Since Bungie handed over the reins of the Halo franchise, 343 Industries’ exploration of the universe has introduced us to a wealth of information about the Forerunners; the mysterious civilization that built the Halo rings as a last-ditch defense against the voracious Flood. One of these new introductions was that of the Prometheans, AI constructs that served as the standing military in the Forerunner-Flood war. However, like all things related to the Forerunners, gamers find themselves with more questions than answers.
Introducing a new enemy faction is always difficult, but the Promethean Knights have remained confusing to many players, and as the Master Chief Collection becomes more and more popular, confusion around the Prometheans remains high.
10 They’re Digitised Humans — And You’re Fine Killing Them
The Prometheans were built as a countermeasure to the Flood, but digitizing Forerunner soldiers just didn’t provide enough numbers to fight the endless hordes. On two known occasions, the Didact used the Composer to digitize helpless humans to transform them into Knights: once during the Flood War, and once during the events of Halo 4.
However, the fact that these are still technically humans doesn’t phase the soldiers of the UNSC from killing their once-friends and allies. Fireteam Majestic make reference to this, and wonder whether the digitised humans could be saved, yet have no issue with fighting their AI forms.
9 Prometheans Are A Whole Different Beast In The Lore
In both Halo 4 and Halo 5: Guardians, Promethean Knights aren’t that difficult to defeat, landing somewhere in between the difficulty of an Elite and a Hunter, and seem to have rudimentary intelligence in comparison, subservient to a leader in both games they’ve been seen in.
However, in other lore, Promethean Knights make the most powerful Covenant look weak, and each Knight has its own autonomy when not serving the Didact or Cortana. As the pinnacle of Forerunner combat technology, this makes sense, but making them weaker enemies is a strange way to tackle discrepancies with the lore.
8 Are Prometheans Unable To Control Sentinels?
Sentinels play a key role in defending Forerunner installations, whether Alpha Halo or the planet of Requiem, from incoming threats. In every single campaign, you’ll find them tackling Covenant, or sometimes aiming their laser weaponry at you, even though they’re uniquely designed to combat the Flood.
Just like the Prometheans, they’re uniquely suited to fight the parasite, and yet do not ally with the Prometheans. They’re under the control of the Librarian in Halo 4, and work with Exuberant Witness when she regains control of Genesis in Halo 5: Guardians. Of all artificial intelligence, Sentinels remain the least predictable.
7 Prometheans Disintegrate But Their Guns Don’t
No matter their rank or shape, all Prometheans either explode or are disintegrated when they are killed. Alongside that, many of their weapons disintegrate their targets, breaking them apart into burning flakes of matter. This makes sense when you consider their primary enemy was well-known for repurposing everything from organic material to technology.
However, whether for gameplay reasons or another purpose, their weapons remain solid. This is a massive flaw: why leave behind your weapon when you are able to stop everything else from being used against you?
6 Knights Have A Spare Pair Of Arms, For Some Reason
If you look closer at the chassis of the Promethean Knight, each of them has a smaller pair of arms underneath their main set of arms, which just seem to hang there while their larger limbs carry the death-dealing instruments you’re used to avoiding.
However, we never see these limbs in use. Unlike the Armigers, who use their arms to access technology and steal enemy vehicles throughout Halo 5, the smaller arms on the Knights are clearly vestigial. This is an odd design choice for the (mostly) practical Forerunners.
5 Promethean Blue And Orange Glows Are Inconsistent
In Halo 4, Prometheans begin as metal constructs with a familiar blue glow, reminiscent of Forerunner architecture that gamers saw in prior Halo games. However, upon the Didact’s release, he reclaimed his soldiers, replacing the blue glow with an orange one.
With Cortana replacing him as the de facto leader of the Promethean forces after the ending of Halo 4, they have remained orange, though there seems to be no reason for them to stay that way — the blue glow should have returned after the Didact’s final death.
4 Prometheans Look Staggeringly Different From Other Forerunner Technology
It’s been highlighted since the first reveal of the internal structures of Requiem, but is most clearly seen in the enemy faction native to the planet: These Forerunners do not look like the others, looking very different to the Forerunner aesthetic that we have grown to know and love throughout the Halo series.
Even when comparing them to the new, blended designs of Forerunner architecture, Prometheans are far more organic and beetle-like, bearing more resemblance to grey Covenant vehicles than to prior Forerunner structures. When stood near Sentinels, or by Monitors, the Prometheans stick out like a sore thumb. Did someone forget to call the architects?
3 The Warden Has A Thing For Cortana
Halo 5: Guardians introduced us to many changes to the Forerunners, including the Warden Eternal, the self-righteous artificial intelligence tasked with defending Cortana, brought back from the dead as the new leader of the Promethean forces and the titular Guardians.
It is clear that he is devoted to Cortana, and her goals to unite the Created under her own banner. However, his arrival and subsequent support of Cortana is out of left field. Why would a Forerunner AI suddenly find himself subservient?
2 You Fight Infinite Wardens Eternal… Sometimes?
Fighting the Warden Eternal is not a singular affair in Halo 5: Guardians. His body disintegrates on death, but it turns out he has hundreds, if not thousands, of spare shells that he can inhabit, which make for repetitive fights throughout the game.
He can also inhabit multiple bodies at once, as shown when he takes up several of his frames to combat Master Chief and the other members of Blue Team, but he is reprimanded by Cortana for doing so. However, when faced with the threat of Fireteam Osiris messing with Cortana’s plans, we don’t see him doing the same.
1 We Don’t Even Know If Cortana Is Even Cortana…
Halo fans almost universally agree that Cortana’s return as a villain in Halo 5: Guardians was a concerning move, however, the nature of Cortana is unclear, and many theories have surfaced regarding her motives as she claims a Halo ring in the final moments of the game.
Is she a fragment of her former self, transformed when she fought the Didact? Has she reformed, becoming infected with the Flood’s Logic Plague during the events of Halo 3? The reasons for her becoming a blue, holographic Skynet still remains unexplained, and Halo: Infinite will hopefully lead to as many answers as it does questions.
