[quote][b]Posted by:[/b] ajw34307 Without a doubt the most meaningful ending in this series, and indeed for this year in gaming (the only ending topping it being Journey's IMO). Halo has never been particularly big on sophisticated literary devices, the 'hero's journey' and 'full circle' would be kicked around a bit in some of the previous games but it never seemed to have much substance to it. And, [i]bloody hell[/i], that sure changed in Halo 4! When they said they were going to explore John as a person, they really weren't joking. The Prologue starts us off with the questioning of whether John was successful because he was, at his core, broken. It's continued throughout the game, Cortana asking John to find out which one of them is really the machine, and culminates in Lasky's dialogue at the end where he states that soldiers and humanity (machine and man) are no different. On the subject of Lasky, his insistance that he's "not about to let that man down" at the end of the game really brought to mind Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn. There was an emotional motivation for Lasky in this scene, and there was an emotional motivation for myself as the Chief to not let him down. John removing his armour in the Epilogue symbolises the exposure of his humanity for what's really the first time in the series - and it took a machine who really was more human than him to make him realise who he is. The conclusion has finally been drawn that he wasn't successful because he was broken at his core, but the "tools" which Halsey supplied (calling Cortana a tool itself being ironic) helped bring out the humanity in John and turned it into his greatest strength. It's beautifully poetic, and is infinitely more sophisticated development for a character who was treated as a sterile brick for so long. Halo 4's ending is how an ending to a particular character arc is done right and done well. Cortana's final words, "welcome home, John," really did emotionally resonate within me. Cortana is a character we've been with for 11 years now, she got the exit she deserved and it had the impact it should.[/quote]Damm you Awj! why did you have to change your avatar, it's so confusing now.