- ROBERTO jh
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- Fabled Heroic Member
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.