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Martin Thorne (mthorne@maildrop.srv.ualberta.ca) writes:
Dave C observes that 343 appears in the early Cortana letters, and points out that this is the same number as Guilty Spark. However, I don't think there is a direct correlation or reference between this number and 343 Guilty Spark. 343 = 7*7*7, so 343 was bound to crop up somewhere, and the fact that it does so at more than one point in Halo's development is more likely evidence of Bungie's continuing obsession with the number 7 then evidence of far-reaching early character development.
Then again, the a character like 343 Guilty Spark may have been around for quite some time, since before the game was announced (and likely before the Cortana letters). In the Truth and Reconciliation Jason Jones Q & A, he mentions that at some point in development, "the fortress worlds were planets and not rings." Since Guilty Spark is the guardian of a fortress world a similar character might have appeared in the embryonic, planet-based Halo story, and would definitely have preceded the Cortana letters, which clearly imply a ring.
Just a few thoughts.
-Martin Thorne
Perhaps 343 Guilty Spark also played a much larger role in later versions of the game; we learn most of the story of Halo through 343 Guilty Spark and Cortana, bantering back and forth, and as such it seems quite possible that whatever gaps exist in Halo's story due to time constraints would likely have been filled in with much of the same banter. Also, 343 Guilty Spark's comments in The Library seem to be in reference to something much larger, about which 343 GS assumes we have some prior knowledge. Of course, this could merely be even more evidence to show that 343 GS thinks he has met us before, somewhere, somehow.
More to ponder.
-Ape Man
