Lore Question: Why Was Cortana Thought to Have Been So Important?

[What The Sigmar?]

I know why she’s invaluable AFTER the UNSC discovers the halo rings, but what was Halsey’s thinking in why Cortana was so important before they even knew they existed?

[uov]

its a fully sentient ai, something humans have never seen before pretty sure

[Call This 112]

Cortana was basically cloned from halseys brain iirc

[Heckett]

Its explained in the books, First Strike I think. Basically Cortana was made with the express purpose of assisting the Spartan II's on their mission that was interrupted by the attack on Reach.

The SII's mission was to go deep in to Covenant space and capture a prophet with the hopes of ending the war (Thought as we see later on, it wouldn't have helped). Cortana was loaded up with the UNSC's best infiltration programs, all their knowledge on the Covenant and their ships, as well as translation software.

She was also a "smart AI", capable of thinking and learning about a diverse number of topics, unlike "dumb" AI that were programed for only a few purposes, but still brilliant at what they were made for. Smart AI are also made from the neural pathways of a real human brain, which also destroys the brain in the process. What make Cortana even more special in that regard, is the fact that she was made out of a flash clone of Halsey's brain.

She was, at the time, one of the most important AI's ever made.

[Danke]

Originally, she wasn't; Cortana was just an AI assistant for Spartans, then Reach falls and Master Chief becomes the last Spartan, which was then retconned.

Halo: Reach introduced the concept that they didn't arrive at Halo by accident, but because Cortana found (or translated) the coordinates in the Forerunner ruin under the ONI base.

So that's why she seems so important now. In truth, it's just a plot device to connect to the first game.

[Tru]

Cortana not only had plans of UNSC weapons but the location of Earth. So if they got hold of her the covenant would not only be able to invade earth but also get a step up on the Humans.

[Duranu Lithdel]

Originally posted by 🎅Heckett Clause🎅:

Its explained in the books, First Strike I think. Basically Cortana was made with the express purpose of assisting the Spartan II's on their mission that was interrupted by the attack on Reach.

The SII's mission was to go deep in to Covenant space and capture a prophet with the hopes of ending the war (Thought as we see later on, it wouldn't have helped). Cortana was loaded up with the UNSC's best infiltration programs, all their knowledge on the Covenant and their ships, as well as translation software.

She was also a "smart AI", capable of thinking and learning about a diverse number of topics, unlike "dumb" AI that were programed for only a few purposes, but still brilliant at what they were made for. Smart AI are also made from the neural pathways of a real human brain, which also destroys the brain in the process. What make Cortana even more special in that regard, is the fact that she was made out of a flash clone of Halsey's brain.

She was, at the time, one of the most important AI's ever made.

Correct, the books explain it a whole lot better and why she picked John

Originally posted by Danke～ です！:

Halo: Reach introduced the concept that they didn't arrive at Halo by accident, but because Cortana found (or translated) the coordinates in the Forerunner ruin under the ONI base.

concept was already in the books way before Reach the game was ever a thought

[What The Sigmar?]

Thanks for the replies, everyone. Makes more sense now when I think about all the retconning the Halo universe has had. Guess I just need to not overthink it so much.

And happy holidays to you all!

[Duranu Lithdel]

Originally posted by Rosy:

Thanks for the replies, everyone. Makes more sense now when I think about all the retconning the Halo universe has had. Guess I just need to not overthink it so much.

And happy holidays to you all!

This is all because of the history between bungie and the books, bungie tried to bury the book (fall of reach) by making the game what it was, the only "retconning" done was fixing irregularities caused by bungie between the books and the games. I don't have the source right now but it is said 343 stated when it comes to the contradictions between the book fall of reach and the game reach, book canon wins

[Heckett]

Originally posted by Rosy:

Thanks for the replies, everyone. Makes more sense now when I think about all the retconning the Halo universe has had. Guess I just need to not overthink it so much.

And happy holidays to you all!

Actually the only real retconning in Halo is centered around Halo: Reach and The Fall of Reach. No other books take place at the same time the games do, so there isn't much to retcon that way.

And even at that, IIRC the only real clashes in lore came from The Fall of Reach itself, largely being the discrepancies in the number of SII's available to be deployed on Reach. The SIII's presence is explained later as being a project that Halsey had no knowledge of until she met Noble team at Sword Base, but it is also heavily hinted in, I believe First Strike, that Halsey had begun looking in to them heavily after meeting them.

The events surrounding Reach make up a very large part of the lore.

[twiggy]

cortana IS dr halsey. they even have the same voice actor. dr halsey created cortana for her spartans to use because she couldnt talk to all of them at the same time since she was busy doing scientist stuff. its just ai version of dr halsey. all the other answer are wrong

[KaZudra]

Since Reach, she's got this unknown connection to the forerunners like MC.

[The Kook who Cooks]

Because she's THICC.