Halo 4’s armor design and rendering was outsourced to a company called Liquid Development. And LD has been contracted for Halo 5 and Halo Infinite modeling.
Also, fun-fact, Halo 4 was to receive Hayabusa Gen-2 armor.
It was fully modeled and NEVER used for no good reason.
(likely since Team Ninja and 343 couldn’t get the licencing agreement to work on the crossover again, but at least change the armor name to Ninja or something so we could use it!)
Granted yes, 343’s writing staff of Frank O’Connor, Karen Traviss, and Brian Reed should have never been given the reigns of the franchise to write into the ground in the first place.
Frank O’Connor’s retcons.
Karen Traviss’ mismanagement of novels and storylines.
Brian Reed’s failure to provide a dual-narrative story.
If only we can go back in time and prevent Bungie’s social media manager from becoming the franchise director when the studio left to go make Destiny.
Precisely!
These helmets will require only minor tweaks to their design. Touchups, similar to what Halo Infinite did to Scout, Soldier, Anubis, Locus, and Dynast.
Helmets such as Breaker, Teishin, Vector, Atlas, Nomad, Cyclops, Venture, and Wetwork however will need to have some SERIOUS design alterations in order to make them both attractive and believable as a design that passed an R&D inspection and approval period.
Where?
He was not in the Blur cutscenes after that incident.
They could always do another season with the Prefect armor from Halo 4 as the core, redesign the appropriate Gen 2 sets sourced from Forunner tech to fill out its options. (Could even do the same with Hellcat from Halo 5 and create some new designs for ancient humanity)
OR make it a Fractures Universe in which The Didact pointed the composer at the UNSC Infinity and made a new form of Prometheans from the Spartans on board: The Prefects.
But due to the Spartan biological augmentations, an adverse effect caused the Prefects to be cognizant and not subservient to the rest of the Prometheans.
As a result, there is now a hive-mind of 1,000 Spartans who are now Prefects and BOOM, we have a fractures story of how the Master Chief commanded the Prefects in a surprise assault on The Mantle’s Approach and prevented the attack on New Phoenix.
Now with their new Forerunner machine bodies, the Prefects are the vanguard of defence for the UNSC. Unkillable soldiers, for when they die; their body can just be recomposed from the dust.
Good to know! I did note that their portfolio’s seem to just have Halo 5, though; couldn’t find Halo 4 in there.
Some of those I don’t think would need too heavy a rework. Vector looks similar to EVA, Atlas is similar to Zvezda, and Nomad is somewhat reminiscent of an ODST helmet.
But, if there’s to be a [GEN2] Core, not much needs to be reworked. I for one certainly wouldn’t miss some of the armors we saw if they weren’t included, but as a whole the generation wouldn’t need to be a Fractures core. They’re not a Fractures core anymore so than Rakshasa or SPI.
Karen was an author for her trilogy of novels, nothing more. I wouldn’t really describe that as “writing staff”; I have no tangible evidence, but from what I was told by Tobias Buckell (author of the Grey Team books) they’re given an overall plot, some canonical guidelines and oversight, but then allowed to do pretty much whatever. Which, in Karen’s case, is where we get the numerous bends and breaks to established canon and characterizations. But that’s a rant for another time.
What did Frank retcon that was worse than any of the retcons and inconsistencies we’ve already seen?
That’s up to opinion, really. I still like Halo 5’s story, and don’t believe it was a failure at all.
He’s not in Blur cutscenes, but he is seen again in the in-game cutscenes, and his arm is fine. Which, the game had enough detail that we would have been shown or told that his arm had to be replaced with a prosthetic.
That would be Airborn Studios. They only worked on Halo 5.
Meanwhile Liquid Development has been contracted by 343 Industries for every single one of their mainline entries.
Here are some examples of LD’s work in Halo 4. To better show that this is specifically for Halo 4, I will present some armors that were not brought over from Halo 4 to Halo 5 —
What I am saying is some armor assets from Halo 4 and Halo 5 would make much more sense being in a Fractures armor core.
For example, Halo 4’s Hayabusa, Halo 5’s Shinobi, and Halo Online’s Bushido, Samurai, & Ninja would OBVIOUSLY make a lot more thematic sense being placed on the Yoroi armor core rather than one of the Canon armor cores.
Same goes for if 343 were to bring the Belos armor lineup from Halo MCC into Halo Infinite as another Fracture. And if Fractures Belos were to be in Halo Infinite and 343 wanted to bring back some armors from the previous games, it would be the PERFECT place to have players unlock Achilles, Argonaut, and Legionnaire items.
As well as if Fractures Blackguard were to come to Halo Infinite, the more “knight” style armors of the Gen-2 era could go here. Halo 4’s Venator and Vanguard and Halo Online’s Halberd, Knight, Lancer, and Nomdagro would better fit in here.
The more outlandish designs of the Gen-2 era can be placed in these Fractures. Just like how Locus, with some minor edits to its model, was made into the Yokai helmet on the Yoroi armor and with some more major edits was made into the Rakshasa Locus helmet.
Helmets and Armor such as Interceptor, Scanner, or Defender can be easily brought into the Canon armor cores with minor edits.
But the armor designs that are far more disconnected from the status-quo should come in the form of a Fracture armor and not a canon armor.
Hooooooooooo boy.
Grab yourself a snack because we are about to have a lesson on Canon Continuity History of Halo 101.
So.
When Bungie was in control of the development of Halo, Frank O’Connor was a member of the tertiary writing staff. Basically people in his department would do miscellaneous writing, such as character dialogue to be spoken by the Marines or the Terminals of Halo 3.
The MAIN writing staff were focused on developing the universe, the main story plot, and the lore of the series.
Bungie’s story was one that was a tragedy, as the Humans were the Forerunners of old.
The original canon was that Humanity was the most advanced form of life in the galaxy, our technology was so advanced and refined. NOTHING could stand in our way… … … and then the Flood came.
A biological horror and a cosmic horror that despite our great advancement in the sciences and our mastery of technology, we were hopeless to stop and conquer.
Exhausting every effort and possible outcome, the Halo Array became our last resort. We cannot beat the Flood, but we can extinguish its food source and starve it out.
And so, the galaxy was reset.
And life was reseeded from The Ark.
All was good and Humanity was well on its way to repeat our original path and become the most advanced species in the galaxy.
Unfortunately, the other races we had saved were advancing more quickly this time around as our ancient advanced technology was scattered across the galaxy.
While humans invented, the other races merely copied and got a head start.
Some even banded together to form a religion worshiping ancient Humanity, misunderstanding our records as religious scripture and legends from beings that ascended to godhood.
Imagine the Covenant’s surprise when they discovered Harvest.
When their A.I.s that were splinters of Forerunner A.I. referred to the Humans they discovered as “Reclaimers”.
The Prophets that discovered this would blackmail the current hierarchs to become the Prophets of Truth, Mercy, and Regret.
They realized that if the truth that their gods were still mere mortals were to get out, the Covenant would fall apart and heads would roll in a multi-frontal schism and rebellion.
So holy war was declared on Humanity, we were declared Heretics, and Harvest was turned to Glass.
Through Humanity’s generocity to spare the galaxy from the horrors of the Flood, this was to be the gratitude we were given by those we saved.
And to make matters worse, when we discovered a Halo ring, we also discovered our ancient nightmare:
The Flood!
The original Halo story was one that was a tragedy with a spark of hope.
We were the most advanced race and yet we were still powerless to stop the Flood.
The galaxy we saved became dominated by a religious faction that, once some members discovered the truth of their history, decided to eradicate their “gods” to save their own skins.
And to make matters worse, at 12x the lesser technological power of our peak, we were once again facing the nightmare that is the Flood.
And oddly enough, thanks to some luck, we were victorious.
We helped members of the Covenant discover the truth inadvertently.
We defeated the Flood and saved the galaxy!
But then came the dark times.
Bungie left to go make Destiny and 343 Industries was made.
The few from Bungie that stayed behind were promoted to executive positions as they hired more staff to work on developing Halo.
And Frank O’Connor went from being a tertiary writer to becoming the Franchise Director.
Safe to say, it went a little to his head.
Remember how I mentioned that tertiary writers wrote misc lore? Lore that was, at best, environmental storytelling or loose-canon terminals?
Frank was one of the four writers for the Halo 3 terminals, which were loose-canon lore that was made up of the scraps of early lore development that was not used back when Halo was going to be an RTS game for Macintosh.
Well, when he became the Franchise Director, Frank showed his loose-canon backstory to Greg Bear. Greg liked what Frank had made and was delighted when asked to write a trilogy of novels to explain this loose-canon.
And thus, Frank O’Connor with the help of Greg Bear, retconned the entire backstory of Halo.
Humans and Forerunners were now entirely separate species.
The history of the ancient times was no longer lost and mysterious, but now explained in finite details and lost its sense of wonder.
And even more terrible was the breaking of one of the definitive rules of writing : “Cosmic horror is to have itself not be explained.”
Part of what makes Cosmic Horror work so well is the fear of the unknown, the fact that since you do not know the origins of something that is so ancient and massive compared to your miniscule life, it makes one not even begin to consider if there is a way to put an end to it. It makes one ponder if this thing has existed since the dawn of time and if you can ever hope to see it end. Killing it is unfathomable as it is so much bigger than you, that you are but a mere blink in the eye of its existence. A primordial horror that has defied time and hardly cares when an apocalyptic event is transpiring within its presence because for that entity, it is but a Tuesday.
Frank O’Connor and Greg Bear broke that rule.
Because now the history of the Flood is known.
The Flood is now revealed to be *scarcastic dramatic drumbroll … … … THE PRECURSORS !
Yes.
Let’s retread the same old ground we had already established.
Let’s make another faction of “those that came before” and have them be the ones who created all life in the galaxy since they hail from another galaxy entirely and lets have them somehow lose a war between themselves and our new Forerunner race so that they retreat to go into hiding as a form of powder in canisters that get corrupted and when consumed by alien puppies it becomes the Flood within a few generations (yes, according to the Forerunner Trilogy, THIS is the origin of the Flood).
So.
Now the origins of the Flood has been determined, breaking a rule of Cosmic Horror.
Breaking the established fact that no one knew where the Flood came from and just that it appeared and turned the galaxy into hell.
And the Forerunners and Humans went to war because of a disagreement with how to handle the Flood parasite.
Only to ultimately fire the Halo rings.
This is but the most offensive of Frank’s retcons.
Because it changes the entire context of the franchise.
Originally we had the story of Humanity in Halo being —
“We were the masters of technology and science, but our hubris was soon humbled when the Flood came and revealed us to be just as powerless as all other species in the galaxy. But we still outsmarted this ancient cosmic horror by starving it out through galactic genocide. Those spared from this obliteration on The Ark would be reseeded and start back from where they began in the stone age. But some would cheat their expected path by reverse engineering the advanced technology that remained scattered in the galaxy. And thus, we were no longer the most advanced in the galaxy… and now we are put to the sword by the other species we had spared damnation. But we have hope and luck in spades. And we are victorious despite the odds.”
But NOW the main story of Humanity in Halo being —
“The Forerunners and Humans are rival species. Your creators chose Humanity to receive this ‘Mantle of Responsibility’ thing, and the Forerunners took offense to that. So the Forerunners killed their creators and took the Mantle for themselves. And then when the Flood came, it was also somehow secretly a test for the galaxy being put on by the Precursors to see who was truly worthy of the Mantle. Humanity proved their worth by sacrificing everything in the hopes of stopping the Flood from spreading while the Forerunners exhausted every option before admitting that the Humans were the ones who had the right answer. Realizing this, Humanity were declared to be their successors who would attain this ‘Mantle of Responsibility’ and were genetically seeded to have a directed course of evolution to make it so Forerunner Tech works for them by default. But while the Forerunners state that Humanity is to be the Inheritors of their legacy, literally every other species in the galaxy says no to that decision. Now, go grab a gun and a space lawyer to defend your inheritance claims.”
Which one is a more appealing story?
One where we were the ones needed to be humbled and made our own mistakes, the new startup to the galaxy and our current suffering being penance for our hubris from eons past? A story where we are RECLAIMING our lost legacy and have accidentally sprung up a cult that now genocides us in order to keep their thrones?
Or
The story where we were merely chosen because Humanity is good and everyone else disagrees with that choice because the story requires conflict?
What makes this retcon double stupid is the fact that Humanity are referred to as “Reclaimers”.
You reclaim your lost items.
You reclaim your lost legacy.
But you cannot reclaim what was not yours in the first place.
With the retcon, Humanity should instead be called the “Inheritors” as we are inheriting the legacy and technology of the Forerunner race that is now an entirely separate species.
So in the original context of the story, since Humans were the Forerunners, it makes sense how Human technology such as Cortana can interact and interface seamlessly with Forerunner tech.
It makes sense how Humanity can easily activate Forerunner technology, because that tech recognizes Human DNA and is locked out for other species to use, hence why Covenant tech are pale imitations reverse engineered from scraps that they could get to jury-rig from Forerunner tech.
But in the context of the ret-con’s canon, in order to make sense as to why Humans can use Forerunner tech without hindrance; the Geas was developed.
Now in the new canon, the Librarian meticulously programmed Human evolution to allow Humans to use Forerunner tech intuitively while all other species had to jury-rig and hack the tech to make it somewhat work.
So in order to explain how something in the ret-con makes no sense, something else new had to be inserted into the story in order to answer an unnecessary question.
What makes this retcon triple stupid is the fact that in the main story of the games, we have characters outright stating that Humans are the Forerunners! When in the original scripts for Halo CE and Halo 2 these revelations were to be made, even though chapters were cut or delayed to future games to be reimagined (Halo 3 is literally a modified version of Halo 2’s final act that was cut due to time constraints), and they still leave in characters outright telling the player that Humans are Forerunners; it makes the retcon ludicrous.
For example, here are some lines from Monitor 343 Guilty Spark — From Halo CE
“More or less. Technically, this installation’s pulse has a maximum effective radius of twenty-five thousand light years. But, once the others follow suit, this galaxy will be quite devoid of life, or at least any life with sufficient biomass to sustain the Flood.” “But you already knew that… I mean, how couldn’t you?”
“We have followed outbreak containment procedure to the letter. You were with me each step of the way, as we managed this crisis.” “Why would you hesitate to do what you have already done? Last time, you asked me, if it were my choice, would I do it? Having had considerable time to ponder your query, my answer has not changed.”
From Halo 3
“You are the child of my makers, inheritors of all they left behind. You ARE Forerunner! But this ring is MINE!”
And a nice bit of lines from The Prophet of Truth, who knew that Humans are the Reclaimers and his Forerunner gods, and he needs a Human to activate the Halos because Forerunner tech responds to the Forerunner species and not to any other race without a lot of jury-rigging — From Halo 3
“Stop, you imbecile! He wants you to kill him! (turns back to The Ark’s console, and speaks quietly) I’d prefer that you did not.”
“I admit, I need your help. But that secret dies with all the rest.”
“You delay the inevitable. One of you will light the rings.”
“Your forefathers wisely set aside their compassion… steeled themselves for what needed to be done. I see now why they left you behind. You were weak, and GODS must be strong.”
When you have characters outright saying one thing and then optional loose-canon terminals saying a contradictory statement, which is telling the truth?
Bungie chose the main story to tell the truth of their universe.
Frank chose to lead 343 down his loose-canon as the truth of the universe.
And thus, the story has been soured ever since.
You can like the story all you want. That is perfectly fine.
But the original draft that the marketing team worked off of for Halo 5 was much better than what Brian Reed had decided to edit the story into.
You see, it was supposed to be a proper dual-narrative story, the chapters divided up between Fireteam Osiris and Blue Team at around a 50/50 rate.
But the final story draft is mostly about Fireteam Osiris, with 12 of the 15 chapters having players be Osiris and hardly any screen time for Blue Team and Master Chief.
Many of the chapters were cut and removed, leaving the story feeling very much hollow and unsettled.
So much so that I made a challenge for myself to re-write Halo 5 based on what I could dig up from the earlier draft that had existed before Brian Reed made the game as it is now.
Feel free to have a read at the plot-summary I developed.
That can be scrutinized.
In-game RTS models typically are to be a simplified representation of the character in question.
For example in the OPERATION SPEARBREAKER story in Halo Wars 2, the characters of Sunray 1-1 do not have their individual models looking like their characters. The only thing unique about the five members in-game is the weapons they carry.
I think that Douglas should have a prosthetic arm now, considering that Atriox completely crushed his muscles and bones in his shoulder. We saw what that arm did to his helmet and armor, so it is no stretch to say that Douglas cannot heal from that wound within a week or so to be back in the field.
Plus a robot arm would help better visually distinguish Douglas from Jerome when fully armored.
And to keep this post topical, now that I think about it the Mark VII Gen-1 should also have Cross-Core customization for the Rakshasa and Mark VII Gen-3 cosmetics, as they would look aesthetically appealing for the most part.
Ah, okay, I get what you mean now, and I can agree depending on the armor. FOTUS, for example, I would see as the Fractures for all of the “Real World Merger” armors.
Was really just an idea. A loose idea that was never fully fleshed out until Halo 3, at which point it was solidified that Humanity was not Forerunner, but rather the inheritor of the Mantle. Reclaiming the Forerunner empire.
Yes, we have lines from 343 Guilty Spark in Halo: CE. We have his line in Halo 3 as well. Yet we also have the Halo 3 ARG “Iris” (written by Frankie, actually) and the paired canonical comic “Cradle of Life”, which shows ancient humans watching the Forerunners building the Ark Portal. We also have the Halo 3 Terminals - in game - describing the Librarian encountering Humanity on Erde Tyrene (Earth) and deeming them “special”.
The ARG might be considered “loose canon”, as well as the tie-in comic, but the Terminals are not. They are canonical in the primary source. Humans and Forerunners have been separate species since Halo 3 when that was definitively explored, and before that in Halo: CE and Halo 2 it was more of an “unknown mystery” (with a few in-plot inconsistencies; e.g. Thel 'Vadam being able to activate Forerunner locks, Covenant able to move freely throughout the Halo systems, etc).
The origins of the Flood as explored in the Forerunner Trilogy isn’t so bad a “retcon” as some might see it, it is simply exploring and defining what had been an unknown and, at most, “Tribal Knowledge” among fans. As well, knowing where the Flood came from might remove them as Cosmic Horror, but still places them as Existential Horror. Now we know that some of the species that gave life to the entire Galaxy grew embittered and twisted against their own creations, and put themselves on a course to bring all life into the fold. It’s still a valid narrative function, and still quite horrifying.
No, not quite. Because we only found out about the Ark in Halo 2, at the very end, and that was just told to be the remote activation sight for the entire Halo Array. No context beyond that. We didn’t know that it housed indexed specimen from across the Galaxy - that knowledge comes from the Terminals, and if those are to be considered it must then be considered that Forerunners and Humanity were separate, as told in the Terminals. So the “Story of Humanity” per Halo 3 (which is where we receive most of the information) was more:
Set above the other sentient species by the Forerunners, a race of hyper-advanced aliens who built the Halo Array and defeated the Flood, ancient humans were put in a position to reclaim their galaxy-spanning empire, designated thereafter as “Reclaimers” to the Monitors left behind.
Before that, during Halo: CE and Halo 2, it was more:
John-117, the last Spartan-II, is weirdly special and can activate Forerunner technology. Also the Monitor of the Installation believes that he’s reincarnated from someone way in the past, and that he fired the Halo Ring long, long ago? Maybe? Also other humans can activate Forerunner technology, but somehow the Sangheili can also activate Forerunner technology and move through the facilities on the Halo Rings unimpeded.
The latter is honestly a mess, and relied far more on the vague “You’re SPECIAL” trope than anything definitive.
You can reclaim what was given to you, and then lost. Which the Mantle of Responsibility was. It was given to us from the Forerunners, tasking us to reclaim their lost empire and take up stewardship of the Galaxy.
Contained even within the game, and explained above, we have definitive contradiction with those statements. The first is a nebulous idea fringing on “weird sci-fi reincarnation”. Everything in Halo 3 is the words of a rampant Monitor and a (quite literally) insane Prophet that didn’t know much of what he was talking about. So far as evidence goes, they’re both pretty weak.
Frankly I hope they open up cross-core all across the board (like we’ve seen on Bots). I would very much like to make my Spartan’s look like they’re wearing kilts with the Yoroi leg pieces. As well, I do wish we had the option for some cores to have prosthetics, but not as a universal option like it is now.
Where did you get that idea from?
The Terminals?
Because it was established that the Terminals were loose canon and contradictory by Bungie Staff.
And then Frank used his magic powers of being the newly appointed Franchise Director to make the Terminals canon.
Again, written by Frank, so those details were dubious at best UNTIL he became Franchise Director and used the power of executive order to overrule the canon and make the retcon.
That was a detail that was long scrapped during the development of Halo CE back when it had 25 missions and was an RTS game for Macintosh.
To quote the tweet from 2019 from Frank O’Connor about this matter.
“~Terminals were written by me, Damian Isla and TWO Robs. They are based on notes and ideas from the creation of each prior Halo and some ideas from the Marathon era and discussions with Joe Staten and other alum.~”
Literally the Terminals are comprised of three sets of ideas and concepts —
Ideas from Halo’s early development that was scrapped.
Ideas from Marathon’s cutting room floor.
Chatting with Joe Staten on sci-fi ideas.
And then when Frank O’Connor was made Franchise Director, he worked with Greg Bear to write a trilogy of books to solidify his terminals as canon. And when someone who doesn’t read the books asked him about this sort of contradictory information, he made that tweet that I quoted above and then continued off by adding this to the end of the initial tweet -
“~They are canonical. They are mildly opaqued thru time and narrator.~”
I dislike Frank O’Connor, for very similar reasons as to why most Star Wars fans dislike the Disney company.
Both of them took over a franchise.
Both of them decided to mess with deep-universe lore.
Disney made the Star Wars books, comics, and videogames that existed before their takeover as “non canon Legends”.
Frank O’Connor completely recontextualized the franchise of Halo with a couple terminals and a trilogy of novels derived from said background writing.
But it weakens the entire story as a whole.
Because now the Flood exists as a test to see who is worthy of the newly invented Mantle of Responsibility and it is no longer this scary unknown thing.
343 is describing every minute detail of the history of everything in Halo and it is souring the franchise.
No longer do we have mysteries such as the “Meddlers” that poked around here and there during the time that life was being reseeded into the universe by the Forerunners.
No longer do we have the tragedy of the idea that the history of a long bygone civilization is now lost to us, because it has been thoroughly explained in a bunch of books.
Part of what makes a good story is the fact that not everything needs answers, just plot relevant stuff. Not every mystery needs a conclusion. Not every character needs a novel to explain their origins and motives because that can be explained IN GAME.
I would like to present to you the FINAL draft of the Halo 2 script storyboards (unfortunately the story boards are out of order, but if you played Halo 2 you should easily piece together where certain cutscenes are to be placed and get the story sorted from start to finish).
https://www.artstation.com/artwork/68xkw5
During the development of Halo 2, many missions were cut out of the first and second acts of the game.
And the entire third act saw itself be scrapped away.
Why?
Because time constraints.
And that third act would later be extended so that Halo 3 didn’t have an awfully short campaign mode.
Had Halo 2 not been such a nightmare of a development cycle, THIS would have been the story of Halo 2 told back in 2004.
Not quite.
Back then, Humanity were the Forerunners.
Hence why Human tech could interface with Forerunner tech, because the Forerunner tech could recognize Human design and invention.
That was why Cortana as able to interface with the installation.
Why a keypad could be placed on that door that sealed the flood.
It was the original reason why Humans could use Forerunner interfaces without difficulty, while the aliens had difficulty using them: because the tech was designed by Humans for Humans.
With the new canon written by Frank, now it is because Humans were chosen to be the ones to inherit the legacy of the Forerunners.
So the Geas concept was invented as to the reason why Human tech and biology was able to seamlessly interface with Forerunner tech. Our evolution was now crafted to do certain things in certain ways to make modern Humanity a sort of hybrid between Mankind and Forerunners.
What makes this retcon annoyingly dumb is two things -
We are called “Reclaimers” and not “Inheritors”. You cannot reclaim something that wasn’t yours to begin with. You can inherit something from another that offered it to you though.
The Forerunners still refer to themselves as “The Forerunners”. The term “Forerunner” means those that came before. Why would a society of people refer to themselves by such a name in the present era of their existence? Imagine going back in time to the height of the Roman empire, approaching a man and asking him in fluent Latin “Greetings. Are you Roman or are you perhaps Greek?” but instead of answering properly the man replies “I am Forerunner”. It sounds like you are talking to someone who is trying to mess with you.
I will give you that.
When they invented this whole “Mantle of Responsibility” thing, the Forerunner Trilogy of books stated that it was Humanity that was to receive it from the Precursors… … … only for the pride of the Forerunner people to get in the way, kill their creators, and then steal the mantle for themselves.
And then eons later, realize the error of this choice, and return the Mantle to Humanity.
But Halo’s story regarding Humanity still feels wrong. Because of how 343 has handled the narrative this past decade it is no longer “Reclaim the lost legacy” but it is now “Humanity is to receive this inheritance from the Forerunners and every other species and faction in the galaxy is saying no. So you need to find a space lawyer to help settle this legal dispute with gunfire and evidence.”
It doesn’t feel as important and dynamic.
Granted yes, 343 Guilty Spark was going loony.
But in his dialogue the consistency of “Humanity is Forerunner” is clear. In Halo CE he lets slip some details that makes it clear he considers Forerunner and Reclaimer as the same. And in Halo 3 he outright directly says it.
As for Truth?
Mercy, Truth, and Regret were the ones to discover the truth that their faith was a lie and that their gods were mere mortals.
So they blackmailed the previous Hierarchs that ruled before them and took the thrones, declared holy war on Humanity, and continued to perpetuate the lie of the Covenant.
And yes, Truth let the power get to his head and he went mad with it.
And honestly?
He probably planned on keeping the Covenant on the Ark.
A large place where in his lifetime he would rule and state that they had achieved godhood.
The Ark being a paradise.
He just didn’t know that Installation 04-B was on-site and capable of being fired; so HAD he activated the rings, they would have perished there as well.
Here is how I think Cross-Core should happen.
Canon Cores are cross core with 90& of their armor contents (many chest pieces will not work on other cores because of different geometry to apply belt and armor mounting points to.)
Fracture Cores are not cross core, as they are things from their own alternate universe. The only cross core things they can present as cross-core are the gloves and visor colors.
The art styles would clash too much and lead to the customizations looking strange.
As for prosthetics?
I actually want to be able to choose what model of arm or leg I am wearing, rather than having it be a preset to the armor core.
The fact that it’s ever only called an “intention” by David Candland, and that even according to him it was only “hinted” at. We had nothing concrete until Halo 3. Where is it established that the Terminals are loose canon and contradictory? I can find no sources that they were not canon until Frankie became Director, or that their status was ever in question as “dubious” by Bungie staff (unlike the novels and I Love Bees).
Pending evidence of the Halo 3 Terminals status pre-343i, the Mantle of Responsibility was first named in Halo 3, and it could very well be argued present since the very beginning with Humanity’s sole ability to activate Forerunner tech.
I have seen them. Storyboards that were ultimately cut aren’t canonical, even loose and dubious. It’s similar to Jason Jones’ ideas to have Miranda strap a bomb to Chief as revenge for her father - they’re little more than ideas sketched out for consideration.
We never receive any confirmation of this, which is where it became Fan tribal knowledge. We don’t have a definitive answer for why Forerunner tech works, it just does (and this is even contradicted in that the Arbiter was able to activate several Forerunner systems). Neither do we have concrete reasons why Cortana can interface with the Installation beyond her being an AI and it being a computer system (as well as Cortana’s dialogue that she’s able to hack into systems).
As well, the spoofer on the Forerunner door doesn’t make sense, considering the Covenant was able to open it in the first place. The singular instance that we have of non-humans being unable to use Forerunner technology is the activation of the rings.
Of course it still is, and even in the Bungie Era it was still “Every other species and faction in the galaxy says no so take it back by force.” In favor of the 343i continuation of the narrative, we have several lines from the Librarian and Didact that uphold the “Reclaim lost Legacy” subplot:
Didact: “If you haven’t mastered even these primitives , then Man has not attained the Mantle.”
Librarian: “My memories were retained to assist humanity on their path to the Mantle.”
Librarian: “We did not create so much without a means to catalog it all. This was meant for my husband to help your people…when his meditation was complete. Take this key to the Absolute Record. Use what you find to propel humankind.”
Not really. In Halo: CE he insinuates that the Master Chief fired the Halo Array before. Something that is know to be an impossibility. (Geas were not a thing pre-343i). Additionally him saying “You are the child of my creators, inheritor of all they left behind” doesn’t indicate being one-and-the-same. “Children” can be adopted or taken in, as seen with a lesser species being raised up by a more advanced one. If Humanity was supposed to be Forerunners, it would have been simpler to write “You are my Creator, but this ring is mine!”
Yes, I am aware that he does say "You ARE Forerunner!", yet this could equally indicates that “Forerunner” is a title that has been inherited, not the name of a species. A manner of “The Emperor is dead, long live the Emperor” type thing.
As for Truth… It’s post-Bungie, but his plans were far more devious. In short, wipe the Galaxy of sentient life, then the San’Shyuum return to the Milky Way and rule over it as gods.
If you looked at that final-draft storyboard I posted in my previous post, you would have seen that the finale of Halo 2 was going to have among its scenes the Arbiter discovering a long sealed Forerunner tomb that contains human bones in the sarcophagi within. 343 Guilty Spark would then outright confirm it to be true, that Humanity were the Forerunners.
This would complete the Arbiter’s character arc as he was doubtful of the religion he worshiped all his life. But now the doubt was solidified as rational truth.
The only reason this didn’t come to pass in Halo 2 was because of the hell that was Halo 2’s development.
Thus, they had to scrap like four missions from Acts I and II and then completely delay Act III to Halo 3.
AND THEN in order to make Halo 3 not be an abruptly short Halo title, they had to do some tweaking to the script to double its length so that instead of the Ark being on Earth it was now the portal to the Ark that was on Earth.
This granted them a few more missions to fill out and make Halo 3 a full-length feature game without filling it with extra fluff. Had Halo 3 ran entirely off of the script of Halo 2, we would’ve seen only two more missions after the “The Storm” mission.
The fact that the details you learn from playing the games and reading the novels contradict with the details unveiled in the Terminals of Halo 3.
When the lead writers are saying one thing through the characters in their story and the tertiary writing staff are saying a plot-hole contradiction in their written work, which one is the truth?
Before Frank O’Connor became Franchise Director, the truth was written by the lead writers Brandon Boren, Matt Soell, Eric Trautmann, Joseph “Decard” Staten, William C. Dietz, Tobias S. Buckell, Luke Smith, Robert McLees, Graeme Devine, Peter O’Brien, Eric Osborne, Tom Abernathy, Eric Nylund, Rob Goldburg, Lee Wilson, & Brent Metcalfe.
Afterwards, well, we have seen how muddy the waters have become with how many books Frank and others had to commission in order to help sell this lie of a retcon.
Bungie made 6 novels in the course of a decade.
To date, 343 has added 26 more novels with two more on the way next year.
Where was it mentioned first?
Did 343 Guilty Spark mention it?
How about Truth or Cortana?
If it came from the Terminals, welp, I am sorry to tell you but it was likely something brought in by Frank O’Connor; which makes the Mantle of Responsibility another piece of the foundation that allowed his ret-con canon to be made.
But notice how that bomb feature was not mentioned in the storyboards I presented?
That is because that whole “angst Miranda” thing was from a much earlier draft.
As I said before, this was the FINAL draft of the intended script of Halo 2.
Had the development for the game not been so dicey and the engine upgrade from Blam! 1.0 to Blam! 2.0 not wasted so much time, resources, and been a much more user friendly upgrade to the engine; THIS was to be the Halo 2 were were to receive.
Instead, huge cuts had to be made to the story because Microsoft was pushing for the deadline they established for 2004.
And so, instead of Act II leading into Act III, we instead see Act II be slightly adjusted to be the finale of Halo 2 because Act III was scrapped entirely due to time constraints.
“Master Chief, you mind telling me what you’re doing on that ship?”
“Sir… Finishing this fight!”
— — — cut to black — — —
This was not the intended ending.
And so Act III was slightly altered to make Halo 3 a full length feature.
And instead of the Arbiter finding human remains in a Forerunner tomb sealed for 100,000 years, we instead get 343 Guilty Spark saying it outright.
“You are the child of my makers, inheritors of all they left behind. You ARE Forerunner! But this ring is MINE!”
A line which Frank O’Connor recontextualized with his retcon, all thanks to that whole ‘child of my makers, inheritors of all they left behind’ bit of the dialogue.
Sorry if this sounds condescending, but there is honestly no other way to put it.
But it is almost as if the writers of an M-rated / Pegi-18 game figured that their mostly adult audience would be able to infer the truth from the evidence they laid down.
Not every answer to every question needs to beat the audience over the head with it.
“Who killed James Wilson?”
“It was his brother Erron! Look, the bloody footprints match his shoe treads!”
vs
“Who killed James Wilson?”
“It was Erron Wilson, the younger brother of James Wilson. We know this because of a combination of CCTV footage, 4 eye-witnesses including their own mother, a letter that was sent at exactly 6:57 in the morning, the journal of the late James Wilson, the diary of Erron Wilson, the fact that there is blood on Erron’s hands still because the murder happened thirty-five seconds ago, and the parrot of James recounted the murder by repeating James’ final words by saying quote 'AAAAAAAA, I am being stabbed by a 7-point-5 inch steak knife by my younger brother who is Erron Wilson! AAAAAAAAAAA”
Which of these two is the more sensible & believable method of telling a story in a fashion that respects the intelligence of the audience rather than making the assumption that all the members of the audience have the attention span of a house fly with ADHD and an overzealous dose of caffeine?
Early Halo respected our intelligence and ability to pick up the hints that were being put down in order to lead to a logical conclusion.
Current Halo is all about “buy our newest book in order to understand this abstract splinter question you may pose about our story just to make sure that you know everything that is happening outside the main narrative. Leave no loose thread unsolved at the cost of $20 per novel.”
It takes the Covenant time to breach the systems of Forerunner tech.
We see this in the games and novels.
For example, in Halo Wars with the Prophet of Mercy and Arbiter Ripa Moram’ee discussing how to access the Forerunner Warfleet.
Mercy says that patients is key to unlocking the fleet, but perhaps there is a separate way. By using a Human, specifically Dr. Anders, he can use her to unlock it with ease.
Truth in Halo 3 even admits that he wants Johnson alive in order to activate the rings.
“Stop! You imbicile! He WANTS you to kill him! I would prefer you did not.”
“I admit, I need your help. But that secret dies with all the rest.”
Um… no?
The Covenant was made up out of a misunderstanding of ancient technology, with the belief of the technology to be literally divine relics made by Gods. And when they advanced enough through reverse engineering said tech, a few came to realize that it was not as divine as they originally conceived.
And THEN upon the discovery of Humanity, a few within the Covenant learned that their Gods did not achieve Godhood and their descendants were still very much Mortal.
So Truth, Mercy, and Regret usurped the thrones of the previous hierarchs in order to perpetuate the accidental lie in order to prevent a chaotic multi-frontal schism from happening as their Covenant would fall apart should the truth get out.
And so the genocide of Humanity was ordered.
The Covenant Soldiers were unknowingly killing those that descended from the very “Gods” they worshipped.
Until the truth was revealed when 343 Guilty Spark survived Installation 04’s destruction, spoke with Sesa Refumee, who then passed the seeds of doubt onto The Arbiter who became the leader of The Great Schism of the Ninth Age of Reclamation.
The original Halos were never about “every faction in the galaxy wanting to prevent Humanity from attaining their legacy.”
They were about “Oh crap, our gods did not achieve godhood and instead still are a mortal species! Quick, start a war in the hopes that by eliminating the Reclaimers we can perpetuate the lie and not have our heads roll in a combination of a schism-revolution!! Ensure that only WE who know the truth are allowed to speak with the Oracles in order to ensure that the secret truth does not spread!!!”
Directed and derrived from the writings of Frank O’Connor.
With how stories such as Halo are developed where there are openings for a sequel being allowed for possible expansion, the next title in the franchise always has the opportunity to alter and change things.
Every thing in Halo was consistent from the beginning.
"“Why would you hesitate to do what you have already done? Last time, you asked me, if it were my choice, would I do it? Having had considerable time to ponder your query, my answer has not changed.”
“You are the child of my makers, inheritors of all they left behind. You ARE Forerunner… but this ring is MINE!”
“I admit, I need your help. But that secret dies with all the rest.”
“Knowledge… a birthright from an ancient civilization”
But now we have contradictory information being pushed as the new narrative.
And how has that gone over the past decade?
Has Halo been as enjoyable of an experience?
Are the ratings dropping when compared to the newer games in the franchise?
I wonder what one of the driving factors could be?
Perhaps a lack of consistency between the games when it comes to narrative?
We do jump forward two years with each major installment rather than just a few weeks. (Halo Reach thru Halo 3 takes place in the span of six months while Halo 4 to Halo Infinite is six years of time elapsed.)
And each jump has entirely separate creative staff that are now trying to springboard off of a tertiary writer’s background work in order to try and use it to accelerate the plot smoothly through three acts.
Only to belly-flop the landing three-hundred-and-forty-three pages short each time.
Indeed.
Instead this statement is to infer that 343 Guilty Spark is having difficulty discerning which of his masters he is talking to.
His past one and his present one are inferred to both be Humans and to have the same difficult question of “Should I fire this Halo Ring? Sacrifice countless unknowns to save endless more beyond the reach of the installation?”
If Humanity are not Forerunners, then why did Guilty Spark state “You ARE Forerunner” in that same quote?
Furthermore.
Children are your descendants.
Adoptive children are not your biological descendants, though they are still a part of your family.
But yet, since Geas were not a part of the lore UNTIL Greg Bear’s novels were put into place, then it makes no sense how Forerunner Tech would react naturally to the presence of an adopted race.
Meanwhile it makes PERFECT sense why technology that recognized the users through DNA would react to the descendants of that very same race.
And here is a fun plot-hole that I would like to point out that helps to collapse 343i’s retcon lore-line.
Why does the Didact refer to himself as Forerunner?
Why do the characters in Greg Bear’s trilogy of books refer to themselves not by a species designation but instead by the term “Forerunners”?
A term that the Covenant uses to refer to their Gods as they are “those that walked the path of salvation before us”?
Because we have “The Endless” who DO have a proper species name : Xalanyn.
And every other species of Halo are like so.
Prophets are San’Shyuum
Hunters are a variety of Lekgolo worms
Elites are Sangheili
Brutes are Jiralhanae
Drones are Yanme’e
Skimmers are Gasgira
Jackals & Skirmishers are Kig-Yar
Grunts are Unggoy
Couriers are Yonhet
Engineers are Huragok
Humans are Homo_Sapiens
Why is it that the Forerunners do not have a name of their own creation to refer to themselves as?
Again, sorry if this sounds condescending that is NOT directed towards you but more rather born of frustration at the unnecessary divides in our community this retcon has made because arguments like this spring up as a result.
But it seems as if someone thought up of a ret-con without realizing that they should’ve come up with a native name for the newly separated species designation of Forerunners.
Basically, Frank O’Connor disagreed with the early narrative, but not hard enough to make the ret-con all that convincing to those of us who have been part of the series from the beginning.
Makes sense.
Either way, he was going to accidentally off himself and his followers at the Ark whether pre-retcon or post-recton creative staff direction.
EDIT - Because I would like to add something regarding the terminals.
If we were to go back in time and look at the Terminals within the context of everything we already knew about Halo at that time; even still it does not designate Humanity as being a separate species from the Forerunners.
If anything it just implies that the Forerunners, who were spread across a vast amount of a thousand or more planets, had a diverse set of philosophies and approaches to how to deal with things such as the Flood.
Think of it as the diversity between an Urban New York apartment dweller vs. a Rural Nebraskan Amish farmer.
Both are American, yet both have very different lifestyles.
With the way that the Librarian referred to Earth and its dwellers in the Terminals of Halo 3, given the context that it was established fact that Humans are the Forerunners, her statements and the Didact’s responses indicate that the Librarian saw the wisdom of a different culture of their kind and admired the beauty of this world they called home.
That is until the novels of Greg Bear added further context and helped establish the retcon.
Also, to keep this post in line with the thread topic.
Should the Mark VII Gen-1 be a thing, perhaps it would also be wise to have a few Mark VII renditions of Mark IV-thru-Mark VI variants of armor?
For example, the ODST of Mark VII could be based off of the concept art for the unused ODSTs of H5G
Air Assault’s Mark VII successor could be based off of the unused armor concept art for Halo 3 multiplayer, specifically the background drawing in the following image.
That would be desirable yes.
But since 343 insists this to be a live service game, there has to be regular updates of fresh content to keep players interested in playing to earn rewards.
Granted these first few seasons had very little in terms of content as the season’s were doubled in length but their available unlocks were not. But the next seasons should be roughly three months long each so now the content can flow in more smoothly… … … and hopefully not be skipped over like half of the Reach cosmetics.
I don’t know much about Halo lore and all the generations of armor cores. But it would be cool if someone at 343 or the community could gives us pictures of all the canon cores and let us vote on what the next armor core should be.
Personally I was really happy with the Rakshasa armor core as it was something different from Mark V(B) and Mark VII. I can barely see differences in those two cores and the only way I tell them apart is from what helmets and other attachments are used.
I personally would love to see an ODST core: https://www.reddit.com/r/halo/comments/vctprl/what_do_you_think_of_the_original_design_of_the/
Or Mark IV: https://www.reddit.com/r/halo/comments/oiggee/343_can_we_please_have_mark_iv_as_an_armor_core/
The first MJOLNIR armor to be utilized by the Spartans that were produced from Project Orion-II.
Most notably depicted by Red Team and Omega Team in the Halo Wars franchise.
Concept art for variants of this armor is prevalent for Halo Infinite’s art book, so it is likely we will see this variation of MJOLNIR soon added to the game.
An alternate loose-canon version of the armor exists in Halo Legends - The Package, wherein Spartans John, Fred, Kelly, Solomon, and Arthur are depicted in an armor based off of the Mark VI design by the animation studio. Funnily enough, this loose-canon depiction would be the main inspiration behind the physical design of the Mark VI Gen-3 of Halo Infinite.
The first of MJOLNIR armor to feature energy based on reverse-engineered Covenant tech.
First depicted in the first Halo game on Xbox in 2001.
Has also been recreated in Gen-2 and Gen-3 MJOLNIR varieties to some extent.
Has many variations, the Mark V [B] for example from Reach being an altered variant of the armor suited for use by Spartan-IIIs who were not so expendable as the rest of the S-IIIs.
Known sub-variants of Mark V default are -
Standard Gen-1 —
(https://www.pngfind.com/pngs/m/267-2674425_mjolnir-powered-assault-armor-mark-v-halo-anniversary.png)
Standard Gen-2 —
(https://halo.wiki.gallery/images/9/9e/H4_MJOLNIR_Mark_V.png)
The Mark VI debuted in Halo 2 and has had arguably the most variants throughout Halo with radically different designs.
MJOLNIR Black is the Mark VI with altered internal components while matching physical geometry design. A variant used exclusively by Spartan Black team.
Mark VI in Halo 4 is depicted in a (poorly attempted in-lore excuse) redesigned fashion, which eventually was refined and updated to become Halo 5’s armor - Mark VI MOD.
Mark VI Gen-2 had two separate variations, being Halo 2 Anniversary’s and Halo 4/Halo 5’s renditions in the multiplayer. Very similar with minute deviations.
Mark VI Gen-3 is the MJOLNIR worn by John, Fred, Kelly, and Linda as of 2559 in Halo: Shadows of Reach and is worn by John-S117 in Halo Infinite… hopefully players will too sometime soon.
First seen in Halo: Glasslands in use of a prototype Gen-I format by Spartan Naomi-S010 as an early prototype for the Mark VII, which shared its design with the Mark V [Bravo] armor core layout. I propose that the final Gen-1 phase be the image I presented at the beginning of this post thread; seeing as Naomi’s armor is the prototype.
MJOLNIR Gen-2 also featured the Mark VII in Halo 5 Guardians as the DECIMATOR-Class armor set.
Eventually Halo 4 MCC would feature the “Keystone” Helmet, which was essentially the final draft for the MJOLNIR Gen-3 prototype.
Mark VII Gen-3 is the default armor of Halo Infinite, though ironically the default helmet is Cavalino, which is a Gen-3 reimagining of the Gen-2 RECRUIT-Class armor set’s helmet.
SPI armor was originally meant for ODST use, but the technology was deemed too expensive at the time. It would later be revitalized and enhanced to become the main armor configuration for the majority of the Spartan-IIIs born from Alpha, Beta, and Gamma companies.
It is safe to assume that Spartan Roland-B210’s configuration of SPI armor depicted in the animated comic of Halo: Headhunters is to be the ODST configuration being put to use by a Spartan-III.
Mirage armor was first showcased in Halo’s 20th Anniversary lineup of armor additions to MCC for Halo 3’s Spartan customization options.
Given that the helmet and body armor depicted in Halo Infinite’s teaser of SPI armor in Halo Infinite is different from the previous depictions of the armor from Halo media, it is safe to assume that the SPI armor of Season 3 is actually going to be a hybrid of SPI tech and MJOLNIR tech, making it be known as the “Mirage Gen-3” Armor Core
A low-tech and affordable maintenance armor core that exists to reduce costs of expenses for soldiers operating far behind enemy lines while ensuring the maximum possible survival probability for the operators in the field.
The armor design was partially inspired by one of the oldest drawings of Master Chief’s original design, which eventually became the inspiration for the ODSTs of Halo 2 —
Bungie let us wear the armor, even making it the default in Halo 3. But they never let you wear the same shade of green, which is perfectly fine by me.
But 343 decided in Halo 4 to design a new armor and not even give it to you as a reward.
And Halo 5 polished the design and then didn’t even give you a reward whatsoever for beating the game on legendary.
Meanwhile the Mark VI Gen-3 DOES have confirmed armor variants being worn by Fred, Kelly, and Linda in lore and detailed art renders
Halo : Shadows of Reach Cover Art —
(https://external-preview.redd.it/fTA61pCDsA7JlAAtziNtPO3m9h6XYB0kedc1Ijxr-mc.jpg?width=640&crop=smart&auto=webp&s=ece56939e83b1b6f8c5c0bcee0bb184e9b11161b)
Spartan Frederic-S104 wearing Cohort helmet and Mark VI Gen-3 armor —
(https://halo.wiki.gallery/images/1/1d/Enc22_Fred.png)
Spartan Kelly-S087 wearing Hermes helmet and Mark VI Gen-3 —
(https://halo.wiki.gallery/images/9/9c/Enc22-Kelly.png)
Spartan Linda-S058 wearing Argus helmet and Mark VI Gen-3. THERE IS EVEN AN ACTION FIGURE OF HER IN THIS ARMOR FOR BOTH HALO MEGABLOKS AND REGULAR ACTION FIGURES !!! —
(https://halo.wiki.gallery/images/thumb/a/a1/Enc22_Linda058.jpg/1600px-Enc22_Linda058.jpg)
(https://media.gamestop.com/i/gamestop/11203091/Jazwares-Halo-Linda-058-The-Spartan-Collection-Wave-6-6.5-in-Action-Figure)
So either we are going to get Mark VI Gen-3 armor core at some point… … … or 343 is just going to make Hermes, Cohort, and Argus Gen-3 be on the Mark VII default armor core for no reason.