Halo 4: Evil Awakens Conspiracy

[HC SLIK™]

As you may or may not be aware, the inner conspiracy theorist in some people has been acting up lately. There is quite a bit of chatter about secret codes and hidden messages in images and bulletins by Waypoint lately. I chalked it up to over zealous fans who were incredibly excited (understandably so) about the impending release of Halo 4.

Then I recieved an email from Xbox a few days ago. It was a flash email with the Didact symbol as well as their tagline #evilawakens. I didn't think much of it, however I was recieving the email on my iphone, and I accidently tapped a strange symbol at the bottom of the email. This opened up a browser window which took me to a download section of Halo Waypoint with a strange image.



It was then I started thinking that there was alot of smoke to this conspiracy theory, but there might also be some fire. I was reminded of the "I love bees" campaign from Halo 2.

Here is what I have found so far:

There have been several cryptic videos about #evilawakens lately as follows.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?&v=B76QgnZcgI4


http://www.youtube.com/watch?&v=4QlL2Vbd0-M


http://www.youtube.com/watch?&v=VQT_0bva4No

If you look very closely at both videos, besides the obvious Didact symbol, at the end during the #evilawakens a number flashes on the screen. In the butterfly video it is a number 11 and in the Glacier video it is a number 5. There has been alot of speculation about what those numbers mean, the most obvious is a date 11/5. My personal belief is there could be more coming.

UPDATE 10/25/12: on the Rooster Teeth youtube a new video was released. It is of the Hoover Dam and shows the number 20.

There is also the secret messages in the Halo Waypoint Weekly Updates. It seems as if you highlight the text with your mouse, you can see some hidden text. Here are some before and afters to show you what I mean.





Those are from the Halo Bulletin on 10/10. There is hidden text down the entire article. Here is what it all says:

PLNB PRIORITY TRANSMISSION [CLASSIFIED]
ENCRYPTION CODE: [CLASSIFIED]
PUBLIC KEY: N/A

FROM: CODENAME SURGEON
TO: CODENAME COALMINER

CLASSIFICATION: ELEVENTH HOUR [1/5]
SUBJECT: AFTERMATH

/FILE EXTRACTION-RECONSTITUTION COMPLETE/
/START FILE/

Decades from now, when historians evaluate the war, what will they say about us? Will they claim that our victory was ultimately fruitless? That it failed to secure a lasting peace, or worse, that it was only a prelude to far greater horrors that now lay ahead?

My hope – OUR HOPE – is that history would instead view this war as a catalyst. That the last thirty years were a crucible, a threshing floor for our species, sifting out our fears and frailties. And that ultimately it made us stronger and more vigilant in the end, fully prepared for whatever will come next. After all, what good is struggle if there is no change? What good is a fire if the sword is not made stronger?

Attached are four reports accounting the major contingency structures our species currently faces in the wake of the war. Please evaluate them closely. Their outcomes will dictate how history views us, or if history even views us at all.

Xenomorphic element [2/5]
Martial element [3/5]
Provenancial element [4/5]
Primogeniture element [5/5]

As Machiavelli once said: “the Romans, foreseeing troubles, dealt with them at once, and, even to avoid a war, would not let them come to a head, for they knew that war is not to be avoided, but is only put off to the advantage of others.”

Likewise, we must deal with these issues head-on, without fear and without hesitation. We can afford no other stance.

/END FILE/

PLNB PRIORITY TRANSMISSION [CLASSIFIED]
ENCRYPTION CODE: [CLASSIFIED]
PUBLIC KEY: N/A

FROM: CODENAME SURGEON
TO: CODENAME COALMINER

CLASSIFICATION: ELEVENTH HOUR [2/5]
SUBJECT: OVER THE FENCE

/FILE EXTRACTION-RECONSTITUTION COMPLETE/
/START FILE/

SPECIES CANDIDATE//LINE RECORD 94:73:02:75

UNGGOY// Sensors at Balaho indicate stability, no off-planet transport recorded since Solipsis. Runners are claiming that Buwan has been abandoned as well, but we’re keeping our eyes on it anyway. Moderate Unggoy populations have been observed in Sangheilian systems at various intervals.

KIG-YAR// Eayn’s native population continues to grow and expand within reasonable governing parameters; its economic and social lines have stabilized in the wake of the war. Muloqt, Kaelarot, and Valyanop, the primary interplanetary colonial sites, all remain static, with little notable movement. There are rumors of mercenaries operating alongside a handful of more conservative Sangheili states, although that has yet to be substantiated.

SANGHEILI// Most intel here originates from ground contacts, but sensors have assisted with validation. The primary issue with the Sangheili is that of discordant cultural symmetry. It is difficult to assess military growth across several dozen active colonial vectors all with disparate political structures. Nevertheless, any and all visible military activity appears to be internecine in nature.

NOTE: A cluster of Sangheili frontier worlds saw a sudden and anomalous convergence of unregistered ships, largely cruisers of varying classes according to a handful of remote relays stationed nearby. By the time sensors were deployed, the ships were gone. The relays can’t assess numbers or strength, but the readings we have indicate that this wasn’t an expeditionary voyage or something tied to a single state. It appears to have been much larger.

/END FILE/

Update: 10/25/12

Apparently there is a Forerunner character set posted on Waypoint. Based on incomplete/broken images that Waypoint has posted, members of other communities have gone into the code of the images and have found other images with the same forerunner symbols on them in the shape of puzzle pieces. They are removing some garbage code from the images and saving them as .wav format files. They then use a sound wave visualizer programs to reveal the images.

"Save the JPG linked by the icon in the footer. Extract all binary data between "SEC3OP36516" markers and save as a WAV file. Load the WAV in a program that display spectrograms (eg Sonic Visualiser)."

These are the images that they have so far.






Just what do all of these secret codes and numbers mean? Who are the Surgeon and the Coalminer? What do you think, or more importantly....what do you believe?

[TadpoleAB1608]

I got the same email, with the same picture if I clicked on that white hexagon.
Here is a link to that i love bees site: http://www.ilovebees.com/ I never saw that before... lots to listen to there.

Cool, moar Halo! I'm getting excited, are there really people who haven't pre-ordered yet that are going to?

[MrGiggleButts]

i think everything will be revealed when all the info is released ...so idc right now

[Itsduffy]

im excited and ready i got a message on reach when i got on today i was kinda confused about as well so idk they maybe trying to hype everything up for halo 4 with good reason

[Itsduffy]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?&v=0bva4No&sns here is another video of the #evilawakes

[HC VreeDogNight]

this is pretty cool here is a link of a lot of stuff people have been putting together concerning this
https://forums.halowaypoint.com/yaf_...43i-s-ARG.aspx

[Vetteking95]

Who doesn't remember "I Love Bees". That was such an interesting game. Anyway, this is very similar looking to that as you stated Slik. I've also seen those videos but it never came to mind about hidden messages. Although if you take a look at ReadyUpLive's Youtube channel backround and stuff they have it all messed up like you see when the Didact symbol appears :P.

[KOP Pitch Black]

from what I can gather from the above and the TV ad out for halo right now it seems something will awaken inside Master Chief...will of course lead to a Halo 5.

[HC Optimus Layne]

maybe the coalminer is cortana and the surgeon halsey or vice versa. I dunno

[HORRENDOUS NOOB]

yea, ever since halo CE... bungie has done a GREAT job with easter eggs and hidden messages, it is awesome to see that the tradition is being carried over to 343. There have been secret messages in the bulletins for weeks now.

The best thing about it is that they will never tell... bungie never said what the golden elites were about, or really any of their easter eggs for that matter. Awesome job.

[HORRENDOUS NOOB]

They are now saying that 343 has nothing to do with these ads... they are being out sourced as a viral campaign from RUL (ready up live), the company that helped with the map packs for ODST and Reach. Not sure what else they plan on doing.

[HC SLIK™]

UPDATE: Rooster teeth just uploaded a new video on their youtube channel showing the Hoover Dam and features the number 20


http://www.youtube.com/watch?&v=VQT_0bva4No

[Sundown]

it's all 343, Greenskull has been helping with the latest of the images, and with the whole "Lethbridge" part of the conspiracy.
His twitter image was changed to reflect the didact symbol, along with a few #Evilawakens and cryptic messages. As of last night, the same happened to the twitter account of Duststorm (from PODtacular).

I've been following this, but I'm not sure how much I truly understand.

[HC SLIK™]

Updated the original post with the images that were extracted from other images using .wav format as follows;

Save the JPG linked by the icon in the footer. Extract all binary data between "SEC3OP36516" markers and save as a WAV file. Load the WAV in a program that display spectrograms (eg Sonic Visualiser).




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[Bomber™]

or a coalminer finds the ancients and takes it to a surgeon which awakens the ancients!!! hmmm

[HC PillarofFire™]

Updated the original post with the images that were extracted from other images using .wav format as follows;

Save the JPG linked by the icon in the footer. Extract all binary data between "SEC3OP36516" markers and save as a WAV file. Load the WAV in a program that display spectrograms (eg Sonic Visualiser).




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Aren't these symbols from Halo CEA when you do the oracle videos?

[HC SLIK™]

Yes, from what I have found they are used throughout the Halo games. There is a pretty good wiki article about them here

http://halo.wikia.com/wiki/Forerunner_symbols

[TheKittehface]

Halo Easter Eggs are always fun. I hope someone figures it out soon!

All I know is that 11/5 is meh B-day

[HC kegonomics™]

Halo Easter Eggs are always fun. I hope someone figures it out soon!

All I know is that 11/5 is meh B-day

You should walk into wherever you preordered halo 4 from, show them your license and say, "Today is my birthday! Can I get the Haloz please?" lol

[PhatTimmy™]

This was hidden in the source code of todays bulletin.