The Organon [Silentium SPOILERS]

This was going to be an answer to a recent post, but after a while I felt it needed its own post.

The Domain - Precursor connection...the Organon

My favourite part of Silentium was the Librarian's realisation thet the Domain IS in fact the Organon. Remember from Primordium - it is what sparked Bornstellar's thirst for adventure. The Organon is the Precursor artefact/essence capable of activating all that is Precursor. Oh sweet irony. All Forerunner knowledge is stored, manipulated, destroyed and recreated (what the Domain does) by Precursor intelligence.

When the Domain shut down, it was because it was being used by the Precursors, or being used by itself in order to activate Precursor technology/neural physics. Remember the beginning of Silentium, when Haruspis (already manipulated by Precursors) announced the opening up of the Domain because of anger...Precursor anger.

What happened to the Domain/Organon? What is it, really?

The Domain was probably destroyed by the Halo Array activation. The best evidence I can give is because the UrDidact is still nuts in Halo 4, after being enclosed in his Cryptum with his anger, without any way to channel it out through the Domain. The Librarian feared this.

And this all makes sense. What the hell was the Domain!? Not even the Forerunners knew how it worked. It was just as mysterious as the Precursors. Was it there before the Forerunners? It was a changing Random Access Memory...a system that connects things via neural physics, you could say, just like how other Precursor stuff worked. Again, this suggests it was definitely destroyed by the Halo Array activation, given that it could destroy neural physics. Maybe the Domain is another form which a Precursor takes form of. Why not? We know nothing of the Precursors. Maybe we will never know...

What about Path Kethona? The natural Domain made out of moss?

When the Librarian went with her Audacity team to Path Kethona, she encountered Forerunners untouched by any futuristic condition; in a very native state. They were disconnected from the Domain, only touched by a natural connection of mosses, storing a never-changing history, unlike the Domain. And, even so, they hardly ever worried to go where the mosses were. The native Forerunners looked and acted very human. The difference between human beings and the Forerunners is the Domain. Forerunners where never meant to last and be caretakers because they were already taken care of by the Precursors themselves. human beings, however, where never connected to the Domain; they never needed it.

What was the point of Path Kethona being included in Halo lore if the expedition to find the source of the Flood was made in vain?

The Path Kethona expedition served as a literary technique to demonstrate how Forerunners were so manipulated by Precursors, resulting in their perdition for the sake of the Mantle of Responsibility.

After the Domain was destroyed by the Halo Array, I doubt the Forerunners will be able to last, unless they (UrDidact from Halo 4 and his Prometheans) stop assuming responsibility for the Mantle - just like the happy, peaceful mative Forerunners from Path Kethona. Remember, they lost the war against the Flood/Precursors after being disconnected from the Domain, once that same Domain was used against them.

I hope this helps people understand the Domain and the Precursors, as well as their connection, at a deeper level.

"We are the last Precursors. And now we are legion."