Can someone explain me the new Halo story?

Games Halo 5: Guardians
1

…Just after the events of Halo 3? I’ve been a die-hard Halo fan since day one (2001, Combat Evolved) and I’ve played every single Halo game to date (except Spartan Assault) but after 343i did what we all know what they did with Halo 4, I simply don’t understan anything about it. It’s like if something happens between Halo 3 and 4 that simply doesn’t make any sense.

If you play a game after another, all the stories make a perfect fit. But if you play Halo 4 after Halo 3, it just doesn’t have any kind of sense. All characters behave different than in the previous entries. Even Halo Wars had more sense (and good story by the way) than the ridiculous work 343i did with Halo 4. I don’t want to flame anything here, in fact, I’m trying to give 343i another chance because I stopped not only from playing Halo after 4, but also from knowing the universe surrounding it. When the Halo Xbox One trailer debuted, I was disappointed because I didn’t even know how the hell a giant bird fits in the Halo universe. But I’m now more open-minded. I want to see how the “new” Halo mythology really is, and I’d like to know what exactly happens after Halo 3, because I didn’t understand a -Yoink- about Halo 4’s story.

Additionally, 343i is focused on making Halo games based on novels and books rather than making the games directly from zero. I remember Bungie times, when the novels and comics were subjective and irrelevant to the main storyline. The Fall of Reach and Ghosts of Onyx are the only novels I’ve ever read, but they don’t involve around things that could affect the universe so badly as with 343i. I feel really mad about this, because we fans, are the only ones who can choose the path for our beloved franchise but for 343i, is far more important earning money than listening to us. But enough of this, I’m giving them a chance. When everyone thought Halo: Reach was nothing but a direct adaptation of the novel The Fall of Reach, they were so wrong! Bungie did something unique and original.

Thanks for your answers. I want to return to the good Halo I used to love with so much passion, but I’ll need to learn this new mythology/story which I don’t know anything about.

2

A lot of story information was released in the books that came out before Halo 4 was released. I made this over a year ago with what I thought was the relevant information at the time

In brief though, once Halo 3 concluded a lot of behind-the-scenes scheming began between the humans and Covenant. The Arbiter and Lord Hood were officially trying to build an alliance, but ONI wanted to keep the Sangheili down so they couldn’t threaten mankind. To do this, they gave arms to a radical sect of Sangehili cultists named the Servants of Abiding Truth. One Sangheili to get caught up in this mess was named Jul 'Mdama, a former Shipmaster. He discovered ONIs actions and is captured by a black ops team known as Kilo-5. Kilo-5 takes Jul to the now newly opened up Onyx Shield World, renamed Trevelyan. Kilo-5 also arrests and detains Dr. Halsey and rescues the remnants of Blue Team, the remaining S-IIIs from Onyx and SCPO Mendez. At the same time insurrectionist activity is heating up and Kilo-5 has their hands in that mess too.

Insurrectionists would also play a role in hijacking the UNSC Infinity for a brief time and were led by former Spartan-IV test candidate Ilsa Zane, the augmentation process drove her insane and radically violent. Spartan Sarah Palmer and a small group of new Spartan-IVs would manage to save the Infinity.

Returning to our buddy Jul, he is subjugated to experimentation by ONI scientists and only intensifies his hatred of humanity. He is eventually allowed to roam Trevelyan with a bomb harness strapped to him and under the supervision of an Engineer. Jul would discover a portal off Trevelyan and information about the Forerunner known as the Didact on Requiem, who also hates humans. The portal took him to an Elite backwater colony known as Hesduros where Jul’s knowledge of the Didact earned him a following of the natives and thus formed the beginning of the Covenant we fought in Halo 4.

So basically: Elite civil wars, ONI being sneaky cloak and dagger operatives and the genesis of the Spartan-IVs.

3

To be fair I have played all the Halo games, I still don’t think it makes any sense. There’s way too many plot holes like how the UNSC become overpowering against the Covenant, we was barely surviving and near extinction and yet we somehow get a fleet that’s twice as big as it once were before every planet was wiped out by the Covenant.

Or the fact the civil war has little mention in-game and poorly explains how the ‘Storm’ was founded which irritates me because most people I know just assume that there the covenant, forget what the human-covenant alliance that was made on Earth in Halo 3 or the lack of information about the Arbiter.

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5

> A lot of story information was released in the books that came out before Halo 4 was released. I made this over a year ago with what I thought was the relevant information at the time
>
> In brief though, once Halo 3 concluded a lot of behind-the-scenes scheming began between the humans and Covenant. The Arbiter and Lord Hood were officially trying to build an alliance, but ONI wanted to keep the Sangheili down so they couldn’t threaten mankind. To do this, they gave arms to a radical sect of Sangehili cultists named the Servants of Abiding Truth. One Sangheili to get caught up in this mess was named Jul 'Mdama, a former Shipmaster. He discovered ONIs actions and is captured by a black ops team known as Kilo-5. Kilo-5 takes Jul to the now newly opened up Onyx Shield World, renamed Trevelyan. Kilo-5 also arrests and detains Dr. Halsey and rescues the remnants of Blue Team, the remaining S-IIIs from Onyx and SCPO Mendez. At the same time insurrectionist activity is heating up and Kilo-5 has their hands in that mess too.
>
> Insurrectionists would also play a role in hijacking the UNSC Infinity for a brief time and were led by former Spartan-IV test candidate Ilsa Zane, the augmentation process drove her insane and radically violent. Spartan Sarah Palmer and a small group of new Spartan-IVs would manage to save the Infinity.
>
> Returning to our buddy Jul, he is subjugated to experimentation by ONI scientists and only intensifies his hatred of humanity. He is eventually allowed to roam Trevelyan with a bomb harness strapped to him and under the supervision of an Engineer. <mark>Jul would discover a portal off Trevelyan and information about the Forerunner known as the Didact on Requiem, who also hates humans. The portal took him to an Elite backwater colony known as Hesduros where Jul’s knowledge of the Didact earned him a following of the natives and thus formed the beginning of the Covenant we fought in Halo 4.</mark>
>
> So basically: Elite civil wars, ONI being sneaky cloak and dagger operatives and the genesis of the Spartan-IVs.

EDIT: THIS!!! Man! When 343i introduced the Covenant on Halo 4 I was so disappointed because Elites were enemies again, but with this revelation you made my FREAKING DAY!!! Why 343i didn’t explain this? This is a key plot to understand Halo 4’s story!

Holy… man! Thanks for so much information. I’ve read your post and let me tell you: Thank you. Now I found a few shocking revelations including two Arks? TWO?? That means there’s another Ark for activating the Halo rings?

Second: the ridiculous Spartan IV project which is in my opinion, poitnless. How is it possible the mankind developed the Spartan IV in a few years when the Spartan II was developed in almost 30 years? It makes no sense.

Third: precursors. What? Now there’s another super-creator alien race? 343i is screwing the Halo lore badly! No offense, but I don’t find this Halo at all.

So basically, I didn’t lose sight of anything important for the main storyline (no mention of Halos, Covenant, Lord Hood, ect.), it’s just that 343i writers are a completely talentless. What a shame. Even I would write better stories without complicating things such as that with Jul’dama and the UNSC. Its hard to understand for veterans, can you imagine for newcomers? Thanks for your information anyway, I appreciate it.

6

> To answer Ronnie, it took 30 years for the UNSC to reverse engineer kig-yar energy gauntlets (it exploded when examined, but still), yet it only took them 5 years to reverse engineer forerunner tech. It doesn’t make sense how the UNSC advanced so quickly, but 343i went with the ‘Humanity Hell Yeah!’ approach. So there’s no explanation.

Humanity has been working with Forerunner tech for the last 30 years. A lot of breakthroughs and discoveries came in the few years before the end of the war.

With the discovery of Onyx, the UNSC now had an emormous playground of Forerunner tech. To help it all out, they recovered numerous engineers from the Covenant and Onyx who actually knew a lot of this tech.

Its a stretch, but not totally unrealistic. A few people are still thinking that we’re monkeys tinkering with bombs. Just look at Glassman. He had no clue what to do with Infinity’s Forerunner engines and idiotically played with the translocation artifact. Then tinkered unknowingly with the Librarian’s Crypt and put up a shield he had no idea about.

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> Holy… man! Thanks for so much information. I’ve read your post and let me tell you: Thank you. Now I found a few shocking revelations including two Arks? TWO?? That means there’s another Ark for activating the Halo rings?
>
> Second: the ridiculous Spartan IV project which is in my opinion, poitnless. How is it possible the mankind developed the Spartan IV in a few years when the Spartan II was developed in almost 30 years? It makes no sense.
>
> Third: precursors. What? Now there’s another super-creator alien race? 343i is screwing the Halo lore badly! No offense, but I don’t find this Halo at all.
>
> So basically, I didn’t lose sight of anything important for the main storyline (no mention of Halos, Covenant, Lord Hood, ect.), it’s just that 343i writers are a completely talentless. What a shame. Even I would write better stories without complicating things such as that with Jul’dama and the UNSC. Its hard to understand for veterans, can you imagine for newcomers? Thanks for your information anyway, I appreciate it.

Read the Forerunner Trilogy by Greg Bear. It explains the end of the Forerunner-Flood War and the origin of the Flood/Precursors, and the Didact. It is a really amazing trilogy, IMO.

To answer your questions…

The first Ark created rings about 3 times the size of the current rings. Those rings were eventually deemed inefficient, and the Master Builder initiated the construction of a new Ark to forge smaller, but vastly improved Halos. The 7 we have now.

The first Ark’s Halos were destroyed when Mendicant Bias assaulted the Forerunner Capital. The first Ark itself was overwhelmed and destroyed when the Precursors cornered the last Forerunners there, leaving only a handful to escape to the Lesser Ark and activate the Array.

The success of the IIIs and IIs were widely considered to be what ultimately won the war. It is very logical that a new generstion would be planned. Using research from both generations ahead, a faster and safer way to create “Spartans” was found. And they ran with it.

Bungie created the Precursors. And it doesn’t screw with anything at all. It explains a vast and dark background to the story. The Covenant War set the stage for the original trilogy, and even throughout that characters realized the Covenant is overshadowed by the Flood and Forerunners. And that concern is correct… something big is coming.

343i didn’t do the best job explaining it all in Halo 4. But the explanations are there, and in the few years they’ve had with the story they have expanded it farther than Bungie ever did and have a really amazing and deep sci-fi story unfolding. We just have to hope that this potential shines through.

I really recommend reading the Forerunner Trilogy, notably Cryptum and Silentium. If you can take the hard sci-fi style of Greg Bear, it really opens up the universe 343i is trying to bring to the games.

>

Also don’t forget that Forerunner tech is kind of… made for Humans. That was established as early as CE, where John seamlessly interacted with Forerunner panels and structures without knowing a single thing about this place.
It took Prophets and Elites hundreds, thousands of years to perfect their reverse engineering and manipulation of this technology.
Humans are the Reclaimers. Meant to inherit and continue the Forerunner legacy, the technology is already designed for our hands. Not to mention the even more complicated geas, genetic imprint, used by the Librarian to award individuals with even more gifts with interacting with this stuff.

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> To be fair I have played all the Halo games, I still don’t think it makes any sense. There’s way too many plot holes like how <mark>the UNSC become overpowering against the Covenant, we was barely surviving and near extinction and yet we somehow get a fleet that’s twice as big as it once were before every planet was wiped out by the Covenant.</mark>

That’s exactly what I say. It makes no freaking sense!

> Or the fact the civil war has little mention in-game and poorly explains how the ‘Storm’ was founded which irritates me because <mark>most people I know just assume that there the covenant, forget what the human-covenant alliance that was made on Earth in Halo 3</mark> or the lack of information about the Arbiter.

I love you. Exactly the same thing I assumed when started to play Halo 4. Guess 343i writers are terrible for writing stories.

11

The Human species are the Reclaimers.

However, it does appear that there are certain “tiers” or important levels of Reclaimer. The geas may influence that.
Certain tech requires a certain status.

Originally it was thought that John was just the Reclaimer. Halo: The Flood showed that Spark chose an ordinary Marine initially to grab the Index, finding John when that marine was killed.

In Halo 4 it distinguishes certain kinds of Humans. It appears that the artifact at the top of Lockup was only accessible by certain humans.

The relationship is still quite unclear. But those special reclaimers in the past have often been the ones working close with the tech, like Halsey. Scientists.
When those scientists understand, others will gradually learn. The engineers would help that too.

12

> > To be fair I have played all the Halo games, I still don’t think it makes any sense. There’s way too many plot holes like how <mark>the UNSC become overpowering against the Covenant, we was barely surviving and near extinction and yet we somehow get a fleet that’s twice as big as it once were before every planet was wiped out by the Covenant.</mark>
>
> That’s exactly what I say. It makes no freaking sense!
>
>
>
> > Or the fact the civil war has little mention in-game and poorly explains how the ‘Storm’ was founded which irritates me because <mark>most people I know just assume that there the covenant, forget what the human-covenant alliance that was made on Earth in Halo 3</mark> or the lack of information about the Arbiter.
>
> I love you. Exactly the same thing I assumed when started to play Halo 4. Guess 343i writers are terrible for writing stories.

Twice as big?

Infinity bankrupted the UNSC and was under construction for 20 years.

The rest of the ships are Halcyon-Class Cruisers pulled out of storage and given some upgrades, called the Autumn Class.
From there we have a bunch of Frigates… and that is pretty much it.

To be honest, Home Fleet’s Battlegroup Dakota wasn’t all that impressive. A bunch of Strident-Class Frigates and some unknown ships that appear to be some kind of Destroyer or lower Cruiser class.

They aren’t terrible at all.

What they didn’t quite do well was implement it. They even admitted that when discussing the Didact, that they let too much of him in without explanation.

Besides the Didact stuff, the Covenant stuff is sort of logical.

We had a cease-fire with the Arbiter and his followers. There are millions of Elites, the vast majority of which had fought Humanity without question for 30 years. It wouldn’t make sense and would degrade the Sangheili as characters where they all to up and accept what the Arbiter did. That should have been shown more in 4, but that is the explanation. I’d be less impressed if there were no Elites in conflict with the Arbiter’s views,

As for Jul’s fleet, it consisted of an Assault Carrier, a few CCS Class ships, some armored ships, and then the vast majority are tiny CRS Cruisers. Smaller than UNSC Frigates, and they have no shields.
This is the largest contingent of vessels the UNSC has sen since the war, all gathered from backwater worlds Jul got on his side by preaching about the Didact.

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Ok, guys. Now that you introduced me to the Halo 4 plot, can you explain me now what really happens in Halo 4?

As far as I understand, Cortana woke up Jhon several years after Halo 3 aboard the Forward unto Dawn. Then, they’re sucked into the Requiem. They try to get out of the planet somehow but receive a UNSC signal from the Infinity, right? Then, the signal came from a misterious spehere which was in fact, a trap made by the Didact, who was waiting to be awaken by a reclaimer/human, right?

Ok, then later, the Inifity landed on Requiem to help the Forward unto Dawn (Master Chief and Cortana) but the crashed instead. A gravity well was preventing them from leaving Requiem so I wonder, what was the Didact doing meanwhile? Trying to get to the Composer, which coordinates were inside the Infinity. Is this correct?

Later, the Master Chief alone warped alongside the Didact’s ship through a portal directly to installation 03, were the Composer was being held. The UNSC Infinity was in Requiem, were Spartan Ops missions take place, right? As I saw in Spartan Ops, the Infinty warped through another portal back to earth. Is this right?

Then, somehow, the Didact took the composer and warped to earth. Coincidentally, the Master Chief with Cortana traveled the entire universe to reach earth and prevent the… the what? Can someone explain me what the Didact wanted with humans? He wanted to kill us? Also can you explain me what happens with Cortana? Does she has somekind of Jedi force or something?

Also, in the ending, the Didact mentions the Mantle of Responsability as if he would be alive. I believe he mentions that the mankind became the new Forerunners. That’s what I believe. Also, does the Didact die?

Edit: Also, can someone explain me how do the Prometheans and the Librarian fit in all this? What was their purpose? Why they weren’t mentioned before?

15

> If you play a game after another, all the stories make a perfect fit.

“Ok, just gonna board this ship; FINISH DA FIGHT!”

…

“Lolnope, gonna fall through Earth’s atmosphere some.”

16

The Dawn had been adrift for 5 years, 7 months, and 10 days.

Jul’s Covenant found Requiem a few years before and had been unable to get inside. The Dawn drifts by, and the Covies board. After the skirmish, Requiem identifies Chief as a Human, a Reclaimer, and pulls everyone inside.

Elsewhere, on Installation 03, Humanity has found the Composer and are tinkering with it. It activates and “zaps” a team of scientists, but coordinates to Requiem are found in the data field emitted. Infinity heads to Requiem.

Inside the planet, the Didact amplifies Infinity’s signal, making it appear as if it is coming from the core of the planet. Chief heads down to find it, discovers that Infinity is outside, and goes to the Didact’s Cryptum to warn Infinity, thinking the Cryptum a broadcast relay. This reactivates the Cryptum, releasing the Didact, who has been sitting here for 100,000 years pondering his hate for Humanity due to events that happened before the Flood War.

Infinity, unknowingly, gets pulled inside. The Didact searches its systems for the Composer, finds it is at I-03, and heads out to reactivate his ship. Infinity disables the Gravity Well, and Chief jumps ship to go after the Didact.
The Didact leaves with Chief in tow, going to Ivanoff Station in orbit of Installation 03. The Covenant, who think the Didact a god, attack the station and find the Composer. The Didact grabs it, and composes the entire station’s crew. John survives due to a genetic acceleration received by a Libarain AI on Requiem.

John finds a Broadsword, takes a nuke, and flies trenchrun style to the Composer as the Didact arrives at Earth.
Infinity had gotten to Earth earlier and warned fleet command, with Del Rio taken out of service because of his abandonment of John. After a battle, Chief knocks the Didact off the bridge and destroys the ship and Composer after it fires on the city New Phoenix. Cortana used what she had left to save John, but isn’t able to save herself.

After 6 months of reviewing data, repairing, and preparing, Infinity returns to Requiem for the Spartan Ops campaign.
Jul is there trying to awaken the Librarian AI. A bunch of stuff happens and Infinity gets locked in orbit by a slipspace artifact. Dr. Halsey gets abducted when Prometheans assault the ship, and she activates the Librarian. Here shengets an artifact that holds the location of all Forerunner tech. Jul takes one half but Majestic gets the other. Palmer shoots Halsey in the arm and Jul escapes with her. He sets Requiem on a collision course with its sun and leaves. Infinity disables the slipspace anchor and escapes with half the Janus Key.

17

> Later, the Master Chief alone warped alongside the Didact’s ship through a portal directly to installation 03, were the Composer was being held. The UNSC Infinity was in Requiem, were Spartan Ops missions take place, right? As I saw in Spartan Ops, the Infinty warped through another portal back to earth. Is this right?

Nope, maybe play the mission Shutdown again. Infinity left, but Chief stayed behind to try to stop the Didact. A lot of dialogue covers this.

Spartan Ops takes place several months later, as I believe the game says.

> Also, does the Didact die?

To quote 343, the Didact’s fate is “unknown”.

18

> Ok, guys. Now that you introduced me to the Halo 4 plot, can you explain me now what really happens in Halo 4?
>
> As far as I understand, Cortana woke up Jhon several years after Halo 3 aboard the Forward unto Dawn. Then, they’re sucked into the Requiem. They try to get out of the planet somehow but receive a UNSC signal from the Infinity, right? Then, the signal came from a misterious spehere which was in fact, a trap made by the Didact, who was waiting to be awaken by a reclaimer/human, right?
>
> Ok, then later, the Inifity landed on Requiem to help the Forward unto Dawn (Master Chief and Cortana) but the crashed instead. A gravity well was preventing them from leaving Requiem so I wonder, what was the Didact doing meanwhile? Trying to get to the Composer, which coordinates were inside the Infinity. Is this correct?
>
> Later, the Master Chief alone warped alongside the Didact’s ship through a portal directly to installation 03, were the Composer was being held. The UNSC Infinity was in Requiem, were Spartan Ops missions take place, right? As I saw in Spartan Ops, the Infinty warped through another portal back to earth. Is this right?
>
> <mark>Then, somehow, the Didact took the composer and warped to earth. Coincidentally, the Master Chief with Cortana traveled the entire universe to reach earth and prevent the… the what?</mark> Can someone explain me what the Didact wanted with humans? He wanted to kill us? Also can you explain me what happens with Cortana? Does she has somekind of Jedi force or something?
>
> Also, in the ending, the Didact mentions the Mantle of Responsability as if he would be alive. I believe he mentions that the mankind became the new Forerunners. That’s what I believe. Also, does the Didact die?
>
> Edit: Also, can someone explain me how do the Prometheans and the Librarian fit in all this? What was their purpose? Why they weren’t mentioned before?

Didact had coordinates for Earth from scanning Infinity and elsewhere over and over. Chief made it to Earth by hauling -Yoink- in a Broadsword (new Sabre) and caught up with Didacts ship, stayed low enough to the Didacts ship to go through slipspace) and then arrived to prevent the Didact from Composing the Humans, although the Didact did start the Composer on New Phoenix Arizona, but Chief/Cortana ended up destroying it.

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And no, it would appear that the Didact has survived.

The speech he gives shows it, as parts of it only make sense post-Halo 4.

However, his whereabouts and situation are unknown. The speech sounds like a trial, so it is suspected thst other surviving Forerunners have taken him into custody.

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