Why all the missing letters?!

[RadioactiveMicrobe]

Is that fact or opinion? You seem rather certain... :confused


While I think that's one of the better suggestions, decryption really doesn't work that way - it can't. Why only those specific letters? Assuming file degradation, one would expect to see random errors scattered throughout the transmissions. Mil-spec cryptography (even today) is significantly better than that. If encrypted transmissions were subject to random decryption errors each time they were encrypted/decrypted, they would be essentially useless. What if some of those errors/omissions happened to be numerals instead of letters - say dates, or times, or coordinates for an attack? That would throw any coordinated military actions into a complete shamble.


I'm sorry but I can't accept "VHS-like" degradation as the reason. VHS copies degrade because the physical medium degrades, not because of any issue with the decoding algorithms (and it's 30-year old tech - we have already advanced significantly). Not to mention the fact that it is a fair assumption that encryption at that level (and in the future) is done in the digital domain. Even today we can make bit-perfect digital copies of encrypted files (large and small) and reproduce them ad infinitum. I should hope that our technology hasn't deteriorated that far 500 years from now...


I believe that because of these “errors” specific repeatability (and the notable lack of random errors elsewhere), they are not errors at all, but the result of intentional design.

That's what I pretty much figured after I posted that. I didn't really specify that much, and when I think back to when I actually read them, my conclusion wasn't too far off from yours, and was used to just throw off any lother listeners.

 

[ventrue]

Sorry, but I have to disagree with this conclusion as well. Having done my share of technical copywriting and editing, that many errors would never have slipped through the editing/proofing process - even in a mass-market paperback. The errors are too specific and too repeatable to be a simple printing oversight. While the occasional typo or legitimate printing error do slip through the cracks, they tend to be one-off mistakes rather than a specific string of the same error occuring multiple times - especially given that they only occur in what is assumed to be encrypted UNSC orders/communications. If it were simply a case of sloppy editing/printing, I would expect to see numerous errors throughout the entire text...

I'll stick with my explanation anyways. Strange things can apparently happen when printing a book - I have one, where throughout the book a specific word is always missing. Just like the fi-character in Fall of Reach, there is blank space to put it in, but it's not there. However, as far as I remember, this time it's not in some message, but right in the middle of all the other ordinaty text. And no, I don't remember which book. I'm pretty sure it's either by Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child or by Matthew Reilly, but this "error" is hard to find while skimming through the books.

 

[alix965]

Allow me to wade in. I expect that when The author gets back to us on this subject he will confirm that it's a device used collectively by anyone who writes a Halo universe book. Allowing that not ALL of the Halo books feature this trick, I believe that the trick is used to illustrate not degradation but an interruption between the source and the reciever. Sort of like the interruptions you get while watching satellite TV during a storm. I'm sure that 500 years into the future technology will advance to the point where we can watch ESPN without getting pixelated screens, the problem of digital burst transmissions arriving intact to a listening post well beyond our solar system will repeat itself exponentially.

So yeah, I think it's an intentional tell used by the writer and publisher to clue the reader into the mundane logistical problems that the HUMANS in the Halo universe must STILL deal with.

 

[ventrue]

Allow me to wade in. I expect that when The author gets back to us on this subject he will confirm that it's a device used collectively by anyone who writes a Halo universe book. Allowing that not ALL of the Halo books feature this trick, I believe that the trick is used to illustrate not degradation but an interruption between the source and the reciever.

It's too much of a coincidence that it always hit's the very same character.

 

[alix965]

It's too much of a coincidence that it always hit's the very same character.

That's an excellent point Ventrue. However I can't for the life of me understand, if this recurrent anomaly is part of an encryption protocol which makes it a kind of a built-in 'Eyes Only' feature, why expose the reader to it...with no explanation even.
.
WHY, OH WHY??! Gah! I think my head is gonna explode!

:-O

 

[Swift]

Man, I've been reading through this expecting the email from the author to pop and I could be all like "well, finally!"
But it didn't D:

Do we know if this happens in all of the books?

 

[Chevysrule]

I just figured it was a misprint in the book. After all, I have like the only copy of the book that has pages 89 to 120 replaced with pages 217 to 248.

 

[Zat German]

I would not be surprised if it is just a mistake with a Search and Replace command in some draft of the book that slipped through the editing process. I have seen many a sci-fi/fantasy novel with all kinds of Search and Replace or automated spell checking havoc going on. Like when an author makes up a word but half the book has the word replaced with something else that the spell checker liked better. Or when they have a funky caps scheme for a particular word that also happens to be part of another word or phrase that should not be capitalized that way but it is because someone used Search and Replace to make sure it was the same throughout the book.

 

[TheHow7zer]

Sorry for not responding sooner guys, university keeps me busy as heck.
I got an email back from Nylund, but he was just asking which edition it was found in. I replied, but haven't heard anything else since.
I'm going to fire another message his way right now, I need answers!

 

[TheHow7zer]

Cool, I just got a response from Nylund!

Hi Jacob,

I sent this up to 343 Industries and TOR, but they didn't know either. If it is a printing error, the publisher should have some way for you to get a properly printed copy. Check out either Del Rey or TOR's website.


I wish i had a more satisfactory anser for you. Apologies.


--Eric

That's a little disappointing, but maybe there stil is something to it...

 

[ventrue]

That's a little disappointing, but maybe there stil is something to it...

It confirms that he didn't do it intentionally. And I'm amazed he answered you actually!

 

[BEN B023]

How did Eric or the guys NOT know this? Seriously...it's been pointed out on waypoint also I think , and how upset fans are on the new release pretty much being the same garbage(missing letters etc with no real new info).

But Jacob, you should see if you can get a video interview with him via skype or something on behalf of the 405th...like questions ANY halo fan has, such as will 343 consult with him about reviewing scripts for movies, about more books, why did they change timeline of pillar of autumn in REACH. These questions probably can be answered and should be. I see no reason why 343/bungie would not allow it. Can you? It would just be nice to get some answers ya know.

 

[rumble]

Cool, I just got a response from Nylund!

Hi Jacob,

I sent this up to 343 Industries and TOR, but they didn't know either. If it is a printing error, the publisher should have some way for you to get a properly printed copy. Check out either Del Rey or TOR's website.


I wish i had a more satisfactory anser for you. Apologies.


--Eric

That's a little disappointing, but maybe there stil is something to it...

Not necessarily. If it is a plot device that hasn't been revealed yet, it could be that there's disclosure issues going on. Or it could be that the publisher did indeed pull the word out... but I find it odd that he never attempted to read the published book? From what y'all are saying, it sounds like too much of a widespread 'error' that no one has caught it and corrected it. The guy also mispelled answer (if that was copied from the email). Was uh.. "W" one of the letters that goes missing? xD

Unless of course, the error happened and there's backpeddling now to make it look like it wasn't a mistake. Never know with corporate types.

 

[alix965]

Cool, I just got a response from Nylund!

Hi Jacob,

I sent this up to 343 Industries and TOR, but they didn't know either. If it is a printing error, the publisher should have some way for you to get a properly printed copy. Check out either Del Rey or TOR's website.


I wish i had a more satisfactory anser for you. Apologies.


--Eric

That's a little disappointing, but maybe there stil is something to it...

WHATTTTT!!!??????

 

[ventrue]

Not necessarily. If it is a plot device that hasn't been revealed yet, it could be that there's disclosure issues going on.

Halo 4. The thrilling, epic new adventure of the Master Chief. Having been adrift in space for a thousand years he now wakes up to see... nothing.

Humanity's gone, because some idiot mistyped "file" in a few emails, so yet again the fate of his people lies in the hands of the Chief. He's got to travel back in time to correct the mistake, and that means all the way back to where the problem began - The middle ages! Ever wonder where plate armour came from? Stay tuned!

 

[Swift]

They... reverese engineered iron plate armour from military-grade epi-steel? THIS EXPLAIN EVERYTHING!!! Clearly, the covenenat got a hold of his shield technology at some point and reverse engineered THAT to make their shields (which was, of course, reverse engineered to make the human shield systems. Yay for time distortion!). However, having been warned of the impending alien encounters, the humans eventually mount a pre-emptive strike against the covenant, decimating them but unknowingly releasing the Flood spores in the process... without their combined efforts bot hthe covenant and humans are wiped from existence, completely rewriting the timeline and screwing with EVERYTHING.

...sounds like an SG-1 ripoff to me...

 

[HeavyGunner]

Sorry, but I have to disagree with this conclusion as well. Having done my share of technical copywriting and editing, that many errors would never have slipped through the editing/proofing process - even in a mass-market paperback. The errors are too specific and too repeatable to be a simple printing oversight. While the occasional typo or legitimate printing error do slip through the cracks, they tend to be one-off mistakes rather than a specific string of the same error occuring multiple times - especially given that they only occur in what is assumed to be encrypted UNSC orders/communications. If it were simply a case of sloppy editing/printing, I would expect to see numerous errors throughout the entire text...

Stuff like this really gets my gears going. Especially in regard to the whole new theory about Reach's legendary ending. Reach is quickly being found to have the most hidden elements and easter eggs of any game in recent memory... Data Pads that supposedly don't unlock anything, Golden Elite Rangers called "BOB", not to mention the tribute room. If things like this have gone unnoticed for years, I can't even imagine the things we haven't found yet. Anybody else think Bungie is playing God? (Or Forerunner, to be more canonically accurate)

 

[Garland]

Anybody else think Bungie is playing God? (Or Forerunner, to be more canonically accurate)

To be the most canonically accurate, Bungie would be playing Precursor, the race that the young Forerunners worshipped like gods and who were so advanced that they achieved transcendence (kind of like how the Ancients ascended in Stargate).

Also, these little details (like the missing letters) are extremely subtle and well-crafted efforts by Bungie to tell you things about the future without creating too big of paradox. This is because Bungie is just a front for a society of time ninjas. All of the events from Halo will come true, unless something can be done by warning the past in a way that is more subtle than: "we are from the future, listen to us or billions of future people will die." Bungie also throws things in like the Scorpion to make the future more fun to play through, and give it just enough implausability that the average person does not suspect Bungie is run by time ninjas (because seriously, a tank that lets you be both driver and gunner? come on. . .).

Edit: For the missing letters in the Fall of Reach to be an as-yet-unrevealed plot device, which coincides with a Halo work that hasn't been released yet, requires an absurd amount of pre-planning. Like time ninjas going back in time and building the pyramids just so that some guy can make a Kurt Russell movie that will spawn the longest running sci-fi show ever. . .

 

[TheHow7zer]

Stuff like this really gets my gears going. Especially in regard to the whole new theory about Reach's legendary ending. Reach is quickly being found to have the most hidden elements and easter eggs of any game in recent memory... Data Pads that supposedly don't unlock anything, Golden Elite Rangers called "BOB", not to mention the tribute room. If things like this have gone unnoticed for years, I can't even imagine the things we haven't found yet. Anybody else think Bungie is playing God? (Or Forerunner, to be more canonically accurate)

Yeah, those BOB's and the seeming impossibilty of finding the Legendary ending is really ticking me off! I mean, come on Bungie. Data pads with no point? Banshees with no point? BOB's with no point?

I'm beggining to give up on the whole idea.