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The Ark, in the Halo video game series, is a mysterious Forerunner facility from which all the Halos can be controlled. If the naming of the game's enemy, The Flood , is in reference to the biblical Flood, then the Ark may be a place that is safe from the Halos' firing when the Halos are activated. The name is also possibly a reference to The Ark Of The Covenant . In the end of Halo 2 , Delta Halo is armed and then unexpectedly shut down, causing it to send a super-luminal signal to all other Halos in the galaxy, putting them on standby mode. 343 Guilty Spark informs the Arbiter , Miranda Keyes and Sergeant Johnson that the Halos can all be remotely activated from "The Ark". SPECULATION It is hypothesized that Earth or its moon may possibly be the location of the Ark; it is also speculated that the Ark is the Forerunner ship that the Prophet Of Truth travels in the cut-scene at the conclusion of the game, while information in the limited edition of Halo 2 has led numerous fans to think the Ark could be on what remains of the planet Reach . Many fans expect that the Ark will be in the upcoming game Halo 3 , and may lead to the end of the Human-Covenant War and the Covenant Civil War, with one of the wars' final battles taking place within this Forerunner facility. Since the Halos can be activated from the Ark, they could conversely be shut down and/or destroyed from the Ark, although this is pure speculation. It is also believed that the Ark may have sheltered the only surviving Forerunners (possibly appearing as holographic "spirits" in Halo 3) after Halo's first use, who then could have descended to humankind. Halo: Combat Evolved In , 343 Guilty Spark refers to Master Chief as a Reclaimer, someone who can operate Halo. It seems that only the Forerunners could operate Halo and since Guilty Spark is convinced Chief is a Reclaimer, it opens the possibility that Forerunners were ancient humans. This is proven by the fact that in Halo 2 , he did not refer to Brutes, Elites, or any other form of Covenant as such, calling them a "primitive, hegemonizing swarm" instead. Furthermore, near the end of Halo 1 while the Master Chief and Cortana are attempting to activate The Pillar of Autumn's fusion reactors, 343 Guilty Spark spoke of the Autumn's Human History records in its archives: "You can't imagine how exciting this is, to have a record of our lost times... Human history is it? Fascinating..." This would provide a clear indication that the Humans and Forerunners are closely linked. 343 Guilty Spark also questions the Master Chief with "Why would you hesitate to do something you've already done?," which possibly implies that the Reclaimer who set off Halo before was human-like, close enough that the Monitor mistakes Master Chief for him/her. In the same sequence, 343 Guilty Spark says, "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." This perhaps proves that 343 Guilty Spark indentifies the Chief as the one who previously activated the rings, and that Master Chief/ The previous activator also had doubts just before activating Halo. It is possible that if technology could have been advanced to the point of Time travel, then it is conceivable that 343 Guilty Spark does not mistake Master Chief for a forerunner, but recognizes Master Chief having "returned from the past." But that errs towards the extreme end of speculation. Halo 2 In Halo 2 there are a number of possible hints that the Ark is in the vicinity of Earth, perhaps near New Mombasa (the city in the game's second level that is destroyed due to a slipspace rupture caused by The Prophet of Regret’s ship). There is speculation as to why the Prophet of Regret actually attacked Earth. Many fans have assumed that it was a strike on the human homeworld to end mankind's interference with the "Great Journey”. But Cortana reports, while listening to Covenant channels on Delta Halo, that Regret is asking the other Prophets to forgive him for his "premature arrival," arguing that "no human presence was foretold." This possibly shows that the Prophets had been planning to go there for some other reason than an attack on humanity, leading to the possibility that the location of the Ark and Earth's location are one in the same. While on the same section (on Delta Halo), Cortana says that "it's odd a Prophet would have such bad intel about his enemy's homeworld." Another reason that people point out is that Cortana says "it looks like they weren't expecting us": :Cortana: ''I've been analyzing the Covenant tactical chatter. They're surprised... confused. I don't think they expected us to be here. Not you and me. All of us... humanity... on Earth. Odd, I know, but it does help explain why they came here with such a small fleet.'' Another line of speculation draws from the unlockable multiplayer map Foundation , which hints that the role of the Ark is similar to the foundations in Isaac Asimov 's Foundation series. Also noteworthy is that the map is supposed to be set in a Robot Test Facility, once again hinting an Asimov connection. This theory suggests that there should be two separate Arks, one representing Noah's Ark and the other representing the Ark Of The Covenant . A letter in '' Conversations From The Universe '' from the special edition of Halo 2 mentions the discovery of a mysterious object on the planet Coral , which might be one of the Arks. POSSIBLE BIBLICAL REFERENCES Noah's Ark The most popular theory is that the Ark is a reference to Noah's Ark . In the Bible , The Ark was built by Noah according to plans given by God and created to save Man and all the animals of the earth from "heavenly judgement," in the form of the great flood. The Ark could then be seen as perhaps a bastion from the alien parasite The Flood and the destructive power of the Halo weapons, a place where the Forerunners perhaps placed those chosen to propagate the species or even genetic samples. Then, once the Halos' were fired and all sentient life was theoretically destroyed, the Ark could then release its contents onto the world. This could explain the origin of human life and the humans' status as "Reclaimers," if one accepts the theory of humans as Forerunner descendants. The Ark of The Covenant The Ark Of The Covenant is a sacred container built at the command of Moses , in which rested the stone tablets containing the Ten Commandments . There may be a link between The Ark in the video game Halo 2 and ''The Ark of the Covenant'' as there are very strong bonds between the Halo Forerunners and godly or holy things throughout the game series. The Ark in Halo could potentially house genetic material to ensure the survival of life after the firing of the Halo weapons, much like the Biblical Ark housed the sacred Ten Commandments. It is also possible that rather than function merely as a "container," the Halo Ark could be a type of central superweapon, similar to the supernatural Ark of the Covenant in folklore and the Steven Spielberg film '' Raiders Of The Lost Ark ''. |
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