Okay folks, get ready for what could be THE shocking story of Halo 5 Guardians…

This is my (HaloFanForLife) theory.

Let’s first think about the name of the game. Halo 5 Guardians. Why have a subtitle?
Now let’s look at the graphic posted yesterday:

There has already been much talk on the net about who this new character is. Lots of guessing. Many of the guesses where proven wrong when both Frank O’Conner and Josh Holmes of 343 stated that the character is NOT a woman, NOT Cortana, NOT Master Chief, but a NEW character.

So how does one insert a NEW character into Halo and make them interesting? Well, as we saw/read yesterday, it’s MYSTERY. Now here is where I think I can unveil what that mystery is.

The new character is NOT a Spartan at all. Or rather is a further evolution of the Spartan program. Before I reveal all, let’s take a look at the following introduction cut scene fromHalo 4.

There is some very cryptic talk here. Could it be that 343 had already fleshed out the story for Halo 5 by then and were giving us a hint at what was to come? I say an emphatic YES.

In the video, a man of unknown origin, whom I’m dubbing “The Shaded Man” is questioning Dr. Halsey. Who is he and what does he represent? He asks question regarding the Spartan program and more specifically Master Chief.

He then mentions at just after the 1:00 minute mark that Halsey developed the Spartan program to crush human rebellion, not to fight the Covenant. (It’s just lucky it turned out that way in the end)

After some talk by Halsey partially retelling the rise of the Spartans to save humanity, “The Shaded Man” then asks Halsey if she believes that the Spartans lack of basic humanity helped?

She replies with, “What are you after?” She then says the others (presumably questioning her) before where ONI, but that he is something else.

At about the 2:14 mark, Halsey then realizes that “The Shaded Man” or what he represents means to replace Master Chief.
At the 2:43 mark she then says, her Spartans are humanity’s next step, our destiny as a species.

So what does all of that mean? And how does that tie in with Halo 5 Guardians? Here is my theory.

First we see that this new character has the ONI symbol on his chest:

This new Character is NOT a Spartan. Or rather as I said at the beginning is a further evolution of such.
There are deeper levels of ONI that have not been talked about. Basically it’s like having a secret ONI, within ONI itself. This I believe is who “The Shaded Man” represents.

When Halsey exclaims that they mean to replace Master Chief, that is in fact what IS meant to happen. We know that the Spartan II program became part of the UNSC Navy. The Spartan III program became part of the UNSC Navy. Then there is the Spartan IV program. It’s a separate entity all unto itself. Whom do they report to? Well, there is a clue in Spartan Ops. Admiral Osman (whom herself was a Spartan II trainee until she washed out) gives the order to kill Dr. Halsey. Spartan Commander, Sarah Palmer, is the one who goes off to carry out this order. She even bucks against Lasky, who wants her to stand down from the order. Why does Palmer ignore Lasky? Spartan IVs are they part of ONI?

Starting on page 21 of Halo Initiation issue 1, Jun, yes, that Jun from Noble Team of Halo Reach, comes in to talk to a wounded Palmer. He offers Palmer the opportunity to become a Spartan. This is her origin story.
In issue 2 of the same mini-series, we’re introduced to Spartan Musa-096, himself a former Spartan II. Now a UNSC Commander.
In issue 3, on page 23, Musa makes mention of the Spartan IV’s capturing Half a dozen of Admiral Mattius Drake’s people. Drake is responsible for a new insurrection group called The New Colonial Alliance. Shortly after this Musa exclaims Spartans are not Navy nor even ONI, but a branch of their own.

Now enter the juicier stuff. As I showed above this new character is under orders by ONI, given the ONI emblem on the chest. This new character is in fact a GUARDIAN! Not the Forerunner Guardians, but humanity’s guardians. This program was designed to keep Spartans in check. A huge task to be sure. And VERY secretive. Why might you ask? In Halo Escalation #1, page 8 there is an inquisition as to the mishap with Halsey. On page 11 is where Osman questions Palmer regarding the order given to Lasky to neutralize Halsey, when Palmer was assigned to that task. Osman question the interruption by Fireteam Majestic as the reason for Palmer not completing her goal. Palmer concede (LIES) that Majestic was there as as a contingency plan and that she (Palmer) missed her shot. Could it be that Osman feels the need to shadow Spartans? She likely figured out Palmer was lying, to save Lasky. She is the head of ONI, after all.

So how does this all tie in? Osman as the head on ONI knows about EVERY facet of ONI. Not just the more “public” ones, if that term can even be used, but the even more secretive ones. Is Osman then the person responsible for the Guardian project? Being a washed-out Spartan as well as her orders to kill Halsey, give pause to think she may have a grudge against Spartans. So by creating the Guardians program to watch over the Spartans, without their knowledge and handle any issue that may arise, we now have this new character.

Theories of Master Chief going rogue may still yet play into this. If he has indeed gone rogue, then it would be the duty of a Guardian to either bring him or KILL Master Chief. Thus the Guardians “replacing” Master Chief or more broadly Spartans. That ties us back in to the first cutscene of Halo 4.

Now it’s been said that 343 deliberately had some elements of the Halo 4 campaign reflect Halo CE’s campaign. Now, what if Halo 5 Guardians will do the same (as in Halo 2)? How? Simple, in Halo 2 we played as both Master Chief, then the Arbiter. Playing both Hero and Villain roles. In Halo 5 Guardians, we will do similar roles. Master Chief the Hero and the Guardian the Villain. Now will the story come about like Halo 2? Will the Guardian become an ally? This also more than consequently also ties in with the rumors of Halo 2 Anniversary. Yes, the 10th anniversary of the game, but also, slightly similar story lines…

I say YES. Why is that? Okay, recall the Halo XBOX One trailer.

There we saw Chief with Cortana’s chip, walking in a desert. He comes upon a large Forerunner thing. Is it an A.I.? I have already theorized that this could be Mendicant Bias. That being the most powerful of the Forerunner A.I.s and the one who ultimately led the Flood right to the Forerunners, ending their civilization.

Could it be that either during or by the end of Halo 5 Guardians campaign, Master Chief and the Guardian have to team up to defeat Mendicant Bias? Or some NEW threat? The new insurrection?

It’s all very intriguing and you can see by my theory how it is ALL interconnected.

So again, this new character is a Guardian, not a Spartan. This also explains why the armor is quite a bit different. It’s more lithe, for sure. Also, with it being black, that color denotes being stealthy and/or a spy. Which goes to what I described about about Osman/ONI’s involvement.

Okay, yes, I know I said a lot to build up what I could have said in probably a few sentences. However, I wanted to more fully flesh out this theory so you all could see how and why I came to it.

Having read this, what do you think of my theory? Have a theory of your own? Please share by replying below!

-Sal