Metalingus627, I feel we are on the same page.

: Instead, the Domain was destroyed by the firing of the Halos, which left him
: with nothing but 100,000 years of his own madness to dwell on.

When I read the part where the Libraian realizes she left the Ur-Didact, her great love, to an untold amount of time without the Domain, it really tore me up. The Oranagon (sp), the Star Roads, the blood memory....what the Forerunners did to the Precursors was awful, but all it was was survival.

I see the entire Halo story as both a simple evolutionary struggle, and a great and terrible seires of wars and tragedies.

: The sum of my entire Halo experience came down to this one paragraph, where the Didact and 343
: Guilty Spark converse [before activating the Array]

I KNOW, RIGHT? I was practically shaking when I came to that part. This quote from 343 Guilty Spark has fascinated me for a decade:
Why would you hesitate to do what you have already done? Last time you asked me, if it were my choice, would I do it? Having had considerable time to ponder your query, my answer has not changed.

Poor lonely, mad Chakas' remnant Spark. I was really touched by how Chakas/Spark had a genuine friendship with Bornstellar/Iso Didact. Spark not actually answering 'would you fire the rings?" was a little bit of a let down, but at the same time perfect. How could he answer such a terrible question? He does think about it some more in the last few pages, but I forget exactly what....

I loved loved loved that Silentium was prensented in the context of ONI research/discoveries, and that it mentioned the ONI being aware of the (other? reanimated? huh? what?) 343 Guilty Spark taking over the ship that found him. ARGH, could the Librarian survived the Array? Where does Spark think she is?

Lastly, this symbol: http://images.wikia.com/halo/images/9/9d/Tiers_Glyph.png ,
one I have long loved, is explored. I also forget exactly where the Librarian saw it and thought about it; likely on the Forerunner colony in Path Kethona. She mentions how it is ubiquitous in Forerunner architecture and symbology, so much so that it is almost unseen. A symbol of the Mantle. I noticed it a number of places in Halo 4. The Eld. The Tree Mark.

I have assorted issues with all sorts of things in the Halo universe, but overall, I absolutely love how 343 Industries and Greg Bear have handled the canon. As always, I can't help but wonder what is next.