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'''Cortana''' is a [[fictional character|fictional]] [[artificial intelligence]] with female programming, also copied from the neural patterns of a female, in the [[Halo (video game series)|''Halo'' series]] of video games. She is voiced by actress [[Jen Taylor]] in ''[[Halo: Combat Evolved]]'' and its sequels, ''[[Halo 2]]'' and ''[[Halo 3]]'', and also appears in the expanded universe novels ''[[Halo: The Flood]]'', ''[[Halo: The Fall of Reach]]'', and ''[[Halo: First Strike]]''. During the games, Cortana assists the protagonist - the [[Master Chief (Halo)|Master Chief]] - on his missions, providing backstory and tactical information to the player. In the [[Halo universe]], she is instrumental in preventing the [[Halo (megastructure)|Halo]] installations from being fired, which would have wiped out most life in the [[Milky way galaxy|galaxy]].
'''Cortana''' is a [[fictional character|fictional]] [[artificial intelligence]] with female programming, also copied from the neural patterns of a female, in the [[Halo (video game series)|''Halo'' series]] of video games. She is voiced by actress [[Jen Taylor]] in ''[[Halo: Combat Evolved]]'' and its sequels, ''[[Halo 2]]'' and ''[[Halo 3]]'', and also appears in the expanded universe novels ''[[Halo: The Flood]]'', ''[[Halo: The Fall of Reach]]'', ''[[Halo: First Strike]]'', and ''[[Halo: Ghosts of Onyx]]'' . During the games, Cortana assists the protagonist - the [[Master Chief (Halo)|Master Chief]] - on his missions, providing backstory and tactical information to the player. In the [[Halo universe]], she is instrumental in preventing the [[Halo (megastructure)|Halo]] installations from being fired, which would have wiped out most life in the [[Milky way galaxy|galaxy]].


The legendary Danish hero [[Holger Danske]] was said to have wielded a sword with the inscription ''My name is Cortana, of the same steel and temper as [[Joyeuse]] and [[Durendal]].'' "Durandal" is an [[Artificial intelligence|AI]] in the ''[[Marathon (computer game)|Marathon]]'' series, an earlier work by the same company. ''Halo'' games and associated materials include a number of references to ''Marathon''.
The legendary Danish hero [[Holger Danske]] was said to have wielded a sword with the inscription ''My name is Cortana, of the same steel and temper as [[Joyeuse]] and [[Durendal]].'' "Durandal" is an [[Artificial intelligence|AI]] in the ''[[Marathon (computer game)|Marathon]]'' series, an earlier work by the same company. ''Halo'' games and associated materials include a number of references to ''Marathon''.

Revision as of 19:45, 10 October 2007

This article describes the Halo series character. For the English sword, see Curtana.
Cortana
Halo series character
Cortana in Halo 3
Cortana in Halo 3
First gameHalo: Combat Evolved

Cortana is a fictional artificial intelligence with female programming, also copied from the neural patterns of a female, in the Halo series of video games. She is voiced by actress Jen Taylor in Halo: Combat Evolved and its sequels, Halo 2 and Halo 3, and also appears in the expanded universe novels Halo: The Flood, Halo: The Fall of Reach, Halo: First Strike, and Halo: Ghosts of Onyx . During the games, Cortana assists the protagonist - the Master Chief - on his missions, providing backstory and tactical information to the player. In the Halo universe, she is instrumental in preventing the Halo installations from being fired, which would have wiped out most life in the galaxy.

The legendary Danish hero Holger Danske was said to have wielded a sword with the inscription My name is Cortana, of the same steel and temper as Joyeuse and Durendal. "Durandal" is an AI in the Marathon series, an earlier work by the same company. Halo games and associated materials include a number of references to Marathon.

Character design

Attributes

Cortana is a "smart" artificial intelligence (AI) that was constructed from the flash-cloned brain of Dr. Catherine Elizabeth Halsey, the creator of the SPARTAN-II Project. The Doctor's tissue was cloned, and then the synaptic networks became the base of Cortana's processors. The term "smart" means that her creative matrix is allowed to continually expand, unlike "dumb" AIs, which have a limited matrix. This grants her the ability to learn and adapt beyond her basic parameters, but at the cost of a limited "lifespan" of only seven years, at the end of which she will literally "think herself to death" (analogous to a human using so much of their brain for thought, rudimentary systems such as breathing are crowded out). An AI can also go rampant, during which they will "sleep" or hibernate. Her primary mission was to assist the Spartans in the capture of the Covenant High Prophets, and then to negotiate either a truce or peace treaty.

Throughout the games and novels, Cortana maintains the ability to communicate a strong female voice through available communications systems, and, if possible, project a holographic image of herself. In Halo, she projects herself as a woman made of purple light, said to resemble in appearance and personality a younger version of Dr. Halsey. In Halo 2, her appearance changes somewhat to a similar blue figure with longer hair.

In Halo, the core of Cortana was contained in a disk, which could be inserted into most systems. However, in Halo 2, the MJOLNIR Mark VI armor system the Master Chief wears is apparently equipped to allow her to transfer from system to system with a mere touch of the palm, using the MJOLNIR suit as a de-facto modem.[1] The MJOLNIR Mark VI is also equiped with a disc system for Cortana to use, which is revealed in Halo 3. Cortana was designed to infiltrate any security system, and once she is physically inside, there is little that can stop her from taking absolute control.[2]

Aside from that, she is seen to be very proficient in the coordination and use of UNSC and later Covenant military hardware. Because one of the UNSC's primary uses of artificial intelligence is to oversee the targeting of point-defense and ship-to-ship weaponry, space navigation, and calculating Slipspace jumps, Cortana can operate ships and space stations by herself. But, for Cortana at least, this is only a secondary function. Cortana was able to command the cruiser UNSC Pillar of Autumn to great effect against hostile Covenant space forces over the planet of Reach and the ringworld Halo.

Appearances

Halo: The Fall of Reach

Cortana was created from the cloned brain of her creator with the purpose to be a computer expert to the SPARTAN-IIs on an important mission. When the Covenant attack the planet Reach, the Pillar of Autumn jumps with her and the Master Chief onboard. Although she had been operational for years at this point in time. She had the choice of any of the surviving SPARTAN-II's to be carried around in as a specialist, but chose John-117, (aka the Master Chief), mostly because both she and Doctor Halsey had concluded that he was by far the luckiest of the group of super soldiers.

Halo: Combat Evolved and Halo: The Flood

File:02cortanahalo.jpg
Cortana in her original form in Halo:Combat Evolved

When the Pillar of Autumn arrives at the Halo megastructure, Captain Keyes orders Cortana to be removed from the ship and uploaded into the Master Chief's MJOLNIR battle armor, where she remains for most of the rest of the game.[3] She follows the Master Chief through his early missions until she is inserted into the Control Room of Halo where she discovers the existence of the Flood.[4] After the Master Chief retrieves the Index under the instructions of 343 Guilty Spark, he returns to the control room where Cortana stops him from activating the ring and unknowingly destroying all sentient life.[5] She takes possession of the index and becomes a target for 343 Guilty Spark because of this.[6] To prevent the firing of Halo, she and the Master Chief then return to the crashed Pillar of Autumn and overload its fusion core, triggering a massive explosion that destroys Halo. She and the Master Chief escape in a Longsword Fighter and witness the ring's destruction.

Halo: First Strike

Cortana assists the Master Chief and a group of seven humans in capturing a large Covenant ship in order to facilitate a journey back to Earth. During this time she copied and destroyed a Covenant AI, and assimilated its own self-replicating software into her code. However, when she produced copies of herself, they began exhibiting programming errors and self-sustaining copies that flooded the Covenant space station Unyielding Hierophant.

Halo 2

On the first level of Halo 2, Master Chief and Cortana are reunited after events that mimic events on the previous Halo installation. Eventually, Cortana is yet again inserted into the Covenant system and assists Master Chief's hunt for the Covenant leaders. After the installation is deactivated, the Gravemind (an intelligent form of the Flood) speaks to Cortana in verse.

"Silence fills the empty grave, now that I have gone.
But my mind is not at rest, for questions linger on.
I will ask, and you will answer."

Cortana replies simply, "Alright... Shoot."

Halo 3

Throughout Halo 3, Master Chief has eerie visions of Cortana, possibly broken transmissions as she tries to reach him, while giving Master Chief eerie reminders of his past from Halo: The Fall of Reach. A Covenant cruiser crash lands on Earth, carrying with it both the Flood and a message from Cortana that the Gravemind does not know about the portal that the Forerunner artifact on Earth opened. Near the end of Halo 3, the Master Chief sets off to recover Cortana from the infested covenant capital city ship known as High Charity, which has crash-landed on the Ark. During the rescue mission, more visions are seen in which Cortana admits both to answering the Gravemind's questions and to a feeling of regret for doing so. She urges the Chief not to come to her rescue. The Master Chief eventually finds and recovers her (she is surprised but he reminds her that he promised her and that he always keeps his promises), and they escape towards the replacement Halo still in production aboard the Ark, intending to set it off using the Index from Installation 04, which Cortana had kept as a souvenir-- and kept secret from the Gravemind. They successfully activate the ring and escape the devastation, but are stranded as the portal collapses. Cortana activates a beacon, but knows that it could be years before they are found. As the Master Chief prepares to go into cryonic sleep to await rescue, she confides to him that she will miss him. He replies to wake him when she needs him.

Reception

Some found that Cortana's cryptic messages during the first part of Halo 3 slowed the gameplay.[7] Gamasutra, however, found that the game plodded along without Cortana, "who provided the series with most of what humor it had and most of the exposition".[8]

In an interview, female Bungie artist Lorraine McLees pointed out that game designers are generally men, and "women in their games are perhaps portrayed in the way they themselves see women. Here, the same 3-D artist who wanted to not portray women as sex objects [...] coincidentally, modeled Cortana."[9] Cortana is also featured in the most recent release of Halo 3 action figures.[10]

See also

References

  1. ^ Cortana: Put me down on one of those pedestals near the door. [...] Go. It'll be easier to track Truth if I stay in the network. Don't worry, you can pick me up later. - Bungie Studios (2004). Halo: Combat Evolved (Xbox). Microsoft. Level/area: Gravemind.
  2. ^ Cortana: You wouldn't believe the number of kill systems the Covenant are throwing down around me. Not to worry, it's pretty sloppy stuff. I guess they never expected a hostile intelligence to penetrate their network from the inside. - Bungie Studios (2004). Halo 2 (Xbox). Microsoft. Level/area: Gravemind.
  3. ^ Keyes: I appreciate your concern, Cortana, but its not up to me, protocol is clear. Destruction or capture of the shipboard AI is absolutely unacceptable, and that means you are leaving the ship. Lock in a selection of emergency landing zones, upload them to my neural lace and then sort yourself for hard transfer. / Cortana: Aye aye, sir. / Keyes: Which is where you come in, Chief. Get Cortana off this ship keep her safe from the enemy. If they capture her they'll learn everything: force deployment, weapons research, Earth. / Master Chief: I understand. - Bungie Studios (2001). Halo: Combat Evolved (Xbox). Microsoft. Level/area: Pillar of Autumn.
  4. ^ Cortana: This is it. Halo's control center. [...] This ring isn't a cudgel, you barbarian. Its something else. Something much more important. The Covenant were right. This ring, its Forerunner. Give me a second to access...yes, the Forerunner built this place, what they called a fortress world, in order to... Wait! No, that can't be! Oh those Covenant fools! They must have known! There must have been signs! / Master Chief: Slow down. You're losing me. / Cortana: The Covenant found something buried in this ring; something horrible. And now they're afraid. - Bungie Studios (2001). Halo: Combat Evolved (Xbox). Microsoft. Level/area: Assault on the Control Room.
  5. ^ Cortana: You have no idea how this ring works, do you? Why the Forerunners built it? Halo doesn't kill Flood - it kills their food. Humans, Covenant, whatever; we're all equally edible. The only way to stop the Flood is to starve them to death and that's exactly what Halo is designed to do - wipe the galaxy clean of all sentient life. You don't believe me? Ask him! - Bungie Studios (2001). Halo: Combat Evolved (Xbox). Microsoft. Level/area: Two Betrayals.
  6. ^ Cortana: Get us out of here. Guilty Spark: If you are unwilling to help I will simply find another. Still, I must have the index. Give your construct to me or I will be forced to take her from you. Master Chief: That's not going to happen. Guilty Spark: So be it. Save his head. Dispose of the rest. - Bungie Studios (2001). Halo: Combat Evolved (Xbox). Microsoft. Level/area: Two Betrayals.
  7. ^ Stanley, Jeremy (2007-10-04). "Microsoft's 'Halo 3' Review". hartfordinformer.com. Retrieved 2007-10-09. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  8. ^ Cowan, Danny (2007-09-26). "Critical Reception: Microsoft's/Bungie's Halo 3". gamasutra.com. Retrieved 2007-10-09. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  9. ^ Szabo, Brooke. "Bungie Art Grrl McLees". xbox.com. Retrieved 2007-10-10.
  10. ^ "Cortana: Halo 3 Series 1". spawn.com. Retrieved 2007-10-10.
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