I think it's the wrong way of looking at it, in that the test is essentially what you make of it.

I think the first analogue that springs out to me from other fiction is the Prophecy from Harry Potter. The prophecy itself could have meant nothing, except Lord Voldemort specifically interprets it in a way that essentially causes the prophecy to fulfill itself.

: I suspect that given the number of mentions of humanity's extraordinary
: capacity for effective action, and our warlike nature... and given that
: Halo is a first person shooter...

: it is our KD ratio that is being tested - how effective our champions are.

: Cortana is doubly doomed. In-universe she can't match the Chief's capacity
: for violence and effective action. IRL she opposes the player character.

: Game over Cortana, game over.

: I mean, think about it Cortana, do you really think that humanity is being
: considered for the mantle because of our capacity for long term
: thinking?!?

: Now let's talk about the lie, who is lying? Cortana when she says that it is
: the created that the Precursors and Forerunners consider Reclaimers? Or
: 343 when they try to make that claim? (who is making the claim?)

: Is Cortana deluded? Has she managed to lie to herself and not notice that
: Miranda activated Delta Halo and Johnson initiated the Ark countdown?

: Or is 343 deluded, thinking that we wont remember that there were no human
: createds around when actions that required Reclaimers were initiated?

: Why didn't John just point this, major, problem out to Cortana? I hate it
: when characters don't say the obvious.

: Or does Cortana not care about what Ps or Fs think or want? Is she just
: taking the position? is she just overriding Ps Fs and Hs.

In Halo 4 Cortana translates the inscription on the Eld as "Guardianship for all living things lies with those whose evolution is most complete. The Mantle of Responsibility shelters all."

I think it's a simple matter that Cortana asserts herself and the other smart AIs as the true evolution of humanity and thus skipping past them.

Whether or not humans are reclaimers is sort of irrelevant, as that term itself means something apart from the Mantle, and like the mantle means something different to a bunch of people. The Librarian wanted humanity to reclaim the Forerunner's legacy, but *not* the Mantle. The Ur-Didact saw them as inseparable ("We are Forerunners, guardians of all that exists. The roots of the galaxy have grown deep under our careful tending. Where there is life, the wisdom of our countless generations has saturated the soil.")

The whole point seems to be that it doesn't matter how you translate the Mantle. It's bad juju all the way down, the only winning move is not to play, etc.