: I hate statements like that. It wasn't "clearly" anything. Do you
: even remember after Halo 4's launch and how many people predicted Cortana
: wasn't truly gone? Spoiler: it was a lot of people. So, no there's no
: "clearly" about it.

Exactly. I will shameless restate how much I defended the point that Cortana may not be dead, from existing narrative standpoint (fater Halo 4), and general storytelling with Halo numered series having the relationship of Chief & Cortana at its core. Even when it comes to her interaction with the Domain. To me it seemed obvious and inevitable. Seeing it play out officially however, still jaw-dropping.

: Is there really any indication that she's cured of Rampancy? Sure, SHE says
: so. Insane people claim they're not insane. Why would you take her word
: for it? And who knows what being in the Domain would do to a human AI? You
: can kinda throw the rulebook away at that point. For that matter, we don't
: actually KNOW that it's really Cortana as we know her in there. Sure, it's
: probably whatever was left her, and who knows how warped she is now.

I like Lionheart's theory that it is indeed our Cortana but she's been 'chatting' with precursors towards this all being part of their testing of humanity for the Mantle. Good theory, imo. I'm sure more will pop up in the next year (or two?)

: I actually quite enjoyed the Halo 5 campaign. While the Cortan is Evil plot
: is a bit of a disappointing direction to go, I think they pulled it off
: pretty well. I'm betting there is still hope for Cortana's redemption.

Ditto, and evil Cortana was always one of the options. I'm sure it's the set up for the end of 6, where either Chief has to kill her to save the galaxy, or they find a way to return her to normal - but if this is really her, I can't fathom at this point how it could be done believably without splicing her into a mere fragment of who she is now.