[i]This is probably the most important theory to pop up after halo four. P\I had though this originally but JSA and Xzan came to the thought alone while talking with me. Thus i include their input and expand it as they did with mine.[/i] I'll start with response's JSA gave in response to my bornstellar Idea [quote] I do agree, in a way. The Librarian said that the Forerunners were on a quest for transendance. They were planning to use the Composer to bridge digital and organic realms. Though they did not quite understand and couldn't fully use the Composer and what it does. The memories they copied became corrupted. Returning to organic state produced abominations. This was long before the Didact used it for his army. Meaning the Forerunners had a lot of time to keep working on it, especially during increased use because of the Flood. The Composer became a last hope, those infected or injured would be composed and transfered to AIs, some containing all of their memories. Now in Halo 4 we see an AI like figure, the memories of the Librarian, perfectly intact. We see Prometheans, the memories used to create them showing no signs of decay, the Prometheans are still functioning optimally. But there is the Monitor, Spark and Penitant Tangent, possibly Abject Testament going corrupt and rampant. Spark from loneliness, Tangent appears to have succumbed to the Gravemind and ignored containment, and Abject seems to be allowing Humans to poke around the most powerful weapon in the galaxy with no intervention... he even let them take the Index, some protocol should be against that, I'd say. So it would seem that later memories and AIs are functioning much better than before. Chakas is doing quite well with his memories (besides the damages sustained over time). This could mean the Composer was finally able to store memories properly, the digital realm of the Composer working the way it was intended. If that was the case, there would be no harm in the last Forerunners composing themselves to watch the galaxy in digital state. And so I agree that the Composer could be use dlike that, and on Bornstellar too. But the time frame, not so much. The way you said it made it seem like Bornstellar was composed before activating the Array. If that was the case, and the Ur-Didact was on Requiem... that leave sno known Didact to activate the Array. But... I do think Bornstellar was composed. The Forerunners wanted transendance through the composer. "False transendance", as Bornstellar said to the Librarian. He was to carry a bitter record, which sounds like what composed victims were instructed to do. As if he activated the Array and then composed himself, or did it similtaneously. I believe there was a theory of the Halo Array being connected to the Composer in some way. Now that would make things interesting. Built to destroy all sentient, organic life. The memories are composed and the bodies disposed of all in one harmonic pulse. Perhaps thats not how it was originally intended, but what if those newer 6 Halos (adding 07 later) were integrated with the new Composer tech.[/quote] [quote] Oh my... On the subject of Gamma Halo's Activation Index... "A few of us have been speculating if it has secondary and perhaps tertiary purposes as well" The scientists at Ivanoff Station have been studying the Activation Index and believe there may be more to this little device than activating the galaxy's most powerful weapon. With my theory about the Halos being connected to the Composer... perhaps this is that secondary or tertiary purpose. The Index could be like a storage device for the memories composed by the Halo. All these memories are then transfered to a structure called the Library. The Library of memories. Ever wonder why The Ark didn't need an Index, just a touch from a Reclaimer? It isn't directly connected to the Halos (in this case what they're composing), doesn't need a Library, and therefore doesn't need a storage device like an Index. And this would mean the Covenant were actually a lot closer to their transcendence, meeting their gods than previously believed. Perhaps the Halos really are a gateway to transcendence... the Composer on a much larger scale. A portal to the digital realm.[/quote] He in a sense summed everything i am about to say up. Here is an excerpt from the last terminal in halo 3 [quote] I will begin our Great Journey without you, carrying this bitter record. Those who came after will know what we bought with this [false transcendence] - what you bought, and the price you paid.[/quote] Now from the cutscene in [url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=---Hnqef64k]Reclaimer[/url] The librarian states the last great journey the forerunners were to go on was based off the composer. Issues only spawned when [b]returning[/b] the index's back to biological states,which we see mostly in primordium with the imprints not being fully formed. Now lets look at some more lines to get that blood flowing [quote] On the subject of Gamma Halo's Activation Index... "A few of us have been speculating if it has secondary and perhaps tertiary purposes as well"[/quote] [quote] [url]http://halo.wikibruce.com/Array_Recorder_Data.txt[/url] I feel no peril. No pain. No remorse. Is that normal?[/quote] The composer seems to have worked better through the use of intermediary devices (can't find source quote) as we see in the terminal at charum hakkor. [quote]The Composer! So many possibilities and capabilities tied up in that strange name. . . . A Composer of minds and souls! [/quote] The Composer's results have always varied in which seemed dependent on the user and what the goal was. But as JSA stated they seemed to have gotten better using it over the eons as we can all acknowledge they created it well before the human war. A war that only lasted 51 years. [i]I believe that The composer was linked with the halo array at installation 03 and targeted to compose the forerunners. Which may be the reason The Didact asks if it is normal not to feel pain because we see tat the composer-when used directly- clearly hurts. But what happened to them next? Some of my Archivers think they may have been transported to the domain if not created another version to store themselves. The consensus is that the forerunners are still in a digital format due to the composer still being on 03. meaning they weren't able to revert back to a physical form even if they perfected it. It may be possible that the librarian has plans for us to master the composer and truly save them. Halsey already said she may be able to stop rampancy after looking at the device, something not even they could do.[/i] [b]This is still a pretty rough idea as it obviously isn't as clean as i normally write. I just didn't think it was fair to hoard it.[/b] [Edited on 01.02.2013 2:55 PM PST]