Terminal (Halo 3): Difference between revisions

The Cortana terminal is an [[Easter egg]] located in the basement room of the [[Halo 3 skulls#Tilt|Tilt Skull]]'s location, where the [[Gravity hammer (fiction)gravity hammer]] is found. This Terminal does not count towards the ''Marathon Man'' achievement but instead plays a secret Cortana moment. This terminal references a scene in ''[[Halo: The Fall of Reach]]'' where [[John-117]] unwittingly ensures his conscription into the [[SPARTAN-II program]] by correctly guessing several coin tosses in a row. Audio of [[Catherine Halsey|Dr. Halsey]] enticing him to play Heads or Tails with her can be heard as the player approaches the terminal's location.

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, as both depict Forerunners interacting with the then-paleolithic Earth and its population and noting the planet's special significance. However, the text of the terminals or Iris does not explicitly comment on the 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}}

In ''Halo: Contact Harvest'', a Forerunner [[Luminary]] designates the humans on [[Harvest]] with the symbol meaning "Reclaimer", and [[Mendicant Bias]] explicitly states that "those it represents are my makers", rather unambiguously indicating that humans and Forerunners are synonymous. While [[Joseph Staten]] wrote ''Halo: Contact Harvest'', he was placed on temporary administrative leave to resolve differences between him and [[Marcus Lehto]].{{Ref/Twitter|Id=AdminLeave|docabominable|1602510864774582272|Paul Russel|Quote=...Joe was on 'administrative leave' when he wrote the book, and wasn’t in the studio during much of H3. He honestly had no position at Bungie at the time and wasn’t privy to what was happening with the terminals...|D=18|M=12|Y=2022}}{{Ref/Twitter|Id=AdminLeave2|docabominable|1602511567307816960|Paul Russel|Quote=See, Marcus had said “him or me” after H2, and Bungie chose Marcus. They put Joe out to pasture to chill, kept him on the payroll to write Contact Harvest, out of the loop.|D=18|M=12|Y=2022}} According to Paul Russel, Staten was therefore not privy to what was going on with the decisions made for the terminals. Joe Staten later returned to the studio and worked on ''Halo 3's'' story team near the end of development.{{Ref/Twitter|Id=AdminLeave3|docabominable|1602513112850378752|Paul Russel|Quote=To be clear, this wasn't a punishment for Joe. To reduce tension and remind that 'writer' is a position, Rob Stokes led H3's writing team for a bit, then Joe came back at the end for polish and finish. By then differences were settled, heads cooled.|D=18|M=12|Y=2022}} It is possible that Staten was writing on ''Halo 3's'' story with the intention that humans and Forerunners are contiguous rather than related but parallel populations, as ''Contact Harvest'' and certain dialogue from ''Halo 3's'' story would imply so. However, what his intentions might have been remains unknown. Regardless, these are not an explicit contradiction in the original context, as the characters delivering those lines (Mendicant Bias, the Gravemind, the Prophet of Truth, and 343 Guilty Spark) could be unaware that modern humans are close relatives rather than direct descendants of the Forerunners.

However, in ''[[The Forerunner Saga]]'' and subsequent media, Forerunners and humans are depicted as separate and clearly distinct species. 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 were revealed to have been evolved from the same base stock by the Precursors, resulting in a version somewhat akin to the original idea at the time of the terminals' writing.

In ''Iris'', it is implied that the Librarian only discovered Earth fairly late, during the [[Conservation Measure]], and she laments the irony of having discovered such a "treasure" only "at the end of things".<ref name="iris5">'''Iris''', ''[[Server/Five|Server 5]]''</ref> In ''The Forerunner Saga'', Earth is known to the Librarian and the Forerunners for over 10,000 years prior to the firing of the Halos.