: So I'm a little late to the game, but I miss the old days of discussing the
: Halo story and narrative choices. The one I am most concerned at the
: moment is the ending. Cortana. So turn away if you haven't beaten the game
: yet.

: Was killing Cortana, fictionally, a good decision?

: In my opinion, her last scene's were very well done and accomplished their
: goal of being emotionally impactful. We see her desire to be able to touch
: the Chief as a human would (though the aspect of Rampancy where an AI
: desires to be human wasn't explored too deeply in the game), and we see
: Chief show more emotion than we have seen before. It was well written and
: a touching close to the story.

: But how did it affect the Halo Universe and affect us as players? As far as
: the Universe went, it removed a character who has been essential to the
: heroics of the last couple years. It also removed any possibility to
: recover Forerunner information that she gleaned from Requim and the
: Didact's ship. It also put Chief in a situation he didn't want to be in,
: but is familiar with. He was very affected when his Spartans died in the
: past and is quite accustomed to having to go it alone. It has been a while
: since he had had to operate alone, and he certainly has a stronger bond
: with Cortana than with the old Spartans so we can assume be forced to grow
: and change. So overall it remove a lot of opportunity for growth and
: prompted some growth in the Chief.
: How did it effect us as players? It made us sad. It felt very unjust; we are
: finally back at earth, closer to our one hope of saving Cortana than we
: have been the whole game, and she sacrifices herself to stop the Didact.
: But more than that, it instill a sense of worry and betrayal. 343's first
: big story telling move is to take away one of our favorite characters?

: In other stories the "guardian angel" character is often killed off
: in order to put the main character in more peril and to force them to beat
: the odds on their own merit. To define them as a hero and not just a rider
: on the coat of greater hero's. This is why Gandalf is constantly separated
: from Frodo, Morraine leaves Rand Al'Thor, and Colonel Graff throws Ender
: to the wolves. A hero who wins simply because he is simply given the right
: aid or trained well, is no hero at all.
: The problem with applying this to Halo however, is that the Master Chief has
: already proved himself to be a hero. We have seen him countless time
: complete nearly impossible tasks, often on the suggestion of Cortana or
: just by way of his own wit. The key part of Chief and Cortana's
: relationship is explained by Cortana herself

: "We were supposed to take care of each other. And we did."

: Cortana is not a mentor, and Chief is not an untested young adventurer. Chief
: was supposed to protect her from the Covenant and use her talents. And she
: was supposed to give him deeper access to the enemy and to mankind's
: relevant data. They were partners, or maybe, dual main characters. The
: character of the Chief is defined by his interactions with Cortana. His
: identity is intertwined with how he reacts, deals with, and protects
: Cortana. That is now gone. So the Chief must be rebuilt.
: Is a rebuild something that is a positive for the series? I guess you could
: say that I am on the fence.

Who said Cortana is dead?