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Re: In regards to Halsey...
Posted By: ArchilenDate: 10/27/11 10:52 a.m.

In Response To: In regards to Halsey... (davidfuchs)


: One of my few complaints with Nylund's work (besides making Chief kind of a
: whiner at points), is that he made the human-Covenant conflict pretty damn
: black-and-white. Halsey is a good gal, and even ONI isn't really portrayed
: as bad (or doesn't have as many bad eggs as we got with subsequent
: fiction.)

: A lot of Parangosky's actions are calculated, so I don't think they are as
: much an indicator of what she knows or what she feels, but what she's
: trying to get at. Winning over the Spartans is one calculation. And Halsey
: most definitely is preachy--but that makes sense. As First Strike
: detailed, she'd been smugly satisfied that she was the only reason
: humanity was still around, and she saw the Spartans as hers--something she
: still feels. When you get down to it, even with the best of intentions
: Halsey had the hubris to play God and decide that she was in the
: right--just because we love the Master Chief doesn't diminish the fact
: that she's ruined countless lives, and really isn't much better than our
: hated ONI spooks.

Yeah, it's clear Nylund didn't want to portray Halsey as irredeemably evil despite her actions and wanted to show her decisions weren't made lightly, but I can see why it would come across as black-and-white. I think it was always obvious that the things she did weren't right, and Nylund acknowledged it, if in a more subtle fashion.

My problem wasn't really with Halsey's characterization, but how her downfall directly coincided with a change of author; people like Mendez never had a problem with Halsey before, but when the writer changed, everyone suddenly became eager to remind her of how horrible a person she is. It's just felt like a strange shift in in-universe logic, though it was handled quite well.

As for ONI, I don't really understand why they should be so bad in the first place. At times it seems like they're being mustache-twirlingly evil just for the sake of it, like they have their reputation to live up to, not to accomplish any meaningful goal.

Message Index



Replies:

Glasslands thoughts/critiques *SP*Archilen 10/27/11 8:48 a.m.
     In regards to Halsey...davidfuchs 10/27/11 9:56 a.m.
           Re: In regards to Halsey...GrimBrother One 10/27/11 10:31 a.m.
           Re: In regards to Halsey...Archilen 10/27/11 10:52 a.m.
     Couple of things...GrimBrother One 10/27/11 10:27 a.m.
           Re: Couple of things...davidfuchs 10/27/11 10:35 a.m.
           Re: Couple of things...Archilen 10/27/11 11:09 a.m.
           Re: Couple of things...Postmortem 10/27/11 1:10 p.m.
                 Re: Couple of things...Archilen 10/27/11 2:07 p.m.
                       Re: Couple of things...elrolio 10/27/11 2:29 p.m.
                       Re: Couple of things...scarab 10/27/11 4:49 p.m.
                             Re: Couple of things...Archilen 10/28/11 1:06 a.m.
     Re: Glasslands thoughts/critiques *SP*elrolio 10/27/11 2:14 p.m.
           Re: Glasslands thoughts/critiques *SP*Postmortem 10/27/11 2:47 p.m.
                 Re: Glasslands thoughts/critiques *SP*Archilen 10/28/11 3:25 a.m.
                       Re: Glasslands thoughts/critiques *SP*Postmortem 10/28/11 7:44 a.m.
     I should have been sleeping...AladelAngel 10/28/11 4:53 a.m.
           Re: I should have been sleeping...Archilen 10/28/11 7:36 a.m.
                 Re: I should have been sleeping...AladelAngel 10/28/11 1:08 p.m.
           This. (+ [mean] comments)Arithmomaniac 10/28/11 9:11 a.m.
                 Re: This. (+ [mean] comments)IESUproductions 10/28/11 10:04 a.m.
                       Re: This. (+ [mean] comments)Arithmomaniac 10/28/11 10:34 a.m.
                             Re: This. (+ [mean] comments)davidfuchs 10/28/11 11:19 a.m.
                 Re: This. (+ [mean] comments)AladelAngel 10/28/11 1:13 p.m.
                       Re: This. (+ [mean] comments)Postmortem 10/28/11 4:44 p.m.
                             Re: This. (+ [mean] comments)davidfuchs 10/28/11 5:14 p.m.
                 Re: This. (+ [mean] comments)Quirel 10/30/11 2:49 p.m.



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