Cortana has been one of the main characters of theHalofranchise, perhaps just as prominent as the Master Chief himself. And she is set to return inHalo Infinitebased on how the story was left at the end ofHalo 5: Guardians.Halo 5: Guardiansclosed out its storywith Cortana being revealed as the primary antagonist behind everything that happened in the game and then saw her set her sights on forcing peace throughout the galaxy with her fellow A.I. through any means necessary.
Not only is it impossible to imagineHalo Infinitefailing to continue this story, but there have been plenty of hints through the few trailers shown for the game that Cortana will be returning. But is it possible that this game will be Cortana’s last outing in aHalogame? Will she finally meet her end inHalo Infinite? There are a few reasons why it might and probably should happen.
RELATED:Halo Infinite: Questions That Need to Be Answered
Cortana’s Death Makes Narrative Sense
Going intoHalo Infinite, Cortana has been set up as the big bad of the entire universe. InHalo 5: Guardians, she assumes the Mantle of Responsibility,the Forerunner philosophythat the most developed species are charged with taking care of all life in the galaxy. She takes herself and her fellow A.I. to be that most developed species and decides to take responsibility for the galaxy by making sure it is peaceful using any means necessary.
Cortana has become the ultimate dictator and ruler in the universe, and Master Chief and his allies will fight to defeat Cortana and end her self-imposed rule on galactic life. It makes sense that the narrative is hurtling toward a climactic encounter between Master Chief and Cortana. It would only make sense that she is defeated and meets her end.
Cortana Died Once Already
Cortana returned inHalo 5: Guardiansafter what looked like a final sendoff for the character at the conclusion ofHalo 4. In a way,Halo 5undid one of the major successes ofHalo 4by bringing Cortana back.Halo 4, for all its criticisms, had one of the strongest, focused Master Chief narratives of the entire franchise.
Halo 4made Master Chief more human and got beneath the helmet to let the character be more John-117 than a faceless supersoldier. One of the ways it did that was bysetting Cortana on a spiral toward her own expiration, a process called rampancy where after a certain amount of time, A.I. start to break apart and exhibit outbursts and illogical behavior on their way to finally expiring. This was the entire narrative impetus forHalo 4, which ended in Cortana sacrificing herself to save John. And, after the final battle, John and Cortana get a final goodbye.
Halo 4gave Cortana a fitting and logical end, which was undone inHalo 5by making her the narrative drive once again. That left questions about what happened to her state of rampancy and madeHalo 5’s narrativefeel a little rehashed.
Cortana’s Death Allows Halo to Move On
It seemed that the death of Cortana inHalo 4would allow theHalofranchise to move on to new narratives, but thenHalo 5fell back into a “Master Chief looks for Cortana” narrative similar to how Cortana stayed behind to defeat the Gravemind inHalo 2which led Chief to look for her inHalo 3. With the conclusion ofHalo 5and Chief needing to break Cortana’s hold on the galaxy, he will undoubtedly be searching for her again inHalo Infinite’s campaign. Although this time it may be more as an enemy than a friend.
While there’s always the possibility of a recovery of the true and benevolent Cortana at the end ofHalo Infiniteinstead of a defeat that leads to Cortana’s death, putting a finality to Cortana seems like the boldest and best move for the franchise. Without the ability to rely on Cortana as a narrative drive in the future, it will allow 343 to expand futureHalogames and stories, coming up with new narratives that are outside of the John/Cortana story conceits of past games. And that may be one of the best things to ever happen for the future ofHalo.
Halo Infiniteis set to release holiday 2020 for PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
