So I’ve been playing Halo officially since Halo 3, honestly. Never read the books. Only saw the ODST Halo Legends bit, and the Arbiter verse other Sangheili with white dreadlocks bit. The thing is I am REALLY in to Halo lore, so my only way (that I know of) to delve into Halo backstory and lore is by going to the halopedian. But I understand enough of the backstory to get what is going on in the Halo games, obviously. I know who the Forerunners are (in some sort of detail) an barely know who the Precursors are. The only thing I know about them are the Didact and his children. So, as silly/inappropriate of request as this may be, could someone who loves to explain Halo lore tell me the Halo story, (not in detail of the books, of course! Just a somewhat detailed explanation, like stuff I would need to know for Halo 4, I suppose)? I understand that probably no one will do this, so in that likely case could someone tell me the chronological order of the books so I will know what order to read them in? I can’t seem to figure out what the order is…
It would be better to read the books or read Halopedian than it would for someone here to explain everything. Besides that, Halo 4 will have a Prologue which explains in detail the Backstory of the last trilogy leading up to Halo 4 so you won’t be lost when you play it. The Chronological order of the books are as follows…
Cryptum
Primordium
Silentium
Contact Harvest
The Cole Protocol
The Fall of Reach
The Flood
First Strike
Ghosts of Onyx
Glasslands
The Thursday War
Halo Evolutions - multiple stories taking place at multiple different times throughout the Human Covenant War.
Here is a VERY basic idea of what happened…
- 150,000 years ago Humans and Forerunner were Tier 1.
- Humans encountered Flood, War starts.
- Humans invade Forerunner space to escape Flood, War starts
- Humans defeat Flood, lose to Forerunner, Human Empire destroyed, Humans devolved to primitive state
- Forerunner fight Flood, A.I. Mendicant Bias betrays Forerunner
- Halo Rings activated, Galaxy cleansed of life, Flood contained, Forerunner disappear.
- Humans chosen as Reclaimers
100,000 years later…
- Covenant races worship technology Forerunner left behind, believe Forerunner ascended into godhood
- Humans rebuild, unite and begin recolonizing space
- Covenant grows bigger with each race it conquers.
- Humans wage civil war, Spartans created
- Covenant encounters Humans, learn we are Reclaimers, Covenant religion shattered, Prophets cover it up, War starts
- Humans resist, fight back, Elite faith begins to waiver, Prophet of Truth begins to favor Brutes
- Reach Falls, Alpha Halo discovered, contained Flood unleashed, Alpha Halo destroyed
- Covenant finds Earth, invades, Prophet of Regret finds Delta Halo, Gravemind discovered, Prophet of Truth betrays Elites
- Elite Arbiter separates from Covenant, allies with Humans, Follow Prophet of Truth to the Ark
- Prophet of Truth killed at the Ark, Flood Gravemind attempts to control Ark, replacement Alpha Halo activated, Ark and Ring destroyed, Flood contained
- Forerunner A.I. Mendicant Bias sends John-117 and Human A.I. Cortana to Requiem.
Halopedian as well as the Novels will provide you far greater detail.
Not trying to self-promote, but I did a video summary of everything from as far back as possible so far to the firing of the Halo Array.