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Re: Halo's skitzophrenic canon
Posted By: Stephen L. (SoundEffect) <soundeffect@hotmail.com>Date: 1/16/10 1:34 p.m.

In Response To: Halo's skitzophrenic canon (Martin Duffy)


: I get bothered by how the franchise ignores established things more and more
: as time goes on. It isn't just ignoring the books, either, it's ignoring
: the previous games and their manuals and things of that sort, as well as
: new books ignoring the old books or the old games... I remember being
: REALLY into Halo in a big way, but being completely blown away at the
: beginning of Halo 2 that no mention of any of the events of First Strike
: happen and instead you're just sort of chilling on a space station. That
: was the first crack, to me, and it's just gotten worse from there. I could
: understand if the game makers just want to do their own thing, but the
: problem is that the more recent books, even the one Joseph Staten wrote,
: continue to dig the hole deeper and even run with stories (Ghost of Onyx
: for example) that keep running this sort of bizarre alternate-universe
: thing where there is no "last spartan".

: I mean just a simple example is a detail as small as the battle rifle being
: around in the events of Contact Harvest. ... Why? Why introduce an
: inconsistency where there is no need for one and invent some crazy reason
: for it (a prototype rifle 25 years before its production model?!) instead
: of just... not introducing it? And then there's huge-mungous
: inconsistencies like those detailed in one of the Halo Evolutions short
: stories... Whereas previous understanding was that humans won battles in
: space only like 3 or 4 times (thus the fundamental reason for losing the
: war since the marines always seem to win on the ground) the story about
: Admiral Cole outright states he never lost a battle and lists like 10
: different engagements he wins, including his blaze of glory where he like
: blows up a planet and kills a bazillion Covenant. And then of course the
: ultra-super-humongous inconsistencies like the fact that Hunters were
: supposed to only have appeared for the first time at the battle of Sigma
: Octanus and Elites were only supposed to have first appeared above Reach
: and Brutes were only supposed to have first appeared on the Unyielding
: Hierophant... and then Halo Wars completely throws that to the wind.

: Okay so, English grad school nerd moment here, but the trouble with Halo is
: that there is very little verisimilitude: very little internal logic in
: the story. Norman Mailer -- writing grounded fiction, much less inventing
: a whole universe of events and history over 500 years -- would literally
: write on cards excurciating details about every one of his characters and
: paste them on his wall... everything from their birthdays to their
: anniversary dates to who they voted for. I know some people think gameplay
: > story, and that's fine, but the problem is that the franchise -- from
: what I've observed on this Waypoint thing -- is attempting to elevate
: itself and become a media empire beyond the realm of a simple game.

: I don't know, I mean, I'm personally very conflicted... It's not something
: like Star Wars where I just outright don't really take what the expansion
: universe books say/do with a grain of salt, because frankly the books -- I
: feel -- are pretty much required reading to make much of any sense out of
: Halo's story. I can't imagine the games without the books. From the
: opening of the first game Cortana, some blue computer woman, is like
: "We jumped away from Reach" and I'd just be like "We what'd
: away from where?" Also, the events in The Library/Two Betrayals (all
: the interactions with 343) made absolutely zero sense to me without the
: prompts in The Flood (about how MC suspected rampancy, etc.) And frankly I
: kind of like the back-story of the game better than the actual story.

: So anyways, sorry. I just read Contact Harvest and Cole Protocol this week
: finally and felt the need to express this frustration here.

I've had similar feelings with some of the later developments as well. You're right that the franchise does seem to be wanting to be bigger than just the games and for them to maintain their fanbase, they're going to have to buck up and come to terms with some of the gaping inconsistencies we've seen in recent years. What's the point in having a large epic story if at the core it doesn't mean anything because there's been so many reinventions, misinterpretations, and retcons.

As someone whose been keenly tracking the canon info for more than 5 years now, it's becoming more and more difficult to track. Once upon a time I could just get a new source (be it a new game, novel, etc) and add that to my existing tome of knowledge. What I'm finding myself doing more and more is going through that and not so much adding a lot of info but changing or editing exiting info that no longer applies or has been outright altered. It's more annoying than fun now.

We ca only hope that they're seeing where it's falling apart on them and hope they do something to minimize further changes and set the record straight on a few outstanding issues, and creating more carefully in the future.

They want their universe to be bigger (don't we all?), but what they seem not to have realized until perhaps just recently, is that the bigger it becomes the more they're painting themselves into a creative corner. It's the price for success, actually. They must be more vigilant to keep themselves an escape but retain the freedom to keep inventing.

You wrote up a very good synopsis for the state of the Haloverse. I find myself in agreement with most of what you have there.

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Replies:

Halo's skitzophrenic canonMartin Duffy 1/16/10 12:15 p.m.
     Re: Halo's skitzophrenic canonsharpsniper99 1/16/10 12:38 p.m.
           Re: Halo's skitzophrenic canonVincent 1/16/10 1:09 p.m.
                 Re: Halo's skitzophrenic canonStephen L. (SoundEffect) 1/16/10 1:38 p.m.
                 Re: Halo's skitzophrenic canonBry 1/17/10 1:08 p.m.
     Re: Halo's skitzophrenic canoniMonkey777 1/16/10 1:09 p.m.
           Re: Halo's skitzophrenic canonSPARTAN-034 1/16/10 1:39 p.m.
           Re: Halo's skitzophrenic canonDani 1/16/10 1:53 p.m.
                 Re: Halo's skitzophrenic canonMartin Duffy 1/16/10 3:24 p.m.
           Re: Halo's skitzophrenic canonMartin Duffy 1/16/10 3:08 p.m.
     Re: Halo's skitzophrenic canonStephen L. (SoundEffect) 1/16/10 1:34 p.m.
           Re: Halo's skitzophrenic canonCaptain Spark 1/16/10 2:16 p.m.
     Re: Halo's skitzophrenic canonAladelAngel 1/16/10 2:55 p.m.
           Re: Halo's skitzophrenic canonCaptain Spark 1/16/10 2:57 p.m.
                 Re: Halo's skitzophrenic canonMartin Duffy 1/16/10 3:11 p.m.
                       Re: Halo's skitzophrenic canonCaptain Spark 1/16/10 3:47 p.m.
                 Re: Halo's skitzophrenic canonAladelAngel 1/16/10 3:45 p.m.
     Re: Halo's skitzophrenic canonDEEP NNN 1/16/10 5:30 p.m.
           Re: Halo's skitzophrenic canonSilent Knight 1/17/10 5:56 a.m.
     Halo suffers like Star WarsRiceatron 1/16/10 6:12 p.m.
           Re: Halo suffers like Star Warsurk 1/16/10 7:12 p.m.
                 Biased Source is Biased! *NM*Riceatron 1/16/10 7:22 p.m.
                       Re: Biased Source is Biased!urk 1/16/10 7:32 p.m.
                             Pah!Stuntmutt 1/17/10 3:40 a.m.
                                   No sir...stan 1/17/10 12:30 p.m.
           Re: Halo suffers like Star WarsMartin Duffy 1/17/10 12:35 a.m.
                 Re: Halo suffers like Star WarsStephen L. (SoundEffect) 1/17/10 10:50 a.m.
                       Re: Halo suffers like Star WarsMetalingus627 1/17/10 4:57 p.m.
                             Re: Halo suffers like Star WarsMartin Duffy 1/17/10 8:06 p.m.
                                   Re: Halo suffers like Star WarsRagashingo 1/17/10 10:43 p.m.
                                   Re: Halo suffers like Star WarsBry 1/18/10 4:39 a.m.
                                         Re: Halo suffers like Star WarsMartin Duffy 1/19/10 4:03 p.m.
     Re: Halo's skitzophrenic canonDax01 1/16/10 7:46 p.m.
           Re: Halo's skitzophrenic canonLeisandir 1/16/10 8:11 p.m.
           Re: Halo's skitzophrenic canonMartin Duffy 1/17/10 12:26 a.m.
                 Re: Halo's skitzophrenic canonscarab 1/17/10 5:16 a.m.
                       Re: Halo's skitzophrenic canonSilent Knight 1/17/10 5:51 a.m.
                             Re: Halo's skitzophrenic canonVincent 1/17/10 7:32 a.m.
                                   Re: Halo's skitzophrenic canonSilent Knight 1/18/10 1:19 a.m.
                                         Re: Halo's skitzophrenic canonStephen L. (SoundEffect) 1/18/10 6:37 a.m.
                                               Re: Halo's skitzophrenic canonSilent Knight 1/19/10 6:28 a.m.
                                         Re: Halo's skitzophrenic canongspawn 1/18/10 10:25 a.m.
                                               Re: Halo's skitzophrenic canonStephen L. (SoundEffect) 1/18/10 11:19 a.m.
                                                     Re: Halo's skitzophrenic canonBry 1/18/10 11:35 a.m.
                                                           Re: Halo's skitzophrenic canonStephen L. (SoundEffect) 1/18/10 1:42 p.m.
                                                                 Re: Halo's skitzophrenic canonBry 1/18/10 2:19 p.m.
                                                                       Re: Halo's skitzophrenic canonSonofMacPhisto 1/18/10 3:29 p.m.
                                                                       Re: Halo's skitzophrenic canonSilent Knight 1/19/10 6:24 a.m.
                                                                             Re: Halo's skitzophrenic canonBry 1/19/10 9:25 a.m.
                                                                       Re: Halo's skitzophrenic canonMartin Duffy 1/19/10 4:13 p.m.
                                                                             Re: Halo's skitzophrenic canonStephen L. (SoundEffect) 1/19/10 5:42 p.m.
                                                           Re: Halo's skitzophrenic canonMartin Duffy 1/19/10 3:56 p.m.
                                                                 Re: Halo's skitzophrenic canonSilent Knight 1/19/10 4:31 p.m.
                       Re: Halo's skitzophrenic canonWildcard Tim 1/17/10 10:07 a.m.
                       Re: Halo's skitzophrenic canonStephen L. (SoundEffect) 1/17/10 10:46 a.m.
                 Re: Halo's skitzophrenic canonDax01 1/17/10 9:31 p.m.
                       Re: Halo's skitzophrenic canonMartin Duffy 1/21/10 12:31 p.m.
                             Re: Halo's skitzophrenic canonMetalingus627 1/21/10 1:17 p.m.
                                   Re: Halo's skitzophrenic canonSilent Knight 1/21/10 3:32 p.m.
                                         Re: Halo's skitzophrenic canonMartin Duffy 1/21/10 4:49 p.m.
                                               Re: Halo's skitzophrenic canonLeisandir 1/21/10 5:12 p.m.
                                                     Re: Halo's skitzophrenic canonSilent Knight 1/21/10 8:41 p.m.
                                                           Re: Halo's skitzophrenic canonBry 1/21/10 10:30 p.m.
                                                                 Re: Halo's skitzophrenic canonSilent Knight 1/22/10 5:47 p.m.
                                                                       Re: Halo's skitzophrenic canonLeisandir 1/22/10 6:36 p.m.
                                                                       Re: Halo's skitzophrenic canonStephen L. (SoundEffect) 1/22/10 7:00 p.m.
                                         Re: Halo's skitzophrenic canonHikaru-119 1/21/10 8:05 p.m.
                             Narrative StructureNarcogen 1/21/10 10:32 p.m.
                                   Re: Narrative Structureresplendentvole 1/22/10 12:33 a.m.
     Re: Halo's skitzophrenic canonYNation913 1/17/10 11:11 a.m.
           *Evolutions spoils!!!*Metalingus627 1/17/10 5:03 p.m.
                 Re: *Evolutions spoils!!!*Metalingus627 1/17/10 5:04 p.m.
                 Re: *Evolutions spoils!!!*YNation913 1/17/10 6:34 p.m.
                       Re: *Evolutions spoils!!!*Metalingus627 1/17/10 7:20 p.m.
                             Re: *Evolutions spoils!!!*InnerRayg 1/17/10 8:20 p.m.
                             Re: *Evolutions spoils!!!*YNation913 1/18/10 8:10 a.m.
                                   Re: *Evolutions spoils!!!*Metalingus627 1/18/10 4:18 p.m.
     Well there's your problem right there...stan 1/17/10 11:28 a.m.
           Re: Well there's your problem right there...Martin Duffy 1/17/10 8:08 p.m.
           Re: Well there's your problem right there...ThorsHammer 1/18/10 10:08 a.m.
                 Re: Well there's your problem right there...Cody Miller 1/18/10 4:39 p.m.
                       ^ This *NM*SonofMacPhisto 1/18/10 6:12 p.m.
                       Re: Well there's your problem right there...Narcogen 1/19/10 1:05 a.m.
                             Re: Well there's your problem right there...Silent Knight 1/19/10 6:35 a.m.
                                   Re: Well there's your problem right there...Martin Duffy 1/19/10 4:29 p.m.
                                         Re: Well there's your problem right there...Silent Knight 1/20/10 2:37 a.m.
                             Re: Well there's your problem right there...Mercury 1/19/10 8:40 a.m.
                       Re: Well there's your problem right there...ThorsHammer 1/19/10 8:53 a.m.
                 Re: Well there's your problem right there...Martin Duffy 1/19/10 4:25 p.m.
     Re: Halo's skitzophrenic canonArchilen 1/19/10 3:55 a.m.
           Re: Halo's skitzophrenic canonStephen L. (SoundEffect) 1/19/10 6:53 a.m.



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