Talk:Cortana

Cortana's Halo 3 Dialogue Script
Does anyone have a text script of Cortana's lines from Halo 3? They sound like they were recorded underwater; I can understand only a fraction of what she is saying (and apparently the subtitles option doesn't mean what I think it meant).

Legendary Ending Rapancy Idea
In the Legendary Ending, Cortana says "I'll drop a beacon. But it'll be a while before anyone finds us. Years, even." The Masterchief then says "Wake me. When you need me," and Cortana flashes him a worried look. I believe that "When you need me," is meant to mean "If you suffer any symptoms of Rampancy," because as this article mentions, Cortana is definitely at risk of early Rampancy. Also, although I can't be sure, could Cortana's Rampancy also be an explanation for the planet/Onyx/deathstar/whatever it is at the end accompanied by the trademark "Bad-stuff-is-going-to-happen" music (Cortana, in her rampancy, has steered them into a collision course with the planet (I actually believe that the collision course is the reason for the music in the first place - that it signifies the certain death of the Chief and Cortana)) User:Gazok Talk:Gazok

Never thought about that. Interusting idea. Trooper117 00:08, 31 March 2008 (UTC)


 * Just correcting a mistake, as the ship was blasted in half Cortana couldn't have steered them towards the planet on purpose. User:Gazok Talk:Gazok
 * OR isn't that good.--cody6 05:07, 6 April 2008 (UTC)

No First Strike?
There seems to be little mention of Cortana's experiences during First Strike which seem fairly significant in terms of her as a character and the reasonably extensive discussion on her possible rampancy. In First Strike we learn she is carrying basically too much information about Halo around with her which has compromised her abilities. This is demonstrated throughout the book as she is forgetful, slower than she should be and makes several mistakes which seem to concern her as she believes she wouldn't have made them before. Furthermore this seems indicate she might have reduced her life span and is well on the way to rampancy. --Johnmcl7 04:10, 1 April 2007 (UTC)

"Chief, leave me."
It notes that in the commercial (Starry Night) that Cortana's voice can be heard saying "Chief, leave me," under her role in Halo 3, but isn't this a quote from her from Halo 2? About leaving her in the High Charity computer to catch Truth's ride? --VTSvsAlucard 06:37, 16 April 2007 (UTC)

Indeed that is a quote from Halo2, she will say it if you continue to stay in the final room of the level "High Chairity" near the conduit or her holo-terminel(? mis-spell)

Megolomainia
in the level "Regret" in the central underwater room there is a massive 40'* tall holo-gram of Regret, and if the player stares at it long engough Cortana says "And people say I've got a big head?" because Regret is ranting about how he will "hunt down every last human" ect. I think this should be included with her ohter statment "and I'm not." in the artical.
 * I think the room is about 5 stories high and the holo-gram is a little (with respect to the size of the room)below that so I assumed that it is 40 feet tall.


 * I think it is fairly straight forward that in both statements she is merely joking, or replying to a popular joke among the Marines and Spartans that she's a bit loony.--Lieutenant Alan 11:20, 26 April 2007 (UTC)


 * Or that she's smart.

Relationship with Master Chief
I was thinking, should there be a separate or just simply an added section in some existing subtopics, about the relationship between Cortana and MC? Considering the things she says, they seem to share a bond. I'd say it's more of a sibling -like (you could say they've both "born" from Dr. Halsey), rather than a romantic one (even though it's vaguely hinted when MC leaves High Charity), but how about it?

Well look at the Love Story part below for an answer. But, yeah there could be a romantic relationship between the two.Trooper117 02:34, 2 September 2007 (UTC)

Cortana gone mad?
At the end of H2 why didn't Cortana blow up In Amberclad after the MC left? She would have killed the Gravemine, I mean Gravemind, destroied the covenant holey city, destroied Installation 05, killed thousands of flood and covenant, and herself along with all of the human intel she knew, is she not willing to make that sacrifice, or just stupid? sogy

Well she didn't have the commanders transponder, she needed keys to do the POAs so she needs mirandas to do the In Amberclad

Missions
Now that cortana is trapped with gravemind who is going too give the Master chief directions and objectives to finish this fight?--0nyx Sp1k3r 16:48, 28 April 2007 (UTC)BLARG!

mabie the unsc will message it to us on earth til cortana's saved.

In Halo CE the MC goes a long time without Cortana, well he dose have Guilty Spark for a wile but he's more than capable to be off by himself sogy 12:18, 1 May 2007 CE

But don't you need some directions for the players in at least a couple of levels?--0nyx Sp1k3r 19:25, 1 May 2007 (UTC)BLARG!!!

maybe another ai, or the unsc?

Arbiter and MC talking to one another? --Forgottenlord 02:00, 14 July 2007 (UTC)

Sergeant Johnson will direct us. Do what he says or you will be killed by him. -- Lordofmonsterisland  "Roar to me"  15:21, 28 July 2007 (UTC)

More rampancy ideas...
In the Halo CE level Two Betrayals, Cortana says: "Humans, Covenant, whatever! We're all equally edible."

I have an idea that, seeing as she was allready expressing some signs of rampancy (it mentioned them in The Flood, I think) Maybe she said "we're" instead of "you're" because, even though she works for the humans, she knows she's an AI, so it should be "you're", and she's saying we're either as she believes herself to be more than an AI (rampant) or she is trying to cover up her rampancy by associating herself with humans in her dialogue? Just an idea. Keyes 06:14, 1 May 2007 (UTC)


 * Worth noting by the way, she says in Halo: Combat Evolved, in the cutscene while heading for Halo "If I still had fingers, they'd be crossed." In my opinion it indicates that she sees herself as a human more than an AI. Perhaps she even thinks she's Dr. Halsey herself - she is, after all, cloned from her brain.

That's actually a very good idea.--0nyx Sp1k3r 19:28, 1 May 2007 (UTC)BLARG!!!

By "we", she meant "all non-flood lifeforms", so I don't really think it was rampancy.CaptJim 19:25, 27 May 2007 (UTC)

"If I were a megalomanic, and I'm not..."
In the article this is suggested to be "saving herself from her own words" or something, which could mean rampancy. But Cortana obviously has a sense of humour, and this seemed to me that she was making a joke.

Where does it say cortana converts to the pigmant of green or pink when angry?Halo3 01:31, 4 June 2007 (UTC)--Halo3

Halo 3 Enemy
Who put that Cortana maybe the final boss. That comment is made for the talk page. Spartans   With   SPI ROCK  01:42, 11 June 2007 (UTC)

I think Cortana is keeping information from the humans
In the Delta Halo cutscene when Miranda Keyes asks what Delta Halo is Cortana says, "That is another Halo" as if you see one every day. I think she knew there were 7 Halos out there (she was stuck in Alpha Halo's mainframe for 12 hours) but didn't tell anyone about it. -- Lordofmonsterisland  "Roar to me"  15:28, 28 July 2007 (UTC)


 * Didn't 343GS say something about the other Halos in Two Betrayals? --Forgottenlord 23:41, 28 July 2007 (UTC)


 * Yeah, he says "Technically, this installation's pulse has a maximum effective radius of twenty-five thousand light years. But, once the others follow suit, this galaxy will be quite devoid of life, or at least any life with sufficient biomass to sustain the Flood." --[[Image:Corporal-gr1.gif|20px]]MagickaMaster TalkWhy you keep me around. 20:01, 5 August 2007 (UTC)

Starry Night Trailer
I listened to the part where you can faintly hear Cortana. Someone earlier said it was the line from Halo 2, but she says it differently. In the game, she sounds almost calm, but in the trailer she sounds frantic to say whatever is is she's saying. And couldn't she also be saying "Chief, do you read me?"? Since Cortana isn't actually with the Chief, she could be trying to contact him or something... --MagickaMaster TalkWhy you keep me around. 19:58, 5 August 2007 (UTC)

when i saw the trailer i thought that was from the warthog and thought it was a marine i bet its a marine or commander or whatever, not cortana because if you listen carefully it sounds like a marine. Try it. from code red190

Quotes need desperate deletion.
And I mean it. I said it to the grunts article, I'm saying it here. I mean, a quote often has something valuable to say, something touching. Not "A Phantom!" or "Brutes". I'm not looking for anyone to blame, but those quotes really lowers the quality of the article. Delete. Immediately. Troubleshooter 20:35, 7 August 2007 (UTC)

Cortana on Highway
The IGN about the Highway campaign level and the Narrows map. It mentiones that she voice-overs the mission objective. It was a demo, so i'm thinking it was just for demo purpose.Trooper117 18:05, 17 August 2007 (UTC)

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)

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)

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 [[Image:Thunderstream328.jpg|15px]] 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.

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)