Did We Solve Halo 3's ODST Mystery? (Secret Glyph Project) 

this video deserves way more attention. I never made these connections when I played but its a perfect explanation concerning the circles of hell

"I know everything about Halo" *watches this video "I know nothing about Halo"

I'll be honest, I'm the one that's been putting the glyphs around at night

And now we patiently wait until Marty sees this.....

"Marty! The glyphs! What do they mean!" That made me laugh

Imagine being a covenant in New Mombasa seeing a bunch of humans looking at walls for hours on end

as an Australian, cactus is slang for something that's dead so calling land of the cactus just makes me think of the land of the dead which is kinda funny seeing its being portrayed as hell on earth

Here is some stuff that I found doing my own investigation: The J on the j-signs is the logo of the Jotun corporation in the halo universe, a company that makes agricultural equipment. In tayari plaza on the level mombasa streets, there is the same secret area as on sunken plaza, it doesn't activate any secret glyphs, but one of the rooms is filled with all the differnt Asklon posters(also known as AMG, it is the corporation that makes warthogs, you can see a lot of their buildings and posters on mombasa streets and Kikowani station). The Asklon logo kinda resembles an upside-down Y, like some of the glyphs, so maybe it's connected to the glyps? I also noticed that on the poster with Asklon locations, some of the letters spell "HERESY" if you read it vertically, but idk if that has any significance. There is also a Misriah armory poster that used to be an Asklon poster before the "destiny awaits" easter egg was patched out, possibly involving destiny(another bungie game) in this mystery, however I find that unlikely. There is also grafitti saying "What now?" sprayed on the wall in the same room, possibly pointing to something you should do after going there, or it may not have any significance. Unrelated to the secret room but related to the corporations, I found that the poem Hollow Men is often used to describe corporations and how soullessly they sometimes behave. Idk if this is helpful, probably isn't, but I am sharing it with you guys anyway just in case it had some connection to the mystery

In Halo: the Fall of Reach it shows Engineers disassembling and reassembling human technology. I've always imagined it's the Engineer who reassembles Dare's droppod...

This is why Halo ODST is one _Hell_ of a video game

The devs who just wanted some cool glyphs in the game:

Confirmation bias was certainly the most frustrating part of developing the inferno theory for sure. Ties can be made.... literally EVERYWHERE, which made for disconnects when we dug too far in, and made the evidence that was extremely valid feel redundant. It's the most infuriating part of it all. Thanks for the shoutout though guys. Still got a long way to go on this!

"We need to talk about the prophet of regret first" -Shows 2 clips of prophets that are not Regret-

I always interpreted the engineering being at Dare’s crash site with Dare’s helmet as that engineering having helped Dare escape (Maybe by opening the doors to the underground for her or locking them behind her?). That’s why it was hiding from the grunts but popped up when Buck showed up, because maybe it was going to show Buck where Dare was?

about the pod, keep in mind that engineers really enjoying taring stuff apart and putting them back. Could be an engineer helped Dare to get out of the pod, then "repaired" it after she's gone.

I was wondering if I was the only person that thought 'Halo ODST' parallels 'Marathon' (one of Bungie's earlier games) much better than any other Halo game. - A large part of the campaigns story can be accessed through terminals. - Both protagonists start off their stories asleep. - Leela an A.I. ( like Vergil) makes contact with the Security Officer (who is much like Rookie) and directs him throughout the game. - Both Vergil and Leela are thought dead until it is later revealed that they were just temporally disabled by the villains. - When the protagonist (be it Halo's Rookie or Marathon's Security Officer) meets the games A.I. the games share an eerily similar format. Vergil/Leela sends the Rookie/Security Officer on a mission then Vergil/Leela informs the Rookie/Security Officer that they made contact with a race of alien supercomputers/alien cyborgs, known as the Engineer/S'pht, who are a race enslaved by another alien race commanding the attack, the Brutes/Pfhor. Also as a random side note, the name Durandal (the main enemy in the Marathon series) and the word 'oliphant' (a vehicle heavily featured in ODST) both were first recorded in 'the Song of Roland' where they are the names of Roland's sword and horn respectively. I don't think this has much relevance here but maybe there are clues in Marathon or (probably less likely) the Song of Roland. If not, I hope this at least interested someone.

The "J" sign is a logo for Jotun Heavy Industries, aka ground zero for first contact with the covenant, and the location of the only documented case of an engineer killing a human. It's also thought to be responsible for the "olifant" machine meant to transport Jonas (the 800 pound man), as well as Garbage trucks. It's likely that the "J" is the important part of the imagery, and not the braille-looking text at all.

Short answer to video title: "no, we have no idea what the glyphs mean"

Its so weird how nobody knew anything about this for so many years and how big of a puzzle it is.

23:43 I think you could have also mentioned that the ODST's are often referred to as 'Hell jumpers'. Whenever I called in ODST's in Halo Wars, that's all I remember them saying lol

This is such an interesting mystery, great video guys

"B-net" is short for "battlenet." However, it being spelled "bee-net" in the subtitles is probably intentional.

ODST is 11 years old Damn

What blows my mind is that feet first into hell was a metaphor for the whole game

I have been waiting for an update on this! It was so interesting with the glyphs and the dead elites!

Land of Cactus, desert, what does the Desert have sand, what level has sand? The Zoo.

If Marty was involved, isn’t it likely that there is an audio component to this like IWHBYD in H3?

Bruh, I'm literally playing Halo 3: ODST rn and thought I'd pause for a sec to find out what the glyphs mean. Then I find this video uploaded just over an hour ago lol. Thank yoooooou

On Dare’s droppod being closed when she escaped, it could be that the engineer fixed the pod, engineers have a passion for repairing items. It’s stated in one of the halo books (one of the Onyx ones, I think) that a group of engineers repaired a nuclear bomb, or something, and blew themselves up

A possibility for the "Y" glyphs is that they're actually specifically intended for the prophet of truth, and they're Y shaped because they resemble the forerunner keyship. The Y glyph by itself could be a sort of heraldic symbol used by truth.

To sort of back up that "9 circles of Hell" theory, ever notice in Data Hive that there is big white circles in and around the Data Center?

These Easter eggs have really made me fall in love with this game all over again

The Halo Universe is so interesting there is so many different perspectives, Mysteries, and stories to be told it’s a gift that keeps on giving

Just a reminder. Only a select few knew about the Easter Egg, so it being a direct reference to the circles of hell would be odd considering anyone who helped create the game knew about that.

Has anyone noticed that Truth's chair has the Ys on it in the last cutscene? I don't think it was like that in Halo 3.

Halo has always liked its music easter eggs (i.e. the rings in Halo 3) what if the J braille is like the card reading things for a music box? I don't know if that is how it works, but it is possible it is some music thing, if there is an easter egg.

Marty's tweet, Still having fun whY 🙁? must be referencing the Y shaped glyphs with the superintendents frowny face

"Land of the cactus." A painful place that sounds, must be a perilous journey.

What are the chances Marty o'donnell just comments "nice music"

11:39 didn't the data pads in halo reach elude to the "assembly" of AI that guided humanity accidently start the war by reaching out to the covenant before humanity had even discovered aliens? Also in one of the halo books there are hints to this. I'm pretty sure installation00 did a video on that bit

ODST’s don’t jump into hell, They make sure it’s crowded

Let's just take a second to appreciate the shear depth to the lore in the Halo universe. It's simply mind blowing how extensive it is

The problem with this awesome mystery is that, if it WAS just aesthetics to add to the level design, and that the glyphs mean nothing... the developers would never say. “We’ve seen you investigating for 12 years... we don’t know how to tell you this, but there isn’t anything special about them”

The ODST soundtrack alone was legendary. Huge shout-out to Martin O'Donnell and Michael Salvatori 👌

Is it possible, that something might be hidden on Reach? After all. There are a lot of sayings on the wall that just say "Remember Reach." Maybe hidden Glyphs we never say? Or Halseys terminal has the translations?

I never knew the connections between ODST and Inferno, and being a big fan of both, that was very cool to learn

This video was amazing. Thank you for making it! I always had a fondness in my heart for ODST that I couldn't entirely articulate. Thank you for expressing what I had felt on a subconscious, almost spiritual level.

Could the J dots be inverted? Like put a dot where there isn't one and remove the ones that are there?

Congratulations to the legend who made an RvB reference and said "Morris Code"

I read the Divine Comedy in high school and played ODST afterwards, and I gues I kinda just thought it odd that the engineer's name was Vergil. Great video!

I'm just so mind blown, I got chills listening to this. Please keep investigating, we have to know the answer. It's stuff like this that sets Halo and the old Bungie crew apart from the crowd. Not only great gameplay level design and character design, but good story and underlying plot with lots of secrets band rabbit holes to go down.

I love these sometimes random videos. And "Squidhenge" makes me laugh.

Interesting that TS Elliot’s “Hollow Men” should be referenced. There was a huge conspiracy surrounding this specific poem regarding a hidden unknown skull (later known to be the Assassin Skull) on the level Cortana in Halo 3 by several dedicated members on the Bungie forums back in 2007-2008. Lots of connections with the symbology of the poem and triggers within the level that had no clear evident dots between them. It was about 46 pages deep on the Bungje forums back in the Halo 3 days. Ultimately the most dedicated members stated they were on the brink of some major discovery when their accounts were blacklisted and the topic was locked for good most likely in reference to peeping into the code against ToS/CoC. Interesting to hear that poem referenced to a Halo game almost 13 years later tho.

You could check if there are any interesting things in other missions, because you did find other glyphs on the banshee mission you play as buck(I forgot the name)

you can also follow the path laid out by the audio logs. I realized this when, after getting the garbage truck log, we stumble by a garbage truck. we realized Virgil was using these to point us in the right direction. So it's possible that the Engineers are sending these glyphs via Virgil's instruction as a way to guide the player. Maybe the face on the glyphs are also related. Mad = wrong way and vice versa.

What if you overlap all of the dots on the J signs? And then try that with Braille and everything else?

I think Dare got attacked, lost her helmet, and escaped through the door. Then perhaps the engineer was investigating the drop pod and interpreted re-attaching the door as “fixing” it

Oh yes, great work my dudes! Now... What about Assembly's glyphs 👀? Personally, I think they're some sort of countdown that might trigger something cool! P.s.: What if the location itself of the glyphs and the “J” signs serve as coordinates that direct you someplace interesting when mixed? If that doesn't work, mapping each clue and seeing if it creates a symbol of its own or if it graphically directa you somewhere could be the way to go!

My impression from Dare's pod is that the pod opened in an unintended fashion (maybe she used a grenade or jury-rigged the explosive bolts on the pod) damaging her helmet, but then the engineer shows up and fixes the door shut on instinct.

wait...the prophet's chair in that cutscene looks to be full of Y's. Seems like a weird choice.

I was waiting for this video lmao probably one of the most interested ive been in an easter egg

Title: did we? First 2 sec of video: still to this day. Thanks for saving me 43 mins

Engineers are Covie stoners confirmed "Just chill out, go with the flow, man. We don't want no war" *Engineer squealing noises*

I've never believed in any conspiracy theories, but this... This makes me wonder...

Me and my brother finally played ODST and it was so fun, takes for inspiring me to play!

28:03 Reading those lines I can only imagine the Halo 3 intro, the very first cutscene.

So glad you guys are working on this. I always thought Halo 3 Odst was so underappreciated and under rated. It was instantly my favorite halo game when the prologue hit.

This is like a film theory class.. Teacher: "THIS is what they meant! The apple represents the state of the human mind and the protagonists lust for revenge!" The films producer: "Nah, actually I just thought it would be funny if the dude had an apple fetish." Teacher: "SHUT UP! You know NOTHING!"

I have no idea how you two are able to get these videos out so quickly while maintaining amazing levels of quality

Girls: It’s just a game. Boys:

In the Kilo-5 trilogy, one of the Engineers says that the Brutes told them that of the Humans captured any of them, they would force them to destroy Forerunner artifacts. The Engineers accepted the collars because they didnt want to be forced to violate their most important responsibility, the protection and maintenance of Forerunner sights. Good series, highly recommended.

This is a stretch; The three prophets seem like a twisted version of the father, son, and the holy ghost. Do with that what you will.

The poem Divine Comedy as a whole fits overall better in ODST than Inferno alone

Headcannon: The rookies name is Dante.

I never realized how deep this game goes.. just makes me love it so much more.

I can't remember the name but there was an achievement for beating the game without killing any of the Virgil things(sorry brain fart🤦‍♂️) and one for killing them all. Could having one of those change any of the signs when exploring the streets? I always thought it was a weird achievement

You can make the 3-Super Intendant Glyph appear without glitching through the door. Depending on where you go it resets to being blank, but you can respond the glyph repeatedly. You just have to visit 3 weapon supply rooms in a row that have the big Super intendant glyph. (Sometimes there is no large superintend Glyph and you have to restart your visits excluding that room that run) I have only tried counter clockwise reset on east side of map. Hope this helps.

Keep it up love your content I’m still trying to beat halo 2 laso it’s giving me sleepless nights👍

personally i think the biggest issue is that ODST was a game developed to make money. a game wont sell if it doesnt have well developed content. i cant help but wonder how big this easter egg is, because theres no way they would spend so much development time on something like this instead of the gameplay/story/etc...right?

Wow. I just started to binge watch your other videos ... what and seen you uploaded this an hour ago. Subbed

in my years of playing, Ive never noticed that Virgil uses signs to direct you

A few points I didn't see mentioned in the video... Based on only the two tweets from Marty: 1. when I googled "land of cactus" the first result is an old movie titled "In the Land of Cactus" 2. in the same search in google images, I came across a picture that caught my eyes. It's a picture of "teddy bear cactus" and it looks very similar to all the Y glyphs. Marty had also emphasized the Y in his second tweet. So here are two more rabbit holes to go down: one about a film and another about a plant that resembles the glyph (wiki: Cylindropuntia bigelovii or teddy bear cholla), both of which are straight from Marty's tweets. Also a disclaimer that I am not familiar with Halo lore (I've only played the games and read articles here and there), so this is a very high-level, outsider suggestion.

So excited that years later, the search for answers has been renewed. Personally, when I was younger,I always assumed the Y-glyphs were referencing the Forerunner Dreadnaught. It was the the key to activating the Portal that Truth was searching for

9:51 That you Stalin?

I want to stop to say thank you. Not only you, but all the people who dig into things deeply, those who put in the leg work to unravel stuff for it's deep influences, and present it to the world in a comprehensible format, as we others would never know about any of that, because we walk the earth with blinkers.

Try to commit the sin for each Dante level on the right level

Her drop pod door was closed by the engineer probably, in the books they take apart things and put them back together to try and learn how they work.

Correction, and it's an important one: When you were translating from Latin to English, you spelt "perfida vermis" rather than "perfidia vermis." The extra "i" changes the translation to "perfidiousness worm." I searched "define perfidiousness" and the definition is "adjective. deliberately faithless; treacherous; deceitful: a perfidious lover." So while I don't understand that last part, I think its important to note that not only is there species called "treacherous," but also "deliberately faithless." We're talking about how deliberate Bungie was with all of their cryptic messages and such, that being said, it wouldn't make sense for them to call the religious alien cult's leaders: deliberately faithless. I think this is interesting to think about, and definitely needs more consideration, because while it seems like a small thing, it's possibly one of the most important things in Halo, considering everything that happens in the first 5 or 6 games has to do with the Covenant's religion.

As for Dare's pod door being intact and closed, The Fall Of Reach mentions that when Chief first sighted Engineers, they were disassembling and reassembling various things, including cars, likely to learn how they worked. So it could be that the Engineer had rebuilt or repaired the pod after she had left.

The Glyphs Marty. What do they mean?

Great vid bud. two quick ideas for you: 1. Towards the end of the vod you described multiple instances of a sound effect. Just capture and play it for us next time. Gives us better info and saves you the time of describing it. 2. Where the Y gates are concerned, have you considered that orientation might be key to understanding them? Like, that the direction the top of the glyph is pointing may have an effect on the meanings of the glyphs written around the 3 sides. Just my 2 cents bro, again really solid content.

Love these videos bro thank you rocket sloth very nice

Dude, BLEW MY MIND!!! The fact that the glyphs weren't for us is a little underwhelming but it makes sence.

Maybe the glyphs are just the friends we made along the way

The J signs could be audio rather then some sort of code. They did this for a necklace in Death Stranding where the necklace makes the Snake Game Over theme from the metal gear series. If these are notes or something the 3 together probably make all or most of a song.

Engineers have a knack for taking things apart and putting them back together really fast, so I just assumed that that engineer repaired Dare's pod

my man put a 3 min intro inside his intro of the intro to his intro

Makes me look back at ghost in the shell 2.0 innocence, that's full of quotes

Did my mans just say "verisimilitude"

Reminds me of why Bungie never made a collectable map for the official ODST strategy guide which was standard for most games because they didn't want to compromise the method that's supposed to be used in game to find the audio logs... makes more sense now after watching this.