The importance of the Halo novels examined.

Community Halo Universe
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It has been almost 11 years now since Halo came into my life and in that time the series has been completely blown out of proportion to anything we could have anticipated back in 2001. What was initially a single novel and game has become a vast universe spanning all different kinds of media - books, comics, animated films and even live action films. It’s a fact, the Halo series has been not only a phenominal catalyst for the development of its genre but has immortalised its position as a cult classic.

But why?

Well, there are many reasons that people could come up with but for me, it’s the universe of Halo that makes it so unforgettable. Now what I mean by the universe is not the story presented in the game, but the culmination of all the fiction from the expanded universe spanning over 100,000 years of history.

But where does this information come from?

Well, I can tell you at once that it’s not from the games - not the main trilogy and ODST at least. It’s my view that the games tell a story and the novels (& other media) tell a universe. Take away the books/comics etc for a second, forget that they ever existed and focus only on the games. What do we have? A story about some bloke in a shiny green suit of armour who fights aliens for some reason with the treat of galactic destruction through the use of 7 artificial Ringworlds. That’s it, we have no depth to the story because there’s no universe beyond the Human-Covenant war. We don’t know what a Spartan is, how they were created, who created them, why they were created, why this person wanted to create them in the first place and whether there’s any kind of personal reason behind that? John is just a supersoldier with no story, no face, no emotion - no anything, he’s a blank slate.

It’s my firm belief that the novels in particular are more important to the development of the series than the games, without the novels there’s nothing to the games. We’d be left with nothing but questions and no answers in a seemingly generic series of games without the novels and additional media and I think that a lot of people seem to fall into the foolish trap of neither recognising nor caring about the fact that Halo wouldn’t have a proper universe without this extra fiction.

There would be no Halsey, even though she appears in Reach there’s no explanation as to who she is. There’s still no explanation to what a Spartan is, nor the difference between a S-II and S-III, why she treats Jorge with kindness and the rest of Noble Team with nothing but contempt (and rightly so) during their first meeting. All we’d be left with is assumptions in a series that promises us no answers.

A big complaint about the Forerunner Saga is that it “ruins the mystery” behind the Forerunners, that argument is nothing but tripe I’m afraid. Halo’s universe is constantly expanding through some medium or other, what is it that makes the Forerunners so special that you feel the need to be left in the dark, to repeatedly walk through their ruins for over a decade and have no answers. Why do you crave repetition? What’s the point in having this great race if we’re only going to be layering on questions with no logical answers? There isn’t, the Halo universe would be lesser without Greg’s wonderful work.

Ultimately, the point I want to get at is that the serious misunderstandings and foolish judgements surrounding the content and even the penning of the novels and additional media is something that needs to stop. Too many times, I see ridiculous points come from people who haven’t read the novels - “Character X is the Chief” being one of the most agonizing things to read. To anyone who calls themself a Halo fan, to ignore this material is to ignore the primary building block of the Halo universe and thus miss out on what makes this series so utterly and unmistakably beautiful. I challenge anyone to make an argument saying that Halo would be better without the novels…

Thank you for reading.

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They compliment each other in my opinion. The novels add context to the universe, but the games contain the vast majority of the themes that are at the heart of Halo’s story.

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I agree with you ajw. I agree to the extent of sometimes questioning game canon over novel canon. The things that happen in the campaigns of various Halo games: (Master Chief single handedly slaughtering thousands of brutes, elites, and the lesser races of the covenant, sometimes with nothing but his fists; an ODST squad, consisting of regular humans in combat suits killing hundreds of 1,100 lb brutes) These things just do not make sense to me. I consider the novels weight of battles much more accurate. They way the novels depict it, John could not simply walk up to a brute, punch it a few times and walk away without getting his spine torn from his body. And rightfully so. I understand I’ve spawned a different argument but the point remains that the novels are a core asset to Halo, sometimes even more than the games.

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Humans are better on the ground so there isn’t anything wrong with the kill numbers unless marines are going around beating brutes with bare hands. Books over games since they explain a lot more and go into a better context. The only downside is that some things may never be explained or may not be explained properly.

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I agree, I really don’t know why others think the games trump the books, nothing like a good old book!

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> Humans are better on the ground so there isn’t anything wrong with the kill numbers

I am doubting this severely. Not only in the books are Covenant weapons described as exponentially superior to human weapons, but up close, a Human would lose to just about every species aside from a Grunt, maybe a Jackal.

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> > Humans are better on the ground so there isn’t anything wrong with the kill numbers
>
> I am doubting this severely.

I think he’s referring to the SPARTAN-IIs.

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> > > Humans are better on the ground so there isn’t anything wrong with the kill numbers
> >
> > I am doubting this severely.
>
> I think he’s referring to the SPARTAN-IIs.

Yeah, in most instances the humans seem to be getting massacred on the ground before the Spartan shows up to save the day.

Also, is it just me or has anyone else noticed how in-fiction, Humans seem to win most naval battles against all odds? If the Covies are described to have Space superiority, while humans are described as fighting better on the ground, how come the reverse ALWAYS happens?

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> > Humans are better on the ground so there isn’t anything wrong with the kill numbers
>
> I am doubting this severely. Not only in the books are Covenant weapons described as exponentially superior to human weapons, but up close, a Human would lose to just about every species aside from a Grunt, maybe a Jackal.

They are not “exponentially” superior. They are different. A blob of plasma to the face, for all practical considerations, will do exactly the same thing as a bullet to the face. Covenant technology has many shortcomings too, such as range, accuracy, overheating and the power requirements. And I think Humans would be on par with pretty much all the Covenant races except for Brutes, Hunters and Elites. Never have any but those three had their ferocity and strength exaggerated before.

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> > Humans are better on the ground so there isn’t anything wrong with the kill numbers
>
> I am doubting this severely. Not only in the books are Covenant weapons described as exponentially superior to human weapons, but up close, a Human would lose to just about every species aside from a Grunt, maybe a Jackal.

You do understand that plasma weaponry isn’t as dangerous as ballistics right? If a plasma mortar hits my house the only area that will be damaged is the area hit and maybe a little more due to the extreme heat. If a damn Tank shoots at my house then it is going to fly threw these paper thin walls into the next few houses doing significant damage not to mention all the shrapnel.

And no Humans do not lose to the covenant on the ground due to weaponry the only issue the humans have had are the superior numbers (which normally evens the playing field). The only reason ground engagements are pointless is because soon as the covenant lose territory they retreat and Glass a planet from orbit ( think i can even get a direct quote for that). In the Bungie Era of halo it was common knowledge That the UNSC was better on the Ground and the covenant had the naval field.

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We’re only shown the victories usually.

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> You do understand that plasma weaponry isn’t as dangerous as ballistics right? If a plasma mortar hits my house the only area that will be damaged is the area hit and maybe a little more due to the extreme heat. If a damn Tank shoots at my house then it is going to fly threw these paper thin walls into the next few houses doing significant damage not to mention all the shrapnel.

Well for one, you do realize that the “Plasma” that the Covenant use isn’t what we know as plasma right?

> And no Humans do not lose to the covenant on the ground due to weaponry the only issue the humans have had are the superior numbers (which normally evens the playing field). The only reason ground engagements are pointless is because soon as the covenant lose territory they retreat and Glass a planet from orbit ( think i can even get a direct quote for that). In the Bungie Era of halo it was common knowledge That the UNSC was better on the Ground and the covenant had the naval field.

Then why is it opposite in nearly every book? Regardless of the circumstances in space the UNSC seems to win. And on the ground the Covenant always seem to halt the UNSC. (Aside from every single spartan’s overly dramatic kamikaze death, which usually results in bombs blowing up.) And regarding the Covenant glassing because they are losing, take into consideration New Alexandria, Kholo, Bliss, Second Base, Green Hills, Harvest, Asmara, Cote d’Azure, Eridanus II, Leonis Minoris, Miridem, Actium, New Llanelli, Skopje, Paris IV and New Jerusalem. Then there are some battles, like Earth, where the Covenant used Glassing just as a tool to uncover forerunner artifacts. Rarely did the Covenant glass planets because they were losing.

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> > > Humans are better on the ground so there isn’t anything wrong with the kill numbers
> >
> > I am doubting this severely. Not only in the books are Covenant weapons described as exponentially superior to human weapons, but up close, a Human would lose to just about every species aside from a Grunt, maybe a Jackal.
>
> They are not “exponentially” superior. They are different. A blob of plasma to the face, for all practical considerations, will do exactly the same thing as a bullet to the face. Covenant technology has many shortcomings too, such as range, accuracy, overheating and the power requirements. And I think Humans would be on par with pretty much all the Covenant races except for Brutes, Hunters and Elites. Never have any but those three had their ferocity and strength exaggerated before.

A blob of superheated plasma to the face would MELT your face off. Not the same thing as a bullet. A lot deadlier.

Besides their plasma technology can wear down the shields of humanity’s strongest soldiers much faster than our bullets can wear down the shields of even an Elite minor.

Point is the Covenant have superior technology all around. Bullets are find against flesh, why fix what ain’t broke? But the problem changed when the Elites came around with shields. Their plasma eats through shields, armour, and flesh faster than our bullets can even bring down their shields.

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> And no Humans do not lose to the covenant on the ground due to weaponry the only issue the humans have had are the superior numbers (which normally evens the playing field). The only reason ground engagements are pointless is because soon as the covenant lose territory they retreat and Glass a planet from orbit ( think i can even get a direct quote for that). In the Bungie Era of halo it was common knowledge That the UNSC was better on the Ground and the covenant had the naval field.

Then why is it opposite in nearly every book? Regardless of the circumstances in space the UNSC seems to win. And on the ground the Covenant always seem to halt the UNSC. (Aside from every single spartan’s overly dramatic kamikaze death, which usually results in bombs blowing up.) And regarding the Covenant glassing because they are losing, take into consideration New Alexandria, Kholo, Bliss, Second Base, Green Hills, Harvest, Asmara, Cote d’Azure, Eridanus II, Leonis Minoris, Miridem, Actium, New Llanelli, Skopje, Paris IV and New Jerusalem. Then there are some battles, like Earth, where the Covenant used Glassing just as a tool to uncover forerunner artifacts. Rarely did the Covenant glass planets because they were losing.
[/quote]
Alright in the books they show us the victories of the UNSC. These people, like Preston Cole, are bright individuals who win against the odds. These are NOT your average captain, these are one of a kind guys.

Also about the Covenant glassing tactic…the Covenant would never glass an entire planet until they got whatever Forerunner artifact they are looking for. Once they got it, and there were humans on the ground, they would glass it.

The Covenant never send in foot soldiers unless they have a good reason to do so. One reason would be the recovery of Forerunner artifacts.

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No i don’t understand that even though i quote that all the time, they only say that to cop out for them messing up in the first place.

> The Chief had killed the enemy on the ground—shot
> them, stabbed them, and broken them with his own two hands. On the ground, the Spartansalways won.
> The problem was, the Spartans couldn’t take their fight into space. Every minor victory on the ground
> turned into a major defeat in orbit.

There is the spartan part I’ll look for my part.

From the return

> The Covenant used smaller plasma bombardments frequently to easily destroy human cities and armies…

Which answers everything and you took my statement completely out of context. I said they do that when they are losing a battle not when they already won.

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> > > > Humans are better on the ground so there isn’t anything wrong with the kill numbers
> > >
> > > I am doubting this severely. Not only in the books are Covenant weapons described as exponentially superior to human weapons, but up close, a Human would lose to just about every species aside from a Grunt, maybe a Jackal.
> >
> > They are not “exponentially” superior. They are different. A blob of plasma to the face, for all practical considerations, will do exactly the same thing as a bullet to the face. Covenant technology has many shortcomings too, such as range, accuracy, overheating and the power requirements. And I think Humans would be on par with pretty much all the Covenant races except for Brutes, Hunters and Elites. Never have any but those three had their ferocity and strength exaggerated before.
>
> A blob of superheated plasma to the face would MELT your face off. Not the same thing as a bullet. A lot deadlier.
>
> Besides their plasma technology can wear down the shields of humanity’s strongest soldiers much faster than our bullets can wear down the shields of even an Elite minor.
>
> Point is the Covenant have superior technology all around. Bullets are find against flesh, why fix what ain’t broke? But the problem changed when the Elites came around with shields. Their plasma eats through shields, armour, and flesh faster than our bullets can even bring down their shields.

That isn’t the point he was making.

If i shot you in the arm you would have to be pulled aside so a medic could dig the bullet out of you then patch you up if you are lucky that is it. The bullet could fracture into dozens of pieces when could leave you unable to use your arm not to mention you wouldn’t be able to fight. We could go on all day saying how bullets are deadlier than plasma.

If you got shot with a plasma bolt in your arm thats it. You will probably lose the arm but the heat cleans everything up and you won’t have to worry about it getting infected or shrapnel moving about. If the fight is bad enough they could just give you a crap load of pain killers then send you right back to the field.

And the covenant do no have superior tech to the UNSC lol. Everything the covenant has they got from the forerunners if you read Glasslands you would clearly see who is the superior faction postwar. The Covenant don’t understand anything about the technology they use hence them being so reckless with it the only thing they have on the UNSC is slipspace travel and ship shielding. Everything else the UNSC can handle if not dish out better.

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> A blob of superheated plasma to the face would MELT your face off. Not the same thing as a bullet. A lot deadlier.

That is irrelevant though. I said for all practical considerations they are the same. Why is that? Because they will both kill you anyway. A marine who was shot in the face by a blob of plasma is still about as useful as one who was shot with a bullet in the face, which is to say of no use at all.

> Besides their plasma technology can wear down the shields of humanity’s strongest soldiers much faster than our bullets can wear down the shields of even an Elite minor.

Providing that it hits first. Most of their arsenal has inferior range and inferior accuracy however, so whilst they are closing the distance, Humans would have an advantage. Covenant tactics are also, repeatedly, stated to be uninspired and repetitive, which is a major reason why the UNSC lasted so long, and probably contributed to the UNSC’s advantage against this technologically superior foe on the ground.

> And regarding the Covenant glassing because they are losing, take into consideration New Alexandria, Kholo, Bliss, Second Base, Green Hills, Harvest, Asmara, Cote d’Azure, Eridanus II, Leonis Minoris, Miridem, Actium, New Llanelli, Skopje, Paris IV and New Jerusalem.

The problem is though that we nothing about almost every single one of those battles. Actium was a pyrrhic victory for the Covenant, by the way, and the fight took place for just under a month… against a technologically superior force who were prepared, whilst the UNSC were not. You are saying that this is proof that the UNSC is utterly impotent on the ground?

New Llanelli we know nothing about, nor do we know anything about Skopje, Paris IV, Bliss, Second Base, Green Hills, Leonis Minoris, Miridem, Asmara, Eridanus II or New Jerusalem (Except for an ODST force who were almost all killed, the circumstances of their deaths completely unknown). For all we know, these could have been cases where the Covenant immediately resorted to glassing, or maybe not, because we know nothing about them.

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> From the return
>
> The Covenant used smaller plasma bombardments frequently to easily destroy human cities and armies…

Also from The Return:

"The fleet was gathered, and after we had bloodied the humans enough, the prophet called to me, and the ceremony [Glassing] began.

Another from The Return:

“The human victories were few, and costly. Some evidence of their struggle still remains.” (Speaking of ground battles)

> If you got shot with a plasma bolt in your arm thats it. You will probably lose the arm but the heat cleans everything up and you won’t have to worry about it getting infected or shrapnel moving about. If the fight is bad enough they could just give you a crap load of pain killers then send you right back to the field.

Send you back to the field… without an arm… So you’re saying because there is a possibility of infection from a bullet, which is likely cured by 2552, it is deadlier than something that will sear your arm clean off? I disagree.

> The problem is though that we nothing about almost every single one of those battles.

New Jerusalem - 26th Marine Expeditionary Force suffered ‘near annihilation’, then the Covenant glassed the planet

Miridem-The “invincible on the ground” SPARTAN II Shelia was killed by a Major. And apparently the UNSC failed on the ground enough for Dr. Halsey to be captured by the Covenant.

Leonis Minoris- “Although UNSC naval losses were considered minimal, two of the colonies were razed by the Covenant.” So the Covenant actually lost in the air and won on the ground.

Bliss- “What happened on the ground before the Covenant decided they were through and it was time to leave?”

Second Base, Green Hills, and Harvest were all lost in the same system in a simmilar fashion to Harvest. The Covenant mopped up the ground eventually then glassed the planet.

New Alexandria & Kholo you can witness through Halo: Reach and The Return.

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> New Jerusalem - 26th Marine Expeditionary Force suffered ‘near annihilation’, then the Covenant glassed the planet

I like it how you say that they were all killed, and then the Covenant glassed the planet. Unfortunately, and once again, the circumstances of their deaths are unknown. I’m pretty sure that a glassing would kill an entire ODST group as well as any failed ground engagement. And so what if they were killed in an operation? Without any context, what you just said makes about as much sense as saying “The UNSC destroyed an Assault Carrier in a naval battle, therefore they won the battle”.

> Miridem-The “invincible on the ground” SPARTAN II Shelia was killed by a Major. And apparently the UNSC failed on the ground enough for Dr. Halsey to be captured by the Covenant.

Same as above. This is about as insightful as Mystic Meg. There are things called tactical victories, which stand apart from either winning or losing a whole battle, such as in the case of diversions for the sake of achieving some smaller goal, which the Covenant tried frequently.

> Leonis Minoris- “Although UNSC naval losses were considered minimal, two of the colonies were razed by the Covenant.” So the Covenant actually lost in the air and won on the ground.

Were they glassed before UNSC forces arrived? Did the UNSC have to consolidate their navy at one colony and leave the Covenant to glass the other two? Covenant ground forces couldn’t raze an entire colony without support from their fleet for ammunition, food, methane for the Grunts, etc. Don’t be silly.

> Bliss- “What happened on the ground before the Covenant decided they were through and it was time to leave?”

What indeed…

> Second Base, Green Hills, and Harvest were all lost in the same system in a simmilar fashion to Harvest. The Covenant mopped up the ground eventually then glassed the planet.

Right, so they mopped up all ground forces on Harvest…thus explaining why the UNSC still had a decent military presence on Harvest 5 years after first contact. The other 2 are uselessly unknown.

> New Alexandria & Kholo you can witness through Halo: Reach and The Return.

Kholo was a world with almost no UNSC presence to begin with, which was stated by the Ship Master himself, so I have no idea why you think that is reasonable for use in saying that the UNSC cannot ever go toe to toe and win with the Covenant on the ground. It was like bombing a small town in the middle of nowhere who only had the Community watch as their only defence. The Covenant began glassing New Alexandria whilst UNSC forces where actually still occupying the city. They began glassing the whole of Reach whilst the UNSC still had a firm hold of it, like when they glassed the orbital generator complex whilst the UNSC were still holding onto them.

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I agree, most of the information comes from the novels. Your opinion of the games seems a little off though, they are the more fun part. They also contain a play-through of the ending of the covenant war