Commander Miranda Keyes
Miranda Keyes is, as far as we know, the only surviving child (or perhaps even relative) of the late Captain Jacob Keyes. It is unclear how well they knew one another, though it is unquestionable that she thinks both highly and fondly of him. She has apparently risen quite quickly through the UNSC, achieving the rank of Commander and acquiring her own vessel, the In Amber Clad, at a relatively young age. Like her father she is bold, imaginative, and not likely to ask for assistance. But also like her father, her daring and courage may yet prove to be an integral step in Humanity's salvation from the Covenant.
There are three things that are never satisfied; four that never cry "Enough!"
Undaunted by real-life tribulations has been the speculation on a number of topics in the forum, not the least of which has had to do with several snippets and glances gleaned from the recent Bungie X03 convention footage.
Though it doesn't all leap out at you yelling and eye-gouging, there are several subtle doses of new footage and interesting commentary throughout by several of the B-boys.
Early on, Joseph Staten talks of Jason's claustrophobia-induced story development for Halo 2 (2:15 and on); one scene in particular "which will go down in the untold lore of Bungie". After describing a scene of "horrible betrayal" where "Miranda strapped a bomb to the Master Chiefís back and shoved him down a hole", mnemesis and I frantically compared notes. Who is this Miranda? A new character? A Marine? Another Spartan? Or perhaps merely a more direct reference to Jason's apparently rough break-up around that time? Hmmm... "that might have had something to do with it." Then again... maybe not.
More hints are also dropped regarding the terrain and locales we will soon be facing, "from the ruins of Halo to these ancient Forerunner facilities in the atmospheres of gas giants" (6:16 approximately). A moon base, a gas giant facility, war-torn Earth, Halo's drifting remnants, and a/the Covenant Homeworld. The list grows steadily longer.
-Finn
Miranda: A past acquaintance of Jason Jones', a Shakespearian Tempest, or 11th moon of Uranus...
Socrates adds another possible inspiration for this mysterious future character/casual reference made by Joseph Staten in regards to Jason Jones during the X03 video.
Francisco de Miranda was, among other things, a Venezuelan revolutionary. He has been called a precursor (forerunner) to later revolutionaries, such as SÃmon Bolivar; Miranda betrayed his cause after suffering some defeat, surrendering himself and the men he lead to the Spanish Imperialist forces. For this, he was arrested by his own men before the surrender could take place, and given to the Spanish, who housed him for the last four years of his life in a dungeon in Spain.
A man who was a "forerunner" and a traitor who nearly destroyed the Venezuelan revolution for independence. It sounds strikingly familiar to the Miranda which we know, who, according to the X03 video, straps a bomb to the Master Chief's back and shoved him down a hole.As he goes on to say, this also seems to be another tie in to the history of Mexico, Central, and South America, whose Aztec (and Incan) inhabitants have come up more than once throughout the story's course.
Those pesky gas-giants keep coming up again and again as well. One might think that the Forerunner had a certain fixation with them...
-Finn
And again with the swords! ;-)
Matthew Anderson (raptorv22@hotmail.com) writes:
a couple weeks ago i started obsessing over Joyeuse, the third sword mentioned on Cortana's (the swords) inscription "I am Cortana, of the same steel and tempur as Joyeuse and Durandal, and the other sword made by Munification (who made Cortain and Durandana) Sauvagine. Because i'm cool like that. And i also have been wondering if ever a third AI comes into play (sauvagine and cortain both belong to same person).
But back to why i emailed you. In my searches for mythological swords, i came across a sword named Mirandoise, a very very famous sword you may have heard of. Its also called Excalibur. It's also suppost to be the only sword equal in strength to Duranadana.
Mirandoise just reminded me oddly of our elusive Miranda. Call it a hunch.The quote that brought all this Miranda speculation up was the following by Joe Staten, from the X03 video:
There was a scene which will go down in the untold lore of Bungie in which Miranda strapped a bomb to the Master Chief's back and shoved him down a hole, and it was this horrible scene of betrayal. Jason was going through a rather difficult breakup at the time - I think that might have had something to do with it.
We certainly know that Bungie has a penchant for naming characters after mythological swords, but will we ever know any more of this story than this one tantalizing glimpse? Untold lore, indeed! ;-)
-mnemesis
It's not that we don't trust Miranda . . .
Michael Elliot (19and42@operamail.com) writes:
I was going through the HSP this morning and came across this.
Now, post-Halo 2, we seem to know who Miranda is. The idea of her being one of Ackerson's little pet projects isn't too far-fetched to me. Unless I'm forgetting something from The Fall of Reach or The Flood, Keyes has no children that we know of. As an ONI spook, Ackerson might have had access to some sort of "UNSC DNA Database" and then-artificial insemination, etc. - would have lead to Miranda.
Don't forget that at the very end of Halo 2, Miranda is bouncing around, grabbing the Index, ducking large moving pieces of Forerunner machinery in the nick of time, etc. The first time I saw this I thought "Wow...that's just a smidge unrealistic." Then, during the whole "Ark" conversation, she doesn't seem winded at all. Also remember that for a long time, the Spartans operated sans armor - which is pretty much what Miranda does the whole time, even when she's dual-wielding SMGs against the Arbiter (which seems to me to be the ballsy sort of thing a Spartan would do, knowing how much one can rely on dual SMGs)
Unless you're Cody - JB
It seems to me to be the perfect cover: brilliant Captain is sent into a battle he cannot possibly win (the "Hey guys! Let's steal us a Prophet!" mission) to give time for Spartan "daughter" to grow. Spartan "daughter" teams up with real-deal Spartan, is instructed to help him and such, then nail him to the wall when ONI says so.Just wait until John's evil twin shows up.
-Jillybean
A little dramatic, but hey, we've got Peter Jackson on board now.
zloty5@netscape.net (zloty5@netscape.net) writes:
Miranda Keyes may have inherited her dad's resourcefulness, intelligence, and courage, but I don't thnk she has the late captain's respect for the rules, at least as far as Cortana is concerned. Cortana threatens to blow up In Amber Clad remotely when she's on High Charity. That would never have been possible with good old Pillar of Autumn. The very purpose of the level "Keyes" was to get the detonation code for the Autumn's reactors, which were protected by safeguards even Cortana couldn't break-and Cortana couldn't start the detonation timer until she was physically plugged into the starship's computer system. I assume that the same would apply to the In Amber Clad , whose explosion would destroy Halo 05 (Or blow up a good-size fleet for that matter) UNSC regulations would never agree to let that happen.
The only way Cortana could get the code would be from the captain of the In Amber Clad , Miranda. Miranda Keyes, hearing about what happened aboard Halo 04, decides to give Cortana the detonation code so that the Chief doesn't have to go through another ordeal to get the detonation code out of her neural thread. This is criminal considering just how much energy an exploding reactor can release, but Miranda trusts Cortana as a person. Jacob Keyes might have tursted her as a replica of Dr. Halsey, but he kept in mind that she was an AI, and therefore far more corruptible. This is something Miranda neglects. If, thanks to a rampant Cortana, the In Amber Clad blows a huge hole in Earth's defenses and lets the flood pour in from space, Miranda is entirely responsible for giving her the authorization to blow up the starship . It's as bad as strapping a bomb on MC's back and shoving him down a hole.
-Jillybean
Miranda as Keyes/Halsey's Daughter! Scandal!
As you may or may not know, we at the HSP are never ones to shy away from posting "old" news. In that vein, we thought it best to point out (for posterity) a post by Dark One investigating the very real (and oh, so sensual) possibility that Dr. Halsey might have been mother to more than the SPARTAN program.
I suppose on those long, deep-space journeys that even cryo-sleep and Rook would get boring after a while...
-Finn
The 7 scarred on Miranda's cheek. Neato.
-Finn
