Exceptional work. A staggeringly robust theory indeed. I'm kinda kicking myself for not putting that together myself. So many other possibilities to build upon from this. Mind if I reference this theory and link your channel and video for an upcoming Video? Also thanks for the little shout out. 😀
We're all in this rabbit hole together man, feel free to reference any of my theories anytime (This goes for smaller creators as well). Absolutely thrilled you enjoy the idea brother 🤝
Again you need to think wider, as I said. This finally explains how the industruble Precursor stuff was somehow destroyed by the Halo effect. The effect forced enough time through them, for entropy to win.
@@RedNomster dude i found something that maybe interest you. In halo reach there is a forerunner artifact you find and later dr halsey takes that. idk why but it looks like a cylix
The Endless were imprisoned not only because they were a threat, but because they were the only surviving witness. " *We do this to preserve our truth.* " Halo Mysteries Playlist: ruclips.net/p/PLhHjTkohIJ3-3M0bxvwWjZhqvP-L5tQuj
Well.. my second comment goes into detail about this, and I guess I know what your answer is now xD BUT YES! This is my thought on the subject. Cortana says “we both know there are worse things than the Flood on this ring” but that might not mean what we think it does. How could the Endless possibly be a greater threat to all life than the Flood? Answer: they arent. The Endless aren’t a greater threat to LIFE, they’re a greater threat to the Forerunner’s lives. Case in point: the Flood? They want all life to end. The Harbinger? “The Forerunner’s lies are at an end”
Ther are going for The Ship of Theseus angle story between Cortana, MC and Halo, tying all the way back to Halo CE with 343 Guilty Spark. We are not meant to live, we are meant to live and die again as not cosmic food for Precursors, but because we are already a part of them, as they are a higher consciousness being. The Forerunners lies were to steal the Endless's power. They reverse engineered the whole thing, but didn't understand what the mantle of responsibility meant. I do think the end to Master Chief's story will involve him getting infected, or even dying multiple times, firing of the Halo arrays, and be the living history of life and time to reseed life in the universe once again, through entropy. Mantle of Responsibility is, that Death is the only beginning. It not only characterizes a species ability to evolve, affect and shepherd life around itself, but understand the necessity of change (evolution, though may begin from an equilibrium, cannot exist in it). The Great Journey is to join with the Endless someday. The Halo rings are recursive life cycle subroutines, not just time lock weapons. Each branch of evolutionary history is a catalogue, stored in the index of the Halo rings.
Remember this comment in 6 months: you are on your way to becoming one of the most popular halo RUclips channels... Period. If you can continue to analyze the story of this franchise in the format that you are now, you will become the go-to guy for hidden discoveries in the Halo Universe. You are potentially sitting on gold here. Don't let the content cycle get to you. Don't let it burn you out. Don't force yourself to make content for the fear of disappointment. This will result in sub-par work. If you make content when you have evidence like this, you will become veru successful. I wish you the best of luck and thank you for the fantastic work.
@@RedNomster I agree with OP 100%. Don’t worry about disappointing us or anything. Just make the content that you enjoy at the pace that’s comfortable for you. The work you’re putting into these videos shows that passion clearly, and it’s why I think so many people are really loving what they see (myself included as evident by my 499 comments and replies on every one of your videos).
You're welcome Red. Quality over quantity. We'd all prefer better content you enjoy making, over lesser content that's being pushed out simply to meet a quota. Keep doing what you're doing!
@@RedNomster I appreciate hearing that honestly. I know you can’t reply to all of them, but the fact that you engage with your community makes it feel worth it to write these essays in your comment section xD Even if you don’t respond directly, I feel like you are reading these at the very least.
One thing I noticed about the Harbinger and Skimmers is that they are not designed to walk on the ground at all, their legs are curled in wards, but they also don't seem to have natural flight abilities, they use boosters/technology. I wonder if their world was very low gravity, or maybe they evolved to live/travel through the zero G and the vacuum of space.
This would explain why there’s barely anything left from the Precursor-Forerunner age, too! All we’ve seen so far are forerunner structures on installations that were designed to survive the Halos, or ruins that are buried under eons’ worth of dirt and rock. The whole galaxy could technically be older than it *should* be.
My question after seeing the entire video is this: What makes them more dangerous than the Flood? Orrrrr do you think that’s just a misunderstanding? Another Forerunner “lie”? I can see the pieces that would lead to this identification process. Theres a quote from Infinite that the thing the Forerunners feared the most is losing control. Obviously the Flood would threaten the control that the Forerunners have as they would assimilate all life in the universe if given the chance. No more Forerunners means no more control. BUT the Flood is an enemy to ALL life. They would not find a common ally to commiserate with. The Endless, however, are not an enemy to all life. They could, in fact, be peaceful with a multitude of various life forms. If they don’t age, then they would be able to keep information alive a lot longer than those who wish to keep those secrets hidden. So, in actuality, the Endless are not a larger threat than the Flood in the way we’re interpreting that message. They’re a greater threat to the Forerunner’s specific fear: having their narrative shattered. History is written by the victors of wars. We don’t know the truth behind the Precursor and Forerunner war, but maybe the Endless did. Nobody would listen to the Flood, but they might listen to the Endless.
I mentioned this elsewhere, but another way to interpret the "Endless are worse than the flood" is in the concept that, to the forerunners, the Endless didn't threaten their survival, but their right to the mantle. Something that the flood didn't. If they're immortal, and survive the halo array, they're also the last known witness to a galaxy-wide genocide - and a witness that will live forever. So even if the Endless didn't intend to inherit the mantle, they're still... the harbinger of truth, discrediting the forerunners claim to the mantle for eternity. And Cortana gets her info from echoes of data or the domain. She only knows from forerunners that the forerunners feared the endless more, not from experience with the endless!
@@RedNomster We both replied to each other’s comments at the same time LOL 10/10 RUclipsr. Love the content. Edit: but yes, that’s my thoughts as well. Nobody is going to listen to the Flood peacefully while they threaten all life in the entire galaxy. We’ve been manipulated and lied to by the Gravemind before. But the Endless? They’re just like… a regular guy. They’re not trying to eradicate all life in the galaxy (as far as we know), they’re just another race. They’re simply the only remaining witnesses who can be like “Your history book is wrong. I was there. What actually happened was…”
@@dickjavelindj6523 That raises an interesting question: We know that the Flood are the Precursors, and that the Precursors were basically gods and a sort of manifestation of the universe. Wouldn't it be reasonable to assume that the Precursors didn't age, and therefore the Flood don't age? Just seems weird to me that the Endless, just another one of the galaxy's races, would be immortal while the literal physical embodiment of the Universe's will could be killed by aging technology.
Yeah dog. I watch so many videos which are in depth but only somewhat graze the deeper theories with details like this from the games and communities. I’ve been thinking about this games lore like crazy since release and it’s so nice to have someone to finally have ideas to bounce off
In hindsight I should’ve immediately made this connection when you suggested that the smaller rings might be reverse time locks. I love seeing the new angle you came at this with and personally this is the most sound theory. I’m still on board with the theory that the Endless are somehow connected to the Precursors though. I just don’t see 343 introducing a completely unrelated species/enemy to the lore. Keep up the great work 👍
@@RedNomster could definitely be both in some capacity. The only way we’ll know for sure is when 343 addresses it I guess. I am curious to see where this all goes. I’m starting to suspect that the Primordial wasn’t exactly the Precursor he claimed to be either. Not directly. Maybe the consciousness of one vengeful Precursor, but I don’t think that was his original form.
I think the other reason why they would assume the endless are the most dangerous species of all is because... Well because theyre immune to the halo rings. What's stopping them from simply wiping out all the other species using the rings and taking over everything for themselves with nobody to stop them? The forerunners tried to remove them and keep them locked up which i remember from an in-game quote was "one of their most embarrassing" or "darkest actions" or something because whilst the forerunners showed themselves to be at the top, they knew they were not and so imprisoned the truly worthy species while the forerunners still had the advantage. Oh and i suppose they could also be seen as dangerous because if they awoke and exposed they were immune to the rings, then the forerunners would lose credibility for being able to protect from and control the spread of the flood. The endless are immune to aging, not infection. If they get infected, who's to say the floodform wont survive a halo blast? To conclude, the forerunners see the endless as the greatest danger because they would not only expose the forerunners for not being perfect, but would make the rings obsolete if an endless got infected by the flood + they could simply use the rings to demolish all life, again, showing the forerunners as weak (and dead) as they lost control of their greatest weapon. Theories ladies and gents, are awesome :D
The fact the Harbinger has a reclaimer symbol, and cortana mentioning in Halo 5 that AIs becoming immortal means they can assume the Mantle Of Responsibility. The Endless being immune to Halo due to not aging is a VERY strong theory.
This is brilliant!! As soon as you mentioned the weird fact that The Endless can die if they're "shot" but cannot age I was like "Oooh, wait does that mean... Halo... OMG THIS WOULD MAKE SO MUCH SENSE!" It's like, it's so obvious yet I didn't even think of it somehow! Honestly I've followed your other videos and some others on the overall lore and this is by far the best theory I can get behind!
I’ve watched a handful of Red Nomster videos and I hadn’t subscribed yet, but this video did it for me. Fantastic work! I love Installation00 and Halo Cannon and this content fits right in.
Gotta keep the plot going. Not sure why they didnt just make some prequel games to a time before the lore turned to shit and got all cringy and generic
know I'm late to this reply but I just wanted to point out that Halo Reach, Halo CE, Halo 2, Halo 3, and ODST all take place in the same year. The Entire 20 year franchise takes place over the course of about 8 years. Not exactly a lot of time compared to the size of the galaxy, and lore wise they showed up ~100,000 years ago, with their subsequent imprisonment being the main reason why they didn't appear in the games yet lol
Of all theories I have heard about the Endless so far, this has to be the best, maybe even the most accurate one. All the big lore channels (Hiddenxperia, Halo Cannon, Installation 00, etc) need to here this one. One thing all these theories have in common, and that is why the Forerunners imprisoned the Endless, and all relates to the flood. In reguards to your theory, if the flood infected the Endless, the flood would become immortal rendering the affects of the halos useless. Thus requiring ALL of them to be killed one by one, which would be near impossible at a galactic scale. Maybe the reason Atriox and the Banished are so intrested in the Endless is because they are ageless, and they want to figure out how to become like them (maybe by genetically modifying themselves with Endless DNA), so they can live forever too.
Ageless beings that have lived to see the entirety of galactic history who are subsequently imprisoned to keep forerunner genocide a secret Or a plant 🪴 Not saying either are more true, but just missing a nervous system lacks intrigue imo :)
The Halo using time as a weapon is such a cool idea! I'll be disappointed if it's not the cannon path of the story for infinite. Anyway keep up the good work. Your video and theory are amazing👍✌️
DAM your theories are impressive and i think you hit the nail on the head. The smaller rings are surely time locks as the moniter says they are older than the rings but were built by the foreunners! well done
Hands down some of the best RUclips Halo content I've seen in a long while. Your story telling and video/audio mix are super captivating. Can't wait for more.
This is amazing. Love the way you present this information with such a calm voice and attention to detail, including the choice of words. Keep up the great work!
After seeing the rings scattered around, my first thought has been.. what if they were originally activated and used at those locations? How did the reverse time lock work? It accelerates your mass? I wouldn't be surprised if it worked in a way where it locked you in an "endless circle" and shot you literally around the inside diameter of the ring.. so from your perspective you can see endless rings inside rings... increasing velocity as you pass through each ring, breaking the laws of time until the superman effect happens - billions of years go by in an instant for the victim, while the silent auditorium watches as moments go by for them.
I am kinda proud that my comment on your last vids seem to have somewhat influenced you in making this video. I am really excited to have found this channel .... there is still so much to theorize about
Dude, every video you post you go so in depth and say it with such conviction I’m convinced that it’s all true. Every theory you come up with makes so much sense. It’s insane how far you dive into the lore, absolutely love this stuff, I’m going to buy Halo just for the experience of the campaign
This makes an incredible level of sense. Definitely highly complex for simple lore of a video game, but it is such complexities that make things seem more "real" and thus appreciated more by serious fans. Keep up the excellent content!
It seems complicated, but it's actually very simple to describe if told to the player from The Weapons perspective for example: "The endless are immune because the rings kill using time. They create a temporary reverse stasis field in the nervous system of every sentient being, aging it to dust in an instant. The endless don't age, so time is harmless." Though it could be fleshed out more in the books and such :)
I like how your idea creates a new perspective on the Halo Arrays. Makes them even more mysterious. My question regarding the Endless is how they survived the Flood. Wasn't the whole galaxy consumed by it? How did the Endless evade the Flood? Sheer coincidence? Did they evade the Flood at all? Or are they dangerous because they can be infected by the Flood and their immunity to the Halo effect wold give the Flood immunity as well? And aren't the Flood immune to the Halos too? The effect kills their food, starving them death, is what Cortana said in Halo CE. Is that a shared immunity between Flood and Endless? But then again, the idea of them not aging wouldn't work. Soooooo many questions, so few answers.
I knew it! I had a gut feeling that the small rings were more than just set dressing or "idols" since the Campaign Gameplay Trailer, and playing the campaign itself confirmed that, and while playing the campaign I suspected if these were some kind of miniature Halos, because the particle pattern reminded me of the activation scene from Halo 2. I missed your video about the small rings being reverse time locks, but if I hadn't on sure I would have beat you to the punch on this! Nevertheless, this is an awesome video, mega props to all this detective work. Now if you'll excuse me I need to go and see what I can find about those 10m Prototype Halos
Great vid man everything is slowly coming together been watching since the beginning of halo infinite and its been so interesting. Can't wait for a dlc so we can go deeper keep up the good work
Cool, thnx for adding my theory in your video. It was fun to see it anyway! Now my thought goes ahead to this: if Halos are reversed timelocks to artificially age species, this implies that the neuralphysics of the precursors must age also, since they were to be destroyed by the Halo effect!? 🤯
Yes, and it makes sense to me that it would honestly. The Halo accidentally targeted the artifacts as well - if it was tuned to shoot particle at a nervous system of sentient beings, it's not outlandish to think this definition is also involved with precursor technology.
wow. genuinely thats the first good theory for this ive seen! so can you tackle the signal the Harbinger recieved at the end of the campaign? id really like to see that its not actually time travel... that and i do hope to know why the endless are so dangerous to the forerunners.
@@RedNomster omg you replied! im a huge fan of your theories and work. I really like your time lock theory especially about the smaller rings scattered on zeta. It makes so much sense that they have "enemy within" written on them if they were used for executions. kinda like on claymores how they have a "this side towards enemy". I hope we get a new campaign update/dlc soon so that we can have answers to the main questions left over from infinite. 1: why is the harbinger special? she was in her own cylix with a different image on it than the endless. 2. are the endless actually villains or just wanting revenge? or something else? and 3. how did atriox survive/is there time travel involved.
That grapple not connecting at 1:57, resulting in the Harbinger energy blast hitting and Chief dying has me unreasonably upset (and distracted) on your behalf LMFAO
I'm firmly in the camp of team time travel to me it makes the most sense I just assume it's a power they can't use any time they want maybe some type of cool down so that would explain why they were able to be captured
It's just a theory that requires more assumptions than I'd like. Not only do we never see an Endless perform time-travel, being able to travel into the future wouldn't even explain why they're called "Endless". You could argue that the Forerunners gave them that name, but the Harbinger exclusively uses that term as well, as if that's simply what they call themselves, despite never knowing of the Forerunners' existence. It also requires you to ignore the lore behind "slipspace debt" that has been established in the cannon - slipspace debt wouldn't apply to a non-space-faring species. Slipspace debt only affected Forerunners because they had millions of planets and ships using slipspace all the time, whereas the Endless only live on a single planet. If the Endless have the ability to time travel, or the technology to do so, why don't they have the civilization to match? If the Endless can detect a superluminal echo, how would they even know to time travel, or for how long, or when they should initiate the time travel? My theory just requires them to be ageless (which matches the name) and for the Halo Effect to work in a way that seemingly matches all visual representations we've been handed thus far.
Omg, this all makes so much sense now. Remember how we can find digsites with thos smaller rings and even a crashed ship carrying them. I wonder if they where collecting them to "timejump" atriox to the legendary ending
Dude I love your theory videos always interesting always popping off with something completely out of the box but based in lore if anyone's going to figure this out it'll probably be you
Thanks Gothic! There's so many stories that have been told over and over again in the lore scene so I'm glad I've been able to make some theories that add new perspectives to those stories
You know what, im a fist year in university doing aerospace engineering and i actually followed the entire science talk through. Never thought I'd see the day where something like this would happen 😂 i also love the idea of chief just pacing around some destroyed vehicles doing science in his head and theorising who he's going to fight next as soon as he can go on the other side of a barrier he gets told he cant cross each time the game boots up 😂😂
My goal was to have at least 1 person understand, mission accomplished 😅 and I've had those thoughts too, makes me want a dlc like H3 odst, but instead of saving the world you're just researching ancient forerunner tech and pursuing loee mysteries
Your theory is very intriguing! But there are some questions that remain unanswered. I haven't read enough books to know for sure but what happens to organisms without a nervous system like plants? Do they age as well? I thought reverse time lock accelerates time in a particular area, so anything inside it will experience accelerated entropy and hence will decay. Re-seeding a barren galaxy without an ecosystem to support sentient life would be very difficult. I hope we can find some answers by discussing this :D Edit: I looked it up that Halo arrays do not disintegrate the organic matter (which they should if they are reverse time locks). "Bodies lay were they had fallen, the shredded door bearing long, vertical lines made by the clawing of frantic armored hands. Chant's heart ached as she started to count, then she shut her mind to the task after she passed twenty. Many. Too Many." - Halo: Promises , Page 106 The scene is set after the Halo Array was fired by the Didact from the Lesser Ark and was set on Maethrillian, the capital of the Forerunner empire meaning that when the Halo Array fired and cleansed the galaxy of all life, it left behind bodies. This leads me to believe that the Halo Arrays can't be reverse time locks. Although we have some conflicting visuals from the Halo Origins and HCE terminals. So I can't say for sure.
Halo does destroy organic matter, it's just specifically designed to only destroy the nervous system of the being. Plants don't have a nervous system, for example, being the reason they chose to target the nervous system. The flood also only infects things that have a nervous system, which is why the Halo array "starves the flood by killing its food" The prototype halos (that are only 10m across) completely dissolved a being, just like a reverse timelock is described to do. It wasn't until the full-sized halos that they tuned the design to only target the nervous system. But, the full sized halos CAN completely dissolve a being if the target has Solute sprayed into the surrounding biosphere. This is what's shown in the CE terminal footage. Solute was important for clearing the surplus biomass that JUST targeting the nervous system would leave behind. It would have detrimental effects on the environment and atmosphere otherwise as bodies decayed. Solute is also the reason that we (generally) find no archeological record of mass extinction 100,000 years ago when the array was fired. So, to simplify, prototype halos (like the ones I theorized to be responsible for executing the primordial) are reverse timelocks that are indiscriminate. The Halo array is a large scaled version that specifically decays the nervous system of a sentient being, and Solute (if applied beforehand by lifeworkers) acts as an activating agent that spreads the process currently dissolving the nervous system to the rest of the being. The two processes are essentially simultaneous, which is why we see entire beings turn to dust in the CE footage
@@RedNomster That explains it somewhat, but in the book it was written that the bodies littered in the galaxy with their nervous system fried. There is a discrepancy in the lore. I found a reddit post mentioning that the original 12 rings left the bodies behind but the downscaled rings disintegrated the bodies. Too much confusion in the lore 😂
@@Cmdr_Sam they both dissolved the nervous system. I believe I read that the 7 rings is when they used Solute due to the observations of the aftermath of the 12 rings But yeah I'm sure they had to add the solute concept to fix the issues that solute solves, plot wise
Damn, I thought we might be on the same page, but I didn’t realize just how similar our theories on the Endless’ survival would end up being. Glad to know I’m not the only one who has noticed the similarities between the Halo effect and that which was described for the reverse timelock.
"They believe we are here to help" this sentence still intrigues me, do you have any suggestions on why do the endless need help ? Ps: love your videos man keep it up ❤️
If the endless were immune, it doesn't mean their food sources were. And it's not entirely clear if the Endless were all Endless, whereas not every Xalanyn could have this trait Thanks Massi!
I remember in ce 343gs mentioned something about the ring eliminating anything with enough calcium and biomass to sustain the the flood. I always thought the ring targeted the calcium inside living things in some way. I could have miss heard or miss remembered it all though
I really, REALLY like this theory. Nice work! Maybe this also explains why a potentially immortal species wasn't the sole inhabitor of the galaxy as well. Much like modern species we see today, the longer a creature lives, the slower and fewer offspring they tend to have as well. Maybe new offspring of the Endless are hundreds of millenia apart? This would prevent widescale colonization of the Endless as they never have the billions required to do so. Another possibility could still be that they're Precursors, as that species could potentially be ageless as well.
I'd guess that the precursor's seeded races just all use a precursor style nervous system, which the array is geared towards. If the endless are either unseeded or an experament with some other neurology (some silly thought might be pnumatic brains instead of electro-chemical). But we are give jack all about the endless, even why they were feared is fully left out. We know that even cerebral palsy is enough to stop flood infection, so maybe they just all have that.
awesome channel amazing videos huge halo fan here, read every word of every book several times over but something tells me that the 'librarians gift' has something to do with giving Chief an immunity to the Halo arrays firing and not just the Composers. because i have a HUGE feeling that we are going to eventually see a Halo ring, or even all of the remaining rings, fire again.... maybe in future games Humanity races to copy this immunity? somehow integrating the Endless into the story? maybe even teaming up with the Endless after a massive undefeatable resurgence of the flood? im pretty sure everyone agrees that the Flood is most likely to make a return.... and also, we GOTTA see at least one Halo ring fire its array, cuz why not! lmao they could make it incredibly epic. damn i love how deep Halo could potentially go, let alone how deep it already is
Always great to read comments like these :) And yeah, with 343 introducing cylixes and means of preserving species/artificially aging things, it adds a lot of possibilities for the future. Who knows, maybe there's some forerunner cylixes chillin on Zeta. Maybe the criterion is in a Living Tomb somewhere, sticking around in case they need to wake up in 100,000 years to fire the rings again, like real guardian custodians.
As once a child when discovering Halo, and now an adult working in geophysics, the fact that Halo has a solid physic base and in-depth lore explanation is amazing me everyday a bit more. Thank you for highlighting all that depth and make this universe even more fascinating !
This is actually a really solid theory, the only holes I could see in it is how aging destroyed Precursor constructs. I suppose if the array was targeting the nervous system and they are built with neural physics, then it could destroy them? But if that were the case, presumably remnants of these structures were left behind unless they were entirely made of nerves. Then again, precursors are weird and that could be the case, because otherwise I think this theory is rock solid.
If you look up pictures of "precursor star roads", they even look like a nervous system 😬 But I think the discussion is hard to have, as even Halo as we traditionally know it lacks an explanation as to why/how it destroys star roads. If anything can destroy precursor artifacts, I'd bet on "time" over anything else
@@RedNomster Yea when it comes to precursor tech, it tends to be vague hand waving and "beyond comprehension." Like I said though, really solid theory man, keep up the good work!
Also I have a massive theory. Bear with me. We know that the precursors were multi-galactic species. They made everything in this galaxy. Now cut to forerunners. We know forerunners have different works and ranks. Like the builders, life shapers, warriors etc. When the precursors chose humanity, the forerunners fought them and slaughtered most of them. From what we know , the precursors were peaceful species. They just got defeated by their own creations even when they have so much more power to do things. If im not mistaken they had some sort of control over time. So it doesn’t make sense to me that precursors were defeated so easily. Unless the precursors who came to give birth to life in the galaxy and fought the forerunners, were life shapers of their species. This would explain why they were defeated as life shapers wouldn’t have much experience to fight. This could explain that the “endless” are a different rank of the precursors.Think about it. The forerunners were not terrified of the precursors they fought but were terrified of these. So much that they had to imprison them. Now comes the harbringer. We know that atleast she is an ally to the endless. What if she is and from a different galaxy travelled with them. After she saw what the forerunners did to them, she wanted to go back and warn others. But was imprisoned. Maybe she is an ally species to the endless i.e she is not the endless species. This could explain why the cylixes containing the endless have no shape while the others have it. Because they are precursors but of a different rank or something and they were currently formless. This also explains the theory that the flood cannot infect them. Because it wont to its own species. They were uncatalogued because forerunners knew nothing about them because they came pretty late maybe the end years or even after the firing of the array. Thats why forerunners know nothing about xylanin aka the harbringer. Because she wasn’t of this galaxy and forerunners more or less knew about all the species because they fired the ring and wanted to save some of the population to repopulate the galaxy. This whole theory has one major flaw. The harbringer said that they were denied of their right to the mantle. Why? If they were different species then can different species have mantle at the same time? One more. In one of his videos, rednomster said that perhaps the mantle of responsibility is engraved on something ancient, this would explain why there are things older than the ring on it. He even mentioned that the forerunners most likely had no idea how to read it. What if-the mantle is something physical. Something that the precursors gave to the forerunners with text on it. Thinking if the forerunners can decrypt the code or whatever on it then they would know how to use the mantle. But in order to use it you had to 1- Know whats written on it 2- Have the mantle with you. The precursors passed it onto the forerunners hoping that the forerunners would figure it out. But when they came back to see, the forerunners had not done decryption. So the precursors thought that they were not worthy enough and wanted to text the humans next. But when they tried they failed. You may ask why. Maybe because they didn’t hade the mantle either(in the physical form). They knew whats on it but in order to enforce it they had to have the mantle with them. Let me know what you all think. I know its all crazy and long and most doesn’t make sense. But some of it does to me.
It’s funny you say this… as In “the arrival” they play with time And the ancient Language of the universe, They are lovecraftian squid-like just like the harbinger, so I also think the mantle IS the ancient texts and that’s WHY the precursors never gave it to the forerunners for that exact reason maybe humanity DID figure out a way to use it as we were considered “unique by them” Just spitballing theories and the walls on the delta halo (to be more specific the bungie Mp version) look exactly like offensive bias and it amazes me as the game was made back in 2004, and the fact we just got his official Form NOW in 2022 days everything and that the endless (or at least the concept of them) have been there since Halo 2, in H3 people thought it was mendicant bias talking about being trapped in time… now I’m not so sure about that as the primordial/gravemind was present. Maybe chief will be able to read the texts in the future ? And he is absolutely Immune to Time locks as the librarian gave him that power, the composer could absolutely be linked to The mantle and how forerunners wanted to keep hold of it by Trying to get natural immunity,maybe the flood was the answer as they couldn’t get it BEFORE they had to fire the halo rings, alot from halo 4 can be interpreted to the endless as well As the didacts final words “we are hopeless to stop it” stop what exactly ? And The Didact was absolutely in a timelock, implying the librarian Knew and used them.
Why not have all the endless executed an killed? Or glass their world? Did the endless even have a Flood problem or could they been immune to the spores? If the harbinger was the main big boss in infinite an only 1 endless being that strong an advanced, could you imagine the whole race? How did they even get caught?
The forerunners wanted to study them. They were captured and imprisoned during the parley, betrayed, as the endless thought the forerunners were there to help
@@swarnankaroy7706 who said they captured the whole species? I just explained why not ALL were executed or left to die. The Halo Encyclopedia that released after infinite even mentions some Xalanyn managed to avoid capture and roamed the galaxy :)
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Exceptional work. A staggeringly robust theory indeed. I'm kinda kicking myself for not putting that together myself. So many other possibilities to build upon from this. Mind if I reference this theory and link your channel and video for an upcoming Video? Also thanks for the little shout out. 😀
We're all in this rabbit hole together man, feel free to reference any of my theories anytime (This goes for smaller creators as well).
Absolutely thrilled you enjoy the idea brother 🤝
Again you need to think wider, as I said. This finally explains how the industruble Precursor stuff was somehow destroyed by the Halo effect. The effect forced enough time through them, for entropy to win.
@@RedNomster dude i found something that maybe interest you. In halo reach there is a forerunner artifact you find and later dr halsey takes that. idk why but it looks like a cylix
The Endless were imprisoned not only because they were a threat, but because they were the only surviving witness.
" *We do this to preserve our truth.* "
Halo Mysteries Playlist: ruclips.net/p/PLhHjTkohIJ3-3M0bxvwWjZhqvP-L5tQuj
Well.. my second comment goes into detail about this, and I guess I know what your answer is now xD
BUT YES! This is my thought on the subject. Cortana says “we both know there are worse things than the Flood on this ring” but that might not mean what we think it does.
How could the Endless possibly be a greater threat to all life than the Flood? Answer: they arent. The Endless aren’t a greater threat to LIFE, they’re a greater threat to the Forerunner’s lives.
Case in point: the Flood? They want all life to end.
The Harbinger? “The Forerunner’s lies are at an end”
Ther are going for The Ship of Theseus angle story between Cortana, MC and Halo, tying all the way back to Halo CE with 343 Guilty Spark.
We are not meant to live, we are meant to live and die again as not cosmic food for Precursors, but because we are already a part of them, as they are a higher consciousness being.
The Forerunners lies were to steal the Endless's power. They reverse engineered the whole thing, but didn't understand what the mantle of responsibility meant.
I do think the end to Master Chief's story will involve him getting infected, or even dying multiple times, firing of the Halo arrays, and be the living history of life and time to reseed life in the universe once again, through entropy.
Mantle of Responsibility is, that Death is the only beginning. It not only characterizes a species ability to evolve, affect and shepherd life around itself, but understand the necessity of change (evolution, though may begin from an equilibrium, cannot exist in it). The Great Journey is to join with the Endless someday.
The Halo rings are recursive life cycle subroutines, not just time lock weapons. Each branch of evolutionary history is a catalogue, stored in the index of the Halo rings.
They wanted someone to be able to vouch for their achievements, almost “hubris is your downfall Xerxes “
This theory makes alot of sense
@@personatthebay 🤝
Remember this comment in 6 months: you are on your way to becoming one of the most popular halo RUclips channels... Period. If you can continue to analyze the story of this franchise in the format that you are now, you will become the go-to guy for hidden discoveries in the Halo Universe. You are potentially sitting on gold here.
Don't let the content cycle get to you. Don't let it burn you out. Don't force yourself to make content for the fear of disappointment. This will result in sub-par work. If you make content when you have evidence like this, you will become veru successful.
I wish you the best of luck and thank you for the fantastic work.
This hits close to home - burnout essentially killed my channel for years. Never again.
Thanks John
@@RedNomster
I agree with OP 100%. Don’t worry about disappointing us or anything. Just make the content that you enjoy at the pace that’s comfortable for you. The work you’re putting into these videos shows that passion clearly, and it’s why I think so many people are really loving what they see (myself included as evident by my 499 comments and replies on every one of your videos).
@@m0002856 ❤ always great to see your comments bro
You're welcome Red. Quality over quantity. We'd all prefer better content you enjoy making, over lesser content that's being pushed out simply to meet a quota. Keep doing what you're doing!
@@RedNomster
I appreciate hearing that honestly.
I know you can’t reply to all of them, but the fact that you engage with your community makes it feel worth it to write these essays in your comment section xD
Even if you don’t respond directly, I feel like you are reading these at the very least.
One thing I noticed about the Harbinger and Skimmers is that they are not designed to walk on the ground at all, their legs are curled in wards, but they also don't seem to have natural flight abilities, they use boosters/technology.
I wonder if their world was very low gravity, or maybe they evolved to live/travel through the zero G and the vacuum of space.
They appear to have evolved from cephalopods, so maybe their home world is mostly aquatic.
Halo being a reverse time lock is such a cool idea. How did we not predict this when silentium came out?
I only connected it when the artifacts were dated to an age before forerunners existed. Imaginary archeology really helps! 😄
This would explain why there’s barely anything left from the Precursor-Forerunner age, too! All we’ve seen so far are forerunner structures on installations that were designed to survive the Halos, or ruins that are buried under eons’ worth of dirt and rock. The whole galaxy could technically be older than it *should* be.
And that is why the Precursors structures were destroyed. The Halo effect forced enough time through them for entropy to eventually win.
My question after seeing the entire video is this:
What makes them more dangerous than the Flood? Orrrrr do you think that’s just a misunderstanding? Another Forerunner “lie”?
I can see the pieces that would lead to this identification process.
Theres a quote from Infinite that the thing the Forerunners feared the most is losing control. Obviously the Flood would threaten the control that the Forerunners have as they would assimilate all life in the universe if given the chance. No more Forerunners means no more control.
BUT the Flood is an enemy to ALL life. They would not find a common ally to commiserate with.
The Endless, however, are not an enemy to all life. They could, in fact, be peaceful with a multitude of various life forms. If they don’t age, then they would be able to keep information alive a lot longer than those who wish to keep those secrets hidden.
So, in actuality, the Endless are not a larger threat than the Flood in the way we’re interpreting that message. They’re a greater threat to the Forerunner’s specific fear: having their narrative shattered. History is written by the victors of wars. We don’t know the truth behind the Precursor and Forerunner war, but maybe the Endless did.
Nobody would listen to the Flood, but they might listen to the Endless.
I mentioned this elsewhere, but another way to interpret the "Endless are worse than the flood" is in the concept that, to the forerunners, the Endless didn't threaten their survival, but their right to the mantle. Something that the flood didn't.
If they're immortal, and survive the halo array, they're also the last known witness to a galaxy-wide genocide - and a witness that will live forever. So even if the Endless didn't intend to inherit the mantle, they're still... the harbinger of truth, discrediting the forerunners claim to the mantle for eternity.
And Cortana gets her info from echoes of data or the domain. She only knows from forerunners that the forerunners feared the endless more, not from experience with the endless!
@@RedNomster
We both replied to each other’s comments at the same time LOL
10/10 RUclipsr. Love the content.
Edit: but yes, that’s my thoughts as well. Nobody is going to listen to the Flood peacefully while they threaten all life in the entire galaxy. We’ve been manipulated and lied to by the Gravemind before.
But the Endless? They’re just like… a regular guy. They’re not trying to eradicate all life in the galaxy (as far as we know), they’re just another race. They’re simply the only remaining witnesses who can be like “Your history book is wrong. I was there. What actually happened was…”
What makes them so dangerous is the potential of an Endless getting infected by the flood. Then the Halos wouldn't ever be able to stop the Flood.
@@dickjavelindj6523
That’s also a very good point.
@@dickjavelindj6523 That raises an interesting question: We know that the Flood are the Precursors, and that the Precursors were basically gods and a sort of manifestation of the universe. Wouldn't it be reasonable to assume that the Precursors didn't age, and therefore the Flood don't age? Just seems weird to me that the Endless, just another one of the galaxy's races, would be immortal while the literal physical embodiment of the Universe's will could be killed by aging technology.
I always appreciate that your theories take the writers into account, I like the theory
I try to dig deep, there's lots of answers down there 🤔
Man, this guy's videos are just amazing, so glad I found you. Hope everyone has a fantastic day.
So wholesome, thanks bro 🙏
Yeah dog. I watch so many videos which are in depth but only somewhat graze the deeper theories with details like this from the games and communities. I’ve been thinking about this games lore like crazy since release and it’s so nice to have someone to finally have ideas to bounce off
@@collinfreeman6356 that's why I made a discord, love bouncing theories around with the boys 🤝
Same! Please make more!
It's freaking asmr for me
I found this channel a few weeks ago and i find myself genuinely excited when a red nomster halo video drops. Thank you sir.
🥺 who cuttin onions
In hindsight I should’ve immediately made this connection when you suggested that the smaller rings might be reverse time locks. I love seeing the new angle you came at this with and personally this is the most sound theory. I’m still on board with the theory that the Endless are somehow connected to the Precursors though. I just don’t see 343 introducing a completely unrelated species/enemy to the lore. Keep up the great work 👍
Why not both! :)
@@RedNomster could definitely be both in some capacity.
The only way we’ll know for sure is when 343 addresses it I guess.
I am curious to see where this all goes.
I’m starting to suspect that the Primordial wasn’t exactly the Precursor he claimed to be either. Not directly. Maybe the consciousness of one vengeful Precursor, but I don’t think that was his original form.
I think the other reason why they would assume the endless are the most dangerous species of all is because... Well because theyre immune to the halo rings. What's stopping them from simply wiping out all the other species using the rings and taking over everything for themselves with nobody to stop them? The forerunners tried to remove them and keep them locked up which i remember from an in-game quote was "one of their most embarrassing" or "darkest actions" or something because whilst the forerunners showed themselves to be at the top, they knew they were not and so imprisoned the truly worthy species while the forerunners still had the advantage. Oh and i suppose they could also be seen as dangerous because if they awoke and exposed they were immune to the rings, then the forerunners would lose credibility for being able to protect from and control the spread of the flood. The endless are immune to aging, not infection. If they get infected, who's to say the floodform wont survive a halo blast? To conclude, the forerunners see the endless as the greatest danger because they would not only expose the forerunners for not being perfect, but would make the rings obsolete if an endless got infected by the flood + they could simply use the rings to demolish all life, again, showing the forerunners as weak (and dead) as they lost control of their greatest weapon. Theories ladies and gents, are awesome :D
The fact the Harbinger has a reclaimer symbol, and cortana mentioning in Halo 5 that AIs becoming immortal means they can assume the Mantle Of Responsibility. The Endless being immune to Halo due to not aging is a VERY strong theory.
^^^^^^
I almost choked on my food when he said "Halo arrays could be Reverse Time Locks." How come I never thought of that!?
This is brilliant!! As soon as you mentioned the weird fact that The Endless can die if they're "shot" but cannot age I was like "Oooh, wait does that mean... Halo... OMG THIS WOULD MAKE SO MUCH SENSE!"
It's like, it's so obvious yet I didn't even think of it somehow!
Honestly I've followed your other videos and some others on the overall lore and this is by far the best theory I can get behind!
It's definitely my favorite theory, but I may be biased 😅 thanks blooby, glad you liked it! I love those moments when things click
man where have you been all this time, we needed you in 2007. Amazing work and findings as always
I was trying to solve the Sandtrap Text back then xD But I was also messing about in forge too much lol
I’ve watched a handful of Red Nomster videos and I hadn’t subscribed yet, but this video did it for me. Fantastic work! I love Installation00 and Halo Cannon and this content fits right in.
Welcome to the rabbit hole buddy, interesting video about translating banished writing dropping tomorrow :)
Bruh... keep it up, you really make brilliant content... haven't seen anyone else look at the lore like you do!
🥺 appreciate the kind words Sean, working on more asap. It's been a blast learning and exploring theories with you guys!
I love how 20 years into this franchise, they're like "Yep there are new ancient aliens that didn't show up ANYWHERE until now."
Gotta keep the plot going. Not sure why they didnt just make some prequel games to a time before the lore turned to shit and got all cringy and generic
Well the universe is infinite.
know I'm late to this reply but I just wanted to point out that Halo Reach, Halo CE, Halo 2, Halo 3, and ODST all take place in the same year. The Entire 20 year franchise takes place over the course of about 8 years. Not exactly a lot of time compared to the size of the galaxy, and lore wise they showed up ~100,000 years ago, with their subsequent imprisonment being the main reason why they didn't appear in the games yet lol
Excellent content man, I've been loving your halo vids lately 🙂
Thanks Murphy! Working hard on more 💪
You’ve really been scratching my lore theory itch
it ain't much but it's honest work 🤠
Of all theories I have heard about the Endless so far, this has to be the best, maybe even the most accurate one. All the big lore channels (Hiddenxperia, Halo Cannon, Installation 00, etc) need to here this one. One thing all these theories have in common, and that is why the Forerunners imprisoned the Endless, and all relates to the flood. In reguards to your theory, if the flood infected the Endless, the flood would become immortal rendering the affects of the halos useless. Thus requiring ALL of them to be killed one by one, which would be near impossible at a galactic scale. Maybe the reason Atriox and the Banished are so intrested in the Endless is because they are ageless, and they want to figure out how to become like them (maybe by genetically modifying themselves with Endless DNA), so they can live forever too.
You're making the videos halo fans have always wanted.
I'm a man of the people. Glad I'm obsessed with something people actually care to watch hahaha
Yeah I've always been of the camp that The Endless just don't have a nervous system.
It's just more intriguing for me lol.
Ageless beings that have lived to see the entirety of galactic history who are subsequently imprisoned to keep forerunner genocide a secret
Or
a plant 🪴
Not saying either are more true, but just missing a nervous system lacks intrigue imo :)
How can you come up with one banger video after another? Mind blown so glad that i discovered the channel
Too many theories and too much time 😅 thanks brother 🙏
This totally makes sense.
I think you just figured out the greatest Halo mystery
Perhaps... or perhaps not yet 🤔
I'm completely convinced you've figured it out. It just all adds up perfectly
Time will tell :)
The Halo using time as a weapon is such a cool idea! I'll be disappointed if it's not the cannon path of the story for infinite. Anyway keep up the good work. Your video and theory are amazing👍✌️
Much appreciated Art 🙏 I'm coming out with more soon!
DAM your theories are impressive and i think you hit the nail on the head. The smaller rings are surely time locks as the moniter says they are older than the rings but were built by the foreunners! well done
Hands down some of the best RUclips Halo content I've seen in a long while. Your story telling and video/audio mix are super captivating.
Can't wait for more.
Thanks 👉👉
Feedback is appreciated. Love making these!
This is amazing. Love the way you present this information with such a calm voice and attention to detail, including the choice of words. Keep up the great work!
Thanks T O! Was fun getting to reach out to other topics outside of Halo, so hopefully someone learned something today 😅
@@RedNomster i learned a lot, thank you! ♥️
After seeing the rings scattered around, my first thought has been.. what if they were originally activated and used at those locations? How did the reverse time lock work? It accelerates your mass? I wouldn't be surprised if it worked in a way where it locked you in an "endless circle" and shot you literally around the inside diameter of the ring.. so from your perspective you can see endless rings inside rings... increasing velocity as you pass through each ring, breaking the laws of time until the superman effect happens - billions of years go by in an instant for the victim, while the silent auditorium watches as moments go by for them.
Why can't I hit the like button more than once!? Great video!
Just gonna have to share with your friends 😉
This mans goated, quickly becoming one of the better Halo yt channels
Share with your homies, it helps 👌
Thanks brother :)
I am kinda proud that my comment on your last vids seem to have somewhat influenced you in making this video. I am really excited to have found this channel .... there is still so much to theorize about
The rings being reverse time locks… my mind is completely blown away by that idea. Your mind doesn’t cease to amaze me.
Dude, every video you post you go so in depth and say it with such conviction I’m convinced that it’s all true. Every theory you come up with makes so much sense. It’s insane how far you dive into the lore, absolutely love this stuff, I’m going to buy Halo just for the experience of the campaign
Damn, thanks for the feedback! Enjoy the rabbit hole buddy, I've been stuck in here for weeks 🤭
You've got it man, opening everyone's eyes to ideas no one has even talked about yet. Keep it up, you earned a subscriber right here.
Welcome Jayden! Thanks for the motivation 🤝
This makes an incredible level of sense. Definitely highly complex for simple lore of a video game, but it is such complexities that make things seem more "real" and thus appreciated more by serious fans. Keep up the excellent content!
It seems complicated, but it's actually very simple to describe if told to the player from The Weapons perspective for example:
"The endless are immune because the rings kill using time. They create a temporary reverse stasis field in the nervous system of every sentient being, aging it to dust in an instant. The endless don't age, so time is harmless."
Though it could be fleshed out more in the books and such :)
I like how your idea creates a new perspective on the Halo Arrays. Makes them even more mysterious.
My question regarding the Endless is how they survived the Flood. Wasn't the whole galaxy consumed by it? How did the Endless evade the Flood? Sheer coincidence? Did they evade the Flood at all? Or are they dangerous because they can be infected by the Flood and their immunity to the Halo effect wold give the Flood immunity as well? And aren't the Flood immune to the Halos too? The effect kills their food, starving them death, is what Cortana said in Halo CE. Is that a shared immunity between Flood and Endless? But then again, the idea of them not aging wouldn't work.
Soooooo many questions, so few answers.
3:50 "even a broken clock works twice a day" I never thought of it like that🤣
I knew it! I had a gut feeling that the small rings were more than just set dressing or "idols" since the Campaign Gameplay Trailer, and playing the campaign itself confirmed that, and while playing the campaign I suspected if these were some kind of miniature Halos, because the particle pattern reminded me of the activation scene from Halo 2. I missed your video about the small rings being reverse time locks, but if I hadn't on sure I would have beat you to the punch on this! Nevertheless, this is an awesome video, mega props to all this detective work. Now if you'll excuse me I need to go and see what I can find about those 10m Prototype Halos
Happy digging brother!
Slowly becoming my favorite halo YT account
so awesome seeing you branch out the content keep up this lore videos man you are killing it.
Trying my best :D Thanks Bailey
Great vid man everything is slowly coming together been watching since the beginning of halo infinite and its been so interesting. Can't wait for a dlc so we can go deeper keep up the good work
Thanks Alex! 👉👉
Give me dlc now
Cool, thnx for adding my theory in your video.
It was fun to see it anyway!
Now my thought goes ahead to this: if Halos are reversed timelocks to artificially age species, this implies that the neuralphysics of the precursors must age also, since they were to be destroyed by the Halo effect!? 🤯
Yes, and it makes sense to me that it would honestly. The Halo accidentally targeted the artifacts as well - if it was tuned to shoot particle at a nervous system of sentient beings, it's not outlandish to think this definition is also involved with precursor technology.
Yes, this is exactly what i was thinking. 😉
That bridge veritasium video was sick. glad ur putting the info to good use
Really great! This has to be right. Thanks for another banger of a video
It's a very substantial possibility at least - and is compatible with others as well (like them being precursor evolutionary off-shoots)
I've watched other theory videos about the Endless and I think yours is the most likely one. It's my head canon now.
Atriox dies from reverse time lock exposure. Calling in now 👍😎
“Artificially ageing them will have no effect”
My fucking eyebrows touched the roof 🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯
wow. genuinely thats the first good theory for this ive seen! so can you tackle the signal the Harbinger recieved at the end of the campaign? id really like to see that its not actually time travel... that and i do hope to know why the endless are so dangerous to the forerunners.
I'll be covering both of these topics in future videos. :) Thanks Skye!
@@RedNomster omg you replied! im a huge fan of your theories and work. I really like your time lock theory especially about the smaller rings scattered on zeta. It makes so much sense that they have "enemy within" written on them if they were used for executions. kinda like on claymores how they have a "this side towards enemy". I hope we get a new campaign update/dlc soon so that we can have answers to the main questions left over from infinite. 1: why is the harbinger special? she was in her own cylix with a different image on it than the endless. 2. are the endless actually villains or just wanting revenge? or something else? and 3. how did atriox survive/is there time travel involved.
@@skyedodge3597 thanks again! Dlc can't come soon enough, buy I'm sure it's months down the road. Until then we'll have to theorize :)
This is a visionary level hypothesis. Found you recently and love your vids.
I try to think outside the box without letting reality and logic escape... but sometimes it does 😅
Was waiting for this
Commenting to convince the algorithm to push your content. Great work
🙏 means a lot brother! Just gotta keep consistent and perfect the craft so hopefully one day I don't have to negotiate with the algo 🤔
you've become the vaatividya of halo. the content is just so good
Appreciate it e1m1 :) trying to improve!
Another great video bro! Keep it going :)
Btw your theory on the halo itself being the time lock blew my mind😂
🤝
@@_Wizzo rings inside of rings brother
That grapple not connecting at 1:57, resulting in the Harbinger energy blast hitting and Chief dying has me unreasonably upset (and distracted) on your behalf LMFAO
Thanks for sharing my burden 🙏 ☹
I'm firmly in the camp of team time travel to me it makes the most sense I just assume it's a power they can't use any time they want maybe some type of cool down so that would explain why they were able to be captured
It's just a theory that requires more assumptions than I'd like.
Not only do we never see an Endless perform time-travel, being able to travel into the future wouldn't even explain why they're called "Endless". You could argue that the Forerunners gave them that name, but the Harbinger exclusively uses that term as well, as if that's simply what they call themselves, despite never knowing of the Forerunners' existence. It also requires you to ignore the lore behind "slipspace debt" that has been established in the cannon - slipspace debt wouldn't apply to a non-space-faring species. Slipspace debt only affected Forerunners because they had millions of planets and ships using slipspace all the time, whereas the Endless only live on a single planet. If the Endless have the ability to time travel, or the technology to do so, why don't they have the civilization to match? If the Endless can detect a superluminal echo, how would they even know to time travel, or for how long, or when they should initiate the time travel?
My theory just requires them to be ageless (which matches the name) and for the Halo Effect to work in a way that seemingly matches all visual representations we've been handed thus far.
Omg, this all makes so much sense now.
Remember how we can find digsites with thos smaller rings and even a crashed ship carrying them.
I wonder if they where collecting them to "timejump" atriox to the legendary ending
You’re like the VaatiVidya of Halo and I love it.
LOL rabbit!, great video as always
Thanks man! Still my second favorite theory ;)
Got my snack and drink time to enjoy yet another video like this.
makin' me hungry D;
@@RedNomster heheh you make me hungry whenever I see a new video
This really gives "I see Rings inside of Rings" a whole new meaning for Halos
☝
I think you've nailed this honestly.
🙏
Dude I love your theory videos always interesting always popping off with something completely out of the box but based in lore if anyone's going to figure this out it'll probably be you
Thanks Gothic! There's so many stories that have been told over and over again in the lore scene so I'm glad I've been able to make some theories that add new perspectives to those stories
Phew nice video bruv
May u keep creating such videos and keep impressing the community
That's the goal 👏
Watched it again… phenomenal.
“If Halo cannot end them, it must imprison them”. Your theory sounds extremely plausible.
You know what, im a fist year in university doing aerospace engineering and i actually followed the entire science talk through. Never thought I'd see the day where something like this would happen 😂 i also love the idea of chief just pacing around some destroyed vehicles doing science in his head and theorising who he's going to fight next as soon as he can go on the other side of a barrier he gets told he cant cross each time the game boots up 😂😂
My goal was to have at least 1 person understand, mission accomplished 😅 and I've had those thoughts too, makes me want a dlc like H3 odst, but instead of saving the world you're just researching ancient forerunner tech and pursuing loee mysteries
@@RedNomster i just wrote another super long comment with a theory, let me know what you think! ♥️ And mission accomplished indeed 😆
"Using our broken clock, only time will tell..." Beautiful writing.
Thanks friend, I'm a writer, so occasionally that seeps into these videos. Happy you enjoy!
This just earned you a sub. Genius theory.
Welcome brother :D
Holy molly! That's so cool. Really nice theory
Good theory. Be interesting to see what 343 come out with in future DLC and how close we all were.
Amazing theories and arguments and best videos of this kind for Halo. Keep it up man!
Wow, thanks brother, reading stuff like this means a lot! It'd be great to work on something with some other theory channels someday
Your theory is very intriguing! But there are some questions that remain unanswered.
I haven't read enough books to know for sure but what happens to organisms without a nervous system like plants? Do they age as well? I thought reverse time lock accelerates time in a particular area, so anything inside it will experience accelerated entropy and hence will decay. Re-seeding a barren galaxy without an ecosystem to support sentient life would be very difficult.
I hope we can find some answers by discussing this :D
Edit: I looked it up that Halo arrays do not disintegrate the organic matter (which they should if they are reverse time locks).
"Bodies lay were they had fallen, the shredded door bearing long, vertical lines made by the clawing of frantic armored hands. Chant's heart ached as she started to count, then she shut her mind to the task after she passed twenty. Many. Too Many." - Halo: Promises , Page 106
The scene is set after the Halo Array was fired by the Didact from the Lesser Ark and was set on Maethrillian, the capital of the Forerunner empire meaning that when the Halo Array fired and cleansed the galaxy of all life, it left behind bodies. This leads me to believe that the Halo Arrays can't be reverse time locks. Although we have some conflicting visuals from the Halo Origins and HCE terminals. So I can't say for sure.
Halo does destroy organic matter, it's just specifically designed to only destroy the nervous system of the being. Plants don't have a nervous system, for example, being the reason they chose to target the nervous system. The flood also only infects things that have a nervous system, which is why the Halo array "starves the flood by killing its food"
The prototype halos (that are only 10m across) completely dissolved a being, just like a reverse timelock is described to do. It wasn't until the full-sized halos that they tuned the design to only target the nervous system. But, the full sized halos CAN completely dissolve a being if the target has Solute sprayed into the surrounding biosphere. This is what's shown in the CE terminal footage.
Solute was important for clearing the surplus biomass that JUST targeting the nervous system would leave behind. It would have detrimental effects on the environment and atmosphere otherwise as bodies decayed. Solute is also the reason that we (generally) find no archeological record of mass extinction 100,000 years ago when the array was fired.
So, to simplify, prototype halos (like the ones I theorized to be responsible for executing the primordial) are reverse timelocks that are indiscriminate.
The Halo array is a large scaled version that specifically decays the nervous system of a sentient being, and Solute (if applied beforehand by lifeworkers) acts as an activating agent that spreads the process currently dissolving the nervous system to the rest of the being.
The two processes are essentially simultaneous, which is why we see entire beings turn to dust in the CE footage
@@RedNomster That explains it somewhat, but in the book it was written that the bodies littered in the galaxy with their nervous system fried. There is a discrepancy in the lore.
I found a reddit post mentioning that the original 12 rings left the bodies behind but the downscaled rings disintegrated the bodies.
Too much confusion in the lore 😂
@@Cmdr_Sam they both dissolved the nervous system. I believe I read that the 7 rings is when they used Solute due to the observations of the aftermath of the 12 rings
But yeah I'm sure they had to add the solute concept to fix the issues that solute solves, plot wise
More fantastic content. love the theory on the Halo rings!
🤝 one of my favorite theories yet
This theory fits too well for it not to be at least on the right path.
God damn!
I feel it's unlikely that 343 could *accidentally* make a story that has possibilities like this theory :) but time will tell
This is genius level stuff. Thank you for rekindling my passion for the deeper lore in the Halo universe.
That's my goal, so I'm glad you found it interesting!
Damn, I thought we might be on the same page, but I didn’t realize just how similar our theories on the Endless’ survival would end up being. Glad to know I’m not the only one who has noticed the similarities between the Halo effect and that which was described for the reverse timelock.
"They believe we are here to help" this sentence still intrigues me, do you have any suggestions on why do the endless need help ?
Ps: love your videos man keep it up ❤️
If the endless were immune, it doesn't mean their food sources were. And it's not entirely clear if the Endless were all Endless, whereas not every Xalanyn could have this trait
Thanks Massi!
@@RedNomster So kinda the equivalent of how not every Gallifraian in Dr Who was a Timelord?
the great journey shall begun
I remember in ce 343gs mentioned something about the ring eliminating anything with enough calcium and biomass to sustain the the flood. I always thought the ring targeted the calcium inside living things in some way. I could have miss heard or miss remembered it all though
Just checked online and yeah calcium is or was something that the flood really required. Might be outdated lore at this point now though.
Damn your videos are so good, I like your logic approach
Every good story has some truths laced in, finding real connections makes the story feel more real :)
@@RedNomster I agree, pls never stop
So, the Halo ring was the main inspiration for Thanos?
*snap*
This is is. 100%. This seems like the perfect explanation of everything.
It just makes too much sense 🤔
Your channel is so good!
I'm grateful you think so Niloc
Underrated channel keep up the good work man
Thanks Than! Got more coming asap 🙌
Bro you are unbelievably smart. My mind is blown
I really, REALLY like this theory. Nice work! Maybe this also explains why a potentially immortal species wasn't the sole inhabitor of the galaxy as well. Much like modern species we see today, the longer a creature lives, the slower and fewer offspring they tend to have as well. Maybe new offspring of the Endless are hundreds of millenia apart? This would prevent widescale colonization of the Endless as they never have the billions required to do so. Another possibility could still be that they're Precursors, as that species could potentially be ageless as well.
Open doors of everywhere, even more-so than them being capable of traveling forward in time imo :)
I'd guess that the precursor's seeded races just all use a precursor style nervous system, which the array is geared towards. If the endless are either unseeded or an experament with some other neurology (some silly thought might be pnumatic brains instead of electro-chemical).
But we are give jack all about the endless, even why they were feared is fully left out. We know that even cerebral palsy is enough to stop flood infection, so maybe they just all have that.
awesome channel amazing videos
huge halo fan here, read every word of every book several times over
but something tells me that the 'librarians gift' has something to do with giving Chief an immunity to the Halo arrays firing and not just the Composers. because i have a HUGE feeling that we are going to eventually see a Halo ring, or even all of the remaining rings, fire again.... maybe in future games Humanity races to copy this immunity? somehow integrating the Endless into the story? maybe even teaming up with the Endless after a massive undefeatable resurgence of the flood?
im pretty sure everyone agrees that the Flood is most likely to make a return.... and also, we GOTTA see at least one Halo ring fire its array, cuz why not! lmao they could make it incredibly epic.
damn i love how deep Halo could potentially go, let alone how deep it already is
Always great to read comments like these :)
And yeah, with 343 introducing cylixes and means of preserving species/artificially aging things, it adds a lot of possibilities for the future. Who knows, maybe there's some forerunner cylixes chillin on Zeta. Maybe the criterion is in a Living Tomb somewhere, sticking around in case they need to wake up in 100,000 years to fire the rings again, like real guardian custodians.
That’s all it is, a theory. You didn’t solve anything before more information about them are released
I only ever call it a theory...? Solving =/= solved, friendo. It's an ongoing process.
@@RedNomster until we get more information nobody is figuring it out
@@nomercyinc6783 yeah... I never say otherwise, I literally say "time will tell"
As once a child when discovering Halo, and now an adult working in geophysics, the fact that Halo has a solid physic base and in-depth lore explanation is amazing me everyday a bit more. Thank you for highlighting all that depth and make this universe even more fascinating !
Thanks Mister! I'll continue to dig up cool theories in a couple days, glad you enjoy the format!
This is actually a really solid theory, the only holes I could see in it is how aging destroyed Precursor constructs. I suppose if the array was targeting the nervous system and they are built with neural physics, then it could destroy them? But if that were the case, presumably remnants of these structures were left behind unless they were entirely made of nerves. Then again, precursors are weird and that could be the case, because otherwise I think this theory is rock solid.
If you look up pictures of "precursor star roads", they even look like a nervous system 😬
But I think the discussion is hard to have, as even Halo as we traditionally know it lacks an explanation as to why/how it destroys star roads. If anything can destroy precursor artifacts, I'd bet on "time" over anything else
@@RedNomster Yea when it comes to precursor tech, it tends to be vague hand waving and "beyond comprehension." Like I said though, really solid theory man, keep up the good work!
Glad I subbed to your channel. Good work. Good content.
Welcome Joshua, glad you found me too! Also munchs oddworld is engraved into my brain lol
Also I have a massive theory. Bear with me.
We know that the precursors were multi-galactic species. They made everything in this galaxy.
Now cut to forerunners. We know forerunners have different works and ranks. Like the builders, life shapers, warriors etc. When the precursors chose humanity, the forerunners fought them and slaughtered most of them.
From what we know , the precursors were peaceful species. They just got defeated by their own creations even when they have so much more power to do things. If im not mistaken they had some sort of control over time.
So it doesn’t make sense to me that precursors were defeated so easily. Unless the precursors who came to give birth to life in the galaxy and fought the forerunners, were life shapers of their species. This would explain why they were defeated as life shapers wouldn’t have much experience to fight.
This could explain that the “endless” are a different rank of the precursors.Think about it. The forerunners were not terrified of the precursors they fought but were terrified of these. So much that they had to imprison them.
Now comes the harbringer. We know that atleast she is an ally to the endless. What if she is and from a different galaxy travelled with them. After she saw what the forerunners did to them, she wanted to go back and warn others. But was imprisoned. Maybe she is an ally species to the endless i.e she is not the endless species.
This could explain why the cylixes containing the endless have no shape while the others have it. Because they are precursors but of a different rank or something and they were currently formless. This also explains the theory that the flood cannot infect them. Because it wont to its own species.
They were uncatalogued because forerunners knew nothing about them because they came pretty late maybe the end years or even after the firing of the array. Thats why forerunners know nothing about xylanin aka the harbringer. Because she wasn’t of this galaxy and forerunners more or less knew about all the species because they fired the ring and wanted to save some of the population to repopulate the galaxy.
This whole theory has one major flaw. The harbringer said that they were denied of their right to the mantle. Why? If they were different species then can different species have mantle at the same time?
One more. In one of his videos, rednomster said that perhaps the mantle of responsibility is engraved on something ancient, this would explain why there are things older than the ring on it. He even mentioned that the forerunners most likely had no idea how to read it. What if-the mantle is something physical. Something that the precursors gave to the forerunners with text on it. Thinking if the forerunners can decrypt the code or whatever on it then they would know how to use the mantle. But in order to use it you had to
1- Know whats written on it
2- Have the mantle with you.
The precursors passed it onto the forerunners hoping that the forerunners would figure it out. But when they came back to see, the forerunners had not done decryption. So the precursors thought that they were not worthy enough and wanted to text the humans next. But when they tried they failed. You may ask why. Maybe because they didn’t hade the mantle either(in the physical form). They knew whats on it but in order to enforce it they had to have the mantle with them.
Let me know what you all think. I know its all crazy and long and most doesn’t make sense. But some of it does to me.
It’s funny you say this… as In “the arrival” they play with time And the ancient Language of the universe, They are lovecraftian squid-like just like the harbinger, so I also think the mantle IS the ancient texts and that’s WHY the precursors never gave it to the forerunners for that exact reason maybe humanity DID figure out a way to use it as we were considered “unique by them” Just spitballing theories and the walls on the delta halo (to be more specific the bungie Mp version) look exactly like offensive bias and it amazes me as the game was made back in 2004, and the fact we just got his official Form NOW in 2022 days everything and that the endless (or at least the concept of them) have been there since Halo 2, in H3 people thought it was mendicant bias talking about being trapped in time… now I’m not so sure about that as the primordial/gravemind was present. Maybe chief will be able to read the texts in the future ? And he is absolutely Immune to Time locks as the librarian gave him that power, the composer could absolutely be linked to The mantle and how forerunners wanted to keep hold of it by Trying to get natural immunity,maybe the flood was the answer as they couldn’t get it BEFORE they had to fire the halo rings, alot from halo 4 can be interpreted to the endless as well As the didacts final words “we are hopeless to stop it” stop what exactly ? And The Didact was absolutely in a timelock, implying the librarian Knew and used them.
This all makes sense honestly, but I almost miss the old “brute force” description of the Halo effect.
Oh man this is so epic
Glad you enjoyed bro 🙏
Best lore channel.
Tell your friends
Why not have all the endless executed an killed? Or glass their world?
Did the endless even have a Flood problem or could they been immune to the spores?
If the harbinger was the main big boss in infinite an only 1 endless being that strong an advanced, could you imagine the whole race?
How did they even get caught?
The forerunners wanted to study them. They were captured and imprisoned during the parley, betrayed, as the endless thought the forerunners were there to help
@@RedNomster you don't need to capture whole species for studying one species
@@swarnankaroy7706 who said they captured the whole species? I just explained why not ALL were executed or left to die. The Halo Encyclopedia that released after infinite even mentions some Xalanyn managed to avoid capture and roamed the galaxy :)