The Flood: Natural or Artificial?

Wild, speculative theories born from the communications with AdjutantReflex.

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Lurono
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Re: The Flood: Natural or Artificial?

Unread post by Lurono »

supremely wrote:
Lurono wrote: It's still interesting that they would kill all potential hosts AND keep the Flood around. And it's interesting that they "conveniently" missed us and the Covenant with the Halos...
the covenant wasnt the covenant at that time though i think? they probably missed alot of speices, i mean the covenant is made up of species they basically absorb... and who knows how many they've wiped out before like they're trying to do to us.
lol, sorry for not being too clear on that one, I didn't mean the Covenant were around that long ago, I was just too lazy to name every race that survive :oops: I do like the point about how many other groups have they wiped out before us... For all we know, there are other groups IN the Covenant that we don't know about (remember how the Brutes and Drones just kinda popped up?).

And yes, it makes sense that they would change and evolve as they went through hosts... But I still can't see how a creature like the Flood could have enough hosts on a single planet for long enough for them to evolve to their current state. Lets say a crazy disease wipes out all humanity on Earth, does that disease change so it can also affect animals, or does it just kinda die out?
Maimbot 9000
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Re: The Flood: Natural or Artificial?

Unread post by Maimbot 9000 »

Could that be where the line "not all life deserves a chance" comes in? The Flood were so virulent that they rapidly became the dominant life on their home planet, to the point that they were about to use up their food. The Forerunner swoop in and see if there's some way to preserve the species by altering it somehow, to make it less virulent and to give it some sort of sustainable ecosystem. Mayhem ensues, and they realize, "Whoops. Maybe not all life deserves a chance. Now we die."

To cover how Gravemind could have "done this before, elsewhere," I'll guess this: The Forerunner came upon the Flood on some planet and assumed that was where the Flood were from. How could a simple, seemingly mindless race have traveled through space to get there, right? But that's exactly what happened. How? I don't know. I agree, it doesn't make any sense that such a virulent race could evolve to the point that they'd be spacefaring. It seems like, once they reached a certain point in size or general virulence, they'd completely use up their food source before they could, you know, evolve any smarts. Certainly any technology. Unless they just happened to be from the home planet of another spacefaring race...

I'm coming up with a completely different story every time I come to these forums. This is fun!
supremely
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Re: The Flood: Natural or Artificial?

Unread post by supremely »

how bout some real wild speculation. you know how you... (person just above me) mentioned that we still have to cover the "it has done ths before elsewhere"? well, what if (your all gonna lol at me :() but what if the person recording these things is like half flood. Like Jenkins didnt fully get taken over. or maybe the forunners were a harder species to turn... maybe they still had some time left before they turned flood.... and maybe thats why they tried to keep some alive... to preserve themselves! :oops: i know i know its far out there but... i just saw my copy of AvP and i was thinking of how the alien infected the predator but the incubation time was longer. So why not with the forunners and the flood?

ok flame away.

EDIT: forgot the whole reason i made this post was that if the forunners were slowly changing or only half changed then it would have the collective memory of the flood, knowing what it had done elsewhere. also fitting is that the messages mention mocking... when Keyes was being taken over he could feel the presence in his mind trying to get info from him. maybe the forunners were more perceptive and could actually hear flood... thoughts?

ok NOW flame away :oops:
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Frogwart
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Re: The Flood: Natural or Artificial?

Unread post by Frogwart »

That's a good theory--in the second Halo book "The Flood," one of the Marines also is slowly being taken over and trying to fight the Flood infection in his body, so it's not outside the realm of possibility that someone being infected could make attempts to communicate warnings to others.

I don't know if they'd be able to retain a clear enough thought process to come across as clear as the messages that have been discovered, but it's an interesting idea.
Lurono
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Re: The Flood: Natural or Artificial?

Unread post by Lurono »

I remember seeing a very interesting theory (it was either a few months, or possibly a year or two, ago, don't remember for sure) over at the HBO forums... Perhaps the Flood that we know now aren't the same ones that the Forerunner fought? What if the Flood now are the result of having consumed the Forerunner?

To add another twist: We know that the flood have a collective hive mind... Perhaps they also have a way to collectively adapt? Maybe the Flood were different when they absorbed another race before the Forerunner?

If the Flood are natural, then maybe the planet they were on had a spacefaring species living on it? That defeats the problem of them running out of food AS quickly. They infect everything on the planet, by then they know how to pilot, and then, led by a Gravemind, they systematically attack and infect every colony. We could go a step further and say that this race knew the Forerunner, and had a map pointing out every one of the Forerunners colonies. This could explain why the Flood was so devastating to the Forerunner. Their first few colonies were destroyed before they finally figured out EXACTLY what was going on, and by that time, it was too late.

Of course, I have one major plot-hole (that stood out to me, at least), if the Forerunner and this other alien race knew each other, why didn't the alien race call for help? Well, we could guess that the Forerunner didn't share their FTL communication technology with them...

And I just thought... Has anyone every REALLY pictured what a full war with the Flood would be like? I mean, what we see in the games can be bad enough at times, but to be able to scare a race with very advanced technology like the Forerunner, think about the number of Flood it would take... Think about that huge number of Flood, now picture them using space ships more advanced than our own... Picture an enemy that can survive harsher elements than you, that has no true concept of SELF, and, therefore, no concept of self-preservation, and then picture this army being lead by a creature as cunning as a Gravemind, something that, because of how many of your people have been infected by this time in the war, knows HOW you think, knows HOW you will act if he attacks THIS way... Just picture that... Now, I guess, I kinda see why they wanted the Flood dead SO badly ;)
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Re: The Flood: Natural or Artificial?

Unread post by supremely »

Lurono wrote:I remember seeing a very interesting theory (it was either a few months, or possibly a year or two, ago, don't remember for sure) over at the HBO forums... Perhaps the Flood that we know now aren't the same ones that the Forerunner fought? What if the Flood now are the result of having consumed the Forerunner?
well from what the books and games show they do actually change when they consume a species, like in halo 2 you could see the elite floods and the human floods. there were differences.
Lurono wrote:Think about that huge number of Flood, now picture them using space ships more advanced than our own... Picture an enemy that can survive harsher elements than you, that has no true concept of SELF, and, therefore, no concept of self-preservation, and then picture this army being lead by a creature as cunning as a Gravemind, something that, because of how many of your people have been infected by this time in the war, knows HOW you think, knows HOW you will act if he attacks THIS way... Just picture that... Now, I guess, I kinda see why they wanted the Flood dead SO badly ;)
that is truly and awesome spectacle you have painted. you have support too cuz in halo:the flood the flood was fishing in keyes mind to get the coordinates to earth, it knew there were alot off hosts there. and they new how to take hide in crates to get to the pillar of autumn to try to take it to get off of halo, and how to hide in the (i think it was truth and reconcilliation) for the same reasons. they know what they want to do and how to do it.
Lurono
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Re: The Flood: Natural or Artificial?

Unread post by Lurono »

supremely wrote:
Lurono wrote:Think about that huge number of Flood, now picture them using space ships more advanced than our own... Picture an enemy that can survive harsher elements than you, that has no true concept of SELF, and, therefore, no concept of self-preservation, and then picture this army being lead by a creature as cunning as a Gravemind, something that, because of how many of your people have been infected by this time in the war, knows HOW you think, knows HOW you will act if he attacks THIS way... Just picture that... Now, I guess, I kinda see why they wanted the Flood dead SO badly ;)
that is truly and awesome spectacle you have painted. you have support too cuz in halo:the flood the flood was fishing in keyes mind to get the coordinates to earth, it knew there were alot off hosts there. and they new how to take hide in crates to get to the pillar of autumn to try to take it to get off of halo, and how to hide in the (i think it was truth and reconcilliation) for the same reasons. they know what they want to do and how to do it.
Well thanks :D I actually came up with something to add to it!

Think about the quote "Every sixteen hours another planet is taken." Now, how long do you think this war went on? Obviously the Forerunner had to have TIME to build the Halos... So, how many planets could the Flood consume in that time? How many civilizations were absorbed into the Flood? How much did the Gravemind learn from that? How much did the Flood change? Picture the sheer SIZE of the Flood army! The number of ships they would command! And all it took was them taking one Forerunner ship and infecting one Forerunner, and they now have the ability to travel freely and easily anywhere in the galaxy... All it took was one... ;)
XDest
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Re: The Flood: Natural or Artificial?

Unread post by XDest »

If they were from another world - they weren't intelligent that quickly.

Now, from this quote "Know that as energetic and tenacious life is, it has an antithesis that is just as powerful." we can see that the Forerunners were afraid of death - NOT the flood. Throughout the ARG with its videos and images we see samples at the flood at its infancy. The forerunners apparently first encountered the flood on Threshold (as said in the LE DVD of Halo 2.) But, as they saw the flood (probably not very evolved at that point, and an infectious virus gas from the gas giant, they thought that they could use the flood. They saw that the flood had regenerative abilities. Through several tests of the flood to try to make a formula for immortality, the flood started evolving until it was able to be its own entity. They did not fear the flood, they feared death, they saw the flood as the gateway through science to cheat death. They were very, very wrong. As you can see, every flood when "killed" releases the same gas. When in contact with any lifeform, it can infect them. Lucky for the Master Chief, he's got a full body suit. Which will help him out when the flood changes the atmosphere of the environment (the green gas filled the place, and there's no where left to run unless you have a protective suit on, or are an AI.)

Why keep the flood around if it got so out of hand that they had to fire the Halos? Simple, THEY SUCCEEDED. They were probably able to finally achieve what they set out to do, but at a huge price, that the flood had taken over a good bit of the galaxy, and could still infect them as well. They couldn't die at that point, but the flood could obviously take them over. Even if you can't die naturally, you're still a fine host for the Flood. They had to flee into a shield world, and fire the Halos. They kept the Flood in containment so that other people can reclaim their lost knowledge, and find the forerunner's greatest accomplishment. The problem is, the Covenant got there first and screwed up royally. Instead of helping the reclaimers reap the benefits of the forerunner's cure for death itself, the Flood was let loose again. And thus history repeated itself. Remember that if the Flood was some enemy they waged war against, they wouldn't be studying it. It wasn't doing much harm on an uninhabited gas giant. They had a use for the flood, and it was to escape death.

As well - if everything started on Threshold and Installation 04... then the real Gravemind would not be on 05. What if the one on 05 isn't the one actually pulling the strings? Since all flood are interconnected, it's not out of the realm of possibility that the one on 05 isn't the original Gravemind. The original would have to be on either Threshold or Installation 04. It might not be on Threshold if more of the actual study came from 04 during the time of the Flood's evolution. Wouldn't it be something if the Keyes blob near the end of Halo 1, had something to do with Gravemind after all? Just a shot in the dark.

That's my theory on it, probably way off though.
Lurono
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Re: The Flood: Natural or Artificial?

Unread post by Lurono »

I will say that I do LOVE the idea that the Flood were an experimentation in immortality. And I have always wondered what form of Flood those tiny ones swimming in the water at the beginning of the H2 level "The Oracle."

The idea that the Flood originated on a gas giant is intriguing. I highly doubt it, however, because they most likely would not have anything to infect (unless another species of aliens that are able to be infected by the Flood also happened to originate on the same planet. these creatures would also have to be similar in composition and mass to us to be able to be infected).
XDest
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Re: The Flood: Natural or Artificial?

Unread post by XDest »

Actually, Bungie has said that Threshold was the place that the Forerunner originally found the flood, but I'm betting not in its current form. They were probably testing it like hell, trying to hone the regenerative abilities in hopes of overcoming death. I think the secret to that one lies in Threshold in Halo 2 where you play as the Arbiter against the Heretics and the Flood. The research station itself was a lot different then the one at 343 Guilty Spark and The Library. There was boxes of gas everywhere, and some turned into a blue form of an "energy"-type substance. This is obviously much different then the Flood's usual Green (also seen in different tests later in the level). This same strange blue energy is seen earlier in the Library in Halo 1 in its labs. This type of research is notably missing in Halo 05's library structure. Quite strange. MAYBE - Most of the important parts of the study went on in Installation 04, which would make it much more important then the others rings, which also housed flood. In Halo 05's library structure we see a series of pistons leading up the underground of the Library. In here, you don't see a lot of the same equipment, just a single blue pulse connecting the underground portions. Interesting. As well, in Threshold, when you get near the end of the structure you see a HUGE yellow energy source. There no energy source quite this big in the Halo world. The forerunner must have been creating something that took HUGE amounts of power to create, with the Flood bacterium as the main ingredient for the study. What else but a cure for EVERYTHING would make the Forerunner spend so much time on all these resources?

"As Energetic and Tenacious Life is
It Has an Antithesis that is just as powerful."
Death.
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