Maybe 343i DOESN'T hate Halsey after all

Games Other Halo
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So two months ago I made a thread, 343i DOES hate Halsey after all. In it I was responding to a statement made in the Bulletin about the final episode of Spartan Ops where the author of Spartan Ops, Brian Reed, talked about how Halsey was a monster and generally terrible person. Combined with the treatment of the doctor in some of the newer novels, I felt as though 343i had some sort of personal vendetta against this character. While I am still weary of what the story has in store for one of my favorite characters, especially after Halo 4, some hope has emerged.

About a week ago I sent bs angel a PM detailing my thoughts on the matter and found a reply in my inbox last night.

> Hi, Cobra. Thanks for your message. Feedback and concern is always appreciated. Now, down to business…
>
> Firstly, I need to be quite clear about something – Halsey is one of the most important characters in the franchise. Second only to the Chief and Cortana in terms of her effect on the universe and its inhabitants. Secondly, I am not going to apologize for the way she is being “treated” because you’re basically seeing a small part of her eventual role and destiny in the Halo universe. Specifically you are complaining about how she is seen by certain characters in the game.
>
> We’re investing a lot in Halsey – and part of that is a very important effort to show her from multiple perspectives – seeing how her actions are viewed by other facets on ONI and the UNSC. The things that are happening to her, and the things that will happen to her in the future are part of a long and complex arc that I think, if you continue to pay attention to it, will become clear, purposeful and exciting in the near future.
>
> You’ll also see her viewed from other perspectives – this is a complicated character, with a complicated role. The worst thing we could do to her is make her a simplistic cliché, on either end of the spectrum – boringly good, comically evil. She’s neither of these things, and you yourself asked the most important question. Who is she seeking revenge against, and why?
>
> Well that’s exactly it. You’ll find out. We will continue to invest in making Halsey, the other game characters and the universe itself, more nuanced and three dimensional. So if she is as you say, your favorite character, you should continue paying attention, because you are going to be seeing and hearing a lot more about the Doctor, her role and her importance to the survival of humanity.
>
> Anyway, I can’t force you to keep watching, reading or listening, but I can ask a favor of you. A little patience. I think you’ll ultimately like what we have in store for her, and in the end, how vital and believable she will end up.

With that reply, I feel as it though it is now unfair to say that 343i hate Dr. Halsey. While what happened in Halo 4 has still occurred and the books still leave a bad taste in my mouth on the whole thing, these words are encouraging. We can at least gather one thing, she will continue to play a huge role in the expanded universe, but amazingly enough, in the games as well, a role she has only recently made a breakout role in. This gives me hope for a Spartan Ops Season 2 as well so they can further flesh this out.

So I’ll just leave this with a question. Based on your experiences in Halo 4 and Spartan Ops, what do you think is in Halsey’s future? How do you rate the experiences you’ve had with the character in Halo 4 and Spartan Ops? Are you satisfied with the development or put off?

Thank you, bs angel.

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I think they are going to remove her other arm too.

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To be perfectly honest, I just read Glasslands for the first time and I don’t see where this idea of 343 hating Halsey came from. Halsey has done some terrible things for good reason, but that doesn’t erase those terrible acts.

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> To be perfectly honest, I just read Glasslands for the first time and I don’t see where this idea of 343 hating Halsey came from. Halsey has done some terrible things for good reason, but that doesn’t erase those terrible acts.

In retrospect, most of the hate stems from Karen Traviss’ writing. She is a very opinionated writer, the TV Tropes article about Halo: Glasslands really sums things up. I’d give it a read.

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It’s hard to tell. She’s too important of a character to get rid of, but at the same time she isn’t getting any younger either. Cortana was a main character and she’s gone or is she? I’m thinking Catherine is to replace Cortana someway. It could either be from another composer, she does it herself or she brings Cortana back. So many possibilities right now.

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> To be perfectly honest, I just read Glasslands for the first time and I don’t see where this idea of 343 hating Halsey came from. Halsey has done some terrible things for good reason, but that doesn’t erase those terrible acts.

It is less that she shouldn’t be held accountable for her past…and more that Traviss is too heavy handed in getting that across, to the point where the character was no longer acting like the established character.

I found that in Sops and the prelude in H4, we are starting to see Halsey come back to the character that she was, and not what Traviss had turned her into.

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Can’t she just make a robotic arm, they have already been shown to exist… (Kat from Reach)

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So basically word-for-word the exact thing I’ve been trying to tell this community for the past 2 years than, that perspectives of the characters=/=perspectives of the author.

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> So basically word-for-word the exact thing I’ve been trying to tell this community for the past 2 years than, that perspectives of the characters=/=perspectives of the author.

Unless you’re Brian Reed or Karen Traviss, then yes.

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> So basically word-for-word the exact thing I’ve been trying to tell this community for the past 2 years than, that perspectives of the characters=/=perspectives of the author.

I’ve tried explaining to people that Palmer has a negative perspective towards Halsey because of what ONI told people about her. Not many people seem to understand that all the characters aren’t all knowing.

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> > To be perfectly honest, I just read Glasslands for the first time and I don’t see where this idea of 343 hating Halsey came from. Halsey has done some terrible things for good reason, but that doesn’t erase those terrible acts.
>
> In retrospect, most of the hate stems from Karen Traviss’ writing. She is a very opinionated writer, the TV Tropes article about Halo: Glasslands really sums things up. I’d give it a read.

Having read almost all of her books, she isn’t an opinionated author, she writes opinionated characters, characters whose perspectives are written simply by virtue of their experiences and personality. The no-prior-experience rule she has with writing foreign universes is done specifically so she has no opinion of her own about the universe, characters or plot. She writes as an outsider would see things, more objectively than a fan (consequentially resulting in all of the irrational hatred she gets). With Halsey, we have characters who simply would, in all fairness, have beef with the woman. And Mendez, described as being a noble enough father figure to the Spartans, would, given his strong sense of military honor, have second thoughts when retrospecting the program. He has been mum on the subject throughout the duration of the program because of his well-honed resolute stance in the face of emotional stress and his sense of duty to the UNSC. But any sane human being would look back on the things they did and have second thoughts.

Hence why Mendez apparently turns on Halsey. Halsey is a scapegoat because she’s an easy target, not because she was the sole mastermind behind the program. She really did lead the project and has always been its figurehead, and being a figurehead is enough to end up absorbing all the flak for any hatred directed towards whatever it happens to be. Being such a good emotional scapegoat, therefore, results in a very good political one, hence why she’s been arrested and jailed by ONI to deflect all the flak onto her. All 343i and Traviss have done is shine a light on a different perspective of the character, rather than keeping her the Mary Sue she’s long been, and considering what she’s responsible for, any attempt to introduce a negative perspective would inevitably result in a lot of emotional turmoil from any character who has reason to hate her. With Halsey, when it rains it pours. Having crossed so many moral boundaries, any one who does dislike her, would very much so hate her.

This by no means implies Traviss or 343i hate Halsey, because hating Halsey as an author is a waste of time, and thinking authors hate any of their characters is even dumber. It is as S.M. Sterling wrote in his acknowledgement of Larry Niven: “There is a technical, literary term for those who mistake the opinions and beliefs of characters in a novel for those of the author. The term is ‘idiot’.”

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> and part of that is a very important effort to show her from multiple perspectives

To show her from multiple perspectives you … NEED to show multiple perspectives. It’s pretty much a hate party going on now and with that there is only one conclusion to drive people to.

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Awesome! I loved the Spartan ops episodes, really disliked the game play. Laggy as all hell in coop was one of the biggest factors.

I kind of wish 343i could have just done a miniseries with it and allocated the spartan ops team to something else, overall the gameplay was a waste on me.

I’m extremely excited to see what Halsey has in store for us now though; but I was excited before this as well.

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> > and part of that is a very important effort to show her from multiple perspectives
>
> To show her from multiple perspectives you … NEED to show multiple perspectives. It’s pretty much a hate party going on now and with that there is only one conclusion to drive people to.

That’s a fair point. I’d love to see how Blue team has been doing and how they’ve reacted to what’s happened. I doubt we’ll see that before Halo 5 though.

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I think Halsey is going to end up doing what she always does.

She’ll do what’s in the best interest for humanity as a whole, but she’ll do it HER way.

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> I think Halsey is going to end up doing what she always does.
>
> She’ll do what’s in the best interest for humanity as a whole, but she’ll do it HER way.

I agree with this. Whether or not people in the universe like how she does things, you have to admit, they do work.

I’m happy with Angel’s response. There’s more to Halsey than they’re letting us know, so I for one can’t wait to see where the story goes from here.

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Now this is a reply that I’m happy to see. Thanks BS Angel for this response.

Can’t say that I like how they cut her arm of in SPOPS or how she is portrayed in the Kilo-Five trilogy. But this does create a positive view on 343i’s view on Halsey.

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> Can’t she just make a robotic arm, they have already been shown to exist… (Kat from Reach)

She could get a robotic arm like Kat or she could flash-clone herself a new arm like she did for James.

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I think Halsley might get turned into an AI by a Composer later in the trilogy, and she probably wouldn’t mind.

Or maybe she’ll help the Storm Covenant find Forerunner technology, but then use her Reclaimer status against them.

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> I think Halsley might get turned into an AI by a Composer later in the trilogy, and she probably wouldn’t mind.

The way she was talking at the beginning in Episode 6 certainly supports that.