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For the location, see Silent Cartographer.



“
Search for the map room that will lead you to the secrets of Halo.
”



The Silent Cartographer is the fourth campaign level of Halo: Combat Evolved. The Covenant believe that the Silent Cartographer is somewhere under an island, with multiple structures concealing an installation. John-117 leads the UNSC Marines in an assault on an island that contains the map room for the Halo Installation, in order to locate the Control Room.

Transcript[]

Pelican1

The incoming pelicans.

The Silent Cartographer[]

{Original Cutscene} {Anniversary Cutscene}

Two Pelican dropships, Echo 419 and Bravo 022, approach an island, low over the water. John-117 is inside the leading dropship, Echo 419.

{Gameplay}

  • Cortana: "The Covenant believe that what they call "the Silent Cartographer" is somewhere under this island. The Cartographer is a map room that will lead us to Halo's control center. The island has multiple structures and installations. One of them contains the map room."
  • Carol Rawley (COM): "We're approaching the LZ, it's gonna be hot! Get set to come out swingin'. Touchdown! Hit it, Marines!"
Scrn 037

John-117 leads the beach-head assault.

  • Staff Sergeant Stacker: "Go, go, go!"

and/or

  • Staff Sergeant Stacker: "Pile out people, let's move!"

or

  • Marine: "Pile out! Go, go, go!"

Once the beach is cleared of Covenant hostiles:

  • Marine: "Area's secure. All hostiles have been eliminated."

or

  • Cortana: "Area's secure."
  • Foehammer (COM): "Affirmative. Echo 419 inbound. Somebody order a Warthog?"
  • Sergeant Stacker (COM): "Hey, I didn't know you made house calls, Foehammer!"

or

  • Marine (COM): "Music to my ears, Foehammer!"
  • Foehammer (COM): "You know our motto: We Deliver."

As John boards the driver seat of the Warthog, two Marines occupy the passenger seat and the turret.

  • Cortana: "Okay, let's move out. Let's go find the map room that will show us the location of Halo's control center."

As the team approaches the main building:

  • Cortana: "There, in the cliff wall; I'll bet the Silent Cartographer is somewhere inside that facility."

(On Heroic / Legendary):

  • Cortana: "They're already inside! We need to get in there quick, before they discover the location of Halo's control center!"

As John-117 shoots his way into the facility:

  • Cortana: "The Covenant are putting up a real fight! The Cartographer must be here. My analysis indicates that the map room should be at the bottom floor of this facility. Let's keep going inside."

John reaches the top of a slope that leads to an open door. A group of Covenant stand guard at the door, with a Zealot blocking the way in.

  • Cortana: "Don't let them lock the doors!"

The doors close.

  • Cortana: "Interesting...I underestimated the Covenant's understanding of Halo's subsystems. They've locked the doors, and we don't have enough firepower to get through them."
  • Cortana (COM): "Cortana to Keyes."
  • Captain Jacob Keyes (COM): "Go ahead, Cortana. Have you found the control center?"
  • Cortana (COM): "Negative, Captain. The Covenant have impeded our progress. We can't proceed unless we can disable this installation's security system."
Forerunnerthingy

The Cartographer's Security Facility

  • Captain Keyes (COM): (slight pause) "Understood. We're still en route to the objective. I may be out of contact when we get there. (pause) Here are your orders. I want you to use any means necessary to force your way into the facility and find Halo's control center. We have to get to the center before the Covenant, and failure, people, is not an option."
  • Foehammer (COM): "Echo 419 to ground teams. I'll stay on station and keep an eye out for Covenant boogies."
  • Sergeant Stacker (COM): "Second squad, ready to roll! Soon as everybody's topside!"
  • Marine (COM): "LZ looks secure, Sir, nothing moving."
  • Captain Keyes (COM): "Good luck, people. Keyes out."
  • Cortana: "We need to find the security override to get this door open."

As John passes a path leading up into the island

  • Cortana: "It looks like there is a path leading to the interior of the island."

If John passes the substation, which juts out of the cliffs:

  • Cortana: "Well, there's the entrance to the security substation, but it looks like we'll have to look for another way up."

John makes his way towards the security substation, fighting past multiple Covenant troops including a pair of Mgalekgolo. Eventually, he reaches the substation. Once inside, he has to deal with another pair of Mgalekgolo.

After reaching the security override panel:

  • Cortana: "Use the holo panel to shut down the security system."

Alternative Dialogue: If the Security Station is entered before going to the auto-locking door to the map room.

  • Cortana: "This isn't the map room. Analyzing... (pause) This is a security override station for the main facility, located somewhere else on this island. Shut the system down so the Covenant won't be able to lock us out."

Note: This causes the lines of Captain Keyes, the Marines, and Foehammer to not be told since the door is already open

Once John shuts the system down:

{Original Cutscene} {Anniversary Cutscene}

The previously locked door opens to reveal the Zealot Sangheili, which dashes out of the door in surprise.

  • Cortana: "Good. That should open the door that leads into the main shaft."

If you shut down the security system first:

  • Cortana: "We should now have access to the main facility. Let's find the map room."

{Gameplay}

It's Quiet...[]

As John moves down the hall from the security substation, towards the exit:

  • Bravo 022 Pilot (COM): "Mayday, mayday! Dropship Bravo 022 taking enemy fire! Repeat! We are under heavy fire and are losing altitude!"
  • Cortana (COM): "Understood. We're on our way."

A group of Stealth Sangheili attempt to ambush John. John defeats them and heads back up.

John exits the substation and sees Bravo 022's wreckage on the beach below. Marine bodies and Covenant forces can be seen around it.

  • Cortana: "Chief, Bravo 022 was bringing us some heavy weapons. After I saw we were up against Hunters, I thought you could use them. Let's move down the beach. Keep an eye out for any cargo we can salvage."

John returns to the entrance of the Cartographer which is now guarded by Mgalekgolo. John defeats the Mgalekgolo and enters the structure once more.

Once you enter through the now-unlocked door leading to the shaft:

Shafted[]

{Original Cutscene} {Anniversary Cutscene}

John-117 walks out onto the platform overlooking the shaft and kicks a loose piece of debris down it. It falls down the seemingly endless shaft.

{Gameplay}

As John moves farther down into the facility, into the third of four levels

  • Foehammer (COM): "Foehammer to ground teams, you got two enemy dropships coming in fast!"
  • Sergeant Stacker (COM): "Dammit! Okay, people, we got company comin', let's set the table. Engage enemy forces on sight!"
  • Cortana (COM): "It'll be easier to hold them off from inside the structure. Can you get inside?"
  • Sergeant Stacker (COM): "Negative! They're closin' in too fast, negative! (pause) Chief! You gotta find the Cartographer! We'll keep 'em busy as long as we can!"
  • Cortana (COM): "Give 'em hell, Marine."
  • Cortana: "We'll be in a tight spot if we don't get out of here before additional reinforcements arrive. Let's find that map."

When John finally reaches the Cartographer:

  • Cortana: "There. That holo-panel should activate the map."

John activates the holo-panel:

{Original Cutscene} {Anniversary Cutscene}

The Silent Cartographer holo display begins to spin, and the diagram of Halo begins to break into sections.

  • Cortana: "Analyzing... Halo's control center is located there. That structure appears to be some sort of temple or shrine, if I've interpreted this correctly. (pause) Interesting. A shrine is an unlikely place to put such a significant installation."

{Gameplay}

  • Cortana (COM): "Cortana to Captain Keyes."

Slight pause.

  • Foehammer (COM): "The Captain has dropped out of contact, Cortana. His ship may be out of range or having equipment problems."
  • Cortana (COM): "Keep trying. Let me know when you've reestablished contact, and then tell him that John-117 and I have determined the location of the control center. We'll be heading there as soon as we're topside."
  • Foehammer (COM): "Affirmative. Foehammer out."

Covenant reinforcements, including the Zealot from the first cutscene, have retaken the upper levels of the facility, forcing John to fight his way back up.

Once John reaches the exit of the facility

  • Cortana (COM): "Cortana to Echo 419. The Chief and I are topside, requesting pickup."
  • Foehammer (COM): "Roger. On my way."

As John boards the Pelican:

{Original Cutscene} {Anniversary Cutscene}

Echo 419 lifts off from the platform and rises quickly, circling the center of the island.

  • Cortana (COM): "Let's get moving. Foehammer. Here are coordinates and a flight plan I've worked out."
  • Foehammer (COM): "But, Cortana... these coordinates are underground."
  • Cortana (COM): "The Covenant did a thorough seismic scan. My analysis shows that Halo is honeycombed with deep tunnels - which circle the whole ring."

The structure where the first pair of Mgalekgolo appeared lifts up, revealing an underground tunnel; Echo 419 lowers into it as the structure returns to its original position.

  • Foehammer (COM): "I hope your analysis is on-the-money, Cortana. This Pelican won't turn on a dime."
  • Cortana (COM): "Look on the bright side, Foehammer. The last thing the Covenant will expect is an aerial insertion... from underground."

Echo 419 continues to lower through the structure, the top closes with a crash before everything goes dark.

Level ends.

Achievements[]

Icon Name Description Value
Beachhead

HTMCC AchievementArt Beachhead

Beachhead Storm The Silent Cartographer beach with no Marine casualties on Heroic or Legendary. 10G
HTMCC AchievementArt Charted Charted Beat the par score on The Silent Cartographer. 10G
Grenadier (achievement) Grenadier After activating the map, complete the level without firing a shot on Heroic difficulty or harder (CEA only). 25G
HTMCC AchievementArt Hit-The-Beach Hit The Beach Beat the par time on The Silent Cartographer. 10G
HTMCC AchievementArt Idle-Hands Idle Hands Activate Terminal 4 on The Silent Cartographer. 5G
HTMCC AchievementArt Pacifist Pacifist Finish The Silent Cartographer without shooting, grenades, melee, dying or restarting. 10G
HTMCC AchievementArt Skulltaker-Halo-CE-Bandana Skulltaker Halo: CE: Bandana Find and claim the Bandana skull in remastered mode. 5G
HTMCC AchievementArt Skulltaker-Halo-CE-Famine Skulltaker Halo: CE: Famine Find and claim the Famine skull in remastered mode. 5G
The Silent Cartographer (achievement)

HTMCC AchievementArt The-Silent-Cartographer

The Silent Cartographer Complete The Silent Cartographer. 25G (CEA) or 10G (MCC)

Trivia[]

Glitches[]

  • If you drive a Warthog out into the ocean, you can't drown even if you are fully submerged. The marines will also live, and won't drown when talking (which can be done by shooting them).
  • The Zealot on the first level who locks the door can be killed using several Magnum clips; however, he will still appear later in the level, as well as the corpse you will have created.
  • You can get on top of the island by grenade jumping or by making a Hunter push you up the cliffs.
  • It can also be noted that a Warthog can be driven down into the main structure to where the locked door is. If the Marines in the Warthog stay in the tunnels they will survive the Covenant attack at the end of the level after activating the Silent Cartographer.
  • It is possible to drive the Warthog into the doorway before it locks near the beginning of the level. If done properly, the door will close through the midsection of the Warthog, with the driver and passenger seats on the other side of the locked door. After this happens, the person driving will be able to get out of the Warthog and stay on the other side of the doorway, skipping a large chunk of the level. If the player does this, they will find that the Zealot on the other side does not seem to have its AI enabled (he won't move or act), and can be killed easily, though he will appear again upon coming back up after activating the Cartographer. This glitch is quite hard to do, requiring that the Warthog be driven at full speed and with perfect accuracy into the doorway, and usually requires several tries, a bit of luck, and knowledge of the path.
    • A simple method (with practice) for achieving this is to drive the Warthog at full speed toward the door, while whipping the Warthog to the right and exiting the vehicle. If done properly, the momentum of the now-empty Warthog, parallel to the door, should bump you through the threshold and scoot you into/past the dormant Sangheili.
      • Additional tips: exit the Warthog slightly before whipping it, and keep "walking" towards the direction of the door.
  • After you open the locked door and have managed to get the whole Warthog through and go to the part where John-117 kicks the pebble, he will get rammed by the Warthog. He just stands there; the pebble does its scripted animation, but not John-117.
  • If you don't move from the very beginning of the level until the Marines have cleared the beach and the Warthog is down, the normal dialogue will start with Cortana saying to move up the beach, without you being there to start it by getting in the driver seat of the Warthog.
  • After going inside the structure to deactivate the security systems and once the pelican has crashed, there is a glitch that allows you to walk in mid-air. This can be done by grabbing an overshield in the floor next to the Covenant supply crate and then jumping towards the tree to the right of the structure and you can walk in mid-air for some time, from where you can shoot the covenant patrol in the crashed Pelican.
  • It is also possible to drive a Warthog into the security override. Simply drive at full speed through the trees and branches and ignore all enemy Covenant. A slight lag might contribute to your success. Once in, your Warthog crew will dispatch the 4 Mgalekgolo in this area very quickly. The first two can be rammed to death. The second two will be blockaded by a single crate, making it impossible to drive the Warthog into the security room itself. However, by luring the Mgalekgolo into the room, your Warthog gunner and passenger will engage the Mgalekgolo, leaving them vulnerable to a quick shot to the back. The invisible Sangheili later on will also be immediately engaged by your Warthog crew. Your Warthog crew should remain intact throughout the entire battle but they are likely to die on your way off the cliff.
  • Due to the abundance of Marines and Warthogs in this level, It is possible to gather up to three Warthog crews to engage enemies before they attack you. Place a Warthog in the tunnel where the security door is located to engage the Zealot. Place another right outside to engage the Mgalekgolo.
  • In rare instances, a glitch may occur when John-117, at the end of the level, can get off Echo 419, stand in a fighting mode (with Echo 419 taking-off) and the cutscene may still trigger. This happens when the player presses the reload button (X button) many times and the cutscene may trigger. But sometimes it may not happen.
  • If you manage to kill the Zealot Sangheili, the cutscene will still show it alive, but it will also show a second, dead Sangheili.
  • If you leave your comrades near the first Zealot Sangheili and activate the security override, the Marines will attack and kill the Zealot as it exits the door during the cutscene, but it will not retaliate and look around as scripted.
  • If you activate the security system first before heading towards the map room, Cortana will say, "wait, this is not the map room. This is a security override to the door on the main shaft. Now, the Covenant won't be able to lock the doors." After that, when you enter the structure leading to the map room, the doors will not lock and the radio calls from Echo-419, Captain Keyes, and Staff Sergeant Stacker will not play.

References[]

  • The multiplayer map Death Island is based on the Silent Cartographer.
  • If you look closely at the interior room of the Cartographer, you might notice that it has a striking resemblance to the Cartographer in Halo 3 except with fewer details and slightly downsized. A similarly-shaped island can be found in Halo 3, or more specifically, an unfinished island that is a major feature of the landscape as you drive along the collapsing Installation 04B in the final level, Halo. The island, like the rest of the visible landscape, is still snowy, surrounded by metal structures and unfinished, but from above it is nearly identical in shape. You drive around it just before the jump.
  • The beginning of the level resembles the beach landings, or D-Day, from WWII, with the Marines and John-117 landing on a beach, pushing forward into enemy fortifications.
  • One of the parts of this level is called "It's Quiet..." which is one half of a popular phrase. The second half of the phrase, "Too Quiet" was used for the beginning of the Halo: Reach level "Nightfall." Whether this is coincidence or not is unknown, as Bungie hasn't confirmed anything.
  • Captain Keyes' quote "failure, people, is not an option" is a reference to the original quote by Ed Harris in the movie Apollo 13.

Miscellaneous[]

  • Interestingly, although Sergeant Stacker/Waller can be brought into the facility as a passenger in the Warthog, he will still talk on the radio to Cortana and Echo 419 as though he is back at the LZ.
  • The Engineer does not make an appearance in-game. The Engineers were meant to be on this level, but were deleted from the game, although not the map's code.
  • It is not required to storm the beach to obtain a Warthog. After landing on the beach, a flipped Warthog can be found near a downed Pelican after heading a short distance in the opposite direction.
  • Other vehicles such as Ghosts and Banshees are also in the map's code, but not used in the game.[citation needed]
  • The two Mgalekgolo found near the security override will lazily slump back and move their arms around. Eventually, they will engage a combat stance, but they continue to mind their own business. This process repeats until the Mgalekgolo are alarmed.
  • The two Mgalekgolo that are found in front of the main facility after the security override is deactivated are named Igido Nosa Hurru and Ogada Nosa Fasu.[1]
  • At the flipped Warthog at the interior path, there are four dead Marines, one more than the Hog can carry. However, Corporal Harland had one of his soldiers lie under the LAAG gun during the Battle of Sigma Octanus IV.[2]
  • On Easy and Normal difficulties, you sit next to Marcus P. Stacker on Echo 419; however, on Heroic and Legendary difficulties, you sit next to an Asian Marine.
  • On Easy and Normal difficulties, there are four marines on Echo 419. However, on Heroic and Legendary difficulties, there are only three of them.
  • Bungie stated that the Silent Cartographer was a sort of sandbox where they just threw a lot of things in to have tested, like lighting, graphics, weapons or vehicles.[citation needed] It was not initially intended to be a level.
  • The original objective of this mission was to assassinate a Prophet who was trying to find the Silent Cartographer.[3]
  • This level has the least number of loading points in the whole game. It is only divided into two loading points. The small tunnel in the cartographer building that leads to the area where you fight the zealot and the entrance to the security building. It is possible to explore the rest of the level without the AI mysteriously freezing.
  • If you keep the first pair of Mgalekgolo alive and complete the level, the Mgalekgolo will mysteriously disappear at the end when Echo 419 lowers into the large underground tunnel.
  • In the game, the Sergeant on the beach was Marcus P. Stacker. However, in Halo: The Flood, the Sergeant is mentioned to be Sergeant Waller.[4]
  • The single-player portion of the Halo Trial consisted of this level.
  • This level is the most popular to perform Warthog jumping on, due to the large number of Marines, Warthogs, Overshields, and the presence of rocket launchers.
  • When the Covenant lock the doors, it is possible to kill the Sangheili on the other side. To do so you need to take a Pistol and jump, shooting through the little crack in between the top-middle of the door or throw grenades through the doors before it locks.
  • Both Pelicans in the beginning cutscene have E419 written on them. This means they are both Echo 419, which would be impossible. Bungie most likely used the same textures for both Pelicans to save time.
  • The debris that John kicks in the cutscene of Halo: Combat Evolved was changed to an Unggoy breathing apparatus in Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary.
  • In the original Halo: Combat Evolved while underwater Sea Worms can be seen moving around in the water but do not show up with remastered graphics.

Gallery[]

Video[]

Sources[]

  1. Halo: The Flood, page 162
  2. Halo: The Fall of Reach, page 165
  3. Halo 3 Legendary Edition - DVD Commentary
  4. Halo: The Flood, page 169


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