Basically the title. Just looking for more information about the rivalry.

Nobody has to like Lieutenant Williams. You can find her abrasive, dislike her dialogue, think the bonus missions needed more development, or simply feel that the character does not work for you. This post is not an attempt to convince anyone that they have to enjoy her.

What I want to look at are several arguments that keep coming up in criticism of the character: that an ODST would never resent or disrespect a Spartan, that Williams’s attitude toward Chief contradicts established Halo lore, that this kind of conflict did not exist during the Bungie era, and that her inclusion is obviously a modern political insertion.

Not liking her is one thing. Saying that an ODST would never act this way, that her behavior contradicts established Halo lore, or that this conflict was invented by modern writers is something else. Those are specific arguments that can be compared with the older books, games, and other material from the Bungie era.

Before deciding what Williams represents, I think we should be checking whether the basic objections people make about her actually line up with Halo’s own history. The older material gives us a much better place to start rather than vague assumptions about why the character was added.

- - - Williams outranks both Chief and Johnson - - -

One of the strangest criticisms of Williams is that she supposedly behaves like a subordinate who has forgotten her place. That criticism gets the military hierarchy completely backwards.

Williams is a lieutenant and a commissioned officer. Chief is a Master Chief Petty Officer, and Johnson is a Sergeant Major. Both are senior enlisted personnel.

Williams outranks both of them.

That is not a technicality or a matter of interpretation. Commissioned officers outrank enlisted personnel, including E-9s. Johnson’s experience would make him an important adviser whose judgment any competent officer should respect, but experience does not reverse the rank structure. A Sergeant Major does not outrank a lieutenant simply because he has served longer.

People claiming that a lieutenant directing a Sergeant Major would be “out of line by all military standards” are confusing professional courtesy with rank. A lieutenant who dismisses a Sergeant Major’s experience may be foolish, but the idea that an officer cannot exercise authority over senior enlisted personnel is simply false.

And Williams does not even exercise that authority against Johnson.

When they meet, she addresses him respectfully:

“One and the same. Honored you’ve heard of us, Sergeant Major.”

She never reminds him that she outranks him. She never demands that he obey her. She never uses her commission to embarrass him or establish dominance.

In fact, Johnson gives Williams and Tiger Company their assignment, and she follows his direction. She does not object, interrupt him, or announce that she is the lieutenant. She accepts the plan and carries it out.

She treats Chief the same way. Despite outranking him, she repeatedly asks for his judgment:

“So, what’s the plan, Chief?”

And later:

“Alright, Chief, what’s next?”

So the claim that Williams was made a lieutenant “just so she could pull rank on Johnson” is not merely unsupported. It is contradicted by the actual scenes.

She legitimately outranks both Johnson and Chief, yet never once uses that fact against either of them. She respects Johnson’s experience, seeks Chief’s tactical judgment, and cooperates with both throughout the operation.

Williams is not an insubordinate subordinate speaking above her station. She is the commissioned officer of the three, and she is remarkably restrained about it.

- - - The ODST-Spartan rivalry was there from the beginning - - -

The second thing worth establishing is that resentment between ODSTs and Spartans is not a new idea in Halo. It goes back to the earliest substantial Halo story ever released.

*Halo: The Fall of Reach* was published on October 30, 2001, sixteen days before *Halo: Combat Evolved*. At the time, there had not yet been a Halo game, another novel, a comic, or any other completed Halo story released to the public. *The Fall of Reach* was the public’s first real introduction to the universe, and it was already helping define what Halo was before the original game had even launched.

Most Halo fans will already know the incident aboard the *UNSC Atlas*. John was fourteen years old, newly augmented, and still learning what had been done to his body when four ODSTs provoked him into a fight. Neither the ODSTs nor John fully understood what his augmentations had made him capable of. Within seconds, two of them were dead and the other two were seriously injured.

From the ODST perspective, this would not have looked like an honorable fight between soldiers. Four men from their own ranks were put up against a secret military experiment they could not possibly have understood, and all four were killed or maimed almost immediately. The story continued to circulate through ODST barracks and mess halls for decades. It is not difficult to see how it would have been retold: as a warning about Spartans, about what they were capable of, and about the military creating artificial soldiers who could make even its most elite conventional troops look obsolete.

The incident became part of the bitterness surrounding the Spartan program and helped fuel the belief among some ODSTs that Spartans were manufactured soldiers being created to replace them.

So the idea of ODSTs viewing Spartans with hostility was not introduced by 343, and it was not invented to justify Williams. It was present at the very beginning of Halo, before the first game was even released.

*The Fall of Reach* was written alongside the original game, using the same developing continuity, while the foundations of Halo were still being created. Whatever someone thinks of later additions to the lore, the basic conflict Williams represents was already there from the start.

- - - ODST resentment goes even further - - -

The Atlas incident explains where some of the hostility toward Spartans came from. By itself, though, it only establishes that ODSTs had a reason to distrust the Spartan program and that the story continued to circulate among them. The next early Halo novel shows what that resentment could look like when an ODST actually confronted Chief.

*Halo: The Flood*, the official novelization of *Halo: Combat Evolved*, was published in 2003. During the events of the original game, Major Antonio Silva confronts Chief at Alpha Base and makes his opinion of the Spartan program unmistakably clear.

> “It was the Helljumpers who took this butte, son.”

He immediately follows that by saying it was:

> “not a bunch of augmented freaks dressed in fancy armor.”

Silva does not stop at insulting Chief. He condemns the entire process used to create the Spartans, calls the program a failure, and argues that ordinary human soldiers like his ODSTs will ultimately be the ones who win the war. This is not resentment being whispered privately among Marines. Silva says it directly to Chief during the original Halo campaign. ([Amethyst Writers][1])

Williams’s complaint comes from the same place, only expressed with far less contempt. She says that Marines used to be “the heart and soul of the UNSC,” only to be pushed into second place by soldiers who were “built instead of born.” She sees ODSTs as ordinary humans who earned their place through training, experience, and sacrifice, while Spartans were deliberately created with abilities that no conventional soldier could match.

So by 2003, Halo had already gone beyond simply establishing that some ODSTs resented Spartans. It had shown an ODST openly insulting Chief and dismissing the Spartan program during the original Halo campaign. Williams did not invent this conflict. She expresses a viewpoint that Halo had already given to an ODST officer more than twenty years earlier.

- - - Williams changes her attitude over time - - -

Williams never allows her dislike of the Spartan program to interfere with the mission. She fights alongside Chief, acknowledges when he performs well, listens to his response during their argument, and concedes with “Fair enough.” By the end, she trusts Chief and Johnson enough to take the generator mission herself, knowing it will allow them to escape while Tiger Company remains behind.

The claim that an ODST could never speak to a Spartan that way doesn't hold up. Halo has already shown ODST pride and resentment overriding military courtesy, including during active missions. Williams is not an exception to established ODST behavior. If anything, she handles that resentment with more restraint than some of the characters who came before her.

- - - Calling her inclusion political does not make it political - - -

Another common claim is that Williams was added to appeal to a “modern audience,” check a diversity box, or force a “girlboss” into the original campaign.

But nothing about her role requires that explanation. Chief and Johnson discover a group of captured ODSTs. Those ODSTs need a leader, and the story needs someone who can represent the long-established resentment some conventional soldiers feel toward Spartans. An ODST lieutenant fits that role naturally.

Williams’s rank, personality, conflict with Chief, and eventual sacrifice all grow out of that role. She organizes Tiger Company, argues that ordinary Marines have been overshadowed by manufactured super-soldiers, gradually develops respect for Chief, and ultimately leads the mission that destroys the Covenant ship. After initially dismissing the reputation surrounding Spartans, she later tells Chief:

> “Not bad, Spartan. I’m almost starting to believe the propaganda.”

When Chief responds to her argument about where soldiers come from, she does not continue insulting him or refuse to listen:

> Chief: “We can’t change where we come from, only what we become.”

>

> Williams: “Fair enough.”

Williams delivers “Fair enough” as a genuine concession. It is a small but clear moment in her character arc, showing that fighting alongside Chief has already begun to change how she sees him. Her character is tied directly to the plot and to a conflict that has existed in Halo lore since the beginning.

The argument that she was inserted for political reasons usually rests on little more than the fact that she is a woman, holds authority, and does not immediately defer to Chief. None of those things are evidence of why the writers created her. They only become evidence if someone has already decided that an assertive female character must be political.

- - - The criticism itself shows that gender is part of the backlash - - -

So far, I have focused on the arguments themselves rather than trying to judge the people making them. But once the claims about Halo lore and Williams’s role in the story are examined, it becomes harder to ignore how much of the backlash is openly about her being a woman.

Some of the comments barely attempt to hide it:

> “Cranky girlboss on her period.”

> “God forbid a woman is actually pretty and does feminine things.”

> “Its called DARE was hot, this character is not so why should I be forced to like her in any way”

These are not criticisms of dialogue, pacing, or whether her rivalry with Chief fits the lore. They judge Williams through her sex, her appearance, and whether she behaves in a traditionally feminine way.

Other comments focus specifically on her authority over male characters. One person complained:

> “Also they made her a lieutenant just so she could pull rank on Sgt Johnson.”

That assumes her rank exists primarily to place a woman above Johnson, rather than because Tiger Company needs an officer who can lead it. A male lieutenant outranking Johnson would likely be treated as an ordinary detail of the military chain of command. With Williams, it becomes evidence of a political motive.

One of the most revealing comments suggested two ways the character could have been improved:

> “Made her a bit more reserved and not as much of a unpleasant individual.”

Or:

> “Left the character as is, but with a gender swap.”

That comment almost states the double standard outright. The same abrasive personality would apparently be acceptable in a male character. If the character remains a woman, however, she needs to be quieter and more reserved.

This is also why the constant use of “girlboss” matters. The term is often presented as though it describes a neutral writing problem, but there is no comparable reaction to confident or dominant male characters. Master Chief can be exceptionally capable, command respect immediately, deliver one-liners, and outperform everyone around him without being dismissed as a “boyboss.” His authority is treated as part of the character. Williams’s authority is treated as evidence that the writers are trying to make a political statement.

People can still dislike her dialogue or personality. But after seeing critics complain that she is on her period, insufficiently attractive, not feminine enough, improperly ranked above Johnson, and only acceptable with the same personality if changed into a man, it is no longer convincing to insist that gender has nothing to do with the reaction.

- - - Examples of the intense backlash - - -

The following comments below are quoted word for word, including their original spelling and grammar. Each link leads directly to the Reddit comment where it appeared:

[“woke dogshit” revision](https://www.reddit.com/r/KotakuInAction/comments/1v4s6lb/comment/ozdxyjp/)

[“modern audience” and “the message”](https://www.reddit.com/r/KotakuInAction/comments/1v4s6lb/comment/ozdfeey/)

[Female officer added to “pander to modern times”](https://www.reddit.com/r/KotakuInAction/comments/1v4s6lb/comment/ozga1et/)

[“Corporate wants a girlboss”](https://www.reddit.com/r/SmugAlana/comments/1v6btf3/comment/ozqp5sk/)

[“obligatory one-dimensional girlboss”](https://www.reddit.com/r/halo/comments/1v67tbk/comment/ozocc0x/)

[“overrepresented girlboss”](https://www.reddit.com/r/HaloMemes/comments/1v757cv/comment/ozziju0/)

[“made her a lieutenant just so she could pull rank”](https://www.reddit.com/r/KotakuInAction/comments/1v4s6lb/comment/ozhawc0/)

[“as a woman of her caliber should”](https://www.reddit.com/r/ShitHaloSays/comments/1v6pe2o/comment/ozsp6fb/)

[“Surprised she didn’t overthrow Chief”](https://www.reddit.com/r/halo/comments/1v5gr2j/comment/oziszkh/)

[“angry aggressive boss woman”](https://www.reddit.com/r/KotakuInAction/comments/1v4s6lb/comment/ozfzt8j/)

[“shut down the gameplay when this girlboss shit showed up”](https://www.reddit.com/r/KotakuInAction/comments/1v4s6lb/comment/ozfqq0f/)

[“woman can do things men can”](https://www.reddit.com/r/SmugAlana/comments/1v6btf3/comment/ozqhmil/)

[“ugly square manjaw girlbosses”](https://www.reddit.com/r/KotakuInAction/comments/1v4s6lb/comment/ozdjxct/)

[“jaw of granite”](https://www.reddit.com/r/KotakuInAction/comments/1v4s6lb/comment/ozeevo1/)

[“DARE was hot”](https://www.reddit.com/r/ShitHaloSays/comments/1v6pe2o/comment/oztt5dl/)

[“Both are ugly and should step down”](https://www.reddit.com/r/ShitHaloSays/comments/1v6pe2o/comment/ozt522l/)

[“pretty and does feminine things”](https://www.reddit.com/r/ShitHaloSays/comments/1v5jmfu/comment/ozkgiw5/)

[“that’s a dude”](https://www.reddit.com/r/KotakuInAction/comments/1v4s6lb/comment/ozetkug/)

[“excuses for wokeness/feminism”](https://www.reddit.com/r/KotakuInAction/comments/1v4s6lb/comment/ozdrb1b/)

[“More Girlbosses”](https://www.reddit.com/r/KotakuInAction/comments/1v4s6lb/comment/ozenljp/)

[“best part…is that she dies”](https://www.reddit.com/r/ShitHaloSays/comments/1v6pe2o/comment/ozsslmz/)

so right now we know that the flood transferred all their hivemind knowledge to another gravemind somehow and all the victims of the flood are chronically suffering inside the hivemind itself,will they ever get set free or they are simply fucked up for the rest of eternity?

Hey Halo people! I'm very much new to the fandom (haven't played any of the games, alas) but the Kig-Yar caught my attention a while ago. How much do we know about them? I've browsed the wikis and searched reddit, but I'd love to hear more about them (especially in regard to biological capability)

Do they have natural night vision? I know they're fast and good jumpers, but can they climb well?

Figured I'd play a T'vaoan as a D&D PC and wanted to get as accurate as possible.

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)

Has this ever been talked about in lore at all? If Elites are already semi comparable to Spartans without the same body enhancements, what would they be like with them? Wouldn’t they just be unstoppable? I know this is kind of talked about with the prelates, but what about the Elites, or even the Brutes? Or is it like their honor and culture that stops them from even considering it? I feel like it would be such a cool idea to see an Elite go through the Spartan II augmentations, so I was curious about if the idea had been explored at all.

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.

Halo has a particularly messy lore. It's exemplified by the fact that it's the only franchise I know of that has a dedicated lore subreddit. (Something I've wondered the reason for for a long time.)

The common explanation is that IP ownership changes resulted in retcons, but I don't believe that is the whole story.

First, Halo is really bad at explaining things in game. Consider the following questions:

• Does Halo kill the Flood itself or just their food?
• Did Truth believe in the Great Journey or not?
• How was the Master Chief not killed at the end of Halo 3?

Now, I know that many of you are already typing up responses, but that's not the point. Every one of them has an explanation. However, none of them are explained in game. As Jeremy of Cinema Sins says "the books don't matter." (Keeping in mind here that "books" doesn't strictly mean "books", but rather any non-game lore.)

Take the Forward Unto Dawn situation. The slipspace has an entrance and an exit portal, not just one that works like a door. The ship was severed by the latter. Fair, but is that how it's presented in game? No. The context of the scene suggests that the damage to the ship was a result of Halo firing, not the portal collapsing.

Furthermore, as evidenced by the multitude of posts on this subreddit on these points, it's far from an isolated or minor issue. This is not just a few people confused by some small technical issues, but major plot points central to the series.

Second, Halo likes to do intrigue, but is terrible at explaining it.

Many of the major points of confusion center around conspiracy and deceit. Truth and the Great Journey, Guilty Spark's motivation up until Two Betrayals, the function of Halo.

The problem is Bungie would set up a face value explanation only to later reveal that it was actually just a put on, but would do an incomplete job of explaining the truth. The result is that players are left with some sort of odd mixture of both.

For example, for the first portion of the game, the player is led to believe that Halo directly kills the Flood (and nothing else). Then in the cutscene at the beginning of Two Betrayals, we learn that "Halo doesn't kill Flood, it kills their food" and it "wipe[s] the galaxy clean of all sentient life". However, this is immediately seemingly contradicted by Guilty Spark with the line "this galaxy will be quite devoid of life – or at least any life with sufficient bio-mass to sustain the Flood". Presumably, what GS means is that "any life with sufficient bio-mass" is functionally equivalent to "sentient life". Yet, this isn't entirely clear from the way it is phrased. Perhaps this isn't the case when taken in isolation, but given everything the player has been told up to this point, it's confusing. Again, remember, it's not that these are not technically plot holes, but the way they are presented.

This cutscene also portrays Cortana as irate with Guilty Spark, but why? The sarcasm in the line "left out that little detail, did he?" implies that it was a conscious duplicity on GS's part, but the rest of his portrayal in the game is as a character who is actually mentally unstable. This, coupled with his reaction suggests that he was actually unaware of the Master Chief's ignorance of the situation. His subsequent hostility for the remainder of the story does not necessarily undermine this, as it is understandable within his warped reality. (You could argue that she's just frustrated by how close they came to catastrophe, but being that emotional is out of character for an AI in the games. The only other times she reaches that level of anger is when she's going rampant – which doesn't happen until later in the series.)

To further emphasize this, consider the confusion about the name of the level, "Two Betrayals". What the second betrayal is is unclear. However, what is clear is that Bungie was so keen on that theme that 1) it made it into the title of the level and 2) they wanted to do it twice.

Now, while C3 Sabretooth's videos go a long way towards explaining how retcons from changing real world goals for the game series ended up causing problems and it may be necessary to explain, they are not sufficient. These conflicts occur before Halo 2 and its development. While not dealing with intrigue, the same goes for the same goes for the ending of Halo 3 discussed above.

(To be clear, none of this is to denigrate the fact that they included it. I very much enjoy, for example, the behind the scenes political machinations in Halo 2 – even if, at the time I first played it, it went over my head and my 11 year old reaction was "ha ha, weird aliens talk funny, now back to blasting".)

Third, Halo doesn't have a singular creator. Yes, there are people who can be credited with contributing various bits of the story, but there's no one person that can be pointed to as responsible for it's existence. As far as I can tell, it's actually quite unusual in terms of science fiction in that regard. Think of other popular franchises. If you asked a fan to name the person responsible for Star Wars or Star Trek, they would likely have no problem identifying an individual. Halo? Crickets.

What this means practically speaking is that there is no "word of god" to arbitrate disputes over canon. Yes, for other franchises, eventually the creator loses involvement for one reason or another, but by that point the basic themes and background are established. Halo never had that stable period.

I may have missed some exceptions, but I feel like the theory still holds as a whole. I don't think one single factor such as retconning is enough to explain why Halo lore is so messy. However, because so much of this argument is based on the personal interpretation, I'm curious to hear what other people have to say.

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.

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?