What have we learned?

[sharpsniper99]

the forunners discovered that humans held the way to defeat the flood, but "ironically" put in place the halo system before discovering this

Which begs the question, "Why'd they still fire it?" Or was the Flood "epidemic" past the point of recovering from?

i think the halo defence was the last possible wall of defence they had left, its like the human covenant war, they were on the verge of loosing, they probably didnt have too long to fire the halo defences before the flood overwhelmed them as it was

[ii otnemem ii]

the forunners discovered that humans held the way to defeat the flood, but "ironically" put in place the halo system before discovering this

Which begs the question, "Why'd they still fire it?" Or was the Flood "epidemic" past the point of recovering from?

i think the halo defence was the last possible wall of defence they had left, its like the human covenant war, they were on the verge of loosing, they probably didnt have too long to fire the halo defences before the flood overwhelmed them as it was

Hmmm... maybe. I'm sorry I started speculating... back to discussion!

-We learned that there is not just something, but somebody (some kind of intelligence, whether a life-form or artificial) is waiting for us in the Ark.

[W1p30ut]

the forunners discovered that humans held the way to defeat the flood, but "ironically" put in place the halo system before discovering this

Which begs the question, "Why'd they still fire it?" Or was the Flood "epidemic" past the point of recovering from?

i think the halo defence was the last possible wall of defence they had left, its like the human covenant war, they were on the verge of loosing, they probably didnt have too long to fire the halo defences before the flood overwhelmed them as it was

Here's my overall theory about the events leading up to Halo 1. I've tried to keep speculation to a minimum.

We are in no way related to the Forerunners. Based on the pic of Pangaea, it looks like they found Earth hundreds of millions of years ago. They found nothing particularly interesting there, though, so they ignored it. 100K years ago, their Flood war is virtually lost. Systems are falling faster than they can imagine. Somewhere near the end, either desperate for a solution or running for their lives, they 'rediscover' Earth and find us. They realize we have (or are) the key to defeating the Flood (whatever that key may be is pure speculation at this point), but the Flood is coming too fast for them to exploit that key... they know they will lose the war too soon. So they build the Ark... designed primarily to protect Earth from the Halos in the hopes that someday they (the Redeemers, redemption for the Forerunner's failure and use of the Halos) can rise up and 'finish the fight' (thus the Pyrrhic victory: only one last desperate long-shot, humanity and the Ark, was left at the end). The Ark undoubtedly has other functions as well, such as activating the Halos simultaneously, teaching humanity how to defeat the Flood, and possibly other more speculative things (a Forerunner AI waiting, a Forerunner weapon, Forerunner DNA, or Forerunners themselves). (Oh, and on a more speculative note, I'm guessing the libraries contain the DNA information of every species they could find that would be destroyed by the Halos. Again, a way for us to redeem their legacy.)

When no options remained and Earth was safeguarded, the Halos were fired. The Forerunners died (from what I gathered, the Shield worlds probably never got used, the Flood probably cut off access before they could be used). The Flood died (except those kept in stasis for research on the Halos). We lived. Afterwards, on Earth, the ark is lost... buried... and forgotten. But the Covenant has found Forerunner stuff along their way and have learned about the Halos and the Ark (probably how they advanced so quickly, just 100K years). In Halo 1, they accidentally release the Flood. Flood war 2 begins. Halo 2, a new Gravemind has evolved, fueling the Flood's advance and proliferation, and the location of the Ark is discovered. Halo 3, everyone wants the Ark - the Gravemind probably wants to destroy/stop it, the Covenant want it's power, and the humans in that time just know that everyone else wants it, so we need to get it... we'll see what happens soon enough!

[Street Ninja]

- There was a GRavemind before, at the Forerunners time

did i miss something?

[CrYpTkEePer]

Is it just me or does anyone realize that humans weren't here 100k years ago? It was merely are apelike cousins if im correct, if they did see something in the apes how did they realize what we would become.

[Maimbot 9000]

CrYpTkEePer: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homo_sapiens

Street Ninja: viewtopic.php?f=27&t=762

[ii otnemem ii]

CrYpTkEePer: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homo_sapiens

Street Ninja: viewtopic.php?f=27&t=762

To expound on these linkys:
@CrYpT: http://halo3.com/comic/

Yes there were... Bungie says so.

[Frogwart]

Please, let's get back to the "What have we learned?" topic.

Speculate in the Speculation Forums.

Thank you.

_F_

[Flex]

Does anyone know about the origin of the glyph? ;S

[ii otnemem ii]

Does anyone know about the origin of the glyph? ;S

Wrong thread, bud. Look up a couple posts, in green.