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  • Subject: Themes of Halo
Subject: Themes of Halo

What would you guys and gals suggest are the main plot themes of the Halo franchise? There are probably many topics touched upon throughout; but what are the more focal/important themes and messages in the narrative? It's something that I've been thinking about and would like for others to offer their own opinions on.

  • 07.04.2012 1:43 PM PDT

Mankind's destiny, ethics of genetic alteration, hubris, a bit of science vs. faith, everything that happened in the Great Crusades, the dangers of blind faith and organized religion.

And so on.

  • 07.04.2012 1:48 PM PDT
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-Faith is bad, or at least blind faith
-Work together to solve your problems
-A common enemy must be defeated
-Nothing is impossible
-Fight to the last man
-Technology is the future
-Space is mysterious
-Keep those closest to you safe
-Don't trust aliens with tentacles
-Life is the most important part of the universe
-Ethics of augmentation
-Reclaim what is rightfully yours
-Cooperation is the key to success
-Have hope
-Don't trust intelligence services
etc etc

[Edited on 07.04.2012 2:12 PM PDT]

  • 07.04.2012 2:12 PM PDT

By the power of truth, I, while living, have conquered the universe.

Posted by: ROBERTO jh
Mankind's destiny, ethics of genetic alteration, hubris, a bit of science vs. faith, everything that happened in the Great Crusades, the dangers of blind faith and organized religion.

And so on.


This.

I would say humanity transcending racial barriers, however it's pretty clear from Glasslands that that'd be wrong to say.

  • 07.04.2012 2:13 PM PDT

Good points.

Well, with Glasslands, race has definitely become a prominent subject matter.

  • 07.04.2012 4:44 PM PDT

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

From Glasslands and Cryptum, Humanity are over-colonizers (Over-consumers to a ruinous extent basically) and are an inherently selfish race because of this, ostensibly taking worlds from other alien races because they want to. This may be a true reflection of how we behave in the 21st century, but it is beyond cynical to suggest that this will always be the case even in the face of the MASSIVE technological advances that present themselves in the Halo Universe both in 2552 and for Ancient Humanity.

Leading on from that, Humanity has no potential as a society to transcend any of its social and psychological limitations. Humanity are described as an inherently violent species and as "purists" by the Didact. This was a Humanity far more advanced than the UNSC, and far older as a civilization, yet they appear to lack a moral centre and are more akin to the Imperium of Man for slaughtering 50 defenceless worlds. Glasslands also reinforces this. (How could it not.) We will always remain arrogant, according to the Timeless One, and will always seek to dominate others unfairly.

Alien races in general are portrayed as idealistic and they "just work"; they don't suffer issues of population or resources, thus they don't need to ever expand as much as Humanity, (Despite some being a 3000+ year old space faring society...) and they don't appear to have any social issues like we do. They also don't seem to be as "flawed" as Humans; Humans are xenophobic, arrogant, "liars" and selfish which everyone else picks up on and finds offensive in some fashion. Everyone is happy with their system of government and economics; there are no serious disagreements over any of these issues, even in ones as highly unethical as the Sangheili's meritocracy.

343i's themes in a nutshell as far as I am concerned.

  • 07.04.2012 6:28 PM PDT

Posted by: ajw34307
Posted by: ROBERTO jh
Mankind's destiny, ethics of genetic alteration, hubris, a bit of science vs. faith, everything that happened in the Great Crusades, the dangers of blind faith and organized religion.

And so on.


This.

I would say humanity transcending racial barriers, however it's pretty clear from Glasslands that that'd be wrong to say.


Hood still managed to shake hands with the man who helped butcher his race for 30 years. If that isn't a first step into transcending racial barriers, then I don't know what is.


Posted by: anton1792
From Glasslands and Cryptum, Humanity are over-colonizers (Over-consumers to a ruinous extent basically) and are an inherently selfish race because of this, ostensibly taking worlds from other alien races because they want to.

Or are being forced to by an all consuming intergalactic super parasite that will otherwise consume them. Even the Didact himself admits that the humans aren't entirely to blame.

This may be a true reflection of how we behave in the 21st century, but it is beyond cynical to suggest that this will always be the case even in the face of the MASSIVE technological advances that present themselves in the Halo Universe both in 2552 and for Ancient Humanity.

You're implying that there will be some sort of higher cultural integrity in 2552, and on paper you might be right, but in reality we're still the same animals from 200,000 years ago. Instinct and genetics advances much slower than technology. The UNSC might color themselves up as superior to the civilizations of the past, but in truth they're still human, and that includes all of our collective tendancies, such as control, competition, and who has the biggest stick? You know who is not human? Everyone else, and for a race that you know is as arrogant and controlling as humanity tends to be, alien civilizations--what with their four lipped mouths, methane breathing, ape-like appearances--would not be very high on our "give a -blam!- about list." You thought that persecution of the Blacks was bad way back when? Wait until the victims aren't even the same species.

Leading on from that, Humanity has no potential as a society to transcend any of its social and psychological limitations. Humanity are described as an inherently violent species and as "purists" by the Didact. This was a Humanity far more advanced than the UNSC, and far older as a civilization, yet they appear to lack a moral centre and are more akin to the Imperium of Man for slaughtering 50 defenceless worlds. Glasslands also reinforces this. (How could it not.) We will always remain arrogant, according to the Timeless One, and will always seek to dominate others unfairly.

Consider the possibility that the Precursors' tests are to see if we have evolved. The Primordial only ever says that mankind will rise in arrogance (bear in mind that we were deevolved to stone age understanding) but says nothing about always being arrogant. His willingness to replace Forerunners with humans as the Inheritors suggests that he believes we can learn where the Forerunners failed. If mankind was just straight out the door not-arrogant and good people, there'd be no character devolopment. With no development, we have no story.

Alien races in general are portrayed as idealistic and they "just work"; they don't suffer issues of population or resources, thus they don't need to ever expand as much as Humanity, (Despite some being a 3000+ year old space faring society...) and they don't appear to have any social issues like we do.

I'm afraid you have missed the past decade of lore pertaining to the alien races. The Grunt rebellions? The Covenant Civil War? Bitterness between the Elites and Brutes? The Heretic uprising? Taming of the Hunters? Hell, just through the numberings alone we know that there were 23 ages of doubt and 39 ages of conflict. In fact, since 343i took over, they work less. Technology is falling apart, there is mass scientific ignorance, multiple miniature civil wars on at least one world, and so on. There was even a double crucifixion brought out by religious desperation. How anyone can say that the aliens in Halo "just work" baffles me. Even the Forerunners, the most sophisticated of all of the races aside from the Precursors themselves, collapsed under their own hubris. As 343i has said, they eventually splintered too and broke into civil wars based around the moral usage of the Halo Array and other things.

Seriously. How is that "just working" in an idealistic manner?


They also don't seem to be as "flawed" as Humans; Humans are xenophobic, arrogant, "liars" and selfish which everyone else picks up on and finds offensive in some fashion. Everyone is happy with their system of government and economics; there are no serious disagreements over any of these issues, even in ones as highly unethical as the Sangheili's meritocracy.

And yet we have the Covenant Civil War and the dozens of civil skirmishes on Sanghelios that would tell you the opposite.

343i's themes in a nutshell as far as I am concerned.


The more I read your posts, the more and more you just have me convinced that you're trying to justify hating 343i. Alot of what I just read was objectively false even. I understand the whole opinion argument, and I wouldn't normally have that big of a problem with a reasonable opinion if nearly every post of yours wasn't being used as an opurtunity to belittle them or point out what you think are flaws without even considering the positive alternatives and additions that could result from proper explanation of events that we don't even know the half of that will come as we learn more.

So either you're the single most pessimistic human being I've ever met, or you somehow have a self-rationalized personal issue with 343i that's clouding your judgement.

  • 07.04.2012 7:53 PM PDT
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Do not waste your tears, I was not born to watch the world grow dim. Life is not measured in years, but by the deeds of men.

Posted by: goldhawk
We should know better, because we are better.

Blind devotion is bad (Covenant)
No one person or species is perfect (Everyone)
Arrogance leads to failure (Forerunners, Covenant)
Sometimes the right thing to do is not the good thing (Spartans)
People being manipulated by others (Assembly, Librarian)

Those are recurring themes I noticed, but it has been such a while since I played/read any Halo material that I probably missed quite a few.

  • 07.04.2012 8:12 PM PDT
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Alt account of Consol Embu

I made it for the name.

The Marine Corps is awesome, perhaps? OOHRAH!

  • 07.04.2012 8:24 PM PDT

By the power of truth, I, while living, have conquered the universe.


Posted by: ROBERTO jh
Posted by: ajw34307
Posted by: ROBERTO jh
Mankind's destiny, ethics of genetic alteration, hubris, a bit of science vs. faith, everything that happened in the Great Crusades, the dangers of blind faith and organized religion.

And so on.


This.

I would say humanity transcending racial barriers, however it's pretty clear from Glasslands that that'd be wrong to say.


Hood still managed to shake hands with the man who helped butcher his race for 30 years. If that isn't a first step into transcending racial barriers, then I don't know what is.


Hood is 1 man, from Glasslands it's pretty clear that he's part of a minority movement since the vast majority of humanity (as victims) want revenge on the Elites. Then you've got ONI's sabotage by arming the Servants of Abiding Truth to overthrow Thel - who wants to reach peace with humanity. While he's currently in control of Sanghelios, it's firmly established that they're only going to reach a peace agreement to be able to rebuild, if not then they'd just keep fighting.

A central part of Glasslands is the suggestion that the war is simply being 'delayed', from Halo 4 with us fighting Sangheili again it's pretty clear that in the 4 years following the end of Glasslands little-to-no progress has been made in the transcending racial barriers department...

  • 07.05.2012 5:59 AM PDT

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

Posted by: ROBERTO jh
Or are being forced to by an all consuming intergalactic super parasite that will otherwise consume them.

I don't see how that makes the genocide of 50 worlds any more conceivable for pre-Humanity to do, unless it already lacked a moral centre. You wouldn't expect the inhabitants of some devastated nation on Earth in this day to exterminate the populace of a neighboring country just to get their lands and escape whatever catastrophe hit them. They would co-exist, which is something that pre-Humanity never considered. They were described as "purist"; xenophobic, and so exterminated them. It's about as cynical about Human development as you can ever get.

Posted by: ROBERTO jh
You're implying that there will be some sort of higher cultural integrity in 2552, and on paper you might be right, but in reality we're still the same animals from 200,000 years ago. Instinct and genetics advances much slower than technology. The UNSC might color themselves up as superior to the civilizations of the past, but in truth they're still human, and that includes all of our collective tendancies, such as control, competition, and who has the biggest stick? You know who is not human? Everyone else, and for a race that you know is as arrogant and controlling as humanity tends to be, alien civilizations--what with their four lipped mouths, methane breathing, ape-like appearances--would not be very high on our "give a -blam!- about list." You thought that persecution of the Blacks was bad way back when? Wait until the victims aren't even the same species.

That doesn't actually have anything to do with the point I was making. The point was that it appeared that the writers were trying to make a parallel about our current tendencies for consumption. (Deforestation, Fossil Fuels in; Pollution out, at an increasing rate all to keep up ever increasing electrical demands, etc) With technology the way it is in 2552, this whole entire "over-colonization" issue should actually be a non-issue. (Nuclear Fusion, megaengineering, the ability to mine asteroids and gas giants, etc) That's without taking into consideration the sheer vastness of space...

As for your post thing, well, on the one hand we have the issue of feeling instinctual urges and cognitive bias' , and on the other hand we have the issue of acting upon those feelings and bias'. They are NOT the same. True, we will probably never be rid of the urge to think or act in certain ways but we are sapient, and part of that quality is being able to act independently from our instincts. Social changes occur because people are brought to awareness of these feelings and their root causes. Not everyone who understands and supports the motivations of the LGBT movement, for instance, necessarily likes the idea of these people's lifestyle choices. They may still feel repelled by it personally, by instinctual feelings, but they recognize that this is merely instinctual and not factual or objective, and they keep their feelings to themselves and do not act as if they are the ones who are right whilst people with alternative lifestyles are the ones who are "out-of-whack".

When it comes to racism, it's about recognizing our tendency to alienate and be suspicious of those who are different, probably due to our tribal evolution. That, and our tendency to refer to groups of diverse people as a "They", which makes it easier to dehumanize them, can probably be overcome in much the same way as sexism was overcome. Social conditioning, like referring to law enforcement as "Police Officers" rather than "Policemen" and other things like that, slowly altered people's way of thinking and drummed it into their psyche to be aware of the tendency to view woman as subservient, as that was the way we functioned as a primitive society. I think the Civil Rights Movement, after millennia of slavery and racial injustice, was proof of concept that we can overcome racial barriers, and I don't think that it's got much to do with changing our nature as it is in merely recognizing that this is our nature and so not acting upon it. Honestly, I think much of what you say would be like 500 years ago saying that Slavery is a manifestation of our wish to dominate others, and as that is a part of Human Nature, will never go away from our society. Racism is still prevalent in the world, but it has become a non-issue in many parts where it was once rife, and I don't particularly see why our current society should be considered the epitome of Human social evolution. We've still got a long road ahead of us, and Halo has now basically said "This is the end of the road".

And for the record, I think District 9 had a pretty terrible premise, for much of the reasons here. But then again that is a movie set in our world, not the far future, so I'm not as harsh towards it as I am with this.

Posted by: ROBERTO jh
Consider the possibility that the Precursors' tests are to see if we have evolved. The Primordial only ever says that mankind will rise in arrogance (bear in mind that we were deevolved to stone age understanding) but says nothing about always being arrogant. His willingness to replace Forerunners with humans as the Inheritors suggests that he believes we can learn where the Forerunners failed. If mankind was just straight out the door not-arrogant and good people, there'd be no character devolopment. With no development, we have no story.

Well, we ostensibly haven't changed by 2552 anyway, and if we continue along our current path after the war then we will surely be one of the worst caretakers to ever hold the Mantle, and I don't see things changing with all of the declarative statements that have been made all over the place concerning Humanity.

Posted by: ROBERTO jh
I'm afraid you have missed the past decade of lore pertaining to the alien races. The Grunt rebellions? The Covenant Civil War? Bitterness between the Elites and Brutes? The Heretic uprising? Taming of the Hunters? Hell, just through the numberings alone we know that there were 23 ages of doubt and 39 ages of conflict. In fact, since 343i took over, they work less.

I said Alien races, not inter-racial alliances. All I got from that was that Halo's story comes down to saying that it is in the nature of intelligent life forms to despise and annihilate each other and how they can't really co-operate. I could live with that, if these individual races were not internally idealistic. The only one which 343i has put any effort into breaking up a little is the Elites, but it's only a small faction of religious nuts opposing the Arbiter. Hardly worth pointing out. All the places where it would mean something are homogenous. I'm more or less thinking of the need for space and resources which no other race has issues with nor needs to acquire for some reason whilst Humanity is the "big bad Flood synonym". (Did they forget about the Grunts? How has Humanity taken over their reputation now?) Or how other alien races are so honorable and reliable whilst Humans are backstabbers who you need to keep pointing a gun at to keep in check? Or how Humanity appears to be internally divided over so many things whilst the other alien races appear almost wholly internally homogenous? (And if you are going to count one Religious cult like the Servant's, I'm pretty sure that Humanity's list of cults and factions will blow it out the water) It is displayed like this: In chapter 1 of GL, Osman said that Humans fight other Humans, and 'Telcam's response is "How twisted your lives are" or something like that. So am I supposed to believe that Sangheili society has no disorder now? How cute. How idealistic. How BORING.

Posted by: ROBERTO jh
The more I read your posts, the more and more you just have me convinced that you're trying to justify hating 343i.

I used to defend everything they did, because I didn't realise that I was actually defending the idea that Halo could and should continue, and not actually defending 343i themselves. I never really have cared for them, and their recent releases, with flagrant disregard for consistency in setting, tone and character of the fiction, have utterly soured my opinion on them.

  • 07.06.2012 11:59 AM PDT


Posted by: HickHyde
The Marine Corps is awesome, perhaps? OOHRAH!


I think the prominent message of the Halo franchise is that the Marine Corps are only useful for target practice.
Oorah, -blam!-.

  • 07.06.2012 12:24 PM PDT