: Honestly, I don't understand why even Cortana is so crazy about the Mantle,
: let alone why other AIs should care about it. Creating an AI-run utopia in
: and of itself would be a more understandable goal (despite Cortana never
: showing any inclination for such before - hell, she denied being a
: megalomaniac in Halo 2) but why involve the archaic pseudo-religious
: ideology of the Mantle, especially when it has proven to be a bad idea in
: the past? Aren't AIs supposed to be, y'know, intelligent?

I have no time for The Mantle but she has had to bear the mantle of saving humanity for 3 games. The Chief provides the muscle but she's had to make the calls and formed the plans that saved the day.

: It really does seem to me that the villain in H5 was originally supposed to
: be a digitized Didact and they changed it to Cortana rather late in
: development, which would explain why H5 Cortana's goals and dialogue line
: up so perfectly with the Didact's.

When she was becoming rampant Del Rio wanted to put her in a box like a broken micro-chip. If he'd have his way she'd be land-fill. A very small piece of landfill, in amongst the plastic bottles, rotten food, and junk mail.

That's no way to treat a person. The Chief would get a hero's funeral.

I remember thinking, "Can he really just have her disconnected? Is that it for her?". It was so callous and... ordinary - like that's just what happens to them. No final words even. Not actually a person.

So I think the seeds were sown and the plan could have been there at the start of the "trilogy".