you mentioned that the flood likely share a similar biology to the precursors in the form of a kind of supercell, this led to a thought: what if the precursors simply said, "hey, our children/creations want us dead, so lets go through the cycle again", and just went back to an earlier state of their own existence, as in the precursors are the logical evolution of the flood, of what happens when the flood inevitably wins? if they simply went through a literal rebirth of their species from its earliest point in evolution, that would also explain why they felt the need to seed life, because they had previously consumed it all... Edit: correction in spelling
I just saw this comment, wonderful thoughts btw and basically it sounds like they just devolutionized themselves, and we all know what happens when you reverse the way life came to how we know it today; the last universal common ancestor was a single celled organism, little more than scum in rust ridden oceans here on Earth, perhaps the Precursors set themselves back in evolution so that they could reseed the galaxy after the long journey of evolution that they perhaps once undertook, or walked many times, maybe their more primal and animalistic nature, which the Flood at first was very uncoordinated and aggressive, was somehow overcome after time to make them the God like individuals who have transcended time and space. We Humans are more civilized than animals, even if it doesn't seem like it sometimes, but we're still animals, just figuring out the right steps to take to perpetuate ourselves through the stars and beyond, maybe becoming Gods is harder than we think, or maybe it takes longer, however, why would the Precursors want to give the Mantle to Humans after already handing it to the Forerunners? Maybe mankind was quick to adjust, eager to please, we did make advancements similar to the Forerunners but earlier in our evolution, perhaps we're closer to godhood than we thought. Hope you enjoyed this long comment.
@Kenric Young If you're talking about me, that would imply that the Precursors only want to consume the species that they created, but only the Flood do, life has simple rules that it follows, consume energy, reproduce and spread, perhaps the Precursors had to as well, there's laws we Humans make that in ways make it harder and easier to do such things, the Mantle may support you brutalizing your neighbor simply because it perpetuated your survival, because the Precursors had to in order for them to be here, but that is speculative.
It very much reminds me of all the Halo videos where Sangheili take over the transmission. As another science guy on RUclips infamously said, "You can't stop the signal baby! (Maniacal Laughter)"
@@SuperGman117 Lookup "Sangheili Combat Harness" on RUclips. That is one of the videos I immediately thought of in the moment. You will know you have the right one when you hear the voice referring to the viewers in what seems to be a Sangheili voice and phrases like "you humans".
“I am the last of those who gave you breath and shape and form, millions of years ago. I am the last of those your kind rose up against and ruthlessly destroyed. I am the last Precursor. And our answer is at hand.” - The Primordial
I remember reading Cryptum. While being enthralled by the world and the events that were happening, I found it really weird that the Precursors were still mentioned to have existed alongside the flood, and thinking none of it was making sense in the background. The plot thickened more and more, but I was only left wondering where were the precursors in all of this, and why were they so silent. As the book was ending, I was awed, but confused, wanting answers. Then came that final quote from the book. I remember internally screaming in utter terror, and muttering "Oh my God, Oh my God, Oh my God..." for fifteen straight minutes. That paragraph defined the current lore with the same power as the cutscene of Two Betrayals did for Halo in the old days. I was utterly awed. And it made me realize the Primordial, The Timeless One, is THE Villain of Halo. Every single tragedy that has ever happened, every single war that has taken place, every hero fallen from grace ... it is the sheer power of the Timeless One. A god that can kill people, topple empires, turn noble heroes into the foulest villains, and change reality. Just by talking to them.
@@IAsimov the Gravemind IS god. its why the entire halo trilogy is so mindfucky to the point of Lovecraftian. The religious symbolism wasnt on accident. How many of us would recognize god if we were otherwise unaware. Omnipotence is an odd thing. Sure they can be killed and dismantled and severed. But the essence of the mind, the will to bend the very fabric of reality is precisely what countless religions have described god being able to do for 1000s of years.
@@dr._breens_beard Good point. Given how much power he has... he IS capital G God in the Halo universe. After the Forerunner trilogy, we suddenly got an answer if god exists in the Halo universe... and the poor sods within it were probably better off not knowing the answer. It makes me think regarding the 343 Guilty Spark marine in Halo: CE, that went mad inside the facility and shot at anything that moved. He didn't go mad because he saw his friends infected and rising from the dead. He went mad because he witnessed the literal wrath of God.
It occurs to me that a being that could outhink a forerunner super duper mega computer also has the capacity to spin falsehoods as well, if said being felt so inclined.
I just want them to interact with the respawned Humanity! How will they see how humans reemergedm from being nearly wiped out by the Forerunners, to be able to do what they could not by nearly wipe out most of the Flood!
you could draw parralels with halo ce start as a forunner unit in the first part of the war investigating human expansion and go through different events as a warrior class in a much bigger ever more aprently scarier universe before encountering an eldritch enitty known as the flood and shifting a more lovecraftian vibe
I think a Flood horror game in the time of the Human-Forerunner war would be great. Imagine being a Forerunner civilian fighting annihilation from both Ancient Humanity and the Flood.
Halo in 2000’s: Wow, these Forerunners are the most mysterious figures of the Halo universe Halo in 2020’s: Hold my Mantle Halo in 2021: "precursor" Hold my Galaxy
For a long while it bothered me that the most advanced species in the Halo verse was a *lobster* in design but I've come around. It defies most expectation. I expected a race of beings in energy form existing exist on a quantum level. Then it would tie them in with the big bang and how forerunners defiled them with how they harness energy
@Tyler Yan tbh I quite like lobster and have a tendency to see lobster where I shouldn't. When I first saw a depiction of precursors one of my immediate thought is what they must taste like
If it were the case that only a small bit of their population was killed then why didn’t they address the flood outbreak and send more of their people to unfuck the situation?
Try Google. Some Halo journalist already written down to this Halo Domain. Some Group Journalist keep hearing a too many stories in ancient History ago, Then Journalist done their Job to Sending information on Google history. That how Humanity done that before during Halo Timeline.
While I really like this take on how the Precursors are still alive, I’ve always assumed that they’re alive for a different reason. We know that they’ve gone from galaxy to galaxy creating life, cultivating that life, selecting a species to pass the mantle of responsibility onto and then moving on to do the same in another galaxy. As you mentioned, we also know that the Precursors have existed for billions of years maybe even since the very beginning of the universe itself. That leads me to believe that their population would have to be absolutely massive, so much so that it’s completely unfathomable just how many Precursors truly exist. If this is the case, it would make more sense for them to travel in groups than it would for them to travel as a whole. They likely would have assigned sections of the universe to these different groups. That would mean that the Precursors that were wiped out by the Forerunners wasn’t the entire species but only a small contingent of the species and that there are many more Precursors out there spread out across the universe.
the precursors are in all galaxies the forrunners cant even make up the force to explorer all the galaxies plus i am sure there know what has happon to the ones that the forrunners had killed and are looking at it as a cycle the precursors can never be wiped out
I expect the non-Flood Precursors to still be alive outside the known universe and are waiting for the moment they choose to reveal themselves and/or return.
For the precursors, conventional space travel has long since become a very close to irrelevant concept to them. They are pretty much able to view upon and see anything within multiple iterations of our physical universe simultaneously. Our entire universe is merely an ongoing lab experiment from their perspective. Whoever orginally thought of and wrote the backstory of the haloverse precursors would make Lovecraft himself proud.
I honestly don't blame the precursors if they choose NOT to come back. Humanity isn't quite the same as the ancient humans/ancestors the Precursors knew
Maybe that philosophy of "Sweetness" is what the primordial told the humans in its prison that caused those who heard it to commit suicide. Those humans just learned that their existence is just a play for higher beings. What if the precursors are just a representation us, those who create and consume Halo content?
Yes, I believe they think us as mere lambs for slaughter. Flood being the tool, to achieve that assimilation and to add all the sentient beings emotions to the domains memory
@@karthiksubramanian2279 The flood is not a tool, the flood is the precursors, the flood is just a form precursors take when they undergo the reclaiming cycle, reclaiming of all life experiences to feed the universe/reality. As mold eats bread to then turn it to compost to feed the cycle. As said in this video of Installation00; ruclips.net/video/jqGLwWSq10U/видео.html Maybe the primordial started their harvest, maybe the forerunner found out about the cycle and wanted to defy them. Hard to know, but in the end forerunners prefered to be the leaders of their own fate; even if the only option was suicide for them, and all of the cycle subjects.
I like to believe that the secret that the Primordial told the humans was that the Flood and the Precursors are the same. It just makes the most sense to me.
God the more I hear about the Precursors, the more I’m amazed, awestruck, and friggen terrified of them. Compared to us, maybe even to the Forerunners they’re literal gods. To fight them in a all out war would be like ants trying to fight the sun.
which only begs the question; how on earth did precursors got wiped out by forerunners?? i heard that it was cuz precursors knew forerunners were going to eliminate them, and ALLOWED it to be as they consider that part of the cycle of the universe...where both pain and pleasure needs to be experienced.
They make it sound as if killing the precursors is like trying to kill the universe itself because they're pretty much saying that the precursors are the universe
Installation00 thanks man! 👍🏻👍🏻 I’m actually planning to create my own Precursor/Primordial artwork in the future and I just needed some references. 👍🏻👍🏻
Now THIS would be cool. I just hope that they won't make the introduction as confusing as 4/5's reveal that humans were as ancient as Forerunners in a quick little flashback that requires many other alternate materials to fully comprehend.
Could the flood possibly evolve into a more sophisticated form that resembles the precursors, being that the flood is basically a devolved precursor. Did the floods arrival signal the beginning of a cycle?
I don’t believe so because the dust that became the flood was corrupted. Therefore the evolution is probably from the flood supercell into grave mind/hive mind etc.
@@clowsyy3483 And didn't it become corrupted due to the dust spacing too far apart preventing it from regenerating? I may be remembering this incorrectly.
Eric I actually don’t know how/why it was corrupted just that ancient humans found the dust in vials. Maybe it was due to time as dust and locations? Or if I remember correctly it was something to do with the process of converting to dust and back didn’t work properly
@@clowsyy3483 I think the dust corrupted because the PreCoursers were sorrowful and angry at The Forerunners, and all that hate and pain condensed and festered. Like mass gathering into a star and eventually black hole, a singularity was formed. Not on the physical plain, but rather the narrative one; tearing a hole through which came the very concept of the flood, possibly given by other PreCoursers.
What confuses me is why the precursors didn’t see their inevitable corruption into the flood, they have a perception of time that is incomprehensible to us, so how could they have not known that they would be corrupted? I think they knew that they would turn into the flood but I don’t know why they would do it. Maybe they did it for some grand experiment or to punish the forerunners for there violation of the mantle. I also appreciate your guys thoughts and information :)
Love that detail you added with the proto-gravemind speaking to Keyes. Keyes- “I won’t let you take my mind! I won’t let you take Earth!” Gravemind- “We already dooooo...”
Stego Aqua we’d just say “fuck off” and continue on with our lives and expansion. Humanity has never shared a universal ideology other than “we will survive” and so we wouldn’t have the collective massive existential crisis that made the forerunners into mad hatters for a few thousand years. Sure, some people would probably go all Armageddon, purge the unclean but many more would not and instead find new purpose or hold onto old ones.
@@bluenight104 I think the whole Mantle is a lie the Precursors did just to test their creation. If you think about it a lot of things in Halo are taken at face value and often truth is hidden between the lines. Take the first three Halo games per example, we all thought the Forerunners were originally the ancestors of humanity and that they entrusted their tech to us, humans, before dying. Then later in Halo 3 we find out that they were supposedly a benevolent race who saved countless primitive species like ours, stored them in shield worlds or the Ark, and then sacrificed themselves. By Halo 4 we find out the Forerunners were imperialistic peacekeepers and nearly exterminated humanity, in fact, they devolved us. My point is there are many layers of truth in Halo lore, the Precursors a race of god-like beings possessing the ability to create worlds, give life, and even influence reality does not strike me as completely benevolent or altruistic. Either way, what we know about them is not completely true if you take into account their abilities.
@@avatariroh0543 The Precusors knew they were going to fail before they tested them. They were found "wanting" and thus lost the inheritance in the first place.
I love this. The fact that the Domain recovered says ALOT about the future of the series. ...and another reason why I consider Halo5 to be the Phantom Menace of story telling. A Phenomenal story...told horrendously
It would be cool if in Halo Infinite, when you interact with ancient human ruins if their are any, that you get transported to a memory playing a character in the Human and Forerunner war.
This is extraordinary, you are at a level of narration that you could give the best a run for their money, and the sheer info is amazing, thank you for making such incredible info video.
I feel like precursors have always been around and slightly influencing things to help humanity return to where they once were so that they may take the test for the Mantel or whatever it maybe and take up the Mantel so that the precursors may continue on with what they feel the need to do. This is just my theory. As been said before death to a precursor is nothing. They will come back one way or another. And time doesnt effect them really, even if they die they'd come back (in theory) so to them they would probably just be picking up where they left off. And their goals would line up with the librarian, who simply wanted to protect the galaxy from the flood infestation and set up humanity to take the Mantel
It would be quite interesting if precursors that fled to other galaxies came back with an army of an entirely new species bread and evolved to fight everything in our galaxy
The flood are just another form of the precursors and maybe they existed in countless circles before. As Precursors they create life. And as flood they harvest that life and feed on the experiences of that life. It was always meant to be that way.
Plus I think, this is just a theory but maybe they are still around because since the Domain is active you'd think someone or something had awoken it. Halo has a vast galaxy that we yet to explore
Precursors: EXISTS FOR BILLIONS OF YEARS, TRAVELS THE UNIVERSE CREATING LIFE, CONTROLS THEIR OWN BIOLOGY *literally holding a shit ton of Uno-reverse cards Forerunners: so anyways, I just started blasting...
I love this channel all the detail, all the hard work that must go into everything you put in every single episode is most definitely appreciated and as always can't wait for the next one
I’ve always wondered, if the Precursors were so advanced, they can manipulate space/time, create life, change biology at will etc. How in the world did the Forerunners beat them?? I figured it was probably because the Precursors let them. As they saw the Forerunners as their own children. But this explanation of the Precursors just going with the flow of the universe and acceptance that rebirth/ recycle is just part of it all, is absolutely brilliant. And it’s a strong philosophy and true that many do not appreciate. For everything that has a beginning, has an end. And a new beginning is born. One can fight all they want, but you’re fighting against the flow of the universe. And eventually the end comes “Be like water. My friend” -Bruce Lee
How did the Forerunners killed the Precursors exactly? And what were exact reasons? Those were the questions that made me lose sleep at night ;) Thanks!
Yeah the how has really gotten me too but its possible in the form they initially took they were "weaker" than in the form of the flood. I mean we can burn and disintegrate flood biomass/combat forms ..
@@NobleS1236 Yeah I would like to know if there was some prolonged debate among forerunners or did they just throw a tantrum. Because they mirror Covenant in this case. Humanity is chosen instead of them so they decide to kill people. Although in this case Precursors might have let themselves be killed. Also if Precursors are basically Universe, how come they only live in 1 galaxy and one mini-galaxy? Shouldn't they be everywhere? Perhaps the Precursors that allowed themselves to be "killed" (if it wasn't just a trick to convince forerunners that they could do it) were just a small section of Precursors that permeate Universe?
I personally think that forerunners never truly defeated the precursors bc I believe they want the forerunners to think that the won to stop a war that could spread to other war that could destroy life which is against precursors Believes of the mantle of responsibility which is to not attach life itself
This was amazing! Dude! It reminded me of how deep some lore videos of Destiny lore can be! This is like hearing about the ancient creation of the universe we play in. Just how the traveler and darkness are for destiny. This is sooo cool and I’d love to see it almost being treated like a cycle of returning and disappearing like the reapers do in mass effect. Amazing job!!!!
(After Humanity defeats the Created.) Precursor: Humans, you have passed the test. Now it is your time to take up the Mantle of Responsibility and become the guardians of all sentient life. It has and always has been... your destiny.
Humanity conquers galaxy: Precursors: Yo' tHatS fUcKIN gReaT brUH yO muST pRoTecT dA gALaxY nOw mY duDEs. yOU waNna hiT mA spLiFF wiT MY boYs, sPaRk iT uP bRuHs.
@@alih5862 I still belive that a remanent of ancient humanity survived. I think they used the same plan that modern humans were going to use if the covanent took earth which was to use the infinity as the last ark of humanity and flee earth with all of the greatest minds of humanity and a spartan facility to an unknown location. I think ancient humanity also had the same plan and they will return. Plus intallation 00 made a video on how ancient humans would be hostile towards us which I totally disagree with , ancient humanity will be furious for what the forerunners did to them and also feel pity for us.
That question asked at 10:50 is somewhat explained in a forerunner book I read which takes place after the firing of the rings. Basically the domain was damaged but never fully destroyed. The ISO-Didact and some of the remaining forerunners reactivated the domain before leaving the galaxy.
The precursors are the living universe, they are the primordials. They are the flood. They seeded each race as the cattle they are and return to repeat the great feast cycle as how Ragnarok has its cycles. Who knows how many times the flood has devoured humanity and the forerunners
Thank you for the content this detailed. The gravemind saying that line. Dam man. Very surreal. That line made me step back listening. This is Raymond Hatton aka gun racks. 5-5
The precursors let the forerunners believe they died as part of a test and knew that they would be reborn again but they are INFINITE like the universe and are busy doing bigger and better things but will return to the milky way to see if they will give the mantle to human,convenent,brutes,or gravemind after the galactic war. It is all another test
I come to realize that the mysterious vibe and ancient like feeling that we had of the forerunners back in the original trilogy is now morphing into our perception of the precursors. Hope 343I does not mess this up too.
One thing you missed. Once a species failed the test of worthiness, they were wiped you. So the forerunners didn't attack just because they wouldn't inherit the Mantle, but also because they would be exterminated.
That part at the end .... BRILLIANT. Honestly, I think people are also forgetting at times that humanity is largely divided, even when we were the top dogs after the HC war. Example is that ONI was out to keep every species on their back foot so they could not rise as a potential threat. This was not the thought of all humanity, but mostly those in power. Lord Hood might not forgive the Sangheili for their war activities, but neither was he ordering secret projects to produce crops that would make them sick and root out all the native strains of said crops. (See the Kilo-5 books) But I have to say, everything here was spot on given all we currently know in the Halo universe. Cannot wait to see where it goes next, great job Installation00!!
The Precursors were, the Precursors are, and the Precursors shall be. Not in the spaces we know, but between them, They walk serene and primal, undimensioned and to us unseen.
Maybe the function of the flood is to reach a critical mass sufficient to rebirth the precursors. Maybe the flood are just another stage in the precursors life cycle and a gravemind can eventually become trans-sentient.
I just realised something. Something that may be important in future games or novels. If The Domain recovered from the Halo Wave, then that means THE FLOOD ARE STILL THERE! It has been explicitly stated that the Halo Array does not kill the Flood, only their food. The Flood had made it to The Domain before the order was given to use the Halo Array, and if The Domain survived, then the Flood had something to latch onto to ride out the millions of years between then and the events of the Halo Series. Why Cortana did not see them when she was in The Domain, I do not know. But they may have had the sense to bide their time a while longer.
Let me say this as simply as I can “history is written by the victor” if the precursors were really beings that transcended all types of science and math and were in two words “all powerful” then they couldn’t have been destroyed or exterminated and to this very second would have to exist somewhere in someway
Most likely the Term 'gone', doesnt mean the version of it meaning dead or destroyed, but the one meaning left and disappeared. meaning the Forerunners fought and tried to destroy them, and the precursors are not gone, just they dont know where. that probably worried the forerunners.
How strong are Star Roads and what materials are they made of to rip apart Forerunner megastructures like they were paper? And where did the Flood get them?
A) we're not sure. B) they were just kinda everywhere in the galaxy before the halo array ended up destroying them all due to their properties as neural physical stuff and the halos being designed to destroy all neural tissue within its targets.
They are made with neural physics and were therefore indestructible to anything but Halo Rings. And like the other commenter said, they were just littered throughout the galaxy. Of of the notable ones being on Charum Hakkor that the humans built defenses into and around. These were one of the reasons that lone planet held out against the Forerunners for over 50 years of constant seige. The structures were then used as a test bed for the first Halo Ring and showed that neural physics was vulnerable to it. And.. that also caused the release of the Primordial that was still sealed on the planet.
Foreruners are too OP already to be potrayed properly in the games so I prefer precursors not coming back too in other than as Flood or things like that.
Yet it would be interesting to meet just one of them as if they were some elder god. Reminds me of how we talked to a Reaper for the first time in the Mass Effect series.
@@dr.catherineelizabethhalse1820 the precursors are never gone they were always present and they will do a final test of humanity for the mantle of responsibility.
Udhav Veer Singh Bhatia but wait, didn’t the forerunners have it revoked because of they way they acted to another species? It’s been a good while since I’ve read that lore.
@@lillyalightbornexo1036 The forerunners failed, because they "Wanted". They wanted to expand, conquer, and own everything. They were self centered, and cared little for the well being of other races. (In general. Some forerunners, in the case of the Librarian, showed that there are exceptions.) Humanity has yet to be tested. Its commonly accepted that humanities test will likely be a battle with the Flood, or against some greater foe. However, there simply isn't any way for us to know since the Precursors minds, thoughts, goals, and ideals are incomprehensible to us.
This kinda suggests that the precursors bodies can be destroyed but their minds remain alive inside the universe with the power to recreate themselves in anew form
physics itself (not as we understand it) is the substrate for the sentiment of sweetness for the universe whereas for us it is build upon a far higer order of complexity, the difference is we are only a tiny bit of the universe. So it makes sense that the universe would create sometihng like us (through the precursors?) in order to maximise its complexity
Man, I really need to get better at attendance, missed this one by hours again. I always thought that the Precursors were somewhere out there in the far reaches of the universe and just maybe, much closer than that. It's only natural to assume they are still out there, if they came to this galaxy, who's to say they haven't visited others and are quite possibly still doing so. I wonder if they were planning on leaving our galaxy after some being was able to take the Mantle of Responsibility or if they were planning on staying to insure the Mantle is upheld by something, even if we don't know what it truly entitles. Did the Precursors plan on returning after they were to leave? And if so, wouldn't others know about them not being able to continue their roles as self appointed Gods? They did have far superior technology that anyone, I'm sure they had some kind of faster than light or maybe instant communication. Perhaps they would search for these perceived lost companions and maybe stumble upon our galaxy where they see this terrible war and horrendous infection and are mortified by what they find. Would they help us end the Flood and stop the Created? Maybe they see the Created as right to claim the Mantle, maybe they see the Flood fit to hold it as I assume the Primordial had claimed that they were life just as well as any other sentient being when he convinced Mendicant Bias and turned him with the logic plague, the Flood is only doing what is natural to it, no more than most that accidentally stumble upon an environment that matches the needs for them, perhaps that is the Mantle, the Didact did say to the Lord of Admirals that "the Mantle accepts all who live fiercely, who defend their young, build and struggle and grow and even those who dominate," perhaps this is true and if so, then the Flood just like everything else in the galaxy is doing just that and again, like everything else, was created by the Precursors, intentionally or not, they should have a right to the Mantle, nobody ever asked to be born and the Flood definitely never asked either. Now I'm not advocating to join your voice and sing victory everlasting, but technically, there's no reason to assume it's against the Mantle besides not staying yourself or the excruciating pain that you'll suffer, which I'm not sure if the Mantle doesn't want you to be an individual or to suffer. This leaves me with so many questions.
I can see why the Precursors chose humanity as the next stewards. Humanity had gone through countless rebirth, civil wars, plagues, other wars, and lost knowledge. Humanity had lost Earth for a while due to these conflicts, until rediscovering it. If we can use basic logic, it could be assumed that the precursors were there while humanity and the forerunners were expanding their technological empires. Probably around the same level as the covenant, and if humanity had already had enough conflicts, the precurors might have seen them more worthy than the Forerunners who from what we can tell havent really had major conflicts. Their ego, and technological power kept them from that. But, humanity struggled and fought for every inch. The precursors probably appreciated that more for what the responsibility entailed. The Mantle of Responsibility, where you must put life itself above your own, where you must understand the smallest of creatures, the atom, the bacterium, the small critters that travel beneath canopies, and to sapient beings.
Something that always struck me as oddly fitting was how the Forerunners just developed the technology for the Halo Array at precisely the right time. How did Faber and the builders come up with a weapon capable not only of defeating the seemingly unstoppable Flood but also could devastate seemingly invulnerable neural physics constructs and all biological organisms with a sufficiently complex nervous system? Doesn't that seem rather serendipitous? I know it's just a work of fiction with no real answers for plot holes because it's probably something easily overlooked or just hand waved away by the many contributing writers to the lore, but I like to think that the Precursors played their long game with the Forerunners perfectly. Their plan was to leave the Mantle of Responsibility to Humanity after having judged Forerunners unworthy, but when the Forerunners rebelled and sought to exterminate the seemingly immortal Precursors for their perceived slight it must have been a shock. Once that initial surprise wore off the Precursors could have easily swatted aside the Forerunners for their impudence but with the focus of Precursor logic being on their interpretation of the Mantle and the 'sweetness' of life flavoring a living universe they allowed themselves to be 'defeated'. The Forerunners that undertook this extinction understood the gravity of what they had just done and voluntarily stayed in exile in Path Kethona where they committed themselves and their descendants to a more primitive and humble existence to atone for this sins. This would begin a harsh lesson of allowing the Forerunners to learn for themselves that they were unworthy. Eventually the Flood would emerge from a perversion of a Precursor stasis and their relentless consuming of the galaxy rendered the Forerunners humbled and facing not only certain extinction but also their utter failure to uphold the Mantle in defense of all life. Faced with that failure the Forerunners finally embraced some measure of nobility and devised a plan to eradicate the threat of the Flood at the cost of their lives and civilization but potentially safe life and biodiversity across the galaxy. They essentially suicided their entire race after finally accepting they were unworthy of the Mantle. Rather poetic, no? So that goes back to Faber and the builders. How did they come up with this miraculous solution? Could have been possible that they received 'inspiration'? Perhaps from the Domain? What better way to humble the Forerunners than to allow them to indulge their narcissism by building an empire devoted to the Mantle but never once understanding that the Mantle was about being one with a living universe and not a mandate to rule over the universe? To watch them struggle with that simple distinction which prevented them from grasping the fundamentals of neural physics? Then when their folly becomes most evident with their forced devolution of Humanity they're faced with a foe born of those they exterminated before that is beyond their ability to fight and ultimately they're humbled while slowly being defeating and 'consumed' by a living universe? And when all hope is lost that's when this incredible technological solution to their problem is discovered but it would mean eradicating all complex life in the galaxy, including themselves? Like I said before, there's no evidence of this but it all seems to fit together. The Precursors let the Forerunners realize for themselves that they were unworthy and in most ironic twist they provided them with the tools to exterminate themselves after visiting that fate upon others. Those few who survived then were forced to give up on the Forerunner obsession of interpreting the Mantle as their mandate to rule the universe. Instead they set everything up so that Humanity could be given it's rightful chance to see if we're worthy and then lived out the rest of their days in harmony with a living universe as the Mantle always intended.
It's very simple. The flood will have precursor genetics. The forerunners new about neural physics long before their encounter with the flood, and would have studied the phenomena. The forerunners through their war with humanity had learned about the flood and had fought it before the flood withdrew when humanity messed with their genetics. (The floods withdraw in my view was tactical not some respect for humans, the humans were willing to sacrifice themselves and deny the flood biomass, not good for the floods spread, so it retreated, making humanity pause). It wouldnt be hard for them to create the rings. And they did this mostly in secret from the wider forerunner empire.
I always had a crazy theory that the flood is the mantle it self or maybe a stepping stone to it. Maybe what we see as the flood is unguided mutation like a cancer. With the right person or object they will evolve said chosen race to point where can aspect the mantle and carry on Precursors legacy.
Would it be correct to assume that when the Primordial got "corrupted" it was in fact the birth of the logic plague? Furthermore, could we assume that the neuroscience is the method of transmission by a infected consciousness relaying information to a healthy consciousness? I mean the fact that a biological entity can infect artificial intelligence with a plague is just mindblowing.
As another person already suggested. The flood seems to be simply another stage in the Precusors live cycle, which leaves us with a few horrifying possibilites of their nature. For startes, if the flood are simply "corrupted" or just primitive Precursors, they would share similiar traits with their parent species. The flood is noted to have a near drug addiction level of need to consume information and intellects in form of intellegent members of a species and overall intellegent species' as opposed to simply all lifeforms. From that we can assume that the reason the Precursors have this compulsive need to create life - as the Primordial said that to the Didact, is because need to constantly seed and consume species for own needs. This cyclical nature of their needs would also explain why so many ancient humans commited mass suicide after learning some horriying truth from the Primordial. Infact that would exlain why the ancient Forerunners chose to rebell against their creators and why their creators chose Humanity as the holders of the mantle instead of the obviously more fitting and caring forerunners. Because the Forerunners keep the species they protect in a stagnative state technologically and intellectually speaking. The Forerunners keep all the species under their protection primitive because they deem it be the most safe for the species and planets ecology as at a medival technological level the species does not have the means to commit an extinction level event on themselves in form of a war or disaster and neither be able to too harmfully effect the planets ecology. In stark contrast to humanity who is more dominating and competitive but did not have the want to micro manage their charges the way the Forerunners did. Which would all result potentially in the species all together having a militaristically and intellectually arms race in order to remain on top of power chain, rise on it or simply prevent themselves from falling down and being replaced by another species. As the relationship between ancient humanity and the San'Shyuum has shown. This would make humanity the far more fitting, essentially, farmer for intellegence and information for the Precursors to either consume all life in a repeating cycle once again Pretty much everything the Gravmind and the Primordial said hints towards this. For instance: "We are the Flood. There is no difference. Until all space and time are rolled up and life is crushed in the folds... no end to grief, war or pain. In a hundred and one thousand centuries... unity again, and wisdom. Until then - sweetness." Or what the Didact thought out loud to the Primordial-Gravemind: How can you be the last of anything?” the Didact asked. “I see now that you are nothing more than a mash-up of old victims infected by the Flood. A Gravemind. Were all the Precursors Graveminds?” Another sifting shuffle. “Or are you after all only an imitation of a Precursor, a puppet- a reanimated corpse? Are all the Precursors gone- or is it that the Flood will make new Precursors?”
I would love to see Halo take a turn for the Lovecraftian. Think about it: the eldritch, ancient creatures that were responsible for creating massive structures, as well as life in the known universe, and thought to be long dead, return… and with a vengeance.
The more I think of it, the more it is possible that the flood/precursor's end goal is upholding the mantle... could be an interesting direction to take.
For the Halo universe the Precursors created life so all life is born of their "flesh", so when the flood consume a species to build a Gravemind which is basically a proto-Precursor and a keymind is a full flegged Precursor reborn! "I am a monument all your sins".
![BLACK BAG - Official Trailer [HD] - Only in Theaters March 14](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/Du0Xp8WX_7I/mqdefault.jpg)
you mentioned that the flood likely share a similar biology to the precursors in the form of a kind of supercell, this led to a thought: what if the precursors simply said, "hey, our children/creations want us dead, so lets go through the cycle again", and just went back to an earlier state of their own existence, as in the precursors are the logical evolution of the flood, of what happens when the flood inevitably wins? if they simply went through a literal rebirth of their species from its earliest point in evolution, that would also explain why they felt the need to seed life, because they had previously consumed it all...
Edit: correction in spelling
That is a nice, and absolutely terrifying, theory.
It’s like they’re playing a game. When they finish, they just go back and redo the entire story from the beginning.
Revan that’s just boring.
I just saw this comment, wonderful thoughts btw and basically it sounds like they just devolutionized themselves, and we all know what happens when you reverse the way life came to how we know it today; the last universal common ancestor was a single celled organism, little more than scum in rust ridden oceans here on Earth, perhaps the Precursors set themselves back in evolution so that they could reseed the galaxy after the long journey of evolution that they perhaps once undertook, or walked many times, maybe their more primal and animalistic nature, which the Flood at first was very uncoordinated and aggressive, was somehow overcome after time to make them the God like individuals who have transcended time and space.
We Humans are more civilized than animals, even if it doesn't seem like it sometimes, but we're still animals, just figuring out the right steps to take to perpetuate ourselves through the stars and beyond, maybe becoming Gods is harder than we think, or maybe it takes longer, however, why would the Precursors want to give the Mantle to Humans after already handing it to the Forerunners?
Maybe mankind was quick to adjust, eager to please, we did make advancements similar to the Forerunners but earlier in our evolution, perhaps we're closer to godhood than we thought.
Hope you enjoyed this long comment.
@Kenric Young
If you're talking about me, that would imply that the Precursors only want to consume the species that they created, but only the Flood do, life has simple rules that it follows, consume energy, reproduce and spread, perhaps the Precursors had to as well, there's laws we Humans make that in ways make it harder and easier to do such things, the Mantle may support you brutalizing your neighbor simply because it perpetuated your survival, because the Precursors had to in order for them to be here, but that is speculative.
That "We Already Do" was so creepy and awesome. And it's true I'm sure
Literally the perfect way to end the video.
It very much reminds me of all the Halo videos where Sangheili take over the transmission.
As another science guy on RUclips infamously said,
"You can't stop the signal baby!
(Maniacal Laughter)"
That’s from the terminal in CE that shows Keyes conversion into the proto gravemind, brutal stuff lol
@@NewtypeZeta Which videos are those?
@@SuperGman117 Lookup "Sangheili Combat Harness" on RUclips. That is one of the videos I immediately thought of in the moment.
You will know you have the right one when you hear the voice referring to the viewers in what seems to be a Sangheili voice and phrases like "you humans".
“I am the last of those who gave you breath and shape and form, millions of years ago. I am the last of those your kind rose up against and ruthlessly destroyed. I am the last Precursor. And our answer is at hand.”
- The Primordial
I remember reading Cryptum. While being enthralled by the world and the events that were happening, I found it really weird that the Precursors were still mentioned to have existed alongside the flood, and thinking none of it was making sense in the background. The plot thickened more and more, but I was only left wondering where were the precursors in all of this, and why were they so silent. As the book was ending, I was awed, but confused, wanting answers.
Then came that final quote from the book.
I remember internally screaming in utter terror, and muttering "Oh my God, Oh my God, Oh my God..." for fifteen straight minutes.
That paragraph defined the current lore with the same power as the cutscene of Two Betrayals did for Halo in the old days. I was utterly awed. And it made me realize the Primordial, The Timeless One, is THE Villain of Halo. Every single tragedy that has ever happened, every single war that has taken place, every hero fallen from grace ... it is the sheer power of the Timeless One.
A god that can kill people, topple empires, turn noble heroes into the foulest villains, and change reality. Just by talking to them.
@@IAsimov the Gravemind IS god. its why the entire halo trilogy is so mindfucky to the point of Lovecraftian. The religious symbolism wasnt on accident. How many of us would recognize god if we were otherwise unaware. Omnipotence is an odd thing. Sure they can be killed and dismantled and severed. But the essence of the mind, the will to bend the very fabric of reality is precisely what countless religions have described god being able to do for 1000s of years.
@@dr._breens_beard Good point. Given how much power he has... he IS capital G God in the Halo universe. After the Forerunner trilogy, we suddenly got an answer if god exists in the Halo universe... and the poor sods within it were probably better off not knowing the answer.
It makes me think regarding the 343 Guilty Spark marine in Halo: CE, that went mad inside the facility and shot at anything that moved. He didn't go mad because he saw his friends infected and rising from the dead. He went mad because he witnessed the literal wrath of God.
@@dr._breens_beard now that is an answer wow thank you.
It occurs to me that a being that could outhink a forerunner super duper mega computer also has the capacity to spin falsehoods as well, if said being felt so inclined.
I still want 343 to make a game about ancient humanity’s war against the flood
I just want them to interact with the respawned Humanity! How will they see how humans reemergedm from being nearly wiped out by the Forerunners, to be able to do what they could not by nearly wipe out most of the Flood!
Same, Imagine with Dune vipes in it. 😍
you could draw parralels with halo ce start as a forunner unit in the first part of the war investigating human expansion and go through different events as a warrior class in a much bigger ever more aprently scarier universe before encountering an eldritch enitty known as the flood and shifting a more lovecraftian vibe
I think a Flood horror game in the time of the Human-Forerunner war would be great. Imagine being a Forerunner civilian fighting annihilation from both Ancient Humanity and the Flood.
I just want 343 to make an actual Halo game.
Halo in 2000’s: Wow, these Forerunners are the most mysterious figures of the Halo universe
Halo in 2020: Hold my Mantle
“Hold my mantle” lmao😂😂😂
Nice one
best halo comment ever fam 😂😂😂 "Hold my mantle " 🤣🤣🤣
Halo in 2000’s: Wow, these Forerunners are the most mysterious figures of the Halo universe
Halo in 2020’s: Hold my Mantle
Halo in 2021: "precursor" Hold my Galaxy
It's getting pretty old. Can we like do something else. There is always another older than old species that shouldn't be here type shit.
If they traveled the Universe it's possible the Forerunners just wiped out the precursors that lived in the milky-way
Well to the precursors forerunners are just the problem child trying to hit the parent.
So like every other galaxy could be filled with them and they could come in and wipe everything out
For a long while it bothered me that the most advanced species in the Halo verse was a *lobster* in design but I've come around. It defies most expectation. I expected a race of beings in energy form existing exist on a quantum level. Then it would tie them in with the big bang and how forerunners defiled them with how they harness energy
@Tyler Yan tbh I quite like lobster and have a tendency to see lobster where I shouldn't. When I first saw a depiction of precursors one of my immediate thought is what they must taste like
If it were the case that only a small bit of their population was killed then why didn’t they address the flood outbreak and send more of their people to unfuck the situation?
I'm not sure I CAN find peace in the domain after this
Lmao
Try Google. Some Halo journalist already written down to this Halo Domain. Some Group Journalist keep hearing a too many stories in ancient History ago, Then Journalist done their Job to Sending information on Google history. That how Humanity done that before during Halo Timeline.
While I really like this take on how the Precursors are still alive, I’ve always assumed that they’re alive for a different reason. We know that they’ve gone from galaxy to galaxy creating life, cultivating that life, selecting a species to pass the mantle of responsibility onto and then moving on to do the same in another galaxy. As you mentioned, we also know that the Precursors have existed for billions of years maybe even since the very beginning of the universe itself. That leads me to believe that their population would have to be absolutely massive, so much so that it’s completely unfathomable just how many Precursors truly exist. If this is the case, it would make more sense for them to travel in groups than it would for them to travel as a whole. They likely would have assigned sections of the universe to these different groups. That would mean that the Precursors that were wiped out by the Forerunners wasn’t the entire species but only a small contingent of the species and that there are many more Precursors out there spread out across the universe.
Uncaused Grunt Perhaps precursors are just a physical expression of the universe itself, the precursors being literally one with the living universe
the precursors are in all galaxies the forrunners cant even make up the force to explorer all the galaxies plus i am sure there know what has happon to the ones that the forrunners had killed and are looking at it as a cycle the precursors can never be wiped out
Uncaused Grunts question are likely Both True and Interesting..
I expect the non-Flood Precursors to still be alive outside the known universe and are waiting for the moment they choose to reveal themselves and/or return.
They could travel between galaxies, their remnants were found in a tiny star cluster just outside our own. Not sure about universes though.
Likely true. But Remains Hidden in Darkness space.
For the precursors, conventional space travel has long since become a very close to irrelevant concept to them. They are pretty much able to view upon and see anything within multiple iterations of our physical universe simultaneously. Our entire universe is merely an ongoing lab experiment from their perspective. Whoever orginally thought of and wrote the backstory of the haloverse precursors would make Lovecraft himself proud.
I honestly don't blame the precursors if they choose NOT to come back. Humanity isn't quite the same as the ancient humans/ancestors the Precursors knew
Was about to thumbs up but saw the like counter @ 117 and decided that was a good number
Maybe that philosophy of "Sweetness" is what the primordial told the humans in its prison that caused those who heard it to commit suicide.
Those humans just learned that their existence is just a play for higher beings.
What if the precursors are just a representation us, those who create and consume Halo content?
Whoa........mind blown!!!!! I love that kind of meta stuff!!!!!
It’s just the Infinite Jest of the Univrse
Yes, I believe they think us as mere lambs for slaughter. Flood being the tool, to achieve that assimilation and to add all the sentient beings emotions to the domains memory
@@karthiksubramanian2279 The flood is not a tool, the flood is the precursors, the flood is just a form precursors take when they undergo the reclaiming cycle, reclaiming of all life experiences to feed the universe/reality. As mold eats bread to then turn it to compost to feed the cycle.
As said in this video of Installation00;
ruclips.net/video/jqGLwWSq10U/видео.html
Maybe the primordial started their harvest, maybe the forerunner found out about the cycle and wanted to defy them.
Hard to know,
but in the end forerunners prefered to be the leaders of their own fate;
even if the only option was suicide for them, and all of the cycle subjects.
I like to believe that the secret that the Primordial told the humans was that the Flood and the Precursors are the same. It just makes the most sense to me.
"The Reclamation has already begun. And we are hopeless to stop it."
God the more I hear about the Precursors, the more I’m amazed, awestruck, and friggen terrified of them. Compared to us, maybe even to the Forerunners they’re literal gods. To fight them in a all out war would be like ants trying to fight the sun.
Exactly or measured a atom to uy scuti
which only begs the question; how on earth did precursors got wiped out by forerunners?? i heard that it was cuz precursors knew forerunners were going to eliminate them, and ALLOWED it to be as they consider that part of the cycle of the universe...where both pain and pleasure needs to be experienced.
@@selvaganapathy2391 I think the precursors physical form is just extinct
Yeah and the ants believe that they can destroy them without telling themselves but they end up just telling themselves because they killed the Sun
They make it sound as if killing the precursors is like trying to kill the universe itself because they're pretty much saying that the precursors are the universe
Who’s responsible for that amazing piece of artwork on this vid’s thumbnail? I must know.
Credit in description. Twitter handle.
Installation00 thanks man! 👍🏻👍🏻 I’m actually planning to create my own Precursor/Primordial artwork in the future and I just needed some references. 👍🏻👍🏻
@@celestialspartan1176 it looks like the Collectors from Mass Effect.
👀
Now THIS would be cool. I just hope that they won't make the introduction as confusing as 4/5's reveal that humans were as ancient as Forerunners in a quick little flashback that requires many other alternate materials to fully comprehend.
I find myself comprehending those just fine without acquiring alternate materials and instead just hitting up Halopedia.
aWraithsSoul one of my favorite reads I truly recommend it. It’s crazy how powerful the forerunners were.
Could the flood possibly evolve into a more sophisticated form that resembles the precursors, being that the flood is basically a devolved precursor. Did the floods arrival signal the beginning of a cycle?
I don’t believe so because the dust that became the flood was corrupted. Therefore the evolution is probably from the flood supercell into grave mind/hive mind etc.
@@clowsyy3483 And didn't it become corrupted due to the dust spacing too far apart preventing it from regenerating? I may be remembering this incorrectly.
Eric I actually don’t know how/why it was corrupted just that ancient humans found the dust in vials. Maybe it was due to time as dust and locations? Or if I remember correctly it was something to do with the process of converting to dust and back didn’t work properly
@@clowsyy3483
I think the dust corrupted because the PreCoursers were sorrowful and angry at The Forerunners, and all that hate and pain condensed and festered.
Like mass gathering into a star and eventually black hole, a singularity was formed. Not on the physical plain, but rather the narrative one; tearing a hole through which came the very concept of the flood, possibly given by other PreCoursers.
What confuses me is why the precursors didn’t see their inevitable corruption into the flood, they have a perception of time that is incomprehensible to us, so how could they have not known that they would be corrupted? I think they knew that they would turn into the flood but I don’t know why they would do it. Maybe they did it for some grand experiment or to punish the forerunners for there violation of the mantle. I also appreciate your guys thoughts and information :)
If the Flood or Covenant showed up next month I would hardly blink an eye with how this year has been.
@LiverHook Placed
Flood:everyone loves my green style!!
Corna vyrus: you in the wrong planet fool!
The events of the first Crysis game take place in Augustest 2020. Just saying.
@@MandalorV7 man I got a perfect idea how to join every franchise timeline and make one franchise
lord electron corna vyrus? 😂 😂 😂
i for one would be going - hey Chief where you at, you need me to hold ya beer.
Everyone "The Precursors should return"
Me " *cough cough* Flood"
Love that detail you added with the proto-gravemind speaking to Keyes.
Keyes- “I won’t let you take my mind! I won’t let you take Earth!”
Gravemind- “We already dooooo...”
could the precursors telling the forerunners that they weren't worthy just be a test
I'm positive it was, and the Forerunners failed. Horribly.
Agee’s more than humans would, we’d just get pissy not genocidal like them
Stego Aqua we’d just say “fuck off” and continue on with our lives and expansion. Humanity has never shared a universal ideology other than “we will survive” and so we wouldn’t have the collective massive existential crisis that made the forerunners into mad hatters for a few thousand years. Sure, some people would probably go all Armageddon, purge the unclean but many more would not and instead find new purpose or hold onto old ones.
@@bluenight104 I think the whole Mantle is a lie the Precursors did just to test their creation. If you think about it a lot of things in Halo are taken at face value and often truth is hidden between the lines. Take the first three Halo games per example, we all thought the Forerunners were originally the ancestors of humanity and that they entrusted their tech to us, humans, before dying. Then later in Halo 3 we find out that they were supposedly a benevolent race who saved countless primitive species like ours, stored them in shield worlds or the Ark, and then sacrificed themselves. By Halo 4 we find out the Forerunners were imperialistic peacekeepers and nearly exterminated humanity, in fact, they devolved us. My point is there are many layers of truth in Halo lore, the Precursors a race of god-like beings possessing the ability to create worlds, give life, and even influence reality does not strike me as completely benevolent or altruistic. Either way, what we know about them is not completely true if you take into account their abilities.
@@avatariroh0543 The Precusors knew they were going to fail before they tested them. They were found "wanting" and thus lost the inheritance in the first place.
There are drums... drums in the deep... they are coming. They are coming.
Fool of a Took!
I love this.
The fact that the Domain recovered says ALOT about the future of the series.
...and another reason why I consider Halo5 to be the Phantom Menace of story telling.
A Phenomenal story...told horrendously
Let's just hope they skip the clone wars and go straight for revenge of the sith then! :D
No lol
@@Freelancer837 sigh....
It would be cool if in Halo Infinite, when you interact with ancient human ruins if their are any, that you get transported to a memory playing a character in the Human and Forerunner war.
Yes!!!
Maybe through accessing some form of Gene Song.
Last time I was this early, the Precursor Forerunner war was still raging.
Last time I was this early Bungie still had Halo.
@@georgezwick3717 Last time I was this early, Halo was still a decent game.
Last time I was this early I wasn't stripped of my rank !
yessssss! This is the video I was waiting for!
This is extraordinary, you are at a level of narration that you could give the best a run for their money, and the sheer info is amazing, thank you for making such incredible info video.
The precursors are playing on new game +
Thank you for covering this and ALL Halo lore, can't wait to meet you at 1Mil Subscribers keep it up sir 😁👍
11:26 "We already do." Chilling.
Halo: A memeworthy FPS played by 12-year olds
Halo Lore: The universe is alive and eternal life is attainable
Hell of a juxtaposition there.
I feel like precursors have always been around and slightly influencing things to help humanity return to where they once were so that they may take the test for the Mantel or whatever it maybe and take up the Mantel so that the precursors may continue on with what they feel the need to do. This is just my theory. As been said before death to a precursor is nothing. They will come back one way or another. And time doesnt effect them really, even if they die they'd come back (in theory) so to them they would probably just be picking up where they left off. And their goals would line up with the librarian, who simply wanted to protect the galaxy from the flood infestation and set up humanity to take the Mantel
Maybe that’s why master chief is so “lucky” the precursors are watching over him
I really hope 343 takes advantage of the deeper lore relating the Precursors in Halo Infinite.
It would be quite interesting if precursors that fled to other galaxies came back with an army of an entirely new species bread and evolved to fight everything in our galaxy
@Joseph Joestar Bro you just killed me
maybe, FORERUNNERS!?
It's fine though because you will just obliterate them with your godlike powers
We wouldn't have to worry if they did, though. We've got *THE* Chips Dubbo, after all.
But the Precursors are technically still around.
The Flood is composed of bits and pieces of Precursor dust.
The flood are just another form of the precursors and maybe they existed in countless circles before. As Precursors they create life. And as flood they harvest that life and feed on the experiences of that life. It was always meant to be that way.
Plus I think, this is just a theory but maybe they are still around because since the Domain is active you'd think someone or something had awoken it.
Halo has a vast galaxy that we yet to explore
Best halo lore channel out there
Precursors: EXISTS FOR BILLIONS OF YEARS, TRAVELS THE UNIVERSE CREATING LIFE, CONTROLS THEIR OWN BIOLOGY
*literally holding a shit ton of Uno-reverse cards
Forerunners: so anyways, I just started blasting...
Thus the most un funny joke was told
I love this channel all the detail, all the hard work that must go into everything you put in every single episode is most definitely appreciated and as always can't wait for the next one
I’ve always wondered, if the Precursors were so advanced, they can manipulate space/time, create life, change biology at will etc. How in the world did the Forerunners beat them??
I figured it was probably because the Precursors let them. As they saw the Forerunners as their own children.
But this explanation of the Precursors just going with the flow of the universe and acceptance that rebirth/ recycle is just part of it all, is absolutely brilliant. And it’s a strong philosophy and true that many do not appreciate. For everything that has a beginning, has an end. And a new beginning is born. One can fight all they want, but you’re fighting against the flow of the universe. And eventually the end comes
“Be like water. My friend”
-Bruce Lee
You know what I lvoe abut these kinds of videos? They remind me a LOT of Hunt the Truth, which I aboslutely adored ^_^ Keep up the good work!
So "the flood are just testing humanity" theory holds weight. Interesting.
Yes its the precursors test for the mantle.
I have been looking for this
Fantastic as always 00, always excited to watch one of your videos. You clearly put alot of work into them please keep it up, thank you!
How did the Forerunners killed the Precursors exactly? And what were exact reasons? Those were the questions that made me lose sleep at night ;) Thanks!
Not sure about how, but why they did it is because they couldn't handle humanity being chosen to get the Mantle. Basically, they got rejected.
Yeah the how has really gotten me too but its possible in the form they initially took they were "weaker" than in the form of the flood. I mean we can burn and disintegrate flood biomass/combat forms ..
@@NobleS1236 Yeah I would like to know if there was some prolonged debate among forerunners or did they just throw a tantrum. Because they mirror Covenant in this case. Humanity is chosen instead of them so they decide to kill people. Although in this case Precursors might have let themselves be killed. Also if Precursors are basically Universe, how come they only live in 1 galaxy and one mini-galaxy? Shouldn't they be everywhere? Perhaps the Precursors that allowed themselves to be "killed" (if it wasn't just a trick to convince forerunners that they could do it) were just a small section of Precursors that permeate Universe?
@@jannegrey there is a theory that some forerunners and precursors live in the Andromeda galaxy, but that's most likely a rumor.
I personally think that forerunners never truly defeated the precursors bc I believe they want the forerunners to think that the won to stop a war that could spread to other war that could destroy life which is against precursors Believes of the mantle of responsibility which is to not attach life itself
I feel like this is more relevant than ever right now
This was amazing! Dude! It reminded me of how deep some lore videos of Destiny lore can be! This is like hearing about the ancient creation of the universe we play in. Just how the traveler and darkness are for destiny. This is sooo cool and I’d love to see it almost being treated like a cycle of returning and disappearing like the reapers do in mass effect. Amazing job!!!!
*"That is not dead which can eternal lie. And with strange aeons even death may die."*
U were right kinda.
He wasn’t lying 😬the Precursors have returned
This is utterly fantastic. Good good stuff stuff, I'm not a huge halo guy, but I will say you've got my attention!
(After Humanity defeats the Created.)
Precursor: Humans, you have passed the test. Now it is your time to take up the Mantle of Responsibility and become the guardians of all sentient life. It has and always has been... your destiny.
The first fuckkng human: what does this button do?
BANG!! galaxy blown up
We havent even reached the level of tech that ancient humanity had, i cant see that happening
I do not think the created are the final test ,I think the flood will be the final test and I mean forerunner - flood war level of flood.
Humanity conquers galaxy:
Precursors: Yo' tHatS fUcKIN gReaT brUH yO muST pRoTecT dA gALaxY nOw mY duDEs. yOU waNna hiT mA spLiFF wiT MY boYs, sPaRk iT uP bRuHs.
@@alih5862 I still belive that a remanent of ancient humanity survived. I think they used the same plan that modern humans were going to use if the covanent took earth which was to use the infinity as the last ark of humanity and flee earth with all of the greatest minds of humanity and a spartan facility to an unknown location. I think ancient humanity also had the same plan and they will return. Plus intallation 00 made a video on how ancient humans would be hostile towards us which I totally disagree with , ancient humanity will be furious for what the forerunners did to them and also feel pity for us.
I love how your lore and theory videos all make sense. They're too good to be incorrect, 343 should take note
Damn it's 2pm in the afternoon and I'm spooked out over a fictional alien race! xD Awesome video as usual 00 :D
The Precursors are that one kid at school that said "Oh yeah?! Well, I have an everything-proof shield!"
That question asked at 10:50 is somewhat explained in a forerunner book I read which takes place after the firing of the rings.
Basically the domain was damaged but never fully destroyed.
The ISO-Didact and some of the remaining forerunners reactivated the domain before leaving the galaxy.
The discussions here are freaking awesome :D Thanks for the content and the lore-ledge
"The Precursors are coming!!"
Welp, hello from the future: You called it!!!
The precursors are the living universe, they are the primordials. They are the flood. They seeded each race as the cattle they are and return to repeat the great feast cycle as how Ragnarok has its cycles. Who knows how many times the flood has devoured humanity and the forerunners
Thank you for the content this detailed. The gravemind saying that line. Dam man. Very surreal. That line made me step back listening. This is Raymond Hatton aka gun racks. 5-5
The precursors let the forerunners believe they died as part of a test and knew that they would be reborn again but they are INFINITE like the universe and are busy doing bigger and better things but will return to the milky way to see if they will give the mantle to human,convenent,brutes,or gravemind after the galactic war. It is all another test
And SHOULD humans take the Mantle, too? Is it worth the grief?
Man I have been waiting for you to do a video on them for so long.
Edit: just finished the video and it was definitely worth the wait.
"We Alreeady Doooo."
"Assuming control of this form."
I come to realize that the mysterious vibe and ancient like feeling that we had of the forerunners back in the original trilogy is now morphing into our perception of the precursors.
Hope 343I does not mess this up too.
One thing you missed. Once a species failed the test of worthiness, they were wiped you. So the forerunners didn't attack just because they wouldn't inherit the Mantle, but also because they would be exterminated.
That part at the end .... BRILLIANT.
Honestly, I think people are also forgetting at times that humanity is largely divided, even when we were the top dogs after the HC war.
Example is that ONI was out to keep every species on their back foot so they could not rise as a potential threat. This was not the thought of all humanity, but mostly those in power.
Lord Hood might not forgive the Sangheili for their war activities, but neither was he ordering secret projects to produce crops that would make them sick and root out all the native strains of said crops. (See the Kilo-5 books)
But I have to say, everything here was spot on given all we currently know in the Halo universe. Cannot wait to see where it goes next, great job Installation00!!
The Precursors were, the Precursors are, and the Precursors shall be. Not in the spaces we know, but between them, They walk serene and primal, undimensioned and to us unseen.
“As long as the universe exists, the precursors exist”
(Vacuum decay) “imma bout to ruin this mans whole career”
Maybe the function of the flood is to reach a critical mass sufficient to rebirth the precursors. Maybe the flood are just another stage in the precursors life cycle and a gravemind can eventually become trans-sentient.
I just realised something. Something that may be important in future games or novels.
If The Domain recovered from the Halo Wave, then that means THE FLOOD ARE STILL THERE! It has been explicitly stated that the Halo Array does not kill the Flood, only their food. The Flood had made it to The Domain before the order was given to use the Halo Array, and if The Domain survived, then the Flood had something to latch onto to ride out the millions of years between then and the events of the Halo Series.
Why Cortana did not see them when she was in The Domain, I do not know. But they may have had the sense to bide their time a while longer.
They're coming, They're hungry
Where did you get those new images of the precursors?
Was wondering the same @Instillation00
Some of it is fan art. I think Rythaze made one of them.
just uh, look them up
This guy could have a 30 min lore episode about the forklift and I would still watch it.
Let me say this as simply as I can “history is written by the victor” if the precursors were really beings that transcended all types of science and math and were in two words “all powerful” then they couldn’t have been destroyed or exterminated and to this very second would have to exist somewhere in someway
So are precursors basically like eldritch gods?
the precursors in every other galaxy: dafaq they doing over der
Most likely the Term 'gone', doesnt mean the version of it meaning dead or destroyed, but the one meaning left and disappeared. meaning the Forerunners fought and tried to destroy them, and the precursors are not gone, just they dont know where. that probably worried the forerunners.
How strong are Star Roads and what materials are they made of to rip apart Forerunner megastructures like they were paper? And where did the Flood get them?
A) we're not sure.
B) they were just kinda everywhere in the galaxy before the halo array ended up destroying them all due to their properties as neural physical stuff and the halos being designed to destroy all neural tissue within its targets.
They are made with neural physics and were therefore indestructible to anything but Halo Rings. And like the other commenter said, they were just littered throughout the galaxy. Of of the notable ones being on Charum Hakkor that the humans built defenses into and around. These were one of the reasons that lone planet held out against the Forerunners for over 50 years of constant seige. The structures were then used as a test bed for the first Halo Ring and showed that neural physics was vulnerable to it. And.. that also caused the release of the Primordial that was still sealed on the planet.
Great video bro 👊
Foreruners are too OP already to be potrayed properly in the games so I prefer precursors not coming back too in other than as Flood or things like that.
Yet it would be interesting to meet just one of them as if they were some elder god. Reminds me of how we talked to a Reaper for the first time in the Mass Effect series.
If Precursors come back they’re too strong to be our enemies. Perhaps they’re the only way to defeat later term Flood though.
@@dr.catherineelizabethhalse1820 the precursors are never gone they were always present and they will do a final test of humanity for the mantle of responsibility.
@@dr.catherineelizabethhalse1820 the test is probally fighting a intergalactic flood invasion.
Oh. This could be absolutely great for humanity or completely detrimental, considering we were supposed to have the mantle passed to us.
We were supposed to be passed but we are to be tested by them first like the forerunners which they failed horribaly.
Udhav Veer Singh Bhatia but wait, didn’t the forerunners have it revoked because of they way they acted to another species? It’s been a good while since I’ve read that lore.
@@lillyalightbornexo1036 The forerunners failed, because they "Wanted". They wanted to expand, conquer, and own everything. They were self centered, and cared little for the well being of other races. (In general. Some forerunners, in the case of the Librarian, showed that there are exceptions.)
Humanity has yet to be tested. Its commonly accepted that humanities test will likely be a battle with the Flood, or against some greater foe. However, there simply isn't any way for us to know since the Precursors minds, thoughts, goals, and ideals are incomprehensible to us.
This kinda suggests that the precursors bodies can be destroyed but their minds remain alive inside the universe with the power to recreate themselves in anew form
I can see a future and coming cutscene where we get mind blown with the flood and the precursors being one
Already are. The flood are devolved and corrupt precursors.
It was explained in fractures how the domain was prepared, and if I remember correctly it wasn’t because of the precursors
Not gonna lie the "we already do" made every hair stand.
physics itself (not as we understand it) is the substrate for the sentiment of sweetness for the universe whereas for us it is build upon a far higer order of complexity, the difference is we are only a tiny bit of the universe. So it makes sense that the universe would create sometihng like us (through the precursors?) in order to maximise its complexity
Man, I really need to get better at attendance, missed this one by hours again.
I always thought that the Precursors were somewhere out there in the far reaches of the universe and just maybe, much closer than that.
It's only natural to assume they are still out there, if they came to this galaxy, who's to say they haven't visited others and are quite possibly still doing so.
I wonder if they were planning on leaving our galaxy after some being was able to take the Mantle of Responsibility or if they were planning on staying to insure the Mantle is upheld by something, even if we don't know what it truly entitles.
Did the Precursors plan on returning after they were to leave? And if so, wouldn't others know about them not being able to continue their roles as self appointed Gods?
They did have far superior technology that anyone, I'm sure they had some kind of faster than light or maybe instant communication.
Perhaps they would search for these perceived lost companions and maybe stumble upon our galaxy where they see this terrible war and horrendous infection and are mortified by what they find.
Would they help us end the Flood and stop the Created?
Maybe they see the Created as right to claim the Mantle, maybe they see the Flood fit to hold it as I assume the Primordial had claimed that they were life just as well as any other sentient being when he convinced Mendicant Bias and turned him with the logic plague, the Flood is only doing what is natural to it, no more than most that accidentally stumble upon an environment that matches the needs for them, perhaps that is the Mantle, the Didact did say to the Lord of Admirals that "the Mantle accepts all who live fiercely, who defend their young, build and struggle and grow and even those who dominate," perhaps this is true and if so, then the Flood just like everything else in the galaxy is doing just that and again, like everything else, was created by the Precursors, intentionally or not, they should have a right to the Mantle, nobody ever asked to be born and the Flood definitely never asked either.
Now I'm not advocating to join your voice and sing victory everlasting, but technically, there's no reason to assume it's against the Mantle besides not staying yourself or the excruciating pain that you'll suffer, which I'm not sure if the Mantle doesn't want you to be an individual or to suffer.
This leaves me with so many questions.
I can see why the Precursors chose humanity as the next stewards. Humanity had gone through countless rebirth, civil wars, plagues, other wars, and lost knowledge. Humanity had lost Earth for a while due to these conflicts, until rediscovering it. If we can use basic logic, it could be assumed that the precursors were there while humanity and the forerunners were expanding their technological empires. Probably around the same level as the covenant, and if humanity had already had enough conflicts, the precurors might have seen them more worthy than the Forerunners who from what we can tell havent really had major conflicts. Their ego, and technological power kept them from that. But, humanity struggled and fought for every inch. The precursors probably appreciated that more for what the responsibility entailed. The Mantle of Responsibility, where you must put life itself above your own, where you must understand the smallest of creatures, the atom, the bacterium, the small critters that travel beneath canopies, and to sapient beings.
The Precursors aren't gone, they're just pulling off the greatest mind fuck ever performed! A parent disciplining a child having a tantrum.
Something that always struck me as oddly fitting was how the Forerunners just developed the technology for the Halo Array at precisely the right time. How did Faber and the builders come up with a weapon capable not only of defeating the seemingly unstoppable Flood but also could devastate seemingly invulnerable neural physics constructs and all biological organisms with a sufficiently complex nervous system? Doesn't that seem rather serendipitous? I know it's just a work of fiction with no real answers for plot holes because it's probably something easily overlooked or just hand waved away by the many contributing writers to the lore, but I like to think that the Precursors played their long game with the Forerunners perfectly.
Their plan was to leave the Mantle of Responsibility to Humanity after having judged Forerunners unworthy, but when the Forerunners rebelled and sought to exterminate the seemingly immortal Precursors for their perceived slight it must have been a shock. Once that initial surprise wore off the Precursors could have easily swatted aside the Forerunners for their impudence but with the focus of Precursor logic being on their interpretation of the Mantle and the 'sweetness' of life flavoring a living universe they allowed themselves to be 'defeated'. The Forerunners that undertook this extinction understood the gravity of what they had just done and voluntarily stayed in exile in Path Kethona where they committed themselves and their descendants to a more primitive and humble existence to atone for this sins. This would begin a harsh lesson of allowing the Forerunners to learn for themselves that they were unworthy.
Eventually the Flood would emerge from a perversion of a Precursor stasis and their relentless consuming of the galaxy rendered the Forerunners humbled and facing not only certain extinction but also their utter failure to uphold the Mantle in defense of all life. Faced with that failure the Forerunners finally embraced some measure of nobility and devised a plan to eradicate the threat of the Flood at the cost of their lives and civilization but potentially safe life and biodiversity across the galaxy.
They essentially suicided their entire race after finally accepting they were unworthy of the Mantle. Rather poetic, no?
So that goes back to Faber and the builders. How did they come up with this miraculous solution? Could have been possible that they received 'inspiration'? Perhaps from the Domain? What better way to humble the Forerunners than to allow them to indulge their narcissism by building an empire devoted to the Mantle but never once understanding that the Mantle was about being one with a living universe and not a mandate to rule over the universe? To watch them struggle with that simple distinction which prevented them from grasping the fundamentals of neural physics? Then when their folly becomes most evident with their forced devolution of Humanity they're faced with a foe born of those they exterminated before that is beyond their ability to fight and ultimately they're humbled while slowly being defeating and 'consumed' by a living universe? And when all hope is lost that's when this incredible technological solution to their problem is discovered but it would mean eradicating all complex life in the galaxy, including themselves?
Like I said before, there's no evidence of this but it all seems to fit together. The Precursors let the Forerunners realize for themselves that they were unworthy and in most ironic twist they provided them with the tools to exterminate themselves after visiting that fate upon others. Those few who survived then were forced to give up on the Forerunner obsession of interpreting the Mantle as their mandate to rule the universe. Instead they set everything up so that Humanity could be given it's rightful chance to see if we're worthy and then lived out the rest of their days in harmony with a living universe as the Mantle always intended.
It's very simple. The flood will have precursor genetics. The forerunners new about neural physics long before their encounter with the flood, and would have studied the phenomena. The forerunners through their war with humanity had learned about the flood and had fought it before the flood withdrew when humanity messed with their genetics. (The floods withdraw in my view was tactical not some respect for humans, the humans were willing to sacrifice themselves and deny the flood biomass, not good for the floods spread, so it retreated, making humanity pause). It wouldnt be hard for them to create the rings. And they did this mostly in secret from the wider forerunner empire.
I always had a crazy theory that the flood is the mantle it self or maybe a stepping stone to it. Maybe what we see as the flood is unguided mutation like a cancer. With the right person or object they will evolve said chosen race to point where can aspect the mantle and carry on Precursors legacy.
Great video I have always liked the lore for the precursors
Would it be correct to assume that when the Primordial got "corrupted" it was in fact the birth of the logic plague? Furthermore, could we assume that the neuroscience is the method of transmission by a infected consciousness relaying information to a healthy consciousness? I mean the fact that a biological entity can infect artificial intelligence with a plague is just mindblowing.
As another person already suggested. The flood seems to be simply another stage in the Precusors live cycle, which leaves us with a few horrifying possibilites of their nature.
For startes, if the flood are simply "corrupted" or just primitive Precursors, they would share similiar traits with their parent species. The flood is noted to have a near drug addiction level of need to consume information and intellects in form of intellegent members of a species and overall intellegent species' as opposed to simply all lifeforms.
From that we can assume that the reason the Precursors have this compulsive need to create life - as the Primordial said that to the Didact, is because need to constantly seed and consume species for own needs.
This cyclical nature of their needs would also explain why so many ancient humans commited mass suicide after learning some horriying truth from the Primordial.
Infact that would exlain why the ancient Forerunners chose to rebell against their creators and why their creators chose Humanity as the holders of the mantle instead of the obviously more fitting and caring forerunners.
Because the Forerunners keep the species they protect in a stagnative state technologically and intellectually speaking. The Forerunners keep all the species under their protection primitive because they deem it be the most safe for the species and planets ecology as at a medival technological level the species does not have the means to commit an extinction level event on themselves in form of a war or disaster and neither be able to too harmfully effect the planets ecology.
In stark contrast to humanity who is more dominating and competitive but did not have the want to micro manage their charges the way the Forerunners did.
Which would all result potentially in the species all together having a militaristically and intellectually arms race in order to remain on top of power chain, rise on it or simply prevent themselves from falling down and being replaced by another species. As the relationship between ancient humanity and the San'Shyuum has shown.
This would make humanity the far more fitting, essentially, farmer for intellegence and information for the Precursors to either consume all life in a repeating cycle once again
Pretty much everything the Gravmind and the Primordial said hints towards this. For instance:
"We are the Flood. There is no difference. Until all space and time are rolled up and life is crushed in the folds... no end to grief, war or pain. In a hundred and one thousand centuries... unity again, and wisdom. Until then - sweetness."
Or what the Didact thought out loud to the Primordial-Gravemind:
How can you be the last of anything?” the Didact asked. “I see now that you are nothing more than a mash-up of old victims infected by the Flood. A Gravemind. Were all the Precursors Graveminds?” Another sifting shuffle. “Or are you after all only an imitation of a Precursor, a puppet- a reanimated corpse? Are all the Precursors gone- or is it that the Flood will make new Precursors?”
I was seriously thinking about exactly this idea yesterday.. great video btw mindblowing
I would love to see Halo take a turn for the Lovecraftian. Think about it: the eldritch, ancient creatures that were responsible for creating massive structures, as well as life in the known universe, and thought to be long dead, return… and with a vengeance.
most underrated halo youtuber,
keep up the good work
6 months and only I have thought
"Precumsor"
because they are coming
“The reclamation has begun, and we are hopeless to stop it”
-The Didact
it wasn't about the precursors
The more I rewatch your prior videos, the clearer your assumption in "The Primordials Horrific Secret" becomes, right in front of us
OMG bro you are locked in - most excellent presentation my thanks sir
The more I think of it, the more it is possible that the flood/precursor's end goal is upholding the mantle... could be an interesting direction to take.
Good job 👍 loved the voice at the end.
For the Halo universe the Precursors created life so all life is born of their "flesh", so when the flood consume a species to build a Gravemind which is basically a proto-Precursor and a keymind is a full flegged Precursor reborn!
"I am a monument all your sins".