Bungie Universe
This topic has moved here: Subject: Halo as a Christian Allegory
  • Subject: Halo as a Christian Allegory
Subject: Halo as a Christian Allegory

Some valid points, good work...

  • 10.06.2009 6:47 PM PDT

“With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” -Matthew 19:26

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I have alway's thought that Halo was related to the Christian religon i am a very Christian and i hope that it is related to the Christian religon it would make Halo way more cooler for me

  • 10.06.2009 7:31 PM PDT

Do not want

The ark is not at the center of the galaxy it's far far outside of the galaxy to prevent those who are "worthy" from being destroyed by the halos and flood because it's out of range. therefore relating to noahs ark by saving the faithful. good theory though i liked it a lot.

  • 10.13.2009 8:22 PM PDT

I've only made my way through part of this thread so far, and haven't scratched the Rainbow Theory as of yet (it's late here), but I must say that it is a very good read. I've always suspected some of the biblical ties, but hadn't really invested a whole lot into it until now. Thanks for opening my eyes a bit more, and Im looking forward to possibly see how some of this develops in future games.

Have you included any information from the books? I know they are written by various individual authors, and I haven't yet read them (I actually just went to Barns N Noble a couple hours ago and purchased The Fall of Reach), but it'd be interesting to see just how deep the rabbit hole is.

Anyway, thanks for the great thread.

  • 10.13.2009 11:40 PM PDT

I agree with booth
im a christian and it makes it more interesting

by the way how you getting things like legendary member and all that

  • 10.14.2009 11:30 AM PDT

_______
-...you are a gigantic female genitalia sanitizing apparatus.

christian allegory?

Right.

Or what about the fact that Bungie are not morons that believe in the insubstantial and are trying to explain the origin of the mistakes of the universe to us?

Have you not noticed the PORBLEMS cause by religion? Not only in real life, but in Halo (Covenant beliefs).

I think THATS what we're talking about.

If Bungie were a religious bunch, Halo would NEVER have sold as much as it did because it wouldve shown.

  • 10.17.2009 4:24 PM PDT

~The world ends with you. If you want to live life, expand your world~

Very VERY interesting. Whether it was coincidence, a few subtle things put in the game, or what Halo was based on all along; good job of putting this all together.

  • 10.18.2009 11:42 PM PDT

"Are you ninja?" "No. Turtle"

What you say is plausible. However some people see Jesus' face in a cheese sandwich. I think if you look hard enough you can see what you want to see. No doubt any new story will have similarities to a previous story and I think the Bible isn't exactly original either, but whether it is intentional for Halo it is hard to say.

I don't see Halo as an allegory for Christianity but I am an atheist so it isn't something I look for. I do think the covenant could be seen though as a symbol for all religions or corrupt governments. The covenant like religious organisations, forces these irrational ideas upon it followers and causes more harm than good. And I see the Master Chief as a representation of what is right and good in humanity, which inspires humans to have 'faith' in the good qualities of themselves and what they can achieve. You could say humanity is god as they are the 'father' to Master Chief.

Anyway I think it is good for stories to have more than one layer by having references to old epic poems/stories to add more depth and meaning.

  • 10.19.2009 1:02 AM PDT

I who walk alone in this world wrapped in the arms of the past not knowing what lies ahead of me. What am I? A soulless being to be beaten by the rage of those who hate me? Cutting my way past hopes and dreams. Sit in the window sill as I do every day and night resignations on my slate of who I am and what is left behind. Concealed in the words that chases my every thought. I who walk alone in this world…I am broken

Wow very nice and well thought out you put some good work into this and i raise my glass to you

*RAISES GLASS*

  • 10.19.2009 2:18 AM PDT

if there was a "great post" button, id have clicked it.

  • 10.19.2009 6:55 AM PDT

Great work i've played Halo since the first one came out, but just started checking out the forums and this is great stuff. Thanks.

  • 10.20.2009 11:54 AM PDT
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  • Exalted Heroic Member

[Insert something funny]

A Halo Bible...Maybe, I'll read that!

  • 10.20.2009 6:38 PM PDT

A large man

Wow, great theory Adam 360, this actually makes sense!

  • 10.21.2009 6:57 AM PDT

I read the whole thing I can't find anything wrong with your theory. Not that I'm trying of course.

  • 10.24.2009 5:15 PM PDT

Posted by: Dropship dude
No, acnboy. Spartain Ken 15 is a lesser being. Much like the bacteria that lives in your shi­t.
Posted by: mike120593
My shi­t bacteria takes offense to that comparison.

Don't make me lel. You won't like me when I lel.

I've noticed a fair few religious references in my time playing Halo, but I didn't realise the full extent of Bungie's parallels to religion.

I'd always thought of it as a little poke in the ribs to religion, as the religious destroy all before them, even though the aim of most religion (debatably) is to be peaceful.

Essentially, I agree with Ortilochus ^^^^^

[Edited on 10.25.2009 4:45 AM PDT]

  • 10.25.2009 4:43 AM PDT

Rolo, king of epic fails aka cgrw1
gt is asme as bungietag

this is what i thought after i played it for a while. if you look closely enough, a lot of multimedia ca be seen as a christian allegory, such as the belgariad by david eddings, halo, and more i have forgotten. now if only the bible appealed to so many...

  • 10.26.2009 3:07 AM PDT

i can only count to jagermeister.

I have a little tidbit that I just realized-
In the Garden of Eden, there was a tree and if you ate from it, you would die. Well, this seems to line up with the Halo constructs. They symbolize the tree, and releasing the flood symbolizes eating the fruit. What do you guys think?

  • 10.29.2009 5:22 PM PDT

The last post in this thread was awhile ago, but this thread is in the "Top Forum Topics" list, so it probably gets alot of traffic, and I wanted to drop some input.

I'll start out by saying that I'm an atheist (and anti-theist, I guess), and the Christianity/Halo parallels stick out like a sore thumb. They were very obvious to me. Although Halo does this, it also shows the protagonists (Humanity) as secular, with little mention of religion, with few exceptions(fairly certain Johnson is religious, and alot of the Marines will shout God's name in vain if you try and run them over with a Warthog lol). One of the main antagonistic forces is a dogmatic theocracy. The Covenant is, as you all know, entirely religious. Infact, apostasy (leaving the religion) is heresy, and probably treated with execution, so is being an infidel, not unlike past and present monotheism (Christianity a bit back, Islam then and now). The Elites and other Covenant Separatists abandon their religion twice (once on joining the Covenant, again when they leave). This may be showing a kind of weakness with theocracies and it's followers.

Another few points:

Because Bungie is an American company, it's probable most of the employees are Christian. In making a science fiction game universe about alien spieces, spanning millions of years, touching on both human and nonhuman evolution many times, Bungie is showing that in the very least, it's not made by "Bible literalists", so that's very good. To me, Halo seems more like a normal, secular game which borrows heavily from Christian mythology for artistic reasons. Also, I think I read somewhere that Joe Staten studied religion or his dad was a priest/preacher or something like that, so that's probably where it all comes from.

  • 11.29.2009 11:25 PM PDT
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Posted by: Noccifer
christian allegory?

Right.

Or what about the fact that Bungie are not morons that believe in the insubstantial and are trying to explain the origin of the mistakes of the universe to us?

Have you not noticed the PORBLEMS cause by religion? Not only in real life, but in Halo (Covenant beliefs).

I think THATS what we're talking about.

If Bungie were a religious bunch, Halo would NEVER have sold as much as it did because it wouldve shown.
As much as I see what your trying to say and that we share some views, for gods(><) sake relax ands stop being a troll. I mean I'm a satanist and I can read this without freaking out. No I don't agree with all it says nor do I follow that religion but so what, I don't have to troll about it. There are more than one kind of christian though I admit it's hard to realize sometimes. It's people like you who give the bad christians fuel for their fire. Relax...

As for being on-topic I think Halo might be a christian allegory for some of the developers and simply influenced by it for others. To me it's just influenced like almost everything in western society. It's up to you what halo means to you, just like the bible has a different meaning to everybody. To me, it's nothing more than a decent fantasy, and that's that.

  • 12.01.2009 12:12 PM PDT
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  • Fabled Legendary Member

ODST Expeditionary Force I The WorkPLace I Mythics
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Posted by: Cobravert
I just saw a green monkey nut shot a small tan lizard(?) in a gunny sack.

I think that if their were any parallels between Christianity/Christ/the Bible and Halo, I think it would be intentional on the part of Bungie, since the themes found in the Bible(redemption, sacrifice, etc.)is something easily translated into other works.

Overall, I declare this thread win.

  • 12.05.2009 5:18 PM PDT

Thanks for the input everybody. Good to see this post still thriving a few months later. I want to point out that I don't mean to force this viewpoint on anybody. I'll admit there are quite a few stretches in there, and I certainly don't believe that these Christian references are meant to be at the center of the entire narrative. I definitely think that these parallels are meant to layer the narrative and make it a little more complex and interesting for those of us who are into analyzing. Bear in mind that people like Frank O'Connor, who has a huge hand in the storyline and the "Halo Bible" (a giant compilation of all things Halo, often referenced by the team) has given validity to at least some of these parallels. Still, I think input from all sides is great. Keep it up!

  • 12.18.2009 8:51 AM PDT

I swear to DRUNK, I'm not GOD!

Posted by: Adam 36O
1. There's no denying that Christ is truly the focal point of the entire Bible.

2. The whole 'John 117 = John 1:17' thing

3. Upon completion of this task, the Chief's last words with his long-time helper, Cortana are "It's finished."


1. According to certain sects of Christianity, the New Testament would probably be all about Jesus, but not the entire Bible. Old Testament seems pretty strongly focussed around Jewish mythology and all that.

2. How do you know that Bungie didn't mean to reference John 11:7? Why chose John 1:17 instead?

3. Umm... no they weren't. Chief's 'last words' (assuming that 'last words' means the last words he spoke in the video game Halo 3 at the conclusion of it's final campaign cinematic after the credits rolled) were "Wake me, when you need me."

[Edited on 12.18.2009 11:11 AM PST]

  • 12.18.2009 11:00 AM PDT

Cory // Equisition

I Will Agree With you on this. many people have seen it, including me. But i find like any good story there is always a battle or rift between good and evil. Another well written and truly memorble story is "Starwars". it has the same types of messages. but what i really like about your comment is the John 117 comment. maybe it was intentional. or maybe not. but either way it is really cool to see things that may be referenced towards religion. i dont know anyone from bungie. and hope someday to know them, but that would be a cool thing to ask. good work and thanks for noticing that.

  • 12.18.2009 11:01 AM PDT

All who dare to destroy know my name. For I have discovered a power beyond all others. For I have been given my name rightfully by the gods. For I am Death... The Destroyer of Worlds. Only with the Blessed Relic the Great Ones have casted upon me can I have my place in the world.

Just as everyone else says, this is great. I found this out as well before I saw this post.

So, if this relates to the entire story of halo, then how is anything christian related to master chief at the end of legendary campaign when he hurtles to the new planet?

Also, the terminal that states that the master chief "Is not worthy, not yet," is that som sort of christian related referance?

Is all of this possibly something related to the Revelation chapter in the bible, leading to halo 4(being made by 343 of course)?

[Edited on 12.18.2009 1:46 PM PST]

  • 12.18.2009 1:39 PM PDT

I believe that God is crock. Everything he has done or whatever is impossible. I'm not a christian.

  • 12.18.2009 10:29 PM PDT