medcsu

H2. Seeing Earth attacked and the fall of the Covenant to the Flood was really cool. Followed closely by both Reach and H4.

If you are looking for a way to have people read some post you wrote so you can feel brilliant than just make a post directing them there instead of saying the OP (myself) "isn't that accurate". Everything I stated was either taken directly from the book and/or conjecture based on what was taken directly from the book. You basically took everything I said and just changed the wording, congrats on that. However, since I know the basis of your post was to direct people to another post I will say: Great job man, you did a great job, your job was great.....so great. I am in awe of the greatness.

Halo 7-9 will probably delve into the Precursors. For now, I agree with AnimeAddict in that the Didact will be the primary antagonist for the remainder of the Reclaimer trilogy.

The Gravemind in H2 would have lived since Penitent Tangent went rampent (probably due to the Flood) on Installation 5. If this were the case (and I think it is) then that Gravemind would be anywhere between 50 to 100 thousand years old, probably more towards 50-75 as I doubt there was an outbreak on Installation 5 so early as Guilty Spark was still receiving reports from Installation 5. I think it is entirely plausible that the Gravemind from H2/H3 was close to 100 thousand years old by the time he spoke with the MC and the Arbiter. The Halo Wars Gravemind I really don't know because we don't have much history on it. Graveminds are obviously (now we know) Timeless and do not seem to require much in terms of energy consumption to live for eons. Installation 3 seems to be intact and that would mean Abject Testament is probably around somewhere so no Gravemind threat there (side note). I find it interesting that the Forerunners decided to keep the Composer at Installation 3. As in, why there? So I'm sure we will delve into that in a coming game. I would be better if I just quoted it for you: Librarian: I wish to leave something of myself here, the Didact in his right mind would not object Endurance (female Forerunner warrior assisting the Didact on Requiem): What would you leave? Librarian: If Lifeworkers succeed in repopulating the galaxy, after the Flood is gone....if you have visitors who seek to challenge the Didact, you can convey to them a message, and a Safeguard. Endurance: What will the message be. Librarian: That is for the visitors. If any. It won't take long to deliver an imprint of myself to you ancillary systems. Endurance: Why would Requiem accept your imprint? Librarian: You know what the Didact has become. He could emerge a danger both to himself and to others, even those who mean no harm. What I leave of myself will serve as much as to protect Requiem as to protect any visitors. Endurance: Your loyalty to your husband has never been questioned. Librarian: Never. All shall benefit. The Didact must not control the Prometheans. Endurance: You believe he could endanger Forerunners? Librarian: He will violate the Mantle, in order to seize it. Unless he is held back. Allowed to find himself again if that is to come to pass. The book goes into depth about how this transfer occurs but it is over 20 pages to be honest. Basically she made a digital copy of herself and left it there because she knew humans would eventually come to Requiem. Her brilliance really was amazing.

The war was started by the Forerunners when they discovered the Precursors had chosen humanity to take over the Mantle. They premptively attacked the Precursors with the goal of total destruction of every last one. That was the origin explained and that is why the Precursors resorted to the dust that will eventually become the Flood. Seeker, Ur Didact is totally gone mentally, when/if you read the book you will see that. Bornstellar is his counterbalance and will be the one to side with humanity, that is all but certain. In fact, he wanted to not only kill of humanity but all the other civilizations to "prevent" another humanity type war and assure Forerunner dominance forever. This is the main reason that the Librarian picked Bornstellar (in the end). The book also outlines how and why there is an "essence" of the Librarian on Requiem which was brilliantly done, as well. It really went over everything we were missing.

The book doesn't outline what the Gravemind will eventually look like but it states they will become a Precursor as was "intended". So the way I took it is, yes you are right, the powder was the earliest form and the Gravemind would be the final form en route to a Precursor. Yes you are right on what you said about Faber too. The big thing (game play wise) I took away from the book is that Ur Didact is totally insane but actually believes what he is doing is correct. At this point in his madness I don't think even the Librarian could bring him back from his madness. He see's humanity as responsible for the Forerunners losing their empire. Oh and yes, the powder is 100 percent Precursors. They turned themselves into it to preserve themselves to eventually come back, it was brilliant. And the Flood simply allows them to gain the biomass to do so.

Like the Didact (Ur) there was a series of events that drove Faber to his madness. The most important was that the Gravemind (through Medicant Bias - Fabers creation with the Ur Didact) would use Fabers dead family to constantly torment him. Using ways, for example, his family "calling out for his help" and "using information only they knew" to torment Faber into knowing his family was devoured by the Flood. I will start with this because I think it is important to realize his mind set, he was tormented and wanted to do anything in his power to destroy the Flood and thus release his family from their own torment. We see this later when the Librarian is tormented (in similar manner) by the Lord of Admirals and other humans that she allowed to be composed (Remember, originally the Librarian was all for quelling the humans until she discovered why they were "expanding" - running from Flood). Close to the end of the book, Faber is basically the council, the General, and the end all voice of the Forerunners. His word is law and he has a security force to back up whatever he says. In the final meeting on the initial Ark (there were two - the one we see in Halo is not the original) Faber allows both the Librarian and the Iso Didact to leave so he could stay and coordinate with Offensive Bias to face the Flood line. He realized this would sacrfice him but threw aside his arrogance and realized that the future of the galaxy was much more dependant on both the Librarian and the Iso Didact if it were to "exist" again. In his choice of staying behind, he cut off any transportation and single handedly (with the help of Offensive Bias - militarily) took on the Flood fleet which numbered in the tens of millions of ships. If he didn't do this, two things would have not been able to happen: 1) Iso Didact would not have been able to reach the Ark to begin the Halo sequence. 2) The Librarian would not have been able to secure the final humans so that they could be reseeded. This is important because at this point, the Ur Didact had composed nearly all humans except one pocket to which the Librarian was able to save because of Fabers sacrifice. I believe this deed was heroic because he could have very easily took the final ship to a shield world and hybernated in a Cryptum. In essence, his choice allowed for both the Flood to be eradicated and humanity to be saved. Drizzy_Dan, that poster was not 100 percent correct but he was a bit correct. The transcended thoughts is correct but all Graveminds share thoughts and the "Timeless One" was simply a Gravemind that was ready to transcend back into being a Precursor. In other words, the words spoke to the Didact from that Gravemind did indeed come from the Timeless One but only because the Timeless One had a conversation with the Ur Didact thousands of years before hand after the Precursors were turned on by the Forerunners. In fact, the meeting between the Gravemind and the Didact was crucial for the Flood because while he wasn't devoured into the Flood, his thoughts were and thus were his strategies which helped the Flood. So consider this, one Gravemind that died 1 billion years ago will have the same knowledge as a Gravemind that is born today, however, in this case, the Timeless One wanted to relay his words because he personally was the one that spoke to the Didact years before and he wanted to gloat per say. At the time of their first conversation, the Timeless One really was the "Last Precursor", then the Flood came and changed that as they were becoming more. Further, as the Flood became more rampent, old Precursor technology (neural physics they call it) was again becoming operational through the galaxy in forms of Star Roads and such and this allowed them to bypass Forerunner portals to attack systems without that need. My mind is really blown by this final book too, I really recommend you guys read it (them), they were well done and now I am positive the Flood will come back sooner or later (I thought that anyhow but now I am convinced). I've said it many times here and I'll say it again, humanity (in terms of where we are at the time of H4) is nowhere ready to deal with such a force as the Flood that the Forerunners dealt with. Bornstellar vs Ur is without a doubt going to be a big part of a future Halo game and I agree and always have that H4 was expertly written and I cannot wait for the next one.

Well first off, the Flood are Precursors in totality. The only hinge to that would be when they take over an organism. However, when the organism is taken over by the Flood (Precursor) it develops along a path that will inevitably become a Precursor. The highest level we see this as is a Gravemind. A Gravemind is the closest thing we have thus far seen to a Precursor, but given more time it will become one (Silentium). This is how the Precursors designed the Flood in that they would eventually devour all life to recreate their own species. It was really a brilliant read in how they explained the life cycle of the Flood. I will attempt to sum it up: 1) Flood spores - At the end of the Forerunner/Precursor war, the Precursors knew they would lose so they changed their own form into a fine powder, or dust. This dust was inadvertantly found by their inheritors (humans) and through the Pheru began the evolution back from flood spores to Precursors. However, at some point, the ancient Graveminds called off the Flood from the humans (which the humans believed was due to a found "cure") because the true enemy was the Forerunners. However, they did not anticipate the humans being battled by the Forerunners, as well. 2) Flood forms: The spores naturalize in whatever host they take over (we already know this so I wont go into it) but the end result is to create graveminds which will inevitably become Precursors (we didn't know this). 3) Gravemind: This is basically the final "Flood" form before a Precursor is again reborn. In essence, the Precursors anticipated a loss to the Forerunners and used the Flood dust to eventually return. Your question on Halsey. It is insinuated, but heavily insinuated as the Librarian herself claims she will pick a line and seed her own essence into it that will "eventually lead a human to lead the other humans to their destiny". She also states that this human would "have her understanding of evolution and how to evolve mankind to a level to compete with the Forerunners." You're right that I cannot say for sure it is Halsey but that sounds like Halsey to me. No Didact was executed by Faber. He left one (Ur Didact) stranded in a Flood infested system and assumed this would kill him, it did not as the Gravemind let the Ur Didact go after turning him "mad". The Gravemind, being a Precursor, wanted the Didact to experience the loss of his species (Forerunners) as he experienced the loss of his. Thus this began the total loss of sanity by what we see in the Didact in H4. The Didact (Ur) that we have dealt with is totally corrupted and his line of thinking coincides with the Precursors in that he sees the humans as the Precursors saw the Forerunners. In other words, revenge is his motive now. Bornstellar (IsoDidact) named Chakas Guilty Spark, had a great conversation with him, had a conversation with Offensive Bias, ignited the rings and then retreated to a shield world. The book explains that the Halo effect was not instantaneous. As in, there would be time before one rings overlapped to the other, thus he had time to go (alone by the way) to a cryptum in an unnamed shield world. Faber actually became quite a hero of sorts (I will explain if you wish), but he is dead. Few more things I forgot to add. 1) The Ur and Iso Didacts are not close in any manner. Ur resents the Iso and the Librarian picked Iso (which further led to his madness). 2) The Iso Didact elected to rings where as the Ur Didact wanted to use the composer (the events from H4 and the composer are gone over in Silentium).

I just finished reading Silentium and wow, so many revelations it's hard to keep track. The big ones that will effect H5 (and beyond) would be: 1) The Didact we face(d) in H4 (Ur Didact) is basically beyond redemption because he is corrupted to the core by an ancient Gravemind (more on this later). I bring this up because he will be back, be sure of that. 2) The Iso Didact (Bornstellar) is certainly not dead and will be back. 3) The Flood are Precursors. We inked into this a bit in Primordium but not to the extent in Silentium. They are Precursors. Their form, while grotesque is an initial form that will end with the rebirth of the Precursors. That being said, they had and have one enemy and that is the Forerunners, in fact, they purposely backed off the Ancient humans and see them as the inheritors of their "Mantle". The only add with this is that they have become quite more than intended by the Precursors (I will explain if need be). 4) Halsey is the Librarian reincarnate. While it does not explicitly spell this out, they make it quite obvious that she (Librarian) passed her "gene song" on to a human legacy in totality. 5) Guilty Spark will have a part to play in future Halo games. Sorry for being (kind of) vague but I am blown away by this recent book (excellent). If you would prefer I spell things out I will.

You are also asking this question months after release: In other words, you know every creature location/what to expect/what to bring so of course it is simple, especially on heroic. Beat it on LASO then come back and ask the same question.

Why make a wiki here?

Halo Silentium will share insight into the true nature of the Flood. However, that being said, the Flood were created as a weapon, a kind of "last resort" or "answer at hand" (Halo Cryptum) by the Precursors aimed at the Forerunners. It is my belief that in Silentium we will discover the Flood evolved from the original intent of the Precursors and through this evolution became sentient. I have said it before in many posts and will say it again now, we (the player) have not even come close to seeing the full fury of the Flood yet. What we have faced is nothing compared to what the Forerunners were dealing with, not even in the same league.

The Flood were not eliminated in Halo 3...... There are other installations with samples that could easily start the infection again... Also, the Halo array never didn't "fire" in Halo 3 and wipe out the Flood and "other living things", what game did you play? If the Halo array actually fired there would be no Halo 4....

Fix = play them all again.

Has anyone else literally pulled a gunner off and killed him just so you can set up a warthog from a distance? I have on a few occasions because the gunners are just terrible.

Well it ran into a sun...so if it does come back....well let's just all hope it doesn't come back because if it does that would be very bad.

This. Roland is annoying. I was hoping he manfunctioned for good when Halsey "Beggar for Knowledged" his ***.

Yeah the Commanders are quite lethal with the cannon.

The entirety of the Flood force that the Gravemind brought to the Ark was nothing in comparison to what the Forerunners had to deal with. If Humanity dealt with that type of outbreak and a renegade AI to boot it would be demolished. The Master Builder shows a star map to the Librarian in one of the cinematics and the Flood, literally, held the majority of known space. If that type of outbreak were to occur again (with humanities current tech) the only option would probably be setting off the Halo's again to stop it. I stick by my original post in that we haven't even come close to seeing a severe outbreak as of yet. We have dealt with pockets but a true galaxy wide outbreak would be catastrophic.

I agree the AI drivers are and have always been terrible. Hell they are even terrible on a turret.

At the end of the last book we had Guilty Spark (a flash) searching for the Librarian, I stick by my prediction (on the previous one of these numerous threads) that Guilty Spark will somehow play a part as the MCs AI.

There were a ton of areas with vehicle play in H4. Mantis, Scorpion, Pelican, Fighter jet (forgot name), could snag ghosts in a few areas, given ghosts in a few areas, Banshee in two areas.....what more do you want....

Leads me to an interesting thought. Would the Didact be so bold as to unleash the Flood on mankind as he could just set off the Halos after to restart everything again and assure Forerunner ascendancy? He believes humans brought the Flood to the Forerunners so I doubt he would hesitate.

Yeah did this awhile ago and Midnight was the most difficult.

Current UNSC has a clear advantage to the Forerunners though in that we are well aware of the Flood and will not overlook them as the Forerunners did. That being said, I stick by my previous statement in this thread. We (UNSC/Humans) haven't even came close, not even close to seeing the full verocity of the Flood. They (The Flood) had one focus and one focus is all during the Ancient Humanity times and that was to obliterate the Forerunners. If we faced that verocity in our current technological status we would be overrun with ease by the Flood. Again, Halo Silentium seems to suggest we will learn the true purpose of the Flood but from the hints given, it appears they are a check and balance system to see if a species is truly capable to earn the title of "The Mantle". They are a final play perpetrated by the Precursors to wipe out those who "rose up" and wiped them out (The Forerunners). At the time of H4, Humanity is really coming into its own though as far as tech advances and reverse engineering Covie and Forerunner tech. Its only a matter of time that we (humanity) will be advanced enough for the Flood to test us in a serious manner.