So a question has been pondering on my mind about whether the Multiplayer is canon as well as are the Spartans we play as in MP canon. I know for H4 and H5 that MP and WZ FF are simulations but what about the Sprtans we play as in the simulations, do they exist in the canon too? Another question I have is a member of Fireteam Crimson your MP character? I like to think that the operatives have their own armor sets instead of your unique look so when I play Spartan Ops I have my Spartan donning Mjolnir Mk VI [GEN 2] but that may just be me.
Besides from H4 and H5 what about from CE to Reach, or Reach-H3 if you want the chronological order of how it occurs in canon. Personally I like to believe for Reach FF that your Spartan is fighting off Covenant as a lone wolf operative the way B312 was before he was admitted into Noble Team. I like it as my own personal lore as I couldn’t find anything to canonically say otherwise (except for certain FF maps as it wouldn’t phsically be possible).
I want to use this section to go into games specifically and talk about them. For Halo CE (well the anniversary edition where a MP for online was added) and why would there be so many S-IIs fighting against each other when they are either supposed to be defending Reach or died in/during the protection of Reach and other planets. Moving onto Halo 2 why are Spartans and Elites fighting together? Before the game they were enemies and at the end when they were allies they had more important matters to tend to such as the Great Schism, fighting off the Covenant and keeping the Flood contained (also note that not all the Elites were allied with Humanity). For Halo 3’s case it can be argued to be a simulation, but where is the simulation area at and again where did all the S-IIs come from? Most of Blue Team was at Onyx, Grey Team was out of contact as they were in cryosleep in their escape pod after destroying Glyke, I don’t know where Black Team was and a lot of S-IIs were KIA at that point. Moving onto to ODST. How is FF canon in this game… it simply isn’t and I don’t think I need to explain tha, as it’s obvious why it can’t be canon.
Well anyways that concludes my thread and I am interested on your opinions on this matter and if you can provide evidence to support ponts you make in your replies and I’d be more than interested to read them. Constructive criticism (or compliments if you want) is all I ask for. But with that all being said I hope you all have a nice day!! 
The multiplayer-matchmaking is canon in Halo 4 and Halo 5. In CE, 2, 3, and Reach it isn’t. Although, you can imagine what you want to imagine. Developers have done a great job at allowing players to make their own story.
I believe that all of the MM’s in all of the Halos are seen as some kind of canon war-games. So technically your spartan is canon, but simply as a spartan who is being trained in war-games and nothing else. I don’t know how it works beyond spartan 4’s, but I assume the same idea applies to our spartan 2’s and 3’s.
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> The multiplayer-matchmaking is canon in Halo 4 and Halo 5. In CE, 2, 3, and Reach it isn’t. Although, you can imagine what you want to imagine. Developers have done a great job at allowing players to make their own story.
Immersion is something I love to feel when I’m plsying a game.
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> I believe that all of the MM’s in all of the Halos are seen as some kind of canon war-games. So technically your spartan is canon, but simply as a spartan who is being trained in war-games and nothing else. I don’t know how it works beyond spartan 4’s, but I assume the same idea applies to our spartan 2’s and 3’s.
How are the MPs before H4 canon, do you have any references or evidence to show?
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> Every bit of multiplayer, FF, and Spartans Ops are all canon, including your in universe character/player.
I can see to an extent as Reach FF being canon as I said above and Spartan Ops is explicitly canon as it happened (nothing more needed) but is your MP character for Halo 4 such as the character you may use for Big Team Battles the same Spartan a member of Fireteam Crimson that you play as in Spartan Ops? I personally imagined them to be two different people as it just makes sense.
Also do you have any evidence to show how MP before Halo 4 and FF in ODST are canon? That would really help settle this question if you do.
What does “canon” mean? I hear the term often but don’t understand what it is.
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> What does “canon” mean? I hear the term often but don’t understand what it is.
There are many meanings, the following is the best for gaming imo. It’s from an online source called The Free Dictionary.
Material considered to be officially part of a fictional universe or considered to fit within the history established by a fictional universe:
Adding to the above, I think 343i retconned the older games’ multiplayer to be canon as well. They take their lore seriously and I love that about them.
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> > I believe that all of the MM’s in all of the Halos are seen as some kind of canon war-games. So technically your spartan is canon, but simply as a spartan who is being trained in war-games and nothing else. I don’t know how it works beyond spartan 4’s, but I assume the same idea applies to our spartan 2’s and 3’s.
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> How are the MPs before H4 canon, do you have any references or evidence to show?
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Ok, so I couldn’t find much reference, but some references (mainly the Halo wikis) exists that points towards multiple maps in Halos 2 and 3 being part of Wargames, I believe the MCC descriptions of some of the maps may support it. Its mainly the new games, but the older ones are semi-sprinkled in it seems.
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> > > I believe that all of the MM’s in all of the Halos are seen as some kind of canon war-games. So technically your spartan is canon, but simply as a spartan who is being trained in war-games and nothing else. I don’t know how it works beyond spartan 4’s, but I assume the same idea applies to our spartan 2’s and 3’s.
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> > How are the MPs before H4 canon, do you have any references or evidence to show?
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> Ok, so I couldn’t find much reference, but some references (mainly the Halo wikis) exists that points towards multiple maps in Halos 2 and 3 being part of Wargames, I believe the MCC descriptions of some of the maps may support it. Its mainly the new games, but the older ones are semi-sprinkled in it seems.
So some are canon others are just for fun basically? Well I’ll take my victories where I get em. In a perfect world I would like everything to be canon but this is where I have to be relaistic and understand that isn’t possible 
It was either Halo Canon or Halo Follower on YouTube that looked at multiplayer as Canon although that video concentrated on the maps rather than the actual gameplay performed on them.
Personally, I just see multiplayer as game simulation but the maps, some of them anyway do fit canon.
Cheers,
Brad
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> It was either Halo Canon or Halo Follower on YouTube that looked at multiplayer as Canon although that video concentrated on the maps rather than the actual gameplay performed on them.
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> Personally, I just see multiplayer as game simulation but the maps, some of them anyway do fit canon.
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> Cheers,
> Brad
I’m not discussing solely the maps I’m talking about the players in said maps and where would they be playing if it was a simulation. It can’t be a simulation priror to Halo 4 as there weren’t simulators then. There are war games simulators on the Spartan Deck on the Infinity, and for whenever Swords of Sanghellios and Spartans are training together there is Anvil station. I tried to think of a reason for how it could be canon for the other games but can’t. The only thing I came up with was how Reach: FF could exist but it woupd only be on particular maps. But anyways thank you for your input and contribution Brad.
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> > It was either Halo Canon or Halo Follower on YouTube that looked at multiplayer as Canon although that video concentrated on the maps rather than the actual gameplay performed on them.
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> > Personally, I just see multiplayer as game simulation but the maps, some of them anyway do fit canon.
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> > Cheers,
> > Brad
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> I’m not discussing solely the maps I’m talking about the players in said maps and where would they be playing if it was a simulation. It can’t be a simulation priror to Halo 4 as there weren’t simulators then. There are war games simulators on the Spartan Deck on the Infinity, and for whenever Swords of Sanghellios and Spartans are training together there is Anvil station. I tried to think of a reason for how it could be canon for the other games but can’t. The only thing I came up with was how Reach: FF could exist but it woupd only be on particular maps. But anyways thank you for your input and contribution Brad.
Yeah, I did get the gist if your OP, I just wanted to get my two cents out there for the conversation.
War game simulations have always been a part of military organizations so for me, they do exist as Canon somewhat. The biggest part if the problem is that there are obviously more multiplayers than there were in the original Spartan II and III programs.
But it’s a cool thing to think this as Canon regardless. Good on you to bring it up.
Cheers,
Brad
Ah, interesting question, my friend. You see, from Halo CE to Halo Reach. The MP was always a feature from the game outside of the campaign and lore… However, since the time of Halo 4, the developers took an incredible step in turning it differently. As many have told you before, the matchmaking of Halo 4 and Halo 5 are canon since in its base lore says that the MP is actually a battle simulation aboard the UNSC Infinity and Spartan Ops in Halo 4 is considered to be the real deployments for Spartans. One thing I like about Halo 4 is that with Spartan Ops, the game gave your Spartan character the chance to be more than a simple MP skin to play, it made him/her part of the canon storyline, a proud member of Fireteam Crimson… It allows you to feel part of the Halo universe. Something I truly enjoy to this day.
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> Adding to the above, I think 343i retconned the older games’ multiplayer to be canon as well. They take their lore seriously and I love that about them.
They did? I had no idea.
Before Halo 4, I always thought it was a neat idea that we were running simulations. Gametypes like VIP or Assault seemed like good practice simulations for Spartans. I’m sure others had that idea too, but when Halo 4 came out I thought they were listening to my Xbox Live parties! Lol
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> > Adding to the above, I think 343i retconned the older games’ multiplayer to be canon as well. They take their lore seriously and I love that about them.
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> They did? I had no idea.
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> Before Halo 4, I always thought it was a neat idea that we were running simulations. Gametypes like VIP or Assault seemed like good practice simulations for Spartans. I’m sure others had that idea too, but when Halo 4 came out I thought they were listening to my Xbox Live parties! Lol
They did, every map from every Halo game now has a War Games callsign and is considered part of War Games.
I think the multiplayer itself is canon. It would scare me if Xbox Live parties were…
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> > > Adding to the above, I think 343i retconned the older games’ multiplayer to be canon as well. They take their lore seriously and I love that about them.
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> > They did? I had no idea.
> >
> > Before Halo 4, I always thought it was a neat idea that we were running simulations. Gametypes like VIP or Assault seemed like good practice simulations for Spartans. I’m sure others had that idea too, but when Halo 4 came out I thought they were listening to my Xbox Live parties! Lol
>
> They did, every map from every Halo game now has a War Games callsign and is considered part of War Games.
>
> I think the multiplayer itself is canon. It would scare me if Xbox Live parties were…
Neat! I just found this, if this is what you’re talking about. I think they need to update Halo: CE maps on the though.
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> > > > Adding to the above, I think 343i retconned the older games’ multiplayer to be canon as well. They take their lore seriously and I love that about them.
> > >
> > > They did? I had no idea.
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> > > Before Halo 4, I always thought it was a neat idea that we were running simulations. Gametypes like VIP or Assault seemed like good practice simulations for Spartans. I’m sure others had that idea too, but when Halo 4 came out I thought they were listening to my Xbox Live parties! Lol
> >
> > They did, every map from every Halo game now has a War Games callsign and is considered part of War Games.
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> > I think the multiplayer itself is canon. It would scare me if Xbox Live parties were…
>
> Neat! I just found this, if this is what you’re talking about. I think they need to update Halo: CE maps on the though.
That is more or less what I was referring to. I guess 343 has not given CE maps War Games designations so there is currently no way to know if CE multiplayer is officially canon
I feel like any multiplayer from Halo 4 to Halo 5 is considered canon as it is War Games. But anything from before like Halo Reach to 3 isn’t canon.