After arriving in the control center, Cortana realizes that the Flood had been released, and sends the Chief alone to try and stop it before it spreads. Cortana assisted the Master Chief in his efforts to rescue Captain Keyes and find the control center to the Halo ring. They emerged from slipspace near Halo, where Cortana destroyed four Covenant frigates before surrendering control of the ship to Captain Keyes and heading down to Halo with the Chief. Halo: Combat EvolvedĪfter the battle at Reach was lost, the Pillar of Autumn jumped out-system on a semi-random vector. The Master Chief handed Cortana over to Captain Keyes to assist in the Naval battle, while the Spartans went groundside, which is why Cortana first appears as the shipboard AI on the UNSC Pillar of Autumn. However, this mission went awry with the unexpected arrival of Covenant forces at Reach just as the task force was about to get underway. The Spartans were to disable a Covenant ship, have Cortana fly it back to the Covenant homeworld, where they would capture a Prophet and use it to attempt to broker a peace agreement. Cortana was allowed her choice of Spartan soldier to interface with, and she chose the Master Chief out of thirty other candidates, as referenced in the opening cinema of Halo 3.

The MJOLNIR Mark V suit was specifically built to interface with an AI such as Cortana, which further improved the Spartan's combat efficiency.

Halsey's brain, meaning she thinks similarly, and may share physical similarities with the Doctor when she was younger, including appearance and voice.Ĭortana was created shortly before the fall of Reach, and was specifically designed to work with the SPARTAN-II soldiers on a mission to capture a Covenant Prophet. Cortana was created from a flash-clone of Dr. However, due to their complexities, 'Smart AI's' have an operational life of seven years, after which they literally think themselves to death. Cortana is a 'Smart AI' meaning she has the ability to learn and adapt, as opposed to a 'dumb' AI, which has only one purpose- point defense of a cruiser, for example. She is the Master Chief's companion throughout most of the Halo series. Catherine Halsey (The creator of the Spartan-IIs). Overview Cortana as she appears in Halo 3Ĭortana (voiced by Jen Taylor) is an Artificial Intelligence construct created by Dr.

Cortana halo 3