Ok so I have seen all 3 variations of the ending of Halo 3
I saw the normal one with the Legendary ending first.
Then just the normal one whilst finishing the game with my girlfriend,
finally. I saw the slightly different one you get when you have done all the meta-campaign(believe me its a little different.

Ok so my question to you, Halo-nerds. (despite me knowing way too much about halo)
A simple qustion.

You jump into the cargo hold of the frigate at the end of the game, you driving and the arbiter pimpin' it with you. A buncha crazy shit happens like the explosion and that tank almost hitting Arbie. Then if you have the legendary ending master chief is on his own with cortana. In all the endings arbiter is on Earth chatting with Lord Hood (right?) So if both master cheif and the arbiter are on the ship, and yet master cheif is with cortana going towards "new planet X" then how the hell did the arbiter get off the ship and back to earth?

The Arbiter got to the cockpit and drove off. Master Chief was stuck in the cargo hold which breaks off the ship.

The Arbiter is, in fact, an OPTICAL ILLUUUUSION!

Not much was explained at the ending, but the explosion of the Ark basically ripped the "Forward Unto Dawn" in 2 pieces, unfortunately Master Chief and Cortana were stuck in the ass-end and drifted to some strange planet.

They really just want something to continue on the story with. It would probably work like "The last of the technology of the Spartans have been lost. Later on, they UNSC receive a distress call from a far away planet, signaling from a familiar source. Yadda yadda yadda."

The stuff they write is really just predictable dribble. Some people think that the planet the ships remains are heading towards is an old planet where they use to train Spartans. Not much is known.

The Arbiter was nearly crushed by the tank, but MC was.

THAT WAS THE REAL ENDING.

THE MASTER CHIEF DIED. END OF STORY, END OF FRANCHISE.

DON'T TELL ME ANYTHING DIFFERENT.

I WILL STOP DOING THIS WHEN PEOPLE STOP PROPHECISING A HALO 4.

Master chief and cortanna are falling to a planet - which is a forerunner planet (thats whats the model is names).

Don't worry krunk bungie said their not really interested in creating a game with master chief in again.

Lord Krunk:
The Arbiter was nearly c... yadda yadda Anger Rant, w/e

Yah, Microsoft is really going to end it there. From a business standpoint, you are just lying to yourself. From a story stand point,... beat it on Legendary, see the real ending and live with it. There is still closure and just because you want to stick your fingers in your ear and scream LA LA LA, please:

Go Do It Somewhere Else

Shamtee:

Don't worry krunk bungie said their not really interested in creating a game with master chief in again.

Which, again, I would hope they would do a Mass Effect style space RPG as a new set of Spartans team up with sympathetic Covenant and they scout out rogue groups not wantint to co-operate and patrolling against any possible Flood threats which leads to another form of alien enemy and this leads them to the forerunner planet MC is on which he is either A) Dead there and is a memory/resolve point for the main character, B) an aged ally to glean information, or C) a final boss.

Doesn't have to be Bungie to make something like that.

Maybe they could make a game about the forerunners. I don't remember if the Forerunners were fleshy of whatever, but maybe they could make a game about that, you play some Forerunner guy and go around doing forerunnerry stuff.

The game is done. Master Chief went into the cryochamber when he realized he was fucked.
Think about it: he was awakened to fight and then he did his job so he went back to sleep again. It can also show that the story has been laid to rest.

Wulf Legend:
The game is done. Master Chief went into the cryochamber when he realized he was fucked.
Think about it: he was awakened to fight and then he did his job so he went back to sleep again. It can also show that the story has been laid to rest.

Or a way to not Deus Ex Machina is re-entry into the series some time later. What better way to keep your franchise on ice than to keep the main character... well, you know.

Halo isn't done. I liked the ending of Halo 3, but there is no way in the deepest bowels of the infernal abyss that Microsoft would not try to make further money off it. Yes, let's let a series that sold millions on DAY ONE go bye bye.

You're kidding yourself if you think otherwise.

Copter400:
The Arbiter is, in fact, an OPTICAL ILLUUUUSION!

this guy wins ^^^

well the whole thing with the ship breaking in two doesn't help at all and totally fucks up everything. now correct me if i'm wrong but arent the engines usually at the back of the ship whilst the cockpit is at the front? so however the fuck optical illusion arbie got his arse back to earth is beyond me.

and even though space craft like the ones in halo dont exist, i'm sure the cryochamber probably wouldnt work if the ship was ripped in two.

although the ship could still fly back to earth if all the crap work because there is no need for a cockpit if cortana can get in and drive it through the system mainframe. still, the ending is very weak.

Copter400:
The Arbiter is, in fact, an OPTICAL ILLUUUUSION!

Actually now that you mention that... if you squint at him real hard he does kinda look like a sailboat.

As I have said a thousand times before in this forum...

The Halo story is finished. You cannot make a Halo 4 - The Flood are dead and The Covenant is finished.

However, it is inevitable that there will be more games based around the Human-Covenant War, just not continuing on from the end of Master Chief's story.

Well, it is definetly Bungie's style to leave many questions unanswered, many enigmas unsolved, but it has always been and will always be so in Halo. I remember when I first got the game I thought the storyline and many other things didn't make sense, but after a while I stopped caring because I was too enticed by the game to even care, so this makes me think that mostly every other Halo fan has fallen into the same category.

the ark explosion makes the ship break in half and arby is lucky enough to be on the half headed for earth. chief and cortana are left floating around in space. i wonder what the mysterious planet is?

l33tabix:

Copter400:
The Arbiter is, in fact, an OPTICAL ILLUUUUSION!

this guy wins ^^^

well the whole thing with the ship breaking in two doesn't help at all and totally fucks up everything. now correct me if i'm wrong but arent the engines usually at the back of the ship whilst the cockpit is at the front? so however the fuck optical illusion arbie got his arse back to earth is beyond me.

and even though space craft like the ones in halo dont exist, i'm sure the cryochamber probably wouldnt work if the ship was ripped in two.

although the ship could still fly back to earth if all the crap work because there is no need for a cockpit if cortana can get in and drive it through the system mainframe. still, the ending is very weak.

The portal is on Earth... He crashed because he had no engines... I don't see the problem here, pal.

Copter400:
The Arbiter is, in fact, an OPTICAL ILLUUUUSION!

nicely put. but it turns out the whole thing is a dream and you're really Tedd Turner

Has anyone else noticed that the entire Halo series has ended incredibly abruptly? I mean, in the first game, you escape, you have moral issues, then it ends. The second game - well, we all know that story. And now, in keeping with tradition, Halo 3 simply doesn't have an "ending" as such; it just stops.

I kind of like this style, I guess, though they are somewhat absurd; I mean, Halo has the two of them careening into empty space - if memory serves, they're nowhere near a human fleet, and should really have died of oxygen withdrawal. Halo 2 somehow managed to have the most ridiculous final boss ever (and in a game that doesn't really have bosses, this was quite something), and ended with the pointless cliffhanger that caused millions of enraged fans to buy Halo 3 upon its release - and Halo 3 just ended with about a dozen things that don't work.

My new theory, then, is this: Bungie just don't care. Like me, they don't give a damn about those details, because they're not presenting Halo as reality - it's a game, and if you wanted to pick it apart you could spend hours on the first game alone. I mean, how the hell do the Elites survive for so long when they're a race apparently devoid of females? With a theoretically huge fleet, how do human ship designers keep calling their vessels awesome things, before they run out of names and have to resort to naming their ships in binary?

Yeah, the ending's confusing, I know; but don't worry too much about it. In the end, it's not like we're ever going to need Mr. 117 again anyway; he basically killed the only threat to the galaxy, and together with the Arbiter he managed to unite the universe's worst enemies, so there's not going to be any wars again any time soon, are there?

Ever seen Startgate? Well the portal at the arc shut as the Frigate went in sliceing it in half, the arbiter then came out the other end and crashed on Earth. Chief is left drifting....... sinple

The Arbiter seen during the ending was a clone constructed by the Gravemind and implanted during the level 'Cortana' to meet up with you, to ensure the Flood's survival following the destruction of the Ark and the newly constructed Halo.
It's like the opposite of the ending of The Invasion of The Bodysnatchers!

AceUk:
Ever seen Startgate? Well the portal at the arc shut as the Frigate went in sliceing it in half, the arbiter then came out the other end and crashed on Earth. Chief is left drifting....... sinple

We have traveled many light years across the galaxy through the FARgate. TO STEAL CABLE.

It's the King Arthur ending people. Only half the ship made it through the jump.
Master Cheif then sleeps until the world needs him again. HE EVEN SAYS, "Wake me, if you need me.". The entire ending was the Arthur cop-out. Don't want to kill him, so we'll make him rest forever.

TheNecroswanson:
It's the King Arthur ending people. Only half the ship made it through the jump.
Master Cheif then sleeps until the world needs him again. HE EVEN SAYS, "Wake me, if you need me.". The entire ending was the Arthur cop-out. Don't want to kill him, so we'll make him rest forever.

Until England needs him?

That would be the best Halo 4 ever.

Master chief retrieves the battle rifle from the arbiter in the lake.

Master chief shoots a dragon.

Master Chief's round table.

Decoy Doctorpus:

TheNecroswanson:
It's the King Arthur ending people. Only half the ship made it through the jump.
Master Cheif then sleeps until the world needs him again. HE EVEN SAYS, "Wake me, if you need me.". The entire ending was the Arthur cop-out. Don't want to kill him, so we'll make him rest forever.

Until England needs him?

That would be the best Halo 4 ever.

Master chief retrieves the battle rifle from the arbiter in the lake.

Master chief shoots a dragon.

Master Chief's round table.

Master Cheif's best friend Spartan 711 betrays him by puttng Cortana into his helmet.

...marathon tie in, I know it'll never happen but say cheif was floating off to Marathon I would be the happiest man in the world. ever

Of course there is going to be a halo 4. It's idiotic think otherwise. At the end of the game he was hurtling to what is most likely a forerunner installation. Anyway, who cares. The story was only interesting during the short time it took to beat it. Then the realization, that the game was written by 3 year olds, kicks in. The game was fun and that's it.

Copter400:
The Arbiter is, in fact, an OPTICAL ILLUUUUSION!

The optical illusion joke is from Unforgotton Realms. It's funny, and on this site, so check it out.

More on topic, they hope you make up a reason for it to work out.

"Well half of us did"

Seems simple.

having thought about it I find it hard to believe that the next major Bungie developed Halo product won't be the mjor relase title for the next xbox which is due in 2011, so lots of time for hear say and conjecture!

I thought the planet in the middle of the ark was the forunner homeworld, since penitent engine or whatever the little blue droid is called was all like, "it appears to be..oh my."

They opened the portal to escape, and set the ark to self destruct, only half the ship got through the portal before the ark completely bit the dust. That half came out the other end of the portal which was on earth. The remaining half is seen drifting towards some unknown planet.

The real mystery is how the fuck did the arbiter get from one end of the ship to the other so fast! Even on the first halo you only had something like two minutes to get 1/4 of the way along the same kind of ship.

they may do a prolog of halo were jhon/MC was chosen to be a sparten and the stuff leadng up to the covadent/human war

People are such idiots sometimes, there will be no halo 4, Bungie and Microsoft split so you can't use their greedy nature as a reason for a Halo 4, and Bungie are probably sick of making the same game.

Doesn't the formation of stars above the planet at the end of the Legendary campaign supposedly resemble the Marathon logo? Someone told me that and I can vaguely see it. Maybe I'm only seeing it because I was told it was there.

Dealin Burgers:
People are such idiots sometimes, there will be no halo 4, Bungie and Microsoft split so you can't use their greedy nature as a reason for a Halo 4, and Bungie are probably sick of making the same game.

Indeed. Because Bungie is a group of gentle artistes who make games for their love of art while microsoft is ran by villians from a Disney movie.

Decoy Doctorpus:

Indeed. Because Bungie is a group of gentle artistes who make games for their love of art while microsoft is ran by villians from a Disney movie.

Precisely. :D