Terminal (Halo 3): Difference between revisions

Line 164:

The terminals, along with ''[[Iris]]'' and ''[[Cradle of Life]]'', were among the first official sources to depict the Forerunners' relationship with Earth and humanity. These sources follow a narrative in which the Forerunners (specifically the [[Librarian]]) discover Earth during the [[Forerunner-Flood war]]; the Librarian shows intense fascination at the planet's biota, calling it an "anomalous world" that may provide answers to the Forerunners' "own mysteries".<ref name="iris5">'''Iris''', ''[[Server/Five|Server 5]]''</ref> More specifically, she is fixated on Earth's population of humans, who are shown as living in a paleolithic state. This version is also followed in the log by the Librarian featured in the 2010 reissue of ''[[Halo: The Flood]]'', in which she documents her ongoing indexing of Earth's biota, including the various species of human.

Bungie was internally split into at least two teams on the relationship of humans and Forerunners during the development of ''Halo 3''. According to [[Paul Russel]], The "Game" team seems to have continued the original idea that Forerunners were ancient humans as echoed in the original ending for ''[[Halo 2]]'' (described [[Earth Ark#Escaping the Ark|here]]) and Mendicant Bias's statements regarding humanity in ''[[Halo: Contact Harvest]].''{{Ref/Twitter|Id=~~TerminalsAddPrecorsers~~|docabominable|1603095968345620480|Paul Russel|Quote=The way I understand it is that the terminal version is the same but adds the precursor angle of selecting a subset of humans to advance.|D=14|M=12|Y=2022}}{{Ref/Twitter|Id=Discrepancy|docabominable|1603050616028368897|Paul Russel|Quote=From what I have gathered by talking to people involved offline: The game and terminal writers were separate teams with overlap; they didn't think the discrepancy would matter; management vetting never read or cared about continuity...|D=18|M=12|Y=2022}} This version appears to have suggested that the Forerunners regressed themselves technologically after the firing of the Halos, and in effect ''became'' humanity as we know it.

Bungie was internally split into at least two teams on the relationship of humans and Forerunners during the development of ''Halo 3''. According to [[Paul Russel]], The "Game" team seems to have continued the original idea that Forerunners were ancient humans as echoed in the original ending for ''[[Halo 2]]'' (described [[Earth Ark#Escaping the Ark|here]]) and Mendicant Bias's statements regarding humanity in ''[[Halo: Contact Harvest]].''{{Ref/Twitter|Id=TerminalsAddPrecursors|docabominable|1603095968345620480|Paul Russel|Quote=The way I understand it is that the terminal version is the same but adds the precursor angle of selecting a subset of humans to advance.|D=14|M=12|Y=2022}}{{Ref/Twitter|Id=Discrepancy|docabominable|1603050616028368897|Paul Russel|Quote=From what I have gathered by talking to people involved offline: The game and terminal writers were separate teams with overlap; they didn't think the discrepancy would matter; management vetting never read or cared about continuity...|D=18|M=12|Y=2022}} This version appears to have suggested that the Forerunners regressed themselves technologically after the firing of the Halos, and in effect ''became'' humanity as we know it.

The "Terminals" team had changed this to be somewhat different,{{Ref/Twitter|Id=TerminalsChange|docabominable|1602455841793347585|Paul Russel|Quote=No, 343 ran with lore developed by Bungie alone. The Forerunners changed for the Halo 3 terminals. I know everyone responsible for that. It was a change that was vetted and approved by Bungie long before 343 was even an idea.|D=18|M=12|Y=2022}} adding the idea that Forerunners were a "…subset of early humans uplifted by another group (the precursors?)".{{Ref/Twitter|Id=TerminalIntention|docabominable|1603053863866880000|Paul Russel|Quote=One of the writers said that the (terminal) forerunners were a '…subset of early humans uplifted by another group (the precursors?)'. Also 'I don’t believe that management gave a single shit about any story element...they only cared about shipping a game.'|D=18|M=12|Y=2022}} It is likely that this idea was also used for the ''[[Iris]]'' marketing campaign. However, the text of the terminals or Iris does not explicitly comment on the biological connection between Forerunners and humanity. Russel has explained "The game and terminal writers were separate teams with overlap; they didn’t think the discrepancy would matter; management vetting never read or cared about continuity; morning bagels were more important than canon." {{Ref/Reuse|Id=Discrepancy}} and ''Halo 3'' was approved to ship with both versions.{{Ref/Twitter|Id=BothApproved|docabominable|1602720596328169475|Paul Russel|Quote=I hoped that came across as MAYBE the discrepancy came up and didn’t seem important against everything happening to get a AAA game out the door. I’m trying to be careful to not put words in others mouths. One thing for sure, H3 shipped with both versions and both were approved.|D=13|M=12|Y=2022}}

Line 172:

Notably, [[:File:MMO Forerunner Concept 2.jpg|concept art]] for the cancelled ''Halo'' MMO ''Titan'', developed by [[Ensemble Studios]], depicted the Forerunners as ostensibly human, supposedly reflecting the creators' intent at the time of the game's development. The ''[[Origins]]'' short in ''[[Halo Legends]]'', released in 2009 by 343 Industries, depicts the Forerunners as armored humanoids with a human-like build, including five-fingered hands; later media would establish them as having six fingers by default. However, the canonicity of ''Origins'' was presented as nebulous even at the time of the short's release, with the noted caveat that the visuals and events shown are [[Cortana]]'s interpretations rather than being necessarily reflective of in-universe reality.<ref>'''Halo Legends''', ''Origins audio commentary''</ref>

''[[The Forerunner Saga]]'' ~~recontextualizes~~ the human-Forerunner relationship, greatly ~~extending~~ the timeline of Forerunner involvement with humanity. Rather than being a discovered during the [[Conservation Measure]], Earth has been known to the Forerunners since ancient times by the time the novels are set, and has been used as an outpost by the Librarian for nine millennia prior to the firing of the Halos. Although the humans have been devolved to a primitive state by the Forerunners, they are depicted as a civilization with a long history of contact, rivalry, and war with the Forerunners. Forerunners and humans are presented as being clearly distinct species in both the novels and subsequent visual media, which depict the Forerunners as humanoid but decidedly alien, contrasted with the explicitly human [[Ancestors]]. However, the novels' point-of-view characters frequently note various similarities between them, and there are several instances in which in the early history of both is noted as being shrouded in mystery. Through sources like ''[[Halo: Point of Light]]'' and the 2022 ''[[Halo Encyclopedia (2022 edition)|Halo Encyclopedia]]'', Forerunners and humans have been revealed to have been branched off from the same base stock by the Precursors fifteen million years ago. While the origin or nature of the "base stock" is not elaborated on, this explanation is conceptually similar to the original terminal writers' intent ~~to have~~ the Forerunners be an offshoot of early terrestrial humans.<ref group="note">Assuming [[wikipedia:Timeline of human evolution|modern interpretations]] of the fossil record apply, the dating of the split would mean the common ancestor of both species would predate anything recognized as "human" today. It is notable that modern interpretations of the timeline of human evolution are called into question even in ''Iris'' through the [[Society of the Ancients]] and related elements such as ''[[The Castaway Theory]]'' and the [[out-of-place handprint]], though these reinterpretations are framed as a conspiracy theory.</ref>

When [[343 Industries]] was developing ''[[The Forerunner Saga]],'' the modern concepts for the human-Forerunner relationship were established, with there considerable changes from the previous intentions. They are presented as being clearly distinct species in both the novels and subsequent visual media, which depict the Forerunners as humanoid but decidedly alien, contrasted with the explicitly human [[Ancestors]]. The novels greatly extended the timeline of Forerunner involvement with humanity. Rather than being a discovered during the [[Conservation Measure]], Earth has been known to the Forerunners since ancient times by the time the novels are set, and has been used as an outpost by the Librarian for nine millennia prior to the firing of the Halos. Although the humans have been devolved to a primitive state by the Forerunners, they are depicted as a civilization with a long history of contact, rivalry, and war with the Forerunners. Despite these distinctions, the novels' point-of-view characters frequently note various similarities between them, and there are several instances in which in the early history of both is noted as being shrouded in mystery. Through sources like ''[[Halo: Point of Light]]'' and the 2022 ''[[Halo Encyclopedia (2022 edition)|Halo Encyclopedia]]'', Forerunners and humans have been revealed to have been branched off from the same base stock by the Precursors fifteen million years ago. While the origin or nature of the "base stock" is not elaborated on, this explanation is somewhat conceptually similar to the original terminal writers' intent of the Forerunners being an offshoot of early terrestrial humans.<ref group="note">Assuming [[wikipedia:Timeline of human evolution|modern interpretations]] of the fossil record apply, the dating of the split would mean the common ancestor of both species would predate anything recognized as "human" today. It is notable that modern interpretations of the timeline of human evolution are called into question even in ''Iris'' through the [[Society of the Ancients]] and related elements such as ''[[The Castaway Theory]]'' and the [[out-of-place handprint]], though these reinterpretations are framed as a conspiracy theory.</ref>

====The Didact's involvement====

Terminal (Halo 3): Difference between revisions

Contribute

Recent contributors to this article

@@ Line 164: / Line 164: @@
 The terminals, along with ''[[Iris]]'' and ''[[Cradle of Life]]'', were among the first official sources to depict the Forerunners' relationship with Earth and humanity. These sources follow a narrative in which the Forerunners (specifically the [[Librarian]]) discover Earth during the [[Forerunner-Flood war]]; the Librarian shows intense fascination at the planet's biota, calling it an "anomalous world" that may provide answers to the Forerunners' "own mysteries".<ref name="iris5">'''Iris''', ''[[Server/Five|Server 5]]''</ref> More specifically, she is fixated on Earth's population of humans, who are shown as living in a paleolithic state. This version is also followed in the log by the Librarian featured in the 2010 reissue of ''[[Halo: The Flood]]'', in which she documents her ongoing indexing of Earth's biota, including the various species of human.
-Bungie was internally split into at least two teams on the relationship of humans and Forerunners during the development of ''Halo 3''. According to [[Paul Russel]], The "Game" team seems to have continued the original idea that Forerunners were ancient humans as echoed in the original ending for ''[[Halo 2]]'' (described [[Earth Ark#Escaping the Ark|here]]) and Mendicant Bias's statements regarding humanity in ''[[Halo: Contact Harvest]].''{{Ref/Twitter|Id=TerminalsAddPrecorsers|docabominable|1603095968345620480|Paul Russel|Quote=The way I understand it is that the terminal version is the same but adds the precursor angle of selecting a subset of humans to advance.|D=14|M=12|Y=2022}}{{Ref/Twitter|Id=Discrepancy|docabominable|1603050616028368897|Paul Russel|Quote=From what I have gathered by talking to people involved offline: The game and terminal writers were separate teams with overlap; they didn't think the discrepancy would matter; management vetting never read or cared about continuity...|D=18|M=12|Y=2022}} This version appears to have suggested that the Forerunners regressed themselves technologically after the firing of the Halos, and in effect ''became'' humanity as we know it.
+Bungie was internally split into at least two teams on the relationship of humans and Forerunners during the development of ''Halo 3''. According to [[Paul Russel]], The "Game" team seems to have continued the original idea that Forerunners were ancient humans as echoed in the original ending for ''[[Halo 2]]'' (described [[Earth Ark#Escaping the Ark|here]]) and Mendicant Bias's statements regarding humanity in ''[[Halo: Contact Harvest]].''{{Ref/Twitter|Id=TerminalsAddPrecursors|docabominable|1603095968345620480|Paul Russel|Quote=The way I understand it is that the terminal version is the same but adds the precursor angle of selecting a subset of humans to advance.|D=14|M=12|Y=2022}}{{Ref/Twitter|Id=Discrepancy|docabominable|1603050616028368897|Paul Russel|Quote=From what I have gathered by talking to people involved offline: The game and terminal writers were separate teams with overlap; they didn't think the discrepancy would matter; management vetting never read or cared about continuity...|D=18|M=12|Y=2022}} This version appears to have suggested that the Forerunners regressed themselves technologically after the firing of the Halos, and in effect ''became'' humanity as we know it.
 The "Terminals" team had changed this to be somewhat different,{{Ref/Twitter|Id=TerminalsChange|docabominable|1602455841793347585|Paul Russel|Quote=No, 343 ran with lore developed by Bungie alone. The Forerunners changed for the Halo 3 terminals. I know everyone responsible for that. It was a change that was vetted and approved by Bungie long before 343 was even an idea.|D=18|M=12|Y=2022}} adding the idea that Forerunners were a "…subset of early humans uplifted by another group (the precursors?)".{{Ref/Twitter|Id=TerminalIntention|docabominable|1603053863866880000|Paul Russel|Quote=One of the writers said that the (terminal) forerunners were a '…subset of early humans uplifted by another group (the precursors?)'. Also 'I don’t believe that management gave a single shit about any story element...they only cared about shipping a game.'|D=18|M=12|Y=2022}} It is likely that this idea was also used for the ''[[Iris]]'' marketing campaign. However, the text of the terminals or Iris does not explicitly comment on the biological connection between Forerunners and humanity. Russel has explained "The game and terminal writers were separate teams with overlap; they didn’t think the discrepancy would matter; management vetting never read or cared about continuity; morning bagels were more important than canon." {{Ref/Reuse|Id=Discrepancy}} and ''Halo 3'' was approved to ship with both versions.{{Ref/Twitter|Id=BothApproved|docabominable|1602720596328169475|Paul Russel|Quote=I hoped that came across as MAYBE the discrepancy came up and didn’t seem important against everything happening to get a AAA game out the door. I’m trying to be careful to not put words in others mouths. One thing for sure, H3 shipped with both versions and both were approved.|D=13|M=12|Y=2022}}
@@ Line 172: / Line 172: @@
 Notably, [[:File:MMO Forerunner Concept 2.jpg|concept art]] for the cancelled ''Halo'' MMO ''Titan'', developed by [[Ensemble Studios]], depicted the Forerunners as ostensibly human, supposedly reflecting the creators' intent at the time of the game's development. The ''[[Origins]]'' short in ''[[Halo Legends]]'', released in 2009 by 343 Industries, depicts the Forerunners as armored humanoids with a human-like build, including five-fingered hands; later media would establish them as having six fingers by default. However, the canonicity of ''Origins'' was presented as nebulous even at the time of the short's release, with the noted caveat that the visuals and events shown are [[Cortana]]'s interpretations rather than being necessarily reflective of in-universe reality.<ref>'''Halo Legends''', ''Origins audio commentary''</ref>
-''[[The Forerunner Saga]]'' recontextualizes the human-Forerunner relationship, greatly extending the timeline of Forerunner involvement with humanity. Rather than being a discovered during the [[Conservation Measure]], Earth has been known to the Forerunners since ancient times by the time the novels are set, and has been used as an outpost by the Librarian for nine millennia prior to the firing of the Halos. Although the humans have been devolved to a primitive state by the Forerunners, they are depicted as a civilization with a long history of contact, rivalry, and war with the Forerunners. Forerunners and humans are presented as being clearly distinct species in both the novels and subsequent visual media, which depict the Forerunners as humanoid but decidedly alien, contrasted with the explicitly human [[Ancestors]]. However, the novels' point-of-view characters frequently note various similarities between them, and there are several instances in which in the early history of both is noted as being shrouded in mystery. Through sources like ''[[Halo: Point of Light]]'' and the 2022 ''[[Halo Encyclopedia (2022 edition)|Halo Encyclopedia]]'', Forerunners and humans have been revealed to have been branched off from the same base stock by the Precursors fifteen million years ago. While the origin or nature of the "base stock" is not elaborated on, this explanation is conceptually similar to the original terminal writers' intent to have the Forerunners be an offshoot of early terrestrial humans.<ref group="note">Assuming [[wikipedia:Timeline of human evolution|modern interpretations]] of the fossil record apply, the dating of the split would mean the common ancestor of both species would predate anything recognized as "human" today. It is notable that modern interpretations of the timeline of human evolution are called into question even in ''Iris'' through the [[Society of the Ancients]] and related elements such as ''[[The Castaway Theory]]'' and the [[out-of-place handprint]], though these reinterpretations are framed as a conspiracy theory.</ref>
+When [[343 Industries]] was developing ''[[The Forerunner Saga]],'' the modern concepts for the human-Forerunner relationship were established, with there considerable changes from the previous intentions. They are presented as being clearly distinct species in both the novels and subsequent visual media, which depict the Forerunners as humanoid but decidedly alien, contrasted with the explicitly human [[Ancestors]]. The novels greatly extended the timeline of Forerunner involvement with humanity. Rather than being a discovered during the [[Conservation Measure]], Earth has been known to the Forerunners since ancient times by the time the novels are set, and has been used as an outpost by the Librarian for nine millennia prior to the firing of the Halos. Although the humans have been devolved to a primitive state by the Forerunners, they are depicted as a civilization with a long history of contact, rivalry, and war with the Forerunners. Despite these distinctions, the novels' point-of-view characters frequently note various similarities between them, and there are several instances in which in the early history of both is noted as being shrouded in mystery. Through sources like ''[[Halo: Point of Light]]'' and the 2022 ''[[Halo Encyclopedia (2022 edition)|Halo Encyclopedia]]'', Forerunners and humans have been revealed to have been branched off from the same base stock by the Precursors fifteen million years ago. While the origin or nature of the "base stock" is not elaborated on, this explanation is somewhat conceptually similar to the original terminal writers' intent of the Forerunners being an offshoot of early terrestrial humans.<ref group="note">Assuming [[wikipedia:Timeline of human evolution|modern interpretations]] of the fossil record apply, the dating of the split would mean the common ancestor of both species would predate anything recognized as "human" today. It is notable that modern interpretations of the timeline of human evolution are called into question even in ''Iris'' through the [[Society of the Ancients]] and related elements such as ''[[The Castaway Theory]]'' and the [[out-of-place handprint]], though these reinterpretations are framed as a conspiracy theory.</ref>
 ====The Didact's involvement====