So I’m catching up on all my lore reading very slowly and not in any semblance of a logical order. This is a minor detail but what the heck, I’ve seen threads opened about sillier things.
Reading thru Ghosts of Onyx right now and loving it as much as the other two Nylund books. As you all know, about halfway in, once the Sentinels begin attacking, Kurt goes back to his office with Lucy, goes into his weapons locker, and stands in front of two suits of armor - his old MJOLNIR, and an SPI suit. He muses to himself upon the lessons he’s taught the SIII’s about family and teamwork and solidarity, and chooses to don the SPI. Lucy tries to get him to wear the MJOLNIR and he says “No, that’s not who I am anymore. I’m one of you now.”
Now of course I haven’t finished the book yet, but I already long ago read the plot synopses of every Halo novel in advance, I know Kurt won’t live. (Although I forget exactly how he dies.) I also don’t know yet how many more others may be killed that he might have had a chance to protect. Do you agree with his decision? I personally found it shocking, I couldn’t believe it. But, I’ve never been in the real life military so perhaps I’ll never understand fully just how important the need is for that solidarity. The MJOLNIR would instantly transform him into a superhero that would have a dramatically better chance of protecting everyone and getting them out alive, I feel like that’s what was more important. (As evidenced by Kelly destroying a Sentinel with her bare hands once she finally shows up.)
Opinions? Anyone? “Who cares that book is ancient?” LOL
I kind of understand the symbolism he was going for, but honestly, I think he’s an idiot for not using Mjolnir. He gave up the very obvious advantage all for that symbolism that didn’t really do anyone any good. It didn’t really come into play later by making the III’s to fight harder. It’s never mentioned again.
Spartans are very potent on their own, they don’t rely exclusively on the armor.
That being said, unless they’d been shipping him updated suits, it was likely an older version of MK-IV that lacked energy shielding. Its important to remember that a single plasma pistol pretty much doomed Sam while wearing similar armor.
SPI is better suited for a stealthier survival operation due to camouflage.
There’s definitely some senimentality clouding his decisions, but it isn’t a 100% terrible decision either.
I’m not sure his MJOLNIR would have made a big difference in the end. The Onyx Sentinels were tough customers whose lasers just seemed to tear through anything like a hot knife cutting through butter. Maybe Kurt had misplaced sentimentality, but Blue Team didn’t seem to be able to save anybody who died, I don’t think Kurt would have changed things up anyway. I mean, Kurt in MJOLNIR wouldn’t have made a difference with Dante and his gut full of Needler shards.
You know, given the situation you could argue that MJORNIR would’ve been worse for Kurt, considering how its combined weight with Kurt is half a tonne, which isn’t exactly easy to sneak around with and the SPI armour does provide much greater ability to sneak around than half a tonne of armour, which would’ve been useful for sneaking up on sentinels and such.
However MJORNIR is a powerful set of armour which could’ve allowed Kurt to better protect his students, his friends and possibly…
saved his lifeHowever I do understand why he chose not to wear the armour and I respect him for it, and if it wasn’t for him choosing to wear SPI…
Kurt never would’ve been wounded and therefore he would less likely to of been motivated (or woudl the thought even occur. Damn butterflies and their effect) to blow up the shield world in the first place.
In the end I don’t think it mattered I wont spoil anything but based on the positions of all the characters in the final chapters I don’t think his old armour would have saved anyone except himself.
HALO: GHOSTS OF ONYX
In this Eric Nylund novel, the Spartan-II program has gone public. Tales of super-soldiers fending off thousands of Covenant attacks have become the stuff of legend. But just how many Spartans are left?
Thanks for the feedback folks. I just thought it was interesting. I never in a million years would have expected him to do that. I probably should have waited till I finished the book to ask the question; depending on the exact circumstances of his death, it sounds like it might not have made a difference. It also didn’t dawn on me that his old suit would have been Mk IV and wouldn’t have been shielded, I should have realized that but didn’t think of it.
Those Sentinels sure are awfully OP in canon vs the video games… it’s interesting how those mechanics compare across different authors portraying the extended universe. Having gone thru Kilo V not long ago, it sure looked like Naomi was “playing on Easy” most of the time against any and every opponent, but Nylund makes it sound like the Halo universe is permanently set to Legendary.
His decision was for the right reasons, but it was still a seriously STUPID one.
Lucy had the right idea; she’s like “no, boss, please, take it!”
And Kurt is like “no, Im one of you now”.
And then he died. As a badass, yes. But still.
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> Those Sentinels sure are awfully OP in canon vs the video games… it’s interesting how those mechanics compare across different authors portraying the extended universe. Having gone thru Kilo V not long ago, it sure looked like Naomi was “playing on Easy” most of the time against any and every opponent, but Nylund makes it sound like the Halo universe is permanently set to Legendary.
The Sentinels on Onyx are a hardrier, much more lethal version than anything we’ve ever encountered in the games, which might have something to do with it.
That. Or Nylund is just a really damn good writer. Considering, you know, he LAID THE FOUNDATION FOR DAMN NEAR ALL THE LORE…
I’ve read Ghosts of Onyx and I thought that the settings were confusing, after a while I got used to it though. I’m saying that it takes place in a shield world, on a shield world, in a ship, and also many other places all at the same time.
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> I’ve read Ghosts of Onyx and I thought that the settings were confusing, after a while I got used to it though. I’m saying that it takes place in a shield world, on a shield world, in a ship, and also many other places all at the same time.
All of Nylund’s Halo books do that. It’s not like he doesn’t tell you where it is at any given time.
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> I’ve read Ghosts of Onyx and I thought that the settings were confusing, after a while I got used to it though. I’m saying that it takes place in a shield world, on a shield world, in a ship, and also many other places all at the same time.
I liked how it jumped around a little bit, going from setting to setting as it helped to develop a better story than wasn’t entirely focused on one group of characters. I think Nylund did a good job of helping differentiate each location so that you knew the differences between each one, helping to give a clear mental picture.
Not to bump my own thread but I have to say I finally finished this book today during my lunch hour (I read very slowly these days) and I absolutely loved it - but granted seeing the exact circumstances of Kurt’s death my question looks very silly now, it certainly wouldn’t have mattered a hill of beans which armor he wore.
Nylund is just a master. I read First Strike and Ghosts of Onyx back to back and I hate to always drag my comments back to 343 bashing, and whining about the current state of the fiction, but it’s a sad shame to compare the lore world then and now. What an awesome story. His set pieces are so epic, and his characters are so real - in 380+ pages he took me from not knowing who Kurt was, to watering up when he died. (All the while, the soundtrack that plays in Halo: Reach right after Jorge dies, when Six picks himself up and looks at the city, was playing in my head, as Kurt was seeing the ghosts of all his old friends.) Awesome.
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> > 2535461412549528;10:
> > I’ve read Ghosts of Onyx and I thought that the settings were confusing, after a while I got used to it though. I’m saying that it takes place in a shield world, on a shield world, in a ship, and also many other places all at the same time.
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> All of Nylund’s Halo books do that. It’s not like he doesn’t tell you where it is at any given time.
Those little location/time stamps at the start of each chapter are so damn useful.
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> Those Sentinels sure are awfully OP in canon vs the video games… it’s interesting how those mechanics compare across different authors portraying the extended universe. Having gone thru Kilo V not long ago, it sure looked like Naomi was “playing on Easy” most of the time against any and every opponent, but Nylund makes it sound like the Halo universe is permanently set to Legendary.
Becausr those Sentinels are not the Aggressor models that we usually see. Those were Onyx Sentinels.
Forerunners Sentinels come in many different forms like for example, the cannon fodder Aggressors from the games (who are superior to the Prometheans who die to single hits from weapons weaker than a .22 rifle), the tanky Enforcers, the weak Constructors/Assemblers who build stuff, the Retriever Sentinels who destroy and mine entire planets, and the city destroying Sentinel from Halo Legends.