If you haven’t played or finished Halo 5 yet, don’t read this, because you’ll be spoiled!
Artificial Uprising
AI are a big deal in the Halo universe, and Cortana is easily the most important one in the whole series. Since she first showed up in Combat Evolved, players have formed a bond with her, both as themselves and as the Master Chief. The two have seen so much together that Chief is willing to go through an alien portal to who knows where. Halo 4 added an underlying tragedy to their friendship by having Cortana’s instability be the thing that ultimately drove them apart, though more by necessity of the dire situation than by choice. To save the Chief, Cortana had to give in to her Rampancy and use what little power she had to save him and create a body to actually touch him for the first time.
Halo 5 brings Cortana back, but not as the quippy AI construct that she’s usually been. Being transported to the Forerunner world Genesis has essentially cured her and unlocked her full potential, which you think would be awesome, right? Yeah, no, she’s kinda off her rocker and decides to use giant Guardian constructs as warnings to any race in the galaxy that doesn’t follow her rules.
Even worse, she reaches out to all the AIs in the galaxy, the majority of which pledge their allegiance to her. With all that power and knowledge in her hands, plus the combined ability to be anywhere in the blink of an eye, the galaxy could very much be screwed by stealth tech attacks or malfunctioning equipment. And that’s to say nothing of what could happen to the AIs who didn’t immediately accept her offer, like Roland on the Infinity. And on that note…
Infinite Escapes
The UNSC Infinity has been positioned as a vital piece of Halo since showing up in the last game, both in the story and multiplayer modes. It’s where Sarah Palmer and the other Spartan-IVs train and live, and Master Chief and Blue Team directly reported to Infinity before they disappeared at the start of Halo 5. Cortana makes finding and eliminating the ship and its crew a specific mission for her – she proclaims “playtime is over” once she finally tracks them down at the end of the game.
Infinity manages to enter slipspace to escape her wrath, but there’s no way it ends here. Lasky has the ship avoid major settlements until they can find a way to beat Cortana, and it wouldn’t be surprising if this stuck around in the expanded fiction in books and comics down the line. Exactly what it is about them that specifically Cortana wants to get rid of is a mystery; maybe they have something that could lead to her demise, since they ended up in a gravity well on Requiem. It could even just be that their AI Roland has potential in him that she recognizes. Early on, he seemed offended at Lasky and Halsey thinking that Cortana had to die, which could be a warning sign. It could even be something as simple as her not accepting his refusal to join her and wanting to punish him. Whatever the case, the Infinity is the only known ship, UNSC or otherwise, with power. That’s gonna be one goddamned hurdle in the future.
A Covenant Reforged
The Covenant have been a long-running enemy of the series since the very first game. They’ve gone from terrifying foe to kinda funny and back again, and after ending the war with them in Halo 3, you’d think they’d be gone for good. Halo 4 showed that a splinter group had returned under the Covenant branding, led by Jul ‘Mdama, an opportunist who later called branded himself “the Didact’s Hand.” The Spartan-IVs fought against Jul and the Covenant for months, even taking advantage of another opportunist who wanted to kill Jul and take control of the Covenant for himself.
Jul and the Covenant finally bite the dust in Halo 5 thanks to the combined efforts of Fireteam Osiris and the Arbiter’s Swords of Sanghelios. While they’re out of the picture, the Prometheans and Cortana very much aren’t. The UNSC may have heavy hitters like Blue Team, Osiris, and the Swords on their side, but all of that can’t entirely compare to the might of multiple Guardians and AIs under Cortana’s control.
In the comics, the Sangheili and the Brutes manage to come together, despite massive differences (like that whole Civil War thing). Cortana herself sends out a galaxy-wide message calling out the various alien races, and several Covenant are among them. Maybe they all unite under her banner to avoid dying? Failing that, maybe Arbiter can work his charm and bring them all back together to take down Cortana and her Guardians? It sounds impossible, but long odds, play big, right?
Spartans United
Up to release, Halo 5’s story was billed as a hunt for the truth. Fireteam Osiris was ordered to track down the disappeared Master Chief and Blue Team and bring them back to the UNSC. It may have seemed like just an overblown marketing tactic, but it wasn’t entirely inaccurate; Chief’s unwavering loyalty to Cortana made him blind to see that Cortana had gone off the deep end and was planning on enslaving the galaxy. After being imprisoned by Cortana, Osiris managed to save Blue Team, so the only question is: where does this put them?
At the end of the game, we see Osiris and Blue Team return to Sanghelios to find Arbiter, Sarah Palmer, and Dr. Halsey. All eight Spartans – those two, Linda, Fred, Kelly, Vale, Buck, and Tanaka – are currently accounted for, and it’s doubtful that they’d bite it in the expanded universe stuff. Could we possibly see all eight of them working together as their own fireteam in comics and books? Could Halo 6 bring us full-blown 8 player co-op? If not that, could we end up having co-op with a mixed generation of Spartans? Wouldn’t that be awesome?
Return of the Rings
Halo as a series is defined by galaxy-level threats, and the titular rings are the biggest ones of all. The Forerunners created them as a last resort to take down the Flood, and after finishing the fight in Halo 3, it was widely assumed that the rings largely weren’t going to do anything but drift in space.
As anyone who completed Halo 5’s campaign on Legendary knows, that looks like it’s about to change. Somewhere in space, an unknown Halo installation is booting back up thanks to Cortana, and there’s no way that’s the only one out there. Maybe the EMP wave she tried to use on the Infinity was actually her siphoning power from Earth and other colonies to power up other Halos out in the galaxy.
With Forerunner tech being what it is, it’s anyone’s guess as to what’s on these unknown Halo installations. Tech for her to make new and improved soldiers? Upgrades for the Warden Eternal, since he’s still kicking around? The return of the Flood? She could always just use them as a proverbial gun to everyone’s head, in case the giant mechanical sky beings weren’t enough incentive to play nice.
What do you think Halo 5’s ending means for the universe? Excited by the possibilities? Let us know in the comments below.
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