Halo 2's original ending has been crowded in mystery for the most part, but it appears as though it is time for the world to know what Bungie had really planned for Halo 2 and it wasn't a cliffhanger. Former Bungie composer Marty O'Donnell sat down with IGN to reveal quite of information on the Bungie lawsuit, the cancelled game 'Gypsum' and Halo 2's original story.
"I think the statute of limitations has run out on this ridiculous private story," began O'Donnell before detailing how Bungie had envisioned the end of Halo 2. The ending that O'Donnell details has the Arbiter still referred to as the Dervish (the name was changed to Arbiter prior to release) and Michael Wincott as the Prophet of Truth.
"Basically you were supposed to go back to Earth City, find the Ark and at that point, that was the Ark that opened up – remember the thing coming down? That was where the Ark was, it wasn't some other place. That thing on the earth had been where the Ark had been buried by the Covenant.
The Prophet of Truth had come back to there and the ending was you and the Dervish chasing the Prophet of Truth through the Ark and having a grand and glorious conclusion on earth, finishing the fight right there on earth.
Of course the line 'finish the fight' came in later when we had to rewrite everything and do a cliffhanger, which was, by the way, so painful for me and everyone at Bungie to throw that all out."
Essentially, Bungie's original ending would have effectively changed a major part of Halo 3.
