Just thinking out loud of possibility and how humanity would win against the covenant without the Spartan programs.

Doesn’t really seem possible in the slightest…

Think about it. HUNDREDS of colonies (thus different cultures and dialects), Hundreds of billions of people to make gear for and train, easily trillions of weapons to maintain, sustain, and produce, untold amounts of climates to have prepared soldiers for, organization, command structures, and so on. God knows how expensive the war is, but imagine having to manage all of that. Would there have to be a universal language? Would the soldiers all have to be multilingual? How are ranks set up with that many troops? What about other branches? We mainly see the Marines (which, come to think about it, is kinda funny when irl they're used for amphibious assault operations (except the war on terror, don't talk about that (or Vietnam))), so what's it like for the Army? Navy? Airforce?

I want to read that story of how they did a silly little war crime but no matter how much I google it, no one tells me. Where can I read this story

What are the specifics of becoming a spartan? Do you have to be under the department of the Navy? Master Chief and Noble team have Naval ranks which of course means they're under the Navy. But Johnson is a Marine and he's also technically a Spartan I. Furthermore, Master Chief is Enlisted while Noble Team is made up of Officers and Warrant officers. Does any branch of the UNSC have access to becoming a Spartan?

Hi I’ve been listening for a wile now to the halo audiobooks and for the most part they are pretty good but recently I came across cross a trilogy, the kilo 5 trilogy and if I’m honest I’m listening to the second book or at least trying, it’s just seems at times cringy and full of bias, is there any books I should steer away from or should I suck it and listen to all of them, also it seems it has some inconsistencies with some lore.

Just a quick question cause I can’t find an exact answer on Halopedia or through google

Hey so almost every year on Reddit I like to go to a different lore sub for a beloved franchise during the spooky season of October asking what is the most fucked up lore in the setting?

I did this previously on r/teslore, r/40klore, and r/falloutlore and this year I wish to hear from the fine folks here in r/HaloStory!

Also considering the season what's the creepiest and/or scariest lore in the setting?

In the Audio logs Halsey said "it has been nearly four months since Cortana's attack. Since that day we have been constantly moving"

But the date of the log is Oct 7, 2559. It hasn't been 4 months but almost 1 year

If you remember Halo 5 ended in Oct, 2558 and we know the headquarters of UNSC were destroyed on Oct 28, 2558. Halo Fractures says Oct that year. We don't have any information about another attack in 2559 and she mentions they have been moving constantly since that day so she's talking about the attack to the headquarters.

As I had learned from Halo games but I need to know how strong and weak are Spartan IIIs: Fellow IIIs, IIIs Cat 2, and IIIs Gamma were compared to Spartan IIs and Spartan IVs.

Need answer from somebody who had read the novels and please, no headcanon.

It doesn't really seem to fire a like a normal laser, not like a Spartan Laser where there's a small beam coming from a lens or a real life laser where there's just a dot on the target. Could it be gathering photons in the firing chamber to create a primitive version of Hard Light and just using the dome to shoot lasers to provide the photons? That might be why the beam isn't really coherent like a normal laser.

My question goes the same for Echo-216. How did any kind of craft stay in Zeta Halo's orbit if the Halo had an emergency slipspace jump after Cortana's destruction? Was the warship landed on the ring before the Halo disappeared? How are there dead bodies and Master Chief just floating around in space? Was the slipspace jump like a bubble that took everything in a radius with it, or is it more unexplained stuff that we won't be getting answers to? If so, how did Escharum's ship not take some kind of damage when Zeta Halo moved?

If the Forerunners have Faber and his superstructures, and humanity has Dr. Halsey and the Spartan Program/MJOLNIR, is there any equivalent to that in the Covenant's history? Some super-important engineer whos work was pivotal to the advancement of their faction, basically. It seems like we have a lot of information about the military and religious history of the Covenant, but not much about their scientific history.

This is a compilation post to provide sources and summaries on the scale and capability of Jul 'Mdama's resurgent Covenant faction.

While one of many Covenant splinter factions that had emerged in the years following the War of Annihilation, Jul 'Mdama emerged as one of the leading candidates of the revived Covenant. Thanks to his influence as the Didact's Hand, Jul managed to sway a significant number of worlds and pushing aside competing warlords.

Halo: Mythos:

As the 'Didact's Hand', 'Mdama led the new Covenant uprising, pushing aside any and all competing Sangheili warlords.

This power and influence did not come without a price, and splits within the newly combined forces soon exploded into violence as the newcomers competed for prestige and influence. Nevertheless, 'Mdama managed to sway a significant number of previously neutral Sangheili worlds to his side and began secretly making preparations for a push on Sanghelios itself, hoping to take it from the Arbiter.

The Official Spartan Field Manual further emphasises this, describing Jul's Covenant as an alliance of warlords as Jul brought together remnant fleets and Sangheili colonies which he forged "into an empire".

Halo: Official Spartan Field Manual:

THE COVENANT

Chief among the forces fighting against the Swords of Sanghelios is an alliance of warlords and zealots led by a brilliant commander who has forged many Covenant remnant fleets and colonies into an empire. Having gathered warriors discontent with the truce brokered between the Arbiter and humanity, 'Mdama declared himself the head of a new Covenant dedicated to erasing both the Swords of Sanghelios and the UNSC from the galaxy. 'Mdama's heavily armed faction of represents a significant threat to the fragile peace that Thel 'Vadam has brought to both our peoples.

By this consolidation of many former Covenant fleets and entities, Jul's Covenant was identified as the largest of the Covenant factions, as noted in Sarah Palmer's brief in the Spartan Field Manual.

Halo: Official Spartan Field Manual:

If the analysts at ONI are right, a victory there will give us the edge we need to take out the largest of the Covenant factions and win the UNSC some much-needed breathing room.

According to the Halo Twitter account, Hesduros only makes up a relatively small portion of the Storm Sangheili within Jul's Covenant, with the majority of Jul's forces hailing from Sanghelios and other core worlds.

Twitter - Halo:

Q: For Storm Elites it says their homeworld is Sanghelios, but they come from Hesduros, is it meant to be the species homeworld?

A: Although part of the newly forged Covenant, the majority of Storm Elites originated from Sanghelios (and other core worlds)...

Which probably says a few things on how large Jul's Covenant was, given Hesduros held a population of 1.9 billion. This is also well reflected in the Sangheili who serve as part of the re-forged Covenant, from Jul 'Mdama and Gek 'Lhar hailing from Sanghelios, to Parg 'Vol from Malurok to Sali 'Nyon (formerly part of Jul's Covenant) hailing from Eudolaan, showing a diverse collection of Sangheili hailing from different colonies behind Hesduros.

Navy assets:

Having gathered much of the fleet material from the old Covenant, Jul 'Mdama managed to amass a considerable naval force, comprising of many ships from repurposed patrol cruisers to Assault Carriers and Vestige ships.

For Jul 'Mdama's primary fleet observed at Requiem and Aktis IV, the force was described to include numerous cruiser classes and several heavy corvettes, with the Kerel-pattern Assault Carriers Song of Retribution and Breath of Annihilation as the core of this fleet.

Canon Fodder - Have S'moa:

While Jul 'Mdama's Covenant faction has made use of whatever vessels were most easily obtainable, his primary contingent consists of two assault carriers (the Song of Retribution and Breath of Annihilation), multiple CRS-class light cruisers, CCS-class battlecruisers, RCS-class armored cruisers, and several SDV-class heavy corvettes. This does not take into account other vessels which have augmented his fleet on different occasions.

In terms of numbers, this fleet is known to consist of dozens of light cruisers alone.

Halo: Encyclopedia (2022):

Raiding an imperial moon long ago orbited by High Charity, Jul 'Mdama's Covenant secured dozens of light cruisers for his siege of Requiem, an extraordinary boon that would prove indispensable.

Later at Kamchatka, Jul 'Mdama amassed the bulk of his fleet as he was investigating the Guardian signals on the Forerunner world.

Halo: Official Spartan Field Manual:

In recent weeks the bulk of Jul 'Mdama's fleet has consolidated at Kamchatka for an unknown reason. The concentration of Covenant forces and ONI-flagged high-value targets presents a unique opportunity, and the UNSC Infinity has been ordered to immediately launch a strike against Covenant leadership known to be at the location.

Interestingly, concurrent to Jul consolidating his fleet at Kamchatka, Sanghelios herself had been besieged by Jul's forces, leading to heavy fighting across most of the planet's city-states.

Halo: Official Spartan Field Manual:

Sanghelios is currently under siege by Covenant forces led by Jul 'Mdama, and most of the planet's city-states have experienced heavy fighting.

But focusing back on Kamchatka, the Covenant naval present there included numerous Sangheili Vestiges, including several Hekar Taa-pattern Blockade Runners, R'sikosh-pattern Man O'Wars, Rwaru-pattern Carracks and at least three Lursu-pattern Brigantines.

[URL unfurl="true" media="youtube:44oJi5w2Wjc:99"]https://youtu.be/44oJi5w2Wjc?si=3F3wnUMYoBZly2qa&t=99[/URL]

The opening briefing between Lasky, Palmer and Fireteam Osiris also displays Covenant light cruisers in the background, indicating Covenant ships proper were present on Kamchatka, likely hailing from Jul's primary contingent.

At Sunaion, more Covenant Vestige ships were observed, with a count of 13 Blockade Runners, 4 Man O'War and 1 Brigantine observed at the city.

Beyond this, Jul 'Mdama's Covenant also shows a sizable force at Installation 03 as the Covenant pursued the Conduit on Gamma Halo's surface. This force comprised of at least four Ket-Pattern Battlecruisers and two Kerel-pattern Assault Carriers - these ships may be of Jul's primary contingent, given that Covenant forces did follow the Mantle's Approach to Installation 03.

Overall, when it comes to Jul 'Mdama's Covenant, while they were one amongst many different factions calling themselves Covenant, Jul's Covenant was ultimately the closest faction to be heirs to the Covenant empire, with a powerful military force with the backing of many Sangheili colonies and Covenant fleets from dozens of light cruisers and a pair of powerful Kerel-pattern Assault Carriers to Sangheili Vestiges.

There has been misconceptions in the past of Jul 'Mdama being a "small" Covenant faction, but as the lore itself describes, Jul's Covenant was anything but small with the resurgent Covenant's only notable rivals in scale being the Banished and the Swords of Sanghelios, and dwarfing factions such as the Servants of the Abiding Truth and the Keepers of the One Freedom.

Cortana told us she had milliseconds to plan this. She had 24 hrs between the attack of the banished and the explosion (we have the testimonies of the spartans fighting on the ring) but she planed what she was going to do in milliseconds and we found whispers telling us about it during the game

“There’s not much time! Too many variables! I need a constant.” “I have seen your future!”

We know Cortana avoided the deletion of Weapon, the mission of Weapon was to lock Cortana up and then she had to delete herself. However Cortana didn't know what had locked her up in the silent auditorium. She realized they had made a copy later when she was planning in those milliseconds.

“How could I been so stupid? Halsey made a copy. This was the only way.” “If Atriox takes control…” “My fault” “Not much time” “will this work?” “There’s a moment” “John will make it work” “he needs help.” “Of course” “Was it your plan all along Halsey?” “Or is it mine?”

“It doesn’t matter now. Nothing else matters” “This has got to work” ”he can’t do it on his own” “he needs me” “he needs…her”

The interesting thing is that Weapon should have deleted herself 24 hrs ago

Edit:

Temporary solution: The automatic deletion of Weapon was never going be activated. Cortana couldn't have stopped it. Weapon was deployed on December 12th or even 24 hrs later (Dec 12th imo) but she should have deleted herself as soon as Cortana was trapped in the silent auditorium and she was trapped there already when the Brute got into the room. Then it wasn't Cortana cause she even had some conversations with the monkey before the explosion. He told her Master Chief wasn't going to save her and those things and after she told Chief she only had milliseconds to make this plan.

Maybe Halsey removed the automatic deletion.

"Was it your plan all along Halsey?” “Or is it mine?”

There are some things that don't really need an explanation, and I feel like they should've been one of them.

Corrupted Promethean dust turned dog food? C'mon now. I know it's a little more complicated than that, but I can't lie to myself anymore and try to like the canon explanation.

EDIT: Precursors is what I meant.

I decided to do a reread of the Forerunner Saga. Initially, I didn't really like the books when I first read them, for a variety of reasons, but the main problem was that it changed various aspects of Halo's lore from the Bungie games and books which I wasn't on board with, some of the revelations (such as the Human-Forerunner War and the Human-San'Shyuum Alliance) just fell flat to me and felt like they came out of nowhere, but the biggest problem was mostly my fault, which is I had the wrong expectations.

The Halo games are, at their heart, Military Sci-Fi Adventure with elements of Space Opera and Cosmic Horror and the novels written by Eric Nylund and Joseph Staten reflect that, though I would say that Contact Harvest is the one book that comes closest to the 'spirit' of the games.

The Forerunner Saga is a character-driven Space Opera, with an emphasis on a "tell, don't show" style of writing. A lot of the interesting stuff happens before the books and are told to the reader through internal monologues and info dumps, which is very different from how things are done in the games and previous books, where you and the characters are experiencing the events as they happen.

I went from the games and previous novels expecting much of the same but got something very different and I was disappointed.

But twelve years have passed, and I decided to revisit the book, because sometimes the passage of time can help give us a fresh perspective: for example, when I was a kid, I thought that Dragonball Z was he coolest thing ever, but as an adult, it kind of makes me cringe a bit. Now that I know what to expect while going into the book, I can try to enjoy it for what it is, instead of being disappointed by what I expected it to be, and hopefully look at it through an objective perspective.

My verdict is that it's better than I remember but not as good as some people on this subreddit claim. I'd say it's pretty average, really. I have no complaints about the pace, as the prose was so fluid that it felt like I was breezing through the pages.

Spoilers just in case: >!I really enjoyed Bornstellar's mental struggle throughout the third act, as he tried to keep the Didact's personality and memories from taking over him completely, and then giving into it at the end when he meets the Librarian. I knew what to expect, of course, but I thought this was done well. I really liked the Didact's dynamic with Chakas and Riser, it was like he was trying to be patient with a couple of naughty puppies. The Battle of the Capital was pretty cool; the way it described the destruction of the inner surface of the Halo Ring was really dope. !<

And yeah, that's pretty much what I liked. I'm not going to get into what I didn't like, because that list would be a lot longer and could be a post of its own, and really, I want this post to have a little positivity to it.

Now onto Halo Primordium and oh boy, am I going to have a lot of fun with that (sarcasm)!

Is there anything that has been mentioned that you would like to see more fleshed out?

I mean powering directed energy weapons that can turn planetary surfaces into molten silicate requires a massive amount of energy from a fusion reactor. And for a fusion reactor to power it, you need fusion fuel.

I’m listening to all the books in release order on Audiobooks. I’m almost finished with Broken Circle and have no idea what’s going on almost. It seems so boring that I can’t stay focused on it when driving. In the previous books, if I got distracted, I’d replay to the last part I was cognizant of listening to. I don’t find myself doing that with Broken Circle. The prophets point of view is boring. What are your opinions on which book is the most boring? Mortal Dictata was pretty interesting. I like what Karen Traviss has put out so far. I have New Blood on cue after Broken Circle. Oh, Greg Bears books were pretty boring too.

Hello, everyone! Let's say hypothetically a remake of CE is happening. What would you change in the original story? Like, this isn’t about adding back cut plot parts or including story elements that were told in other media. It’s just about making changes to the original story itself. For example: is there something that bothered you? Something that’s good but could be developed better? characters?

Are they crazy like cyberpunk or less and minimal

I was looking into some DEI trash drama and saw that Xbox Game Studios was a client of Sweet Baby Inc prior to SBI making their client list private. I immediately thought about Halo's character evolution and how Chief went from a strong and stoic silent protagonist who seems mostly unphased by everything around him to an emotionally deficient depressed guy who seems like he could be crying behind his visor 24/7.

I've also seen a lot comparison between Halo's Spartans and 40K' Space Marines, and while I definitely think Spartans were never quite that extreme they do share the plot point that they are warrior types who were forced into their role and became saviors to humanity. I currently see a lot of kick back against 40K's newest game from DEI Devs and enthusiasts even though the game was very successful and widely liked by the fans calling it fascist and problematic.

Crossing media I've also heard talk that the Joker 2 movie was made to supposedly with separating Joker as an "incel icon" in mind. Personally I don't think Joker was ever really an incel Icon, but the thought of DEI teams taking on projects specifically to combat the fan base or separate certain fans was interesting since that goes against the goal of inclusion for all these type of consultants are meant to foster.

In the most modern timeline of Halo what is the knowledge the public has of the likes of the ll’s and lll’s.

Doisac was destroyed after halo 5, but what was it's population before it was destroyed?

As far as I know, Cortana lost the power of the Created and the Guardians "disappeared" if I remember correctly, only that the capital of Australia was destroyed but I heard nothing more.

So the UNSC should be able to retake the land since there are no Guardians that can decimate them.

Which makes sense, they're a xenoforming tool as much as anything else.

This bothers me since I played Halo2 as a kid. In the opening of Halo2, Covie fleet arrived Solar system just outside ODP range.

Then they sent massive boarding crafts against ODPs, and blew up two of them.

The time between fleet enter real space to boarding action was less than 10 minutes. (Less than 3 minutes from controller calling out incoming boarding crafts)Probably covering tens of thousands of km (given that covie ships were outside ODP and UNSC ship ranges, and MK5 MAC reaches 12,000/s velocity)

How could they fly so fast? That’s like 10,000km a minute (166km/s) at least, faster than some lighter MAC guns. While in the game they move so slow you could hit them without using fire control. Also shouldn’t Covie takes some time to assemble the boarding teams since they weren’t expecting human planets?

Is this gameplay vs lore difference?

Earlier, I was thinking about how the whole "Marines can beat covenant infantry when outnumbered 2-to-1" thing was written in The Fall of Reach, where humanity had never encountered elites until the last few months of the war. Then I thought about how that was also written before the drones were spawned into the lore. Then I pondered how a squad of human infantry could possibly win a fight against a swarm of locust, every single one of whom has a gun.

The marines in the games only survive because they can tank a few plasma shots to the face before dying, and because the AI is too stupid/chivalrous to use their mobility to its fullest potential. They just stick to one spot, stay there for the most part, and shoot.

Of the few books I've read, the only reference to fighting these things was the book New Blood, where Buck explains what to do against each covenant species in combat, but he doesn't really give any specific advice for fighting a cloud of guns. He does mention that they can't carry heavy gear and aren't great in tight spaces - which is true, the grunts would be better at that - but there's still the fact that the grunts are most often seen in open spaces, wielding the exact same weapon as the drones, but just being slower and easier to hit. Especially with explosives. Grenades don't do much good against the drones, whereas you can wipe out a whole squad of grunts with one.

Is there a logistical, political, religious, tactical, etc. reason why the covenant mainly relies on grunts to angrily waddle towards their foes instead of sending these guys to swarm in, nullify cover, and make escape almost impossible? Or did the prophets just enjoy watching clips of grunts shitting themselves and dying en-masse too much to give that role to someone else?