Cortana has been one of the main characters of the Halo franchise, perhaps just as prominent as the Master Chief himself. And she is set to return in Halo Infinite based on how the story was left at the end of Halo 5: Guardians. Halo 5: Guardians closed out its story with Cortana being revealed as the primary antagonist behind everything that happened in the game and then saw her set her sights on forcing peace throughout the galaxy with her fellow A.I. through any means necessary.
Not only is it impossible to imagine Halo Infinite failing to continue this story, but there have been plenty of hints through the few trailers shown for the game that Cortana will be returning. But is it possible that this game will be Cortana's last outing in a Halo game? Will she finally meet her end in Halo Infinite? There are a few reasons why it might and probably should happen.
Cortana's Death Makes Narrative Sense
Going into Halo Infinite, Cortana has been set up as the big bad of the entire universe. In Halo 5: Guardians, she assumes the Mantle of Responsibility, the Forerunner philosophy that the most developed species are charged with taking care of all life in the galaxy. She takes herself and her fellow A.I. to be that most developed species and decides to take responsibility for the galaxy by making sure it is peaceful using any means necessary.
Cortana has become the ultimate dictator and ruler in the universe, and Master Chief and his allies will fight to defeat Cortana and end her self-imposed rule on galactic life. It makes sense that the narrative is hurtling toward a climactic encounter between Master Chief and Cortana. It would only make sense that she is defeated and meets her end.
Cortana Died Once Already
Cortana returned in Halo 5: Guardians after what looked like a final sendoff for the character at the conclusion of Halo 4. In a way, Halo 5 undid one of the major successes of Halo 4 by bringing Cortana back. Halo 4, for all its criticisms, had one of the strongest, focused Master Chief narratives of the entire franchise.
Halo 4 made Master Chief more human and got beneath the helmet to let the character be more John-117 than a faceless supersoldier. One of the ways it did that was by setting Cortana on a spiral toward her own expiration, a process called rampancy where after a certain amount of time, A.I. start to break apart and exhibit outbursts and illogical behavior on their way to finally expiring. This was the entire narrative impetus for Halo 4, which ended in Cortana sacrificing herself to save John. And, after the final battle, John and Cortana get a final goodbye.
Halo 4 gave Cortana a fitting and logical end, which was undone in Halo 5 by making her the narrative drive once again. That left questions about what happened to her state of rampancy and made Halo 5's narrative feel a little rehashed.
Cortana's Death Allows Halo to Move On
It seemed that the death of Cortana in Halo 4 would allow the Halo franchise to move on to new narratives, but then Halo 5 fell back into a "Master Chief looks for Cortana" narrative similar to how Cortana stayed behind to defeat the Gravemind in Halo 2 which led Chief to look for her in Halo 3. With the conclusion of Halo 5 and Chief needing to break Cortana's hold on the galaxy, he will undoubtedly be searching for her again in Halo Infinite's campaign. Although this time it may be more as an enemy than a friend.
While there's always the possibility of a recovery of the true and benevolent Cortana at the end of Halo Infinite instead of a defeat that leads to Cortana's death, putting a finality to Cortana seems like the boldest and best move for the franchise. Without the ability to rely on Cortana as a narrative drive in the future, it will allow 343 to expand future Halo games and stories, coming up with new narratives that are outside of the John/Cortana story conceits of past games. And that may be one of the best things to ever happen for the future of Halo.
Halo Infinite is set to release holiday 2020 for PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.