- last post: 01.01.0001 12:00 AM PDT
That would be so awesome if they linked Halo and Marathon...
...unfortunatly according to the storylines, that's impossible. For one, the two dates in which Marathon supposedly took place at are both decades if not centuries apart from the story of Halo. That and part of the point of Marathon is that it was launched in the 22nd century and drifted (supposedly) for a few hundred years until it reached an uncharted planet known as Tau Ceti. The Marathon was so far away from human existence that in one level where you're required to send a distress signal to Earth, Leela says afterwards (in so many words), "Good job on warning the human race about the Pfhor, it'll take about 97 years for them to get your message." which you could interpret as "We're so far away from Earth that it's funny." And if that weren't enough, you go even further away towards nowhere during the second and third games. For all we know Marathon is so far out there that every Halo could have been activated before the story started and you wouldn't even know about it, but I don't know if that's true or not (certainly would be cool).
The only actual link they could have between the two is if they made mention of the Marathon in Halo as part of history. Otherwise we're given playful connections like the Mjolnir Mark V & VI armor as opposed to security officer's Mjolnir Mark IV armor, same thing with the SPKNR rocket launchers, the assault rifle, the magnum, etc. just easter eggs to offer homage to the original games.
I'd like to think of Halo 1 & 2 as Marathon 4 & 5, but the only similarities they have are that they exist in the same universe and timeline.
On second thought, and it has been speculated, but people think that it is possible that the Forerunner from Halo 1 & 2 who had built the installations are the same as the Jjarro from the Marathon series. It's a theory that can't be discounted since so little is known about either one, and the theory is only strengthened by their similarities; a long-dead race that made technology that even by the story's modern standards are way advanced.
Sorry, I have an intimate relationship with these five games; they're my favorite game series of all time.