The official Halo Twitter account might have opened the floodgates of lore with the #FictionFriday if it broke down the whole Mantle of Responsibility issue and clarified how Cortana had the Guardians arisen to rule over the galaxy. The Halo community was “Whoa… What’s your take on this?” and, the replies went chaotic right away. The gamers have divided the audience’s opinions so much that it almost seems incredible that this matter is still a cause of some heated discussions years later.
To put it very simply, the tweet echoes the time when the Mantle of Responsibility was claimed to belong to humanity, but during the Reclamation all were fighting for the Forerunner tech and the Mantle was lost. Cortana then, who simply… switched on the Guardians and proclaimed, “I am going to take over the galaxy.” If you have played Halo 5: Guardians, you would agree that this was the major plot twist which changed the entire scenario and was completely unexpected.
The gamers are now talking very much about the thing that really been of their interest – besides that, anyway, 343 Industries had put this whole plot on the back burner during the period between the releases of Halo 5 and Infinite! It was like they had set up a huge interstellar conflict with Cortana as the main antagonist and then the story was just… off-screen, done in Infinite? One comment by Lord_Demploth perfectly articulated the situation: “We couldn’t even fight Cortana, not even Atriox.” And that person is right, indeed – the transition from one game to the next was very jarring for anyone who took the story seriously.
Comments from the public reflected a wide range of differing opinions. Some players were mocking 343 at every turn and for the mere fact that they even raised this story line anew. TheBeego wrote: “If I were you I would be too ashamed to bring this story up. Well, at least you were too ashamed to mention it in your MAINLINE HALO GAME after introducing it at the end of your last MAINLINE HALO GAME. Actually, joke.” Ouch! That’s indeed a hard, but very much accurate criticism.
Yet some other opinions did come out. Last Chalice even confessed that they have come to see this story arc as something positive in the long run: “This is an arc that not many loved, but with the passage of time, extended media, and continuation of the franchise I have come to appreciate it much more as a part of the overall narrative.” Therefore, there is not only hate – some gamers recognize the worth of what 343 was going for, even if the delivery was… understood.
Nonetheless, what is the most fascinating aspect is the number of players who are still asking for a PC version of Halo 5. A large number of comments indicated people literally begging for a port. Karma_spark just stated “Please port Halo 5 to PC” and they definitely were not the only ones. It’s incredible that in 2024 there still exists a gap in the Master Chief Collection where the PC version just lacks Halo 5. One can’t help but wonder if 343 will ever approach that issue.
And then came the whole lore debate in the replies. IamPapaBear34 started off the debate by saying that “Mantle of responsibility is made up 343 nonsense” and “Forerunners are ancient humans, as Bungie intended.” This sparked a very intense discussion about what was regarded as canon and what was not. EvanKazooCovers retorted “Forerunners are not ancient humans my friend they’re a sister species. This has been the lore for 16 years now and you should grow up.” Thus, despite the passing time, players are still disputing the very basics of the Halo lore.
What one can conclude after going through all these replies is that Halo players are incredibly passionate about this intellectual property. They are worried about the story and its direction. When FsMetal says “Bringing back Cortana to make her Space Stalin is the worst thing y’all have ever done to Halo” – the sadness is almost palpable. They did not perceive it as just another game reaching the end of its storyline; these players thought it was messing with characters that they had cared for, loved, and cherished for decades.
Moreover, Volkomo also made a really sharp comment about what might have been: “We could have had a massive three-faction war, and the infinity trying to sort this out. They could have done this on the haloin halo infinite, and with DLC, bring back Didact, flood…” The original idea allowed the developers to create something quite epic, but instead, they left everyone perplexed with the strange off-screen resolution.
