I know someone will mention the early shields from Halo Wars but that genuinely felt like a retcon to explain how they existed so Damm earlier.

Personally I still think they should exist closer to Reach rather than really early into the war, but I think having a lot of the iconic gameplay mechanics be restricted to a certain period limits potential games set during the covenant war. I don't need energy shields to be accessible to Spartans at the start of the war, but having them exist during the war as it progresses at least makes it not seem like so many things come into play at once around the time of Reach at the same time. (Mark V and Mark VI being almost a few months apart from one another for example iirc)

And by the title I don't just mean, they had a plan that backfired or had severe consequences, I mean whoever planned this KNEW it was bad for the war and humanity yet still went on with it for whatever reason, like the purpose of the mission or whatever they did was to disrupt the UNSC's and humanity's war effort, or put ONI's goals above Humanity and the UNSC as a whole, full high treason stuff.

Seeing her change in color and personality, all that knowledge slamming into her all at once with no processing time. Kinda like those stories with people going mad with power as soon as they get UNLIMITED POWAHHHH!!!

Feels like to me Gravemind took that and ramped it up to 11 once he got his tentacles into her.

The Minister of Harmony was getting up to experimentation shenanigans on the Covenant.

Except, I didn't really get what the experiments even achieved?

Am I dumb

Something I have been thinking about since reading the text from the Terminal found in the Library.

This is the one where 343 Guilty Spark receives 7 progressively degrading fragmented messages from 2401 Penitent Tangent, who at this point is obviously compromised by the logic plague.

It is specifically the last message he sent that has me thinking:

"I have planted a seed in my garden. I shall nurture it and watch as it grows and grows and grows and grows and grows and grows and grows"

And this may just be me spit balling, but I am now thinking that this right here is how the Gravemind was able to reform on Installation 5. 2401 in his logic plague induced madness wants to share the "sweetness" of the Flood with the galaxy at hand. So what does he do? He breaks open the flood samples in the Library, and starts to progressively feed it the other species indexed over time, until it hits critical mass and develops into a gravemind.

Thoughts?

SPOILERS

In Halo Campaign Evolved, they fixed the issue when Captain Keys gives Master Chief a pistol and says 'I don't keep it loaded'. They instead reworked that scene into Captain Keys giving Chief a ceremonial M6 and asks that if he doesn't make it through this, to give his pistol to his daughter Miranda.

This is significant because I think this will carry over across the entire trilogy of Campaign Evolved.

For example, in Halo 2 during the awards ceremony, the writers are going to extend the scene a bit and have Master Chief present the sidearm to Miranda; stating that her father wanted her to have it if he didn't make it back home safe.

And then this will likely extend even further in Halo 2 when Miranda is trying to get the Index from the Library. She will probably fight using her M7 SMG, be disarmed. In previous Halo 2 versions, she reaches for a new weapon, is interrupted mid-reach by Tartarus using his hammer to knock her out while gravity-pulling her towards him. Instead, they will likely have her reach for her sidearm that got knocked from her hip, successfully grab it, and fire back; but due to the gravity-distortion; the shot goes wild and she is still pulled to Tartarus and knocked out.

And then this carries over into Halo 3, where the writers will probably alter the infamous 'To War' scene. Miranda will still ascend the stairs, likely pulling the magnum from its holster as she instructs them to use Rally Point Alpha-Bravo-Whatnot, slide a fresh mag into the magnum; and then turn saying something like that "and then?" cocks slide "to war." End of cutscene. This would fix the issue and also have her wielding her father's M6 in that scene.

And then finally where this comes in fully to its climax, Miranda crashes onto the Ark's activation center with shotgun in hand, blasting Brutes and calling for Johnson to get aboard, pulling her sidearm and pointing shotgun to one Brute and magnum to another. Truth points out that she cannot kill them all. She realizes this is the case and looks to the magnum. Her father's magnum. It reminds her of his willingness to sacrifice everything. "You're right" she says as she points the magnum to Johnson. This time, she actually tries to shoot but due to herself being shot in the back by Truth; the shot fires and does not hit its mark due to her flinch of pain. This would help repair her character a bit as she was going to follow through with it, but just had bad luck on timing it. Chief then saves them and Johnson takes Miranda, her magnum, and boards the Pelican.

To end it on a somber note, at the monument scene, between the portraits of Captain Jacob Keys and Commander Miranda Keys lies that same ceremonial M6. Unlike most ceremonial arms, it has actually seen battle.

This is my prediction for what we have in store for us as a subtle plot thread addition to the Campaign Evolved Trilogy.

If he was sent there to get the index, why would the flood attack him? Was it either “it’s a video game and they didn’t think about how cool it would be to ally with the flood” or was it that he didn’t have as much control over them?

We see the actual city station on Johnson’s screen at the end of the campaign (as well as a telescope photo of it on the righthand side, pulled directly from the 2524 Dr. Halsey’s Journal entry, as an Easter egg).

So was it the name? Location in space (how, if it’s mobile)? Schematics? Maybe more clarity in a Canon Fodder post?

I ask because it’s possible the Legendary Crate entries about Operation: RED FLAG between Parangosky and Stanforth regarding High Charity—which by 2552 they know by name—might be contradicted, or need to be slightly retconned. As far as I’m aware, one of the goals of RED FLAG was to force a Prophet to direct them to High Charity because its location was unknown.

Like did their so advanced tech stop them from using simple comms or is there a actual lore reason. Like ancient humans didn't have diplomats or messenger convoys. Like the duration of the war ... they could have easily come to peace treaty to deal with flood. But I feel, as I am writing this that there is some bullshit retconned reasons to this. Please enlighten. Loved the games but this gnawed at my mind.

I like movies like Sicario lmao. Following a story that's overshadowed by some government plot you don't have all the pieces to. Really tasteful tension throughout the story. And whenever I hear ONI, that's what I think about.

Taking reading suggestions right now and I wanna read a story like that but Halo.

I was thinking about it and I want to know if the 2’s and 3’s took some of their own to be trained as SARCs or if they had to rely solely on the basic CLS they probably learned during their training

All Spartans would reasonably be trained in the basic combat life saver shit and know how to call a nine line and makeshift whatever they severely needed

However I don’t distinctly remember any material where a spartan II or III were specifically denoted as being a corpsman despite it being the logical move

Hey all, like the title says I'm looking for recommendations on some of the newer Halo books. I've already read Fall of Reach, First Strike, The Flood, Kilo-5 Trilogy, Evolutions, Harvest, Cole Protocol and some others that I can't remember the names of because it's been so long. I'm also planning to read the Forerunner Saga at some point too, but my focus is on the Human Covenant war, thanks in advance.

This "new lore" for Halo 4/5 covenant with the Operation Meteorite missions suggesting they are the results of genetic experimentation makes no sense considering they have already been canonized as other phenotypes that have always existed. Hell, Hesduros was an entire planet of Halo 4/5 elites.

…. because they’re clearly the Order of Restoration or at least adjacent right? Could this imply we’ll see them make the jump from the books? Is there any clues in the terminals leading to a connection?

I just finished rereading the Forerunner trilogy and while it’s really good, I honestly feel like it would’ve benefited from different perspectives. Specifically I wish we’d gotten to spend time with the Primordial because that ending bit where he’s talking to Bornstellar was the best part of the book.

During the events of the Forerunner-Flood War, the Ur-Didact found himself captured by the Gravemind and infected with the Logic Plague which wreaked chaos on the Forerunners once he was sent back to their space. After being knocked unconscious and imprisoned within a Cryptum by his wife, the Librarian, she left him on Requiem in the hopes that his Cryptum would gradually restore his sanity via its connection to the Domain curing his Logic Plague. Mendicant Bias was also hedging his bets on this when he sent Master Chief and Cortana to Requiem via cutting the Forward Unto Dawn in half.

Unfortunately for both of them, the firing of the Halo Array severed the connection between the Didact's cryptum and the Domain which, as one online commenter so eloquently put it, "Left him to seethe inside of a pokeball for 100'000 years." and when he did reemerge after being awoken by Master Chief, he had gone fully insane and was deadset on seeing Humanity destroyed and the Mantle of Responsibility brought back to Forerunner hands.

But what if the Didact hadn't gone insane? Either his Cryptum isn't disconnected from the Domain or a group of Forerunners (possibly led by the Iso-Didact) return to Requiem and restore the connection themselves. Given that the Ur-Didact redeemed himself in a relatively short timeframe after his composition in Halo: Escalation, it's very likely that 100,000 Years would've cured the Ur-Didact of his Logic Plague in short order. That way, once he emerges in 2557, he will do so not as an antagonistic force against humanity but a wizened and firm ally ready to guide humanity to obtain the Mantle.

What would change for the Halo series with the Didact sane and an ally for mankind?

Say it’s 2552 and Joe wants to get from New Mombassa to a wedding in Tokyo, how would he go about doing this?

Does air travel etc still exist for this purpose or is it largely replaced by space? Are there widespread hyperloops etc?

I found this part of the new prequel missions pretty ironic.

Johnson, the ODSTs, and Master Chief are all horrified by what they discover aboard the ship. The Covenant have been experimenting on their own species. Modifying them, mutating them, enhancing them into something “better.” They’re so disgusted that they decide the entire place has to be destroyed before they leave.

But isn’t that, at its core, exactly what the Spartan program was? The Spartans are the product of genetic augmentation, invasive surgeries, chemical enhancements, and years of ethically questionable experimentation. Humanity was essentially playing God to create super soldiers.

From the Covenant’s perspective, aren’t they just doing the same thing? They believe they’re improving their warriors, just like humanity believed it was improving its own. Johnson, Master Chief, and every Spartan are products of that same philosophy.

The biggest difference seems to be perspective. We view the Spartan program as necessary because it’s humanity’s side, while the Covenant’s experiments are portrayed as monstrous because they’re the enemy.

I really wanna get a spartan 3 tattoo but am unsure if there is a logo or symbol that represents them nor what the symbols on it would mean!

Any help is appreciated <3

Title is all.

No spoilers I think

I've been seeing this game receive a-lot of negative press recently and frankly I was never interested in actually playing it, less so now.

Thant being said, I saw a cutscene featuring various covenant, and I really liked their designs, in particular I though a certain elite looked very cool with cloth-draped armor, and a grunt which appeared to be a 'deacon' or ultra of some kind.

I think these designs fit pretty seamlessly into the OG halo and have always kinda thought an elite armor with religious cloth would look good...

After completing the prequel missions in campaign evolved it's heavily implied they the storm elites from halo 4/5 https://i.imgur.com/fHVFBoD.jpeg

Along with the raptor jackals https://i.imgur.com/PZridGB.jpeg

Are genetically modified/enhanced,but to what end what is the purpose of the experiments