“Don’t make a girl a promise… if you know you can’t keep it.” It’s words like those that left a haunting impression on gamers who fell in love with the Halo franchise and its signature AI, Cortana.
[Major Halo 4 Spoilers Ahead!]
She was a major character in every core entry of the series, and until the events of Halo 4. In the Halo universe, an AI degrades over the span of seven years, and by the time of Halo 4, Cortana was eight years old.
In the end, she had to fragment herself into hundreds of copies in order to save series protagonist Master Chief, and stop the Didact from transforming humanity into his digitized slaves (yeah, it’s complicated). As really Master Chief’s best friend and constant companion since the start of the war, losing her is what starts him off on his journey in Halo 5.
Even in the original announcement trailer for Halo 5: Guardians, we see that he still carries her broken carrying chip like a dog tag.
Further hints have been revealed about Halo 5: Guardian‘s plot, such as a new Spartan from Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI), Agent Locke, who is searching for Master Chief. On top of this, just recently in an interview Locke’s voice actor has confirmed that Cortana will be returning, at least in some capacity, to Halo 5: Guardians.
“When [Locke] goes into Halo 5, you’ll see him transition into a Spartan, a super soldier. It’s a prominent role within the game,” he said. “Obviously Master Chief will be involved, Cortana, but Locke will be one of the playable characters in Halo 5.” — IGN
While the idea that Locke will be a new playable protagonist is exciting in its own right — many were suspicious that Cortana would return in Halo 5: Guardians. There are a number of speculated reasons, from Chief trying to get the Forerunners to repair her, to seeing about reversing the Didact’s plan and finding a way to make a digitized person into a physical being.
The humanification theory is one of the most popular fan theories.
There is also the possibility though that Cortana may only be brought back for flashbacks. Seeing as her voice actor Jen Taylor is still actively working in the series, voicing Cortana’s creator Doctor Halsey, it is not without reason to suspect this may be the case. Still, there’s hope Master Chief may find a way to bring his closest ally back from the dead.
On top of this, a new website has cropped up with the Halo 5: Guardians logo at the bottom. It is called “HUNT the TRUTH” and features a bullet with the word TRAITOR written on its side. There is a clock counting down to two days from now (as of this writing), likely to some new trailer or announcement for Halo 5: Guardians‘ single-player. It has also been tweeted out by Halo 5 writer David Ellis.
What do you think? Do you want to see Cortana return in Halo 5? Would you prefer 343 Industries respect their choice to let the character die in Halo 4? Let us know in the comments below!
