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Prologue
Game:	Halo 4
File name(?):	m05_prologue[1]
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Prologue is the first level ofHalo 4'scampaign. Rather than featuring gameplay, it is a cutscene depictingDr. Catherine Halsey and her thoughts on theSPARTAN-II Program.

Transcript[edit]

{Cutscene}

Open on a line of beds. They are made of plastic, with no sheets, and are enclosed by glass walls. Children inside them are sleeping. Pan to a boy sitting on one of the beds. His head is shaved and he wears a gray uniform that reads "JOHN". He looks up at his viewer, his eyes grave.

Halsey's memory of a young John.

Fade in to a closeup of Halsey's eyes. She seems tired and grave.

• Interrogator: "Tell me about the children."

The interrogator, who is framed in shadow, sits at the other end of their table.

• Interrogator: "Dr. Halsey?"

Halsey looks at her speaker defiantly.

• Doctor Catherine Halsey: "You already know everything."

• Interrogator: "You kidnapped them."

Cut to John-117, now wearing a breathing mask, lying down on the bed as machines prepare to operate on him.

• Halsey (voiceover): "Children's minds are more easily accepting of indoctrination, their bodies more adaptable to augmentation. The result was the ultimate soldier."

Cut to John, now fully armored and being inspected by technicians. He towers over all of them.

John fully armored.

• Halsey: "And because of our success, when theCovenant invaded, we were ready."

Cut to aCAS-class assault carrier hovering over a human city. Dozens of aircraft fly out of its launch bay.

Cut back to the interrogation.

• Interrogator: "Dr. Halsey, you're bending history for your favor and you know it. You developed the Spartans to crushhuman rebellion, not to fight the Covenant."

Banshees strafe and bomb the city ascivilians run for their lives.

• Halsey (voiceover): "When one human world after another fell..."

ASangheili drives hisenergy sword through a fleeing civilian.

• Halsey (voiceover): "When my Spartans were all that stood between humanity and extinction..."

From up in the sky, a dozen Spartans drop from Pelicans, using thruster packs to slow their descent.

• Halsey (voiceover): "Nobody wasconcerned over why they were originally built."

The Spartans land. A Sangheili snarls at them. The Spartans take cover and shoot down some of the Sangheili who return fire, flaring the shields on the Spartans' armor, while the lead Sangheili calmly steps forward and fires back. Cut to the Spartans advancing, still firing.

The Spartans fighting the Covenant.

• Interrogator (voiceover): "So you feel in the end that your choices werejustified."

Cut to Halsey, who sits forward calmly, clasping her hands.

• Halsey: "My worksaved the human race."

• Interrogator: "Do you think the Spartans' lack of basic humanity helped?"

Halsey looks at him worriedly as the interrogator, now standing, backs away from the table.

• Halsey: "What are you after? The others before you wereNaval Intelligence butyou - you're something else."

Cut to John sitting alone in a hangar. His head is drooped and he is speaking to no one. Marines walk past him.

John sitting alone.

• Interrogator (voiceover): "Records show Spartans routinely exhibited mildly sociopathic tendencies, difficulty with socialization. Furthermore..."

Cut to a Spartan fighting aJiralhanae Chieftain. He leaps agilely, dodging every blow. Dead Sangheili cover the ground.

• Halsey (voiceover): "The records show efficient behavior operating in hazardous situations. I supplied the tools tomaintain that efficiency."

Cut to John as Halsey hold up adata crystal chip projectingCortana's avatar.

Cut back to the interrogation.

• Interrogator: "Do you believe the Master Chief succeeded because he was, at his core,broken?"

• Halsey: "What does John have to do with this? You want to replace him."

• Interrogator: "The Master Chief is dead."

• Halsey: "His file reads 'missing in action'."

• Interrogator: "Catherine,Spartans never die."

Cut to John's foot stepping into a puddle. He leads a crowd of military personnel and civilians. The fighting has stopped but dust clouds cover the city.

• Halsey: "Your mistake is seeing Spartans as military hardware. My Spartans are humanity's next step..."

Halsey stands up from her chair in determination.

• Halsey: "Our destiny as a species. Do not underestimate them. But most of all,do not underestimate...him."

Cut to black.

Production notes[edit]

The Spartans' Mjolnir armor (despite representing theMark IV andMark V) resembles the upgradedMark VI version that Cortana devised for John-117; however, Dr. Halsey was not aware of the existence of this suit at the time of her interrogation.Josh Holmes has confirmed that the appearance of John's unique armor in the cutscene is not canon. The development team recycled the existing Mark VI geometry because they had insufficient time to create canonically accurate models.^[2] The suits are shown to possess energy shields; while this may represent the field testing that began in2531, it is more likely an example of artistic license of Halsey's imagination.^[3] The Covenant Elites are likewise depicted wearing their patchwork equipment seen in the present day, under Jul 'Mdama's Covenant. They do however use the then-present Plasma Rifles.

According toHalo: The Fall of Reach, John met Cortana when her chip was inserted into his neural interface for the first time. This occurred just after he received his second-generationMark V Mjolnir armor and took place inside a large tent. However, the cutscene shows Cortana being introduced in holographic form outside his suit, which is depicted as the aforementioned Mark VI; the meeting seems to take place inside a bunker (likely insideCASTLE Base) rather than a surgical tent. The comicHalo: Fall of Reach also shows John being introduced to Cortana via her avatar, although John is correctly depicted as wearing his new Mark V suit.

The ONI interrogator is portrayed byBruce Thomas, who is also John-117's motion capture performer.^[4]

Gallery[edit]

• 

  Dr. Halsey being interrogated.

• 

  Dr. Halsey bringing Cortana to John-117.

• 

  The Covenant attacking a human world during the Human-Covenant War.

• 

  An Elite with a Plasma Rifle

• 

  Overhead of UNSC forces in the ruins of a city.

• 

  A Spartan-II walking among the rubble of a city.

• 

  A Spartan-II fighting aJiralhanae Chieftain.

Sources[edit]

• Halo 4 campaign