Cryo sleep is a staple feature of the halo universe. By the time of 2525 (oldest reference in the lore that springs to mind) Suspended Animation or ‘Cryo sleep’ is a mundane process used on long voyages. However we have relatively little information on how the process works. We know the subject dreams lucid and unpleasant dreams, that are taken from traumatic memories, and wearing clothing, even a plaster can cause ‘freezer burn’, a painful skin condition (although this may have been retconned a everyone in games and visual media is clothed).
Time spent frozen has never really mattered, as generally it has been only undertaken for short periods, and never really for extended durations. We don’t know how the science of it works. If we ignore general cryo sleep and focus on abnormally long ‘freezes’ then we have the issue of John 117 being younger than the rest of blue team by a couple of years. Not really a major issue as it’s only 4 years or so. However Red Team have been frozen for 28 years. Theoretically, they will only be in their twenties in Halo Wars 2… but what if Cryo doesn’t halt ageing? What if it only slows it down?
This marks the first time I know of in universe where a character has been frozen for so long. The idea of some of the Spartan II’s being so young is a little odd to me, especially with the established paradigm from Halo 5 of the old vs new spartans.
Does anyone remember the 1992 film ‘Forever Young’ with Mel Gibson? For those of you too young or with better taste in movies, it’s the story of a test pilot who agrees to be put into cryo for 1 year in 1939 but wakes up in 1992 and has to work out what happened. When he first wakes up he is his ususal, youthful self approximately 27 years old. However, over time, his body begins to reconcile with his actual age, and he begins to rapidly age, until, by the films end, he has caught up with his actual age of around 80.
If this was the same with Halo, it would mean that over time Red Team, and John 117 would reconcile their ages to match those of thieir comrades on Blue Team (and Grey Team).
What is you guys think?
“By the time of 2525 (oldest reference in the lore that springs to mind) Suspended Animation or ‘Cryo sleep’ is a mundane process used on long voyages.”
— The earliest we’ve seen cryostasis being used on ships is 2517.
“We know the subject dreams lucid and unpleasant dreams, that are taken from traumatic memories, and wearing clothing, even a plaster can cause ‘freezer burn’, a painful skin condition (although this may have been retconned a everyone in games and visual media is clothed).”
— It hasn’t been. We’ve been told we should simply consider the depiction of people in cryo clothed as a necessity of censorship, and not strictly canon. However, there are dedicated cryo-suits that can alleviate the issue.
“If this was the same with Halo, it would mean that over time Red Team, and John 117 would reconcile their ages to match those of thieir comrades on Blue Team (and Grey Team).”
— That isn’t how it works, though.
I appreciate the correction on the date- like I said though, I was recalling from memory, as I’m at work and don’t have access to my books. Presumably cryo has been used since the advent of space travel in universe, as it would have been even more useful before Shaw Fujikawa Translight engines were developed, saving on resources.
I didn’t know there had been official word on the ‘cryo suits’ as seen in Forward unto Dawn and Fall of Reach animated series. Halo Legends and Halo Wars showed people being frozen in normal clothing (Halsey , Anders) suggesting again a possible retcon. I was aware it was for censorship- not having nudity depicted but didn’t know of an ‘in universe’ reasoning and thus presumed it had been retconned as all media since ‘The Flood’ and ‘Fall of Reach’ novels have depicted clothed cryo. Do you have a source for the comment?
Well thanks for the last part, just saying ‘that’s not how it works’ doesn’t promote discussion. If there is media that states I am incorrect, please kindly direct me to it, if not at least have the courtesy to explain how it ‘does work’.
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> I appreciate the correction on the date- like I said though, I was recalling from memory, as I’m at work and don’t have access to my books. Presumably cryo has been used since the advent of space travel in universe, as it would have been even more useful before Shaw Fujikawa Translight engines were developed, saving on resources.
>
> I didn’t know there had been official word on the ‘cryo suits’ as seen in Forward unto Dawn and Fall of Reach animated series. Halo Legends and Halo Wars showed people being frozen in normal clothing (Halsey , Anders) suggesting again a possible retcon. I was aware it was for censorship- not having nudity depicted but didn’t know of an ‘in universe’ reasoning and thus presumed it had been retconned as all media since ‘The Flood’ and ‘Fall of Reach’ novels have depicted clothed cryo. Do you have a source for the comment?
>
> Well thanks for the last part, just saying ‘that’s not how it works’ doesn’t promote discussion. If there is media that states I am incorrect, please kindly direct me to it, if not at least have the courtesy to explain how it ‘does work’.
Given SGT Avery Johnsons actual age (somewhere around 67?) and his appeared age of wrong late 40’s we can at least assume Cryo doesn’t have a reconciliation effect.
If if you are frozen much akin to a piece of meat I may not stop 100% of the effects of aging but it will slow it down to a minimum in a year you likely age less then a day if at all.
toing from the length of time Red Team have been frozen if their bodies weren’t in complete hibernation stage and at 0% working condition given their increased metabolism they’d have starved to death well before being woken 28 years later.
id put Cryo sleep at roughly the same level as a Cryptum which seems to have no issues sustaining a husk like body for 10,000 years plus.
What really keeps my thinking about cryo sleep is how they actually made it possible…
If I recall my biology class from 6 years ago right, one would need to freeze every single cell of the body within the exact same moment which is as of now not possible.
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> What really keeps my thinking about cryo sleep is how they actually made it possible…
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> If I recall my biology class from 6 years ago right, one would need to freeze every single cell of the body within the exact same moment which is as of now not possible.
150 years ago flight wasn’t possible, at least not for sustained periods. With 500 years of advancement it’s no wonder the UNSC have figured out a few tricks.