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[Captain Zyrain]

Would like to add that I love your posts, thank you!

Was SUPER into Halo lore during ILB and through Halo 3.. but sadly real life limits my time to research this stuff now, so having a data dump here is amazing!

 

[Blitzkrieger]

Recently I was replaying an old Reach commercial where Dr Halsey was describing Noble Team members and the part about Spartans being rated hyper lethal stuck in my mind. So there is Chief and Noble 6, who else is rated Hyper lethal?

 

[Darkmakaimura]

Good stuff, Mr. Green.

I think I need a Cliff Notes version of Halo, however.

 

[GringoSuave89]

Recently I was replaying an old Reach commercial where Dr Halsey was describing Noble Team members and the part about Spartans being rated hyper lethal stuck in my mind. So there is Chief and Noble 6, who else is rated Hyper lethal?

Commercial canon is all over the place. The H3 Believe ads aren't canon, the Reach "Delivery" ones are. Honestly who knows?

 

[Fuchsdh]

Commercial canon is all over the place. The H3 Believe ads aren't canon, the Reach "Delivery" ones are. Honestly who knows?

The Halsey ones were in-game assets, I think you could safely assume they're "canon" in terms of information (perhaps not in terms of 'why is Halsey monologuing about this?')

I'm not entirely sure "Deliver Hope" is canon either, since it doesn't entirely jive with the comments about Thom we get elsewhere. I treat it like a stylized depiction of an alternate event in the game, just like "Starry Night" and "Believe".

(For one thing how the hell was Kat going to get the bomb up to a floating cruiser with a minute left by running?)

 

[GringoSuave89]

The Halsey ones were in-game assets, I think you could safely assume they're "canon" in terms of information (perhaps not in terms of 'why is Halsey monologuing about this?')

I'm not entirely sure "Deliver Hope" is canon either, since it doesn't entirely jive with the comments about Thom we get elsewhere. I treat it like a stylized depiction of an alternate event in the game, just like "Starry Night" and "Believe".

(For one thing how the hell was Kat going to get the bomb up to a floating cruiser with a minute left by running?)

I assumed the commercial acted as a prequel. Isn't what happened in the commercial what happened to Noble Team's past member? The one Noble 6 replaces?

 

[LastGamer84]

I assumed the commercial acted as a prequel. Isn't what happened in the commercial what happened to Noble Team's past member? The one Noble 6 replaces?

This - Kat's arm is normal in the ad, but she takes a nasty hit trying to get the bomb to the gravity lift. The old Noble 6 then has to take it. Explains what happened to her arm.

 

[GringoSuave89]

This - Kat's arm is normal in the ad, but she takes a nasty hit trying to get the bomb to the gravity lift. The old Noble 6 then has to take it. Explains what happened to her arm.

Yeah, that's what I remembered! Glad my recall still functions

Spoiler

as it pertains to Halo lore

 

[MrGreencastle]

Inspired by some discussion in the Halo OT, I started working on a post about AIs and Prophets (

Spoiler

almost done it, really, just trying to find some good media/pics to put in to round it out and make it more interesting and not so much a wall of text...er...maybe that's unavoidable!

). But near the end I've realized to understand much of the context of the post you kinda need to know a bit about Mendicant Bias' long and kinda complicated history - something that isn't exactly easy to piece together from all the different perspectives and media, and halopedia isn't really that useful other than just as a fairly stark chronological summary (and in my opinion, missing much of that fun, juicy, conjecture-ey stuff, since it's difficult to cite/prove).

It makes sense for me to build another post about Mendicant first I think, but I've been putting off that specific one for a while (

Spoiler

then again... like many ~75% finished rantposts I start

). I just know starting it will probably end with me going down a crazy tangent path where I'll re-read three and half books in desperate research and spend erratic hours building a ridiculously long mega multipost erasing most of my free time... I guess I have been doing that a lot lately though... And I enjoy it, and apparently so do people in the thread, so maybe it's a win-win, either way?

I hope people don't mind somewhat meaty excerpts from the books, though. I know they're really spoiler-ey, and kinda cheating, but when you get to some of these more "elaborate" parts of the fiction it takes a lot to build up some good context to discuss something, especially if much isn't covered in some form in the games. And sometimes there's not a whole lot of actual imagery, other than just straight from the pros

Spoiler

e

.

Anyway, I'll post the "bit" I have so far a little later, and then over the next few days/weeks I'll try to work on a nice post elaborating a bit more for people who aren't that familiar with what the hell I'm talking about - though no promises Questions/challenges are obviously welcomed and encouraged, since I'm positive there's a lot of people more familiar with this aspect of the story in the thread, too, so by all means feel free to help chime in or correct, sometimes I get a bit caught up in rampant/wishful thinking!

 

[Mistel]

I'm not entirely sure "Deliver Hope" is canon either, since it doesn't entirely jive with the comments about Thom we get elsewhere. I treat it like a stylized depiction of an alternate event in the game, just like "Starry Night" and "Believe".

The only comment elsewhere about Thom is him being cowboy like which I'm not sure is much different from him in deliver hope with the way he acted.

Shame Rosenda who would of replaced Emile on another counter insurgency operation never got mentioned later. Her concept art it a rather nice set of armor.

 

[ArchedThunder]

-snip-

Man, Mendicant Bias better show up in Halo 5 or 6. I was so sure he'd be a big part of 4's story since like 2008.

 

[MrGreencastle]

Man, Mendicant Bias better show up in Halo 5 or 6. I was so sure he'd be a big part of 4's story since like 2008.

As a lore nerd, I almost guarantee it will be the case. Or, even better, still "in the shadows puppeting" until Halo 6.

New Terminal trailer for Halo 2 Anni: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-PtjomjQ-Y

Rough analysis incoming in a bit

 

[GringoSuave89]

Lt Commander Jameson Locke. Happy we finally have a full name and rank for Agent Locke.

 

[Fuchsdh]

Lt Commander Jameson Locke. Happy we finally have a full name and rank for Agent Locke.

So now I'm wondering what the context is for the H2A terminals. In CEA they were essentially "non-canon" in that Chief never encountered them as fixtures across the Halos (although the events they depict are canon). Presumably the same thing will be the case here? Maybe their Locke's "briefing materials" that in-game players find at appropriate points in Halo 2's campaign--on the "Arbiter" level the player finds Locke's discussion with the Arbiter, etc.

 

[GringoSuave89]

So now I'm wondering what the context is for the H2A terminals. In CEA they were essentially "non-canon" in that Chief never encountered them as fixtures across the Halos (although the events they depict are canon). Presumably the same thing will be the case here? Maybe their Locke's "briefing materials" that in-game players find at appropriate points in Halo 2's campaign--on the "Arbiter" level the player finds Locke's discussion with the Arbiter, etc.

I'm assuming briefing materials for Locke to get a primer on Arbiter (thus the player gets it too), or it's conversations between the two of them about Arbiter so that Locke knows he can trust him going into Halo 5.

A lot of what I saw seemed like both Arbiter era, as well as Reach/pre-CE era scenes. Maybe more Arbiter backstory? Haven't gotten any of that (non game wise) since The Cole Protocol.

 

[MrGreencastle]

So now I'm wondering what the context is for the H2A terminals. In CEA they were essentially "non-canon" in that Chief never encountered them as fixtures across the Halos (although the events they depict are canon). Presumably the same thing will be the case here? Maybe their Locke's "briefing materials" that in-game players find at appropriate points in Halo 2's campaign--on the "Arbiter" level the player finds Locke's discussion with the Arbiter, etc.

I'm assuming briefing materials for Locke to get a primer on Arbiter (thus the player gets it too), or it's conversations between the two of them about Arbiter so that Locke knows he can trust him going into Halo 5.

A lot of what I saw seemed like both Arbiter era, as well as Reach/pre-CE era scenes. Maybe more Arbiter backstory? Haven't gotten any of that (non game wise) since The Cole Protocol.

Working on a megapost about it right now. Might take a while, though. I think there's lot's to digest, despite it only being ~1m17s. Love this shit.

Terminals in Halo CEA are canon, they're a series of messages and logs made by 343GS (Except Keyes terminal - which is a recreation of a scene from the novelization of Halo CE, The Flood - my least favourite book I think, but it's a touching scene). And yeah, Chief didn't see them, but it's likely that someone in-universe knows about the information. My guess would be ONI, but it's not confirmed, so for now we can think of most of them as first-person introspective material on 343's character and history on Alpha Halo, and then the mining facility on Threshold for terminal 11 which wasn't in the game.

Halo 3 terminals were seen and read by Chief, a series of interactions/messages from the caretaker AI of the Ark, and also sometimes Mendicant Bias - same with Halo 4's, but it that one is from broken connection terminals to the Domain, which were stuck in a loop.

 

[GringoSuave89]

Working on a megapost about it right now. Might take a while, though. I think there's lot's to digest, despite it only being ~1m17s. Love this shit.

Terminals in Halo CEA are canon, they're a series of messages and logs made by 343GS (Except Keyes terminal - which is a recreation of a scene from the novelization of Halo CE, The Flood - my least favourite book I think, but it's a touching scene). And yeah, Chief didn't see them, but it's likely that someone in-universe knows about the information. My guess would be ONI, but it's not confirmed, so for now we can think of most of them as first-person introspective material on 343's character and history on Alpha Halo, and then the mining facility on Threshold for terminal 11 which wasn't in the game.

Halo 3 terminals were seen and read by Chief, a series of interactions/messages from the caretaker AI of the Ark, and also sometimes Mendicant Bias - same with Halo 4's, but it that one is from broken connection terminals to the Domain, which were stuck in a loop.

Looking forward to your post! You always have great lore posts.

Yeah I feel like terminals are canon, just not in the sense that Master Chief is receiving and knows about their contents. Even Halo 3's terminals don't seem like something Chief would take time to read, much less comprehend (I barely understood it as a player! I had to research after the fact).

 

[Fuchsdh]

Sorry, I shoulda' been clearer, I meant non-canon in that they weren't part of the Chief's story in CE, not that the events they depict aren't treated as canon.

Listening to the stream they do specifically call out the Arbiter so it does seem that his backstory is going to get a significant treatment. "The Cole Protocol" is really all we've gotten for him (and I really don't remember anything about that book, it's probably the most forgettable Halo novel to me.)

 

[GringoSuave89]

Sorry, I shoulda' been clearer, I meant non-canon in that they weren't part of the Chief's story in CE, not that the events they depict aren't treated as canon.

Listening to the stream they do specifically call out the Arbiter so it does seem that his backstory is going to get a significant treatment. "The Cole Protocol" is really all we've gotten for him (and I really don't remember anything about that book, it's probably the most forgettable Halo novel to me.)

Ah okay! Yeah, that's more or less how they stand.

I thought The Flood was far more forgettable, but to each their own!

 

[Fuchsdh]

Ah okay! Yeah, that's more or less how they stand.

I thought The Flood was far more forgettable, but to each their own!

The Flood has repetitive sections where he's basically just plowing through gameplay that's really boring if you weren't playing it But the additional scenes and character moments elevate it for me. Cut 30 to 40 pages of action and it's probably a much stronger book.

But The Cole Protocol just felt... unnecessary, I guess? I suppose I always imagined Grey Team was doing something more interesting than wandering around random Insurrectionist bases. Buckell did some decent lore-building with the Elites but from a character standpoint I didn't really feel like I cared about anything going on (already knew what was going to happen to Keyes, etc.)

 

[GringoSuave89]

The Flood has repetitive sections where he's basically just plowing through gameplay that's really boring if you weren't playing it But the additional scenes and character moments elevate it for me. Cut 30 to 40 pages of action and it's probably a much stronger book.

But The Cole Protocol just felt... unnecessary, I guess? I suppose I always imagined Grey Team was doing something more interesting than wandering around random Insurrectionist bases. Buckell did some decent lore-building with the Elites but from a character standpoint I didn't really feel like I cared about anything going on (already knew what was going to happen to Keyes, etc.)

Cole was an interesting guy, and the fact that there was a Protocol on what to do so that the Covenant don't discover key UNSC colonies or Earth itself was great to learn. I also love the whole pre-war, Insurrectionist movement stuff, so seeing how everyone had to drop everything to defend against the Covenant was also right up my alley. Probably why I love the Kilo Five books too.

The Flood is basically CE: the novelization. The in-character's-heads moments were good, but not enough to make me want to keep reading as opposed to going to play the game instead.

 

[MrGreencastle]

Looking forward to your post! You always have great lore posts.

Yeah I feel like terminals are canon, just not in the sense that Master Chief is receiving and knows about their contents. Even Halo 3's terminals don't seem like something Chief would take time to read, much less comprehend (I barely understood it as a player! I had to research after the fact).

Well Halo 3's terminals were read by Chief when he was on the Ark, of this I am sure. Both the Ancilla and Mendicant Bias speak directly to him, and when you find the last terminal, Cortana asks what it is and how many others you've found.

 

[GringoSuave89]

Well Halo 3's terminals were read by Chief when he was on the Ark, of this I am sure. Both the Ancilla and Mendicant Bias speak directly to him, and when you find the last terminal, Cortana asks what it is and how many others you've found.

oh man I forgot about that! Thanks for the reminder.

 

[Poodlestrike]

Cole was an interesting guy, and the fact that there was a Protocol on what to do so that the Covenant don't discover key UNSC colonies or Earth itself was great to learn. I also love the whole pre-war, Insurrectionist movement stuff, so seeing how everyone had to drop everything to defend against the Covenant was also right up my alley. Probably why I love the Kilo Five books too.

The Flood is basically CE: the novelization. The in-character's-heads moments were good, but not enough to make me want to keep reading as opposed to going to play the game instead.

No, that's because you have terrible, terrible taste.

 

[MrGreencastle]

No, that's because you have terrible, terrible taste.

Not nice! I don't hate Traviss, only other piece I've read of hers is Human Weakness from Halo Evolutions, which is actually really really good, but what she did with her writing of Kilo Five was really annoying. A shame, too, because it takes place within such an interesting time frame and deals with pretty crazy politics and the Trevelyan Installation stuff in Glasslands was really fun to "explore" - but coming off of Ghosts of Onyx, I kinda wish Nylund had written it. Either way, John Shirley seems like a perfect fit for Broken Circle, so that I'm betting will be quite excellent indeed.

 

[Poodlestrike]

Not nice! I don't hate Traviss, only other piece I've read of hers is Human Weakness from Halo Evolutions, which is actually really really good, but what she did with her writing of Kilo Five was really annoying. A shame, too, because it takes place within such an interesting time frame and deals with pretty crazy politics and the Trevelyan Installation stuff in Glasslands was really fun to "explore" - but coming off of Ghosts of Onyx, I kinda wish Nylund had written it. Either way, John Shirley seems like a perfect fit for Broken Circle, so that I'm betting will be quite excellent indeed.

I've got high hopes for Shirley as well, but Traviss is just straight up terribad. Glasslands is like 40% author tract by volume, and Kilo-5 never really recovers from it. It's especially irritating because, like you said, it's a fascinating period, but Traviss' dedication to expounding her viewpoints at the expense of telling a worthwhile story gutted the series.

 

[slimfitcasual]

I know this might not be a popular opinion, but I'm really looking forward to Spartan armor taking on more Forerunner and/or Sangheili cues in design and function as Halo 5 approaches. 343 seems to be leaning this way with the teaser Locke appears in: Forsaking the bulky, tank like SII/III armor for more organic, flexible armor with more advanced shielding and weaponry.

 

[MrGreencastle]

I've got high hopes for Shirley as well, but Traviss is just straight up terribad. Glasslands is like 40% author tract by volume, and Kilo-5 never really recovers from it. It's especially irritating because, like you said, it's a fascinating period, but Traviss' dedication to expounding her viewpoints at the expense of telling a worthwhile story gutted the series.

Also, I never got the impression that Halsey was like a 2552 version of Mengele. That's just straight up offensive (not the nazi comparison, just that Halsey was establish quite thoroughly before Kilo5 and that's just so left-field and shit), soI ignore that "perspective" altogether. She fierce, she smart, but she ain't that kind of war criminal in my opinion. I wouldn't even agree she's a war criminal at all really.

I should say, Halsey is one of my favourite characters in the universe, so I will pick and choose what I like from the fiction haha

 

[Poodlestrike]

I know this might not be a popular opinion, but I'm really looking forward to Spartan armor taking on more Forerunner and/or Sangheili cues in design and function as Halo 5 approaches. 343 seems to be leaning this way with the teaser Locke appears in: Forsaking the bulky, tank like SII/III armor for more organic, flexible armor with more advanced shielding and weaponry.

Agreed; seeing the armor evolve over time as it becomes more and more advanced would be really cool. Plus, I actually like (most of) 343's aesthetic decisions, so I'm looking forward to seeing where they take things.

Also, I never got the impression that Halsey was like a 2552 version of Mengele. That's just straight up offensive (not the nazi comparison, just that Halsey was establish quite thoroughly before Kilo5 and that's just so left-field and shit), soI ignore that "perspective" altogether. She fierce, she smart, but she ain't that kind of war criminal in my opinion. I wouldn't even agree she's a war criminal at all really.

I should say, Halsey is one of my favourite characters in the universe, so I will pick and choose what I like from the fiction haha

I'm not opposed to seeing Halsey called out on stuff (she was a little bit Mary Sue-ish in Nylund's books), but Traviss did it to the point of totally derailing the book, and she went waaaaay too far. So glad she's not writing Halo any more.

 

[GringoSuave89]

Also, I never got the impression that Halsey was like a 2552 version of Mengele. That's just straight up offensive (not the nazi comparison, just that Halsey was establish quite thoroughly before Kilo5 and that's just so left-field and shit), soI ignore that "perspective" altogether. She fierce, she smart, but she ain't that kind of war criminal in my opinion. I wouldn't even agree she's a war criminal at all really.

I should say, Halsey is one of my favourite characters in the universe, so I will pick and choose what I like from the fiction haha

I feel like it's just the filter of the book. Halsey committed war crimes, even if it was to humanity's benefit. She sure as shit isn't a hero. I wouldn't go as far as an anti-hero, but idk how else to describe her. Anti-villain? The Kilo Five series gets a bit heavy handed, but that doesn't change it. More than anything, I like the teases as she rights like in Thursday War, Pious Inquisitor is mentioned quite a bit, and I thought it was just a fun little nod to Halo 2/3, but when you get to Mortal Dictata it's a large part of the Neo-Insurrectionist movement's plans. I like nods and foreshadowing like that. The only parts that really drag me down at times is all the exposition on characters' internal thoughts. Some are just grating. But I enjoyed the series more than not. Plus, after Spartan Ops, the Kilo-Five series seems to be fairly important to the direction of the story.

 

[Poodlestrike]

I feel like it's just the filter of the book. Halsey committed war crimes, even if it was to humanity's benefit. She sure as shit isn't a hero. I wouldn't go as far as an anti-hero, but idk how else to describe her. Anti-villain? The Kilo Five series gets a bit heavy handed, but that doesn't change it. More than anything, I like the teases as she rights like in Thursday War, Pious Inquisitor is mentioned quite a bit, and I thought it was just a fun little nod to Halo 2/3, but when you get to Mortal Dictata it's a large part of the Neo-Insurrectionist movement's plans. I like nods and foreshadowing like that. The only parts that really drag me down at times is all the exposition on characters' internal thoughts. Some are just grating. But I enjoyed the series more than not. Plus, after Spartan Ops, the Kilo-Five series seems to be fairly important to the direction of the story.

Halsey committed war crimes, but it's not like she was acting on her own. Prior to Glasslands, it was clear that the SPARTAN program was an Oni initiative she was picked (possibly lobbied to) run. Setting Paragonsky (of all people) as the good guy in this is all kinds of absurd, and isn't ever really properly addressed. Traviss did what she always does: she achieves some view of the setting (Jedi are bad, COG is evil) and then she alters whatever she needs to so she can expound on it. Suddenly, it's the Everybody Hates Halsey show, with no particularly good reason why.

To be perfectly honest, I burned out on Glasslands. I finished it, and haven't picked up any of the subsequent books (though I did briefly page through Thursday War at a Barnes & Noble). Unfortunately, it seems that they're going to be important, so I have some reading to do.

 

[LastNac]

Did we ever find out who/what crashed on the Halo ring from the Anniversary terminals?

 

[Korten]

Did we ever find out who/what crashed on the Halo ring from the Anniversary terminals?

Sadly we have not. Only theories.

 

[MrGreencastle]

Fuck now I want to do a Halsey post...

 

[Fuchsdh]

Everything Traviss points out about Halsey is true, and she doesn't present Osman, Parangosky, et al as morally superior. They make it abundantly clear, for instance, that Parangosky is nailing Halsey because she'll get personal satisfaction from it, and because it's politically expedient to scapegoat her for everything. Black Box's hatred of Halsey is essentially forgotten self-hate from his donor mind (whose suicide note basically says "yeah she was evil but we helped her every step of the way.")

Where I do think people have valid points complaining about her writing though is that we never really move on from Halsey. The impact of the Spartan program is a clear thread throughout the books, but we really don't need to hear it over. and over. and over. I said this when FUD did its podcast on Mortal Dictata, but it felt like "Mortal Dictata" was the story Traviss wanted to tell about Naomi, and the other two books were 343 saying "well we want to tell some new stories post-Halo 3 and also we need to wrap up Ghosts of Onyx.

So not bad, quite good in places, and character-focused rather than action-focused, which if you're into that style is better than Nylund, but there's definitely some fat in these books that has less to do with length like The Flood and more to do with construction.

Traviss also suffers from having to close a plot thread that could really have used its own book (Ghosts of Onyx).

Shirley has a much less encumbered template to work with so I'm excited to see what happens there.

 

[Poodlestrike]

Did we ever find out who/what crashed on the Halo ring from the Anniversary terminals?

One of the bigger mysteries. All we know for certain is that it's not a species of sentient bears.

 

[GringoSuave89]

Everything Traviss points out about Halsey is true, and she doesn't present Osman, Parangosky, et al as morally superior. They make it abundantly clear, for instance, that Parangosky is nailing Halsey because she'll get personal satisfaction from it, and because it's politically expedient to scapegoat her for everything. Black Box's hatred of Halsey is essentially forgotten self-hate from his donor mind (whose suicide note basically says "yeah she was evil but we helped her every step of the way.")

Where I do think people have valid points complaining about her writing though is that we never really move on from Halsey. The impact of the Spartan program is a clear thread throughout the books, but we really don't need to hear it over. and over. and over. I said this when FUD did its podcast on Mortal Dictata, but it felt like "Mortal Dictata" was the story Traviss wanted to tell about Naomi, and the other two books were 343 saying "well we want to tell some new stories post-Halo 3 and also we need to wrap up Ghosts of Onyx.

So not bad, quite good in places, and character-focused rather than action-focused, which if you're into that style is better than Nylund, but there's definitely some fat in these books that has less to do with length like The Flood and more to do with construction.

Traviss also suffers from having to close a plot thread that could really have used its own book (Ghosts of Onyx).

Shirley has a much less encumbered template to work with so I'm excited to see what happens there.

Glasslands was definitely the Ghosts of Onyx wrap up. Thursday War was slow to start but towards the end it set up some great things. Mortal Dictata is the best of the three, by far. The Naomi story is great, it wraps things up in a good fashion, and leads into Spartan Ops very well. I really like the Kilo-Five series as a whole, but Mortal Dictata is the one that carries them all. And I agree, the Ghosts of Onyx wrap up should of been its own story.

 

[Fuchsdh]

Glasslands was definitely the Ghosts of Onyx wrap up. Thursday War was slow to start but towards the end it set up some great things. Mortal Dictata is the best of the three, by far. The Naomi story is great, it wraps things up in a good fashion, and leads into Spartan Ops very well. I really like the Kilo-Five series as a whole, but Mortal Dictata is the one that carries them all. And I agree, the Ghosts of Onyx wrap up should of been its own story.

Funny, I ultimately thought Mortal Dictata was the weakest, just because as I said a lot of its themes felt like we'd tread over this two books ago, and while it was more relevant now it almost felt like filler. (And then what the hell was up with giving us an excellent new Kig-Yar character and then not bothering to give her arc any closure? We don't even know if she's dead or not.)

The thing that struck me with The Thursday War is I could actually tell the ODST's apart, whereas in Glasslands they were basically just a ball of "those guys" in my mind. I think you could have lost some character (like Devereux who did nothing of interest in the books) and made it a bit clearer.

 

[nillapuddin]

Did we ever come to a (n internet fan theory) conclusion on what this might be?

Halo 4 Pre-Production, Sparth 2010

 

[Fuchsdh]

Did we ever come to a (n internet fan theory) conclusion on what this might be?

Halo 4 Pre-Production, Sparth 2010

Looks like the cut strato sentinels from Halo 3.

 

[nillapuddin]

Looks like the cut strato sentinels from Halo 3.

ah yes I remember now, that really grabs me about these things, we've missed out on it twice now.

someone, somewhere loves the idea of these things, but they just cant quite squeeze it into retail


The Retriever[1] is a Forerunner Sentinel variant. Retrievers are designed to perform terraforming projects and capable of mining moons, asteroids, or other planetary bodies,[1] such as the resource moon located in the middle of Installation 00.[2] They were also used to help in the construction of the Halo rings, such as the newly constructed Installation 04.[2] They were also used during the construction of the Portal on Erde-Tyrene, in the present-day country of Kenya.[3]

 

[RubberJohnny]

The revelation that the Flood started as intergalactic catnip is super goofy.

 

[Toa TAK]

The revelation that the Flood started as intergalactic catnip is super goofy.

That's only the start of it.

 

[GringoSuave89]

Funny, I ultimately thought Mortal Dictata was the weakest, just because as I said a lot of its themes felt like we'd tread over this two books ago, and while it was more relevant now it almost felt like filler. (And then what the hell was up with giving us an excellent new Kig-Yar character and then not bothering to give her arc any closure? We don't even know if she's dead or not.)

The thing that struck me with The Thursday War is I could actually tell the ODST's apart, whereas in Glasslands they were basically just a ball of "those guys" in my mind. I think you could have lost some character (like Devereux who did nothing of interest in the books) and made it a bit clearer.

It's like the Harry Potter series. First few chapters have to reintroduce/explain characters we obviously know. I guess it's to refresh readers since books can come months or years after the last, and everyone might not recall details. I agree the Kilo-Five series over does it, but I understand why.

 

[Black Mantis]

Also, I never got the impression that Halsey was like a 2552 version of Mengele. That's just straight up offensive (not the nazi comparison, just that Halsey was establish quite thoroughly before Kilo5 and that's just so left-field and shit), soI ignore that "perspective" altogether. She fierce, she smart, but she ain't that kind of war criminal in my opinion. I wouldn't even agree she's a war criminal at all really.

I should say, Halsey is one of my favourite characters in the universe, so I will pick and choose what I like from the fiction haha

I'd love to hear why you think that, as I keep seeing people say they hate Traviss's character assassination of her, yet to me it makes perfect sense she'd be viewed that way.

As a father myself, I found her actions in the creation of the S2's disgusting and loved that the Kilo-5 trilogy dealt with that aspect. If she'd made successful clones of the children, fair enough, but the whole replace them with doomed clones affair is awful, plain and simple. I'd be out for blood if I found out the truth if it were a child of mine.

Maybe it's because I'm anti-war and despise the win at all costs aspect, but I find the whole hero worshipping of Halsey insane. She's a genius no doubt, but I doubt she'd find much thanks from any of the parents of the children she kidnapped. Indeed, given a choice, I'd suspect most would sentence her to death. I would.

 

[GringoSuave89]

I'd love to hear why you think that, as I keep seeing people say they hate Traviss's character assassination of her, yet to me it makes perfect sense she'd be viewed that way.

As a father myself, I found her actions in the creation of the S2's disgusting and loved that the Kilo-5 trilogy dealt with that aspect. If she'd made successful clones of the children, fair enough, but the whole replace them with doomed clones affair is awful, plain and simple. I'd be out for blood if I found out the truth if it were a child of mine.

Maybe it's because I'm anti-war and despise the win at all costs aspect, but I find the whole hero worshipping of Halsey insane. She's a genius no doubt, but I doubt she'd find much thanks from any of the parents of the children she kidnapped. Indeed, given a choice, I'd suspect most would sentence her to death. I would.

Glad Im not the only one that feels this way. Halsey is not quite a villain, but she is no hero. Her hubris and her survival instinct makes for interesting reading/playing at least.

 

[Fuchsdh]

Glad Im not the only one that feels this way. Halsey is not quite a villain, but she is no hero. Her hubris and her survival instinct makes for interesting reading/playing at least.

Well, she's a hero in that she indirectly saved humanity through Chief and Cortana. She of course didn't see that possibility but the Spartans were still designed to save humanity by preventing full-scale war.

That ties into my questions with where her arc goes--having indirectly saved the galaxy can she really have any "redemption"? And what does she do now that a good chunk of the UNSC is probably ordered to kill her on sight?

 

[GAMEPROFF]

Well, she's a hero in that she indirectly saved humanity through Chief and Cortana. She of course didn't see that possibility but the Spartans were still designed to save humanity by preventing full-scale war.

While I played and loved all Halo Games, I am not so deep into the lore, but isnt this completly wrong? The spartans were designed to cut of demonstrators and protests.

 

[soulassssns]

Saw this thread pop up on the front page and hoped that MrGreen had made a new post.

Sigh.

Lol

 

[GringoSuave89]

Well, she's a hero in that she indirectly saved humanity through Chief and Cortana. She of course didn't see that possibility but the Spartans were still designed to save humanity by preventing full-scale war.

That ties into my questions with where her arc goes--having indirectly saved the galaxy can she really have any "redemption"? And what does she do now that a good chunk of the UNSC is probably ordered to kill her on sight?

Was Oppenheimer a hero for the atomic bomb? Won the war, but there was a hell of a cost. It's not completely analogous, but Halsey's actions still ruined lives and were morally dubious. The whole "ends justify the means" viewpoint is a slippery slope, in fiction and in the real world.

While I played and loved all Halo Games, I am not so deep into the lore, but isnt this completly wrong? The spartans were designed to cut of demonstrators and protests.

Very close. THey were created to combat the Insurrectionist movement, and eliminate all rebel factions. Halsey got lucky with the fact that her super soldiers created to kill other humans got a new target with Covenant.