort to save Forerunner-kind, it's rather understandable that records of history could not be preserved. It is further hypothesized that the rebuilding of the race would have to occur right on or near the Ark (considering that, if it were a vessel for preserving life, it would be well equipped for rebuilding a race). Over time, notions of Forerunner ancestry would be lost due to lack of records and Humanity would arise. One other little-known theory is that humanity were the Forerunners and took shelter in the Ark, as mentioned above. However, the theory explains that humans lost their superior intelligence and technology by intentional devolution. Therefore, normal humans have no ability to recognize Forerunner technology--only the artificially evolved Spartans can. Their advanced memory would allow them to partially access a form of genetic memory. This explains why the Master Chief knows which buttons to push in order to activate Forerunner consoles, and why he finds Forerunner writing familiar. Miranda Keyes' ability to become a Reclaimer can be explained in many ways. Perhaps whatever genes that allowed the Spartans to survive their training are present in her as well, though her father sheltered her from the program. She could be mildly psychic, or any of a thousand other possibilities. A similar theory is that all humans have slight memory of their time has Forerunners. The Master Chief made several comments in the book seris that the Forerunner writing looked similar to Aztec pictography. It's possible that the first civilizations on Earth used Forerunner language or some form of it has their own. This memory could explain the myths that appear in most cultures, that humans once lived in paradise until they fell from grace for one reason or another. The loss of technology could have come from some accident in the Ark en route to Earth or just because it couldn't be brought with them as they fled. If this or the previous theory is true the Covenant could think humans are mocking the Forerunners by taking their physical form and by living on a world that may have some religious importance. A newer theory maintains that the Forerunners kept humans as a slave race. This can be implied through the Covenant's actions. The grunts are a lowly race with little intelligence and battlefield usefulness, except to clog the guns of the enemy. Yet, they are in the Covenant. Jackals are also a low class, physically weaker than humans, and seem to possess little intelligence. They too are in the Covenant. Humans, of course, are not as physically strong as Elites or Brutes. However, one could argue that humans are of equal or greater intelligence to the Elites, and probably superior intelligence to the Brutes and Hunters, though not enough information is available in the books to verify this. Why then are the humans not given an opportunity to join the Covenant? Their territory seems to occupy many important Forerunner artifacts and the Ark (or key information leading to the Ark); it would have been much easier to ally with humans and take the artifacts than the war which, despite the Covenant's success, has been costly. It is known that Prophets have information regarding the Forerunners. One theory holds that they know that humans are Forerunners and do not want to lose their holy status to another race, especially one technologically inferior to their own. However, in this scenario the humans could have been assimilated into the Covenant without releasing that information. A logical conclusion is that the humans were a slave race to the Forerunners causing the Prophets to deem them as unfit for the Covenant, thus justifying their eradication. The fact that they're primates doesn't matter; Brutes are primates. Why, then, do ALL humans have the ability to operate the Halos? The answer is simple. The Ark is clearly a vessel or planet that protects those inside or in its proximity from the effects of the Halos. Why should a Forerunner stay behind and die, when a slave can be sent to his or her death and operate the Halo while all the Forerunners remain safely inside the Ark? The next question is simple; how did the human race survive? This is all related to the Ark which must be Earth or currently on Earth. Consider Earth's history. Teeming with life for over a billion years, and significant life for hundreds of millions. In Halo CE, Guilty Spark says that the Halos would render the galaxy void of lifeforms. The last firing occurred about 100,000 years ago. Any interruption of life on Earth? Not at all. Life continued on Earth, and humans were roaming the continents at that point, meaning that there were suitable hosts for the Flood. Still, how did the humans survive? Several possibilities. One, the humans overthrew the Forerunners and went (returned?) to the Ark themselves. Two, Forerunners took humans with them to the Ark, only to die off or be killed off. Three, there are actually multiple Arks. This would explain several more things. For instance... the Prophets claim to be living on the Forerunner homeworld. The planets housing Elites, Jackals, Drones, Engineers, Hunters, Grunts, and Brutes all maintained lifeforms (it is unlikely that evolution would allow for highly specialized intelligence in roughly 100,000 years, assuming these planets were glassed by the Halos as well). It is important to remember that the 100,000 years may be in Threshold time and given the difference in orbit, and the fact it seems to be a cold gas giant such as the Jovian planets in Sol, those 100,000 years could be millions or tens of millions of Earth years. There is yet another possibility, that the Forerunners didn't originate in The Milky Way. Think about it; Cortana was able to refine the Slipspace technology in mere seconds and make it better than what the Covenant had. Give humanity several thousand more years and the technology to build a Halo, and imagine how fast and far it could travel. The Flood was maintained for study purposes, and the Forerunners clearly knew that outbreaks were possible (and deadly). Why house them in one's own galaxy, when one could build structures to house them in another? Even if the Halos failed, the Flood could never reach another galaxy on their own, at least not in significant enough numbers to avoid eradication. The theory of Forerunners being early humans is similar to the theories of Larry Niven 's books about the Pak . Perhaps the Forerunners intended to test the Flood, then destroy the specimens. We can presume that this is the reason the "Fortress Worlds" were built. Obviously, at some point, there was some fatal error, and the Flood were released. Near the end of a decimating war, the Forerunners primed the ultimate weapons to erase all sentient life in the galaxy(as you may remember, 343 guilty spark mentioned that a Ring had a destructive radius of approx. 25,000 lightyears, which is more than enough to suck the life out of three quarters of the galaxy). Although there is a small chance that Earth or any one of the covenant homeworlds may have been spared the blast, it is less of a possibility than, say, one of the theories above. A question long pondered is: Why do the Rings destroy all life except for the flood? maybe since the Flood have no real sentience they were immune to the weapon. Maybe the Ring killed off the Dinosaurs millions of years ago but spared the lower mammals, fish, and reptiles, of whom would someday evolve into the Human race. Maybe, according to the Bible, "Noah" (humanity) receved a message from "God"(the Forerunners), and used the "Ark" to escape the "Flood". Interesting coincedence. Perhaps the Ark is located at the top of the mountan, where "Noah" left it. Jjaro as Forerunner Some fans have noted similarities between the Forerunner and the Jjaro , an equally ancient, powerful, and absent alien race from the Marathon series of games. EXTERNAL LINKS |
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