All Hail the Conquering Halo 5 Speculation

I like to think of myself as a Halo fanboy. Having read most of the novels that have come out I feel as if I have more knowledge than most on the topic of Halo, albeit maybe not as much as the Creators or some that might spend every waking moment within the Haloverse but with all of that said, I think I can offer some good Halo 5 speculation and even a few wild eyed theories on what the Halo 5 Hunt the Truth TV advertisements might be revealing to us. If you're unfamiliar with the topic then I suggest reading our first article on the prospect of Masterchief actually being a traitor. Uh oh!

With that said, I'll go ahead and present both Halo 5 TV AD's below as they are required viewing material;

The first look was the Spartan Locke trailer which showed the new character walking in on a decimated city and showed him chanting "All hail the conquering hero" followed by "let us remember him as our protector and not the one that gave us this, as our savior and not our betrayer" and then he pulls his gun as if he's about to kill Masterchief.

The second look shows off the Masterchief approach the exact same scene but this time we see Spartan Locke badly hurt "Is this what you wanted? Is this what you were looking for? Was everything you've compromised, was everything you've done... Worth it? Was it?" followed by MC grabbing his gun and approaching Spartan Locke and saying "You have completed your mission Spartan Locke, mine is just beginning" with a similar treatment as noted above but in reverse as Locke is about to meet his end.

What Has Come Before, Will Come Again?

First off, I think we have to dismiss much of what Spartan Locke is saying as I believe he is being mislead by ONI (Office of Naval Intelligence). This all makes me flashback to Halo 2 and the Arbiter strangely enough.

In Halo 2 the Arbiter was basically lied to and betrayed by his commanders (The High Prophets) and now it's happening all over again except this time it is ONI and certain members in command of the UNSC feeding lies to Spartan Locke. Could this be why he is hell bent on tracking down the Masterchief?

Another clue resides within the interview with Dr. Halsey from the Halo 4 prologue in which the ONI officer was questioning her and she responds with "You want to replace him?" and then we fast forward to the end of Halo 4 in which we see a HUGE facility housing many Spartans which probably means that ONI and the UNSC feel as if they now have their Spartan army and no longer need the Masterchief. It seems that they want to bury him for three main reasons;

To cover up the Spartan II's who were abducted as children as that left a very bad stain on them.
Massive profit for ONI/UNSC contractors for the development of said facilities and the new Spartan program (with kickbacks going to high ranking personal).
To prevent Masterchief from going rogue with Dr. Halsey who now appears to be working with the Convenant because she wants revenge against the UNSC. At the end of the Spartan Ops missions she is seen teaming up with Jul 'Mdama who also is buddy buddy with the Didact.

Another interesting theory that may or may not tie into the above is that the man interviewing Halsey in the Halo 4 prologue might be Benjamin Giraud, the journalist heard in the #HuntTheTruth audio files. Take a listen below if you've yet to hear what he has to say. There's quite a lot to digest within it.

Benjamin Giraud "claims" to be a war journalist. He was hired to do a profile on the Masterchief. The thing they don't tell you is that he also does contract work for the government covering military affairs. He takes photos and film and doctors them for ONI. Does this sound a bit familiar? Could Benjamin Giraud actually be the ONI agent seen interviewing Dr. Halsey in Halo 4?

The only thing that contradicts this is Halsey's own statement during said interview of "The others before you were Naval Intelligence but you, you're something else," well, hmm, maybe he is a War correspondent after all? Or perhaps he isn't Benjamin Giraud after all... Maybe he is Spartan Locke who is serving another faction that is attempting to make the Masterchief look like a traitor? A faction that desperately wants to see their new Spartan program be the tip of the spear as oppose to the Materchief. Are certain factions within ONI and the UNSC High Command using Spartan Locke as a puppet to further their goals?

The Forerunner & Didact Connection

Here's an even wilder theory. We all saw the Didact die in Halo 4 when he plunged to his death, did we not? Could he have somehow survived? Could his consciousness have somehow transferred to another place, to another body such as a Spartan, maybe as a clone of the Masterchief? Or even the Masterchief himself!?

If any of you have read the books, in-particularly the Forerunner Trilogy Prequel Series then you very well know that a Forerunner's conscience mind can transfer itself from a computer to a body and vice versa. So it's entirely possible that just before his demise the Didact transferred his consciousness into a clone of the Masterchief or possibly even the Masterchief himself. Then you ask, how could he transfer into the Mastrechief? Well the answer might be that he transferred in a similar fashion to how Cortana links her presence to the Masterchief. Perhaps that last part is a stretch but you never know. So we have a Forerunner produced Human clone of Masterchief vs Masterchief himself being taken over. Both possiblities are out there yet they are both potentially feasible given the advanced nature of Forerunner technology.

The Clone Theory

Speaking of clones, is it out of the realm of possibility to think that Masterchief's flash clone never died at the age of six when he was abducted and officially listed as dead? According to the Halo Flash Cloning Wiki page we might have some insight on how it could "in theory" be possible to solve the Flash Clones short lived life spans and for the sake of argument, let's assume the "metabolic cascade failure" issue was solved.

Many anomalies appear because flash clones are forced to develop too quickly—they lack the muscle memory and socialization of their hosts. Though these problems can be corrected with intensive therapy, the worst flaw in flash-cloned humans—compounding biological defects—cannot be corrected.

Pay attention to the "corrected with intensive therapy," piece. Could his clone have somehow survived? Or was there perhaps even a third clone that survived with some sort of augmented treatment not readily available to normal hospitals at the time? Or maybe Forerunner tech played a part in the clone's survival? Given the brilliance of Dr. Halsey, I could see this being possible. This could also tie back into the "fabricated histories" statement made by Benjamin Giraud mentioned in his audio piece. "Cover Ups OF Cover Ups" fits nicely doesn't it?

This speculation is probably on the fringe and I'd probably venture to say that if a clone is involved, it might be more likely that the Didact had a hand in it (see previous thoughts above) in some way.

#HuntTheTruth Trailer Screenshot Observations

What exactly are we seeing in the image above? The Spartan Locke trailer has a blue tint with fine edges. Things seem smooth and perfect as if he is cold and calculating unlike the Masterchief who has the fiery orange and brimstone look that symbolizes courage and conviction. Is this telling us something? Was that Bungie's message or was there something more? Is this a pivotal moment in which Masterchief uncovers the plot that has had his own people working against him? I'll leave that to the reader to speculate on a bit further and leave you with an ominous image of the showdown that is soon to come.