Has anyone ever wondered why they have been absent from the game for some time. I mean it just feels like they up and disappeared. Like gone from the previous trilogy mainly due to the death of the gravemind . But still a proto-gravemind should exist somewhere like the one on the Mona Lisa.

Or at least one of the earlier installations should be housing them. Remember there were many research facilities made by the forerunners to study the Flood. Some of them must have had a breakout and there are still five more halos to deal with. Well four, what with a new Halo already being discovered by ONI.

So any though of the return of the Flood or are the gone for good?

And bonus, any chance of the prophets returning?

The flood are coming back in the new manga Halo: Elevation controlled by The True Last Precusrsor* only for the entire flood species to be killed off 3 minutes into Halo Wars 2. For the rest of the game** you will be Fighting the Ultimate War Against the Greatest Oppressive Force Ever Know to The Galaxy™.

*offer only valid until hack writers decide otherwise
**first third. Rest of the game has you dicking around on Charum Hakkor until Bornstellar, or Johnson or the Rookie or something equaly retarded and contrived reveals themself as the main villain of Halo 6 for no reason

Has anyone ever wondered why they have been absent from the game for some time. I mean it just feels like they up and disappeared. Like gone from the previous trilogy mainly due to the death of the gravemind . But still a proto-gravemind should exist somewhere like the one on the Mona Lisa.

Obviously, we're not seeing any Flood right now due to their defeat at the end of Halo 3. None are likely to have survived on the Ark as the Master Chief overloaded High Charity's secondary reactors, incinerating what was left of the space station. Overall, survival of any Flood on the Ark seems slim. 04b never fired properly and while it's unknown if the neutrino pulse was successful, we do know that 04b's firing scorched the surface of the Ark and caused catastrophic failure. Any slim survival of the Flood after that point would have been dealt with by 0000 Tragic Solitude's sentinels or its complement of armigers.

Or at least one of the earlier installations should be housing them. Remember there were many research facilities made by the forerunners to study the Flood. Some of them must have had a breakout and there are still five more halos to deal with. Well four, what with a new Halo already being discovered by ONI.

Assuming they had a breakout, they're not exactly in an ideal position. they have no way of getting off world, and likely won't have the necessary biomass or sentient life to create a Gravemind. Eventually, they'll exhaust their source of food and starve to death. Assuming they're not at that point, they won't exactly be in a position of dominance as the largest civilizations in the Orion Arm (and presumably the galaxy) take extreme precautions when dealing with possible Flood contamination (IE: 500 light-second exclusion zone is maintained around Threshold by joint Sangheili-UNSC patrols, the Sangheili and Jiralhanae momentarily stopped the Great Schism to quarantine Delta Halo, the Spartan Branch runs Flood simulations in War Games as well as develops tech designed to deal with the Flood, Fleet of Retribution's quarantine and attempted cleansing of High Charity).

So any though of the return of the Flood or are the gone for good?

They'll return. We already know there are Flood forms present on the Spirit of Fire, as well that they originated from outside our galaxy from a mostly unknown origin.

And bonus, any chance of the prophets returning?

Definitely. The fate of Janjur Qom has been incredibly ambiguous, and the elaboration of the Stoics and their biotech military after the War of Beginnings leaves me intrigued. In addition to that, the short novel Shadow of Intent has revealed that the San'Shyuum who escaped from High Charity designated a secret regrouping point that Rtas is now pursuing with the Shadow of Intent with the interesting intentions of making peace.

The real question is did 343 just forget about the Drones?
And didn't 343 say something about bringing the Sharquoi back from the land of unrealized concepts?

The real question is did 343 just forget about the Drones?
And didn't 343 say something about bringing the Sharquoi back from the land of unrealized concepts?

Nobody ever liked fighting Drones. That's why they've never returned.

Quote from: Lemonator Omega on January 09, 2016, 01:57:39 AM

The Flood is returning. They're the over-arching antagonist of the series. Everything is building up to them returning for the final test of humanity, and humanity's reclamation of the Mantle of Responsibility should they succeed.
They're still actually present within the universe, albeit in containment facilities. They're present outside of the universe also, in a much larger scale than what we've witnessed in Halo CE - Halo 3.

The San'Shyuum likely won't return because there's less than a thousand of them left alive. However, there was a San'Shyuum Warrior in the latest novel by Joseph Staten titled 'Shadow of Intent'.

There's also 6 Halo Installations left, although one of them had its surface glassed, and another had its control room ejected.


tl;dr yes the flood will be back

I doubt 343i is going to have the flood return.

Of course they will. There's no reason to believe otherwise.

Everything so far has been a build up to their return in full force.

Quote from: Lemonator Omega on January 09, 2016, 05:35:46 PM

Quote from: CyberGama on January 09, 2016, 05:21:06 PM

Quote from: Lemonator Omega on January 09, 2016, 01:57:39 AM

The Flood is returning. They're the over-arching antagonist of the series. Everything is building up to them returning for the final test of humanity, and humanity's reclamation of the Mantle of Responsibility should they succeed.
They're still actually present within the universe, albeit in containment facilities. They're present outside of the universe also, in a much larger scale than what we've witnessed in Halo CE - Halo 3.

The San'Shyuum likely won't return because there's less than a thousand of them left alive. However, there was a San'Shyuum Warrior in the latest novel by Joseph Staten titled 'Shadow of Intent'.

There's also 6 Halo Installations left, although one of them had its surface glassed, and another had its control room ejected.


tl;dr yes the flood will be back

I doubt 343i is going to have the flood return.

Of course they will. There's no reason to believe otherwise.

Everything so far has been a build up to their return in full force.

It could be a possibility, but will have to wait and see if Halo 6 or if another "Halo Comic" tells us about the floods return.

There isn't any "could" about it.

The Flood is the over-arching antagonist of the entire franchise. It is going to return.

Quote from: CyberGama on January 09, 2016, 05:21:06 PM

Quote from: Lemonator Omega on January 09, 2016, 01:57:39 AM

The Flood is returning. They're the over-arching antagonist of the series. Everything is building up to them returning for the final test of humanity, and humanity's reclamation of the Mantle of Responsibility should they succeed.
They're still actually present within the universe, albeit in containment facilities. They're present outside of the universe also, in a much larger scale than what we've witnessed in Halo CE - Halo 3.

The San'Shyuum likely won't return because there's less than a thousand of them left alive. However, there was a San'Shyuum Warrior in the latest novel by Joseph Staten titled 'Shadow of Intent'.

There's also 6 Halo Installations left, although one of them had its surface glassed, and another had its control room ejected.


tl;dr yes the flood will be back

I doubt 343i is going to have the flood return.

They penned the lore dictating they would.

"We are the Flood. There is no difference. Until all space and time are rolled up and life is crushed in the folds ... no end to war, grief, or pain. In a *hundred and one thousand centuries ... unity again, and wisdom. Until then -sweetness."

*A typo in the book, the correct phrase was meant to be 'one hundred and one millennia.'

I almost forgot about this quote, this should be interesting for Halo 6.

I almost forgot about this quote,

Of course you did

/s

I think it's fair to bump the thread as I bring new info. So, the quote discrepancy of 10,100,000 versus 101,000 really was gnawing at me, so I ended up just asking Greg Bear himself. Here's his response:

"The Primordial's clock tells time in very round numbers! But clearly it's aiming at a time somewhen around the Halo game epoch..."

Well, that solves that. And what an interesting number system I might add.

"there was a mistake in the book so here's an excuse"

They penned the lore dictating they would.

"We are the Flood. There is no difference. Until all space and time are rolled up and life is crushed in the folds ... no end to war, grief, or pain. In a *hundred and one thousand centuries ... unity again, and wisdom. Until then -sweetness."

*A typo in the book, the correct phrase was meant to be 'one hundred and one millennia.'

This isn't a prophecy, it's just the Primordial talking shit. And "one hundred and one millenia" would be 101,000 years and since it was spoken around 100,000 BCE that timeline fits just fine in the ballpark of the Halo series, in which we saw the Flood return and subsequently defeated.

Who knows, they might never come back with 343i's hard on for the lifeless Prometheans.

Quote from: RomanGladiator on January 11, 2016, 04:00:31 PM

Who knows, they might never come back with 343i's hard on for the lifeless Prometheans.

It is a strong theme of the Reclaimer Saga; immaterial life.

I get that, and they were more enjoyable to fight in 5. Hopefully the Flood do return next game, because I want to see some Promethean vs Flood action. Throw in the Sentinels too, I especially want to see the return of the Enforcer units.

Quote from: RomanGladiator on January 11, 2016, 04:00:31 PM

Who knows, they might never come back with 343i's hard on for the lifeless Prometheans.

It is a strong theme of the Reclaimer Saga; immaterial life.

>Halo 4/5 plot
>Having important themes

Here's hoping 343 doesn't turn the Flood into the Daleks of the Halo universe -- bringing them back whenever they need a new baddy.

It'd be great in an RTS setting (shit, a prequel series set in the time of the Forerunners would be interesting, though a significant ripoff of Starcraft). I just can't see how they could introduce a true Flood return from the perspective of an FPS.

Quote from: Mr. Admirals on January 11, 2016, 04:02:19 PM

Quote from: RomanGladiator on January 11, 2016, 04:00:31 PM

Who knows, they might never come back with 343i's hard on for the lifeless Prometheans.

It is a strong theme of the Reclaimer Saga; immaterial life.

>Halo 4/5 plot
>Having important themes

Here's hoping 343 doesn't turn the Flood into the Daleks of the Halo universe -- bringing them back whenever they need a new baddy.

It'd be great in an RTS setting (shit, a prequel series set in the time of the Forerunners would be interesting, though a significant ripoff of Starcraft). I just can't see how they could introduce a true Flood return from the perspective of an FPS.

What's your difficulty in seeing them return in the FPS format?

Also, I don't think they'll be turned into Daleks. It's been 8 years and counting since we last saw the Flood (6 years if you consider their inclusion in Halo Wars worth mentioning).