Talk:Cortana

LOVE STORY
LOVE STORY?! THAT WOULD RUIN THE ENTIRE PLOT!! I must know exactly were you found that. Uhh. since I'm not entirely sure about signing comments, yeah, you could find out who I was if you looked hard enough anyways.

Sorry I forgot to put up a new headline, but this'll most likely not be added on to anyways.

It has been hinted at from a lot of places but in a weekly update and I will quote what was in this update because it is easier, "Chris and I did a bunch of Interviews with European press, many of which will likely be translated into things like "Luke said there would be campaign Forge in Halo 17" and "Chris says that the love story between Cortana and the Master Chief is a key theme in Halo 3" -- oh, wait, of those two things one of them actually was said. " So which one is more likely. I wonder. Anyway if I can find any other places, i'll let you people know.

P.S. My response to love story like this, ... EWWWWWW! How could a relationship at that level happen between a cyborg and an A.I. I don't even what to think about it. If you really don't see Cortana until level 8 of the Halo 3 campaign, I don't see had anything important could happen in two levels. Trooper117 02:32, 2 September 2007 (UTC)

Master chief is not a cyborg, period! and yes it would screw up the plot. Halonerd147 19:31, 6 July 2008 (UTC)

Technically, Master Chief is a cyborg because he has those nueral implantie thingies. And sometimes when grunts run around screaming in Halo: CE, they say "Big, bad, cyborg!!"

You guys can turn a blind eye to it but The Chief and Cortana do have feelings for eachother and it couldn't screw up the plot when its apart of it. VanFlyhight 20:50, 26 January 2009 (UTC)

A quote regarding cortana
in the E3 06' trailer she does not say sheild. she says source. people probably put sword because it goes with sheid and starts wit an s.- Thegoodone   "Messages go here"  What I've Done 00:15, 18 September 2007 (UTC)
 * Wrong. She says "I am your shield, I am your sword." Confirmed by Frankie himself. - theblackthrone  (atthecenter)    (ofultimatechaos)  00:52, 18 September 2007 (UTC)

Yes, she does say Shield and she does say sword--Church Re born-   GruntCornerMy Spam

Before 2550?
Post some proof or remove her "reqruitment" date. We dont have any date other than August of 2552 when she chose a Spartan (John) -- we dont know when she was created.
 * she wasn't created before 2550, she was created sometime before august of 2552 but not 2551 or earlier. Halonerd147 19:33, 6 July 2008 (UTC)
 * Source?. --Andrew Nagy 04:53, 1 July 2009 (UTC)
 * Done. --Andrew Nagy 04:53, 1 July 2009 (UTC)

Cortana and the Spartan II project
Cortana was created as a Smart AI from a flash clone of Dr. Catherine Halsey's brain. She was originally created to assist one of the many Spartan-II's in their mission. She chose John (S-117), yet her creation and purpose are never mentioned throughout this Article about her, yet other information from "Fall of Reach" and "First Strike" is found here. I find this somewhat frightening to discover.

- SnoweyShadow, October 6th 2007 8:47pm EST

This makes me wonder about the true lifespan of Cortana. She was based on a brain flash-cloned from Dr. Halsey, which means she herself may be some kind of special A.I. Perhaps Halsey thought of Cortana as a daughter(which we know Cortana believes the vice versa of this) and made some modification somewhere that some how allowed Cortana an extended Lifespan. As for considerations that she will die on the rear half of the Amber, would it not make sense if an A.I. were able to minimize it's own activity and effectively hibernate? Either way, I would even venture speculation that perhaps throughout her development that Dr. Halsey forced some kind of semi-rampancy that she personally guided. Of course much of this is barely, or completely, unfounded speculation.

- RadiationHazard, December 12th 2007 3:19 AM PST

I too wonder about Cortana's lifespan. Allthough I agree with what you said I originally thought this for different reasons. The idea of of the smart AI "lifespan" comes from the AI essentially and eventually thinking itself to death. Your idea of Cortana being an unaltered product of a flash cloned brain (presumably the only of its kind, as all other military AIs are held in check with "personality filters", as i like to call them) works well with the extended lifespan theory as, her very nature makes her more human than any AI before, and as such able to curtail the very feedback problems leading to AI death. My original theories spawned from the idea of the 4th stage of rampancy. It is my opinion that after Cortana's encounter with gravemind( and hence the rampancy), when she was rescued by the Chief, she entered the 4th stage of rampancy, where an AI ceases to be a construct and becomes an actuall sentient entity. This, like my expansion of your idea about the flash cloning, allowed Cortana to bypass the eventual "over-thinking" of normal smart-AIs. On a more practical not, I believe one, or possibly all of these to be true as they are easy ways for Bungie to continue to use cortana in future game series without conflict with game canon. Unfortunately, like you, these are all pretty much based on personal opinion.

- Phoebus

Cortana Quote and Father concept
Hey, I was wondering if her quote about being nothing more than her mother's shadow could somehow relate to the AI from Marathon...idk ne thing about the Marathon game, but in the trivia section it was said that the AI's name is related to a sword that gave birth to Cortana (there is an A.I. named Durandal which is the English name of "Durindana" which in the above legend is one of the swords which "gives birth" to Cortana) and I figure it could be possible that Durandal might be the mother she speaks of..but then again she may be refering to Dr. Halsey who 'abandoned' them in the book First strike...and for some reason I think I remember something about AI preceeding Cortana and spoken of in terms of preceding or following her chronologically, all made by Dr. Halsey. Just wondering if the quote could be conected somehow to something Bungie has already given us about who Cortana means as her mother.

Well, I don't think the Marathon Game has anything to do with the plot, but thanks for pointing that out. ΜΆŜΤΈŖČΗέÏΣΡΈΤΤΥОΓΓïČëŗ 11:20, 18 October 2007 (UTC)


 * I think it pretty much means she's a temporary imprint of Dr. Hasley, being a flash clone of her brain and all.

The Cortana Letters?
I find it odd that there is no reference to the Cortana letters in this article, as several of her lines in Halo 3 seem to come from the letters.

I actually think that the Cortana Letter has nothing to do with Cortana, even though her quotes may come from the Letter, their's no way to put it up because Bungie has stated that the letter is considered as Canon! ΜΆŜΤΈŖČΗέÏΣΡΈΤΤΥОΓΓïČëŗ 11:17, 23 October 2007 (UTC)

Cortana VIdeo
I started a video visualizing Cortana's abilities in the images & video section. Would love anyone to contribute clips & photos showing Cortana's special abilities. Thx! ChrisF 13:54, 17 February 2008 (UTC)

I dont understand...
you see and hear visions of her in halo 3 throughout the entire game. is this really her, or the gravemind talking through her?

and yes, i must admit, she is hot. The Gravemind is talking through her, otherwise she's basically going rampant.Bllasae


 * Something I don't understand is in regards to the Index, which Cortana kept from the first Halo and uses to destroy the new Halo. Articles are stating that she was physically holding it, but in the game it seems to be a digital image in itself, and that Cortana instead copied the Index's files into her memory system? Just wondering, haha. Meshgeroya 03:37, 6 July 2008 (UTC)

Some vandel did bad things on this page
I Was Going to fix it but someone beat me to it but oh well i hope the person gets in troble for that.Shipmaster117 11:25, 25 April 2008 (UTC)

That was propabaly me. Did it say at the top of the page a bunch of random cuss words? Elite&#39;s Rule 22:30, 7 May 2008 (UTC)

I also edited stuff out something about cortanas boobs getting bigger everygame. LOLz.Spec-op sniper058 20:21, 7 July 2008 (UTC)


 * Ironic, as it says that on Cortana's page on Gruntipedia.Thunderstream328 Thunderstream328.jpg Here me rawr Stuff I've done 20:25, 7 July 2008 (UTC)

Her boobs do get bigger every game. The designers lame out and make her more what teen boys want to wank over, they make her hair longer, her boobs bigger, and her looks more towards vogue style conventional beauty. She was far cooler when she was scrawny, short-haired and a bit dorky looking.

I think the reason her brests get bigger and hair longer in every game is becuase she is modeled after a human, and human grow, do they not? But the growth is quicker in smart AI's becuase they have a lifespan of 7 years, s PsychoThunder

I really doubt that the above reason is the truth, seeing as she was cloned from a adult. My theroy is as her attraction to John increased, she wished to impress him more. Mabye not consciously, but she changed her apperance to gain more attention from John. Therefore she did what she thought would get the most attention, increase breast size and change her hairstyle. AeroCaboose
 * I second that idea. I believe in The Fall of Reach early on they mention the AI's ablility to change their appearance. (unsigned)

At that point, maybe she simply wanted to change her appearance Vennificus 22:47, March 9, 2010 (UTC)

Or, maybe bungie just wanted to make Cortana look better for male gamers plus everything changes in the games as each new one comes out. Major Lucrecio 02:38, September 18, 2010 (UTC)

Edit at 05:51, 27 July 2008 by 76.169.237.224 (Talk) (→Captured)
IDK, but to me this edit seems to be fanfiction. Perhaps a source needs to be cited?

I was reading and I thought she will not be dead in halo 4 because the forerunners could keep there A.I. alive for endless amounts of time and she acesed their info. So hope im right.

It's speculation and should be deleted. Please remember to sign your posts --forgottenlord 15:25, 11 August 2008 (UTC)

Captured
This is just a hypothesis, but I think it should be thrown out there all the same because a good deal of the stuff in the established Halo universe really is fan conjecture and what not...anyways: As far as Cortana dying after 7 years or whatever while onboard the ship floating in space...technically there's a possibility that that might not happen. If you think about it, there is absolutely no new information that Cortana is gleaning or coming to understand while she is on the ship so really all she can do is whittle away at the information that she does have until it is so tightly classified and cross referenced that she has nothing else to do. This could take a while, but it could also not take very long and then she has a lot of time to herself. I know that that is basically the definition of Rampancy, when she has too much time to think and therefore "thinks so much that she forgets to breathe" but really there is nothing to stop her from shutting herself down temporarily, or at least putting herself on standby, to prolong her life cycle. Dangerusdave 15:32, 3 October 2008 (UTC)

I think you are confusing rampancy and AI death. They are two different things. A rampant AI doesn't necessarily die, infact it can be argued that rampancy prolongs their life. The AI death is, as you say a result of the AI "think[ing] so much that she forgets to breathe", but I'm pretty sure this is nearly exclussive to human smart AIs, as we can see that forerunner AIs have a massively longer life span than 7 years. Rampancy CAN result from a similar process as the AI death(i.e. having too much time to think), but they are essentially different processes. I agree with you in theory though, see the above thread on Cortana's life span for my own ideas. I also agree that there should be a section on the page concerning this, even if it has to have a note saying that it is conjecture. But as far as conjecture goes, i think it is pretty sound.

-Phoebus

Rampancy/AI Death: A Theory
I've noticed a comment on this page that debates whether Cortana will die or go Rampant. That's not the purpose of my comment, however. I have a theory that I've been thinking about for awhile. In The Fall of Reach, it says "Such growth eventually led to self-interference. Cortana would literally start thinking too much at the expense of her normal functions." This suggests AI death, rather than Rampancy, but, once again, that's not what I'm discussing.

My theory is this: Would it be possible for Cortana to edit her own programming and create a failsafe or isolate such functions to prevent her from overthinking, from damaging these 'normal functions'?

I can see several problems with this idea, one of which is prompted by the preceding paragraph of The Fall of Reach. It says "Smart AIs like Cortana, however, had no limits on their dynamic memory-processor matrix. Knowledge and creativity could grow unchecked." Editing her own programming in the fashion I mentioned would probably put the same limits dumb AIs have on her.

Still, I think that this is a plausible idea, whether for Rampancy or AI death. For the former, she would have to restrict certain personality issues.

This brings up another problem. Would she, and, considering how she is based on a human mind, could she? Would she eliminate her own personality for any reason, even for fear of Rampancy? And, could she? Like I said, she's based on a human mind, and, therefore, subject to emotions. Could she operate without them?

The third, and potentially biggest, problem is one involving storytelling. To give such a vital character a fatal fallacy like this and then just take it away indicates weak storytelling, and, really, no one, not even the author of such a scenario, would like or appreciate it, if done without sufficient skill or hardship for the character in question.

That's my theory, anyway. I'd appreciate comments and responses.

WayWender 01:53, 12 January 2009 (UTC)

A.I.'s can live beyond their 7 years lifespan as shown by the Juliana. We know that they essentially become free thinking fulling aware entities when they become rampant as displayed by Sif. So I would assume that, because Cortana was tortured and altered by the Gravemind and she is so attached to John and his safety, she will be able to achieve meta-stability and "live" forever.

ProphetofTruth 00:56, 21 March 2009 (UTC)

Now i have a problem with Cortana's Rampancy that is stated in the article.i dont think Cortana will be or if she really is for long.as it was said in the short story Human Weaknesses she actually did go into rampancy for a short time.but when she was reunited with John she actually went back to normal.i think,as a theory,that John makes cortana Meta-Stable as Cortana went back to normal in the game so that doesnt make much sense.yet the Forunner A.I. was rampant too and also he actually returned to normal for unknown reasons.John actually makes Cortana stable because she cares for him,as seen in First Strike when she put aside going further into the Covanent Ship's ainframe she had to help the Chief because she cares for him.In Human Weaknesses she was sure he'd return and thats what kept her from defecting to the GraveMind.does anybody aggree with this Theory.when i say Cortana cares for the Chief i dont mean that shes in love with him.

The2ndSavior 02:09, February 22, 2010 (UTC)The2ndSaviorThe2ndSavior 02:09, February 22, 2010 (UTC)

Cortana's emotions
Throughout the halo series Cortana has had different emotions which is weird for an Artificial being like her. On the other hand she is a clone of Dr. halsey, which would probably give her some emotions like Dr.halsey's.

Major Callahan, 4:55 26 June (UTC)


 * It's the stages of Rampancy..-  5 əb'7 aŋk (7alk ) 21:08, 26 June 2009 (UTC)

Did you know?
One of the Main Page's "Did You Know"s states that in H2, Cortana has weapon animations... I'd love to see the source for this -- it sounds interesting.  DavidJCobb  01:35, September 9, 2009 (UTC)


 * Indeed it does, though we'd have to find the person who created said fact. How did people find that out anyway? -- T  3   2  8 Bouncy Wiki Logo.gif 20:46, November 8, 2009 (UTC)


 * They probably found it by ripping the tags from Halo 2 Vista... So the only way to prove it would be to find the animations (which would be in any Campaign level that Cortana appears in, and may not be in all of them), and then screencap or YouTube them.
 * ...Anyone got Vista? DavidJCobb_Emblem.svg DavidJCobb  22:34, November 8, 2009 (UTC)


 * I don't :( But it'd be cool to play as Cortana. Did she have animations for all weapons, or just some? -- T  3   2  8 Bouncy Wiki Logo.gif 17:41, November 9, 2009 (UTC)

Her height...
On the Loftus scale her height 1.5 should that be on there? And in the control room she's 8 ft.--Kluutak 23:16, December 3, 2009 (UTC)
 * It is absurd to say there is a height for an AI. *wonders what happened to common sense*...-  5 əb'7 aŋk (7alk ) 23:22, December 3, 2009 (UTC)
 * It's possible that AI do have a normal height, but usually project their holograms at smaller sizes -- so Cortana may have a height that simply rescales to accommodate the current display device. <span style="background:#AADDAA;display:inline-block;height:16px;padding-right:4px;line-height:1em;position:relative;top:-3px;-moz-border-radius:0 50% 50%">DavidJCobb_Emblem.svg DavidJCobb  00:42, December 4, 2009 (UTC)
 * The height of AIs are depended on the holo-projecters, so I would say it is nearly-impossible to say there's a height for an AI.--<font face="century gothic"> <font color="#666666">Lol @<font color="#666666">Phailure  00:49, December 4, 2009 (UTC)


 * Not the height of the actual AI, I mean the projection, maybe I should've been more clear. But yeah who agrees 1.5 ft (8 ft in control room) sounds right? --Kluutak


 * The height is determined by the projector. Then its kinda impossible to determine, which would make the data inaccurate. --Colonel Grade One.png <span style="background-color:White; color:FireBrick; -moz-border-radius-topleft:10px; -moz-border-radius-bottomleft:10px"> General5 7  <span style="background-color:silver; color:white; -moz-border-radius-bottomleft:10px; -moz-border-radius-topleft:10px">  talk    contribs  <span style="background-color:silver; color:white; -moz-border-radius-bottomright:10px; -moz-border-radius-topright:10px">  email   22:33, December 4, 2009 (UTC)
 * Shouldn't her "natural" height be the same as Dr. Halsey's when she was in her 20s? (given that's who she was modeled after) Andrew-108 15:25, September 19, 2010 (UTC)
 * Shouldn't her "natural" height be the same as Dr. Halsey's when she was in her 20s? (given that's who she was modeled after) Andrew-108 15:25, September 19, 2010 (UTC)

Cortanas Rampancy
If AIs "die" after 7 years due to rampancy, and cortana had already gone rampant, shouldn't this mean she will have an extended life rather than a shortoned one? Similon 12:03, January 26, 2010 (UTC)

AIs don't die after going rampant, they just get delusions of godlike power and are shut down by their makers before they can hurt anyone. If no one deleted Cortana on purpose, she would technically live forever. Destroyer98 01:07, March 3, 2010 (UTC)

In Amber Clad
I have actually played Halo 2, I've only watched the walkthrough so please excuse if I've missed something obivious. But I see a plot hole in the plot of Halo 2 so I want to confirm if this is actually a plot hole or not.

Cortana tells Master Chief that if Halo fires, she'll detonate In Amber Clad to ensure this won't happen. But why didn't she do this when Tartarus activated it? She should have noticed it charging and blown it immediately. How come she didn't do anything?

Please answer back as soon as possible. I'd greatly appreaciate it. Thank you.Tuckerscreator 02:07, February 6, 2010 (UTC)


 * They can't detonate the Clad's reactor without either having Miranda's CNI transponder or damaging the core manually (like in "The Maw"). Their plan - before finding the Forerunner ship - was to fight into the Clad, detonate the reactor and find a way out, where the explosion would destroy High Charity, whos wreckage would destroy Installation 05.--  Fore  run  ner  13:28, February 16, 2010 (UTC)

By this point, Cortana was also likely already the gravemind's captive, so she wouldn't have been able to do anything even if she did have Miranda's transponder. Destroyer98 01:11, March 3, 2010 (UTC)


 * Hmmm. So if she couldn't blow it, why'd she bother remaining behind at all? ''Tuckerscreator' 23:56, July 8, 2010 (UTC)

Rampancy Question
In the main article under "Rampancy" the author states;

"She displays several characteristics to support this, such as her hologram flickering, trying to communicate with John-117 despite him being in cryo-sleep, recounting the history of the galaxy, which gets continuously more inaccurate to the point where events being recalled simply did not happen."

Now i have seen Halo: Legends and i remember her recounting the history of the universe in Origins I and II, but i am unsure of what the author is referring to when he says she gets more inaccurate. Both Origins I & II are fairly standard fluff describing the fall of the Forerunners and i do not recall anything in it that was not accepted as canon.

Could someone please explain the authors reference? If not i think the section should be edited to remove the authors opinion. I believe it should be slightly edited anyway to come across as less of an opinion and more of a statement of fact if it really is true.

First of all, please sign your posts Tehashi. Second, I added that because that's what happens in the episode, it's what the episode is about. In addition to this, Frankie stated in the DVD commentary that this was the intended depiction and that it's up to the viewer to decide what's real or not. Even Cortana herself says "But I can't be sure what memories are mine, or even what's true." -  Halo-343   ( Talk )   ( Contribs )   ( Edits )  21:39, March 1, 2010 (UTC)

What the author means by inaccurate are events like the Gravemind giving Master Chief Cortana back.

I also have another hypothesis for Cortana's "Rampancy". It's one with lot's of "if"s. IF the Legendary Planet was in fact the Forerunner's homeworld and IF the Forerunners in fact repopulated their world wouldn't be possible that having in mind that AI can sense each other (saying this because of the Odd One Out episode, even if it's non-canon, can't the possibility of AIs sensing other AIs when they do some stuff be true?) and with 100,000 years of further development they could simply detect other AI nearby, that Cortana could be being hacked? Like, she's flickering because she's losing control of herself and the process of her hacking ends when in her eyes the Iris symbol appears? Well, it's just an hypothesis and like I said, with lot's of "if"s. Anyway, just more food for the imagination. --Sekuiya 19:33, March 8, 2010 (UTC)


 * I don't think Cortana's rampant. Consider this:
 * After being rescued from the Gravemind, Cortana's symptoms of rampancy ceased, but AFAWK, rampancy is not a reversible process. If she couldn't go back, then she went forward: to metastability... Only possible explanation (assuming that rampancy is irreversible, which it is) is that she passed rampancy in the same manner that Mendicant Bias is assumed to have.
 * So why'd she start freaking out? Simple. She was completely isolated from any and all contact with interactive life forms for five years. UNSC AIs are based on human minds, and humans are social creatures. Long-term isolation inevitably leads to insanity. The fact that she was at the end of an AI's typical 7-year life span may well be a coincidence and a seven reference rolled into one.<span style="background:#ADA;display:inline-block;height:16px;padding-right:4px;line-height:1em;position:relative;top:-3px;-moz-border-radius:0 50% 50%">DavidJCobb_Emblem.svg DavidJCobb  05:24, March 14, 2010 (UTC)

Halo Reach?
Is she actually appearing in Reach? If so i want some sources Darkraider09 18:38, May 16, 2010 (UTC)

yes, she chooses noble six to carry her from Dr. Halsey's underground lab all the way to the Pillar of Autumn, all while protecting her and her important info on halo Andrew-108 02:22, September 19, 2010 (UTC)

Im thinking does Halo Reach change the books, because Doctor Hasley speaks about Cortana as she is a new creation and has not met John-117.Heroicpotatoe 14:36, September 20, 2010 (UTC)

Is this an inaccuracy?
"Cortana's actions saved all life in the galaxy from total annihilation."

Wouldn't that have been the activation of a single ring, thus only part of the galaxy would be subject to it's wrath?


 * No, because as soon as you activate one, all the rest of them will follow suit, as per Guilty Spark. Installation 04B was an exception because it lay outside the galaxy, and as such wouldn't activate the others. Tuckerscreator (<font color="#008000">stalk ) 03:06, September 18, 2010 (UTC)

Cortana part Forrunner.
These are just Theories none of it has been proven.

Is it possible that Cortana is Part Forerunner AI, in halo reach, she is called the informations custodian, this leads be to believe that she is either part or fully Forerunner AI, she may have taken on the role of Dr. Halsey due to her being the only human she has had contact with.