: Location
: It looks like Reach (either under Castle or Sword base)
: Time
: She has both arms so it's before Spartan Ops
: Spartan Locke
: He didn't become a spartan until after Nightfall which is long after the
: original game and long after Reach fell.
: So what is going on?

: Did the writers just forget when Locke became a spartan? (are they that
: incompetent?)

: Where they just trying to pretend that Locke has been around forever and
: every major character knew him and that he was significant in their lives?
: Has he always worked in Black Mesa?

: I had thought that there might be some real significance to the cutscene but
: it really just looks like they are only trying to establish Locke. A
: retcon???

: Is that ALL they are doing?

: Does anyone see any other significance?

Is it so hard to believe that the scene itself represents the birth of Cortana in the past, with a voiceover by Halsey in the present as a contrast between happier times and the new status quo?