1 Brilliant Halo Season 3 Theory Connects Kwan To This Forerunner Enemy

Spoilers are ahead for Halo season 2’s finale.

For the duration of its eight-episode run, Halo season 2 has pushed viewers to wonder about the nature of Kwan Ha’s (Yerin Ha) connection to the ever-mysterious Mother (Olwen Fouéré), an apparent shaman who first appears on Sanctuary. Throughout the season, Kwan experiences visions of a looming monster that threatens the galaxy. At first, she shrugs it off as a story her father would tell her on Madrigal, but when she starts being visited by the Mother, Kwan’s perception shifts. After appearing to Kwan on Aleria, the Mother guides her on Onyx, a planet with secret Forerunner connections.

Eventually, Kwan comes face-to-face with the Mother — at least in her mind. The cryptic character even saves Kwan from being subsumed by the Flood. However, in many respects, the Halo season 2 ending provides more questions than answers. Clearly, it isn’t just Master Chief (Pablo Schreiber) and Makee (Charlie Murphy), the “blessed ones” who are capable of activating Forerunner devices, that have crucial roles in Halo’s larger lore. All of this has prompted one Halo season 3 theory to suggest that there’s a secret (and much darker) link between Kwan, the Mother, and an ancient Forerunner enemy.

Halo Season 3 Could Reveal That Kwan Ha was Manipulated By The Gravemind

Kwan Led Miranda & Dr. Halsey To The Flood Sample

When Kwan lands on Onyx with Master Chief and the other Fall of Reach survivors, she follows the Mother through the woods and to a well-like structure. In the underground Forerunner installation, she meets up with Dr. Catherine Halsey (Natascha McElhone), who explains she worked at the hidden site prior to creating the Spartan-II program. Halsey attempts to lead the way, but Kwan actually guides the unlikely pair through the installation, thanks in large part to the Mother. Kwan and Halsey meet up with Commander Miranda Keyes (Olive Gray), who’s attempting to continue Halsey’s long-abandoned research.

Years ago, Dr. Halsey discovered DNA, “both theirs and ours,” in the Forerunner site and used her findings to pinpoint the best genetic candidates for her Spartan-II program. When Halsey and Miranda fail to solve a Forerunner puzzle, Kwan realizes her previous visions were glimpses of stars as they looked centuries ago. After Kwan unlocks the hidden lab, the trio finds a dead Forerunner scientist clutching a device, which contains Flood spores. Without Kwan and her visions, Miranda would never have found the Flood, suggesting Kwan may have been manipulated by the Mother into indirectly unleashing the Flood.

If The Mother Is A Manifestation Of The Gravemind, It Explains How She Stops The Flood

The Mother Is More Likely A Forerunner

The theory suggests that if the Mother is actually an agent of the Flood, she could be a manifestation of the Gravemind. Referred to as the Ancient One in Halo‘s core canon, the Gravemind is a compound intelligence — that is, the shared consciousness of the entire Flood species. In the games and books, the Flood undergo various stages. At first, the Flood is feral, infecting and hijacking any sentient lifeform in its path. Once it overtakes an entire ecosystem, however, it enters the “Coordinated Stage,” allowing the Flood to generate a hive, propagate spores, and unleash a Gravemind.

A compound mind that inhabits all Flood forms, the Gravemind emerges once all available lifeforms have been infected by the Flood. Although it manifests as a tentacled, worm-like monster in the core canon, the Silver Timeline might take a different approach. During the Coordinated Stage, the Flood is more organized and able to communicate telepathically. Interestingly, once the Flood infestation consumes the entirety of the Onyx base, the Mother is able to communicate more clearly with Kwan. While the Mother being a Gravemind form explains how she saves Kwan from the Flood, she’s more likely connected to the Forerunners.

The Halo Season 2 Finale Hints More At Kwan’s Genesong Than A Gravemind Twist

Kwan’s Geas Connects Her To The Forerunners

The Mother’s uncanny ability to freeze the Flood-infected humans in their tracks is incredibly jarring. If she is the Silver Timeline’s spin on the Gravemind, her ability to manipulate the hive mind makes sense. “I knew you’d find me,” the Mother says when she contacts Kwan telepathically. “We knew you would deliver us.” While those lines strongly hint at a twist — that Kwan was being manipulated by a Flood agent — the Mother’s other lines suggest otherwise. “I am you,” the Mother says, before calling Kwan a “Protector” and telling her that all of her ancestors are “within.“

The Halo season 2 finale doesn’t delve into the history and origins of the Flood, but it makes the threat it poses abduntantly clear. The Mother tells Kwan that the Flood desire submission, to cohere everything to them. In the core canon, geas (or genesong) is a Forerunner term that describes a “genetic command imposed on an organism or species” (via Halopedia). A lifeform under the influence of geas follows a set of subconscious orders. Sometimes, those orders are passed on, lasting many generations, which feels more in line with Kwan and The Mother’s connection than a Gravemind-type twist.

How Kwan’s Destiny Intersects With Master Chief’s Role

Halo Season 3 Will Already Pit John-117 Against Makee

After Dr. Halsey discovered the Forerunner and human DNA on Onyx, she searched the galaxy to find candidates with a very specific set of genetics to become her Spartan-II soldiers. This notion teases that Master Chief (and maybe his fellow Spartans) are Halo’s Reclaimers. In the core canon, the term “Reclaimer” is used by Forerunner constructs to refer to humanity — the species that received the Forerunners’ Mantle of Responsibility and became custodians of all life in the galaxy. This explains why humans can use tech like the Halo Array, so the show’s “blessed ones” echo the Reclaimer idea.

It’s hard to know if the Paramount+ series intends to use the terms “blessed one,” “Reclaimer,” and “Protector” interchangeably. Kwan’s status as a Protector could mean something else entirely. Plus, while the Mantle of Responsibility and geas seem to share some commonalities, they are very different concepts. Only highly skilled Forerunners were capable of creating geas and imposing them on a lifeform, whereas the Mantle of Responsibility is more of a species-wide charge. Still, Kwan and Master Chief’s destinies will probably intersect a lot in Halo season 3, especially as the Flood grows.