My opinions on Halsey
Working on the S-IV program on board the infinity is right where she belongs. And as far as due process goes, that’s out the window. As far as anyone outside a small circle within ONI knows, she’s dead, and that seems to be the way they want to keep it. Her atonement is working on another program of Spartans, only this time without the accolades that she was accustomed to with the S-II program. A fitting sentence for operating outside of her research and development parameters.
Essentially ONI’s motto is “by any means nessecary”, I didn’t say she would have a fitting position. More a consulting position than anything. Luckily “Thursday War” drops about a month before the H4 does. I honestly don’t think Halsey will be taking on the role of the pheonix rising in the next novel, maybe the third. You have to take into account that Halsey’s story is being used as a backdrop for a story of human introspective struggle, not just with her character but with most Traviss is presenting, and following the pattern that most good trilogies do, volume one sets the stage, volume two takes them to a deep dark place, then volume three is the pheonix rising and usually things a wrapped up in a nice neat little bow, sometimes with a small caveat scene that sparks ones imagination for the story moving past the initial trilogy. But I digress, Halsey has aloud herself to be put in the position she is in. And deep down she knows she deserves to be knocked down a peg or two for her actions, she even admits to it.
> > But I digress, Halsey has aloud herself to be put in the position she is in. And deep down she knows she deserves to be knocked down a peg or two for her actions, she even admits to it.
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> How exactly did she put herself in the position she is now? Her real crime really only appears to be she upset Parandoksy. I still refuse to believe that Halsey “hiding” the flash clones from Maggie is the real reason she is mad at Halsey. Nothing ever suggested they were a secret. There would’ve had to be a lot of people involved to make all of that happen and it’s ridiculous to assume they all managed to keep it a huge secret with no slip-ups.
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> So really, Halsey deserves to be taken down a page because Maggie dropped the ball on her job? In previous novels there was a delicate balance with Halsey and her feelings. Yes, she often reflected on everything she did, but she wasn’t some nervous, emotional wreak like we saw in Glasslands. Traviss just -Yoinked!- up.
I can tell you from personal experience. A person can only go on so long doing unethical things before they totally break down. The fact remains, even though they turned the tide of the war, even though they are the hero’s of the UNSC, and despite the fact that the ends may justify the means. When you tear off all the meat the fact remains that before they were Spartans they were children, living their lives as such, loved by mothers, fathers, sisters and brothers. They had families and homes that they loved, and in a single night all of that was taken from them, their worlds destroyed (figuratively) and their loved ones were none the wiser. These children were 6 years old, plucked in the night and taken away from everything they knew. Can you imagine how traumatic that was? Not to mention the devastation their unsuspecting families endured at the loss of their children to anomalous diseases shortly after this abduction. Sure the ends justified the means, but lives were destroyed in the process, she got to know each of these children on a personal level, and I can imagine the “what if” factor when she thought about what these children could have been would eventually weigh on her in a big way.