I have finaly read this. 343 needs to make parts this into official lore.

Hmm.... I'll happily criticise this theory. Before i begin i would like to say Chronarch is wrong. Even though he hasn't said anything yet. He's still wrong. - Stop reading if you want actual criticism - [spoiler]That picture there is actually an anus with tenticles. That has nothing to do with The Lesser Ark and "WMD" What you don't realise is The Lesser Arc is not a WMD... It's a DMW. Or more accurately, a BMW. It's a car. All it is saying is that Mustard Chef drives a BMW. You went into too much analysis for nothing.[/spoiler]

Its definitely an interesting theory, and I can see where you would get the idea. Assuming that it is though what kind of weapon would it be? >A Fortress type structure with weapons and heavy defenses. I don't think this type because it would have put up more of a fight to the foreign presences on and around the structure during the Battle of Installation 00. It would have also been more able to resist the damage caused by Installation 04(2) exploding nearby. Don't misunderstand me there are obviously defenses in the form of sentinels and other robotic warriors, but I don't think there is anything above that. >Capable of firing a halo pulse. Honestly this doesn't make sense to me either. The ark is the sanctuary from the halos firing. It was designed to house and preserve species from across the galaxy, which would all be destroyed if a pulse was fired. Also if the opposing forces closed on the ark to the point that a pulse could be fired, they would have pretty much already lost anyway. Furthermore, the ark can build replacement halos, so why would it need to have that function itself when it can build additional installations that are more mobile and better able to perform that function? >A Shipyard/Weapons production foundry This is really the only one that would make sense to me, though whether this would really be considered a weapon in its own right is up for debate. Assuming the forerunners would survive the firing of the halo array and needed to repopulate the galaxy and continue to support a rebuilding military, both of these things would have been welcome additions to the ark's design.

Great analysis, I can't say I followed all of it considering I'm a little rusty on my Halo lore. Does anyone know whats on the other side of the portal residing within the Ark?

The Ark is the galaxy's butthole.

What sort of things were hinted at for H4? I'm long out of touch with Halo minutiae at this point, and I'm sure as hell not getting any definitive editions of books I already bought. Hell, I've still gotta buy Mortal Dictata.

Gotta bump, since you clearly put a lot of effort into it. I haven't been able to keep up with all the novels, comics, and other non-game canon, but is your idea basically that the Lesser Ark could act like a precision weapon (like a sniper rifle) whereas the Greater Ark is just a scorched-earth type of thing? Kinda reminds me of how the Composer works (and looks).