If you haven’t read my initial theory go here first and read it, then come back for this part.

Okay, so after scouring the net for more info on Halo 5 Guardians, I came across other fan theories. Some have merit and I want to make mention of some of those point.

So I broke this concept art down a bit.

Some other fans seem to think this may be Sangheili by design. You’ll note, I did not say it wasn’t Covenant or more specifically Sangheili. This could very well be. In fact as others theorize, this may well be Thel ‘Vadam’s (The Arbiter) “Keep”. Now that is an interesting thought. If that turns out to be true, then it would be a foregone conclusion that we’d see the Arbiter in Halo 5 Guardians.

WHY would we see this? That part hasn’t really been theorized. So I’m going to take a crack at it. A prevailing thought is that Master Chief will have gone rogue. He has very little allies. However, one of his biggest ones would be the Arbiter. They did team up in Halo 3 to defeat the Prophets as well as the Flood. So my thinking is that this is one place along the way of Chief’s journey that he stops at. The sight of the “Demon” by other Sangheili could create a conflict and Chief would have to fight his way out. The Arbiter while knowing the truth would have no other recourse than the go after Chief. This would make Chief an outlaw (even more) by the Sangheili. I’d already surmised that Chief has become an “enemy of the state” so-to-speak of the UNSC. Now with Sangheili actively looking for him, in essence Chief is a wanted man in our known galaxy.

One thing to note about that above pic. Those “flying squid”. They were supposed to be ambient life on Requiem, but were taken out. Here are some concepts of them:

It’s VERY plausible that 343 would reuse old assets not used in previous games. How do they fit in? Likely nothing more than merely ambient life again.

That does bring back the question then, is this Sangheili or possibly an OLD Forerunner location?

Let’s look at that first concept again:

Does that statue on the right look like any known race in Halo? I’ve read some surmising it might be a Jiralhanae/Brute statue. Possible, however, I think that’s a little less likely as 343 has seemed to distance themselves from Brutes. But it COULD be.

However…I think I might have just figured out where this is! If you’ve read Halo: Ghosts of Onyx, you might be a little familiar with this. The star system that matches a Binary Red Dwarf system is Groombridge 34. It’s located within the inner colonies. It’s also the place where Kurt-051 went missing in action. Later a dispatch of Spartans was sent as a guise to look for rebel activity there. This was however a guise to actually find Kurt and bring him back for use in the Spartan III program.

The station Kurt was at in this system, Construction Platform 966A, was tag with a HAZMAT satellite to keep would be renegades and others away. One key thing though. This station also was the port for the stealth cruiser UNSC Point of No Return. That ship was under the control of ONI (who else, right…). It was classified and officially doesn’t exist for the UNSC. it’s the largest ONI stealth cruiser and is as big as a UNSC destroyer. This would give the Guardian plenty of materials he would need to track down Chief and/or help him defeat a new enemy.

Some history on that ship. Colonel Ackerson met with several officers, one of which being Admiral Parangosky (the head of ONI at the time). This to discuss the Spartan III program.
The ship is still in operation having outlasted the war with the Covenant. A report was filed from the ship on Dec. 31st, 2552, from the dark side of the moon. This is the last known location of the ship.

Could it be that this is the Guardian’s ship? If so, with it’s port being at Groombridge, it might be possible that either Chief finds his way there and confronts the Guardian, or that it’s a place where the two finally agree to team up.

The red flags still elude me for a proper explanation. I’ll research that some more and see what I can dig up. What I have four is that there was an Operation Mission called “Red Flag” that was to bring an end to the Human-Covenant war. it too was something initiated by ONI. Another slight reference that ties back in with the Jiralhanae is that some wore red flags as a sign of their rank. Notably the Ceremonial Honor Guard Brutes of the Covenant.

For now, this still leaves some questions unanswered, but might lead us to further clues as to the whereabouts of this location.

-Sal

Source Links:
Groombridge 34
Construction Platform 996A
Port of No Return
Ghosts of Onyx
Operation Red Flag

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

Josh Holmes tweeted out earlier that the Spartan at the top of the Halo 5 Guardians graphic is NOT Chief, Palmer, or Cortana and is a NEW characters.

Here is his tweet:

Frank O’Conner states that the graphic is NOT the final for the box art.

Here is his post via NeoGaf:

So there are two things we can check off the list regarding the newly released graphic. I’m actually VERY happy that they are willing to halt some rumors and/or speculation. It means they are listening as well as do not want Halo to be misdirected into something it’s not.

-Sal

Frank posted minutes ago as of this writing that the spartan seen on top of the Halo 5 Guardians box art is NOT a girl.

Well, damn… There goes some of my hopeful theories. LOL. Still okay with this.

Thanks to HaloArchive for tweeting the link to this.

-Sal

So this piece of concept art was just revealed for Halo 5 Guardians:

I take a look at it and start to disassemble the parts.

From left to right:

• The Architecture does not at all fit the profile of Forerunner. Neither does it look like human.  Is this a Covenant world we have not seen yet? Might it be Precursor in nature?
• What do those red flags represent? Curious how they are in several places in the artwork. Seems a bit overkill. I suspect there is more meaning to them than ornamentation.
• Flying Squid? If you saw an early trailer for Halo 4, there were flying creatures on Requiem. Those were taken out. Could these be those creatures??
• (at bottom) Who’s this?  Likely just a placeholder for scale/scope of artwork. But you never know.
• Two Suns. Now where in the galaxy might this be? If I recall, there was a system with two suns in it, in the Halo Legends cartoon. Hmm.
• Statue? This sure looks like a statue of something. It’s not that random to me. So if it is a statue, who or what is it?

Lots of things to ponder while we await yet more Halo 5 Guardians news.

-Sal

Here is the article in Frank’s words on Halo Waypoint: 

As you’re probably aware, my boss and studio head for 343, Bonnie Ross, officially announced the next installment in the Halo saga: Halo 5: Guardians, coming in fall 2015 for Xbox One. I will be up front and admit that I don’t have much moredetail to add, but here at Waypoint, our conversations tend to be a little more insider, a little more familiar. And this is no exception.

Last year at E3, Bonnie famously said, “Your journey begins in 2014…” Wait — hang on — you thought: “What journey is she talking about and why is Chief wearing a poncho?” Okay, some might call it a cloak, but the fact remains – you knew something more nuanced was afoot. So it’s quite likely that Bonnie’s 2015 release announcement today surprised no one in the Halo community. In fact, I suspect most of you who read the Halo Bulletin regularly anticipate there’s even more to come.

Well you might be right, but we’ll have significantly more to say about that at E3 and beyond. Suffice it to say, another shoe has yet to drop.

But getting the Halo 5: Guardians announce out of the way is a big weight off our shoulders. This audience has correctly stated and assumed that you can’t necessarily squish a full Halo game into anything less than a three year development schedule – and at least up to and including Halo 5: Guardians, that’s more or less true.

But we’re not just making a new game in that three year span, we’re also making a new engine. During the development of Halo 4, we pushed the Xbox 360 and the engine to its limits, and we were happy with the way we were able to make the Halo universe look. The Xbox 360 still has a few tricks up its sleeve, even now. We are moving to a whole new platform with the Xbox One – a new architecture, new graphics hardware and bluntly some new ways to think about gaming, period.

Bonnie also called out 60fps and dedicated servers last year – attractive, desirable, and possibly expected upgrades to the Halo experience. After all, we won’t be the first 60fps shooter out there. That said, these must-haves are not necessarily easy to achieve.

Previous Halo titles, Halo: Combat Evolved and Halo 2 for example, strove to push the entire ecosystem forward – dual stick FPS with big open spaces in the case of Combat Evolved, and broadband matchmaking in Halo 2 – are just a couple of examples of the series innovating or amplifying ideas. So in building Halo 5: Guardians, we want to push the ecosystem as well as the universe. And we’ll have some surprises in store for new and loyal players of the series.

So that’s it for now, but E3 is just around the corner. So if you bide your time and hold your breath, you won’t have to wait too long to hear about the next steps on this Great Journey.

Frank O’Connor
Franchise Development Director
343 Industries

Source Link

HFFL: Well, Frank(ly), I don’t think I can hold my breath THAT long. But suffice to say, we Halo fans are EXTREMELY happy regarding the announcement today. THANKS!

-Sal

Just released by HaloWaypoint is the FIRST piece of concept art to be revealed.

AWESOME!

Note the squid-like creature floating/flying in the air in the distance!

What is the meaning of the red flags? Is that a statue in the near background (center)?

-Sal

Looking at the image of the new Spartan for Halo 5 Guardians, one has to wonder who it is. From the trailer last year, Master Chief was shown in his usual armor. So is this a different spartan then? If not Chief, then who?

My top three guesses at this point are:
• Palmer – 343 really tried to push hard on her being an integral part of Halo
• Thorne – the only other spartan whom 343 wanted to make an impact. Through the Escalation comics, we’ve seen he is Majestic’s Fireteam Leader.
• Cortana – Yes, I know…But come on… Some of us really want her BACK in Halo. Wouldn’t be amazing if she indeed DID find a way to be repaired? Now she’s become a full blown spartan as well. Think about that blue glowing visor a moment…

Any of them would be a gray pick, in my opinion. We’ll have to wait and see, but the speculation is FUN!

-Sal

Okay, so a quick photoshop to invert the bottom half…

We see the major difference in armor. If the one in the center is the new Master Chief armor, well…WHOAH. VERY different. Also, note that “callout” I made at left. It’s the ONI symbol.

Here’s a thought…what if this IS NOT Master Chief, but another Spartan? Possibly Thorne or Palmer? I know one thing, that armor “feels” like Forerunner enhanced armor. The bright blue glow coming from the visor… That seems pretty tell-tale.

Zooming in on the helmet I see some sort of emblem. It could be ONI. But it looks different. The way the “jaw” of the helmet is designed and for that matter the rest of the helmet, it looks like it can transform, much in the way the Didact’s helmet did. What I mean is that it looks capable of being stowed and then when needed it wraps around the users head.

This is all VERY exciting!

-Sal