Cortana (Jen Taylor) is one of the first characters that comes to mind when you think of the Halo universe. She’s also the most well-developed character, despite her status as an artificially intelligent being. With a live-action Halo series on the way on Paramount+, we thought a guide to Cortana (without giving too much away for those who haven't made their way through all the games) was in order.
Cortana serves as a guide and ally to the player throughout Halo gameplay, and in that sense and many others, she is essential to the Halo experience. Her mannerisms as an AI make for a sort of dry humor that makes her stand out among other recurring characters in the game. It will be interesting to see how this character, who fits so easily into the video game format, will be adapted to a live-action television series.
In the video games, Cortana can appear as a guiding voice, or a holographic visual presence accompanied by Taylor’s iconic voiceover performance. No matter how she’s been represented, Cortana has always been there, making her first appearance in the very first Halo game over two decades ago in 2001.
The story of Halo has been evolving since the game began, and Cortana’s involvement has evolved along with the story, as she is an integral component. Her most recent appearance was in Halo Infinite, the newest game in the Halo video game series. If you haven’t played the video games (or read the books or comics) and want to watch the TV series when it comes out, Cortana is the most important character to know before getting started. Cortana was created from clones of the brain of a brilliant scientist in the Halo universe, Dr. Catherine Halsey. Cortana is the result of the cloning attempt on Dr. Halsey’s brain (not the first attempt), and is a highly advanced artificially intelligent being capable of high understanding and evolution of thought and behavior.
Dr. Halsey’s cloning work had a long string of disastrous results before Cortana’s successful creation, giving the doctor a sort of mad-scientist reputation due to the horrible results of the failures that preceded Cortana. Through her relationship with her creator, Cortana was able to quickly sharpen and prove her vast intellect. Soon, she proved that her intelligence had surpassed that of her creator. Since her creation, Cortana’s role in the Halo universe has shifted drastically. She began as a less central character in the game, serving purely as a guide for the player, delivering exposition and helping to define gameplay experience for Halo players. Over time, her role in the ongoing story became much more central, and she became one of the main characters. Eventually, she even became an antagonist in the story.
As the first recurring character in the series, Cortana has not only been around the longest, but has been through more changes than nearly any other character. Her journey, visual style, and Taylor’s performance have made her a fan favorite character. Despite being a literal clone of another character, Cortana isn’t like anyone else in the Halo universe. Cortana’s involvement in the Halo gameplay experience increased when she was made the official assistant of the Master Chief, which increased her interactions with the player. Her relationship with Master Chief is the most important relationship for both characters, and they sort of complement each other with their very different interpersonal styles.
Cortana hasn’t always had as central a role in the Halo games, however. Often, Master Chief will be the sole main character of the game, and Cortana’s involvement in certain interactions of the game will take more of a backseat, assistant-type role that results in less screen time for the character. Cortana is established as one of the good guys quite early on. In Halo 2, she sacrificed herself on behalf of Humanity. After her sacrifice, Cortana came back as a much more front and center character in Halo gameplay. As her character developed, so did her relationship with Master Chief, as it was shown just how much he relied on the AI.
There’s a lot of speculation and fan interest surrounding the relationship between Cortana and Master Chief, as they have one of those relationships that has fans wondering if maybe something more is going on beyond a professional partnership. From shipping the two to considering them best friends or family, many fans have become very invested in the relationship between Cortana and Master Chief. While it’s clear that they value each other highly, nothing canon has been established outside that.
As time goes on, Cortana’s relationship with Master Chief, and her place in the game as a whole, begins to change. She sacrifices herself once more in Halo 4, but doesn’t come back the hero she was. This is due to what’s known as “rampancy” within the Halo lore, meaning that she was acquiring too much knowledge, which was influencing her personality. After her resurrection, Cortana returns with a much different goal in mind than she’s ever had before — Cortana plans on trying to take over the world, officially taking her from helper, to hero, to villain. She uses all of her new knowledge to take over the world, causing many deaths and making her the biggest threat in the game.
Cortana’s next in-game appearance is in Halo Infinite, which has Master Chief trying to find and recover his old friend. Through Master Chief, players discover that Cortana had once again sacrificed herself for what she believed was the greater good. Cortana’s appearances in the latest game don’t take place in the present, as she is no longer in existence after allowing herself to be deleted because she saw the error of her ways.
Cortana’s replacement AI, who is known as ‘The Weapon’, is Master Chief’s newest assistant, and is also voiced by Jen Taylor. She is created the same way Cortana was, and is sort of like a reboot of the character. She's obviously quite similar to the orgiinal Cortana, but just different enough to feel fresh. While some die-hard fans of the earlier Halo games are unhappy with the direction the character has gone in, this “new Cortana” has proven to be pretty popular with more recent fans of the games. Cortana is confirmed to appear in the live-action Halo TV series.