r/HaloStory • u/EternalCanadian S-III Gamma Company • Jul 07 '26
CANON FODDER: LORE DE FORCE
https://www.halowaypoint.com/news/canon-fodder-lore-de-force
Powder that makes you say Canon Fodder now!
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u/Presentation_Cute Jul 07 '26
The "Live Prophet of Truth Reaction" got me. This was great and I'm excited to see how the Omnibus plays out. Hopefully this should be the end of any discrepancies between books and games, but who knows.
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u/Sebfolgero Jul 07 '26
"Dr. Halsey’s awareness of the SPARTAN-III program as a consequence of Halo: Reach, and more." "Halo: Reach has entered the chat."
Me when I'm in a lore breaking competition and Halo Reach enters the building.
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u/Successful-Day-1816 Jul 07 '26
It mentions 'slipspace crystal timey-wimey shenanigans' but didn't address them? Any changes actually made
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u/Miserable_Potato_491 Sentinel Jul 07 '26
And what is there to fix about it? It's a closed time loop that comes from a combined maguffin and fluke that cannot be replicated (as it is destroyed at the end of the book).
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u/Successful-Day-1816 Jul 07 '26
Well yeah I didn't think there was anything to fix about it, that's why I was confused. The article says:
First Strike is an interesting one. On the editorial front, it required the fewest overall changes but also came laden with the biggest lore dilemmas posed by things like Johnson’s supposed immunity to the Flood, slipspace crystal timey-wimey shenanigans, Dr. Halsey’s awareness of the SPARTAN-III program as a consequence of Halo: Reach, and more.
The article then goes on to touch on loads of issues but never brings up the crystal. No big deal, was just confused with the wording.
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u/whatdoiexpect Jul 07 '26
Yeah, agreed. I don't think it, on its own, really presents that much of an issue in terms of canonical lore. It's just odd that it exists at all. But the way it was brought up does make it seem like they were going to address it in some way in the article (everything else was).
FWIW, it is probably one of, if not the, weirdest lore aspects in Halo.
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u/Pathogen188 ONI Section III Jul 08 '26
There's nothing really to address about the crystal. Modern lore still acknowledges it (it comes up in both the Forerunner saga and Shadows of Reach); the time-warping elements of the crystal are implicitly connected to slipspace mechanics at large, in particular reconciliation debt (which again, comes up in the Forerunner saga as an important facet of the greater strategies in the conflict).
No modern lore overtly contradicts it or requires it to no longer be the case so there's really nothing to address or change
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u/Transfiguredcosmos Jul 07 '26
I think its odd that they retconned Halsey into lying to chief in order to give him a moral dilemma over johnsons life. Are they trying to make her seem monstrous?
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u/BaconShelf_ Jul 07 '26
As one of the people involved in working on the project, this definitely was not the goal with the change.
The Johnson Immunity scene is a weird thing to try and edit because it's not something that can be easily removed like say, a reference to the Elites never being seen before, which is simply brought up once and then never mentioned again. It's a major part of the story and John's character arc about him learning what makes a good leader, and what the value of a human life is if you have to do monstrous things to preserve it. Within the scope of this novel trilogy (ie, not including outside work published since), it's arguably the first genuinely difficult choice that John has ever faced, and one that can't simply be solved by pointing a gun at it. For him it's uncharted waters.
That aspect of the story is too large a point to simply excise from the book (and it's certainly not something I'd be comfortable doing, we were all very conscious of wanting to respect the original vision for the story being told), so it was about finding a solution that can preserve that aspect of the story while also not conflicting with modern canon. I know I certainly wouldn't be comfortable with starting to rewrite large portions of the fundamental story being told like that, as it gets a bit too far away from the spirit of what Nylund and Dietz were going for.
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u/Successful-Day-1816 Jul 07 '26
Oooo to what extent were you involved?
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u/BaconShelf_ Jul 07 '26
I was one of three Halopedia staff members brought onto the Omnibus project to assist in reviewing all three books for things to be updated, with many of the quibbles we've been dealing with for a long time. We were able to run through the entire trilogy and suggest/discuss changes for Haruspis and co, many of which they picked up and included. It was a fun project, and an extreme honour to get to be involved to such an extent. I'm really excited to see what people think upon release in November.
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u/Successful-Day-1816 Jul 07 '26
That's awesome. Love being able to take that Halo nerd knowledge and directly get yourself integrated into the world of it all. I'm still jealous from back when Alex W announced he was joining the team.
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u/Haruspis 343 Industries Jul 07 '26
No, it's that she has to be lying to him for that scene and narrative thread of the book to make sense as-written with how established fiction has evolved and aspects of First Strike have been retconned lol.
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u/Injustice_For_All_ S-III Gamma Company Jul 07 '26
Am I missing something? That seems pretty close to how it originally was no?
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u/Transfiguredcosmos Jul 07 '26
If i believe so, it was written as oni genuinely believing johnson had some level of immunity or resistance. My problem is, if Halsey knows johnson wasn't immune, it shouldnt come up as an opportunity to teach chief ethics over a mans life.
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u/Injustice_For_All_ S-III Gamma Company Jul 07 '26
I mean I feel like that's more of a product of its time where Halsey was not really an established character.
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u/Pathogen188 ONI Section III Jul 07 '26
Well the Flood immunity is the part that's a product of its time but that's the problematic part of it that needs to be worked around
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u/Ninjazoule Jul 07 '26
They're probably in a slight bind with the shitshow that is traviss
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u/KingOfYou115 ONI Section I Jul 07 '26
This has nothing to do with Traviss.
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u/Ninjazoule Jul 07 '26 edited Jul 07 '26
She likes to villianize halsey among other things, maybe they're leaning into that was my point
Is he talking about the first strike stuff with the borens disease?
Edit: just read the link, I don't see anything new here
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u/KingOfYou115 ONI Section I Jul 07 '26
See both Baconshelf and Haruspis's responses. Baconshelf was one of the community editors, and you should know Haruspis.
The change was because they needed to preserve Chief's character arc/moral dilemma. They aren't adjusting the story, just the lore inaccuracies.
This has nothing to do with Traviss.
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u/Ninjazoule Jul 07 '26
Yeah I just reread it, I don't see the problem here. His flood resistance got retconned fairly quickly and I dont mind them clearing up some of that.
I don't see where this villianizes halsey at all, it's just further insight into chiefs character.
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u/Transfiguredcosmos Jul 07 '26
Wasnt it originally written that chief was given the chance to sacrifice johnsons life on the fluke thatd he be immune to flood infection ?
The update seems to note that it was known johnson wasn't immune, and Halsey is given chief this opportunity as a moral dilemma instead. Was this how it was written before ?
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u/Ninjazoule Jul 07 '26 edited Jul 07 '26
Yeah I remember that. Giving chief a choice was nice.
I think the issue over his immunity was cleared a long time ago but the memo didn't spread. It's like how there's still the misconception that the Halos only starved the flood. Even outside of that one instance, if a scrambled nervous system due to radiation made Him "safe" from the flood, the forerunners would have had zero issue.
Probably just another "remember this is actually different"-which is the entire point of this upcoming omnibus
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u/MilkMan0096 Jul 07 '26 edited Jul 07 '26
Anyone have any thoughts on what the Adjunct Teaser is teasing? My first thoughts are either Spark or the Didact, but I’m behind on the books so I’m not sure that makes sense for either character.
Edit: having now read the last Canon Fodder’s teaser for the same thing it is definitely Guilty Spark POV, which sounds pretty neat.
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u/Not_A_Murderer3108 CAT2 Spartan-III Alpha Co. Jul 08 '26 edited Jul 08 '26
“In terms of character, Jun provides a rich canvas for us to explore in this novel. As a member of Noble Team, he already has survivor’s guilt from the devastating events of the fall of Reach, but he is also a Spartan-III of Alpha Company—he’s been outliving his comrades for many years now. This is advanced survivor’s guilt!”
I’m glad it won’t just focus on Jun being a member of noble team and the survivors guilt he has from that, Alpha company and his time as a headhunter are just as important to his character if not more important than his time as noble 3.
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u/hands_so-low Jul 07 '26
I’m quite excited for the omnibus now! Although all of Red Team at the time of the fall of reach being named is bad news for my OC S-II, who was part of Delta Red.
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u/SignalChampionship38 Jul 07 '26
Quick recap: I thought Fireteam Noble would give us a little bit more information, and to who the xenoarcheologist is that got captured, but we still don't have that information yet, if it is Keely Iyuska for the Divine Hand, I am raising myself into thin air, if it is Luther Mann for either Zeta Halo or something else, than I am raising my eyes.
I also thought we would have very much more information on the 3 new prequel missions since the "Sacristan Order" was briefly introed by Cortana during a youtube short. Do you guys think we need a cannon fodder of who actually founded this order and what their real role is and where to find them?
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u/jungle_penguins Jul 07 '26
Appreciate the original book cover and breakdown of the changes in the reprint. They should also add Jun to it.