feeling cute, might release The Endless later
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I donât understand XD
thatâs the same kinda thing over which Atriox puts the key to release The Endless in the post-credits scene
also there are enemies behind this door. How the hell do I get in though?
itâs right below that thing. Thereâs a Spartan core there but unable to get in. Is it one of those that required being in a mission?
there is a door on the other side of that cliff
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Ah, I didnât noticed it.
Awesome shot!
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So just to be clear, it sounds like the plan Halsey put together was to have the Weapon deployed remotely from the UNSC to the ring where the Weapon would impersonate Cortana, gain control of the ringâs systems, lock her down and then MC would come in to retrieve Cortana and delete the Weapon. Correct? This is how it sounds from audio logs.
The mission to deploy the Weapon is a success and Cortana is locked down, but MC never is able to come to retrieve her. Cortana is locked down already when Atriox returns to her to discuss her surrender to him. She is expecting MC to show up, but Atriox does instead, which startles her. He shows her MC floating in space as a bargaining chip and demands Cortana give up her control over the ring (the index). Knowing she is out of options and that MC is defeated and left for dead, she realizes that her own plan to usurp the Mantle has failed [note that she wont hurt MC even in order to secure the Mantle. in H5 she refused to kill MC and hid them away in cryptum for safety as she wielded the Mantle]. The one person she wanted to protect had basically been killed and her efforts only handed military control of the galaxy over to the Banished now with a fresh motivation to obliterate humans all thanks to her fuck ups. Atriox presses her to surrender, but she refuses. She prevents the Weapon from deleting herself and blows a huge hole in the ring, destroying herself in the process.
Atriox likely only went after the Infinity personally after Cortana destroyed his home world in front of his eyes. Seeking revenge, he sought the one weakness she had, MC. So it was her own wielding of the Mantle that directly led to MCâs life being at risk ( seeing him floating lifeless in space). This is what spurred her guilt and cleared her mind to finally see what she had become and that she has lost everything in her quest for control.
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Yep, thatâs what happened 99%, I think the Rubicon Protocol will fill the gaps for minor things like timings, operation details, what happened to UNSC personnel outside random marines and the Spartans of the audio logs, etcâŚwhich is what good lore books should do.
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yes, this makes sense but one thing, when was the recording at the end done where she talks about how she sacrificed for The Weapon and Chief, with an expectation that theyâll continue their journey after her, requiring Chief to be alive for that.
I assume it was recorded immediately prior to her telling Atriox for basically fuck off and go boom. 
haha but wasnât that still after Atriox told her he âcrushed his skullâ and spaced chief and showed that to her?
She isnât literally recording her own motions for that message. That is something she can do in milliseconds while Atriox waits for her to respond to her situation. I think she still knows MC is alive but that he somehow needs help to get to the ring. Maybe she was somehow responsible for the Pilot getting the friendly signal of MC nearby?
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lol that is true
I suspect the same, she doesnât believe Atriox, and the reaction to him telling and even showing her was very subdued.
Yeah she knows he is alive otherwise her message to him would not make sense as it wouldnât be needed. 
Atriox didnât kill MC probably due to wanting to use him as leverage for Cortana to give up the Index.
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yep yep
I mean, throwing people in space is not really sparing people. MC was dead for Atriox, also, he uses the fact to taunt Cortana.
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I bet he knew MC wasnât dead necessarily. He seems like the type who would know if a high value target were legit dead or not. Surely he heard stories of MC being presumed dead plenty of times. Def up for debate at this point though.