So, just in case anyone didn’t know, Halo multiplayer is canonically explained in the narrative as being training simulations run on the (read: holo deck) of the UNSC Infinity for the Spartan IVs. Now, this in mind, I think that carries some very interesting implications.
Every player Spartan is a canon character
Since the multiplayer matches are part of the narrative, that means our Spartans are part of the narrative. Which means somewhere in the Infinity, while Palmer and Lasky discuss the fate of the universe, a green and blue armored Spartan named Phoenix is having constant gender reassignment surgery because I can never decided whether I like the male or female Spartan model more.
Halo 5’s multiplayer place after the events of the campaign
As I’m sure we’re all PAINFULLY AWARE, the Warzone matches of the Infinity’s War Games includes a full simulation of the Warden Eternal, including all of his capabilities and even a rough approximation of his personality (as evidenced by his dialogue). In order to create such a simulation, Infinity would need in depth knowledge of the Warden, who had never been encountered prior to the events of Halo 5, and even then, only by eight Spartans in total,
all of whom spent the entire campaign away from and often out of contact with the Infinity.So the only way the Infinity would have gotten its hands on enough live combat data to replicate the Warden in Warzone would be if Osiris and Blue Team handed over their data AFTER the events of the campaign.
Since Infinity at the end of Halo 5
is running and hiding, making random jumps around the galaxy to avoid Cortana and her army of Guardians, that means every Spartan on the Infinity knows the stakes, and is stuck on the Infinity. With every Arena and Warzone matches, our Spartans know in the back of their heads that the day will come when the running stops. They’re training nonstop (read: we’re playing for hours on end) because they know one day soon they’ll have to face a seemingly invincible Forerunner armada.
There are a lot of Spartans on the Infinity (and a lot that aren’t)
As previously stated, every player Spartan is a canon character. Which should mean that the number of active Spartan IVs currently in the UNSC is equal to the number of people who have purchased Halo 5, either new or preowned. This would also mean that Halo 5’s current player count (at any given time) is equal to the number of Spartan IVs on the Infinity. And for anyone who has purchased Halo 5 but is currently not playing the game, your Spartan is either away on mission (not onboard the Infinity) or somewhere else on the ship, not training. Anyone who purchases Halo 5 and has since abandoned the game (for whatever reason) would be Spartans who are listed as MIA, because Spartans never die, they’re just missing in action (players might abandon the game, but maybe in six months they’ll be back to see what the new updates added).
Plus other things I can’t figure out
But since our Halo 4 Spartans were also canon characters, that begs the question, are our Halo 4 and Halo 5 Spartan’s the same person? Back in Halo 4, how did the UNSC have enough Covenant weapons to allow Spartans to choose them as weapons to carry into battle? Fireteam Crimson? How many people are actually on that team? Are all Spartans on Fireteam Crimson? Are the Spartans divided into Blue Team, Jun, the Spartan-IIIs still alive after the battle of Onyx (I forget their name), Halo Wars Red Team, Fireteam Majestic (You probably forgot them. They were the guys who got to be in the cutscenes of Spartan Ops while we did all the work.), Palmer, and then everyone else is on Crimson? How does that Fireteam work? We were there! We were all there, and we’re all canon! HOW?
That’s my post, I’ll probably turn this into a YouTube video or maybe a blog post, we’ll see. But what do you guys think about all this?