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Halo Lore Thread

Squire

Banned
So, I guess they're doing Fall of Reach as a comic now, too.

https://m.comixology.com/Halo-Fall-of-Reach-Boot-Camp-1/digital-comic/316196

Really getting as much out of that story as possible, I see.

It's differently good, but definitely good. Probably my favorite Halo lore in fact. There's a stretch in the middle that's a bit drawn out, but stick to it, the conclusion is amazing.

Yeah, Forerunner Trilogy is an absolute MUST for any Halo fan.

Cool, thanks. I'll look into getting Cryptum.
 

AlStrong

Member
Basically, *deep breath* (spoilers ahead for Escalation & I guess Halo 5)..

Thanks. Much appreciated.

I guess I hope it comes up at some point again, but at this point who knows. It seemed like things were really going somewhere. Humans gaining the Absolute Record was the culmination of the Librarians plans, and we even got to see (probably) Offensive Bias. Perhaps this was all leftovers from the Halo 4 story, and didn't mesh with where they wanted to go with Halo 5?

I suppose its the most disappointing that, finally, Escalation seemed like it was going somewhere.. and then.. bam! Nada. You get nothing. No story progression, no one even died. Just back to status quo.

Hm... I wonder if maybe they are saving something for Halo Wars 2? Rather round-about thing to do, but it was strange that
they mentioned Spirit of Fire & then the whole Insurrectionist angle and have since left that thread open.
 

Sydle

Member
Basically, *deep breath* (spoilers ahead for Escalation & I guess Halo 5)..

They built up "The Absolute Record" & the Janus Key as a HUGE thing. It was the whole point of Spartan Ops in Halo 4, and more or less the entirety of Escalation. There were some tangent arcs, but it kept coming back to Halsey & Jul and the Absolute Record.

Short version: No one gets the Absolute Record and nothing that happens really influences Halo 5. Like, at all.

I was really hoping for some kind of tie-in with the Halo 5 story, and other than Halsey ending up with Jul again, and Spartan Palmer not being totally pissed at Halsey.. there isn't much worthwhile about the entire arc. No mention of Cortana, or even 'mysterious signals' or.. something, anything to hint that anything is coming. There is less than a months time difference between the end of Escalation and Halo 5.

I guess I hope it comes up at some point again, but at this point who knows. It seemed like things were really going somewhere. Humans gaining the Absolute Record was the culmination of the Librarians plans, and we even got to see (probably) Offensive Bias. Perhaps this was all leftovers from the Halo 4 story, and didn't mesh with where they wanted to go with Halo 5?

I suppose its the most disappointing that, finally, Escalation seemed like it was going somewhere.. and then.. bam! Nada. You get nothing. No story progression, no one even died. Just back to status quo.

I know 343 got a LOT of flack for people complaining they needed to read the lore to understand Halo 4, but with Halo 5 it almost feels like the knee jerk reaction was to make sure NONE of the lore even impacted or colored Halo 5, which is disappointing.



That's awesome! Thanks Grim!

I'm just getting familiar with Halo lore, so forgive me if this has already been discussed or dismissed. Any insight is much appreciated.

I can't help but notice the same tune in the opening scene of H5, with Halsey, back when she had two arms, was the same tune being hummed by Cortana when she activated the Halo in the Legendary ending.

What are the theories around Halsey's fragmentations or copies of Cortana? Didn't she assign one of them to work on decrypting data in a Forerunner complex at one point? Could this Cortana in H5 actually be a different Cortana? Could all of this be Halsey playing everyone, that she actually did locate the Absolute Record and accessed The Domain at some point during her work with Forerunner technology? Maybe the other Cortana is part of Halsey's ideals of anything for the greater good?

Sorry for any crazy questions. I'm still trying to piece all of the players and events together in my head.
 
I'm just getting familiar with Halo lore, so forgive me if this has already been discussed or dismissed. Any insight is much appreciated.

I can't help but notice the same tune in the opening scene of H5, with Halsey, back when she had two arms, was the same tune being hummed by Cortana when she activated the Halo in the Legendary ending.

What are the theories around Halsey's fragmentations or copies of Cortana? Didn't she assign one of them to work on decrypting data in a Forerunner complex at one point? Could this Cortana in H5 actually be a different Cortana? Could all of this be Halsey playing everyone, that she actually did locate the Absolute Record and accessed The Domain at some point during her work with Forerunner technology? Maybe the other Cortana is part of Halsey's ideals of anything for the greater good?

Sorry for any crazy questions. I'm still trying to piece all of the players and events together in my head.

Regarding
the tune, I'm pretty sure that's just supposed to be a reflection of the fact that Cortana has became what Halsey would be with unlimited resources and immortality. I have a feeling Cortana trying to differentiate herself from Halsey will be a big thing going forward, especially given that it has already come up.

As for the rest, I don't think there's any real evidence to support their being other currently active fragments of Cortana. Either way, the Cortana in Halo 5 is definitely still "Cortana Prime", there's really no question there. And I really doubt this is all Halsey playing some big crazy scheme. It just doesn't really mesh with Halo 5, so if that's the case in Halo 6 it's going to feel like it came out of nowhere.
 

Fuchsdh

Member
Regarding
the tune, I'm pretty sure that's just supposed to be a reflection of the fact that Cortana has became what Halsey would be with unlimited resources and immortality. I have a feeling Cortana trying to differentiate herself from Halsey will be a big thing going forward, especially given that it has already come up.

As for the rest, I don't think there's any real evidence to support their being other currently active fragments of Cortana. Either way, the Cortana in Halo 5 is definitely still "Cortana Prime", there's really no question there. And I really doubt this is all Halsey playing some big crazy scheme. It just doesn't really mesh with Halo 5, so if that's the case in Halo 6 it's going to feel like it came out of nowhere.

And we just wrote an article all about this! http://www.forwarduntodawn.com/the-greater-good/

TLDR
All the crazy theories of Cortana being turned evil by the domain, or only being the "bad" copies of herself from Halo 4, are probably way overcomplicated answers. Simpler one: now that she has more power she's decided she knows best.
 

schlew

Member
And we just wrote an article all about this! http://www.forwarduntodawn.com/the-greater-good/

TLDR
All the crazy theories of Cortana being turned evil by the domain, or only being the "bad" copies of herself from Halo 4, are probably way overcomplicated answers. Simpler one: now that she has more power she's decided she knows best.

Can't seem to find the name of the author of that article, so send along a thanks to him/her for their work! Very interesting read, which lead me to read up on some other characters in the universe who I was still a little unsure of.

I've only recently gotten into Halo and its world, but I've really thrown myself into it. I've read Escalation (and can agree that the ending was less than what I wanted, but what happens to
Jul 'Mdama
in Halo 5's opening led me to believe H5 didn't care much for what Escalation had been building), finished reading The Fall of Reach, and I'm in the early chapters of First Strike. Other than that I've been reading as many Halopedia entries as possible.

This thread has been a real treat, constantly sending me searching for information on unheard of beings and chracters. So yeah, big thanks to everyone here!
 
Well, then 343 just pulled a Bungie. Back in the Halo 3 days and earlier, it was decreed that humanity could never recover Forerunner tech, they'd always end up blowing it up to deny the Covenant access.

The Absolute Record was always likely to end that way, though. It's simply too powerful a tool to give to your heroes, it'd be story-breaking even more than Trevalyan was.

This is true, a fleet of Forerunner warships and a whole planet! I never really expected them to get everything and live happily ever after though..

I did expect there to be some kind of tie into Halo 5, or the universe at large. Maybe while Halsey is examining the Absolute Record she notices something that leads her to Cortana.. or the Spirit of Fire.. or.. ANYTHING. Instead we got a big fat NOPE, and our characters went on their way. They had to have the release time line set in advance, so they'd know we'd get the last two episodes after Halo 5 shipped.. just seems like a huge missed opportunity to enhance the Halo 5 narrative.

Well put, and I had a similar feeling about your conclusion. I know this will all probably seem like people harping on it both ways, but for lore fans, all of it felt like a huge tangent to where it seemed things were going, especially as it's titled the "Reclaimer Saga". It does almost seem like they went the other way and made sure the game was completely self contained with the AI rebellion tangent.

I liked the twist of Halo 5, but it did seem to come from left field considering everything leading up to it. Hopefully Halo 6, or whatever comes next will fill in the pieces.
 
Joe Staten's novella Shadow of Intent is coming out in just a few days. Nothing scheduled after that.

OOOOO that sounds exciting!

After decades of grim combat against the humans and then the traitorous Covenant Prophets, the Sangheili warrior Rtas ‘Vadum—the Half-Jaw—has earned a long rest. But not all of the Prophets perished in their holy city, High Charity, and now one of their fearsome Prelates has sworn his vengeance. This powerful threat has set a cataclysmic plan in motion—a plan to lure the Half-Jaw into a trap that will herald the utter destruction of the entire Sangheili race… - See more at: http://books.simonandschuster.com/S...taten/HALO/9781501122767#sthash.sWKt5Yxd.dpuf

Prelates? aka brutes? i dont understand this word lol
 

Fuchsdh

Member
OOOOO that sounds exciting!



Prelates? aka brutes? i dont understand this word lol

Prelates are high-ranking members of the clergy (bishops and the like). We haven't really heard much about the Prophet hierarchy beyond the civil service and the High Prophets, but it makes sense they'd exist.
 
Regarding
the tune, I'm pretty sure that's just supposed to be a reflection of the fact that Cortana has became what Halsey would be with unlimited resources and immortality. I have a feeling Cortana trying to differentiate herself from Halsey will be a big thing going forward, especially given that it has already come up.

As for the rest, I don't think there's any real evidence to support their being other currently active fragments of Cortana. Either way, the Cortana in Halo 5 is definitely still "Cortana Prime", there's really no question there. And I really doubt this is all Halsey playing some big crazy scheme. It just doesn't really mesh with Halo 5, so if that's the case in Halo 6 it's going to feel like it came out of nowhere.

I still like to think there is something to Cortana / Gravemind / Flood / Precursor in there, I've made posts a bit back as to why...

Another quote I think in Halo 4 that could be seen as foreshadowing is after the Composer mission Cortana says to John:-
"They'll pair you with another A.I. Maybe even another Cortana model if Halsey lets them. It won't be me..you know that right?"

Bold emphasis mine. Now, as of now it does seem that 343 really didn't care much to refer back to Halo 4 as not much in it was mentioned in Halo 5 (it's like the Didact never existed bar a couple of things Cortana says), but something about that quote nags at me. I think there are twists and turns to come yet...
 

Fuchsdh

Member
I still like to think there is something to Cortana / Gravemind / Flood / Precursor in there, I've made posts a bit back as to why...

Another quote I think in Halo 4 that could be seen as foreshadowing is after the Composer mission Cortana says to John:-


Bold emphasis mine. Now, as of now it does seem that 343 really didn't care much to refer back to Halo 4 as not much in it was mentioned in Halo 5 (it's like the Didact never existed bar a couple of things Cortana says), but something about that quote nags at me. I think there are twists and turns to come yet...

I think that line is more just a illustration of Cortana's vulnerability at that point. The whole Cortana model... for an AI, I can imagine the possibility that you would be viewed as something that could just be replicated as almost worst than death.
 

LordOfChaos

Member
I still like to think there is something to Cortana / Gravemind / Flood / Precursor in there, I've made posts a bit back as to why...

Another quote I think in Halo 4 that could be seen as foreshadowing is after the Composer mission Cortana says to John:-


Bold emphasis mine. Now, as of now it does seem that 343 really didn't care much to refer back to Halo 4 as not much in it was mentioned in Halo 5 (it's like the Didact never existed bar a couple of things Cortana says), but something about that quote nags at me. I think there are twists and turns to come yet...

The logs in Halo 5 do say the ??? was amazed that she was pulling herself back together, and then repairing the Domain. So it does sound like it's "her". The Luminous Sun speech being identical to the Didacts makes me wonder if there wasn't tampering or fusion though.

But, the game stories tend to end up being simpler than us lore fans dream up, so maybe all is as it seems after all.
 

Fuchsdh

Member
The logs in Halo 5 do say the ??? was amazed that she was pulling herself back together, and then repairing the Domain. So it does sound like it's "her". The Luminous Sun speech being identical to the Didacts makes me wonder if there wasn't tampering or fusion though.

But, the game stories tend to end up being simpler than us lore fans dream up, so maybe all is as it seems after all.

Could also just be Cortana, unwittingly or otherwise, just using the Didact's words. Like how you might use that turn of phrase you liked in a book you read long ago unintentionally.
 

Trup1aya

Member
I could see
The Absolute Record being humanity's sort of Get Out Of Jail Free card
in Halo 6.

Is the Forerunner trilogy really as good as Hunt The Truth? I loved that.

I also got the Escalation issues with Tanaka. Solid stuff. They should've done an anthology with all the backstories for Osiris.

I think I'm in the minority, but I hated the forerunner trilogy, and liked the Kilo-5 books.

I preference the espionage and grey area politics over nonsensical space magic powers the Forerunner seemed to posses...
 

LordOfChaos

Member
Could also just be Cortana, unwittingly or otherwise, just using the Didact's words. Like how you might use that turn of phrase you liked in a book you read long ago unintentionally.

A turn of phrase would be one thing, the whole speech was a lot of plagiarization though. If she was in class I'd give her a 0 and a warning.
 
I think I'm in the minority, but I hated the forerunner trilogy, and liked the Kilo-5 books.

I preference the espionage and grey area politics over nonsensical space magic powers the Forerunner seemed to posses...

I liked them both. I think Kilo-5 added some balance to things that thus far had went unexplored in the Halo universe, I liked the characters and whilst I can see the points that people were making about the demonisation of Halsey, I think it was all quite believable and made sense to me.

Liked seeing Mendez again, and I think the bitter and haunted nature of how he is in Kilo-5 is not without the realms of possibility, I liked seeing the characters were human, and not just cutouts. Maybe Traviss layed it on a bit thick in places but I've not read any of her other books to know this was a theme or whatever. Need to re-read that trilogy and review I think, but I enjoyed it. Naomi especially I liked as a character, and her interactions with the Mal and Vaz. Not to mention BB and Parangosky.

In other books, finished Broken Circle last week and a bit like Hunters in the Dark I though it was ok/meh.

Half way through Last Light at the moment and I'm loving it though!
 

LordOfChaos

Member
I think I'm in the minority, but I hated the forerunner trilogy, and liked the Kilo-5 books.

I preference the espionage and grey area politics over nonsensical space magic powers the Forerunner seemed to posses...

I liked them both, Kilo 5 was good spy vs spy action, and I cared about a few of the characters. The Forerunner saga though was the best setup for the entire future of the franchise; not something people should miss. As for the space magic, their space magic prowess was pretty much determined in the very first game, so it's really just a further exposition. Really love the ending too, and the villain's brilliance.
 

Sydle

Member
Regarding
the tune, I'm pretty sure that's just supposed to be a reflection of the fact that Cortana has became what Halsey would be with unlimited resources and immortality. I have a feeling Cortana trying to differentiate herself from Halsey will be a big thing going forward, especially given that it has already come up.

As for the rest, I don't think there's any real evidence to support their being other currently active fragments of Cortana. Either way, the Cortana in Halo 5 is definitely still "Cortana Prime", there's really no question there. And I really doubt this is all Halsey playing some big crazy scheme. It just doesn't really mesh with Halo 5, so if that's the case in Halo 6 it's going to feel like it came out of nowhere.

And we just wrote an article all about this! http://www.forwarduntodawn.com/the-greater-good/

TLDR
All the crazy theories of Cortana being turned evil by the domain, or only being the "bad" copies of herself from Halo 4, are probably way overcomplicated answers. Simpler one: now that she has more power she's decided she knows best.

Cheers, guys. Thanks for clearing that up.

That article was fantastic.
 

Toa TAK

Banned
Fall of Reach's soundtrack is out by the excellent Tom Salta. Good stuff.

EDIT: Holy crap!@ "Take This Life" best original song for Halo?
 

Squire

Banned
I think I'm in the minority, but I hated the forerunner trilogy, and liked the Kilo-5 books.

I preference the espionage and grey area politics over nonsensical space magic powers the Forerunner seemed to posses...

I started Glasslands again. Tried to read it before and couldn't really get into it, but I'm only a chapter in and really enjoying it this time! I think I know the Halo lore much better now, so that's probably helping.

Also
cool to see Black Box here. Loved him on Hunt The Truth.
If Traviss came up with him, she can't be too bad. Her dialogue here is good, too. I think I'm going to stick with it.
 

Fuchsdh

Member
I started Glasslands again. Tried to read it before and couldn't really get into it, but I'm only a chapter in and really enjoying it this time! I think I know the Halo lore much better now, so that's probably helping.

Also
cool to see Black Box here. Loved him on Hunt The Truth.
If Traviss came up with him, she can't be too bad. Her dialogue here is good, too. I think I'm going to stick with it.

Black Box and Phillys are some of the best expanded universe characters for me, hands down. It's a shame, but I feel like Kilo-5 themselves were not that fleshed out, aside from Naomi. I always forget who is who (especially in Grasslands...)

And I agree, I think Traviss has some of the best overall dialogue of the Halo writers.
 

LordOfChaos

Member
Also
cool to see Black Box here. Loved him on Hunt The Truth.
If Traviss came up with him, she can't be too bad. Her dialogue here is good, too. I think I'm going to stick with it.

Imagine our reactions going the opposite way, reading the books, loving BB, but thinking he would probably be underutilized in upcoming lore. Was a nice surprise :)

His tone was a lot like a lot of us imagined him too. His banter with M'Shak was a big highlight, lol. Imagine a game with him and Buck talking back and forth!


Who? What are they from?
 

Squire

Banned
Black Box and Phillys are some of the best expanded universe characters for me, hands down. It's a shame, but I feel like Kilo-5 themselves were not that fleshed out, aside from Naomi. I always forget who is who (especially in Grasslands...)

And I agree, I think Traviss has some of the best overall dialogue of the Halo writers.

Five chapters in now. Really enjoying it!

Imagine our reactions going the opposite way, reading the books, loving BB, but thinking he would probably be underutilized in upcoming lore. Was a nice surprise :)

His tone was a lot like a lot of us imagined him too. His banter with M'Shak was a big highlight, lol. Imagine a game with him and Buck talking back and forth!

That'd be awesome. I love ODST, so having Buck there in H5 was a definite plus for me. BB would be a great companion for Osiris in general. I could see him teasing/playing off Locke really well. Hoping there's plenty of
Exuberant Witness
in Halo 6 though!

Just got my copy of Shadow of Intent.

Interested to here how it is! I can't see myself ever reading a book focused on the covenant, but I'd like to know how this book turned out being Staten's return to the franchise.
 

nekkid

It doesn't matter who we are, what matters is our plan.
So
Cortana has basically turned into VIKI
.

Save us, Will Smith.

I_ROBOT_SE_DISC1-503_resize.jpg
 

Fuchsdh

Member
Starting in on Shadow of Intent now...

Mini Halos... I guess they actually make sense from a technological perspective, but the mind's eye version of what that looks like is hilarious to me.

edit: ...and done. Wish it was a little longer, but a good little tale.
 

Toa TAK

Banned
Starting in on Shadow of Intent now...

Mini Halos... I guess they actually make sense from a technological perspective, but the mind's eye version of what that looks like is hilarious to me.

edit: ...and done. Wish it was a little longer, but a good little tale.
In the middle of it right now, but you gotta love that it's not just Half-Jaw... but The Half-Jaw! Lol
 

Fuchsdh

Member
In the middle of it right now, but you gotta love that it's not just Half-Jaw... but The Half-Jaw! Lol

Man, you get part of your face cut off by a terrifying space zombie organism that used to be your friend and months later that's all anyone talks about when you're around...

Also, it really should be 3/4ths Jaw, or 2/3rds Jaw at most :p
 

Toa TAK

Banned
Man, you get part of your face cut off by a terrifying space zombie organism that used to be your friend and months later that's all anyone talks about when you're around...

Also, it really should be 3/4ths Jaw, or 2/3rds Jaw at most :p

It even healed pretty good, too. Minus the occasional pain it when you talk, but no biggie.

Just finished it, and once again, Staten delivers. Short story made for a nice small story with interesting characters with Half-Jaw as the anchor. Didn't ever expect one, but now I'm glad we got another go with him beyond his story in the GN. I feel this novella is just as great a story if the last game you touched was Halo 3. Nothing beyond that in the fiction is needed to know, it even goes through some of the cultural norms that Broken Circle covered, too, in regards to the San Shyuum.

Its open end gives me a little hope that maybe we can see what he's up to in a few years with a sequel story by Staten to boot. Rtas' crew is a fun and interesting set of characters that could be explored further. But even if they don't, it's a good tale that's got some heart to it.
 

Fuchsdh

Member
It even healed pretty good, too. Minus the occasional pain it when you talk, but no biggie.

Just finished it, and once again, State delivers. Short story made for a nice small story with interesting characters with Half-Jaw as the anchor. Didn't ever expect one, but now I'm glad we got another go with him beyond his story in the GN. I feel this novella is just as great a story if the last game you touched was Halo 3. Nothing beyond that in the fiction is needed to know, it even goes through some of the cultural norms that Broken Circle covered, too, in regards to the San Shyuum.

Its open end gives me a little hope that maybe we can see what he's up to in a few years with a sequel story by Staten to boot. Rtas' crew is a fun and interesting set of characters that could be explored further. But even if they don't, it's a good tale that's got some heart to it.

I also appreciated that it touched on some threads Staten left in Contact Harvest, but also nicely plugs into things like the issues rebooting the Covenant war machine after the fall like the K5 Trilogy, and the "strange new order" of a Grunt leading a squad of commandoes, etc.

With the destruction of Jul's Covenant and the new status quo in Halo 5, I'm really hoping we get some of the more heterogenous elements of the Covenant and flesh them out apart form their own subclasses in the Covenant rogues gallery. What would a Jackal-only raiding party look like? A group of Grunt zealots? What if they're using human weapons?
 
I liked Shadow of Intent.. short and sweet.

I hope we get some kind of outline or something on what to expect from Halo fiction in 2016. Nothing has been announced at all, has it?
 

Fuchsdh

Member
I liked Shadow of Intent.. short and sweet.

I hope we get some kind of outline or something on what to expect from Halo fiction in 2016. Nothing has been announced at all, has it?

AFAIK we have nothing on fiction in the new year. I doubt we're going to see quite as much as was released this year in anticipation for Halo 5, but it'd be great if this trend of smaller novellas and short stories was carried forward (or even packaging them together in a sort of evolution... *cough cough*)
 
Hopefully we get something on that Speilburg series. maybe that will extend the lore? Hopefully. i totally forgot what it was going to be about, if they ever mentioned that.
 

TCKaos

Member
I was checking out the wiki and was mildly entertained by the private manufacturer arms race that's going on with GEN2 MJOLNIR variants.

Look at Chalybs Defense Solutions (CDS). They had numerous facilities on Meridian that they used to manufacture the old Scorpion variants, the Mark V Operator variant and the Mark V Commando variant. Then Meridian got glassed in 2551 on the tail end of the war and presumably that lead CDS to liquidate their assets due to how much infrastructure they lost. So they sell off the rights to the Scorpion to Acheron Security and Operator and Commando to Naphtali Contractor Corporation.

NCC heavily revamps the Operator and Commando armor, more than likely just putting the name on to a product they already had developed for brand recognition purposes. Then, after getting some of their capital back after losing their production capability, they start manufacturing again with a new line of MJOLNIR for the GEN 2 platform extremely reminiscent of their Mark V Commando variant, probably again for brand recognition purposes.

I mean, if the player base is a representation of the SIVs (given that we're playing in the simulation mode and are technically canon), that would mean there's a contingent of troops that are enamored with the older armor styles, most notably Mark IV, V and VI MJOLNIR.
 

Fuchsdh

Member
I was checking out the wiki and was mildly entertained by the private manufacturer arms race that's going on with GEN2 MJOLNIR variants.

Look at Chalybs Defense Solutions (CDS). They had numerous facilities on Meridian that they used to manufacture the old Scorpion variants, the Mark V Operator variant and the Mark V Commando variant. Then Meridian got glassed in 2551 on the tail end of the war and presumably that lead CDS to liquidate their assets due to how much infrastructure they lost. So they sell off the rights to the Scorpion to Acheron Security and Operator and Commando to Naphtali Contractor Corporation.

NCC heavily revamps the Operator and Commando armor, more than likely just putting the name on to a product they already had developed for brand recognition purposes. Then, after getting some of their capital back after losing their production capability, they start manufacturing again with a new line of MJOLNIR for the GEN 2 platform extremely reminiscent of their Mark V Commando variant, probably again for brand recognition purposes.

I mean, if the player base is a representation of the SIVs (given that we're playing in the simulation mode and are technically canon), that would mean there's a contingent of troops that are enamored with the older armor styles, most notably Mark IV, V and VI MJOLNIR.

The whole armor customization stuff in Halo multiplayer has been a ball of nonsense ever since Halo Reach, really. It never made much sense that you had Spartans wearing unique armor or that there was this level of outsourcing and litany of modular components.

In the post-Covenant War, meanwhile, the vast array of armor makes a lot more sense given the vastly higher number of Spartans, and the fact that the project is public now. I just wish they hadn't retconned everyone into Mk IV that looks like Mark VI and the like.
 

TCKaos

Member
The whole armor customization stuff in Halo multiplayer has been a ball of nonsense ever since Halo Reach, really. It never made much sense that you had Spartans wearing unique armor or that there was this level of outsourcing and litany of modular components.

In the post-Covenant War, meanwhile, the vast array of armor makes a lot more sense given the vastly higher number of Spartans, and the fact that the project is public now. I just wish they hadn't retconned everyone into Mk IV that looks like Mark VI and the like.

I like to think that the customization in Reach is due to them using SPARTANs to test prototype armor systems for use by standard military personnel since you see that a few times. Like ODST originally being a MJOLNIR system, Air Assault being developed as a successor, Recon being adopted by ONI personnel, Military Police being adopted by the UNSC at large and parts of Gungnir being utilized by the Marine Corps. I'd imagine that lots of them failed after their initial trial run, leading to them only seeing an incredibly limited production run, such as JFO or CQC.
 
The whole armor customization stuff in Halo multiplayer has been a ball of nonsense ever since Halo Reach, really. It never made much sense that you had Spartans wearing unique armor or that there was this level of outsourcing and litany of modular components.

In the post-Covenant War, meanwhile, the vast array of armor makes a lot more sense given the vastly higher number of Spartans, and the fact that the project is public now. I just wish they hadn't retconned everyone into Mk IV that looks like Mark VI and the like.

Actually, it does make a certain degree of sense. If the initial investment in each supersoldier ane each core of MJOLNIR armor (undersuit, reactor) is so ridiculously huge that the cost of custom parts pales in comparison, why not let your superspecops types get exactly the setup they want?
 

LordOfChaos

Member
Actually, it does make a certain degree of sense. If the initial investment in each supersoldier ane each core of MJOLNIR armor (undersuit, reactor) is so ridiculously huge that the cost of custom parts pales in comparison, why not let your superspecops types get exactly the setup they want?

Variation may result in less than perfectly optimal function, for one. Like that big ass snipeable dome on Kellys helmet, what's the tactical benefit of glass above your brow line?

We all know the fourth wall breaking explanation of course though, easy visual identification of masked individuals. "Fred's over...Wait, that's Lin...Shit, what?"
tumblr_nqfa04AB9J1uznzc5o1_400.gif
 
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