Originally Posted by From Bungie Forum Member

Theory of Everything for the Halo Universe, explaining all of the intricacies of the Human-Covenant-Forerunner relationship and the evolving political climate across eons.

The Forerunner Connection

An In-Depth Analysis of the Relationship Between Humanity, the Covenant, and the Ancient Forerunner

THE THESIS:

The Humans are the race that constructed the Halo, referred to by Cortana as the Forerunner.

THE EVIDENCE:

1. 343-GS calls the Master Chief The Reclaimer. Presumably, he is either reclaiming the Index or the entire Halo. To reclaim means to restore or return a possession. This would seem to indicate that either the Index or the Halo was previously in the Master Chiefs possession, in which case it is easy to understand that the Master Chief represents Humanity in reclaiming the item in question. (NOTE: 343-GS could simply mean that the Master Chief is reclaiming the Index, which was 343-GSs possession, for him.)

2. 343-GS says many things that indicate that he expects the Master Chief to know certain protocols. Many of these are listed below:

A. In Two Betrayals, When the Master Chief asks 343-GS about the Halos true purpose, he describes it in a tone which indicates he is trying to remind the Master Chief of something, and ends his speech with, But you already knew that. I mean, how couldnt you?

B. In the Library, 343-GS remarks on how [the Master Chief] brought such ineffective weapons to combat the Flood, despite the containment protocols. This not only indicates that 343-GS expects the Master Chief to know the protocols, but also that he expects him to have superior weapons in the first place, and that he expects the Master Chief to be aware that the Flood exist so that he might use such weapons, all of which point to the Master Chief being involved in previous actions involving the Halo.

C. 343-GS suggests in the Library that the Master Chief upgrade to at least a Class Twelve combat skin. [His] current model only scans as a Class Two, which is unsuitable for this kind of work. This is an obvious acknowledgment that 343-GS expects the Master Chief to be of the race that created the Halo, as the Master Chief would have to be aware of the rating system of armor, able to upgrade his armor to another Forerunner model, and know that he made a mistake in his choice of armor, to understand 343-GSs remark.

D. 343-GS also refers to how the Master Chiefs air-tight suit will help him when the Flood starts to change the atmosphere. You are a good planner, he says, indicating once again that the Master Chief would know the conditions on the Halo before coming and the action that the Flood would take if released.

E. At the beginning of Two Betrayals, 343-GS says that they, being him and the Master Chief, followed outbreak containment procedure to the letter. Once again, 343-GS makes reference to the Master Chiefs expected knowledge of protocol.

F. 343-GSs beliefs do not entirely seem to be wrong, as the Master Chief and the other SPARTANs do seem to have some sort of innate understanding of the workings of Forerunner technology. Obviously, they would not have such understanding if they were not somehow connected to the Forerunner.

3. In Two Betrayals, 343-GS says to the Master Chief, Last time, you asked me, if it was my choice, would I do it? Having considerable time to ponder your query, my answer has not changed. There is no choice. We must activate the ring. This has several interesting points.

A. First, the fact that 343-GS mentions a question put to him by the Master Chief. However, the Master Chief barely ever speaks, and never asks ethical questions. It is completely out of his character, not to mention it would require prior knowledge of what doing it amounted to. However, that question is a very natural one for the creator of such a terrible weapon to ask, if he were having a moral crisis. It would also be an important question to ask 343-GS: if he were going to be left in charge of the Halo, it would be vitally necessary to know if he would do his duty during a crisis.

I. This is a hugely important line because it is one of the only times 343-GS could not possibly be talking about the greater human race. In most of 343-GSs lines, the Master Chief is not explicitly mentioned. The Reclaimer could easily be The Reclaiming Race, and you could be singular or plural. However, this is a specific description of a specific conversation, and the fact that 343-GS attributes it to the Master Chief personally is very interesting.

B. Next, 343-GS says he has had considerable time to think about his answer. Following 343-GS's maddening habit of incredible understatement, along with his inherently massive lifespan, this could mean eons.

C. Third, both 343-GS's constant use of the word we and the fact that he is so cordial to the Master Chief lead one to think he believes himself and the Master Chief to be inherently on the same side. This inherent alliance could only come from a previous meeting, one in which we know the Master Chief has never participated. This is further proved by the immediate way 343-GS whisks the Master Chief off when they first meet, without pausing to ask if the Master Chief will help him. 343-GS obviously recognized him.

D. Lastly, in the same scene as this line, 343-GS asks the Master Chief why [he would] hesitate to do what [he has] already done? This is an explosive line, because the Master Chief has done no such thing! We know, of course, that neither the Master Chief nor Humanity in general has had anything to do with the Halos or the Flood. This could only mean that something happened to the Humans in the interim time between the firing of the Halos and the meeting between 343-GS and the Master Chief that would erase any Human record of such an action. Needless to say, it would require a cataclysmic event to erase the memory of the firing of a Halo.

4. At the beginning of Two Betrayals, 343-GS seems to view the Master Chief as a superior to himself. While 343-GS has no lack of self-confidence, he says that protocol does not allow units with [his] classification to perform a task as important as the re-unification of the Index with the Core. This in itself shows that the Master Chief is higher up on the food chain than 343-GS, but 343-GSs tone, one of respect bordering on awe, shows that not only is the position of Reclaimer higher than that of 343-GS, it is high compared to anything.

5. In The Maw, 343-GS downloads files from Cortanas memory. As he does it, he says, You can't imagine how exciting this is! To have a record of all our lost time! Human history, is it? Fascinating. The fact that 343-GS refers to it as our lost time indicates that he and the Master Chief, (which again can easily mean all of humanity), were in communication at one point, and were sharing information.

6. 343-GS is presumably an archeological/anthropological AI, which would explain both his insatiable thirst for knowledge and the fact that he was left in charge of a research station. It would seem vital for an anthropological AI to have an open mind, to accept other cultures so that he doesnt come at them with a bias that could alter his studies. However, he is shockingly biased as to the ways of the Master Chief and the Humans. He constantly remarks on what they do wrong: Ridiculous! That you would imbue a warship's AI with such a wealth of knowledge. Werent you worried that it might be captured? Or destroyed? This bias, aside from inexcusably horrible programming, could only come from a pre-conceived notion of how the Humans should be acting, which could only have come from previous contact.

A. Another interesting implication of this quote is that 343-GS doesnt believe in the destruction of knowledge, which is understandable for such a single-minded scientist. However, it also seems to indicate that he believes that this system, Cortana, is the only place where this information is stored.

I. We know that Fleet Command considers capture or destruction of a shipboard AI completely unacceptable, (Captain Keyes, The Pillar of Autumn), but, as is said in HALO: The Fall of Reach, this is simply because of the rapidly shrinking number of AIs in the Fleet, not because of the knowledge contained in them. It is true that the information that the shipboard AIs contain could lead the Covenant to Earth, but this would only explain the fear of capture, not destruction. And in any case, 343-GS does not know much, if anything, about the Human/Covenant war, and therefore that could not be a factor in his thinking.

B. It should also be noted that 343-GS never refers to the Covenant with the same bias and prejudice. Whenever he is talking about the Covenant, 343-GS always refers to them passively as the other species and doesnt seem concerned about their attempts to access restricted areas. This would indicate that he has had no contact with the Covenant before, and it supports the theory that he has pre-conceived notions about the Humans.

I. It is also interesting that in the Library, 343-GS assumes that the Covenant are the ones who released the Flood. He presents no evidence for this, and even he refers to it as conjecture. This assumption could be deadly in a crisis situation, and the only justification for such an assumption is a previous knowledge of the Humans, who, as the creators of the Halo, would know better than to release the Flood.