Hey Ender, how do Roland and Durandal's story compare to the Marathon trillogy? Seems to me that from the little bit of reading I've done on Marathon that although Durandal eventualls falls to rampancy there was some sort of reference to his code being stored in the main character's mind (what is his name anyway, or did he even have one). Also I seem to remember something about surviving the universe collapsing on itself, if you do you become a god? Maybe I'm getting a bunch of stuff mixed up which is why I'm stoked to meet someone who knows about Marathon. Anyhoo, I've just been kind of curious about Durandal. If he was stored in what's his faces mind they perhapse he was reconstructed, perhapse he is still alive, perhapse part of Cortana was based on Durandal? Another thing I can't resist is the number game... sorry... okay so bungie likes the number 7... how about threes? Two trillogies (Marathon and Halo), I think I heard someone say that so far it's been three years between games (can anyone confirm that?), three swords that supposedly took three years to make each.... Not going to read into this too far but wouldn't it be kind of neat if there was a third trillogy. Again, sorry that was all complete speculation, but it was kind of fun. About the three swords, Joyeuse, Durandal, and Cortana. Yeah it's interesting that two were made by one brother, and the thrid by another. Durandal and Cortana are Human AI, but we haven't met a third (okay scratach that, I guess there were some more in Marathon, but were any of them as important as Durandal?). In the books, and in Halo 2 Cortana mentions a mysterious AI that is surprisingly advanced for the Covenant.... could this be a third AI, Joyeuse, that might play a larger role in H3? A covie AI, or perhapse even a Forerunner AI? A third AI constructed by a "relative" of humanity? Okay, now I'm really going to go out on a limb here.... let's just say for a seccond, suspend belief and work with me for a second (if feels tingly doesn't it). Suppose the Halo Triology is LOOSELY based on the story of Ogier and Cortana, and lets also suppose that the Marathon Trillogy is based somewhat on Rolland and Durandal. Both of these are human stories, but now here's the big leap of faith (again, not saying it's going to happen or anything, just think about it for a seccond and the potencial for coolness). Charlemagne, the King a massive empire, the Forerunners ditto (even in current Haloverse time if only by legacy).... what if the third trillogy is the story of the Forerunners and Joyeuse, their battle agains the flood... the Halos, the Arc... the bridge betwen Marathon and Halo, their plans to save their species (and maybe others... origins of the Covenant?). Halo 3 would be a good segway into a game like that if it begins to delve into the Forerunner story.... heck it might even explain the final screen in Marathon Infinity. Okay you can stop suspending, the wild speculation is over... but I thought I'd put it out there so that you all knew where I was coming from. That's why I'm kind of hoping that Roland's story matches up at least loosely with Marathon's... if not everything kind of falls appart. I think I'm going to post the prose on the final screen of Marathon Infinity so that everyone can see what I'm talking about. [Edited on 11/10/2006]