NOTE: Below is something I’m tentatively calling Apocrypha, they are beginning and closing fan fiction bookends to a piece that deals with the theme of the main body of work in some way. One day I’ll dedicate an entry exclusively to the Off The Record label I developed months ago for fiction, but it’s a way to get the creative juices flowing. I hope you enjoy!

—

“Please tell continue your story Elder Riser!”

Riser snapped to attentiveness as he recovered from the brief stupor the warmth of the fire had lured him into. The young chamanune sitting next to him stared at him wide-eyed, no doubt waiting for the thrilling tales yet to come. He placed a gentle hand on the head of the youth, smiled a smile of growingly fewer teeth, and surveyed everybody who gathered around the fire. He was immediately flanked by around twenty faces, all children, glowing in the light of the flames, but he could see others sitting next to smaller fires nearby. These faces were the children of his family, though a more correct term would have been “adoptive family.” Even after the Forerunners transplanted his people to the Great Island more than 300 years ago, Riser never found romantic love or settled down to start a family. He helped construct the village where other chamanush called home, helped in the hunting of little elephants, and generally made himself.

Yet as he grew older he found himself drifting towards a small cave not far from the village. It was not a very large cave, it shrank in a triangular shape until terminating several meters from the entrance. Still, it was a quiet and reflective place and he soon would begin a series of paintings on the walls. At first, they were scenes of daily life around the village, but gradually they became more fantastic. One section depicted two armies of armor-clad warriors engaging in combat where the greater in size trampled on those smaller than themselves. Another was three figures cowering before an imposing metal sphere. Other images, such as the contorted, shriveled mass of a spider-like thing and blocky shape with three eyes, were drawn near the back of the cave. It was when he finished drawing seven shiny rings that be realized he had unconsciously been recording the adventures he had had with his old companions, the hamanune Chakas and the Forerunner Bornstellar.

He also realized that when a small group of fellow chamanush came to check on his well-being that he had been missing for over 30 days. It was this group that would become his “adoptive family” and ensured he did not die when captivated by his bouts of artistic frenzy. They would supply food and drink and sometimes watch as he was busy with his work. None of them asked what the goal of his work was, the acts of an elder chamanush were rarely owed an explanation by custom unless given by the elder themselves. Yet after he no longer felt compelled to draw, he started making it a habit to share his story to his family during communal feasts. Luckily, those tended to be every week. Now his “granddaughter”, a small girl named Wakes, pleaded for him to begin the weekly ritual.

“Alright, alright,” Riser said with a light chuckle, “There I was with my friends Chakas and Vinnevra, deep within the dark lair of the evil machine Mendicant Bias. It glared at us with three red eyes that burned like the embers of this fire before us. I felt the back of my neck and found that my-.”

A young boy raised his hand forcing Riser to stop and look at him and raise his head in sign of allowance to answer. “I’m sorry to interrupt, Elder,” the young boy sheepishly responded,” But didn’t the machine have three green eyes?”

Riser scratched his head and thought back on the moment, but before he could say anything others around the fire began to argue.

“You stopped the story for that?” another child asked, “That is such a stupid thing to do. Besides, making the eyes red makes it way more scary so I like it better!”

The original questioner yelled back, “I was just confused because I thought it was one way and now it’s being told a different way.”

Still another child looked around and said, “I was sick the last week and missed what happened before. I do not know what is going on.”

The rest of the family began to chitter and screech at one another about this or that part of the story until Riser finally shouted, “Be quiet, I am talking here!”

A hush fell on the crowd until only the crackling of the fire could be heard. In his younger days, he might have grumbled about being interrupted and stopped telling the story altogether. Those days were long past and he knew the children meant well, after all, he remembered his own youth and how he’d badger the storytellers of his clan if they messed up. Of course, he’d then be hit with a stick and told to shut up. He had his walking stick now, but he tolerated the inanities of the young and finished the story up until the point where he and several others would be tasked with guiding the Halo they were stranded on through the wolf-moon.

He was old and his memories just were not what they used to be.

—

It’s no secret that I love the Halo lore. Doesn’t matter if it is the games, books, comics, or the forays into film that Halo has attempted, I love it all. I also don’t really consider any one form of the canon more important than the other. What happens in the books is just as important as what happens in the games, for example. Plenty of others feel the same way while others only take time out to follow along with the story of the games. You’ll find no beef with me either way. For the past few years, 343 Industries has more or less followed along with the way that I perceive the importance of Halo stories: everything is canon (unless stated otherwise) and there is no hierarchy of canon. What happens in the other sources of the Halo lore could very well impact the story of the games and vice versa. This was not always the management style of the canon and if recent statements are to be believed may not be how the canon is managed for much longer. In this article, we are going to perform a post-mortem on the way 343 Industries has managed the stories of the games and the expanded universe to see what went right, what went wrong, and to speculate what the future holds.

Phase I: Bungie’s Hierarchy of Canon

Before looking at 343 Industries’ record, however, we need to examine the framework that the Halo canon existed under for roughly 10 years. According to Joseph Staten in a post on halo.bungie.org on November 5th, 2007, the hierarchy was as follows during the Bungie era:

“Everything that Bungie has ever approved is canonical. But even then, certain things trump others. In order of canonical influence:

– The games rank first

– Published materials (books, comics, soundtrack liner notes etc.) rank second

– Marketing and PR materials third

And there’s one codicil: the more recent items trump the older ones. So, for example, if some aspect of Halo 3’s fiction contradicted Halo 2’s, Halo 3’s would be the gold standard.” Source: http://forums.bungie.org/halo/archive28.pl?read=847640

In other words, the games ranked first in terms of relevance to the canon with books coming second and everything else filtering down to the bottom. Sure, everything is technically canon, but not everything is equally canon. The statement about newer stuff overriding older stuff is also worthy of note. So, how did this management style express itself during Bungie’s time in action? On the game front, six Halo games existed:

Halo: CE (2001)

Halo 2 (2004)

Halo 3 (2007)

Halo Wars (2009)

Halo 3: ODST (2009)

Halo: Reach (2010)

Regarding books there were also six in total [excluding Halo: Evolutions because that was more of a 343 Industries project]:

Halo: The Fall of Reach (2001)

Halo: The Flood (2003)

Halo: First Strike (2003)

Halo: Ghosts of Onyx (2006)

Halo: Contact Harvest (2007)

Halo: The Cole Protocol (2008)

You also had a select few comic books released under Bungie’s watch as well:

The Halo Graphic Novel (2006)

Halo: Uprising (2007)

Halo Wars: Genesis [Released with Halo Wars Limited Edition] (2009)

Halo: Helljumper (2009)

Halo: Blood Line (2009)

You also had miscellaneous other projects, notably ARGs like IRIS and ilovebees, but for now, those aren’t too important. An interesting note you’ll see is that a lot of the Halo content outside of the games tended to coincide with the release of a new game. The exception, of course, being The Fall of Reach which came out before Halo: Combat Evolved. One would imagine that’s fairly significant, no? Well, no actually. The Fall of Reach serves as the backstory for the UNSC, their war with the Covenant, Master Chief and the Spartan-IIs and ultimately leaves us on the doorstep for Halo: CE. Yet outside of a mention of Reach in Halo: CE, the book wasn’t all that important to the story of the game. Reach’s destruction is shown visually from orbit and mentioned by Lord Hood in Halo 2, but that’s pretty much the extent of it.

How about The Flood and First Strike? The Flood basically retells Halo: CE with a couple of new perspectives thrown in, but anything that goes against Halo: CE itself would be overridden by the game. First Strike fills in the gaps between Halo: CE and Halo 2 (and is one of my favorite books), but nothing of significance is mentioned from First Strike in Halo 2. The Jiralhanae get their first appearance in the book, but they appear in Halo 2 as if they’d always been there. Ghosts of Onyx deals with the Spartan-III Program for the majority of the book, so its ties to Halo 2 and Halo 3 aren’t very explicit until the story transitions to the events of the Battle of Earth. Of course, we never see Blue Team’s exploits in-game and once the characters all get to Onyx they are quite literally raptured out of the setting until 343 Industries comes along with Halo: Glasslands in 2011. The Cole Protocol and Contact Harvest are prequels to the games and don’t really amount to much outside of helping establish the Covenant encountered by humanity include all of its member species from the start rather than piecemeal over various years in the war.

The comics aren’t much different in this regard. The Halo Graphic Novel was an anthology with stories set during the events of Halo: CE and Halo 2, but its 2006 release date obviously makes any impact from those stories negligible. Halo: Uprising does show us how Chief fights his way through the Dreadnought before Halo 3 starts, but it’s mostly focused on the exploits of Rowan Ackerson and the fight on Earth with the Covenant. Halo Wars: Genesis is a fine primer that leads up to Halo Wars itself, but outside of getting us to know Forge, Anders and Cutter it’s not much. Halo: Helljumper does a similar job with Dutch and Romeo from Halo 3: ODST, but their encounter with the Knowing is never mentioned again. Blood Line focused on Spartan-II’s under the banner of Team Black, but their story may as well exist in a bubble for how removed it is from the goings on of the universe. This also describes Halo Wars’ story too, the only non-Bungie game created during this time period.

So, what does this tell us? Simply put, Bungie was very effective at keeping the components of their universe separate. The games and the expanded universe were their own separate entities with very little overlap between them and what did conflict would be overridden by the games. The prime example of this was Halo: Reach being its own story with only references via easter eggs to the events of The Fall of Reach book for the most part. One has to admit that such a process certainly made it easy to jump into any of the Halo games without having to have the expectation that you were missing something by not reading the books, comics or whatever.

However, for a number of people who invested in the expanded universe, it always felt like we were an afterthought as far as being fans were concerned. Oh sure, we played the campaigns and multiplayer all the same, but we could never shake the feeling that our neck of the woods was never taken seriously. A new book or comic would come out and while it led to some great discussions among ourselves, it felt like we belonged to two different franchises for as much as the game and expanded universe interacted. Again, there was a logic behind it, but this form of canon policy is something Bungie still seems to struggle with as they continue with Destiny. The lore for that franchise is amazing, yet so disconnected from what is actually going on in the games. However, that’s for people more knowledgeable than me to articulate in a different discussion.

343 Industries would approach things differently.

Phase II: 343 Industries Pre-Halo 4 to Halo 4

While 343 Industries formed in 2007, we really didn’t see anything big from them until Halo: Evolutions was released in 2009. As mentioned previously, Evolutions was an anthology of different stories set across different times throughout the Halo universe. However, there wasn’t much to gauge about how 343 Industries was to manage the canon until Halo Legends came about. Halo Legends was released in 2010, though before Halo: Reach was released. Frank O’Connor made it clear from the get-go how Legends would fit into the canon during a Q&A on Halo.Bungie.Org:

“Mid7night: Where in the gradient of Halo “cannon” will this fall? In the realm of the current-released books, or more like “published fan-fiction” ? (Posted 7/24/09 5:26 pm) Frankie: It’s canon, like books. Except for Toei. But there IS interpretation – armor styling etc. It’s art, after al. (Posted 7/24/09 5:42 pm) Source: http://nikon.bungie.org/misc/frankie_legends_qa.html

What is interesting is the behind the scene stuff such a statement reveals. At the time, I do not believe we had a clear understanding of how 343 would approach things. Yes, Frankie here says Legends would be like the books. But was that under the old Bungie guidelines of books being a second tier below the games? To be honest, for the longest time I had assumed an “everything is canon” approach would be something 343 came up with a bit later, but evidently, this was something fostered since the beginning. Once again, Frank O’Connor in a video uploaded by Game Informer explained that 343 Industries would go with what he described as,

At 1:20 – “…we were going to take the riskier, more difficult proposition which was we will make sure that everything counts.” Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXKulnzuH1o&t=1s

Fast forward to 2011 and we have the release of Halo: Glasslands and Halo: Cryptum. Looking back, both were ambitious stories for the fledging 343 to start with. If you look at Bungie’s work, you’d see a lot of their expanded universe material either ran fairly close to the timeframe for the games (especially if it was a game soon to be released) or were side adventures that jumped around the timeline. Glasslands picked up from where Halo 3 left off, yes, but it also set the stage in a way that would allow the story it told to set the stage for the inevitable Halo 4. Perhaps not all that much of a change to the status quo, but Glasslands impact could be said to be far more significant to Halo 4 than The Fall of Reach was for Halo: CE.

On the other side of the spectrum, you had Halo: Cryptum being the furthest Halo story in the past than we had seen previously. Set during the time of the Forerunners, we got to see the galaxy they inhabited and fleshing out of characters thus far only seen in Halo 3’s terminals, the Didact and Librarian. The origins of the Halos were further elaborated on as well as shedding new light on the Flood. It was a risk to be sure, and for some a bit too far, but Cryptum was a major deal for folks who enjoyed the expanded universe. The notion that even this story would have some effects on Halo 4 made it all the more special. Any trace of doubt about such an impact vanished when Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary released and it’s terminals made references to some of the broad ideas of Cryptum’s story as well as a hint of the Didact’s wrath being directed towards humanity.

The year 2012 would deliver us sequels to both Glasslands and Cryptum, Thursday War and Primordium respectively. Thursday War ending with Jul ‘Mdama forming his Covenant and departing for Requiem and continued hype of the Didact from Chakas’ testimony in Primordium helped give fans bullet points to start speculating on Halo 4’s story. It is hard to express how huge a development this was. Things that happened in the books never impacted the main Halo games even when fairly important details like how Master Chief, Cortana, and Johnson survived the end of Halo: CE and made it back to Earth are answered in books like First Strike. We were able to feel an investment in the material and felt as if we were being treated importantly. Say what you will about the quality of the books released before Halo 4, but it felt damn good to be rewarded for engaging in that material.

Finally, Halo 4 releases and the story, in my estimation, is precisely the kind of Halo story I’d be waiting for. Its base story was good but having all of the plot threads developed across the canon count and come together, despite being from the expanded universe, was fantastic. Yet, there were some pretty glaring problems. A constant criticism was that for people who didn’t follow all of the expanded universe it was easy to get lost in the story. I knew who Jul ‘Mdama was and his goals, but given he was a non-entity in the main story and his motives never addressed, the presence of a new Covenant was pretty odd. The Didact’s motives seemed easy enough to grasp, though at the time his real issues stemming from Gravemind corruption were not known, and the terminals helped shed more light on his background. Yet when combined with the Librarian’s info dump and the fact the terminals took you to the Halo Waypoint app and out of the game, it made it very hard to follow along efficiently.

Surprisingly, in 2013 there would be an acknowledgment that this strategy had its ups and downs. At the Game Developers Conference for that year, Josh Holmes offered two takes on the implementation of their “everything counts” policy affected two characters, the Didact and Thomas Lasky. Notably, Lasky was a very self-contained character in Halo 4 who was relatable in his interactions with the Master Chief even if you had not watched Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn (thought I forgot didn’t ya?). The Didact, however, was a character built up in the books and expanded universe whose motivations are basic enough (he’s a badass alien you awaken who wants to obliterate humanity) but players felt they were missing something because a lot of what made him interesting from outside sources bled into the campaign without much elaboration. Compound that to the problem of the accessibility of the terminals and I’d argue they were right.

https://youtu.be/tDaOAXaaqdg?t=24m35s Discussion starts at 24:35 Source: Halo Reborn: A Halo 4 Postmortem – https://youtu.be/tDaOAXaaqdg

343 Industries has now shipped out their first game under their “everything counts” canon management style. We see what a game shaped just as much by the books, comics, videos, and so on looks like. We see the strengths and weaknesses in such a strategy. What comes next?

Phase III: Miscellaneous Happenings

While tempting to jump right into Halo 5’s build up, I want to take a slight detour to address smaller ways 343’s policy on the canon have brought us to where we are today. In a sense, you could call this their way of housekeeping. An example that comes to mind is their attempt to set things straight when it came to fixing some of the errors that Halo: Reach brought forth. You’ve got the (which you can read here) that attempt to set some issues to rest, notably how half the planet could be fighting the Covenant while the rest of it is unaware. It more or less does the job and can at least be credited as an attempt. The way it does so in-universe, here through the perspective of correspondence between Admiral Parangosky and Vice Admiral Stanforth, would serve as a popular framework that truly put 343’s “everything counts” policy to the test.



The Catalog account on Halo Waypoint was another standout. Under the guise of a Catalog unit from the time of the Forerunners reawakened, 343 would answer questions from fans. While in-universe and subject to integrity checks, Catalog’s responses were canonical. Most of the time it worked fine, but, and this might just be personal bias in play, there was one response that was questionable. Catalog revealed that before the destruction of the Mantle’s Approach, the Didact’s ship in Halo 4, it’s “heart” went into slipspace to an unknown point. This was evidently a way to bring Cortana back into the setting by giving her a means of survival, despite all sources and 343 themselves saying she was dead. The idea of the Catalog account was great, but I can’t help but feel ushering in a significant plot point like that with a forum post was a poor use of the account. Granted, Halo 5 would pick up on that and mention the Didact’s ship going into slipspace, but the problem remains that neither Chief or any other character before mentions such an event nor is there any indication of it. My gut tells me this was a way to lay the groundwork for her return, but it simply feels cheap that a major event like Cortana’s death could be underwritten in a forum post. Either way, we haven’t really seen much of Catalog since 2015.

Art has also left its mark on the canon and with the “everything counts” policy there is a chance that even something small could have ripple effects across the canon. Two big ones from early on were the Master Chief’s armor and the Forward Unto Dawn changing…drastically. Chief’s armor got an explanation via the now infamous “nanobots” response while the Dawn didn’t get a canonical explanation, it was simply changed for the sake of level design. There is, of course, the matter of different Covenant designs being based on “phenotypes” much like that of the Jackal and Skirmisher from Reach, both were Kig-Yar aliens but had different appearances. Then there is just the general use of models of different weapons, vehicles and so on appearing throughout the comics and such. In some cases, like Halo: Escalation, it worked to showcase how a fragmented Covenant and/or Covenant-like groups might use equipment from various eras. Other times, like in both The Fall of Reach comic and animated movie, it removed an aspect of the Spartan-IIs, their lack of uniqueness when wearing armor, to make way for recognizability. There was also recent controversy about MK.IV MJOLNIR in the as of now releases Halo: Collateral Damage comic and upcoming Silent Storm novel, but that’s more or less been worked out by Jeff Easterling (GrimBrotherOne).

All this to say that canon management via these little discreet at times changes have tended to be…messy.

PHASE IV: 343 Industries To Halo 5…

In retrospect, I feel a lot of people felt the build up to Halo 5 would more or less be like how it was with Halo 4. Compared to Halo 4, there was certainly a lot more to work with and that may have been a sign of trouble when you consider it. After all, you had the following released:

Comics

Halo: Initiation (2013)

Halo: Escalation (2013-2016) [Finished AFTER Halo 5] Books

Halo: Silentium (2013)

Halo: Mortal Dictata (2014)

Halo: Broken Circle (2014)

Halo: New Blood (2015)

Halo: Last Light (2015)

Halo: Hunters in the Dark (2015)

Halo: Saint’s Testimony (2015) Other Media

Halo: Nightfall [Live Action Web Series] (2014)

Hunt the Truth [Podcast] (2015)

Halo: The Fall of Reach [Animated Series] (2015)

Already on the expanded media front, there is a ton of stuff to work with that all had an opportunity to influence whatever Halo 5’s story was. However, rather than events shaping the story, what we saw was the expanded universe canon used to essentially set the stage for the introduction of characters that would later appear in Halo 5. In fact, this infographic seems to confirm that strategy given the big take away from some of the titles mentioned say they introduce a character:

On the surface, I can see why this might be a good idea. You only have so much time to dedicate to characters in a campaign of a shooter like Halo. When you are juggling two teams of four characters, that’s rough. So you introduce them over time, provide moments for fans to latch onto to get those characters ingrained in their heads, and then maybe make references to past adventures in Halo 5 to hint at a history that doesn’t require really knowing that history. Again, I see the logic to it. However, rather than achieving new Thomas Lasky-like characters that worked in Halo 4, you suddenly had a bunch of Didacts. Sadly, Fireteam Osiris and Blue Team failed to land strongly with fans because for a lot of people this is the first time we see them and so those moments people invested in the expanded universe experienced are lost on more casual audiences. Now, personally, I’ve felt at times the level of loss fans claimed to have was overblown, but I do see the issue.

Still, the biggest issue that Halo 5’s eventual release would have, and a sign that 343’s “everything counts” policy was cracking, was how years of plot threads effectively vanished. If you know me, then you’ve likely heard what I have to say on the subject for years now. But let’s just do a quick rapid-fire of what’s either been lost or put on the backburner:

• The Absolute Record and Janus Key, introduced in Spartan Ops and concluded in Halo: Escalation after Halo 5’s release, teleported to parts unknown.

• The Didact, long hyped as Chief’s first real nemesis and said to play a vital role in post-Halo 4 fiction, digitized in Halo: Escalation and sent to parts unknown (possibly the Domain).

• The developing New Colonial Alliance, responsible for two attacks on the UNSC Infinity and burgeoning independence movements across human space, pretty much has stopped dead.

• Jul ‘Mdama was killed in Halo 5 itself and his story of seeking revenge against humanity for the death of his wife and interference in his people’s affairs is cut short.

• Chakas, the human whose personality was shaped into that of 343 Guilty Spark, had returned and set off to find what he believes to be the Librarian, but little of this story has continued since.

• All of the shadowy shenanigans of the Office of Naval Intelligence worked out in the expanded universe and brought to a head in Hunt the Truth has been sidelined.

• Ancient humanity is likely to never be seen for the foreseeable future.

• The Master Chief and his genetic acceleration from Halo 4 went nowhere outside of perhaps granting him access to the Domain, not to mention his character development that began with Halo 4 vanished.

That is just a smattering and it all went out of the proverbial window for…the Created. The Created, a faction of rebellious AIs led by the now alive Cortana, that came from practically nowhere yet wield setting breaking power in the form of the also out of nowhere Guardians. It’s certainly odd how Halo 4’s plot could have its points traced back to the expanded universe developing them whereas Halo 5’s just kinda…happen. Allegedly, an AI uprising has been something folks like Frank O’Connor have been trying to get off the ground for years, but thus far I’ve yet to see any hard evidence of that. However, if that was the case, then it strikes me that the one piece of expanded universe content in 343’s “everything counts” management style that could be said to be related to Halo 5’s plot, Saint’s Testimony, was not put on the infographic shown above. Would that have been a spoiler? Maybe, but suffice it to say the Created’s presence has not really gone well as far as I can tell from the fanbase. It exists, but that’s it. Meanwhile, tons of other avenues for the story to go have been shelved until further notice. They may as well not even count.

PHASE V:…and Beyond

So where do we find ourselves now? Remarkably, there appears to be a new policy in place…but not really. It would appear that 343 Industries has reverted a bit back to the Bungie days of canon management. The hierarchy does not seem to be returning insomuch as the sharp divide between games and everything else is. Dubbed “swimlanes” by Jeff Easterling (though I don’t think he was the one to necessarily create the concept), it seems that going forward there will cease to be much overlap, if at all, between the games and expanded universe. The “everything counts” policy will seemingly only continue in terms of the games and expanded universe having equal weight, but effectively neither is really going to influence the other. Somewhat.

If we examine the content released after Halo 5, we can see parts of this plan in action. Whereas pre-Halo 4 content laid the groundwork for Halo 4’s story and pre-Halo 5 content really only did the groundwork for characters, post-Halo 5 content pretty much inhabit isolated bubbles as such:

Halo: Shadow of Intent (2015) deals with Rtas ‘Vadum hunting surviving San ‘Shyuum seemingly during some point in 2553, five years before Halo 5. Halo: Fractures (2016) is another anthology of shorts that spans multiple eras and everything close to Halo 5’s timeline end roughly with Cortana’s speech at the end of the game. Halo: Smoke and Shadow (2016) deals with Rion Forge, daughter of John Forge from Halo Wars, and her salvaging operations a year before Halo 5.

As we moved into 2017 and 2018, the isolated bubbles more or less remain, but there has also been a slate-cleaning of sorts put in place. Halo: Envoy (2017) follows Spartan Grey Team on a world inhabited by both Sangheili and humans during 2558, but seemingly before Halo 5 could impact it. Halo: Retribution (2017) continues with characters from Last Light, but is set in 2553. Halo: Legacy of Onyx (2017) returns to the titular shield world and had a moment where it is under siege by Cortana only to be literally removed from the setting by going back into slipspace as it had been. The comic short series Rise of Atriox (2017-2018) also came onto the scene and delved into the backstory of Halo Wars 2’s main antagonist, but that’s really it. Even Halo Wars 2 itself remains effectively isolated from Halo 5’s fallout until the end when a Halo ring carrying Ellen Anders is captured by a Guardian.

The big trend noticeable is the use of canonical stories set before Halo 5 to make up the bulk of content and everything contemporary with Halo 5 to end almost as soon as the game’s plot does. You can go back as far as you’d like, but no further. In practice, the swimlane approach cross-contaminates the rest of what can be done in the expanded universe rather than keep things distinct. We shall see how Halo: Bad Blood, the first real post-Halo 5 story, approaches this trend, but I don’t predict it impacting much. In fact, I predict it may serve as more of a vehicle to remove Buck from the main story of whatever Halo Infinite will be. I anticipate the same for future content that will do the same task for the rest of Osiris and maybe even Blue Team. Like I said, slate cleaning.

Before I end this, there is one aspect of this strategy that does give me some sense of hope for the future. Four other pieces of Halo content are in the pipeline, the comic Collateral Damage, the novels Silent Storm and Battle Born, and the guidebook The Official Spartan Field Manual. The first three are all stories that return to the Human-Covenant war with the first two involving Master Chief. This seems to be a reflection on 343’s end to focus more on the Chief (something they said they gained from feedback from Halo 5). Now, if you’ve heard the rumors then you’ve probably also heard the term “soft-reboot” being paraded around. I feel these stories serve as a means for 343 Industries to do just that for a younger audience.

Make no mistake, the old expanded universe and the stories of the games aren’t going anywhere. They will remain for people to find and enjoy, but rather than have newer fans sort through an exhausting amount of content to get the full story of the Master Chief and his team (assuming they remain an important part of Chief’s story), 343 is effectively providing a new series of stories for new fans to come into and enjoy. It’s somewhat genius if that’s the aim. Battle Born is aimed at a younger crowd as evident by the Scholastic partnership and I imagine The Official Spartan Field Manuel, also Scholastic aims to do the same. While the era of Halo media all contributing to the same pot is over and canon is going to be separated fairly drastically, we can only wait and see if this approach proves favorable to 343 Industries.

—

The next morning, Riser stared intensively at the paintings that dotted his cave. He scanned the rock walls for his depiction of the terrible machine Mendicant Bias and sure enough found it to have three green eyes. After muttering to himself about how he could make such a simple mistake, he senses a presence approaching from behind. He turned and saw one of the young children from the communal fire the night before, the young girl named Wakes. She carried a skewer of roasted meat and, head lowered, asked, “Elder Riser, are you mad?”

Riser walked up to her, accepted the skewer, and shook his head, “No young one, I am not.”

The two sat on the makeshift cot he constructed for his bed and sat quietly for a moment while he ate. Eventually, Wakes said, “The others are sorry for interrupting your story, but they were too scared to come up and say so.”

“As I said, I am not mad,” Riser replied picking his teeth, “I know how the young are when it comes to listening to the old talk. My companion Chakas hardly listened to me either, but I never got angry with him. At least, not angry about stories.”

“I like your paintings, Elder. Mother told me to not bother you up here for the longest time until I was the only one brave enough to give you breakfast.”

“And for that, I thank you, little one.”

They continued to sit in the quiet of the cave before Riser added, “I think my time as the storyteller is coming to an end. My bones ache and I sleep longer and longer. It will not be long now until I find myself on the Far Shore waiting to see if Abada judges me worthy of passage to the next life.”

Turning to the child, Riser noticed the pangs of sadness upon her face. Through the snot and tears, Wake pleaded, “Please don’t die, Elder. Your stories of the hoop make everyone happy and we’d miss you. You tell the best stories out of everyone. We promise we won’t say anything if you mess up again!”

All Riser could do was chuckle lightly and place a hand on her head, “It is alright, little one. We all pass on eventually and I am no different. I have told the story of Halo for a long time now, many times too. Perhaps it is time for something new.”

Wake’s eyes grew wide, “A new story, Elder? But what about the hoop – er, Halo?”

He wagged an arthritic finger at her, “That story will always exist, but I have so much more to teach you youngsters. I have witnessed much among us chamanae and I don’t intend to leave you lot empty-handed. Now be quiet, I am talking here.”

And so Riser shared new tales to Wakes for the rest of the day. As others came in search of her, Riser sat the newcomers down and made them listen too. Once done, he encouraged them to grab the chalks and paints he used for his cave paintings and add to the wall. This was his way of entrusting the story of their people to them by giving them ownership. They’d probably get things wrong eventually, and he knew they would considering a few had already accidentally painted over the scenes from his Halo adventure, but he was confident it’d all work out. He sat back, closed his eyes, and dreamed of the Far Shore.

—

“At the end of the game, the king and the pawn go back in the same box.”