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  • Subject: Sangheli: Samurai or Spartan-like
Subject: Sangheli: Samurai or Spartan-like
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"Awesomeness will ensue..."

BEN SPARTAN120

With a more complete and rounded understanding of Halo's Elites [Sangheli] now, than 5 years ago, I came to draw likenesses to various cultures and civilisations that have existed on Earth over the last few thousand years.

Though widely considered to draw inspiration and likeness to the Samurai, the feudal warriors of Japan, I find that Sangheli bare more of a resemblance to the ancient Spartan civilisation, with tribal elements not dissimilar to African tribes of past, ironic though this may seem.

The main draw of likeness to the Samurai seems to stem from the Sangheli's sense of honour, and glory through death in battle, however this is also a trait true of ancient Spartans, as well as numerous other war-like cultures.

Though only one point of argument has been illustrated in this thread, please share your thoughts on the likeness of the Sangheli to various cultures of Earth's past.

Keep in mind, I'm not suggesting that the Sangheli themselves, modeled their civilisation upon those of Earth, but rather, I'm drawing from a creative standpoint, looking at the inspiration that Bungie drew upon to create the complex and rich alien culture known as Sangheli.

Keep it clean :)

  • 06.03.2011 9:01 PM PDT

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maybe roman

The romans were always at constant war, expanding, expanding
they valued strength above all else (romulus and remus)
the working class (soldiers) were under unquestionable control of the upper class citizens (for a time at least)


who knows? i personally hope the peace after the human-covenant war will be similar to the Pax Romana

  • 06.03.2011 9:10 PM PDT
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"Awesomeness will ensue..."

BEN SPARTAN120

Fair enough.

Though I find that the Romans placed more emphasis on military structure rather than honour and glory through battle and death, which is the aspect of the Sangheli people tend to liken towards a more Feudal Japanese culture.

Space-Samurais'[Jedi] the Elites are not :D

  • 06.03.2011 9:19 PM PDT

They aren't a direct parallel with any human civilization. They're their own culture, similar in many ways to ancient human cultures in their sense of honor, warrior caste system, ect.

That's one of the reason's I hated Halo Legends; Elites wearing Japanese clothing, living in Japanese houses, not having any advanced tech (if you'll recall, the Prophets were losing the war between the two races until they started the Covenant with Forerunner worship and carefully placed lies), ect. It's like the writer of that segment had never played one of the games.

  • 06.03.2011 9:47 PM PDT

"Concise and devoid of elegance...what I have come to expect from human communication"-Endless Summer

They remind me of Norse Vikings. If you die in battle you go to paradise,loss of blood is dishonorable. Just some examples.

  • 06.03.2011 10:17 PM PDT
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Yes I'm fairly young. No, that doesn't mean I'm automatically dumber than you or have less life experience, thats just generally the case. I am not your general case.

Posted by: Techno Greek
They aren't a direct parallel with any human civilization. They're their own culture, similar in many ways to ancient human cultures in their sense of honor, warrior caste system, ect.

That's one of the reason's I hated Halo Legends; Elites wearing Japanese clothing, living in Japanese houses, not having any advanced tech (if you'll recall, the Prophets were losing the war between the two races until they started the Covenant with Forerunner worship and carefully placed lies), ect. It's like the writer of that segment had never played one of the games.

Artistic licenses are like that.

On topic, Bungie admitted to basing there culture off a unique sect of Japanese warriors; I'll try and find the name, right now I can't remember it.

Bungie also stated that they used Spartan and Samurai culture to influence the development of Elite culture as well.

[Edited on 06.04.2011 12:43 AM PDT]

  • 06.04.2011 12:42 AM PDT


Posted by: Techno Greek
They aren't a direct parallel with any human civilization. They're their own culture, similar in many ways to ancient human cultures in their sense of honor, warrior caste system, ect.

That's one of the reason's I hated Halo Legends; Elites wearing Japanese clothing, living in Japanese houses, not having any advanced tech (if you'll recall, the Prophets were losing the war between the two races until they started the Covenant with Forerunner worship and carefully placed lies), ect. It's like the writer of that segment had never played one of the games.


There's a few plausible explanations for that, the obvious one I'm not even going to mention.

Firstly, since that episode used plenty of metaphors in the story (giant epic battle was not a literal event), it can be said the lack of any visible technology was to reflect the Arbiter's hatred towards the Imperial, and more controlling lifestyle of the Covenant. EG: he hated progress, and felt that he should distance himself from anything associated with it. Thusly, his world is depicted as an innocent, simpler life on Sangheilios with limited technology.

Though it is true he used an energy sword, the use of the plasma blade was foreshadowing his death, that no matter how much he tries, he will succumb to the Roman lifestyle of the Covenant, and progress will take him, one way or the other. If by literal death or metaphorical death, the values he held at that moment will die.

Just as well, the limited technology was also likely supposed to be a visual indication that this was a more ancient time, during the Covenant's inception. EG: not to be taken at face value.

When looking at Japanese anime and art, you need to stand back and look at things with a deeper mindset. Halo has taught me to do that already. Maybe thats what Frankie meant by saying Anime was perfect for Halo: not perfect for the artistic directions, but for the deeper meaning to things.

Case in point: it was all a metaphor. Just sit down and enjoy it.

  • 06.04.2011 7:06 AM PDT

"Find where the liar hides, so that I may place my boot between his gums!" - Rtas 'Vadum

Posted by: Techno Greek
(if you'll recall, the Prophets were losing the war between the two races until they started the Covenant with Forerunner worship and carefully placed lies)

Actually the Prophets would have won. It was just that their population was still too low at this point and so offered the Sangheili a truce so that they could protect them. If the Prophets encountered yet another race like the Sangheili on their own then they might have been wiped out.

  • 06.04.2011 8:10 AM PDT

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Inventor of the Bombstache avatar!

Neither and both. Their culture is their own and is alien to us. We just associate certain elements of their culture with those of cultures we know of. So any attempt to draw a parallel will be imperfect to say the least.

  • 06.04.2011 8:47 AM PDT

I don't know enough about Japanese history to draw such a comparison.

To me, Elites are like the Crusaders. Holy warriors that battle the evil Arabians. Crusaders have a sense of justice and believe that when they die for their cause, they will go to heaven.

Elites are much the same. They're warriors who battle the Flood and other lesser life forms. The have a sense of justice, honor, and respect. They do this so they can go on the great journey.

  • 06.04.2011 9:39 AM PDT


Posted by: That Atheist
Posted by: Techno Greek
They aren't a direct parallel with any human civilization. They're their own culture, similar in many ways to ancient human cultures in their sense of honor, warrior caste system, ect.

That's one of the reason's I hated Halo Legends; Elites wearing Japanese clothing, living in Japanese houses, not having any advanced tech (if you'll recall, the Prophets were losing the war between the two races until they started the Covenant with Forerunner worship and carefully placed lies), ect. It's like the writer of that segment had never played one of the games.

Artistic licenses are like that.

On topic, Bungie admitted to basing there culture off a unique sect of Japanese warriors; I'll try and find the name, right now I can't remember it.

Bungie also stated that they used Spartan and Samurai culture to influence the development of Elite culture as well.


Wasn't it Bushido or something like that?

Anyway @Techo Greek:
Did anyone ever say they were? And anyway, it's impossible to think up a really unique culture, you're going to base it off something the Sangheili happen to be very heavily based around the Samurai and Feudal Japan.

And the Sangheili have always appeared more primitive on Sangheilios, like for instance Vadam Keep in the Cole Protocol is pretty much just an ancient castle, the descriptions of it did not sound like it was very high tech at all. And they had advanced tech in the duel, or did you not see the Covenant Carriers floating around in the sky or see the massive battle?

And actually the Prophets weren't losing the war, they were steam rolling the Sangheili because of the Dreadnought, and the Sangheili worshiped the Forerunners long before the Prophets came along. And the Prophets may have been living a lie due to misinterpreting Forerunners texts, but none of them ever knew their faith was a lie until Truth, Mercy and Regret, and only those three knew the truth.

  • 06.04.2011 10:28 AM PDT

They call me The Raptor due to my extreme interest in dinosaurs specifically velociraptor.

Posted by: spartan120
With a more complete and rounded understanding of Halo's Elites [Sangheli] now, than 5 years ago, I came to draw likenesses to various cultures and civilisations that have existed on Earth over the last few thousand years.

Though widely considered to draw inspiration and likeness to the Samurai, the feudal warriors of Japan, I find that Sangheli bare more of a resemblance to the ancient Spartan civilisation, with tribal elements not dissimilar to African tribes of past, ironic though this may seem.

The main draw of likeness to the Samurai seems to stem from the Sangheli's sense of honour, and glory through death in battle, however this is also a trait true of ancient Spartans, as well as numerous other war-like cultures.

Though only one point of argument has been illustrated in this thread, please share your thoughts on the likeness of the Sangheli to various cultures of Earth's past.

Keep in mind, I'm not suggesting that the Sangheli themselves, modeled their civilisation upon those of Earth, but rather, I'm drawing from a creative standpoint, looking at the inspiration that Bungie drew upon to create the complex and rich alien culture known as Sangheli.

Keep it clean :)


I would say more like samurai. Scroll down to culture and read the whole thing on their culture.

  • 06.04.2011 11:15 AM PDT

XxXD3LuuX3 X luuC1d17YXxX

They are a composite of many different human warrior groups, bungie took different aspects from many to make the unique Sangheili culture.

  • 06.04.2011 11:23 AM PDT
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"Awesomeness will ensue..."

BEN SPARTAN120


Posted by: Makko Mace
They are a composite of many different human warrior groups, bungie took different aspects from many to make the unique Sangheili culture.


Glad to see there are a few people who read through the post and realised I wasn't attempting to suggest or create parallel evolutionary pathways between Sangheli and Human cultures :)

I personally find there are more similarities with Spartan culture, than with Japanese/Samurai culture. The likeness to Bushido, while most likely intentional, is of a lesser extent than people are aware, and in that, I find it Ironic that the Sangheli bare possibly more likeness [Philosophy and Culture-wise] to the Greek Spartans, then Halo's SPARTANs.

Ergo: Elites' are not Space-Samurai, as believed by some, and the developers of Halo Legends if you want to draw that into things. :D

  • 06.05.2011 12:53 AM PDT


Posted by: Techno Greek
That's one of the reason's I hated Halo Legends; Elites wearing Japanese clothing, living in Japanese houses, not having any advanced tech (if you'll recall, the Prophets were losing the war between the two races until they started the Covenant with Forerunner worship and carefully placed lies), ect. It's like the writer of that segment had never played one of the games.


Wrong.
Cole Protocol backed the concept that Elites actually live a quite technology-less life. They live in big "castle" like keeps and strongholds, wear simple robes, are very heavy on casts and honor. Basically everything The Dual showed us is how they really are. A few very Japanese things aside of course.

In they end they were inspired upon Japanese Samurai culture too, but the result is a culture that you can't compare to anything we know.

  • 06.05.2011 3:17 AM PDT

*reminisces when the Bungie/Halo community wasn't made up of CoD kids*
*sighs*
*activates time-machine and sets the clock back to Nov. 9, 2004*
glory days here I come..
*vanishes*

Culturally, they are a cross between Samurai and Greek Spartans.

  • 06.05.2011 3:45 AM PDT