What if the AIs succeeded and had a degree of contempt for us. They needn't necessarily abuse us. They'd just be indifferent to our needs and our lives would be pretty miserable under the benevolent, swaddling, Mantle.

Would Cortana like that?

She used to be spunky and likeable. She didn't think of herself an a monomaniac. I thought that she respected us and was on-our-side. And I think she likes us because we are also plucky, and resourceful, and striving.

Had the Chief been bottled up in that ball and there had been a few decades of AI dominion... maybe she would have changed her mind on the whole Mantle thing.

Maybe THAT would have given her a chance to redeem herself.

OTOH, the Chief was freed.

What happens to Cortana the protagonist character if she suffers level after level of defeat at the hands of the Chief? Doesn't she just become an ineffectual joke. "I'll get you next time. See if I don't!"

Maybe it would be better if she won in Halo 6.

What do you think?