Why was Halsey arrested for the Spartan Program?

Community Halo Universe
1

Dr. Halsey, was, and has always been a civilian.

When she worked on the Spartan Program, its not like she broke into people’s homes (Josh Holmes haha), kidnapped their kids and drugged them. The UNSC/ONI did that. It was the UNSC/ONI who initiated the Spartan Program (the Spartan II variant). It was the UNSC/ONI who kidnapped the kids, and it was the UNSC/ONI who made the orders. Dr.Hasley was simply an intelligent civilian scientist who was brought in to work on the program. Yes she was a part of it, but why does mankind deem her as the one responsible for this and a war criminal? How can mankind even blame her if they know absolutely nothing about the spartan II program (as shown in Hunt The Truth). Shouldn’t Dr. Halsey’s higher ups (be it a UNSC or an ONI officer who gave the orders) be the one(s) arrested for the program?

At the beginning of Halo 4 Dr. Halsey was arrested and blamed for kidnapping and indoctrinating the children. And in Spops (Spartan Ops) she was considered a war criminal?

Why put all the blame on a lone civilian scientist when the true criminals are the UNSC/ONI military officers who hired her? This makes no sense. Unless the UNSC/ONI are trying to escape the blame and using her as a scape goat, and putting all the blame on her so that their reputation will be untarnished.

Thoughts?

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She was still involved in the Spartan-II Program, so it only makes sense that she would be arrested by ONI for her actions. Still highly hypocritical and plenty of illogical aspects surround the arrest, but those were the dark Kilo-5 days.

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It was stated in The Essential Visual Guide that the main reason she was arrested was cause she made a dozen clones of herself, took the best brain, and disposed of the rest of the Halsy clones and made Cortana from the best of the brains. Against all Laws in the UEG and UNSC and without ONI knowing after the fact and without their permission.

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> 2533274812652989;2:
> She was still involved in the Spartan-II Program, so it only makes sense that she would be arrested by ONI for her actions. Still highly hypocritical and plenty of illogical aspects surround the arrest, but those were the dark Kilo-5 days.

But if she was to be arrested, shouldn’t a bunch of UNSC/ONI officers have been arrested along with her?

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> It was stated in The Essential Visual Guide that the main reason she was arrested was cause she made a dozen clones of herself, took the best brain, and disposed of the rest of the Halsy clones and made Cortana from the best of the brains. Against all Laws in the UEG and UNSC and without ONI knowing after the fact and without their permission.

Which is hilarious because in the pre-Definitive Edition of The Fall of Reach, Halsey actually got ONI’s permission to make Cortana. I know Bungie retconned that, but it is funny to see how that detail changed.

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Another thing that is confusing thing is that, how come in Spartan Ops, people blame her for her war crimes. But in the Hunt The Truth podcast, only very few high up military members of humanity seems to know about the war crimes committed during the Spartan II program. Most of mankind seems to be in the dark, and don’t know the dark side of the Master Chief and the rest of the Spartan II program.

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Quote “By Cloning herself to create Cortana, Dr. Catherine Halsy knowingly broke civilian law, UNSC military regulations, and the UN Colonial Mortal Dictata”

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> > 2533274803137071;3:
> > It was stated in The Essential Visual Guide that the main reason she was arrested was cause she made a dozen clones of herself, took the best brain, and disposed of the rest of the Halsy clones and made Cortana from the best of the brains. Against all Laws in the UEG and UNSC and without ONI knowing after the fact and without their permission.
>
>
> Which is hilarious because in the pre-Definitive Edition of The Fall of Reach, Halsey actually got ONI’s permission to make Cortana. I know Bungie retconned that, but it is funny to see how that detail changed.

Well the UNSC was definitely cool with Cortana’s existence during the war. Halsey’s husband/boyfriend/lover, Captain Keyes, a high ranking UNSC member himself, saw Cortana as a very valuable military asset to the war, and should be protected at all costs.

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> Quote “By Cloning herself to create Cortana, Dr. Catherine Halsy knowingly broke civilian law, UNSC military regulations, and the UN Colonial Mortal Dictata”

I see the word “Didact” in “Mortal Dictata”

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> > 2533274803137071;3:
> > It was stated in The Essential Visual Guide that the main reason she was arrested was cause she made a dozen clones of herself, took the best brain, and disposed of the rest of the Halsy clones and made Cortana from the best of the brains. Against all Laws in the UEG and UNSC and without ONI knowing after the fact and without their permission.
>
>
> Which is hilarious because in the pre-Definitive Edition of The Fall of Reach, Halsey actually got ONI’s permission to make Cortana. I know Bungie retconned that, but it is funny to see how that detail changed.

yeah, but I have Halsey’s Journal too and they have it in there that Halsey told no one where the brain came from. It really feels like that even though Karen Traviss didn’t read any of the source material that came before the Kilo-Five trilogy, From how much traviss references that Journal and stuff in it, I think she may have actually read that. To get the mind set of Halsey right in the story, for I do commend Traviss in making realistic characters

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> > 2533274803137071;7:
> > Quote “By Cloning herself to create Cortana, Dr. Catherine Halsy knowingly broke civilian law, UNSC military regulations, and the UN Colonial Mortal Dictata”
>
>
> I see the word “Didact” in “Mortal Dictata”

Funny cause that quote came from the Halo 1-Reach Guide, not the halo 4 one :stuck_out_tongue:

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> > > It was stated in The Essential Visual Guide that the main reason she was arrested was cause she made a dozen clones of herself, took the best brain, and disposed of the rest of the Halsy clones and made Cortana from the best of the brains. Against all Laws in the UEG and UNSC and without ONI knowing after the fact and without their permission.
> >
> >
> > Which is hilarious because in the pre-Definitive Edition of The Fall of Reach, Halsey actually got ONI’s permission to make Cortana. I know Bungie retconned that, but it is funny to see how that detail changed.
>
>
> yeah, but I have Halsey’s Journal too and they have it in there that Halsey told no one where the brain came from. It really feels like that even though Karen Traviss didn’t read any of the source material that came before the Kilo-Five trilogy, From how much traviss references that Journal and stuff in it, I think she may have actually read that. To get the mind set of Halsey right in the story, for I do commend Traviss in making realistic characters

Maybe she read the journal, but given that it is compared to Mein Kampf in Mortal Dictata…she didn’t read it that thoroughly if she thinks that comparison makes sense.

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> > > > It was stated in The Essential Visual Guide that the main reason she was arrested was cause she made a dozen clones of herself, took the best brain, and disposed of the rest of the Halsy clones and made Cortana from the best of the brains. Against all Laws in the UEG and UNSC and without ONI knowing after the fact and without their permission.
> > >
> > >
> > > Which is hilarious because in the pre-Definitive Edition of The Fall of Reach, Halsey actually got ONI’s permission to make Cortana. I know Bungie retconned that, but it is funny to see how that detail changed.
> >
> >
> > yeah, but I have Halsey’s Journal too and they have it in there that Halsey told no one where the brain came from. It really feels like that even though Karen Traviss didn’t read any of the source material that came before the Kilo-Five trilogy, From how much traviss references that Journal and stuff in it, I think she may have actually read that. To get the mind set of Halsey right in the story, for I do commend Traviss in making realistic characters
>
>
> Maybe she read the journal, but given that it is compared to Mein Kampf in Mortal Dictata…she didn’t read it that thoroughly if she thinks that comparison makes sense.

The Ravings of Smart people but were mad and full of themselves? I read both, I could see where Traviss was coming from with that really

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> > > > 2533274803137071;3:
> > > > It was stated in The Essential Visual Guide that the main reason she was arrested was cause she made a dozen clones of herself, took the best brain, and disposed of the rest of the Halsy clones and made Cortana from the best of the brains. Against all Laws in the UEG and UNSC and without ONI knowing after the fact and without their permission.
> > >
> > >
> > > Which is hilarious because in the pre-Definitive Edition of The Fall of Reach, Halsey actually got ONI’s permission to make Cortana. I know Bungie retconned that, but it is funny to see how that detail changed.
> >
> >
> > yeah, but I have Halsey’s Journal too and they have it in there that Halsey told no one where the brain came from. It really feels like that even though Karen Traviss didn’t read any of the source material that came before the Kilo-Five trilogy, From how much traviss references that Journal and stuff in it, I think she may have actually read that. To get the mind set of Halsey right in the story, for I do commend Traviss in making realistic characters
>
>
> Maybe she read the journal, but given that it is compared to Mein Kampf in Mortal Dictata…she didn’t read it that thoroughly if she thinks that comparison makes sense.

Halsey is no where near evil as -Yoink!- :frowning:

Heck, she even cared for a lot of the Spartan IIs. She was like their mother, although slightly abusive as she drugged them heavily. But a loving mother none the less.

What I don’t get is that if ONI arrested Halsey for the Spartan II program, ONI should have arrested A BUNCH of ONI/UNSC officers along with her. Halsey’s higher ups should have gotten most of the blame

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I think Traviss’ perspective really fuels into the overall point of the thread. Why only Halsey was arrested? Because Admiral Parangosky has it out for Halsey. By law, Mendez should have been arrested for his involvement in both S-II and S-III Programs. Arguably the S-IIIs were worse given they were meant to only buy time for humanity as suicide-soldiers. Yet he remains free. Why does Parangosky hate Halsey? Because Halsey lied about the Spartan-II clones. Problem being that such a idea was never mentioned in the previous books and 343 themselves have back-peddled on that by acknowledging ONI was behind the clones in the Spartan-II article here on Waypoint, not just Halsey and Halsey alone.

All of this misunderstanding seems to stem from Traviss wishing to make her books moral tracts of her ideology like Ayn Rand rather than quality books.

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> 2533274812652989;15:
> I think Traviss’ perspective really fuels into the overall point of the thread. Why only Halsey was arrested? Because Admiral Parangosky has it out for Halsey. By law, Mendez should have been arrested for his involvement in both S-II and S-III Programs. Arguably the S-IIIs were worse given they were meant to only buy time for humanity as suicide-soldiers. Yet he remains free. Why does Parangosky hate Halsey? Because Halsey lied about the Spartan-II clones. Problem being that such a idea was never mentioned in the previous books and 343 themselves have back-peddled on that by acknowledging ONI was behind the clones in the Spartan-II article here on Waypoint, not just Halsey and Halsey alone.
>
> All of this misunderstanding seems to stem from Traviss wishing to make her books moral tracts of her ideology like Ayn Rand rather than quality books.

I agree with you on this one. While Halsey isn’t defendable on all of her actions, it seems like the things that when on in Kilo-Five where just created to make her more of a straw character or quasi-villian. The hypocrisy by ONI is also a product of bad foresight on the author. The only thing that could redeem this turnout is MC himself turning ONI inside out by confronting Spartan Locke and exposing the vast mess of ethical and legal violations of the Spartan program.Shattering the " Traitor" persona that propoganda has done.

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> 2533274812652989;15:
> I think Traviss’ perspective really fuels into the overall point of the thread. Why only Halsey was arrested? Because Admiral Parangosky has it out for Halsey. By law, Mendez should have been arrested for his involvement in both S-II and S-III Programs. Arguably the S-IIIs were worse given they were meant to only buy time for humanity as suicide-soldiers. Yet he remains free. Why does Parangosky hate Halsey? Because Halsey lied about the Spartan-II clones. Problem being that such a idea was never mentioned in the previous books and 343 themselves have back-peddled on that by acknowledging ONI was behind the clones in the Spartan-II article here on Waypoint, not just Halsey and Halsey alone.
>
> All of this misunderstanding seems to stem from Traviss wishing to make her books moral tracts of her ideology like Ayn Rand rather than quality books.

well moral driven stories are always good. Never read Kilo 5 though.

I did love how Halo 4 was a moral story about man versus machine and what it means to be human. And how Halo 2 went with the moral that the bad guys are not simply evil and that nothing is merely black and white. I hope Halo 5 features a moral at the end of its story.

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I think the people in this thread have hit it on the head, As some one who has been involved in with civilian/military/government cross over like this, I will tell you why ONI did it.

To cover their a**es.

Because your right, it is hypocritical, especially since both Parangosky AND Osmin are guilty of some serious war crimes and even traitorous acts themselves. ONI wants a super soldier program, gets Halsey, puts her up to it, runs the program for YEARS, and even creating subsequent programs without Halsey’s knowledge, ALL of it being crimes against humanity. But nobody objected then.

Yet when did this all become an issue? Right, AFTER the war was over.

You notice that people didn’t bat an eye DURING the actual war, but now that it’s over, suddenly every body has a conscience.

Halsey was arrested so that ONI can CYA, the idea here is now that she is arrested, they can pretty much hang EVERYTHING, even the stuff she DIDN’T do all on her head(IE. Spartan III program)

It’s so that ONI brass can transfer all that blood to Halsey, and then convict her of the crimes, thus washing their hands by claiming ignorance. Plus it allows room for more politicking and influence peddling on the part of ONI brass.

Now whether Halsey is actually executed, held in prison for life, or it’s just theatre to “execute” her or “imprison” her when in reality she becomes the permanent indentured servant of ONI remains to be seen. I have a feeling it’s going to be the latter because Halsey is an excellent resource, and I feel that Osmin will use that resource as long as possible, even if it means physically chaining Halsey up if necessary.

Keep in mind Osmin has a particular hatred of Halsey over Parangosky because Osmin was one of the “failed” spartans, the black sheep of the program, I’m sure she has particular hatred of not living up to what a spartan is supposed to be, being ripped away from her family, etc.

Basically she is taking on the role of Ephialtes of Trachis in all of this, willing to betray even her own country to prove her worth, which is what she did by working with the Storm Covenant.

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> > > > > 2533274803137071;3:
> > > > > It was stated in The Essential Visual Guide that the main reason she was arrested was cause she made a dozen clones of herself, took the best brain, and disposed of the rest of the Halsy clones and made Cortana from the best of the brains. Against all Laws in the UEG and UNSC and without ONI knowing after the fact and without their permission.
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > Which is hilarious because in the pre-Definitive Edition of The Fall of Reach, Halsey actually got ONI’s permission to make Cortana. I know Bungie retconned that, but it is funny to see how that detail changed.
> > >
> > >
> > > yeah, but I have Halsey’s Journal too and they have it in there that Halsey told no one where the brain came from. It really feels like that even though Karen Traviss didn’t read any of the source material that came before the Kilo-Five trilogy, From how much traviss references that Journal and stuff in it, I think she may have actually read that. To get the mind set of Halsey right in the story, for I do commend Traviss in making realistic characters
> >
> >
> > Maybe she read the journal, but given that it is compared to Mein Kampf in Mortal Dictata…she didn’t read it that thoroughly if she thinks that comparison makes sense.
>
>
> The Ravings of Smart people but were mad and full of themselves? I read both, I could see where Traviss was coming from with that really

Halsey wasn’t mad nor is the content of her journal anywhere near the same tonally, morally or even symbolically the same as Mein Kampf. Frankly, I wouldn’t be surprised if Traviss read neither.

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> > > > > > It was stated in The Essential Visual Guide that the main reason she was arrested was cause she made a dozen clones of herself, took the best brain, and disposed of the rest of the Halsy clones and made Cortana from the best of the brains. Against all Laws in the UEG and UNSC and without ONI knowing after the fact and without their permission.
> > > > >
> > > > >
> > > > > Which is hilarious because in the pre-Definitive Edition of The Fall of Reach, Halsey actually got ONI’s permission to make Cortana. I know Bungie retconned that, but it is funny to see how that detail changed.
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > yeah, but I have Halsey’s Journal too and they have it in there that Halsey told no one where the brain came from. It really feels like that even though Karen Traviss didn’t read any of the source material that came before the Kilo-Five trilogy, From how much traviss references that Journal and stuff in it, I think she may have actually read that. To get the mind set of Halsey right in the story, for I do commend Traviss in making realistic characters
> > >
> > >
> > > Maybe she read the journal, but given that it is compared to Mein Kampf in Mortal Dictata…she didn’t read it that thoroughly if she thinks that comparison makes sense.
> >
> >
> > The Ravings of Smart people but were mad and full of themselves? I read both, I could see where Traviss was coming from with that really
>
>
> Halsey wasn’t mad nor is the content of her journal anywhere near the same tonally, morally or even symbolically the same as Mein Kampf. Frankly, I wouldn’t be surprised if Traviss read neither.

Especially since if your trying to demonize Halsey and liken her to anyone from the -Yoink!- regime, you would compare her to Josef Mengele’ not Adolph -Yoink!-, so the comparison makes even less sense.