[quote]at the beginning, the Didact wants to save the Humans. I don't see how this could lead to his hatred of them.[/quote]The Didact is a strict adherer of the Mantle. His original intention was to smack them on the back of the wrist to show them the errors of their ways. However, as the war escalated and billions were killed over 1,000 years, the Didact's more hopeful outlook on the war changed. [quote]Furthermore, the Librarian seems to want to destroy the humans, yet in the next terminal, she wants to save them (it seems like her and her husband are in opposite opinion.[/quote]The Librarian has an interesting view on the Mantle. She didn't follow the Mantle early on, finding it futile as the Ecumene's enforcement of the Mantle was a parody. Her initial and arguably extreme reaction towards Humanity's aggression was the result of her view on the attacks. As the Forerunners expanded, they displaced countless species. As a result, the Lifeworkers relocated them to world preserves on the edge of the Ecumene. These are the worlds humanity attacked. In effect, the Librarian saw humanity as destroyers of life and her work. As she looked deeper, she began to realize the true nature of the attacks. (Note: Not all the Terminals take place in chronological order) [quote]in the second one, the humans hav found a planet they think might be flood-free. how hard could it be to send a message to the forerunners "hey, there's this alien parasite attacking us, it'd be great if you guys could help out. also, this is why we've been eradicating your planets. you would have done it, too."[/quote]Forerunners were already not fond of humans. Claiming that a stellar parasite has infested their planet would lead to bureaucratic discussions, or outright disbelief, allowing the parasite to spread and gain strength. The infestation on Earth is a good comparison. Had the area and human population centers on the west side of Africa not been vaporized, the [i]"Earth would have fallen in hours."[/i] [quote]how could the halos be a better plan than the didact's prometheans (which were decently effective. option 1: killl everything in the galaxy. option 2: let stuff live, get more soldiers in the composer, and defeat the flood. then return life to the galaxy. it seems like the halos are ridiculously unreasonable when the prometheans (in enough numbers) could at least put up a good fight.[/quote]The Prometheans themselves violate the Mantle. Not only that, but it was at the end of the war. The Didact created the Prometheans in the final year of the Forerunner-Flood War. Halos were the best option, because they were the last option. Every other possibility had been tried and failed through actual ineffectiveness or political expedience. [quote]why didn't they just leave the galaxy? it's not like they couldn't make it to another near by galaxy. i know that they touch on the galaxy topic a bit in cryptum, but that doesn't explain why they'd rather completely irradicate life in that galaxy instead of just moving to another one.[/quote]Wielding the Mantle means you serve as protectors of all life in the galaxy. In their ideology, they couldn't just abandon their principles. Not only that, but the logistics of moving to a different galaxy combined with slipspace debt would be impossible. Even if they did pull it off, they'd be damning the galaxy. After the Flood consumed the galaxy, they would simply move on to the next and so forth. It's like asking why the Native Americans didn't just migrate away from the colonists. Same goes for any conflict. It's their home, and they feel they have the right to defend and protect it.