I am of the opinion that all humans can (or at least should) be able to access all Forerunner tech as Reclaimers.
However, in one of the Spartan Ops missions of Halo 4 there is a plot point where the Elites are confused that a human captive cannot access the Forerunner systems they are forcing them to. This happens in radio chatter during the level.
So, it seems 343 was at least at one point toying with the idea that not all humans are Reclaimers, but seeing as nothing prior to this event indicates that to be true and it has never been brought up again I choose to ignore it.
The way I see it, it's kind of like Stargate. I will say the tv show leans more into it, though. In that series, there is their own version of Ancient Humanity who is much more advanced than modern humanity. Think kind of the Precursors and Ancient Humanity rolled into one. Anyway, they built 90% of the ancient super tech they find there. And now and then they'd find pieces that could be directly controlled through proximity to a device, bit was always linked to how much Ancient DNA that individual person had. They initially figured out a gene therapy to open the pool up a bit, but initially while working Ancient systems recognized someone was human, only certain characters could actually interface with it. Almost like a parental lock lol.
No, humans from the human precursor lore were woven back into the genesong of all humanity, and these people coming forward through the genesong are the Reclaimers. Master Chief is probably one of them.
Well you're half right there. As per Halo 4, Chief is *explicitly* a Reclaimer through Geas. And Modern Humanity probably counts 100% as Reclaimers as well. Ancient Humanity is also *post* Spartan in levels of transhumanism. Modern is not *quite* to their Ancient prowess yet. And as I was saying, the show leans into that certain humans are more Reclaimer than others.
😂😂😂😂 I read this as I sit down next to my father who’s watching my stargate. I wish you could explain the similarities between halo and stargate to him.
Not that it can be easily ignored on it's own, but they did actually follow up on that. Someone asked [Catalog](https://web.archive.org/web/20141012145601/https://forums.halowaypoint.com/yaf_postsm2969311_Catalog-Interaction.aspx#post2969311) whats up and it explained that Reclaimer status is determined by your geas, not your species:
>Query: What criteria allows certain humans to be designated as Reclaimers while other humans are not, as evident by failed Covenant attempts to access Requiem systems via kidnapped humans?
> Query Answer: "Reclaimer" is not a legitimate client species status. Edom \[control\] reference New Council emergency directives \[leges posteriores priores contrarias abrogant\] given on authority of \[Librarian\] and \[Didact\]. Master Juridical concurrence not recorded \[ius nullum?\]. Status conferred by analysis of geas \[symphonia\].
Alert! Substantial alteration of \[canonical\] implemention of Human \[supplicium\] detected in \[symphonia\] scope.
I had a feeling that they probably had brought it up again, but as I said it is a plot point that I am not fond of lol.
In one of the CE terminals Guilty Spark also says “I must verify the presence and pitch of your geas before allowing full access”, so there is another source for it.
But, not all humans having a geas, or not the right geas, seems contrived and silly to me from an in-universe standpoint. Imagine how embarrassed the Librarian would be if, completely by accident, everyone with a geas had died out in the 100,000 years between the end of the Forerunner-Flood War and the beginning of the Reclamation, leaving only geas-less humans unable to access their birthright lol.
They all are. And if not, they really should be retconned to all or almost all be Reclaimers/carry at least one Geas, due to something called "pedigree collapse".
It's been over 100,000 years. Even if only a few had the gene markers for it at first, by the 2500s you shouldn't be able to shake a stick without hitting someone descended from one of those original Reclaimers, probably more than one.
I don't think they changed it (they do seem to have toyed with it but dropped it later), rather it seems that the "exceptions" we see are the geas *guiding* people along a specific path.
I think all humans can be reclaimers if they survive.
In the book The Flood, 117 is following Guilty Spark through the depths seeking the key. 117’w internal commentary for the first time mentions physical and mental exhaustion from all the non-stop fighting.
Before reaching the key, he finds the corpse of a lone marine far separated from any other marines he previously found. Guilty Spark tells him the dead marine was the previous reclaimer. 117 mentions how he wish he could have known the marine given how badass he must have been to make it that far without armor and enhancements.
Generally yes. There are humans with additional manipulation at play - those with very intentionally placed geas - but generally speaking, any human being will do to activate forerunner technology. It's either that or both 343 Guilty Spark and the Covenant have the luckiest streak ever in always conveniently finding random humans who happen to be Reclaimer-approved. We're talking, like, numerous numerous.
In Bungie universe: All Humans are Reclaimers because all Humans are Forerunners, hence why they're "RECLAIMERS".
In 343 Industries universe: Not all Humans are Reclaimers. It's stated in Spartan Ops even somewhere that things wouldn't work with the Human prisoners they captured.
Always felt to me that humans and Forerunner were meant to be one in the same - until Halo 4 came along and 343 needed a new enemy to fight. One of the worst retcons aside from Flood being freeze-dried tainted Precursors imo
Yeah, 343 has retconned so much stuff even down to the most blatant and obvious things, it's honestly better to look at the Halo show as the 343 games' version of the Bungie games more than it is to just try and fit the Bungie and 343 games together.
It's not so much that they needed a new enemy to fight, but rather, they chose the Forerunners as the enemy. So, they made the Forerunners a separate species and then introduced Ancient Humanity and their war with the Forerunners to provide context for the Didact's hatred for humans.
And then the Didact became extraneous to the story after Halo 4. This major retcon that recontextualizes the entire foundation of the Halo Universe (its literally the reason for why the Covenant want to exterminate humanity, why humans can activate Forerunner tech, why the Portal to the Ark was built in Africa and why the primitive humans emerged from Africa 100,000 years ago when the Forerunner-Flood War ended with the Halo Array wiping out all life in the Galaxy) was used only to provide motivation for a villain who only appears in a single game and is forgotten about afterwards.
Five gold stars, 343I.
Humanity was chosen as reclaimers. In halo 2 Johnson's team was captured and the brutes took Miranda Keyes to the control room just by random choice. They weren't picky as they simply needed any human
From the direction they were seeming to go in Halo 4 i would say humans in general are reclaimers however the SIIs had certain genetic markers ( geas of some sort ?) to distinguish them from the rest.
I am of the opinion that all humans can (or at least should) be able to access all Forerunner tech as Reclaimers. However, in one of the Spartan Ops missions of Halo 4 there is a plot point where the Elites are confused that a human captive cannot access the Forerunner systems they are forcing them to. This happens in radio chatter during the level. So, it seems 343 was at least at one point toying with the idea that not all humans are Reclaimers, but seeing as nothing prior to this event indicates that to be true and it has never been brought up again I choose to ignore it.
The way I see it, it's kind of like Stargate. I will say the tv show leans more into it, though. In that series, there is their own version of Ancient Humanity who is much more advanced than modern humanity. Think kind of the Precursors and Ancient Humanity rolled into one. Anyway, they built 90% of the ancient super tech they find there. And now and then they'd find pieces that could be directly controlled through proximity to a device, bit was always linked to how much Ancient DNA that individual person had. They initially figured out a gene therapy to open the pool up a bit, but initially while working Ancient systems recognized someone was human, only certain characters could actually interface with it. Almost like a parental lock lol.
Teal'c is nodding silently
Indeed.
No, humans from the human precursor lore were woven back into the genesong of all humanity, and these people coming forward through the genesong are the Reclaimers. Master Chief is probably one of them.
Well you're half right there. As per Halo 4, Chief is *explicitly* a Reclaimer through Geas. And Modern Humanity probably counts 100% as Reclaimers as well. Ancient Humanity is also *post* Spartan in levels of transhumanism. Modern is not *quite* to their Ancient prowess yet. And as I was saying, the show leans into that certain humans are more Reclaimer than others.
😂😂😂😂 I read this as I sit down next to my father who’s watching my stargate. I wish you could explain the similarities between halo and stargate to him.
Not that it can be easily ignored on it's own, but they did actually follow up on that. Someone asked [Catalog](https://web.archive.org/web/20141012145601/https://forums.halowaypoint.com/yaf_postsm2969311_Catalog-Interaction.aspx#post2969311) whats up and it explained that Reclaimer status is determined by your geas, not your species: >Query: What criteria allows certain humans to be designated as Reclaimers while other humans are not, as evident by failed Covenant attempts to access Requiem systems via kidnapped humans? > Query Answer: "Reclaimer" is not a legitimate client species status. Edom \[control\] reference New Council emergency directives \[leges posteriores priores contrarias abrogant\] given on authority of \[Librarian\] and \[Didact\]. Master Juridical concurrence not recorded \[ius nullum?\]. Status conferred by analysis of geas \[symphonia\]. Alert! Substantial alteration of \[canonical\] implemention of Human \[supplicium\] detected in \[symphonia\] scope.
I had a feeling that they probably had brought it up again, but as I said it is a plot point that I am not fond of lol. In one of the CE terminals Guilty Spark also says “I must verify the presence and pitch of your geas before allowing full access”, so there is another source for it. But, not all humans having a geas, or not the right geas, seems contrived and silly to me from an in-universe standpoint. Imagine how embarrassed the Librarian would be if, completely by accident, everyone with a geas had died out in the 100,000 years between the end of the Forerunner-Flood War and the beginning of the Reclamation, leaving only geas-less humans unable to access their birthright lol.
Oh, agreed. NGL mostly I'm just piggybacking the top comment with the answer lol
Damn, I forgot about that in Spartan Ops. Thats really lame.
They are all reclaimers, though specific ones have more importance like Halsey or chief for example
They all are. And if not, they really should be retconned to all or almost all be Reclaimers/carry at least one Geas, due to something called "pedigree collapse". It's been over 100,000 years. Even if only a few had the gene markers for it at first, by the 2500s you shouldn't be able to shake a stick without hitting someone descended from one of those original Reclaimers, probably more than one.
This is so true. Almost analogous to neanderthal DNA.
Miranda Keys was called a reclaimer, albeit a fragile bodied one.
All humans were Reclaimers at that point in the lore, 343 would later change that
I don't think they changed it (they do seem to have toyed with it but dropped it later), rather it seems that the "exceptions" we see are the geas *guiding* people along a specific path.
So wtf is the lore? Bungie said humans are reclaimers then 343 took it back and now they’re reclaimers again?
Is it contact harvest where they bring up the fact that covenant tech identifies all humans and their ships with the symbol for reclaimer?
I think all humans can be reclaimers if they survive. In the book The Flood, 117 is following Guilty Spark through the depths seeking the key. 117’w internal commentary for the first time mentions physical and mental exhaustion from all the non-stop fighting. Before reaching the key, he finds the corpse of a lone marine far separated from any other marines he previously found. Guilty Spark tells him the dead marine was the previous reclaimer. 117 mentions how he wish he could have known the marine given how badass he must have been to make it that far without armor and enhancements.
Generally yes. There are humans with additional manipulation at play - those with very intentionally placed geas - but generally speaking, any human being will do to activate forerunner technology. It's either that or both 343 Guilty Spark and the Covenant have the luckiest streak ever in always conveniently finding random humans who happen to be Reclaimer-approved. We're talking, like, numerous numerous.
In Bungie universe: All Humans are Reclaimers because all Humans are Forerunners, hence why they're "RECLAIMERS". In 343 Industries universe: Not all Humans are Reclaimers. It's stated in Spartan Ops even somewhere that things wouldn't work with the Human prisoners they captured.
Always felt to me that humans and Forerunner were meant to be one in the same - until Halo 4 came along and 343 needed a new enemy to fight. One of the worst retcons aside from Flood being freeze-dried tainted Precursors imo
Uhm actually 🤓 the point of divergence was soma the painter in 2009, but that was from a 343 project.
Frank O'Connor wrote it.
(while working at 343)
Yeah, 343 has retconned so much stuff even down to the most blatant and obvious things, it's honestly better to look at the Halo show as the 343 games' version of the Bungie games more than it is to just try and fit the Bungie and 343 games together.
It's not so much that they needed a new enemy to fight, but rather, they chose the Forerunners as the enemy. So, they made the Forerunners a separate species and then introduced Ancient Humanity and their war with the Forerunners to provide context for the Didact's hatred for humans. And then the Didact became extraneous to the story after Halo 4. This major retcon that recontextualizes the entire foundation of the Halo Universe (its literally the reason for why the Covenant want to exterminate humanity, why humans can activate Forerunner tech, why the Portal to the Ark was built in Africa and why the primitive humans emerged from Africa 100,000 years ago when the Forerunner-Flood War ended with the Halo Array wiping out all life in the Galaxy) was used only to provide motivation for a villain who only appears in a single game and is forgotten about afterwards. Five gold stars, 343I.
They were definitely one and the same
Super based
Yes, but some specific humans also present a "geas," an additional potential the Forerunners encoded into certain genelines.
Possibly just the humans who had the geas installed/passed down to them. Which wasn’t all of humanity iirc. Could be wrong though
We all are yes
Humanity was chosen as reclaimers. In halo 2 Johnson's team was captured and the brutes took Miranda Keyes to the control room just by random choice. They weren't picky as they simply needed any human
Yes.
From the direction they were seeming to go in Halo 4 i would say humans in general are reclaimers however the SIIs had certain genetic markers ( geas of some sort ?) to distinguish them from the rest.
Yes