- Je5u5 FrE4k
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- Honorable Member
Before another person tries to say that Halo cannot possibly be a Biblical allegory I would like to just bring this back up again.
Posted by: IceWeasel
Posted by: Top_Gun_2021
Didn't Frankie say that Halo is based off of many religions?
Maybe he did. And that's fine, the OP made concession for that.
Christ Butcher said the story is pretty much an Allegory to the Bible.
ciber: How did you get the idea for Halo?
chris butcher: [...]
as far as the story, it can be looked at as a biblical allegory. the parallels are stronger than you probably realise, because nobody outside of bungie has more than a corner of the big picture. and we only have two corners. :(
Marty O'Donnell also said in an interview
Well we are religious guys, I think a lot of the religious stuff in Halo comes from Jason Jones, and the imagery is all him and he likes to fit it into the Halo story.
(I never could get into the O'Donnell link myself)
Bungie pretty much slaps you in the face with the obvious Biblical terms/references relating to Genesis: The Ark that saves lives from the Flood. There's a Garden of Eden. There's a Covenant (maybe coincidence). There are 7 "Halos" each resembling rather a church at the beginning of the book of Revelation or a color of the rainbow, based on the rainbow theory (there's a link on the 1st page of this thread). Bungie loves the number 7 for some reason and it is usually known as God's number or a holy number. This is not just because I am a Christian that I see these things, it is because I made the attempt to read even just half of the first book in the Bible.
Great read btw OP, I read all 22 pages of this thread over the past few days and found many of the ideas interesting. I'm surprised that this discussion has lasted this long. Originally I was going to write a paper on how the Halo books and games mix together but I stumbled upon this topic and this is way better. lol
(The next 2 paragraphs are a bit off topic)
To comment on some previous things, however. I read a lot of posts stating something like Christians only see God where they want to see God, but isn't it the same with people and things in general. Sure, generally Christians will want to see God everywhere, but most likely it will be the same in which atheists will not see God where they do not want to see God. Its not always but most likely. That is just man being stubborn. Also there were debates whether or not "LOTR" or "The Chronicles of Narnia" were Biblical allegories. The funny thing is that I just learned that C.S. Lewis and Tolkien use to get together at the Eagle and Child pub and discuss theology and their literary works. This article about some of that was pretty cool IMO. And to the comments about the Bible being inaccurate, do you really think that all of the events written in history books are so much more pure and truthful than events in the Bible? They have a pretty big chance at being inaccurate too you know. It actually turns out that writings on events that took place under 200 years before the recording are normally considered historically accurate until disproved. In the case of the New Testament the books were generally written between AD 45-95, about 10-60 years after events involving Christ actually happened.
Also I am seeing entire religions criticized due to only certain sects of the religions. I know for a fact in Christianity that there are tons of different denominations (I'm a Baptist) of Christianity caused by disagreements in parts of scripture (such as misinterpreting scripture or choosing to accept some verses of the Bible but not others) to small things such as the distribution of money (On that topic I read a post saying something like there would be less world hunger if Christians stopped paying offering that goes to the church and give their money to people who need it directly. Well in my church we not only feed people locally, but we give to missions in the Philippines, Africa, and even to random orphanages, too. So if churches like mine stopped collecting offerings/tithes, which you do not have to give if you don't want to, there would be more world hunger and not less IMO). These different denominations behave differently, for the best or worst for the world. Also within all denominations, you have your Christian extremists, your Christians, and your "Christians". Branding all Christians the same is just plain ignorant. I discussed a bit of misconceptions on that topic on this discussion page (3rd page of comments)(And I was actually arguing against the making of a "Left Behind" game lol) It is unfair to brand all Christians as one group trying to cause chaos in the world. I am also sure all religions (Muslims, Jews, and all) and even atheists are stereotyped like this in one way or another. Its very offensive.
Back on topic...
In the Biblical Allegory perspective,
The Covenant Prophets seem to be those religious extremists, like the Pharisees, that persecute others and are willing to kill for their faith. They spread a warped truth, whether they believe they are spreading the real truth or not, to other races and if the races fail to accept the religion, they are wiped out, much like in times of the Crusades.
Brutes are those who believe in the Prophets and will not be convinced to be tolerant of others of different beliefs. They follow the religious leaders to the dot. They are like Jews who followed the Pharisees.
Elites are those who can be tolerant of others or persuaded to be. They are skeptical of the leaders. They are also a race of honor. They seem to be Jews, maybe Gentiles, who are willing to understand Christ's ways.
Jackals seem to be what was previously stated somewhere as hired mercenaries.
Grunts seem to be to be like the brutes and elites but are also too much of a coward to stand up for themselves. That or they are just too easily brainwashed. They are the true religious idiots if you want to look at them that way.
Engineers are just slaves to the Covenant.
Hunters are hard to analyze. They could almost fall under almost any category in the above races.
The Flood is the as the flood in the Bible, made to destroy any and all living creatures. Or it represents man's sin which in turn kills every living being. Being infected by flood is being filled with sin.
Gravemind can represent the head of all sin, or as Satan, a deceiver, a tempter, wants to see the fall of God's creation.
Humanity represents all of humanity in general, theists and atheists alike. They do not want others' religion forced on them when it means keeping or losing their life. They fight to survive and to preserve their own culture.
Master Chief represents the Savior of mankind (Jesus), seemingly perfect and lucky, who takes on all of the flood (sin), and takes on challenges from those who challenge him (Covenant/Pharisees), all for the sake of mankind.
I am not quite sure of other Spartans though. I can see them as maybe disciples or as angels who help MC along the way. I think they are as the angels if MC is as Jesus because they seem more flawed than him and in the Bible there is a character in the Old Testament known as the Angel of the Lord which is argued to be the original form of Jesus Christ, putting Him above other angels. Just a thought.
I really liked the idea of the Arbiter as Saul/Paul. Paul is like the Co-main character of the New Testament like the Arbiter is to Halo. The Arbiter was on the antagonist side, found the truth, and switched to the protagonist side, like Saul did before he became Paul.
Cortana? I could see her as the Holy Spirit. She is always acting like MC's conscience, being annoying, convicting of every little thing, telling him what to do the best way even if it is obvious...much like how the Holy Spirit works within Christians, but all for the greater good.
Anyways, these are some of the points I thought about. I also liked the Bible verse references such as the planet the flood was 1st found on, G617 (Genesis 6:17). That one is too good to be a coincidence. I'm not entirely convinced on the John 117 (John 1:17) but that would be cool. On that one I looked at other books written by a John but only in Revelation does it have a 1:17 or a 11:7.
And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as dead. But He laid His right hand on me, saying to me, "Do not be afraid; I am the First and the Last." (Revelation 1:17 NKJV)
When they finish their testimony, the beast that ascends out of the bottomless pit will make war against them, overcome them, and kill them. (Revelation 11:7 NKJV)
I doubt these were any more intentional than John 1:17, if it even was, but I just found those verses interesting. I think these are just coincidental but pretty cool.
Pretty interesting ideas have come up, maybe they are legit, maybe we are just thinking too hard. Who knows? The Halo games are great either way. It is what we conceive it to be.
(Sorry on the long post)
[Edited on 02.16.2011 6:14 PM PST]